LAMBS TO THE SLAUGHTER
Is it possible that the children of Christian parents are being "processed" even within Christian schools? Examples of this phenomenon have recently come to our attention. They are described here to demonstrate how "The Process" is at work in the very places that God designed to be a refuge from the world and its pagan customs. Remember that the objective of "The Process" is to divest a Christian of Biblical faith.
St. George and the Dragon
One Christian school performed a play based on St. George and the Dragon. St. George is the patron saint of the Rosicrucian Order of the Garter and, of course, the Dragon in Rosicrucian literature symbolizes Christianity. One parent wrote of the apathy of the Christian parents who watched their children participate in this pagan mockery of Christian faith:
"I recently put out a query to the education loop to see if anyone had heard of a musical production known as "The Reluctant Dragon", which was performed at the Christian school where my children attend. Besides the obvious association with 'round table' times, the play completely reverses the role of St. George, the dragon, the damsel in distress, and everyone else. It is kind of a politically correct version of St. George and the Dragon--a kinder, gentler version. I was amazed to see that not one other parent or teacher at the school cared that this seemed to be calling evil good and good evil."The Egypt Game
Another Christian parent discovered that her daughter would be required to read The Egypt Game in class at her Lutheran school. As a concerned parent, Ginny Donovan spoke to the teacher and also the principal about this book, which presents in a favorable light the pagan concepts and customs of ancient Egypt. Despite Scripture which commands God's people, "Learn not the way of the heathen...", Ginny's discussions with teacher and principal were unfruitful. The Egypt Game, which is here reviewed by Ginny, was read by the students of Emanuel Lutheran School."The Egypt Game tells the story of April, age 12, who arrives in a small town to live with her grandmother, Caroline. April was sent there by her mother who is an aspiring actress in Hollywood and who just doesn't have time to raise her daughter and pursue her career at the same time. Needless to say, April is resentful of her mother for this.After the decision to proceed with The Egypt Game, Ginny wrote a letter to inform other parents of the nature of this book. Only one mother responded and also thanked her. The principal overrode Ginny's letter with his own letter to the parents which avoided addressing specific concerns raised about the pagan nature of the book in question. The body of the principal's letter is here quoted:"April meets Melanie, another resident in the same apartment building, and the two become fast friends. They discover an abandoned back yard of an old curiosity shop of antiquities and to them it becomes the land of Egypt. After devouring every bit of information that the library has on ancient Egypt, they duplicate its worship system in this back yard.
"An old shed becomes the temple. They set up an idol of Isis, an idol of Set, and even an old stuffed owl becomes their idol of Thoth, the Egyptian god of divination. A bird bath becomes an altar and a metal bowl is used to contain the sacred fires.
"As the story progresses, April and Melanie, as well as other children, devise every conceivable ritual of worship. They appoint a high priest and a high priestess who wail and moan during the ceremonies, they tear off fingernails and pull out strands of their hair to throw into the sacred fires as sacrifices, and they even attempt to embalm a dead parakeet to make a mummy.
"However, the most demonic aspect of the book involves the children's inquiring at the oracle of Thoth about the future--they are practicing divination. At one point, April suggests that she fall into a trance and allow the gods to speak through her own mouth, an accurate description of demon possession.
"A subplot in the book revolves around The Professor, the owner of the curiosity shop. A child is murdered and the town falsely accuses him of being the murderer. At the end of the book, April makes an ill-advised late night trip to the 'land of Egypt' and is attacked. The Professor saves her and is exonerated. Therefore, he becomes the town's hero. The book then reveals that he is a professor of anthropology and that he travels to remote regions to buy artifacts from native tribes to sell them in his store. Of course, he is probably selling amulets, talismans and idols, but the book portrays him as a fine character.
"Pagan worship rituals, ceremonies for the dead, participation in divination, murder--The Egypt Game covers it all. The sole purpose of this book is to shift kids' minds out of the Judeo-Christian worldview and into the New Age paradigm. There is no godly reason why The Egypt Game or any other book like it should ever be found in a Christian school."
"It should be obvious to you that I disagree with Mrs. Donovan. If I felt that a teacher was breaking God's Word by their teaching, they would not be allowed to continue teaching what was contrary to God's Word. Emanuel members take very seriously God's requirement of His called workers. That is why the school is under the supervision of the Board of Education and the pastors. Please be assured that we continue to provide a God-pleasing, Christian education for the children entrusted to our care."Ginny was then informed by the principal that she might consider withdrawing her daughter from the school.Are Jesus' precious lambs being slaughtered right within His sheepfold?
Where are the shepherds who should be guarding the flocks?
The Lord Jesus spoke also of them:
"But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep." (John 10:12,13)Tony Campolo Young people are easy targets for modern false prophets and their teachings. The appended post from Sandy Simpson exposes the ministry of Youth Alive as an agency to draw youth into the Brownsville A/G Revival and Third Wave experience. Also available on Sandy's Outrigger Productions web site are several informative articles on the Gnostic theology and occult phenomena associated with the Third Wave movement.
As might be expected, popular youth speaker Tony Campolo is also associated with Youth Alive and scheduled to hold a Gotta Have Hope Tour in Australia in March of 1999. Since this event will take place a few weeks before Easter, it is worthwhile to consider Dr. Campolo's doctrine of the resurrected Christ, as expressed in his controversial book, A REASONABLE FAITH:
""He can be found exactly where he said. He told us that he did not dwell in temples and churches that we build in his honor. Instead, he encouraged us to look for him in one another. He said, 'You are my temples I dwell in you. What I am trying to say is that Jesus who incarnated God 2,000 years ago is mystically present and waiting to be discovered in EVERY person you and I encounter.' (p. 171)What is the "Hope" young people "Gotta Have" according to Tony Campolo? Is it the Gospel or recognition of the "sacred presence" in themselves and every person? Theosophist Alice Bailey described the first stage of an initiation ceremony as the revelation to the initiate of "The Presence" of "the God within"..."...In describing the resurrected Jesus as the SACRED PRESENCE waiting to be encountered in other people, I was making a literal statement. I do not mean that the others represent Jesus for us. I mean that Jesus actually is present in each person. He continues to live in our midst, not as a religious influence or a sacred idea. He is personally alive. It is the historical Jesus who is encountered in the I -Thou. It is the resurrected Lord of the universe who is revealed to those who are open to his presence in others. Jesus is a REAL PRESENCE in other people and this convinces me that there are infinite possibilities for the future and great hope for the world." (p. 192) [caps added]
"We can now consider the stages of the initiation ceremony, which are five in number, as follows: 1. The 'Presence' revealed. 2. The 'Vision' seen. 3. The application of the rod, affecting the bodies, the centres, the causal vehicle. 4. The administration of the oath. 5. The giving of the 'Secret' and the Word...Dr. Campolo has forthrightly acknowledged that his view of Jesus indwelling every person is inconsistent with Scripture, and based on experiences instead. In fact, it is the New Age concept of "the Christ within." Anticipating unfavorable reactions to his book, Campolo wrote:"The Revelation of the 'Presence'
"Right through the later periods of the cycle of incarnation... there is growing up in his mind a realisation that he himself is an immortal Existence, and eternal God, and a portion of Infinity. Ever the link between the man on the physical plane and this inner Ruler becomes clearer until the great revelation is made. Then comes a moment in his existence when the man stands consciously face to face with his real Self and knows himself to be that Self in reality and not just theoretically; he becomes aware of the God within, not through the sense of hearing, or through attention to the inner voice directing and controlling, and called the 'voice of conscience.' This time the recognition is through sight and direct vision. He now responds not only to that which is heard, but also to that which he sees." (Initiation: Human & Solar, pp. 112-13)
"There are some warnings that I wish to issue to anyone reading this book. The first is to be aware that the theology expressed in this short volume represents a personal attempt to state my Christian faith in a way that might prove meaningful for my secularist friends. I am sensitive to the fact that any attempt to state the Gospel in the dominant categories of a culture inevitably leads to a distortion of the Gospel. Consequently, anyone who accuses me of violating the biblical message is correct." (p. 190)Tony Campolo KNOWS that his message is HERETICAL.Notwithstanding this candid admission, he has been invited to address young people at Youth Alive with the knowledge and approval of the Assemblies of God. In fact, Tony Campolo has for many years been a popular speaker at the youth events of many denominations and nondenominational churches.
It remains for parents, therefore, to become informed about the teachings of this false prophet and increasingly vigilant regarding church sponsored youth activities for their teenagers. For a more thorough evaluation of Tony Campolo, VCY America has posted Excerpts from Renegade Prophet? A Look at the Teachings of Tony Campolo.
by Sandy Simpson
This is an alert to all pastors, churches and organizations who have been contacted by the New Covenant Life Church regarding a Youth Alive N.S.W. concert on October 31, 1998 at UOG Fieldhouse.
This notice is to let you know that Youth Alive is not quite as advertised.
Youth Alive turns out to be a ministry of the Assemblies Of God and linked to Brownsville A/G of Pensacola, FL. Though they have not highlighted this fact, nonetheless the following quote from an official Youth Alive web page tells the story:
"... Youth Alive is an activity put on by the Assemblies of God and is used to help students start Bible Clubs on their high school campus. Youth Alive is a non-denominational club ..."1Curiously there is no mention of this ministry on the official A/G "Ministries" web page.2 What are they trying to hide? Nonetheless I was able to dig this fact out of an old newsletter on their site where they were giving awards to outstanding youth:"Second-place winner and recipient of a $1,500 scholarship is Stacey Carnes, Hudson, Ohio. Stacey will attend Evangel College, here. In high school, Stacey was a member of the National Honor Society and is listed in Who's Who Among High School Students. She played first chair oboe in orchestra and special ensembles, ran cross country, and participated in drama, math team, and Latin club. She started the Youth Alive group at Hudson High School. She also volunteered with a community service organization."3Since Youth Alive is backed by the Assemblies Of God it cannot be stated categorically that it is non-denominational or inter-denominational. This quote is from another Youth Alive official web site:"Big Events - Without exception these will always be God Glorifying, prophetic, interdenominational, huge, excellent and outreach focused."4Questions come to my mind with regards to these "Big Events": What do they mean by the "Big Events" being "prophetic"? Do they plan on teaching from Revelation ... or are these events a forum for alleged "prophets" to exert heavy Shepherding on our naive youth by telling them "Thus saith the Lord"?Upon further inquiry and our request for any "Doctrinal Statement" or "Statement of Faith", we received an e-mail from Terisa Burnside, Youth Alive/Home Missions Clerk, National Youth Department, General Council of the Assemblies of God (USA) confirming the backing of the A/G and calling the effort by yet another name, "multi-denominational":
"Youth Alive was birthed under the General Council of the Assemblies of God, however, as I mentioned before, it is a multi-denominational effort."We did not receive any "Doctrinal Statement" or "Statement of Faith", only a statement of their goals. The goals sound good, but the doctrines of the Third Wave energizing this movement are not good at all.Finally, Youth Alive and A/G Headquarters share the same mailing address and web server:
Youth Alive
1445 Boonville Avenue
Springfield, MO 65802
800-545-2766
Email: ya@ag.org 5General Council of the Assemblies of God (USA)
1445 Boonville Avenue
Springfield, Missouri
(417) 862-2781
email: opr@ag.org 6The fact that Youth Alive is backed officially by the General Council of the Assemblies of God (USA) and shares the same mailing address has not been mentioned in any advertising for this concert.
The reason for this is, in part, that ...
The current official position of the General Superintendant of the Assemblies of God is a "glowing" endorsement of Brownsville A/G.
This should deeply concern many here on Guam. At a meeting between leaders of both the Toronto "Blessing" and Brownsville A/G, Thomas Trask gave this ringing endorsement of Brownsville:
"Thomas Trask, General Superintendant of the Assemblies of God denomination, gave his unconditional glowing support for the Brownsville A/G and their head pastor, John Kilpatrick, at a recent meeting with other leaders in Kentucky such as Paul Walker, General Overseer of The Church of God and Randy Clark, the Evangelist-Pastor of the Toronto Blessing. (We Will Break Dividing Wall" by The Remnant International, 1997)This endorsement of Brownsville and its head pastor, John Kilpatrick, flies in the face of the fact that John Kilpatrick made a false prophesy and when it did not come true, lied by making an "apology" to the public in which he stated that he never made a "prophesy" in the first place. That is what I call "taking a page from the Bill Clinton playbook"!Trask, in an official letter of response to inquiries regarding the A/G Position on Brownsville, stated in his opening sentence:
"First, let me say that the Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida, is an outstanding church that has been in a sovereign move of the Spirit now for many months."7A Deep Schism has developed in the A/G between those who continue to reject the Latter Rain doctrines that have now returned in Brownsville, and those who are jumping into that "river". If you want specifics about that story, you can find it on my web pages.8There are A/G churches, even on Guam, that do not endorse Brownsville but the sad fact is that more and more A/G churches are drowning in the Third Wave.
The second fact is that Youth Alive is very much a mechanism to get youth into the Brownsville A/G and Third Wave experience.
This is evidenced in a number of ways. First, by the links on the Youth Alive official web site in Austrailia.9 Of the fourteen linked sites under "Revival & Ministry Links", fully eight of them are the very definition of Third Wave. This is the list of linked sites that are leading Third Wave proponents:
Brownsville - Revived at Brownsville
International Revival Network
Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship
Revival Ministries International (Rodney Howard-Browne)
TBN Live!! (Trinity Broadcasting Network)
[The biggest Christian Cable Network in the USA]
ReaperNet
Metro Home Page - Bill Wilson (Children's Ministry)
Operation AfricaBrownsville A/G is the second link to the top on their list. Notice the presence of Rodney Howard-Browne, the church that started the Toronto "Blessing", as well as Trinity Broadcasting Network ... all the major players in promoting the Third Wave counterfeit revival.
For those of you who do not surf the Internet often, when a person or organization puts a link on their web page, it means that they agree with the pages that are linked, unless otherwise stated. On the top of the Youth Alive Links pages they state:
"This page contains links to the coolest places on the web chosen by the crew of Youth Alive."9Just ask yourself this question: If I were building a web site for my church, would I link to these organizations, encouraging people to visit them for "revival" or "ministry"?On another of their official web sites there are also links to the following:
Brownsville Revival - Download some top sermon. approx 2000 get saved here a week
World Changers Ministries - Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn etc
Notice the advice to download sermons from Brownsville as well as the promo about people "saved" there. This is called "endorsement". Notice also their link to Benny Hinn.
Add to this evidence the song titles of the group Youth Alive N.S.W., the group that is coming to Guam, and the picture begins to become clear. With song lyrics like ...
Windows Of Heaven
Are You Hungry?
Let Your Fire Fall
Lord We Need A Revival... it is obvious they have taken their inspiration from Brownsville A/G. "Let Your Fire Fall" is one of the main themes of the Brownsville A/G, inspired by the song Brownsville A/G used to sing in almost every service called "Firefall". Some of you will remember it being sung here at the Hilton when the Brownsville group first visited Guam.
Now we must move on to the local sponsoring church. I do not take joy in revealing this bit of information. But the truth must be told. The local sponsor, the church that sent out the fax to other churches, is New Covenant Life Church. Some of you know this church and the pastor, Dale Jackson ... perhaps by its former name, Guam Bible Church. With the change of name came a change of direction.
New Covenant Life Church has joined Brownsville in the Third Wave!
Their stated agenda on the fax they sent to you is to have a last minute meeting before the previously planned Youth Alive event takes place on October 31, 1998 ... Halloween night, if that escaped your attention. Church leaders are invited to come so they can be official counselors and can share in the stated rewards. Question: how do they so confidently state that there will be 1000 saved? Sounds like a prophesy to me? Perhaps the churches of Guam should watch to see if this prophesy comes true. In any case, this seems to be a sensible plan, allowing New Covenant to deal with their expected 200 converts and let the other churches have the rest. However, even if the gospel is preached that night, which it may be in some form ... and if there is any invitation to come forward, which you can count on ... and if there is pressure for those who come forward to receive some sort of fleshly "experience" at the laying on of hands (slain in the spirit) because it is stated that you need to have people lays hands on you to receive the Holy Spirit ... I see little benefit to the non-Third Wave churches of Guam.
The reason for this is twofold.
First, if your church is not doing the "slain" thing ... and if it is done at the concert ... we have observed over and over again that the "experience" with what they are told is the "Holy Spirit" will become the thing that becomes the guiding force of their life and their "highest" experience "truth" and of "God". If they join a Third Wave church they will be taught to further rely heavily or totally on subjective gnostic experiences. The question is: what makes you as a pastor of a non-Third
Wave church think you can interest ANY youth who have had that kind of an experience? Youth who have "jumped in the river" will surely drift away from your church into the deep waters of the Third Wave. How can you compete with the "big events" that are scheduled to continue to come to this island, leading youth down a stream bed that ends in the Third Wave? Any youth from your church who attend will inevitably exert influence on any other youth of your church to seek these unbiblical experiences, or start their own club where they are taught by Third Wave false teachers how to more fully develop these new "abilities".Second, even if there is no "slain in the spirit" gnosticism at this concert, the emphasis and teaching on unbiblical forms of "prophesy" and subjective mystical experiences, as well as endorsement of movements such as Brownsville, Rodney Howard-Browne, Toronto and Benny Hinn lead youth into thinking that these are the standard for what a Christian should "do" and "be". If any of you have viewed any videos from these organizations, you already know how dangerous they are, especially to children.
So here we go with the "Brownsville thing" all over again, only this time repackaged to appeal to youth!
Do we want this on Guam? Do you want this in your church or youth group? I raised this question before. I raise it again.
Let's get people and groups here that truly understand the gospel of the cross of Jesus Christ and it's significance. Let's clear the clutter away from the cross! I suggest that your church organize alternative activities for your youth on October 31, 1998. There may be more than one church that might even want to get their youth together for something like that.
You can be sure that as long as I remain on Guam I will continue to help organize events that are TRULY glorifying to God, not a worship of worship or a wallowing in sensual experienced-based "manifestiations" that open a person up to demonization!
If anyone who is receiving this newsletter does not know about Brownsville and other Third Wave organizations and their doctrines, now would be a good time to visit my web pages.11
You can also get a glimpse of the unethical and unbiblical doctrines of Brownsville A/G in the Saturday, October 10, 1998 edition of the Pacific Daily News on page 34 under the title "Father's faith, Florida revival couldn't bring girl back". For more details on this story, check out the story linked on my web site called "Dead Baby Driven 350 Miles To Brownsville" by Pensacola News Journal, 9/20/1998.12
I hope this alert will help you decide whether or not to send your youth group to the Youth Alive concert or have your church support it.
In Christ,
Sandy Simpson
ENDNOTES
1 https://www.angelfire.com/me/youthalivefrenchvill
2 http://www.ag.org/ministries.htm
3 http://www.ag.org/info/wnn-wni/archived/9507/9507-01.htm
4 http://www.youthalive.org.au/nsw/bigevents.htm
5 http://www.masterpiece-ministries.org/rights.htm
6 http://www.ag.org/info/wnn-wni/archived/9507/9507-01.htm
7 http://www.pentecostal-issues.org/journal/brownsville/general.htm
8 http://www.pentecostal-issues.org/journal/brownsville/schism.htm
9 http://www.youthalive.org.au/national/links.htm
10 http://www.cth.com.au/usr/tensens/Links.htm
11 http://www.netpci.com/~ssimpson/resources.html
12 http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/brownsville/index.htmThis article may be freely distributed in its original form.
