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Have
you noticed? Meditative practices are showing
up everywhere. From Yoga to Reiki to contemplative
and centering prayer, from breath prayers, the
Jesus prayer, labyrinths, and Taize worship
... meditation has greatly impacted our whole
society. Interspiritual mystics proclaim that
the people of the world will someday come together
and realize they are all one with each other
and with God, and they will accomplish this realization of unity through meditation.
Unfortunately, this unity will not conform to
the biblical foundation of unity, which is the
preaching of the Cross.
The Bible says that in latter times seducing
spirits will deceive great numbers of people.
May the Lord help us to maintain the integrity
of the gospel message of Jesus Christ, and may
each believer be given strength and wisdom to
speak the truth in love to a world rushing headlong
into darkness.
"I
[Jesus] have come as a light into the world,
that whoever believes in Me should not abide
in darkness." John 12:46
If
you find this newsletter helpful, we hope you
will pass it on to those in your own mail lists. |
Will the Next Billy Graham
Be a Mystic?
In
a recent Chicago Sun-Times article, the headline
reads, "The
Next Billy Graham?" At first glance, someone
like Rick Warren or Luis Palau (both of whom
have been mentioned to take the place of
Graham), might come to mind. But neither of
those names was mentioned in the article. Instead,
a popular emerging church leader, Rob
Bell, was named as the possible replacement.
While that may seem like a far-fetched notion
to many, the article quotes emerging leader
Brian McLaren as saying it "could very well
be true."
Bell,
a graduate of Wheaton
College (the same as Billy Graham), is the
producer for short films called Noomas.
His newest film, called "Breathe," is currently
in production:
"Each
day we take around 26,000 breaths," Bell begins
... "Our breathing should come from our stomach,
not our chest."
Doesn't
sound like anything to be too alarmed about,
right? Breathing ... we all do it to survive.
But it may be time to take a serious look at
Rob Bell's spirituality, especially in light
of some seeing him as the next Billy Graham.
In
a 2004 Christianity Today article titled Emergent
Mystique, Bell (pastor of Mars
Hill of Michigan) said, "We're rediscovering
Christianity as an Eastern religion, as a way
of life." What does Bell mean by "an Eastern
religion"? It sounds a lot like Thomas Merton
who, while he considered himself a Christian,
said he was impregnated with Sufism (Islamic
mysticism). As with most emergent and contemplative
leaders, the Christianity of the Bible is not
enough for them, and there is one main reason
it isn't ... meditation. Since the Bible lacks
any instruction on a self- induced mystical
trance, other than condemning it in the Old
Testament, contemplatives must turn to Eastern
religious techniques adopted by Catholic mystics
such as Thomas
Merton or Basil
Pennington, who have grasped onto Hindu
style meditation or latched onto New Age mystics.
You may think this is an outlandish statement,
but on March
19th 2006 (audio) Bell did just that. He
invited a Dominican sister from the Dominican
Center at Marywood in Michigan to speak at a
church service at Mars Hill. The Dominican Center
is a "Spirituality center," which offers a wide
variety of contemplative opportunities, including Reiki,
a Spiritual
Formation program, a Spiritual Director
program, labyrinths, Celtic Spirituality, enneagrams
1 and
much more.
For
those who may not be familiar with Reiki, it
is important to understand that the very word
has a connotation that resonates with the idea
of a spirit guide. In Japan, the word Reiki
is the standard term for the occult (or ghost
energy). In the Everything Reiki book, one Reiki
master divulged:
During
the Reiki attunement process, the avenue that
is opened within the body to allow Reiki to
flow through also opens up the psychic communication
centers. This is why many Reiki practitioners
report having verbalized channeled communications
with the spirit world. (A
Time of Departing, p.97)
Many
in Wicca also have embraced Reiki.
If
Rob Bell draws on a spiritual source that includes
Reiki, the path ahead for Christianity could
be very perilous. While it is unlikely that
Rob Bell will become the next Billy Graham,
if he or another contemplative/emerging leader
were to gain the momentum and reputation that
Billy Graham enjoyed for so many years, then
contemplative spirituality would make greater
inroads into Christendom than any could imagine.
Can you picture a stadium filled with sixty
thousand people, all meditating and chanting
together, all going into the silence together,
all being told that they already have divinity,
they just have to realize that they too are
Christ. It may seem like an improbable scenario
to some, but to those who understand the huge
implications of contemplative spirituality,
its one that isn't too far down the road. Instead
of singing "Just as I am" as people file to
the front of the platform, they will be chanting
the suggested words of Brennan Manning's guide,
Beatrice Bruteau, I AM, I AM.
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1. What
is an enneagram?
For
more information on Reiki, see our
research.
For
detailed documentation and better understanding
of contemplative spirituality, the New Age,
Purpose Driven and the emerging church, please
refer to A
Time of Departing.
Read the Chicago Sun-Times article,
The Next Billy Graham? |
Purpose Driven Planting Recommends
C. Peter Wagner and Brian McLaren
The Purpose Driven Planting website,
which works in partnership with Purpose Driven,
offers conferences, resources and internships
for those wanting to launch a Purpose Driven church.
On the resources page, there is a hearty
list of recommended books, which includes
titles by C. Peter Wagner, Brian
McLaren, John
Ortberg, Erwin
McManus, Andy Stanley and Ken
Blanchard.
|
"Vision Casting" - 2006 CD
Set Features Rick Warren and Ken Blanchard
 In March 2006, Oasis
Audio released a CD set featuring Rick
Warren, Bill Hybels, John Maxwell and Ken Blanchard.
From the publisher's website: "Leadership experts
and communicators will motivate and instruct emerging
leaders and seasoned veterans through compelling
topics, including: Self-Leadership, Creating a
Leadership Culture, Vision Casting, and Leading
through Change." The audio set is from Willow
Creek's 10th Anniversary Leadership Summit that
took place in 2005, just a few months after Lighthouse
Trails issued a
press release showing the connection
between Rick Warren and New Age sympathizer Ken
Blanchard. Blanchard, a professing Christian for
nearly 20 years, has a long history of promoting
meditation and endorsing books by Buddhists and
New Agers as well as holding a seat on the Board
of the New Age Hoffman
Institute. According to Rick Warren,
Blanchard signed on to help with Warren's global
peace plan. Since then Warren has shown his continued
support for Blanchard when he endorsed Blanchard's
2006 book, Lead
Like Jesus as well as offering Blanchard's
materials on the Purpose Driven Church Planting
website.
The term vision casting is discussed in Deceived
on Purpose:
As
a brand new Christian, I had been horrified
years ago to find what amounted to be a New
Age book, written by a pastor, prominently displayed
on the shelf of a local Christian bookstore.
The book was filled with everything I had just
left behind in the New Age. Cloaked in Christian
language, it encouraged the reader to use guided
visualization (now often called “vision casting”)
and other metaphysical techniques to gain whatever
it was they wanted. Pastors were encouraged
to “visualize and dream bigger churches” or
“a new mission field” or whatever else they
thought would improve their church and ministry
(Chapter
5).
|
THE ESSENCE WITHIN: DIVINITY
OR DEPRAVITY?
Do all persons need
to be "born again" in order to see or enter "the
kingdom of God" (to live in submission to God's
authority), or do they only need to nurture the
kingdom within?
by Pastor Larry De Bruyn
In common with eastern mysticism and New Age religion,
contemplative spiritualists assume that all humanity
possesses a divine essence within their souls,
an essence waiting to be awakened through meditative
contact with God. Because "God is within and permeates
all creation," one contemplative states, "Every
person can awaken to this and experience God directly."
She then adds, ". . . anyone can experience this
dynamic presence of God, because God is within
everything he creates. . . . So 'The Kingdom of
God is within you' is hardly a heretical statement."[1]
Her reference to the "kingdom-of-God-within" derives
from Jesus' statement in the Gospels where in
responding to the Pharisees' question about how
the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied,
"The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!
for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you"
(Luke 17:20b-21, KJV). As assumed by contemplative
spiritualists, did Jesus mean to infer that all
persons possess a "dynamic presence," a kingdom
of God within them?
Read the entire article, THE ESSENCE
WITHIN: DIVINITY OR DEPRAVITY? |
COLLEGE WATCH - Cornerstone
University
Cornerstone
University in Grand Rapids, Michigan states that
they have "a rich heritage of equipping students
with biblical truths to make an impact in the
world for Christ." We first learned about Cornerstone
when we posted a link last year to an excellent
article written by the president of the university,
Dr. Rex Rogers. Recently, we discovered that the
link to the article was no longer working. In
checking the University site, we did not find
the article but what we did find was that the
university now has a Spiritual
Formation program that is promoting contemplative
and the emerging church. On the Spiritual Formation resources
page, resources include many from the contemplative
and emerging camps. When students read these "excellent
books that cover important elements of discipleship"
from authors such as Brian McLaren, Donald
Miller, Richard Foster, Lauren Winner, Jim
Wallis, John
Burke and John
Ortberg, they are going to be introduced to
panentheism, interspirituality and Eastern style meditation.
In addition to this, on Cornerstone's recommended
reading list (also part of their Spiritual
Formation program), they have books by contemplatives
and emergent leaders: Brennan Manning, Brian McLaren, Mike
Yaconelli, Robert
Webber, Dallas Willard and Richard Foster.
Furthermore, a search on Cornerstone's search
engine brings up 17 documents with Brian
McLaren and 19 with Leonard
Sweet. Incidentally, Brian McLaren was a chapel
speaker last fall. (Those two messages can be listened
to via the Internet. - scroll down page.)
The university is also introducing lectio
divina through the Spiritual Formation program.
Once
again, young people, many from loving and devoted
Christian homes, are being subjected to false
teachings, and most likely unbeknownst to their
trusting parents.
More on Colleges that are promoting
contemplative spirituality |
LifeWay Stores Sells Be Still
DVD and other Contemplative Products
The company, a division
of the Southern Baptist Convention, carries a
wide assortment of contemplative and emerging
materials.
LifeWay
Christian stores, a division of the Southern
Baptist Convention, is carrying a wide assortment
of contemplative and emerging materials, including
the recently released
Be Still DVD that features a strong contemplative
theme throughout.
In addition, LifeWay also carries books by interspiritualists Thomas
Keating and Basil
Pennington as well as New Age sympathizers Ken
Blanchard and Leonard
Sweet. (may need to type in names on Lifeway
search engine to check these) |
A List - Christian Colleges
with Spiritual Formation Programs
The list below is a
partial list to show both how widespread the
Spiritual Formation movement is and how Spiritual
Formation programs are promoting contemplative
teachings and authors.
The
colleges listed may not all be teaching contemplative
prayer. However, they have included contemplative/emergent
writings and books in their Spiritual Formation
programs without clear and concise warnings.
This
list is provided so concerned parents or prospective
students will contact the college they are interested
in to find out more about that school's Spiritual
Formation program. Ask to see a list of required
and recommended reading as well as course descriptions.
This
is not a comprehensive list. (Also see our contemplative
college page.)
Abilene
Christian University
Assemblies
of God Theological Seminary
Biola
University
Briarcrest
Bible College
Cedarville
University (President's Recommended
reading list)
Greenville
College
Mennonite
Brethren Biblical Seminary
Moody
Bible Institute
New
Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Northwest
Nazarene University
Reformed
Theological Seminary
Regent
University (Course)
Southeastern
Baptist Theological Seminary
Southwestern
Baptist Theological Seminary
Spring
Arbor University
Taylor
University (see Youth
Conference)
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