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Smoke Damage

Bob Brown[*]

Would the church please stand for the reading of God's word. I would like to use for my text tonight the book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter nine, beginning with the sixteenth verse:[*]

Isaiah

9:16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.

9:17 Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

9:18 For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.

Smoke kills more people than fire. This is because smoke can go around corners, under doors, through cracks in walls, and can be carried by the ventilating system throughout the building, thereby covering a much larger area than the fire itself is able to reach. Smoke is insidious. It creeps up on you. It can sneak through the tiniest little crack. I would like to speak to you tonight on the subject of ``Smoke Damage''.

Smoke has a much lower oxygen concentration than healthy air. The missing oxygen has been replaced with carbon monoxide and many other poisonous gasses. The first effects of smoke inhalation are dizziness caused by lack of oxygen. Anyone who has ever smoked should be able to remember their first cigarette. Remember the light headed feeling that it produced? Although smoke has a readily detectable odor, if you stay in it for even a short time, you stop noticing its smell.

When a fire occurs in a building while the occupants are asleep, this poisonous mixture will put them into a deeper sleep, so that they will not awake, but be consumed by the flames, or at least receive a lethal dose of the deadly smoke. Fire fighters don breathing gear to protect themselves from smoke inhalation much more often than they don a complete firesuit that allows them to walk in the actual flames.

But the good news is that smoke is also easier to detect than fire itself, just because it does travel farther and faster than flames. Any fire fighter will tell you, as will any insurance company, that the best protection you can have from fire is a good smoke detector. In this modern day and age, we have electronic smoke detectors of various designs. In Biblical times, domestic animals frequently served that purpose. Even in modern times, the family dog has often alerted a household to the impending danger of fire. The dog served watch duty in Biblical times too. Isaiah spoke of false prophets leading Israel and not warning of the danger that was coming.

Isa 56:10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.

As members of the church, we rely upon our pastor, as God's appointed representative, to warn us of spiritual danger. Sometimes we are in the smoke too long to smell it anymore. Sometimes we are overcome by it, and are unable to help ourselves any longer. But just as a good dog has been known to physically drag his unconscious master out of a burning house, a good pastor will enter into the danger and try to rescue the saint that has been overcome by the world.

I come to you tonight in the name of the Lord. I want to be a good watchdog. I am not dumb. I can bark. I am not asleep. I don't love to slumber. I am wide awake, and I smell smoke!

Consider once again the first verse of our text for this message:

Isa 9:16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.

In Biblical times, Israel's leaders were initially her spiritual leaders, such as great men like Moses. Later, they begged for a king like the Gentile nations had. They were warned that these kings would not be good for them in the long run:

1 Sam

8:4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,

8:5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

8:11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons...

8:13 And he will take your daughters...

8:14 And he will take your fields...

8:15 And he will take the tenth of your seed...

8:16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants...

8:17 He will take the tenth of your sheep...

8:18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.

8:19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;

8:20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.

8:21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD.

8:22 And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king...

In modern times we have many different leaders: spiritual leaders, political leaders, and business leaders. I believe that in the United Pentecostal Church tonight we have good spiritual leaders. I am not here to bark out warnings about them. In the business and political arenas, however, I do not believe that all of the leaders are so good. I am not saying that they do not know how to lead. Many of them are very effective leaders. I am saying that I am concerned about where they are leading us.

There is a concern for ``quality'' in American industry today that at first appears to be a very legitimate concern. American industry has suffered through the last two decades at the hands of the Japanese and other (mostly Asian) nations. It used to be that Japan was the defeated enemy of the United States. This was immediately following World War II. Then, in the early 1950's, a young statistician who had been employed with the U. S. Census Bureau went to Japan. He applied the statistical methods he had used at the Census to study Japanese industry. Japanese industry was at that time in a pitiful state. Over the next 20 years, the situation changed dramatically. Today Japan is one of the world's industrial leaders. The Japanese attribute much of this success to the methods taught to them by this man from America. He is revered in Japan today. At least one large Japanese corporation has a huge plaque of him in the lobby of their main office. His name is Dr. W. Edwards Deming.

Dr. Deming taught the Japanese the methods of statistical quality control. He improved and refined these methods while he was in Japan. Now that he has made Japan so successful, he has returned to America to teach us how to do it, and supposedly how to beat the Japanese. He has been greeted with open arms by American academia and industries. He has taught at New York University's Graduate School of Business. He has acted as a consultant to many of the largest corporations in the United States today.

Dr. Deming may have taught the Japanese statistical quality control, but he apparently learned a great deal from them also. The ``philosophy'' he expounds in his book[*] goes far beyond mere statistical quality control. He lists a set of 14 ``points'' that smack of New Age teachings. He has become firmly entrenched into American industry and government.

Just how pervasive is his influence? The U. S. Department of Defense has mandated that all the armed forces follow ``TQM'', which stands for ``Total Quality Management''. The counterpart for industry in the public sector is ``TQC'', or ``Total Quality Control'', sometimes called just ``Total Quality''. A fundamental precept of the quality movement is that an organization that follows it must require all of its suppliers to follow it also. This means that any company performing defense work is obligated to develop a quality program that follows the TQM guidelines. This program must also require all of that company's suppliers to develop such a program. And they, in turn, must require it of all their suppliers. This rule alone has caused the quality movement to spread rapidly through most major companies in the United States.

Dr. Deming's message is aimed at manufacturing industries. This is the group of companies that I have the most familiarity with, but I suspect that similar movements are occurring in other sectors of the business economy. There are other leaders in the quality movement, but Deming is certainly one of the main ones. I use him as an example because I have the greatest knowledge of his teachings.

How much has American business invested in Dr. Deming's message? I consulted for IBM in 1986, and I strongly suspected that something was spiritually wrong there, but IBM is very secretive about its internal methods, and does not let outside consultants in on anything not needed for them to perform their function, so I learned nothing definite.

In 1989, I consulted for a division of General Motors. There the picture was different. Not only did I learn more about what was going on, but on July 14, 1989, GM required me and paid me, an outside consultant, to attend a full day seminar on the subject. A large number of GM employees were present also, as were several other consultants. At that seminar, I learned that GM had sponsored another seminar at Travis City, Michigan in October of 1988 that was ``the largest gathering in GM history.''[*] GM had invested 70,000 man hours of ``education'' on Deming before that time. When you consider that the highest level managers have received more of this brainwashing than the lower level people, you can get some idea of the cost in dollars. If we figure $50 per hour (surely an underestimate, counting travel and overhead) the total cost would be three and a half million dollars. GM has spent even more money since then.

Some of the other companies involved in the quality movement include Dow, Boeing, Kodak, Exxon, Nashua, and Hewlett-Packard. General Electric is also involved, but did not totally agree with all 14 of the Deming points (as of 1990). And don't forget the Department of Defense and all of the U. S. Armed Forces. We can assume that all of these companies share a commitment similar to GM's. Many other smaller companies are also forced into this by the vendor requirement. My involvement with Alcatel Network Systems here in Raleigh has shown me that they too are involved, and they are French owned, not American. But Alcatel is involved in fiber optics, and Dow Corning is a major supplier of optical fiber, so the connection is obvious.

While at Alcatel, I was also told that they were instituting a recycling policy to help the environment, but I later found out from the man in charge of that program that it was mandated by AT&T that all of its suppliers institute such a program. Perhaps this sort of forced compliance is designed to reach out to even those suppliers of services, rather just than those of manufactured goods. Cumby[*] has documented the connections between the New Age movement and ecology movements such as the Sierra Club, The Isaac Walton League, Greenpeace, etc., so it should come as no surprise that this angle is being used also. Large businesses are important customers of other businesses, so the requirement for vendor compliance is a very effective way to push these ``Philosophies'' upon other businesses, and thereby rapidly reach a large portion of the population. A great many companies are being bullied into this thing by a few large companies and by the Federal Government by way of the DoD.

So what is this quality doctrine anyway? In the meeting that I attended in 1989, the subject was called the Deming Philosophy, with a capital P on Philosophy. This use of the word ``philosophy'' is identical to the New Age use of the word ``philosophy'' regarding its own doctrine. The New Age religion is not called a religion, but a philosophy. New Age bookstores, such as the Rainbow Bridge chain of bookstores, are called philosophy bookstores. ``Philosophy'' is a New Age buzzword.

Deming was called ``our boss''[*] by the highest ranking officers of GM! This is profound when you consider that the president and the board of directors make statements such as this. Why aren't the shareholders' wishes directing the board? Or does Dr. Deming own the majority of the stock? It is very interesting that in August 1989, J. W. Marriot Jr. was elected a director of General Motors. He is also the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the Marriot Corporation. Marriot owns and operates the Marriot chain of hotels and motels, and the Perkins', Frisch's, Roy Rogers', and numerous other restaurant chains.

It is well known that the Marriot chain of hotels and motels is one of the worst offenders in the area of pornography piped into the motel rooms via the cable TV system. Marriot is also strongly held and backed by funds from the Mormon Church. The Mormon Church is very powerful financially, being second only to the Catholic Church in this country. With Mr. Marriot elected to the board of directors, one need not have too vivid an imagination to suspect that either his corporation or the Mormon Church itself has made a heavy investment into the ownership of GM. Remember that board members are voted in by shareholders, with one vote per share, not per shareholder.

This suspicion is further reinforced by my observation that much of the food available from the vending machines at the facility where I consulted was made by companies in Utah. Utah is really quite far from Indianapolis, so there must have been some overriding reason why food was shipped in all the way from Utah. It certainly wasn't the fine quality of the food; it was typical crummy quality microwave vending machine junk food. Could it be that since Utah is predominantly Mormon, with the headquarters of the Mormon Church being located in Salt Lake City, that a Mormon influence was having its effect even upon the purchasing of vending machine food? I have not seen this line of food anywhere else, either in Indianapolis, or elsewhere.

Mead[*] says:

Best known as Mormons, Latter Day Saints are neither Protestant nor Catholic. Their beliefs rest on the authority provided by the discovery in the 1820s of the Book of Mormon, which details the history of God's ancient people in the western hemisphere between 600 B. C. and AD 400. That book, with its distinctive message, stands alongside the Bible (``as far as it is translated correctly'') as the basis of Mormon teachings. They believe that the authentic church, having gone underground for many centuries, was restored with that new revelation.

By 1850, Mormons finally enjoyed a place of their own, Utah, where they built a civilization.

With headquarters in Salt Lake City, it has an American membership of 4.5 million, and a world membership of 7 million (projected 1989). The membership has increased by 60 percent in the last decade.

Larson[*] says, ``...the church pulls in an estimated $1.3 billion annually.'' That was in 1982. I suspect that today, with the growth reported above and with inflation, that the figure is well over double that, or significantly more than two and a half billion dollars per year! Today, General Motors common stock was trading at $40\frac{3}{4}$ with 612 million shares outstanding.[*]

If the annual tithe by Mormons is indeed around 2.5 billion and they were all directed by their church to invest some of their savings in GM stock (and Mormons are known for saving), they could totally own that company today. In actual practice, it usually takes much less than half of the stock to control a company, since most shareholders do not attend meetings, or even vote by proxy. Ten percent ownership is very powerful. If the Mormon church and its members had been buying GM stock for the last 5 years, an investment of less than one third of the tithes would suffice. If the church itself bought half and the members bought half, they would be the most influential single force in GM today, and the members would only have to pay their tithes and invest less than 2 percent of their income in GM stock to do it. Therefore, we must conclude that for the Mormon Church to have a significant control over such a major corporation is not too far fetched after all.

Larson[*] goes on to state ``Brigham encouraged polygamy, took twenty-five wives...'' Brigam Young was the leader of the Mormon church at that time. Brigham also said, ``The only men who become gods are those who enter into polygamy.''[*] But the leader of the church is a bishop, and the Bible says:

1 Tim: 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

1 Tim: 3:12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

Mormonism flies in the face of the Biblical requirements for a Christian leader. Larson also quotes, ```He [Christ] was not begotten by the Holy Ghost,' Brigham declared emphatically.''[*] This is in direct denial of Biblical teaching on the virgin birth, a fundamental precept of Christianity:

Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Mat 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

That business about men becoming gods is entirely against true Christian doctrine; in fact all of this is so opposed to the word of God in the Bible that we must conclude that a devout and faithful Mormon is very much the enemy of a Christian and of Jesus Christ himself.

So you say, ``Brother Brown, what does this have to do with me? I'm not a Mormon, or a member of any other similar cult. I have no intention of getting wrapped up in any of this stuff.'' Good for you, but I am here to tell you tonight that this stuff has every intention of getting wrapped up in you. I smell smoke! I'm a good watchdog. I've got to bark, and bark loudly, until those that I serve wake up and escape the danger of the impending fire.

The quality movement in American industry is just one aspect of the New Age movement. It is not confined to any particular cult, organization, or class of people. If there is one right way, the Jesus way, then all the other ways are wrong. Satan does not really care which wrong way you choose, just so long as you don't choose the right way. But consider this: the right way is a good life insurance policy. Satan is pleased when someone dies in a wrong way, but he hates it when someone dies in the right way. As long as you are following the Jesus way, Satan doesn't want you to die, or he has lost you forever. As long as you are alive, he hopes that he can convert you to some other way--any other way. Then if you die, he will have you forever. But as long as you are alive and following the Jesus way, Jesus can use you to win souls from all of Satan's ways, so Jesus wants to keep you alive when you are right, and he will protect you.

Satan has many wrong ways. The Bible lists many practices that separate us from God. But in addition to obvious things like immoral sexual practices, drugs, theft, etc., many organizations exist that offer what at first seems like worthwhile things, but are really enticements to enter into ungodly beliefs and practices. For example, the Shriners are a group of men that organize fund raising activities, such as the world famous Shrine Circus, to support charitable hospitals that help children with special medical needs, most notably children that have suffered life threatening burns and crippling accidents and diseases. This medical help is rendered free of charge. This is in itself laudable, but the Shriners are a division of Masonry, and they do these good works to publicize the goodness of Masonry. A study of the teachings of the Masons would take much more than a whole service all by itself. Suffice it to say that Masonry is a very old cultic religion that ultimately is directly opposed to Christianity in all of Masonry's deeper practices, even though it does not claim to be a religion at all.

The Masons have many such offshoot organizations that reach people that would not be interested in Masonry itself, but fall prey to the same errant teachings through these other channels. The Unitarian Universalist Church is one good example. That church was deliberately founded by Masons to further the cause of Masonry. Masons wrote the charter and the bylaws of that church. They established its doctrine. Larson says, ``They negate the virgin birth, deity of Christ...hold Jesus to be no more than a great prophet...the Atonement of Christ is said to be `offensive' and `unbiblical.' ...[the Unity Church] attracted leading intellectuals, such as poet-essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. The terms `Christian' and `Unitarian' [are] mutually exclusive.''[*]

The Order of the Eastern Star is a Masonic society open only to wives of Masons. The Order of Demolay is a youth outreach to young men for the grooming of future Masons. The Rainbow Girls is a similar society for young women. The Moose and Elks Lodges are watered down Masonic Lodges, founded and organized originally by Masons.

As long as these operations are conducted on a truly voluntary basis, as most of them were in this country until fairly recently, they do not pose a threat that is anything new or different from what the church has always lived with, but lately they have been invading the workplace of many Americans, and participation is now mandatory--if you expect to keep your job. The quality movement is just such an operation.

Everybody wants a better life for themselves and their families. We all want our great nation to be competitive and successful in the international marketplace. We are told, and it is true, that we must provide a better product at a better price if we are to do this. We are told, and it is at least partially true, that the methods of statistical quality control can be a big help in this regard. But, we are also told some other things that are not of a statistical nature at all.

I heard all of the following statements at the GM quality seminar I attended in 1989, at which I took 23 pages of careful notes. These statements were made by Dr. Deming himself, his associate Mr. Conway, the president of General Motors, and numerous GM vice presidents. I know such seminars are being held in businesses all around the country today. Some of you here tonight may have already been in such a seminar yourselves, especially if you are a manager, or are on the management track. Those of you with hourly or blue collar jobs, or who are in labor unions, may have only heard glimmerings of such things from managers who have attended one. If you are a union leader in your shop, you may have attended such a seminar. Think about what these statements are really saying.[*]

This last statement about on-the-job education is actually derived from one of Deming's 14 points. Employees are made to believe that they are going to benefit from additional training, but this training is not really going to be of a vocational nature. It is going to be an indoctrination in New Age philosophy, a brainwashing that will occur in subtle degrees, similar to the degrees of Masonry, except that participation is not voluntary if they want to keep their jobs.

At Alcatel Network Systems here in Raleigh, North Carolina, where I just completed a consulting contract, many employees are required to attend quality training classes. At the conclusion of these classes, they are given a nice looking certificate called a ``Quality Pledge''. They are told to sign this certificate as a pledge of their faithfulness to uphold the principles that they have been taught, and to display it proudly in their offices. They are also given a little quality pin to wear on their company ID badges. The display of these items seems to really spark company spirit. But when they sign these pledges, these employees are actually putting their signature on a promise to abide by things that they don't really even understand yet. But they will gradually be led to understand them, as they receive more of this ``on-the-job training''. Since the indoctrination is gradual, its severity goes unnoticed until it is too late. Signing your name to something like this is as much as making a pact with the devil himself! I am reminded of the viral infection that causes AIDS. The initial infection is so mild that it is usually ignored. Only later do the really serious symptoms begin to exhibit themselves--years later.

This quality movement is rooted in what is popularly called the New Age movement, but the real roots of the New Age go back thousands of years to the Eastern religions. Dr. Deming certainly came into contact with Shintoism and Buddhism in Japan. I suspect he did more than just come in contact. I suspect that he became a part of them and was elevated to a high position in them before coming over here and act as a head missionary to the United States. Shintoism rose out of Buddhism, which rose out of Hinduism. Hinduism, in its written form, is nearly as old as Judaism, being written only a few hundred years after Moses was given the Ten Commandments. It is as diametrically opposite to Christianity as any religion could be. It teaches of an infinity of gods, reincarnation cursing man to live another life, and how man can escape reincarnation and another life here on earth to become a god himself. It is entirely a``work your way up'' religion. A single mistake can cause you to fall back down to the bottom and be forced to start over. There is no savior, no forgiveness, and virtually no hope. But those who have worked their way up to a certain point in the hierarchy have special powers over the ones who are below them. Sound like a modern business corporate system? Sure has some similarities, doesn't it? No wonder that such a doctrine (I'm sorry, ``Philosophy'' is the proper New Age term) had appeal for American businesses, especially when they can see the success that Japan has experienced from it.

Here are some more quotes from the seminar I attended:[*]

The newsletter of the Allison Transmission division of General Motors carried frequent references to and propaganda concerning the quality movement.[*] So did their daily news paper.[*] The Alcatel newsletter has also carried such material.[*] I have consulted for Grumman Data Systems, and they too are starting a quality program, as they must, being a government supplier. Even the Sam's Club Newsletter[*] has carried this message to smaller businesses that might not have gotten it through the big corporate channels. It is insidious and pervasive, like the smoke that precedes a fire.

I don't need to elaborate to those of you who have been in the church for any length of time on the obvious tone of these quotations that I heard in that seminar. Many of these statements are direct allusions to scripture, only twisted around to suit the purpose of the lecturer. I personally find statements of this nature not only erroneous, but downright offensive. They are not made ignorantly. They are made deliberately. They are made to sound like scripture to the occasional church goer, but they are all lies from the pit of Hell!

The employee who truly knows the Bible should know by now that he is going to have to make a real choice before too much longer. I trust that this choice will not be a difficult one, for if it is a difficult choice, then you do not have your priorities in anything like the correct order. Consider what the Bible says:

1 John: 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Matt: 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

So when it comes down to a choice between your job and your salvation, remember:

Phil: 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

If you are required to attend one of these seminars, I encourage you to go, to listen carefully to what is said, and to weigh it in the Holy Ghost against what God has said in his Word, but under no circumstances should you pledge your loyalty to the principles that these seminars are teaching.

Exod: 23:24 Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.

Exod: 23:32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

You should know what you are up against. If you are in a policy or decision making position in your company, I adjure you in the name of Jesus to steer your organization clear of this wickedness.

Don't sell out, and don't get sucked in. Where there's smoke, there's fire. Hellfire! Your job isn't worth your eternal salvation. No job is worth that. The Lord said:

John: 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

He also said:

Mark: 13:13 And ye shall be hated of all [men] for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

I want to be saved!

I have smelled the smoke. I have barked out the warning. Heed this preacher tonight. If you have already been sucked in, either through ignorance or for whatever reason, come to the altar tonight and ask the Lord to forgive you. He is just to forgive. He will give you the strength to make it. He will provide for his own. He will provide your every need. Come to Jesus tonight and trust him with your soul. He is the deliverer of our souls. In Jesus name, come and walk the real Right Way. Come and walk the King's Highway!


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Bro. Brown is a computer scientist who has consulted for a number of large corporations in America. His exposure to a wide range of American manufacturing industries has given him a unique vantage point to view the infiltration of the New Age movement into our workplace environment. His Christian perspective, founded on God's Word contained in the Bible, has allowed him to recognize this threat that is rapidly approaching us.



 
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Robert J. Brown
9/16/1997