Christian or Christ-follower. It’s a distinction that is being made more and more today, and often the latter term, Christ follower, is replacing the former term, Christian. Even many Christian leaders are making the switch. But just what does it mean? Emerging church leader, Erwin McManus says his “goal is to destroy Christianity as a … [Read more…]
by Larry DeBruyn LTRP Note: On November 9th, we reported that Pastor Larry DeBruyn, while in Hungary training pastors, suffered a major heart attack, which doctors said should have taken his life. 40% of Larry’s heart was damaged. A few days later, we posted “A True Shepherd of the Church Warning About Contemplative”, explaining how … [Read more…]
Some leading contemplative proponents say that a loving God would not send His son to a violent death on a Cross. Brennan Manning, in his book Above All states: [T]he god who exacts the last drop of blood from his Son so that his just anger, evoked by sin, may be appeased, is not the … [Read more…]
Campbell University is (listed by North American Mission Board as a Christian college which helps “students develop an integrated Christian personality.” Unfortunately, for students attending Campbell’s Divinity School this personality is going to be influenced by contemplatives like Richard Foster, Henri Nouwen, Brother Lawrence, and Dallas Willard as well as workshops and training by Taize … [Read more…]
New Zealand Salvation Army has included Pete Greig (of 24-7 Prayer) in their vision plans. Greig’s vision (as seen here in this video – not for children to view) is one that is promoting an army of young mystics. As we have reported on several occasions, 24-7 Prayer and Greig’s boiler rooms are popping all … [Read more…]
Wesleyan Publishing House, the publishing arm of the Wesleyan church is going contemplative. This past summer, we reported that the Wesleyan Church was offering contemplative retreats called Holy Next: Spiritual Formation Retreat. Dr. Keith Drury (featured on HolyNext and a professor at Indiana Wesleyan University) writes “extensively on spirituality.” His newest book is titled With … [Read more…]
Trinity Western University (TWU) of British Columbia, Canada, has joined up with the contemplative/emerging ministry of 24-7 prayer. The founder of 24-7 prayer is Pete Geis (of the UK), author of Red Moon Rising. In October, we reported on this situation in an article titled, “Red Moon Rising: An Army for God with a ‘Violent … [Read more…]
Next year’s National Pastors Convention will be using an occultic tool called the Enneagram (see yesterday’s post about Enneagrams). The tool will be used during one of the Critical Concerns Courses. An introduction of the course, Understanding the Enneagram: Insights for Spiritual Transformation says “This course will provide personal and biblical perspectives from the … [Read more…]
by Ray Yungen Biola University Embraces Contemplative Spirituality Biola University, the traditional virtual bedrock of conservative Christian higher education, has opened itself to influences that would have its founders turning over in their graves. This Fall, at Biola’s Christian Spirituality Soul Care series, contemporary Protestant mystic Ruth Haley Barton will be a featured speaker. Ms. … [Read more…]
LTRP Note: There is a growing belief (that actually been taught by New Agers for a long time) that meditation is the key to global peace. New Age proponent Marianne Williamson’s recent defense of Rick Warren and her hope that collective meditation will bring peace is another example of this. The following article is further … [Read more…]
“To help individuals in this, Life Source looks at five distinctive styles of prayer including The Lord’s Prayer, lectio divina (a way of listening and responding to Bible passages), and Aaron’s Blessing (taken from the Biblical Book of Numbers). The book also contains a wealth of brief reflections to help in the discipline of prayer … [Read more…]
Enneagram Definition: A system of spiritual psychology based on an ancient Sufi typology of nine personality types or primary roles with the recognition of one’s type tantamount to a spiritual awakening” from Alternative Health Dictionary The following video clip is part of a sermon by contemplative priest, William Menniger. Enneagram Video Clip For more information … [Read more…]
We have just been informed by our friends in the Netherlands, Karel van Berghem and his son John, that the Dutch translation of Warren Smith’s book, Deceived on Purpose, is complete and is now printed. Smith handed over the Dutch rights to the long term Dutch evangelist who has been warning believers in the Netherlands … [Read more…]
ALERT: 24-7 Prayer Rooms Increasing in North America 24-7 Prayer, the ministry of Pete Greig (UK author of Red Moon Rising) has announced: “The new 24-7 Prayer Manual has just been published in North America in response to the growing demand of prayer rooms multiplying all over the continent.” Because of the growing popularity of … [Read more…]
24-7 Prayer, the ministry of Pete Greig (UK author of Red Moon Rising) has announced: “The new 24-7 Prayer Manual has just been published in North America in response to the growing demand of prayer rooms multiplying all over the continent.” Because of the growing popularity of these contemplative/mystical prayer rooms, we are re-posting an … [Read more…]
Zondervan Publishing’s 2007 National Pastors Convention will take place on February 5th through 10th. If you and your church plan to send your pastor, youth pastor or other church leaders, you might want to think twice about that. As we have shown through our documentation and research , the National Pastor’s Convention is a place … [Read more…]
If our intent is to find Jesus, is the method of going about this acceptable, even if the method might happen to be a Buddhist meditation style. Brian Edgar, Director of Theology and Public Policy for the Australian Evangelical Alliance believes it is when he states: Sometimes people suggest that certain methods (such as meditative, … [Read more…]
The Foursquare Church main website is recommending a number of pro-contemplative/emerging church authors. The list includes books by Brian Mclaren, Robert Webber (Ancient-Future Worship), business guru John Maxwell, New Age sympathizers Ken Blanchard and Leonard Sweet, Dan Kimball, Rick Warren, and C. Peter Wagner. (see our research site for information on the teachings of these … [Read more…]
July 2008 Update: Lighthouse Trails has been in contact with Patrick Henry, and the school no longer has spiritual formation groups. Their new president has stated that the school will not be going in that direction. In addition, they are not using contemplative and/or emerging books in their classes. Thus we have removed them from … [Read more…]
Note: Several months ago, Youth for Christ was offering a labyrinth kit on their online bookstore. That kit has since been removed; however Youth for Christ UK still has an online labyrinth that can be freely accessed. And with Youth For Christ (USA) sponsoring Youth Specialities events, we believe parents need to be alerted to … [Read more…]
by Paul Proctor The greatest danger to the church today is not the atheist, the agnostic, the liberal, the humanist, the Marxist or even the Muslim extremist, but rather the “Christian” who subtly blends truth and lie resulting in a designer deity and discipline that finds common ground with the very enemies of Christ so … [Read more…]
“With practice, you can develop the habit of praying silent ‘breath prayers’” Rick Warren, from his web site, pastors.com “[U]se ‘breath prayers’throughout the day, as many Christians have done for centuries. You choose a brief sentence or a simple phrase that can be repeated to Jesus in one breath.” Rick Warren, Purpose-Driven Life, p. 89. … [Read more…]
Are Christian leaders responsible for whom they quote, endorse and promote? We believe this is a valid question that deserves an answer to the body of Christ. With publishers like Zondervan, InterVarsity Press, Baker Books and Thomas Nelson releasing one book after the next on contemplative and emerging spiritualities, the church is being put in … [Read more…]
In an email brief titled A Night of “Spiritual Naturalism,” sent out on October 31st from Focus on the Family, FOF Institute President Del Tackett warns parents about the increase of mysticism in our culture. He says: The night of fun [Halloween] has become a mainstream part of our culture. The messages of popular songs, … [Read more…]
Teen Mania’s Fall 2006 “Battlecry Leadership Summit” will take place in several US cities this fall, and unfortunately one of the speakers is contemplative-promoting Jack Hayford. Hayford has been an ally with contemplative Richard Foster for some time now and has his endorsement on the back cover of Richard Foster’s book, Streams of Living Water, … [Read more…]
Taize Community is an international, ecumenical community in France. Taize Worship is practicing the silence with icons, candles, incense and prayer stations, and is a very contemplative/Buddist oriented community attracting young people from around the world. As an article on Taize worship explains: Short chants, repeated again and again, give it a meditative character,” the … [Read more…]
In June of this year, we reported that several Christian colleges and seminaries now have Spiritual Formation programs. One of those we listed was Cedarville University of Ohio. The Spiritual Formation course, titled BEGE 1720 is taught by Dr. Richard Blumenstock, and while the course outline lists no use of contemplative authors, Cedarville’s 64-page Student … [Read more…]
In a time when the church desperately needs leaders who are willing to take a stand against New Age teachings coming into Christendom, it is with sadness to report on an upcoming AIDS conference in which Franklin Graham (president and C.E.O. of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association) will join contemplative-promoting leaders John … [Read more…]
“As part of the Ben H. Williams Distinguished Speaker Series, the Hankamer School of Business has invited best-selling author Ken Blanchard to speak at a noon luncheon Monday. “Blanchard’s published works include Lead Like Jesus: Lessons from the Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time and The One Minute Manager, which has sold more … [Read more…]
Lighthouse Trails Research has over 400 pages and 14,000 links. There are several ways to find information. Below are a few of them: Topical Index Search engine Index of Newsletter Articles Links to Other Ministries Newsletter Archive In addition, we have drop-down menu databases for certain topics.