“Are You Living in a Bubble?”

A number of years ago, a Lighthouse Trails editor was talking on the phone to an Oregon Calvary Chapel pastor, attempting to warn the pastor about the contemplative prayer movement. Lighthouse Trails had learned that the church’s web bookstore was filled with all kinds of contemplative and emerging books. The pastor chuckled and said, “Oh, I don’t know about all those things. I am living in a bubble.” The implication was that he was so isolated from things that would cause spiritual deception that he didn’t need to learn about them.

Our editor replied to the pastor, “Pastor, you may be living in a bubble, but your congregation is not. They are going into Christian bookstores, listening to Christian radio, watching Christian television, and their children are going to Christian schools. They are going to run into contemplative spirituality sooner or later (out of respect, our editor didn’t take the opportunity to remind him about his own church bookstore).

The conversation ended rather quickly after that, and needless to say, Lighthouse Trails editors weren’t surprised a few months down the road to see a comment made by that same pastor on a once-popular anti-Lighthouse Trails blog. He said, “Lighthouse Trails is nothing more than a flea on the back of a dog.”

It wasn’t that the comment didn’t hurt, but what really hurt is to have witnessed the indifference and later malice regarding the message of warning that Lighthouse Trails has attempted to give to the church for the past thirteen years, a message we believe is legitimate and biblical.

The reason we are writing this today is this: If you have a pastor who is not warning his congregation about specific spiritual deception, you might ask him why he doesn’t. And if says that he is living in a bubble, gently tell him that this is no reason to keep from warning and teaching his flock.

LTRP Note: This short piece is not meant to be an indictment on all Calvary Chapel churches. We know there are some Calvary Chapel pastors who are warning their flocks of spiritual deception, and we are grateful for those pastors.If you are attending a Calvary Chapel church, we hope your pastor falls in that category.