What fellowship has light with darkness? Luis Palau Festival June 16-17, 2012 in Sacramento
Luis Palau preaches before 75,000 in Sacramento
The so-called “Luis Palau Festival” held June 16–17, 2012, drew widespread attention from our Slavic community because of its scale (the number of churches that participated) and its enormous financial costs. Huge newspaper headlines, laudatory articles testified to the unprecedented success of this project that united our city of Sacramento.
Skillet at the Luis Palau festival in Sacramento
…However, there is also a dark side of the festival that demands serious attention and a clear biblical stance on the use of the filthy rock music that was part of the festival program. As is well known, the musical group “Skillet” has a reputation as an aberrant musical act, and their performances on the evenings of June 16–17 bear this out. According to eyewitness accounts (many Slavs were present at the event), demonised rock music was played with decibel peaks and feverish wailing. The musicians dashed wildly about the stage in semi-decent clothing… everything roared and pounded; it was impossible to make out the words. Many parents hurriedly left with their children, calming them down. The church youth (from our Slavic churches) stood at a distance, watching this spectacle in amazement.
Anti-Christian singer TobyMac at the Luis Palau festival in Sacramento
One Slavic guy (an unbeliever) exclaimed, “This is some kind of nonsense.” Everything about this concert recalled the gates of hell: the harsh sound, the smoke, the flashing of lights and beams… it was alarming… And this after Luis Palau’s sermon and call to repentance… One Slavic church leader (2nd Slavic) fearfully declared: “I would like to ask Luis what he thinks about this?” Luis was no longer there. His time was up. He was not in charge of the parade.
Another pastor (if I am not mistaken, from the “New Hope” church) watched the spectacle without any emotion, apparently deep in his soul rebuking this brotherly compromise, indignant at this mishmash of the holy and the sinful… Some might object that it was an accidental, unforeseen act. Sadly, no: this group Skillet has long cooperated with Luis Palau’s ministry and deliberately, intentionally, by arrangement uses rock as part of their liberal pseudo-biblical worldview. One observes a pragmatic stance, a “success” at any cost, ideas of universal redemption, etc.
In light of all the above, on the basis of Holy Scripture we condemn such a fusion of worldly demonic rock, together with the unbridled style of frenzy in performance, with any Christian event. We insistently call on all churches, community leaders, and pastors to publicly declare their position on this matter, in churches, (if possible) on radio and in the media. To apologise to the Slavic community.
In the future we urge a boycott of such events if rock groups like “Skillet” deliberately participate in them.
What fellowship has light with darkness?
What accord has Christ with Belial? (2 Cor 6:14‑15)
*****
«The devil can transform himself and, I think, he can learn. In the so‑called Middle Ages, he tried to destroy Christianity – and not only Christianity but common sense itself – by the hands of the church. I repeat: by the hands of the church. That was the well‑known Inquisition. Today we cannot even fathom how the teaching of Christ could be turned upside down. How could a sermon of love be turned into an instrument of murder, mass murder at that? How could a teaching of love and mercy ever become hatred, torture and bloodshed?
I believe this is possible for the one who knows how to manipulate human consciousness, and if that became possible for him, then another tactic is possible for him as well – freedom of religion. It would seem a completely new and opposite policy, but what matters to him is the result. As with the Inquisition, for him the end justifies the means. Therefore his tactic today is flattery and permissiveness. Read a promotional article by this preacher, and if you do not see the same master in it, then you are already a person lost to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Christ preached, ‘I am sending you out as lambs among wolves,’ yet when you look into the faces of these operators and read their program, you see clearly that these are not sheep among wolves, but wolves among sheep. Tell me, please: if all the power of this world – with its print media, television, radio and internet – is in the hands of the prince of this world, will he permit such a scale for the preaching of the Truth? Will he allow such widespread advertising for his bitterest enemy? Of course not! Don’t hold your breath! What, then, is this?
Look at the beauty of your houses of prayer, at the expensive halls equipped with expensive gear, at the freedom with which every person today can attend these meetings on Sundays, pray, preach and evangelize. Look how accessible the Bible and other Christian literature have become. What has happened? Has the devil fallen asleep? Relaxed? Waved his hand at his domain? Does he not care what goes on in his kingdom? Television, radio, the press of any scale and colour, festivals, concerts, seminars and conferences, spiritual diplomats and summit meetings… Does all this mean that the world has changed and that this free, Christianized society has drawn nearer to God? No, dear friends, the answer thrusts itself upon us – everything we see and live in is a deception. One merely needs to see it. All this freedom is a trap. One needs to feel it.
And the fact that you do not feel or see it only shows that he, this prince, has already achieved his goal, and that the road leading to Heaven is indeed narrow, and few find it. All this religion that today calls itself Christianity, entangled with all sorts of activities in the form of such festivals, is a snare. This is the broad way that we have all known about since childhood. Look around. What do you see on the roadsides of our ways? Everyone shouts about God, everyone teaches one another things of which they have no idea, quoting some isolated Bible texts.
Here we pick up a fresh issue of a newspaper saturated with a “Christian” spirit and read: “Luis Palau and his missionary organization have delivered the Word of God to more than a billion people… His programs are broadcast on 3,500 radio stations.” Knowing that the population of the Earth today is 6 billion, one does not even want to read further. A distinct gag‑reflex rises in the body (if the body is healthy). Whom and why must one deceive so? But, you know, friends, that is not the main thing. The important thing is something else: the program of the event itself. One gets the impression that the devil, seeing that no one in the church even notices him anymore, has started dancing right on the ambo.
Visit the advertised website with the festival program and you will see it. Christian modesty is out of the question. Christianity has turned into a colossal show. A sort of Disneyland. Rock bands, moto‑freestyle stunts, skateboarders’ performances, grandiose fireworks and, naturally, “donate money…”
Christ here has been turned into Mickey Mouse, and the goal is one – mass appeal, showmanship, money and fame. The noose around Christianity’s neck has tightened. And here the master, for some reason, turns out to be so kind that he even allows no taxes to be paid on all of it. Who is bigger, who is cooler, who is higher… “His programs are broadcast on 3,500 radio stations.” Have mercy – to whom do the mass media on Earth belong? To God? Of course not! To the same one who owns dollars, gold, oil, drugs, palaces… And you want to say that the master of all this will, so easily and simply, permit his bitterest enemy – Jesus Christ – to be advertised here, and will allow the preaching of truth from his own media outlets? No. Never!
What is the matter, then? It is elementary. All that is advertised as Christianity has long been in alien hands. And if you do not see that, then you are in the crowd that goes capering and prancing along the broad way to its logical end.”
Sergei Yatsenko
Luis Palau Festival Heats Up 75,000 in Sacramento
*****
Someone calls this filth ministry to a Holy God!
This is blasphemy. This is the glorification of the devil: “No, you’ll never be alone when darkness comes – I’ll light the night with stars – hear my whispers in the dark…” – thus Satan speaks through the band Skillet… lyrics
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