As I was reading about Rick Warren’s most recent endorsement of several New Age authors, I remembered reading about the New Age prophetess Alice Bailey, a few years ago, and noting that one of her teachings was that the Christian Church would help bring about the New Age.

“The woman who coined the term New Age, occultist Alice Bailey, (believing that we were on the threshold of a new spiritual awakening) said that this new enlightened age would come, not around the Christian church, but rather through it.” (http://amos37.com/2012/03/22/alice-bailey-goals-of-the-new-age/)

We shouldn’t be surprised then, when big name Christian personalities, like Rick Warren, promote occult practises, such as Mantra meditation, breath prayers, and Yoga. And Rick is not alone. People like Eugene Peterson (Author of the Message “bible” fraud), Beth Moore, David Jeremiah, and many others, are also promoting these types of practices to an Evangelical audience.

These practices are used to induce an altered state of consciousness, to enable the practitioner to come into contact with the spirit world.  Remember, not all spirits are good!  The true God, and His angels, never contact a person this way!

The Emergent Church almost universally accepts these practices as well. Ever heard of Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, or Mark Driscoll? These are some of the most well known leaders of the Emergent, or Emerging Church, and all of them are involved to some degree, in practices that are not Christian, but have their origin in the Occult. These people all have an evangelical background and so can speak the lingo. They sound Christian. They have a big audience as well. If numbers count then these guys really matter!

Purpose Driven is also closely associated with the New Apostolic Reformation crowd of C. Peter Wagner, Rick Joyner, Joyce Meyers, and Todd Bentley. Wagner was Warren’s doctoral dissertation advisor at Fuller Theological Seminary, a school who’s name keeps popping up in apostate circles.

What I think we are witnessing is the dawning of the great apostasy spoken of by Peter;

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. II Peter 2:1

Look carefully at what Peter is saying here. Isn’t he saying that the same thing that happened to Israel will happen to the Christian Church? Just as Israel was largely apostate when Jesus came the first time, the Christian Church will be largely apostate when He comes the second time!

Paul said something similar, that they would be;

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 2 Timothy 3:5

These people don’t “deny God” they deny His power! They make God dependent on man, and they redirect the focus from the Lord Jesus Christ, to making the world a better place here and now!

This stuff didn’t start with Rick Warren,C. Peter Wagner, and the Emergent Church, it started years ago. I think it really can be traced back to the protestant reformation. Men like Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and Simons, though Heroes of the faith, also had their failings. One of the major failures of the reformation was the refusal to abandon everything that had its roots in the Roman Catholic church. The name reformation itself, carries the implication that its practitioners thought Rome was a Christian Church which only needed reform!

Nothing could be further from the truth! Roman Catholicism is paganism, with a thin veneer of Christian terminology. Everything about Rome is wrong, from its morality to its Church governance, and especially its version of salvation with an abominable mix of grace-plus-works.

The fathers of the protestant reformation failed to continue the thought process that started the reformation itself. Had they done that, and turned 100% to the bible, our society, and our churches, would look very different today.

Did people get saved as a result of the reformation? I think so, but I also think that the reformation itself carried the seeds of the apostasy we are seeing come into bloom today.

I attend a Church which has rejected most Contemporary Christian music, with good reason. There is a lot wrong with most CCM music. Unfortunately my Church, and most traditional churches fail to exercise discernment when it comes to the old hymns. The attitude seems to be “if it is traditional then it is OK.”

If you read your bible, however, and then read the lyrics of the old hymns you occasionally come upon errors, and even heresies!

The hymn “I Serve a Risen Savior”, by Alfred Henry Ackley is one case in point. The chorus contains errors that imply that extra-biblical revelation is acceptable in the life of a Christian:

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives?
He lives within my heart.

Does Jesus talk with you, as you go throughout your life? Doesn’t He speak to us through His word? This hymn gives the audience the idea that extra-biblical revelation is OK, and is to be encouraged. Why should it surprise us, then, that members of the NAR claim to speak with Jesus, and get answers daily?

Notice the implication that the “narrow way” is the way we walk through this life.  The truth is that Jesus Himself is the narrow way!  The implication that a lifestyle is the narrow way, subtly implies that salvation is dependent on works!

What about “In the Garden” by Charles A. Miles?

I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses,
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.

Refrain:
And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

I’d stay in the garden with Him,
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.

This person seems to hear from Jesus regularly. Yes, Jesus does talk to me, through His word! Again, why should we be surprised when people like Beth Moore claim to hear from Jesus often? Songs like this have conditioned the Church to accept this kind of thing. There is truth in these songs, but it is mixed with serious error.

I don’t think these are the only hymns with errors in them. I have seen others, particularly in Christmas carols. It is this type of thing, that our ancestors failed to notice, that is now bearing fruit in the modern Church.

Music is one of the best ways to introduce heresy into a church. The tune sounds so nice, and we always want to give the writer the benefit of the doubt. “Maybe it just wouldn’t fit with the music, any other way?”

So where did the major errors of our modern popular preachers, like Rick Warren, come from? I think they are the result of Christians failing to notice minor errors for generations. The sum of these errors is apostasy!

The chickens are now coming home to roost!

Note:  I am interested if you find any theological errors in traditional hymns.  If you think you have found one please send the details to me at; danpilot (at) csolve.net