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“Days of the Dead” at Cornerstone “Christian” Youth Camp

Below is a summary of our covert mission trip to witness at Cornerstone Festival 2006, owned by the “Jesus People USA” July 4-8, Bushnell, IL. The camp is held on 500 acres of land with a reported 25,000 youth from churches, seminaries, and Bible colleges in attendance.

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 Assisi experienced “miracles” from God such as levitations, and many saints had experienced levitations—it was a common practice among the saints. Someone raised her hand and added, “It reminds me of the weird stuff in some charismatic circles like the Toronto Blessing where people were getting ‘slain in the spirit’.” The teacher warned, “I think I have made it clear that we have no right to judge such experiences.”

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 Walter Martin Ministries was at the bottom of our fact sheet, and he said, “Oh, yeah, Walter Martin, he was great.” I could tell he was really pondering the whole picture and counterfeit spirit at work. As I left he continued to discuss our fact sheet with the youth.

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 Peoria thinking about that girl’s testimony at CBE and commented in jest (realizing that CBE must have been in shock to find those flyers everywhere), “We are smart after all, and God has a big plan for our lives.” We giggled. (It was just a joke, in reference to the feminist girl going to seminary to show everyone how smart she is). IT IS ALL ABOUT HIM AND NOT ABOUT US. We knew that it had not gone so smoothly because we were smart or we were women, but we knew it had gone smoothly because the Holy Spirit had done this, for the GLORY OF GOD’S NAME.

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. (Attached is the fact sheet we spread far and wide at that youth camp, leaving CBE in shock, no doubt.

Galatians 1 and 1 Corinthians 2:11-16 encouraged my heart as I read those passages on the plane on the way back to Denver.

To the praise of His glory,

Dwayna

www.ltwinternational.org

www.lightingtheway.blogspot.com

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		CORNERSTONE FACT SHEET

By Dwayna Litz Click here for bio and archived articles