Ravenous Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

Ravenous Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: Satan’s Commanders in Chief.  Satan’s most dangerous “ministers of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15) and their devious deceptions are never easy to detect. No wonder Jesus warned that “false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect (true believers).” (Mark 13:22).

Thousands, if not billions of people, are regularly being deceived by popular preachers who believe in the virgin birth, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, his ascension into heaven, his kingdom on earth, the necessity to follow Him, and even staunchly preach all these truths in almost all their sermons. Do these affirmations prove that they are saved? Hardly, because Satan and his minions believe these very same biblical truths.

Consider, for instance, Peter’s and the demons’ confessions in Mark 8:27-34 and Mark 3:11-12.

And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets. And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him. And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Mark 8:27-34)

In Matthew 16:17 Jesus said to Peter “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” and then charged his disciples to tell no one that He was the great I AM. Let us now compare Peter’s confession with that of demons in the very same Epistle.

And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known. (Mark 3:11-12)  

In both instances, a follower of Jesus and demons, ultimately bound for hell, acknowledged and confessed that Jesus is God the Father’s anointed Son. Peculiar as it may seem, He charged both Peter and the unclean spirits not to reveal his identity to others. The only difference is that Peter was blessed because it was God the Father in heaven and not flesh and blood who revealed to him who He was, whilst the demons trembled (James 22:19) in the knowledge that He was the Son of God.

What does this prove?  It evinces that fact that the exact same confession of faith from the lips of a believer and of unclean spirits can either be a blessing or a damnable curse. You may confess Jesus Christ as the One being the Son of God, as the One being the Messiah (the Christ), and call Him your Lord (Matthew 7:21) until you are blue in the face and still find yourself no closer to heaven than the demons who confessed that He is the Son of God.

In fact, the Bible clearly says that every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is God. (Romans 14:11). Every single person who ever lived on this earth will say to Him, “You are the One.” Does that mean every single person who ever lived on this earth is going to heaven? Perish the thought. Most people are going to hell “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14). It is impossible to follow Christ unless you have entered through the strait gate. There are multitudes of people, especially in the mystical contemplative fold, who think they are followers of Christ and have never entered through the strait gate.

Where Do We Draw the Line between the sheep and the wolves?

How and where do we draw the line to determine whose confession is truly the one that genuinely acknowledges Jesus Christ as the One. In short, there is only one way to discern whether someone’s confession is of God the Father and not of the flesh or of demons. Although the latter’s confession is true, it cannot possibly be approved either by God or true believers, because the demons’ confession of faith always goes hand in hand with their doctrines, commonly known as doctrines of devils. (1 Timothy 4:1).

Indeed, their genuine confession that Jesus is the Son of God, together with their false doctrines, is the most successful and dangerous method to deceive people (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). Whoever claims to be a follower of Christ Jesus because they have surrendered their lives to Him in the knowledge that He is the One (the Messiah; the Christ), and yet adhere to doctrines of devils, cannot be saved.

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. (2 John 1:9-11).

To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, (John 10:3-5).

Trevor Hudson’s sermon on 4^th March 2018 at the Mosaïek Kerk in Fairland, South Africa, which forms part of a series to celebrate Lent, leading up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday, is a classic example of how false teachers often place at the heart of their messages one of the most important questions Jesus asked his disciples “Who do you say that I am?” — only to use it as a means to promulgate doctrines of devils and to speak admirably of false teachers whom they readily bid Godspeed (an expression of good wishes to a person who started a journey).

About 9 minutes and 27 seconds into the video, Trevor Hudson says that no one can escape the presence of Jesus in human history and even those who reject Him use his Name as a swear word. And indeed it is so, despite the warning that we may not use God’s Name in vain. (Psalm 139:20).  Nonetheless, Hudson doesn’t seem to realize that there is an even greater sin than using his Name as a swear word, and that is to use his Name as a springboard to pollute the minds of people with the doctrines of devils.

At this stage, it may be a good thing to remind ourselves of what the Psalmist says in Psalm 138 and verse 2.

I will worship toward thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy loving-kindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

Of all the things God has done to reveal Himself to his people in the Old Testament and all the miraculous deeds Jesus performed to prove to the world that He is God’s anointed Messiah (the Christ), nothing is more important than his doctrinal decrees. In fact, they are so extremely important that He has magnified his word (doctrinal truths) above all his Name. Anyone who tampers with his doctrines is not only using his Name in vain but making a mockery of the doctrines He has exalted above his Name.

Those of you who viewed the entire video may want to ask, “Where, when and how does Trevor Hudson advance the doctrines of devils in his sermon?” Bear with me and ample proof from his own lips will show how unashamedly he uses Christ Jesus’ Name as a springboard to advance the doctrines of devils and to bid false teachers God speed. In the next few paragraphs we shall be looking at some of the traits of a false teacher and prove beyond any shadow of doubt that Trevor Hudson does not preach the unadulterated Gospel of God but another gospel, and indeed the doctrines of devils.

Game of Comparisons

When Jesus asked his disciples “Who do you say that I am?” He did not invite or encourage them to participate in some sort of game of comparisons to gauge the impact He’s had on human history. As a matter of interest, He Himself never once ventured to impact human history to determine the level or degree of his greatness, least of all by comparing Himself with others.

In fact, He lamented the comparatively little success He had during his life on earth. Think of it this way; He suffered and died for humanity in its entirety and yet only a very small remnant will be saved. (Matthew 7:14). His own people, the nation of Israel at large despised and rejected Him. It does not mean that his work on the cross was a failure. His dying words “It is finished” attest to the fact that his work was a resounding success. The question is; what constituted his success? Here is the answer.

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God. (Isaiah 49:1-4).

In verses 1 to 3 Jesus speaks of his appointment to the office of Messiah (God’s anointed Christ) to redeem, in the first place, Israel his chosen people in whom He will be glorified even though the majority, whom He calls the children of the Kingdom, are going to end up in hell (Matthew 8:12). Whereas man perceives success as something to be measured by comparing the greatness of someone with the greatness of others, Jesus measures it by the degree of obedience to his Father. Listen again to his words in Isaiah 49 verse 4, “Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God” and in Hebrews 10 verses 7 and 9.

Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

God vindicates success, not by indulging in some sort of game of comparisons, but by the mark of obedience to Him and his word (doctrines). Lo and behold, Trevor Hudson falls into the trap of human error and false teaching when he does exactly the opposite. About 16 minutes an 26 seconds into the video he says the following:

I know that there are many folk, and I know this, who are struggling deeply with what I’m saying, struggling maybe intellectually, and I respect that struggle, and if you’re struggling with who Jesus is, I invite you certainly on one hand, read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; read the Gospels again and again and again but do something else as well.

Just put Jesus out there alongside all the other people who’ve affected human history; put him out there in the public sphere; put him alongside Socrates and Plato; put him alongside the Buddha; put him alongside the Dalai Lama. These are all great people I’m not knocking. Just put Jesus alongside of them. There’s no competition. He shines the most brightly as John says he is the light that has come into this world and the darkness has never ever put that light out.

Trevor Hudson’s advice for those who are struggling intellectually with what he says about Jesus, to read the four gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John again and again and again, is completely at variance with what Jesus said about reading them over and over and over.

You search and keep on searching and examining the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and yet it is those [very Scriptures] that testify about Me; and still you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life (John 3:29 AMP).

Lectio Divina, the Contemplative Way to Read the Bible — A Ruse of the Beast

Lectio Divina (Divine Reading) is precisely how contemplatives read the Bible. They take a word or a phrase from Scripture and repeat it over and over so that it may speak to them intuitively in their innermost being without having to understand it rationally or intellectually. Lectio Divina, as it is called in contemplative circles, is one of the most dangerous ploys of the devil and his demons to prevent lost sinners from finding and understanding the truth.

Truth, and especially God’s truth, was never intended to be revealed to humankind intuitively or subliminally. The one thing Satan and his demons have been doing throughout the ages in their attempt to keep lost sinners from being saved is to blind their minds (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).

There are four essential stages in the practice of Lectio Divina,

• Lectio (reading): It involves the reading of Scripture slowly and reflectively where we abandon our own thoughts and open ourselves to what God wants to tell us inwardly and not intellectually.
• Meditatio (reflection): It pertains to a rational ruminating on the short passage we have read and to take from it what we feel God wants to highlight for us.
• Oratio (response): where we deliberately abandon our rational and intellectual thinking processes in response to God’s Word.
• Contemplatio (rest or stillness): It involves the putting aside of all our rational and intellectual conceptions of the passage we have read and allow God to speak to us with a still small voice in the innermost part of our being (our soul), that which He wishes us to rely on exclusively for the transformation of our lives. This is the reason why contemplatives will never respond to any kind of exhortation or appeal from the Bible to repent of their evil contemplative doctrines.

They have an unteachable spirit because they believe that whatever you say to warn them against the dangerous path (journey) they are travelling, emanates from a fundamentalist, rational kind of thinking, and that their inner intuitive experience (feelings) of God in their innermost being is the real McCoy.

That’s precisely why Trevor Hudson says in his sermon, “when we live a surrendered life to Jesus Christ [a.k.a. an intuitively obedient life to his still small voice in our innermost beings by virtue of meditation] we don’t have to have the last word in arguments [about biblical doctrines]. I can let that go; you can have the last word.” Why would they obey the command to contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints (Jude 1:3) when their gurus (Johan Geyser, Theo Geyser, Trevor Hudson, Melissa van Biljon and Stephan Joubert urge their congregants to stop thinking, stop studying, and to just sit and to just be? (Read here).

The main goal of any form of meditation is to reach an altered state of consciousness where the mind and its rational inclinations are filtered out through the repetitive mumbling of a word or passage from Scripture, professedly to bring you closer to, and ultimately in the very presence of God. The history of meditation is rather obscure. No one seems to know when, where, and who started it.

One thing is certain. Neither God the Father nor Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit commanded, inspired or expected anyone to practice a discipline that puts you in an altered state of consciousness. However, for the sake of fairness and clarity, let us assume that Jesus Christ made Lectio Divina and other meditative disciplines obligatory to practice and enjoy his presence. Mark 8:27-34 would then have to be changed drastically. The conversation with his disciples would probably have transpired as follows:

And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men think [you first have to think something before you can say it] that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets. And he saith unto them, But whom think ye [you first have to think something before you can say it] that I am?

And Peter answereth and saith unto him, “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. You don’t expect us to give you an answer right now, do you? Please give us enough time to read a passage from your Word slowly. And then to take from it a word or a phrase to meditate on it contemplatively. You know as well as we do that our rational, analytical and intellectual mind frame is a huge obstacle and that it needs to be removed before we can know for certain that you are the Great I AM.

It may interest you to know that one of the most prolific teachers of all time, the eminent Dr. Johan Geyser of the Mosaïek Kerk in Fairland, South Africa, teaches us to stop thinking and to just sit silently in a meditative mood while we say a word or phrase from your written Word over and over until we reach an altered state of consciousness.

It is then, when our minds are completely emptied of our rational, intellectual frame, that your Father gets the opportunity to whisper into our innermost being with a still small voice that you are indeed the Christ. Jesus looked tenderly at Peter and said, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for Trevor Hudson, Johan Geyser and their contemplative cohorts have revealed it unto thee” and then charged his disciples to blurt it out worldwide that the contemplative way in the practice of Lection Divina is the means to know that He is the One who shines the most brightly when you put Him alongside Plato, Socrates, Buddha and the Dalai Lama.

Trevor Hudson’s Humility as Displayed in His Attitude NOT to Knock False Teachers

This brings us to the next miserable trait of a false teacher, and that is to never knock so-called great people whose belief systems are in conflict with Christ Jesus, the One who inspired Paul to write, “If anyone does not love the Lord [does not have a friendly affection for Him and is not kindly disposed toward Him], he shall be accursed [Anathema – doomed to eternal destruction in hell.]” (1 Corinthians 16:22). Listen again how Trevor Hudson speaks with tender admiration of the Buddha and the Dalai Lama, despite God’s warning in 2 John 1:10-11.

I know that there are many folk, and I know this, who are struggling deeply with what I’m saying, struggling maybe intellectually, and I respect that struggle, and if you’re struggling with who Jesus is I invite you certainly, on one hand, read Matthew Mark Luke and John read the Gospels again and again and again but do something else as well.

Just put Jesus out there alongside all the other people who’ve affected human history; put him out there in the public sphere; put him alongside Socrates and Plato; put him alongside the Buddha; put him alongside the Dalai Lama. These are all great people I’m not knocking. Just put Jesus alongside of them. There’s no competition. He shines the most brightly as John says he is the light that has come into this world and the darkness has never ever put that light out.

It’s a lot like saying, “Jesus, would you mind sitting a little closer to the great illustrious Buddha so that we may see whether your light shines brighter than his? We really do not want to knock (disparage or speak evil of) Buddha and his teachings because they are so much like your own. To do that would be so openly un-Christlike.”

There are no shades of light or darkness in God’s definition of light and darkness, least of all to compare his Son to other so-called great people who have impacted the world to see whether His light shines any brighter than theirs. In fact, there was no light whatsoever in Buddha, Socrates, and Plato, and there is definitely no light in the Dalai Lama. How do we know?

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8:20).

Then, as if it were the most natural thing to do, and perhaps it is for Trevor Hudson and his contemplative buddies, was to extol Dallas Willard in his sermon, a Professor of Philosophy who, as Trevor said with delight, deeply influenced him. The late Dallas Willard was no better than the Buddha or the Dalai Lama who were without any light. Listen to the next video and decide for yourself whether Dallas Willard spoke according to God’s Word. If not, then we must conclude that he too had no light in him.

One word describes this garbage – ABOMINATION! Dallas Willard had a wonderful opportunity to present the unadulterated Gospel to the person, and what does he say when the person asked some probing questions about Jesus? . . .

Willard: Don’t start by trying to believe the big truths about Jesus.

What he meant was that the person shouldn’t make any effort to believe in the core doctrines of the Christian faith, that is, the crucifixion, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, let alone the core doctrine that all have sinned and come short of the glory God and need to enter through the strait gate in order to be saved.

Willard: Start by simply putting into practice the things that He said and trusting Him to be right about it, and if you do that then you gradually find out what a big deal He is. I mean the big deal about Jesus . . . (interrupted by John Ortberg).

It proves what was said earlier. All you need to do, according to Dallas Willard, is to become a follower of Jesus Christ without trying to believe in the core truths (doctrines) the Bible says is necessary for salvation, by merely putting into practice all the things He taught, and in doing so you will gradually come to realize what a big deal Jesus really is, and how much brighter his light shines than the light of all the great people like Socrates, Plato, Buddha, the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, etc. etc. etc.

Trevor Hudson seems to have realized that God not only gives answers in his Word but also asks questions, only when he gradually began to put into practice what Jesus taught. Perhaps he would like to answer this question. Can a dead person (an unbeliever) put into practice the things Jesus taught and in doing so be deemed a follower of Jesus? (Matthew 8:19-22). Consider also the following:

But the natural [unbelieving] man does not accept the things [the teachings and revelations] of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness [absurd and illogical] to him; and he is incapable of understanding them, because they are spiritually discerned and appreciated, [and he is unqualified to judge spiritual matters]. (1 Corinthians 2:14).

If the natural or unregenerate man refuses to accept the teachings and revelations of Jesus because they are absurd and illogical to him, and above all completely incapable of understanding them, how on earth do you expect him to put into practice the things Jesus taught? Any effort in trying to get him to follow Jesus and to put into practice the things He taught, you are only making him a bigger child of hell than what he already is.

Ortberg: You say, if there’s somebody who finds himself saying, ‘you know I’m just not sure about could He be the Son of God thing,’ instead of trying to get them to believe or them trying to force themselves to believe that, actually start by trying to live what it is that He taught.

Willard: That’s right and that’s how you find out what He’s really like. You know I, and I really do advise people constantly, is don’t try to make yourself believe something you don’t believe. Belief is not something you can do by choice. It comes as a result of finding reality. Reality brings belief.

With a single brush stroke, Ortberg defined the essence of the false Emerging Church Gospel and its doctrines of devils. Instead of trying to get lost sinners to believe in Jesus Christ and his core doctrines concerning his death, burial, resurrection and ascension, they encourage unbelievers to mime Christ’s lifestyle while He was still on earth. By following his exemplary example, they will learn how to become followers of Christ and gradually find out what a big deal He really is. Assuredly, the gradual familiarizing with who Jesus is or how big a deal He really is, is leading multitudes of people to a Christ-less eternity in hell.

While it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. (Hebrews 3:15).

For He says, “At the acceptable time (the time of grace) I listened to you, And I helped you on the day of salvation.” Behold, now is “the acceptable time,” behold, now is “the day of salvation”—

Contemplatives love to use veiled words. However, when you realize that Dallas Willard, whom John McArthur quoted favourably, was a contemplative Calvinist, you begin to see through his veiled statements, “Belief is not something you can do by choice,” and “it comes as a result of finding reality.” Willard himself said, “If you were to get to the bottom of my theology you would find me pretty Calvinistic.” ^{http://www.dwillard.org/articles/artview.asp?artID=92.} 

According to the despicable Calvinistic doctrine of predestination and election, man is completely devoid of a free-will, and therefore unable to choose to believe. Faith in the Calvinistic definition is a gift of God which He only grants the elect after He has regenerated them monergistically (i.e. a single agent redemption).

Equally contemptible is Willard’s statement, “It (belief) comes as a result of finding reality.” To what reality is He referring? The reality that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and that anyone can be saved by putting their trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross in their behalf? Hardly!

The reality Willard has in mind is that only the elect get saved and the elect will only know for certain that they are indeed the elect by persevering to the end “by simply putting into practice the things that He said and trusting Him to be right about it, and if you do that then you gradually find out what a big deal He is” [by electing you to be saved]. Contemplatives call it their journey.

Ortberg: See, then you are kind of messing with people because you’re saying you can’t know something unless they’re willing to actually change their life.

Willard: That’s a very standard sort o thing in human life, is we want people to know things by trying them out, and that’s customarily the way we get to know a person, which it’s kind of funny to talk about trying them out. We don’t mean that exactly, but we get to know them, we have dinner with them, we talk with them, work with them.

Ortberg: And I don’t think people generally think about God in that category. We expect to have an arm chair discussion about it, but not to actually have to do things in order to find out if He is there or not, who Jesus is.

Willard: Yes, but in the realm of persons, arm chair discussions will never do. You know, it’s, it’s acting with them, joining with them in things, and really the best way to know God, is to act as if He were real and put your life on the line, and see what happens. That’s, you know, the atheist prayer, ‘Oh my God, if there is a God, save my soul, if I have a soul.’ It’s astonishing how many people have found God by praying that prayer, but they were to the end of their rope, and that’s where we learn things. So, you don’t have to believe it’s true; you just have to be willing to try. That’s all it takes.

Is this the man who Trevor Hudson admires so much and says has influenced him so deeply? Every word from Willard’s lips is completely the opposite to what Jesus says in Mark 8:27-34. Imagine Peter answering Jesus when He asked, “Whom do you say that I am?” in the Willard-way. It would be something like this:

Peter: We parleyed for hours on end and have come to the conclusion that it is very difficult to believe in you. Arm chair discussions, as you know, will never do. They are useless. We don’t even know whether you exist. You may just as well be an apparition claiming to be the Son of God, the Christ.

Don’t get us wrong and please don’t feel dismayed. We really do not want to hurt your feelings. We believe there is a God. We believe that we do not cease to exist after death. We pray, we try to be good. We try to live by the golden rule. What we do not understand is why the Bible makes such a big fuss of you. Why are you such a big deal when we already believe in God? How would you advise us to experience you as the Christ? 

Jesus: Oh no no no, I’m not offended, not at all. In fact, I am extremely proud of you because you already believe in the existence of God. And by the way, I never taught anyone to pray the “Our Farther who art in Heaven” prayer because it suggests that the Father has kids, at least one son.

The prayer I taught people to pray is the atheist prayer that goes like this, “‘Oh my God, if there is a God, save my soul, if I have a soul.’ You’d be surprised how many people got saved through that prayer. “No, no I’m not prodding you to pray it because, unlike atheists, you already believe in the existence of God.

However, like all atheists who have prayed this prayer, you need to come to the end of your tether because that’s where you start to learn things. So, in a nutshell, you don’t need to believe in me as the Son of God and his anointed Messiah and that everything said about me in the Bible is true. You just have to be willing to try your very best. That’s all it takes to get to heaven. You really don’t have to believe that I exist. Start acting the way I do as if I were real and you will just be fine. 

Oops, I nearly forgot. That nutcase who wrote, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house,” — dang, what’s his name again; Yeah, yeah, that’s right, Paul of Tarsus and his coworker Silas — they are no longer in heaven. We kicked them out because they are infamous liars, and here’s the good news, we have welcomed Dallas Willard with open arms into the glories of heaven instead. Follow Willard’s example and you will make it to heaven as easy as eating pie.

Trevor Hudson echoes Dallas Willard’s gradual, intuitive and contemplative way of coming to know Christ, and of who He really is, and how big a deal He is when he talks about surrendering your life to Christ. Here’s what he said:

When we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, we begin to take his teaching and we begin to learn how to build that teaching into our life moment by moment, day by day, week by week, and as we surrender our lives to Christ, here’s the good news, now listen up. As we surrender our lives to Christ he comes to live in us as a living reality.

Look at these words spoken in John chapter 14 where Jesus says anyone who loves me will obey my teaching; they’ll surrender themselves to my teaching and then my father will love them and we will come to them and we will make our home with them and in them.

As I follow Christ, it’s like He steps out of the Gospels and He steps into my life and he becomes my living friend. my living master, my living Savior, my living Lord. I know I’m not alone and I know that there’s nothing that can ever separate me from his reality, not even death, and I know that I know that. So, let me end.

I put this question right at the center of our worship who, who do you say I Am? Who do you say I am? And I’m praying that the Spirit of God, today, will come to you and you’ll find yourself making Peters confession your confession and you saying, ‘Jesus you’re the one. You are the one, you’re the one I’ve been longing for all my life, you are the one, and as we confess him to be the one, we surrender ourselves to him and in the action of daily surrender we come to know in our own experience just who he is.

Was Jesus referring to a surrendered life in John 14, the kind of surrendered life Dallas Willard put forward in his advice to a person who wanted to know how to experience Jesus, or was He referring to his and his father’s doctrines (commands) that need to be obeyed to prove that we love Him?

Jesus never once uses the word “surrender” in John 14. Trevor Hudson is deliberately putting words into Jesus’ mouth to fit their contemplative agenda. I suppose one can say that obedience to Christ’s teachings adds up to a surrendered life to his teachings. Nonetheless, is that what Dallas Willard and Trevor Hudson had in mind when they talked about a surrendered life, that is, obedience to Christ’s teachings? Let us quickly go back to what Dallas Willard said and John Ortberg’s response to see what they mean by a surrendered life.

Willard: Don’t start by trying to believe the big truths (teachings) about Jesus. Start by simply putting into practice the things that He said and trusting Him to be right about it, and if you do that then you gradually find out what a big deal He is. I mean the big deal about Jesus . . . (interrupted by John Ortberg).

Ortberg: You say, if there’s somebody who finds himself saying, ‘you know I’m just not sure about could He be the Son of God thing,’ instead of trying to get them to believe or them trying to force themselves to believe that, actually start by trying to live what it is that He taught.

Willard: That’s right and that’s how you find out what He’s really like. You know I, and I really do advise people constantly, is don’t try to make yourself believe something you don’t believe. Belief is not something you can do by choice. It comes as a result of finding reality. Reality brings belief.

It is abundantly clear that a surrendered life in Dallas Willard’s and Trevor Hudson’s estimation does not mean that you ought to believe Jesus Christ’s teachings as a prerequisite for Him and his Father to make their abode in you. You merely need to put into practice the things that He said and try your very best to live like Him, and then “come to know in our own experience just who he is,” as Trevor Hudson mimicked his much-admired philosopher and friend, Dallas Willard.

Mother Teresa lived a life of compassion and love; the Buddha was a very compassionate person, and I’m sure the Dalai Lama comes pretty close to a Jesus-kind of compassionate life. In any event, Trevor Hudson seems to think so because they were or are great people whose lights shone and shine brightly.

Does it mean that Jesus Christ and his Father made their home with them? Do Dallas Willard and Trevor Hudson have the assurance that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit made their home with them when they all shunned the real meaning of the cross of Jesus Christ?

May we assume that they made their home with Dallas Willard?  Remember, the litmus test for knowing whether you really love Jesus Christ is your obedience to his teachings. The following quote from the lips of Dallas Willard (Hudson’s much-admired guru) proves that he never loved Jesus Christ. In 1998, in the Journal of Psychology and Theology, Dallas Willard made the following statement:

“Indeed, solitude and silence are powerful means to grace. Bible study, prayer and church attendance, among the most commonly prescribed activities in Christian circles, generally have little effect for soul transformation, as is obvious to any observer. If all the people doing them were transformed to health and righteousness by it, the world would be vastly changed.

Their failure to bring about the change is precisely because the body and soul are so exhausted, fragmented and conflicted that the prescribed activities cannot be appropriately engaged, and by and large degenerate into legalistic and ineffectual rituals. Lengthy solitude and silence, including rest, can make them very powerful.” ^{(Dallas Willard, “Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation and the Restoration of the Soul,” Journal of Psychology and Theology, Spring 1998, Vol. 26, #1, pp. 101-109. Also available in The Great Omission, San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2006)} (Emphasis added)

Bible Study, one of the most magnanimous ways to learn the teachings of Christ, “has little effect for soul transformation”? Really? And then Trevor Hudson wants us to believe that Dallas Willard loved the Lord Jesus Christ? Rubbish! He was an enemy of the cross and the eternal Word of God. Whereas Dallas Willard poo-pood the Word of God and the teachings contained therein, God says the following of his Word.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12).

I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. (Psalm 138:2).

The Feminine Wolve’s Touch in Mosaïek Kerk’s Deception

Melissa van Biljon, another one of Mosaïek Kerk’s false teachers with the feminine touch, is also a Willard compatriot in her evaluation of the Bible. In a sermon she dubbed “Beyond Your Thoughts” which she delivered at Mosaïek Kerk on 26^th November 2017 she said the following.

 . . . God can speak in many different ways, through other people and nature, but He also speaks to us through his Word, and to sit with his Word with an intentionality. . .. One of the old Church fathers said the most important thing you can have when you come to the Word of God is an intent, an intentionality that God is here, that God meets me here; He is waiting for me.

And then to take Scripture or a passage and not to use it to gain knowledge; it is not a reading of the Word as in a Bible study or to work through a one year reading plan.

It may be part of the exercise because it can help you to get the context, but this is a kind of reading with an open heart, an open life, a consciousness, an intentionality for his Spirit to speak to me, and to read a short passage slowly twice or three times, and then to read it out loudly one more time. And then to look which word or phrase or idea comes to you, and not to remain caught up in your rational, analytical thoughts . . .

No, but to allow God’s Word to move from your mind, your rational mind, to your innermost functions, your soul, your whole being, your intuition. . .. to meditate on what I feel or visualize when a word or phrase comes to me. 

To her mind, whilst she was still using it cognitively and analytically, Bible study is OK because it can help you get the context. Nonetheless, the Word of God is not enough according to her analytical thinking. You need to intentionally surrender your will, your mind, your heart, your life contemplatively so that you may go beyond your rational and analytical thoughts.

You must intentionally repeat a word or a phrase from Scripture until you reach an altered state of consciousness (a consciousness that moves beyond your natural inclination to think rationally and analytically) so that the Spirit of God may speak to you in your innermost being.

Judging by what Dallas Willard and Trevor Hudson said about how to find out how big a deal Jesus really is, and how the Word of God (Jesus Christ’s teachings) have failed to transform the world, we need to ask whether it was the Spirit of God who spoke with a still small voice in their innermost beings (souls). Perish the thought.

Whosoever dares to attribute deception of this magnitude to the Spirit of Truth is playing with the fires of hell because they are openly blaspheming Him and his work. The Spirit of God will never, I repeat, NEVER, whisper into anyone’s soul that the Bible “generally has little effect for soul transformation, as is obvious to any observer.” Perhaps they should hearken to one of their own contemplative guru’s stern warning in his Book “Stem in die Stilte,” page 97. Willem Nicol writes:

While waiting for promptings [during contemplative prayer sessions and silence] your own innermost or even demons may speak to you.

So, how do they discern whether it’s the Holy Spirit or demons who are speaking to them? They cannot do so in the very least because they are taught to relinquish their God-given ability to think rationally, and to intentionally trade it in for an altered state of consciousness.

That’s precisely where Satan and his demons want them to be — in an altered state of consciousness so that he may whisper into their minds the lie that there are two crosses. “. . . there’s the cross that Jesus died on. That’s not our cross. Then there’s our cross, the cross that we pick up, and I want to suggest in simple, simple English that to deny myself and to take up my cross, and to follow Jesus very simply is to surrender myself to him.” (Trevor Hudson: 19 minutes and 47 seconds into his sermon).

As Bereans we ought to examine Hudson’s view that there are two crosses against the Word of God. At first glance his statement suggests that the cross of Jesus Christ was not efficacious, much in the same way Dallas Willard suggested that the Bible is ineffective to transform peoples’ lives. If there were two crosses, Paul would never have written the following magnanimous words:

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. (Rom 6:1-12).

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20).

There is and always has been only one cross capable of freeing us form the wrath of God and enabling us to live godly lives — the cross of Jesus Christ. The main reason for Trevor Hudson’s promulgation of two crosses stems from the Mother Teresa’s notion that we need to suffer like Jesus Christ. As she put it:

“There is something beautiful in seeing the poor accept their lot, to suffer it like Christ’s Passion. The world gains much from their suffering.”

The Roman Catholic view of suffering has polluted the minds of many Christians, taking for granted that their physical and mental sufferings, their hardships in poverty and sickness, their supposed persecution by saints who contend for the faith and exhort them to repent of their evil ways, has absolutely nothing to do with taking up your own cross which, as Hudson says, is not Christ’s cross. Who is in the right here? Paul who said we are crucified with Christ or Trevor Hudson who says there are two crosses, the cross of Christ and our own cross?

The taking up of our cross does not involve the taking up of another cross different from the one Jesus died on. It simply means that saints should reiterate Paul’s words in Galatians 2:20, I am crucified with Christ. What did he do when he said this? He simply reckoned with his rational mind, by faith, that he had already been crucified with Christ, and by means of this one crucifixion with Christ was made able to resist and live victoriously over his carnal predispositions.

Allow me to warn Trevor Hudson and his fellow contemplative travelers on their journey that to destruction what God says in his Word of those who dare to associate with false teachers and parrot their abominable teachings.

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. (2 John 1:9-11).

Dallas Willard no longer graces our planet with his notorious lies and we can only guess where he is now, having been reminded that someone who despises God’s teachings (the Bible) does not have the Father or the Son, and that their destiny is eternal death in hell. This should make the contemplative fraternity to tremble and to haste themselves to put their house in order with God while they are still alive to repent of their evil ways.

A Hindu Swami’s Summary of what Mosaïek Kerk Wolves’ Believe

Only a contemplative spirituality can be the proper foundation for a pluralistic theology. As long as God is known only through formulae and meditated upon through a mere operation of the mind, as long also as our love for him is confined to feelings and sentiments, it remains impossible for us to realize the limitations of our own approach to the divine mystery. Only the experience of the divine Presence beyond all concepts and feelings will make it possible for us to accept the mystery of the multiform grace and love of the Lord. God is the Absolute. No one of his manifestations can express him completely: yet God is fully present in such manifestations. At the same time, only such a contemplative attitude removes from dialogue the danger of syncretism. The center of the soul is not the intellect, as a theology too dependent on Plato and Aristotle is inclined to believe. It is the real center-the atman of the Vedantic tradition-that man must discover in himself, beyond all manifestations. From that center only can man transcend himself, his thoughts, his senses, as well as the whole universe, beyond all man-made distinctions. At the level of the soul’s self-consciousness, man recognizes both the presence of God, the Absolute, in each of his manifestations, and the impossibility for any of those manifestations to express the mystery of the Absolute in a fully integral manner. Here is the very foundation for a pluralistic, not syncretistic, theology. And this is in fact what the apophatic tradition always stood for in the Church. (Read here – emphasis added).

When Trevor Hudson says; “I know that there are many folk, and I know this, who are struggling deeply with what I’m saying, struggling maybe intellectually, . . .”  he is inviting unbelievers to go the Hindi Swami way as described above to come to know who Jesus really is. However, this Jesus is not really the real Jesus of the Bible but another Jesus who teaches another Gospel.

Please read here to get a glimpse of another false teacher’s views on contemplative spirituality and apophatic prayer.