Guarding His Flock Ministries

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. [2]  As indicated by the inclusion of the selected interviews with him in this book, his influence presumably remains worldwide. So we begin with “the coming sound” predicted by the prophet and the prophetic scenario it portends.

A New Pentecost is Coming
Heaven is Vibrating—Power Up!
The opening of the chapter states the prophet’s thesis, and it is that, “God is beginning to ‘breathe’ on His people again to prepare us for a second Pentecost that ‘tunes’ us and brings us into harmony with God.” (TPOH, 21) A later statement from Bob Jones further clarifies that,

We haven’t received Pentecost yet. We received a token 110 years ago [the Azusa Street Revival, 1906-1913]. But we didn’t get the main. We’re preparing for the main Pentecost and millennial power, our priesthood power. We’re being prepared for the priesthood of Melchizedek, and not only to be holy priests but also kings—living stones united together, vibrating together. (TPOH, 25)

So two Pentecosts have passed; the first recorded in Acts chapter 2, and then one that descended from heaven at a “portal” located at Azusa Street in Los Angeles during the years 1906-1913. But neither are considered to be “the main” Pentecost which is yet, perhaps soon, to come. [3] According to Jones, a fuller and more powerful Pentecost is ready to overpower earth. Heaven is vibrating and correspondingly charismatic Christians are vibrating, and the mutual shaking indicates that God is about to dispense a new sound to earth (like the sound and shudders of the tracks and ground when a train approaches in the distance). As exhibited by “signs and wonders” happening within the New Apostolic Reformation, even now, as a later chapter puts it, there’s a Whole Lotta Shaking Going On. (TPOH, 147) God is getting ready to “breathe” the Pentecostal fullness of His ruach (Hebrew for spirit) upon Christians, and the breath of it will smell “like apples.” [4] (TPOH, 23) But the shaking (think of a salt shaker) is about to become worldwide as a greater-than-Pentecost experience is about to descend and be distributed through a network of 328 geographical “portals” between heaven and earth. The portals, funnels or doors number twenty-eight in the New Testament in addition to three-hundred in the Old. So Christians, be on the alert. There’s another more powerful Pentecost vibrating in heaven and the sound of it is about to be jettisoned through various “wormholes” (or shortcuts through space-time) to earth.
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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. By her admission, she views much in NAR that is “worthless,” but also thinks that its spirituality possesses truths which are “precious.” This assumption derives from her observing and being intrigued by “healings and mystical experiences and revelations” in New Age Religion which rival anything she “had seen or experienced” in the charismatic church; hence the chapter’s title—Extracting the Precious From the Worthless. (TPOH, 14)

Science and Soul
Additionally, Davis’ scientific training and background has aroused her curiosity to discover how the natural and spiritual worlds connect and interact. She had sensed that a relationship existed between soul and science, but had never considered adapting her spirituality to it. So her goal is to not only to seek out what is “precious” in NAR and incorporate it into her belief system, but also to integrate, as New Agers are doing, the Quantum Mysticism believed to be essential in our understanding of the universe’s spirituality. To lend scriptural support to this pursuit, Davis uses, or misuses (you decide), a prophecy taken from Jeremiah which she subtly combines with a personal revelation God gave her. We turn now to observe her permuted prophecy.
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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.” (TPOH, 1)  So she asks, “Hadn’t the children of God already been revealed by the time Paul wrote this letter to the Romans?” (TPOH, 2) Well . . . her answer is a qualified “yes” and “no.”

Because Paul wrote Romans years after Jesus’ life and death, and according to Acts “miracles and healings and deliverances and even resurrections from the dead were almost common-place,” (TPOH, 2), the author reasons that in part, the wait was over. With “signs and wonders” as their calling card, sons of God were manifested during the apostolic era and intermittently throughout church history. But Judy felt there was a deeper meaning in the verses (Romans 8:18-22). So she “began earnestly seeking the Lord as to what they meant.” (TPOH, 2) In three stages, God explained to her the future and deeper meaning of “the revealing of the sons of God.”
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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. So in a “blended system” where cosmos and chaos are ever interacting at reality’s macro and micro levels (“as above, so below”), it’s theorized that a butterfly flapping its wings in Africa could stimulate the formation of a hurricane in the Atlantic. This new science, or theoretical way of “observing” the universe has caused many within Christendom, even claimed evangelicals, to adapt their faith to it. [1]

From the Quantum way of looking at reality have emerged theological movements such as Process Theology and Open Theism. [2] To accommodate the way in which quantum physics observes a changing and gaming universe, these theological systems deemphasize God’s ruling over nature (God is creator.) on the one hand, while they emphasize God being in nature (God is evolver.) on the other. But now others in evangelicalism’s “big tent” are slanting their Christian belief system to accommodate a Quantum worldview in another way.

Whereas the former theological adaptations (Process Theology and Open Theism) assert God’s overall impotence as regards the overall functioning and outcome of the universe, some within the Charismatic movement assert that a Quantum merger is taking place between the powers heaven and the energies of earth. They claim that this merger will soon be exhibited in the coming of a second Pentecost in which Spirit filled and transformed Christians will play a “strategic role in releasing the glory of God on earth,” which means that by the exhibition of divine powers God donates to them, they will transform earth into God’s kingdom. No longer will Christians have to pray for God’s kingdom to come (Matthew 6:10). Rather, by exercising supernatural powers they will possess when the coming planetary Pentecost arrives, they will help God to introduce heaven to earth (“as above, so below”).
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Christ before Cosmos

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Emphasis added, Colossians 2:8, KJV

Introduction
From time immemorial, paranormal phenomena have manifested themselves in the cosmos. And as America has become more secular, there’s been a resurgence of it in our society and culture. Via the digital dimension of movies and video games, the paranormal has become quite “normal” in Western culture over the last generation. In fact, for many persons it’s become their new “reality.” [1] To hitchhike on the title of Peter Jones’ book, the Gnostic empire has struck back. [2]

The phenomenon has especially manifested itself in movies that highlight invading UFOs, aliens and powerful hybrid-transformer-like creatures which threaten to destroy or control civilization as we know it. Consider but several out of hundreds of movies that have been produced around this theme: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Invasion (1997), The Colony (1998), The Invasion (2007), Alien Siege (2007), Alien Species (2008), The Darkest Hour (2011), Lethal Target (2013), Battle Earth (2013), Alien Invasion (2013), etc. Literally, American culture is being mesmerized by digital imagery depicting how life “out there” threatens life “down here.” And in an attempt to keep the Christian faith in step with the paranormal culture of modernity, some Christians are now teaching and writing about “UFOs,” “watchers,” “aliens,” “invading Nephilim,” and so forth, employing a few biblical passages to construct contemporary and futuristic scenarios and then embellishing them with apocryphal, pseudepigraphal and ancient mythological sources.

All of this and more constitute the spiritual collage that makes up the neo-pagan worldview of our New Age, the Age of Aquarius. [3] In our post-Christian culture it’s not that masses of souls believe in nothing, but rather that they believe in anything, and everything! The Gnosis has returned and has become an influential part of western culture’s mindset. And to one degree or another, such Gnostic thinking about the cosmos influences how Christians understand the universe in which they live, which in turn affects what they believe. But the Gnostic influence upon Christianity is not new. In fact, the Apostle Paul warned about the spiritual danger posed by the Gnosticism that surrounded the Christians at Colossae.
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Apocalyptic Visitations to the Afterlife and Visions of the End

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” Emphasis added, The Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 13:12

Perhaps no question intrigues the human race more than the question, “Is there life after life?” From time immemorial, people, both within and without the Christian faith, have reported dying (i.e., death experiences, or DEs), or coming close to death (near-death experiences, or NDEs), and in the aftermath of those experiences, reported who or what they encountered in the afterlife.

DEs and NDEs: Ancient
In Plato’s Republic
In his Republic, Plato tells the story of a soldier named Er who,

was slain in battle, and ten days afterwards, when the bodies of the dead were taken up already in a state of corruption, his body was found unaffected by decay, and carried away home to be buried. And on the twelfth day, as he was lying on the funeral pile, he returned to life and told them what he had seen in the other world.[1]
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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. [2]

Consciousness beyond Cortex
Four years ago, Dr. Alexander contracted a rare bacterial infection that penetrated his cerebrospinal fluid and began to eat away his brain, causing “the part of the brain that controls thought and emotion” to shut down. [3] For seven days he lay comatose with his “higher-order brain function totally offline.” [4] Just as his attending physicians were weighing options of whether or not to continue treatment, Alexander relates that his “eyes popped open” and he returned to consciousness. During the days when he was physically brain dead, Dr. Alexander testifies that his “conscious, [his] inner self—was alive and well.” He states:

While the neurons of my cortex were stunned to complete inactivity by the bacteria that had attacked them, my brain-free consciousness journeyed to another, larger dimension of the universe: a dimension I’d never dreamed existed and which the old, pre-coma me would have been more than happy to explain was a simple impossibility. [5]

Alexander’s experience might be explained by paraphrasing a description of death given to us by the Apostle Paul; and that is, to be absent from the body is to remain in consciousness. [6]

The Shift
Later he adds concerning the shift that altered his view of reality: “The universe as I experienced it in my coma is—I have come to see with both shock and joy—the same one that both Einstein and Jesus were speaking of in their (very) different ways.” [7] Alexander relates that the universe, as he views it, consists of a quantum reality of unity (Einstein) and love (Jesus). Dr. Alexander has become a believer in an afterlife.
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Do Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God?

“[W]e are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” 1 John 5:20b-21

Some Christians naively and mistakenly equate that because Christianity and Islam are monotheistic faiths (belief in one God), Christians and Muslims worship the same God, the synthesis of the two religions being labeled, “Chrislam.”[1] Mega church leader Rick Warren calls the reconciliation King’s Way.[2] To advocates for the synthesis, any differences between the two religions are viewed as superficial. Differences can be overcome by an ecumenical appeal to the “nobler side” of the different religions’ devotees. After all, only the names for God differ.  Muslims call Him Allah, while Christians address Him as Lord. The singleness of God is thought of as an ecumenical rallying point, a basis for mutual understanding, if not some kind of unity, between the religions.
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Marked for Life: Discernment Ministry in Light of Ezekiel 9:1-11.

Someone once said that sin is as much a breaking of God’s heart as it is the breaking of His Law. When God looked down on the perversity of the people on earth before the Deluge, it was recorded that He "was grieved in His heart" (Genesis 6:6b). When confronted by resident wickedness both without and within the professing church, Christians can manifest one of three reactions: approval (1 Corinthians 5:2), indifference (Zephaniah 1:12), or disapproval as indicated by the presence of either anger (Psalm 119:53) or grief (Psalm 119:136). So the question becomes, as we see the worldliness-wickedness invading the church, how do we feel about it? Are you agitated by, indifferent to, or accommodating of it?

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