contemplative

Letter to the Editor Warning: Craig Groeschel’s Life Church Introducing New Age/Contemplative Practices to Tens of Millions Through Its YouVersion Bible App

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LTRP Note: The following letter to the editor is addressing very legitimate and documented concerns about Life Church, one of the largest evangelical churches in America with over three dozen locations throughout the country and an influential global outreach. Lighthouse Trails considers Life Church’s lead pastor, Craig Groeschel, a “bridger”* (a pastor or other evangelical … [Read more…]

Warning: Zondervan Introduces Its First-Ever Film, Nine: The Enneagram Documentary— to Release in Theaters Fall 2020

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LTRP Note: The news release below regarding the Christian publisher, Zondervan, is posted for informational and research purposes. Lighthouse Trails warned about the Enneagram in our booklet, The Enneagram—An Enlightening Tool or an Enticing Deception? (written by Lois Putnam), which we released last Fall. Obviously, when one of the largest evangelical publishers releases a film … [Read more…]

The Music and the Mystical

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By Larry DeBruyn On music’s native ability to engender “religious” experiences Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Colossians 3:16 Music engenders mystical experiences. This can be discerned from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The … [Read more…]

Welcome to the New (Contemplative) Christianity – Just Breathe In . . . Breathe Out

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The acceptance of contemplative prayer has hit an all-time high in the church. And is it any wonder? Christian media, Christian publishers, pastors, mission societies, Bible societies, authors, radio hosts, youth leaders, women’s group leaders, and Christian ministry leaders are all promoting it more than ever.  The video below that was posted on Charisma Magazine’s … [Read more…]

Is the “Emerging Church” a Thing of the Past?

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By Roger Oakland Understand the Times, International Recently, I read a Facebook post by a southern California pastor that the “emerging church” was no longer a problem for him or his church. He stated that the emerging church was just another passing fad that had come and then disappeared never to be heard of again. … [Read more…]

Letter to the Editor from the Pacific NW: Today—Like the Days of Jude

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Dear Lighthouse Trails: By the grace of God, I have led women’s Bible studies since 1982. In the past ten years, I have noticed a departing from the fundamentals of the faith in the materials I used by Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, and others. New thought, strange language, omission of teaching the repentance of sin, … [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…]

Trevecca Nazarene University Continues To Promote Mystical Silence Instead of Biblical Prayer

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By Manny Silva of Concerned Nazarenes “I am deepening in the mystical forms of prayer.” (Dan Boone) Thanks to the undiscerning “leadership” of President Dan Boone, Trevecca Nazarene students will have the opportunity to go on a mystical ride. Once again, it time for the “Spiritual Formation” retreat at the Gethsemani monastery in Kentucky, spiritual … [Read more…]

Moody Publishers in 1995 Drops “The Light That Was Dark” by Warren B. Smith – Says New Age Not An Issue Anymore

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In 1992, Moody Publishers published Warren B. Smith’s autobiography, The Light That Was Dark. The book chronicled Warren’s years in the New Age movement and then he and his wife (Joy) becoming believers in Jesus Christ. While The Light That Was Dark was selling well amidst Warren being interviewed on over 250 radio and television … [Read more…]

Contemplative Prayer or the Holy Spirit – It Can’t Be Both

By Ray Yungen Two authors from Great Britain portray a stunningly clear picture of New Age spirituality. They explain: [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…]

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…]

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…]

Letter to the Editor: Concerned About Charles Stanley/In Touch Ministry’s Adult Coloring Exercise

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To Lighthouse Trails: I love your ministry and know that I’m talking to the choir when I say this, but it is mind blowing to me how widespread occultism has become.  That said, I stumbled upon the following FREE offer from Charles Stanley’s In Touch Ministries.  All I can say is “WOW!” https://www.intouchcanada.org/sharedjoy May God … [Read more…]

When a Young Girl Meets a Mystic and Is Introduced to Lectio Divina

LTRP Note: The following is an excerpt from Carolyn A. Greene’s novel, Castles in the Sand, the first novel published that addresses the contemplative prayer (spiritual formation) movement. In this excerpt, the young Christian Teresa [Tessa], now attending a Christian college, is in her dorm room, thinking about her new spiritual director, Ms. Jasmine, who has … [Read more…]

Why One Should Not Glean From Jennifer Kennedy Dean’s Prayer Studies

By Lois Putnam On a recent Sunday morning a vivacious older lady stood in front of a congregation, of what can only be termed a solid gospel preaching, mission minded church, and announced to the women that all should sign up for its newest Bible study program that would begin shortly.  Touting both Set Apart, and Living a … [Read more…]

Biola University Brings in Emergent Speaker for Students, as Pathway to Apostasy Continues

On February 22nd, 2017, Biola University hosted a one-evening live recording of the renowned public radio podcast “ON BEING with Krista Tippett.” During the event, which was free to attend to all Biola students and others, Tippett interviewed artist Enrique Martinez Celaya. Biola, a Christian university, began wandering into the contemplative/emergent camp many years ago, … [Read more…]

Christianity is Missing Out on Something Vital – Is This True?

By Ray Yungen Contemplative advocates propose that there has been something vital and important 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 … [Read more…]

Letter to the Editor: Does Lighthouse Trails Only Cover the Contemplative Prayer Issue?

Dear Lighthouse Trails: I was thinking about the cost of mail and how it affects your ministry.  I wonder whether it would now require broader topics to keep it going.  So many of your readers like me have read your warnings about the contemplatives for many years now and perhaps there could be other areas … [Read more…]

Letter to the Editor: Concerns About Erwin Lutzer

LTRP Note: Christian leaders are giving a pass to Roman Catholicism and the Jesuits. After reading this letter to the editor, we cannot help but wonder how many other Christian leaders have attended Jesuit schools and could this be a reason so many of them are accepting of contemplative spirituality and Catholicism in general? One … [Read more…]

Silence—The Language of God? (And Some Folks Promoting it)

By Ray Yungen For many years during my research, I would come across the term contemplative prayer. Immediately I would dismiss any thought that it had a New Age connotation because I thought it meant to ponder while praying—which would be the logical association with that term. But in the New Age disciplines, things are … [Read more…]

Celebration of Discipline – 38 Years of Influence! – Probably On Your Pastor’s Bookshelf

First published in 1978, Celebration of Discipline has had a massive influence on today’s Christianity. Unfortunately, the influence has helped to saturate the church with mystical contemplative prayer and the New Age. Most likely, your pastor has a copy of this book sitting on his library shelves. He may even have it sitting on his … [Read more…]

Two Letters to the Editor About Cedarville University Lead to New Research That Causes Continued Concern

Lighthouse Trails has been following Cedarville University since 2006 when we wrote an article titled “Cedarville University – Heading Down the Contemplative Road?” Since then, Lighthouse Trails has written several others articles having watched this Christian school head down the contemplative/emerging path. In 2013, Cedarville University got a new president, and we wrote an article … [Read more…]

Spiritual Formation Versus The Life of Christ—Which One Will You Choose?

Spiritual formation is sweeping quickly throughout Christianity today. It’s no wonder, when the majority of Christian leaders have either endorsed the movement or given it a silent pass. For instance, in Chuck Swindoll’s book So You Want to Be Like Christ: 8 Essential Disciplines to Get Your There, Swindoll favorably quotes Richard Foster and Dallas … [Read more…]

Bad Counsel to a College Girl

LTRP Note: The following is a chapter from Castles in the Sand, a Lighthouse Trails novel based on true facts, exposing the dangers of contemplative spirituality. The story is about a young Christian college girl who is introduced to mysticism through her spiritual formation professor. In the following chapter, Tessa, troubled by some of the … [Read more…]

NEW BOOKLET Provides Irrefutable Evidence: A Serious Look at Richard Foster’s “School” of Contemplative Prayer

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

Letter to the Editor: Please Send Your Evidence and Examples for Calvin College ASAP

Dear Lighthouse Trails: You list Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI, as being contemplative, formation.  Please give me evidence, examples of this, also any emergent info, too on them.  ASAP, please. Our Response: Finding evidence and examples to show Calvin College’s contemplative/emergent persuasions is NOT like finding a needle in a haystack. This college is saturated … [Read more…]

Letter to the Editor: Looking for Good Bible Based Children’s Curriculum

To Lighthouse Trails: I am coordinator of my church’s children & youth ministries, and I am looking for solid, Bible-based children’s and youth curriculum. I would appreciate any suggestions you may have.  I am so skeptical of much of the curriculum out there now especially with so much of the emergent ideas creeping in. Thank you for any … [Read more…]

Contemplative Prayer or the Holy Spirit – It Can’t Be Both

By Ray Yungen Two authors from Great Britain portray a stunningly clear picture of New Age spirituality. They explain: [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…]

Letter to the Editor: ConvergePacWest Using Contemplative Books and Authors to “Grow Spiritually”

Dear Lighthouse Trails: After reading Seduction of Christianity by Dave Hunt years ago, I have watched the insidious encroachment of mysticism into the evangelical Christian church.  When I discovered you several years ago, I used some of your resources to help inform the small part of the flick that I have contact with. There is … [Read more…]

Richard Foster’s Contemplative Prayer or Contemplative Terror?

By Roger Oakland   Proponents of contemplative prayer say the purpose of contemplative prayer is to tune in with God and hear His voice. However, Richard Foster claims that practitioners must use caution. He admits that in contemplative prayer “we are entering deeply into the spiritual realm” and that sometimes it is not the realm of … [Read more…]