"How to witness to Buddhists" (Meet Jim Stephens, Evangelist to the Buddhists)

When I first started looking more closely at the creepy stealth evangelism of John Morehead (as discussed here, here and here), I had no idea that there existed such an extensive rats' nest of evangelizing efforts aimed at modern western adherents of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Paganism. But every time I found the name of yet another missionary that John Morehead has collaborated with over the last 25 years, yet another network of missiological schemes aimed at "alternative" religions came into view.

This post focuses on James C. ("Jim") Stephens, who wandered in the wilderness of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism around the same time that John Morehead was involved in an LDS splinter group (Community of Christ, aka RLDS). Both men eventually (around the same time) discovered The One And Only True Way, and have ever since been laboring in the fields of the Lord in order to return the West to Christianity and return Christianity to theological homogeneity.

A highly revealing theme in Stephens' oeuvre is his obsessive hostility for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the way in which this contrasts so glaringly with his tenderhearted affection for the late Watergate burglar and jailhouse convert Charles Colson.


Buddhist Studies Center Expands
from a 1990 article in the journal of the U.S. Center for World Missions
"The Institute of Buddhist Studies has recently been renamed The Sonrise Center for Buddhist Studies, according to director Jim Stephens. Jim filed the following profile on this growing research center:

"Sonrise Center for Buddhist Studies' mission focuses on conducting research to impact the evangelization of the unreached Buddhist world.

"Our first objective is to provide accurate information about unreached Buddhist people groups. Second, we provide research and training for mission strategy and evangelism to Buddhists. For example, recently Soviet Christians working to reach the Buddhist Buriat people in Siberia requested additional information about how best to work among Tibetan Buddhists. So we sent off a 300-page report. (Incidentally, there are at least four Buddhist unreached peoples in the Soviet Union: the Buriats, the Kal-myks, Tuvinians and Evenks.)"


NEWS: America Becoming Fertile Mission Field for Buddhism
Christianity Today article from 1994 by Stan Guthrie
"In an attempt to discover the religion's appeal to growing numbers of Americans, Terry Muck [a board member of Morehead's Foundation for Religious Diplomacy], associate professor of comparative religion at Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas, interviewed Americans who had converted. 'The most common response I got was that it offered them a peace and contentment through the meditative technique," says Muck, author of Those Other Religions in Your Neighborhood. 'The idea seemed to be that American culture is so hectic and busy and stressful, and the various kinds of Buddhist meditation techniques [are] an antidote they hadn't found in … the Christianity that they had grown up with.'

"James Stephens, a former Buddhist who launched the evangelical Sonrise Center for Buddhist Studies in Sierra Madre, California, six years ago to develop information and training to evangelize Buddhists, estimates there are 2 million in this country. Other research says there are only 558,000 active Buddhists in North America.


Sharing the Way with the Middle Way: How to witness to Buddhists
by Darlene Franklin
"So, how do we share our faith with people who don't acknowledge needing anything outside themselves to find true salvation from their sin, spiritual suffering and decay? First of all, we must pray. Pray for opportunities to share and minister, for God to shine His light into the darkness created by Buddhism and offer to pray for your Buddhist friends and acquaintances. Your prayers mean a lot to that person, since he doesnt have a connection with God, says Jim Stephens, director of the Sonrise Center for Buddhist Studies."


I Was a Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist For 14 Years
by Jim Stephens
"Convicted of my sin against a holy God, I laid down my burden at the Savior’s feet and gave my life to Him. That night, my wife — a Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist for 16 years — also believed. What grace! Nichiren, the self-proclaimed Japanese True Buddha that we had followed for so many years, said that if he found a teacher greater than himself he would follow him. In our case, we were found by a greater Teacher — the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal God, before whom 'every knee shall bow.' Hallelujah!"


The Dalai Lama and 9/11
Jim Stephens interviews fellow Buddhaphobes Victor and Victoria Trimondi in 2003.
"What primarily concerns us about the interreligious ceremony in the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. is the level of naivety in the West. For the past 25 years, the Dalai Lama has quietly performed the Kalachakra Tantra ('The Wheel of Time'), the highest of all ancient Tantric initiations for tens of thousands of spiritual novices in the West; introducing Tantric ideology, secret sexual practices, and magic rituals integrated into the context of his religious-political worldview. Critical voices have been raised, while he continues to secretly transmit the Kalachakra’s prophetic vision of the establishment of a universal Buddhocracy (Shambhala) in which spiritual and worldly power are united in one person, the 'world emperor' (Chakravartin), wherein other religions will no longer exist."


The Buddhist Next Door
an article by James Stephens published in Ministry Today magazine in 2005
"The primary struggle for every generation that is dedicated to missions and evangelism is coming to terms with how does the true gospel get translated into mainstream culture without compromise? How do we keep our faith and maintain our moral and theological standards while still living in the midst of an increasingly pluralistic society?"


The Dalai Lama and the Anatomy of Politically Correct Buddhism
A 2008 video by the Sonrise Center for Buddhist Center, headed by Jim Stephens
"I will always treasure the precious memory of witnessing for our Lord with James [Stephens] (who is reading the media piece linked above on the Dalai Lama). We witnessed to the kids against the lies of Buddhism and the Dalai Lama together in Irvine, CA, when America’s public school kids lined up under the demonic prayer flags hanging overhead [waiting to enter the auditorium where the Dalai Lama would be speaking] and were required to address the Dalai Lama as “His Holiness” in 2004 ..." [Quote from the website of Dwayna Litz, friend and proud collaborator of Jim Stephens in the battle against demonic Buddhism, from her post: Who is the "Man of Peace"?]


RED ALERT COUNTDOWN:
4 days until the Kalachakra Ceremony in Washington, D.C.
Stephens became positively unhinged in the Summer of 2011 because of Kalachakra Initiation offered by His Holiness in Washington DC in July. Here's an example.
"Is it any coincidence that US President Barack H. Obama is supporting a war in Egypt? That he’s called 'The Western Lama' by the Dalai Lama? By others in the Middle East, a King? That in 'Batman Begins' a 'supernatural secret society' out of the Himalayas is out to establish a new order of things by destroying the unredeemable Gotham City? That we presently are fighting a war in Afghanistan, where Greek magic came into contact with the teachings of tantric Buddhism. That out of the region of Swat, in Pakistan, Al Quaeda’s stronghold, Padmasambhava, the Tantric Tibetan Shaman launches out to Tibet where he conquers Tibet’s indigenous gods and converts it to Vajrayana Buddhism? That the hosts of the upcoming visit of the Dalai Lama to Chicago following the Kalachakra ceremony in Washington DC is the Theosophical Society , the White Buddhists?"


July 6 Brutal Earth Ritual Being Conducted by Time god,
the Dalai Lama in Washington, DC
And here's another example.
"Before providing an explanation of the Earth Ritual from a Tibetan Buddhist viewpoint, it is imperative to set the record straight from the beginning. What those on the ground in Washington, DC are witnessing is a physical religious rite of possession to establish the Shambhala Empire."


April 2012 Remembering Chuck Colson
"Colson’s speech was without a doubt one of the most memorable moments in our history as he clearly, nobly and unashamedly shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was as if we were on a modern day Mars Hill hearing the Apostle Paul reasoning with the crowd gathered at Areopagus. His life is a reminder for us to earnestly contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints. Thank Yeshua for giving us men like Chuck who fought the good fight of faith."


Why is the Dalai Lama Coming to San Diego?
by Jim Stephens, April 2012
"So since he’s in our neighborhood and works for the US government anyway, why not include a few gigs along the way? No seriously. His swing began three days ago in Hawaii where he and his entourage right about now should be preparing to catch a jet this afternoon to his engagements in San Diego which will be partially funded by Pam and Pierre Omidyar the founder of EBay. As winners of the 2011 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy recognizing the impact of their extensive giving of over $1Billion, they also contributed over $50million dollars to the Hawaii Community Foundation funding initiatives such as the Pillars of Peace which co-hosted the Dalai Lama at two talks at the University of Hawaii. Deep pockets."


The Dalai Lama 101
A 12 part class series trashing and lying about Buddhism in general and His Holiness the Dalai Lama in particular "from a Christian perspective" by James C. Stephens. Here is overview of the first unit:
Choose Wisely: Jesus or the Dalai Lama
Synopsis: After the passage of the Immigration Reform Act in 1965, the religious demographic in the United States began to change radically as doors were opened to immigrants from nations professing a faith different than the traditional Judaeo-Christian European matrix. Discernment is a rare commodity in any age, but especially in a pluralistic society. Buddhism’s rapid growth is mapped out in this lesson introducing one of its chief spokesman, the XIV Dalai Lama, the god king of Tibet.