WHO GOES THERE?
Encountering Voices in the Silence of Contemplative Prayer By Pastor Larry DeBruyn 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,…
The Strange Case of Simon Magus
Samaria was a religious ghetto that devout Jews tried to avoid (John 4:4). Half-breeds, part Jew and part Gentile, lived in the province north of Judah. Ostracized by the Jerusalem community, the Samaritans built their own worship center, and held as their sacred writings the first five Old Testament books…
SPIRITUALITY & SEX: Part 3
The God of Sex versus Sex God By Pastor Larry DeBruyn Popular author and pastor Rob Bell’s latest book, Sex God, picks up where his previous work, Velvet Elvis, left off, weaving a web of stories and insight around a range of relevant topics. This time, Bell has chosen the…
SPIRITUALITY & SEX: Part 2
The God of Sex versus Sex God By Pastor Larry DeBruyn SEXUALITY, THE SCRIPTURES AND SPIRITUALITY Some “spiritual” issues regarding sexuality include these: Can sex define who God is and what God does thereby investing it with “spirituality” for humanity? Is sex an attribute or an activity of God in…
SPIRITUALITY & SEX
Part 1: The God of Sex versus Sex God [1] By Pastor Larry DeBruyn Believing in the wholeness and sacredness of matter and energy (i.e., monism/pantheism, the theory that God is all, and all is God), New Age/New Spirituality views that sexuality complements spirituality. Sexual people are spiritual people, and…
IHOP & The Latter Rain
“Earlier this year the International House of Prayer (IHOP) sponsored a conference in Kansas City entitled Passion for Jesus that was heavily promoted toward young people. The purpose of the conference was to “cultivate intimacy with Jesus.” In the conference’s second session, IHOP president and director Mike Bickle preached a…
Adultery & Idolatry
Why the 3-part series on The Shack is such a serious matter: “For she said, I will go after my lovers,that give me my bread and my water,my wool and my flax,mine oil and my drink.”(Hosea 2:5b) “Those who are guilty of whoredom usually grow extremely willful. “She said, I…
MORE THAN METAPHOR
Part 3: The Consequence of Role-Reversalsin The Shack By Pastor Larry DeBruyn …[W]ith 3.8 million copies of his Christian novel “The Shack” in print, Young is being hailed as a theological innovator, his book the “Pilgrim’s Progress” of the 21st century…. In “The Shack,” a man named Mack, grieving over…
THE DIVINE-HUMAN RELATIONSHIP
Part 2: The Consequence of Role-Reversalsin The Shack By Pastor Larry DeBruyn So a guy walks into a cabin and meets a black woman, a Jewish guy and an Asian spirit-being. Turns out they’re the Trinity. It’s not the beginning of a joke; it’s the premise of a privately published…