|
Expositional Studies
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Indiana
Posts: 204
|
The Arthur Burk Cult
For a number of years, the Lord set my heart as a "Watchman on the Wall" but more in regard to malevolent movements lurking in the church like the New Age Movement. Not so much those claiming to be in Christ, but teaching a different Gospel. There are a few exceptions, but for the most part, I have not crossed the line to pointing fingers at professing Christians. However, there is certainly a need to keep Christian's alert about the false teachers in our midst. Especially in this age where discernment is lacking due to an over-arching ignorance about what is truth and what is error.
Arthur Burk is a self-proclaimed ‘prophet’ who has claimed to have been receiving new “revelations” about the demonic realm. He discusses his ideas about ley lines, earth gates and sound portals which are straight off the New Age platform. For instance, “Ley Lines” he teaches are electromagnet highways on which demons travel. “Earth Gates” are holes in the Earth through which demons enter and the illusive “sound portal,” which appears to be portals of sound that demons use enter the Earth.
He asked his followers a question recently. He asked, “do you have a place in your home, church or office that you just can’t heat no matter what you do with the thermostat and the air ducts?” According to Arthur Burk, it is not a faulty installation of your central system or an insulation problem or even a draft, it is an open “temperature portal” for demonic passage. This certianly puts a new twist on a cold draft. Maybe he has been watching "Ghost Hunters" too often?
His claims to have “new” revelations and “new” moves of the Spirit, especially in regard to the Emergent Church. In truth, there isn’t anything “new” in the teachings of Christianity, and the moment a person claims something new, flags should go up. Combine this with support of the Emergent Trend, and you have double the conflicts, twice the heresy. As you study the content of Arthur Burk, you soon discover an odd mix of Latter Rain dominionism, spiritual warfare, inner healing, generational blessings and curses on individuals and property, territorial spirits, numerology, pop psychology, new age, psychic divination, spiritualism, Wicca and the occult along with his own brand of self-defined terminology.
Arthur Burk talks about redemptive anointings on a town his group have targeted and mantles of invisibility. He claims the last seven metrics of seventeen are the Seven Heads of Leviathan. The first head of Leviathan has to do with the breakdown of communication, not only with each other, but with nature. The second head deals with weather. The third head is commonly called entropy. The fourth head is about time and when we walk in dominion over this head, time is multiplied. The fifth head is the devouring of electronics and the warping of sound. (People actually believe this stuff) The sixth head has to do with challenges in mobility. The seventh head is the alienation of our spirit from all other spirits, especially the spiritual dynamics of nature. (From Nov. 26, 2007 publication, “Overview of the Seventeen Metrics” in PDF format.)
‘Discerning the land’ is another self-created specialty of Arthur Burk. It is in the context of the well worn New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) paths of dominionism (rise of christian imperialism), spiritual warfare and territorial spirits, though Arthur Burk’s conclusions are not so well explained and even less understood by those of his persuasion. Even Arthur Burk does not seem to really understand what to do with his convoluted ’revelations’. He wrote saying "The Teacher gift of Vantage is divided by the river, not the highway! The land east of the river is the masculine side of the Teacher gift and the land west of the river, extending south of the interstate, is the female side. The Exhorter community is also female. Specifically then, if both the land and the community are female, it means that the core competency Vantage needs to master is the art of mothering." This is nonsense, foolishness at the highest level.
Then he has another spin on what he calls the Seven Curses and identifies them with his own terminology model. The Aramean Curse, Moabite Curse, Philistine Curse, Canannite Curse, Midianite Curse, Curse of Jotham and the Ammonite Curse. But WAIT, there's more! On the CD you will find Seven Renunciations to chant to offset the curses! All for the low price of $45.00 USD. This is the same tactics New Age proponents use. They create their own concepts and terminology if possible, develop media and market the information for notoriety and profit.
Are any of Arthur's self-founded or borrowed teachings biblical? Not even one of them. They are so far off the mark, they can't even be classified as an overt tangent of Christianity. What he promotes is simply New Age philosophies and lingo with a coating of Christianity. His teachings appeal to those drawn to the mystical New Age trends, people who have no earthly idea what the Bible actually reveals as truth. Christ warned of such a time, when niave souls would be easily seduced by the doctrines of demons. God have mercy.
I will close this commentary by quoting Russell Roberts who expounded this matter perfectly:
“Arthur Burk, founder of Plumbline Ministries, is the antithesis of one who seeks to know God through the diligent study of his word and the worst nightmare of those with loved ones trapped the snare of his delusions. Just who is Arthur Burk? Well…that’s a good question. I first heard the name of this enigmatic figure mentioned by a woman in my Church who, at the time, gravitated towards the highly mystical and hyper-spiritual teaching of the modern day ‘prophetic’ movement.
Concerned, I began to research Arthur Burk and his teaching on the Internet. It didn’t take long to realize two things. The first thing is that Mr. Burk should probably be committed to a mental institution. The preposterous nature of the ideas espoused and promoted by Burk are symptomatic of a man who has lost all touch with reality – a characteristic shared with other cult leaders like the late L. Ron Hubbard who invented Scientology.
One prominent characteristic of a cult is the formation of an esoteric vocabulary – inventing words and catchphrases that are meaningless to outsiders but which make the initiated feel like a part of the group. Mr. Burk establishes such a vocabulary through the endless discovery of new and exciting aspects of spiritual activity including Ley Lines (imaginary highways along which demons travel), portals (imaginary gateways between the physical and spiritual realm), and up-spouts (demonic elevators).
Needless to say, these ridiculous ideas would be dismissed out of hand by mature Christians who are well versed in scripture and familiar with orthodox Christian beliefs. After all, the ideas promoted by Arthur Burk have absolutely no basis in scripture. Ley lines exist only in the minds of Arthur Burk, the minds of his followers, and the minds of those involved in the occult (that’s actually where the idea of ‘ley lines’ originated).
This leads to my second point. Based on the volume of hits by those seeking information about Mr. Burk, he has gained quite an international following. And that’s why I have written this post. It is a warning to those who would be deceived by Arthur Burk and for those with loved ones who have fallen under his spell. You should be aware that those who followed false prophets in the Old Testament suffered the same fate as the false prophets themselves. Ignoring truth comes with a price. The price? – a depraved mind – a mind that is disqualified to think clearly about God – a mind like Arthur Burk’s.”
__________________
.
Want to comment? Request a forum account setup by clicking HERE! Or email a comment thru the same contact form for posting.
.
|
Arthur Burke- Plumbline Ministries
Revealing the Lies
Linear Mode
