Quote from Forum Archives on April 19, 2002, 3:20 pm

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

There is a lot of deception going around in a lot of places these
days. Even churches are not immune to deception!

Neil Anderson has been writing a recent series about this matter.
If you're interested in catching up on what he's been writing
about, take a look at the Web page links near the bottom of the
message to locate his Web site or the Crosswalk.com Web site to
read more.

Like Neil, I pray that our eyes be opened and that our eyes be
freed of deception. But I would go further than just looking at
New Age deception. It is too easy to be deceived, even with
things that seem to be right.

I pray for our leaders and all of those who are in authority over
us. I pray for their wisdom and discernment as they have to deal
with important issues every day that have rippling effects, years
after decisions are made. If our leaders, whether religious or
political leaders, are deceived, everyone is affected.

Personalizing the message to my own decisions, I realize just how
many times either I have been deceived or *I* have deceived
myself into believing or acting on what was inappropriate,
dangerous, or simply selfish or self indulging. How I realize
what harm such things can have, not only to me, but to others,
and to the cause of Christ. I still fail, from time to time, yet
I pray that God opens my eyes, first, to avoid deception in the
first place, and second, to reveal existing deception (either on
my part or from others), that the Name of God will be honored in
all things.

Dear Lord,

Forgive my own insensitivity, ignorance, or downright rebellion
in being deceived, when Your Word is clear about what is good,
right, pure, and true. May my eyes be clearly focused on You,
that I may be on guard for anything that deceives me or others.

I know that there are times that I do wrong, Lord. Yet my heart
desires, not deception, but instead to be filled continually with
Your Spirit. Please heal my spiritual vision, that I may see You
clearly at all times. I praise You for the way You lead. Open
my eyes and ears, that I may look, listen, and follow!

Your Brother in Christ,
Brian

N E I L A N D E R S O N D A I L Y D E V O T I O N A L
from Freedom in Christ Ministries

April 19

NEW AGE DECEPTION

There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the
man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).

The fourth unifying factor of the New Age Movement is a cosmic
evolutionary optimism. There is a New Age coming. There will be a
new world order with a one-world government. New Agers believe in
a progressive unification of world consciousness eventually
reaching the "omega point." This is a counterfeit kingdom and we
know who its prince is.

Fifth, New Agers create their own reality. They believe they can
determine reality by what they believe, so by changing what they
believe, they can change reality. There are no moral absolutes
because there is no distinction between good and evil.

Sixth, New Agers make contact with the kingdom of darkness.
Calling a medium a "channeler" and a demon a "spirit guide" has
not changed the reality of what they are. They are in contact
with the god of this world instead of the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob.

Recently I received a call from a lady who was concerned about
the turn of events in a small group she was attending. It had
started out as a group of supposedly Christian women. The one
woman began to function as a medium, and they thought they were
hearing from God. They recorded six hours of videotape, and in
that six hours, five different personalities can be identified in
the medium. The group was convinced they were hearing from God,
Jesus, the Holy Spirit and two angels.

The lady functioning as a medium was later identified as not
being a Christian. In the tape her eyes roll back in a trancelike
state. At one point a voice says through her, "It's going to snow
here tomorrow." I'm surprised that when it didn't snow the next
day, they couldn't see the snow job being done on them!

How can a thinking person, professing to be a Christian, consider
this as anything other than demonization? But it isn't just
lonely homemakers who are being deceived. This deception is
invading every area of society today.

Father, keep me alert to the deception of New Age thinking around
me, and help me dismiss the darkness I encounter with the light
of Your truth.

-----------
This daily devotional is published and distributed by
Crosswalk.com. It is written by Neil Anderson at
< www.ficm.org >.

Additional devotionals are available from Crosswalk.com:
< devotionals.crosswalk.com >.
-----------
To read the Current Feature Story from ReligionToday,
go to religiontoday.crosswalk.com/CurrentFeatureStory/

For today's complete News Summary from ReligionToday,
go to religiontoday.crosswalk.com/CurrentNewsSummary/

-----------
For Copyright Terms go to www.crosswalk.com/info/copyright

____________________SUBSCRIPTION INFO_______________________

* To subscribe, send an email to:
< SUBSCRIBE-neilanderson@lists.crosswalk.com > or go to
< www.crosswalk.com/lists > for a complete list of
our newsletters.
* Copyright ? 2002 Crosswalk.com, Inc. and its Content
Providers. All rights reserved.

____________________________________________________________

=====
--
Brian Masinick, "The Mas", mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax
taxes.yahoo.com/