Vineyard Columbus, Sojourners and paganism

Vineyard Columbus hosted a 3 day "Justice Revival" in April 2008 featuring Jim Wallis of Sojourners as the featured speaker. Some were highly concerned that Vineyard Columbus should allow Jim Wallis, a far left political figure to be the featured speaker at a "revival". Jim Wallis; founder of Sojourners also hosts the controversial and far left "God's Politics" blog site. The far left political nature of Jim Wallis is abundantly clear in his "God's Politics" blogs. Mr Wallis writes love letter blogs for even the most pro-abortion liberals and blistering attacks for conservatives. Mr Wallis continued to stump for liberal politics at the Justice Revival. The politics were slightly more veiled but it was still political stumping.

Competing with the concerns over Jim Wallis's politics were the Sojourners magazines being passed out at the "revival". Many valid Christian organizations have periodicals but no "Christian" magazines I know of carry ads for retreats that teach Buddhism or workshops for pagan idol worship. Additionally, the Sojourners magazine itself is a laundry list of far left political politics including articles like "The Green Gospel" which argued that the essential moral assignment of our time was caring for the environment.

The September 2007 issue of Sojourners Magazine we obtained from the Sojourners table at the revival had a large 1/2 page ad for the "Mandela Center" (www.mandalacenter.org)

The Merriam Webster online dictionary defines "Mandela" as:

a Hindu or Buddhist graphic symbol of the universe; specifically : a circle enclosing a square with a deity on each side that is used chiefly as an aid to meditation

An excerpt from the The Mandala Center's mission statement:

The Mandala Center has an inclusive view on how each person may experience God. There are many pathways, many understandings of God. God is far more expansive than one person can understand, and we are not limited to one interpretation of the Divine.

The ads for a Buddhist retreat and a "Divine Feminine" workshop were among the retreats on the large 1/2 page ad.

• What is Buddhism? An exploration of Buddhist teachings and practice. (Oct 5 - 7); Introduction to Buddhism for those who want to understand this spiritual tradition. Teaching, discussion, instruction and experience in Tibetan Buddhist Meditation. Taught by Don Handrick, Buddhist practitioner and teacher.

• Ancient images/Modern Icons: art making and the Divine Feminine (Oct 10 - 14); Hands on workshop combines interactive pictorial lectures with studio art making as participants develop their understanding of the Sacred Feminine (taught by Mary Saracino).

If you do not know what "the Divine Feminine" is, please review this additional information from the teacher's (Mary Saracino) website:(http://www.marysaracino.com/index.html)

Divine Feminine Workshops

Mary’s been an independent scholar of the Divine Feminine for over 30 years.

In addition to self-study and research, she has participated in two Dark Mother study tours (Sicily in 2001 & Sardegna in 2004) guided by Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, Ph.D., author of Black Madonnas and Dark Mother.

Mary’s Divine Feminine workshops are an interactive, pictorial adventure. Full of 100s of images of the feminine face of God, the information she presents arises from experiential research, on-site visits to archaeological ruins, museums, and churches as well as her insatiable appetite for reading scholarly works on all aspects of women’s spirituality.

Reclaiming Our Mother:
A three-part workshop on the Feminine Divine

Join Mary in a pictorial exploration of Paleolithic cave art and goddess figurines, Neolithic icons and modern-day Black Madonna images. Trace the multi-millennial memory of the Sacred Feminine and uncover the roots of the primordial “Mother of Us All.”

Humankind’s first deity was dark, female, and African. Who is this Feminine Face of the Divine? And what can contemporary society glean from her values of justice with compassion, mercy, equality and transformation?

To Jim Wallis and Sojourners I must ask: Why is Sojourners, a supposedly Christian ministry, accepting advertising for Buddhism retreats and Divine Feminine workshops featuring "100s of images of the feminine face of God"?

A number of people were very grieved when they discovered that materials including pagan ads had been passed out at the Justice Revival, by Sojourners. Consequently, some (including myself) brought it to the attention of senior Columbus Vineyard pastors. What was very disturbing was how quickly Vineyard pastors dismissed materials they had not even seen. On June 5th I asked Rich Nathan and another senior Vineyard pastor if they had read any of Jim Wallis extremely partisan "God's Politics" blogs and they both said no. I asked them if they would be interested in being given a copy of the Sojourners magazine with the pagan ads but they declined. Rich Nathan brushed aside the pagan ads saying that because it was an ad and not an article that it was not really a problem. Rich Nathan continued to maintain that Jim Wallis was a model Christian and was fully open to bringing him back.

Several people (including 2 or 3 Vineyard pastors) tried to warn Rich Nathan about Jim Wallis before the Justice Revival but he continues to defended the Justice Revival citing the 150 people that came forward as evidence of good fruit. In response, I must point out that an unspecified number of people including kinship leaders and long time members permanently left Vineyard Columbus because they were distressed by the politicization of the church. One kinship leader said that he noticed that attendance was down by several hundred people immediately following the revival. What value should we place on those people who consciences were so wounded as to compel them to leave?

And how do we measure the influence (good or bad) that mixing paganism with Jesus will have? Will the Holy Spirit of God be pleased or offended and what will the consequences be? What value should we place on that? I must ask: Was there no one available to speak who would not open a door to demonic realms with ads for pagan worship? Was there no one available who was not deeply embroiled in partisan politics?

Finally, when Jesus told told the disciples to let down their nets for a catch the results were nothing short of miraculous. When Billy Graham came to speak at Cooper stadium thousands of people came forward. Just last month, a small church just down the road from my house had 300 people come forward during their 3 day outdoor tent revival. While we rejoice with every salvation; 150 people coming forward at a 7000 member mega church does not seem like feasting, it seems more like famine.