Richard Foster (Renovare), who has continued to insist he is not of a universalist persuasion, was the key note speaker at the Colorado Council of Churches sunrise Easter service in Denver this past March.

The Colorado Council of Churches is an extension of the ecumenical National Council of Churches. Denominations and groups represented at the CCC include:American Baptist Church, Episcopal, ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America),United Methodist Church, Universal Fellowship of MCC, Unitarian Universalist Association and the Roman Catholic Church.

This June, in Denver, Colorado, Richard Foster will be conducting his With-God Life conference. Any one who is familiar with Foster knows he is a powerful advocate for eastern mysticism, aka contemplative prayer.

This year, among many others, the North American Alpha Course is partnering with Richard Foster and Renovare to help make this conference happen. Many wonder if the Alpha Course has anything to do with contemplative spirituality. According to one Alpha teacher, contemplative prayer is what comes after Alpha (see article).

But now Alpha has boldly become a partner with the very contemplative Richard Foster, who has no problem encouraging the use of mantra meditation in his books, books such as Devotional Classics and Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home.

Other partners at this year's With-God Life conference include Bethel College Seminary in Minneapolis, C.S. Lewis Institute, Biola University and the Spiritual Formation Forum, Youth For Christ International and Young Life.

Eugene Peterson, author of The Message paraphrase, may look and sound evangelical to many, but we believe he is promoting contemplative prayer. You decide for yourself. Below we have listed a few links that show which circles Peterson hangs out in. You may not recognize all these names but take a look at who they are and what they say ...

Quotes from Dallas Theological Seminary Toolbox:

"Silence and solitude together form a single path of quiet aloneness before God ...In reading Evelyn Underhill's classic book Christian Mysticism, I observed that for many of the great saints, the contemplative life was previous to and in preparation for an active life of service. " 1999 - Howard Baker, author of Soul Keeping (NavPress, 1998)

"Richard Foster has given a great gift" (in reviewing Foster's book Streams of Living Water). Dr. David B. Wyrtzen

Authors Recommended by Dallas Theological Seminary

• Brennan Manning
• Brian McLaren
• Henri Nouwen
• Thomas Merton
• Richard Foster- Staff Favorite
• Larry Crabb
• Bruce Wilkinson
• Rick Warren
• Eugene Peterson

George Barna and his Research Group are making some changes. According to an article in the Christian Post on April 6th, Barna is expanding his operations. Some of these changes include working with Rick Warren and his Purpose-Driven children.

"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."- Sue Monk Kidd from God's Joyful Surprises, p. 55, 1987.

"As I read her book [When the Heart Waits], Sue Monk Kidd becomes a companion to me. I love having her walk with me on my journey." - Eugene Peterson on back cover of Sue Monk Kidd's book.

LARRY KING: "Since you believe in God, if an agnostic or an atheist is doing good, God appreciates it, according to you, right?"

RICK WARREN: God wants us all to be loving to each other, there is no doubt about that. In fact, Jesus wouldn't have made any distinction between someone who was of a different background. The issue was, do they love him and do they have a purpose? Are they following his purpose? See, I believe that we were made by God and that we were made for God. And that until we understand that, life isn't going to make sense.

Read Entire Interview

More Amazing Quotes ...

Online Christian Bookstores and Church Bookstores have become a haven for New Agers, universalists, mystics and other authors who not only spread messages that oppose the gospel of Jesus Christ but also deceive many Christians by using scriptures and Christian terms. Take a look at a couple examples:

There is a lot of talk today about emerging spirituality. By listening to the media and well-known evangelicals, one would think that Brian McLaren and other emerging leaders created this concept themselves. This could not be further from the truth.

The concepts of ancient wisdom and new frontiers (better known as emerging spirituality) have been used for a very long time, and many of those using them are anything but Christian. On the contrary they oppose the very foundation of Christianity and deny the essence of who Jesus Christ really is.

Spend some time looking around on the Internet and at your local Christian bookstore. You will see titles such as: The Emerging Church, Emerging Worship (both by Dan Kimball), Church in Emerging Culture by Len Sweet, Alternative Worship: Resources for and from the Emerging Church by Sally Morgenthaler, and Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church by D.A. Carson. With titles like these, and more coming on the scene every week, the average Christian would have no trouble believing that this emerging spirituality is absolutely Christian and Christian originated.

But with a little study we can see this emerging spirituality has roots that we cannot ignore any longer. I would like to first draw your attention to a book called As Above, So Below, written by Ronald S. Miller and the editors of New Age Journal. The book discusses, in a most positive note, the ancient wisdom that is so prevalent in the emerging church movement. Shamanism, Feminine Spirituality and interspirituality are promoted heartily. But it is the first chapter we must now look at. The chapter title? "Emerging Spirituality." The author quotes Aldous Huxley who says the "highest common factor" which links the world's religions is metaphysical (contemplative), which helps everyone to recognize the divinity within all humans and creation (p. 2). Miller's emerging spirituality is referring to the emerging of all religions and the understanding that man is Divine.

Catholic Monk and contemplative Thomas Keating would agree with Huxley, I am sure, for he believes it is the contemplative dimension that will bring the world into harmony and oneness.



Barbara Marx Hubbard, author of Emergence: The Shift from Ego to Essence, and a present day mystic, publicly despises Bible- believing Christians and believes we are coming into a time period of the emerging human who finally recognizes his own Divinity.

She states: "You and I are sitting at the hub of the emerging world.... now actually evolving our human species and our world itself.... we are living through an evolutionary crisis, a crisis of the birth of something new. It is vital now that what is emerging converges, ... so that as the structures in the old system destabilize, elements of the emerging system self-organize as the new culture cocreated by a more conscious and empathetic humanity." Interview with B.M.H.

The ancient wisdom and the emerging human that McLaren and other emerging church leaders are seeking is none other than the emerging spirituality that Barbara Marx Hubbard, Thomas Keating and other New Agers practice and promote. McLaren and these "Christian" leaders will be greatly disappointed in the end and will lead thousands, possibly millions, astray. These concepts date back long before this "new" emerging church movement began.

Barbara Marx Hubbard and Brian McLaren are wrong when they teach that we as humans are emerging into something great and much better than where we are presently at. The Bible says there is nothing new under the sun. While "Christian" emergers think they are onto something totally different, totally unique, they will find that they are walking right into a trap, a trap that will hinder them from running into the arms of the only Savior and hope for man.

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Past Issues and News Alerts

Interview between Rick Warren and Larry King

Links to Other Research Resources

Index of our Research Topics

Lighthouse Trails Publishing - A Light Shining in the Darkness

Rick Warren Holds 25th Anniversary Event and Announces Global Peace Plan