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MOUNT CALVARY HOMEPAGE |
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SALVATION |
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GOD, CREATION, MAN, ANGELS AND SATAN |
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PRAYER |
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CHURCH |
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SECOND COMING OF CHRIST |
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BIBLICAL COUNSELS |
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YOUTH |
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HELPFUL LINKS |
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NEWS and VIEWS |
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NEWS and VIEWS
The Personal Testimony of Cathy Fowler - “I was a trueblue New Ager..” January 24, 2009 in Christians, Life, discernment, new age | Tags: Channeling, Test the Spirits, The New Age Movement
The Personal Testimony of Cathy Fowler.-
I was a trueblue New Ager for 20 years. Over those years I had many experiences with spiritual powers — or “forces,” as they say. And I know they exist and are extremely powerful. If
someone had told me at that time that I was tampering with Satan’s kingdom, I would have laughed in their face! In fact, the reason I moved to Sedona, Arizona, was because it is such a strong metaphysical area and community. Sedona is advertised widely in metaphysical and occult circles as one of the few “vortex areas” in the United States. (A “vortex area” is an area where the veil between this world and the spiritual world is allegedly very thin, so to speak. New Agers believe there is a higher concentration of psychic or cosmic energy in such areas.) I thought I could really find and experience “higher consciousness” in Sedona. And guess what! I did. But through a totally unexpected source — the Lord Jesus Christ!
The funny thing is that I grew up attending a Baptist church and spent the first 18 years of my life going to church at least three times a week. I was even baptized. But I never had a
personal relationship with Jesus. How do I know? Because I have one now — and I know I’ve never had this before. Many Christians ask me how I ever could have left the church for “New Age” thinking. Didn’t I realize what I was mixed up in? The answer to that is a big NO! I was always the curious sort and even when I was very young, I sensed the spiritual side of life. However, when I asked too many (or “wrong”) questions in Bible studies or at home — or asked for genuine, credible reasons for the Christian faith — I was always hushed with blanket answers like “Because the Bible says so, that’s why!”; no further
explanations were ever given. What all this really sounded like to me was, “Shut up and don’t ask questions.”
So I started looking for answers elsewhere. And I thought I had found answers too — in astrology, eastern religion, yoga,
reincarnation, crystals, channeled information, and meditation. I had arrived in the New Age._
As I look back over these years, I can say that channeling is probably the most dangerous of the New Age practices from my experience. New Agers take every word that comes out of the
channeler’s mouth as the “New Gospel.” I was no exception to this. It took me 20 years to build up a New Age belief system, with new ideas being added all the time. Would you like to know how
long it took the Lord to knock this belief system down? Just three months! I was led to books written by Christians about the New Age movement, and I also had a very close Christian friend who prayed for me on a regular basis. The books quoted Bible verses and led me back to God’s Word which I hadn’t looked at a single time in 20 years. My Bible was on the bookshelf along with my more than 180 New Age books. And guess what I found inside it when I opened it up
for the first time? A little daily devotional book opened to a page entitled, “Test The Spirits.” All those 20 years, the warning was there waiting for me to see it.
I could go on and on, but let me just wrap this up by saying that I praise God every day for loving me enough to rescue me – even though I had turned my back on Him by my involvement in the occult. How gracious the Lord is! My life has totally changed since a year ago last summer.
My daughter, who is now 16, was also interested in some of the occult activities I was involved in and showed some genuine ESP-type abilities. But now she’s deeply involved in a youth
ministry here which is an extension of the Bible church we now attend. She has accepted Jesus Christ and can see the evil deception going on under the guise of the New Age movement.
One last thing. Many church-going Christians either ignore or are afraid of people involved in the New Age movement. Many Christians are so wrapped up doing their church activities that
they rarely attempt to tackle the “outside world.” But New Agers are easier to convert than most people might think. Why? Because
unlike the average person, they already have a strong belief in the spiritual world; they just don’t realize exactly _what_ spiritual world they are mixed up in.
So please don’t ignore New Agers or laugh at them or give up on them. Give them one of the many fine books on the New Age movement written from a Christian perspective as well as a pocket
Bible. Miracles happen every hour of every day through Jesus.
Copyright 1994 by the Christian Research Institute.
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“Rescued from 20 Years in the New Age Movement” (an article from the Christian Research Newsletter, Volume 2: Number 6, 1989) by
Cathy Fowler. The editor of the Christian Research Newsletter is Ron Rhodes.
WCC CONFERENCE WORLD MISSION, EVANGELISM ?This major conference was organized by the World Council of Churches for May 9-16, Athens, Greece. Participants came from WCC-member churches, Roman Catholic Church, as well as Pentecostal and evangelical churches. In an April 20 letter, WCC head Samuel Kobia wrote (to new Pope): “In unison with our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers, we praise our common Lord Jesus Christ for your election as the Bishop of Rome, the 264th successor of Peter, the Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.?Many Pentecostal and evangelical churches not belonging to the WCC were in attendance and, for the first time at such a conference, a substantial delegation of 42 representatives from the Catholic Church came not as observers but full members. A German bishop said “The future of Christianity can only be an ecumenical one.?The world church is speedily being assembled. Satan and his forces are clamoring for a false unity. God says, “Be ye separate.?(Calvary Contender, June 2005)
NEW AGE 'CENTERING PRAYER'
Centering prayer is a modern method of tapping into the ancient tradition of contemplation. It was developed in the 1970s by monks in the Roman Catholic Trappist monastic order (5/25 HT). A participant sits quietly in meditation for twenty minutes, twice daily, "communing with God beyond words, thoughts or emotions." It involves a "letting go, emptying one's mind" [demon control?], and "gradually opens the unconscious to the divine therapy in which God heals childhood memories that affect one's thoughts and decisions." A founder, Rev. Thomas Keating said: "God speaks through the prophets, but he speaks better in silence." "Centering prayer" is a dangerous, occultic practice. Be warned, be wise, beware! ¨C Calvary Contender June 15, 1996
NEW AGE - New Age is a recent and developing belief system in North America encompassing thousands of autonomous (and sometimes contradictory) beliefs, organizations, and events. Generally it borrows its theology from pantheistic Eastern religions and its practices from 19th century Western occultism. New Age is an umbrella term for organizations which seem to exhibit one or more of the following beliefs: (1) All is one, all reality is part of the whole; (2) Everything is God and God is everything; (3) Man is God or a part of God; (4) Man never dies, but continues to live through reincarnation; (5) Man can create his own reality and/or values through transformed consciousness or altered states of consciousness. [This was taken from THE WATCHMAN EXPOSITOR's 32-page "Index of Cults and Religions," available from: PO Box 530842, Birmingham, AL 35253.] - Calvary Contender February 15, 1999
NEW AGE 'THERAPEUTIC TOUCH' GOES MAINSTREAM
About 100,000 nurses have been trained in therapeutic touch, the fastest-growing alternative nursing practice. TT is a New Age religious practice with roots in Eastern religions. (2/5 C.Today). Nurses manipulate "energy fields" (2/ 5 USN&WR), and help patients get in touch with "the divine within." The Department of Defense has granted $355,000 to the University of Alabama at Birmingham to study therapeutic touch. Calvary Contender March 1 1996
TODAY’S GOOD NEWS
Luk 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
Luk 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
Mat 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
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