by Jackie Alnor
Apostasy Alert
June 19, 2007

In last week’s Reflection, I introduced you to the leaders of The Gateway Christian Fellowship who have announced the Latter Rain has begun in Idaho with the signs of falling gems. Next month, July 19-21, 2007, they will be co-sponsoring a conference, along with Elijah List, with a roster of speakers who can take people to the next step in their spiritual quest for God’s glory. The list of speakers is mysterious in and of itself. Remember that game on Sesame Street that sang:

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

Well, I was reminded of that children’s game when I looked at this line-up of speakers for the Quantum Leap-2 conference. From the promotional material, which of these speakers doesn’t appear to belong to the mystics who will be imparting their mysticism?

• David van Koevering: "quantum physicist…As a visionary, his gift is the insight to see, and by this observation to cause, and then define and communicate what he saw to others. By so doing…those things that were not, became as though they were…and reality changed." "You'll hear of 'why' your words change things -- just like Solomon stated in Proverbs 18:21 -- ’death and life are in the power of the tongue.’"
• Chuck Missler: "Chuck was encouraged by his close friend Hal Lindsey to pursue his long-time love of teaching the Bible on a full-time basis. Chuck had spent over twenty-five years teaching the Word of God under Pastor Chuck Smith at Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa. Koinonia House was soon formed, with the mission to encourage people to seriously study the Bible as the inerrant Word of God"
• JoAnn McFatter: "While facilitating the shift from the mind of man to the mind of Christ in word and song, she carries a passion to see revelation of spirit, science, and art being opened up, woven together, and bringing Kingdom manifestation on the earth as it is in Heaven. She teaches on quantum physics, prophetic worship, creativity and the arts. She carries a deep impartation of the fire of the Lord." "We've all heard terms like the popular song from years ago ‘good vibrations’ or ‘feel the vibe’ or ‘they have a bad vibe.’ Is it just 'new age' terminology -- or is there something to vibrations? Get ready to hear how God has a frequency (as do all things) and how this plays into your destiny!"
• Steve Swanson: Worship and Arts Director of Extreme Prophetic. Steve carries a powerful anointing in worship, intercession, and prophecy that opens the heavens as worshipers bask in the manifest glory presence of the Lord." "Steve creates an atmosphere in worship that ushers in the angelic presence and creates a portal of the glory of God for everyone to enjoy and saturate themselves in."

With the exception of Chuck Missler, the speakers sound like a bunch of spiritual alchemists who think they can make angels appear, change reality by the power of their own words, and impart power to others. And the sponsors are those who seek after signs and wonders and claim that Scripture is no barometer with which to test whether their "miracles" are of God, the flesh, or the devil. And the title of their conference, "Quantum Leap" is a popular new age idea of man’s spiritual evolution from human to divine. One well-known new age occultist described what they mean by Quantum Leap and it is hard, if not impossible, to see any difference:

"Barbara Marx Hubbard" wrote apologist Brooks Alexander, "has a similar event that she calls a planetary Pentecost. She explains to us that at this time, a ‘quantum leap’ in the evolution of mankind will occur as revealed to her by ‘the Christ’: ‘At the moment of cosmic contact, I will appear to you both through inner experience and through external communication on your mass media.’ Hubbard says, at this time when ‘the divisions of the religions would be over…We would each know that God is within us…If all who feel we are connected to each other, to nature and to God join in a planetary Pentecost, we shall be transformed in this lifetime.’ (Barbara Marx Hubbard and the Armageddon Alternative," SCP Journal, Vol. 19:2/3, 1995, p. 49)."

Swanson, van Koevering, and McFatter are regularly in conferences together – in fact, the last Quantum Leap with the three of them included former Kansas City (false) Prophet, Bob Jones. These speakers, along with the local sponsors Mike & Kari Browning, point to Jones frequently as their personal inspiration for their own so-called prophetic ministries. But how did Jones get replaced by Chuck Missler in this conference? He stands out as one coming from an entirely different camp than the others. He has ministered in Calvary Chapel circles for decades while the Kansas City Prophets element in the church has always been suspect to any Bible-believing Calvary Chapel leader. Could he be a bridge builder between the two camps? Perhaps, but not necessarily intentionally on his part. Maybe they just recognize some of the common ground they share with Missler who has toyed with the mystical realm in some of his books and teachings on Y2K, "Cosmic Codes – Hidden Messages From the Edge of Eternity," and "Alien Encounters."

I attempted to contact Missler for his comments, but he did not reply to my emails and his staff intercepted my phone calls and wouldn’t patch me through. I couldn’t get any further than Missler’s assistant Gordon McDonald. He seemed unfamiliar with Gateway or Elijah List but brushed off my concerns with the statement that Missler does not turn down any requests for him to speak as long as he is given liberty to say what he wants to say. He dismissed all of my objections that Missler sharing the stage with mystics and false prophets could stumble many young believers who could assume Missler’s involvement was an endorsement of any and all teaching and actions that might occur. Since the names Chuck Smith and Calvary Chapel were used in the advertising, could this be a ploy to draw in unsuspecting Christians to a gathering where deceiving spirits are welcome?

What sort of teaching might a participant of Quantum Leap-2 anticipate based on other such conferences? (For a more in-depth view see "The Issue of other Religious Practices as Worship in the Church" by Mike Oppenheimer)
 

In using quantum physics, the study of "the principle that matter and energy have the properties of both particles and waves" is paramount to confusing the Creator with His creation. To try and identify the Spirit of God in physical matter is a form of panentheism: the idea that God is contained in His creation. Wikepedia defines it as: "the theological position that God is immanent within the Universe, but also transcends it. It is distinguished from pantheism, which holds that God is synonymous with the material universe." Panentheism is prevalent in the view of the mystics from John of the Cross to Meister Eckhart to Thomas Merton. And now today’s false prophets are repackaging it into something they call Spiritual Quantum Physics. But the new age movement beat them to it.

The cults of Religious Science, Christian Science, and the Mind Sciences all tried to tap into this before and now these musical false prophets say that making the right sounds and noises can open a door to God’s glory and they know the secret of how to create the atmosphere to share that glory with the participants at the conference.  And like these cults, today's false teachers also try to analyze God's power by natural laws.  Naturalism is actually a denial of the miraculous since they try to find natural explanations for the miraculous  and then attempt to manipulate natural laws  to create miracles themselves.  It is another repackaging of two popular books in the 1980s: Yonggi Cho's "Fourth Dimension" and Pat Robertson's "The Secret Kingdom."  Those ideas have been biblically debunked years ago, but are now resurfacing and going even deeper into the occult.

So the question remains: Will Missler speak up against these dark teachings when he takes the platform or will he go on as if they’re all one big happy family? If anyone can attend Quantum Leap-2, please report back so that leaders in Calvary Chapels who are booking their next pastors conferences will know whether or not to include Missler on their own rosters. 

(For a biblical study of Godly men joining with false teachers, see "A Chink in the Armor" by Jacob Prasch)

Heavenly Father, watch over those innocent seekers and new believers who might be drawn in to attending this conference not knowing that deceiving spirits could be  at work in some of the messages and energies that are being conjured up.  Bring the power of conviction upon your people who might be there and stir up the gift of discerning of spirits to those who have the boldness to confront these pagan concepts. If Chuck Missler is your vessel of correction then open his eyes to the dangers he might have inadvertently led innocent Christians into and empower him to confront the falsehoods with boldness. Please expose the source of anything that manifests before all. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen!