IBA

Greetings In the name of our Lord!
Well, it has been a while since our last newsletter. We apologize for the delay! We have been awfully busy with a number of projects and ministry opportunities which has set us behind schedule.
Needless to say, IBA has enjoyed a prosperous 1998 with a number of ministry opportunities! Along with speaking and preaching in various churches, we began a new series of public lectures at a local church location beginning with the subject of Mormonism and then on to Jehovah's Witnesses and so forth. Our radio program, SearchLight, has continued to broadcast on Sunday mornings covering a wide range of subjects. Our monthly Table Talk meetings have continued to draw a number of people from various theological traditions who are concerned about the challenges facing Christianity Today.
Besides our busy schedule, we have expended our library and file system (almost bursting at the seams!) and have begun working on BA's Web site (still under construction, but making progress), and of course, we continue our work on the Local Directory of Churches (including cults & new-age groups). (Please make note our area code has changed from 916 to 530)
More recently, IBA has been involved In correspondence with a major Evangelical Publishing House which was selling KJV Bibles to the Mormon Church. Be sure to turn to page 6 for more details regarding the outcome and remarkable victory!
Please continue to pray that we may have wisdom and guidance from the Lord In the work of this important missionary outreach!! May the Lord bless you for your prayers & support!

Always in the Service of Christ
Dan & Marsha Schlesinger

From the Best of Apologetics...

"The Secular and scientific age in which we live demands that things be tested and re-tested. They require evidence upon evidence, fact upon fact. Yet here in the truest wise is a controlled experiment. Christianity has been observed for almost two thousand years. Wherever it is faithfully proclaimed, accepted, and acted upon, it transforms men, cultures, and societies; and it can do this only because it is energized by a living Savoir.
"Men may devise every foam of argument to establish the certainty of God and the claims of Christianity, but die unanswerable argument in all its simple splendor remains ever before us if we will grasp its significance. The world can offer no alternative explanation to the divine memorial of a transformed life."
Walter R. Martin, Essential Christianity, pp. 130,131

Cults in Your Mission Field

The New Age Movement is viewed by many as a diversified stream of coalitions, organizations, and individuals, all striving to "induce a new age in which humanity lives in harmony with itself, nature, and the cosmos" (New Age Journal, "The 1988 Guide to New Age Living," p.6). The heart of New Age thinking originates from Eastern-based philosophy (Hinduism, Zen Buddhism, Sufism, Tibetan Buddhism, etc.) mixed with spiritism, channeling, reincarnation, humanistic ethics, holistic health ideals, and human potential concepts.
As the contrast below indicates, the basic beliefs of the New Age worldview and the basic beliefs of the Orthodox Christian worldview are diametrically opposed!

The Bible in Contrast with the New Age Movement

Orthodox Christianity Teaches New Age Movement Teaches

there is only one true God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, distinct Persons in the triune Godhead (Isa. 43:10,11; 44:6,8; Mark 2:5-12; John 20:28; Heb. 1:8; Acts 5:3,4; 2 Car. 3:17,18); that God is personal and distinct from His creation (Ecc. 12:1; Isa. 40:28; Ex. 3:14; Rom.1:20). God is impersonal undifferentiated Oneness, not separate from creation ('Everything is God" The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom, p.103, by Benjamine Creme; The Aquarian Conspiracy, pp. 382,383, by Marilyn Ferguson); that the substance of reality is consciousness (The Aquarian Conspiracy, pp. 382,383; Revelation: The Birth of a New Age, pp. 210,211, by David Spangler).

although created in God's image, humanity is not an extention of God and does not share God's essential being (Isa. 45:18; 55: 8,9; 46:9;. Jar. 17:5-10; Rev. 4:11); that man is a fallen creature. depraved, and lost without the salvation of Jesus Christ (Psalm 14:1; Ram. 3:12; 5:12-21; John 3:3). humanity shares essential divinity: the goal of life is to "awaken to the god who sleeps at the root of the human being." (Out on a Limb, pp.31 2,313, by Shirley MacLaine; The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom, pp. 112, 113).

"The Christ" refers to the Messiah. a title which applies uniquely to God's Son. Jesus, the God/Man of Jewish hope and of Christian revelation (Prov. 30:4; John 4:25,26; Matt. 16:13-17; I John 4:1-3); that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh, the one and only revelation of God for sin and salvation (John 3:16-18; Hebrews 1:1-3). that Christ is the "attainment of a level of consciousness commensurate with that which was realized by Jesus. the Christ. the real Self of every man" (Saint Germain on Alchemy, p.383, recorded by Mark & Elizabeth Clara Prophet [Church Universal & Triumphet]; that Jesus was one of a line of spiritual teachers that continues today (Reflections on the Christ, pp. 27,28 by David Spangler).

men are incapable, apart from the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. to acquire salvation or acheive lasting personal transformation (Acts 4:12; 1 Car. 15; John 3:14-16; 5:24; Rom. 3:21-30; 5:1; Eph. 2:8,9; Phil. 3:7-9; Titus 3:4-7) personal and global transformation can be brought about through techniques (meditation, yoga, chanting, creative visualization, hypnosis, etc.) applied to the mind, body and spirit (The Aquarian Conspiracy, pp. 421-424; Opening to Channeling, pp. 171-1 84; by Sanaya Roman & Duane Packer; Living in the Light: A Guide to Personal and Planetary Transformation, pp. 178-191, by Shakti Gawain).

Christianity and the Rise of Post-Modernism (part 1)

Is Truth Relative?
Our discussion in this issue will center around the growth and influence of post-modernism as it relates to the world and in particular, the Church.
The prevailing attitude among many in our society goes something like this: "You may believe what you want to but please don't judge me for my beliefs-that's arrogant, judgmental, and wrong for you to question my personal convictions!" Not only is this attitude common among the average person, it exists in institutions of higher learning across this country and around the world. Academics in many of our colleges and universities regard anyone claiming to know any objective or universal truth as intolerant and arrogant. Beliefs of the individual and of any given culture determine what is acceptable, good, and right for the community as a whole. Therefore, when Christians (or my other religious group for that matter) attempt to communicate the truths of the Bible with the intent of converting people to Christ, they are accused of having a judgmental attitude over the prospective convert. In effect, it is not "politically correct" to speak of sin, repentance, judgment and salvation in Christ alone, never mind speak of the moral absolutes of a righteous and holy God! To post-modernists, all truth is subjective and reality is their perception or interpretation of the external world, not the world itself.
In order for Christians to understand why this attitude prevades our society and what you need to do to effectively reach these people with the Gospel, we need to trace its roots historically. Obviously the term post-modernism presupposes something before it-namely, modernism. Therefore, in discussing post-modernism, we should first understand what proceeded it.
Modernism
Some trace modernism historically to the Age of Enlightenment (sometimes called the Age of Reason) which began with the rationalism (the belief that it is possible to obtain by reason alone a knowledge of the nature of what exists) of Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, and others in the seventeenth century and developed significantly in eighteenth century France. The progression of liberal ideas (not to be confused with the religious liberalism which was a post-Enlightenment development in German theology) as a result of scientific acknowledge gave rise to the development of empiricicism (usually defined as the thesis that mll knowledge- or at least all knowledge of matters of fact as distinct from that of purely logical relations between concepts- is based on experience), naturalism (in general, the philosophical belief that what is studied by the science is all there is, and the denial of the teed for any explanation going beyond or outside the universe), and materialism (as most commonly understood in philosophy, the term denotes the doctrine that whatever exists is either matter, or entirely dependent on matter for its existence) and a strong adversion to the authority of the Bible, the Church, and the State. Religion and extra natural beliefs were vie~ as hindrances to knowledge that is necessary to achieve happiness and self-preservation, the fundamental aims of all men. Enlightenment thinkers argued further that nature makes men neither good or bad but malleable by education and experience. Finally, reason, they believed, shows man's need of others, and is the foundation of societal morality.
POST-MODERNISM
While post-modernism by and large rejects the humanistic philosophy of the Enlightenment which begins and ends with reason alone, even a cursory overview of modernism reveals why some see post-modernism as the logical development of modernism toward ever greater relativity, not only in our perception of truth but also of reality itself!
For modernism, truth or reality begins with atonomous man; for post-modernists, "truth" is created as it is interpreted by each particular culture. That is, objective truth does not exist. Thus, it is reasoned because all cultures view reality differently, depending on language, its particular needs, historical conditions, etc., whatever ethics or worldview subscribes to is particular to that community and not necessarily to others.
Many researchers admit post-modernism is difficult to define simply because it means different things to different people and because it is "...antiphilosophy, radically relativistic and holds no creed nor espouses a particular methodology." The truth is, no matter how one "defines" post-modernism, there are several identifiable earmarks common to this viewpoint. For example, as we mentioned above, post-modernism rejects the notion of objective truth altogether. That is, unchanging, ultimate truth does not exist. (This same kind of revelativistic theory of knowledge pervades New Age thought. In her book, It's All in the Playing, Shirley McLaine states, "... everyone has his own truth, and truth, as objective reality, doesn't exist.") Then, common among post-modernists is the view that humans are extensions of culture or socially determined beings. They deny the individual self altogether. Finally, post-modernists believe that we live in a pluralistic society characterized by moral pluralism/ relativism and concepts such as subjectism, freedom, personal autonomy, and tolerance describe z the essence of their thinking.
Evangelical Christians who value their Faith and put a high premium on evangelism especially as it relates to the body of revealed truth as found in God's Word, the Bible, find the post-modernists ~ position biblically Untenable and logically contradictory throughout. While we may appreciate post-modern criticisms with regards to the difficulty of verbal communication, for the most part, post-modern thinking is anti-thetical to the Christian Gospel and must, therefore, be rejected.
Having said all that, if we are to have any success in communicating the Gospel to the lost and dying, we must be prepared to meet the challenge of post-modem thinking. In a world which seems to be getting smaller and smaller and terms such as global community oneness of mankind plurality of religion, etc., speak of our shared human experience, the Church must remember that while She ~ is in the world She is not part of it. Her message is not the message of the world; Her message is a message of redemption: of spiritual rebirth and regeneration not global transformation, moral relativity, and human deification. For while Christians and non-Christians alike share all those things ~ particular to being human, we who are born of God's Spirit are citizens of another world and must ~ present the uncompromising message of the Gospel of Christ above everything else. To do otherwise is to minimize the preaching of the cross.
How, then, can we demonstrate that post-modernism fails as a tenable position or worldview? We can do this by presenting the logical and practical inconsistencies of post-modern thinking and then by presenting the biblical perspective of absolute truth that is capable of transforming the world. This we will do in part 2 of our next newsletter.

Book Review

CULTS IN OUR MIDST: The Hidden Menace in our everyday lives, by Margaret Thaler Singer (Jossey-Bass Publishers), 1995.
In the world of cult-apologetics it seems there is a never-ending plethora of books published analyzing cults from a biblical or theological point of reference. Typically evangelicals study pseudo-Christian cults for the purpose of pointing out among other things, the spiritual dangers and theological aberrations accompanying them. All to often the side of cultism ignored by Christians (which is as important in many respects as the theological), is the psychological or behavioral side.
CULTS IN OUR MIDST is another book about cults, but not just another book about cults. This book is written uniquely from a purely psychological or behavioral point of reference by Margaret Singer, a clinical psychologist and leading authority on cults in this country. While the author makes it clear she is less interested in whether the content of a cult group centers around religion (among other things), she certainly hits the nail on the head when it comes to brainwashing and thought reform related to cult recruitment and cult involvement!
The author's argue in the introduction that contrary to myth that those who join cults are seekers, it is the cults that go out actively and aggressively find followers. While this may be true with a number of cult groups, it is not necessarily true across the board. This reviewer would agree in part that many cults do in fact actively seek to recruit converts. However, a good percentage of those joining cults, (especially religious and/or self-help or human potential cults), are indeed seekers. That is, no person is really seeking to join a cult but seeking, rather, to belong to either an organization, a "church," religious group or some movement which best represents their "spiritual," social or personal needs. To say that converts to cults are riot seeking for meaning and purpose in some kind of structured organization is simply not the truth!
Another point this reviewer would take issue is with regards to the author's definition of the term cult Singer maintains that the term cult is not in itself pejorative but simply descriptive, denoting "a group that forms around a person who claims he or she has a special mission or knowledge, which will be shared with those who turn over most of their decision making to that self-appointed leader." Again, this reviewer agrees while the term "cult" may be descriptive of a group, is is too narrow a definition in that other points of analysis must be considered as well. Many researchers analyze cults from a sociological or behavioral perspective; others analyze cults strictly from a theological perspective; others view cultism as devotion to an ideal, only; and then some see a cult as a system or community of religious worship. The book, The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence (Dell Publishing Co., 1974) would hardly fit into the author's narrow definition of a cult. By the same token, given the author's definition of cult, Christianity (and other world religions) would have to be considered a cult as well! But no one in their right mind is going to class Christianity and Jonestown together as representative of what cultism denotes!
In spite of the above criticism, Singer offers many thought-provoking points throughout the book which challenges the reader to think seriously the psychological ramifications of cultism. In Part One, the author defines cultism and gives solid reasons regarding who joins cults and why. Important to note is Singer's observation that most cults are far from marginal (with the exception of extremist cults) and that those who join are no different from the rest of us in society. That is, cultist share the same basic human needs and the issues they represent are basic to our society.
Part Two of Cults in Our Midst answers the questions surrounding cult recruitment, physiological persuasion techniques and persuasion, and the advancement of programs, workshops, seminars, and training sessions by companies and corporations especially by New Age groups.
Finally, Part Three of this book presents reasons why people leave cults and the process of recovery. Several options are discussed regarding reaching family members involved in a cult. The authors prefer exit counseling over therapy, mental health professionals and, yes, even clergy. While exit counseling has its benefits, if administered without due regard for the spiritual implications of cultism, it really fails in the long-run to set a person totally free, to Christ. For Christians, both are necessary deterents of cultism.

News Briefs

To see just how far the unregenerate mind will go, the Associated Press reported that researchers have recently found strong evidence of physiological differences between lesbians and straights. The so-called discovery was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and adds to the theory hat sexual orientation in women may be determined by biology and not by choice.
Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, said their studies show the inner ears of female homosexuals has undergone masculinization," probably from hormone exposure before birth. Dennis McFadden, a Professor of experimental psychology and lead author of the study, believes that the auditory centers of female homosexuals have been masculinized and the presumption is that so have the sites in the brain that direct sexual reference. He has said however, that it has not et proven that there is a specific site in the brain that directs women to be lesbians.
Dr. Michael Baily of Northwestern University, said the research is "compelling" and may be 'consistent with the biological origin of lesbianism." He stated further that the most likely interpretation of the research is that this represents some "kind of effect of early hormones on the developing fetus." Baily cautioned that the research will not be accepted is valid until others replicate the experiment.
According to the Bible, homosexuality is a learned behavior, a choice and comes as a result of sin and rebellion before God (Romans:18-3 2). Moreover, those practicing such behavior will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9.10)