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New Age promoters …
T B N
Trinity Broadcasting Network aka:
Touched By a New Ager
The Bible … Not
Truth Broken Needlessly
Transcendentally Bewildered in Nirvana
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| Paul Crouch and the management at TBN have never been known for Biblical or Doctrinal accuracy. This time TBN has shown a definite lack of discernment. Recently Della Reese made an appearance on the TBN network and was given the acceptance, time and status as a fellow Christian Minister. Allowing someone like this to be presented, as “one of us” is nothing short of totally irresponsible. Della became a public figure several years ago as a recording artist; she began touring with Mahalia Jackson when she was 13. She continued to grow in her singing and acting career. In 1987, she was ordained by the Universal Foundation for Better Living. She, along with Dr. Johnnie Colemon founded the Understanding Principles for Better Living Church. As many people know she starred in Touched by an Angel for seven years and during this time became very well known to the average Christian family. This show was good enough to appease most family watch groups. However, it taught some things about angels that were incorrect and never dealt with the subject of Jesus. Also during this time there was an unhealthy emphasis on angels both in and out of the church. (Yes, we realize it was just a TV program. The problem was that many people believe and are influenced by nearly everything they see on TV and many accept things like this as reality. This was a Christless religion.) Lately, you may also have seen Della in several 1-800- dial a psychic type commercials.
What’s the problem you may ask? Here is an influential celebrity that is well known and respected in the Christian arena. She is a co-leader of an organization called Upchurch. Upchurch is a prime example of Christless Christianity. Upchurch is a New Age type of organization that is thriving today due to the lack of discernment, Biblical knowledge and understanding of many Christians. She has been showcased as a Christian Minister. By validating her as a minister, TBN has unleashed her on their supporters.
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The following comes from the Upchurch Website in a section called “what we teach. The link is
http://www.upchurch.org/What_we_teach.htm
. The teachings are listed below in blue
font. They are taken word for word from the church’s official website.
The Christian Arsenal response will follow in each section and will be in black
font.
What We Teach
The Omnipresence of God
Who and what God is.
Since the nature of God is Absolute Good and everything is God substance, there can be no evil in reality.
Genesis 1:1 States that God created everything. Everything that exists, or ever will exist, is pressed out of the body of God (God substance) in different forms of
manifestation. Colossians 2:15-19 teaches that Jesus Christ is that Creator. This passage teaches that everything that was made was made by Christ, not out of Christ. This is an ancient heresy called pantheism. It is not Biblical, nor is it new. Pantheism teaches that everything is God and God is everything.
“Since the nature of God is Absolute Good and everything is God substance, there can be no evil in reality.”
This is a false supposition since the first part of the statement is not true. The concept, existence and reality of evil is introduced in the 3rd chapter of Genesis. Jesus recognized the reality of evil and acknowledged its existence. The book of Revelation speaks of many things concerning a great final battle with evil and Satan. The Bible discusses Satan and evil in many places. A statement like this finds no support in the Bible.
The Divinity of Man
Who and what man is and his relationship to God Man is made in the image-likeness of God.
A reading of the Bible will show that man is made in the image of God, but is not in any sense of the word divine.
Jeremiah 17:9 describes the heart of man as “desperately wicked”.
Luke 19:10 describes mankind as “lost”. Romans 5:8 describes humanity as “sinners”. We are described as forgiven, saved, justified, sanctified, regenerated, children of God, sons of God, however the title of deity/divinity has never been assigned to man. We are a creature.
Isaiah chapter 6, Romans 14:1, Philippians 2:10, John 1:1, and Colossians 2:15-19 will give an overview of who is who in the Divinity and Deity realm.
Spiritual Man
"And God said, Let us make man in our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Genesis 1:26
We do agree that man has a spirit as a part of his makeup and that there is a spiritual dimension of man.
Manifest Man
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Genesis 2:7
It is not clear what is being taught here. We do agree that man was made from the dust of the ground and that God breathed life into him. The term “manifest man” is not a biblical term. The concept that it introduces must therefore be held in suspect.
The Power and Value of Thought
It is through thinking that man forms that which he has in his life.
*scriptual Ref.; Proverbs 23:7
While positive thinking is important, this is beginning to step into the power of positive thinking arena. Faith in God is vastly more important, but is not addressed. The misspelling of “scriptural” is from their site. The reference is
Proverbs 23:7. Let’s examine this scripture in context and see if it teaches what they say it teaches.
Proverbs 23:6-8 (NIV)
6 Do not eat the food of a stingy man,
do not crave his delicacies;
7 for he is the kind of man
who is always thinking about the cost.
“Eat and drink,” he says to you,
but his heart is not with you.
8 You will vomit up the little you have eaten
and will have wasted your compliments.
Proverbs 23:6-8 (NKJV)
6 Do not eat the bread of a miser,
Nor desire his delicacies;
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
But his heart is not with you.
8 The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up,
And waste your pleasant words.
It seems that this verse has nothing to do with positive thinking and what a man has but rather the attitude of the heart and what a man is.
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Practicing the Presence
Abiding in the presence of God.
Prayer: Communication with God, Meditation, Conscious thought on an aspect of God.
*scriptual Ref.; Philippians 4:8
This is a very incomplete and inaccurate definition of prayer. Philippians 4:8
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things
(NKJV)
This scripture does give guidance for our “thought lives” and meditation, but this is not a scripture that specifically deals with prayer. This the first time, we have seen this verse used to try to define the subject of prayer. There is a classic passage that deals with prayer. It is called the Lord’s Prayer and is found
Matthew 6:9-13. I can make two suppositions as to why this scripture was not used here. First, it is a Jesus passage. The name of Jesus is dusted through there documentation lightly. We assume too much would draw attention from the real gods of this organization. Second, in His prayer Jesus closes with the words, deliver us from evil, which according to this group is wrong because evil does not exist. This may pose a problem in having Jesus speak of something as though it were real when your organization teaches it does not exist.
The Law of Demonstration
The results which follow from practice of the above principles.
The Law of Mind Action. Like begets like.
Notice here we have a reference to all the above as if they were well established facts. They are not. The terms “Law of demonstration” and
"law of mind action” are non-biblical terms and concepts that have been created to support this system of beliefs. These are also not biblically based doctrines to build one’s life on.
Matthew 5:10, Matthew 10:18 & 22, Matthew 24:9, Mark 13:13, Luke
21:17, show the reality of the cross and its cost on our world today. There is no scripture that says “like begets like”.
Man's Responsibility as a Son of GOD:
Right Reactions *scriptual Ref.; Luke 12:32
Right Thinking
Right Feeling
Right Actions
Right Word
To start with, while we may be sons of God, the Title Son of God is reserved for Jesus Christ alone. In
John 3:16, Jesus is referred to as God’s only begotten son. The Greek word for only begotten is
monogenes. It means “unique one of a kind”.
To denote man’s responsibility, the scripture Luke 12:32 is cited. It reads: Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. I agree that the five things listed are expected by God from a Christian. I fail to see where this scripture teaches these five points. This is just another example of the unfamiliarity with the Bible that those in this organization seem to suffer from.
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THE BIBLE
In New Thought, the Bible is the primary textbook for life. We use a metaphysical approach to the Bible literature and understand that the stories and events have something to say about man's developing awareness of his relationship to God and what it means to open ourselves up to God's activity.
Lets define the terms “New Thought” and “Metaphysical”. The definitions to these terms come from The Concise Dictionary of the Occult and New Age.
New Thought - A metaphysical philosophy of mental healing first promoted by Warren Felt Evans (1817-1889) in the latter part of the nineteenth century. This eclectic viewpoint says that all human ailments are a result of mistaken beliefs, and people have the ability to heal themselves from within. When the human mind draws upon the body’s latent divine powers, problem-solving, stress relief, and physical healing allegedly take place. This New Age approach to therapy lays at the heart of such cults as Mary Baker Eddy’s Christian Science Church and Charles and Myrtle Filmore’s Unity School of Christianity.
Metaphysical - In New Age metaphysics, reality is illusory, the human psyche is part of a greater collective consciousness, and reality can be reduced to a single cosmic force. All people originate from and belong to this universal life principal. Through mind-altering techniques, people can become more enlightened to their divine self, as well as their place within the cosmos. Occultists assert that when people become aware of their ability to experience truth and self in relation to the god within them, this will bring about a quantum increase in planetary consciousness. It will also serve as a catalyst to establish a new age of understanding and peace.
Here we see that the Bible is not taken at face value. The method of interpretation that is used by the Upchurch organization has its roots in the cults and the occult. Using “New Thought” and a so called ‘metaphysical approach” to interpreting and understanding the Bible leaves the door open to ignore issues you do not agree with and to twist the scriptures to say anything. To better understand what is meant by interpreting the Bible and the approach one uses,
CLICK HERE for a fun yet informative exercise in Biblical interpretation courtesy of our friends at Wright Track Virtual University.
The Bible is mentioned as the “primary textbook for life”. Here we have a warning. The Bible is the only guide for the Christian. The term primary textbook may sound good but it implies that there is a secondary textbook or textbooks. These are more than likely authored by Della Reese or Johnny
Colmon. The Bible is not a primary textbook it is divinely inspired truth and the only authoritative source for doctrine and practice in the church. See 2 Timothy 2:15, 2 Timothy 3:16, and Hebrew
1:1-3.
To the New Thought teacher and student, the Bible is the history of man - his generation, degeneration, and regeneration. It tells how man came out of God with a divine estate, forgot his origin, suffered limitation, even death, and how his divine memory is re-awakened and quickened so that he may regain his freedom and reclaim his divine birthright.
Let’s examine the above paragraph. “ the Bible is the history of man - his generation, degeneration, and regeneration.” The Bible contains the history of man’s creation, his fall and the salvation provided for us by Jesus Christ. " Man was in a sinless estate but was not in a divine estate.
Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free."
Jesus said this in John. Let’s look at the entire passage: John
8:31-36 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed;
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We are Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how is it you say we shall be made free?
Jesus answered them, Truly, I say unto you, Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin.
And the servant does not remain in the house forever: but the Son remains forever.
If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Notice here what Jesus says is involved with knowing the truth and being set free by it. Believing in Jesus, continuing in His word, being a disciple and then you will know the truth. Then and only then can you be freed by the truth.
"You Are Always Your Own Experience"
(Forward)
This saying is from of one of the authors of the Upchurch material. We place this statement along side of statements such as “Things were never more like today than they are now” and ”Where ever you go, there you are”.
Each of us interprets our own individual world through our own consciousness. We cannot see the beauty and magnificence that is everywhere present unless we are seeing through a consciousness of Love of the TOTAL SELF.
The above statement can be made 100% correct by removing the last two words “TOTAL SELF” and substituting “GOD”.
We often ask ourselves: "Why did this happen to me?" It happened because your self is always directing mind to create the experience of your self. Whatever happens can only be interpreted through your own Identity.
This is double talk. When asking why things happen to you the answer is: “It happened because your self is always directing mind to create the experience of your self. Whatever happens can only be interpreted through your own Identity.” To explain why your child dies at birth, why you would loose a loved one in a war or why you suffer from pain, this is their answer. This is shallow and meaningless. This is little more than New Age psycho-babble.
Things and people are automatically in your life, but they are only there to correspond to your self-image and to your self-expression.
If you look at the Ten Commandments, the statement “ Things and people are automatically in your life, but they are only there to correspond to your self-image and to your self-expression ” can find no basis for being a valid statement. God fits nowhere in this type of thinking. This vain and self-centered. The following scripture deals with another vain and self centered person who thought everything was there for their pleasure instead of God’s. See Isaiah
14:12-16. There is no scripture in the Bible that says everyone and everything is here to “correspond to your self-image and to your self-expression
”. The only image we are to be concerned about conforming to is the image of Christ. See
Romans 8:29.
No one has ever given you anything or taken it away. No one has ever done anything to you.
The above statement is so ridiculous that it is amazing that someone could make such a claim. Check out
John 3:16 and Romans 5:8-9.
The standard for interpreting our world is a Biblical worldview. God and His word are the absolute standards by which we must measure everything. We live in a real world with real people.
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We found it curious that there is another section in the site which is a “What we believe section.” Most organizations teach and believe the same thing, for some reason, Upchurch does not list their beliefs with their teachings. You can view this at:
http://www.upchurch.org/What_we_believe.htm
The words of the teachings will be in blue font and the Christian Arsenal’s response will be in black font immediately after each statement.
What We Believe
We believe
that it is God's Will that every individual on the face of this earth should live a healthy, happy, and prosperous life
While this is generally true, we find that Sin in this world has made this impossible for many. God’s will for man is more properly expressed in
John 3:16.
We believe
that such a life is within the reach of each one of us, and the way to its attainment begins with the realization that the Kingdom of God is within us, waiting for us to bring it into full expression.
This statement begins to take you into several errors by what it does not say. First, the Kingdom of God is not within the nonbeliever. This is not dealt with here. It is not us that brings the Kingdom of God into full expression in our lives. It is God working in us and through us by the agency of the Holy Spirit. You will notice that the Holy Spirit is missing from their statement of faith.
We believe
that we can bring this Kingdom forth by practicing the Universal Spiritual Principles handed down through the ages and taught by our Wayshower, Jesus Christ.
Notice here that Jesus Christ is credited with developing and teaching the Universal Spiritual Principles. Notice that the Creator and the author and finisher of our faith has been reduced to the position of a “Wayshower” which is more properly termed Way Shower. Jesus is more than one who merely shows the way, HE is the way!
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by
me. Read the Book of Hebrews. This title falls so short of the truth. This is the Jesus of the New Age. A teacher, an enlightened person, a wizard, they will assign many names and titles to Him but His correct title.
Revelation 19: 16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF
LORDS.
We believe
with Jesus that our experiences are the reflections of our beliefs, and the key to happy and successful living is right thinking followed by right action.
Notice that the subject of repentance is still not dealt with at this point. The emphasis is “our experiences are the reflections of our beliefs “. Successful living is broken down into a simplistic if I do good, I get things. To groups like this, successful living is always measured by you bank book and what you own. These are the world’s standards, not God’s standards.
We believe
that the time has come to make available to all men everywhere a teaching that will enable them to provide for themselves by learning to release the Divine potential within them.
Once again the lie that was introduced to Humankind in the Garden of Eden is presented again.
Genesis 3: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and
evil. Jesus was clear as to what teaching needed to be done and what the desired results should be. See
Matthew 28:19-20.
We believe
in our oneness with God and with all men everywhere
Once again, this is Pantheism. The oneness with God they speak of here is that they teach that we are made of the same God-stuff God is.
We are
affiliated with the Johnnie Colemon Institute.
We are
part of the Universal Foundation for Better Living.
We are
an accredited school.
We are
Understanding Principles for Better Living.
There is also a women’s ministry in this organization. This is from their site
http://www.upchurch.org/Women_of_UP.htm
Welcome to Women of UP
Mission Statement
We seek to unite all women in Love for spiritual fulfillment.
Again, the salvation and discipleship aspect is overlooked.
Women of UP - Purpose:
To support and sustain the teachings of church, founder and minister, The Reverend Della Reese-Lett and the mother church, the Universal Foundation for Better Living established by Founder Reverend Johnnie Coleman.
Notice whose teachings are supported and promoted. Not those of the Bible nor the teachings of Jesus, but those of Della Reese. Della Reese has shown in the statements above that she does not adhere to the Gospel as taught by Jesus Christ. One of the signs of a cult is when an individual’s teachings become the focus of the group. Consider Joseph Smith, Charles Taze Russell and Mary Baker Eddy.
We invite you to join the Women's Group of Understanding Principles. We know that you will want to take an active role in the work we do.
Women of UP Goals
· To support the Ministers, Advisory Council, staff, volunteers, congregation family and community in every way possible.
· To support the Church financially with our tithes, offerings, and giving of ourselves.
· To nurture our Church family by uniting in prayer.
· To join in fellowship and support for each other.
These all sound good but this organization is not built on sound doctrine.
Matthew 7:26-27 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
The men’s ministry is at http://www.upchurch.org/Mens_CUP.htm . The program looks good at a glance, but the same problem exists. It is not based on the Bible.
It is truly sad to see New Age cults getting a foothold on TBN. Della Reese, due to her starring role on the popular “Touch by an Angel” has attained an almost god-like status to many. Many who watch TBN accept anyone who appears on TBN to be biblically based. Sadly to say, this is not true. We have differences of opinion and issues with many of the TBN clientele, however none have been so far away from the truth of the Gospel. We believe TBN should shed some light on this error and let its constituency know that Della Reese is a New Age cultist in Christian clothing and start being a little more discerning like the Bible commands Christians to be.
Click here for a study on what the Bible says about a Christian’s responsibility in the area of
discernment.
Della Reese is listed in the ministry address book of TBN. Below is the link so you can check it out for yourself. The list is in alphabetical order. You will see such people as Doty Rambo, Chaplain Ray and Ronald Reagan. Buried in the middle of some truly wonderful people and ministries you will find Della Reese.
TBN has opened the door of the New Age cult for its viewers. Pray that God will shut it!
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