Lighthouse Trails Research Project - Exposing Contemplative Spirituality

Lighthouse Trails is a Christian publishing company. While we hope you will read the books we have published, we also provide extensive free 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.

What is Contemplative Spirituality?

definition: contemplative spirituality: a belief system that uses ancient mystical practices to induce altered states of consciousness (the silence) and is rooted in mysticism and the occult but often wrapped in Christian terminology; the premise of contemplative spirituality is pantheistic (God is all) and panentheistic (God is in all).

spiritual formation: a movement that has provided a platform and a channel through which contemplative prayer is entering the church. Find spiritual formation being used, and in nearly every case you will find contemplative spirituality. In fact, contemplative spirituality is the heartbeat of the spiritual formation movement.

How Widespread Has Spiritual Formation Become? Read our list of ministries that are promoting it. Please pray for the leaders of these groups that their eyes may be opened.

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Lilly Endowment Continues to Back Contemplative/Emerging Movement

The Lilly Endowment will be awarding about 120 grants of approximately $45,000 each in their 2008 National Clergy Renewal Program. Craig Dykstra, senior vice president of religion at the Endowment, says this award offers a time of renewal for pastors and other clergy members to "explore the roots of their religious traditions, write poetry, [and] practice contemplative prayer."1 This Lighthouse Trails report will show that the Lilly Endowment has been a conduit for helping to finance and propagate contemplative spirituality and the emerging church for many years.

While the National Clergy Renewal Program is "open to all Christian congregations," most of the 132 recipients from the 2007 awards are from denominations that strongly promote contemplative spirituality. There were 18 denominations represented; these include: Episcopal, PCUSA, ELCA, United Methodist, UCC (United Congregational Church), American Baptist, Evangelical Covenant, Disciples of Christ, RCA (Reformed Church of America), Roman Catholic Church. Of this group, there were over 110 grants awarded (totaling nearly 5 million dollars). The remaining twenty or so grants were divided among a handful of other denominations including: Mennonite churches (a growing proponent for contemplative through North America), Southern Baptist, and Evangelical Presbyterian. The 2006 denominational make-up of award recipients was very similar. 2

Lilly has a long history of financially aiding those with the contemplative/emerging message. In the late 1990s, Lilly awarded a grant to Youth Ministry & Spirituality Project (a partnership between Youth Specialties and San Francisco Theological Seminary - both strong proponents for contemplative spirituality). Then in 2001 the Endowment, presented the organization with a larger grant, that of $691,000 (see Faith Undone for more on this, p. 36).

In addition, Lilly funded Project on Congregations of Intentional Practice, an emerging-type project with Diane Butler Bass.3

New Age sympathizer Parker Palmer (friend and inspiration to emerging leader, Len Sweet) also enjoyed the benefits of Lilly Endowment grants. 4

Indirectly, contemplative/emerging church advocate Rick Warren has also benefited from Lilly. In an article by Kjos Ministries titled "Social Change and Communitarian Systems," it explains:

The Lilly Endowment "a private foundation...that supports community development, education and religion," has also helped fund the [Peter] Drucker Foundation. But more recently, it has shown its support for Baptist leadership and pastoral training.... [An] article, "Golden Gate Seminary Receives $300,000 Lilly Endowment Grant" tells us that the funds would provide "hardware, software, renovations and training needed to fully integrate up-to-date technology" with the seminary's training program.

This grant [$300,000] makes all the more sense in light of a new partnership between Golden Gate Seminary and Saddleback Church. The Baptist seminary will build a new branch on the Saddleback campus to train church leaders to use the digital data tracking technology needed to meet and monitor community needs around the world.5

In 1999, the now emerging/contemplative-promoting Bethel Seminary received $1.5 million from Lilly Endowment in a project created to identify "the next generation of Christian leaders." 6

According to an article by emergent Tony Jones, in a more recent grant called Faithful Practices , Jones reaped benefits from Lilly as well.7 (p. 8)

One Christian researcher further notes Lilly's emphasis on assisting the contemplative/emerging movement:

Lilly funded Alan Roxburgh (mentor to Brian McLaren). Lilly also gave $15,000 to the Eastern Mennonite Seminary to build a labyrinth. Meanwhile, another Mennonite seminary (MBBS) puts on a contemplative course, also sponsored by Lilly, called Ministry Quest. And what do these Lilly projects all have in common? Spiritual formation and contemplative spirituality.... [I]n 2001, Goshen College was among the first 20 colleges to receive a five-year grant [from Lilly Endowment]. The Goshen grant is called the CALL project, which sponsored a Brian McLaren visit to the college. 8

There are many other similar grants issued by Lilly, such as the 2007 Fund For Theological Education (FTE). 9 While proponents say the emerging church succeeds because it is a move of God and that contemplative spirituality is a way to become closer to God, financial assistance by Lilly and other organizations and corporations may have a lot more to do with the real success of these movements. And given the un-biblical nature of these belief systems, that certainly does seem to be the case.

Related:
Shaping the Minds of the Youth by Roger Oakland

More on Rick Warren, Obama, and the global PEACE Plan

"Joint Appearance of Obama and McCain at Saddleback Church's Civic Forum Could Spell Disaster For McCain's Campaign"

by Sockless Exploits

an out of house commentary

Senator John McCain has twenty eight days to come up with some kind of global "peace" plan if he wants to keep up with the personal and political agendas that will be swirling around him at the "Civic Forum On Leadership and Compassion" held at Saddleback Church on August 16th. . .

It goes without saying that since Warren has already stressed that he and Obama are friends and Obama has supported other Saddleback Church agendas in the past, it makes sense that the two powerful men from different communities, one political and the other spiritual, would start to work together on helping each other reach common goals. Click here to read this entire article.

Related News:

CNN Interview with Rick Warren on Obama/McCain at Saddleback; (Warren: They're both amazing men.)

Another Christian College that Does NOT Promote Contemplative/Emerging/Purpose Driven

Lighthouse Trails has added another Christian college to its list of Christian colleges, universities, and seminaries that do NOT promote contemplative/emerging spirituality, do NOT have a spiritual formation program, and do NOT use Purpose Driven materials (a catalyst for contemplative and emerging). The school is His Hill Bible School near Comfort, Texas.

For a list of other Christian schools that fall in this category, please click here.

To view the growing list of Christian colleges, universities, and seminaries that ARE going in the contemplative direction, click here.

The Cloud of Unknowing - Written by an Anonymous Monk

"In 1974, Father William Meninger, a Trappist monk and retreat master at St. Josephs Abbey in Spencer, Mass. found a dusty little book in the abbey library, The Cloud of Unknowing. As he read it he was delighted to discover that this anonymous 14th century book presented contemplative meditation as a teachable, spiritual process enabling the ordinary person to enter and receive a direct experience of union with God." --Some History of The Cloud of Unknowing

"The Cloud of Unknowing"
by Ray Yungen

Mystical silence is accomplished by the same methods used by New Agers to achieve their silence--the mantra and the breath! Contemplative prayer is the repetition of what is referred to as a prayer word or sacred word until one reaches a state where the soul, rather than the mind, contemplates God. Contemplative prayer teacher and Zen master Willigis Jager brought this out when he postulated:

Do not reflect on the meaning of the word; thinking and reflecting must cease, as all mystical writers insist. Simply "sound" the word silently, letting go of all feelings and thoughts.1

Those with some theological training may recognize this teaching as the historical stream going back centuries to such figures as Meister Eckhart, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Julian of Norwich. One of the most well-known writings on the subject is the classic 14th century treatise, The Cloud of Unknowing, written by an anonymous author. It is essentially a manual on contemplative prayer inviting a beginner to:

Take just a little word, of one syllable rather than of two ... With this word you are to strike down every kind of thought under the cloud of forgetting. 2

The premise here is that in order to really know God, mysticism must be practiced--the mind has to be shut down or turned off so that the cloud of unknowing where the presence of God awaits can be experienced. Practitioners of this method believe that if the sacred words are Christian, you will get Christ--it is simply a matter of intent even though the method is identical to occult and Eastern practices.(from A Time of Departing, 2nd ed., p. 33)

Notes:

1. Willigis Jager, Contemplation: A Christian Path (Triumph Books, 1994), p. 31.

2. Ken Kaisch, Finding God, citing The Cloud of Unknowing, p. 223.

Related Research:
The Mystics of the Past
The Desert Fathers

CNN Interview with Rick Warren on Obama/McCain at Saddleback; (Warren: They're both amazing men.)

"Pastor snags Obama, McCain for joint appearance"
From CNN

(CNN) -- Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain in August will be on the same stage for the first time in the 2008 presidential campaign.

... Rick Warren has invited them to appear at a leadership and compassion forum in his Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, on August 16. Warren, the author of the best-selling book "The Purpose Driven Life" spoke with CNN's Wolf Blitzer by phone Tuesday from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

BLITZER: Pastor Warren, how did you do it? How did you convince both of them to show up?

PASTOR RICK WARREN, SADDLEBACK CHURCH: Well, Wolf, they've both been friends for a long time. I knew both John and Barack before either of them decided to run for office, had talked with them. Both of them have helped me in the past with our peace plan....

I have a church full of Democrats and a church full of Republicans and a church full of independents.... [T]hey're both amazing men [Obama/McCain]. I've known them for a long time. Click here to read this entire news story by CNN.

Related Articles:

Meditation: The Heartbeat of a New Kind of Politics

The Spirituality of Barack Obama and Rick Warren

Spiritual Politics by Warren Smith

Girl Scouts to Troops: "We're Not Radical."

by Jane Chastain
WorldNet Daily

The Girl Scouts hierarchy has issued a "Communications Alert" to council CEOs and board chairs to try to put out the firestorm created by the launch of the new "leadership" program inspired by the Ashland Institute and created with the help of the Oxford Leadership Academy.

The new program will take the Girl Scouts on a series of age-specific "journeys" that culminate with the Senior Scouts becoming "ambassadors" to change the world for the global good. However, much of the current emphasis has been on the recruitment of adults who are being trained to become "guides" for the girls on these journeys.

Many believe that the new program is an indoctrination into the New Age movement. Consider the leaders/founders of the above-mentioned groups. The Ashland Institute, which specializes in a practice known as Transitional Awareness, is led by Michael Cecil, the former leader of the Emissaries of Divine Light cult, founded by his father. Click here to read this entire out of house news story.

Related:
The New Age Comes to the Girl Scouts (special Lighthouse Trails Report - July 6, 2008)

Condolences to Greg Laurie

The staff and editors at Lighthouse Trails Publishing wish to express our sincerest condolences to Greg Laurie and his family for the tragic loss of their son on July 24th. We pray that God's comfort and love will encompass them during this difficult time.

Ray Yungen Coming to 8 Cities This Summer

Lighthouse Trails author, Ray Yungen, will be visiting 8 cities this August, sharing his information about contemplative spirituality, the New Age movement, the emerging church, and the impact these belief systems are having on the church and our society. These seminars will all be free of charge and are open to the public. Below are the dates and locations. If you live near any of these cities, we hope you will get the chance to attend one of these meetings. For updated information on Ray's itinerary and for more information on the meetings below, visit his website at: A Time of Departing Ministries

1. Piqua, Ohio (near Dayton/Milwaukee)

Piqua Church of the Nazarene, July 27 - **OVER**

2. Indianapolis, Indiana

Franklin Road Baptist Church, August 2-3

3. Johnson County, Kansas (near Kansas City) with Warren Smith

Johnson County Calvary Chapel, August 7-9

4. Clarinda, Iowa with Warren Smith

Calvary Chapel of Clarinda, August 10 (call for more information)

5. Cedarburg, Wisconsin

Cedarburg Cultural Center, August 16

6. Hartland, Wisconsin

Lake Country Bible Church, August 17

7. St. Paul, Minnesota

Twin City Fellowship, August 23

* Ray will be wrapping up his August trip in Winkler, Manitoba. If you live near there, email or call us for information if you would like to attend one of the meetings there.

Ray will be in California during the month of October. He will be speaking in Redding, San Diego, Lodi, and other cities. If you have a group that would like to have Ray speak, please let us know.

Summer/Fall 2008 Catalog

The Summer/Fall 2008 Catalog is now available. We hope you will find our selection of books and DVDs helpful and relevant.

If you are a Lighthouse Trails customer, you will be receiving a copy of the catalog via U.S. mail this week. If you have never ordered from us before and would like to have a copy of the catalog sent to your home, please send your name and mailing address to: catalog@lighthousetrails.com. Please write "catalog" in the subject area of your email to us.

Summer 2008 Book Release Arriving August 11th

Our Upcoming Release, Things We Couldn't Say, Will be back from Press on August 11th! Order your copy today and receive it by August 14th.

Lighthouse Trails Presents:

Things We Couldn't Say by Diet Eman - a true and gripping story!

This is the true story of Diet Eman, a young Christian woman who joined the Christian resistance movement in the Netherlands during WWII. Together with her fiancé and other Dutch men and women, "Group Hein" risked their lives to save the lives of Jews who were in danger of becoming victims of Hitler's "final solution."

Things We Couldn't Say is an endearing and moving love story that occurs in the midst of extreme danger and often unbearable circumstances and loss. Before the war ends, Eman, her fiancé, and several in their group are arrested and sent to concentration camps - many of them lose their own lives.

This story will help us remember a time in history that should not be forgotten and will inspire us to live more courageously and stand for what is right, doing so by the power and grace of God. Things We Couldn't Say is a powerful illustration of II Corinthians 12:9, which states: "And he [the Lord] said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

Things We Couldn't Say
ISBN 978-0-9791315-7-8
Retail $14.95, 352 pages
August 2008
PRE-ORDER TODAY

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Book Spotlights

These two important books expose the truth about contemplative spirituality, spiritual formation, and the new age.
A Time of Departing and For Many Shall Come in My Name

HOLOCAUST: LEST WE FORGET
A true story that will change your life and challenge your faith ..

"Will sweep you into 1930s Germany and back with your faith intact ... [Trapped in Hitler's Hell] carries a stark message for today's Western Christian ... will refocus your priorities and recharge your spiritual life."-Leo Hohmann, Read entire review at The Messianic Times Trapped in Hitler's Hell

See all books and DVDs on the Holocaust

The Other Side of the River by Alaskan Kevin Reeves

When mystical experiences and strange doctrines overtake his church, one man risks all to find the truth ... a true story. Read more about this important book, especially now in light of the Todd Bentley "revival" in Florida.

Find out the truth about the emerging church and the avenues through which it is entering Christianity.

Faith Undone by Roger Oakland

Find out more about the book that tells it like it is.