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December 2009 news from around the world
Comments are now CLOSED for this post: December 2009 NEWS DESK - To comment with new News please go to the: January 2010 NEWS DESK.
[Disclaimer: Please note that those who are commenting are posting news and linking to
sources from News websites and blogs from around the world. This news is solely there
to inform. And does not pertain to theology. Discerningtheworld.com does not agree with
all the views expressed in the content of the News Article that have been linked too.]
“It remains, year after year, one of the most talked-about and polarizing books on America’s raging culture war – praised as essential reading by major Christian and Jewish leaders, while simultaneously being condemned, banned, and the object of vicious legal persecution.” ♦ –Now hear this! ‘Marketing of Evil’ audiobook!–
“Sheik Tells Children the Story of Palestinian Female Suicide Bomber Wafa Idris, Concluding: Allah Willing, We Will All Become Like Wafa Idris.” ♦ –Sheik Tells Children the Story of Suicide Bomber–
“My father has run his race and finished his course. Now he is in Heaven, and we as Christians have the Bible promise that someday we will be reunited. My heart is sad, but my faith in God is soaring, says Richard Roberts.” ♦ –Evangelist Oral Roberts Graduates to Heaven at 91–
→ PLEASE CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING: News Desk by Bobs Your-Anchor: Dec 2009 THEN PLACE A COMMENT ←
IHOP’S
ROAD LEADS RIGHT BACK TO
ROME
General Healing Rooms
“No pre-registration is required for the general healing rooms. Upon arrival, simply sign up with the receptionist at the front desk. You will then be led into the prayer room for a time of silent soaking prayer before being taken into one of the healing rooms for a time of focused, private prayer. The healing rooms are staffed with teams of two to three healing ministers who will pray for you, anointing you with oil if you desire. Each minister has a separate role in order to provide those who are seeking healing a comfortable, encouraging, and loving experience.” [1] [Emphasis added]
[DTW note: silent soaking prayer is just another deceptive term for contemplative prayer. Note they have silent soaking prayer and then focused private prayer. No wonder everyone is confused, no one just says what they mean anymore. What they mean is this; first they teach you the OCCULT way of prayer (contemplative meditation/prayer) and then you can do the normal biblical standard way of praying.]
Bethany Healing Room
“The Bethany Room is designated for the critically and terminally ill. The same healing model is used in the Bethany Room except that contemplative prayer is used during the prayer time. Contemplative prayer is silent prayer communing with the Holy Spirit who dwells inside of believers in Jesus. This style of prayer provides a peaceful and restful atmosphere while those ministering cry out to the Lord in silence for healing. The one receiving ministry is taught how to pray through and meditate on scriptures concerning healing while communing with the indwelling Spirit. “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom. 8:11). ” [1] [Emphasis added]
→ PLEASE CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING: IHOP – Contemplative Prayer Taught at Healing Rooms THEN PLACE A COMMENT ←
 Who is Mike Bickle
Mike Bickle is the director of the International House of Prayer Missions Base in Kansas City (IHOP–KC), an evangelical missions organization based on 24/7 prayer with worship that is engaged in evangelism, healing the sick, inner city outreach, multiple justice initiatives, planting houses of prayer, and training missionaries. IHOP–KC has continued in nonstop prayer led by worship teams since September 19,1999, and is committed to combining 24/7 prayers for justice with 24/7 works of justice. IHOP–KC offers full-time training in Bible, music, and media schools. Mike’s teaching emphasizes growing in passion for Jesus through intimacy with God, doing evangelism and missions work from the place of night and day prayer, and the end times.
Source: http://www.ihop.org/Publisher/Article.aspx?ID=1000043728#about
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Mike Bickle On Contemplative Prayer
By Jocelyn Andersen
Mike Bickle, director of the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City, and a well-known leader in the Prophetic Movement, claims that God is restoring contemplative prayer to the church. He goes on to claim that contemplative prayer is a God ordained means of entering into the fullness of God, and that the brightest lights in church history have been Roman Catholic mystics who lived during the dark ages. He went on to say the western church had much to learn from these mystics.
Anti-evangelical propaganda is prominent throughout his message. He informs his followers that they are constantly being put on the defensive by, and apologizing to, evangelical Christians for their intensity toward God by saying “Other Christians force us to hide our intensity—to wear a façade. “…even believers in Jesus…are made uncomfortable and intimidated by our spiritual intensity.”
However, he comforts them with the good news that they don’t “have to wear any façade” when they got together in little oasis’ “like this” (meaning his and other prophetic meetings). He continued his barrage against evangelicals by saying,
→ PLEASE CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING: Mike Bickle – Everybody is Called to Live in The Contemplative Lifestyle THEN PLACE A COMMENT ←
FAKE HOLY SPIRIT ATTEMPTS TO MISLEAD MILLIONS AND WILL PROBABLY GET AWAY WITH IT TOO.
Awakening Sweeps over Int’l House of Prayer
Paul Strand - Tuesday, December 22, 2009
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Over the last decade the International House of Prayer, or IHOP as it’s usually called, has become a destination where worshippers lift non-stop praise and prayer up to God 24-hours a day. Now, there’s a new level of worship taking place at the ministry.
A series of miracle-filled meetings has been going on at the IHOP almost nightly since early November. As CBN News arrived to check out this move of the Holy Spirit, two young men were testifying about healings they had just experienced.
Jay Fridenmaker plays bass guitar in one of IHOP’s worship teams. He was so nearsighted that from the stage where he plays and these meetings take place, he’d never been able to see the big green digital clock on the other side of the auditorium.
“I’ve been asking the Lord for the last few days to heal my eyes,” Jay said. “A couple of people came over and prayed for me and my eyes…and now I can read things that are far away.” And he said the clock is now crystal clear.
Steve Moduno works with one of the other worship teams. Suffering with asthma since he was born, Steve has never been able to take deep breaths.
But he’d just been prayed for when CBN News showed up.
“Immediately I could breathe deeply.” We asked him to take a deep breath. He sucked in huge gulps of air. We said, “You were never able to do that before?” “No,” he replied, with a big, happy grin.
→ PLEASE CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING: Kansas City Awakens to Revival at IHOP – RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! THEN PLACE A COMMENT ←
This article was written back in 2008, on Die Erdekruik / The Vessel blog. Since reading this article back in 2008 already, I have yet to hear any news on what’s happening with this venture? Does anyone know anything? Seeing as thought GOD birthed the blueprints for this unique bank you would imagine it would have been built already.
Anyone got an idea as to who these core group of believers are?
Dennis Kotze – August 27, 2008
 God has already birthed the blueprint for a unique bank based upon Christian principles in the hearts of a core group of believers in South Africa. And the proposed launch of this Christian bank – to be known as the Manna Bank – is expected to take place by mid 2009.
If successful, this South African initiative, born in this prophetic year of countrywide revival, can have far-reaching positive implications for the whole of Africa.
This dynamic development involves establishing a financial institution that is wholly owned by the Body of Christ and totally independent from the current financial institutions; a bank that will be 100% asset-backed and would not charge any interest on home loans or assets finance; and a professional institution conforming to international monetary law, with state-of-the-art smart card security. Added to this is a cash card system that will give a substantial saving when you are buying from a linked Christian trading association. This is all part of God’s plan to transfer the riches of the unjust to the hands of the just, a system that will effectively reverse the effect of inflation and provide streams in the desert.
→ PLEASE CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING: Christian Bank is Coming to SA THEN PLACE A COMMENT ←
From the “Lighthouse Newsletter”: Mark Driscoll IS a Contemplative Proponent - December 21, 2009
Discerning the World says: Thank you Lighthouse Trails!!
 Mark Driscoll is a name that has grown in popularity among evangelicals especially over the past few years. Somewhat known for his vulgar and crass language in public, he has been invited to speak at conferences by a wide assortment of Christian leaders-John Piper and Robert Schuller to name two. Driscoll also shared a platform this year at the Gospel Coalition National Conference with a number of respected Christian evangelical figures such as D.A. Carson, Erwin Lutzer, and Joshua Harris. Coming up in 2010, Driscoll has been invited by Rick Warren to speak at the Radicalis conference.
Although Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Fellowship in Seattle Washington, is said to have denounced certain aspects of the emergent church, Driscoll is a proponent of the main element behind the emerging church – contemplative prayer.
Presently, on Driscoll’s website, The Resurgence (see whois info) is an article titled “How to Practice Meditative Prayer.” The article is written by an Acts 29 (Driscoll’s network of churches) pastor, Winfield Bevins. A nearly identical article on Driscoll’s site, also by Bevins, is titled Meditative Prayer: Filling the Mind. Both articles show a drawing of a human brain. In this latter article, Bevins recognizes contemplative mystic pioneer Richard Foster:
→ PLEASE CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING: Mark Driscoll DOES SUPPORT Contemplative Spirituality THEN PLACE A COMMENT ←
 Before I carry on..actually let me not waste my all my time on this one, because I mentioned this to Cobus before. Please do all genuine Christians a favour and call yourself something other than Christian. In fact you insult pantheists by calling yourself a Christian – ever ‘meditated’ on that one? Here’s a mantra for you: ‘I must stop lying to myself’. Repeat 100x per sitting, 7x a day, for as long as it takes for you to be COMPLETELY honest.
I find it incredible that you are a pastor at an NG Kerk and you still have people come there on Sundays to ‘worship God’. Let’s put that ’god’ in lowercase shall we. It would appear that the South African white population are quite an ungodly bunch. Who would have guessed. Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?”
Let’s make this coming New Years the year you tell your flock; ”I am not a Christian – everyone who wants to leave this church please do so now, and save yourselves from deception”.
See previous article and conversations with Cobus ‘pantheist’ van Wyngaard here: How unique was the suffering of Jesus? Not unique at all! See article here on Avatar Movie: Pantheism – Hollywood’s Religion of Choice for a Generation Now and on Copenhagen Summit: Why did Copenhagen fail?
Article taken from Cobus van Wyngaards – My Contemplations Blog:
By Cobus van Wyngaard – December 23, 2009
18 December was the day Avatar was released in South Africa. 18 December was also the day of the Copenhagen accord.
→ PLEASE CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING: Cobus van Wyngaard – Avatar Portrays Wonderful World of Perfect Pantheism THEN PLACE A COMMENT ←
Their reasons for failure.
- KEY GOVERNMENTS DO NOT WANT A GLOBAL DEAL
- THE US POLITICAL SYSTEM
- BAD TIMING
- THE HOST GOVERNMENT
- THE WEATHER
- 24-HOUR NEWS CULTURE
- EU POLITICS
- CAMPAIGNERS GOT THEIR STRATEGIES WRONG
→ PLEASE CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING: Why did Copenhagen fail? THEN PLACE A COMMENT ←
The usual suspects spoke at the Mosaic Congress namely; Ron Martoia (USA), Stephan Joubert, Johan Geyser, Trevor Hudson, Gavin Sklar-Chik, Gys Du Plessis, Willem Nicol, Rex van Vuuren, Annemarie Paulin-Campell
The new-old magical way to get in touch with God –
“be still,” “be quiet,” “shut up,” “shhhhhhh”
By Thomas Lessing from Waak en Bid / Watch and Pray
 The well-known song “Silence is Golden may have been a hit on the singles UK charts in 1967, but the refrain “Silence is Truth” has hit the Christian Church like a tsunami, carrying with it in it’s destructive wake many unsuspecting Christians. One of the major contributors to this utterly devastating “silent” storm is the Mosaic Church in Fairlands, Johannesburg.
As an introduction to my critique on the Mosaic Congress I would like to draw your attention to certain words and phrases that all the keynote speakers used throughout their presentations. A word that kept popping up like a well-watered toadstool in each of their corpulently worded lectures was the word “silence.”Bearing in mind that most of these speakers’ mentors and gurus have drunk from the wells of Buddhism (i.e. Thomas Merton, Thomas Keating etc.) it is no surprise that their entire spiritual journey revolves mainly around Buddhist spiritualities and not the cross of Jesus Christ. In fact, the only time they referred to the word “cross” was when they endearingly spoke of St John of the Cross, a Desert Father who coined the phrase “Silence is the first language of God.”
→ PLEASE CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING: Prt 1 – A Biblical Appraisal of the Mosaic Congress – Mosaic Church, Johannesburg (4–5 Sep 09) THEN PLACE A COMMENT ←
 William Branham's Pyramid Tombstone Oh wait they forgot to include Evangelists in their survey like Benny Hinn – He often goes to Kathryn Kuhlman’s grave to get power and Kobus van Rensburg from Spirit Word TV was filmed live on his TV show eating grass from around William Branham’s grave (in the USA) - because ‘God’ told him he would receive Branham’s mantle if he ate the grass – Oh wait this article is about channelling. What Benny Hinn et al. are doing is necromancy. Sorry wrong topic.
But do not be worried about this exposure Senators, Democrats, Republicans and other politicians in America and around the world; especially those in the basements of the UN buildings and the Vatican, etc. Here in South Africa practically our entire government communicates with their dead ancestors and visiting Witchdoctors or Syngomas are the norm. Gosh even Princess Diana had her own personal medium. Like what’s new?
But let’s get back to Chelsea Schilling’s article from WorldNewDaily
More likely than GOP to consult fortune-tellers, believe in astrology, reincarnation
By Chelsea Schilling - December 14, 2009 – © 2009 WorldNetDaily
Democrats are far more in touch with the dead than Republicans and they also visit fortune-tellers more often, a new study reveals.
The number of Americans who say they have interacted with a ghost has doubled in the last 13 years, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life revealed in its “Many Americans Mix Multiple Faiths” report.
→ PLEASE CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING: 1 in 3 Democrats Communicate with the Dead THEN PLACE A COMMENT ←
By ROSS DOUTHAT - December 20, 2009 - The New York Times
It’s fitting that James Cameron’s “Avatar” arrived in theaters at Christmastime. Like the holiday season itself, the science fiction epic is a crass embodiment of capitalistic excess wrapped around a deeply felt religious message. It’s at once the blockbuster to end all blockbusters, and the Gospel According to James.
But not the Christian Gospel. Instead, “Avatar” is Cameron’s long apologia for pantheism — a faith that equates God with Nature, and calls humanity into religious communion with the natural world.
 In Cameron’s sci-fi universe, this communion is embodied by the blue-skinned, enviably slender Na’Vi, an alien race whose idyllic existence on the planet Pandora is threatened by rapacious human invaders. The Na’Vi are saved by the movie’s hero, a turncoat Marine, but they’re also saved by their faith in Eywa, the “All Mother,” described variously as a network of energy and the sum total of every living thing.
If this narrative arc sounds familiar, that’s because pantheism has been Hollywood’s religion of choice for a generation now. It’s the truth that Kevin Costner discovered when he went dancing with wolves. It’s the metaphysic woven through Disney cartoons like “The Lion King” and “Pocahontas.” And it’s the dogma of George Lucas’s Jedi, whose mystical Force “surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together.”
→ PLEASE CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING: Pantheism – Hollywood’s Religion of Choice for a Generation Now THEN PLACE A COMMENT ←
Catholic church wants permission to call God ‘Allah’
December 15, 2009 - from The Baltimore Sun:
Lawyers for the Roman Catholic Church have urged a court in Malaysia to let Christians use “Allah” as a translation for God and overturn a government ban that has become a symbol of religious grievances in the Muslim-majority nation, the Associated Press is reporting.
The High Court began hearing legal arguments Monday in the dispute, which began in late 2007 after the government blocked non-Muslims from translating God as “Allah” in their literature on the grounds that it would confuse Muslims.
Authorities have insisted that the name should be used exclusively by Muslims. The ban mainly affects the Malay-language edition of the Catholic Church’s main publication in Malaysia, The Herald, which is read mostly by indigenous tribes who converted to Christianity decades ago.
“Our position has been made clear to the court,” The Herald’s editor, the Rev. Lawrence Andrew, told the AP. “The main thing is we’ve been using this word … for a long time, for centuries.”
But in recent years, authorities have seized some Malay-language Bibles that used “Allah.”
We are reminded of reports a couple of years ago that a Catholic bishop in the Netherlands wanted Dutch Catholics to call God “Allah.”
Tiny Muskens, then the bishop of Breda, told a Dutch television station that using the name in church, as is common in many Muslim countries, would eventually promote rapprochement between Islam and Christianity.
“Someone like me has prayed to Allah yang maha kuasa [Almighty God] for eight years in Indonesia and other priests for 20 or 30 years,” he said. “In the heart of the Eucharist, God is called Allah over there, so why can’t we start doing that together?”
 Business, leadership, networks, churches, planting, communities, transformation, growth, change. This is all we hear lately. So I wondered if there was any correlation between the Seven Transformations of Leadership — (David Rooke and William R. Torbert - Harvard Business Review) and my Action Steps toward Enlightenment and World Transformation. – (Deborah from wwww.discerningtheworld.com)
So I drew up a table taking the Seven Transformations of Leadership from David Rooke and William R. Torbert and then I did a comparison with regards to mankind’s growth into New Age Spirituality. William Torbet promotes New Age Spiritual transformation. The outcome of my comparison is not at all surprising.
Colossians 2:8-10 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. 9For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority
Please note that I have written my column called the Action Steps toward Enlightenment and World Transformation from the perspective of someone who wants to transform the world under a false Christ. As you will see the first level is a level for those who refuse to transform i.e., born again Christians: We are considered narrow minded and a hindrance to World Transformation. At the bottom of this article I then have a short summary.
The Bible verses I have included show how levels 2-7 levels are detestable before God.
→ PLEASE CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING: Which Steps Have You Taken to Aid World Transformation? THEN PLACE A COMMENT ←
 If you can change your DNA, are you no longer made in the image of God?
It is a proven fact that meditation alters brain-waves, it has now come to light that it can alter your DNA as well.
Spirituality: Reprogramming Your DNA For Spiritual Transcendence
By Nick Arrizza, M.D.
[Note by DTW: Nick Arrizza is Editor of a New Ezine Called "Spirituality And Science" and is not a Christian.]
Your DNA has programmed in it your entire intergenerational family history and this sets definite limits on your emotional temperament, personality characteristics, intelligence, creativity, physical characteristics, prediliction for certain illnesses, behavior patterns, and ultimately the aging process.
All of this has a direct impact on your success, self confidence, health, relationships, and longevity. Until recently it was believed that DNA was immutable to change. There is now increasing evidence that in fact DNA can be directly programmed by the very beliefs we carry in our conscious and unconscious minds.
In other words your beliefs act as the master blueprint that programs and directs your DNA . Many of these beliefs become pre-programmed in your unconscious mind when you are too young to know how to discern their effects on you. In turn your life takes on a very definite course, and you become a reluctant and helpless passenger on this journey. The only way to free yourself from an undesirable course is to reprogram the DNA by altering the master blueprint in the mind.
[DTW: All men are born with the knowledge of God. Free will to choose. Even creation is a witness to mankind that God exists. No one has any excuse to say they did not know.
→ PLEASE CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING: Changing Your DNA for Spiritual Transcendance? THEN PLACE A COMMENT ←
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