​​...Shades Of Gray...

Do You Live In Shades Of Gray?

It seems that life is becoming more complex daily.  When the baby-boomers' generation was entering upon the stage of adult-hood, about the worst thing you ever heard about was smoking in the school restrooms and guys drinking.  Those certainly weren't right, but the presence of total evil was not one that was sensed within that generation.  However, those were a pre-cursor to the ills that face our society today.  Today, in the nineties+ generation, we see the world of drugs (including alcohol), tobacco, sex, the occult, the media, the government, the church and society in general all pointing to one end...self-destruction!  Children coming along in this generation are referred to as "Generation-X", "Generation-Z", etc..  What must they think of we who have gone before them allowing them to be referred to as the "X-Generation"?  How can they ever be expected to come to a maturity in Christ when we allow them to be so referred?  We are told that we are to be tolerant of one another and individual beliefs.

Regardless of what those beliefs may be, we are told that we are to practice tolerance. Humanity seems to have gotten the idea that we can live in shadesof gray. 

Do you live in shades of gray?  Where does the gray become black...or..white?  

What are the arguments for living in shades of gray?

We are taught, either directly or indirectly (calculated, systematic mind control/brain-washing), that we must get along with others regardless of the cost to our own likes or beliefs.  We are told that it is the "Christian" thing to do.  It is no longer "politically correct" or "religously correct" to stand for the standards of God and His Holy Word.  Even from the pulpits we hear accolades for "tolerance". It is one thing to practice tolerance of other Christians in regards to beliefs related to the gifts of God's Holy Spirit.  To practice tolerance of satanically inspired religions and beliefs is, to me, an act of treason!  A political act of treason?...NO!  It is much worse than that!  We are guilty of spiritual treason against the God of the Universe, Creator of us all!  ...An act of sustaining perpetration upon His Holy Word...  

We are deceived, either by choice or out of ignorance to God's Word, into believing that this is the correct behavior, when it is just the opposite.  I challenge you to find ONE verse of Scripture that supports backing away from the Word of God!  Check out His Word for yourself.  Don't take someone else's word on it...not even ours!  

What Happened...?

Somewhere along this road called "life", we have forgotten the most important entity...God!  We have failed to measure our standards of decision-making with the Creator of the Universe and His Holy Word. Somehow we have decided on our own that we know what is best for us and the rest of humanity. We know what, how, who, why.....and now we are paying the cost for....."what happened"!  Our grays have become black and we have no sight of the white Light of His Presence and Approval. We've been told that we should not judge a particular life style...or sexual preferences...or the use of mind and body altering drugs...or the "acceptable" use of alcohol as an aesthetic for life.  We've been told by general society and the church that we should practice tolerance regarding the religious beliefs of others.

Tolerance?

Should we be tolerant of religions that worships demons?  Should we be tolerant of a religion that promotes the spread of violence toward God's Chosen People first, and to Christians second, with the end result to be the annihilation of both?  Should we be tolerant of a society which defies God and His Word in every way conceivable to mankind in this age?  Are we to accept as fact the popular teachings through the church that we can all get along even with our differing religions?  Or the teaching that we are our own little "gods" and that it is according to God's Word?  Oh yes!  We have definitely become our own "gods" all right!  And we fail, in our conceit, to remember that there is only One God...the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There is only One!

God Is NOT A "Religion"!

This may seem a trite statement at this point, but I do not find one verse of Scripture that supports the policy of tolerance for the sake of tolerance!  God is an Absolute and His Word is the Final Authority.  We have become victims of ourselves as we have tried to circumvent the Word of God and the standards that He placed before us.  We who are Christians do not give allegiance to a "religion".  We are not saved by a "religious tolerance".  We do not have a one dimensional relationship with "religion".  We have a living, breathing, spirit to Spirit relationship with theLord Jesus Christ.  We have a Blood relationship with the God of the Universe...Creator and Sustainer of us all.  We are saved through the atoning Blood of Jesus Christ...Yeshua...God's Christ.  At some point, the ones with whom we have been tolerant are going to decide that they don't want us around anymore because we no longer serve a useful purpose for their cause...their...religion.  Do we really believe that we can trample the Blood of Christ and the Word of God and still live in a tolerant society?  The answer is in the doing!  

God's Word

If you spend time in the Word of our God, you will find that there are some pretty clear descriptions of where humanity finds itself...right now!  People within the church community enjoy pointing a finger at the sins of the Jewish people in the Old Testament.  The fact is, the church is today where Israel was when they rebelled against God and the instructions He gave through His prophets.
God's Holy Word never condones sin.  But in His Infinite Mercy, Wisdom, Compassion and Grace, He loves the sinner.  He loves the sinner but His Face is ever turned away from sin.  We shall ever be in need of His Grace.  We must remember to extend grace to those who are lost in their sin as God has extended His Grace to us.  Hate the sin, but love (with the Love of Jesus) the sinner.  Tolerance of everything against God is a deliberate voice against the Creator of the Universe.  Pray for all: those who do not have a relationship with Jesus: those who do know Jesus but have compromised His Word and His Son's Death and Resurrection and Ascension.  

We must not allow our words, deeds, thoughts or actions to spread death to those who seek a life against God.  If Christians cannot spread the Love of Christ as we stand against the manacles of satan, then we need spend time with our Father and get our attitudes in the correct posture.  If we cannot stand firm in our faith with our God, how can we expect to be living vessels of His Love and Grace?  The fact is...we can't!  

Look At Current Events

The following is a very disturbing article.  We ask that you seek the Holy's Spirit's Wisdom as whether or not to read it.  If you are shown to read the Charisma Magazine article, please seek His Wisdom regarding the sharing of this information.  Humanity is slipping away from the Creator at mach speed!

PRAY FOR ALL THE LOST SOULS THAT THEY MAY FIND JESUS BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!

Please pray before reading this next article.  It is graphic but also educational.  We need to realize that things like the following are not just in other countries.


Invasion From the Dark Side

Thousands of people recently gathered in the Nevada desert and asked satan to take them to hell. It's hard to believe, but it's true: Neo-paganism is trying to gain a foothold in the United States.

By: George Otis Jr.

About This Article

Although Charisma normally focuses on the Holy Spirit's work, we believe it is sometimes appropriate to alert our readers to what the devil is doing.

Missions strategist George Otis Jr., who is currently writing a book about the re-emergence of paganism, recently spent three days investigating this trend at a bizarre event held in the Nevada desert. His report on the Burning Man Festival is disturbingly graphic, but it reminds us that evil forces are aggressively spreading their blasphemous message.

We urge our readers to pray for a spiritual revival that will counteract the demonic movement Otis describes.--the editors

Tucked into the remote northwestern corner of Nevada is Black Rock Desert, a searing world of gray-white dust that carpets some 1,400 square miles. Many ages ago, the prehistoric glacier-fed Lake Lahontan died and evaporated, leaving the wild and barren desert as its aftermath. An unnerved John Fremont, exploring the region in the mid-1800s, confessed: "The appearance of the country was so forbidding that I was afraid to enter it."

Yet every Labor Day weekend since the mid-1980s, spiritual nomads from every U.S. state--especially from the psychedelic vortex of San Francisco--and from Canada, Germany, Brazil, Korea and at least 20 other countries visit Black Rock for a techno-pagan freakfest known as "The Burning Man." The participants' sole agenda is to transform the vast alkali flatland into what one reveler calls "a temporary autonomous zone at the edge of eternity."

For some, that "zone" means an opportunity to shed clothes, trance-dance and exchange idols. For others it is simply an earthly palette on which to display bizarre art forms. Last year, more than 10,000 participants came to the event--more than twice the number who attended in 1995.

The darkness and whimsy that swirl during Burning Man last for only a few days in late summer, before the sounds and images are carried away by the dust devils of Black Rock. For those few days, the empty desert offers itself as the annual staging area for a community known as Black Rock City--complete with its own daily newspaper, radio station, suburbs and town square.

Standing in the Gap

When my colleague Doug Trenton and I set up our campsite at Black Rock City (ours was an oversized Army parachute propped up with PVC pipe and rebar), our twofold mission was to pray--just as Abraham had prayed for the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah--and to thoroughly document a troubling societal phenomenon.

Bizarre as the Burning Man experience may be, its participants are not so alien. In addition to hailing from the best universities and finest corporations in the United States, many performers and organizers are former Christians--Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists and Pentecostals. They once studied in seminaries, spent summers on the mission field and even led national Christian campus ministries. But today they have turned their backs on God.

With the prayers of hundreds of friends backing us up, Doug and I not only survived this pagan extravaganza without sickness, theft or disturbing flashbacks, but we also were able to observe some of its most spiritually significant activity.

With our camp set up, Doug and I decided to explore. This "instant community" would be our home for the next few days.

Black Rock City looked like a futuristic movie set from Mad Max. Its nomadic, psychedelic aura made it seem as if we had dropped in on 10,000 Grateful Dead devotees.

In the center of this sprawling desert encampment was the Burning Man himself, an elaborate 40-foot-high timber giant wrapped in wax-soaked burlap and studded with Roman candles. He stood as a vivid metaphor of the smoldering alienation of the pilgrims around us.

Ritually torched on the event's final night, this "plywood-boned, neon-veined" pyrotechnic wonder is offered as a modern-day religious (or philosophical) icon. The purpose of burning the structure, some suggest, is to raise the spectra of the Spirit Cave Man, an ancient Indian mummy discovered nearby.

But the event's founder, Larry Harvey, said this explanation misses the mark. "If you're searching for a broader moral purpose," he exclaimed, "then think of the Man as a kind of collective 'I am'!"

The roots of the Burning Man Festival are in San Francisco's Baker Beach, where the effigy torching began as a personal catharsis for Harvey. It later became an interesting way for friends to mark the summer solstice. When the crowds grew too large for the city, the whole affair moved out to the desert.

Eager to escape the oppressive routine of life, those making the yearly pilgrimage to Black Rock are in no mood for rules. It is an eclectic crowd of neo-pagans, media bohemians and some of the world's top computer animators. They come to the desert to cast off restraint.

They collectively celebrated their rebellion through tribal "theme camps" such as "Motel 666," "Lost Vegas" and "Sinful Rhino." There was also the dusk-to-dawn "Heathen Drumming Circle," where participants are invited to drop their inhibitions and connect with their tribal roots. The atmosphere was post-apocalyptic and, as we quickly discovered, outright blasphemous.

Visitors to the "Crucifixion With a Celebrity" camp had their photograph taken while hanging next to a fat Elvis. Others hung out at "McSatan's Bistro," where revelers dared the Almighty to consume them with brimstone.

Homosexuals were everywhere, including the habit-clad "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence" who invited confessors to "go your way and sin some more!" A fashion show featured "The Seven Deadly Sins" in which the audience determined if they were deadly or delicious.

In what was dubbed "a Dionysian frenzy in a hellish environment," performing artist Scott Jenerik presented Demons Eating of My Flesh and Drinking of My Blood.

Near the center camp, the three-member, aesthetic "Meat Foundation" offered up gothic shock. The midnight performance occurred in a junkyard corral strewn with rusty gears and chunks of raw meat. The only light came from a blowtorch being used to roast severed animal heads over a 55-gallon drum.

Dressed in black robes, the attending "priests" suddenly turned the torch on the troupe's sole female. As her inhibitions were burned away, she was seduced by the priests' hypnotic cry: "Meat is life; life is meat!" At the conclusion of the production, pieces of bloody animal flesh were offered to the crowd as mock sacraments.

During the last decade the festival has intensified, and local law enforcement officials have found it difficult to manage.

Says Ron Skinner, the weary sheriff of Pershing County, Nevada: "I think the festival has outgrown itself. My entire staff is just totally burned out. The rebellion and indulgence is really replacing the art aspect of the event."

Descent Into the Inferno

On Saturday night, the hell-themed 1996 festival reached its crescendo in the form of a drama. The production also represented a defining moment: It was time to enter the Inferno, the staging area for the production where participants would take a seven-stage descent into the abyss of darkness.

These people were literally celebrating the fact that one day they would enter hell.

To simulate their journey, the camp's center stage was transformed into the "Vestibule of Hell." The guest of honor was none other than "Papa Satan."

The basic plot of the drama featured Helco, a vast demonic conglomerate that wanted to acquire Burning Man. Festival founder Larry Harvey had come to make a deal.

What the organizers intended as a parody, however, was about to get out of hand. Real demonic forces were at work.

As the lecherous Papa Satan bowed in mock chains before a placard reading "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," a group called "Idiot Flesh," dressed as hooded executioners, began to play a discordant dirge accompanied by flashing strobes.

When the crowd started its torchlight procession toward the Gates of Hell and an eerie, sculpted castle called The City of Dis, I sensed an unmistakable chill in the air. Our march had been joined by unseen, malevolent guests. The pathway was leading to a darkness that felt overwhelming to my soul.

Under the canopy of a black night, stilt walkers, fire breathers, nudists and a moving sea of devil banners moved around us. The dust churned up by the crowd gave the moon a reddish tint.

Walking through the red neon Gates of Hell--inscribed with "Abandon hope, all ye who enter"--we were confronted by a mechanical, dinosaur-like creature spewing fire from its head. A woman wearing a sexually offensive costume screamed obscenities. Meanwhile Papa Satan climbed the 40-foot Helco Tower, set it ablaze and rode down the guy wire.

At the tri-tower City of Dis, our descent into the Inferno reached a demonic sanctuary that its creators called "a fountainhead of boundless rage, appalling shame and unendurable loneliness." Seated around a 400-foot-wide circle, the crowd had come to witness the arrival--and seduction--of a soul named Zoe.

While massive loudspeakers pumped out a hellish bass tone accompanied by tormented screams, the circle was infiltrated by a parade of evil spirits. These were followed by the "Tormented": a young woman in a cage, a man chained to a box he must drag around, and several people with collars attached to leashes. Many were screaming with pain or desire; others were naked except for elaborate body paint.

After Papa Satan and Zoe made their appearance, a regal entourage of miter-clad priests and priestesses arrived bearing staffs, torches and brass standards. The delegation had come to contend for Zoe, but their mission failed. Done in by their own corruption and the "intercession" of hungry demons, the bishops could only watch as she was consumed by the Lord of Darkness.

When her seduction atop the somber towers was complete, people dressed as demonic insects celebrated by copulating with other captured souls. It was a scene that looked as if it had been plucked from a horrific nightmare.

Mesmerized by the evocative music, the performers began to chant, "Devil's delight, fire tonight!" Wood piles inside the towers of Dis were ignited, causing orange flames to belch forth from the eyes and mouths of demonic gargoyles built onto the turrets.

As the heat became more intense, the entourage danced around the towers. Satan had defeated the church.

As I watched this awful scene, I could only weep. If anything had been brought to life on that appalling night, it was a passage from Revelation:

"Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names.

"'Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins'" (17:3, 18:2-4, NIV).

This Is Not India

The next day, I had to remind myself that what I had witnessed at the Burning Man Festival was happening right here in the United States--not in the temples of India or the deserts of Sinai.

I had to admit that the Christian values we have long cherished in the West are being extinguished. As spiritual darkness has become more pronounced in our culture, we have started to see ungodly forces creeping into our own backyard.

During the last three years, church attendance in the United States has been dropping noticeably. Some Roman Catholics, as a result, have taken to recruiting new priests through MTV ads. At the same time, growth has been booming in America's Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist communities.

Sexual mores also are changing. Erotic dancers are shimmying into cyberspace, and homosexuality has gone mainstream. San Francisco's 450,000-strong Gay Pride Parade is now the second largest annual gathering in California. At the University of Southern California recently, a female student engaged in "ritual" intercourse with 251 men over 10 consecutive hours, claiming affinity with the temple prostitutes of the ancient goddess Astarte!

The fact that many of the performers and organizers involved with the Burning Man Festival are former Christians is as disturbing as the growing popularity of its darkness. Having interacted with these people for more than a year, in person and via the Internet, I have found them to be friendly, creative and, in many cases, bitter. It is clear that the church these people once knew failed to demonstrate the kind of compassion, intelligence and power that makes Christian living so exciting.

Although Burning Man pilgrims will have to answer to the Almighty for their licentiousness and blasphemy, they are not the only ones who must stand before the moral mirror. In many ways the fruits of their disillusionment are a reflection of our own deficiencies.

If they are railing in the desert, it is sometimes because they have been driven there through pastoral sexual abuse, public hypocrisy or our religious cocoons. The enemy has been feasting on our mistakes.

What can the church do, not only for our own who have fallen away but also for a society that seems fascinated with darkness? I have three suggestions.

l We must acknowledge that we have a problem. With events like the Burning Man Festival occurring on our soil, we can no longer afford to view America as a shining or invincible "City on a Hill." We are on the road to becoming a pagan nation.

l We must humble ourselves before God. Of all the forces at work in the universe today, none is more destructive, or antithetical to heavenly principles than pride. For this reason, we are told, "God opposes (or resists) the proud" and "gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6).

This proverb is contextually linked to spiritual warfare for good reason. If we want to resist the devil, we had better make sure first that God is not resisting us!

l We must contend for the lost in prayer. The devil's enchantments are powerful and can only be lifted through focused and fervent intercession.

The Burning Man Festival isn't simply an annual event; it is a trend, a barometer of our society's spiritual health. It is troubling not only because of what it is, but also because of what it reveals about the course our nation is taking.

Neo-pagan worship goes on every Labor Day in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. I urge you to pray with us during the nationwide Pray USA! campaign in April.

My own ministry, The Sentinel Group, has developed Prayer Walkers' Site Guides that list 30 of America's most potent spiritual strongholds. Pray for God to send us a genuine national revival that will neutralize such demonic movements as The Burning Man.

On the Edge of Eternity

Unlike the other attendees at the Burning Man Festival, writer George Otis Jr. and his colleague Doug Trenton went to pray, document sights and meet some of the 10,000 celebrants. The trip put Otis in touch with the kinds of bizarre spirituality many Americans are exploring today.

Otis recorded these comments from participants during his three-day visit:

"I'm fully prepared to shake hands with the devil as I stumble through the gates of hell. If Jesus was half the man that men say He is, he'd whup Satan." --D.L.

"Last year my wife and I took our 10-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son. This year both are eager to revisit Burning Man. My son is especially eager to participate. He is looking forward to Burning Man more than Christmas. It seems that they, like we adults, welcome a chance to step outside the usual confines of normal behavior." --K.D.

"I certainly have no problem with 'embracing the darkness.' Let's celebrate the darkness! Let's honor it. I think that is a big part of Burning Man, giving the dark side of us the love and respect it deserves." --G.M.

Otis learned while investigating the festival that its organizers plan to stage regional versions of Burning Man in various parts of the United States this year. "  Invasion From the Dark Side",                                     Reprinted with permission from Charisma, March 1997.Strang Communications Co.

If you are interested in what is going on in the world without God, this should give you a clue!  This is not a joke.  It is not some Christian "extremist".  You may not believe in the demonic teachings found in the Scriptures, but the fact is that demons are real.  If you choose not to believe the information found herein, then you have believed their lie...that they don't really exist!

Bottom Line

How can we best sum up this issue?  Tolerance for the sake of tolerance is not an accepted Biblical teaching.  We need to ask the Holy Spirit to show us tolerance of other human beings, but not to accept the principles and precepts that are against God's Holy Word.  Please understand that I am not advocating throwing rocks or unkind and unchristian words at people who are getting or performing abortions, people in homosexual relationships, people in adulterous relationships, people of other faiths, etc.  The point is that we are spinning our wheels attacking the wrong source. Humanity is not the enemy...satan is the enemy and he is making victims of our fellow mankind at lightning speed.  Mankind may not be interested in knowing the times, but satan is and he's pulling out all the stops to take as many with him as he can.  He knows the best way to hurt the Heart of God is to keep God's creation from Him.  Don't condemn your fellow humans.  Pray for humanity. So many times we hear said, "I can't get involved.  I can just pray."  How about putting the "just" in the right place: I can "just" get involved...or I can PRAY.

Choice

Choose Life!  That should be simple enough.  But it is not.  The reason it is not is that we have made it too complicated.  Choosing to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord is not a hard thing...but it is a life altering decision.  You say, "What do I have to do?"  You recognize that you are a sinner in need of the Grace of God through His Son, Jesus Christ.  You say, "I must get my life together before I accept Jesus."  No!  None of us can "get our lives together" without Jesus.  Jesus is the One Who puts the pieces together with us and without Him we remain broken and hopless.  You see, if we could do it for ourselves, then Jesus would never have had to come.  He came to Earth because He wants us to have a life of abundant joy and peace and meaning...now and forever.  Just reach out to Him.  Ask Him to forgive you of your sins and to be the Savior and Lord of your life.

What will change?  He will put a right Spirit within you...His Holy Spirit. He will forgive you for your sins.  Your heart will become His dwelling place.  He will take away your past pain and give you strength, wisdom and direction to live right now.  Our daily walk in this world will have pain. But He will be with us to sustain us in the times of pain.  He is the only One Who can do that.  I can't. You can't. The church can't.  Only Jesus' Sustaining Life within us can do that! 

Ask Him to forgive you.
Ask Him to come into your heart.
Accept His Gift of Life Eternal, beginning right now!
Jesus Loves You!
Accept His Love and Grace!
In Jesus' Name, Be Blessed!

Baruch Haba B'Shem Adonai!
Blessed Is He Who Comes In The Name Of The Lord!