'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!'

If you attended Shadow Mountain Community Church on September 17th, then according to an email we received, you would have heard the second part of Pastor David Jeremiah's series called Journey with Jesus. But the title of this series is a bit misleading - Jeremiah isn't just talking about Jesus; he is discussing a book called The Barbarian Way. The book is written by Erwin McManus, who is pastor of Mosaic Church in California. In the email we received from Jeremiah, he stated:

This weekend, I will be sharing the second message in our Fall Journey With Jesus. The title of the message is "The Manliness of Jesus." I am praying that it will fire you up as much as it has me. It's a major paradigm shift from our normal thoughts about Jesus. This week, I have read a book by Erwin McManus called THE BARBARIAN WAY. In it, he says something that should prepare our hearts for the weekend message.

While the quote from the book is benign, the book is not, and if any mention of the book is made by Jeremiah, it should be one of warning. If you have been following Jeremiah's slip toward what we might call contemplative/emerging Christianity, his promotion of McManus' book probably won't be too surprising. Last year, we mentioned that Jeremiah was going to be speaking at the Lead Like Jesus conference with Ken Blanchard (whose conference it was). Shortly after this airing, Jeremiah pulled out of the conference and then Blanchard canceled the conference all together. Jeremiah then wrote a letter to Lighthouse Trails and made it public. He defended Ken Blanchard who had been and still is promoting the New Age, particularly New Age mysticism. After researching Jeremiah's 2003/2005 book, Life Wide Open, it made a little more sense why he would have no trouble with Blanchard's New Age proclivities. A special report on that book said: David Jeremiah's 2003 book, Life Wide Open, has a subtitle of "Unleashing the Power of a Passionate Life." In the introduction of the book, Jeremiah tells readers that "A Small handful among us have discovered what the rest of us would pay dearly to know: How can we bring real, living excitement into this life?" Jeremiah goes on to tell readers that "This book is a map to the life of passion and purpose, the life wide open..." Who are these small handful of people who have discovered the secret? Well according to Jeremiah's book, his list includes Rick Warren, contemplative, feminine spiritualist Sue Monk Kidd (When the Heart Waits), contemplative Calvin Miller (Into the Depths of God), Buddhist sympathizer Peter Senge (The Fifth Discipline), emerging church leader Erwin McManus, contemplative Michael Card, and Brother Lawrence (Practicing the Presence of God). Click here to read the rest of this article.

The Desiring God 2006 National Conference, to be held on September 29th, will be addressing "the Supremacy of Christ in a postmodern world." According to John Piper, founder of the Desiring God ministries, speakers for the national conference are "eager to speak on behalf of the risen Lord of the universe, Jesus Christ." However, one of the speakers is Mark Driscoll (of Mars Hill Church), who is considered to be one of the emerging church leaders. While Driscoll has recently stated that he has distanced himself from certain Emergent leaders (McLaren, Jones, etc.), in a recent Lighthouse Trails article, documentation shows that Driscoll is promoting contemplative spirituality.

Thank you for contacting Desiring God. We are very sorry for any confusion or disappointment we have caused you by having Mark Driscoll address the National Conference on the subject of the church. While we don't agree with all of his communication methods, he is a brother for whom Christ died and one whom God is using in significant ways to build His church. We would like to hear and interact with what he has to say. We hope this ministry will continue to bless you.

In order to understand Merton's connection to mystical occultism, we need first to understand a sect of the Muslim world--Sufis, who are the mystics of Islam. They chant the name of Allah as a mantra, go into meditative trances and experience God in everything. A prominent Catholic audiotape company now promotes a series of cassettes Merton did on Sufism. It explains:

Merton loved and shared a deep spiritual kinship with the Sufis, the spiritual teachers and mystics of Islam. Here he shares their profound spirituality." (Credence Cassettes magazine, Winter 1998, p. 24)

In a letter to a Sufi Master, Merton disclosed, "My prayer tends very much to what you call fana." So what is fana? The Dictionary of Mysticism and the Occult defines it as "the act of merging with the Divine oneness." Merton saw the Sufi concept of fana as being a catalyst for Muslim unity with Christianity despite the obvious doctrinal differences.

In a dialogue with a Sufi leader, Merton asked about the Muslim concept of salvation. The master wrote back stating:

Islam inculcates individual responsibility for one's actions and does not subscribe to the doctrine of atonement or the theory of redemption.

To Merton, of course, this meant little because he believed that fana and contemplation were the same thing. He responded:

Personally, in matters where dogmatic beliefs [i.e., doctrine] differ, I think that controversy is of little value because it takes us away from the spiritual realities into the realm of words and ideas [i.e., doctrine].

Merton himself underlined that point when he told a group of contemplative women: "I'm deeply impregnated with Sufism."

Midday Connection, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute, is featuring an author (and a guest on their show) who promotes contemplative spirituality, Keri Wyatt Kent. Wyatt Kent is a writer for Willow Creek Community Church and often speaks on spiritual formation. Her recent book, Listen: Finding God in the Story of Your Life (published by the emerging/contemplative promoting publisher, Jossey-Bass), teaches readers to "listen" to God through "spiritual practices," including the practice of silence. The author quotes extensively throughout the book both contemplatives and New Agers, including Henri Nouwen, M.Scott Peck, Sue Monk Kidd, Anne Lamott, Julia Cameron, Rick Warren, Richard Foster, Ruth Haley Barton, and Eugene Peterson.

When Midday Connection (MBI ministry) was recently asked about their obvious promotion of Wyatt Kent and of contemplative spirituality, they stated that they were committed to spiritual formation and named "solid guests" like Larry Crabb and Dallas Willard who were teaching people "spiritual disciplines." They said they were just "re-stating some old truths in new ways." It makes sense that they would use Larry Crabb as an example of these "new ways." Crabb, in the foreword of a book (Sacred Companions) by contemplative-promoting David Benner, said that it was time to get rid of the old written code and replace it with new ways of practicing spirituality. Even still, it is surprising that Moody would call Larry Crabb and Dallas Willard "solid guests ... "who recognize the need to teach people spiritual disciplines." We know that spiritual disciplines, according to Crabb and Willard, include the silence (i.e., contemplative). Click here to read the rest of this article.

The next four scheduled retreats (taking place between October 2006 and April 2007) will be held at four locations, three of which are Catholic retreat centers and the fourth - Robert Schuller's Rancho Capistrano.

If your pastor is in need of some rest and retreat, we hope he may be able to get away to a safe place - and we hope it will not be at a place where contemplative spirituality permeates the premises.

Brennan Manning, a popular writer and speaker, is considered by many to be a kind of expert on the topic of God's grace. Philip Yancey, editor for Christianity Today magazine, says "Brennan Manning [is] my spiritual director in the school of grace." On the back cover of Manning's book, Ragamuffin Gospel, Max Lucado states: "Brennan does a masterful job of blowing the dust off of shop-worn theology and allowing God's grace to do what only God's grace can do - amaze." Few Christians would argue that we need God's grace, and in fact it is only through that grace that we can even approach God. Scripture is clear about this:

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

His appeal is easy to understand when one hears Manning in person. His manner is very genuine and down-home. Many admire him for his passionate and dynamic character. When he relates how his mother mistreated him as a young child you cannot help but feel his pain deeply. (A Time of Departing, 2nd ed., p. 82)

Yungen adds, "However, despite all his admirable qualities and devotional intensity, he teaches contemplative prayer as a way to God" (p. 82). And here lies the problem. When we understand the premise of contemplative, we realize that it is impossible to promote both grace and contemplative at the same time. Grace and contemplative are on opposite sides of the pole. They completely contradict each other. John Caddock, in his excellent article, "What is Contemplative Spirituality and Why is it So Dangerous?" discusses this ragamuffin view of grace: Click here to read the rest of this article.

Rick Warren's best selling book, The Purpose Driven Life, described God's five purposes for every Christian. Now Erik Rees helps you discover God's unique purpose for your life based on the way God has shaped you. He made you marvelously unique for a reason.

However, the book has serious flaws. Rees admits that he looks to Peter Drucker for guidance in leadership (p. 156) and tells readers they must find their "Kingdom Purpose" and their "Kingdom Dream" (p. 167) (Bruce Wilkinson's God's Dream - see Deceived on Purpose), both of which fall within the parameters of Kingdom Now and Dominionist theologies. Rees says we must activate our "Sweet Spot," a term borrowed from Max Lucado (often quoted in Rees' book) in his book Cure for the Common Life. This sweet spot Lucado refers to is a divine spark that his book says resides in everyone.

On the back cover of Rees' book, New Age sympathizer Ken Blanchard has planted a hearty endorsement saying this book is a "true gift" to those who "long to uncover God's specific purpose for their lives." We know from our past research that Blanchard had signed on to help implement Rick Warren's peace plan. It looks like he will be helping with the S.H.A.P.E. program too - his endorsement will be read by many. Also on the back cover is meditation proponent John Ortberg, whom Rees quotes in a section of his book called "Silence Your Heart." In this section, Rees says:

"The practice of being silent is not easily learned ... We need to ... be still before God." Rees then quotes Ortberg and later explains how he gets "to a state of inner silence" (p. 213). He adds: "Whatever it takes for you to learn to slow down and silence yourself before God, do it."

In spite of the red flags that go up on a "Christian" book that Ken Blanchard endorses (because of his Buddhist and New Age sympathies), it is more important to look at those who the author is favorably quoting in the book. Aside from quoting John Ortberg, Rees also quotes Max Lucado, who was featured recently on Fox Home Entertainment's Be Still DVD with Richard Foster, Erwin McManus, John Eldredge, John Ortberg, Bruce Wilkinson, and David Benner. Benner, the author of Sacred Companions clearly promotes contemplative spirituality in his book.

S.H.A.P.E. also quotes Mark Batterson of the National Community Church. A recommended reading list on his website includes some of the most prominent New Agers and New Age sympathizers out there: Eckhart Tolle, Paulo Coelho, James Redfield (The Celestine Prophecy), Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup author), Anthony Robbins, and Leonard Sweet as well as numerous contemplatives and emergents: Brian McLaren, Henri Nouwen, Dallas Willard, Brother Lawrence, Laurie Beth Jones and others. Tolle, Coelho and Redfield are like world-class Alice Bailey-level New Agers.

Rees also quotes from Dallas Willard and meditation proponent Jim Collins.

With a line up like this, we hope discerning believers will stay far away from S.H.A.P.E. by Erik Rees. This type of book with it's heavy promotion of contemplative authors will only lead to T.R.O.U.B.L.E.

Too often spiritual formation is regarded as a catch-all category that conveys little specific information. Gerald G. May writes, "Spiritual formation is a rather general term referring to all attempts, means, instructions, and disciplines intended towards deepening of faith and furtherance of spiritual growth. It includes educational endeavors as well as the more intimate and in-depth process of spiritual direction.

In Christianity and other traditions that understand God to be present everywhere, contemplation includes a reverence for the Divine Mystery, "finding God in all things," or "being open to God's presence, however it may appear.

Ask for a simple prayer to express your willingness to meet God in the silence ... a simple statement ... such as "Here I am." ... Help yourself return to your original intent by repeating the prayer that you have chosen. - DJ, Vol. 113 1999