Pied Pipers, Trojan horses and Angels of light all carry the connotation that things are not always as they appear. The Pied Piper was in fact not simply a fable passed down through the generations but many historians trust that this story, although it has lost most of the pertinent facts through the centuries is in fact true. Its beginnings can be traced back to the town of Hamelin in old Saxony Germany in 1284.The disturbing aspects in some versions describe a Piper dressed in a multicolored suit who in some accounts not only got rid of the rats but also led the children of the town away as well never to return. (Ancient Origins; internet source)

Bear with me a moment as I build a frame work in which to tie these three individualities in regards as to how they are emblematic in so many ways of what is transpiring in the evangelical/charismatic Church in North America, and perhaps soon to seduce other expressions of the Body of Christ everywhere.

We are all familiar as well with the story of the Trojan horse. After a fruitless ten year siege the Greeks decided to build a giant wooden horse with a select group of warriors hidden inside which was left at the gate of the city of Troy. The Greeks sailed their ships out to sea in a pretend defeat, while the armies and people of Troy brought the Horse within their city gates as a victory trophy. The Greeks returned under cover of darkness while the warriors inside the Horse exited to open the gates to the Greek army waiting to rush in.

It is difficult to comprehend at times why the Charismatic/Evangelical Christian Church in North America continues to repeatedly open her gates to the supposed trophy ‘gifts’ offered to her by the New Age cultures of our day. Maybe self- explanatory as this expression of the Christian faith is much more prone to excesses seeing just about anything and everything mystical as from God.

One very good reason I believe this is on the increase is because the ‘Word of God’ — the Bible is at an all – time low. It carries for many contemporary Christians no more weight or authority than that of many other sacred writings revered and esteemed by various faiths.

Secondly, Christians have come to embrace spiritual ‘experiences’ at par and perhaps on a higher standard than Scripture. Check it out for yourselves, scores of believers across the globe in fact, relate their personal spiritual/mystical involvement with the ‘divine beings’ even though having those ‘experiences’ and practices conflict with God’s Word.

Take your pick whether it’s going to heaven in a dream, vision or in many cases literally! People claim to walk and talk with God and Jesus in celestial flower gardens all the while angels are singing in the background. In some accounts the angel were escorting them as their ‘guides’ to the Pearly Gates themselves. These stories are common and those who share them are quite convinced that they were literally talking with God face to face and just having a wonderful carefree fun time with the Big Guy. What’s so disturbing is that so many embrace these cosmic encounters as the real deal and desire to have one themselves.

Let me draw your attention to Moses exchange with God about his desire to see ALL of God’s glory. It wasn’t possible! God gave Moses a plan ‘B’. Moses was allowed to watch a much filtered part of God’s Glory as it passed, (backside) never could Moses be allowed to see all of God’s unfiltered Presence or face while in his natural body and live. (Exodus 33) (Remember Moses spent a great deal of time in God’s very Presence, about 80 years. Which may help to explain Moses special privilege.)

Relativism is what we have succumbed to. Relativism is the accepted concept that there are no absolute truths or validity, having only relative, subjective value according to differences in perception and consideration or in other words my experience and belief is as meaningful and as real as anyone else’s. There are no absolute truths, so who’s to say what I believe and experience is wrong or not from God?

Let’s not forget the ongoing fascination with seeing and talking with angels. Look at the books and the flood of internet stories… from believers. Then there are the endless stream of  prophetic words from just about anyone who claims to hear from God that are at times so far out in their context and scope that they are beyond anyone’s ability to verify them and as it happens so often no one comes back to say I was wrong when they missed it! Where is the credibility in all of this?

The pulpit which was once a bedrock for truth where God’s Word was taught and expounded to their congregations teaching saints on how to live righteously, thoughtfully and godly in a fallen world. These principles and values has been traded in for a stage setting and along with it — integrity, authority and sadly God’s Word — ALL for a place in the limelight of Christian theatre. Take your seats ladies and gentlemen the show is about to begin — dim the lights and crank up the amps:  let’s rock…

It is almost as though we are competing with all the New Age quacks for a place to be heard and have our version of the Bible taken seriously. The disturbing aspect is this; has it occurred to anyone out there that the Gospel being espoused by a huge portion of the emerging, seeker friendly, hyper faith, charismatics, evangelicals and more than likely some main stream assemblies and soon to be at your local Christian church looks and sounds very similar to what the unsaved and New Age adherents already have? So what do we have to offer them? What’s really different about our present Gospel and theirs? Is ours in fact true to scriptural foundations and not drawing from one single verse stretched beyond its limits?

I suppose in a New Age world — all things are relative!

However, these fallen ideologies can never be on parity with God’s Word for the Christian and the Gospel he or she is entrusted to proclaim and more importantly to live out on planet earth.

It is on this point alone we stand or fall as believers it is either based solidly on God’s Word or it must be pushed aside and rejected. If my experience, belief and doctrines sound like New Age hocus pocus – it probably is!

One giant step back may be all we need to view what is actually happening as science and multiple nefarious mystical and occult practices merge together to form the Trojan horse which gets pulled into innumerable churches across the land. We may be of the mind that perhaps the enemies have all left the battle field and are ready to give up their obvious erroneous beliefs in a mutual amalgamation, a cozy accommodation, a ‘détente’. All the while the elusive trap is prepared to catch all who open their hearts and minds to this deceptive evil as they welcome it in to their sanctuaries. How naïve we can be!

Let me select one of many, but by far the most popular and well known churches in the evangelical/charismatic culture as a prime example of what I am saying.

Bethel Church in Redding California is heralded as an ‘avant- garde’ standard bearer in about all things spiritual and mystical in the charismatic church world. I do not need to judge the hearts of these men and women but certainly their teaching, practices and doctrine all need to come under Biblical scrutiny. The disturbing and confusing part of all of this is that it is such a mixed bag that it becomes difficult to separate the error from what is the truth because it is so intertwined.

Tragically, the teaching and books from Bill Johnson and his leadership have unfortunately for the moment allowed them to ride the tsunami of success giving their espoused ‘kingdom culture’ an air of credible status and celestial benediction. This is not to say that God is not blessing aspects of the ministry. As in all past forms of error in Christian ministries and individuals, we all thanks God for His great grace and patience. However, as we have also witnessed in times past there does come a moment when the error leads people so far out from the umbrella of God’s Word and protection it suddenly all unravels quite quickly bringing with it a great deal of heartache, pain while giving an occasion once again for God’s enemies to blaspheme His name.

King David in his sorrowful lament for King Saul and Jonathan cries out ‘how are the mighty fallen?” Saul and Jonathan were beautiful in life, stronger than lions and swifter than eagles, they adorned their people in gold and scarlet now they are fallen together on Mount Gilboa. (2 Samuel Chapter 1). Perhaps, a good parallel to what we see transpiring today.

Yes, there comes a time even in God’s great patience mercy and love where He finally brings judgement to disobedience, pride and idolatry – whenever these elements have prevailed even in the New Testament Christian Church. Sadly, recent church history is littered with such tragic stories and should provide enough of a lesson for all.

From a church world tossed about in a spiritual maelstrom looking for something or someone to anchor their faith to — Bethel appears to a multitude of believers as the Lighthouse of refuge. Emulating their doctrines and practices with the hope that God will send their congregation a deluge of similar signs and wonders. In my view — ‘Strange Fire’. (Numbers 26:61)

Let me simply quote one of many things Bill Johnson has said that should trigger in any discerning Christian an alarm, warning one and all: ‘danger, danger proceed with extreme caution!’

“Many prominent pastors and conference speakers add fuel to the fire of fear by assuming that because the New Age promotes it, its origins must be from the devil. I find that form of reasoning weak at best. If we follow that line of thought we will continue to give the devil tools that God has given us for success in life and ministry.”(Dreaming with God: Secrets to Redesigning Your World Though God’s Creative Flow. Bill Johnson; P 86)

 

The question begs asking, what does the New Age have that we need and that God deems would be useful tools for the Church, for life and ministry? Obviously, Bill Johnson believes they have them. I also believe he has it backwards, the Church is not giving the devil tools, it’s the devil giving us the tools.

Perhaps that is why he and his wife each wrote a chapter in the book entitled ‘The Physics of Heaven’. Without a doubt the many contributing writers of this manuscript reveal more than just a tinge of New Age influence, rather they have bought into its wisdom and so called tools – lock, stock and barrel and we don’t need to guess the source of ‘whose’ tools they are using.

The following practices are just the tip of the iceberg in just how far down the road they have strayed.

‘Grave sucking’ – where people laying on the graves of the deceased believe that they are able to draw some resident power and anointing from the dead – that sounds like a Biblical tool doesn’t it?

‘Sloshfest’; where everybody in the building gets totally drunk by whom they believe to be the Holy Spirit. To watch this sort of thing happening is not only embarrassing in my opinion, but you have to question whether anyone there is of a sound mind. This in no way reflects the Book of Acts.

‘Treasure hunting’; is a relatively new ‘kid on the block’ for Charismatics and another well – received New Age ‘tool’ the saints should not be without. Which for the very fact that it is ‘new’ should raise a warning flag to see it for what it really is. This is in essence a simple and quick meditations of sorts, clear your mind of all distraction and focus on the people you are about to engage in your upcoming evangelistic outreach for that day or evening. The idea is to open your mind to anything that may pop into your head. Colours of clothes, hair, a hat, a cane, a certain word said by someone, a store, the sidewalk – you get the idea, just about any sign one may encounter is the supposed Holy Spirit clue to tune into with the belief that one is being led to not only witness to that person or persons but a tangible indicator that they are ready to receive Christ …? If people cannot see flashing New Age warning lights all over this, then you are in over your heads already. We used to practice this mind game in a psychology class right after High School many years ago before it was labelled New Age.

How about going to the local morgue to practice raising people from the dead. Yes that’s right, I guess God needs the practice, He has to get warmed up before it finally works.

So many indiscretions and people continue to be duped, believing them to be sound and true while attaching a singular scriptural verse thus endorsing the blessing upon their selective doctrine, practices or manifestations.

Lastly science has come to the aid of believers, I am not sure you could call it science but under the banner of science we now have the added benefits of colours and sounds to add to the ecstasy of our divine experience as heaven touches the earth bringing with it the ‘resonance’ of Heaven. This is where similar to a tuning fork this mystical key tone and rhythm will open up cosmic waves of unity and healing…?  Does this sound like teaching from a Bible believing church? This is what you will find in a Buddhist monastery in the Himalayas.

 

In an age when Church, weekly prayer and Bible meetings seem rather dry, poorly attended and somewhat boring – what we need is some kind of stimulus in order to get the home ship sailing again.

Drama, painting, and dancing, stand- up comics, board games and so much more – it’s all happening in our sanctuaries. These are perhaps the more benign stimulus programs out there.

We worry about the recognisable ‘in your face’ sinful influences of the world coming into the Church. However the above mentioned entertainment are much less sinister than what the ‘Angel of Light’ is slipping right past our spiritual noses with all the wisdom and dark arts of the New Age and we still can’t pick up the ominous smell of Hell. Sadly, well intentioned ministers and leaders are reaching out and are willing to try anything to kick start their congregations.

Monotony, boredom, attendance, payrolls, TV nights and other distraction are in my opinion the smoking gun, the evidence and proof where our arch enemy has found a highway right into our sanctuaries giving way to entertainment to draw the crowds in. However, let’s take it up another notch at this point. Where is our personal passion for the person of God, a love for God, not for anything but Christ alone?

We all came into the kingdom one by one, we will all exit more than likely the same way; the onus is on each one of us to present ourselves before God at the altar of consecration. It is the believer’s responsibility to get before a Holy God as saints who desire a whole lot more than a smoke and mirror show on Sunday.  It appears the Church is in ‘show business’ mode, staging an ongoing big production spectacle for the masses and for the  numbers which in truth boils down to a very self- serving mindset trying to hang on to the believers they have – before they go somewhere else looking for more thrills.

Leaders should be passionately appealing through God’s Word to ‘stay the course’; ‘hold the line’, there may and needs to be seasons of spiritual drought – that’s normal for every saint and for every congregation, don’t run off or sell out your convictions or integrity for some quackie pseudo fire of “More, Lord, More”  Why not with a trembling heart turn once again to His Holy Word that in earlier times was more than enough to usher in God’s Presence in our own personal study times and yes at our Church altars? This alone was sufficient light and power for our path and the sanctifying fervour setting us apart, unto a Holy God. (Isaiah 66:2; Psalms 34:18; 51:17; Phil.2:12)

What I am talking about here is not a deeper life doctrine, this dear friend should be our ongoing abiding place in the habitation of God. I plead with you, what more do we want as Christians than this?

The altars at the front of our churches for the most part are empty and dry. People rush forward but in all honesty it appears we have gone for the touch of a person’s hand with grand claims that whatever we have need of will be taken care of with a touch.

Where are the nights and seasons where men and women sought after God? What happened to the saints who went forward to the altars in the Church and wept for the condition of our own hearts, the state of the Church and of the Nation?

Do we really know the condition of our own hearts? Has God been allowed to pull back the covers to expose something other than a fervent passion for Him alone? Have gifts, anointing’s, power, place, prominence or numbers displaced our first love?

Have evenings of falling out, soaking on the floor, prayer lines upon more prayer lines of saints waiting for a word from a man or women, waiting to affirmed in some way as we continue to cause people to look to ministers and leaders as the means of real change and transformation?

Lastly, does this not all really point to a Gospel that is ‘ME’ centered and not Christ centered?

We need not worry about the big crowds, because if we get them in by using flaky means it won’t be long they will be running to another place, another town for another fix and as one minister called them ‘revival junkies’, always with their finger to the wind ready to bolt out the door if the wind current makes a slight change. Remember there were big crowds following Jesus one day and it wasn’t long before they were demanding His very life.

God has His ways to draw us back to Himself and re-kindle the fire within our hearts. His Word cannot fail, and His reach is not short in touching the soul of His beloved calling her to a renewed place on intimacy. It might require a temporary ‘getting beached on the rocks’ in regards to our faith yet our Heavenly Father in His great love for us may need to shake things up a little to get us back on track.

Holy fires bring with them seasons of tenderness, obedience and a love for God and His word. The Church has no need for science to reassure us of our abiding place in Christ. The New Age is not new at all, it is the same old serpent repackaged with colours, sounds and a sharp hook under the colorful cloak ready to pull in all those spellbound who stop to listen and to gaze at a creature or message that openly contradicts God’s Word. Charming his victims down the broad road much like the Pied Piper.

In closing I thought another quote from Johnson would provide more insight about his views which also seems to denigrate those who would use the Bible (good tool) to refute his mistaken ideology. His quote is the tip of the spear in the argument. For relativism to take hold and be embraced by Christians (please catch this) – the Word of God, the Bible must become suspect, not sufficient, narrow, and those who handle it rightly as we are instructed to do scripturally will in time be viewed as legalist and those whose sole purpose is to find fault and break the unity of the ‘spirit.’ This persuasion will in fact be the undoing of the Western Christian Church if allowed to permeate Christian leaders in our nations, thus paving the way for the Chief Angel of Light’s grand entrance and his host of spiritual prophets to WOW one and all with lying signs and wonders and delightful words leading us away from the solid rock of God’s Word. (2 Thess. 2:9; 2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17)

“Those who feel safe because of their intellectual grasp of the Scriptures enjoy a false sense of security. None of us have a full grasp of Scripture, but we all have the Holy Spirit. He is our common denominator who will always lead us into truth. But to follow Him, we must be willing to follow off the map – to go beyond what we know. (Bill Johnson: When Heaven Invades Earth; p76)

 

The Bible has multiple scripture that teach us to study and hide the Word of God in our hearts. We are taught in the Gospel of John that the Spirit of truth will ‘guide us into all truth’ (John 16:13) and in Jesus prayer in chapter 17 He states ‘Thy word is truth…’ (John 17:17)

No one has a total grasp of scripture, yet that does not mean that we need to ‘go off the map’ or in other words outside of the parameters of the Bible (other New Age sources) as Johnson recommends. As he points out correctly the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth BUT then Johnson contradicts God’s word by teaching that we need to ‘go off the map’? At this juncture the Holy Spirit won’t be the one leading us off the map, you can be assured it will be another kind of spirit – not the Holy One.                             (2 Corinthians 4:2)

This is the original deception from the Garden of Eden, ‘has God said…’the serpent of old and the modern New Age Angel of Light are one in the same – casting doubt on the authority of God’s Word and inflating the ego of self with pride for all who turn aside to gaze upon and embrace their inherent destiny of godhood. The Charismatic  Fellowships who have bought into this deceptive and charming lie, are  themselves being used as lures moving  ‘off the map’ with enlightened revelations making appeals  intending to help others regain and reclaim a distorted biblical understanding of who we are in Christ!

The Pied Piper is attempting to detour the Church back to where the man once again reaches out to take hold of the divine prize but this time it’s happening in a corporate universal unity and no longer should we view this as defiance of what God says but now this prize comes with His blessing. There is no Garden or tree in this story, only the accumulated Wisdom from the ages, but the consequences are just as lethal.  A rebellious act to exalt himself above God (our enemy does not reveal his subtleties or his agenda to us in such obvious ways) thus again we forfeit our fellowship with God by becoming an ally with Satan. The man and the women of today sitting in many congregations are not discerning the nature of the creature’s poisonous suggestion trusting that their leaders are on track. What has happened to the priesthood of each believer? Searching the scriptures?

Peter teaches that ‘we have been given ALL things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him which is Jesus Christ of the Bible, not a New Age version of Him. (2 Peter1:3)

There is nothing else out there. God has given us all things, in Christ. Not Ascended Masters.

For the Christian man or women and young person the way is narrow, however it is also the ONLY way of truth and life. The Church has not been called to entertain the saints or keep them occupied nor are we to receive any teaching that blatantly tells us to go off the map or to acquire tools from New Age sources, yet despite all the Scriptural warnings so many leaders believe they are beyond deception.

Many scoff at the idea that we are indeed in the end times (2 Timothy: 3; 2 Peter 3:3) and that waiting for Jesus to return is foolish dribble. I guess they haven’t read their Bibles thoroughly. Many believers are becoming Reconstructionist- trying to rewrite portions of God – breathed scripture and especially what the Bible teaches in regards to the end of the age because of their own personal eschatology. Perhaps, because they have a better idea and implementation plan than what God has prepared for the closing out of time on earth and his imminent return? Believing in their own deception. I am not sure how these believers shall be able to joyously dance their way through and around the travail and great outpouring of wrath Jesus and the apostles foretold; trusting that their delusion will pan out and the overall dominion of the planet will be in their hands to one day present to God a Christian World – which only then — in their minds — will usher in the return of Jesus Christ from Heaven.

“God who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.”(Hebrews 1:1, 2)

“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.’ Therefore Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17)