Category Archives: Take Heed Ministries

‘Hope 2008’ – not “that blessed hope” of Titus 2:13

In January of this year I received an email from a Christian couple in England who had attended a meeting In Birmingham in October 2006 at which they were introduced to an initiative that would be called ‘HOPE 2008’. In their own words they wrote of ‘something called “HOPE 2008” the theme of which is “Redeeming Our Communities” – this was pioneered by Gerald Coates’.

In my reply to them I wrote this concerning “HOPE 2008” – “You mentioned the involvement of Gerald Coates so on that basis alone I would steer well clear of it”. Very briefly, Gerald Coates has promoted many charismatic deceptions such as the so-called ‘Toronto Blessing’ and with his track record of failed ‘prophecies’ he should be thankful that he doesn’t live in Old Testament times [see Deuteronomy 18:20].

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News From The Front – September 2007

Dear praying friends,

One of the enclosures with our March 2007 newsletter related to ‘2 matters for prayerful and practical consideration’. Thanks to the generous response of God’s people, in relation to one matter mentioned I was able to purchase a laptop computer and the PowerPoint programme. Over the summer months I have been trying to get to grips with this new technology – I wouldn’t claim to have fully ‘cracked it’ but I have been able to put together a number of presentations on current issues [such as Scientology, and Islam] and already a number of churches/fellowships have made arrangements for me to come to make these presentations. I am truly grateful to all who contributed and am also grateful to the Lord for opening up these opportunities to utilise these gifts for the sake of His truth. The second matter related to a possible ministry trip to Kenya in 2009. After much prayerful consideration both Margaret and I felt that this matter should not be pursued any further and we have informed the Kenyan Pastor accordingly. Again I am grateful to those who prayed for us as we considered this possible trip. One trip we shall be making will be for 10 days to Illinois and Ohio in October [DV] when I will be speaking in 4 churches during that time. Again I will be addressing matters that are very much in the news and so we would covet your prayers for provision for our travel and protection as we travel. As ever we covet your ongoing prayers as we sound the warning of ‘Take Heed’.

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Email sent to David Cameron MP

Dear Mr Cameron,

I have just watched the Channel 5 news interview that you gave to John Suchet and in the course of it you declared that you were ‘a Christian’.

I must confess that this came as somewhat of a surprise to me for one particular reason. In a speech you declared your support for ‘the family’ but you did not restrict ‘the family’ to God’s ordained family standard of ‘one man and one woman’ but you broadened it to ‘man with man’ or ‘woman with woman’.

These latter 2 views of ‘the family’ are regarded by God as a sinful abomination as can be read in Romans chapter 1. The only sexual intimacy sanctioned by God is between a man and a woman who are married to each other as we read in Hebrews 13:4. Continue reading →

The ‘Labyrinth Experience’ in South Belfast

When Pastor Gary Gilley was our guest here in March 2006 to address a number of issues, including what has come to be known as ‘The Emerging Church’; he highlighted how in many instances churches and fellowships are now ‘supplementing’ or in some cases virtually ‘replacing’ the reading and preaching of the Word of God with more visual, sensory-based experiences designed to somehow induce an almost mystical ‘experience’ of ‘God’.

In recent times a couple of Methodist Churches in South Belfast have hosted what were termed as ‘The Labyrinth Experience’. In each case those presenting this ‘experience’ have ‘dressed up’ rooms in the church complexes in such a way as to appeal to and address the senses and to supposedly ‘picture’ some aspect of a spiritual relationship with God. Ideas such as ‘the journey so far’, ‘the God who knows and loves’, our ‘relationship’ and what He ‘reveals’ will hopefully be ‘conjured up’ by the use of partitions and curtains, devotional aids such as the well-known ‘Footprints’, photos of people and communities, water bowls, pebbles and an open Bible.

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Beware of ‘Lection Divina’ at ‘Summer Madness’

One of those who will be contributing to the upcoming Summer Madness event is Shane Tucker. This is how the reference to him on the ‘Seminars – sneak preview ‘07’ is worded –

Shane Tucker will be introducing us to an ancient form of meditation on the Bible with ‘Lectio Divina’

Just this evening I received this urgent email from Lighthouse Trails Publishing in America –

If you have a child in either a public or private school, please contact the school immediately and find out if your child is being introduced to any type of meditation exercise (this includes lectio divina and breath prayers). Tell the school you do not want your child participating in any of these activities. This would include Rob Bell’s popular Nooma films and his book Velvet Elvis, which are both being used in Christian junior high and high schools.

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‘Reflections’ on ‘emerging’ IKON

Last year Pastor Gary Gilley was our invited guest to speak around Northern Ireland on 2 subjects in particular – (1) The ‘Purpose Driven’ Movement and (2) The ‘Emerging Church’ Movement.

In the run-up to Gary’s visit he mentioned to me that there was a local [in Belfast] ‘Emerging Church’ group called IKON that was headed up by a man called Peter Rollins. Gary asked me if I knew of him and I said ‘no’. Subsequently I did a web search and came across a website for this group called IKON and as I browsed their site I saw a web page listed under a subheading of ‘The Last supper’ and that somehow ‘rang a bell’ for me. On further investigation I found out why.

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News From The Front – June 2007

Dear praying friends,

It seems that Northern Ireland is fast becoming a haven for every modern heresy that is currently circulating under the guise of being ‘evangelical’. In June/July Brian McLaren will speak to thousands of young professing Christians at the local ‘Summer Madness’ event. Also in July, Joel Osteen will ‘preach’ at the Belfast Odyssey arena. In November the main speaker at the ‘Mandate’ gathering for men will be Erwin McManus who, like Brian McLaren, is identified with what is called ‘The Emerging Church’ – I’ve just had a phone call to tell me that another ‘Emerging Church’ figure called Rob Bell [we have an ‘Alarm Bells’ warning article about him & his wife on our website] will be speaking in Belfast in June, with the Church of Ireland Youth Dept., closely associated with ‘Summer Madness’, advertising Bell’s visit. On our website and in this newsletter these issues will be addressed. Why do we do that? Let me quote from John MacArthur’s latest book ‘The Truth War’ [mentioned on page 13] ‘As always a war is being waged against the truth. We are on one side or the other. There is no middle ground…in every generation the battle for the truth has proved ultimately unavoidable because the enemies of truth are relentless. Truth is always under assault. And it is actually a sin not to fight when vital truths are under attack…whenever the enemies of gospel truth succeed in infiltrating the church [as represented by all those mentioned above] faithful believers are obliged to take the battle to them even there. That is certainly the case today’ [pages XXIII-XXIV]. We thank you for all your support and encouragement and covet your prayers as we continue to engage the enemies of God’s “truth”.

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Make ‘MANDATE’ a ‘NO-DATE’ on 17th November 2007

Keeping up the flow of scripture-destroying ‘preachers’ lined up to visit Northern Ireland during 2007, the following link

http://www.emins.com/template.aspx?parent=220&pid=243&area=18&aNAme=&textsize=A

gives details of a return visit to Belfast by Erwin McManus, this time at the Odyssey Arena [cost £30.00] and this time under the auspices of ‘Evangelical Ministries’.

Last year he was a guest speaker at the CFC [Christian Fellowship Church] in Belfast and in advance of that visit I posted a warning on our website and this link will take you to that warning article –

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Joel Osteen coming to Belfast

The Belfast Odyssey arena currently has this advert on its ‘What’s on’ page – An Evening with Joel Osteen is a chance for you to be encouraged by one of America’s leading pastors. You will be able to celebrate God’s goodness through worship and praise music…, you’ll learn more about Joel’s ministry and family, and Joel will have an inspirational message from God’s Word. At the end of the event, Joel will proclaim a special blessing over everyone in attendance… You don’t have to be a Christian or a member of any particular church. The only requirement is a ticket. [Cost £11.50].

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Faithful unto Death

Shortly after 18^th April I received an Internet link that posted a report under the heading – “A letter to the Global Church from the Protestant Church of Smyrna”. The link was

http://izmirprotestan.org/docs/Letter_to_the_Global_Church.pdf

This report gave the horrific details of how 3 Christian leaders in the area of Smyrna in Turkey had been savagely butchered to death by members of a Muslim ‘tarikat’ – a group of Islamic ‘faithful believers’. These 3 brothers in Christ, missionary and father of 3, Tilman Geske, pastor and father of 2, Necati Aydin, and former Muslim [like Pastor Aydin] Ugur Yuksel had all been involved in both printing and proclaiming God’s TRUTH and had arranged to meet with these Muslim men to give them a Bible study. Tragically this was merely a ruse to lure God’s servants to a meeting where they would be martyred for seeking to spread God’s TRUTH.

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