Author: Pastor DeBruyn
A Serial Book Review & Theological Interaction: Part 4
Review of Chapter 3: Vibrating in Harmony With God by Bob Jones [1]
“Both men and women are being given authority of badges and there are six things they have ‘blank checks’ to do: healing, holy confiscation, prayer, petitioning, teaching, and ushering in prosperity.”
—Bob Jones (TPOH, 22)
Introduction
Authors Judy Franklin and Ellyn Davis have constructed this chapter from material garnered from interviews with Bob Jones (1930-2014), one of the Kansas City Prophets who, in association with the Olathe Worship Center of Kansas City’s Metro Vineyard Fellowship, rose to prophetic prominence during the 1980s. It is this reviewer’s intent to critique the prophetic words and thoughts of Bob Jones (not to be confused with the Bob Jones of Bob Jones University) as they appear in this chapter of The Physics of Heaven. During a lifetime of ministry, first within the Vineyard Movement and later independently, Bob Jones is credited to have been one of the most visionary of the Kansas City Prophets. Click here to continue reading
A Serial Book Review & Theological Interaction: Part 3
Review of Chapter 2: Extracting the Precious From the Worthless by Ellyn Davis [1]
“Therefore, thus says the Lord, / ‘If you return, then I will restore you— / Before Me you will stand; /And if you extract the precious from the worthless, / You will become My spokesman. / They for their part may turn to you, But as for you, you must not turn to them’.” Emphasis added, Jeremiah 15:19 [2]
Introduction
Seeking
In their searching for spiritual truth, Ellyn Davis proposes that Christians engage New Age Religion (NAR) to seek for and take back truths which originally belonged to citizens of the Kingdom of God. (TPOH, 15) In that counterfeits prove the existence of the genuine, Davis, a former hippie from the 60s, has decided to commence a search for truth amidst a spirituality of lies. Click here to continue reading
Can “new apostles” do “greater works” than Jesus?
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.”
Emphasis added, Jesus, John 14:12, NASB [1]
Introduction
Essential to the claim being made by today’s new apostles or “manifest sons of God”—that they can perform greater “signs and wonders” than Jesus did—is the promise (cited above) the Lord made to Philip and the other Disciples (John 14:12). Referring to this promise, one of the authors of The Physics of Heaven stated: “Jesus said that we would do greater works than He did, but no Christian in history has exceeded Jesus’ works.” [2] The apostlette then adds that doing “greater works” than Jesus “should be an everyday occurrence for us.” [3]
Jesus words are foundational to claims of performing “signs and wonders” by advocates of a New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). Click here to continue reading
A Serial Book Review & Theological Interaction: Part 2
Review of Chapter 1: The Power of the Zero-Point Field by Judy Franklin [1]
“At present, nobody knows how to exploit the zero-point energy in a macroscopic device that delivers sizable amounts of energy. There is, however, a considerable fringe element (similar to those attracted to UFOs, astrology, numerology and so on) of people who speculate and fantasize about the possibility of exploiting the zero-point energy to achieve various technical marvels and the long-sought ‘perpetual motion.’ Consider yourself warned.”
Atomic Physicist Steven K. Lamoreaux, quoted by John Obienin, Materials Science Researcher at the University of Nebraska [2]
The Manifest Sons of God
The Apostle Paul told believers that “the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God” (Emphasis added, Romans 8:19, NASB). About this verse and others in the passage, Judy Franklin testifies that something “latches onto your spirit and you just have to understand what they [the verses] mean.” Click here to continue reading
A Serial Book Review & Theological Interaction: Part 1
Judy Franklin, Ellyn Davis and others, The Physics of Heaven: Exploring God’s Mysteries of Sound, Light, Energy, Vibrations and Quantum Physics (Crossville, TN: Double Portion Publishing, 2012): xiv + 188.
Introduction
Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?
Emphasis added, Zophar to Job, Job 11:7-8, KJV
Beginning about the time of Albert Einstein (1879-1955), Quantum or theoretical physics has influenced the way people view life’s reality, the way in which “we live and move and exist” (Acts 17:28). Whereas “the old physics,” championed by Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727), assumed that the infinite universe worked like “a clock”—an ordered and predictable cosmos—“the new physics” observes an infinitesimal universe playing itself out like “a game”—a disordered and unpredictable chaos. Click here to continue reading
The “Conversion” of a Skeptic?
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” Jesus, John 14:1-4, KJV
Recently, Newsweek magazine flaunted a cover title HEAVEN IS REAL, with the subtitle, A Doctor’s Experience of the Afterlife. [1] The experiencer of Heaven is Dr. Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon who has taught at, among other academic institutions, Harvard Medical School. In other words, he’s familiar with the intricacies and workings of the human brain. As a scientist, Alexander confesses he did not believe in near-death (NDE) or out-of-the-body (OBE) experiences for he “believed there were good scientific explanations for the heavenly out-of-the-body journeys described by those who narrowly escaped death,” but when he experienced one, his worldview shifted. Click here to continue reading
Encountering Voices in the Silence of Contemplative Prayer
Through practicing the discipline of solitude and silence, contemplative spiritualists hope to hear God personally speak to them. As one nationally known personality stated on the Be Still DVD, “intimacy automatically breeds revelation.”[1] But if a voice speaks, there is some question regarding its identitity. Therefore in the video’s same segment, “Fear of Silence,” Richard Foster offers advice about how to discern who might communicate in the silence. He advises:
Learning to distinguish the voice of God . . . from just human voices within us . . . comes in much the same way that we learn any other voice. Satan pushes and condemns. God draws and encourages. And we can know the difference.[2]
Though there could be others, Richard Foster admits to cacophony of possible voices that might speak: first, human voices within and without (a source that could involve hearing oneself speak, in which case, contemplators would be listening to themselves); second, Satan’s voice; and third, God’s voice. Click here to continue reading
The “Spiritual Secret” of Greg Boyd.
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8, KJV
On the cover of Gregory A. Boyd’s recently published book, Present Perfect: Finding God in the Now, this endorsement appears:
“Discover a spiritual secret that is as simple as it is profound. Highly recommended.”
—Brian D. McLaren
author, speaker, and activist[1]
One “spiritual secret” in Boyd’s book may be discovered in a footnote to the second chapter, Finding Home.[2] The secret is: “We no longer have a ‘sinful nature’.” Wow! Assuming the author is writing about Christians, he is asserting they no longer have a sinful nature (i.e., nature equals the essential properties of a thing). In other words, our nature is “perfect now”! Within the Christian’s psyche there no longer resides an inner disposition to sin. Possessing inner immunity against sinning, Christians can conduct their lives in a “present perfect.” Click here to continue reading