Thy Kingdom Come or My Kingdom Come?

"God is going to change. We women... will change the world so much that He won't fit anymore."[1] Naomi Goldenberg in Changing of the Gods: Feminism and the End of Traditional Religions

"While women sleep the earth shall sleep. But listen! We are waking up and rising, and soon our sister will know her strength. The earth-moving day is here." Alla Bozarth-Campbell, Episcopal priest, 1974[2]

"Our kingdom is our life, and our life is our kingdom. We are all meant to rule from a glorious place."[3] Marianne Williamson, A Woman's Worth

When Pat was little, Jesus seemed so near. But that feeling of closeness faded when she reached high school. It wasn't that she lacked interest; she just had so many other things to explore: Egyptian and Mayan mythology, ancient mystery religions, Greek and Roman goddesses.... She read books about mysterious people like Edgar Caycee, the "sleeping prophet" who could "see" and heal the sick from miles away. Miracles like that never happened in her church! But out there, in those mystical realms, there seemed to be something more -- a dimension of spiritual power and knowledge beyond what the Bible taught. The possibilities fascinated her.

College entrance opened new doors to spiritual discoveries. Each of the world's religions seemed to have something to offer, and the options were endless. How could she pick and choose what fit her needs -- and what could be mixed with her Christian faith? Each new path deepened her curiosity.

In 1980 her mother died. The ache and loneliness that followed the funeral stirred a longing for the loving comfort Pat had known long ago with Jesus. That longing drew her back to church.

But the magical forces Pat had studied in her college days still tugged at her heart. Buddhism seemed so compassionate and Christ-like. So did Edgar Caycee's spiritism and re-incarnation. Perhaps her old biblical boundaries were too narrow. After all, Caycee really did receive supernatural insights from the spirit world. Maybe she could try to make the same kind of contacts -- even talk with her mother. Perhaps her mother would return in some other body? Either way, they would find each other.

One night she heard an audible voice speak her name. "Pat", it said. She was standing outside near a street lamp waiting for a bus. "Pat!" It said it again, and again. Something compelled her to turn her head toward the north, and suddenly she saw a ball of bright light flash along the high wires above the sidewalk. It shot across the street and shattered into many small lights.

What kind of "sign and wonder" was this? Could it have been Jesus? Pat felt more frightened than thrilled. But the spirit that had spoken to her stayed. It kept affirming her, told her she was special, and did nothing else that was scary -- at least not for a while.

A few months later, Pat found a sick cat. She knelt down to pet it and felt a large lump on his chest. Urged by her new spirit, she put her hands over the lump. "Heal!" she commanded several times. The next day the cat walked into her yard. She felt its chest. The lump was gone. This was a miracle! Wow! She did it! The healing had come through her hands. She felt wonderful, powerful... as if she could cure anyone, anytime. She named the cat "Angel".

She went inside and tried her healing power on her own cancer-ridden little cat, Toby. But it didn't work. Toby died. Pat felt sad and confused.

The voice began to direct her spiritual training. It prompted her to pick up a New Age magazine, to focus on a name that "shone out" from one of its pages, and to contact one of several people who would help "enlighten" her. Soon her spiritual teachers were opening doors into that vast twilight world of hypnotic visions and occult dreams. She began to "see" fairies, witch covens, pyramids and the glories of the mythical Atlantis.

In one of her visions, she was part of a mystical ceremony. Someone in a long robe gave her grain to eat and wine to drink, a cloak to wear, and a crown of flowers for her head. People from all kinds of cultures were "praying to some deity and placing their gifts on a table illumined by a bright light." Angels, "handsome creatures with wings," flew in and out.

To heal her from what her guide called her "traumatic past lives", he taught her to alter her consciousness through meditation and self-hypnosis. One such meditation opened her "eyes" to a spiritual being seated on a crystal throne atop a mountain. During another vision, a beautiful woman came toward her with arms wide open. Frightened, Pat pulled back, and the spirit woman turned away from her. Could her fear have angered the spirit woman? Pat wondered -- and worried.

Other people introduced her to the powers of crystals and Native American shamanism. She let her hair grow long and became a vegetarian. Meditating with a group of friends inside a circle of stones one night, she saw signs in the sky: some star-shaped clouds and a cross. What did it mean? She felt confused. The intense sense of peace with the universe -- a feeling she so often enjoyed in the beginning -- became rare and fleeting.

The spirit inside Pat seemed increasingly possessive. Friendly and affirming at first, it now governed her every move. The initial voice was joined by other voices that talked to her day and night. They told her when to leave her house, when to cross the street, where to stand on the subway, and what to read. She would call out to God for help, but reading the Scriptures was not an option. The voices refused to let her go near her Bible. She obeyed. What else could she do? Disobedience always intensified the oppression.

She could no longer hold a job, nor sleep peacefully through the night. Her new life of therapy sessions, hypnotic exercises, confusing visions and harassing voices were taking their toll. Things might go well for a few weeks, then... "crash. I guess I would need a hypnosis fix," she explained.

By 1988, Pat knew she needed help -- but not from her spirits or New Age friends. She prayed again to the Shepherd she had known as a child. She asked for peace from the voices that oppressed her. And God, who had never stopped loving her, answered her prayer.

Some Christian friends invited her to a seminar on the New Age Movement. The speaker, Constance Cumbey, seemed to understand Pat's agony. For two hours, the well-known author explained the truth about Jesus Christ and the terrors of the occult.

"I cried," said Pat, remembering the demons' hatred for the Bible. "I went into shock, and feared for my life."

A few days later a pastor prayed for her, and she was freed from the demonic spirits that had controlled her life. She accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior and received the Holy Spirit. For the first time in her life, she could understand the Bible.[4] Now God was speaking to her! "You are precious to me and I love you,"[5] He told her. She knew it was true.

She clung to the promise in John 8:31: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." The Truth had turned out to be a wonderful Friend who loved her, gave her a wonderful Christian husband, and would also keep her safe through the battles ahead. She would need that protection, for the demonic realm doesn't release its victims graciously.

Pat's transformation is described in Colossians 1:13-14. "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love...." Two powers, two rulers... The greater belongs to God, the King who loves His people more than any earthly king ever could. The lesser is ruled by Satan -- but only as long as God permits. Both promise peace, love, unity, and power, but only one can satisfy. The other keeps its victims on a tantalizing string: always searching, never finding.

To some, the two may sound similar, but they are as different as night and day. "Love" in the latter is based on sensual feelings and its primary aim is self-love ("I feel good about myself, therefore I am free to feel loving toward you.") The Re-imagining conference twisted it into self-deification.

In God's kingdom, faith is based on His own revelations written in the Bible. Unlike the myths and legends of other spiritual traditions, its meticulous recording of historical events is consistent with secular history and the findings of modern archeology. Even the droughts and famines mentioned in the Old Testament match the migrations and climatic changes charted by recent scholars. In fact, its historical record and fulfilled prophesies have baffled -- even converted -- skeptics through the centuries.[6]

Feminist faith in the powers of darkness is based on a person's feelings and experience. In her book Women at the Well, Kathleen Fischer summarizes the feminist view,

"Attentiveness to a person's experience is, of course, central.... What a feminist perspective adds to this emphasis is belief in the authority of women's experience, confidence that we are engaged in a new encounter with the divine through that experience, and the conviction that it is a norm for the truthfulness of the tradition."[7]

In other words, a woman's experience, not God's own revelation, determines the truthfulness of a belief. If something feels good, sounds loving, and seems empowering, it must be right. Few seekers heed the warning in Jeremiah 17:9: "The heart is deceitful above all things.... Who can know it?"

God's truth doesn't matter to those who put their faith in feelings. A leader at the Minnesota Re-imaging conference described the new faith well: "This is not about making sense at all. It is about honoring a process, an imaginative process, a new way of thinking."[8] Then she led the 2200 participants in a "scribbling" exercise designed to free them from their old rational ways of thinking, which blocks their freedom to re-imagine God. It also trained them to resist their conscience and inner warnings. Just picking up their crayons and scribbling on the paper tablecloths would start the process. "Make a mark, any mark you want on the paper," urged the leader. "Try again..."

There's nothing wrong with having fun scribbling on tablecloths. But the instructions reached far beyond the simple scribbling time and prepared the women for the pagan suggestions and occult rituals ahead:

"Some of you have this tiny voice inside that says, 'This is silly. You can't do this.' Well, welcome! That's the inner critic. And we have to deal with that inner critic.... So in big letters... write down secretly all those words that would keep you from enjoying this. Do it now. . . tear it out and throw it on the floor. . .. Or take a crayon and scrub them out. Banish them!"[9]

Remember the story about the Emperor's new clothes? The sneaky tailor talked the emperor into buying a phony suit of clothes by telling everyone that the Emperor's elegant new outfit would be invisible to fools. Afraid to be called a fool, no one dared admit to seeing nothing but their bare-skinned ruler. On the day of the parade, they all applauded the imaginary suit -- all, that is, except one little boy. He hadn't heard the rules (and probably wouldn't have cared), so he shouted to the crowd, "He is wearing nothing at all!"

Like the tailor, Satan makes good use of our imagination. He doesn't hesitate to stir our minds to "see" imagined gods or bright beams of light or ourselves as goddess. He delights in focusing our hearts and prayers on sweet images of angels or a new Jesus rather than on the One who made us. Nothing helps him separate us from God more than today's smorgasbord of spiritual images and forces that promise wisdom and power without accountability.

Millions are ready to listen. Though most of the women at the Re-imagining conference belonged to mainline churches, they had little resistance to the kinds of occult suggestions that beckoned them. Told to ignore the "inner voice" of their Bible-trained conscience, they imagined "new" realities and embraced new mystical experiences. They left the conference with distorted Scriptures, old truths re-interpreted to affirm feminist visions.

The path chosen by Pat and others headed for the Kingdom of God usually lead in the opposite direction. Notice the difference:

Lacking a firm foundation, feminist faith ranges from simple distortions of biblical truths to the timeless myths of neo-paganism. In between lies every pagan/Christian mixture today's seekers can imagine. Pat's beliefs during her high school years illustrate one of those blends: Since she didn't know the Bible, her limited Christian understanding was stretched to include pagan beliefs and occult experiences.

Such blends soon lose their luster. We know that, not only because Pat experienced it, but because God told us so in His word. "No one can serve two masters," said Jesus. "Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other." (Matthew 6:24)

The mastermind who rules the kingdom of darkness despises everything that belongs to God. So do his followers. You may have seen some of that hostility in the talks given at the Re-imagining conference. That anger will surely grow, for those who invoke an occult force -- even in the name of God -- soon become subject to its cruel ruler. Like his feminist friends, Satan is determined to shut all doors to biblical truth -- including church church doors.

"God is going to change," wrote Naomi Goldenberg in Changing of the Gods: Feminism and the End of Traditional Religions. "We women are going to bring an end to God... We will change the world so much that He won't fit in anymore."[10]

Ms Goldenberg found this thought "most satisfying". She certainly wouldn't miss God. "He never seemed to be relevant to me at all,"[11] she said.

Why do so many people who neither know Him nor find Him relevant still despise Him? Why do they fight so hard to abolish our right to love and follow our Lord?

These are important questions. To resist the wave of change, we need to understand the incredible effort exerted by feminists to alter His image, discredit His followers, and banish His truth even from our churches. For example, in her book, Women at the Well, Kathleen Fischer's suggests some well-used steps toward spiritual transformation:

Her plan matches the strategies used at the Re-Imagining conference. Since many of the conference leaders were also pastors and leaders in their denominations, they give us an inside glimpse at the social revolution that's transforming the Western world.

1. Challenge prevailing definitions. This step is simple. It only takes a little ridicule, a few critical questions, some pointed suggestions, and a seductive assortment of old and new myths that clash with traditional biblical views. Speaking as a Chinese theologian, Kwok Pui-Lan claimed that "the idea that Jesus is the incarnation of God in history was simply irrational, impossible, not understandable. ... especially in China.

Yet, China has some of the world's most committed churches. They grow and thrive in the midst of terrible persecution. Modeling life-changing faith, the Chinese Christians love their Lord enough to die for Him. Kwok Pui-Lan and her followers just don't understand how the Holy Spirit works. They can't, because God doesn't reveal His secrets to those who despise His ways.[14]

2. Acknowledge the harmful effects of the current sexist society. How do feminists change the nation's social consciousness? Forget facts and logic! Instead, use vivid images, feel-good experiences, and outrageous assertions (people won't easily forget them). It only takes a few clever suggestions to create a new perceptions of a common enemy. Once that enemy is established, public anger can easily be manipulated.

Korean theologian Chung Hyun Kyung did her part well. The "Christian church has been very patriarchal," she said. "That's why we are here together -- to destroy this patriarchal idolatry of Christianity."[15]

3. Fashion a new creation. New visions demand new foundations. Dr. Elizabeth Bettenhausen, visiting lecturer on ethics at the Harvard Divinity School and former secretary for social concerns of the Lutheran Church in America explained: "We have to re-imagine the doctrine of creation," she said, "because in so much of the traditional orthodox understanding, creation is understood as (the) determined, eternal, unchanging expression of divine will -- and that is downright dangerous for women's lives."[17]

God's divine will dangerous for women? The truth is that the only safe place is in the center of God's will. Those who ignore His ways can never be secure in a culture where people follow their feelings instead of God's unchanging truth.

4. Bring new meaning to old symbols and texts. Many Christian vital words such as "Way," "truth," and "light" can be transformed by simply using them in new contexts. Just stir in some New Age mysticism, aa spicy touch of sensuality, and you end with a statement like the one by lesbian theologian Mary Hunt:

"...a bright warm light, perhaps what New Age people mean when they speak of energy.... I am part of it. ... I see you in the light, your goodness, your erotic power, your commitment to see me in the light as well." [19]

5. Use storytelling to name experience. Naming means claiming. Using new paradigm sense, you own what you name. By telling your story, you name and claim your imagined experience. (If this doesn't make sense to you, don't worry. It only fits the new paradigm thinking.)

More "creative" than factual history, home-spun stories guide the imagination and offers an infinite number of illustrations to "confirm" what never really happened. Since good storytellers major in entertainment, not truth, few listeners will question the radical suggestions tucked into their tales. In our times, many find fantasy more believable than facts.

It doesn't matter that the following "story" by Aruna Gnanadason, a theologian from India, seems more like a diatribe than a tale. It made the "right" point, and the audience loved it.

"...I chose another medium, and that is the medium of the short story.... Once upon a time there was a thing called patriarchy. It was a destructive spirit. It flowed over the earth and it polluted all it touched.... And the earth moved on the part of violence, war, poverty, exploitation and the death of creation.... Then there was an institution called the church. Patriarchy took hold of this thing too....

"This is story telling time, re-imagining time. This is dreaming time.... Therefore the story goes on with an ending that can happen. The feminine spirit was not going to rest till life became more bearable for all. ...the violence that the cross symbolizes and the patriarchal image of an almighty invincible father god needs to be challenged and reconstructed." [20]

6. Create new rituals. Rituals help challenge the old and establish the new. To make them more palatable, use old, familiar steps to ease into the new celebrations. That's just what conference leaders did on the last day, during Sunday morning's alternative to a traditional church service. The "blessing of milk and honey" ritual simply followed the format of a traditional communion service.

The women sang, but not about Jesus. They celebrated with two elements, but not bread and wine. They mentioned God and grace, but the new meanings reflected the pagan context. They celebrated freedom, but mocked the only One who could set them free.

Clinking their glasses of rice milk, they shared in a dramatic responsive reading and singing rite. The speakers read -- with drama and feeling -- the lines of the prayer below (the most erotic suggestions were banished to the endnotes). "Sophia Creator God..." sang the exuberant women between each part. "Let your milk and honey flow... Sophia... Sophia..." Over and over and over...

"Our maker Sophia, we are women in your image. With the hot blood of our wombs we give form to new life....

[All:] Sophia, Creator God, let your milk and honey flow.... Shower us with your love....

"Our mother Sophia, we are women in your image. ... With the honey of wisdom in our mouths we prophesy a full humanity to all peoples. Sophia, Creator God... (All drink of the milk and honey)

"Sophia, we celebrate your life-giving energy which pulses through our veins... Halleluya! Pelo tsa rona. . . [21]

"We celebrate the nourishment of your milk and honey. Through the sharing of this holy manna [could be a hidden reference to "Mana": Moon Mother, creative energy, Goddess of Creation and death] we enter into community which strengthens and renews us for the struggle. Halleluya! Pelo tsa rona . . . .

The more sensual and shocking expressions help speed the planned paradigm shift. They cause what educators call cognitive dissonance -- a form of mental confusion that forces people to rethink and stretch their old values to accommodate new values and experiences. Their end justifies their means, argue the radical feminists, and their planned end is total cultural transformation. Every family, community, business and church must to conform to their obsessive vision. (If you question this statement, don't wait. Read chapter 9 now.)

If feminist activists only eyed the church, they wouldn't make such an impact. But their vision aims far beyond spiritual issues, and our social climate supports their agenda. Their sisterhood stretches around the world, and their voices ring out from every corner of our culture: Hollywood, the media, schools, publishing houses.... Some of the links may never connect with each other.

Yet, as if pulled by an invisible puppet master, they share one message: Social and spiritual revolution now! Death to male leadership in politics, economics, entertainment, churches and -- don't forget -- heaven! Equality within the present culture is not enough! Long live feminist socialism, feminist politics, and feminist spirituality.

Box office sensations such as Pocahontas speed the process. Illustrating Disney's "new genre" of politically correct movies, it gave us an enticing look at the world from a pantheistic perspective. Since its heroine models the feminist ideal -- and since its videos and books perpetuate its neo-pagan suggestions, let's take a look at the way it changes popular consciousness.

You remember the popular Disney story, don't you? Brave, assertive and free-spirited, the Indian maiden scales mountains, climbs trees, and steers a canoe better than a man. Like "Women Who Run with Wolves,"[24] she does what she wants--and submits to no one.

"What is my path?" she asks the wise old spirit of Grandmother Willow, a magical tree in the forest. "How am I ever going to find it?"

"Listen..." says her enchanted counselor. "All around you are spirits, child. They live in the earth, the water, the sky. If you listen, they will guide you."

Like the women at the Re-imagining conference, the Indian maiden believes. Why shouldn't she? Not only does the tree spirit's advice fit the context of Disney's fictionalized history, it also fits the human inclination to trust earthy spirits and mystical forces. Few mothers realize that when they and their children see the world from a pantheistic perspective, even Christian words take on new meanings.

The Disney story points an angry finger at the world's new villain: white males.... Even the hero John Smith is made to look foolish compared to the nature-wise woman he loves. Their exchange of wisdom flows one way only: from Indian to European. So when Smith unwittingly offers to build English cities on Indian lands, Pocahontas shows her disgust, then sings him a lesson on pagan oneness: everything is filled with spiritual life and linked in a never-ending circle.

They should matter to Christians. Columnist Thomas Sowell explains why. In his article, "The Right to Infiltrate", he warns us that the "leftist intelligentsia", which includes leading feminists, "know they are in a cultural war, as those on the other side often do not." What's worse, "only one side is battling. That is why they are winning."[27] He continues:

"Was the feminist movement discredited when its claim that Superbowl Sunday was the day when the most wives were battered could not be supported by any evidence? Has Paul Ehrlich or the Worldwatch Institute been discredited by the repeated failures of their hysterical [environmental] predictions? ...

"Being factual does not matter to those who are politically correct. Some of the bolder members of the anointed have openly expressed the view that various racial charges which turned out to be hoaxes do not bother them because these charges serve to raise consciousness. Similarly some of the brassier feminists declare that they are untroubled by false charges against some men because men in general are guilty of the things charged." [28]

Sowell is suggesting that today's cultural battle will be won in the arena of imagination and consciousness, where propaganda means more than facts, and feminist anger wields more influence than science. If he is right, what will happen to Christian values? Who will be the new common enemy? Which paradigm will define our words and steer the new world?

Disney's massive media empire represents the kind of male power that spiritual feminists love to hate. Yet, the two opposites share a common goal: to shift America's consciousness.[29] It's easy. Like today's advertisers who pay millions for televised mini-exposures, they know that facts and logic matter little. What counts are messages that seem right and feel good.

The basis for social consciousness . . .
Old Paradigm	New Paradigm
Truth	Social and pagan myths
Facts	Feelings and experience
Observation	Imagination
Logic	Speculation
Science	Politicized pseudo-science
Reality	Fantasy
Factual history	Storytelling

The old-paradigm ways of communicating fit neither the new paradigm nor the feminist kingdom. Kingdom, of course, is a misnomer. The feminist vision knows neither king nor boundaries. Since it sees the world through the new-paradigm lens, it can only appreciate feminist ideals. It demands tolerance and respect for whatever it deems "good" and shows no tolerance for those who disagree.

The shift from facts to feelings protects religious feminists against contrary evidence. The historical record doesn't shake their convictions, for their guides have re-imagined history. Scientific evidence doesn't ruffle their faith, for the new paradigm "transcends science." Logic doesn't matter, for it has been dismissed as an obsolete tool of patriarchy.

Ponder the implications for a moment. What would happen to justice if, as in ancient times, it is subject to the whims of superstition, angry crowds, and pagan curses? Chapter 6 and 8 will give some answers. Meanwhile, enjoy the good news.

The rest of this book will leave little doubt that America is drifting back into the shadows of paganism. The key question is not how to stop the spreading darkness. It is how we can bring the light of hope into the world's dark and confusing places. How, as ambassadors of God's Kingdom, can we bring His love to those who are stumbling their way through the confusing pathways of the new spirituality.

But first, take a look at His Kingdom. Compare it with the world that feminists envision:

The feminists can make no such claim for their envisioned reign. From their evolutionary perspective, everything always changes. They can hope for something better but they can never be sure, for their goddess is a capricious ruler.

2. It is other-worldly. In stark contrast to the feminist this-world utopia, Jesus says, "My kingdom is not of this world."[30] Those who love Him understand this, for neither are they. The world has rarely appreciated God's true friends, for their beliefs made no sense to those who prefer the opposite paradigm. "[T]he world has hated them," said Jesus, "for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world."[31]

3. It cannot be understood through human wisdom alone. Inner wisdom sounds good to woman who idolize self, but it blinds them to the knowledge of God. Only those who walk by His light can comprehend His wonders.

"It has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given," said Jesus to His friends. "I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." (Matthew 13:11-13)

4. It is holy. The "sacred spaces" of Sophia devotees are not.[32] Feminist attempts to re-imagine their world only makes it more unholy. No one can blend the two kingdoms. For "what fellowship can light have with darkness? ...What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore come out from them and be separate...." (2 Corinthians 6:14-17)

5. It has only one door: Jesus Christ. This truth infuriates those who envision a global spirituality that will unite all the religions of the world. Clinging to pagan illusions, they spurn God's offer to make them holy. All other religions demand human work for spiritual salvation. Only Christ invites everyone to the cross and to His Kingdom -- no matter how low they have fallen. But that sounds absurd to Sophia's devotees.

6. One can only enter with the trust of a child.[33] The key is child-likeness, not child-ishness. Gibberish and mindlessness are childish. Trust and humility are child-like. Free from an accumulated baggage of anger, bitterness, and emotional defenses, children simply hear and believe.

7. It will make up for all the world's pain and injustice. One day, God will settle the score for all the hurts and cruelties suffered in a world ruled by human whims and ambitions. He never promised freedom from suffering and abuse in this life. To the contrary, he foretold both His own crucifixion and the persecution His friends would endure for their faith.

The next chapter will show what happens when people try to manipulate occult forces with the human will. The process is as old as time -- and no less dangerous to genuine peace than it was when humans first sought to be like God.

[1]Naomi R. Goldenberg, Changing of the Gods: Feminism & the End of Traditional Religions (Boston: Beacon Press, 1979), 3.

[2]Alla Bozarth-Campbell, Womanpriest: A Personal Odyssey (North Carolina State Press, 1978), back cover.

[3]Marianne Williamson, A Woman's Worth (New York: Ballantine Books, 1993), 10.

[4]Luke 24:45. See also Luke 10:21; Matthew 13:16; Ephesians 1:18.

[5]Is 43:4.

[6]Read Evidence that Demands a Verdict and More Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell.

[7]Kathleen Fischer, Women at the Well (New York: Paulist Press, 1988), 6. The words deleted in the first sentence were: "to any spiritual direction context." You can check the meaning in the glossary.

[8]Re-Imagining Conference Tape 1-1, Side B.

[9]Ibid.

[10]Naomi R. Goldenberg, 3.

[11]Ibid.

[12]Fischer, pp. 7, 5, 7, 10, 6, 12.

[13]Re-Imagining Tape 3-2, Side A. Kwok Pui-Lan is identified in the program booklet as a graduate of Harvard Divinity School and is now an associate professor of theology at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

[14]Isaiah 6:8-10.

[15]Re-Imagining Conference Tape 2-2, Side A.

[16]Re-Imagining Conference Tape 4-1, Side B and 4-2, Side A.

[17]Re-Imagining Conference Tape 4-2, Side A. Elizabeth Bettenhausen is coordinator of the Study/Action Program at the Women's Theological Center in Boston, MA.

[18]Psalm 119:105.

[19]Re-Imagining conference Tape 9-1, Side A.

[20]Ibid., Tape 10-1, Side A.

[21]Halleluya! We sing your praises.... The important question to ask is: whose praises? The god or goddess worshipped at this ritual was not the biblical God.

[22]Re-Imagining Conference Tape 12-1, Side B. These lines were part of the prayer to Sophia: "With our warm body fluids we remind the world of its pleasures and sensations.... Our sweet Sophia, With [deleted words] we invite a lover, we birth a child"

[23]Kathy Kersten, "God in Your Mirror?" Lutheran Commentator (May/June 1994); 7.

[24]Women Who Run With Wolves, the title of a top-selling book on by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, who gives many names to woman who has unleashed her wildness and lives with abandon: The Light from the Abyss, the Wolverine, the Spider Woman, the Wolf Woman, Death Goddess, and Woman Who Lives at the Edge of the World. Cited by Clark Morphew, "Religion and Ethics," Saint Paul Pioneer Press, October 29, 1994.

[25]Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 18 (Chicago: William Benton, 1968), 85.

[26]Clark Wissler, Indians of the United States (New York: Anchor Book, 1940), 70-71.

[27]Thomas Sowell, "The right to infiltrate," Forbes (March 13, 1995); 74.

[28]Ibid.

[29](I will add references showing that Disney wants to change culture)

[30]John 18:36.

[31]John 17:14.

[32]Sacred space is defined in the glossary.

[33]Matthew 18:2.

basis for faith in...
God's Kingdom	The envisioned kingdoms (communities) of the world
The Bible	Imagination (or experience)
Spirit-given insights into truth	Experience (or imagination)
Experiences that affirm Scriptures	Selected Bible verses that affirm the experience

A Twist of Faith - Chapter 3

Thy Kingdom Come

or My Kingdom Come

Skip down to The Two Kingdoms