“Bible in One Year”

Someone sent me part of a 'devotional' from biblical journal”Bible in One Year” asking what I read in it. I must have bumped into “Bible in One Year” at some point, but I certainly didn't remember it. That's why I looked it up on the internet and you can find the promotional clip above. The portion of the diary that was sent to me is below.

Know when to kneel 

November 25 – day 329

“Raniero Cantalamessa[1] is a Franciscan friar. In 1977, he was dispatched by the Vatican to attend a conference in Kansas City, United States, where 20,000 Catholics and 20,000 other Christians gathered. On the last day of the conference, after a talk on the tragedy of all divisions in the body of Christ (the Church), knelt 40,000 people down in remorse. Brother Raniero watched and saw the words “Jesus is Lord” illuminated on the facade of the building where the conference was being held. He describes how at that moment a light came on in him and that he understood where the unit of Christians is all about: 40,000 people who are repentant together kneel down for the Lord Jesus.

He asked a 'Protestant layman' to pray for him to experience more of the Holy Spirit. He was fulfilled by the Holy Spirit. He experienced God's love for him in a whole new way. He spoke a kind of tongues. The Bible came to live for him in a whole new way. He received a new assignment. In 1980, Pope John Paul II invited him to become a preacher at the papal court. He has been this way for 38 years now. His remarkable service to God and the world is characterized by three themes: unity, love and the Holy Spirit. These are three separate themes that are closely related.”

To the question what do you read in it, I answered somewhat briefly due to lack of time, but will now list some things more in answer to the question what I read in it.

Alpha en ‘Bible in One Year’

For starters, I'm surprised that things like this are in a biblical journal. Or maybe it shouldn't surprise me anymore, because more and more the thinking of Christians around us is permeated by the thoughts that are also in this piece. Things that are believed to be what the Bible teaches or at least is what God wants.

I googled 'Bible in One Year' (BiOY) and there I see that the man behind the Alpha course, Nicky Gumbel and his wife Pippa are writers of this 'diary' (see here). Worldwide, both the Alpha course and BiOY are a hit, so to speak.

This is not to say that everything in BiOY is nonsense; on the contrary, you will also find good things in it. But therein lies the deception and also the characteristic of false teachers, that they mix the things of God with wrong, false teaching. In that regard, the quote that was sent to me (see above and here online) is indicative of what one actually aspires to.

Apparently, this philosophy is also part of the mission of the Dutch Bible Society (NBG), because they have released the project in the Netherlands together with Alpha Nederland.

Desire for unity

Is a desire for unity among Christians wrong? No of course not. We must love one another, that is a commandment of the Lord Jesus Himself:

“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (…) I command you this: that you love one another(John 15:12,17).

And in His prayer to the Father, He prays for the unity of the disciples and also for us (John 17:20-22).

But the unity the Lord Jesus prays for is one that can only be exercised by people who have had the love of God poured out in their hearts through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). People who have turned to God and accepted the Lord Jesus as their Savior and Lord, so that the love of God drives them to love the Lord Jesus, to love God's Word, and to love the brothers. That is the basis for the unity intended by the Lord Jesus. We have written about this before (see for example here)

Unity between Catholics and other Christians

The unity mentioned in the diary is not the unity between born-again Christians, but between people of all kinds of denominations who claim to be Christian. Of course they are sincere in this and they regret the division that exists. I can well imagine that they are sad about that, but the question is whether it is in accordance with God's Word. Whether it reallya sorrow to God' is (2 Corinthians 7:10).
There is nothing to read about the repentance of a sinner to God, about the lost condition in which you are as a sinner before God and that you want to repent of that. I don't read a word about the Savior and accepting the sacrifice He made on Calvary's cross.

Charismatic Characteristics

There are also those typical charismatic things in the story.

• A so-called 'filling of the Holy Spirit' on the prayer of another. That is very similar to what we have seen before with Randy Clark (and other Calvinist or non-Calvinist charismatics) and his impartation (see here). We do not receive the Holy Spirit through another person's prayer, but only receive it when we personally accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and come to believe in Him. The Holy Spirit is not transferable. But if you open yourself to it, a 'different spirit' is transferable and it gives such a wonderful experience that the recipient believes it is the Spirit of God. “He experienced God's love in a whole new way” and that is indeed the way Satan works. It's so beautiful that it looks like it really comes from God, but don't forget that Satan masquerades as a 'angel of light' (2 Corinthians 11:14)
• 'tongue language'[2] is proof in the charismatic view that a person is really filled with the Holy Spirit. This is also the case with the Franciscan monk. 'Tongue language' which, however, does not come from God, but is a proof of the 'communion with demons' as Paul calls it in 1 Corinthians 10:14-20. “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry (…) I do not want you to have intercourse with the demons”.
  

Unity, Love and the Holy Spirit
At the end of the story it deals with three themes. “Unity, love and the Holy Spirit. These are three separate themes that are closely related.” That sounds nice and Biblical, but it isn't. For biblically this only comes about when a sinner turns to God and is born again. Then he or she receives the Holy Spirit, through which the love of God is poured out in the heart. As a result, from that moment on, such a person loves the Lord Jesus and God's Word and he or she experiences the unity with all who are 'born of God'.

And that is a very different story from the deep experiences of 'love' and of 'oneness' that 'another mind' (2 Corinthians 11:4) a man can give. That is Satan's tactic through the ages and therefore also characteristic in this time of apostasy.

As a conclusion

It is not news what can be learned from this, but these are things that we have encountered many times before and about which we have written before on this site. Idolatry pervades everywhere, even with a 'Bible in One Year’ and it is to be feared that more and more Christians will think that these are the normal biblical thoughts.

The only thing you can do is warn, so that people themselves will search for God's thoughts before God's face and with an open Bible. Let's stay away from anything that is being spread in this area. The poison is always wrapped in a lot of biblical truths.

I will close with the wish that John writes at the beginning of the book of Revelation.

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[1] You can read more about Cantalamessa on for example Wikipedia. He is not the first, but the only one who is allowed to preach to the Pope within the Roman Catholic Church.

[2] By 'tongues' I mean the incomprehensible gibberish which neither the speaker (or the 'prayer') nor anyone else can understand and which is believed to be from God. But the inspirer of this is not the Holy Spirit, but another spirit. (see for example also here).