Non-Dualistic “Christian” Heresy and Trusting God – Purity 1493
Purity 1493 11/02/2024 Purity 1493 Audio Podcast
Purity 1493 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of the sun shining over Depot Road in Altamont, NY, comes to us from yours truly, as I stopped to take a quick pic of the sun shining over me after I completed a rather long and difficult job. While it was grueling and frustrating, I kept my cool by just focusing on the task at hand and doing what I had to do, while listening to an interesting but albeit heretical audiobook on spiritual formation.
Well, it’s Saturday, and yesterday I finished the audiobook version of Richard Rohr’s “The Art of Letting Go.” While I have to admit that there were several good points within his teaching that could help someone change their perspective and possibly find a measure of peace and an escape from the world system, Rohr’s view of “religion” took a universalist approach and was less than faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ, claiming that people are good at heart, have a God nature, and that people of all religions can find their way to God and salvation by whatever path they choose. The way Rohr spoke (the author presented this audio teaching himself) about Jesus filled me with horror quite frankly as he seemed to not understand that Jesus is God and not just another “spiritual “master” as Rohr quoted others – St. Francis, Thomas Merton, and Buddha – with the same level of respect, if not more, as Jesus. Rohr’s “nondualistic” philosophy was more like Buddhism than Christianity, as he conveniently avoided all of Jesus’ teachings on hell and judgment. Claiming that Christ didn’t think in terms of “black and white” is a hard pill to swallow when you consider Jesus’ teaching on cutting off your hands and gouging out your eyes to stop yourself from sinning and going to hell. And I suppose it is easy to think that “all roads lead to heaven” when you don’t consider Christ’s words on the separation of the sheep and the goats. Throughout his teaching, Rohr continually admitted to people calling him a “heretic” because of his “new age” universalistic views and after listening to his teaching in its entirety I think that it is obvious that the venerable Franciscan Father could learn a thing or to about humility as he obviously has rejected the warranted criticism that Christians have laid at his feet. Rohr thinks he’s on a higher plain of morality and has turned a deaf ear to the truth drawn from scripture. In his search for meaning he opened himself up to false teachers and is now one himself. Although he seems friendly enough, his teaching would lead people to a pantheistic faith and torment in hell.
So we have to be careful to who we trust. We are to trust in God and His word alone and after listening to Rohr’s book, I realize that it is very important for Christians to know what they believe and why they believe it and to have the Bible as their primary source for truth. Just like Satan, Rohr used scripture in a way that supported his non-dualistic philosophy. He sounded compelling but when you have a read and understood the Bible it is easy to see that the picture he was painting didn’t present the whole counsel of God’s word and distorted what he did share from it. So read the Bible and know what it says for yourself and then you will be able to trust and obey the Lord’s will for your life and not be led astray by false teachers.
Speaking of trusting the Lord, a true teacher of God’s word – Dr. Charles Stanley’s in today’s In Touch devotional addressed the topic of trust so I am sharing it on the blog today to encourage us with some solid biblical teaching. Dr. Charles Stanley writes:
“The School of Obedience
“We can fully trust and obey God because He will never fail us.
Obedience is a funny thing. We expect it from our children, and it’s essential to success in organizations like the military. However, if we’re being honest, none of us truly enjoys surrendering our will to another person. They can fail us, after all. Thankfully, God never does, and obeying Him is always the wisest course of action.
Learning to obey involves …
- Trusting. Obedience comes from a foundation of faith, while most rebellion stems from a lack of it. That means we will believe God is who He says He is—and accept His plans, methods, and timing. We show our love for the Father by living this way (John 14:15). And remember, God delights in blessing those who follow His will.
- Waiting. When we don’t know what to do, we often try to rely on our own understanding, make a move, and then hope God will bless it. That’s not scriptural. God’s given us His Spirit as our teacher because He wants us to know His mind and intentions for our life. We must wait in an attitude of trust until we are certain.
God assumes full responsibility for giving us direction in our life. He desires to reveal each step along the way. But we must come to Him with a trusting heart and a willingness to wait before He reveals the next step.” – Charles Stanley
Trusting and Waiting maybe two of the most difficult things for men to do.
When things go south with our lives and we have been betrayed, we naturally don’t want to trust anyone ever again and we don’t want to wait for anything. We want the pain to stop, and we want quick answers and solutions to fix our problems.
However, if we honestly examine our lives we will realize that we weren’t doing things God’s way and we have reaped from the seeds of disobedience and rebellion. We thought we were in control and could do things our way without any consideration of God’s will for our lives and now we see the consequences in our broken lives.
But there is good news, if you are getting this message you more than likely have seen the error of your ways and have repented. You have gone to the Lord and asked for His help, and He has heard you and may have already proved that He is with you and helping you.
No matter where you are on your journey, trusting and waiting will be a part of your pathway to peace.
But God won’t leave you alone so you can trust in Him and His word to guide you and you can rest in His presence by simply talking to Him. You may have to wait to see what will happen next, but you never have to be alone in the waiting.
So draw close to God each day. Thank Him for the blessings of the day, and for the bad things that Didn’t happen, and for the good things that will happen in the future. Read His word and follow His wisdom. Our old lives before Christ are over and if we follow His call on our lives we will experience freedom, victory, and healing.
We just need to trust Him, obey Him by doing what’s right, and wait to see how He will guide us., realizing that we have peace in His presence right now and we can trust that He will keep us in perfect peace if we keep on walking and talking with Him.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.
( While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )
This morning’s meditation verses come from the section on Friendships.
1 John 2:15-17 (NIV2011)
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.
17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
Today’s verses are the second of two passages that fall under the ninth and last point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Friendships.
9. Friendship with the world is hatred toward God.
Today’s Bible verses tell us quite clearly to not love the world and when we think about this passage in terms of false teachings, we realize that embracing all the other world religions as equal to Christianity would not only be irrational, intellectually dishonest or obtuse, but would go against God’s word.
Exodus 20:3 (NKJV) tells us that the Lord said:
3 You shall have no other gods before Me.
So we can’t love other world religions or the philosophies and systems of this world in the same way we love the Lord. The world’s ways are contrary to God and must be rejected for His truth.
Naming the “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” teaches us that the things that the world says will satisfy us are false idols and are not of God. So seek the Lord and His fulfillment through Christ alone to demonstrate that you are a friend, and son or daughter, to God.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from “According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament” By Stephen F. Olford – A Collection of Devotional Journals: 1940-1941.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Olford’s books for your own private study and to support his work. This resource is available online for less than $10 at many sites.
EVENING READING: REVELATION 14
“These are the ones who follow the Lamb
wherever He goes.” – Revelation 14:4
Such is John’s description of the 144,000 true believers in the coming day of tribulation. Actually, they are the spiritual remnant from among the Jews. There are three things in particular said of these godly people:
They Were Purchased. “These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb” (v. 4), bought by the precious blood of Christ.
They Were Pure. In character, they were pure: “In their mouth was found no deceit” (v. 5), “they are virgins” (v. 4). In conduct, they were pure: “They are without fault” (v. 5), “these are the ones who were not defiled with women” (v. 4).
They Were Partisans. “These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (v. 4).
Lord, make this threefold testimony true of me. Amen.[1]
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“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1] Stephen Olford and Heather Olford, According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament, A Collection of Devotional Journals 1940-1941 (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2008).
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