As more and more of Christendom is being enveloped in a spirituality that emphasizes the mystical and exalts experience over biblical truth, it is equally true that many believers are realizing what is taking place around them. We pray that Lighthouse Trails might be a useful service to those in the body of Christ who, with compassion and concern, are sounding the alarm to family, friends, and colleagues. God bless you as you stand firm in the faith, speaking the truth in love and strength, by His grace.

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." I Peter 5:8-11

1. Rick Warren states there are over 2 billion Christians in the world, and says that this number includes hundreds of millions of Catholics.

2. Warren said that, with regard to his book, "I couldn't figure out why it became such a phenomena. I think now it was because God wanted to provide a platform for these other issues we care about." (Warren's 5 global giants)

3. "I've been taking people, irreligious people, people with no background in any kind of faith or they haven't been to church or synagogue or temple in forty years ... and we take them where they need to be.... My goal is to move the American church [away] from self-centered consumerism.

Over the last several days, Fox News has highlighted Rick Warren on news articles and in television interviews. It was looking like a Rick Warren Week at Fox News. On August 11th, Fox headlines read, "Can Rick Warren Save the World?" A few days later another article read, Can Rick Warren Change the World? On August 17th, Fox's Bill O' Reilly interviewed Warren. To wrap up the week, Fox did a special presentation Sunday evening with Warren, discussing his global peace plan.

Calling him an "evangelical superstar" and an "inspiring figure" Fox brought Rick Warren and the Purpose Driven Life to the world's living room. No longer is Purpose Driven Life a program just for churches and Christians - with the help of Fox News, it is becoming a program for secular and religious alike.

Why has Fox News taken such a positive, supportive interest in Rick Warren and his book, The Purpose Driven Life? Is it possible it has something to do with the fact that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, the owner of Fox News, is also the owner of HarperCollins/Zondervan, which is Warren's publisher? In a 2004 News Corporation Earnings Report, Harper Collins experienced a 57% increase in revenues largely due to "unprecedented sales of The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren."

While Rick Warren is promoting both the emerging church and contemplative spirituality and making efforts to bring about an ecumenical unity that may succeed beyond measure, the question must be asked, is Fox News being used as a catalyst for Purpose Driven and thus contemplative spirituality (a New Age, anti-biblical belief system that ultimately denies the gospel message of the Cross)?

Interestingly, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation also owns Fox Home Entertainment, the makers of the recent Be Still DVD, which is an infomercial for contemplative prayer. (See Murdoch's News Corporation.) And thus this leads us to another question ... is Rupert Murdoch's corporation intentionally trying to bring contemplative spirituality to the world at large, or is it merely trying to capitalize on the popularity of this mystical, New Age movement, without realizing the implications? Either way, for a corporation whose yearly revenues are in the billions, much can be and is being done to escalate this spirituality, bringing it to the masses from North America to the rest of the world.

Pretty soon, it is back to school, and thousands of teens and young people will be flooding the doors of Christian colleges and seminaries. For nearly five years now, we have been researching Christian colleges and seminaries, have spoken to countless professors and several presidents and have found that most of these higher education institutions are either heading into or are already saturated with contemplative/emerging spirituality. From recommended booklists to classroom-required textbooks to Chapel speakers to college-sponsored conferences, the schools are endorsing, promoting, and teaching this New Age, anti-biblical belief system. On our Contemplative Colleges page, you can see the many we have already listed. The list continues to grow as contemplative spirituality races into and overtakes much of Christendom. We have provided this list as a warning and resource for parents and students.

If you are getting ready to send your student to a Christian college or seminary, please take some time to find out whether that institution will be promoting contemplative prayer and the emerging church. If they have a Spiritual Formation program, find out which books are going to be used. (See below for a list of some of the more popular contemplative authors used in colleges and seminaries.)

Christian Colleges That Do Not Promote Contemplative/Emerging: If you know of a Bible-believing Christian college or seminary that does not promote contemplative or emerging and does not have a Spiritual Formation program, please drop us an email and tell us the name of the institution. We would like to post some of these on our research site. A few that we know of are:

Corban College (formerly Western Baptist College - Oregon)

Pillsbury Baptist Bible College (Minnesota)

Bob Jones University (South Carolina)

Calvary Chapel Bible College (California)

Each of the schools listed above do not have a Spiritual Formation program, nor do we know of any promotion of contemplative prayer or the emerging church within the school. They also do not promote Purpose Driven materials, which are a catalyst for contemplative spirituality. 

Perhaps the most indicting piece of documentation is Lifeway's "alliance partnership" with Leadership Network (the organization that launched the emergent church movement in the mid-nineties)and to this day promotes the movement. For Lifeway to be partnered with Leadership Network is a bold statement that is louder than words.

In addition, Lifeway Stores is carrying books by emergents Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Tony Jones and Doug Pagitt as well as New Age sympathizers Ken Blanchard and Laurie Beth Jones. Add to this books by contemplatives Richard Foster and Gary Thomas and pantheists Thomas Keating and Basil Pennington. On their best selling list is Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz and Max Lucado's Cure for the Common Life. Now some may say that they carry all "Christian" books. No, that is not true. A quick check in their database reveals they do not carry Ray Yungen's A Time of Departing! Could that be because this is the book that exposes the very movements Lifeway is so clearly promoting?

Lifeway Christian Resources (which owns Lifeway Stores) is a hub for emerging/contemplative resources with articles by Brian McLaren, and ones speaking favorably about Leonard Sweet (including Lifeway's recommendation for Sweet's books) and Rob Bell.

Click here for the CRS Left Behind Games database. 

"I would like to explore what I call interspirituality: a crossing-over boundaries that mysticism makes possible and concrete.... [t]he spiritual common ground which exists among the world’s religions." Wayne Teasdale (who coined the term interspirituality)

"[M]ysticism provides some hope for common ground between Christianity and Islam." Tony Campolo, Speaking My Mind

"The meditation of advanced occultists is identical with the prayer of advanced mystics: it is no accident that both traditions use the same word for the highest reaches of their respective activities ... occultism is defined as the science of mystical evolution; it is the employment of the hidden (i.e. occult) mystical faculties of man to discern the hidden reality of nature, i.e. to see God as the all in all." Richard Kirby, The Mission of Mysticism

"Mysticism is the awakening to and cultivation of transcendental consciousness. It is unitive awareness. All forms of mystical wisdom are unitive, that is, non dual. This is a significant point of convergence among the religions themselves." Wayne Teasdale

"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." Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus (Recommended by Kay Warren)

"I built myself a prayer room—a tiny sanctuary in a basement closet filled with books on spiritual disciplines, contemplative prayer, and Christian mysticism. In that space I lit candles, burned incense, hung rosaries, and listened to tapes of Benedictine monks. I meditated for hours on words, images, and sounds. I reached the point of being able to achieve alpha brain patterns..."Mike Perschon, Youth Specialties Magazine, December 2004

"This mystical stream [contemplative prayer and other monastic traditions] is the Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality." Tilden Edwards, Spiritual Friend (recommended by Richard Foster)

What do a Buddhist, a biker couple, a gay-rights activist, a transient, a high-tech engineer, a Muslim, a twenty-something single mom, a Jew, a couple living together, and an atheist all have in common? They are the future church in America! Most of them are in their twenties or thirties and became followers of Christ in the past five years. Many are now leading others in our church.

"Dr. Rodney R. Romney, former Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Seattle, is a person frequently quoted as an example of a New Age Christian. He very candidly revealed what was conveyed to him in his contemplative prayer periods. The 'source of wisdom' he was in contact with told him the following:

I want you to preach this oneness, to hold it up before the world as my call to unity and togetherness. In the end this witness to the oneness of all people will undermine any barriers that presently exist.

Could this be a familiar spirit speaking here? Jesus Christ did not teach that all people are one. There are the saved and the unsaved. And Jesus Christ is the catalyst for this distinction."

Click here to read more of this article. 

Christine Wicker and Helen Mildenhall used to be dedicated church goers. They have both left the building and the religion called Christianity. Why? What was it about our religion that made life less abundant and more difficult for them? Why do they still find themselves interested in Jesus? What do they think we could do to improve?