{"id":1389,"date":"2008-11-08T15:20:17","date_gmt":"2008-11-08T19:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/?p=1389"},"modified":"2026-07-19T14:47:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T21:47:47","slug":"acsi-pointing-christian-schools-to-the-mystics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/acsi-pointing-christian-schools-to-the-mystics\/","title":{"rendered":"ACSI Pointing Christian Schools to the Mystics"},"content":{"rendered":"

LTRP Note:<\/strong> The following letter regarding the ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) is posted to further substantiate our concerns over this highly influential organization, which provides resources and information to thousands of Christian schools worldwide. We have written articles about this (see links below letter).<\/p>\n

To Lighthouse Trails:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I recently attended an ACSI Conference of Christian teachers<\/span><\/strong><\/a> from all over northern California. I was amazed and saddened when I heard the ACSI President, Dr. Ken Smitherman, during a keynote speaker presentation, highly recommend Rob Bell’s, Velvet Elvis<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/a>, as well as Letters of a Modern Mystic<\/em> by Frank C. Laubach. When I returned home from the conference, I went online and was able to download Laubach’s entire book. After reading it, I consider it a dangerous book. The book reads like a diary. The following is a quote from his May 24, 1930 entry: “I want them to know my discovery!… That any man can have God! That every man does have God the moment he speaks to God, or listens to him!”<\/p>\n

Laubach’s “technique” that led him to this discovery is the discipline of trying to be aware of God at least once every minute, every hour of the day. As he describes this continual focusing of the mind on this task, it sounded very much to me like the eastern practice of meditation which aims to stop all critical thinking and to fix the mind on one point, thought, or image. The result, as his books vividly describes, is an experience in the spirit world which looks very new age. And to top it all off, the ACSI President, at the end of his presentation, stated that Laubach’s book, Letters of a Modern Mystic<\/em>, should be put in the hands of every Christian educator”.” A scary thought when one considers that ACSI represents a huge number of Christian schools throughout the world! It is to the Christian teachers of these schools that encouragement is being given to spread the disturbing and dangerous views and eastern practices of Bell and Laubach to their students which represent nearly 1.2 million individuals worldwide.<\/p>\n

Gary
\nWashington<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Related Articles:<\/strong><\/p>\n

ACSI (Association of Christian Schools) Searches for New President – Will This One Be a Contemplative?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Association of Christian Schools International Adds Spiritual Formation and Promotes Contemplative Authors<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LTRP Note: The following letter…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[167],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemplative-denominations","wpcat-167-id"],"yoast_head":"\nACSI Pointing Christian Schools to the Mystics - From the Lighthouse<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/acsi-pointing-christian-schools-to-the-mystics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ACSI Pointing Christian Schools to the Mystics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LTRP Note: The following letter...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/acsi-pointing-christian-schools-to-the-mystics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"From the Lighthouse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LighthouseTrailsResearch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-11-08T19:20:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-19T21:47:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lighthouse Trails Editors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@LTrails\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@LTrails\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lighthouse Trails Editors\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/acsi-pointing-christian-schools-to-the-mystics\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/acsi-pointing-christian-schools-to-the-mystics\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lighthouse Trails Editors\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a36b703d7722ce85599858df8bacc0a5\"},\"headline\":\"ACSI Pointing Christian Schools to the Mystics\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-11-08T19:20:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-19T21:47:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/acsi-pointing-christian-schools-to-the-mystics\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":388,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Contemplative Denominations\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/acsi-pointing-christian-schools-to-the-mystics\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/acsi-pointing-christian-schools-to-the-mystics\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/acsi-pointing-christian-schools-to-the-mystics\\\/\",\"name\":\"ACSI Pointing Christian Schools to the Mystics - 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