The founder of the Calvary Chapel churches, Pastor Chuck Smith, is known for his emphasis on expositional Bible teaching. So it was quite a surprise, when recently reading his 2005 book, When Storms Come, to see Smith favorably quoting the late Catholic mystic, Anthony De Mello (p. 137).

De Mello wrote the contemplative classic called Sadhana: A Way to God and in that book says:

To silence the mind is an extremely difficult task. How hard it is to keep the mind from thinking, thinking, thinking, forever thinking, forever producing thoughts in a never ending stream. Our Hindu masters in India have a saying: one thorn is removed by another. By this they mean that you will be wise to use one thought to rid yourself of all the other thoughts that crowd into your mind. One thought, one image, one phrase or sentence or word that your mind can be made to fasten on. (A Time of Departing, p. 75).

In another section of Smith's book, he instructs readers to practice a "Spiritual Exercise" that uncomfortably resembles an Eastern style meditation exercise (pp. 102, 103). And yet in another section of the book, there is mention of Jewish Kabbalist (Jewish mystic) Lawrence Hoffman who has strong interfaith sympathies (p. 107).

We contacted Calvary Chapel last week and talked to Pastor John Mann. He told us that someone other than Pastor Smith had done a final editing of the book and inserted these comments unbeknownst to Chuck Smith. When asked whether Chuck Smith would make a public statement warning the Christian community about the book, Mann said he knew of no plans for that.

On pages 102 and 103 of When Storms Come, readers are told there is a "practical way" to alleviate stress in our lives through a "spiritual exercise" in which we are to "sit up so your spine is straight, inhale slowly, relax your muscles, then slowly exhale. Place your hands on your lap with your palms up, but make a fist as if holding on to something. Imagine you carry all your anxieties in your hands ... observe the rhythm of your breath." While no mention of repeating a word or phrase is made, using this type of language could set the reader up to be open and receptive to more blatant and dangerous forms of these practices. Basically a Christian shouldn't have to practice some kind of technique to enjoy the presence of God. (See Ephesians 2:18 and Romans 5:2) The whole rationale behind the contemplative prayer movement is that a Christian is somehow hindered or limited in his or her access to God while in a normal state.

For the sake of the thousands of people who may have already read Smith's book, we hope that a public statement will be made by Calvary Chapel to warn readers about the book ... We also hope and pray that Pastor Smith will let Calvary Chapel pastors in his denomination know that he stands against contemplative spirituality.

Incidentally, the foreword to When Storms Come was written by Chuck Smith Jr., son of Pastor Smith. Smith Jr. is pastor of Capo Beach, Calvary Chapel in California and recently returned from a sabbatical at a Catholic monastery. In Smith Jr.'s book, The End of the World as We Know It, he reveals his affinity with the contemplative when he states:

More and more Protestant Christians - and we are way behind the Roman Catholics on this score - are discovering a new, yet old way of reading the Bible: lectio divina. The "divine reading" is a simple method of listening to God speak through the Bible to your heart rather than your brain ... I doubt that the current interest in Christian spirituality is simply a fad.... Esther de Waal's The Celtic Way of Prayer is one of many books that offers spiritual expression in a variety of paths that have long been minimized or overlooked." (p. 103).

Referring to this "Celtic spirituality," Smith, Jr. says: "There is something so natural and appealing about this earthy, practical spirituality that I find myself wanting to adopt it in my daily routine" (p. 104). But in the book, The Celtic Way of Prayer, de Waal tells readers to do the sign of the Cross and says:

... lectio, the monastic way of praying with a phrase from Scripture, repeating it, rocking it back and forward, letting it move into the depths of one's own self until it goes beyond words, into silence, into contemplation.

The End of the World As We Know It is riddled with quotes by contemplatives and New Age sympathizers, including Leonard Sweet, whom Smith Jr. quotes twice from Sweet's book Quantum Spirituality. Sweet's book is a handbook on interspirituality saying that all things are interconnected (a Buddhist/Hindu concept) to each other.

It is hard not to wonder what Chuck Smith Sr. was thinking by having his son write the foreword to this book, and hard not to wonder if perhaps Smith Jr. is the mystery editor.