Coming From the Lighthouse

Printer Friendly Version (click here) November 26, 2007

In This Issue -

Rick Warren Teams Up with New Age Proponent Leonard Sweet

Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, and other Christian Leaders Invite Muslims to Share "Common Love for God"

Contemplative Proponent J. P. Moreland Says Christians Too Committed to the Bible

SHIRLEY MACLAINE'S "KARMA-GEDDON"

A Note from Roger Oakland

130,000 Organizations Worldwide Share Common Vision of Salvation through Diversity

BOOK Review by Gary Gilley: For Many Shall Come in My Name

Church Offers Chico a Labyrinth

David Jeremiah Quotes New Ager ... A Mysterious Twist

Will Prairie Bible Institute Ignore Contemplative Problem?

Publishing News

Newsletter in Print - Coming Soon

Keeping An Eye on the Rethink Conference

Will the Evangelical Church Help Usher in the "Age of Enlightenment" and the Coming False One?

Helpful Resources and Other Articles

Rick Warren Teams Up with New Age Proponent Leonard Sweet

Rick Warren has invited New Age proponent Leonard Sweet to speak at the 2008 Saddleback Small Groups Conference called Wired. 1 The theme of the conference is "Prepare your church for spiritual growth and connectivity." Unfortunately, spiritual growth and connectivity ala Leonard Sweet could be a panentheistic, mystical dose of the New Age - and it isn't the first time Warren has found comradeship with Sweet. As Ray Yungen explains in A Time of Departing, Sweet and Warren came together in 1994 for their Tides of Change audio series. Yungen describes Warren and Sweet's relationship as well as Sweet's beliefs:

In the set, Warren and Sweet talk about "new frontiers," "changing times" and a "new spirituality" on the horizon.
Later, in Sweet's 2001 book, Soul Tsunami, Warren gives an endorsement that sits on the back as well as on the front cover of the book. Of the book, Warren says:

Leonard Sweet ... suggests practical ways to communicate God's unchanging truth to our changing world.1

Some of these "practical ways" include using a labyrinth and visiting a meditation center.2 Sweet also says, "It's time for a Post Modern Reformation,"3 adding that "The wind of spiritual awakening is blowing across the waters."4 He says that times are changing and you'd better "Reinvent yourself for the 21st century or die."5

To better understand Leonard Sweet's spirituality, I would like to draw your attention to a book he wrote a few years prior to The Tides of Change audio set--Quantum Spirituality. I highly recommend you take a look at this book yourself--Sweet has now placed the book on his website at www.leonardsweet.com in a format easy to download, which, of course, shows that he still promotes its message.

The acknowledgments section of Quantum Spirituality shows very clearly Sweet's spiritual sympathies. In it, Sweet thanks interspiritualists/universalists such as Matthew Fox (author of The Coming of the Cosmic Christ), Episcopalian priest/mystic Morton Kelsey, Willis Harman (author of Global Mind Change) and Ken Wilber (one of the major intellectuals in the New Age movement) for helping him to find what he calls "New Light."6 Sweet adds that he trusts "the Spirit that led the author of The Cloud of Unknowing."7

In the preface of the same book, Sweet disseminates line after line of suggestions that the "old teachings" of Christianity must be replaced with new teachings of "the New Light." And yet these new teachings, he believes, will draw from "ancient teachings" (the Desert Fathers). This "New Light movement," Sweet says, is a "radical faith commitment that is willing to dance to a new rhythm.8

Throughout the book, Sweet favorably uses terms like Christ consciousness and higher self and in no uncertain terms promotes New Age ideology: "[Quantum spirituality is] a structure of human becoming, a channeling of Christ energies through mindbody experience."9

The Bible does not describe Jesus Christ as an energy channeling its way in and through us. Without a doubt, this is New Age lingo. The wonderful thing about the Gospel that is presented in Scripture is that Jesus Christ is presented as a personal God who loves us and will have a relationship with anyone who, by faith, comes to the Father through Him. This is where the contemplatives have it wrong. They believe that through this meditative prayer they can reach God.

Sweet also tells his readers that humanity and creation are united as one and we must realize it. Once humanity comes to this realization, Sweet says:

Then, and only then, will a New Light movement of "world-making" faith have helped to create the world that is to, and may yet, be. Then, and only then, will earthlings have uncovered the meaning ... of the last words [Thomas Merton] uttered: "We are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity."10

Leonard Sweet is what could be called an Alice Bailey Christian because his views on the role of mysticism in the church are evident. He states:

Mysticism, once cast to the sidelines of the Christian tradition, is now situated in postmodernist culture near the center.... In the words of one of the greatest theologians of the twentieth century, Jesuit philosopher of religion/dogmatist Karl Rahner, "The Christian of tomorrow will be a mystic, one who has experienced something, or he will be nothing." [Mysticism] is metaphysics arrived at through mindbody experiences. Mysticism begins in experience; it ends in theology.11

It is this same mysticism (i.e., contemplative prayer) that I believe Rick Warren is also promoting. Warren extends his promotion and endorsement of Sweet to his pastors.com website. Nearly a dozen times Sweet is referred to positively, including an article featuring Sweet and another article written by him. (from chapter 8, A Time of Departing)

Leonard Sweet is a New Age evangelist. For Rick Warren to have him as a speaker for the upcoming Wired conference is a blatant move on Warren's part in his efforts to shift Christianity into a New Age (or what he calls New Reformation) that will help lead to possibly the greatest apostasy this world has ever seen. For any church to still use Purpose Driven material and still promote Rick Warren in any fashion makes that church just as guilty as Rick Warren himself.

If you really want to know the direction Rick Warren is going toward, study Leonard Sweet, Ken Wilber, and Alice Bailey. That will indeed show you a picture of the Purpose Driven future and sad to say the future of thousands of evangelical churches around the world.

For more information:

New Age Proponent Ken Blanchard Returns to Saddleback

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

Notes
1. Rick Warren, Soul Tsunami by Leonard Sweet (Grand Rapids, MI:Zondervan, 1999), cover.
2. Ibid., Leonard Sweet, Soul Tsunami, op. cit., pp. 431, 432.
3. Ibid., p. 17.
4. Ibid., p. 408.
5. Ibid., p. 75.
6. Leonard Sweet, Quantum Spirituality (Dayton, OH: Whaleprints, 1991), Acknowledgments, viii-ix.
7. Ibid., xi.
8. Ibid., Preface, p. 7.
9. Ibid., p. 70
10. Ibid., p. 13 in Preface.
11. Ibid., p. 76.

Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, and other Christian Leaders Invite Muslims to Share "Common Love for God" 

Contemplative Proponent J. P. Moreland Says Christians Too Committed to the Bible

 According to a Christianity Today article, Biola University professor J.P. Moreland says evangelical Christians are too committed to the Bible. His talk at a recent Evangelical Theology Society meeting was titled "How Evangelicals Became Over-Committed to the Bible and What Can Be Done About It." Quoting Moreland, the article states:

"In the actual practices of the Evangelical community in North America, there is an over-commitment to Scripture in a way that is false, irrational, and harmful to the cause of Christ," he [Moreland] said. "And it has produced a mean-spiritedness among the over-committed that is a grotesque and often ignorant distortion of discipleship unto the Lord Jesus." The problem, he said, is "the idea that the Bible is the sole source of knowledge of God, morality, and a host of related important items. Accordingly, the Bible is taken to be the sole authority for faith and practice."

While Moreland gives examples such as non-charismatics who steer clear of any and all venues such as "impressions, dreams, visions, prophetic words, words of knowledge and wisdom," there may be more behind his statements than meets the eye. This idea of "bibliolatry" (the idolizing of the Bible) did not originate with Moreland. Several years ago contemplative Brennan Manning (who gets many of his ideas from panentheist mystics like Thomas Merton and William Shannon (Silence on Fire) said this:

I am deeply distressed by what I only can call in our Christian culture the idolatry of the Scriptures. For many Christians, the Bible is not a pointer to God but God himself. In a word--bibliolatry. God cannot be confined within the covers of a leather-bound book. I develop a nasty rash around people who speak as if mere scrutiny of its pages will reveal precisely how God thinks and precisely what God wants."--Brennan Manning, Signature of Jesus, pp. 188-189

Some may agree with Manning and Moreland by saying that we should not worship a leather bound book but rather the One who the book is about. But few "over-committed" Bible-believing Christians would argue with that. Christians who believe the Bible is the actual inspired word of God know that it is the Jesus Christ proclaimed in that Bible that is to be worshiped. But they also know that within the pages of the Bible are the holy words, ideas, and truths of God. So for Moreland and Manning to suggest that these types of Christians don't really worship God but rather pages in a book is a complete misrepresentation of Bible-believing Christians.

There may be a logical reason why Moreland and Manning condemn those who adhere to the Bible too strongly. Both have something in common - their promotion of contemplative spirituality. And those who turn to contemplative mysticism, often shift their focus from the moral (doctrine) to the mystical (as Henri Nouwen suggested). J.P. Moreland is in the same camp as Manning. In Moreland's 2006 book, The Lost Virtue of Happiness, he talks about rediscovering important spiritual principles that have been lost:

In our experience, Catholic retreat centers [bastions of mysticism] are usually ideal for solitude retreats... We also recommend that you bring photos of your loved ones and a picture of Jesus... Or gaze at a statue of Jesus. Or let some pleasant thought, feeling, or memory run through your mind over and over again (pp. 54-55)....

Moreland and Issler provide tips for developing a prayer life. Here are some of the recommendations they make:

1. "[W]e recommend that you begin by saying the Jesus Prayer about three hundred times a day" (p. 90).

2. "When you first awaken, say the Jesus Prayer twenty to thirty times. As you do, something will begin to happen to you. God will begin to slowly begin to occupy the center of your attention" (p. 92).

3. "Repetitive use of the Jesus Prayer while doing more focused things allows God to be on the boundaries of your mind and forms the habit of being gently in contact with him all day long" (p. 93).

Moreland and Issler try to present what they consider a scriptural case that repetitive prayers are OK with God. But they never do it! They say the Jesus Prayer is derived from Luke 18:38 where the blind man cries out, "Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me,"(p.90) but nowhere in that section of the Bible (or any other section for that matter) does it instruct people to repeat a rendition of Luke 18:38 over and over.

In a four-part article written by Moreland on Focus on the Family website, Moreland encourages the spiritual disciplines. In Part II of Moreland's article he says, "A spiritual discipline is a repetitive practice." Moreland favorably references contemplative-promoter Dallas Willard to describe the importance of silence and solitude. He adds: "People are coming to see that repeated bodily practice in the form of spiritual exercises/disciplines is at the heart of spiritual transformation." 1Moreland's recent release, Kingdom Triangle, is also quite telling. Dallas Willard wrote the foreword, and in an Amazon book review, the reviewer states:

On page 159, Dr. Moreland encourages the reader to participate in an unbiblical form of meditation which is more akin to the religious practices of Yoga and Eastern mysticism than orthodox Biblical Christianity where he details a 2-step process first alluded to in the Lost Virtue of Happiness book. In step one, he tells the reader to "[f]ocus the center of your attention on your physical heart muscle."(2)

Moreland recommends Richard Foster and Henri Nouwen, which makes sense - he co-authored a book with Dallas Willard ten years ago; thus, he has been dancing in contemplative circles for sometime. That being the case, it makes sense that he would say some Christians are over-committed to the Bible. And that's something to think about.

To understand more about the contemplative idea of moving from the moral (doctrine) to the mystical, read chapter 3 pages 61-64 (about Nouwen) of A Time of Departing.

SHIRLEY MACLAINE'S "KARMA-GEDDON"

By: Attorney Constance Cumbey
NewsWithViews.com

I received my latest copy of U. S. News & World Report. It was supposed to be about "Sacred Sites." Some, obviously, are not so sacred. I'm still doing my browsing, but I was more than a little startled to see the New Age community Crestone/Baca started and run by Hanne and Maurice Strong.

The Strong's are active with Lucis (Lucifer) Trust and I have written both for my blogspot readers and NewsWithViews.com about their extremely deep involvement with the "Maitreya the Christ" crowd. I have also written about the "curious triangle" of former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, Maurice Strong, and Javier Solana.

Shirley MacLaine, another proponent of this whole awful scene is out and about, featured on many talk shows about her new book, "Sage-ing While Age-ing." Ms. MacLaine has a more than disturbing paragraph on pages 191-192 of her new book which I suspect reflects a growing broad consensus in the New Age community. Click here to read this entire article.

LTRP Note: If you have not read Warren Smith's online (free) book, Reinventing Jesus Christ, this is the time to read it.

A Note from Roger Oakland

Greetings,

I have returned from the conference I was speaking at in Rome, Italy and am spending time with my family over the holidays. Please pray for me and my entire family and the new direction for ministry that God is leading me in the future.

With regard to my radio program being removed from KWVE radio, it is my desire to be a vessel from God that can be used to promote truth in these last days. I am very appreciative of the 20 years that I have been affiliated with Calvary Chapel and the opportunities for ministry that God has provided through Chuck Smith and the many Calvary Chapels that I have spoken at around the world.

I am also very grateful to be partnered with Lighthouse Trails. We have no agendas or motives other than to be used as vessels that can stand for what is right.

Since six years ago when my 27 year old son, Bryce, suddenly went home to be with the Lord, God has given me a special calling for these days in which we find ourselves. I believe Jesus is coming soon. May He help each believer to finish the race well.

Roger Oakland
Understand the Times

130,000 Organizations Worldwide Share Common Vision of Salvation through Diversity

"How the largest movement in the world came into being, and why no one saw it coming." Blessed Rest, Paul Hawken

Paul Hawken, New Age promoter and author of the best-selling 1987 book, Growing a Business, tells an audience that the world cannot be saved through a single system but rather through the coming together of all peoples, faiths, and beliefs. In a YouTube video clip, Hawken tells people that this "coming world" will happen through a movement that consists of over 130,000 organizations which are all working toward bringing peace and unity to the earth.

For those who do not realize the seriousness of the days in which we live, watch this video clip and then read this article by former New Age follower Warren Smith, "The Era of the Single Savior is Over"

BOOK Review by Gary Gilley: For Many Shall Come in My Name

Book review of For Many Shall Come in My Name by Pastor Gary Gilley

Southern View Chapel

Yungen has done vast research into what is commonly called the New Age movement-"The age of Aquarius, supposedly the Golden Age, when man becomes aware of his power and divinity" (p. 108). The New Age movement, which came to the surface of our awareness in the 1970s, is a fusing of Eastern and Western thinking.

New Age thought teaches that everything that exists, seen or unseen, is made up of energy--tiny particles of vibrating energy, atoms, molecules, protons, etc. All is energy. That energy, they believe, is God, and therefore, all is God. They believe that since we are all part of this God-energy, then we, too, are God. God is not seen as a Being that dwells in heaven, but as the universe itself. According to one writer, "Simply put, God functions in you, through you, and as you" (p. 17)....

Yungen devotes individual chapters to documenting New Age thought in education, business, medicine, politics, the media, self-help/psychology, and religion. The last three chapters contrast New Age thought with Scripture, the last chapter presenting a clear gospel message. Click here to read this entire book review.

Church Offers Chico a Labyrinth

ChicoER.com

A labyrinth is painted on a 34-by-34-foot canvas at Faith Lutheran Church in August. A church in Chico plans to offer the community an ancient form of healing. It's called walking the labyrinth.

People walk along a series of paths, just being quiet, or meditating or praying. They may come away from the experience feeling nurtured and peaceful, it's said.

Just what is a labyrinth? The dictionary defines it as "an intricate structure of intersecting passages."

The Rev. Peg Schultz-Akerson of Chico's Faith Lutheran Church first learned of the labyrinth from a book.

Like many people, she's received her share of books as gifts. Some get read and set aside, some gather dust on shelves from day one, and once in a great while, a gift book has a real impact.

For Schultz-Akerson, the book she received around 15 years ago titled "Walking a Sacred Path" fell into the once-in-a-great-while category.

Written by an Episcopal priest, the Rev. Dr. Lauren Artress, the book also has a subtitle: "Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice." Click here to read this entire article.

For information on labyrinths, click here.

David Jeremiah Quotes New Ager ... A Mysterious Twist

Someone may proclaim to be a Christian and yet embrace an incompatible non-Christian pluralism, like M. Scott Peck, author of the bestselling book The Road Less Traveled, who frequently uses Christian terminology and considers himself a convert to Christianity and yet who inconsistently proclaims in the sequel, Further Along the Road Less Traveled: "God, unlike some organized religions, does not discriminate. As long as you reach out to Her, She will go the better part of the way to meet you. There are an infinite number of roads to reach God." (p. 18)

"I have said that the ultimate goal of spiritual growth is for the individual to become as one with God ... It is for the individual to become totally, wholly God." M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled

In August 2007, Lighthouse Trails wrote a College Alert about Alberta, Canada's Prairie Bible Institute. The article documented numerous scenarios at Prairie that show the college is being influenced by contemplative spirituality. However, in the most recent issue of Servant (Prairie's magazine), Prairie president Jon Ohlhauser discussed Lighthouse Trails' article (not mentioning LT directly).1 Ohlhauser stated:

Unfortunately, the problem with Christians acting out of mistaken perceptions still exists as a significant stumbling block in the Body of Christ today.... This past summer we received notice that a Christian organization had come to the erroneous conclusion that Prairie had departed from our solid, historic commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the authority of his Word.

While Lighthouse Trails did not come to that conclusion, what was said was that Prairie is "showing strong signs that it is going in a contemplative direction." The Lighthouse Trails article gave several examples where the college is promoting or incorporating contemplative spirituality, but Ohlhauser did not address any of them, referring to them vaguely as "misperceptions." Ohlhauser did what many in the Purpose Driven, contemplative/emerging camps do when confronted by concerned believers. He basically said that Lighthouse Trails (and those who do likewise): damage God's purposes, accomplish the work of God's archenemy, and defame the name of God. In other words, believers who are challenging contemplative spirituality and the emerging church are abetting Satan.

What Olhauser did not do in his rebuttal though is speak about the issues we laid out in our report. Here is a synopsis of the situation at Prairie with regard to contemplative:

1. Quoting New Ager/goddess worshipper Sue Monk Kidd in their magazine from her pro-Thomas Merton book God's Joyful Surprise.

2. Featuring a favorable story in their magazine about globalist/emerging leader Bill Hybels and mystic promoter Philip Yancey.

3. A list of writers by Professor Ritchie White that includes: Eugene Peterson, Annie Dillard, and Henri Nouwen (link now removed from website)

4. Prairie music instructor Vernon Charter using textbook by the late emerging leader Robert Webber and a Supplementary Book list that includes emerging leader Dan Kimball.

5. Prairie Christian Academy (a ministry of PBI) teacher and former PBI instructor Dr. Steven Ibbotson teaches on the spiritual disciplines (ala John Ortberg, et. al) and includes the discipline of "Silence and Solitude." 2

6. In Mosaic (a Prairie student run paper that shows how the students at Prairie have been very affected by contemplative/emerging spiritualities) in a December 2006 article titled "The Arrogance of the Evangelical Church," Morgan Mosselman (listed as the Commissioner of Spiritual Life and officer of the Prairie Student Union in the 2005-2006 Chapel handbook) suggests we can "learn from our Catholic friends" in the area of spiritual life. Mosselman then favorably refers to a man named Simon Chan. Chan is described as "the world's most liturgically minded Pentecostal.2His book, Liturgical Theology 3 is a primer for the Catholic Eucharist and other Catholic means of spirituality.

7. In that same issue of Mosaic, there is an article by contemplative writer Lauren Winner (Girl Meets God). And in other issues, regular columnists write about and quote from other mysticism proponents such as Erwin McManus. (see our August article for more)

8. Prairie Bible Institute's textbook lists have authors that include contemplative proponent John Ortberg, mystic promoter Jim Collins, and Richard Foster's colleague, Dallas Willard (Renovation of the Heart). They also have textbooks by Ruth Haley Barton (trained at the interspiritual Shalem Institute), as well as Gary Thomas (Sacred Pathways where he says to repeat a word or phrase for twenty minutes) and Rick Warren (both whom avidly promote contemplative).

Ohlhauser said: "If only they had checked their perceptions before sharpening their swords, the entire misunderstanding could have been avoided." But we must ask the question, why didn't Ohlhauser address any of these issues in his rebuttal? If he doesn't understand what contemplative spirituality is, wouldn't it be a good idea for him to learn about this so he can protect the precious minds of so many young people? And if he does know what it is, then how can he say that Prairie is staying the course of the biblical Jesus Christ while following the contemplative/emerging path?

We humbly offer free copies of A Time of Departing and Faith Undone to any professor at Prairie Bible Institute who would like to read them.

Related Stories:

College Alert (August 2007): Prairie Bible Institute

College Alert: Briercrest College (Canada) Presses Forward into Contemplative/Emergent

Southern Baptist Convention 'List of Colleges and Universities' Contains Schools Promoting Yoga/New Age

Hindu paganism is alive and well at Shorter College

Christian Colleges that Promote Contemplative Spirituality

Publishing News

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.

Keeping An Eye on the Rethink Conference

By Ray Yungen

In the early twentieth century, a figure who would have a major impact on the Western esoteric movement came out of the occultic Theosophical Society. The actual coining of the very term New Age has been attributed to her writings. Her name was Alice Ann Bailey.

Born Alice LaTrobe-Bateman, in Manchester, England on June 16, 1880, she grew up as a society girl and enjoyed all the privileges of the British upper class. Being very religious, Alice met and married a man who later became an Episcopal minister. In time, they moved to the United States. When Alice's husband became physically abusive toward her, she fled from him and settled with her three children in Pacific Grove, California.

Alice was greatly comforted when she met two other English women living in Pacific Grove. These women introduced her to theosophy, which seemed to provide answers to her questions concerning why such misfortune had befallen her. Alice, then 35, was about to have her life changed forever. Later, in her unfinished autobiography, she wrote:

I discovered, first of all, that there is a great and divine Plan ... I discovered, for a second thing, that there are Those Who are responsible for the working out of that Plan and Who, step by step and stage by stage, have led mankind on down the centuries.1

In 1917, Alice moved to Los Angeles and began working for that plan at the Theosophical Society headquarters where she met Foster Bailey, a man who had devoted his life to occultism. She divorced her estranged husband and married Bailey in 1920. Alice had her first contact with a voice that claimed to be a master in November of 1919. Calling himself the Tibetan, he wanted Alice to take dictation from him. Concerning this, Alice wrote:

I heard a voice which said, "There are some books, which it is desired, should be written for the public. You can write them. Will you do so?"2

Alice felt reluctant at first to take on such an unusual endeavor, but the voice continued urging her to write the books. At this point in time Alice experienced a brief period of intense anxiety in which she feared for her health and sanity. One of her other spirit "masters" finally reassured her she had nothing to fear and she would be doing a "really valuable piece of work."3 The "valuable work" Alice was to do ended up lasting thirty years. Between 1919 and 1949, by means of telepathic communication, Alice Bailey wrote nineteen books for her unseen mentor.

To occultists, the significance of the Alice Bailey writings has heralded anticipation of the appearance of a World Healer and Savior in the coming Aquarian Age (the astrological age of enlightenment and peace). This savior would unite all mankind under his guidance. Bailey termed him the coming one. This person was not to be the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Christians await the return, but an entirely different individual who would embody all the great principles of occultism, chiefly the divinity and perfectibility of man. One of Bailey's followers wrote:

The reappearance of the Avatar [world teacher], by whatever name he may be known, has been prophesied in many religions as well as in the esoteric [occult] tradition. A major manifestation is expected in connection with the Aquarian age.4

Interestingly, the apostle Paul declared one called "the man of sin, the son of perdition" would also proclaim himself to be God (II Thessalonians 2:3,4). I believe this coming Aquarian messiah will be the son of perdition spoken of by Paul in II Thessalonians. Furthermore, I am convinced the New Age movement is his spiritual platform. Too many things fit together for this to be just mere coincidence. Therefore, we must watch for the restructuring of our world by those who are preparing the way for his arrival and identity to be revealed. Click here to read the rest of this article.

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