Help with discernment please...

[micah719]

G'day dearly beloved brothers and sisters;

There is something coming up ahead that I need to prepare for, so I'd like some input and discernment about this:

MasterLife - Home
https://www.prepare-enrich.com

For those of you that know me a little from these forums, you might have an idea of what awaits me.

[myinnuendo999]

Well, I don't know that I'm of much help but Proverbs has lots of advice on Discernment. The first verse I thought of micah719 was a Proverb that has helped me with memorizing verses. I start to move forwards and then I stop on my own. This verse has encouraged me to do be more intentional because I have committed it to Christ and I'm held more accountable to the dedication.

Proverbs 16:3 "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."


Now I'm not saying the verse is all encompassing that "anything" you commit to him will be granted. NO we know that God is not some sugar daddy in the sky. We want to please HIM not use HIM....

also what you are doing is wise asking for advice-- "Proverbs 15:22 "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."


and most of us know to "Trust in the LORD with all our hearts and lean NOT on your OWN understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and HE will make your path straight...

[mattfivefour]

I do not think this takes much discernment.

The organizers of Masterlife were part of Rick Warren's building program at Saddleback. They are emergent.

Prepare/Enrich is a humanistic psychological approach to personal growth and development. It owes far more to the works of Jung and Adler than it does to the Bible.

Such discernment as I have tells me to stay away from it all.

If it is for your school work, then you may just have to hold your nose and answer the questions they want answered so you can get your nursing certification. Pray. God will guide you. Remember-- He tells us to be wise as serpents, but harmless as doves. The word wise (φρόνιμος=phronimos, FRON-ee-moss) means shrewd, prudent, sensible. "Harmless" (ἀκέραιο=akeraios, ack-AIR-eye-oss) means literally "no mixture" and was used in those days to speak of wine without water and metal without alloy. To quote William Barclay: "When used of people, it implies motives which are unmixed. Christian purity must issue in a complete sincerity of thought and character."

[micah719]

Well, seeing as how I'm in the process of relocating, I was looking forward to finding a good church, seeing as how around here the choices are limited to Catholicism or Catholicism-lite. In Mum's home town there is a Baptist church which I have been to once, not really long enough to get a proper look. So I looked at the webpage and those two things jumped right out at me. I've looked at both on the web and immediately noticed the Saddleback connection to the first, and the suspiciousness of the other is unmistakeable. Glad to know my Spiritual antenna are functioning, thanks for confirming my impression. The difficult thing now is whether I should even bother going to this church, seeing as how there is bound to be a standoff at some point...I'll take it to the Lord and see what He wants me to do; avoid, or tighten the straps on the armour and go up. The emergent thing isn't so well-emerged over here yet, but with the deplorable state of people's biblical discernment over here it won't take long. The psycho-babble is already well entrenched though. When I investigated that a bit closer it is one of the main tools of the UN/WHO crowd...thought police.

[MikeD]

Micah719, I'd have to agree with Matt5:4 on this one.

Upon visiting their web site, the FIRST thing you read is them making mention "if you'd like to donate go here..." To me, that's a BIG RED FLAG!! Some of the most SUCCESSFUL ministries in the Lord that I've been associated with, I mean successful in bearing good fruit, are ministries the NEVER say ANYTHING about money or the need there of, and God provides for them in ways like you'll never believe!

Just my 2cents worth...

[micah719]

It's so hard these days. They all have nice-sounding things on the websites. I always check the statement of beliefs and they usually say much the same thing. Sometimes I worry that I'm getting paranoid, then I remember that just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me....

[myinnuendo999]

Growth always does that micah. I remember when I was first saved and God's presence was so very strong. Then I sensed this less and less. I CRIED out to the LORD. I was so upset cause I thought He was so distant. Please LORD what is wrong? Have I displeased you? PLease show me how to understand. Well not too long after that I had a thought(I believe was from God) that a baby is Held by God and is very close,,, then the baby has to learn how to walk and that can seem kinda fearful because from time to time they "let go" of your hand..<<<That is where I was with the Lord and that is why I was getting scared. God grows us and He wants us to learn how to walk with HIm not by sight, feelings or emotions but by Trusting in His WORD--by Faith ,,,It is enough to take God at His Word and it takes a long time for some of us to learn that process.... Jesus is your Anchor Micah and solid foundation even when you dont "FEEL" like it just believe the truth in the Bible.....

[micah719]

Amen, sister. Perhaps my recent harrowing experience standing against synchretism and lies was a milestone in my spiritual growth. That chapter isn't fully over yet, but the next one has already begun. The more I learn of and from Him, the more I realise just how fully dependent I am upon Him, in every way.

[Longing2cJesus]

BIG RED FLAG from the first page:

In the four years (87-91) Laurie and I worked with Rick Warren as Lay Pastors and then Senior Lay Pastors, to help Saddleback grow and build leaders, it became obvious that growth quantitatively is the result of qualitative leadership development among the members and that requires discipleship! In my current ministry as Pastor of Outreach and Assimilation at Thomas Rd. Baptist Church I see the continual need for quality leadership development among those guiding the local church into the 21st Century. That's my passion in life.



How much of what he and his wife learned under Warren is incorporated into what he teaches? I would be wary...in fact just reading that one paragraph I myself would in no way sit under this person and look for spiritural guidance and teaching.

You asked.


Ann

[Longing2cJesus]

Micah, I just wanted to add that you got some excellent advice from Adrian, Lori, myinnuendo999, and MikeD.

[micah719]

And I'm thankful for that. I'll keep you posted on developments....

[micah719]

A quick update:

We're into the 2'nd Theory Block of the second year of this three year course. I'm still getting to know my new class-mates and colleagues, and already several salient points are worth mentioning.

Firstly, although this too is billed as a Christian school, evolution, tolerance, universalism, consensus, permissiveness are all festering well here. This time around I'm being a little more tactical about when, where and how I open my mouth/wield my pen. There are daily opportunities to make a stand for biblical Truth, and with the Lord's grace I'm taking more of these opportunities. My goodness, it is really hard sometimes to bite my tongue rather than just speak up, and I pray the Lord guides me as to what to say, and when. Otherwise I could jump up every few minutes with a reminder that things are straying off the good, old, narrow path.

Secondly, I still haven't found a local church congregation to join. On the one hand I haven't been looking all that hard, and on the other hand what I have found is not encouraging. The first congregation I looked at bills itself as Baptist but featured the two programs as mentioned in the first post of this thread. Still haven't got a clear motivation to go there, so it's on the shelf for now. However, today I spoke with our newest teacher, a lady that openly admitted to the class that she is a devout Christian. I mentioned to her that I was still new in town and that I was seeking Christian fellowship and was invited to a service this Sunday, so I'll take a look. After checking out their website I'm having misgivings about this already, seeing as how their current newsletter features a quote from Henry J.M. Nouwen (emergent church type...), and the photo section includes shots from a Halloween party for the children. Hmmmm. Not sure whether I should sit down and eat with them on Sunday, or just take a closer look and then run for the hills; or take a closer look and prepare for and wage spiritual warfare. This congregation is descended from the Brethren from 19th Century Britain, not too cluey on who they are but I'll research them now. Aaaaah, why is it so hard to find a group of Christians I can trust enough to fellowship with? At the moment I'm attending a fortnightly Bible-Study group that Mum goes to, but denominationally they're orthodox Lutheran and know more about Hansel and Gretel than they do about the Rapture and Prophecy, so I'm treading carefully. Too carefully? One difficulty is language; understanding German is slower for me than English, and having to translate, think, re-translate and speak leaves me dissatisfied with my ability to communicate effectively. The tendency is to speak plainly and openly but Germans are sophisticated folk and easily get offended when the trimmings are stripped off. I suspect that the culture here is much further along down the socialist humanist emergent rebellion than the Americans, Aussies and British I'm more used to dealing with.

Thirdly, my own walk with the Lord is not what it should be, and I'm aware and ashamed of it. Old sins that I thought were behind me have cropped up again, prayer and Bible study are suffering for it, and my life is a mess at the moment. No doubt there are powerful forces at work behind the scenes, and I would do well to stick closer to the Lord and not get distracted, complacent, apathetic and discouraged. So, once again I ask for prayer and advice, the war is nasty and sneaky over here; especially ask the Lord for grace and mercy, endurance, discernment, motivation, courage, patience, faith, and most of all Godly love. Please also pray for my mother, that the stronghold of yoga and other eastern leaven gets broken and removed. Thanks very much in advance, your brother in our too wonderful for my meagre words Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Stefan.

[ftwspursfan]

Micah/Stefan,

I'm praying for you, bro! Hang tough and stay in His Word. Stick close to us here on RF as you can and we'll help keep you built up in Christ. In dealing with my wife's cancer, I'm learning very quickly that Satan hates us immensely and he is relentless in trying to beat us up. He does not care about us being 'down', he tries to devour anyway. Strap on the armor and stand firm; believe me I'm preaching to myself as much as you.