Coming From the Lighthouse

Printer Friendly Version November 8, 2007

In This Issue -

Moody Bible Institute Recommends Richard Foster's Meditation! Lighthouse Trails Sends Challenge

Prayer Labyrinth on the Campus of Eastern Mennonite

Rick Warren Plays "Catch Me if You Can" While Promoting Mysticism

The Emerging Church and the Woman at the Well

Hindu Paganism is Alive and Well at Shorter College

Dan Kimball - Is He or Isn't He?

Belmont University (Baptist): Emergent Book More Popular than Bible

Mennonites Positive About Historic Dialogue with the Vatican

Baptist Bulletin Reviews Faith Undone

Another Jesus Now Here!.

Publishing News - Faith Undone, 3rd printing

ALERT: Rethink Conference Articles...Rethink Conference

Moody Bible Institute Recommends Richard Foster's Meditation! Lighthouse Trails Sends Challenge to MBI Professors

In the August 7, 2007 edition of Moody Bible Institute publication Today in the Word, MBI professor Dr. Winfred O. Neely tells readers that "deep and prolonged thinking about the Lord's word, person, and work is biblical." While he states that eastern style meditation is wrong and dangerous, he brings terrible confusion to the matter by also stating: "For more in depth reading about the vital practice of biblical meditation, I suggest that you pick up Richard Foster's book, The Celebration of Discipline."

Prayer Labyrinth on the Campus of Eastern Mennonite

Rick Warren Plays "Catch Me if You Can" While Promoting Mysticism

 As Rick Warren moves ahead toward his global peace agenda, working with nearly anyone or any group who rallies behind him, he has moved to the forefront of evangelical leaders who are propagating the contemplative prayer movement (i.e., spiritual formation). In essence, he has become an evangelist for contemplative spirituality. For those who realize that contemplative (that is mystical meditation) is the driving force behind the kingdom-now, heaven-on-earth emerging church movement, this is an alarming deduction.

As has been carefully documented since A Time of Departing first brought to the light Rick Warren's involvement and promotion of contemplative, Warren has consistently shown support for and resonance with contemplative leaders and authors and their mystical practices. This week is no exception. In his Ministry Toolbox newsletter (issued to hundreds of thousands of pastors and church leaders around the world), Warren directs readers to Metamorpha, "an online community for Christian spiritual formation."1 Warren's newsletter describes Metamorpha as "a place for deeper, more authentic, and more relevant conversation about the Christian faith." Unfortunately, Metamorpha is actually a place where mysticism is heralded and exalted. With video features by mystic proponent Richard Foster, and others of the same caliber such as David Benner, Dallas Willard, and Biola University's own contemplative professor John Coe (director of Biola's Institute for Spiritual Formation), Metamorpha is proclaiming their message loud and clear - mysticism is essential to the Christian life.

While Rick Warren seems to play a kind of "Catch me if you can" with the body of Christ, going virtually unnoticed and unchallenged by nearly every major Christian leader and organization, his dare devilish fellowship with those who blatantly promote New Age mysticism (such as Warren's recent invitation to Ken Blanchard to Saddleback) seems to be picking up momentum.

One of the videos on Metamorpha is Jan Johnson, who wrote the book When the Soul Listens: Finding Rest and Direction in Contemplative Prayer. Johnson states:

Contemplative prayer, in its simplest form, is a prayer in which you still your thoughts and emotions and focus on God Himself. This puts you in a better state to be aware of God's presence, and it makes you better able to hear God's voice, correcting, guiding, and directing you.(p. 16) ... In the beginning, it is usual to feel nothing but a cloud of unknowing.... If you're a person who has relied on yourself a great deal to know what's going on, this unknowing will be unnerving(p. 120).

When Johnson speaks of the cloud of unknowing she is referring to a book written centuries ago by a monk called The Cloud of Unknowing, which is a primer on contemplative mysticism.

Metamorpha lists several contemplative exercises, one which instructs readers to repeat one phrase over and over for 10 minutes.2 In an article on the site, instruction for Ignatian exercises (named after St. Ignatius of Loyola) is given. Of Ignatius, Roger Oakland states: "Ignatius founded the Jesuits with a goal to bring the separated brethren back to the Catholic Church. He and his band of ruthless men would do everything possible to accomplish this goal." (Faith Undone, p. 116) In the Metamorpha article, it says that the "imagination is key in Ignatian prayer.... Ignatian meditation involves several key spiritual disciplines: lectio divina, Ignatian contemplation, reminiscence, and the examination of consciousness (notice: not conscience)."3

A video on Metamorpha by Richard Foster titled "What role do the ancient Christians play in life of believers today?" is quite revealing.4 Foster lists several ancient mystics as those we should turn to for spiritual direction. One he named is Jean Pierre de Caussade (from 1700s), a mystic and the author of Abandonment to Divine Providence.5 Foster also names panentheist Thomas Kelly who Foster quotes in one of his books as saying there is a divine center in every person. Foster also tells readers to practice meditation exercises such as lectio divina.

For those who still have doubts that Rick Warren meant what he said in the 90s in his first book, Purpose Driven Church, his promotion this week of Metamorpha should dispel all questions. In that book, Warren said that the spiritual formation movement was "a valid message for the church" and a "wake-up call" for the body of Christ. He said Richard Foster and Dallas Willard were key players in that movement (p. 126). Now today, he still embraces the spirituality of Richard Foster who has been teaching the heresy of mysticism since his 1978 book Celebration of Discipline and who emulates the late panentheist Thomas Merton.

Incidentally, in Warren's rendezvous with mysticism in this week's newsletter, he includes Pete Scazzero. You may remember the November 2006 book alert on Scazzero's book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, the book featured on Warren's site this week. It is really quite astounding that Warren has featured this book. Look at the partial list of who is in Scazzero's book:

Dallas Willard
Meister Eckhart
St. Theresa Avila
Kieran Kavanaugh, editor of John of the Cross
Thomas Merton (Trappist monk and interspiritualist)
Daniel Goleman (scientist who studies and promotes Buddhist meditation)
Richard Foster
Brennan Manning
Ignatius's teachings
M. Scott Peck
The Sayings of the Desert Fathers
Basil Pennington
Dan Allender (AAAC)
Larry Crabb (Papa Prayer)
Tony Jones, The Sacred Way
Phyllis Tickle
Henri Nouwen
Brother Lawrence
Eugene Peterson
Tilden Edwards (panentheist founder of Shalem Institute)*

These names all have one thing in common - their embracing of mysticism. Scazzero's book is a who's who of Eastern style meditation.

As incredible as it is, Purpose Driven Life and Celebrate Recovery are saturating evangelical churches across the globe in nearly every denomination, and Rick Warren's efforts to bring the contemplative emerging paradigm to the forefront of Christianity are succeeding, and most Christians don't even see it happening.

*Note: Most of the authors listed above can be found on the Lighthouse Trails Research site. Just go to the search engine and type in the needed name.

Related Stories:
Why We Should Be Very Concerned About Leonard Sweet and Rick Warren ... and Their Plans for the Future

Spiritual Fusion: East Comes West


Related to Rick Warren's Pastor.com website and his Ministry Toolbox newsletter:
Pastors.com: Misleading Pastors into Interspirituality Via Contemplative Prayer

June 2007 - Rick Warren OK with Harry Potter

January 2007 - Rick Warren Recommends Contemplative Conference

October 2006 - Rick Warren and Leonard Sweet Riding the "Tides of Change" on the Heels of Mysticism

September 2005 - Rick Warren Promotes Contemplative Prayer on Ministry Toolbox

The Emerging Church and the Woman at the Well

by Roger Oakland

 If you listen to the emergent conversation long enough, you will hear a recurring theme: Christians are wrong to confront unbelievers head on with the Word of God. We should instead lay aside our desire to preach or share the truths from the Word and spend more time developing relationships and friendships with the unchurched (a politically correct name for unsaved). They often use Jesus as an example, saying He did not confront people but always accepted them for who they were.

One example is in Dan Kimball's 2007 book, They Like Jesus but Not the Church. In his chapter titled "The Church Arrogantly Claims All Other Religions are Wrong," Kimball refers to the story where Jesus is sitting near a well by Himself (the disciples have gone to the nearby town), and he talks to a Samaritan woman. Kimball alters the story by saying:

He [Jesus] stopped and asked questions of the Samaritan woman (John 4) and didn't just jump in and say, "Samaritans are all wrong."

But Kimball is wrong. Jesus did the exact opposite! He didn't ask her any questions, and he confronted her straight on--something Kimball says (throughout his book) is a terrible thing to do to an unbeliever. Listen to Jesus' words to the woman:

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. (John 4:21-26)

Kimball largely bases his premise on the reasoning that Christians should not do or say anything that might offend unbelievers, even if that anything is truth and Scripture.

The fact is, Jesus did confront people with the truth, as did His disciples (as well as the Old Testament prophets). And why did He? He told the woman at the well the reason:

Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. (John 4:10)

There is no question about it, the Word of God is offensive to the unbeliever just as I Corinthians 1:18 states:

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

And again in II Corinthians 2:15-16, when Paul explains the attitude he encountered when witnessing to unbelievers:

For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.

If Paul had been adjusting (contextualizing) the Word of God to fit the culture and context of the lives of those he spoke to, he would not have said "the aroma of death leading to death." He took the spiritual state of these people very seriously, and he had full confidence that God's Word, unaltered and unchanged, could reach into the heart and soul of any person who would receive Christ by faith. Whether a person is young, mentally challenged, or of a different culture or ethnic group, the Gospel is God's Gospel, and He made it so that all who receive it by faith will understand His love and forgiveness and have eternal life. (This has been an excerpt from Faith Undone, pp. 45-47.)

Dan Kimball - Is He or Isn't He?

While some have begun to see the heresy of Brian McLaren's and Doug Pagitt's teachings, confusion has arisen as to who is part of the emerging church and who isn't. As Roger Oakland has stated in his book, Faith Undone, there are certain key elements that distinguish emerging church leaders: promotion of mysticism (i.e., contemplative), kingdom-now eschatology, ecumenism, a lax view of homosexuality, an anti-biblical overhauling of missions and evangelism, and a drawing toward Catholicism and its practices.

The upcoming Rethink Conference hosted by Robert Schuller at the Crystal Cathedral will be including speakers who embrace many elements of this description. One of those speakers is Dan Kimball. In both his books, The Emerging Church (endorsed heartily by Rick Warren) and They Like Jesus But not the Church, Kimball displays true emerging church characteristics. As thousands of people will flock to Crystal Cathedral to hear contemplative proponents Kimball, Ortberg, New Ager Jon Gordon, Erwin McManus, H.B. London (Focus on the Family), and Kay Warren, may we warn our loved ones, friends, and fellow church members about belief systems that are anti-biblical and very misleading. The following book review should answer questions regarding the spirituality of Dan Kimball:

Dan Kimball's new book, They Like Jesus But Not the Church should really be called They Like (Another) Jesus But Not the Church, the Bible, Morality, or the Truth. Kimball interviews several young people (one is a lesbian) who tell him they "like and respect Jesus" but they don't want anything to do with going to church or with those Christians who take the Bible literally. Kimball says these are "exciting times" we live in "when Jesus is becoming more and more respected in our culture by non-churchgoing people" (p. 12). He says we should "be out listening to what non-Christians, especially those in their late teens to thirties, are saying and thinking about the church and Christianity" (p. 12).

According to Kimball, it is vitally important that we as Christians be accepted by non-Christians and not thought of as abnormal or strange. But in order to do that, he says we must change the way we live and behave. He says things like Christian bumper stickers (p. 40) and Christian words like "fellowship," (p. 41) are "corny" and might offend a non-believer or seeker. Kimball insists (p. 19) that "those who are rejecting faith in Jesus" do so because of their views of Christians and the church. But he makes it clear throughout the book that these distorted views are not the fault of the unbeliever but are the fault of Christians, but not all Christians, just those fundamentalist ones who take the Bible literally, believe that homosexuality is a sin and think certain things are wrong and harmful to society ... and actually speak up about these things.

Incidentally, Kimball devotes an entire chapter to homosexuality, "The Church is Homophobic." Now his chapter titles are supposed to be what these skeptical, disheartened emerging generation persons see in the church. If we would not be homophobic, they would like us much better. Kimball explains:

Quite honestly, and some people might get mad at me for saying this, I sometimes wish this weren't a sin issue [homosexuality], because I have met gay people who are the most kind, loving, solid, and supportive people I have ever met. As I talk to them and hear their stories and get to know them, I come to understand that their sexual orientation isn't something they can just turn off. Homosexual attraction is not something people simply choose to have, as is quite often erroneously taught from many pulpits. (p. 138)

This is alarming that Kimball is saying this. Substitute the sin for pedophilia and hear how it sounds: "I sometimes wish molesting children wasn't a sin issue, because I have met pedophiles who are the most kind, loving, solid, and supportive people I have ever met." Kimball says (p. 110) we need to focus more on what we stand for rather than what we are against. If I had his views I wouldn't want anyone focusing on criticisms against them either.

While the book is a theological disaster, many new believers probably won't know that. That is to be expected. That is why we have pastors and leaders. But this presents some serious concern. One of the most respected leaders in Christendom has his endorsement in the book. Josh McDowell tells readers "it would be foolish" to not carefully study Kimball's book. Gregory Koukl of Stand to Reason (an apologetics ministry) also endorses the book:

With insight, gentleness, and an unswerving commitment to the wisdom of the past, Dan Kimball shows us what we don't want to see but must see if we care about the Great Commission in the twenty-first century.

McDowell's and Koukl's endorsements are nestled between staunch emerging church/New Thought promoters: Leonard Sweet, Tony Jones, Mark Oestreicher (Youth Specialties) and several others. One example of Kimball's poor biblical theology is in his chapter titled: "The Church Arrogantly Claims All Other Religions are Wrong." Kimball refers to John 4 where Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman. Kimballs says: "He [Jesus] stopped and asked questions of the Samaritan woman and didn't just jump in and say, 'Samaritans are all wrong.'" But that is exactly what Jesus did! He didn't ask her any questions. Kimball has misled his readers! Jesus confronted her straight on, something Kimball says (throughout his book) is a terrible thing to do to an unbeliever. Listen to Jesus' words to the woman:

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

Kimball's entire premise is largely based on this type of faulty reasoning, that Christians should not do or say anything that might offend unbelievers, even if that anything is truth and Scripture. But the Bible says that the message of the Cross is offensive and foolish to the unbelieving heart: "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God" (I Corinthians 1:18).

Kimball says that "to them [the unbelievers], Christianity isn't normal." He adds: "This is really important to realize" (p. 29). But the Bible is so clear that those who belong to the Lord Jesus are not looked upon as normal by the world. In fact, Jesus tells us to expect it:

If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." (John 15: 18,19).

Kimball says "Christians are now the foreigners in a post-Christian culture, and we have got to wake up to this reality if we haven't" (p. 30). He is desperate for this realization to happen saying "we aren't respected" by those outside the church nor are we sought after for advice by unbelievers (p. 30). But Christians have always been foreigners in the world, and they have suffered terribly for it. Throughout Christian history, there have been countless murders and atrocities that have been committed against Christians. Jesus said, "I am not of this world" (John 8:23) and also: "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). The apostle Paul said: "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body...." (Philippians 3:20), and Jesus said: "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." (John 17:14)

Perhaps what is most damaging about Kimball's book is his black and white, either or reasoning (the very thing he accuses Christians of). He makes it very clear that you cannot be a Christian who takes the Bible literally and also be a humble, loving thoughtful person. They are two different things, according to Kimball. There is no such thing as a loving, humble Christian who takes the Bible literally. His book further alienates believers in a world that is already hostile to those who say Jesus is the only way to salvation, the Bible should be taken literally, homosexuality is a sin, and we are called out of this world to live righteously by the grace of God. Some of Kimball's other black and white statements are: "The church is homophobic" versus "The church is a loving and welcoming community." (Kimball denounces those who take any kind of stand publicly against homosexuality.) Another: "The church arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong" versus "The church is respectful of other people's beliefs and faiths." Once again, Kimball says it can't be both ways. Christians who do claim that all other religions are wrong contrast those who are respectful of other people. He says they can't be both. Click here to read the rest of this article.

More Research on the teachings of Dan Kimball

Erwin McManus Teams Up with Robert Schuller - Could Have Far-Reaching Effects

Belmont University (Baptist): Emergent Book More Popular than Bible

"Belmont seeks broader identity"
Baptists say school has left religious roots

By Colby Sledge

Mennonites Positive About Historic Dialogue with the Vatican

 LTRP Note: The following out-of-house article is another indication of a Protestant move toward the Catholic Eucharistic christ and the pope's new evangelization program to win back the lost brethren. From Chuck Colson's "Evangelicals and Catholics Together" document to the evangelical embracing of Mel Gibson's The Passion (inspired by Catholic mystics) to the emerging church's chasing of Catholic mystical practices, it has become increasingly apparent that Christianity is being beckoned toward Rome. To read a documented and compelling analysis of this, read Another Jesus.

by Ekklesia
New Way of Thinking

Mennonites have welcomed the opportunity recently presented to their 1.2 million strong world body to dialogue officially with the Roman Catholic Church on peace and theological concerns, as part of a historic visit to the Vatican.

Ferne Burkhardt, news editor for Mennonite World Conference (MWC) writes: When Mennonites from 10 countries spent five days with Catholic Church leaders in Vatican City, each group was interested in learning to know the other better. The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity invited and hosted the Mennonite World Conference delegation from 18 - 23 October 2007.

"We were so warmly welcomed that it was almost overwhelming," said Nancy Heisey, MWC president. "We learned much about how the Roman Catholic Church carries out its mission, and we were able in many of our encounters to share our own understandings, to describe our ministries and to raise our questions."

The invitation for the visit grew out of the international dialogue between MWC and the Pontifical Council, which took place from 1998 to 2003 and resulted in a 48-page report, "Called Together to be Peacemakers." ...

On Sunday morning, the Mennonites attended a service at the Basilica of St Mary Major where they were introduced to worshippers by the Basilica's Archpriest. They also prayed together at the catacombs and fellowshipped with leaders of the Focolari, an important lay movement within the Catholic Church, where they heard testimonies of meeting Jesus and of changed lives. Click here to read more of this article.

Related Stories:
Mel Gibson Reveals True Purpose of the Passion - Leading People to Catholicism!

Head of Evangelical Group Converts to Catholicism

Evangelical Christians Combine Contemplative Mysticism with Catholic Eucharist

Baptist Bulletin Reviews Faith Undone

Lighthouse Trails Publishing is pleased to announce the release of Another Jesus by Roger Oakland.

A new evangelization program is underway to win the lost brethren back to the Mother Church. How will this be done? Through the Eucharistic Christ.

Many Christians think that the Christian tradition of communion is the same as the Catholic tradition of the Eucharist. But this is not so. The Eucharist (i.e.Transubstantiation), is a Catholic term for communion when the bread and the wine actually become the very body and blood of Jesus Christ, thus when taken the partaker supposedly experiences the presence of God. These transformed elements are placed in what is called a monstrance and can then be worshipped as if worshipping God Himself. The implications are tied in with salvation.
With the Eucharist, salvation becomes sacramental (participation in a ritual) as opposed to justification by faith in Christ alone. While this mystical experience called the Eucharist cannot be upheld through Scripture, there appears to be an increase of interest by evangelical Christians towards this practice. In Another Jesus?: the eucharistic christ and the new evangelization, Oakland warns about this growing deception within Christianity that presents a different gospel and another Jesus.

Discusses the following:
1. Efforts to merge evangelicals and Catholics together
2. Catholic Evangelism and the Eucharistic Christ
3. Those who have been martyred for rejecting the Eucharist doctrine
4. The Pope's New Evangelization program to win the lost brethren back to the Mother church
5. Appearances of Jesus and Mary
6. The New Global Era
7. Christ's second coming and lying signs and wonders
8. Evangelicals who converted to Catholicism and why they did
9. Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ and why the film was made
10. The Mary Connection
11. What is true salvation?

Another Jesus
Roger Oakland with Jim Tetlow
Retail price: $12.95
192 Pages
ISBN: 978-0-9791315-2-3

Also now carrying Eternal Productions: Messages from Heaven

A Biblical Examination of the Apparitions of the Virgin Mary and Other Supernatural Activity in the End Times

Includes 5 languages! English, Spanish,Portuguese, Italian and Polish Tens of millions visit apparition sites hoping to encounter the Blessed Virgin Mary. Those who follow the apparitions believe Mary has come to turn us back to God, while others insist that these events are either fabrications or the working of Satan. Does the Bible anticipate apparitions, signs and wonders in the last days? Does the Word of God reveal the origin of these phenomena?
Running time: 79 minutes

Publishing News - Faith Undone, 3rd printing

Newsletter in Print - Coming Soon

If you would like to receive the Coming from the Lighthouse newsletter in print form by mail, please send an email to newsletter@lighthousetrails.com. Be sure and include your mailing address in the email. We will be issuing a printed newsletter several times a year for those who prefer that over the email edition or for some reason need both.

 Both email and printed editions will be free.

ALERT: Rethink Conference Articles