Lighthouse Trails Research Project - Exposing Contemplative Spirituality

Coming From the Lighthouse
Newsletter

Printer Friendly Version April 26, 2007

In This Issue

Emergent Manifesto: Emerging Church Comes Out of the Closet

David Jeremiah Continues Promoting Contemplatives

Hidden From View:...LifeWay Christian Bookstores

Earth Day: More Than Recycling

T. D. Jakes: Quotes Lighthouse Trails; OKs Yoga

Will Meditation Make Our...Colleges Safer?...

Why Do People Leave Their Churches...

Are Emerging Church Critics Too Critical?...

Article Headline

Radio Interview: Jan Markell/T.A. McMahon on...The Secret

What do "The Secret," Yoga and Harry Potter have in common?...

Three Conferences This Spring in North America

Publishing News...

EMERGENT MANIFESTO: Emerging Church Coming Out of the Closet

Emergent Manifesto of Hope is the new release from Emersion, a publishing partnership between Baker Books and Emergent Village. The book, edited and compiled by emergent leaders Tony Jones and Doug Pagitt, is a collection of essays by various emerging church leaders. Pagitt says the book "provides a rare glimpse inside the emerging church." This "rare glimpse" actually lays out the agenda of the movement, and in essence Emergent Manifesto is the emerging church's coming out of the closet tribute.

The back cover of Emergent Manifesto describes it as a "front-row" look at this "influential international movement" and promises readers that they will come away with "a deeper understanding of the hopeful imagination that drives the emerging church." Readers are also told that they will "appreciate the beauty of a conversation that is continually being formed." However, the book fails to deliver any "beauty."

A more accurate title for this book would be Emergent Manifesto of False Hope, and a subtitle (albeit a lengthy one) that would describe it perfectly would go something like this:

The Kingdom of God is already here on earth, includes all people, all faiths, and in fact is in all people and all of creation and can be felt or realized through mysticism which connects everything together as ONE.

This new collective spirituality leads people into a socialistic community where rituals, practices, and social justice become a means of salvation, but not the salvation you think of in a personal sense of being born-again through Jesus Christ. This is a collective salvation 1 that includes whole cultures and communities who follow the way of someone referred to as Jesus. Read more of this book review ... click here.

David Jeremiah Continues Promoting Contemplatives

For several years now, popular speaker and preacher David Jeremiah has been showing signs that he is in favor of contemplative spirituality. In 2001, he was quoting Henri Nouwen in church services. In 2002, he had his endorsement on the back cover of Erwin McManus' book, Seizing Your Divine Moment. In Jeremiah's 2003 book, Life Wide Open, he favorably quoted several authors with mystical and/or New Age proclivities. 1 Over the last couple years he has publicly rallied behind New Age sympathizer Ken Blanchard and mystic-promoting futurist Erwin McManus, and in Jeremiah's 2006 book, Captured by Grace, he includes an endorsement by Blanchard and favorably quotes Henri Nouwen again.

In today's Turning Point (David Jeremiah's daily commentary), he has once again shown his affinity toward those who practice or teach mystical meditation (i.e., contemplative). His commentary called "Living in Harmony" is summed up when he says "we should all live in harmony." But Jeremiah's quoting of mystic Saint Thomas Aquinas in his commentary today is troublesome. When Jeremiah said "we should all live in harmony," he was referencing the apostle Peter (1 Peter 3:8) who was speaking directly to other Christians (that's why Peter said "brethren"). For Jeremiah to quote Aquinas as saying "How can we live in harmony? First we need to know we are all madly in love with the same God," is inappropriate because contemplative mystics, like Aquinas, believe God dwells in all creation (including all humans).

We pray and hope that David Jeremiah will soon see the danger of contemplative/emerging theologies and rather than pointing people to this dangerous spirituality, he will warn them about it.

For more information and documentation:

David Jeremiah Proposes "Major Paradigm Shift" For His Church

Earth Day: More Than Recycling

by Berit Kjos

LTRP Note: The recent Earth Day focus on recycling and cleaning streams are conservation efforts that generate positive media reports. But as Berit Kjos shows in her new article, "Green Lies and Amazing Truths," there is much more to this movement...

"Green Lies and Amazing Truth"
by Berit Kjos
The Earth Charter opens with this declaration: "We stand at a critical moment in Earth's history, a time when humanity must choose its future...."

It continues,

"As never before in history, common destiny beckons us to seek a new beginning. Such renewal is the promise of these Earth Charter principles.... This requires a change of mind and heart. It requires a new sense of global INTERdependence [systems thinking] and universal responsibility. ... The partnership of government, civil society, and business is essential for effective governance."

This global contract clashes with Christianity. "Fundamental changes," it tells us, "are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of living." A new set of beliefs, values and behavior must unify "the one human family" to ensure lasting peace. Click here to read this entire article.

T. D. Jakes: Quotes Lighthouse Trails; OKs Yoga

T.D. Jakes article on Washington Post addresses Yoga

The famous pastor quotes Lighthouse Trails as saying "Christian leaders are embracing practices and a new spirituality that borrows from Eastern mysticism and New Age philosophy" but Jakes says yoga is OK if intent is right.

On April 16, 2007, Lighthouse Trails Research received a phone call from a student at Harvard University who was doing research on yoga being taught in the public schools. The student told us about a Washington Post article that quoted Lighthouse Trails. We later learned that the article on the Washington Post website was written by the popular pastor T. D. Jakes.

Jakes (named the "Most Influential Christian" in 2006) is pastor of the mega-church Potter's House in Dallas, Texas. The Washington Post article titled "Know What to Try and Why" addresses the growing topic of Christians practicing yoga. Jakes quotes Lighthouse Trails as saying that certain Christian leaders are:

... embracing practices and a new spirituality that borrows from Eastern mysticism and New Age philosophy.

He lists Rick Warren, Brian McLaren, Richard Foster, Tony Campolo, and Eugene Peterson as some whom we say are doing this. However, it is unsure why and ironic that Jakes has quoted Lighthouse Trails because then he turns around and condones Christians utilizing eastern practices.

Jakes quoted an article we wrote titled "Evangelical Leaders Promote New Age and Eastern Spiritual Practices" Interestingly, in his own article, Jakes rightly acknowledges Rick Warren's promotion of eastern mysticism:

In Warren's Purpose- Driven Life, he does encourage people to practice "breath prayers" by repeating words and phrases over and over in a mantra-style prayer, a practice that is similar to that found in Hindu yoga and Zen Buddhism."

But Jakes seems to advocate Rick Warren's position by stating:

In many cases yoga can be viewed as a quiet place where we individually meditate on God's word and who that God is.

Jakes justifies doing this by saying:

I believe at the core of the debate is what your intentions are when one practices the exercises of yoga or when you meditate. To read the rest of this article, click here.

Will Meditation Make Our Colleges Safer?

In light of the horrific event that just took place at Virginia Tech, the question will be asked by many, "What will make our colleges (and our society) safer?" No doubt, countless solutions will be presented, everything from more gun control to increasing hate legislation. But there is one thing that is NOT going to make things safer, and that is an increase in the practice of meditation.

Right now, mystical meditation is being introduced to children, college students, moms, patients, and business people at an accelerated rate. Literally, our society is being altered with meditation (i.e., mysticism). Now some may say, "Well, what is wrong with that? Don't meditators become more peaceful and loving?" The following explanation by a New Age meditator would resonate with that idea:

One starts by silencing the mind--for many, this is not easy, but when the mind has become silent and still, it is then possible for the Divine Force to descend and enter into the receptive individual. First it trickles in, and later, in it comes in waves. It is both transforming and cleansing; and it is through this force that divine transformation will be achieved.

While we tend to picture in our minds, when we hear the word meditation, a peaceful guru sitting on a beautiful mountainside in India, in truth mysticism is occultic. To read the entire article, click here.

Why Do People Leave Their Churches

by Paul Proctor

Last week in my NewsWithViews column,1 I responded to the curious claims of a Christian Post reporter about alleged survey findings she highlighted from a LifeWay study in a couple of recent articles titled, "Most Adults Switch Churches to Flee Former Church." and "Most Church Switchers Choose Non-Traditional Worship," where she concluded that "More than one in five adults who switch to a new church move away from traditional worship..." and that "...most do not end up attending traditional services as they formerly did."

Knowing that this didn't sound right, I invited readers to email me personally with "the primary reason they left their former church and if they actively sought out and ended up in a more contemporary fellowship," to see for myself if the results would be anywhere near those cited in the Christian Post. Click here to read more of this.

Are Emerging Church Critics Too Critical?

by Roger Oakland

Understand the Times

There are those who will read this and will not come to the conclusion that we are living in an age of apostasy before the return of our Lord. There will be those who accuse me of presenting an unbalanced view of the emerging church, in spite of the facts. There will be those who say that I concentrate only on the negative and that I have avoided all the good things about the Emerging Church.

For example, I anticipate there will be statements similar to the following one made by Emerging Church supporter Darren King in an article he wrote titled "A Response to Reactionism Against the Emerging Church":

It is clear that while those of us engaged in the Emerging Church conversation might find new perspectives a helpful thing, there are others, within the larger Christian community, who find these fresh perspectives not only unhelpful, but actually threatening. These people tend to operate under very circular, rigid belief systems. And for these people, any idea that infringes on any one corner of the "faith infrastructure" causes what amounts to a fight or flight response.

This statement illustrates how someone with a rigid perspective (biblical perspective) is perceived by someone with an Emerging Church perspective ("fresh perspective"). From Darren King's viewpoint, if someone is not willing to abandon their "faith infrastructure," (the Bible) for the "fresh perspective," (ideas that are unbiblical or anti-biblical) the person is considered a dangerous crackpot. Click here to read the rest of this article.

Yoga Practice Grows at Unprecedented Rate in America

by S.E.Ray
Eternal Path Ministries

The Register-Guard reported that 35 million Americans will try yoga for the first time this year. Once confined to those interested in Eastern spirituality, yoga is catching on among fitness fanatics, aging baby boomers and other unlikely enthusiasts who claim the mind/body practice does everything from heal illness to tighten abs. Wal-Mart's Web site exploits some 990 yoga products while Target exceeds 4,200. Hatha yoga exercises are taught as part of YMCA physical education programs, in health spas and given as physical exercise on TV programs. The majority of clubs now offer yoga classes. Yoga is also incorporated into institutional and liberal churches on the assumption that these techniques are nothing more than physical exercises which condition the mind and body. Click here to read this entire article by S.E. Ray

For more information on Yoga:

*Our Yoga Research *Yoga News and Articles

Radio Interview: Jan Markell/T.A. McMahon on The Secret

Olive Tree Ministries host and founder, Jan Markell, has been exposing the New Age coming into the church for some time. In this interview with Berean Call's Tom McMahon, Markell and McMahon unveil the truth about big selling DVD/book hit, The Secret. There are two broadcasts, yesterday's and today's, and they are available online for your listening. You can also put them on a podcast.

First half of interview, click here.

Second half of interview, click here.

For more information about The Secret:

Our articles and news stories on The Secret

What do "The Secret," Yoga and Harry Potter have in common?

by Caryl Matrisciana

Are you discerning of the times in which we live and able to recognize the "technique" common to these three apparently unrelated "phenomenon"?

The root of THE SECRET, Yoga, and the power of the young witch Harry Potter, once acknowledged as "heathen" and the foundation of The New Age Movement, is today sweeping through Christendom. While remaining true to its New Age tenets, the "new mysticism" has been sanitized with Christian terminology, seductive packaging and is being embraced by the Christian Body as The Emerging, Seeker Friendly, Purpose Driven Church, Christ- centered Yoga, Contemplative Prayer and Christians for Harry Potter. Click here to read this entire article.

Publishing News

The Other Side of the River Now Here

The Other Side of the River by Alaskan author Kevin Reeves, is now available.

The book is the true story of a young man's spiritual plunge into a movement called "the River," which claims to be spreading the kingdom of God through signs and wonders. Sometimes referred to as the River revival, the Third Wave or the Latter Rain, this movement is marked by bizarre manifestations, false prophecies, and esoteric revelations. Warnings of divine retribution keep many adherents in bondage, afraid to speak out or even question those things they are taught and are witness to.

For Kevin Reeves, the determination to rescue his family came to the forefront. Even if the cost was high and even if he had to stand alone, his journey back into the freedom and simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ would be worth the price. Click here for more details and how to order.

For Many Shall Come in My Name has gone to print and will be back from press around May 15th. You can order your copy anytime, and we will mail it to you as soon as it is off the truck. Click here to order.

Note: Lighthouse Trails is a Christian publishing company. While we hope you will read the books we have published, we also provide extensive research, documentation, and news on our Research site, blog, and newsletter. We pray that the books as well as the online research will be a blessing to the body of Christ and a witness to those who have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

A true story that will change your life and challenge your faith ...

Trapped in Hitler's Hell

See all the books we publish...