Joyce Strong: April 24, 2008 in Norfolk & Army Hero Speaks April 19th

With our Eyes on the Prize

April 24^th 7:00PM

It’s true! From deep in our hearts rises the cry to make an eternal difference in this world for the glory of God. Join us for an evening with Joyce Strong, a woman whose life continues to make a difference for eternity not only in this country, but in Russia as well.

Joyce’s journey began in Virginia Beach in 1994, and she is returning on April 24^th to celebrate with us the challenges and joys of keeping our eyes on the prize. Come and be inspired in your own pursuit of God’s purposes, and meet others who share your concern for the world. You will leave not only informed, but challenged in your own pursuit of God’s higher call on your life.

With a 30-year history of teaching and leading in ministries in Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia, and Ohio, Joyce today speaks at conferences and leadership seminars internationally. Her passion for God is also shared internationally through her seven books, three of which have been published in Russian, Chinese and Portuguese.

Come and bring a friend for this special evening together. For more information call or email: Bayview Baptist Church, 707 E. Bayview Baptist, Norfolk, VA 23503: PH: 587-4625
www.bayviewbaptist.org Visit joycestrongministries.org

ARMY HERO TO SPEAK AT BETHEL BAPTIST: April 19 at 7pm.

U.S. Army Chaplain (Captain) Jeff Struecker will speak at a community-wide event at Bethel Baptist Church in Yorktown, VA on April 19 at 7pm.

Struecker, a decorated member of the U.S. Army’s most elite fighting corps, was prominently featured in the national best-seller Black Hawk Down, later made into a major motion picture. A man of courage and conviction, Struecker uses his personal story of survival on the battlefield to teach his listeners how they, too, can be prepared for any circumstances life has to offer.

Jeff is also the author of The Road to Unafraid: How the Army’s Top Ranger Faced Fear and Found Courage through Black Hawk Down and Beyond.

Captain Struecker will also have a book signing on Friday, April 18 at 7pm at Barnes and Noble (Yoder Plaza Shopping Center, 12170 Jefferson Avenue) and will be speaking during the Sunday Morning Worship Services at Bethel Baptist on Sunday morning, April 20 at 9:00am and 10:30am. 0BCaptain Struecker will be available for interviews on Friday, April 18. If interested in an interview, or for more information about these events, please contact Christina Brandal at Bethel Baptist Church, by e-mail (cbrandal@bbcyorktown.org) or phone (757-867-8082).

Prophetic Word from Chuck Pierce

Remember--this is from the same prophet that predicted a large, cleansing wind to come upon New Orleans exactly on year before it happened--to the day!

The Voice of Change is Stirring Us to Come UP from the Wilderness!

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Dear Friends and Intercessors:

We are heading into two of the most rearranging, realigning months that we have ever known in the history of this generation. What occurs during these days will set a course for our lives and this nation. The Lord woke me at 1 o'clock on Tuesday morning. As I walked into the bathroom I noticed a calligraphy verse: "Lean not on your own understanding." This verse lit up even though the light was not on in the bathroom. The verse became red and yellow like fire. When I went back in at 5 AM, I noticed that the verse was actually in navy blue!

I heard the Lord begin to say: "Lean not on your own understanding today. I am calling you to watch the way that begins to form! For I am forming and reforming the way for My people! Abrasive circumstances will increase over these next 40 days. Lean not on your own understanding. I will show you things that you do not know during this time. I will cause you to see the pattern that I am forming. Do not fall into an understanding of the past, even the past 40 years, for in the next 40 days I am producing a new time of understanding in My people. For My wisdom is not your wisdom. I am creating a fear and an awe of Me! I will show you how evil is working. I will let you hear the voice of evil - that voice that has been distracting, confronting, and taunting you. My cause will rise up in you. My words will form in your mouth. You will speak it to the atmosphere and the atmosphere around you will change. I am forming a highway in your wilderness. It will not be made of shifting sand. The foundation for your future is being laid.

I will cause you to see the land that will be made sure for you. Lean not on your own understanding. Allow these next 40 days to be that which will change the atmosphere from one of a mesmerizing force to the power of God in your midst. Honor ME with a shout! Bless My Name. For My name is replacing the name of the enemy on the gates of entry into your future. Where the enemy had your gate blocked, I am now rising up to give you authority and entry into your new place!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Me and I will direct your path. Do not just look at your circumstances - do not lean on your own understanding! Keep your mind stayed upon Me. Do not allow your abilities to be your trust. I will create a strong people that will rule in every sphere of authority. Spheres of authority will be rearranged in these next 40 days. The power of My words in your mouth will cause a break through. Don't miss your window of opportunity or fail to recognize the catalyst I am creating for rearranged momentum.

Receive an anointing to leap over the mountain that has been deceiving and intimidating you.

"Don't be afraid of your storm this week for I will reorder your way and will cause your times to be changed. I'll set you ahead of that which would overtake you and cause you to be overwhelmed. So don't fear the storm. Watch the rain and wind work to your benefit! Hear the keys shaking, for I am rattling the gates of hell. Decree the blockade that wouldn't open up and let you move forward, even in your emotions, is being unlocked and that you are now able to move forward.

"Your path will become straight so that I might enter a new way. What is too high will come down and that which is too low will come up. I can bring the prideful into right order and bring the humble into a new place of seeking. I am creating a straight path for us to walk into the future. May you see the path on which I will lead you into the future. Allow Me to come into your midst and prepare a way through this wilderness and into your next place. I control the end from the beginning. There is nothing that happens in the earth realm that is outside of MY dominion. Agree that My will will be done on earth as it is in heaven this day. Look up and see Me as the King who reigns. See Heaven's highway forming in the earth realm around you. I am not asking you to go under, but to come up! Find the high way into the place that I have for you.

"Hear My voice in the wilderness. Though you have been unsure of the way you are to go, today I am beginning to call you new and fresh. This is a time when you must not miss that window of momentum. Do not be content to only sit and be taught every day because teaching alone will not get you to your next place. You must have the anointing to leap over that mountain. My call is being extended from the heavenly realm. War for the next 21 days to see My call come forth. Those that will hear the call that I have for them this hour know how to follow after the call that I am extending. This is not about a person you are following but a call that I am placing to set a course for you out of one place and into another. Hear the call! My voice is entering into your valley and your wilderness and saying, 'Come up with me!'

"Now is the time of restructured vision. Now is the time of finding your place to stand on the land, a place that will not sink when you stand, a land that will not confuse or entrap you. Hear My voice in your wilderness. For in 40 days, I will begin to qualify those that have received and embraced My call!

Do not allow the enemy's voice to confuse you in the next few days. You will be accosted by the enemy three times to keep you from finding and standing firm on the highway that I am forming to bring you through and into your new! Watch carefully and know the different voices this hour. Voices will bring confusion into your atmosphere. In the midst of this time you must know what you are to follow. This is a time when confusing voices over your financial state and the state of the world would create a disheartening emotion that would lead to fear. I am the God of the gold and silver. I am the one who can shake loose new finances. I am the one who can cause things to be let go so you can move in and go through the gates I have for you. Do not let a narrow, high path in front of you seem to be too steep for you to climb. I am making a straight path and causing you to be directed in a new way these next 40 days.

"You have never been this way before. Nations are hanging in the balance! My Kingdom government will now begin to rise up and form to influence the government of the earth. I am a God who creates a Highway that can only be seen by eyes who know My glory. You will know me as King and ruler. I confounded the gods of Egypt. I confounded the Roman Empire.

"Let Me form the words in your mouth to confront those things that would keep you from finding the highway I have prepared in the wilderness. Only My voice can guide you through and to this narrow road! In the midst of these three confrontations, NOW I am forming the words for you to use to stop your enemy from overtaking you. This is a corporate call for My people to rise up. In this corporate call you must be a people who knows how to confront the atmospheric war around you.

"I am raising up an abrasive time that will provoke you and produce My jealousy in you so you rise up with a new war mantle against the forces of hell in your midst. I will raise the abrasion! I will provoke MY people to action. Wake from your slumber and stupor and hear Me now to come forth! Do not lean on your own understanding. Go with My flow and watch Me make a direct path. Watch Me cause a path to come into order.

"Renew the foundation. I am ready to build again. I will begin to build your future. Activate that way that I am calling you. Do not fear going into the brush and the brambles to find the hidden treasure that you will use to build My altar this hour. Today I am activating you. The intensity of the time is now upon you. I am activating you and calling you to hear what is coming into your atmosphere. Be delivered from a deaf and dumb spirit that would keep you from speaking and hearing at the right time.

"Rise up and create a path. Change an atmosphere and you will be able to take a stand in that land. Let Zion call forth. I am calling forth to Zion within you to rise up. Prepare for a quick change. Prepare for a quick change. Write the vision. Make it plain. Prepare for a quick change. I am calling for a new release of power over these 40 days. Do not lean on your own understanding. Go in My direction to create a power shift!"

Blessings,
Chuck D. Pierce

Partners 309: Sharia Law in England?

The Archbishop and Sharia What Empty Churches Are Made of February 25, 2008 There are an estimated 1.6 million Muslims in Great Britain. By some estimates, more people attend mosque than go to Anglican churches every week. Judging by recent comments by the Archbishop of Canterbury, it is easy to see why. As most of you by now know, Archbishop Rowan William said in a recent interview that the "UK has to 'face up to the fact' that some of its citizens do not relate to the British legal system." He left no doubt who those "citizens" are: British Muslims. So according to Williams, British Muslims should not have to choose between "the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty." Instead, in the tradition of having your cake and eating it too, he proposes finding "a constructive accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law"—in other words, sharia. British Muslims could choose to have "marital" or "financial" disputes resolved in sharia courts. Sharia courts in Britain? At first I thought the Archbishop misspoke. But it turns out, no. He calls this "supplementary jurisdiction" unavoidable. He compared it to accommodating Christians in areas like abortion or gay adoption. With all due respect to the Archbishop, there is no such parallel. The only thing that is unavoidable here is his failure to see sharia as it is practiced in the real world, as opposed to in seminars. As the Asia Times columnist "Spengler" put it, Williams is conceding "a permanent role to extralegal violence in the political life of England." In real-world Muslim communities throughout Europe, coercion is so commonplace "that duly-constituted governments there" no longer wield justice among its citizens. The imams do. And where would the Archbishop draw the line? At husbands beating their wives for wearing Western clothes or maybe stoning a woman accused of adultery? Nor will, as Williams hopes, permitting sharia on British soil aid social cohesion. On the contrary, Williams's fellow bishop, Michael Nazir-Ali, recently spoke about what he calls "no-go zones" in Muslim communities where Christians dare not enter. As a result of death threats, bishop Nazir-Ali and his family require police protection. Nazir-Ali, whose father had to leave Pakistan after converting to Christianity, told the UK Telegraph that sharia is "in tension" with "fundamental aspects" of Anglo-American law. That is because our "legal tradition" is "rooted in the quite different moral and spiritual vision deriving from the Bible." This crucial difference seems to have escaped the Archbishop of Canterbury. The West's greatest contribution to civilization has been the rule of law, the bulwark of freedom, captured in Anglo-American jurisprudence. Now a ranking religious official proposes compromising that with a theocratic church rule? Please. Williams's comments are a tragic sign of the Church's weakness. We fawningly respond to Islamic overtures for dialogue, even as we see Christians being persecuted in Muslim nations—and sharia law being imposed on others right in our own backyards. This weakness is the stuff that empty churches are made of.

A Course in Miracles: A "New Age" False Gospel

"Oprah and Friends" to teach course on New Age Christ By Warren Smith November 2007 See also The twisted "truths" of The Shack & A Course in Miracles

Home Articles See note below concerning a widely distributed email

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Oprah Winfrey will be letting out all the stops on her XM Satellite Radio program this coming year. Beginning January 1, 2008, “Oprah & Friends” will offer a year-long course on the New Age teachings of A Course in Miracles.1 A lesson a day throughout the year will completely cover the 365 lessons from the Course in Miracles “Workbook.” For example, Lesson #29 asks you to go through your day affirming that “God is in everything I see.”2 Lesson #61 tells each person to repeat the affirmation “I am the light of the world.”3 Lesson #70 teaches the student to say and believe “My salvation comes from me.”4

By the end of the year, “Oprah & Friends” listeners will have completed all of the lessons laid out in the Course in Miracles Workbook. Those who finish the Course will have a wholly redefined spiritual mindset—a New Age worldview that includes the belief that there is no sin, no evil, no devil, and that God is “in” everyone and everything. A Course in Miracles teaches its students to rethink everything they believe about God and life. The Course Workbook bluntly states: “This is a course in mind training”5 and is dedicated to “thought reversal.”6

Teaching A Course in Miracles will be Oprah’s longtime friend and special XM Satellite Radio reporter Marianne Williamson—who also happens to be one of today’s premier New Age leaders. She and Conversations with God author Neale Donald Walsch co-founded the American Renaissance Alliance in 1997, that later became the Global Renaissance Alliance of New Age leaders, that changed its name again in 2005 to the Peace Alliance. This Peace Alliance seeks to usher in an era of global peace founded on the principles of a New Age/New Spirituality that they are now referring to as a “civil rights movement for the soul.”7 They all agree that the principles of this New Age/New Spirituality are clearly articulated in A Course in Miracles—which is fast becoming the New Age Bible. So what is A Course in Miracles and what does it teach?

A Course in Miracles is allegedly “new revelation” from “Jesus” to help humanity work through these troubled times. This “Jesus”—who bears no doctrinal resemblance to the Bible’s Jesus Christ—began delivering his channeled teachings in 1965 to a Columbia University Professor of Medical Psychology by the name of Helen Schucman.

One day Schucman heard an “inner voice” stating, “This is a course in miracles. Please take notes.”8 For seven years she diligently took spiritual dictation from this inner voice that described himself as “Jesus.” A Course in Miracles was quietly published in 1975 by the Foundation for Inner Peace. For many years “the Course” was an underground cult classic for New Age seekers who studied “the Course” individually, with friends, or in small study groups.

As a former New Age follower and devoted student of A Course in Miracles, I eventually discovered that the Course in Miracles was—in reality—the truth of the Bible turned upside down. Not having a true understanding of the Bible at the time of my involvement, I was led to believe that A Course in Miracles was “a gift from God” to help everyone understand the “real” meaning of the Bible and to help bring peace to the world. Little did I know that the New Age “Christ” and the New Age teachings of A Course in Miracles were everything the real Jesus Christ warned us to watch out for. In Matthew 24 Jesus warned about false teachers, false teachings and the false “Christs” who would pretend to be He.

When I left the New Age “Christ” to follow the Bible’s Jesus Christ, I had come to understand that the “Jesus” of A Course in Miracles was a false “Christ,” and that his Course in Miracles was dangerously deceptive. Here are some quotes from the “Jesus” of A Course in Miracles:

• “There is no sin. . . " 9 [See note]
• A “slain Christ has no meaning.”10
• “The journey to the cross should be the last ‘useless journey.”11
• “Do not make the pathetic error of ‘clinging to the old rugged cross.’”12
• “The Name of Jesus Christ as such is but a symbol... It is a symbol that is safely used as a replacement for the many names of all the gods to which you pray.”13
• “God is in everything I see.”14
• “The recognition of God is the recognition of yourself.”15
• “The oneness of the Creator and the creation is your wholeness, your sanity and your limitless power.”16
• “The Atonement is the final lesson he [man] need learn, for it teaches him that, never having sinned, he has no need of salvation.”17

Most Christians recognize that these teachings are the opposite of what the Bible teaches. In the Bible, Jesus Christ’s atoning death on the cross of Calvary was hardly a “useless journey.” His triumph on the cross provides salvation to all those who confess their sin, accept Him and follow Him as their Lord and Saviour. His victory on the cross rings throughout the New Testament. It has been gloriously sung about in beloved hymns through the ages and is at the heart of our Christian testimony.

I found the Jesus of the Bible to be wholly believable as He taught God’s truth and warned about the spiritual deception that would come in His name. The “Jesus” of A Course in Miracles reveals himself to be an imposter when he blasphemes the true Jesus Christ by saying that a “slain Christ has no meaning” and that we are all “God” and that we are all “Christ.” It was by reading the Bible’s true teachings of Jesus Christ that I came to understand how deceived I had been by A Course in Miracles and my other New Age teachings.

I was introduced to A Course in Miracles by Dr. Gerald Jampolsky’s book Love is Letting Go of Fear. Jampolsky declared in his easy-to-read book how the teachings of A Course in Miracles had changed his life. As an ambassador for A Course in Miracles over the years, Jampolsky has been featured not only in New Age circles but at least twice on Robert Schuller’s Hour of Power. While Schuller introduced Jampolsky and his “fabulous”18 Course in Miracles-based books to his worldwide television audience, it was Marianne Williamson’s appearance on a 1992 Oprah Winfrey Show that really shook the rafters.

On that program, Oprah enthusiastically endorsed Williamson’s book, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles. Oprah told her television audience that Williamson’s book about A Course in Miracles was one of her favorite books, and that she had already bought a thousand copies and would be handing them out to everyone in her studio audience. Oprah’s endorsement skyrocketed Williamson’s book about A Course in Miracles to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. Ironically, all of this was happening after I had left the Course and the New Age. In fact, I was doing the final editing on my book The Light That Was Dark that warned about the dangers of the New Age—and in particular A Course in Miracles.

After being introduced to the world on Oprah, Marianne Williamson has continued to grow in popularity and, as previously mentioned, has become one of today’s foremost New Age leaders. Williamson credits Winfrey for bringing her book about A Course in Miracles before the world: “For that, my deepest thanks to Oprah Winfrey. Her enthusiasm and generosity have given the book, and me, an audience we would never otherwise have had.”19 In her 2004 book, The Gift of Change, Williamson wrote:

“Twenty years ago, I saw the guidance of the Course as key to changing one’s personal life; today, I see its guidance as key to changing the world. More than anything else, I see how deeply the two are connected.”20

Thus the New Age teachings of A Course in Miracles are about to be taught by Marianne Williamson to millions of listeners on Oprah’s XM Satellite Radio program. Listeners are encouraged to buy A Course in Miracles for the year-long course. An audio version of A Course in Miracles recited by Richard (John Boy Walton) Thomas is also available on compact disc.

Popular author Wayne Dyer told his PBS television audience that the “brilliant writing” of A Course in Miracles would produce more peace in the world.21 Williamson’s New Age colleague, Neale Donald Walsch, said his “God” stated that “the era of the Single Saviour is over”22 and that he (“God”) was responsible for authoring the teachings of A Course in Miracles.23

Meanwhile, Gerald Jampolsky’s Course in Miracles-based book, Forgiveness, continues to be sold in Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral bookstore as Schuller prepares to host a January 17-19, 2008, “Rethink Conference” at his Crystal Cathedral.24

At this critical time in the history of the world, the New Gospel/New Spirituality is coming right at the world and the church with its New Age teachings and its New Age Peace Plan. But this New Age Peace Plan has at its deceptive core the bottom-line teaching from A Course in Miracles that “we are all one” because God is “in” everyone and everything. But the Bible is clear that we are not God (Ezekiel 28:2; Hosea 11:9). And per Galatians 3:26-28, our only oneness is in Jesus Christ—not in ourselves as “God” and “Christ.” What Oprah and Marianne Williamson and the world will learn one day is that humanity’s only real and lasting peace is with the true Jesus Christ who is described and quoted in the Holy Bible (Romans 5:1).

Oprah Winfrey’s misplaced faith in Marianne Williamson and the New Age teachings of A Course in Miracles is a sure sign of the times. But an even surer sign of the times is that most Christians are not taking heed to what is happening in the world and in the church. We are not contending for the faith as the Bible admonishes us to do (Jude 3).

It is time for all of our Purpose-Driven and Emerging church pastors to address the real issue of the day. Our true Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is being reinvented, redefined, and blasphemed right in front of our eyes and hardly anyone seems to notice or care. If we want the world to know who Jesus Christ is, we need to also warn them about who He is not. There is a false New Age “Christ” making huge inroads into the world and into the church. The Apostle Paul said that “it is a shame” we have to even talk about these things, but talk about them we must (Ephesians 5:12-16).

If people want to follow Oprah Winfrey and the New Age “Christ” of A Course in Miracles they certainly have that right. But let them be warned that the New Age “Christ” they are following is not the same Jesus Christ who is so clearly and authoritatively presented in the pages of the Bible.

Note from Andy and Berit: Many of you are here because of a letter that is circulating on the Internet with a link to this article. We thank you for coming to our website and hope it will encourage you. But we also want you to know that we didn't write the letter. For more information on this topic, we recommend that you also read: Deceived by a counterfeit "Jesus" -- The Twisted Truths of The Shack & A Course in Miracles The Armor of God & The Nature and Tactics of Satan

Warren Smith is a former New Age follower who at one time was deeply involved in the New Age teachings of A Course in Miracles. He is the author of these insightful books:

Deceived on Purpose: http://www.bookmasters.com/marktplc/01743purpose.htm

The Light that was Dark: http://www.atlasbooks.com/marktplc/01743light.htm

Reinventing Jesus Christ (2nd edition which is posted online): http://www.reinventingjesuschrist.com

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Endnotes:
1. http://marianne.com/book/index/htm. It seeems to be broken, so try http://marianne.com instead.

2. A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume (Glen Ellen, California: Foundation for Inner Peace, 1975), (Workbook), p. 45.
3. Ibid., p. 102.
4. Ibid., p. 119.
5. Ibid., (Text), p. 16.
6. Ibid., (Preface), p. ix.
7. Neale Donald Walsch, Tomorrow’s God: Our Greatest Spiritual Challenge (New York: Atria Books, Simon & Schuster, 2004), pp. 262-263.
8. Robert Skutch, Journey Without Distance: The Story behind “A Course in Miracles” (Berkeley, California: Celestial Arts, 1984), p. 54.
9. A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume, (Workbook), p. 183.
10. Ibid., (Text), p. 425.
11. Ibid., p. 52.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid., (Teachers Manual), p. 58.
14. Ibid., (Workbook), p. 45.
15. Ibid., (Text), p. 147.
16. Ibid., p. 125.
17. Ibid., p. 237.
18. http://www.hourofpower.org/interviews/interviews_detail.cfm?ArticleID=3079
19. Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles A Course in Miracles (New York: Harper Perennial, 1996), p. ix.
20. Marianne Williamson, The Gift Of Change: Spiritual Guidance for a Radically New Life (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2004), p. 5.
21. Wayne Dyer, “There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem,” Public Broadcasting System broadcast in 2001.
22. Neale Donald Walsch, The New Revelations: A Conversation with God (New York: Atria Books, 2002), p. 157.
23. Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations with God: an uncommon dialogue, Book 1 (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1996), p. 90.
24. http://www.rethinkconference.com (See also WorldNetDaily.com 10/30/07 “What is Robert Schuller ‘rethinking’?” by Joseph Farah and “Rethinking Robert Schuller” by Warren Smith. See also Herescope: "Rethinking Culture" and "Rethinking and Reinventing" (10/30/07)