Living Journey

BETHLEHEM Mayor Victor Batarseh yesterday attacked Israel and angered members of Australia’s Jewish community within hours of arriving in Sydney - just as Australian immigration officials in the Middle East warned would occur if he was granted a visa.

Dr Batarseh told The Australian Israel’s construction of a security wall was about grabbing Palestinian land, not stopping suicide bombers. “If you want peace, you build bridges of love and understanding between people, you don’t build walls of hatred,” he said.

The Australian revealed earlier this month that Australian immigration officials in the Middle East had warned that the delegation had the potential to “adversely affect” the local Jewish community because of the council’s links to the Hamas terrorist group and because Dr Batarseh was likely to criticise Israel. @News.com.au

I watched Dr Batarseh - who happens to be the Major of Bethlehem and a practicing Catholic - on a show this morning and one of the things he said was that all three religions worship the same God - so we should all unite!

So this brought to my mind the question of God and is He the same God that is written of in the Koran and the Judeo/Christian bible.

Well, I respectfully disagree that Islam’s Allah is the same God of the bible. Especially considering the Dome of the Rock has permanently inscribed on it the following…

“The Sonship of Jesus and the Trinity are false”, and “It is not fitting that God should beget or father a child”.

Yet, John in the New Testament says the exact opposite in regards to the Father/Son relationship:

1Jn 2:22 Who is the liar, except the one denying, saying that Jesus is not the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one denying the Father and the Son.

And we should not forget that the Koran strongly denies that Christ is the Son of the Father when it states…

“They say the Merciful has taken to Himself a son—ye have brought a monstrous thing! The heavens well-nigh burst asunder thereat, and the earth is riven and the mountains fall down broken, that they attribute to the Merciful a son! But it becomes not the Merciful to take to Himself a son.”—Surah Miriam, vs. 91-93.

“Praise belongs to God who has not taken to Himself a son and has not had a partner in His kingdom, nor had a patron against such abasement.”—The Night Journey, vs. 112.

The question I would like to ask is this. Does the Koran represent the same God that the Judeo/Christian bible speaks about?

According to John the answer is a resounding NO! And because my faith is bound by my belief in the absolute truth of biblical scripture, no matter how politically incorrect that may be, then I have to say that I agree with John.

Even if you don’t agree with the bible and its claims, you cannot deny that the Bible actually does say that Jesus is the Son of the Father. It is recorded in the written Word that He is the Son of the Father. Whether you agree with that or not is beside the point, that’s what it says!

The Father Son/Messiah relationship is something that is a common thread in the Old Testament. And the Talmud, the Zohar and Midrashic interpretations of scripture is very clear about the scriptures that speak of a Messiah that is the Son of the Father.

The Talmud tells many stories about the Messiah, some of which represent famous Talmudic rabbis as receiving personal visitations from Elijah the Prophet and the Messiah. For example:

R. Joshua b. Levi met Elijah standing by the entrance of R. Simeon b. Yohai’s tomb. He asked him: ‘Have I a portion in the world to come?’ He replied, ‘if this Master desires it.’ R. Joshua b. Levi said, ‘I saw two, but heard the voice of a third.’ He then asked him, ‘When will the Messiah come?’ — ‘Go and ask him himself,’ was his reply. ‘Where is he sitting?’ — ‘At the entrance.’ And by what sign may I recognise him?’ — ‘He is sitting among the poor lepers: all of them untie [them] all at once, and rebandage them together, whereas he unties and rebandages each separately, [before treating the next], thinking, should I be wanted, [it being time for my appearance as the Messiah] I must not be delayed [through having to bandage a number of sores].’ So he went to him and greeted him, saying, ‘peace upon thee, Master and Teacher.’ ‘peace upon thee, O son of Levi,’ he replied. ‘When wilt thou come Master?’ asked he, ‘To-day’, was his answer. On his returning to Elijah, the latter enquired, ‘What did he say to thee?’ — ‘peace Upon thee, O son of Levi,’ he answered. Thereupon he [Elijah] observed, ‘He thereby assured thee and thy father of [a portion in] the world to come.’ ‘He spoke falsely to me,’ he rejoined, ’stating that he would come to-day, but has not.’ He [Elijah] answered him, ‘This is what he said to thee, To-day, if ye will hear his voice.’

Heb 3:15 as in the saying, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation.” Psalm 95:7,8

In Midrash Literature Messiah ben Joseph (Hebrew: משיח בן יוסף) also alternatively known as Messiah ben Ephraim (Hebrew: משיח בן אפרים) is a Messianic figure peculiar to the rabbinical apocalyptic literature. [...] According to these, Messiah b. Joseph will appear prior to the coming of Messiah ben David; he will gather the children of Israel around him, march to Jerusalem, and there, after overcoming the hostile powers, reestablish the Temple-worship and set up his own dominion. @Wiki

The Zohar also says…

A Jew named Baruch, and the author, who is introduced by the Greek name Capnio. Capnio would have it that the doctrine of the Trinity is to be found in the first verse of Genesis. He submits, if the Hebrew word bra (bara), which is translated “created,” be examined, and if each of the three letters composing this word be taken as the initial of a separate word, we obtain the expression ben, ruach, ab, i.e., Son, Spirit, Father. Upon the same principle we find the two persons of the Trinity in the word abn (eben), “stone,” occurring in Ps. cxviii. 22–”the stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner,” by dividing the three letters composing the word abn into ab ben, i.e., Father, Son.

We are told (Zohar, III, 262a; comp. 67a) that “there are two, and one is connected with them, and they are three; but in being three, they are one,”

In one codex of the Zohar we read on the words “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts” (Is. vi. 3): “the first ‘holy’ refers to the Holy Father; the second to the Holy Son; and the third to the Holy Ghost”; but this passage is now omitted from the present recensions of the Zohar, and has been regarded by some Jewish writers as an interpolation.

Jewish Sages understood the concept of the trinity but what they didn’t understand is the One-Messiah Two-Comings being fulfilled in Mashiach ben Jesus the Jew, Rabbi Yeshua Ben Yosef of Nazareth. He has come as Mashiach ben Yosef and is yet to come as Mashiach ben David. They did not recognise Jesus as Mashiach ben Yosef, they thought as He entered the gates of Jerusalem and as they waved palm trees and singing a song that Jesus had come to restore the kingdom as a type of King David.

The right song but the wrong time…

The highlight of the Hallel Rabah is: Hosanna, hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His loving kindness endures forever. Hosanna, hosanna.

The Jews were meant to sing that on Passover, with their hands waving. They were also meant to sing it at the Feast of Tabernacles, while waving palm branches in their hands.

On Palm Sunday, the Jews began to celebrate Passover (which teaches about the Messiah who was the Lamb who would be slain), as if it were the Feast of Tabernacles, which corresponds, in the typology of the Jewish calendar, to the Millennium.

The Feast of Tabernacles (seen in John 7:2), drawing on the background of Ezekiel 47, is associated in Jewish thought with the Davidic Kingdom. @Moriel - by Yakov Prasch

They had not seen from scripture that Mashiac ben Yosef was to come first. Yet they knew that a Messiah was to come.

Anyway, here is the poll that asks the question…

Does Allah from the Koran represent the same God from the Judeo/Christian bible?

My hubby has been pretty stressed of late. It’s all to do with work colleagues and one guy in particular. You see, my hubby designs automotive robots that have to behave in a precise way as they are dealing with slithers of glass about as fine as the human hair. The machines he designs have to pick up these slithers and place them on panels which then are put together to make solar panels. It is state of the art stuff! This is still in the R and D stage, so ideas are put forth and plans are made and put on paper and run by others before anything can be tried. Cheaper to test theories on paper first before applying them, right?

Anyway… there is this one guy who gets on every-ones nerves because he is not a team player at all. Hubby at the beginning of each week writes out a timetable for certain things to be done so that this machine is in perfect working order. This guy ignores this timetable all the time. So much so, that when hubby gets to the machine, every setting has changed and the machine will have to be reset, which can take some time.

Four funny things

First was an idea from this so called whiz engineer about how to stick these slithers onto these panels, a difficult thing to do as they are so fine that any movement can shatter them.

Ready for it….

I know, I know I have a great idea … let’s buy a silkworm farm and the silk worms can spin really fine thread, and then women can sew them onto the panels.

OK, was he joking … or wasn’t he?

No-one really knows as they look at each other with somewhat disconcerting eyes darting around the room … How scary was that statement!

Second thing…

The company recently had the big wigs come in to view this machine that hubby built. It was one of the biggest meetings of the year, with all the financial gurus interested in this product and how it’s made. This was make or break time.

Now to understand this properly, this machine sits within a glass cage in a clean environment. And this machine can lay 1 slither a second, then be bumped up to 2 slithers a second and finally 3 slithers a second which has been tested and works fine. They should be very impressed with that. The last machine was much much slower!

Well… this guy decided to set the machine at 1 slither a second… that’s good, 2 slithers a second… that’s good …. then …… wait for it………………. FIVE slithers a second!!!

Aaaarrrgghhh!!!!!

Slithers were being thrown around everywhere, the machine was having a cow acting like it was possessed. And these big wigs had flown in from all over the country to see this!!! Everyones job was on the line this day, from engineers to process workers, as they need to show some progress to keep in funded. Hubby was extremely apologetic, and really really mad because the machine had never been tested successfully at this speed. This is R and D, and you have to work on things like this for years to get it right! Silkworm guy just wanted to show off without even having it tested at this speed!

Thirdly….

Hubby, silkworm guy and a few others were in his office oneday and for some reason they needed to make a phone call. Hubby suggested to make a call from Silkworms office. Silkworm said that he would rather not make a call from his office because he had lost his phone!!! He said that he hasn’t seen his phone for quite a few days. No joke, this is how he had to find it …

He had to find the wire and follow it through all this rubbish on the desk which eventually led to his phone. They are all standing around watching him fumble around under the desk searching for his phone.

fourth….

Like I said this machine is in a glass cage in a clean environment. Hubby gets to work one day, and walks past the machine, and what does he see….

A laptop resting on a metal pole which is then sticky taped to the outside of the cage on a ninety degree angle.

Why was it there, nobody knows! And how unprofessional to have a laptop sticky taped to the glass cage. How on earth could you type like that anyway. He never did find out what it was for! He really didn’t want to know. He just told him to take it down before it fell down, and cause someone injury!

Anyway… all these stories were coming out, and I was trying to be supportive and I did give some good advice. But I have to say that I really did find these stories really funny and laughed when I shouldn’t have. I have a very vivid imagination, and I can just see people reactions to these strange antics.

Well… normally I would post something funny, or at least try to. But today, something different, I thought I would share a beautiful sunset that I saw last night with you. There were two other photographers taking pictures along the beach, so I wasn’t the only one who saw the beauty that God painted for us last night.

Enjoy!

Recently the Vatican released a document concerning the Doctrine of Faith on the Catholic understanding the Church. This document has come under a lot of scrutiny from the ecumenical churches - those who are willing to dialogue and those who want to evangelise and share the gospel of salvation to those within the Church of Rome - that salvation can only be obtained by gift of free Grace and not by any works instituted by any man made system.

The following is an article that directs questions to Father Massa, who is considered an expert in ecumenism, concerning the recent document released by the Vatican. In this interview with ZENIT, Father James Massa discusses what the document offers to ecumenism today, and considers reactions from the Protestant communities.

Q: In your position as a leader in ecumenical and interreligious work, what is your assessment of the recent document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the Catholic understanding of the Church?

Father Massa: I think it is a necessary and helpful clarification on how Catholics understand the nature of the Church. Jesus Christ founded the Church as a visible and unified society that would exist until his return. Catholics believe that this one Church of Christ exists in all its fullness in the Catholic Church alone.

Q: Why is this document needed now, at this moment in the journey toward full Christian unity?

Father Massa: Seven year after “Dominus Iesus,” we are still facing a problem with insufficient attention to the Catholic doctrine of the Church.[...]
[...]Taken out of context, the document’s position on what groups deserve to be called a “church” might also appear to be jarring. The Orthodox churches are rightly called such because they’ve retained the sacraments and the ministry that exists in apostolic succession. Protestant communities lack a certain ecclesial substance, namely, the sacraments and ministry that unite us as one in the Body of Christ. But even the Orthodox, though very close to us in faith and practice, are still “wounded” in their communion because they lack the Office of Peter, the Pope.

Q: What, if any, novelties are contained in the new document. Is this simply a restatement of Catholic teaching as articulated in other documents — if so, why the need? Or does it present new material — if so, what?

Father Massa: I don’t think there is anything substantially new here. But I do believe that the restatement of the Catholic position offers those of us involved in the dialogues to take more seriously what are the Catholic “gifts” that we bring to the table. Pope John Paul II said that ecumenism is less an exchange of ideas than an exchange of gifts. Eucharist-centered worship, episcopal ministry, and papal primacy are the unique Catholic gifts. They should never be placed “under a bushel basket.” @Zenit

It is becoming ever more apparant that this Eucharist-Centered worship is something that the emerging church is willing to explore and embrace. It is often called Vintage-Worship which is obviously very iconic in nature.

Mike Gendron asks the question of whether or not Christianity needs to be reinvented. He has also noted along with Roger Oakland and many others, that it is the emerging church that is leading the flock back to the so called ‘Mother Church’:

Does Christianity Need to Be Reinvented? One of the major influences that is paving the road back to Roman Catholicism is The Emerging Church movement. Proponents say its time for Christianity to be reinvented for a new generation. It must become more relevant to a postmodern generation. They say the best way to reinvent Christianity for the present generation is to reintroduce ideas and experiences from the past. Emergent leaders say God’s Word no longer holds the answers to life’s questions. Experience must become the key factor to encounter spiritual reality. The experiential attractions which are being promoted by the Emerging Church include: statues, prayer stations, incense, liturgy, candles, icons, the sacraments and calling communion the Eucharist. It is easy to see how this movement complements and encourages the Vatican’s “new evangelization program” to win the “separated brethren” back to the “true church.”@Proclaiming the Gospel

Mike Gendron has rightly noted that it is the Eucharist which is one of the main driving forces behind this move back to the Roman Church. He speaks about Dr. Webber’s experience when he took the Eucharist for the first time which is a real eye opener. The article is well worth the read if you have noticed different things happening - things that you can’t quite put your finger on - in your Church and you feel totally in the dark about what is happening in and around your Christian Circles.

There is a tide that is turning, and that tide is turning back toward the Catholic Church, it is being noticed by not only concerned evangelicals but also those within the Catholic Church as David J Hartline has outlined in his book. In a book called ‘The Tide is Turning Toward Catholicism‘ he notes the following:

Did you know:

Vocations Are Increasing!

• The Laity Is Defending The Church In Many Ways

• The Youth’s Faithfullness To The Church, Her Traditions & The Holy Father Has Undergone A Profound Resurgence

• Catholic Communications Such As Catholic Radio & Catholic Web Sites & Blogs Have Increased Profoundly

• A Deep Interest In Mary Is Being Witnessed Across The World

• Interest In The Eucharist & Eucharistic Adoration Is On The Rise

David J Hartline has an article called ‘The Tide Is Turning Toward Catholicism: The Converts‘ which speaks of some protestant evangelicals going Home to Rome. Many who were outright oppossers to Catholicism have now embrased this Church.

This is alarming because the Catholic Church has continued to digress away from Sola-Scripture with many added traditions and doctrines that have taken away Salvation by Grace alone. It seems that the Reformation has been long forgotten in favour of ecumenical dialogue. Yet, it is clear with the recent document released from the Vatican that it does state that anyone who is a Christian that sits outside of the Church is wounded because they cannot possibly participate and enjoy in the 3 gifts that only the Church of Rome can offer. Read again, those gifts are:

1. Eucharist Worship
2. Episcopal ministry
3. Papal Primacy

What is interesting is that Pope John Paul 11 said that ecumenicism is less about ideas but rather an exchange of gifts, gifts the only the Catholic Church can offer. What gift could the so called wounded church offer the Catholic Church? Perhaps converts and reverts all going Home to Rome is the prize!

I have only touched the surface and Roger Oakland has written many articles that I would like to share with you:

• The Inclusive Gospel
• New Spiritual Disciplines From Ancient Roman Catholic Sources
• The Emerging Church: Another Road to Rome
• HOME TO ROME
• THE EMERGENCE OF THE EUCHARIST IN THE EMERGING CHURCH

Anyway, there are a LOT of links in this post, so I will leave it there for now.

Just the other day I went outside, and this is what I saw just over the road to where I live. It was huge, I have never seen a blimp before, so I rushed in and grabbed my camera to take this shot. Obviously this is not a UFO as is was clearly identified as a blimp sponsored by Holden.

But there have been some rather unusual sightings of UFOs that can not be explained away so easily, and I have to wonder who or rather what are sponsoring these unexplained flying objects.

A crowd of 100 stunned stargazers brought a town centre to a standstill when five mysterious UFOs were spotted hovering in the sky.

Drinkers spilled out of pubs, motorists stopped to gawp and camera phones were aimed upwards as the five orbs, in a seeming formation, hovered above Stratford-Upon-Avon for half an hour.

The unidentified flying objects lit up the otherwise clear night sky above Shakespeare’s birthplace in Warwickshire[...] @Daily Mail

Then there is this other recent sighting…

One of the largest UFOs ever seen has been observed by the crew and passengers of an airliner over the Channel Islands.

An official air-miss report on the incident several weeks ago appears in Pilot magazine.

Aurigny Airlines captain Ray Bowyer, 50, flying close to Alderney first spotted the object, described as “a cigar-shaped brilliant white light”. [...]

[...]“It was 2,000ft up and stationary. I thought it was about 10 miles away, although I later realised it was approximately 40 miles from us. At first, I thought it was the size of a [Boeing] 737.

“But it must have been much bigger because of how far away it was. It could have been as much as a mile wide.” @thisislondon.co.uk

Personally I have never seen one, some of my family members say they have seen one. To be honest I hope I never do! The book called Alien Intrusion UFOs and the Evolution Connection … written by Gary Bates explains in a biblical way the possibility of what these things are and where they come from.

Related Article:

• Spooks Infiltrating UFO Community?

OK, this is a true story about my four weird cats.

DJ, she is my anxious paranoid cat who never goes outside because of all the fearful creatures that live outside, she has a few problems you see. Her new problem that has amplified over the last few months however, is with the living room wall. She seriously thinks something there. She sits all day and stares at it and when she has summoned up enough courage, she will edge closer and closer ever so carefully to the wall and start to sniff it. Trouble is, she does this for hours at a time. Yep, problems!

The other three cats were not that interested in DJ’s wall. They know about her problems!

Until one day…

Baby, the youngest, decided to see what all the fuss was about. So, she got all curious, as young ones do, and she has now been seen to sit in front of this wall after DJ has left her post after many hours of watching. But she gets pretty bored pretty quickly as nothing really happens and she thinks DJ is just being her usual paranoid self!

Now, Foo the eldest after noticing Baby at the wall, is asking himself…“what on earth is that baby looking at?” So, he decides to investigate by sitting and staring while no other cat is looking for fear of embarrassment and ridicule as he is older and wiser than the rest. But not surprisingly, he finds nothing!

Now the queen of all the cats who goes by the name Daisy, she is the mother of DJ the scared oh-anxious one, she wonders why Foo with all his years of wisdom and experience is fussed over the wall at all. So, she sits and watches him, then when he goes she stares and wonders what on earth was HE looking at. She has come to the conclusion that Foo is a nut job and that he has lost his marbles literally! Maybe there in the wall and he just can’t get to them! He must be going senile in his old age. There is nothing there! Nope, nothing!

DJ notices this. So, in her mind they have all seen something. This just reinforces her paranoia!!! So, she continues to sit and stare at the wall thinking to herself…

“See… I knew it, I knew it wasn’t all in my mind, they see it too!”

First watch this video of Becky Fisher and these children who are being brought up as the Joel’s Army/Samuel Generation.

(Thanks to Sarah for finding this youtube for me!!!)

I noticed that one of the boys at around 6 minutes into the video was on the floor shaking in a way that is very similar when the chakras are all aligned, this disturbs me greatly, this looks a lot like what happens when you awaken the kundalini/the serpent, and there is no biblical basis for this practice within biblical christianity (sad to think I have to use that term today - Biblical Christiany - but we have always had gnostic and mystic christianity throughout the church age, Paul even wrote about it in the Bible!).

Just google ‘kundalini + shaking’ and you come up with terms like shaking the tree (this could be related to kaballah, the tree of life - more on this at a later date - which is steeped in occultism, Aleister Crowley was a famous advocate of this, and he was thought to be the ‘most wicked man in England‘, he called himself the beast and finished his works with thenumbers ‘666′ The Beast. He advocated sodomy (pederastic) with young boys to enter into the spiritual realm through the different serifot’s to gain wisdom and to ultimately reach the da’at being the invisible serifot which is an empty void - to enter this was thought to give you hidden knowledge - higher or lower denpending on your level - or send you completely mad. It was a place that was used for unification with hidden knowledge. This from Wiki:

In some occult methods of thought, Daat is a gateway which, upon passing through, inverts the qualities of the sephirothic spheres. The idea most likely derives from Daat being situated upon The Abyss. Aleister Crowley described the abyss as such:

“This doctrine is extremely difficult to explain; but it corresponds more or less to the gap in thought between the Real, which is ideal, and the Unreal, which is actual. In the Abyss all things exist, indeed, at least in posse, but are without any possible meaning; for they lack the substratum of spiritual Reality. They are appearances without Law. They are thus Insane Delusions…Now the Abyss being thus the great storehouse of Phenomena, it is the source of all impressions.”

This leaves the impression that being situated upon that veil provides a gateway into “the void”.

Yeah, unfortunately I use to read his stuff when I was young when I was in my early stage of understanding astral activity and enlightenment etc. Other terms are called shaking the inner snake awake and many more that related to the tree of knowledge. The Chakras represent the serpent that has to be awakened to be aligned and uncoiled. ‘In Plain Site’ has done extensive research into the toronto blessing and the similarities to kundalini yoga. Well worth the read if you are wondering if what is happening in your church circle is biblical or not! It is best not to be ingnorant and to test all things against the Word of God.

Once you start researching the roots of this movement you realise how steeped into hinduism and occultism it really is. It is at the very least not a biblical practice of prayer at the worst an introduction into the occult, I fear the worse to be honest with you, so much so that I am going to red flag this post. Even though main stream churches are adopting this ancient form of mysticism as meditation called centering prayer, or lectio divina, this does not mean it is a biblical form of prayer. It was introduced to the Catholic Church by mystic desert fathers who gained wisdom from the zennist monks.

You don’t have to deviate too far to notice the relationship between Kundalini, Chakras, The Tree of Life/Kabbalah and the higher occultic practices, which I have only briefly touched on.

Anyway, I have just found a little bit more information about Centering Christian Chakras in Church - by the way that post I wrote last year called ‘Centering Christian Chakras - Just you wait and see’, was something that I had hoped would not happen in the church. I actually ended that post with the fateful words…What next? I am just waiting for the new fad of ‘Christian Chakras and how to align them with the use of contemplative prayers‘. It won’t be long... It seems my fears were not unwarrented after all.

The fact is, this is a movement that has found its insidious way into God’s house by the likes of certain men. One man who I am concentrating this post on is Father Thomas Keating who has had major influence on the ‘Emerging Church’. This man is in bed with many well known so called Christian teachers, and I use that term loosly. He has even gone so far as admitting that ‘Centering/Comtemplative/lectio Divina Prayer is the same as ‘Kundalini or Serpent Prayer’. Yep…. you heard me right. Christians are encouraged to do Kundalini to awaken the coiled serpent.

I have found an online book called ‘Kundalini Energy and Christian Spirituality‘ A Pathway to Growth and Healing by Philip St Romain. In that book there is a forward written by Father Thomas Keating where he says the following:

This book is the first description that I know of in Christian literature about the awakening of kundalini energy in a purely Christian context. Kundalini has long been known in Taoist, Hindu, and Buddhist spirituality. The fact that this complete awakening occurred in the context of a classical development of Christian prayer makes it an important contribution to East/West dialogue. Given the newness of the kundalini experience in Christian circles, however, any theological interpretation is bound to be tentative.

Reading the Christian mystics from the perspective of his own experience of kundalini energy, the author sees many examples of its working in the lives of Christian saints and mystics. Since this energy is also at work today in numerous persons who are devoting themselves to contemplative prayer, this book is an important contribution to the renewal of the Christian contemplative tradition. It will be a great consolation to those who have experienced physical symptoms arising from the awakening of kundalini in the course of their spiritual journey, even if they have not experienced it to the full extent described by the author. His compelling testimony is a powerful affirmation of the potential of every human being for higher states of consciousness.

Kundalini is an enormous energy for good, but like all human potentials, it could also be used for selfish motives and thus become a source of serious harm. This is probably the energy that is so attractive in cult leaders; they may well impart a spiritual experience through the transmission of kundalini in a way that we do not yet understand.Energy, however great, is only energy. It is how one uses it that counts. Thus the importance of the moral context in which kundalini is awakened. Most spiritual disciplines worldwide insist on some kind of serious discipline before techniques of awakening kundalini are communicated. In Christian tradition, the exercise of the moral virtues that quiet emotional turmoil, the service of others, and the regular practice of the stages of Christian prayer from discursive meditation to contemplation are the essential disciplines. Without such positive preparation and the passive purifications described by St. John of the Cross, kundalini could serve the purposes of the false self and be used for spiritual power plays, to the great emotional and spiritual damage of other people. Thus, for a Christian at least, it is essential that their energy be directed by the Holy Spirit. In Christian spirituality, the unfolding of the stages of prayer described by St. Teresa of Avila in the Interior Castle may be the fruit of the kundalini energy arising under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Kundalini may also be an active ingredient in the Dark Nights of St. John of the Cross.

Oh, and here is what Father Thomas Keating says about the need for the church to have interfaith dialogue so that we can be properly guided into a safer kundalini experience:

In order to guide persons having this experience, Christian spiritual directors may need to dialogue with Eastern teachers in order to get a fuller understanding. The importance of the “Document on the Non-Christian Religions” comes into focus here. The document states, “the Church therefore has this exhortation for her sons [and daughters]; Prudently and lovingly through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions and in witness of Christian faith and life, acknowledge, preserve and promote the spiritual and moral goods found among these men and women] as well as the values in their society and culture.”

Who are these Christian spiritual directors, and from where do they come and what are they leading the church into? Who are they being unified with? I shudder to think, as I personally know from my experience before being set free from this stuff when I became a born again Christian.

Carla may has indeed just hit the tip of the iceberg when she writes:

Not every Christian organization or program that does something in the name of Christ is necessarily in line with the Bible these days. But that’s nothing new. The following examples are just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much I could say…but where do you start…where do you end?

Here are some things I have compiled over the last week, so I’ll just put them all in one large apostate lump of dough. @More Books and Things - A Call to Repentance

She drops a few names and some helpful links, just to get you started.

Here’s some links to related posts that I have written:

• Seven Chakras - The Interior Castle
• What the ‘Emerging | Integral Church’ will involve — Quotes
• Post-post Modernism — What in the word is happening?

Outside articles:

• Keating, Kundalini and Contemplative Prayer By Brian Flynn
• Evolution and the Gnostic Tree of Life “The True and Perfect Myth of the Serpent”

Dan 2:41-43 And as to that you saw, the feet and the toes were partly of potters’ clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided. But there shall be in it the strength of iron, because you saw the iron mixed with clay of the potter. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. And as you saw the iron mixed with the clay of the clay, they shall be mixed with the seed of men. But they shall not adhere to one another, even as iron does not mix with clay.

The other day I was reading the above scripture from the prophet Daniel. And I don’t know if this has happened to you, but I noticed the phrase ‘But they shall not adhere to one another’ for the first time. This of course is talking about the ten toes on the statue that Nebuchadnezzar dreamt about; his kingdom being represented by the golden head on this statue.

The statue is broken down into five parts, each part representing a kingdom; the head, (Nebuchadnezzar’s Kingdom) the chest and arms (Media-Persia), the thighs (Greece), the legs (Rome) and lastly the feet (we wait and see, as prophecy will unfold perfectly but until then we can only see in part).

Nebuchadnezzar is the head of gold as Daniel states, then each successive kingdom is then broken down, with each kingdom becoming inferior by expression of earthly minerals - those being:

1. gold
2. silver
3. bronze
4. iron
5. and then the last kingdom being partly iron and clay. The value of each mineral deteriorates as we move down the statue. (Daniel 2)

The ten toes are from the two legs and this is thought to represent the Roman Empire; others say more specifically that they represent the North/South division of the Roman Empire.

Anyway, as I read the above scripture I was reminded that this kingdom shall not adhere very well, yet it is called ‘one kingdom’ but it is still divided. How can this be? And another odd phrase is that they (the toes) shall be mixed with the seed of men…

Dan 2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

What is with that? It sounds very similar to Gen 6 where the seed of the women were mixed with the sons of God before the flood, interestingly this unholy union in Genesis was one of the major reasons for the flood. And now we have a prophecy of the last kingdom set up with unions; unions that are at odds with one another. As in the days of Noah, does that ring a bell?

Another thing to notice is the word cleave, this is first used in Genesis, when a man cleaves to his wife, it is a union of marriage. Yet, this seems to imply that they shall mingle with the seed of men without being able to be truly unified. Who are the‘they’? What kind of unholy alliance will resurrect this kingdom, as it has some iron in this kingdom (That being Rome) that is mixed in with the clay? (Man??? I am just reminded here of man being formed out of clay from the earth in Genesis, there seems to be a lot of symbolism that can be taken back to genesis in this prophecy) Whatever this kingdom is, it is one that is not going to adhere or cleave to one another at all.

I write this post because as I read this scripture, certain words that I had previously glanced over became a little more intriguing, and I was somewhat puzzled by them. I just wanted to share my observations and my questions. Perhaps you have a little more to say on this subject. I know countless books have been written on the book of Daniel, and after reading it through once again, it is obvious why.

One thing that I do know for sure (that sounds a little Oprah, doesn’t it?) is this - things will become more evident as they unfold and prophecy is fulfilled and has reached its complete fruition. But for time being, we watch and speculate. I think that the book of Daniel is still sealed up until the appointed time when God is ready for it to be revealed.

Dan 12:8-9 And I heard, but I did not understand. And I said, O my lord, what shall be the end of these things? And He said, Go, Daniel! For the words are closed up and sealed until the end time.

Something of Interest:

The book of Daniel, because of its amazing prophetic accuracy when dealing with the kingdoms of the world, has become one of the most controversial books in the Bible. Sceptics have said that the book of Daniel - because of the accurate predictions of past kingdoms having been fulfilled - must have been written at a later date, no later than 165 BC after the kingdoms of which Daniel speaks about.

All except the last one of course, the one that will rise just before the kingdom of Messiah comes from heaven to crush the last kingdom represented by the feet and toes. This is one major argument against Kingdom Now/Restorationist Theology which is clearly not in line with scripture, but if the Church is not examining prophecy then how is it to know this?The following article examines why a later date for Daniel is not accepted by many scholars who have spent a great deal of time on this. It addresses all the main arguments against an earlier date of around 6th century BC. It is a long article, but well worth the read to understand the debate from both sides.

The detailed and accurate prophecies contained in that book have motivated many, skeptic and professed believer alike, to subscribe to the theory of a late date of composition for Daniel in the time of the Maccabees. Generally, the Maccabeean theory holds that the Book of Daniel was written around 168-165 BC. Most modern radical critics hold that the book was completed in its final form at that time, but some allow for parts of Daniel (mainly chapters 1-6) to have an earlier date prior to 168-165. Some say the editor in the 2nd century used certain traditions to compose the final form of Daniel. Others have said that the book has many authors (one scholar says that there were six authors). All of them agree, however, that the final form of the book was completed around 165 BC.

A word to begin, relative to the state of the question at hand. In many cases we shall cite an argument originally used by a critic who wrote at the beginning of this century, S. R. Driver. Since Driver first wrote, the arguments about Daniel have barely changed (Eccl. 1:9) - indeed, some of the arguments that Driver later retracted are still in use by some critics! We shall see especially that, even as some liberal scholars slowly come to a more traditional outlook on some aspects of Daniel, skeptics of the lower caste like Bernard Katz, and most recently Tim Callahan, continue to use stale and long-refuted arguments against this important book.
@The Book of Daniel Defended

Over the last couple of weeks Australia has aired two television shows that have sparked some debate between people across the nation. The first show that I was interested in was shown on the ABC called ‘The Great Global Warming Swindle’ the debate.

Russell Grigg M.Sc. (Hons.) has written an article that examines this particular documentary. In that article he starts with the following introduction:

On July 12, 2007 the ABC (Australian TV Channel 2) showed a documentary film entitled The Great Global Warming Swindle, produced by filmmaker Martin Durkin of Wag TV Productions in the UK, and shown there last February. This was followed by an interview between ABC presenter Tony Jones and Martin Durkin, in London, which in turn was followed by a panel discussion in the ABC studio, led by Tony Jones, with studio audience involvement.

The purpose of this web article is not to take sides or promote any position in the global warmingdebate, as we do not regard this as part of our mandate (see our article Global warming: what is the creationist view?). Rather it is to assess the scientific integrity and fairness of the presentation of this program by the ABC, in view of the ABC’s flexibility in its use of these values in many of its presentations that attack Christianity, the Bible, moral values, Creation, etc.

I thought that this article was very well balanced, and as stated, it examined the scientific integrity and fairness that this program presented as a debate to the general public. The one thing that I do know for sure after watching this show and reading a lot about ‘Global Warming’ over the last few years is this… that the debate is not over, not by a long shot, as much as some would like it to be…“Claims by global warming alarmists that “the debate is over” took a significant hit on March 14 when an audience at a prestigious New York debating society declared three prominent climate realists the winners in a debate on climate change science against three prominent global warming alarmists.”@Heartland Institute

And to be fair, the scrutiny given to the documentary ‘The Great Global Warming Swindle’ should also be applied to Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, which has not come under any public dissection in any public forum that I know of to date…“Michael Duffy (radio broadcaster and columnist) wanted to know why only one side was being put under the microscope, and when was Al Gore, who presented his global-warming film An Inconvenient Truth in Australia recently, going to be subjected to the same treatment”

Here are some related articles:

• ‘Global Warming Is Not a Crisis’ by David Malakoff
• Climate Realists Beat Alarmists in New York Debate
• Global warming zealots are stifling scientific debate - The AGE
• Up against the warming zealots - The Australian

The second show was called ‘The Lost Tomb of Jesus’, this aired only a few nights ago. There has been so much written about this and Russell Grigg has examined this show with his article called “The Lost Tomb of Jesus: Another ‘Titanic’ Disaster”. He also examines the book ‘The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History’ written by Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino, forward by filmmaker James Cameron.

Here is an interesting addendum on the revised opinions of certain scholars regarding this Tomb of Jesus:

• Addendum (16 April 2007): Lost Tomb of Jesus scholars abandon ship!

The article written by Russell Grigg is extensive but well worth the read if you have been left confused about what to believe. The ‘Lost Tomb of Jesus’ tries to put a spin on the resurrection; being one of a spiritual nature and not a physical one:

The authors try to get across the idea that the Resurrection of Jesus was spiritual rather than physical, ignoring that to a Jew, a non-physical resurrection was an oxymoron.9 In support of this they write, ‘The author of Luke wrote almost apologetically, acknowledging at the start that all of this sounds strange but that this is how it appears to have happened. Read your Luke and John and you’ll see what I mean’ (pp. 70–71).

This is deliberate spin. Luke addresses his Gospel to a nobleman named Theophilus and what he actually says concerning the eyewitnesses to Jesus is: ‘Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed’ (Luke 1:1–4). Notice the keywords: ‘eyewitnesses’, ‘perfect understanding’, ‘orderly account’, and ‘know the certainty’. Archaeologists such as Sir William Mitchell Ramsay (1851–1939) have shown by careful research that Luke was a historian of the first rank, so accurate and professional was his approach to his work.10

The Apostle John likewise gives the reason why he wrote his Gospel, as follows: ‘And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name’ (John 20:30–31). Yes, do indeed read your Luke and your John, and you will see what we mean!

I for one am not a doubting Thomas because I do believe in the physical resurrection. The bible says the following concerning the physical resurrection of Jesus…

Joh 20:24-29 But Thomas, one of the Twelve, the one called Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. Then the other disciples said to him, We have seen the Lord. But he said to them, Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hands, and thrust my finger into the mark of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe, never!

And after eight days, His disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. The door having been locked, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said, Peace to you. Then He said to Thomas, Bring your finger here and see My hands, and bring your hand and thrust into My side, and be not unbelieving, but believing.

And Thomas answered and said to Him, My Lord and my God!

Jesus said to him, Because you have seen Me, Thomas, you have believed. Blessed are the ones not seeing, and believing.

I haven’t been myself lately. This time of year is always hard on me. My first born son would have been 22 years old had he been born alive.

Twenty two years ago today, I gave birth to a little boy called Mathew Paul. He was stillborn. I carried him to full term, and I only found out that he had died in the womb in the last stages of labour. It was a difficult birth knowing that I would not hear my baby cry ever in my life time. There was no reason for the death, which is quite often the case.

Recently in Australia there has been some controversial handling of body tissue taken from babies. For a time a lot of babies were not buried with all their organs because their organs were held back in the name of science without parental knowledge. Mathew was one of them. It was only recently that I have found out about this, and I was given the autopsy report on Mathew for the first time ever since his death and birth. I could have taken class action against the hospitals and government involved as many other parents have done so, and these parents have been awarded money for their compensation. But I couldn’t put a price on a life that I never knew. There are other things that have happened. Some parents have had their babies names put on a memorial in one of the hospitals, I couldn’t do that either. I am not sure why really.

I feel very alone in this when I go through it, but I do know that there are others out there who have lost a baby through stillbirth. It isn’t altoghether an uncommon thing to happen, but it is a burden that woman share silently and with tears when nobody is looking.

I know I haven’t posted anything recently … I have just not had the inclination to do so… I guess I had what you could call, bloggers block! But I have been doing some research on a lead that Sarah has given me.

Anyway, after I had submitted all of your comments on the Friday Funny post, I did say to Sarah that I would research something that she thought I would be interested in. That something is about Hillsong, which leads me to speak about Pentecostalism and the Prosperity Gospel.

Increasingly the Prosperity Gospel is becoming Dominionist in its doctrines, and the line between separation of Church and State is becoming all the more blurred here in Australia — clearly this has happened in Americal already. With the rise of The Family First party and their affiliation with AoG churches such as Hillsong and Paradise Community Church this line of separation is slowly disappearing. Ironically, the AoG official statment regarding politics says this about the separation of Church and State.

Historically, when the church has become involved in partisan politics, the outcome has been disastrous for both the kingdom of God and the system of government it promoted or attacked. The essence of the church is not earthly and temporal, but spiritual and eternal (John 18:36). The priority of the church is to preach Christ exclusively (1 Corinthians 2:2). The mission of the church is to proclaim the gospel (Matthew 28:19).[…] [p]olitical affiliation, by its very nature, divides people into competing groups. There is no room for such division in the church. Therefore the church must never promote any party or system that would be divisive to the body of Christ, but rather contend for the faith that unites every tribe and tongue and people and nation into one glorious Church.

As I read this statement again, I notice for the first time … the church must never promote any party or system … but rather contend for the faith that unites every tribe and tongue and people and nation into one glorious Church. Into one glorious Church sounds harmless enough at first — but when the main-stream world wide evangelical church has lost the original gospel message by pushing a prosperity gospel instead of a repentant salvation gospel then is that Church glorious by God’s standards, or by mans? A churches doctrine is most important, Paul spoke a lot about correct doctrine, and warned against unsound doctrine. And from people I know personally, the salvific gospel has been sidelined in favour for a watered down non-offensive gospel in these mega-churches.

In a comment Sarah made recently she told me about a very interesting interview on the Andrew Denton Show, Enough Rope. The interview was with a lady called Tanya Levin who recently wrote a book called ‘People in Glass Houses - An insider’s story of a life in and out of Hillsong‘.

She raises some very interesting issues, here is part of the transcript:

ANDREW DENTON: You raise a number of questions about Hillsong Church in it and one of those is about prosperity theology, which is probably best summed up and the title of this book by Brian Houston ‘You Need More Money.’ Can you explain to us what ‘prosperity theology’ is?

TANYA LEVIN: Prosperity theology is the belief, the absolute belief, that according to the bible, according to the verses in the bible, God wants you to be rich. He wants you to have prosperity in every area of your life, particularly your finances. And that to not be that way is actually to be disobedient to the word of God.

ANDREW DENTON: Why would God want you to be rich, what does that achieve?

TANYA LEVIN: You know, if the Christians can have all the wealth then they can redistribute it as they wish to. You know, to the areas of poverty that they want to distribute it to, the areas of need that they see fit.
TANYA LEVIN: It’s very abstract. 60 per cent of their money goes towards helping people directly, that could mean any number of things.

ANDREW DENTON: Do you do you suspect ah that under closer scrutiny, that there is something questionable, ah the way Hillsong operates?

TANYA LEVIN: I can’t argue that there’s anything questionable. What I can argue that is questionable, is the lack of transparency. So, you know, as much as they might say their books are open, everybody that I’ve interviewed who has asked to have a look at the books is told that they’ve got a bad attitude or they’ve got doubts and therefore we get back to the story of sin and doubt so.

According to Cult Information and Family Support Inc. — CIFS – they say the following in regards to the tax free income of Hillsong and the lack of transparency that is definately there:

Traditional congregations are declining, but Hillsong attendance soared by 13% in recent years. Original Hillsong recordings are No 1 sellers on global Christian music charts.

Music royalties and CD sales, and other merchandise made $15.5m for the church in 2005. The flock is encouraged to give 10% of their pre-tax salary to the church. Hillsong accepted more than $17m in tithes and donations in 2005, part of a revenue topping $50m, all tax-free. Church services and programs don’t come cheap. Hillsong spent $20.9m on them and only $3.6m on missions and overseas aid. March 7, 2007

Not only that, but According to Adele Ferguson, Pentecostal Churches are not waiting to inherit the Earth. They are taking it now tax-free. (PDF File)

After the show aired they opened a forum for people to comment on:

As a former Pastor of Hills Christian Life Centre (1988-90) now Hillsong, I totally support the comments and views expressed by Tanya Levin on tonight’s Enough Rope. This church, as I see it, as a former member from early days in 1979 and a Pastor, and dean of the bible college and close confident of Brian Houston and his family, is perhaps a fundamental cult now. I left because any questioning of Brian’s leadership was actioned in the strongest terms. I was personally alienated from the administration and all of its members after the death of both my parents in 2000, 2001. I fell into the worst depression and was told in no uncertain terms unless I was to come back to the church in their terms there was to be no further “fellowship” relationship or avenues of healing and on going support for me. I knew about the fears of Brian’s father (Frank Houston) misdemeanours, as it was widely discussed from those who left the church leadership, it is/was a great cover up. There are no pastors who have ‘failed” Hillsong who marriages and families have survived, some of us have misgivings about the way Brian took care of those partners who remained behind. Those of us who have left Pastors, Leadership and every day people today wonder about cult like behaviour of this organisation, both within and without. This is fundamentalism at it worse. You will see a tidal wave support for hillsong. You will not here about the lives shattered by this man and his quest, a man who in a more transparent society we would see as a risk. They end up being caught out by some tax scandal, (and there are any number I was privy too). I applaud Tanya Levin, her book that has been an Everest to publish, her life has suffered the worse form of outcast and isolation because she dared like Lincoln Hall to stand up when she had no good reason too. I’m honestly sad that I have never had the guts too because I fear the incrimination and hurt it would bring my family. Thanks Enough Rope.

Stephen Grant

Tanya Levin’s talk on Enough Rope tonight unfortunately appears to be very much discoloured from her own life experiences - which has unfortunately left her sad and confused.

The result of our family’s personal experience from fairly close association with Hillsong and its leaders and aherants over the years has been growth in spiritual maturity, yearning for excellence in all areas of our lives and the excitement of being part of God’s answer to a hurt and dying world. We CAN do it together if united behind the vision of the leadership of the church. If we prefer to worship in another manner or atmosphere, then we should feel free to do that but not make judgments about something we really don’t understand. Hillsong church has a huge vision for global ministry that God is using to reach many parts of the world through the use of modern media like TV plus its many charitable arms of service. One recent example is of the tsunami experienced last year when the church collected very generous offerings and professionals were sent overseas from the church to help medically and in the rebuilding of that area.

It’s no more offensive to us for Hillsong to raise funds to outreach a needy world than for well recognised and supported Christian organisations like World Vision to seek support for their many charities. And to do this you need a strong base.

Furthermore, the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Apostles are taught regularly and the congregation is encouraged to glorify God and be active participants in reaching nations and making disciples of all men in whatever area of life they find themselves working in.

Like in all churches or families or businesses, there will be things we don’t all see eye to eye with, but let’s keep our eyes on the main game, which is bringing the love of Jesus to a needy world.
what a load of rubbish. I have experienced first hand the wrath of Hillsong and its subsidiary the CCC. it is all about money and if you don’t have any you are shunned. The members of this church firmly believe that God will provide (money). You just have to look at the offices, cars and houses that the elders of these churches live in to see where all the money is going. Its a pity we don’t have access to their private bank accounts as that would show alot more I am sure. Jesus taught charity not profit so I think you should start rereading your bible.
michelle 31/07/2007 8:23
sorry but you are obviously totally blinded by this organisation. Why is it that your leaders are personally very wealthy when that money could be going to a very needy charity. I don’t begrudge your church leaders a comfortable lifestyle but take the Pastor of the Christian City Church for example and the money spent on his new office alone could have saved a starving population
michelle 31/07/2007 8:28

I have a strong feeling that Tanya Levin has opened up a huge can of worms, and this is not the last word about what is going on in the pentecostal movement across Australia.

As a side note: Tanya Levin’s book has had a bit of trouble getting a publisher (Allen & Unwin was going to publish it but pulled out) at the beginning of the year because apparently a ‘not- for - profit’ organisation can sue …the defamation laws haven’t changed since Allen & Unwin’s own lawyers gave her manuscript the tick of approval before Christmas. Then she had been advised to target the church as a whole, rather than individuals, because corporations can’t sue. legal advice has revealed a not-for-profit organisation can sue. The cruel irony for Levin is that while Hillsong is not-for-profit in the sense that it doesn’t pay tax, it has annual revenues of about $50m, a good slice of which comes from song royalties and CD sales and is enough to keep a for-profit company in the black. @Cult Information and Family Support Inc.

Note: This post may be edited as I had to write it in a hurry… sorry about that!