LTRP Note: In relation to this article and the upcoming radio program on Thursday, September 9th on CrossTalk, it is worth noting that on the same day, Leadership Network (the launchers of the 1990s emerging church movement) is presenting an online, digital “conference” called The Nines featuring 100 evangelical pastors and leaders, some of whom are Rick Warren, Dan Kimball, Francis Chan, Wayne Cordeiro, Andy Crouch (Christianity Today), Bill Easum, Jonathan Falwell, Miles McPherson, Larry Osborne, Ed Stetzer, Thom Rainer (LifeWay Books),and Leonard Sweet.
by Ingrid Schlueter
CrossTalk Radio
Thursday’s Crosstalk will be addressing the increasingly popular teachings of Dr. Leonard Sweet. This author and speaker is making is his way into evangelical churches, schools, colleges and organizations by speaking on things like postmodern culture and theology or “education in the age of Google.” But why would pastors and teachers from institutions that are supposedly faithful to biblical Christianity promote and listen to a panentheist and New Age teacher like Leonard Sweet? Guest Sandy Simpson will explain what Leonard believes and teaches. It’s shocking.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is one supposedly biblical denomination that has increasingly brought Leonard Sweet in for teachers conferences, convocations and educational seminars as keynote speaker. The South Wisconsin District of the LCMS is bringing Sweet in for a full DAY seminar at Lake Country Lutheran High School. (October 9, 2010) But why? Why would those who claim to believe in the authority of Scripture and the true Gospel of Jesus Christ bring in someone who thanks occultist David Spangler for his spiritual influence? (See below.) As preparation for the broadcast, please see this excerpt below from former New Ager Warren Smith’s book chapter on Leonard Sweet and his Quantum Spirituality. It’s a warning about how heretical occult teachings are no longer viewed as such in many churches. Unless God’s people learn to biblically discern these things, they are easy targets for deception.
Here’s the excerpt:
Leonard Sweet, in acknowledging Willis Harman, Matthew Fox, M. Scott Peck, and the others he refers to as “New Light leaders” in [his book] Quantum Spirituality, states:
I believe these are among the most creative religious leaders in America today. These are the ones carving out channels for new ideas to flow. In a way this book was written to guide myself through their channels and chart their progress. The book’s best ideas come from them.
Speaking of spiritual “channels,” Sweet expresses his personal gratitude in [his book] Quantum Spiritualityto channeler and veteran New Age leader, David Spangler. Spangler, in attempting to cast off the negative stereotype of a New Age channeler, would now more likely describe himself as a conscious intuitive.
A pioneering spokesperson for the New Age, Spangler has written numerous bookslieves over the years that include Emergence: The Rebirth of the Sacred, Revelation: The Birth of a New Age, and Reimagination of the World: A Critique of the New Age, Science, and Popular Culture. His book Revelation: The Birth of a New Ageis a compilation of channeled transmissions he received from his disembodied spiritguide “John.”
At one point in Revelation, Spangler documents what “John” prophesied about “the energies of the Cosmic Christ” and “Oneness”:
As the energies of the Cosmic Christ become increasingly manifest within the etheric life of Earth, many individuals will begin to respond with the realization that the Christ dwells within them. They will feel his presence moving within and through them and will begin to awaken to their heritage of Christhood and Oneness with God, the Beloved.
Unbelievably, in a modern-day consultation that bears more than a casual resemblance to King Saul’s consultation with the witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28:7), Leonard Sweet acknowledges in Quantum Spirituality that he was privately corresponding with channeler David Spangler. In Quantum Spirituality, Sweet writes about what he calls his “new cell” understanding of New Light leadership, then closes his book by thanking Spangler for “his help in formulating this ‘new cell’ understanding of New Light Leadership.” Click here to continue reading.
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