Please turn in your Bibles this morning to I John chapter 4 as we look at the topic, DO YOU KNOW THE WAY? Today we have all kinds of maps, we can go to our computer and download directions from places like Map Quest, you can even have a GPS system where you put your destination into this device and it will tell you how to get there as you are driving or walking or even riding your bicycle or motorcycle. Why do we do this? So we don’t get lost, so we can find our way, so we can get to our destination!
But, when it comes to our faith, many go by feelings or experience to lead them, and that can be very dangerous if your feelings or experience is wrong. As you listen to people who are involved in the Emergent Church movement they say things like, “Words have no meaning” and yet they write books that contain words to tell us that words have no meaning, you must go by experience instead. One pastor of Solomon’s Porch doesn’t even bother to have a statement of faith on their church’s web page so you have no idea what he believes, the church doesn’t even have a statement of faith!
How can this Emergent Church movement be growing as fast as it is when it is embracing so much New Age and Eastern Religion? How can the church not be aware of these things? How can church leaders allow these things into their churches? Because the church is sick today, it lacks the ability to discern truth from lies. You might say that the church has spiritual AIDS and thus, as these false doctrines or these doctrines of demons come down upon them, they can no longer fight them off!
The dictionary defines the word “discern” or “discernment” as follows: “to detect with the eyes: distinguish: discriminate, to come to know or recognize mentally, revealing insight and understanding.” Folks, for us as Christians it goes farther than that, it is much deeper than that as we are going to see this morning. You see, there is truth out there and there are lies out there, and we must be able to distinguish between them.
I do realize that some of you may not believe in absolute truth or you believe that there are many truths our there in regards to religious faith. I will challenge you on that one. Let me ask you a question, “Did O. J. Simpson kill his wife?” I’m sure if I was to go around the room each of you would have an answer, some saying “Yes, O. J. killed his wife” or “No, he didn’t kill her.” And some of you may be very passionate about your answer, you may have strong feelings, you may be very sincere how you feel regarding this.
That is great, but here is the reality, both answers can’t be right. Either O. J. killed her or he didn’t, either he is guilty or he is innocent! Now, is Jesus God? You see, there is only one right answer to that question, both answers can’t be right. Is Jesus the only way to the Father, to heaven? Again, only one answer is right, both can’t be right. Then how do we know what the right answer is? We have the Word of God, the Bible and either the Bible is all truth or it is not truth, both can’t be right, a partial answer won’t stand.
Now, before we get to our text this morning, let me share with you these words from G. Campbell Morgan who wrote this regarding Jesus:
He was the God-man. Not God indwelling a man. Of such there have been many. Not a man deified. Of such there have been none saved in the myths of pagan systems of thought; but God and man, combining in one personality the two natures, a perpetual enigma and mystery, baffling the possibility of explanation.
- G. Campbell Morgan, The Crises of Christ
With that said, let’s begin reading in I John chapter 4, starting in verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us this morning as we look at – DO YOU KNOW THE WAY?
Think about this for a minute. You can take Buddha out of Buddhism, you can take Mohammad out of Islam, you can take L. Ron Hubbard out of Scientology, you can take Joseph Smith out of Mormonism and those religions still stand, as the rest will, and they are false religions. But you can’t take Jesus Christ out of Christianity for if you do you are left with nothing! Thus, that is what we continue to see happening today at an even quicker pace, those who are trying to remove the true Jesus from our lives and replace Him with a false Jesus, an Ecumenical Jesus who will not lead you to the Father, but to the pit of Hell! You see, all roads do not lead to God!
Now I do realize that some of you don’t believe this is a big deal today. Look, it was big in John’s day and it is big today and you don’t embrace a poisonous snake, you kill it! And here in I John chapter 4 John gives to us a spirit tester to see if what is being taught is of God or it is of the Devil – those are the only two choices folks!
Remember what John told us back in I John chapter 2, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. . . . But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.” I John 2:20-23, 27.
That anointing is the Holy Spirit guiding us in all truth and it is the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God guiding us, speaking to our hearts. John says that a true sign of a lie is that they are denying the deity of Jesus, that He is God!
Now, here in I John chapter 4 John says that if they are teaching that God did not become flesh, they are teaching lies. You see, if you deny His deity, if you deny His humanity, that He came in the flesh, what do you have regarding Jesus? You have absolutely nothing or we have what is being taught today, a social Jesus!
What I like to share with you this morning is where this is all heading and how we can see these heresies and not succumb to them. You see, we are not moving into a period of time where there will be one religion, but many religions, many roads, supposedly all leading us to the same place, to God or so they say. In fact, the latest push is that we are all gods; we saw that with the cults, we have seen that with the ultra-charismatic movement and now we are seeing it with the Emergent Church. I know, it is hard to believe that the church would buy into those lies, but it is happening and it is happening because we are not testing the spirits to see if they are of God! It is as Alan Jones tells us in his book, Reimaging Christianity, on page 209, “I don’t believe that what we can know of Jesus is confined by the New Testament. . . . There is no such thing as ‘what really happened.’”
How can so many people be lead astray? Because they are listening to people who don’t believe God or His Word, they don’t believe that God’s Word is truth and they are getting their theology from the mass media or from those who are wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing! One who has a big following is Oprah Winfrey, and she has said, “[E]very morning . . . I watch the sun come up and I center myself and try to touch the God light that I believe is in all of us. . . . I just call it centering up. . . . If there happens to be a day when I don’t do it, I find myself loose, misdirected.”
On one of her shows she stated, “As I study the New Age movement, it all seems to say exactly what the Bible has said for years, but many of us were brought up with a restricted, limited understanding of what the Bible said.” You see, if you speak lies as the truth, as Oprah is doing, then people will believe them as we see happening today. Folks, the New Age practices are not embraced in the Scriptures they are condemned!
Back in 1992 Oprah had Marianne Williamson on her show promoting her book, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles. After being on the show that book sold out in its first printing – 70,000 copies in one day! This book was based on another book by Helen Schucman called A Course in Miracles that has resulted in an international spiritual movement. In this book she claims that Jesus told her many things, over a period from 1965 to 1972 and one of the things that Helen needed to understand was that the Bible needed correction. I guess in the first writing God made some mistakes. Just listen to some of these things, I may not get through all of them this morning, but you can read them on our web page, this study will be there. According to Helen’s Jesus, this is what needs to be corrected in the Bible, listen carefully:
God –
Salvation
–
Sin –
Do you realize that many churches across America use this book in place of a Bible study! Why is that? Because people like it and they are more willing to give the people what they want instead of what they need!
A few years back someone at work gave to me a book to read by Neale Donald Walsch called Conversations With God. This man was frustrated with his life, his four failed marriages, so he decided to write a letter to God. As he finished writing out his frustrations he said, “My hand remained over the paper, as if held there by some invisible force. Abruptly, the pen began moving on its own.” Thus, this book was written and several others including one for teenagers. But what did Walsch write that was from God, what did God talk to him about? Listen to some of their conversations:
Walsch: But those who have taught me all about the rights and wrongs, the dos and don’ts, the shoulds and shouldn’ts, told me all those rules were laid down by You – by God.
God: Then those who taught you were wrong. I have never set down a “right” or “wrong,” a “do” or a “don’t.” To do so would be to strip you completely of your greatest gift – the opportunity to do as you please, and experience the results of that. . . . To say something – a thought, a word, an action – is “wrong” would be as much as to tell you not to do it. . . . To prohibit you would be to restrict you. To restrict you would be to deny the reality of Who You Really Are.
But how do we know what is truth and what is not then? God explains this to Walsch. Listen carefully:
God: You cannot know God until you’ve stopped telling yourself that you already know God. You cannot hear God until you stop thinking that you’ve already heard God. I cannot tell you my Truth until you stop telling Me yours.
Walsch: But my truth about God comes from You.
God: Who said so?
Walsch: Leaders. Ministers. Rabbis. Priests. Books. The Bible, for heaven’s sake!
God: Those are not authoritative sources. [Notice, the Bible and teachers of the Bible are not credible!]
Walsch: They aren’t?
God: No.
Walsch: Then what is?
God: Listen to your feelings. Listen to your Highest Thoughts. Listen to your experience. Whenever any one of these differ from what you have been told by your teachers, or read in your books, forget the words. Words are the least reliable purveyor of Truth. [That is exactly what the Emergent Church is teaching, words have no meaning!]
So now the Bible is not authoritative, words have no meaning, even though he has written several books that have words in them, and feelings are what we should be trusting. How dangerous this road is. And understand, Walsch’s God doesn’t care what we do, he is indifferent. He is not a loving, compassionate God who is actively involved in our lives, but Walsch’s God tells us:
God: You are living your life the way you are living your life, and I have no preference in the matter. This is the grand illusion in which you have engaged: that God cares one way or the other what you do. I do not care what you do, and that is hard for you to hear.
Listen carefully to these remarks between God and Walsch, because I feel this is where many are heading in the church today, that we are god! Here is the summation of it all:
Walsch: I’ve searched the path to God all my life.
God: I know you have.
Walsch: [A]nd now I’ve found it, and I can’t believe it. It feels like I’m sitting here, writing this to myself.
God: You are.
God: Come to Me along the path of your heart, not through a journey of your mind. In order to truly know God, you have to be out of your mind.
Let me clarify that for you. To truly know the god that Walsch is talking about, you have to be out of your mind, you are crazy because this is not God, but a demon speaking to Walsch these lies and yet many are listening to these doctrines of demons because it fits their lifestyle!
And don’t be fooled, this idea that we are god’s is in the church. James A Herrick said in an interview regarding his book, The Making of the New Spirituality:
We have moved away from the notion of a personal Creator God and toward the divine self . . . we have wholly embraced the idea of spiritual evolution and its attendant idea of an ascending spiritual elite. This is a truly dangerous idea that has had horrific consequences.
- James A. Herrick
Also, listen to these quotes:
Shame, shame, shame on those who mask as good what in reality is simply a new kind of human way to make ourselves “like gods’ when we were all taught that what we are really supposed to be are other Christs.
- Joan Chittister
[T]he way of the cross, the way of Lao Tzu, the way of the Buddha, the way of Islam and the way of Judaism all speak of the same path. . . . All refer to the same transformation of self.
- Marcus Borg
It is the same garbage promoted by New Agers for years, just listen:
Kneel to your own self. Honor and worship your own being. God dwells within you as You.
- Swami Muktananda, a Hindu mystic
Remember, but for the grace of God, we would not be God.
- Paul Williams, Das Energi
God lies within, and therefore, we are each part of God. Since there is no separateness, we are each Godlike, and God is in each of us. We are literally made up of God energy; therefore, we can create whatever we want in life because we are each co-creating with the energy of God - the energy that makes the universe itself.
- Shirley MacLaine, Going Within
I know that I exist, therefore I AM. I know that the God source exists. Therefore IT IS. Since I am part of that force, then I AM that I AM.
- Shirley Maclaine
So this is not some new thought, but now the church is embracing this garbage. Now, listen carefully. Remember what Paul said in II Thessalonians 2:9-12, “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Notice that it is “the lie” not numerous or many lies. What is the lie that Paul is speaking of? Just go back to Genesis chapter 3, to the Garden of Eden and listen to what took place starting in verse 1, “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden”?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.”’ Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” Genesis 3:1-5.
First of all Satan got Eve to doubt God’s Word, “Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” This is not “the lie” but part of many lie’s Satan uses today to get people to doubt God’s Word. In an Interview in Christianity today, Brian McLaren states: “I don’t think we’ve got the gospel right yet. What does it mean to be ‘saved’? When I read the Bible, I don’t see it meaning, ‘I’m going to heaven after I die.’ Before modern evangelicalism nobody accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, or walked down an aisle, or said the sinner’s prayer.”
You see, he is denying the Scriptures. In John 4:42 we are told, “Then they said to the woman, ‘Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.’” In Acts 16:30-31 as the Philippian jailer gets saved, we are told, “And he brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.’” And Paul, in Romans 1:16 tells us, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” Don’t let men get you to doubt God’s Word, it is truth and it is the truth that will set you free from the lies, it is the truth that will bring you to saving faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ!
Secondly, Satan got Eve to doubt the judgment of God. This again is not “the lie” but it is one of the many lie’s that he uses, that there are no consequences to our actions, our sins. He told Eve, “You will not surely die.” In Walsch’s first book he stated that Hitler is in Heaven, and to clarify this because of those who were upset, in his second book he wrote this of God and how that God is not judging anyone, all will go to heaven. Listen carefully to what he has to say:
God: Hitler went to heaven for these reasons: There is no hell, so there is no place else for him to go. His actions were what you call mistakes – the actions of an unevolved being – and mistakes are not punishable by condemnation, but dealt with by providing the chance for correction, for evolution. The mistakes Hitler made did no harm or damage to those whose deaths he caused. Those souls were released from their earthly bondage, like butterflies emerging from a cocoon.
And yet the Bible declares, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am [He], you will die in your sins.” You see, apart from Christ you will die in your sins- judgment is coming. And one day, at the Great White Throne Judgment, those who have rejected Jesus will come before the Lord to have the works judged for punishment in the Lake of Fire. They are going to Hell or the Lake of Fire for their rejection of Jesus, but they will be judged also for their works for punishment.
In Revelation 20:11-15 we are told of this judgment, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Being cast into the Lake of Fire, being tormented for eternity apart from God because you have rejected the love of the truth, that is judgment and Jesus tells us that there is weeping and gnashing of teeth there, it is where the worm does not die nor is the fire quenched! It is not a place you want to go. Now, you may not believe in the judgment of God right now, but one day, if you don’t receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will and it will be too late for Paul warned us in Hebrews 9:27-28, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”
Now here is “the lie” that Satan told Eve and now is growing stronger today even in some churches, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Do you see that, the deception was God didn’t want them to eat of the tree because then they would become God like Him!
The following words are a good barometer of Christian tolerance to New Age ideas. Psychologist M. Scott Peck has written a phenomenal best seller on Psychology and spiritual growth entitled The Road Less Traveled, maybe you have heard of it, maybe some of you have read it. The problem with the book is that it incorporates the central theme of Ancient Wisdom:
God wants us to become himself (or Herself or Itself). We are growing toward godhood. God is the goal of evolution. It is God who is the source of the evolutionary force and God who is the destination. This is what we mean when we say that He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
. . . It is one thing to believe in a nice old God who will take good care of us from a lofty position which we ourselves could never begin to attain. It is quite another to believe in a God who has it in mind for us precisely that we should attain His position, His power, His wisdom, His identity.
[Isn’t that exactly what Lucifer tried to do, exalt himself to be like God, and it didn’t work for him. He was judged for his pride and it will not work for us. How can we buy into this garbage when these lies come from the pit of Hell!]
Madame Blavatsky and Alice Bailey could not have said it any better. Peck reveals where he is coming from when he says, “But (The Road) is a sound New Age book, not a flaky One.” This book, which has been on the New York Times best seller list for over 400 weeks, has been incredibly popular in Christian circles for years. Peck himself says, “The book sells best in the Bible Belt.” By viewing the continuing influence of Peck in American religious circles, one would find the following significant:
Peck has enthusiastically endorsed some blatantly New Age books Living in Love With Yourself by Barry A. Ellsworth, and The Coming of the Cosmic Christ by Matthew Fox. Of the former, an account of a man getting in touch with his Higher Self and seeing “god in everyone,” he says: “The book’s vulnerability is both touching and beautiful. . . . a book to be closely read.” Of the latter, which echoes the New Age “Mystical” theme, he states: “Fox’s most daring pioneering work yet, stimulating us to the kind of resurrection of values and practice required for planetary salvation.”
- Ray Yungen, New Age In Religion
And so, as you look at the events occurring in the Middle East, as you look at the departure from the faith and how “The Lie” is growing and being embraced by the church, look up because your redemption is drawing near! Now, I said that the title of this message is, “DO YOU KNOW THE WAY?” And I will tell you “Yes I do!” not because I say so, but because the Bible tells me the way, because the Lord tells me the way to heaven. Jesus said in John 14:6, “. . . ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” Do you see how clear that is? If you want to go to heaven, you must receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior!
Folks, test the spirits to see if they are of God or if they are not of God. Use the discernment that God has given you as the Holy Spirit will teach you the truths of God found in the Word of God. We don’t need to be afraid of what is coming, but it does sadden me. You see, our victory is in Christ, and as I abide in Him I don’t have to be afraid, and I won’t be lead astray. We need to earnestly contend for the faith that has been entrusted to us!
Jon Courson gives us a great illustration on what we need to be like, what we need to do in these days we are living in. He tells us:
The walls of the submarines that descend two miles into the Mariana Trench of the Pacific Ocean are constructed of thick steel plates to withstand the tremendous pressure placed upon them. But the pictures taken from such heavily protected submarines reveal fish swimming two miles below the surface of the water with scales no thicker than that of any other fish. How can this be? The answer is simple. The pressure on the inside of those fish is equal to the pressure of the water around them.
That’s the beauty of Christianity. Some people erect massive walls to insulate themselves from the attacks of the Enemy – only to find themselves filled with frustration and isolation. The key is not to put up massive walls to protect you from the Enemy – but realize the One inside you is greater than whatever pressure threatens to attack you. When we understand that He that is in us is greater than any temptation, problem, trauma, or difficulty that could come against us, we can move through life freely.
- Jon Courson
Stand strong in the Lord and remember the words of Jesus, “. . . ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ . . . Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. . . . Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” John 8:31-32, 36, 17:17. There is no reason for us to be deceived unless we ignore the truths of God spoken to our hearts by the Spirit of God, and we ignore the truths of God found in the Word of God! Let me leave you with these words from John, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” I John 4:1. May we do that!