![](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v14/gamecock/purposedriven2.jpg?t=1291159509";)
“Swedenborg had a vision in 1745 where he supposedly saw creatures crawling on the walls”
Early LSD from bad rye bread?
One has to wonder how long before Rick’s “church” will kick him out.
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6
Quite a contrast. This Jesus fellow seems to define things pretty narrowly. Either belief A is right and belief B is wrong. Or, belief B is right and belief A is wrong. Or, belief A and B are both wrong. But belief A and belief B cannot both be right.
why not a 52 week plan to become holy.
Nah. Wouldn’t make money.
Oz, Amen and Hyman?
Why bother with a comment? The joke has already been played.
Ok, if I have to make a comment. It’s so Oprah.
According to Warren's website, his church will host a 52-week course to stress losing weight and becoming healthier.
Basically, they want people to be malnourished either by following Daniel 1 (no meat) or Daniel 10 (fasting)
According to the Scriptures...
Daniel 1:15 "And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat."
Change an 'a' to an 'i' - fatter becomes fitter, mix in some New Age in you have your modern Apostasy
1 Timothy 4:1-5 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons...and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
How sad, they recommend a diet that made Daniel and his friends fatter and they tell you to lose weight and abstain from eating meat...
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink..." (Col 2:18)
Swedeonborg was not a cult leader, he had visions about the nature of the afterlife and wrote about them, prior to that he was a renowned scientist who wrote a lot of scientific material. As far as I know he did not establish a church, those who read his works and believed in them established the Swedenborg Church after he died.
Whether you believe his visions were real or not, they appear to be more than just DT’s or hallucinations, they appear to be more more along the lines of an extended near death experience since similar visions have also been reported by people who have had a near death experience.
They may all be insane though, who knows. My father had a near death experience during and after a car crash and that brought him out of his Pantheism to a belief in a personal
God. If they are hallucinations, they are certainly very powerful ones, and in his case, a very beneficial one. He was MUCH happier afteward.
Of course he's starting a 52 week program ~ some kind of program ~ he's a program sort of guy eh.
On the other hand, I think this is our MORMON THREAD OF THE WEEK.
Many serious analysts have argued that Joseph Smith pretty much taught the Swedenborg point of view ~ plus some other things ~ but most of the modern Mormon belief system (as counseled by the test of time) is pretty much consistent with all the main parts of Swedenborgianism.
Others argue that Mormonism looks an awful lot like Free Masonry, but that's usually because they've never looked into Br'r Swedenborg!
Once you've done that you'll never go back to the Masonic model for guidance in the matter.
Frankly, I have not looked into the Swedenborg movement enough to figure out if it's just another quasi-Christian group based on a cult of personality centered on this Swedenborg guy, or another Arian revival, or simply some left-over Gnostic mutterings, or maybe a fairly straight forward precursor to what became known as the Mormon movement.
As with the Apostolic Charismatic Church of the First Born, or its partner, the Church of the First Born and the General Assembly (or Faith Assembly, or a dozen other related groups), Swedenborgianism has some Scandinavian connections.
Anyone who ever watched "The Immigrants" with Liv Ullman would quickly realize that friction existed between the state church in Sweden and individuals who had interests in something a bit more freeform (unspoken was the probable use of traditional household gods such as Thor, Odin, Little Red Man, and Herb Woman).
By the time 1812 came around and the Swedes had to give up Finland to the Czar (and withdraw their forces from the Continent) the North Country all the way to Central China was in a fullblown drought/famine/disaster of Biblical Proportions!
Immigration out of Scandinavia to America began with a vengeance. Millions of people fled the area over the next 40 years ~ literally depopulating vast areas formerly given over to dairy farming and rye! The droughts, crop failures and famines continued to occur over the next half century all over Europe.
Well over a hundred million Americans have an ancestor who came in that ultimately vast volkswandering.
Here with the very first Great Famine of the 1800s the followers of Swedenborg actually led the way. At the same time many of them went first to an area of New York state purchased by a mysterious gentleman named Count Beaumont ~ one of Napoleon's agents. The Swedish nobles formerly resident in Finland had sold what they could and fled to a number of spots in America, along with the Swedenborgians, and Napoleon's own family members.
Within 20 years Joseph Smith announced he'd found some gold plates. Well, he announced some other things as well, but the big thing for most commenters was his gold plates claim.
Joseph began his ministry right there in the midst of an area with several times anyone's fair share of Swedenborgians.
Now I'm not saying there's a tight connection here where Swedenborgianism flows directly into Mormon theory and practice, but there is certainly a very strong hint of a KOINKYDINK, and ultimately I think history researchers will find out how it's all hooked together.
Maybe Rick Warren will give us a sermon on the matter!
On January 15, Rick Warren will kick-off a 52-week Daniel Plan to become healthier with Dr. Mehmet Oz, a follower of cult leader Emmanuel Swedenborg.
I saw this, various places. So bizarre. One wonders how many other big box churches and wannabes will follow suit.
Roman Catholicism looks better every day. (and I’m not Catholic)
It is getting harder every day to find a Christian leader who is not being swayed towards the New Age stuff. I don’t know if they truly believe it or if they think it’s the only way they can attract more of a following.
Rick Warren is a HUGE PHONY!! And Dr. Oz is just as creepy!
Reagan's philosophy works every time it's tried. A lot of conservatives, including Rush (!), would do well to apply this eminently conservative principle to lifelong "battles" with weight. That a pastor would take it upon himself to help his congregation lose weight and become more fit makes me wrinkle my nose.
Here's the deal. It's a fantasy that there are normal, healthy peopel who can "eat anything they want and still not gain weight." It is bullsh*t. Take two identical twins from many generations of thin folks, many of whom it has been said, "He/she can eat all he wants and never get fat!" One marries a wife who feeds him the standard American cuisine high in mostly processed starches and wimpy in the hard protein department; even the cheese is over-processed. As he ages, he gets pudgier and pudgier.
Take the other identical twin -- these are human clones, nature's clones -- and have him eat the way he was brought up. He stays thin, wiry, healthy, and vital. He walks and moves a lot. He can eat prodigious amounts of food and not gain weight.
Their genetics are identical. One starts to get fat, the other stays thin, because of two things: exercise and nutrition. I've witnessed it up close.
Look at crowd footage of New Yorkers and Americans from the turn of the 19-20 centuries. They weren't thin because they went to the gym. They were thin because they didn't ingest a steady flow of carbonated soda instead of water and overprocessed starches and sugars in prepared foods.
Yes, many people have an emotional trained connection to food as a trigger for comfort or praise. Time to get past it and move forward.
Simple. Not easy, but simple.
My Pastor thinks this guy is saved.. as apparently does John Piper
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=5636