BY SOLA SISTERS

In a recent post about Monvee, we talked about Catholic mystic Thomas Merton who once compared mystical meditation to the same powerful experience generated by mind-altering drugs.  And as we noted, the problem with mystical meditation is that it is far more dangerous than drugs.  Monvee, the new product put out by Leadership Network, markets itself as a way for Christians to draw closer to God through something called “Spiritual Formation.”  But, the Spiritual Formation techniques taught by Monvee, which are the same thing as the “mystical meditation” referenced by Thomas Merton, are identical to classic occultic meditation practices taught in Hinduism, Buddhism, wicca, paganism,etc.

God, however, is very specific about how we are to “draw closer” to Him, and that is only through the blood of Christ (Hebrews 10).  And yet most religions outside of Christianity have some version of mysticism that they practice for the specific purpose of drawing close to God.  So the question must be asked: if these faith traditions are outside of Christ, are they getting to God?  We know the answer to that, and it is obviously, no, they aren’t getting to God.  We may not be getting much in the way of deep doctrinal teaching in our churches today, but we at least know that much, right?  We know that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no-one comes to the Father but by him.  However, we also know from the testimonies of mystics that they are experiencing something, so what is it?  It is a “counterfeit Holy Spirit experience” which “feels” very real and very spiritual.  What they’re experiencing is spiritual…only it is not from God.

As a former mystic, the biggest blind spot I see in today’s Christian culture is almost an innocence about spiritual deception, a thinking that as Christians we can’t be deceived. A belief that if, spiritually speaking, something were “off” about a teaching or practice, somehow we would just “know” it because it would “feel wrong.” But even more than that, there also seems to be this idea that only we, as Christians, have true spiritual experiences, that somehow these mystics must not be having “real” experiences, that it’s all smoke and mirrors.  This is absolutely not true.  What these mystics are experiencing is real, and it is spiritual, and mystics wouldn’t have been doing these things for centuries if they weren’t connecting to…..something.  God graciously and mercifully has given us many warnings so that we would know how to defend ourselves against spiritual deception.  We are warned that Satan himself can masquerade as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14).  We are told that we must test all things (1 John 4:1), because none of us are beyond being deceived. Click here to continue reading.

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