These reports are frequently augmented, so use your REFRESH BUTTON.

 

 

Smoke, Mirrors and Disinformation…

The Compromised Ties of the Apologetics Ministries

 

 

EVANGELICAL MINISTRIES TO NEW RELIGIONS (EMNR)

 

Part II

 

 

 

 

 

EMNR’s Co-founder was Chair of…

 

World Evangelical Fellowship’s Willowbank Consultation, 1989

 

Vernon Grounds, who is credited with Gordon Lewis as being one of the co-founders of EMNR on the EMNR web site, was Chair of the World Evangelical Fellowship’s consultation [1989] which issued the Willowbank Declarationl

 

These are the official guidelines to be followed in Jewish evangelism. Grounds is also Corresponding Editor of Christianity Today.

 

Willowbank participants included:

 

Dr. Vernon Grounds (Chairman) co-founder of Evangelical Ministries to New Religions/EMNR

Dr. Tokunboh Adeyemo––World Evangelical Fellowship, General Secretary

Dr. Arthur Glasser––Fuller Theological Seminary*

Mrs. Gretchen Gaebelein Hull see below

Dr. Kenneth Kantzer––first Dean of Trinity Evangelical Theological Divinity School/TEDS*

Rev. Murdo MacLeod, ENGLAND–– Scottish Branch of the Int’l Celtic Congress

Dr. J. I. Packer––Regent College*, Vancouver, Canada

Dr. David Wells––faculty Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary*

Tuvya Zaretsky––Jews for Jesus

 

*Denotes member of the Rockefeller-affiliated Assn. of Theological Schools/ATS [accrediting agency for majority of the U.S./Canadian seminaries.]

 

Frank Gaebelein––a possible relation to Gretchen Gaeblin Hull–– Frank Gabelein was an Associate Editor at Christianity Today, a chairman of the style committee for the "Holy Bible, New International Version/NIV, 45 year member of the board for the American Tract Society/ATS [see ATS board of Reference] and was first headmaster of Stonybrook School, NY––credited with being an influence on former Roman Catholic Walter Martin’s conversion to Christianity.

See Ministries to NU Religions, Christian Research Institute, Walter Martin, Hank Hanegraaff and associates.

 

Returning to EMNR…

 

EMNR’s landmark Rockford Conference on Discernment and Evangelism, 1989

 

[Conference info found by scrolling halfway down page.] ~ edited for purposes of this report ~

 

…the largest international Evangelical conference/symposium on the Cults, the Occult and discernment issues ever to be held in the history of the Midwestern United States. People came from Canada, England, and Scotland as well as from all over America. It was co-sponsored by TV 38 in Chicago, WQFL and WGSL radio stations and First Evangelical Free Church all in Rockford, Illinois. It was co-hosted by The Institute For Christian Apologetics…The Steering Committee consisted of Dr. Gordon Lewis, Eric Pement, and Rev. Kevin S. Johnson.

 

Those speaking included the best experts in the Christian Apologetics field such as: Dr. Gleason Archer, Trinity Divinity School Deerfield, IL, Dr. Vernon Grounds, Trinity Divinity School Deerfield, I, [Christianity Today, Corresponding Editor]; Dr. Erwin Lutzer, Senior Pastor Moody Memorial Church Chicago; Dr. Ruth Tucker [Worldwide Church of God apologist], Trinity Divinity School, Deerfield, IL ; Dr. Robert Morey, Founder of Truth Seekers Ministry; Rabi Maharaj [Spiritual Counterfeits Project/SCP*]; Mark Mittelberg, Willow Creek Church Barrington, IL; James Sire, InterVarsity Fellowship and Press; Dr. Ron Rhodes, Founder of Reasoning From The Scriptures; Dr. Ronald Enroth, Westmont College, CA; Agusta Harting; Co-Founder Families Against Cults Ministries/ FACM; Robert Passantino, Co-Founder Answers In Action, CA, [CRI JOURNAL Contributing Editor since 1987];… Maureen Davies, Occult expert, United Kingdom; Elliot Miller; Christian Research Institute; CA; and others including Spiritual Counterfeit/SCP Bob Burrow and Christian Research Institute/CRI’s Charles Strohmer,[CRI JOURNAL Contributing Editor]

 

signed

Rev. Kevin S. Johnson,

President and Co-Founder of The Institute For Christian Apologetics (ICA) and Mount Carmel Outreach (MCO). The first fulltime branch of MCO was founded in 1985 in Rockford, IL

 

For more in-depth information on EMNR’s Rockford Conference, click here.

 

Editor’s Note: Wayne House and Eric Pement are ICA board members; both are EMNR board members.

ICA’s first endorsement came from Walter Martin, Christian Research Institute/CRI.

 

Speaker at Rockford Conference, Rabi Maharaj…

 

Death of a Guru by Rabi R. Maharaj with Dave Hunt.

 

This book is an updated edition of the poignant autobiography (formerly titled Escape into the Light) of Rabi R. Maharaj, who was a Hindu from a long line of Brahmin priests and gurus. He describes his life as a Hindu and his struggle to choose between Hinduism and Christ. 208pp $7.95

 

Past EMNR Conference Speakers

 

Ronald Enroth was a speaker at EMNR’s first conference, the landmark Rockford Conference on Discernment and Evangelism, 1989 [as were Rabi Maharaj and Bob Burrows from Spiritual Counterfeits Project/SCP. Enroth has been a speaker at subsequent EMNR conferences; one in 1995 and the other in 1997.

 

Jewel van der Merwe who heads Discernment Ministries was an EMNR speaker in 1994 and 1996.

 

Dave Hunt spoke at the1996 EMNR Conference. His topics were ‘Ecumenism: Evangelicals Greatest Challenge’ and the ‘Psychologizing of Christianity.’

 

John Ankerberg, associate and friend of Dave Hunt and a member of the Council for National Policy was also a speaker at the 1996 conference.

 

Paige Patterson, also a member of the secret Council for National Policy and President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary* spoke at the 1995 EMNR conference;

 

Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary* spoke at the 1998 EMNR conference.

 

*Both seminaries are members of the Rockefeller-affiliated Assn. of Theological Schools/ATS [ecumenical accrediting agency for seminaries].

 

Norman Geisler, who has appeared on the Christian Research Institute/CRI JOURNAL masthead as Contributing Editor since 1989 and is President of Southern Evangelical Seminary [see SES Advisory & Board of Reference below] spoke at the 1997 EMNR conference.

 

EMNR’s web site RESOURCES page offers numerous tapes of past EMNR conference speakers but only six videos:

 

EMNR Videos

 

Of the six video titles that are offered through EMNR, four are by:

 

Timothy George––founder/president Beeson Divinity School* [ATS member]

Wayne House––EMNR board member; Christian Research Institute’s CRI JOURNAL, Contributing Editor since 1995

Ron Enroth–– covered throughout this report

Norman Geisler––founder/president of Southern Evangelical Seminary/ Christian Research Institute’s CRI JOURNAL, Contributing Editor since 1989

 

Ed. Notes:

Norman Geisler received his PhD. in philosophy from Loyola University* Chicago [Roman Catholic].

*Loyola University is a member of the Rockefeller-affiliated Assn. of Theological Schools [ecumenical accrediting agency for seminaries]

 

Ironically, Wayne House is an EMNR board member as well as a Contributing Editor to the Christian Research Institute’s  CRI Journal  [Walter Martin/ Hank Hanegraaff] since 1995.  CRI JOURNAL Masthead

 

EMNR’s APOLOGETICS INDEX [Anton Hein] advertises Geisler’s  book, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics on the INDEX’s front/home page: [scroll to bottom]

 

Southern Evangelical Seminary––Founder/President Norman Geisler

 

SES Advisory Board ~ edited

 

John Ankerberg - The Ankerberg Theological Research Institute [CNP member]

Wendell R. Bird – Attorney  [CNP member]

Josh McDowell - Josh McDowell Ministry/Campus Crusade for Christ –– associate member of the World Evangelical Fellowship

Ravi Zacharias - Ravi Zacharias International Ministries –– associate member of the World Evangelical Fellowship

 

SES Reference Board

 

Kay Arthur - Precept Ministries

Bill Bright - Campus Crusade for Christ ––associate member of the World Evangelical Fellowship

Robert P. Dugan, Jr. - National Association of Evangelicals/NAE––regional body of the World Evangelical Fellowship and member of the secret Council for National Policy

Geoffrey Griffith - Africa Evangelical Fellowship

Hank Hanegraaff - Christian Research Institute

Eldon Howard - SIM International ––associate member of the World Evangelical Fellowship

Norm Sonju - Camp of the Woods Ministry

John Wesley White - Billy Graham Association

 

 

About EMNR’s Logo…

 

Interestingly enough you will notice that the emblem is made up of three pairs of triangles with their apexes touching.  Each pair collectively represents the number 6, which qualifies the whole symbol as a graphical representation of 666.” (Sects, Symbolism & Mark of the Beast”)

 

 

See also: The 6-Pointed Star: The Mark of the Beast

Image of the Seal from Eliphas Levi's Transcendental Magick

 

Members of EMNR are encouraged to display the occult EMNR logo: 

 

“In addition to the benefits inherent in the stated purpose, members receive a quarterly email newsletter, a free subscriptions to The Watchman Expositor magazine, participation in our annual summit conference, discounts to our annual conference and on other items made available through cooperating organizations, and authorization to display the EMNR logo on your letterhead or products to indicate to others your cooperation and accountability with other ministries.”

 

EMNR as an Umbrella to oversee other organizations

 

EMNR was set up as a Lausanne-oversight ministry to oversee other member ministries––as long as they agree to sign on to the Lausanne Covenant, and the EMNR Guidelines. By signing on to the EMNR requirements,  EMNR member-ministries are in actuality outward expressions of EMNR…THEY ARE EMNR. Therefore, people who participate at their conferences––EMNR’s or EMNR member-org conferences [knowingly or unknowingly] identify themselves with Lausanne’s EMNR  and all that it represents.

 

Christian Research Journal, Winter/Spring, 1990

 

"…CRI's mission is to serve the entire church, and this is done better as an independent parachurch organization. There is, however, mutual accountability––not only within CRI, but in the larger field of countercult and discernment ministry. We are members in good standing of Evangelical Ministries to New Religions [EMNR], a network of respected organizations which annually affirm the orthodox statements of the Lausanne Covenant…" The Editor [Elliot Miller]

 

No, CRI is not an EMNR Member; Never has been…

 

Editor’s Note:

A Watch Unto Prayer researcher contacted EMNR about CRI’s affiliation with EMNR and received this correspondence from EMNR’s Executive Director:

 

I have been Executive Director of EMNR since 1997 and during my tenure CRI has not been a member nor have they applied for membership. There is nothing in the records I have that indicate CRI was ever a member of EMNR, however, this does not mean that they were not members at some point, particularly in EMNR's formative years since Walter Martin was part of that group which were first part of EMNR. Bear in mind that in those days membership was less formalized as there were very little in the way of membership requirements. When and why CRI ceased to be members I could not tell you as there is no record of such.

 

Elliot Miller, who is on the CRI staff did serve as a Board Member of EMNR for a few years in the mid 90's however he resigned from the Board due to his increasing workload at CRI not affording him the time he would need to serve on the Board. Even though Mr. Miller served on the EMNR Board, CRI was not a member of EMNR during that time, nor did they apply for membership.

 

I hope this answers your questions.

 

With Best Regards,

Bob Waldrep

Executive Director, EMNR

 

Editor’s Note REFUTING WALDREP’s RESPONSE:

 

The Christian Research Institute/CRI masthead prominently displays the name of Gordon R. Lewis as contributing editor for the CRI JOURNAL. Lewis’s name has appeared through the years on the CRI masthead beginning with the Fall 1992 issue of the Christian Research Journal. There is no question that EMNR and CRI share an inter-locking directorate which is tied to Lausanne.

 

CRI Masthead

 

 

EMNR Member Orgs include:

 

Watchman Fellowship

Apologia

Personal Freedom Outreach

Cornerstone Apologetics Research Team [CART]

Walter Martin’s Religious InfoNet

Southern Baptist Convention Interfaith Evangelism

Families Against the Cults Ministries

Institute for Religious Research/Mormons in Transition

 

?         Watchman Fellowship

 

President of EMNR John Morehead is on WF staff, Bob Bowman—Institute for the Development of Evangelical Apologetics'' (IDEA) and Atlanta Christian Apologetics Project/ACAP; Bowman attended Fuller Theological Seminary. 

 

?         Apologia––Rich Poll, Ron Rhodes, Paul Carden, Alan Scholes; Poll and Scholes have direct ties to Campus Crusade for Christ.

 

Apologia-related projects:

 

APOLOGETICS INDEX – Anton Hein

Apologetics Research Resources on Religious Cults, Sects, Movements, Doctrines, Etc.

Anton Hein is a moderator with Rich Poll for AR Talk.

Hein has a questionable past.

See article: ‘USING "HEIN-SITE" Internet Apologist leads A Double Secret Life’

!WARNING––Graphic!

 

­­­­­­­APOLOGETICS INDEX’s ties to Campus Crusade through Leadership U…

 

About "Religion Items in the News" [following found on the AI web site]

 

~ edited 

*        If you do not have WWW access, you can retrieve the text of Web pages by email using Leadership University's* EDoc service. For instructions, email edoc@leaderu.com with in the body of the message one word: help

 

*        "Religion Items in the News" is provided as a service to the AR-talk apologetics resource discussion list, where it is always posted first. For information about AR-talk, see http://www.apologia.org, or send "subscribe AR-talk" to hub@xc.org without quotes… 

Apologetics Index (apologeticsindex.org, countercult.com, cultfaq.org) provides 11,223 pages of research resources on religious cults, sects, new religious movements, alternative religions, apologetics-, anticult-, and countercult organizations, doctrines, religious practices and world views. These resources reflect a variety of theological and/or sociological perspectives.

The site provides information that
helps equip Christians to logically present and defend the Christian faith, and that aids non-Christians in their comparison of various religious claims. Issues addressed range from spiritual and cultic abuse to contemporary theological and/or sociological concerns.

Apologetics Index also includes ex-cult support resources, up-to-date religion news (
ReligionNewsBlog.com), cult news, articles on Christian life and ministry, and a variety of other features.

Source: < http://www.apologeticsindex.org/about.html [See bottom of page]

 

Ed. Note: Leadership University – Leadership U is a project of Campus Crusade for Christ [Bill Bright; a member of the secret Council for National Policy/CNP] ISOT / Int’l School of Theology is an affiliate of Campus Crusade under the auspices of Leadership U. This web address takes you to ISOT through Leadership U: < www.leaderu.com/isot/ >

 

Rich Poll and his wife Pam, who works for Navigators, are graduates of ISOT and Alan Scholes, who is on Rich Poll’s APOLOGIA board of directors, is on the ISOT faculty. Navigator’s is an associate member of the World Evangelical Alliance

 

Poll Leaving Christian Research Institute to work for Campus Crusade¹s International School of Theology [ISOT].

Int’l School of Theology [ISOT] is a member of the Rockefeller-affiliated Assn. of Theological Schools [accrediting agency for seminaries].

 

Interesting details from the Christian Research Institute Archives:


Anton Hein [Apologetics Index] a contributor to CRI; Poll recommends books from
Tavistock Institute, Gordon Melton and Anson Schupe [CESNUR]; Wellspring’s Larry Pile a contributor [Pile was/is intelligence; see Pile BIO]; Irving Hexham’s NUREL web site mentioned.

 

>>>>>*IMPORTANT* READ ABOUT TAVISTOCK INSTITUTE CONNECTION: CRI-BBS ARCHIVES

 

 

Another project of Apologia is…

 

Apologia Talk

What do the following people all have in common?

 

[Answer: All are members listed below are members of AR-Talk. But there are major problems!!!]

 

Rich Abanes, Religious Information Center

Bill Alnor, Eastern Christian Outreach

Eileen Barker, London School of Economics  <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

   [LSE’s INFORM; CESNUR board member with Massimo Introvigne & Gordon Melton, apologists for Church of Scientology and Unification Church]

Mark Bassett, United Pentecostal Church

Frank Beckwith, Trinity International University

Cal Beisner, Covenant College

James Beverley, Tyndale College and Seminary

Rob Bowman, Inst. for the Development of Evangelical Apologetics/IDEA

Craig Branch, Apologetics Resource Center [EMNR board member and American Family Foundation, chairman of the Clergy Relations Committee]

Steve Canon, Personal Freedom Outreach

Paul Carden, The Centers for Apologetic Research

Steve Cowan, Apologetics Resource Center

Donald Dicks, Atlanta Christian Apologetics Project

Jerry Dodson, Ligonier Ministries

   [founder James Houston was also the founder of Regent College, Vancouver Canada and C.S. Lewis Institute]

Ron Enroth, Westmont College <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

John & Phyllis Farkas, Berean Christian Ministries

Jan Groenveld, Cult Awareness & Information Centre

Doug Groothuis, Denver Seminary

Dean Halverson, International Students, Inc.

Craig Hawkins, Apologetics Information Ministry

Craig Hazen, Biola University

Anton Hein, Apologetics Index

Irving Hexham, University of Calgary  [NU-REL web site] <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Bill Honsberger, Haven Ministries

Gordon Lewis, Denver Seminary

Janice Lyons, Christians Investigating New Age Medicine

Elliot Miller, Christian Research Institute

Fred Miller, True Light Educational Ministry

John Morehead, Watchman Fellowship

Robert Morey, California Institute of Apologetics

Cathy Norman, Church of Scientology  <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Eric Pement, Cornerstone magazine

Rich Poll, Apologia Report

David Reed, Comments from the Friends

Ron Rhodes, Reasoning from the Scriptures

Bruce Robinson, Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance

John Stackhouse, Regent College

Jon Trott, Cornerstone magazine

Don Veinot, Midwest Christian Outreach

James Walker, Watchman Fellowship

Luke Wilson, Institute for Religious Research

James White, Alpha & Omega Ministries

 

Editor’s Note:

The EMNR 2002 Conference included Irving Hexham and Gordon Melton as speakers.

See last EMNR section: Ecumenical Apologetics: EMNR’s New Missiological Paradigm

 

More EMNR members…

 

?         Personal Freedom Outreach [PFO]

 

[leadership includes: EMNR board member James Bjornstad, Christian Research Institute’s Contributing Editors: Edmond Gruss, Norman Geisler]

 

PFO Conferences: < http://www.pfo.org/announce.htm

PFO 2002 Conference < http://www.pfo.org/2002conf.htm

 

Speakers included: Dave Hunt and Paul Martin [American Family Foundation and Well Spring]

 

Saint Louis Conference on Biblical Discernment 2000

 

Speakers included: Bill and Jackie Alnor, Craig Branch [EMNR board member and chairman of the Clergy Relations Committee for the American Family Foundation], Paul Martin [American Family Foundation and Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center] and Larry Pile [Wellspring Retreat Center / Lawrence Pile was/is intelligence; see Pile BIO]

 

Editor’s Note: Alnor was the News Editor for Christian Research Institute in the early 1990s. Constance Cumbey’s e-mail about: William Alnor, Eternity Magazine, EMNR, the New Age Gold Lake Conference [1987], Spiritual Counterfeits Project, Eric Pement, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Denver Seminary and Gordon Melton is posted in a later section of this report:

 

Smoke, Mirrors and Disinformation…

The Compromised Ties of the Discernment Ministries

ROCKEFELLER, CESNUR and GORDON MELTON

 

More EMNR members…

 

?         CARTS/Cornerstone Apologetics Research Team

 

Eric Pement and Bob and Gretchen Passantino––both Passantinos have been Contributing Editors to Christian Research Institute’s CRI JOURNAL since 1987 and earlier.

 

More EMNR members…

 

?         Walter Martin’s Religious InfoNet –– Kevin Rische, son-in-law to the late Walter Martin

 

More EMNR members…

 

?         Southern Baptist Convention Interfaith Evangelism

 

––Phil Roberts director of SBC’s Interfaith Evangelism and EMNR board member.  See ‘Baptist Catholic Dialogue Concluding’ “October 22, 2001 The co-chairs of the Southern Baptist-Catholic Conversation announced the ending of the current round of formal Conversations between these two communities…”

 

More EMNR members…

 

?         Families Against the Cults Ministries –– Dan & Agusta Harting

 

Ed. Note: FACM conference speakers have included Gary Kah, Dave Hunt, Ron Rhodes /Apologia, John Ankerberg/CNP [1999 FAC Conference] Phil Roberts , EMNR board member and director of  SBC Interfaith Evangelism––member org of EMNR.

 

Gary Kah’s Hope for the World participates in a web alliance with FACM.

 

More EMNR members…

 

?         Institute for Religious Research/Mormons in Transition –– Luke P. Wilson

 

Ed. Note: See IRR/MIT [Luke Wilson] in the section which follows:

 

   EMNR’s Ecumenical Dialogue: Ronald Enroth and his associates …Promos for the Mormon Church

 

 

 

More Smoke, Mirrors and Disinformation…

The Compromised Ties of the Apologetics Ministries

Evangelical Ministries to New Religions – Part 3