"Mainstream"
Spring 1994 (Part Two)

TESTING EVANGELISM

This Spring [of 1994] will see the launch of many different, but interlinked, evangelistic events. It may be the most intensive (and most expensive!) evangelistic outreach the country has ever seen, reaching every home in the nation.  The organisers are hoping that it will result in a national revival?

Naturally, all those who love the Lord want to see others saved.  So, the word “evangelism” elicits a hot-button response from Christians.  Whatever else may be wrong with the Church today, “evangelism” is something we see as totally positive and good.  It creates a mental picture of good old gospel preaching, tears of repentance, decisions for Christ, and new members for our church.  What could possibly be wrong with such a vision?  The answer is, nothing - so long as the vision is correct and tallies with the facts.  But does it?

Questions

With modern evangelism, as with every area of life these days, we are forced to ask questions. The age of innocence is over.  The days in which we naively trusted our elders and teachers, and carelessly endorsed their every initiative are long gone.  Now, the question at the base of all our investigations is: does this square with the Word of God?

My intention is not to criticise people or churches that are involved in the national schemes, for their motives are sound (if ill-informed).  Nor is any direct personal criticism being aimed at the organisers and leaders of these outreaches, who are doubtless sincere, godly people.

Any who are genuinely engaged in soul-winning activities deserve our support.  But at the same time, we must not give blanket approval to ALL that goes by the name of evangelism, simply because it uses biblical terminology.

Few realise how deeply compromised are the organisations promoting world evangelism. As well as the new worldview of Restoration, the errors of feminism, humanism and Reconstructionalism, there is the Roman Catholic input.  Look back far enough and you will see the guiding hand of Rome everywhere. Rome has adopted a new “evangelistic” face, while continuing to preach a false gospel. She is no friend of the truth, yet she is willing to hide her hatred of true Christianity in order to harness the energy of Protestant evangelistic organisations to achieve her own ends. There are also New Age links, incredible as that seems.

So, I make no apology for interrupting the smooth course of the Spring events with my bothersome questions, praying that all Bereans will follow suit.

What is the true aim of today’s “Evangelism”?

A: Quest For A Kingdom Now

Pure gospel preaching is not the only thing on the agenda!  The idea is spreading fast that the Kingdom of God cannot come, nor can the Lord Jesus return, until all nations bow the knee to Jesus and submit to God’s rule, exercised through His agency on earth, the Church.

A much-used definition of the Kingdom in Restoration literature is: “The will and rule of God at present exercised and demonstrated through the Church”.

Thus, evangelism entails not only preaching the gospel of individual salvation, but also challenging national powers and governments to submit to King Jesus. Roger Mitchell, writing in “The Kingdom Factor” (Marshall-Pickering, 1986) says, “It is unequivocally the task of evangelism ... to warn the government and its leaders of the situation they are in”.

Restoration leaders see the Kingdom in terms of taking dominion over this world and its people. They believe that the Church’s given task is to alter society radically, and to bring nations into submission to the feet of Jesus. Their gospel, therefore, (as well as the conventional idea of personal conversion) is one of salvation from oppression, suffering, poverty and dis­tress by a return to the kingdom rule of God.

Another Restoration writer explains,

“Jesus didn’t preach the ‘simple gospel’ of ‘only believe’. While salvation is a matter of personal response, Jesus’ declared aim was that the whole world should be saved and all men be drawn to him.  Often, he arrived at the need for forgiveness of sin through a confrontation of the social issues of his day...if we are to change the world, we must proclaim a gospel that tells the poor that this is the year of the Lord’s favour, in which there is freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind, and release for the oppressed.” [1]

Today’s evangelism, therefore, has at least one additional aim: the transformation of society.

B: Spiritual Warfare

A second aim involves spiritual warfare. The mistaken interpretation of certain scriptures, such as Psalm 110:1, and Acts 3:21 leads some to believe that Jesus Christ is “held” in the heavenlies until the Church finishes the job of taking dominion over this worldly scene. Some say that the Church must “subdue all God’s enemies” before Christ can return.

A small number of converts is not the aim; nothing less than global revival will do - and urgently!  The numbers being quoted are in the millions.

How can this be achieved, given the present world’s attitude of antagonism towards the gospel? Through warfare in the heavenly realm! “The Kingdom is taken by godly Christians through fervent, commanding, binding prayer ...”  [2]

Much modern-day evangelism starts out from the belief that the only real obstacle to global revival is the presence in the heavenlies of evil territorial spirits.  These spirit-rulers are blinding the eyes of unbelievers. If these spirits were to be overthrown - and even more so if they were to be replaced by Christians - then the nations would accept Christ’s rule. So the thinking goes.  Thus, conventional evangelism has to be supple­mented by spiritual warfare to “enable people” to respond. (This view is more thoroughly examined in the article on Spiritual Warfare.)

THE KINGDOM

A terrible misunderstanding of the Kingdom and of biblical eschatology lies at the base of this kind of thinking. The Bible speaks, primarily, of a FUTURE literal Kingdom: the glorious kingly reign of the Messiah after His return to this earth. (Matt 25:31-34) There can be no Kingdom rule on earth without the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the Kingdom is in Him and with Him.

Although there is a spiritual sense in which born-again believers have a foretaste of the Kingdom, that is only because of their association and unity with Jesus Christ. (Col 1:13)  There is still a future Kingdom reality to be experienced, even for Christians, who are waiting for their Day of Redemption. (Heb 4:1,9)

The unsaved cannot enter the Kingdom of God, either through their own righteousness or by Church membership. The only entrance is by spiritual birth:

  • “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)
  •  “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. (1 Cor 15:50)

What folly, then, to encourage the unsaved to obey God on the understanding that they are participating in the establishment of the worldwide Kingdom of God!

C: Networking For United Evangelism

The third aspect of today’s evangelism is the concept of networking - covered in more detail in the Winter 1993 issue of “Mainstream”.

Unity is being pushed as THE requirement for completing the Church’s supposed task of discipling all nations before the return of Christ.

An article by Glenn Myers, titled “The Network Revolution” appeared in the March 1994 issue of the magazine “Renewal”. It began by pointing out that “only the whole Church has enough resources to reach the whole world”, and said that uncoordinated efforts by local churches were fatally flawed because of their lack of unity.

Given the goal of reaching the whole world by the year 2000, Glenn Myers - a writer for WEC International -  offered networking as the answer. He explains that the knots in the net are local churches, linked together by shared information and events.

DRAWING POWER

Roger Forster goes much further.  He sees a supernatural dimension to the net; it has energy lines forged between local churches that pulsate with “Holy Spirit Kingdom power”, and draw all around into its web.

“Our task is to network the world” he says, “each local church is like a knot in the net from which it emits, extends and exerts Holy Spirit Kingdom power over the imme­diate territory.” [3]

One of the most disturbing features of this vision of the global network is that it “enmeshes everything, good AND evil”, but the evil is brought into the Kingdom net for the purposes of judgement.  Quoting the dragnet parable of Matt 13:47-50, Foster says that “Jesus will pull in the net of his kingdom when it covers the world, enmeshing everything, good and evil”. [4]

A separate article would be needed to cover these ideas adequately.  But in brief, this enmeshing of all things and all peoples in the church network seems to be describing recruitment and church membership rather than spiritual re-birth. Are the new movements for evangelism more concerned about numerical superiority than true converts?  Are they aiming at faithful disciples for their creed, rather than faithful followers of Jesus Christ?

The last time that a Church had so much world dominion was when Rome ruled the world.  Then, it was often fatal not to be a faithful member of that system and the only ‘salvation’ possible was through that Church. At that time, there was indeed a network around the world that enmeshed all things, good and evil.

Rome’s net was plucked from her hands by the Protestant Reformation - but are we now witnessing the resurrection of that beast, energetically aided and abetted by charismatic Protestants?

We can return to the Glenn Myers article to confirm our suspicions.  For there he describes the network as a scheme of saturation church-planting.

He cites the DAWN 2000 strategy as a classic example. The Discipling A Whole Nation strategy, according to the book by its founder, Jim Montgomery, is to “bring about the incarnation of Christ among every small group of people in the world” because “saturation church planting...is the most direct way to bring in the greatest number of new disciples”. [5] (Possibly, but are these new church members born again?)

Discipling a whole nation, he explains, involves researching each country to determine how many new churches should be planted.  This is largely based on a percentage-of-population figure that owes more to the new-age “hundredth monkey” principle than it does to the Word of God.

Myers also praises AD2000, the “big daddy” of all networks, [his words]. The AD2000 Global Consultation on World Evangelisation is scheduled for June 25th in Seoul, the same day as the Global March for Jesus. (Not surprisingly, Roger Forster is both a member of the International Board, and of the Global Resource Network of AD2000.)

Though AD2000 is the most influential evangelistic network in the world today, it is thoroughly ecumenical, and encompasses the Catholic “Evangelisation 2000” amongst its many schemes.  Myers says that AD2000 grew out of the Lausanne II Congress on World Evangelisation in Manila in 1989. However, its foundations go back to the ecumenical compromises of Billy Graham and Bill Bright (Campus Crusade For Christ) who both work with Catholics in evangelism.  Both are now Chairmen on the Board of AD2000.

Before the Lausanne meeting, “Congress 88” in Chicago paved the way, with its opening speaker, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.

The Manila Lausanne meeting itself came up with such a mish-mash of doctrine that everyone, including invited observers from the Vatican, found a niche. AD2000 was promoted as a platform for the WHOLE Church (all denominations) to reach the WHOLE world.  (Compare Myers’ text above).

To achieve this, doctrinal differences have to be put aside, and church unity promoted.  The Lausanne Covenant affirmed that “The Church’s visible unity in truth is God’s purpose”.  The writers meant well.  But this belief has led to an evangelistic programme so broad that those who preach an alternative gospel can be welcomed as fellow-evangelists, in the name of unity.

It is no surprise, then, to find at least one partici­pant in AD2000 embraces the New Age Movement.  His name is Jay Gary.  [See below for more details.]  In short, World Evangelism has some very strange bedfellows indeed!

Does the Bible indicate a national/global revival before the return of Christ?

Obviously, our answer to this question will affect our response to national evangelism, since no one will embark on an intensive campaign to achieve the impossible. I have found, though, that the answer people give is more likely to be based on personal hopes and ambitions and on wishful thinking than on strict attention to Bible prophecy.

THE WAY TO CALVARY

With God all things are possible, and I do not want to rule out the possibility of a harvest of souls before the End.  Yet there are clear indications that the conditions prevailing just before the Return of Christ are anything but conducive to global revival.  They even militate against moderate success for the gospel.

This is something we all find hard to accept.  At the prospect of the Church of the endtimes following Jesus to Gethsemane and Calvary, we tend to speak with the voice of Peter:

"Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But [Jesus] turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men"

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:22-26)

Peter was motivated by the same sort of human thinking that besets us all - it was focused on his own life and his own world.  Faced with oppression, violence, injustice, paganism and every kind of evil, Peter longed to see God do something “positive”; he wanted to see his enemies routed and all peoples brought into submission to God. He wanted Jesus immediately to overthrow satan and all his forces, and he couldn’t see how God would have it otherwise - yet, bafflingly, Jesus walked on towards torture and death, disappointing even his closest followers.

While Peter insisted on man’s answer to evil, speaking with the voice of satan, Jesus spoke with the voice of the Holy Spirit: “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Lu 22:42). In choosing to obey God the Father, rather than the rational desires of man, Jesus brought about the greatest victory every known. The same reasoning goes for His Body on earth.

Once having accepted that God’s plan really is better than ours, we can begin to see the prophecies of the End in a different light.

ENDTIMES PROPHECY

Every indication is that the endtimes will be characterised by increasing lawlessness.  All restraint to evil behaviour will be overthrown. (2 Tim :3) Eventually, all who are not found in the Book of Life will worship the Antichrist, and refuse to repent. (Rev 13:8) The Bible does not prophesy any interruption in this process to allow for national or global revival. 

When asked to describe the signs of the End and of His return, rather than offer the hope of a glorious harvest of souls, Jesus spoke of deception, persecution, wars, violence and catastrophes. (Matt 24:4-13)  His focus was on the endurance needed by believers to withstand the pressures of those days, not on their victorious achievements.

It is often argued that Jesus also mentioned global evangelism as a sign of the endtimes.  He said “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Mt 24:14)

But several things could be said about that verse. Firstly, since Jesus’ day, the gospel HAS been preached in all the world; secondly, the gospel mentioned here could be a specific one - “THIS gospel of the KINGDOM” - that is, the specific news of the coming Messiah and the events surrounding his return.

Thirdly, worldwide gospel preaching - even if it is prophesied - will not necessarily result in a harvest of millions (as promised by some).  Though the Lord, in his mercy, may allow mankind one last warning, it seems from scripture that most people ignore it.

Scripture says that Jesus will not discover a thriving worldwide Christian kingdom on earth when He returns. (Luke 18:8) It tells us that “few” find the narrow path that leads to life. (Matt 7:14) All of this highlights the dangers of promising fantastic results from global or national evangelism.

What is the "gospel" preached at modern-day evangelistic events?

It is sad to have to ask this question.  We ought to be able to trust Christian preachers to present the truth according to scripture.  Seemingly, we cannot.

Since the Kingdom message is about transforming this earth and setting up the universal reign of Christ through his Church, the focus of the Restoration gospel reflects those aims.

SOCIAL GOSPEL

The goal is to present Christianity as an answer to the world’s problems - hence it dwells on earthly desires more than spiritual requirements.

Gerald Coates sees it this way:

“Our task is to make Jesus attractive and intelligible.  Through words and deeds  [ie. social work.] to build bridges of love because human beings are worth it, and in the hope that we might have the rich privilege of sharing our faith with them.  In so doing, as people respond, the earth will fill up with reasonable people who have been given the ability to make peace rather than war, to be faithful rather than promiscuous, to bring heaven rather than hell into the world”. [6]

Clearly, flesh-debasing messages about sin, hell and separation from the world are not going to do the job!

Rather than bring men and women under conviction for their sin and call them to repentance, today’s preaching simply concentrates on all the advantages of belonging to Jesus. This results in what used to be called “rice-christians” who join the churches for what they can get - such as rice handouts in India.

Here is an illustration, borrowed from a recent newsletter: [7]

A man travelling in an aircraft is offered a parachute by the stewardess and told it will give him a better flight. He is encouraged to put it on, but after a while notices not only that the other passengers are laughing at him, but also that the parachute has done nothing to improve his journey.  It is cumbersome and heavy.  So eventually he takes it off again.

A second man is told that the plane he is travelling on is certain to crash shortly.  He will have to jump out at 25,000 feet. He is then offered the parachute and told it will save his life.  He puts it on, and endures its heaviness and discomfort. He also ignores the whispering and pointing fingers of the others, because he is anticipating the crash and knows that he, at least, will be saved.

No illustration is perfect, and this has many flaws.  But it says this:  if we give people the impression that “putting on Christ” will improve their lives, then after a time, when the shine wears off, they will backslide and even accuse us of deceiving them. 

However, if we explain the penalty for sin, the fate of unbelievers, the coming judgement, and the crash shortly coming to this world, they will have all the more reason to take Christ for salvation, and rejoice in Him despite any hardship, persecution or self-sacrifice entailed.

A self-centred gospel message is not only unbiblical, but it is dishonest.  It leads people into false expectations for their future, and fails to point out the level of commitment involved.  It also reduces Jesus Christ to a sort of coin-in-the-slot machine, standing ready to dispense goodies to all and sundry.

MINUS TO PLUS

Since the “Minus To Plus” campaign is almost upon us, it would be good to look at the gospel booklet being presented to every home in the UK. Is it a message founded in the truths of scripture?

It presents Jesus as one who “spent his life bringing the love of God to ordinary people - he showed them how much God loved them; he turned the minus of their lives into a glorious plus.” And later, “the cross has the power to transform us.  Minus is turned to plus, negative to positive”.

God DOES love people, but the booklet’s simplistic statement at this point leaves out God’s anger for our sin, and the conditions for salvation.  Jesus did not offer his services indiscriminately, nor did he wink at sin.

It also gives the impression that God will change OUR lives for the better, when in truth the only life is found in Jesus Christ.  We are called to abandon our lives, to DIE in Christ, and be re-born as a new creature in Him - that is the only way any change can take place in our circumstances.

However, the most disturbing part of the booklet is its description of the work of Jesus on the Cross.  There, it says, “Jesus experienced in himself two op­posing forces - the negative of our sins and the posi­tive of God’s love.  Jesus was the holy, perfect Son of God, and yet on the cross, he was made “sin for us”.  There he became the cosmic centre where all evil and goodness met.”

This is far from being a biblical description of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross! Did Jesus really “experience in Himself” evil as well as goodness? Although he was “made sin for us” in the sense of a sin-offering (which, by the way, had to be totally spotless) he never experienced sin in Himself - that would make Jesus a sinner!

DUALISM

The dualistic, yin/yang concept of an equal fight between evil and good, black and white, satan and the son of god, is pure heresy, and is hopefully not what this booklet intends.  Yet its sloppy description of the most central argument of the Christian faith is a disgrace.  It is incomprehensible and meaningless, and leaves out the fact that Jesus offered Himself as a Sacrifice for the sin of mankind, and on the cross put to death the cause of man’s sin - the fallen human nature. It was not a cosmic battle that se­cured our salvation, but the obedience of Christ, “even unto death”, breaking satan’s hold over our flesh.

This description of the cross is not likely to enlighten anyone about our participation in Christ and His sacrifice.  Salvation is presented as a “wave of spiritual power” released by Jesus from which sinners can - in some ill-defined way - benefit.

What will the people who receive this booklet respond to? The realisation that they are helpless sinners who have no hope of victory over sin except by dying to self and accepting Christ as Lord? Or, the desire to obtain some personal blessing and power from what Jesus did for us two thousand years in the past?

How many people will be truly born-again of the Spirit by responding to messages like these? And, more to the point, how many will be inoculated against the truth by thinking they have already become christians, and have no need of salvation?

The effect of a self-oriented gospel is to produce selfish disciples of that creed, ever searching for more good things to enhance their lives. How many of the supposed “decisions” at large evangelistic meetings are of that kind?  How many of these “converts” return to their old lives when the razzmatazz and excitement of the meeting is over?  We are told only the number of enquirers at a meeting, not the fall-out rate, so will never know.

It can hardly be better expressed than in this extract:

“a man may make a profession without every having his confidence in his own ability shattered; he has been told absolutely nothing of his need for a change of nature which is not within his own power, and consequently, if he does NOT experience such a radical change, he is not dismayed.  He was never told it was essential, so he sees no reason to doubt whether he is a Christian. Indeed, the teaching he has come under consistently militates against such doubts arising.  It is frequently said that a man who has made a decision with little evidence of a change of life may be a “carnal” Christian who needs instruction in holiness, or if the same individual should gradually lose his new-found interests, the fault is frequently attributed to lack of “follow-up”, or prayer, or some other deficiency on the part of the Church.  The possibility that these marks of worldliness and falling away are due to the absence of a saving experience at the outset is rarely considered” [8]

What is Biblical Evangelism?

We seem to think that what passes for “evangelism” today is the only possible expression of biblical gospel preaching. Are we forgetting that the salvation message has been preached for nearly two thousand years, more or less effectively?  What can we learn from the Bible account of preaching, and how did other Christians effectively preach?

Classic biblical preaching is that men and women are, firstly, convicted of their sin and rebellion against God, secondly, made to know their helplessness in the face of God’s righteous judgement, and thirdly, urged to come to Christ - dying to self - to seek salvation by repenting of their sin and believing on Him as the only means of escape. (Acts 2:36-37)

None of this entails promises to improve their worldly lot.  In fact, the early Christians would have been surprised if it did so - and even today in much of the world, becoming a Christian is tantamount to a death sentence!  Yet, the conviction of sin and judgement can be so strong that it impels people to run to Jesus for salvation, even so.

Furthermore, without the activity of the Holy Spirit, without the drawing of God, no man or woman can come to the Lord. (John 6:44)  Preaching is therefore not a matter of rhetoric, showmanship, persuasive words or personal charm. (1 Cor 2:4)  No amount of rousing music, stirring testimonies or appeals to the emotions can create a convert in truth.  That sort of worldly wisdom only leads to shallow conversions of the mind, not the heart.

Today’s evangelism, too, vies with the world for entertainment value and excitement.  Each meeting is carefully crafted to be as attractive as possible to the soul of man.  So, when people are invited to commit themselves, they naturally associate this thrilling activity with Christi­anity, and their commitment is as much to the groups who organise the events as to their Lord.  Needy people without much joy in their lives rarely shrink from joining up with an organisation so powerful, so wealthy, so influential and so entertaining.  But would they think twice if they were told the truth?

SLAIN BUT NOT DEAD IN CHRIST

 I was unfortunate enough to witness, captured on video, one of the worst examples of “power-evangelism”. The speaker had put on a show of supernatural fireworks, peppered with just enough isolated texts to convince the audience that they were at a Christian meeting. He demonstrated his ability to pass on his powers at will, by laying flat everyone he touched.

A young man came onto the platform.  He was dressed all in black; his eyes were glassy and his speech was slurred.  He told the audience that he had come to the meeting to cause trouble, having once been “saved” but now having fallen away.  “But”, he said to the Preacher, “I’ve seen what you’ve got - and that’s what I want.”  The audience roared their approval.  Without any real discussion, repentance, counselling or prayer, the Preacher put his hand on the boy, who fell down twitching and laughing uncontrollably. He’d got what he wanted.

That may be - and I sincerely hope it is - an extreme example, but it also epitomises what is wrong with much of evangelism today.  It is aimed at the flesh, not the spirit.

The call of the gospel is to examine ourselves in the light of scripture and repent of our shortcomings; then to go to God for forgiveness and reconciliation. It is to “come to Christ”, not to join the Church, or seek advice, blessing, provision, help or whatever we most need.  In contrast to the shallow appeals of today, look at the invitation used by Spurgeon:

“Before you leave this place, breathe an earnest prayer to God, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.  Lord, I need to be saved.  Save me!  I call upon Thy name. --- Lord, I am guilty, I deserve Thy wrath.  Lord, I cannot save my­self.  Lord, I would have a new heart and a right spirit, but what can I do?  Lord, I can do nothing - come and work in me to do of Thy good pleasure.  But I now do from my very soul call upon Thy name.  Trembling, yet believ­ing, I cast myself wholly upon Thee, O Lord.  I trust the blood and righteousness of Thy dear Son --- Lord, save me tonight, for Jesus’ sake.” [9]

Conversion is more than a passing regret - it is an utter conviction of our helpless, lost and desperate condition before a righteous God.  And salvation is more than a good feeling that comes from adopting a better way of life. It is receiving a new life altogether!  The “old man” of the hu­man nature MUST be put to death in Jesus before His eternal, victorious life can flood our spirits.  Christianity is not an optional extra to be tacked onto our old way of life.  Anyone who misses this point is unlikely to experience a true conversion.

Yet how many people will get the chance to hear these truths in the evangelistic meetings of today?


JAY GARY - UNEQUALLY YOKED?

He is Congress Planner with the Lausanne World Evangelisation Movement, and Communications Consultant for New Life 2000, the prestigious “World Strategy of Campus Crusade”.  He developed the “Perspectives” nationwide lay mission study, which now reaches 5,000 students a year. He was Executive Editor of “World Christian” magazine. But it was none of this that first drew my attention to Jay Gary.  It was his inclusion in the World Goodwill newsletter.

For those unfamiliar with the New Age Movement, I should explain that World Goodwill is a subsidiary of Lucis Trust (formerly Lucifer Trust), probably the leading New Age organisation today.  It was founded by the Theosophist Alice Bailey, whose teachings were “telepathically dictated by the spirit-guide Dwjhal Khul” Lucis Trust has (according to the researcher Dr. John Coleman) over 6,000 active members, including Banking and Financial heads, Government ministers, UN officials and Defence chiefs, to name but a few. It promotes the “prayer” to the antichrist called The Great Invocation, and was involved in the series of advertisements in the national press since 1982 proclaiming that “The Christ (Maitreya) is now in the World”.

World Goodwill boasts of an unnamed group net­working together to fulfil the occult plan for a New World Order.  This secretive group, called The New Group of World Servers, are supposedly working in the highest levels of government, finance, education, religion and other fields to advance the integration of the nations, the unification of all religions, and to inaugurate a new international economic order.

As Jay Gary and his wife Olga together penned a book called “The Countdown Has begun” documenting their biblical beliefs and working relationships with many respected Christian leaders and organisations involved in world evangelism, we must ask ourselves why we find him writing in the World Goodwill newsletter, for an organisation that is openly and unashamedly dedicated to Luciferian goals.

The particular hat he wore for his appearance in World Goodwill was as the Founder and Director of BEGIN, a global networking organisation based in Colorado Springs, USA.  BEGIN, which stands for the Bimillennial Global Interaction Network, is described as a group of world citizens who are promoting a planetary jubilee celebration for the year 2000AD.

Gary writes that Robert Muller, former UN Assistant Secretary-General, has given leadership for the project, and he invites World Goodwill readers, who supposedly share Alice Bailey’s occult views, to participate by writing in with their ideas.

Robert Muller, as all students of the New Age know, wrote the book “New Genesis - Shaping A Global Spirituality”, and now his latest book “Birth of A Global Civilisation”, which covers global human rights, global networking and a global core curriculum, is endorsed in Jay Gary’s March/April 1992 BEGIN newsletter:

“In his latest book Muller proposes that the UN pro­claims the Year 2000 as an International Year of Thanksgiving, preceded by “unprecedented thinking, action, and deter­mination to solve our remaining problems in order to enter the third millennium with a clean slate”.  He called upon the UN to establish a Preparatory Committee which would stimulate and co-ordinate celebration 2000 preparations among the professions, institutions, media, business, citizen organisations, religion and the arts”.

The BEGIN newsletter also advertises new-age books such as John Nesbitt’s “Megatrends 2000”, and glowingly promotes the interfaith Parliament of the World’s Religions,  which recently drafted the “Global Ethic” - a manifesto for the transformation of mankind through common religious and social beliefs. A book written by the German theologian responsible for the “Global Ethic”, Hans Kung, also appears on the booklist of Jay Gary’s newsletter.

The newsletter endorses an educational group (Countdown 2001) whose goal is to transform, rather than reform, education in the 21st century, producing children who are obedient world citizens and examples of the new global spirituality.  Also featured in Jay Gary’s newsletter, as a full-page spread, is a poem by Robert Muller.  This includes the lines:

“I dream that on 1 January 2000, the whole world will stand still in prayer, awe and gratitude for our beautiful heavenly Earth, and for the miracle of human life. I dream that (all peoples) from all beliefs and cultures will join their hands, hearts and minds in an unprecedented, universal bimillennial celebration of Life....I dream that the third millennium will be declared and made Humanity’s First Millennium of Peace”

I fear Robert Muller is in for a rude awakening.  However, what could Jay Gary - highly involved in Christian World Evangelism - have in common with a luciferic religion, a spirit-guide, a new world order and a planetary jubilee?

That he and his wife, who seem to be sincere people with impeccable christian credentials, could sink up to the neck in such deception is just a commentary on the lack of discernment current in the Church today.

Yet it is world evangelism that holds the key, for Robert Muller has also been on a quest to persuade others to follow his spiritual path. According to the World Goodwill newsletter:

"In 1978, Robert Muller and Margaret Mead challenged the people of the world to prepare for the year 2000 by a worldwide collaborative process of unparalleled thinking, education and planning for a just and sustainable human world order. [An] international team of scholars have designed the project as a creative response to what they refer to as “six compelling essentials”: a new sense of power, transcultural dialogue, citizen participation, a global forum, an holistic perspective, a spiritual renaissance, environmental security, economic security, and disarmament”. [Whoops! That’s nine compelling essentials!]

But when Robert Muller talks about a “spiritual renaissance” he doesn’t mean a Christian revival.  He is referring to a global religion that will join all people and nations under the benevolent reign of spiritually wise UN leaders.  He envisages a world of spiritual beings evolving through reincarnation and fulfilling the law of karma - doctrines he learned from his spiritual master, the Buddhist monk U Thant.  His view of the future is only as “christian” as that of Teillard de Chardin’s - man’s spiritual evolution towards an Omega point of perfect unity.

Unlike Jay Gary, Robert Muller has everything to gain and nothing to lose by his allegiance to Christian evangelists.  His occult beliefs can easily assimilate other gods and conform them to his world view.  Christianity cannot make similar compromises without rejecting the uniqueness of Christ, severing its relationship with God, and losing its true identity.  We had better heed God’s warning in 2 Cor 6:14-18:

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.  For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?  And what communion has light with darkness?  And what accord has Christ with Belial?  Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God...Therefore, “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord, and do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you”.


ENDNOTES

[1] David Mansell, “Changing The World God’s Way”, Restoration Magazine, Sept/Oct 1990

[2] John Hosier, “Seeking The Kingdom” booklet,  Word, 1990

[3] Roger Forster’s foreword to “Territorial Spirits”, C. Peter Wagner, Sovereign World, 1991.

[4] Roger Forster, Ibid.

[5] Jim Montgomery, DAWN 2000, Highland Books, p.100

[6] Gerald Coates, “Back To Basics” article, Christian Herald, May 1993

[7] Ray Comfort, excerpt from “Hell’s Best Kept Secret” in Sword & Trumpet newsletter, (Nov/Dec 93) PO Box 870, Chandler, Texas 75758, USA

[8] Iain Murray, “The Forgotten Spurgeon” (London 1966)

[9] Murray, Ibid.


Copyright (c) 1994 BANNER MINISTRIES