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“Days of the Dead” at Cornerstone “Christian” Youth Camp (July,
2006)
Below is a summary of our covert mission trip to witness at
Cornerstone Festival 2006, owned by the “Jesus People
The furtive mission trip to research behind the scenes teachings
of Christians for Biblical Equality and “The Jesus People” (who are mostly
teachers and members of CBE) could not have gone better!
The Lord provided a way for us to walk in absolute freedom there to do the
research covertly and distribute 500 fact sheets of “CBE vs. the Bible” to cars
in the parking lots, all of the speakers’ tents, and then at last posting them
on fences and port-a-potties all over the campground (while most of the CBE
members were gathered with the other “Jesus People” watching a horror movie in
the “Imaginarium” tent in celebration of “The Days of the Dead”). Does that sound Christian? People
are going to be shocked at some of the teachings we heard there this week.
Articles are forthcoming where I will quote the teachers verbatim in the
contemplative, mystic error they were teaching the
youth and others under the guise of “Christianity”. Here is a preliminary
encapsulation of our mission trip to Cornerstone:
[Caveat: We could have NEVER done this in our own strength—never. We
started off the days and ended them in prayer and Bible reading. After the
mission was successfully accomplished, we all prayed together, thanking God,
telling Him how much we appreciated Him using us. It is obvious the Lord does
not like being called “mother”! I smile as I write it, because He certainly
provided a chance for us to distribute EVERY SINGLE fact sheet with no
hindrance at all on our last night there, as they watched the horror film. We
even posted one outside the “Imaginarium” tent sign
while everyone was inside watching the movie!]
We were greeted by a hard rock “Christian” singer who wore a
t-shirt reading, “Kill it before it kills you,” right inside the gate. We had
never seen so many teenagers dressed in black in our lives, nor had we ever
seen so many tattoos—all at a “Christian” camp.
We were taught that it is common among “saints” to levitate! We learned that Gandhi was more Christian than he knew.
We were told how saints like St. Francis of
One speaker said he was not comfortable “wearing the title of a
Christian.” He was “an aspiring Christian,” but he was not comfortable wearing that title—all of this was
in the “Imaginarium” tent, which was Bob Passantino’s favorite tent, we were told, at the
Cornerstone festival before he passed away. To give tribute to Bob, a skull was
placed on the altar of the dead for him! Skulls and pictures were also
placed to remember Mr. Rogers. (However, it was not a beautiful day in the
neighborhood! It was a satanic night in the “Days of the Dead.” But, then
again, the other people there seemed to be having a fine time. I guess it was
just our team of women who did not feel comfortable writing a name of a dead
loved one on a sugar skull and placing it on the shrine.
A tribute was made to Batman. There were the pictures in the
glowing dead shrine of everyone from Rosa Parks to Mr. Rogers. One woman walked
up to the podium and gave a tribute to Flannery O’Connor and placed a flower on
the altar for her. Many would speak to the dead people saying, “I
just want to thank ___for all he/she has taught me,” as if the person’s spirit
was in the place to hear. (No clarification was made on how we should not
speak to the dead according to the Bible, of course).
A skeleton was placed in a casket on the side of the room
surrounded by trash on the floor.
Celtic abstracts were posted on the walls, as well as excerpts from teachers
such as Thomas Merton. Someone mentioned the idea of singing a hymn and the
teacher jeered, A Hymn? We can’t sing a hymn in the Imaginarium!
The teacher heckled the comment extemporaneously as if hymns were too out of
date and inappropriate! I would agree that the hymns would certainly not fit the spirit
at work in the place. The hymns would oppose such a spirit for sure. Eerie
music was played as the people walked up to the shrine/altar to place a sugar
skull or flower on behalf of the dead. Horror films were lauded, and we
were taught from Gretchen Passantino that there was
nothing wrong with celebrating Halloween since it was “All Saints Day,” so
there was a night designated for costumes at the “Imaginarium”
in celebration of Halloween. (We did not attend).
Our team heard explicit details of the sex life of several CBE
teachers. (Don’t worry, I won’t write about it! It was more than anyone would
ever want to hear or read)! We learned much error about the Trinity from a
teacher at CBE (who happened to be covered in tattoos), and I will be writing
about that and quoting him directly in the near future.
In the “Prayer Tent” we were told to take off our shoes and walk
the Labyrinth. No children under
the age of 14 were allowed to enter without their parents. The teacher
asked me if I would like to journal, and she handed me a mind-numbing maze to
follow on paper on/in which to journal! At the end of the “prayer” walk, after
the participants had been given a choice of verses to read over and over as
they walked the “sacred ground”, they came back to report what God had shown
them while walking the mantra path. One lady said, “As I walked along, I felt
one thorny area, so I avoided that area…but then as I was almost done with the
labyrinth walk I realized I should have walked on the thorns for God since
Jesus suffered for me.” She looked like she was going to cry. The teacher
nodded in sympathetic agreement. It was all I could do to remain silent and not
explain to that poor woman that we were called to a different kind of
suffering—suffering that makes one proud of one’s own humility is not the right
kind of suffering! It was extremely hard to sit through all of these sessions
and not say anything.
One day a woman on our team could not take it anymore and raised
her hand to comment. She said to the CBE teachers, “Galatians 3:28 taken in
context is only pertaining to salvation.” John Trott
interrupted the conversation from the opposite side of the room to change the
subject announcing, “But, women have gifts, too!” The woman on our team
thought, Galatians 3:28 still only pertains to salvation taken in context.
We have found a popular tactic with the CBE teachers is to change the subject
when they are wrong about something.
We learned that absolute truth can lead to problems! It often births self-righteousness and judgmental attitudes—we
should accept everyone and not “push our truth off on anybody”. We were also
taught to show kindness to people “with no motive for evangelism.”
A woman in the CBE tent shared her “personal journey” of how her
husband stayed home and kept their first child while she finished seminary—he
dropped out of school to stay with the baby while the wife continued her
education—and she bragged on how much she “felt supported” by her husband for
allowing her to continue to go to school while he stayed home with the baby.
She admitted she was the spiritual leader in the home…she had graduated with
honors and announced, “I am smart after all, and God does have a big plan for
my life!” I sat there thinking, too bad the girl did not go to seminary to
learn more about Jesus for His glory—she went there to show everyone how
smart she is, and she now admits the inspiration behind her labor is to change
the way men think of women and obliterate sexism within the church. It was
humanism…I wondered where is Jesus in all of those goals she has set “for
Him”? It seems to me the goals are more for women.
One man on the CBE panel admitted the thought of being a leader in
the home was “a lot of responsibility.” It was obvious he did not want that
sort of responsibility. Some very surprising doctrinal teaching was
disseminated from CRI apologist, Gretchen Passantino,
and I will be writing about it and quoting her directly soon and submitting
articles for publishing.
We saw a sign that read “Anam Cara” in
the merchant tent at a table for a rock group. I asked, “What does Anam Cara mean?” The boy who looked to be
about fifteen answered innocently, “Someone told me it means ‘spirit friend.’” I asked, “What is the language?” He gave a popular answer there
at the camp, “I don’t know.” Meanwhile youth were standing in line for
tattoos and gauging. I asked, “What does gauging mean?” The girl who was
plying the gauged holes in the ears of the “Christian” youth answered, “Oh, it
means nothing.” I looked it up later and found that gauging is a practice of
voodoo worship in African tribes.
While the others were researching on our last day there, I set out
with the fact sheets, hitting two of the back parking lots, behind the main
rock stage. Every single person was receptive! I saw normal looking
Christian youth who were not dressed in black, absent nose rings and tattoos.
It was obvious they had come to just camp out and be with friends. I gave the
fact sheets to the youth leaders. They all thanked me. I put others on cars and
tables and inside tents. I gave one to a youth leader who said, “It is
interesting that you would give me this, because I am also a professor at Moody
Bible Institute, and I was just discussing CBE’s inclusive language teachings
with my youth group. I am very concerned about this error being taught.” He
showed me his notes pertaining to the subject of CBE’s attempt to neuter God with
inclusive language! A link to
One man took the sheet and looked over at his teenage daughter and
nodded as if to say, “See? I told you.” He said adamantly, “Thank you
very much. I knew something was not right about this place.” I told him that I
had just been in a class in the Imaginarium
where the teacher had taught that “saints” levitated in church history, and we
should not judge such “miracles.” He shook his head in disapproval and was
reading the fact sheet as I walked out of sight.
That night, I finished putting the sheets on the cars and tents in
the other parking lots, and the other women on our team went back inside and
posted the fact sheets EVERYWHERE!! The Wycliffe tent got one; the Youth for
Christ tent got one: the press tent got about ten copies; they were posted on
walls, fences, and port-a-potties, and then, last but not least, all of the
speakers’ tents got several copies left on the podiums, including the CBE
“Gender Revolution” tent. If they are so proud of calling God “mother” all of
the Christians have a right to know about it!
Then, we all met back at the hotel, and we PRAISED THE LORD FOR
USING US FOR HIS GLORY!! We got back on the plane the following morning and
thanked the Lord for every little detail. We knew that God had accomplished all
we had done for His glory, and He had protected our steps. We laughed at the
airport leaving
It felt great to be done with the mission, and it sure felt good
to leave that camp! I had to weep down on my knees in the hotel as I prayed
just thinking about that dark place. The fun will be in seeing what the Lord
will do with our research, and the fun comes in trusting our precious Lord to
use those 500 fact sheets* to give His people the Truth and protect them from a
lying counterfeit spirit at work to deceive.
Galatians 1 and 1 Corinthians 2:11-16 encouraged my heart as I
read those passages on the plane on the way back to
To the praise of His glory,
Dwayna
* Here is the fact sheet against calling God mother which we
distributed at Cornerstone, 2006:
CBE
vs. The Bible
Mimi Haddad, CBE president: “We may
speak of God as Father or Mother.”
“We
must resist the implication that God is masculine or that scripture sanctions
patriarchy.”
(Source:
What Language Shall We Use: www.cbeinternational.org.)
The Bible: God is always spoken of as Father in the Bible, over
250 times in the New Testament alone. In
this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Matthew 6:9. Never in the Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek does God ever
address Himself or is ever addressed as mother!
Jann Aldredge-Clanton, CBE contributor and Christ-Sophia
Worshiper: “God our mother, we thank
you that you love us so much to want the best for us.” (Source: A Word for Girls and Boys. Pg. 23: www.cbeinternational.org).
The Bible: You shall
fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His
name.
Deuteronomy
6:13.
Richard & Catherine Kroeger, CBE Founders, Speakers, and Authors: “...There is a good Biblical reason to speak of God as
both father and mother, both she and he.”
(Source:
http://firstpresby.org/womenelders.htm)
The Bible: Praying to the “mother god” is
forbidden by the God of the Bible. It is goddess worship. See Jeremiah
44:15-19, 25 for verses against
praying to the “Queen” of heaven. In Isaiah 14:14 the Bible warns us about
praying to a god “like” the most high. Satan is the god “like” the Most High
and can take on both masculine and feminine in the demonic realm.
Paul R. Smith, book sold on CBE website:
“I believe it is important to call
God mother as well as father in public worship.” (Source: Is it Okay to Call
God Mother? Pg.1: www.cbeinternational.org.).
The Bible: The father/mother God is
Satan—Satan is called “THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE
ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” in Rev. 17:5. Satan is also called the “FATHER OF LIES” in John 8:44
The children gather wood, the fathers
kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink
offerings to other gods, that they may
provoke Me to anger. Jeremiah 7:18.
“Calling God the father/mother god is
the bastardization of the Biblical concept of God.”
--Dr.
Walter Martin, founder of the Christian Research Institute and original “Bible
Answer Man”
(Go
to www.waltermartin.com for more
information)
For
the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to
their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for
themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be
turned aside to fables. - 2 Timothy 4:3, 4.
[Please note: The book by Paul R. Smith, Is It Okay to Call God Mother, has been
removed from the CBE web site after the publication of this fact sheet.
However, posted still on their blog, via their web site, beginning in May,
2005, when the blog was created, the reader can infer that these women are very
much in support of the teachings of Paul R. Smith. As stated on their blog, the
trouble they have with the book is that it was written by an open homosexual.
There is no mention of the content—calling God “mother”—being offensive to
them. The CBE blog was created right after this fact sheet was published in articles
and distributed on many web sites].
A year
later (2007): Days of the Dead Still
Alive and Well with the “Jesus People”http://lightingtheway.blogspot.com/2007/11/days-of-dead-still-alive-and-well-with.html