Spiritual Research Network

Spiritual Research Network, LLC is an independent Christian outreach committed first and foremost to the Lord Jesus Christ and the integrity of His Word. The mission of Spiritual Research Network is to equip the church, encourage biblical discernment, and evangelize the lost. Here you can learn about our beliefs, find forgiveness, and understand what Spiritual Research Network is not. Read more about SRN and watch about SRN video by Chris Lawson.

Proclaiming the Gospel and Encouraging Biblical Discernment

Spiritual Research Network's main goal is to proclaim the biblical Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We also seek to encourage biblical discernment amongst committed believers in Jesus Christ, and this is why we research, inform and warn about the dangers of cults, spiritual abuse, and mystical/occult based spirituality. We encourage you to learn more about Spiritual Research Network, shop our online store, and read our disclaimer.
New Page—The Dangers of Yoga!
​A Collection of Resources for Yoga-Minded Humans
This newer page features materials by various authors and off-site links to our Dangers of Yoga outreach!
New Book—To be Released in Late October, 2023
​A NEW NARRATIVE FOR A "NEW" WORLD: A Compendium of Terms To Discern Today's Dialect
Authors: Chris Lawson, Kevin Reeves, Warren B. Smith, Mary Danielsen, Carl Teichrib, and Richard and Linda Nathan.
Abstract water colors on book cover.
A New Narrative For A "New" World
Pastors Endorsing Mediumship?
Warning about Steve and Sarah Berger, their book Have Heart, and the endorsers of Have Heart--Greg Laurie, James Robison, William Paul Young, Senator Bill Frist, and others.
  • Interview: Chris Lawson & Doreen Virtue (a former psychic medium)
  • Click video below or watch on YouTube.
​Text below updated Sep 28, 2023
​Pastor Steve Berger, the founding pastor (now formerly) at Grace Chapel Leipers Fork, TN (formerly a long-time Calvary Chapel affiliate), wrote a book titled Have Heart—Bridging the Gulf Between Heaven and Earth. Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Church (Harvest Crusades) and others have wholeheartedly endorsed Steve and Sarah Berger's book. The book rejects "channeling, seances, or mediums trying to contact the dead" (Have Heart, 2010, pp.94-95), while at the same time, under the subheading Spontaneous, Steve and Sarah Berger state, "Our meetings with Josiah [deceased son] have been very much like the ones C. S. Lewis described..." (Have Heart, p.101). "Spontaneous...meetings" ? There is much in this book that contradicts Scripture, including the concept of deceased loved ones being "on mission" to earth to minister to us, and that they are alive, active, present, and "surrounding" believers. Unfortunately, Steve Berger outright refused to accept Biblical correction and repent of these necromantic teachings when I spoke to him on the telephone over 10 years ago. And, Greg Laurie would not even speak with me on the telephone about his own personal endorsement of the Berger's book.

Furthermore, Steve Berger continues to serve on two Promise Keepers Leadership Boards — the Leadership Board and the Pastoral Advisory Board. I contacted Promise Keepers and sent a 10 page letter of concern detailing many concerns about Have Heart and the Berger's teachings. I also included numerous documentation links and the YouTube link for my Interview with Doreen Virtue (video below). I sent this letter to the Promise Keepers Leadership Board on June 30, 2023 — 91 days ago! However, Steve Berger still remains on the Promise Keepers Leadership boards. Please watch this video interview below that expresses our concerns in great detail, and click here to view articles about Have Heart.
- Chris Lawson
Updated and Expanded 2nd Edition Booklet
​A Directory of Authors (Three NOT Recommended Lists)
“The new edition includes many additional names, still under three categories and all alphabetized for easy look-up. Chris Lawson has done extensive research to compile and update these lists, and we pray his work here continues to serve believers who are seeking to discern between truth and error. Please note that this is not a comprehensive list, and sadly, were that the case, this would be a very large book.” Click these links to View Online or Order Copies.
Library of books.
A Directory of Authors
​Note to Reader: The idea of naming names is not an exercise in arrogance. Scripture names names to protect the church. So too, the church today needs to know the names of famous people either deviating from Scripture or blatantly promoting and endorsing false doctrines and aberrant teachings. Some related New Testament examples include: Simon Magus (Acts 8); Watch out for false teachers—“dogs, “evil workers” and “the concision” (Phil 3:2); Hymeneaus and Alexander (1 Tim. 1:20); Phygellus and Hermogenes (2 Tim. 1:15); Hymenaeus and Philetus (2 Tim. 2:17); Janes and Jambres (2 Tim. 3:8); Alexander the Coppersmith (2 Tim. 4:4); Demas (2 Tim. 4:9); Diotrophes (3 John).
Newer Videos
Updated Pages & Articles
Personal Safety and Encouraging Biblical Discernment
In an ever-changing landscape of world events, crisis and chaos, where do you stand when it comes to preparing for hard times? Are we really...    Watch on Vimeo or YouTube.

Resources for Education, Equipping and Evangelism

Our website comprises a small sampling of resources. We do hope to launch our new website sometime in 2023, and we are in need of prayer, and funds, for this project. You can our new and old archives, read sample articles, and listen and learn on our audio and video pages. See also links page for off-site resources, and YouTube channels we host and help.

​YouTube Channels: Chris Lawson, Spiritual Research Network, ​A Time of Departing, New Age To Amazing Grace
Vimeo: Chris Lawson Arhive
'Letting Sarah Young's Jesus Calling "Jesus"--
Speak for Himself!'
Unbiblical, occult titles ascribed to "Jesus"?
YouTube / Vimeo
See expose SRN sister site.
40 Million+ Jesus Calling Books Sold?
400+ Podcasts?
Embedded occult training principles?
YouTube​
See expose SRN sister site.
Christian Journaling
or Psychic Channeling?
—How Evangullible is
​the Church Today?
Book cover - girl with strawberry blonde hair writing in spiritual journal.
CHRISTIAN JOURNALING OR PSYCHIC CHANNELING?: A Critical Comparison of the Jesus Calling Series ​with Occult Training Literature
50 Occult training principles?
In the Jesus Calling Series?
Meditating, connecting, and channeling?
Free Online Read (SRN sister site).
Order from SRN store.
Book cover of Evangullible by Warren Smith - multi-colored stained glass window on black background.
EVANGULLIBLE

Evangullible—21st Century Christianity?
​Is Christendom Really being "Revitalized"? 
Are pastors really encouraging necromancy? 
​Author Warren B. Smith (off-site link).
Order from SRN store.
Necromancy in the Church?
Communications with
​the Deceased; but "Alive"?
Have Heart—Bridging the Gulf Between Heaven and Earth
  • Receiving "communications" and "signs" from deceased loves ones?
  • Communications from deceased loves ones?
A closer look at Steve and Sarah Berger's book, Have Heart​—Bridging the Gulf Between Heaven and EarthPastor

​Steve Berger was the founding pastor of Grace Chapel ( a Calvary Chapel affiliate church) in Tennessee, and he and his wife Sarah  served for there many years until they moved on. Now, Pastor Steve  is the founder and primary ambassador of Ambassador Services International, located on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. His influence is far and wide and he continues to be applauded and elevated as time goes on. Pastor Steve also serves as a board member of Promise Keepers and he is also on the Promise Keepers pastoral advisory board. He also has had the opportunity to serve as Guest Chaplain to the U.S Senate and opened one of the assembly meetings in prayer.

 Also of note is the fact that Pastor Steve is being hailed as one who can lead us from repentance to revival, and he teaches heavily on repentance in many places that he speaks at. Of course this is well and good to teach on biblical repentance, and this is very much needed in our age. However, there are some things of immense concern that many people should realize about Steve and Sarah Berger. Pastor Steve personally told me the following on the telephone in 2012, regarding his deceased son Josiah:
“God has made an exception at this time in history for the Berger family.
​We are indeed in communication with our deceased son Josiah.”
—Pastor Steve Berger
​This sounds like something Benny Hinn would say, or Sean Feucht, Beni Johnson, John Crowder, or Todd Bentley, who among many others, have either stated that they are involved with the deceased, or are grave sucking/soaking, tombstone hugging or calling upon the angels for help. It also sound very much like what the apostate Rev. James Albert Pike believed and immersed himself in, back in the 1960's, when he was allegedly in communication with his own deceased son back (The Other Side).

Regarding Steve Berger's statement above, I had actually contacted Steve about my concerns regarding some of the statements he and his wife put in their Have Heart book.  I expressed my condolences to him regarding his son, and as  graciously as I tried to could communicate with him, my efforts were not received well—at all. You can read more about this, and also what happened when I tried to contact Greg Laurie, James Robison, and Chuck Missler, all of whom endorsed Steve and Sarah Berger's book. Author of The Shack William P. Young and other well known figures endorsed Have Heart also. You can read more about the Have Heart endorsers and view links at this page, under my sample articles.
—Chris Lawson

Calvary Chapel Alert for Pastors and Leaders

Documenting the Progression of Compromise and Ecumenical Relations​

This Spiritual Research Network page is not meant to bring unnecessary criticism to any pastors or church and ministry leaders within the Calvary Chapel movement. I know many of them are sincerely seeking to do all they can to faithfully preach and teach the Word of God, whilst seeking to have balanced churches... (Read more and see archives.)
A Spiritual Abuse Questionnaire
—How To Know If You Are Being
Spiritually Abused or Deceived
Booklet cover of man walking alone down country road
View at ChrisLawsonStore.com
The Chosen TV Series
​​--10 Critical Concerns
Booklet cover of film studio with old movie reels and directors chair
View at 'The Chosen' Archive
The Titanic & Today's Church
​—A Tale of Two Shipwrecks
Book cover of Titanic oceanliner under ominous grey sky
View at ChrisLawsonStore.com
Visit our SRN Store
Cover of The Titanic and Today's Church.
Titanic & Today's Church
Cover of Yoga and Christianity--Are They Compatible?
Yoga and Christianity?
Cover of Spiritual Abuse Questionnaire.
Spiritual Abuse Questionnaire
Cover of A Directory of Authors.
Three NOT Recommended Lists
Cover of The Alpha Course--An Evangelical Contradiction.
An Evangelical Contradiction
Cover of Taize--A Community and Worship.
Taizé - Interfaith Delusion
Cover of Faith Undone by Roger Oakland.
Faith Undone
2000 Items Mailed to Christian Pastors and Leaders
Re: The Titanic and Today's Church
As of May 2023, over 1000 books and 1000 booklets have been sent out by the Lighthouse Trails ministry.
Lighthouse Trails Does Special Mailing of Titanic Book to Nearly 600 Christian Leaders and Pastors
by Lighthouse Trails Editors

Since 2016, Lighthouse Trails has been sending out topical booklets three times a year* to a growing list of pastors and Christian leaders. Our current list contains 582 names. Last week, we sent out our fifteenth mailing, but instead of sending out booklets, this time we sent each pastor and leader a copy of Warren... Read more
Potentially Harmful and Dangerous Spiritual Practices—An A-Z Listing
​Methods and practices that could lead to occult dangers... or have proven to be harmful and extremely dangerous. Have your church leaders warned you about them? Yoga, meditation, centering prayer, Reiki, energy work, Therapeutic touch, holy laughter, shaktipat, "the Presence," passive-journaling, praying to saints, Ouija/spirit boards... Read more
Naming Names of False - Teachers, Prophets, Apostles, and Christs​
From beginning to end, God warns in His Word—the Holy Bible—about spiritual deception. False teachers, false prophets, false apostles, and even false Christs, are warned about in Scripture. Many times God names them by name. Always, His purpose of warning about them and calling them by name is because He loves humans and wants to protect people from spiritual deception... Watch video​
Jesus Calling Devotional Series—A Path to Mediumship?
Readers of A. J. Russell’s God Calling books and Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling series may reject the idea of becoming a medium, channel, or psychic if it is put plainly before them. However, if it is introduced indirectly through Christian-sounding devotions, and if the spirit being channeled is called “Jesus,” they might be more receptive... Read more​
 Jesus Calling's hidden occult principles and themes—Archive
The New York Times bestselling Christian daily devotional Jesus Calling by Sarah Young contains New Age buzzwords, extra-biblical names, pagan concepts, false teachings, and clairaudient (channeling/“clear hearing”) messages from a false Christ (spirit guide). When examining the entire multi-devotional Jesus Calling series as a whole... Read more​
The Holy Bible: It's All-Importance
  • A NATION must be truly blessed, if it were governed by no other laws than those of this blessed book; it is so complete a system, that nothing can be added to it, or taken from it; it contains every thing needful to be known or done; it affords a copy for a king (Deut. xvii. 18), and a rule for a subject...  Read more
  • THE BIBLE contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you... Read more
Major Bible Themes: Free Bible Study & Group Study Resources
​Are you looking for biblical study materials? Do you know what "Bible themes" are? Are your church leaders allowing false teachings?  If you've answered yes—it is time for a change!  Read more
Taizé: A Community and Worship—Ecumenical Reconciliation or an Interfaith Delusion?​
Description: Over 100,000 young people visit Taizé Community in France every year. Many of them are from Christian homes. What's more, an increasing number of churches are introducing Taizé worship practices in their church services. Just what exactly is Taizé?: In the 1940s in France during World War II, a Swiss Reformed Protestant man named Roger Louis Schütz-Marsauche began reaching out to suffering people, in particular refugees from the war. Through his efforts, Taizé Community, located in Taizé, Burgundy, France, was birthed.
Contemplative Concerns: The Literature—Where's Your Church Heading?
​Samples You Need to See—Full Length video (Part 1-4) by Chris Lawson
Watch Full-Size Video on Chris's Vimeo site.
  • Part 1.  Introduction: A biblical warning and brief statement about various genres of mystical/occult oriented Contemplative Spirituality "centering-prayer" literature infiltrating churches and Christian communities.
  • Part 2 (Minute 9:35).  Considering biblical "separation" from false teachers and false teachings (Romans 16, v.17-19), as opposed to gleaning from "Christian mystics" and experiential practices that are virtually identical to the occult training of the Hindus.
  • Part 3 (Minute 30:33).  Fr. Thomas Keating is the Modern Day Pioneer of the international Contemplative Outreach Ltd. "centering-prayer" movement. As such, he seeks to "integrate" Christian spirituality with the occult "Serpent Power" of Hinduism, otherwise known as Kundalini energy. According to Hindu and Buddhist occultists, "Kundalini-shakti" lies coiled at the base of the spine, awaiting arousal via centering prayer/occult meditation.
  • ​Part 4 (Minute  48:46). Contemplative Spirituality's dangerous Christian Mysticism/occult hybrid form of "Centering Prayer" is inextricably tied to Interfaith (Inter-religious) Dialogue, Ecumenism, and the ever-increasing "Global Oneness" New Spirituality/New Gospel of the New Age movement.
Friends of SRN / Teaching
The Ministries listed here are suggested resources for your edification and growth. Although they are not directly part of our Spiritual Research Network ministry, we hope that they can be of help to you, your families, and your friends. 
Pastor Steve Shively
Refuge Church
Website / YouTube
Mike Oppenheimer
​Let Us Reason Ministries
Website / DVD/Video
Ray Yungen
​A Time of Departing Ministries
Website / YouTube
Pastor Paul Williams
Bethesda Shalom
Website / YouTube / The Sanctuary
Roger Oakland
Understand The Times
Website / YouTube
Caryl Matrisciana
​CarylTV (Facebook)
Website / YouTube
Warren B. Smith
​New Age To Amazing Grace
Website / YouTube
Sandy Simpson
​Apologetics Coordination Team
Website / Audio/Video
Dave Hunt / T.A. McMahon
The Berean Call
Website / YouTube