Radio Host Delilah Pulls Kids from Crosspoint Academy, Claiming School Teaches Veiled Mormonism

Changes in the curriculum at Crosspoint Academy have some parents, including prominent radio host Delilah Rene Luke, concerned the private Christian school in Chico is straying from its biblical focus.

But school leaders defend the changes, saying the new materials will grow the school’s 290 students into the next generation of Christian leaders.

“The idea that Crosspoint is still fundamentally rooted in strong Christian values and delivers a curriculum with a Christian perspective in mind has not changed and that has never changed in this process,” said Eric Rasmussen, superintendent of schools for Crista, the Christian ministry organization that owns Crosspoint.

The school, formerly known as King’s West, announced this fall that it had a new plan for a curriculum focused on leadership and on five pillars: critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, contemplation and cultural competency. Much of the work has been based on “The Leader In Me,” a program for students from Stephen Covey, author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”

The emphasis on Covey’s work is what most concerns Delilah. She recently disenrolled three of her children from Crosspoint.

“I would like to say that I am merely ‘deeply concerned’ about a recent addition to the school’s teaching philosophy, but instead, I am forced to admit I am actually HORRIFIED by the recent addition of a book by Mormon author Steven (sic) Covey,” she wrote in a Nov. 24 open letter to Crosspoint parents.

Further, she wrote that she believes in freedom of religion and does not object to Mormon beliefs or the yoga-type, Eastern religion activities Covey advocates. She said in a recent interview, however, that the materials don’t belong in a Christian school.

“It’s not about being intolerant. It’s about being true to my faith,” she said. “I don’t have a problem with Stephen Covey and businesses that use it. I don’t have any problem with people who want to sign up for yoga classes or attend the church of Satan if they want to. That’s their right. But I can’t imagine someone paying money to send their kids to Brigham Young University so they can get a good basis in Mormon faith and then having their kid come home and saying his new teacher was a Catholic priest teaching the Apocrypha.”

After her letter circulated, Delilah held an informational meeting in Port Orchard for Crosspoint parents. About 30 attended. She also received many supportive e-mails. But the parents contacted by e-mail by the Kitsap Sun about the controversy either declined to be interviewed or did not respond.

Covey has denied in recent years that his leadership materials are repackaged Mormonism. But Delilah is concerned that the leadership materials introduce Mormon tenets in a way that is palatable to non-Mormons.

“He intends to indoctrinate the world with his theology by wiring it in a way that people can accept,” she said.

Delilah questioned whether Crista and Crosspoint leaders were aware of Covey’s beliefs before they adopted the materials. But Rasmussen said the bigger question is whether Crista schools only take materials from Christian publishers. The schools draw from a wide variety of materials and “we will continue to seek and find the best resources and put them in the hands of outstanding Christian educators,” he added.

Additionally, Rasmussen said teaching at Crosspoint goes well beyond “The Leader In Me” to focus on the five pillars. For example, he said, the core value of contemplation means to be “people of reflection.”

“From a Christian standpoint, that means kids would meditate on their faith and the significance of biblical truth in their life, or they would read and think contemplatively about great literature.”

“We believe leaders do these core things, that kids should be contemplative in life and think about next step, about what God has in store and in place for them.”

Delilah said smaller issues have led her to believe Crosspoint is trying to rebrand itself to attract families familiar and comfortable with Covey, but not perhaps with Christianity. A plaque with the Ten Commandments was recently moved from a prominent spot in the school’s main hallway to a not-so-prominent classroom. A “Seven Habits” poster advocating meditation was put up at Crosspoint, with a Bible verse taped to it “as if to make Eastern religion acceptable to the Christian,” Delilah wrote in her Nov. 24 letter.

“They even changed the school’s name to take the Lord’s name out,” she said.

Further, school leaders did not properly inform parents of the changes until the beginning of this school year, giving them little time to understand or react, she said.

But Rasmussen said the school’s changes are not about rebranding, rather it’s trying to improve on past success in academics and extracurriculars.

“We’re thrilled in terms of where we’re going and moving forward to make this great school better to be really intentionally focused,” he said. “We see the need in terms of this world for good intentional Christian leaders who will lead in their churches and their communities and their homes.”

many born again Christians truly believe they are superior in their relation to God while all others are apostates.

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While that may be your experience, it is not mine. Nevertheless, it is not “born again” doctrine whereas the “superiority” and “apostasy of all other faiths” IS LDS doctrine and the foundation of the LDS church.

My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right—and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight .... He again forbade me to join with any of them (Joseph Smith 2:18-20).

“There are two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations.”- Book of Mormon, “1 Nephi, chapter 14, verse 10,” 1981 ed.

“And also those to whom these commandments were given, might have power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth...”- Doctrine and Covenants, section 1, verse 30

“I asked the personages [God the Father and Jesus Christ] who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right – and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight: that those professors were all corrupt...”- Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., History of the Church, v. 1, p. 6

“... the religions of the day were hatched in hell. The eggs were laid in hell, hatched on its borders, and then kicked on to the earth. They may be called cockatrices, for they sting wherever they go.- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 6, p. 176, January 17, 1858

“Whosoever confesseth that Joseph Smith was sent of God to reveal the holy Gospel to the children of men, and lay the foundation for gathering Israel, and building up the Kingdom of God on earth, that spirit is of God; and every spirit that does not confess that God has sent Joseph Smith, and revealed the everlasting Gospel to and through him, is of Antichrist.”- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 8, p. 176, September 9, 1860

“If I had forty wives in the United States, they did not know it, and could not substantiate it, neither did I ask any lawyer, judge, or magistrate for them. I live above the law, and so do this people.”- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 1, p. 361

“Brother Cannon remarked that people wondered how many wives and children I had. He may inform them that I shall have wives and children by the million, and glory, and riches, and power, and dominion, and Kingdom after Kingdom, and reign triumphantly.”- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 8, pp. 178-179

“It was said to Joseph Smith, the prophet, ‘according to your faith and the teachings of your Elders, nobody will be saved but you, Mormons; now Mr. Smith, will all be damned but the Mormons?’ Jos. Smith replied, ‘Yes, and most of them, unless they repent and do better.”- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 11, p. 272

“… this earth is properly the dwelling-place, and rightful inheritance of the Saints. Inasmuch as it belongs to Jesus Christ, it also belongs to his servants and followers…. It is therefore their rightful inheritance, and the usurpation before referred to, while it is unjust to God, is also as unjust to his Saints.”- Prophet John Taylor, The Government of God, 1852, p. 72

“...if any man preach any other Gospel than that which I have preached, he shall be cursed; “
- Joseph Smith, Jr., The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 366, also in History of the Church, v. 6, p.365
“Q. What does the Lord require of the people of the United States?
A.He requires them to repent of all their sins and embrace the message of salvation, contained in the Book of Mormon, and be baptized into THIS church, and prepare themselves for the coming of the Lord.
Q. What will be the consequence if they do not embrace the Book of Mormon as a divine revelation?
A.They will be DESTROYED from the land and SENT DOWN TO HELL, like all other generations who have rejected a divine message!”- Apostle Orson Pratt, The Seer, Washington, D.C., 1854, p. 215

“SAINTS ARE THE BEST PEOPLE.... and in many ways superior to any other people.”- Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1954, v. 1, p. 236

“This is not just another Church. This is not just one of a family of Christian churches. This is the Church and kingdom of God, the only true Church upon the face of the earth...”
- Prophet Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 164-165

“A righteous people who trust in God are far more apt to be blessed with the kind of weather and food and brotherhood that makes famine less likely and sharing more likely than are people who have dismissed the Fatherhood of God and who then make an empty plea for the brotherhood of man. Those who live unrighteously will bring upon themselves the very calamities about which they are complaining in advance.”- Apostle Neal A. Maxwell, Deposition of a Disciple, p. 41

“Our message is so imperative, when you stop to think about the salvation, the eternal salvation of the world, rests upon the shoulders of this Church. When all is said and done, if the world is going to be saved, we have to do it. There is no escaping from that. No other people in the history of the world have received the kind of mandate that we have received. We are responsible for all who have lived upon the earth, and that involves our missionary work. And we are going to be responsible for all who will yet live upon the earth.”- Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, Church News, July 3, 1999, p. 3

“Criticism is particularly objectionable when it is directed toward Church authorities, general or local.... Evil-speaking of the Lord’s anointed is in a class by itself. It is one thing to depreciate a person who exercises corporate power or even government power. It is quite another thing to criticize or depreciate a person for the performance of an office to which he or she has been called of God. It does not matter that the criticism is true.”- 1985 CES Doctrine and Covenants Symposium, pp. 24-25

“No man holds divine authority equal to or above the president of the Church. In his position he is pre-eminent!
“Let us understand fully the clear identity of the president of the Church. He is the mouthpiece of God on earth for us today.”- “The Certain Sounds,” Church News, October 9, 1983, p. 24

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