Lighthouse Trails Research Project - Exposing Contemplative Spirituality

Lighthouse Trails is a Christian publishing company. While we hope you will read the books we have published, we also provide extensive free research, documentation, and news on our Research site, blog, and newsletter.

We pray that the books as well as the online research will be a blessing to the body of Christ and a witness to those who have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

What is Contemplative Spirituality?

CONTACTING US

Important Note: If you try to reach Lighthouse Trails through email and do not receive an answer from us within a timely manner, please either re-email your comments or call us. Unexplainably, we do not receive all our email, and some of our email to others does not reach its destination. Phone calling, faxing, and regular mail are the most reliable methods of communication at this time.

Using Our Material

Lighthouse Trails Research Project exists as a service to the body of Christ, helping to equip in the defense of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and of the biblical Christian faith. While all of our own articles (and books) are copyrighted material, we want the material to be available to be used on other websites, in newsletters, newspapers, on radio, in articles, and in books. Please click here for guidelines to using our material.

If you know someone who is looking for a Christian college, university, or seminary to attend, please encourage that person to use caution and discernment. Many Christian colleges, universities, and seminaries are promoting contemplative spirituality and the emerging church. As a service to the body of Christ, we provide a partial list of those schools that are doing so. You may click here to review this list.

We also provide a partial list of schools that DO NOT promote contemplative spirituality and the emerging church. You may click here to view that list.

When choosing a school, it is always a good idea to find out which textbooks will be used in the courses.

Below are a few of the articles we have written on the subject of contemplative colleges:

Christian Colleges - A Dangerous Place For Young Christians - June 2006

Back to School - Is Your College Student Safe? - August 2006

The Shape of Things to Come - Biola University - September 2006

A Glimpse of the Future of Christian Higher Education - March 2007

Parent Alert: Do You Know Where Your College Students are Attending Church? - April 2008

Todd Bentley Revival Ending - Returns to Ignite

A Commentary

by Slaughtering the Sheep Blog

August 2, 2008

The tents are coming down!

After today's service, the tents in Lakeland are coming down, and the revival is moving back to Ignited Church where it originated. The revival was slated to end August 23rd, but with dwindling crowds, the hefty price tag may be too much for those in charge of the revival to continue, and it is shutting down early.

When the so-called revival first began, Bentley made the bold statement that God told him this revival would continue until the second coming of the Lord. Either God was mistaken, or Bentley was speaking presumptuously in the name of God....

What does this mean for his enablers such as Patricia King, Bob Jones, Stacey Campbell, Che Ahn, Paul Cain, Rick Joyner, and others who prophesied over Todd in his commissioning? Click here to read this entire commentary.

For more information:

Fresh Fire ministries announces Bentley revival returns to Ignited Church

LTRP Articles on Bentley Revival

Contemplative Spirituality and the Todd Bentley Revival

Trinity Western University Professor Promotes Tantric-Like Spirituality - Serious Implications for Christianity

Note: This article is of a sensitive nature and is not suitable for children or pre-teens.

On July 26th, the Vancouver Sun newspaper printed an article titled "Sex Brings Christians Closer to God." The article gives a warning that states: "The content of this story may be offensive to some readers." But for discerning Christians, what may be equally offending is the fact that the article features a Christian professor from an evangelical university (Trinity Western University in BC).

Reporting that there is a growing acceptance of tantric sex in our society, the Sun features psychologist Chuck MacKnee, a professor at TWU. MacKnee has been researching and writing about a Christian version of tantric sex, what he calls "spiritual sex," since the 1990s.

According to the Sun article, MacKnee believes that "ultimately in sex we're going to meet God"; he says that "humans' relationship with God is essentially erotic." The article admits that evangelicals, like MacKnee, who are "teaching about spiritual sex are in some ways catching up with Eastern-influenced New Age spirituality."

Tantra is the name of the ancient Hindu sacred texts that contain certain rituals and secrets. Some deal with taking the energies brought forth in meditation through the chakras and combining them with love-making to enhance sexual experiences (Yungen, FMSC, p. 115). Essentially, tantric sex is when sexual activity is combined with mystical meditation and the altered states of consciousness that meditation produces. The Sun article states:

Sensual spirituality has been popularized in the West through Hindu Tantric ritual, which links sexual energy with spiritual liberation.

In 1996, Professor MacKnee wrote a report titled "Peak Sexual and Spiritual Experience: Exploring the Mystical Relationship." In the paper, MacKnee refers to mystics like John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila as examples of those who understood erotic spiritual experience. He states:

It is significant to note that mystics have traditionally expressed their experience in the language of sexual love. (p.. 2)

In his report, MacKnee leaves no question that he is referring to mystical spirituality. He embraces "the characteristics of peak mystical experiences and how these characteristics are related to peak sexual and peak spiritual experiences" (p. 99) and says that sexuality involves entering "an altered state of consciousness." (p. 4) From the Sun, it states:

As in Celtic Christian tradition, MacKnee believes being sensual and sexual creates a "thin zone" between humans and God, reducing the usually thick barrier between this world and the sacred realm.

In Faith Undone, Roger Oakland explains the term, thin places or thin zones: "This term 'thin place' [zone] originated with Celtic spirituality (i.e., contemplative) and is in line with panentheism ... Thin places imply that God is in all things, and the gap between God, evil, man, everything thins out and ultimately disappears in meditation (pp. 114-115).

MacKnee--and others like him such as Mary Anne McPherson Oliver (Conjugal Spirituality, a primer on tantra) and Gary Thomas, (who quotes Oliver twelve times in his popular Christian book Sacred Marriage and encourages mantra meditation in his book Sacred Pathways)--is closing the gap between Christianity and Eastern religion through his views on mystical sexuality.

Ray Yungen explains the implications of the move to bring tantra into our society:

Once completely off-limits to the masses of humanity, tantra, like all other New Age methodologies, is now starting to gain increasing popularity. A Google search on the Internet shows 6,600,000 [now over 12,000,000] entries for the word tantra! This union of sexuality and Eastern spirituality is a perfect example to illustrate just how much the New Age has permeated our society as it has affected even the most intimate areas of people's lives.

The potential to impact a very great number of people, especially men, was brought out in an article by a sex worker who incorporates "Tantric Bodywork" into her services. She paints a very sad portrait of the dynamics of the "enormous sex industry" in which millions of stressed and unhappy men seek out "erotic release" from women who are just as unhappy and stressed as their clients. She observes that there is a "culturally rampant phenomenon that spouses are disconnected from each other."

To remedy this tragic interplay of exploitation, she has turned to Tantric Union to give her clients what she feels is not just sex but "union with the divine." After she read a book called Women of the Light: The New Sacred Prostitute, she turned her erotic business into a "temple." Of this temple, she says it is:

...dedicated to being a haven of the sacred, a home for the embodiment of spirit, filled with altars, sacred objects, plants, art, dreamy sensual music, blissful scents. My space is home to Quan Yin [a Buddhist goddess], crystals blessed by the Entities of John of God [a Brazilian spirit channeler].

Now the "multitudes of men" who come to her get much more than they bargained for. In the past, wives and girlfriends needed only to worry about sexually transmitted diseases from cheating husbands and boyfriends, but now their men may instead bring home spiritual entities!

Most readers might think that tantra is something exceedingly obscure that would never attract average people. But the movie industry thinks otherwise. In a 2003 movie, Hollywood Homicide (starring Harrison Ford, one of the industry's leading men), viewers were presented with a brief snippet of tantric sex in one scene where fellow police officers opened the locker of Ford's rookie detective partner and out falls a book (which the camera focuses on) about tantra, revealing the side-kick's spiritual/sexual affinities (incidentally, he also teaches yoga in the film). (For Many Shall Come in My Name, 2nd ed., pp. 115-116)

If contemplative Christians begin to incorporate their mystical practices with their sexual lives (a Christian version of tantric sex), the results will be devastating to the church, and we predict sexual perversion will be more rampant than ever. Why? Because if the silence (altered states) reached during contemplative prayer is really demonic realms then tantric sex is another venue of the hidden darkness that Jesus spoke of.

These assertions may sound absurd and far-fetched to some readers, but evidence of the truth of this does exist. For instance, Henri Nouwen (who, along with Thomas Merton, is one of the top icons of the contemplative prayer movement), in the last book he wrote, The Sabbatical Journey, favorably revealed how he listened to audio tapes on the seven chakras, which is the basis for tantric sex (p. 20). Also in Nouwen's book, he makes mention of his encounter with a gay mystic named Andrew Harvey, whom Nouwen referred to as his soul friend (spiritual mentor) and how much Harvey's mysticism had touched him (p. 149). And yet Harvey's mysticism includes the tantric element. In a conference (The International Conference on Sacred Sexuality), Harvey led a workshop called "Sexual Liberation, Tantra, and Sacred Activism".

As for Chuck MacKnee at Trinity Western University, he "admits his research has 'raised some eyebrows,' both in secular academia and Christian circles. But there are always waiting lists for his TWU classes, and his private therapy practice is full."

As believers who are to "shine as lights in the world," we must flee the deeds of darkness and "become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation." We cannot do this in our own strength, but Jesus Christ living inside us will enable us through His mercy and grace: "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).

Dalai Lama and Rick Warren Both Preach Compassion in Interfaith Settings

by Understand the Times with Roger Oakland

The following article about the Dalai Lama explains that his purpose in spending so much time in meditation is to promote compassion as the key to making planet earth a better place. This would mean working together with leaders of all religions in a cooperative effort.

This is very interesting in light of the fact that Pastor Rick Warren is holding a conference at Saddleback August 16, 2008 titled "Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion."

Further, in an article we posted July 21 titled "McCain, Obama to Appear Together at California Megachurch", the following statement was made: "In conjunction with the Civil Forum event, Warren will convene an interfaith meeting with about 30 Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders to discuss joint projects that can benefit all Americans." Notice the interesting common denominator with the two plans - the Dalai Lama's plan and Rick Warren's plan - working together with all religions to benefit all.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with having compassion for others - however, uniting together with other religions for a common cause to make the world a better place, may well end up being a slippery slope that will someday lead to the union of the religions of the world for the cause of peace that will eventually bring about sudden destruction by the Prince of Peace (Jesus). Click here to read this entire article.

Moody Bible Institute Looks for New President

Lighthouse Trails issued the following press release on August 1st. That day, several people each sent us a copy of an email they received from Moody after contacting MBI about our report. Each of them was sent a link to a statement Moody issued nearly a year ago titled: "Moody Responds to Lighthouse Trails." Moody has continued to state that it is not promoting contemplative spirituality or the emerging church. However, ironically, on August 1st, their program, Midday Connection, interviewed pro-emergent Dan Allender (president of Mars Hill Graduate School where Brian McLaren is an adjunct professor). In addition, Moody continues to recommend Richard Foster and Celebration of Discipline on their website (Foster is a pioneer in the evangelical contemplative prayer movement). (Also see another instance of Richard Foster on their site.)

A person from the office of Corporate Communications at Moody contacted Lighthouse Trails on August 1st. She agreed to accept the free books we offered for the search committee but asked in exchange that we remove our article from our site. In view of the interview with Allender that day and the continued promotion of Richard Foster, we felt we needed to leave the article posted. It is simply impossible to say one does not promote contemplative/emerging while promoting Richard Foster.

We are presently waiting to hear whether the books will still be accepted.

Press Release: August 1st.

According to a statement on Moody Bible Institute's website, the school is looking for a new president. Michael Easley resigned from the position in May 2008. The statement reads, in part:

The Board of Trustees is committed to this task and excited about finding the person we believe God has already chosen to be our new President ... We look forward to input from all who care about the future of the Moody Bible Institute.

As we have stated in past reports, Moody has shown an inclination toward contemplative spirituality. If you are concerned about the future of Moody, please contact them and ask them to choose a president who is aware of the dangers of contemplative spirituality and the emerging church (which would include Purpose Driven and Willow Creek). They have provided the following email address for contact: presidentsearch@moody.edu. The fax number is 312-329-4109. Lighthouse Trails has faxed and emailed to Moody Bible Institute the following letter:

Attn: President Search Committee
Moody Bible Institute

August 1, 2008

To whom it may concern,

It has come to our attention that Moody Bible Institute is searching for a new president. As we have reported in the past, we are concerned that Moody might become a contemplative/emerging college. We would like to offer a complimentary copy of A Time of Departing and of Faith Undone to each search committee member, with the hope that a Bible-believing president who is aware of the current apostasy within the church because of these mystical movements is chosen. If Moody were to choose a president that is favorable toward contemplative and/or the emerging church, it could be the spiritual ruin of an institution that has had a strong and trusted reputation for many years. While Lighthouse Trails does not claim to have all the answers, we do believe there is information in these two books that could help equip the search committee in such complex and difficult times in which we live today.

We hope to hear from you at your earliest convenience.

Lighthouse Trails Publishing
www.lighthousetrails.com
www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com

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Background Stories:

Moody Bible Institute Responds to Lighthouse Trails

Moody Bible Institute Recommends Richard Foster's Meditation! Lighthouse Trails Sends Challenge to MBI Professors

List of Contemplative Promoting Colleges

List of Christian Colleges NOT Promoting Contemplative

Bethel University New President: "Catholic friends taught me about contemplative prayer."

Christian Colleges in Crisis

Rick Warren's Global PEACE Plan versus the Great Commission

by Paul Proctor

News With Views

Jesus did not send out just anyone who was willing to tag along to help "cure societal problems."

If that's all He was attempting to accomplish in Matthew 10, He was a miserable failure because, from what the Bible teaches, society's problems continued long after the disciples returned and, in fact, got a lot worse - especially for followers of Jesus.

OneNewsNow.com recently reported the following in an article by Jim Brown titled Interfaith "cooperation" at Saddleback:

California mega-church pastor Rick Warren says Christians should not be reticent to work with Mormons, Muslims, Buddhists, and even atheists to cure societal problems.

In conjunction with the presidential forum he is hosting next month at Saddleback Church, Pastor Rick Warren will convene an interfaith meeting for 30 Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders "to discuss cooperation for the common good of all Americans."

Now I don't, for a minute, expect anyone outside the Body of Christ to appreciate the things of God, His sovereignty, His glory, His purpose, His Word or even the gospel. If you're a social worker - even a Christian working as a volunteer within a charitable, yet secular organization, you are to be commended for your service to society.

But the church was not established by Jesus Christ to partner with other world religions and beliefs to share God's glory with Allah, Joseph Smith, Buddha or Madeline Murray O'Hare. Neither were we called by Christ to bring their followers into the ministry with us. Those who have truly been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb ought to know better than this.

There is any number of popular preachers these days, both on and off TV, touting unbiblical notions to cheering crowds as if they were carrying out the Great Commission. Many of them, if not most, are convinced that their worldly success and the resulting fame and fortune they enjoy is evidence of God's approval and blessing.

The fanatical followers of these smooth talkers are so far from the truth and so taken by their preacher's voice, reasoning with them, even from the scriptures, is often like reasoning with an animal, which is why I believe Jesus said, in Matthew 7, verse 6: "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." Click here to read this entire article.

Chrysalis Walk to Emmaus

by Hungry Hearts Ministries

What is Chrysalis?

Chrysalis is the youth and young adult version of its parent movement, Walk to Emmaus. Chrysalis walks (or retreats) are called "flights" for 10th through 12th graders and "journeys" for young adults ages 19 through 24. Participants in the 72 hour retreats must be sponsored by alumni of previous retreats.

Walk to Emmaus is an adaptation of a Roman Catholic movement, Cursillo de Cristianidad, which means "little course in Christianity." This movement, designed to empower persons to "Christianize their environment," originated in Spain in 1948.

During the 1960s and 1970s Episcopalians, Lutherans and several non-denominational groups offered Cursillo. The first Cursillo weekend in the Episcopal Church was conducted in the early 1960's with help from Roman Catholic sponsors in the Diocese of Iowa. The doctrine taught in Cursillo was traditional Catholicism. In 1978, The Upper Room, which is the Spiritual Formation unit of the General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church, adapted the program for a primarily Protestant audience and began to offer it under the name The Upper Room Cursillo. The name was later changed to the more ecumenical Upper Room Walk to Emmaus. Click here to read more.

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For information on Walk to Emmaus by Upper Room, click here.

Ray Yungen August Road Tour

Lighthouse Trails author, Ray Yungen, will be visiting 8 cities this August, sharing his information about contemplative spirituality, the New Age movement, the emerging church, and the impact these belief systems are having on the church and our society. These seminars will all be free of charge and are open to the public. Below are the dates and locations. If you live near any of these cities, we hope you will get the chance to attend one of these meetings. For updated information on Ray's itinerary and for more information on the meetings below, visit his website at: A Time of Departing Ministries

1. Piqua, Ohio (near Dayton/Milwaukee)

Piqua Church of the Nazarene, July 27 - **OVER**

2. Indianapolis, Indiana

Franklin Road Baptist Church, August 2-3 **OVER**

3. Johnson County, Kansas (near Kansas City) with Warren Smith

Johnson County Calvary Chapel, August 7-9 (This conference catch be watched live from the church website.)

4. Clarinda, Iowa with Warren Smith

Calvary Chapel of Clarinda, August 10 (call for more information)

5. Cedarburg, Wisconsin

Cedarburg Cultural Center, August 16

6. Hartland, Wisconsin

Lake Country Bible Church, August 17

7. St. Paul, Minnesota

Twin City Fellowship, August 23

8. Winkler and Winnipeg, Manitoba
August 27-Sept 1

Ray will be in California during the month of October. He will be speaking in Redding, San Diego, Lodi, and other cities.

Summer/Fall 2008 Catalog

The Summer/Fall 2008 Catalog is now available. We hope you will find our selection of books and DVDs helpful and relevant.

If you would like to have a copy of the catalog sent to your home, please send your name and mailing address to: catalog@lighthousetrails.com. Please write "catalog" in the subject area of your email to us.

Summer 2008 Book Release Arriving August 11th

Our Upcoming Release, Things We Couldn't Say, Will be back from Press on August 11th! Order your copy today and receive it by August 14th.

Lighthouse Trails Presents:

Things We Couldn't Say by Diet Eman - a true and gripping story!

This is the true story of Diet Eman, a young Christian woman who joined the Christian resistance movement in the Netherlands during WWII. Together with her fiancé and other Dutch men and women, "Group Hein" risked their lives to save the lives of Jews who were in danger of becoming victims of Hitler's "final solution."

Things We Couldn't Say is an endearing and moving love story that occurs in the midst of extreme danger and often unbearable circumstances and loss. Before the war ends, Eman, her fiancé, and several in their group are arrested and sent to concentration camps - many of them lose their own lives.

This story will help us remember a time in history that should not be forgotten and will inspire us to live more courageously and stand for what is right, doing so by the power and grace of God. Things We Couldn't Say is a powerful illustration of II Corinthians 12:9, which states: "And he [the Lord] said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

Things We Couldn't Say
ISBN 978-0-9791315-7-8
Retail $14.95, 352 pages
August 2008
PRE-ORDER TODAY

Publishing News

See our Falling Sparrow series.

Click here for more publishing news.

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SAMPLE CHAPTERS OF LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS BOOKS:

Lighthouse Trails Publishing now has sample chapters available online for most of the books we publish. We believe you will find each of these books to be well-written, carefully documented, and worthwhile. Click here to read some of the chapters.

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Newsletter in Print - Coming Soon

If you would like to receive the Coming from the Lighthouse newsletter in print form by mail, please send an email to newsletters@lighthousetrails.com. Be sure and include your mailing address in the email. We will be issuing a printed newsletter several times a year for those who prefer that over the email edition or for some reason need both.

Both email and printed editions will be free.

Book Spotlights

These two important books expose the truth about contemplative spirituality, spiritual formation, and the new age.
A Time of Departing and For Many Shall Come in My Name

HOLOCAUST: LEST WE FORGET
A true story that will change your life and challenge your faith ..

"Will sweep you into 1930s Germany and back with your faith intact ... [Trapped in Hitler's Hell] carries a stark message for today's Western Christian ... will refocus your priorities and recharge your spiritual life."-Leo Hohmann, Read entire review at The Messianic Times Trapped in Hitler's Hell

See all books and DVDs on the Holocaust

The Other Side of the River by Alaskan Kevin Reeves

When mystical experiences and strange doctrines overtake his church, one man risks all to find the truth ... a true story. Read more about this important book, especially now in light of the Todd Bentley "revival" in Florida.

Find out the truth about the emerging church and the avenues through which it is entering Christianity.

Faith Undone by Roger Oakland

Find out more about the book that tells it like it is.

Featured Resources