This new religion, does't it fall under the catagory of ecumenicalisn. The uniting of all churchs under an umbrella of common shared beliefs. Such as the Elder here in Portland Or. that prayed, Dear Father god, mother god, or ascribing God's name to the hindu god of shiva or the muslim god alla, or to the likes of budha, This is a new force to be reckoned with even in our own ranks.

Whitlee.

Hi Mike,
I think we are already seeing this, and it is a result of infiltration into the church by new agers.. I know it may sound weird, but I have a book about this and the author did the very same thing by introducing certain doctrines in a non-chalant way. very subtle.. I will find out whast those key words are and post them, but this is something that is winding up and has already started.
God Bless,
Will

Hi Whitlie,
Not to nitpick here, but something caught my eye you said:

quote:

---

Dear Father god

---

When I first heard this I was completely caught off guard by this and never ever did see Jesus teach this to His disciples when they asked Him how to pray. I have heard this on 3ABN, so I would like to know what you think about using "Father god" in prayer.. i.e. Dear Father god etc etc..
Can you elaborate on that?
God Bless,
Will

Mike said:

"I don't think he (Satan) wants to perpetuate evil."

Is this really what you mean, Mike???

Consider this:

"Satan looks with great satisfaction upon those who profess the name of Christ, yet closely adhere to the delusions which he himself has originated. His work is still to devise new delusions, and his power and art in this direction continually increase."{SR 392.1}

"Satan is working with unfailing perseverance and intense energy to draw into his ranks the professed followers of Christ. He is working "with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish." {5T 102.3}

"The work of Satan is continually driven on with terrible vindictiveness, and men participate with evil angels in wounding and bruising the souls of God's people. The Lord sees; the Lord hears the cries of His children." {UL 82.3}

No, I can't see that Satan in any way has or will change his course; merely mask his sick intentions with sugary "christian terms, signs and sentimentalisms"...People forget that Satan is utterly insane.

Mike wrote - "I don't think he wants to perpetuate evil. He is probably looking forward to a time when everyone loves one another and loves him supremely. Of course it would never work out that way, but that doesn't stop him from believing it now. He is severely deceived."

Ikan, I think you would agree with the rest of my quote. It is true though that Satan has been working feverishly to spread evil here so he can blame it on God and hopefully exonerate himself and reverse his death sentence.

But I'm pretty sure his long term plan is to eventually live as a god being worshipped and adored by his subjects - which, by the way, I believe is evil at its worst. 99.99% christlike is evil perfected.

But you're right, Satan is too criminally insane to actually sit back and enjoy being worshipped. He loves torturing people too much to give it up indefinitely. He thrives on controversy. He would miss it too much not to indulge it often. As always, good intentions are sins of omission.

All inflated egos like to be worshipped; it is why they do what they do. Self enthroned can don many masks, but the "religious" mask is the easiest to wear, since most souls are wrong about what true religion is!
But a bloodthirsty tyrant like Satan can endure adoration only so much, his cruelty will choke him.

Now, I have to admit I don't understand this sentence either, Mike, (I'm not picking on you, just trying to follow along here):

"99.99% christlike is evil perfected."

No problem. I happen to believe evil at its worst is when we're the most like Jesus but not quite all the way. You know, the lukewarm syndrome. God prefers cold or hot. Lukewarm makes Him want to vomit. Satan can do more with hyprocrits to hurt and hinder the gospel than he can with vile and loathsome sinners.

If he can prove it's possible to duplicate the joy of Jesus without the burden of Christianity then his purpose is well served. How often are we tempted to say, My New Age neighbor is more Christian than most of the members at my church. What is more appealing to the non-believer looking for answers?

SC 30.1
God does not regard all sins as of equal magnitude; there are degrees of guilt in His estimation, as well as in that of man; but however trifling this or that wrong act may seem in the eyes of men, no sin is small in the sight of God. Man's judgment is partial, imperfect; but God estimates all things as they really are. The drunkard is despised and is told that his sin will exclude him from heaven; while pride, selfishness, and covetousness too often go unrebuked. But these are sins that are especially offensive to God; for they are contrary to the benevolence of His character, to that unselfish love which is the very atmosphere of the unfallen universe. He who falls into some of the grosser sins may feel a sense of his shame and poverty and his need of the grace of Christ; but pride feels no need, and so it closes the heart against Christ and the infinite blessings He came to give.

It seems to me that the text first quoted says that our(humanitys) picture of what a conversion is and implies will be so watered down that anyone, including satan would go for a converted one...

Perhaps the remedy for this would be to study what conversion has previously lead to. Its quite facinating to read how thoroughly the conversions of the revivals of old changed man and society.

/Thomas

Thomas and Mike: I have to agree! The understanding of what is conversion or godliness is so low, that anyone seen as kind and "happy" is considered "saintly".
Our standard joke here is that we would be gladly marooned on a desert island with a real muslim than a fake christian. That wouldn't make his doctrine right, or the Bible wrong.
Satan is not stupid; he knows human nature well enough that we are attracted to nicer things more then horrible things, as a general rule. But most poisoned water looks drinkable.

The whole "purpose driven" movement (originated by Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church) among the Sunday churches these days sounds exactly like the subject matter here. I've been looking into it a bit closer lately, and it's basically spiritual pablum. "Feel good, God loves you just as you are." Very little or nothing about sin, repentance, standards, holiness of character, separation from the world, or any of that "unimportant" stuff.

"What they [worldly Protestants] desire is a method of forgetting God which shall pass as a method of remembering Him. The papacy [and, by extension, fallen Babylon] is well adapted to meet the wants of all these. It is prepared for two classes of mankind, embracing nearly the whole world, -- those who would be saved by their merits, and those who would be saved in their sins. Here is the secret of its power." GC 572