Richard Foster

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: Be Still DVD with Beth Moore Advocates “Urgent Need to Lower Your Breathing Rate”

Dear Lighthouse Trails: I bought and gave the Be Still DVD to my last pastor prior to moving out of state. My husband and I had become horrified at the Beth Moore’s women’s gatherings that were being promoted at our church.  I was already very familiar with Beth Moore’s stance on contemplative prayer.  This gentleman, … [Read more…]

Is Christianity Missing Out on Something Vital? Contemplatives Say “Yes”

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By Ray Yungen Contemplative advocates propose that something vital and important is missing from the church for centuries. The insinuation is that Christians have been lacking something necessary for their spiritual vitality; but that would mean the Holy Spirit has not been fully effective for hundreds of years and only now the secret key has … [Read more…]

The Goal of Contemplatives: Changing the Consciousness of Humanity – One Contemplative Prayer After the Next

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By Ray Yungen Two authors from Great Britain portrayed a stunningly clear picture of New Age spirituality. They explained: [T]he keynote of it appears to be a movement for synthesis derived from an understanding of the underlying unity behind all things and the sense of oneness that this brings. This oneness of all life is … [Read more…]

LECTIO DIVINA – What it is, What it is not, and Should Christians Practice it?

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There’s a lot of talk about it today; umpteen books are published and more are on the way about lectio divina; and an increasing number of evangelical/Protestant figures are writing about it, endorsing it, and teaching it. Some people think lectio divina simply means to read a passage of Scripture slowly (or “praying the Scriptures”) … [Read more…]

Letter to the Editor From Dallas Theological Seminary Student—DTS Does Advocate for Contemplative Spirituality

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To Lighthouse Trails: The relationship Dallas Theological Seminary has with contemplative spirituality has been debated on Lighthouse Trails, and defended by DTS. As a current student, I can confirm some departments and professors do advocate explicitly for the contemplative brand of spirituality.  The school requires four semesters of spiritual formation. Students must engage with the … [Read more…]

Remembering Ray Yungen and Richard Foster’s “School” of Contemplative Prayer

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Three years ago today author and researcher Ray Yungen passed away at the age of 64. As regular Lighthouse Trails readers know, it was through Ray’s work that Lighthouse Trails began nearly 18 years ago. Interestingly, on the eve of this 3rd anniversary of Ray’s departure, we read an e-mail notice we received this week … [Read more…]

The Tragic Influence of Catholic Priest Richard Rohr’s Mysticism on Millennial Evangelicals

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An April 2019 Religion News Service article titled, “For Millennials, Mysticism Shows a Path to Their Home Faiths” reveals how young (millennial) evangelicals are “[d]iscovering the Christian mystical tradition through the work of Franciscan friar Richard Rohr.” The article states: [Anthony] Graffagnino [28] was one of a number of millennials drawn to The Universal Christ—a … [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…]

Navigators Welcomes 2019 With Their Contemplative Trend By Promoting Jesuit Prayer Practice

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Navigators is a Christian organization, founded in 1933 by a young man named Dawson Trotman, that eventually became a household name in the evangelical church.* The Navigators motto is, “To Know Christ and to Make Him Known.” However, Navigators and its publishing arm NavPress have been on a contemplative trend for over 15 years, and … [Read more…]

Letter to the Editor: My Christian University Professor Graded Harshly for Mentioning Lighthouse Trails

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LTRP Note: The following letter to the editor is posted with permission. It is written by a graduate student of a Christian university. We find the professor’s remarks to this student provocative, especially considering what we discovered after reading the professor’s post. Please see our comments after the two posts below. Dear Lighthouse Trails: I … [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…]

Learning From Rome

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By Ray Yungen From a theological viewpoint, there now exist two branches (so to speak) of the Catholic Church—the traditional (as defended by someone like Karl Keating in his book Catholicism and Fundamentalism) and the progressive or contemplative* element (as exemplified by Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen).1 And while these two branches (or movements) can … [Read more…]

Key Players and Buzz Language of the Social-Justice “Gospel”

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The following two lists are from Mary Danielsen’s booklet, The Dangerous Truth About the Social-Justice “Gospel,” which we posted earlier this week. It’s good to be aware of both the names and the language. (see video clip below) Some Key Players in the Social Gospel Movement* Bill Hybels Bono Diane Butler Bass Greg Boyd Henri … [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…]

Yoga at T.D. Jakes’ Church . . . And the Rest of the Story

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In an August 13th Christian Post article titled “Serita Jakes’ Endorsement of Yoga at Potter’s House Sparks Debate,” popular pastor T.D. Jakes’ wife is reportedly promoting Yoga to congregants at Jake’s church. The CP article begins: Serita Jakes, wife of popular televangelist Bishop T.D. Jakes, has reignited debate over the practice of yoga among Christians … [Read more…]

Why Richard Foster’s “School of Contemplative Prayer” Should Be Avoided

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LTRP Note: For sixteen years, Lighthouse Trails has been warning about the contemplative prayer movement. In the following article, Ray Yungen has provided  information that makes the contemplative argument (against it) irrefutable. We have sent a copy of this booklet to all of the major Christian leaders whom we have challenged including Beth Moore, Rick … [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…]

Focus on the Family STILL Defends Contemplative Prayer—Says Jesus and Disciples Practiced It

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A Lighthouse Trails reader recently asked our editors to take a look at a page on the Focus on the Family website defending the practice of contemplative prayer. Those of you who have been readers of Lighthouse Trails for a while will know that Lighthouse Trails has challenged Focus on the Family on more than … [Read more…]

Many Just Now Learning About the Dangers of Spiritual Formation

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Today, our office received a phone call from a woman who had signed up through her church (with her husband) to take a college course from a local Christian seminary. The course is being held at her church and is on Spiritual Formation. The woman said she was unfamiliar with what Spiritual Formation was when … [Read more…]

Christian Leaders – A New Openness . . . to the Catholic Church

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By Ray Yungen It is not just a fluke or an aberration that the evangelical churches and the Catholic Church are coming into alignment with each other. The Catholic Church is taking a softer approach to the evangelical church, and the evangelical church is starting to downplay the traditional and significant differences that have kept … [Read more…]

Letter to the Editor: The Handwriting on the Wall . . . and Rightnow Media

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To Lighthouse Trails and readers: As I stood at the bedside of my dad in a hospital, in shock at his unexpected passing, I looked up at the wall, and there on the whiteboard was written, “Last rites- 2:00 pm.” I had spent two and a half months visiting daily in the hospital while my … [Read more…]

Biola University – Going . . . Going . . . Gone As President Takes Sabbatical At Catholic Contemplative Monastery

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For many years, Lighthouse Trails has written about the slide that Biola University in Southern California has taken into contemplative spirituality. Our first indication that the school was heading that way was in February of 2006 when we learned that Biola was actively participating in a publication called Conversations Journal, a magazine whose primary purpose … [Read more…]

2017 YEAR IN REVIEW – PART 4 – COVERAGE ON CHRISTIAN COLLEGES & SEMINARIES

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See also Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of our 2017 Year in Review. The following is our 2017 coverage on Christian colleges and seminaries. For nearly 16 years, Lighthouse Trails has been tracking how contemplative spirituality and the emerging church (i.e., the “New” Spirituality) have been entering Christian schools. We estimate, based on … [Read more…]

Luis Palau’s Son (President of the Luis Palau Association) Teams Up With Richard Foster’s Renovare

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Richard Foster’s founding contemplative organization, Renovare, has announced their upcoming (June 2018) celebration of the 40th anniversary of Foster’s book Celebration of Discipline. Kevin Palau, son of the world-wide known evangelist Luis Palau and president of the Luis Palau Association, is listed on the Renovare website as one of the speakers for the June 2018 … [Read more…]

Christian University Graduate Agrees—Celebration of Discipline/Richard Foster Bypass the Cross—As CoD Soon Celebrates 40-Year Anniversary!

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Just as Lighthouse Trails was about to issue a post this week about Celebration of Discipline’s (by Richard Foster) 40-year anniversary announcement (that we received by e-mail this month), we received the following e-mail from a Christian university graduate: Three years ago this past September, I began my studies at Tyndale University in Toronto, Ontario. … [Read more…]

Revealing Quotes by Influential Contemplatives

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These revealing quotes are from well-known figures who have significantly influenced the religious landscape in today’s culture. Sadly, they have helped to mislead millions with their promotion of contemplative prayer (a mystical, panentheistic-rooted practice). Shalem Prayer Institute “This mystical stream [contemplative prayer and other monastic traditions] is the Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality.”—Tilden Edwards, Spiritual … [Read more…]

Letter to the Editor: Husband Brought Home This Contemplative Book From Conference – “The Spiritual Formation of Leaders”

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Dear Lighthouse Trails, I want to thank you again and possibly alert you on another author you should watch. Recently, my husband went to a pastor’s conference and brought a book back home titled The Spiritual Formation of Leaders by Chuck Miller, Ed. D. Immediately I saw the title, the bells went of in my head, … [Read more…]

Dallas Willard, John Ortberg, Richard Foster – Are We Wrong in Calling Them Emergent/Contemplative?

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Recently, we were asked to give an account as to why Dallas Willard (d. 2013), Richard Foster, and John Ortberg were listed in Roger Oakland’s booklet How to Know When the Emerging Church Shows Signs of Emerging Into Your Church as part of the emerging church.  We would first like to say that it is … [Read more…]