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PCUSA consultant says Jesus is not the only 'Way'

By John H. Adams

Kikanza Nuri Robins, a Presbyterian minister, describes herself as "Christian by birth, a Baha'i by reason, a Taoist in spirit, and a pastor in faith and vocation."

She has concluded, she says, that there are many paths to God and that there is no capital "T" in truth – not even Jesus' claim to be the Way, the Life and the Truth.

Robins was hired as a consultant by the Presbyterian Church (USA) to bring the denomination's staff in Louisville, Ky., up to speed on "Cultural Proficiency."

She was not an unknown. The PCUSA has posted on its Web site numerous promos commending her writing for Horizons Bible studies. It also posted a controversial speech she made to the Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women in Louisville in July in which she commended non-Christian faiths.

The 216th General Assembly (2004) set the table for her consultations. It approved a recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Racial Ethnic Concerns encouraging "all PCUSA corporate agencies to adopt for utilization and implementation the tools of Cultural Proficiency or some other comparable approach throughout PCUSA, including its boards, agencies, and institutions, as a means to develop and sustain healthy corporate church cultures for addressing the issues that arise in a diverse environment."

But the 2004 commissioners also amended that recommendation to include: "This utilization and implementation is to proceed in light of and according to the confessional and Biblical witness of the PCUSA." Some say Robins does not comply with that amendment.

In her Presbyterian Women's gathering speech speach titled "Challenges to Being an Inclusive Community," Robins said she was kicked out of a Sunday school class as a child because she asked tough questions and that she became attracted to Baha'ism because her boyfriend's father, a Baha'i, gave her some reading material. "So getting kicked out of Sunday school started me on my very eclectic spiritual path," she said. "From the time I was a small child, I had an intuitive understanding and ecstatic experiences of the Mystery we call God. That freed me from attachment to any particular dogma."

Voices of Orthodox Women (VOW), an evangelical watchdog group that monitors the work of Presbyterian Women, believes Robins goes far beyond the bounds of orthodox Christian faith. Viola Larson, a VOW writer, wrote a critique of "Challenges to Being an Inclusive Community."

"Not only did Robins insist that Christians should acknowledge the validity of other faiths, she also insisted Christians should acknowledge other paths as 'plausible and wise' and 'integrate' other faiths' 'learning and practice' into their own Christian practices," Larson wrote.

By identifying with the Baha'i religion, which originated in Iran, Larson said, "Robins longs for an anti-Christ. The Baha'i faith teaches that God is one but he reveals himself through many manifestations including Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad. The Baha'i tenets insist there are many more manifestations to come. Mike McMullen writes of their basic belief, "Baha'is' vision of global unity includes the claim that all of the world's major religions are only evolutionary stages in God's plan to educate and unify the whole planet – in effect, there is only one religion, but it is revealed by God in distinct historical stages. Each new manifestation fulfills earlier manifestations so that the Baha'i prophet Baha'u'llah fulfills 'the return of Christ for Christians.'"

In her response to the presentation by Robins and others at the Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women, Sylvia Dooling, VOW's president, said, "The historic faith of the Christian Church is not just one truth among many that can exist side-by-side with the false gospels presented at the Gathering. Jesus demands exclusivity in our lives, and our Presbyterian heritage demands that we take our constitutional standards seriously."

"Orthodox believers are convinced that there is such a thing as Truth – Truth with a capital T – Truth that stands over against us in judgment," Dooling added. "We also believe that Jesus is the incarnation of Truth, and that by his own declaration, his way is narrow. Remember, those aren't my words; they are Jesus' words."

PCUSA consultant says Jesus is not the only 'Way' (http://www.layman.org/layman/news/2006-news/pcusa-consultant-says.htm)

Man's ability to create ways of denying God never ceases to amaze me. It's just sad to see so many people throwing their eternal souls away for a brief 80 or so years (if they're lucky) of rebellion and perceived independence and knowledge.

Matthew 24:24 For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders so as to deceive and lead astray, if possible, even the elect (God's chosen ones).

2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time is coming when [people] will not tolerate (endure) sound and wholesome instruction, but, having ears itching [for something pleasing and gratifying], they will gather to themselves one teacher after another to a considerable number, chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the errors they hold, 4 And will turn aside from hearing the truth and wander off into myths and man-made fictions.

Well, what can I say? I'm not surprised in the least. What else could one expect from an uber-liberal denomination like PCUSA? They've been spouting this kind of tripe for some time now. She's not the first.

Let's see... Female pastors, homosexual-friendly worship experience (anathema), false doctrine (anathema), liberal pop-psychology messages to please the congregants (anathema). PCUSA members might as well be Mormons since half of their pastors spew this kind of cult-friendly drivel.

I used to live in a neighborhood which had a PCUSA pastor. A she. She and I did not see eye to eye. Once she found out I was XXXXXXX, she wouldn't get into theological discussions with me since I'd shoot her arguments to ribbons using nothing but the scriptures. Trying to use Galatians 3:28 to justify female pastors. Yeah, whatever. Go back to a real seminary.

She needs to be declared anathema, de-frocked, and put on every prayer chain on the planet...

Saint Paul says of those who were preaching a different gospel or perverting the gospel: "Let them be accursed," meaning anathama, damned, everlastingly cut off from the presence of God. --Galatians 1:6
How can you recognize a false gospel or a heresy? Paul again warns against those who are "enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction and whose god is their belly " or their own appetites --Philippians 3:17-19
False prophets will preach about Christ, but be an enemy of the cross. The cross of Christ means the death of self. You abandon control of your life to God. A prosperity gospel message that panders to the sensual desire for riches is the opposite of the message of the cross.

Jeremiah 23 warns against false prophets that will preach pleasing messages that people will like to hear.
 
"Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water." --James 3:11-12
 
"He said to them, You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight." --Luke 16:15
 
Saint Paul calls for us to "Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil." --1 Thessalonians 5:21-2 The Christian message should be able to withstand any scrutiny. Believers are called to "try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world." --1 John 4:1
 
"Give me XXXXXXXXX or give me death!"

How interesting, I did not know that it was from that region. I guess that explains a lot!

(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b207/tinabaran/victani.gif)