/CONT/   #

Sadly, according to the PROMISE KEEPERS, the church did not 
continue in the power and authority of the early church, and 
because of a spiritual principle at work in the world today - a 
principle that teaches us that what ever happens in the church 
affects the world - the world has been plunged back into darkness. 
In other words, when light goes out of the church, light goes 
out of the world.  

"WHEN LIGHT COMES INTO THE CHURCH IT COMES INTO THE WORLD"

But contrawise, when light comes back into the church, light also 
comes back into the world - and that is what's happening today 
in what C. Peter Wagner calls the "Restoration of all Things." 
According to Wagner, the Lord is today bringing the church into 
restoration. Wagner calls the restoration now taking place, "The 
New Apostolic Reformation" - a reformation that will bring in "The 
New Order." [A phrase (i.e., the "New Order") that, interestingly 
enough, both the elite community and the Christian Right started 
using about the same time - in the early 1990s; the elites began 
using the phrase in reference to the globalization process they 
had unleashed on the world; and the Christian Right began using 
it in reference to the "new dominionism" that the late John Wimber 
and C. Peter Wagner were spreading throughout the church.]  

Wagner says that the church is now in a "season of transition." 
Old things in the church are passing away, and new things are 
taking their place. It is a season of change. During this season, 
the church will experience change in several areas. They will 
include evangelism, body ministry, church life, and GOVERNMENT.  

The "New Order Church" (again, Wagner and Wentroble's phrase) 
will be God's agent for the coming transformation of the world. 
It will reveal the wisdom and power of God to the forces of darkness 
and wickedness. Many features of wisdom and power will be evident 
in the people of the "New Order." They will have hearts to see lives 
and CITIES transformed. According to the "new dominionists," the 
Lord has given several keys to unlocking territories and peoples 
that have been locked in darkness by the enemy. One of these 
keys is prayer and worship. A characteristic of the "New Order" 
is that worship and prayer (intercession) are mingled together. 
Wentroble writes,  

'"New Order' churches flow back and forth from intercession and 
prayer. After praying the will of the Lord, they flow back into 
worship and praise to the Lord. Heaven and earth are joined 
together in one unbroken symphony."  

Wentroble continues:

Worship is more than singing Christian songs. Worship involves 
THE INVITATION FOR THE LORD OF HOSTS TO OVERCOME THE POWERS OF 
EVIL ON THE EARTH. AT THE INVITATION OF THE CHURCH, THE LORD 
IS BINDING THE FORCES OF DARKNESS AND ALLOWING THE LOST TO BE 
RECEPTIVE TO THE GOSPEL. PEOPLE THEN RECEIVE THE LORD IN GREAT 
NUMBERS. AS A RESULT OF GOD'S PRESENCE IN THE LIVES OF MANY PEOPLE 
IN A CITY, LAWS IN THAT CITY CHANGE. OCCULT ACTIVITY, IMMORAL 
BUSINESSES, AND CRIME ARE DRASTICALLY REDUCED. THE CITY BEGINS 
TO TRANSFORM." 

NEW ORDER WORSHIP AS A "CONJURING" DEVICE

So what do we have occurring here? - a dynamic that the church 
initiates that aims at "restoring control of the earth to the Lord" 
by which the church in a very real and profound sense sets out 
to CONJURE Christ to do its will. But what they may be CONJURING 
is NOT Christ, but Antichrist. (Matt. 24:24)  

You're surprised by our use of the word, "CONJURE?" Well, 
that's what we mean! To CONJURE means to use spiritual forces 
to accomplish YOUR will. That's what witches do. It is the sin 
of witchcraft - and it doesn't matter that the dynamic that is 
being used surrounds itself in beauty, rhapsodic music, and ecstatic 
worship, it still is witchcraft. Beauty is not always an indicator 
of God's presence. More than many of us realize, beauty leads to 
hell. Beauty is more often than not a harlot, and many a poor 
man has been made her prisoner:  

"... at the window of my house I looked through my casement, And 
beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a 
young man void of understanding, Passing through the street ... 
and he went ... to (a certain) house, In the twilight, in the 
evening, in the black and dark night: And, behold, there met him a 
(beautiful) woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtle of heart. 
So she caught him, and kissed him ... and said unto him ... I have 
decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with 
fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and 
cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let 
us solace ourselves with love.  

"With her much fair speech (and beauty) she caused him to yield, 
with the flattering of her lips she forced him.  

"He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or 
as a fool to the correction of the stocks; Till a dart strike through 
his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is 
for his life.  

"Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the 
words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not 
astray in her paths.  

"For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men 
have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going 
down to the chambers of death.  

Again I say, don't be fooled by beauty! - "As I said, it is no indicator 
of God's presence. Indeed, the Bible says of our dear Lord that -  

"... he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, 
THERE IS NO BEAUTY THAT WE SHOULD DESIRE HIM." (Is. 
53:2)  

Moreover, just because people use the name of "Christ" or
"Jesus" 
in their CONJURING does not mean anything. The adherents of 
Voodoo and Santiera use the name of "Jesus" and
"Christ" in their 
ceremonies and rituals, but it is most certainly NOT the Christ or 
the Jesus of the Bible. Remember, there are many "false Christs" 
and "false prophets" gone out into the world. (Matt 24:24)  

CHAPTER VIII

THE DESIRE TO BE "LIKE GOD"

THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS KIND OF THINKING; ITS 
CONNECTION TO ORIGINAL SIN  

Now it is extremely important at this point that we turn aside for 
a moment from the main theme of this article to examine the 
implications of some of these statements, and consider the dark 
and sinister source out from which this "New Order" thinking is 
coming. It will give some idea as to how conducive it is to the 
emergence of an Antichrist- figure, and we have reference 
specifically to the kind of thinking that has taken hold on 
groups like the PROMISE KEEPERS - and which now affect Bush and 
many in the Christian cabal (so-called) that now surround him 
(i.e., John Ashcroft, Don Evans, Karen Hughes, Karl Rove, etc.). 
And the source is very dark and sinister indeed!  

According to the statements by Wentroble above (statements that 
all "new dominionists" would easily subscribe to), the church - 
not God - is in control of the eschatological process now at work 
in the world; God can only act when the church INVITES Him to act. 
What that does is strip God of His sovereignty. It makes the 
Creator subject to the whims of the creature. It makes man equal 
to God.  

This, of course, is the great ORIGINAL sin: The desire to be like 
God; the sin that - in the obscurity of time long past - took hold 
of the archangel Lucifer, "Son of the Morning" (Isa. 14:12) and 
caused him to arrogantly assert -  

"... I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the 
stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, 
in the sides of the north:  

"I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I WILL BE LIKE THE 
MOST HIGH. (Isa. 14:13-14)  

But instead of becoming like God, instead of becoming co-equal 
with the Creator, Lucifer was sent crashing -  

"... down to hell, to the sides of the pit." (Isa. 14:15)  

But it isn't just Lucifer that was bewitched by this temptation 
- i.e., the desire "to be like God." This is also the same sin 
that beguiled Eve in the garden. Isn't that what Genesis 3:1-5 says? 
Of course it is:  

"Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which 
the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath 
God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? "And the 
woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees 
of the garden: "But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst 
of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall 
ye touch it, lest ye die. "And the serpent said unto the woman, 
Ye shall not surely die: "For God doth know that in the day ye eat 
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, AND YE SHALL BE AS 
GODS ..." (Gen. 3:1-5)  

CHALLENGING THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

Those who believe they can turn God into a servant, or that they 
can come to the point where they can "invite" or
"allow" God to do 
anything (in the context that Wentroble is using these words) - as 
if He needs their "permission" and "allowance" to do
anything insofar 
as the "end of the age" is concerned - are being presumptuous in a 
most monumental way. As we indicated in the Antipas Papers,  

"God's plans do not exist for our convenience - they will come to 
pass whether we approve of them or not. In the long run, it only 
matters to us - AND TIME FOR RECOGNIZING THIS FACT IS RUNNING OUT!"  

/CONT/

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