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We have included yesterday's
Special Report in this issue of
our e-newsletter. It is alarming
to realize that the two most influential
evangelical pastors in North America
(and perhaps in the world), are
promoting a spirituality that is
dangerous and very deceptive. May
God help believers everywhere to
see that contemplative/emerging
beliefs are completely contrary
to biblical Christianity, and may
the true message of the Cross be
preserved so that the unbelieving
will hear the Word, repent and be
saved.
"This is the message which we have heard
from Him and declare to you, that
God is light and in Him is no darkness
at all. If we say that we have fellowship
with Him, and walk in darkness,
we lie and do not practice the truth.
But if we walk in the light as He
is in the light, we have fellowship
with one another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses
us from all sin." I John 1:5-7 |
Christian Leaders - Quoting
Contemplatives
and Saying It Is OK
If
you are someone who, on a regular
basis, reads books written by Christian
leaders, then you are probably well
aware that many of those leaders quote
contemplative authors. And many of
those leaders defend their quoting
of contemplatives, insisting that
even if they may not agree with all
that is said, it is worth quoting
some of their material in favorable
ways. But is it really worth taking
the chance of misleading countless
readers into believing that the writings
of contemplatives are valid, meaningful
and important to the spiritual life?
If a Christian leader quotes favorably
from a contemplative, without giving
a strong and clear disclaimer that
this author's writings are unbiblical
and therefore heretical, then that
Christian leader is bringing potential
harm to a trusting reader, and ultimately
allowing false doctrine into the church.
Today, we have decided we are going
to quote from some contemplatives
to show why a disclaimer is necessary
when quoting writing that is represented
as Christian. We have chosen quotes
from some of the most quoted contemplatives
in the evangelical camp.
Disclaimer: The following quotes
are given in order to show the contemplative
and New Age sympathies of these writers
and to present documentation that
proves contemplative spirituality
has no place in biblical Christianity
and does in fact oppose the gospel
message of Jesus Christ. Please read
these with this in mind. If you know
of a Christian leader who is favorably
quoting these writers, please beseech
them to add a disclaimer or better
yet choose trustworthy and biblically
sound sources from which to quote.
Some of the most quoted contemplative
authors:
Richard
Foster
"Dom
John Main understood well
the value of both silence and
solitude ... Main rediscovered
meditation while living in the
Far East." (Spiritual Classics - p.155)
"Contemplatives
sometimes speak of their union
with God by the analogy of a log
in a fire: the glowing log is
so united with the fire that it
is fire ..."
"The
wonderful thing about contemplative
prayer is that it can be found
everywhere, anywhere, any time
for anyone. We become a portable
sanctuary, so that we are living
our life, wherever it is, aware
of the goodness of God, the presence
of God." (Be Still DVD)
"[W]e
began experiencing that 'sweet
sinking into Deity' Madame Guyon
speaks of. It, very honestly,
had much the same 'feel' and 'smell'
as the experiences I had been
reading about in the Devotional
Masters" (Renovare Perspective,
01/ 1998)
Henri
Nouwen
"Today
I personally believe that while
Jesus came to open the door to
God's house, all human beings
can walk through that door, whether
they know about Jesus or not.
Today I see it as my call to help
every person claim his or her
own way to God." (Sabbatical
Journey, page 51, 1998 Hardcover
Edition
"Through
the discipline of contemplative
prayer, Christian leaders have
to learn to listen to the voice
of love ... For Christian leadership
to be truly fruitful in the future,
a movement from the moral to the
mystical is required." (In the
Name of Jesus)
"Prayer
is soul work because our souls
are those sacred centers where
all is one, ... It is in the heart
of God that we can come to the
full realization of the unity
of all that is. (Bread for
the Journey)
"The
quiet repetition of a single word
can help us to descend with the
mind into the heart ... This way
of simple prayer ... opens us
to God is active presence." (The
Way of the Heart)
"The
God who dwells in our inner sanctuary
is the same as the one who dwells
in the inner sanctuary of each
human being." (Here and Now,
p. 22)
Gary
Thomas
"It
is particularly difficult to describe
this type of prayer in writing,
as it is best taught in person.
In general however, centering
prayer works like this: Choose
a word (Jesus or Father, for example)
as a focus for contemplative prayer.
Repeat the word silently in your
mind for a set amount of time
(say, twenty minutes) until your
heart seems to be repeating the
word by itself, just as naturally
and involuntarily as breathing"
(Sacred Pathways)
Sue
Monk Kidd
"I
am speaking of recognizing the
hidden truth that we are one with
all people. We are part of them
and they are part of us ... When
we encounter another person, ...
we should walk as if we were upon
holy ground. We should respond
as if God dwells there." (God's
Joyful Surprise, pp. 228-
233) "We also need Goddess consciousness
to reveal earth's holiness....
Matter becomes inspirited; it
breathes divinity. Earth becomes
alive and sacred.... Goddess offers
us the holiness of everything."
(The Dance of the Dissident
Daughter, pp. 162-163)
This
is just a small fraction of the
writers our Christian leaders are
favorably quoting from. They might
as well be quoting from staunch,
full- blown New Agers and pantheists.
Actually, that might be safer, for
at least those ones are not deceptively
disguising themselves behind Christian
terminology. If your pastor, leader
or professor is quoting from "Christian"
contemplatives, maybe it is time
for us to tell them, "no more."
Other
contemplatives who are frequently
quoted by Christian authors and
leaders in favorable ways:
Brennan
Manning
Ruth Haley Barton
Teilhard de Chardin
Julian of Norwich
Leonard Sweet
The
Cloud of Unknowing
For
more information:
Amazing
Quotes by Contemplatives
Quoting
Heretics: The New Trend for Christian
Authors
Quotes
from Emerging Church leaders |
Leadership Summit 2006 Speaker
Promotes Eastern/New Age Meditation
"I
attended a meditation-intensive
day at an ashram [Hindu spiritual
center]to support a friend. As
I sat in meditation in what was
for me an unfamiliar environment,
I suddenly felt and saw a bolt
of lightning shoot up from the
base of my spine out the top of
my head. It forced me to recognize
something great within me ...
this awareness of my own divinity."
(from The
Highest Goal, Michael
Ray, foreword by Jim Collins,
p. 28, 2005)
Jim
Collins, the man who wrote the foreword
for The Highest Goal will
be one of the featured speakers
at this year's Leadership
Summit, hosted by Willow Creek.
The conference will be attended
by more than 70,000 Christian leaders,
in over 130 locations.
In
1982, Collins took Michael Ray's
course, Creativity in Business. The course
(and the book named after the course)
"takes much of its inspiration from
Eastern philosophy, mysticism and
meditation techniques" (from the
book). In one section of the book
it talks about "your wisdom-keeper
or spirit guide-an inner person
who can be with you in life....
We meditate to unfold our inner
being." The book also presents Tarot
cards.
Collins was so inspired by Ray's
course in 1982 that he wrote the
foreword for Ray's 2005 book, The
Highest Goal: The Secret That Sustains
You in Every Minute. Collins
says the book is "the distillation
of years of accumulated wisdom from
a great teacher." Collins says he
discovered "the path to my highest
goal" by reading the book. What
is this highest goal that Michael
Ray speaks of? Realizing the divinity
within. And how is this realization
obtained? Through meditation. In
the book, Ray tells readers to "[p]ractice
emptying your mind," "[e] xperience
not thinking" and to "[m]editate
regularly." Other quotes in the
book include those of Eastern religion
gurus such as Ram Dass, Jiddu Krishnamurti,
and Swami Shantananda.
For
Willow Creek to include a speaker
at the Leadership Summit who agrees
with Michael Ray's Eastern/New Age
philosophies on spirituality to
the point of actually writing the
foreword to this book, is almost
unbelievable! Over 70,000 Christian
leaders, in churches and auditoriums
across North America, will be introduced
to Collins at a conference that
is advertised as offering "you and
every leader on your team a place
to rededicate yourselves to God's
life-changing work." If the spirituality
that Jim Collins promotes is a part
of this "life- changing work," we
fear it will not be God's work but
rather that of deceptive doctrines
of demons, and Michael Ray's "spirit-guide[s]
" that take place.
Special
Note: This news about Jim Collins'
connection with Willow Creek (named
recently as the most influential
evangelical church) may be as significant
as the news
last year that New Age sympathizer
Ken Blanchard (with strong ties
to the Hoffman
Institute) signed on with Rick
Warren to help implement the global
P.E.A.C.E. Plan. And incidentally,
both Collins and Blanchard have
spoken with Mikhail Gorbachev and
former President Bill Clinton in
international leadership conferences.
Their influence world-wide is tremendous.
How is it that the two most influential
evangelical pastors have each linked
up with someone who is a promoter
of Eastern style meditation and
the New Age? Lighthouse Trails is
confident that the facts speak for
themselves, and we encourage you
to check this out for yourself.
See
below for further documentation:
Living
Leadership
Living
Leadership 2004
Defense
Acquisition University
Create
One
Earth-Friendly
Vision
|
New Age Writer Found in Christian
Circles
Sue
Monk Kidd is a popular author,
whose books are read by many Christians
and used in many Sunday School studies.
Her books are carried in countless
Christian bookstores, and surprisingly
are endorsed by and quoted from
the most unlikely Christian leaders.
Ray Yungen talks about Monk Kidd
in his important book, A
Time of Departing:
[Sue]
Monk Kidd's spirituality is
spelled out clearly in her book, When the Heart Waits. She
explains: "There's a bulb of truth
buried in the human soul [everyone]
that's only God ... the soul is
more than something to win or
save. It's the seat and repository
of the inner Divine, the God-image,
the truest part of us....
How
did a Baptist Sunday school teacher
come to believe that divinity
is within all? [A]Sunday school
co-worker handed her [Monk Kidd]
a book by Thomas
Merton telling her she needed
to read it. Once Monk Kidd read
it, her life changed dramatically.
What
happened next completely reoriented
Sue Monk Kidd's worldview and
belief system. She started down
the contemplative prayer road
with bliss, reading numerous books
and repeating the sacred word
methods taught in her readings.
She ultimately came to the mystical
realization that: "I am speaking
of recognizing the hidden truth
that we are one with all people.
We are part of them and they are
part of us ... When we encounter
another person, ... we should
walk as if we were upon holy ground.
We should respond as if God dwells
there." (A Time of Departing,
2nd ed., p. 134- 135)
Dance
of the Dissident Daughter,
published six years after When
the Heart Waits, shows
clearly Monk Kidd's transition into
goddess and panentheist spirituality,
going so far as to say that God can
be found even in excrement. In speaking
about mysticism, she states:
As
I grounded myself in feminine spiritual
experience, that fall I was initiated
into my body in a deeper way. I
came to know myself as an embodiment
of Goddess.... Mystical awakening
in all the great religious traditions,
including Christianity, involves
arriving at an experience of unity
or nondualism. In Zen it's known
as samadhi.... Transcendence and
immanence are not separate. The
Divine is one. The dancer and all
the dances are one.... The day of
my awakening was the day I saw and
knew I saw all things in God, and
God in all things (pp. 161-163, Dance of the Dissident Daughter).
Perhaps
what is so disturbing about this
is the favorable quoting and endorsement
of Monk Kidd's writings. For instance,
Eugene Peterson (author of The
Message) writes an endorsement
on the back
cover of When the Heart Waits,
saying: "As I read her book, Sue
Monk Kidd became a companion to
me. I love having her walk with
me on my journey." Since Peterson
is also on the back cover of Richard
Foster's contemplative book, Prayer
Finding the Heart's True Home and Brennan
Manning's Ragamuffin Gospel as well as on the board of advisors
of Allelon with Leonard Sweet and
Brian McLaren, his endorsement of
Sue Monk Kidd probably shouldn't
be too much of a surprise. But then
there is David Jeremiah, who in his
book, Life Wide Open, favorably
quotes from Sue Monk Kidd's book, When the Heart Waits. While
this was brought
out publicly last year, Jeremiah
still has made no public statement
about his quoting Monk Kidd and
about her beliefs. But that might
be because he also quoted from other
contemplatives and New Age sympathizers
in his book, and to reject his quoting
of Monk Kidd would mean he would
have to reject many other comments
in the book, thus negating the credibility
of the book all together.
Monk
Kidd's work has been endorsed by
other unlikely names. Moody Monthly,
of her book God's Joyful Surprise,
said, "... [Kidd] suggests some
disciplines for cultivating an 'interior
quietness' ... Her writing, well-balanced
by the wisdom of writers like Brother
Lawrence, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and
Henri Nouwen, is alive with humorous
anecdotes." Of the same book, Today's
Christian Woman says "the message
and challenge of the book is profound." |
Want to Learn the Truth About
the Emerging Church?
Many
people think that the emerging movement
was started by a bunch of disgruntled
young people who want to be in a hip
environment with couches and candles.
Not so. The emerging church movement
was started by Leadership Network
(Bob Buford) in the mid nineties. At
that time, Leadership
Network hired Doug Pagitt, then
brought on Brian McLaren and some
others. If you want to really understand
the truth behind the emerging church,
spend some time on Leadership Network's
website. Here are a few links to help
you get around:
Alliance
Partners of Leadership Network,
includes Zondervan, Church
Communication Network (CCN - Be
Still conference), and Lifeway
(Southern Baptist Convention - yes
they support the emerging church
movement too.
Leadership
Network Archive Explorer Resources
Archives
Also
read our article: Leadership
Network Launched the Emerging Church |
MOVIE ALERT: Conversations
With God
In
the last couple years there has
been an unusually high number of
movies that have an obvious and
clear New Age message. Indigo
Children and Bee
Season are two of those
along with more recent releases
such as The
Shaggy Dog and Peaceful
Warrior. Now, soon to be
released (October), is Conversations
With God, based on the very
popular book series by New Age writer
and actor Neale Donald Walsch:
August
8, 2006 -- (Los Angeles, CA) "Conversations
with God" the book series that inspired
and changed the lives of millions
around the world is now a film that
opens nationwide on October 27,
2006 (released by Samuel Goldwyn
Films). Adapted from the books by
Neale Donald Walsch, "Conversations
with God" tells the true story of
Walsch (played by Henry Czerny)
who, at the lowest point in his
life, asks God some very hard questions.
The answers he gets from God/within
become the foundation of the internationally
acclaimed book series that has sold
over 7 million copies and been translated
into 34 languages. The film chronicles
the dramatic journey of a down and
out man who inadvertently becomes
a spiritual messenger and best selling
author. Read the rest of this article from
Religion News Service
Neale Donald Walsch
describes truth in his book, Communion
With God, as something
that is always changing: 'Truth is
nothing more than a word meaning 'what
is right now.' However, since conditions
are always changing, changing conditions
create changing truth'"Some of Walsch's "conversations with
God" are:
God: Evil is that which you call evil.
Yet even that I love, for it is
only through that which you call
evil that you can know good; only
through that which you call the
work of the devil that you can know
and do the work of God. I do not
love hot more than I do cold, high
more than low, left more than right.
It is all relative. It is all part
of what is. I do not love "good"
more than I love "bad." Hitler went
to heaven. When you understand this,
you will understand God. (RAW,
p. 127)
To
read more about Conversations with
God, click here. Other
New Age oriented movies that have
surfaced recently are What
the Bleep Do We Know? and The
Celestine Prophecy (based on James Redfield's book).
Our society is quickly becoming a
New Age world where meditation, the
god within, global
unity, and all
is Divine are concepts
more and more people are coming to
accept as truth. And unfortunately,
through contemplative spirituality,
this is also happening in Christendom.
|
Awana Club Now Featuring
Book
by Youth Specialties Speaker
In
February, we contacted Awana Club
with concerns about their affiliation
with and promotion of contemplative
organizations such as Willow
Creek, Youth
Specialties, and Group Publishing.
We later learned that there would
be no changes made by Awana regarding
these organizations. (You may read
about this situation in our February news
release.)
We
have now learned that Awana is now
featuring and offering a book by
Saddleback Youth Pastor, Doug
Fields (a regular speaker at
Youth Specialties events). The book, Your
First Two Years in Youth Ministry:
A personal and practical guide to
starting right, is published
by Youth Specialties and Zondervan.
Inside the book are several sidebar
commentaries by various people who
promote contemplative and/or emerging
spirituality: Tony
Campolo, the late Mike Yaconelli,
Rick Warren, Marv Penner (Briercrest
Biblical Seminary, Canada, Duffy
Robbins, Bo Boshers (leader at Willow
Creek), and others, most of whom
promote contemplative spirituality
and the emerging church. It is important
to remember that Youth Specialties
has been working in conjunction
with emerging church leaders for
several years now and has a major
role in the growth of this movement.
According
to the Awana website, "Awana is
the leading ministry to help local
churches reach children and youth
for Christ." However, if they continue
going in the contemplative/emerging
direction, it may not be the biblical
Jesus Christ that is being offered
to kids and youth but rather another
Christ and another gospel. We hope
and pray they will understand how
vital it is to stay away from those
who teach and promote contemplative
spirituality and who are engaged
with the emerging church movement.
|
Contemplative Terms, and
What They Mean
Ancient
Wisdom The supposed laws of
the Universe that, when mastered,
enable one to see one's own divinity-
another word for metaphysics or
occultism.
A
Thin Place Where the space or
distance (spiritually speaking)
between heaven and earth, God and
man is very small. This thin place
is supposed to be achieved through
meditative prayer by anyone.
Centering/Centering
Prayer Another term for contemplative
meditation (going deep within your
center). A type of meditation being
promoted in many mainline churches
under the guise of prayer.
Contemplative
Prayer Going beyond thought
by the use of repeated words or
phrases.
Desert
Fathers Monks who lived as hermits
beginning around the third century
who first taught the practice of
contemplative prayer.
False
Self The false self is the ego
or personality that is observable
by others. One rids oneself of the
false self to find the true self
through mantra-meditation. New Agers
would consider people like Buddha,
Ghandi, and even Jesus Christ as
examples of people who found their
true self.
Higher
Self Supposed God-self within
that New Agers seek to connect with
through meditation. Also called
the Christ-self or True-self.
Jesus
Prayer A popular version of
this prayer is Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of God, have mercy on me, a
sinner, often abbreviated to Jesus.
Labyrinths A maze-like structure that is used
during contemplative prayer in order
to center down and reach the divinity
within.
Lectio
Divina Means sacred reading.
In today's contemplative movement,
it often involves taking a single
word or small phrase from Scripture
and repeating the words over and
over again.
Mantra Word or words repeated either silently
or verbally to induce an altered
state of consciousness.
Meditation Meditation is practiced by all major
world religions and is often described
as an essential discipline for spiritual
growth. Yet, like mysticism, there
is great diversity in the practice
of meditation. While some see mediation
as simply spending time thinking
quietly about life or about God,
others use meditation techniques
to experience altered states of
consciousness that allow them to
have esoteric experiences. In addition,
meditation is promoted in secular
society for the personal benefits
of health, relaxation, and improved
productivity.
Sacred
Space Either a physical spot
where one goes to engage in a mystical
practice or the actual silence or
the state of being during the mystical
experience.
Spiritual
Formation The teaching and application
of the spiritual disciplines.
The
silence Absence of normal thought.
Spiritual
Director One who promotes or
trains people in the spiritual disciplines
including the silence.
Click
here for more contemplative terms.
|
CAUTION: 2006 National Youth
Workers Convention
This year's Youth Specialties-hosted National
Youth Workers Convention (taking
place in October and November in various
locations) will include a labyrinth ("meditative words and music to guide
you on a one-hour reflective journey"),
and a huge speakers list that includes
several contemplative/emerging promoting
authors including Dan Kimball (The
Emerging Church), Fil Anderson
(Running on Empty: Contemplative
Spirituality for Overachievers),
Lauren Winner (Girl Meets God),and
Mark Oestreicher (President Youth
Specialties - says Christianity is
an Eastern religion). Emergent leader
Tony Jones and Tony Campolo as well
as representatives from two mega churches, Wooddale
Church (MN) and Saddleback Church,
will also be featured. See our research
on Youth
Specialties .
|
American Bible Society Emerging
Links Still Online
This is a follow up to our
July 24th and July 28th posts on the
American Bible Society's promotion
of emerging and contemplative. Please
see those posts for background information.
Although the main page for the For
Ministry Authentic section
is gone, many many of the pages with
the emerging/contemplative links are
still online, most of which means
they can still be accessed through
search engines and cached files. We
hope ABS will remove all of these
links. See the following:
Postmodern
Ministry
Alternative
Worship
Small
groups, Cell groups, House churches
Prayer
Youth
and Youth Ministry
Discipleship,
Spiritual Development, Spiritual Renewal
|
What Ever Happened to Eerdman's
Publishers?
Eerdmans Publishing Company began in 1910,
and its motto, is "The finest in
religious literature." In 1998,
Eerdmans Publishing Company released
a book by John P. Newport titled, The New Age Movement and the
Biblical Worldview. This resource
is "a comprehensive study of the
impact of New Age beliefs on contemporary
culture - and on Christianity itself"
(back cover). But it looks as though
editors at Eerdmans forgot the warning
of the book that they released just
eight years ago. Today, Eerdmans
is publishing an array of books
that promote the New Age, contemplative
and Eastern religions. Take a look
at this sampling:
Between
Two Souls: Conversations with Ryokan
Companions of Christ: Ignatian Spirituality
for EverydayLiving
Heart of Flesh: A Feminist Spirituality
for Women and Men
The Way of Jesus
Scarred by Struggle, Transformed
by Hope
|
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