desert fathers

Letter to the Editor: Liberty University Taking Students on “Spiritual Journey” With Contemplative/Emergent Leader Richard Foster

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LTRJ Note: For 18 years, Lighthouse Trails has been warning about the contemplative prayer movement and its role in creating an “emergent” “progressive” church. Part of our investigative research scope has included Christian universities and seminaries, a majority of which now promote contemplative spirituality. Liberty University, one of the largest Christian universities in the U.S., … [Read more…]

Booklet Highlight: Is Your Church Doing “Spiritual Formation”? (Important Reasons Why They Shouldn’t)

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By Lighthouse Trails Editors Is your church involved in a Spiritual Formation program? If so, you might want to ask the question, what exactly is Spiritual Formation? It’s a fair question, and one that, if not asked, could end up surprising you when your church changes in ways you never imagined. A Christianity Today article states: “Spiritual … [Read more…]

Letter to the Editor: The Catholic Catechism and Contemplative Prayer

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Contemplative prayer is hearing the word of God … Contemplative prayer is silence.—Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994 edition, p. 652 LTRP Note: Since 2002, Lighthouse Trails has continued to issue warnings about contemplative prayer. We began our warnings after meeting Ray Yungen in the year 2000 and examining his extensive research. One of the … [Read more…]

The Desert Fathers—Borrowing From the East

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By Ray Yungen Catholic priest William Shannon in his book, Seeds of Peace, explained the human dilemma as being the following: This forgetfulness, of our oneness with God, is not just a personal experience, it is the corporate experience of humanity. Indeed, this is one way to understanding original sin. We are in God, but … [Read more…]

LT Caller: What Are Breath Prayers?

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Today, a Lighthouse Trails caller asked if we could tell her what “breath prayers” are and wondered if we had any information on them because someone in her church is advising others to practice them. Thus, we are posting some information we have previously posted on breath prayers. Breath prayers, like lectio divina, are a … [Read more…]

Letter to the Editor: My Church—Heading Into Troubled Waters With One Deceptive Teacher After the Next

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Dear Lighthouse Trails: I recently began reading A Time of Departing. A very well-documented book. I am blown away by the amount of research Ray Yungen put into that book! Thank you for publishing it. Thank you also for your posts dealing with the Spiritual Formation movement, contemplative prayer, etc. I do not know exactly … [Read more…]

Two Contemplative Leaders Die: Eugene Peterson and Thomas Keating

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LTRP Note: Eugene Peterson (d. 10/22/18) and Catholic priest Thomas Keating (d. 10/25/18) have died. The article below (which is promoting Peterson and Keating) is written by Carl McColman (author of The Big Book of Contemplative Mysticism) and is posted for informational and research purposes and not as an endorsement of the content. Both Peterson … [Read more…]

Letter to the Editor: My Former Baptist Pastor Went From Spiritual Formation Into the Orthodox Church

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Dear Lighthouse Trails: Yesterday, I was reading 1 Corinthians 1 and 2, where Paul is writing about the wisdom of God versus the wisdom of the world. I was reminded of our former Baptist pastor in the early ’80s who was highly intellectual, which attracted a lot of people from academia in our college town. … [Read more…]

Popular Christian Magazine – RELEVANT – Tells Millennials to Practice Breath Prayers and Mindfulness Meditation

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A summer 2018 Relevant Magazine article titled “Why Learning to Breathe May Be the Best Way to Pray,”  tells readers that, Breath prayer [are] an ancient Christian prayer practice with origins in the lives of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, is a vehicle we can use to live out Scripture’s call to “pray without ceasing. (1 … [Read more…]

Is Your Church Doing Spiritual Formation? (Important Reasons Why it Shouldn’t)

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By Lighthouse Trails Editors Is your church involved in a Spiritual Formation program? If so, you might want to ask the question, what exactly is Spiritual Formation? It’s a fair question, and one that, if not asked, could end up surprising you when your church changes in ways you never imagined. A Christianity Today article … [Read more…]

Dallas Theological Seminary Not Contemplative? – New Evidence Shows Otherwise

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Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) has always maintained that while they teach Spiritual Formation, they only teach the “good” kind and that they are not a school that promotes contemplative spirituality. Lighthouse Trails has always challenged these suppositions. In fact, it wasn’t that long ago when Lighthouse Trails editors had some correspondence with two different DTS … [Read more…]

Letter to the Editor: Chakra Article in Orange County Newspaper Brings to Remembrance Ray Yungen’s Work

Dear Lighthouse Trails: I came across this article [see below] in the travel section of our local newspaper the Orange County Register, dated January 1, 2017. The mention of the “seven chakra garden” was what prompted me to send this to you. It also made me want to mention some things about your dear departed … [Read more…]

The Desert Fathers and the Methods They Used

By Ray Yungen Catholic priest William Shannon in his book, Seeds of Peace, explained the human dilemma as being the following: This forgetfulness, of our oneness with God, is not just a personal experience, it is the corporate experience of humanity. Indeed, this is one way to understanding original sin. We are in God, but … [Read more…]

NEW BOOKLET: Pope Francis and the Thomas Merton Connection

Pope Francis and the Thomas Merton Connection by Ray Yungen is our newest Lighthouse Trails Booklet Tract. The Booklet Tract is 14 pages long and sells for $1.95 for single copies. Quantity discounts are as much as 50% off retail. Our Booklet Tracts are designed to give away to others or for your own personal … [Read more…]

RICK WARREN, ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTICS AND POPE FRANCIS

LTRP Note: This series by Roger Oakland is one of the most significant stories we have ever covered. You will come to understand this as the rest of the series unfolds. If you have not read our articles/booklets The New Evangelization From Rome or Finding the True Jesus or The Jesuit Agenda, we encourage you … [Read more…]

Embracing Contemplative Shows Ill Effects at Moody Bible Institute in Ecumenical “Road to Rome” Event

For over seven years now, Lighthouse Trails has followed Moody Bible Institute’s continued promotion of contemplative spirituality. Although the organization has denied that they are promoting contemplative, the evidence has consistently existed. Those who have a good understanding of contemplative spirituality are aware of the inevitable outcome for followers of contemplative. This outcome is a change in … [Read more…]

Letter to the Editor: How Does Lighthouse Trails Determine if a College Should Be on the Contemplative College List?

To Lighthouse Trails: I was given your email info. by Stand Up For The Truth on Facebook. There was some information (a list of colleges) they posted on Aug. 2 titled Christian Colleges That Promote Contemplative Prayer.  Stand Up For The Truth told me that you were the researcher responsible for the information they posted … [Read more…]

4 Reasons Why Holman Publishers Should Not Have Inserted an Article by a Contemplative Author into Their King James Bibles

Recently, Lighthouse Trails learned that Holman Bible Publishers (the oldest Bible publisher in America)  has inserted an article by a strong contemplative proponent into several of their King James Version Bibles (some of which Lighthouse Trails WAS carrying) including: the Ultra Thin Reference Bible, the Pocket-Sized Bible Classic, the Large Print Ultra Thin Bible, and the Personal Reference Bible. … [Read more…]

Emerging “Progressive” Spirituality: Joining the New Age with Christianity, and Christian Leaders Say OK

No one group understands emerging “progressive” spirituality as much as those in the New Age. That’s because it is their religion. So when the evangelical emerging church movement rose to the forefront, New Agers must have found it quite intriguing and most likely rewarding to see their belief system finally take root in Christianity. In … [Read more…]

What would Jesus think (WWJT) about “the shift” to christ-consciousness?

By Larry DeBruyn Guarding His Flock Ministries Throughout this inter-advent age–the time between Jesus’ Incarnation and Second Coming, or Parousia–Jesus and John warned that false prophets would arise preaching the doctrine of replacement christs (Matthew 24:5, 23-24; 1 John 2:18). As Jesus’ coming draws nearer, and as pictured by the image of Messiah’s birth pangs, … [Read more…]

New Booklet: LECTIO DIVINA-What it is, What it is not, and Should Christians Practice it?

LECTIO DIVINA-What it is, What it is not, and Should Christians Practice it? written by the editors at Lighthouse Trails is one of the new Lighthouse Trails Booklets and is an easy to understand explanation of the practice of lectio divina, a practice that is becoming increasing popular in evangelical/Protestant circles today. The booklet is … [Read more…]

Letter to the Editor: Nothing wrong with Contemplative Prayer or desert fathers, says reader

Dear Lighthouse Trails: Your dismissal of the tradition of contemplative prayer is totally mistaken and without grounds.  It appears that too many Christians, especially within evangelical communities, seem to think that there was Jesus, and then the last 150 years of evangelical history while lobbing off the whole history of Christianity in between.  There has … [Read more…]

Dear Editors: Family Life Today Promoting Gerald Sittser’s New Book, “Water From a Deep Well.”

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: (used with permission) Dear Lighthouse Trails, I’m pasting in below the comments I sent to Dennis Rainey at www.familylifetoday.com, after hearing their radio program today, promoting Gerald Sittser’s new book, “Water From a Deep Well.”  Please inform your readers: Dear Family Life, Please take seriously my caution on promoting the idea … [Read more…]

Richard Foster’s New Book: “25 Books Every Christian Should Read” – Should Be Titled “How to Become a Catholic Mystic”

In September of 2010, Lighthouse Trails wrote an article “Richard Foster’s Renovare Turns to Panentheist Mystic Richard Rohr and Emerging Darling Phyllis Tickle For New Book Project” telling our readers about a new book that Richard Foster would soon be putting out. The name of his now released 400+ page book is titled 25 Books Every … [Read more…]