The Non-Prophet Section

For decades the NPS has always had its own little corner of the newsletter, but current events are making this section the focus of this edition of the Haven letter. Long time readers know that I have often spoken out against heresy being ushered into the church – always with the best intentions…well that’s what they say anyways! I have spoken out against Yoga, astrology, Buddhist chanting, and meditation, so called “destiny cards” (basically tarot cards with the barest of Christian parsley sprinkled on top!), channeled books, like Jesus Calling and A Course in Miracles and many other things that are a routine part of what I have run into at any typical New Age fair I have ministered at. I expect pagans to be pagans – without the Lord that’s what we all would be. I am frustrated that so many people who call themselves Christian believe and think that our own Biblical resources are so paltry that we need to import the latest fad that’s hot in the culture. For example, the Enneagram, a pathetic attempt at self-understanding that was made up by a committed Russian new age mystic named G. I Gurdjieff. It was “Christianized” by Richard Rohr, heretical panentheistic monk, and is now being endorsed by numerous “evangelical” leaders and authors, like Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention, and books published by IVP and Zondervan (both were once evangelical but have been bought out by secular companies’ years ago…and it shows) and many others! Christian Colleges and seminaries have brought in speakers to introduce the enneagram to their students and particularly “enhance” their spiritual formation. Schools such as Liberty University, Biola, Wheaton, Taylor and Northwestern. All claim to be evangelical, but the poison has spread. So called “progressive/emergent” types have gotten all warm and cuddly with it as well. There are many good reviews from a Biblical standpoint, such as Marcia Montenegro’s at CANA (Christian Answers for the New Age.) She is a former astrologer whom the Lord grabbed years ago. CRI (Christian Research Institute) did a good review, but it is appalling how so many people whom claim to be Biblically centered have now embraced it.

If you are mad at me for bringing this up, then please contact me and tell how a patently new age technique, (a generous designation - it is as much made up as astrology ever was) is actually Biblical and necessary for Christian growth – which the so called evangelical publishing houses are saying in the advertisements.In the same vein but possibly even worse – many in the evangelical churches are now being folded into the Marxist heresy pouring out of the universities. Whether it goes by “intersectionality,” “Critical Theory,” “Critical Race theory,” being “Woke,” or “gender identity” movement, it has the same sources. One of the dubious benefits of being in some major universities for most of my adult life, I have seen this stuff bubbling up in those particular cauldrons for many years. All of this comes out of the Frankfurt school founded after WWII by Adorno, Horkheimer, Weil and several others that you most likely have never heard of. Driven strongly by the frustrations of Gramsci, who pondered while in jail why classic communism, as seen in the USSR, had not taken strong root in Germany and Italy and had been squeezed out by nationalistic versions of communism as promoted by Hitler and Mussolini. They all came to the conclusion that Marx’s famous (and horribly flawed!) analysis of society on economic grounds had not captured the public’s attention and so a new method of Marxism was born – to introduce Marxism through the long road of the academics and other institutions of the western world. The church, the medical field, and so many other formerly Christian institutions had to be transformed from within, not through classic Marxists means (slaughter everyone who disagrees!) but rather through the slow process of undermining the Christian faith in all its varieties. Most of the postmodern writers – Derrida, Foucault, Barthes, Jamison and others were quite open about this, but then again, most university teachers weren’t reading them thirty years ago. This has all changed – I’ve had numerous classes at the University of Denver that sang all the pomo (postmodern) writers praises, and of course embraced a progressive form of “Christianity” like “liberation theology” with its many poisonous offspring. This is the root of the emergent/progressive religion that pretends to be Christian in the world, while ironically undermining and attacking the historic faith at the same time. Such confusing times we live in. I wrote in the previous newsletter about the hatred coming, as Jesus said it would, from people who saw themselves as representative of God. I have been screamed at, spit at, threatened and cussed out by these people many times over the years. Again, irony seems to be missed by them – they are the “tolerant” ones – just ask them…

Why am I writing this and why should you care? Because this nightmare busted out of its academic cocoon with a vengeance in the past twenty years. It has engulfed the political landscape and in some senses, is literally tearing our country apart. The church is being shredded too. Just this summer the Southern Baptist Convention voted to accept “Resolution #9” which embraces critical theory and gender intersectionality et al. The defenders of this vote claim it’ merely a tool to help with evangelizing, etc. This would be laughable if it wasn’t such a hardcore lie and deception. Take note from the culture “SJWs do not take prisoners – they do not compromise – they are interested only in power and conquest.” All you have to do to know this is to follow the mess with the NFL, Mozilla, Disney, and numerous other companies/corporations that have become “woke” in some small degree, only to find that the virus is not content to stay in its proscribed corner, and will and does seek to penetrate the whole. Follow gamergate or comicgate and so many other institutions of a sort and you will see what I mean.

Does any of this help the cause of the Kingdom of Jesus? Not one bit. Let me illustrate. Our staff and I have been witnessing to Sister Who for many years. He is a homosexual man who dresses as a nun and offers spiritual counseling at the psychic fairs. We love this guy and never give up on him – even though it drives him crazy! One time years ago he was complaining about his time at Iliff seminary. Turns out he was getting his degree at the same time I had to take two classes there. He was telling me how horribly the faculty and his fellow students had treated him. I was really surprised. I told him “how can that be – you’re a homosexual – that is the gold standard at Iliff!” He said back “Bill you don’t understand; I am a white man.” Welcome to intersectionality. He had one “good” virtue point, but two “bad virtue” points and therefore was subject to hatred and derision. This is how the game is played across the universities and now the culture. If you are a black, lesbian wiccan, who prefers the pronouns XE and XER – you have four victim points due to the oppression of white patriarchal Christian heteronormativity! You are therefore a force for good and healing and any who oppose what you say are evil, racists, Nazis, and so on. So, as a white male, (none of which was my choice!) Christian (which was God’s choice and I responded to His call!) who is married to a woman (definitely one of the wisest choices I could ever make!) I am truly an oppressor by definition. You have probably seen this kind of thing throughout the media for a while and now understand that to the extent the Church imbibes on this – the modern American church will turn away from its historic mission.

Jesus warns us in John 16:1-4 so that we will not stumble. Buckle up yall – it’s going to get uglier. Pray for true revival and share the Gospel with everyone!!!

“SJW’s DO NOT TAKE PRISONERS”

Coming Events

Aug 9 - Dec 17: I teach Intro to Philosophy and Comparative Religions at Colorado Early Colleges in Parker, CO. These classes have opened up some great times of ministry with students!

Sept 10 - Dec 16: teaching through the Gospel of John at our home Bible study

Sept 7: Body-Mind-Spirit (formerly psychic fair!) event in Denver

Sept 28 - 29: Missions Conference at Stockham Community Church, NE

Oct 6: I speak at Hastings E. Free Church – NE

Oct 12: Body-Mind-Spirit event in Colorado Springs

Oct 27: I preach at the Cowboy Church, Penrose, CO

Dec 7: Haven Christmas Party

Dec 28 - Jan 7: Mission trip to Geneva, Switzerland

Finally, check our website often, or reach out any way you prefer, there are always more events/ministry being added.

1. Terri’s health is still not great but as usual she won’t slow down. She is getting bolder in sharing her faith with the Mormons and others so that’s fun. Scott and Savanna and Conrad and Carmina are doing well. Scott got promoted and Savanna is busy looking after two mobile kids! Shawn and Kelly and Tegan and Apple are living with us again and Shawn is working out of the house. They are searching for a house. Andy is doing great and looking forward to going to a Huskers game this fall (and a Huskies game in Aurora!) Gabe and Shaina and Kaylee are doing well. Gabe is excelling as a firefighter, Shaina has a new accounting job, and little Kaylee is thriving on adventure! Joey just moved and is working and is doing well, we see him often. Rose, Austin, CeCe, Bella, and new baby Luna are doing great and just about to move into their own house! Johanna, Kenny, Kevin, and Kirra are doing well, baby Tesla is due any week now! Jon is challenged by adversity of his own design – recently out of prison and seemingly determined to test the law. Please pray for all the family! Especially for my parents, brothers, and sister.

2. We have many friends with serious health concerns. Pray for Sherri C., Rose R., Liz H., Sheila H., Susan L., Joann V., Charlene E., Pepper W., Jason G., Noah G., Tracie P., and too many others. We see all around us that this is a fallen, broken world and we cry out for mercy. Some people y’all have prayed for are with the Lord now and this is so very hard for their families. Pray for the families of Zach and Randy.

3. Pray for reconciliation of family’s which are really broken – Debra, Mike, Chery, Leon, Susan, Janelle, Jeff, Sandra, Leonard, Grace and way too many others.

4. Please pray for the folks whom we have been talking to this past year. If you have received this newsletter you might remember that we have asked you to pray for many folks from many religions, and once more we ask you to please continue. Pray for Ben my young atheist friend. Pray for Amber the scientologist we talked to again this spring. Pray for the ex-Mormon/now atheist from the pageant, and the BYU prof and his wife. Pray for Buddhists, Muslims, JWs, witches, Hindus, New Agers, adherents of the Urantia Book, and on and on and on.

5. Pray for our staff at Haven. Pray for our health, for support, and especially for effective ministry. We gather once a month and it is stunning to hear all the stories of people that we have been witnessing to. We are also considering some new folks who are interested in coming on with us. We are so blessed to have so many with a passion to share the Gospel with people whom most folks just write off.

6. Pray for our military and our family and friends who are serving. There are many here and all put themselves in a position of possible danger. Pray for our first responders – the police and firefighters and EMTs who serve all of us.

7. Please prayerfully consider a “godly” divorce! We as believers need to be divorced from the music emanating from Hillsong and Jesus Culture. I know its popular and that many are blessed by it – but it’s hard to imagine imbibing music from worse churches than those two. They are both driven by the prosperity “gospel” and the new apostolic reformation – both of which are filled with new age practices and other abominations.

Gratitude

We are incredibly thankful for the faithful support that so many of y’all send to us. Please continue to pray for us and please if you don’t support us financially – consider it as well. We promise that your money goes to support actual ministry and not the enrichment of con men like Ken Copeland and the rest of the Prosperity pimps. (For a horrible illustration of what these people do – watch the recent video of Ken Copeland being interviewed by a young reporter from Inside Edition who asked some really good questions which the Sinister was not ready for!) Those of you that gave for the Philippines trip – we spent thousands of dollars supporting the families and staffs of the ministries and churches there, including blessing the Agape girls so they could get basic toiletries from the pharmacy. Your money went to some very good things, your service to the Lord made that possible. We are so thankful for you and all you have done for us.

The “For Prophet” Section

Now that I have ranted and depressed everyone, lets switch directions. We had two small mission trips this summer and a long one to the Philippines. The first was to the final Mormon Miracle pageant in Manti, UT. For 8 days there were over fifteen thousand Mormons per night and hundreds of Christians showed up to share the Gospel with them. We had lots of great talks and one night I spent five hours at the burger shop with a former Mormon/now atheist evangelist, who had been bravely taking his older self and master’s degree after the teenagers on the street. Anyway, it was a great time of ministry. Then we spent a month in the Philippines working with the Agape girls in Dumaguete and with Precious Jewels Ministries in Manila – who are in the process of shifting their emphasis to Uganda! I taught both a Romans and an Apologetics class for three weeks at Calvary Chapel Bible College. I spoke at 7 different churches and we got to disciple many current and former students. We were also privileged to lead one young man to Christ and encourage his girlfriend (whom we had known for many years!) It was a great time in the Philippines. We also made some new contacts for more possibilities. We met a Filipino couple who work for Ratio Christi ministry in Manila, they want me to teach for a week when we come back in two years, Lord willing. That was fun but something else wild happened as well. The pastor of Calvary Chapel Dumaguete has been traveling back to Geneva, Switzerland for the past couple of years. So I was curious – what is that all about? So now I am in trouble!!! There is a church plant in Geneva – where five hundred years ago was one of if not the main center of the Reformation – but you would never know that now. Anyway, the plant is mainly Filipino but also some Nigerians and some Swiss folks are part of it. Pastor Jo kept emphasizing their need for a pastor and I kept emphasizing that it not my calling, but I did agree to consider going to teach there for a week on evangelism and perhaps apologetics or other issues that would be useful. I told him to pray and that we would pray and see if the Lord opens that door. Long story short we are planning on going not in a year or two like I thought, but this coming Dec 28 – Jan 7. We will be evangelizing at different new age centers and other bizarre group centers (Europe is post–Christian but not post-religious!) during the day and then teach at the church at night! Please be in prayer about this and consider supporting us for this trip. We found amazing, almost miraculous prices dare I say, but it is still unexpected and not part of our normal budget.

The week after we got back from Manila, we got a request from our in-laws to come to the middle-of-nowhere Missouri to speak to Mormon leaders. Long story short – I flew out and spent 6 hours with a former BYU prof and his wife! They were not happy campers, but between myself and my in-laws, they heard the Gospel and many reasons not to trust Joseph Smith and his fellow false prophets. Lots of great ministry this summer. Thank you for your prayers!