Metanoia – Part 1

I have often pointed out in some of my previous comments that the most dangerous deception by far is not an outright lie but a lie garbed in the truth. I have also reiterated again and again that the emergent fraternity have truly mastered the ability to pin new meanings on well-known biblical words and thereby twisting or completely changing the Gospel message. One such word is “Metanoia”  (repent). Ron Martoia who recently visited South Africa defines the word “repent” (“metanoia”) in Mark 1:14-15 as follows here:

Think about Jesus’ opening sermon picked up from John the Baptist…

Reorient your lives (repent, some have suggested “move beyond your mind”) the Kingdom of God is the framework you need to see right now!

(Metanoia in the context of theological discussion, where it is often used, is usually interpreted to mean repentance. However, some people argue that the word should be interpreted more literally to denote changing one’s mind, in the sense of embracing thoughts beyond its present limitations or thought patterns (an interpretation which is compatible with the denotative meaning of repentance but replaces its negative connotation with a positive one, focusing on the superior state being approached rather than the inferior prior state being departed from).

The word “metanoia” does indeed mean “to change your mind for the better” but Martoia, like so many other emergent scholars and preachers, deliberately dissect it from the biblical reasoning that man needs to escape his lost and sinful status (and the righteous judgements of God) by a voluntary and intentional adjustment of his mind with regard to his understanding of who God is and who he (mankind) is in the light of God’s Word. A biblical knowledge of God (i.e. God’s own revelation of his character, i.e. his holiness, divine love, goodness, mercy, and his righteous judgments) form the basis for true repentance and salvation. Hence Jesus’ words in John 17:10:

John 17:3 And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent. (Emphasis added)

To know or understand Him, in biblical terms, is not just a “know of Him” or to have a “superficial knowledge” of Him. The Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well was well acquainted with the Messiah who is the Christ (the anointed of God) and who was to come and tell them all things (teach them the Way of God) (John 4). And yet she was like a parched desert who desperately needed the Living Water He alone was capable of giving her. The Living Water is there for the asking but most people never learn to know Him because they never ask Him to give them the Living Water. Listen again what Jesus said to the woman:

John 4:10 Jesus answered her, If you had only known and had recognized God’s gift and Who this is that is saying to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him [instead] and He would have given you living water.

Who would you ask to represent you in a court of law when you’d been apprehended for breaking the law? A mechanic? . . .  A medical doctor? . . .  A politician? Of course you wouldn’t ask any of the latter to plead your case in court because they would all make a wonderful mess of everything, especially the politician. It is glaringly obvious that you would ask a lawyer or an advocate to present you because you know that they alone are equal to such a daunting task. Evidently knowledge, and particularly the “metanoia” knowledge, translates into an “asking, for it is in the “asking” that one expresses his/her desperate need of something they do not have. The Samaritan woman was desperately in need of the Living Water but sadly she did not know it; she haughtily and self-righteously argued that the Samaritans were just as religious and pious as the Jews who worshipped in Jerusalem, until Jesus gently and courteously showed her that “religiosity” was not her problem. Her problem was that she was living in sin. She already had five husbands and the one with whom she was living then was not her husband. “Wow!, this man is a real prophet because He knows my deepest secrets and has told me everything that I had ever done. He must be the Christ,” she excitedly told her fellow Samaritans. Jesus Christ, the Anointed of God, knows your deepest secrets (every single one of them) but have you ever asked Him to give you the Living Water? If you hadn’t, please do not procrastinate; procrastination is the best way to pave your way all the way to hell.

Many Calvinists have taken me to task for my unreserved critique of their unbiblical doctrine of predestination. Nonetheless, Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman clearly shows that sinful man needs to ask Him for the Living Water. He will never monergistically pour it down your throat.

The “metanoia” (changing of one’s mind) is never a superficial, self-induced exercise, transforming your reality from negative thought patterns to positive thought patterns. That’s pure New Age teaching. True repentance (“metanoia”) is a deeply heartfelt acknowledgment that you are guilty of breaking every single one of God’s laws and that you deserve to be judged and found guilty by the two-edged Sword of the Spirit (Hebrews 12:2), so much so that  the convicted sinner cries out: “God be merciful to me a sinner.” A true “metanoia” casts itself wholeheartedly and willingly on the unmerited mercies of God. King David knew this and therefore cried out in complete abandonment: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.” (Psalm 51).

Contrary to the biblical meaning of “metanoia” Ron Martoia and his fellow-emergents in South Africa deliberately steer way from terms like “sin,” “being lost,” and “righteous judgements.” In their view they are all but negative connotations you can overcome by replacing them with positive thought patterns . . . by “embracing thoughts beyond your present limitations or thought patterns.” As I’ve already pointed out, this is pure New Age teaching, asserting  that you can change your reality by changing your negative thought patterns to positive ones, and guess how this is accomplished? Well, of course through meditation, contemplative prayer and silence. The following excerpt comes from a site that promotes meditation as a means to change your negative thought patterns to positive ones.

The chanting of repetitious words, songs and mantras of any culture, as well as focusing the attention on an outer or inner image, mandala or candle flame, are most often used as a means to assist the practitioner with their desire to transcend the general field or train of thought-forms, and to interrupt its perpetual presence in the conscious thinking mind. Yet these activities and practices which developed from and are more suited to past generations, only penetrate to the surface levels of spiritual experience and transformation of act and attitude, leaving the deepest of today’s needs undiscovered, non-confronted and unresolved. . . .

Thoughts, in order to lose their hold on us, must be understood for what they really are; the result of emotional needs and desires on the many levels of our being. There exists a constructive healthy mode of thinking and an unhealthy destructive mode of thinking, and it is meditation’s true purpose and responsibility to bring an individual to a clear understanding and definition of that difference of mind and thought patterns.

The function of a healthy mind is to entertain thought as the vehicle for inspired inner direction and motivation. Thus the meditation process encourages the capacity of the discriminating mind to develop a continuous discerning perspective; the purpose of which is to clarify which thought patterns are worthy of support from those that are not desirable.

Willem Nicol, one of South Africa’s leading gurus in “Christian meditation” and contemplative prayer is one of the foremost promoters of “silent” worship in our country who uses a candle in his church on which his congregants focus when they meditate. The practice of silence is as old as antiquity itself. Rev. Hislop, the author of “The Two Babylons” says the following in Chapter 2, Section 2 under the heading “The Mother and Child, and the Original of the Child”

. . . according to the genius of the mystic system of Chaldea, which was to a large extent founded on double meanings, that which, to the eyes of men in general, was only zero, “a circle,” was understood by the initiated to signify zero, “the seed.” Now, viewed in this light, the triune emblem of the supreme Assyrian divinity shows clearly what had been the original patriarchal faith. First, there is the head of the old man; next, there is the zero, or circle, for “the seed”; and lastly, the wings and tail of the bird or dove;[1] showing, though blasphemously, the unity of Father, Seed, or Son, and Holy Ghost.

While this had been the original way in which Pagan idolatry had represented the Triune God, and though this kind of representation had survived to Sennacherib’s time, yet there is evidence that, at a very early period, an important change had taken place in the Babylonian notions in regard to the divinity; and that the three persons had come to be, the Eternal Father, the Spirit of God incarnate in a human mother [Semiramis. wife of Nimrod], and a Divine Son [Tammuz], the fruit of that incarnation.

While this was the theory, the first person in the Godhead was practically overlooked. As the Great Invisible, taking no immediate concern in human affairs, he was “to be worshipped through silence alone,” that is, in point of fact, he was not worshipped by the multitude at all. The same thing is strikingly illustrated in India at this day.

The present-day mysticism in the Emergent Church can therefore be traced back much further than the popular notion that it had its origin in the Roman Catholic Church and in particular the Desert Fathers; they all have their origin in Babylon. In fact, the Book of Revelation repeatedly affirms that a Babylonian system of worship, not unlike the one that introduced the idolatrous worship of Mother and Child in the Babylon of antiquity, will once again be the religious system of the entire world and it will be known as MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH (Revelation 17:5). Her fall, however, will be great according to Revelation 18

Revelation 18: 2, 10, 21 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. . . . Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.  . . .  And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

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[1] From the statement in Genesis 1:2, that “the Spirit of God fluttered on the face of the deep” (for that is the expression in the original), it is evident that the dove had very early been a Divine emblem for the Holy Spirit.

My favourite, highly dangerous quotes

The deadly downward spiral into apostasy is escalating at a furious pace and the Emergent Church via the e-church in South Africa is making a grand contribution to the end-time falling away.

My favourite and highly dangerous quotes come from the lips of a man who is known to be one of the greatest missionaries of all time, Paul of Tarsus. He said:

Galatians 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to and different from that which we preached to you, let him be accursed (anathema, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment)!

2 Thessalonians 2:9-11 The coming [of the lawless one, the antichrist] is through the activity and working of Satan and will be attended by great power and with all sorts of [pretended] miracles and signs and delusive marvels – [all of them] lying wonders – And by unlimited seduction to evil and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing (going to perdition) because they did not welcome the Truth but refused to love it that they might be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a misleading influence, a working of error and a strong delusion to make them believe what is false,

So what’s the point? . . . you may ask. We’ve heard you quote these passage from Scripture on several occasions in the past. The point is that Stephan Joubert of e-church fame has begun to write a series of commentaries on 17 September which he entitles “My favourite, highly dangerous quotes. The theologians he quotes indicate that he is not too concerned about Paul’s severe warning. In part 1 of this series he quotes the German biblical scholar of the pervious century, Ernst Käsemann, who was a student of the liberal theologian, Rudolph Bultmann. Stephan quotes Käsemann’s famous words:

People and institutions do not like to be kept continually on the alert, and they have constantly devised screens to protect themselves from too much heat­. In fact, they have even managed to reduce Jesus’ red-hot message, which promised to kindle a fire throughout the world, to room temperature.”

I can understand why Stephan Joubert singles this out as one of his favourite quotes, especially when you take into account that he is forever comparing himself and his emergent buddies with the so-called institutionalized church. It is also no strange thing that he and his contemplative buddies always end up with the certificates, diplomas and rewards of excellence while the others resemble gloomy and cold thermostats whose mediocrity follows them wherever they go. This is what he had to say about them.

From the time of the early church we are stuck with living thermostats in churches. These spiritual thermostats, including sleepy church leaders and agnostic theologians, want a safe, convenient Jesus. Therefore, they constantly regulate the Jesus story’s temperature to make him predicable. In this process they’ve “domesticated” the real Jesus and his teaching on the kingdom of God.

Frankly, the dangers facing the Bride Of Christ are not present in agnosticism, atheism, the institutionalized church, other religions or even in Satanism. The most sordid dangers are in the ranks of the Emergent Church, the reason being that they are not spreading the “red-hot” message of the Jesus Christ of the Bible (as we’ve seen expounded in Paul’s quotes above) but another Jesus who is imitating the real Jesus. Be my guest and read their articles and commentaries on their blogs and websites. They hardly or ever mention the necessity to receive forgiveness for your sins (through repentance and faith in the Gospel) in order to be saved but are ceaselessly trying to usher in the Kingdom of God here an now. And how do they propose to do that? – not by the preaching of the unadulterated Gospel of Jesus Christ but by teaching their congregants, with the help of the much esteemed gurus of contemplative disciplines such as Willem Nicol, Johan Geyser, Carel Anthonissen and others, how to enter into the very presence of God through the practice of silence. By the by, the only kingdom they are ushering in is the kingdom of Antichrist whose main aim it will be to unite all religions and to sit as their god in their newly erected temple of global unity.

In one of my very first comments since I started my blog I stated that association to a very large degree mirrors your faith or belief system, especially when you get into the habit of quoting the people with whom you don’t mind to be associated with. Stephan’s liberal use of a quote by Ernst Käsemann proves just that. As Stephan mentioned, he was a student of the liberal New Testament theologian, Rudolph Bultmann, in the previous century but what he failed to mention is that Bultmann did not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a literal, historical event but merely as a culturally and spiritually conceived event in the minds of his disciples. He admitted that:-

“An historical fact which involves a resurrection from the dead is utterly inconceivable,” (1)

Although Ernst Käsemann rejected his mentor’s belief in a non-literal, spiritual resurrection of Jesus, he did as an adherent to the second quest for the historical Jesus together with Philipp Vielhauer and Hans Conzelmann reconstruct a non-eschatological and non-apocalyptic historical Jesus which equally violates the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In stead he emphasized the present “here and now” nature of the reign (Kingdom) of God. The “here and now” theory of the Kingdom of God must of necessity deny the literal futuristic contents of the Book of Revelation.

Stephan happily quotes Ernst Käsemann who said that people and institutions have managed to reduce Jesus’ red-hot message to room temperature. Now, that’s a very broad statement, especially when Stephan fails to define Jesus’ red-hot message. Could he perhaps have informally referred to Jesus following words?

John 8:21 & 24 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. . . . That is why I told you that you will die in (under the curse of) your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He [Whom I claim to be--if you do not adhere to, trust in, and rely on Me], you will die in your sins.

Matthew 8:11-12 I tell you, many will come from east and west, and will sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, While the sons and heirs of the kingdom will be driven out into the darkness outside, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth

Stephan Joubert and his emergent cohorts are so busy trying to usher in the Kingdom of God here and now that they have forgotten what the main prerequisite is for entering into God’s Kingdom. The red-hot message of Jesus boils down to one thing: If you do not repent and believe the Gospel as we find it expounded in Scripture you will never see the Kingdom of God. Even those who call themselves children of God and His Kingdom but refuse to accept Jesus’ red-hot message of repentance will be driven out into the darkness of hell where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth for all eternity.

Stephan, I would like to urge you to start preaching the unadulterated and red-hot message of Jesus Christ.

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(1) R. Bultmann:Kerygma and Myth, 1:8, 39.

Die “armoedige Evangelie”

Jy kan tot vervelens toe vir die Ontluikende broederskap herhaal dat dit die WAARHEID (suiwer leerstelling) is wat mense vrymaak en nie jou goeie dade aan die armes, behoeftges en “underdogs” nie en nog steeds sal hulle spog met hulle “nuwerwetse” maar “armoedige Evangelie” aan die armes en die stukkendes. In sy OPEBRIEF AAN DIE EMERGING MOVEMENT MENSE het Jaco Strydom ‘n hartroerende pleodooi gelewer dat die emerging church sy potensiaal moet gebruik “om die dokters, die siekes en die malles saam te laat dans.” Hy skryf voorts:

Daar is iets van God se hart wat `n mens nie kry in groot katedrale, roerende gebedsbyeenkomste, teksgetroue Bybelstudies, diep teologiese boeke en selfs in ure se stiltetyd nie – jy kry dit tussen straatkinders en vigspasiënte, in plakkerskampe en in hoerhuise.

Jesus het gesê: “Ek was honger en julle het my iets gegee om te eet, dors en julle het my iets gegee om te drink, ‘n vreemdeling en julle het my gehuisves…”. Dit is deel van God se plan dat die ware Jesus ontdek word tussen die armes, stukkendes en eensames. Mis jy die nood, dan mis jy God.

Insinueer jy dat daar niks van God se hart in rykmanswoonhuise, seilljagte, gholflandgoede, glanstydskrifte, Christian Dior en ander modehuise, en groot finasiële instansies is nie? Indien God se hart net vir die armes en die stukkendes klop dan kan Hy beslis nie sê dat daar by Hom geen aanneming van die persoon is nie. Dan lieg Hy. Die kernprobleem van die ganse mensdom is nie armoede of “stukkendheid” nie maar sonde wat ‘n geweldige skeiding tussen hulle en ‘n onmeetbaar heilige God meegebring het, en sonde is beslis universeel in armes en rykes teenwoordig. Jesus Christus, die Een wat massas mense met vyf brode en twee vissies gevoed het, was nie juis beïndruk gewees met die skares wat Hom gevolg het net omdat hy vir hulle iets gegee het om the eet nie. Trouens, Hy het maar alte goed geweet dat ‘n ongekwalifiseerde goed-doenerigheid aan die armes en behoeftiges ‘n struikelblok vir  die Evangelie kan wees. Daarom het Hy op ‘n dag toe die skares Hom so getrou gevolg het, omgedraai en vir hulle gesê:

Lukas 14:25-27 En groot menigtes het saam met Hom gegaan, en Hy het Hom omgedraai en vir hulle gesê: As iemand na My toe kom en hy haat nie sy vader en moeder en vrou en kinders en broers en susters, ja, selfs ook sy eie lewe nie, kan hy my dissipel nie wees nie. En elkeen wat sy kruis nie dra en agter My aan kom nie, kan my dissipel nie wees nie.

Jy kan soveel kospakkies aan die armes uitdeel as jy wil en die dokters, siekes en malles leer om saam te dans en te toy toy to(y)t jy blou is in die gesig; as jy jou nie verloën, jou kruis opneem en Jesus volg nie, sal en kan jy nooit in der ewigheid ‘n dissipel van Hom wees nie. Dit beteken ook dat jy moet ophou om suiwer leerstelling by die venster uit te gooi ter wille van ‘n self-opwenbare kommer oor die armes, behoeftiges en die stukkendes. As jy dan so intens aangedaan voel oor die welsyn van die armes, dan sal jy verplig voel om die Evangelie van verlossing aan hulle te verkondig sodat hulle waaragtig gered kan word. Ek sê dit omdat armoede dikwels veroorsaak word deur ouers wat hulle aan goedkoop drank vergryp en versuim om hulle kinders behoorlik te versorg. Gaan loer gerus maar ‘n slag by die Casinos en ander dobbelhuise in. Dit is niks anders nie as Satanskatedrale waarmee veral die regering miljoene rande verdien maar nie ‘n snars omgee oor die armes se lotgevalle nie (ja, glo dit as jy wil, dis gewoonlik die armes wat die Casinos gereeld besoek want hulle wil gou ryk word). Indien jy dan so begaan is oor die armes, maak jou stem dik teen die euwel van dobbelary in die land want dit het al talle mense se lewens verwoes. Ek weet want ekself het familie gehad wat deur hel gegaan het as gevolg van die euwel van dobbelary. Armoede is tog nie so ‘n vreeslike ding as jy dit in die krag van Jesus Christus verdra nie. Die gemeente van Smirna was so ‘n gemeente en luister ‘n beitjie wat het die Here Jesus van hulle gesê:

Openbaring 2: 9, 10 Ek ken jou werke en verdrukking en armoede maar jy is ryk en die lastering van die wat sê dat hulle Jode is en dit nie is nie, maar ‘n sinagoge van die Satan. Vrees vir niks wat jy sal ly nie. Kyk, die duiwel gaan sommige van julle in die gevangenis werp, sodat julle op die proef gestel kan word; en julle sal tien dae lank verdrukking hê. Wees getrou tot die dood toe, en Ek sal jou die kroon van die lewe gee.

In teenstelling hiermee het Hy die gemeente in Laodicië ernstig vermaan teen hulle gewaande gevoelens van selftevredenheid, grootdoenerigheid en hoogmoed. Hulle  het gedink hulle is ryk en kom aan niks kort nie, maar hulle was inderwaarheid arm en beklaenswaardig. So-ook dink vandag se Ontluikende Kerk dat hulle ryk is aan die vermoëns om van hierdie wêreld ‘n beter plek te maak, om die “plight of the poorest of the poor” op te skort en om die Koninkryk van God hier en nou in te bring, maar hulleself is blind, kortsigtig, arm en beklaenswaardig omdat hulle arm is aan gesonde leerstellings en die waarheid. Hoe anders dan, wanneer hulle die waarheid in hulle “geheilighde stildienste” en retraits versmaai en onder hulle voete vertrap.

Die Ontluikende Kerk spog voortdurend daarmee dat hulle die oplossing het vir die hedendaagse probleme in die gemeenskap; hulle is ryk aan nuwe idees, nuwe en voortrefflike maniere om die armes en stukkendes tegemoet te kom en te help, en selfs die dokters, siekes en malles saam te laat dans,  maar hulle is misrabel arm aan gesonde leerstelling omdat hulle die waarheid ter wille van hulle eie goeie werke onder die mat invee. Hulle het ‘n baie groter respek en waardering vir Moeder Theresa wat gesê het: “There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic” as vir Paulus wat die Evangelie regstreeks van die Here Jesus ontvang het en op ‘n kol gesê het: “Maar al sou ons of ‘n engel uit die hemel julle ‘n evangelie verkondig in stryd met die wat ons julle verkondig het, laat hom ‘n vervloeking wees!”

Ek wonder of hulle enigsins sal luister of gehoor gee aan Jesus se woorde in Markus 14:7

Want die armes het julle altyd by julle, en wanneer julle wil, kan julle aan hulle goed doen; maar My het julle nie altyd nie.

Die Amplified Bybel lui as volg:

For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you will not always have Me

Jy staan onder geen verpligting om die armes en die  stukkendes te help nie, maar jy het beslis ‘n opdrag ontvang om die Evangelie van verlossing aan die armes en die rykes te verkondig. Daarom het Paulus gesê:

1 Kor 9:16 Want as ek die evangelie verkondig, is dit vir my geen roem nie; want die dwang is my opgelê, en wee my as ek die evangelie nie verkondig nie!

Pleks daarvan sê die Ontluikende broederskap:

Ons het maniere gevind om die dokters, die siekes en die malles te leer om saam te dans en te toy toy. Halleluja! As hulle klaar gedans het leer ons hulle om in stilte te mediteer sodat hulle in die teewoordigheid van God kan kom.

Ons eie eg Suid-Afrikaanse “Emergent Pinocchios”

Die ander Waarheid

Almal wat die kindervehaal Pinocchio ken en ook die fliek al gesien het, sal seker die volgende toneeltjie daaruit onthou waar die polisie vir Fox en Cat arresteer omdat hulle iets verkeerd gedoen het en toe probeer om Pinocchio se arm te draai om hulle uit die verknorsing te help.

Fox: My boy, Pinocchio! Come here, hurry!
Fox: [to the cat] It’s old Wood-legs.
Pinocchio: Oh boy, you two must have done something really bad.
Fox: Oh, no, no, no! Not we! Of course we did nothing wrong! Why, they picked up the wrong fellows.
Cat: Yeah. Now, how about you tell that nice policeman that you like, know us, Pinocchio, buddy? Maybe he’ll let us… scram.
Policeman: Right! What’s all this then, you know these two?
Pinocchio: Yeah. Yes, I do.
Policeman: And how is it that a nice hardworking kid like you would know a couple of bums like these two?
Pinocchio: Well, I…
Pinocchio: [to the fox and the cat] Do you want me to tell the truth?
Fox: Oh yes! Always tell the truth, Pinocchio.
Cat: Oh yeah, the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, little buddy.
Pinocchio: [looks at Cricket, who nods] These two took my money!
Policeman: That’s what I figured. Well boys, that’s gonna add a little more time to your sentence.
Policeman: [to his horses] Aye, get up there!
Fox: Urgh, not that truth, you little wooden-headed netwit!
Cat: Oh, no, no, no, man. The other truth, tell him the other truth.
Cat: [to the fox] Hey, hey! Give me a little clue here. What was that other truth? (Klem deurgaans bygevoeg)

Ons weet almal dat Pinocchio die kuns geken het om ‘n leuen so oor te dra dat dit soos die reine waarheid geklink het. Daar was egter ‘n klinklare manier waarop sy leuens aan die lig gekom het – sy neus het langer en langer geword met elke leuen wat hy vertel het.

Soos Cat in die Pinocchio verhaal wil ek ook baie graag vir Willem Nicol en Carel Anthonissen vra “What was that other thruth? Voordat ek u op hoogte bring van die “ander waarheid” wat ons eg Suid-Afrikaanse Pinocchios vir hulle landgenote en veral ook hulle NGK Ontluikende kerkgenote opdis, wil ek net eers ter inleiding sê dat hierdie kommentaar gerig is op die onderhoud wat Johan Symington verlede Sondagaand (13/09/2009) op RSG in die program “Kruis en Dwars” met Nicol en Anthonissen oor Postmoderne spiritualiteite gehad het. Dr. Willem Nicol is ‘n bekende figuur in die NG Kerk wat Christelike meditasie en in die besonder die verskynsel van “stilte” in kontemplatiewe meditasie onder die aandag bring van die NG kerklui. Dr. Carel Antohosissen is betrokke by die Sentrum vir Christelike Spiritualiteit in Kaapstad. U kan hier meer oor hom lees.

Dié moet ek darem sê: Johan Symington het ‘n paar indringende vrae gevra. Een hiervan wat Willem Nicol ‘n “emerging” eierdans laat doen het, was die volgende. Ek is jammer dat ek my lesers moet toegooi met Willem en Carel se wyshede maar ek haal hulle eerder uitgebreid en volledig aan voordat hulle my daarvan beskuldig dat ek hulle buite konteks aanhaal.

Johan: As ek nou ‘n stildiiens gaan bywoon, wat kan ek verwag?

Carel: Ek dink ‘n ervaaaaring. Willem het vroeër daarna verwys dat ons in die kerke het gewoond geraak dat die hoofitem van jou diens is maar die prediking en dit appelleer baie sterk [op] die rasionele, die verstaan van die Evangelie, maar ek dink wat hier gebeur is dat die Woord funksioneer nog steeds; ons lees die Bybel, maar die Bybel word binne heeltemal ’n ander konteks geplaas. So, ek wil amper sê, mense beter luister daarna en dit word ook omring en versterk met simboliese handelinge, litrugiese dinge.

Johan: Verduidelik ‘n bietjie, hoe verskil dit van ‘n gewone erediens?

Carel: As jy instap in die diens, wil ek amper sê, is die tema van die oggend wat uit die Bybel uitkom, ons volg eintlik die kerklike jaar se rooster, is die tema onmiddellik simbolies voorgestel; jy stap in en jy sien reeds met jou oë wat amper gaan gebeur en dan speel ons gewoonlik inleidende musiek; dit skep ‘n bepaalde stemming maar dit is nie net dit nie. Ek dink dit is meer as dit, dit probeer mense, ek dink, via ‘n ander kanaal nader bring aan die Bybel, aan die Woord.

Johan: [Is dit] dan “chanterig” soos die ou Klassieke tradisie was? (Johan het waarskynlik gesinspeel op die ou Gregoriaanse Gesange wat in die Roomse katolieke Kerk en veral in hulle kloosters deur monikke en nonne gesing word, ek wil amper sê, om Carel se uitdrukkihng te gebruik, soos die Bhoeddiste met hulle dreunsang).

Carel: Ons sing ‘n verskeidenheid liedere, . . . nee, nee, gladnie “chanterig” nie. Ek gryp terug op die hele ou tradisie, van die misse wat Mozart geskryf het, die Kyries en Benedictusse, deur tot nuwer interpretasies van Psalm 23. Ek het nou in Wallis wonderlike musiek opgespoor. Ek het amper al gedink ek gee vir Fanie Smit ’n bietjie kompetisie daar in ons diens want dit raak mense nogal; musiek vul baie sterk aan. Miksien kan ek net [iets sê] oor die liturgiese of die rituele wat ons wel gebruik. Ons wissel nogal af; ek dink Willem hulle doen ook iets soortgelyks. Ons sal redelik gereeld, amper tweemaal ‘n maand die eucharistie of die Nagmaal hou, tekens van brood en wyn, bedien of uitdeel, en dan is daar ook ’n ritueel waar mense gewoon kerse aansteek as ’n teken van toewyding of waardeur hulle ook ander mense bring voor God. En dan’t ons, wat vir my een van die mees sinvolle rituele is, is ’n helingsritueel waar ons met olie mense salf, eintlik nader nooi, vorentoe nooi om te kom kniel, en dit is baie betekenisvol vir mense en, ek dink Willem het dit reg in die begin gesê, ek dink ons ken ’n klomp waarhede maar êrens is ons nie ingeoefen om dit ook te leef en te beleef nie en ek dink dit is wat die stildiens vir my beteken . . . ’n Vrou, wat nou eintlik in die NG kerk grootgeword het en deur al die tradisies gekom het, by die Charismatiese kerke ’n draai gegooi het, het beland by die stildiens en vir my na ’n ruk gesê, dit is nou waar sy haar huis gevind het, dit is waar sy tuisgekom het maar sy wil net vir my as leraar een iets sê, dat ek nooit hier moet “intrude” nie, nooit moet inmeng hier nie. En, ek dink is, dit sê miskien alles van die stildiens is dat daar’s nie iemand wat nou domineer of manipuleer, die hele ding probeer . . . ek berei voor maar dis amper soos ‘n tafel wat ’n mens dek, ’n ruimte wat jy skep waarbinne . . . kom ek sê dit maar vroomweg, ek dink waarbinne jy toelaat, meer ruimte gee vir God se eie Gees om in die stilte, deur hierdie handelinge, iets te doen met mense . . . in elk geval wat jy nie kan beheer nie, wat jy nie kan organiseer nie.

Johan: Sal jy preek? (Johan ken blykbaar die gedeelte in die Skrif baie beter as ons twee Pinocchios, wat sê: Want: Elkeen wat die Naam van die Here aanroep, sal gered word. Hoe kan hulle Hom dan aanroep in wie hulle nie geglo het nie? En hoe kan hulle in Hom glo van wie hulle nie gehoor het nie? En hoe kan hulle hoor sonder een wat preek? En hoe kan hulle preek as hulle nie gestuur word nie? Soos geskrywe is: Hoe lieflik is die voete van die wat die evangelie van vrede verkondig, van die wat die evangelie van die goeie verkondig! . . . Die geloof is dus uit die gehoor, en die gehoor is deur die woord van God.” Ek kom later weer by hierdie gedeelte om vir u te wys hoe onbybels en selfs demonies die sg. Stildiens” is en, kom ek sê soos Carel dit maar sommer vroomweg, dat almal wat glo dat hulle hul tuiste gevind het in die stildiens, gruwelik mislei is).

Carel: Ek, ek het die goed, baie interessant, omgedraai en dit werk, dink ek, binne daai konteks baie goed  . . . die hoofhandelinge is dat ons saam luister na die Woord en dit word in Engels en Afrikaans gelees want daar kom ook Engelsesprekendes, maar voor ons die Woord lees, sal ek seker in drie, vier miniute net inleidend aanwysings [gee] hoe ‘n mens beter kan luister na die Woord. Wat kan jy hoor; wat het dit aan my gedoen reeds. . . .  Maar, om een of ander rede, daai klein bietjie wat jy sê, maak amper die sintuie oop om beter te luister na wat dan gelees word.

Willem: Dit is baie soos ons dit hierso ook doen.  Die doel van die hele opset is om die mense oop en sensitief te maak vir die sentrale Skrifgedeelte volgens die Revised Common Lecttionary van dié dag sodat daar nie na die Skrifgedeelte ‘n preek of iets dergliks is nie. Daar’s net ‘n iets van ‘n inleiding wat seker maak dat die persoon hom reg verstaan [waarmee] jy hom miskien n bietjie nuuskierig maak daaroor en hom dus oopmaak, maar dan is dit die eie, eerstehandse ervaring met daardie Skrifgedeeltes sonder ‘n dominee wat daar tussen jou en die gedeelte kom en “intrude” soos Carel sou sê, en om die volle kollig op daardie gedeelte te laat val, gebruik ons dan musiek en poësie en die hele atmosfeer. Die dominee sit dan ook nie voor nie. Hy’s agter. Voor is die kers en dan gebruik ons ‘n skerm sodat daar geprojekteer kan word skilderye en fotos wat help en natuurlik ook die liedere en “chants” wat ons sing . . . en [dit is] eintlik ‘n baie lekker ervaring van elkeen – direk, persoonlik, eerstehands voor ‘n Skrifgedeelte – en dan is die ervaring tog eintlik dat geen preek kan dit beter doen nie want jy is die ene wat die beste weet hoe daai gedeelte jou nou raak. G’n dominee kan dit beter as jy weet nie, want jy ken jou eie ervaring in jou eie binnewêreld en die betrokke Skrifgedeelte raak jou daarso. . . .

Johan: As ek dit reg het, dan sou die kritiek teen so ‘n sisteem gewees het dat ‘n mens vir die duiwel eweveel kans lewer om influistering te doen, veral as jy die teks nie uitlê nie . . .  die duiwel kan daarmee maak wat hy wil. Hoe sal jule reageer op so ‘n standpunt? (Dis ‘n uitstekende vraag, Johan).

Willem: Ja, nee, ek hoor telkens daai ding dat in die stilte kry die duiwel nou kans. My gevoel is hy kry natuurlik sy beste kans in die lawaai, nê – as my kop lawaai van vrees of kommer of watter ander negatiewe emosies – dit is kos vir die duiwel daai. As my kop stil raak in geloof dink ek hy hou nie daarvan nie en nou die probleem dat die Skrifgedeelte dalk verkeerd verstaan kan word en die duiwel fluister nou vir my ‘n verkeerde verstaan in, dit is wat ‘n mens probeer seker maak met die kort inleiding of as jy mense heeltemal op hulle eie sou laat mediteer vir hulleself nou nie in ‘n diens waar ‘n inleiding nie gegee kan word nie, dan sê jy maar net dat jy moet lees en mediteer oor wat jy wel verstaan en nie oor wat jy nie verstaan nie. Die probleem dat ‘n mens dan nou heeltemal verkeerde gedagtes gaan vorm uit die Bybel, dié vind ek nie. Ek vind die mense wat wel wil mediteer is mense wat die Bybel darem al ‘n entjie ken. Hulle het in ‘n mate met hom grootgeword. Ek dink dit is ook nodig om te sê die rede moet sy rol speel; daar moet genoeg verstaan en kennis wees van die Bybel en sy boodskap. Maar dan kan ‘n mens gerus verder beweeg sodat dit nie net die rede is en die Bybelstudie nie maar ook die belewenis, die intuïtiewe en die emosionele kant van die ding.

Dis net hier waar die “Emergent Pinocchio” neuse langer en langer word. Miskien moet Willem eers weer ‘n slag gaan lees wat hy in sy eerste gepubliseerde boek “Stem in die Stilte” oor die influisteringe van die duiwel geskryf het. Op bls. 97 sê Willem Nicol.

As mens op ingewings wag, kan jou eie innerlike of selfs bose magte ook met jou praat.” (Stem in die Stilte :97) (Klem bygevoeg).

Willem Nicol erken dus dat kontemplatiewe meditasie die duiwel en bose magte die kans gun om hulle eie bose idees en gedagtes in te fluister. Sir John Eccles, Nobelpryswenner vir sy navorsing op die brein, het gesê die brein is ”A machine that a ghost can operate.” Enige vorm van meditasie wat daarop ingestel is om jou gedagtes leeg en passief te maak sodat God kwansuis in die stilte met jou kan kommunikeer en jy in sy teenwoordigehid kan kom, is dus niks anders as ‘n medium waardeur ‘n ander geestesentiteit jou gedagtes kan oorneem om sy eie bose idees by jou in te fluister. Carel se stelling dat die simboliese handelinge, rituele en stilte vir die Gees van God ruimte gee om iets te doen met mense wat geen dominee kan doen nie, is net nie waar nie. Die Here Jesus self het verklaar dat sy Gees alleenlik dié dinge aan ons bekend sal maak wat Hy van Hom gehoor het (Johannes 16:13-16), m.a.w. die Gees sal nooit buite-om die waarheid soos dit in die Skrif vir ons uitgespel word, iets sê of doen nie.

Dié moet ek darem toegee; Willem glo  ten minste nog in die bestaan van die duiwel en bose magte terwyl ander NG predikante ruiterlik ontken dat hy wel bestaan en glo dat ons die naaste aan ‘n duiwel kom wanneer ons in ‘n spieël kyk, bedoelende dat die boosheid per se binne-in die mens die duiwel is. Maar nouja voordat ons Willem voor stok kry oor sy eierdans moet ons darem onthou dat daar nie sulke goeters soos leuens in die Ontluikende Kerk is nie. Dis maar net “’n ander waarheid” soos Pinocchio se twee “vriende” gesê het. Ek vind dit uiters tragies dat die ontluikende broederskap die Bybel alhoemeer minag omdat dit kwansuis teësprekende gedeeltes bevat of soos hulle dit stel die Bybel hom weerspreek, terwyl hulle met leepogies en ‘n afgodiese aanbidding van hulle ghoeroes (soos o.a. Willem Nicol) eerder na hulle “ander waarhede” (nie-weersprekende leuens) luister as na die Woord van God. Dit maak dus nie saak of hulle ghoeroes hulleself telkens weerpsreek nie want hulle “weersprekerigheid” is maar net “ander waarhede” maar wee die Bybel omdat hy hom kwansuis weerpreek.

Carel Anthonissen plaas die hele uitgangspunt en doel van die ontluikende spiritualiteit baie goed in konteks wanneer hy sê, “die Bybel word binne heeltemal ’n ander konteks geplaas.” Om in ‘n ander konteks ingebed te word moet dit noodwendig eers van ‘n bestaande konteks losgemaak of losgeskeur word alvorens dit in die nuwe konteks ingemessel kan word. Dit kom dus daarop neer dat die tradisionele of ou gevestigde erediensgebruike van die Bybel heeltemal ontdoen moet word om plek te maak vir die nuwe konteks waarvan Carel en Willem praat. Ek het reeds vluggies verwys na die gevestigde konteks van die Bybel toe ek Romeine 10:13-17 vir u aangehaal het. Hiervolgens is dit baie duidelik dat God die Bybel (sy Woord) aan ons gegee het om ons te leer en te oortuig wat ons nodig het om gered te word. Die prediking van God se Woord het dus ‘n reddinggewende funksie omdat almal wat dit hoor en terselfdertyd deur die geloof daarop reageer soos die Skrif sê (Johannes 7:38), gered word. As sodanig MOET die Woord van God te alle tye die middelpunt van die erediens inneem, en nie soos die vrou wat Carel vermaan het om nie te “intrude” nie, op ‘n syspoor gerangeer word nie. Sê die Here dan nie self van sy Woord dat dit lewend en kragtig en skerper is as ‘n tweesnydende swaard wat deurdring tot die skeiding van siel en gees en van gewrigte en murg nie, en dat dit ‘n beoordelaar is van die oorlegginge en bedoelinge van die hart? Die murg in die gewrigte is ‘n metafoor van die mens se diepste en donkerste geheime wat hy geneig is om te verbloem met mooi woordjies en goeie dadetjies (soos die blare waarmee Adam en Eva hulle naaktheid bedek het). G’n wonder die Bybel sê dat die mens se hart bedrieglik is bo alle dinge en uiters verdorwe is en dat niemand, nie eens jyself, dit kan ken nie (Jeremia 17:9). Alleenlik die woord van God wat skerper is as ‘n tweesnydende swaard kan die gewrigte (harde been) oopsny en oopkloof om die murg daarin bloot te lê en aan die lig te bring. Juis dan, wanneer sondaarmense hulleself in die lig van God se Woord sien en leer ken, sal dit hulle na die Here uitdryf om Hom aan te roep vir die vergifnis van hulle sondes en hulle redding (Romeine 10:13).

Maar nee, die postmoderne Pinocchios “skree” in die “stiltes” van hulle kontemplatiewe ekskursies: “Weg met die Here se manier om SY Woord in ons eredienste aan te wend. Ons gaan sy Woord binne ‘n heeltemal ‘n ander konteks plaas, ‘n konteks wat ons gaan haal in die verre verlede toe die Woestynvaders die Bybel op ‘n kontemplatiiewe wyse gelees het om hulle in die teenwoordigheid van God te bring (Lectio Divina). Om hierdie “heilige” atmosfeer te skep wil ons as predikante – wat nie gestuur is nie – eerder as huurlinge agter in die kerk gaan sit sodat ‘n aangesteekte kers voor in die kerk ons kontemplatiewe boeties en sussies in die regte stemming kan bring sodat hulle die Woord beter kan verstaan. Ons is nie juis begaan oor hulle sieleheil nie en ons gee werklik nie om of hulle gered is of nie. Almal, gered of nie, kan op die maniere wat ons in ons stildienste vir hulle aanbied in die teenwoordigheid van God kom.

Multi-sintuiglike of -sensoriese aanbidding

Ten spyte van die Here se opdrag in Johannes 4: 24 dat ons God (wat Gees is) in gees en in waarheid moet aanbid, dring die kontemplatiewe ontluikende voorbankers daarop aan dat jy al jou sintuie moet gebruik om die Here in die “stilte” te kan ervaar. U sal onthou dat toe Johan Symington Carel vra wat ‘n mens kan verwag as jy ‘n “stildiens” bywoon, het hy hom geantwoord met ‘n uitgerekte “ek dink ‘n ervaaaaring.” Hiermee saam gaan natuurlik ook die opsyskuif of marginalisering van die Woord van God as die episentrum van sy waarheid. Gesonde leerstelling word eenvoudig net geminag ter wille van die ervaring.

Doug Paggit (die mede-outeur saam met Tony Jones van die boek “An Emergent Manifesto of Hope”) se voormalige Pastoor, Leith Anderson het in 1992 die volgende redes aangevoer vir die soeke na ervaring in die plek van gesonde leerstelling.

The old paradigm taught that if you had the right teaching, you will experience God. The new paradigm says that if you experience God, you will have the right teaching. This may be disturbing for many who assume propositional truth must always precede and dictate religious experience. That mindset is the product of systematic theology and has much to contribute … However, biblical theology looks to the Bible for a pattern of experience followed by proposition. The experience of the Exodus from Egypt preceded the recording of Exodus in the Bible. The experience of the crucifixion, the resurrection and Pentecost all predate the propositional declaration of those events in the New Testament. It is not so much that one is right and the other is wrong: it is more of a matter of the perspective one takes on God’s touch and God’s truth. [1]

Anderson sê in werklikheid dat die Bybel by wyse van die ervaring van mense met nuwe en vars idees beskrewe word. Daarom lê Willem soveel klem op elkeen se eie, direkte, eerstehandse en persoonlike ervaring omdat geen preek, soos hy dit stel, mense se ervaring kan verbeter nie. Die Bybel is dus nie ‘n geslote kanon nie maar word voordurend aangevul met dié dinge wat mense gedurende hulle kontemplatiewe reise ervaar. Dit klink amper soos Doug Pagitt wanneer hy sê: “putting words around people’s experiences to allow them to find deeper connection in their lives.” Die rede hiervoor is natuurlik om jou eie “kontemplatief-ervaarde waarhede” en ook die “ander kontemplatief-ervaarde waarhede” van ander persone met mekaar te versoen sodat die een nie vir die ander kan sê dat sy of haar ervarings verkeerd is nie; dis maar net ‘n “ander waaheid” en kan  dus as sodanig gebruik word om die immer wordende en groeiende Bybel aan te vul. Die sg. “conversation” (gesprek) in die kontemplatiewe kultuur gaan dus juis oor die oorvertel en die sg. inkarnerende deelname aan mekaar se ervarings. Dis ‘n nimmmereindigende spirituele reis waarin elkeen se ervaring saam bou aan die “waarheid.” Daarom korrigeer Thomas Keating hom baie gou in die onderstaande uittreksel uit die video waarin hy praat oor “oneness” met God en met mekaar, wanneer hy aanvanklik sê “There is one final . . .” en  homself dan gou-gou korrigeer met die woorde: “since oneness’s are many, maybe its adventurous to say “one final” because there are probably many more final ones after that.”

Al jou sintuie, sig, reuk, gevoel, smaak en gehoor, word tydens stildienste ingespan. In teenstelling met die geloofsvoorwaardes in Romeine 10 wat verklaar dat geloof deur die prediking van die woord en deur predikers met lieflike voete in mense se harte ingebrurger word, glo die ontluikendes dat geloof aangewakker word deur te kyk na skilderye, die aanraking van beelde of ikone, die reuk van kerse of reukwerk en die aanhoor van “chants” en dan eers volg die Woord. Dit sluit aan by wat Carel gesê  het: “Ek, ek het die goed, baie interessant, omgedraai en dit werk.” Leonard Sweet verwys daarna as “EPIC culture” – Experiential, Participatory, Image-Driven, Connected.”[2] Beelde van Jesus wat aan die kruis hang of groot houtkruise asook beelde van die Moeder en die Kind is nie ongewoon in sulke “stildienste” nie.

Thomas Keating, van wie Willem Nicol met lof praat op bladsy 60 van sy boek “Gebed van die Hart” speel al sedert 1940 ‘n leidende rol in die herondekking en heropdieping van die kontemplatiewe/sentreerde gebeds-spiritualiteit en werk ook baie nou saam met Ken Wilber, ‘n sinkretis wat d.m.v. sy webblad die integrasie van alle spiritualiteite en godsdienste bevorder. Die “EPIC culture” (Experiential, Partipatory, Image-Driven, Connected) van Leonard Sweet word op treffende wyse deur Thomas Keating beskrywe waar hy in ‘n video vertel hoedat die Boeddha op ‘n dag 80 000 dissipels op vulture Peak byeengebring het om die konsep van “oneness” met God te illustreer.

There’s one final – since oneness’s are many, maybe its adventurous to say “one final” because there are probably many more final ones after that. But, perhaps this can be communicated by this story which seems to me the Buddhist writer has captured exactly what I’m referring to here.

In one of the Zen stories the Buddha is recorded to have brought together 80 000 disciples . . . and they met on Vulture Peak and there the Buddha chose a Lotus, as you know, the very important symbol of human transformation in the Buddhist and Hindu traditions, and so somewhat like an Eucharistic celebration he raised his Lotus flower and all the monks and nuns, I presume, gazed upon this symbol of unity and spiritual wanton and forgot themselves or lost themselves in the deepest silence of communion with the Absolute and with each other, and because of their numbers the intensity of this divine communication was . . . unsurpassed. And as this deep silence trickled deeper and deeper into the inmost being of all the monks one of the senior monks standing beside the Buddha,  . . . started to laugh and it wasn’t just hee hee hee, it was ho, ho ho ho; he was just bellowing of laughter that resounded off the mountain peaks and shocked all the monks into a kind of spiritual stupor so that their silence of the spiritual kind was utterly shattered.

He lowered the Lotus, the laughter subsided, he turned to this senior student and he gave him the fullness of the dharma, that is to say ultimate enlightenment. Of course the Zen people never tell you what it means. . . . . That’s exactly what it means when you say there is no other; in other words the divine oneness is so unique, no word, no concept can come anywhere close to it; nor can any experience, even the highest kind in this life and probably in the next. In other words, its so transcendent and immiment at the same time that it blows you away and the only possible response when that experience of oneness has reached its peak is to laugh. Nothing is sacred compared to this experience however sacred we try to make it. It just means, “God Is.” There’s nothing else to say or do in that and yet at the same time this very experience, because of God’s infinite diversity is the source of every true ministry or service or love . . . but the acts are nothing compared to the source, to the love; it just is and is always happening and nothing can take anything away from it, nothings can add to it; it intervents reality that we poor little creatures, barely evolved from the vegetables and the animals, are invited.

What does that say if you believe that? What does that say about the ultimate? It must be that God is so humble, he doesn’t want to be God. He’s ready to throw it all away. Of course in Christian terms this is what the incarnation means. Paul says explicitly the Word of God and the Son of God didn’t consider being equal to God something to hang onto. To hell with it! That means God is so close that nobody is uninvited to this banquet of divine love, no matter who the hell you are or what you have done.

Hope, theolizing hope, is not about the past whether you did well, it doesn’t matter whether you did sins  . . . Its not of future because we don’t know whether that leads in. Its about right now, that God, the Ultimate host, is offering us his hospitality which goes to the extent of giving himself away, totally to each of us on condition that we consent. So in this perspective being is more important than doing. Being is more apostolic or evangelizing, to use those terms than silence. Sacrifice is the meaning of this universe. In heaven the total giving away of all that one has is delightful. In this world its hell but you can’t change God and the dynamic of manifesting this infinite humility of God involves for us the total loss of self – not just the false self but of any attachment to an identity that is not God. And so, if reincarnation really exists, its not us who are being reincarnated but Christ or whatever term you have for God. (Klem bygevoeg)

Willem Nicol verwys ook na sekere fisiese ervarings tydens meditatiewe stiltes in sy boek Gebed van de Hart:

“Daar kan allerhande fisiese ervarings wees, byvoorbeeld ’n gejeuk of tinteling, ’n kriewel in die keel, hoofpyn of ’n vreemde gevoel in die kop, ’n swaar gevoel of selfs ’n gevoel van gewigloosheid. Ander begin sug, lag of huil. Alles is tekens dat daar iets aan die gang is.” (Gebed van die Hart :135‑136).

Die geestelike ervarings waarna Carel en Willem verwys gaan dus nie net gepaard met sigbare elemente soos gedomplede ligte (donkerte, volgens Dan Kimball, verteenwoordig spiritualiteit in die ontluikende kultuur en is ook deel van die Bhoeddistiese en Roomse spiritualiteite. Donkerte dui daarop dat iets baie ernstigs besig is om te gebeur), gebedstasies, kerse, reukwerk, skilderye, fotos en ikone nie maar ook soms met ‘n onbedaarlike gelag of gehuil wat die geestelike ervaring van eenwording met die Absolute en met mekaar waarmerk of bekragtig. Die sg. “oneness” met God of die Absolute en met mekaar word dus aangebring deur hierdie mistieke ervarings wat in die stilte deur fisieke, sigbare en tasbare elemente aangehelp word, soveel so dat dit reeds beskou word as dié oppermetode om die Christendom met ander gelowe te versoen, selfs ook met Islam. Die liberale evangelis, Tony Campolo wat nie so lank gelede nie op uitnodiging van die Moreletapark NG gemeente na Suid-Afrika gekom het, glo soos die okkultis, Aldous Huxley dat mistisisme die “higest common factor” is. Campolo skryf in sy boek, Speaking My Mind, as volg op bladsye 149 en 150:

Beyond these models of reconciliation, a theology of mysticism provides some hope for common ground between Christianity and Islam. Both religions have within their histories examples of ecstatic union with God … I do not know what to make of the Muslim mystics, especially those who have come to be known as the Sufis. What do they experience in their mystical experiences? Could they have encountered the same God we do in our Christian mysticism?[3]

Die hoofdoel van die mistieke ervarings wat mense in die stilte ondergaan is dus in die eerste plek om die skeidsmure tussen alle gelowe af te breek, al sou dit dan ook moes beteken dat die God van die Bybel se vleeswording (inkarnasie) op vernederende wyse afgewentel word tot op die vlak van iemand wat so nederig is dat hy nie meer God wil wees nie en selfs met afsku aan sy eie godheid bereid is om dit hel toe te stuur. Jesus Christus se bereidheid om nie aan sy goodheid vas te klem nie (Filippense 2:6) was beslis NIE omdat Hy in algehele nederigheid nie meer God wou wees nie, maar Hy het sy godheid as’t ware in sy vleeswording eenkant toe geskuif sodat hy as ware mens aan ‘n vloekhout kon sterwe vir ons sondes. Hier sien ons weer eens baie duidelik dat die ontluikende kerk alle grondwaarhede in die Bybel moet herverwoord en manipuleer sodat dit ‘n ander inhoud en betekenis moet kry, hoofsaaklik om dit soveel makliker te maak om die Christendom met ander gelowe te versoen. Daarom kan Suid-Afrikaanse ontluikende leiersfigure soos Stephan Joubert sonder om te blik of the bloos in ‘n preek verklaar dat daar ook waarhede in ander godsdienste soos die Bhoeddisme is en iemand soos Brian Mclaren kan deelneem aan Isalm se Ramadanfees as ‘n gebaar van eer en verheerliking aan God. Dis amper soos Aaron wat ‘n goue kalf gemaak het vir die volk van Israel en toe gesê het: “Môre is daar fees tot eer van die HERE.” (Exodus 32:5).

Môre is daar fees tot eer van die HERE.

Dieselfde gees wat hierdie leuens tydens die ontluikendes se stildienste by hulle ore influister, is dieselfde gees wat reeds sedert die begin alles in die stryd werp om God te ontroon en self as God in die tempel te sit en as God aanbid te word. Hierdie gees van Satan is besig om die ontluikendes voor te berei vir ‘n ander Christus, by name die Antichris en die tragiese rondom die hele ou penarie is dat hulle dit nie agterkom nie terwyl hulle alle waarskuwings om hulle daarvan te bekeer in die wind slaan.

‘n Stil – en leeggemaakte, passiewe gemoed

Die Bybel leer ons nêrens tussen sy blaaie vanaf Genesis tot Openbaring dat die mens sy kritiese denke moet prysgee deur sy “mind” leeg te maak met behulp van mistieke kontemplatiewe dissiplines nie. Die Woord van God sê juis dat die mens verander moet word deur die vernuwing van sy gemoed (Romeine 12: 2). Die King James sê dit so mooi: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Die  woord “anakoinosis” (vernuwing) beteken om ‘n algehele gemoedsverandering te ondergaan, in so ‘n mate dat dit jou in staat sal stel om God se soewereine wil vir jou lewe te verstaan en uit te lewe. Dit word beslis nie meegewerk deur mistieke kontemplatiewe gebruike nie maar deur die Woord van God. Ek sê dit op grond van die Here Jesus se woorde in Johannes 17: 17: “Heilig hulle in u waarheid; u woord is die waarheid.” Petrus waarku ons baie duidelik dat ons te alle tye nugter en waaksaam moet wees. Die Amplified Bible stel dit so:

1 Peter 5: 8 Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour.

Die ontluikende kontemplatiewe kerklui se teenargument is natuurlik Psalm 46:10 wat soos volg in die King James lui:”Be still and know that I am God.” Die Amplified stel dit as volg: “Let be and be still, and know (recognize and understand) that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth!” Beide die ou en nuwe Afrikaanse vertalings sê  nie een “Wees stil” nie. Die Ou vertaling sê “Laat staan en weet dat ek God is” en die nuwe vertaling sê “Bedaar en erken dat ek God is.” Die woord “raphah” beteken nie om jou mond te hou of om niks te sê nie, of om jouself aan algehele stilte oor te gee nie. Die konteks  van Psalm 46 is dat God vir Jakob (Israel) ‘n veilige toevlug en beskutting sal wees wanneer Hy die nasies gaan oordeel en dat hulle dus nie nodig het om hulle oor enigiets te kwel nie. Die Engelse woord “relax” dra die betekenis daarvan baie beter oor omdat God vir hulle sê om nie op hulle eie vleeslike vermoëns staat te maak nie maar op Hom en sy magtige dade. Ons vind dieselfde begrip van “relax” in Eksodus 14:13 waar Moses die volk troos met die woorde:

“Moenie bang wees nie. Staan vas, kyk hoe die Here julle vandag gaan red, want soos julle die Egiptenaars nou daar sien, sal julle hulle nooit weer sien nie.”

Dit is absoluut verstommend om te sien hoeveel Suid-Afrikaners uit alle raasegroepe reeds deur die Ontluikende Kerk en hulle kontemplatiewe, mistieke spiritualiteit mislei is. Mag die Here voorsien dat sommiges van hulle so gou moontlik loskom van die gevaarlike web van mistisisme wat niks anders as ‘n Christelik-verbloemde vorm van die okkultisme is nie.

Ope 18:4 En ek het ‘n ander stem uit die hemel hoor sê: Gaan uit haar uit, my volk, sodat julle nie gemeenskap met haar sondes mag hê en van haar plae ontvang nie.

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[1] Leith Anderson, A Church for the 21 st Century, p. 21.

[2] Leonard Sweet, Postmodern Pilgrims (Nashville, TN: Broadman Holman Publishers, 2000), p. 28.

[3] Tony Campolo, Speaking My Mind (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2004), pp. 149-150.

Jesus Christ’s Plan B

Matt 28:18-20 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

However, my authority and power in heaven have dwindled ever so slightly during the last few thousand years and I have decided to implement plan B to ensure that my Gospel of salvation is spread amongst people more effectively. I must apologize for this inconvenience because I never in all my life anticipated that my authority in heaven and earth would decrease in such a way. Nonetheless, are you ready? Here is my Plan B:

1. Sponsor a school or classroom
2. Angel Food Ministry
3. Family movie night (1)
4. Super Bowl party
5. Resource center for senior programs, etc
6. Host a music concert
7. Block party (2)
8. community festival
9. Halloween alternative
10. Community heroes
11. Christmas nativity tour
12. community garden
13. art show
14. build a labyrinth
15. free hotdog lunch
16. school supplies
17. parents’ night out
18. mothers morning out
19. partner to raise money for a local cause
20. invite former members back — homecoming
21. themed worship
22. recognize special groups
23. pulpit exchange or joint worship with other congregations
24. community vbs
25. community thanksgiving service
26. thanksgiving for singles, seniors, and others
27. trunk-or-treat
28. day camps
29. multi-generational groups
30. crafting, scrapbooking, quilt-making groups
31. day trips for seniors
32. senior adult programs, lunch
33. talent show
34. church yard sale
35. blessing of the animals
36. free carwash
37. make a difference day
38. martin luther king day events
39. english as a second language
40. computer access
41. computer training
42. grief workshop
43. grandparents day
44. mothers day
45. fathers day
46. advent activities, booklet, devotion guide
47. milestone celebrations — anniversary, debt-free, etc
48. achievement recognition — ball teams, championships, etc
49. election day activities
50. county or state fair booth
51. tradeshow booth
52. tourism booth
53. homebound ministry
54. grief ministry
55. nursing home ministry
56. report card rewards
57. skate park
58. soundcheck like event
59. lock in
60. lock out
61. youth service corps
62. door-to-door food collection
63. christmas parties for seniors, kids, families, target groups
64. school recognition
65. college day
66. financial peace courses
67. driving courses that target very young or AARP groups
68. election forums
69. non-profit helping agency fair
70. volunteer recognition and thanks
71. social services, community action partnerships recognition
72. literacy program
73. addiction programs
74. single adult programs
75. single parent groups
76. special needs events
77. health screenings
78. diet and cooking classes
79. book discussions
80. neighborhood inventories and assessments
81. prayer ministry
82. open sanctuary or prayer room
83. daily office
84. taize services
85. community celebration events
86. community unity events
87. community newsletter or bulletin board
88. newborn gifts
89. newcomer welcome baskets
90. graduate recognition
91. community music program for children, seniors
92. helping resource inventory and volunteer directory
93. home blessings
94. weddings and funerals
95. boy scout, girl scout, b&g club sundays
96. second sunday fellowships
97. personalized invitation
98. Easter, palm sunday invitations
99. food, clothing, and cleaning supplies pantry
100. civic club sunday
101. family skate nights

Jesus asks: Did all of you disciples catch that? Will you remember that? If not, you can grab a complete list from me on your way out to spread the Gospel. Should you require more info, please contact Rev. Guillaume Smit at his blog.

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1. Any Harry Potter movie will do just fine.

2. Belly dancing is a must. (Our Catholic brothers and sisters just love to present belly dancing at their bazaars.)

An earthly, sensual and devilish wisdom (1)

James 3: 14-15

But if you have bitter jealousy (envy) and contention (rivalry, selfish ambition) in your hearts, do not pride yourselves on it and thus be in defiance of and false to the Truth. This [superficial] wisdom is not such as comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual (animal), even devilish (demoniacal) (Emphasis added).

Would you say that the following statements are wisdom from above or earthly, unspiritual (animal) even devilish (demonical)? Is appears on the very Reverend Guillaume Smit’s blog The Emerging Bracken.

I’m not sure if these remarks originated with him, but I sure want to credit David Hayward with publishing it. I am challenged to think it over in any case.
Thanks for sharing it together with this painting of yours.

If your prejudice separates you from your brother, relinquish it.
If your opinion separates you from your brother, forsake it.
If your preference separates you from your brother, abandon it.
If your theology separates you from your brother, reject it
If your religion separates you from your brother, renounce it.
If your religious institution separates you from your brother, leave it.
If your god separates you from your brother, deny it.

How are we going to discern whether the above magnanimous “wisdom” is of God or of this earth and even demoniacal? Well, the only way to do it is to turn to God’s infallible, eternal, immutable Word.

1 Cor. 11:19 For doubtless there have to be factions or parties among you in order that they who are genuine and of approved fitness may become evident and plainly recognized among you. (Emphasis added) (Amplified Bible)

For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. (Emphasis added) (King James)

Deut. 13:1-3 IF A prophet arises among you, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder he foretells to you comes to pass, and if he says, Let us go after other gods—gods you have not known—and let us serve them, You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your [mind and] heart and with your entire being. (Emphasis added)

Well now! Fancy that!! God allows heresies to invade the church and even allows false teachers and apostles to secretly come through the proverbial back door to test his children  to see whether they really love Him with all their heart, mind and strength. You see, it depends on who are my brothers and my sisters. There are a multitude of “brothers” and “sisters” who would like to make you believe that they are indeed your brothers and sister in the Lord but . . . . when you evaluate them in the light of the Word of God they turn out to be false brothers and sisters. Listen to brother Paul for a brief moment.

2 Cor. 11:13-15 For such men are false apostles [spurious, counterfeits], deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles (special messengers) of Christ (the Messiah). And it is no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light; So it is not surprising if his servants also masquerade as ministers of righteousness. [But] their end will correspond with their deeds.

Well now! Fancy that! There are deceitful ministers of the cloth, masquerading as apostles of righteousness but are in fact false brothers in Christ. They refuse to heed the Word of God because it allegedly contradicts itself and in stead they prefer to listen to the infallible and eternal heresies of men who teach you things that diametrically oppose the Word of God. Is this what the Bible calls “the mystery of iniquity?” (2 Thess. 2:7)  Where do they come from?

Matt 13:24-30 Another parable He set forth before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while he was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed also darnel (weeds resembling wheat) among the wheat, and went on his way. So when the plants sprouted and formed grain, the darnel (weeds) appeared also. And the servants of the owner came to him and said, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Then how does it have darnel shoots in it? He replied to them, An enemy has done this. The servants said to him, Then do you want us to go and weed them out? But he said, No, lest in gathering the wild wheat (weeds resembling wheat), you root up the [true] wheat along with it. Let them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will say to the reapers, Gather the darnel first and bind it in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my granary.

Well Now!  Fancy that! God allows his enemy to sow darnel (weeds resembling wheat) to be sown among the real wheat. Darnel resembles wheat in every which way. It looks like wheat, it smells like wheat, it feels like wheat and it even moves like wheat when the wind blows over the wheat fields. Ah! but the darnel is going to be separated from the wheat at harvest time. Are you then also going to announce and proclaim the above heresies by David Hayward?

2 John 1:10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine [is disloyal to what Jesus Christ taught], do not receive him [do not accept him, do not welcome or admit him] into [your] house or bid him Godspeed or give him any encouragement. For he who wishes him success [who encourages him, wishing him Godspeed] is a partaker in his evil doings.

Well now! Fancy that! The very Reverend Guillaume Smit is encouraging the heresies of David Hayward. Is he prepared to be a partaker of his evil doings?

Rev 18:4 I then heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out from her, my people, so that you may not share in her sins, neither participate in her plagues.

2 John 9 Anyone who runs on ahead [of God] and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ [who is not content with what He taught] does not have God; but he who continues to live in the doctrine (teaching) of Christ [does have God], he has both the Father and the Son.

Well now! Fancy that! False doctrine separates you from God. Are you going to allow your “brother” to separate you from the God of the Bible?

Jer. 17: 5 & 7 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. . . .”But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.

Emergent anti-Semitism

As if the abominable perversion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not enough, the e-church has now opted for an abominable display of anti-Semitism. On Tuesday, the 8th of September, e-church embedded a short video that won the VFS and YouTube “What Matters to You” Scholarship Competition. Written, directed and animated by Christopher Harrell. In it Israel’s alleged holocaustic atrocities are “excellently” portrayed when the presenter crushes an animated Israeli tank busy bulldozing a Palestinian home with his fist. E- church praises the short film as an excellent video with an excellent message. And they have the audacity to call themselves true followers of Jesus Christ — a full-blooded Jew! They must be joking! The Israeli’s are once again portrayed as the brutal culprits while the Palestinians are the innocent victims. Oh! of course, Israel is not allowed to defend herself when Hitler-arian madmen like the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, call for the total annihilation and destruction of Israel.

Want to see the prize-winning short video?

It’s obvious that e-church has no respect whatsoever for Bible prophecy and God’s severe warning in Genesis 12: 3

Ge 12:3 And I will bless those who bless you [who confer prosperity or happiness upon you] and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed [and by you they will bless themselves].

Do they have any fear of the living God and Father of Jesus Christ (a Jew) . . . at all? They proudly refer to themselves as a missional church. Really? They are using a Jew (Jesus Christ) whom they claim to follow to condemn His brethren, the Jews? The red Indians in America call this kind of hypocrisy “Men with forked-tongues.”

Read more about the Emergent Church’s infamous anti-Semitism here and here. Could it be that God’s curse in Genesis 12:3 is beginning to take it’s toll? The Emergent Chruch is beginning to show it’s true colours in an exponentially growing way. They are not only anti-fundamentlist but also anti-Truth, anti-Gospel and anti-Semitic . . . but always pro-other-religions. Are you prepared to compromise and risk your relationship with God by following these men?

Lu 17:23  And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.

Lu 17:23 And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.

The subtle inhibition or suppression of the true meaning of the cross of Jesus Christ

A review of the Congress held at the Mosaic Church in Fairlands, Johannesburg (4 –5 September 2009)

Main speakers: Ron Martoia, Stephan Joubert, Johan Geyser, Trevor Hudson, Willem Nicol and Gys du Plessis

During the Break-out sessions the speakers were Willem Nicol, Gavin Sklar-Chik, Rex van Vuuren and Annemarie Paulin-Cambell

Huge wooden crosses draped with beautiful white, red or purple cloths have become one of the most fashionable accoutrements in the Emergent Church’s places of worship. Its inescapable visibility on the elevated stages of their churches and congress venues may be an awe-inspiring reminder of Jesus Christ’s cruel sacrificial death more than 2000 years ago but sadly their teachings which is solidly embedded in contemplative spirituality impede and even out rightly shun the true meaning of His cross. At best it has become one of the many objects they use to facilitate and enhance their experiences of an altered state of consciousness during their contemplative or centered prayer binges. Before I venture into an evaluation of all the speakers’ contributions in the light of Scripture during the next few weeks, I would like to get down to the nitty-gritty of contemplative spirituality in my following introductory notes.

In the Presence of God

What lies at the heart of contemplative spirituality? What inspires contemplatives in the Emergent Church to indulge in practices that have their origin in Eastern mysticism? Thomas a Kempis wrote that man will remain restless until he has been united with Christ (De Imitatione Christi, Book II, chapter 1) and others have maintained that man will remain restless until he finds rest in God. This is a sound biblical principle which we find beautifully expounded in the book of Jeremiah and in Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:28.

Isaiah 48 22 There is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked.

Isa 57:20, 21 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, for it cannot rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.

Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls.

Although the majority of people may deny it, man has  been acutely aware of his separation from God (or a Higher Entity as some would like to refer to him, her or it) ever since the Fall. Had mankind not been so acutely aware of this separation religion as such would have been a complete obsolete. In fact, all religions with the exception of Christianity, are man’s own efforts to outmanoeuvre his separation from God. However, there is a vast difference in semantics between the biblical view of separation and that of the Eastern view thereof.

The biblical view simply says: “BEHOLD, THE Lord’s hand is not shortened at all, that it cannot save, nor His ear dull with deafness, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1, 2). It is evident that God wants to eliminate the separateness between Himself and wicked sinners but is unable to do so unless the cause of the separateness (sinfulness of man and his lost status) is effectively dealt with according to His standard and not ours.

The Eastern mystical view of separation from God is that there is actually no such thing as a separation. Any notion of a separation is merely an illusion caused by a lack of a deeper understanding and attitude which you can change by practicing eastern mystical disciplines of meditation and yoga. Your inevitable interconnectedness with God, and non-separateness from him, stems from the belief that “God is all and All is God, and since you are part of the All, you’re part of God.” Feelings of separateness are caused by wrong attitudes in regard to this belief. You simply need to adjust your attitude, turn to God, as it were, to see God benevolently waiting for your return and thus eradicate the illusionary separateness. Yet another Eastern mystical view of separation from God is based on the assumption that when we see separations among people we also see a separation between ourselves and God. Only when everyone realizes that there is one God, one race ands one prayer, as Sufi Sheikh explains, will there be peace to the human race.

God has never and will never accept any effort on the part of mankind to bridge the huge chasm between Him and us. His magnanimously holy standard, and His alone will suffice while all our own efforts to reach Him and to come into and dwell in His presence will inevitably lead to a presence that is not of God. Even the contemplative practitioners, such as Willem Nicol, admits in his book “Stem in die Stilte, p. 97” (“Voice in the Silence, p. 97”) that “evil spirits may speak to you while you wait on promptings.” Why would anyone in his right mind want to indulge in spiritual disciplines and practices that have the potential to bring you in touch with evil spirits? To say the least, it borders on insanity to yield to spiritual disciplines that have the potential of inviting evil spirits to speak to you.

That God cannot and will not accept our efforts to approach Him in his holy presence is already evident in die Old Testament when God commanded Moses:-

Exodus 20:25 And if you will make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone, for if you lift up a tool upon it you have polluted it.

Mankind’s “tools” of whatever kind to build a humanly hewn altar in order to reach and enter into God’s magnanimously holy presence is defiled and polluted. The next question of course, is: what is it that pollutes our humanly hewn “altars?” There’s only a single answer to this question — our inherited self-centered old Adam nature. This nature, of which Paul wrote so extensively in Romans 7, has the natural inclination to think and believe it can please God by doing and accomplishing something good. This reminds me of what Ron Martoia said at the conference held at the Pierre van Ryneveld DRC on 28 August this year on the “goodness” of man. He said that the emergent church is in the business of making better humans which, of course, implies that all of humanity is already good and that we only need to make them better. That’s not what the Gospel teaches, and by the way this is the Gospel Ron Martoia, Stephan Joubert, Nelus Niemandt and all their emergent buddies claim to proclaim. Jesus, whom they also claim to follow, said that no one is good but God. It not only means that God alone is one hundred percent good but also that He is the only One who is able to judge righteously between good and “good.” Now wait a second, you may want to argue, shouldn’t that be between good and bad or good and evil? Nope! God is the only One who can judge righteously between good and “good.” Many things seem to be good in our estimation because it works. Anything that has the desired effect and accomplishes what we anticipate it to do, is good. Pragmatism has done more harm to our societies than anything else because it inspired us to develop the warped idea that, like Robin Hood, we may steal from the rich to give to the poor because it is the “good” thing to do.

There is a continued and concerted global effort to validate and corroborate the “goodness” of paranormal and “spiritual” experiences induced by meditation and contemplative disciplines such as contemplative or centering prayer through science. The entire field of quantum physics is focused on bridging the gap between the paranormal and science. Some very interesting research has already been done on the human brain to prove that man’s perceptions and ideas of God and who He is, is mapped in his brain. In their book How God Changes Your Brain, Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman wrote the following on page 10 :-

One of the main purposes of this book is to help readers expand their understanding and appreciation of spiritual practices and experiences. In fact, religious beliefs are vastly more complex and diverse than public opinion polls show. From a neurological perspective, God is a perception and an experience that is constantly changing and evolving in the human brain, and this implies that America’s spiritual landscape is virtually impossible to define. You can’t nail God down for good or for bad. And you can’t intuit a person’s innermost values based upon their creed or the church they choose to attend. If more people realized that everyone was talking about something fundamentally personal and different, perhaps a degree of distrust would fall away. (Emphasis added) [Thomas says: Only the Christian fundamentalists fundamentally different way of thinking and talking is way off base because it is intolerably anti the fundamentally personal and different views of other relisions. Therefore it should be fundamentally marginalized.]

To survive in a pluralistic society, we must evolve our spirituality and our secularity, integrating religion and science in a way that can beneficial to all. But to do this we must overhaul antiquated religious notions that interfere with the religious freedoms of others. Most important, we will need to devise innovative ways to promote peaceful co-operation between people, especially between those who hold different religious views. In this respect, scientists, psychologists, sociologists, theologians, and politicians must forge new cooperative alliances in order to improve our global interactions with others. (Emphasis added)

The spiritual practices and experiences to which they refer are all related to meditation and contemplative exercises. In fact, their entire approach is based on the assumption that “God” can change your mind for the better (the word Ron Martoia and other contemplatives use is  the biblical “metanoia” but in a completely and fundamentally different way. I will elaborate on his use of the word in a later comment) through contemplative exercises. On pages 6 and 7 the two authors explain in more detail the alleged benefits of contemplative disciplines.

Along with my research staff at the University of Pennsylvania and the Center for Spirituality and the Mind, we are currently studying Sikhs, Sufis, yoga practitioners, and advanced meditators to map the neurochemical changes caused by spiritual and religious practices. Our research has led us to the following conclusions:

1. Each part of the brain constructs a different perception of God.

2. Every human brain assembles its perceptions of God in uniquely different ways, thus giving God different qualities of meaning and value.

3. Spiritual practices, even when stripped of religious beliefs, enhance the neural functioning of the brain in ways that improve physical and emotional health.

4. Intense, long- term contemplation of God and other spiritual values appears to permanently change the structure of those parts of the brain that control our moods, give rise to our conscious notions of self, and shape our sensory perceptions of the world.

5. Contemplative practices strengthen a specific neurological circuit that generates peacefulness, social awareness, and compassion for others. (Emphasis added).

In a nutshell it means that the changing of your brain through spiritual contemplative disciplines such as contemplative and centering prayer or meditation is a very powerful tool to change the world, simply because it produces and enhances like-mindedness, but it is a like-mindedness (unity) that contradicts the unity the Bible teaches. Sadly, however, this is a very far cry from Jesus Christ’s command to go into all the world, make disciples of the nations and to teach them to observe everything He taught us. The emergent contemplatives have an enormous problem with this particular way in making followers of Christ. Oh yes! they have nothing against making men followers of Christ (Jesus Christ who?) but the offence of His cross must be removed from people’s brains. It is steeped in rigid doctrines and as such hampers man in his contemplative endeavours to achieve peacefulness, social awareness and compassion amongst all peoples and their great variety of spiritualities. An observant New Age adherent made the following interesting remark on his site.

Personally I really love the sciences exploring spirituality. Walderman and his co author on the book Andrew Newberg go deep into the kind of territory that could potentially begin to unify our understanding of some of the aspects of religion and spirituality from a non dogmatic or ideolagized view. That is of course from the perspective of their own scientific ideology. Within it though there is a clear intent to explore and explain within the parameters of psychology and neuroscience.  (Emphasis added)

The contemplatives’ main purpose is to uproot every form of fundamentalism (particularly Christian fundamentalism that clings to rigid biblical doctrines and dogmas) and to use and promote mysticism as the crossing bridge of ultimate boundaries.

Crossing Boundaries

Wayne Teasdale sums up the crossing of boundaries through mystical practices as follows on the site called “Council of Spiritual Practices”

Interspirituality is a term to describe the breaking-down of the barriers that have separated the religions for millennia. It is also the crossing-over and the sharing in the spiritual, aesthetic, moral and psychological treasures that exist in the different traditions of spirituality living within the world religions. The deepest level of sharing is in and through one another’s mystical wisdom, whether teachings, insights, methods of spiritual practice, and their fruits, The mystical life, in its maturity, is characteristically, naturally, even organically interspiritual because of the inner freedom and liberation the mystical Journey ignites in the depths of the person. It frees us from the obstacles within us that would hold us back from that generosity and willingness to partake from the mystical springs of other traditions. To drink this precious nectar requires openness and a capacity to assimilate the depth experience of these venerable traditions. More and more it is becoming common for individuals to cross over the frontiers of their own faith into the land of another or others. So much so is this the case that we can speak of this new millennial period as the Interspiritual Age. This development is momentous news for the human family because up until this point humankind has been divided, segregated into spiritual ghettos. Out of this separation has come so much misunderstanding and thousands of wars sparked by mutual suspicion, isolation, competition and hostility.

The Interspiritual Age promises to melt away the old barriers, and with them, the old antagonisms. This is one reason why it should be nurtured and encouraged. Interspirituality opens the way to friendship among members of differing faiths. Friendship creates bonds of community between and among the religions through their members, and community’ represents a shift from the old competitive, antagonistic model to a new opportunity, a new paradigm of relationship that seeks to meet on common ground.

If the mystical experience of other traditions is genuine and if it is on the same level as Christian contemplation in its fullness in the transforming union, the spiritual marriage between God the soul, then one implication is that Christianity does not have a monopoly on wisdom as it relates to the nature of the Divine. Christian theological formulations do not exhaust the infinite reality and subtlety of the Divine nature. This means that we can learn from the inner experience of other forms of spirituality. Christianity’s understanding of God is not complete in this sense, nor is the experience and understanding of the other traditions complete without the Christian contribution. Buddhism, for example, needs the insight on the Divine, an insight won from thousands of years of mystical consciousness. Complementarity is thus the direction toward which the mystical leads us. In this way, humankind can cross the boundaries to reach the further shore of our eternal homeland.

The moment Christians begin to partake in the dangerous disciplines of contemplative or centering prayer (also called “Christian meditation) a paradigm shift “emerges” in their brains that leads them to believe that the Christian faith does not have a monopoly on divine truth. It is for this very reason that distinguished and well-respected people like Stephan Joubert and many others as well as church communities such as Mosaic Church, e-Church, e-Kerk and many other emerging DRC churches can say without the slightest compunction that truth can be found in other religions such a Buddhism and even atheism.

We are indeed living in perilous times when, as Paul succinctly stated, men will have the form of godliness but will deny the power of the Gospel. What is the power of the Gospel?— to gaze intently at huge crosses or candles with the purpose of bringing on mystical experiences that induce euphoric feelings of happiness, contentness, peace, compassion, love and an interconnectedness between all religious persuasions? Certainly not! The power of the Gospel is the cross of Christ and His cross alone. Most sadly, the Mosaic Church is not following the way of the cross but that of Cain which is a Christ-less, cross-less and blood-less religion. (Hebrews 9:22). Their leadership is misleading multitudes into a mystical world of contemplation, believing that they are leading them into the very presence of God but, in fact, are being led astray from the One Who died for them on the cross and Who said: “If the world [including the religions of the world] hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you (John 15:18).

1 Corinthians 1:18  For the story and message of the cross is sheer absurdity and folly to those who are perishing and on their way to perdition, but to us who are being saved it is the [manifestation of] the power of God.

You are invited to watch this space on my blog for I intend to evaluate every speaker’s contribution at the Mosaic Church Congress in the light of God’s Word. My intention is to bring those who have been deceived back to the Word of God and Jesus Christ who warned: “Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.” (Luke 21:8)

Why . . . why . . . why do the Emergents fear controversy?

The best way to learn patience and how not not to lose your cool is when your toddlers begin to ask questions and you have to give the same answers over and over again. Their kind of  questions usually only consist of two words — “Why daddy?” You should never try to pacify them with one word answers such as “Because!!” Forget it! It only inspires them to ask you again — why daddy? The emergent fraternity who are continuously striving to improve one another from being “good” humans to “better” humans never seem to be satisfied with the answers others offer them. They too, like little toddlers, are forever asking, “WHY?” Could it be that they are unintentionally and unwittingly fulfilling Bible prophecy that says “they are forever inquiring and getting information, but are never able to arrive at a recognition and knowledge of the Truth.” (2 Tim 3:7). One of our emergent toddlers, Stephan Joubert, (I am not using the word here in a derogatory way because the Emergent Church is still in its toddler shoes but growing fast) recently wrote the following on Twitter.

weird to see how some show up at conferences only to find reasons to disagree with the speakers and nail them on websites. Why? (Emphasis added)

I have a very faint suspicion that he was referring to two of my brethren in Christ and myself who attended the conference in the Pierre van Ryneveld DRC on the 28th August where Ron Martoia and Nelus Niemandt were the two main speakers. Ron entertained the audience with a well-thought out and truly emergent presentation under the title of “Transforming the Church – The 2009 Way” The main thrust of his presentation revolved around the assumption that the church is going nowhere very fast and that we ought to engage and meet the changing cultures on the other side of the bridge which Nelus Niemandt introduced to the audience in his well-structured and well-thought out presentation. Those of you who have read Nelus’ book “Nuwe Drome vir Nuwe Werklikhede” (“New Dreams for New Realities”) may recall that he borrowed the metaphor of the bridge from Brian McLaren. The bridge of which McLaren has a photo was built by a Japanese company over the Choluteca river in the South American state of Honduras. They were extremely proud of there engineering  prowess. The real test came in 1998 when the hurricane Mitch struck the Northern parts of South America and poured out 3 meters of rain in a very short time. Flooded rivers came down with a vengeance. The bridge over the river survived the ordeal but the enormous flood changed the course of the river and destroyed many roads. The bridge still stands in all its majesty but leads to nowhere. Nelus Niemandt says in his book that this metaphor can easily be used to describe the present state of the church that is constantly being peppered by huge tidal waves. The institutionalized church still stands but like the bridge is leading to nowhere. Ironically Brian McLaren who provided Nelus with the distressing metaphor of a bridge leading nowhere clings to a bridge built on a crumbling foundation because he does not know what it means to be saved and deliberately joins in on the Muslim Ramadan Festival in honour of God, peace, reconciliation and mutual respect for one another’s religious affiliation. Here’s what he said:

“I don’t think we’ve got the gospel right yet. What does it mean to be “saved?” (Read here)

“I must add, though, that I don’t believe making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion. It may be advisable in many circumstances to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu, or Jewish contexts.”  (A Generous Orthodoxy, p. 260)

“Perhaps our ‘inward-turned, individual-salvation-oriented, un-adapted Christianity’ is a colossal and tragic misunderstanding, and perhaps we need to listen again for the true song of salvation, which is ‘good news to all creation.’ So perhaps it’s best to suspend what, if anything, you ‘know’ about what it means to call Jesus ‘Savior’ and to give the matter of salvation some fresh attention. Let’s start simply. In the Bible, save means ‘rescue’ or ‘heal’. It emphatically does not mean ‘save from hell’ or ‘give eternal life after death,’ as many preachers seem to imply in sermon after sermon. Rather its meaning varies from passage to passage, but in general, in any context, save means ‘get out of trouble.’ The trouble could be sickness, war, political intrigue, oppression, poverty, imprisonment, or any kind of danger or evil.” (A Generous Orthodoxy, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004, p. 93).

Well, I feel like a fundamentalist who is losing his grip—whose fundamentals are cracking and fraying and falling apart and slipping through my fingers. It’s like I thought I was building my house on rock, but it turned out to be ice, and now global warming has hit, and everything is crumbling. That’s scary you know? I went ro seminary right out of college, and it was great, and 1 thought I was getting the truth, you know, the whole truth and nothing bur the truth. Now I’ve been a pastor for fourteen years, and for this last year or so I feel like I’m running out of gas. It’s not just burnout.. It’s more like I’m losing my faith—well, not exactly that, but I feel that I’m losing the whole framework for my faith. You know, l keep pushing everything into these little cubbyholes, these little boxes, the little systems got in seminary and even before that—in Sunday school and summer camp and from my parents. But life is too messy to fit. And I’m supposed to be preaching the truth, but I’m not even sure what the truth is anymore, and—that’s it, really, I just feel dishon­est whenever I try to preach. I used to love to preach, bur now every time—Well, maybe not every time, but quite often—when I start to pre­pare a sermon, it’s agonizing and … and people come to me with their problems and I used to be so sure of what to say but now I try to act con­fident but I don’t know. The only thing I’m confident about is that I don’t have all the answers anymore. I’m sorry. I’m not making any sense.”   (A new kind of Christian: a tale of two friends on a spiritual journey, p.12 (Emphasis added)

We, as Christians, humbly seek to join Muslims in this observance of Ramadan as a God-honoring expression of peace, fellowship, and neighborliness. (Read here for more info).

Some may regard McLaren’s frank acknowledgement that he does not have the answers anymore as a sign of true humility but it is in fact an unrestrained denial of Jesus’ words in John 8:33, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

That the professing church, and especially the one known as the Emergent Church, needs to be transformed or reformed is an undisputed fact but their suggestion that the Church (“Ecclesia” or all the believers who make up the body of Christ) needs to be transformed is to me personally an affront to Jesus Christ who said: “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” What HE builds will remain for evermore for it is built on a Rock (Himself) and no tsunami, tidal wave, perfect storm of whatever power or strength, or even hell itself will ever be able to overcome and destroy it. The emergents’ demand for change and transformation implies that Jesus is making a mess of everything and that they need to intervene to prevent a calamity. To accomplish the desired transformation the church needs to be in a constant ebb and flow of transformation (reformation), they say. However, it is not a regressive reformation in the sense of turning back to the old Protestant Reformation but a progressive and ever changing one that has no experts in its ranks (those conceited Christian fundamentalists who believe they have the truth nicely sealed in a box and are forever quoting doctrine from Scripture) but only leaders who lead like Jesus. Ron Martoia made it very clear that the church is supposed to be in the business of making better humans. During the Q & A session I asked two questions that were more or less the following.

“The bottom line is that we should make better humans? Am I correct in saying that?

[He shook his head in the affirmative]

I put it to you that Jesus did not come to the earth to improve humanity but to seek and to save the lost. The word “better implies that the thing or person to be improved is already good. All religions take credit for making good people a lot better but there is only One who is able to save the lost. In 2 John 9 we are warned that biblical doctrine is extremely important and anyone who dares to run ahead of God (is not satisfied with what Jesus taught) does not have God or his only begotten Son. [A pregnant silence follows while Stephan, Ron en Nelus look at one another, possibly to demonstrate by example that silence is the first language of God. The audience begins to laugh.]

My second question was “Would you say that I’m an expert when I reiterate Jesus in saying ” And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free?

I don’t know whether Stephan has ever considered the possibility that Homo Sapiens (“wise man” or “knowing man”) has  been given the ability to discern right from wrong, left from right, light from darkness, good from evil etc., etc., in order to make choices that are congenial to mankind’s well-being and that he has the honourable duty to disagree with anyone whose ideas are detrimental to mankind?. Or has Stephan never disagreed with anyone in his entire life. How odd that he should scold the dissidents who disagree with his friends but never moves a finger when they are in disagreement with God and his eternally infallible Word (sound doctrine).

Imagine for a moment two travellers are on a journey together. They arrive at a fork in the road, each with its own sign board. The sign by the side of the road that leads to the left reads: “Warning! Do not take this road!” The one that leads to the right simply says: “Denver, 20 kilometres” The one traveller begins to argue “I really do not trust any of these signs alongside the road. I have learnt to trust my own judgment and have decided to follow the left road.” “No!,” says the other person, “I disagree with you. Can’t you see that it poses a potential danger to you?” The man answers back.“You are only prodding for reasons to disagree with me. You always disagree with me and I don’t like it.” “I’m very sorry” says the person who is in disagreement with him, “but I would rather follow the right road which the appropriate authorities have prepared for us. So long and fair well!” And so the two travellers’ roads parted for ever.You may already have linked the metaphor I used of two travellers with two well-known passage in Scripture.

Amos 3:3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

I recently came across the following quote from a book, “Preaching to the Heart” by Jay Adams, which reminded me of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11: 19, “For doubtless there have to be factions or parties among you in order that they who are genuine and of approved fitness may become evident and plainly recognized among you.”

In some circles, the fear of controversy is so great that preachers, and congregations following after them, will settle for peace at any cost — even at the cost of the truth, God’s truth. The idea is that peace is all important. Peace is a biblical ideal (Rom 12:18 makes that clear: “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with everybody”), but so is purity. The peace of the Church may never be bought at the cost of the purity of the Church. That price is too dear. But why do we think that we can get along in this world or for that matter, even in the Church, without conflict and controversy? Jesus didn’t. Paul didn’t. None of the preachers of the apostolic age who faithfully served their Lord were spared controversy. Who are we to escape controversy when they did not? The story of the advance of the Church across the Mediterranean world from Jerusalem to Rome is a story of controversy. When the gospel is preached boldly, there will be controversy. The life of Paul is a life of controversy. Tradition tells us that every apostle, except John, who was exiled for his faith, died a violent death. Jay Adams, Preaching to the Heart, p. 17.

Paul would certainly have felt ill at ease in our postmodern society of no absolutes (relativity), tolerance and love and peace at the cost of God’s truth. In fact, he would have been, branded as an agent of the devil indicted and thrown in Jail if he had nailed his two theses on the doors of the emergent church.

Galatians 1:8-12 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to and different from that which we preached to you, let him be accursed (anathema, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment)! As we said before, so I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel different from or contrary to that which you  received [from us], let him be accursed (anathema, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment)! Now am I trying to win the favor of men, or of God? Do I seek to please men? If I were still seeking popularity with men, I should not be a bond servant of Christ (the Messiah). For I want you to know, brethren, that the Gospel which was proclaimed and made known by me is not man’s gospel [a human invention, according to or patterned after any human standard]. For indeed I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but [it came to me] through a [direct] revelation [given] by Jesus Christ (the Messiah). In our day and age of tolerance we’ve become so fearful of speaking the truth in love that the Gospel itself is being compromised more and more each day.

Ah! but the emergent fraternity will tell you: “We’re not sacrificing God’s truth for the sake of peace, unity, tolerance and love. We’re merely taking the ancient disciplines of the Christian saints as well as the truths in the Bible and incarnating them into the cultures of our time in new and fresh ways. Institutionalized churchgoers’ buckets have been filled to overflowing with information supplied by the self-appointed experts.

I don’t think Christians should make a point of being controversial for the sake of controversy. Controversy should be the natural outflow of a Christian’s standpoint on Biblical truths especially when they are confronted by opinions, thoughts and ideas that are diametrically opposed to God’s Word. In fact the Word admonishes us not only to oppose anything that is anti-biblical but to expose it so that others may fear (1 Timothy 5:20)

2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (Emphasis added).

In one of my previous comments I have shown that the emergent brotherhood is prone to self pity. Allow me to elaborate a bit more. Jesus taught his disciples that they should rejoice when they encounter opposition for His sake and that of his truth. In fact, it is a great honour and privilege to be demeaned and disgraced as an agent of the devil (rev. Guillaume Smit has called me an agent of the devil twice already) because Jesus Himself had been accused of being in cahoots with the devil on several occasions during is life on earth (Matthew 10:25; Mark 3:22). If Stephan Joubert and his buddies are so sure they are doing the right thing, why are they so sensitive and full of self-pity when someone does not agree with them? Is it because they know that they do not have the truth in tact and therefore experience any opposition as a frontal attack on their personages and not their teachings and doctrines, to such an extent that they see themselves being nailed on their oppositions’ websites? They are strong words; strong words indeed because they imply that they are being crucified by those who do not agree with them. Unfortunately their self-pity is blinding them to the fact that they are the ones who are crucifying  Jesus (nailing Him to the cross) afresh. Apostasy and a falling away from the truth is equated with the deed of crucifying Jesus all over again.

Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible [to restore and bring again to repentance] those who have been once for all enlightened, who have consciously tasted the heavenly gift and have become sharers of the Holy Spirit, And have felt how good the Word of God is and the mighty powers of the age and world to come, If they then deviate from the faith and turn away from their allegiance–[it is impossible] to bring them back to repentance, for (because, while, as long as) they nail upon the cross the Son of God afresh [as far as they are concerned] and are holding [Him] up to contempt and shame and public disgrace. (Emphasiis added).

And now back to the serious business of answering Stephan Joubert’s ever emerging question – ”Why?” I doubt whether he or any of his emerging friends will listen when I quote to them certain passages from Scripture to prove that it is of the utmost importance and indeed a command of God to disagree with others when they do not regulate their lives according to His Word. Anyhow, whether they like it or not, here goes.

1 Corinthians 2:15 But the spiritual man tries all things [he examines, investigates, inquires into, questions, and discerns all things], yet is himself to be put on trial and judged by no one [he can read the meaning of everything, but no one can properly discern or appraise or get an insight into him].

Have you noticed the “all things”, Stephan? All things include everything you and your friends have said in the past or will say in the future on your blogs, your websites, during conferences, in churches, in your sermons etc. etc. None of you are exempt from God’s command to be scrutinized by His Word to make sure that whatever you say now, have said in the past or will say in the future is in harmony with His Word. Oh yes! indeed, I myself should never be left off the hook when I overstep the boundaries of God’s truth. However, whenever we disagree we should always go back to God’s Word, humble ourselves before Him and allow Him to provide us with the correct answers. You have the honourable duty to repudiate me in public whenever I say things that are not in line with God’s Word, but then you should wield the Sword of the Spirit which is God’s Word (Ephesians 6:17) to straighten me out and not attack me personally as Rev. Gullaume Smit has done so often by labelling me an agent of the devil. Subjective arguments such as his have never impressed me in the very least. What I would prefer for you to do is to refer to passages in Scripture that refute my arguments.

Ephesians 4:13-14 [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the full and accurate knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him. So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead.

From the above passage it is clear that there is an inaccurate knowledge of Jesus Christ and an accurate knowledge of Him. An inaccurate knowledge of Him tends to lead one astray into labyrinths of false doctrine, lies, deceit and deception. An accurate knowledge of Him, on the other hand, provides one with the correct food and nourishment to grow into matured saints who, unlike children tossed like ships to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering, has learnt to discern the things in the spiritual realm.

I am really saddened by the journey the emergent church has ventured to take, a journey that to them seems to be the way in which the Kingdom of God should be ushered in here and now, but in fact are ways that lead to destruction.