Last week, Lighthouse Trails received two calls that have been reminders of the sad condition our Christian colleges, universities, and seminaries are in. One call came from a distressed grandmother (and a long-time Lighthouse Trails reader) who had learned that her granddaughter would be attending Biola University and specifically their Talbot School of Theology. (example) The other call came from an alumni of Malone College (where she had given her life to the Lord many years ago), who too was distressed in recently learning that today’s Malone was deeply saturated with Spiritual Formation. (example)
We sent each woman some materials to share with those involved and hope they will be helpful.
For those who have not read our special report: Epidemic of Apostasy: —How Christian Colleges Must Incorporate “Spiritual Formation” to Become Accredited, we encourage you to do so. The first edition of this report came out in 2013; and in 2022, we updated the report. Both Biola and Malone are listed in the report under the section that names the schools that have integrated Spiritual Formation (i.e., contemplative spirituality) into the lives of their students.
If you have a child or grandchild who is planning on attending a Christian college, seminary, or university, we urge you to educate yourself (and hopefully the student too) on the Spiritual Formation movement (i.e., contemplative spirituality) and its deceptive dangers.
Below is an article we wrote several years ago. We are posting it because it is more relevant today than it was when we wrote it. We say that because Spiritual Formation has become part of most Christian colleges and seminaries today. We have updated the links of the article below as the school removed these pages after the fact.
“Want Your Child to Become an Atheist? – Send Him to LeTourneau University in Texas (or Any Other Contemplative/Emergent School For That Matter)“
That headline may seem a bit overboard or shocking at first glance, but this is what is happening in many of the Christian colleges, seminaries, and universities to kids who start off as Christian and four years later are proclaiming to be now atheist. At Letourneau University, this happened to the son of a family that Lighthouse Trails has known for years. When their son graduated from Letourneau, he said he no longer believed he was a Christian. Rather, he said he is now an atheist.
And this is not the first time that Lighthouse Trails has heard such a tragic story.
So when a Lighthouse Trails reader contacted us recently asking what we thought about Letourneau University, we provided this parent (who is looking for a Christian school for his college-age child to attend) with the following information:
1. Here you can see that they brought in Biola University’s Mr. Contemplative himself to speak to the students: https://web.archive.org/web/20150907075453/http://www.letu.edu/news/2012/Dr.JohnCoe.html.
2. Here the school turns to contemplative mystic Adele Ahlberg Calhoun to help teach students how to fast: https://web.archive.org/web/20081223015115/http://www.letu.edu/opencms/opencms/_Other-Resources/presidents_office/vision/process/fasting.html.
3. In this example, you can see the student chapel schedule where they have emergent author Mark Scandrette speaking to the students: https://web.archive.org/web/20130318062749/http://www.letu.edu/opencms/opencms/_Student-Life/spiritual-life/chapel/Fall2012/. You will find Scandrette’s name mentioned in Roger Oakland’s book, Faith Undone. Scandrette is connected with an organization called Imagine,(https://www.facebook.com/ReImagineSF), and would be inline with the spirituality of New Age sympathizer, Leonard Sweet. Scandrette’s book, Soul Graffiti, is a primer in emergent theology.
4. You can also see on the Letourneau chapel schedule, chapel’s focusing on the contemplative practice of lectio divina as well as chapel’s led by contemplative advocate Mindy McGuire (Soulcare.com), John Coe (heads up the Spiritual Formation department at Biola).
5. One particular chapel at Letourneau (December 2012) was titled “Spiritual Disciplines in Other Cultures.” The title alone makes us shudder. In this video of that chapel service, you can see various students sharing. One young man talks about how Thomas Merton changed his entire spiritual outlook: http://www.letu.edu/_Student-Life/spiritual-life/chapel/Fall2012/flashvideo/2012-12-03-Mosaic.html.
6. Letourneau is also promoting the contemplative/emergent message through their Impact Retreat for students: https://web.archive.org/web/20150908114220/http://letu.edu/_Student-Life/leadership/IMPACT/resources.html. In the 2012 retreat, Aubrey Spears, an Anglican pastor, was the speaker. In this pdf, https://web.archive.org/web/20130319010738/http://www.letu.edu/opencms/export/sites/default/_Student-Life/leadership/IMPACT/media/Session_x2_-_Receiving_the_Day.pdf, are the sermon notes for one of the talks Dr. Spears presented during the retreat. Spears tells students, as is typical of most contemplative teachers, that you cannot really mature spiritually without “slowing down” or having the stillness. He then proceeds to teach the students various forms of contemplative prayer. If you read the back of this pdf, you will see that Spears turns to emergent/contemplative figures such as Phyllis Tickle, John Ortberg, Marva Dawn, Calvin Miller, Dorothy Bass, Eugene Peterson, and Henri Nouwen.
Some may be asking right now, why would following contemplative authors turn a Christian student into a proclaiming atheist? Well, consider this: Contemplative prayer is panentheistic at its roots (God is in all things). If one comes to believe that everyone and everything is divine or that God or divinity is in all things, including all humans, then the message of the Cross (man needing a Savior because of his sin) and the message of a personal Creator who loves man begin to lose their significance and meaning. And once that happens, is it possible there is a short gap between panentheism and atheism? Both reject the idea of a personal God.
Think about what happens to a young person who has been raised in a Christian home, then ends up in a “Christian” college, and begins getting indoctrinated with emergent teachings by men and women who use Christian terminology and even Scriptures (out of context) to basically knock down everything that child learned in his Christian home. And because most Christian parents today are not equipping their children to recognize and resist spiritual deception (probably because the parents have no idea what spiritual deception even looks like because it isn’t talked about in most churches), they are literally throwing their children to the wolves.
How we wish the family we know who sent their son to Letourneau would have asked Lighthouse Trails about that school four years ago. But, like so many other Christians today, they underestimated the wiles of the devil, and now their beloved son is in the clasp of deception.
If you are looking for a Christian college for your child, do two things: First, make sure your child understands the underlying agenda and teachings of contemplative/emerging spirituality [i.e., Spiritual Formation] and second, find a college that at least has some understanding of (and resistance to) the contemplative/emergent issue.
If you have a high school or college age student, we recommend he or she read Castles in the Sand and that you as parents or grandparents read A Time of Departing or Faith Undone. Then sit down together as a family and discuss these things until you feel confident that your child gets it. Please realize that all the work you have done over the past 18 years of that child’s life can be undone in just a few terms at a contemplative/emerging [progressive/woke] college. We have talked to many many parents over the last several years who have shared their tragic stories with us.
2025 Note: The editors at Lighthouse Trails are happy to send anyone a free copy of one of the three mentioned books above. Just e-mail us at editors@lighthousetrails.com and tell us which one of the three books you want. For other materials on this issue (including booklets), please visit our store website.
(image from istockphoto.com; used with permission)
Paul,
Well said. One thing to point out, mystical practices (i.e., contemplative prayer, centering prayer, Ignatian exercises, etc) are the vehicle through which “deep apostasy” is coming. And that is because, as you pointed out, it is familiar spirits (demons) that one is reaching in these altered states. It is interesting to remember the words of the panentheistic mystic Catholic priest, Thomas Merton, when he compared the contemplative experience to that of an LSD psychedelic trip. He said they both got you the same thing. In an LSD trip, the practitioner “feels” that he is right on the brink of seeing full truth, but then because he doesn’t quite achieve this, he must go back for another trip. And that is what has happened to contemplative practitioners. They must go back for more that they might gain “fuller knowledge,” “fuller insights” into truth. Unfortunately, in both cases (LSD and meditation), the practitioner becomes addicted to the experience, longing for another one, and all the while becomes a slave to the wiles of the great Deceiver himself.
The unbelievable part (well there is more than one “unbelievable” aspect to all of this) is that students/parents are paying tens of thousands of dollars send themselves or their children to these schools. Only to have their faith perverted or replaced by occult beliefs and practices. There are quite a few testimonies of how “Ignatian Spirituality” or Contemplative Prayer can lead to encounters with “familiar spirits” that are not of God. But then again. Is this not part of a much bigger trend within contemporary Christianity? Dominionists, specifically the NAR crowd. Those like Bill Johnson and others. Tell young Christians it is okay and even desired to connect with the dark side. Because we need to regain the “hidden mysteries” that Christians had and Lucifer stole from us. So if necessary we must communicate or receive information from demonic entities (remember this is supposed to be done by “christians”) to regain the secret knowledge. A huge part of the Gnostic side of the New Apostolic Reformation and Dominionist leaderships teachings. Of course I suppose following the example of Ignatius Loyola in emptying ones mind to hear the voices. And receive “secret revelations”. Is all part of the New Apostolic Reformation/hyper-charismatic belief that they will then become an “elite” class of Christian. Who will then have to make decision. With their superior spiritual insight. Into what to do with the rest of us old stoggy bible believing Christians. Teaching the next generation of adult Christian leaders to follow Contemplative Prayer practices is part of a much bigger trend into deep apostasy and a harlot church of the soon coming New World Order.
Warnings are made and literature is published to inform people about what is happening in the spiritual realm, especially pertaining to the emergent heresy, are highly commendable, in particular all of the efforts by the Lighthouse Trails ministry for the last many years, which have been an immeasurable blessing. Nevertheless, when God forecasts the end times apostacy in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 which we are/have been witnessing as it escalates dramatically, it really doesn’t seem like there will be any significant reversal of this trend. No widespread revival is prophesied [by the Lord Jesus] but only “sorrows,” or ever increasing birth pains until Daniel’s 70th week is born. Thankfully, some will wake up and be pulled “out of the fire” (Jude 23). Other than that, we may expect darkness to continue descending and the vast majority of people submitting to a reprobate mind despite a few rays of hope emanating from the political sphere, and even those developments will ultimately contribute to rapidly developing end times deceptions and the fulfillment of the prophetic Word of God – Philippians 3:20-21
Realist, in response to your comment about where else are these institutions compromised, what we have witnessed is that once a school incorporates Spiritual Formation, that school usually/almost always becomes more emergent/progressive/woke, etc. We believe this is because contemplative spirituality (i.e., Spiritual Formation) has its roots in panentheism (God is in all) and interspirituality (all paths lead to God), and with these two elements in motion, the spiritual outlook begins to change drastically, moving away from the Cross and toward New Age/New Spirituality.
Does everyone just buy into SF? Is there a slick irresistible sales presentation? Doesn’t anybody do their due diligence on anything worming its way into the “Christian Education” world and/or the church for that matter? It would be interesting to see where else each of these institutions have compromised since they are so easily swayed (conned, deceived) regarding SF. Easy targets for satan in these last days.