As we have been sharing the last few days, Pastor Larry DeBruyn (of the USA) suffered a major heart attack while in Hungary, speaking to pastors. In the course of being taken by ambulance to the hospital, his heart stopped seven times. Doctors say that about 40% of his heart was damaged. But we have a wonderful God. This morning his wife (who flew there to be with him) wrote us this:<\/p>\n
LARRY IS IN A PRIVATE ROOM OUT OF INTENSIVE CARE. HE WAS SITTING IN A CHAIR AND HIS SPIRITS ARE GOOD. IN FACT, KYLE SAID THAT FIRST HE QUOTED 2 CORINTHIANS 12:9; THEN, HE BEGAN TALKING ABOUT CHRISTIAN ROCK AND ROLL AND CHRISTIAN CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY. SO, I THINK HE IS ON THE MEND. THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Larry has been an outspoken voice warning others about the dangers and error of contemplative spirituality. His articles are some of the best we have read — concise, powerful, and telling it like it is. We praise God that though for Larry to depart to be with the Lord would be his gain, it would be a tremendous loss for the body of Christ and for many who have yet to hear the Word and become part of that body through faith in Jesus Christ. Larry DeBruyn is an inspiration to us – may his courage to speak the truth even when it is unpopular to do so and his determination to continue in spite of personal loss be an encouragement to those who read this who also defend the faith.<\/p>\n
We know that many of you have suffered ridicule and unkindness as you have sought to warn your pastors, family and friends about contemplative spirituality (and the avenues through which it is entering, e.g., Purpose Driven and the emerging church). Let us remember that while many Christian leaders, pastors, and teachers have been led astray, there are pastors out there who are the true shepherds of the church. We are very grateful for Pastor DeBruyn and for any pastor or teacher who defends the precious faith in difficult times as these. Let us remember the words of encouragement by Paul:<\/p>\n
And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. I Corinthians 2:1-5<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As we have been sharing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":18821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[191],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-on-christian-faith","wpcat-191-id"],"yoast_head":"\n
A True Shepherd of the Church Warning About Contemplative - 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\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A True Shepherd of the Church Warning About Contemplative\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As we have been sharing...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\/\" \/>\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=\"2006-11-12T21:06:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-02T17:11:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/bigstock-Sheep-and-shepherd-7595314-e1788369068431.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Larry DeBruyn\" \/>\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=\"Larry DeBruyn\" \/>\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\\\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Larry DeBruyn\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5bd788c03736c2f3851c7cb88cd5bd9b\"},\"headline\":\"A True Shepherd of the Church Warning About Contemplative\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-11-12T21:06:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-02T17:11:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":462,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/bigstock-Sheep-and-shepherd-7595314-e1788369068431.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"FAITH\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\\\/\",\"name\":\"A True Shepherd of the Church Warning About Contemplative - From the Lighthouse\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/bigstock-Sheep-and-shepherd-7595314-e1788369068431.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-11-12T21:06:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-02T17:11:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5bd788c03736c2f3851c7cb88cd5bd9b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/bigstock-Sheep-and-shepherd-7595314-e1788369068431.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/bigstock-Sheep-and-shepherd-7595314-e1788369068431.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1000},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A True Shepherd of the Church Warning About Contemplative\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"From the Lighthouse\",\"description\":\""A Light Shining in the Darkness"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5bd788c03736c2f3851c7cb88cd5bd9b\",\"name\":\"Larry DeBruyn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/14415e4dedd421c162e60f465344090525db8c97e416142b8587f1547a0809d0?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/14415e4dedd421c162e60f465344090525db8c97e416142b8587f1547a0809d0?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/14415e4dedd421c162e60f465344090525db8c97e416142b8587f1547a0809d0?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Larry DeBruyn\"},\"description\":\"Larry DeBruyn (1944-2017) was a graduate of Taylor University (B.S., 1968) and Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M., 1974) where he received the Charles A. Nash Award in Church History. He spent some time as a public-school teacher before becoming a pastor. In the course of forty-three years, he ministered to three churches in Michigan, Missouri, and Indiana. He also taught on the adjunct faculties of Taylor University, Upland, Indiana (1979); Crossroads Bible College, Indianapolis, Indiana (1990-1999); and Word of Life Bible Institute, T\u00f3alm\u00e1s, Hungary (2006). His website is https:\\\/\\\/www.guardinghisflock.org.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/larry-debruyn\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A True Shepherd of the Church Warning About Contemplative - From the Lighthouse","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A True Shepherd of the Church Warning About Contemplative","og_description":"As we have been sharing...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\/","og_site_name":"From the Lighthouse","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LighthouseTrailsResearch","article_published_time":"2006-11-12T21:06:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-02T17:11:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1000,"url":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/bigstock-Sheep-and-shepherd-7595314-e1788369068431.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Larry DeBruyn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@LTrails","twitter_site":"@LTrails","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Larry DeBruyn","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\/"},"author":{"name":"Larry DeBruyn","@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5bd788c03736c2f3851c7cb88cd5bd9b"},"headline":"A True Shepherd of the Church Warning About Contemplative","datePublished":"2006-11-12T21:06:38+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-02T17:11:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\/"},"wordCount":462,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/bigstock-Sheep-and-shepherd-7595314-e1788369068431.jpg","articleSection":["FAITH"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\/","name":"A True Shepherd of the Church Warning About Contemplative - From the Lighthouse","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/bigstock-Sheep-and-shepherd-7595314-e1788369068431.jpg","datePublished":"2006-11-12T21:06:38+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-02T17:11:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5bd788c03736c2f3851c7cb88cd5bd9b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/bigstock-Sheep-and-shepherd-7595314-e1788369068431.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/bigstock-Sheep-and-shepherd-7595314-e1788369068431.jpg","width":1600,"height":1000},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/a-true-shepherd-of-the-church-warning-about-contemplative\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A True Shepherd of the Church Warning About Contemplative"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/","name":"From the Lighthouse","description":""A Light Shining in the Darkness"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5bd788c03736c2f3851c7cb88cd5bd9b","name":"Larry DeBruyn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/14415e4dedd421c162e60f465344090525db8c97e416142b8587f1547a0809d0?s=96&d=blank&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/14415e4dedd421c162e60f465344090525db8c97e416142b8587f1547a0809d0?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/14415e4dedd421c162e60f465344090525db8c97e416142b8587f1547a0809d0?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Larry DeBruyn"},"description":"Larry DeBruyn (1944-2017) was a graduate of Taylor University (B.S., 1968) and Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M., 1974) where he received the Charles A. Nash Award in Church History. He spent some time as a public-school teacher before becoming a pastor. In the course of forty-three years, he ministered to three churches in Michigan, Missouri, and Indiana. He also taught on the adjunct faculties of Taylor University, Upland, Indiana (1979); Crossroads Bible College, Indianapolis, Indiana (1990-1999); and Word of Life Bible Institute, T\u00f3alm\u00e1s, Hungary (2006). His website is https:\/\/www.guardinghisflock.org.","url":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/author\/larry-debruyn\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48950,"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735\/revisions\/48950"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}