In This Issue -

Everything Must Change! says Brian McLaren

10,000 Expected to Attend Women of Faith Conference

Rick Warren Still Propagating New Age and Mysticism

ALERT: Global Day of Prayer - May 27, 2007

England and the Occult.

Wycliffe Not Included on Sponsor List for 2007 Cornerstone Festival

Rick Warren Says Christians Have "Big Mouth[s]" and "Haven't Done Zip"...

Is Kundalini Similar to Contemplative Silence?...

Los Angeles Housing Department and ZEN

Publishing News...

Everything Must Change! says Brian McLaren

From spiritual formation to the Eucharist to a paradigm shift, this tour has it all.

The presenters of the Everything Must Change Tour, scheduled for 2008, are proclaiming that a Deep Shift is taking place, and they are encouraging seekers to become a part of it. In honor of Brian McLaren's upcoming new release, Everything Must Change (Fall 2007, Thomas Nelson), the tour will present McLaren to eleven cities throughout the U.S. The question Deep Shift asks is, "What does it mean, in today's world, to be a follower of God in the way of Jesus?"

To better understand what McLaren and the other Deep Shift Guides mean by "way of Jesus," we must have some understanding of the spiritual formation movement. Roger Oakland explains:

Spiritual formation is based upon experiences promoted by desert monks and Roman Catholic mystics; these mystics encourage the use of rituals and practices that if performed will bring the practitioner closer to God (or enable him to enter God's presence). The premise is that if one goes into the silence or sacred space, then the mind is emptied of distractions, and the voice of God can be heard and personal transformation will take place. In truth, these hypnotic, mantric style practices bring one into altered states of consciousness, and rather than the believer being changed by the Holy Spirit and the indwelling of the person of Jesus Christ, he is supposedly changed (transformed) by entering this altered realm.

While proponents of spiritual formation (like Richard Foster) say these methods show that the Holy Spirit is doing something new to refresh Christianity, sadly these methods leave the practitioner duped and deceived by the workings of a counterfeit Holy Spirit.

And thus the term "way of Jesus" is more fitting than the term Christian (to leaders of the emergent paradigm shift) because to be a true Christian, Jesus lives inside and He is Lord and Savior over all. But to follow McLaren's "way of Jesus" means you must only see Him as a model and an example and not necessarily the only way to salvation  and a Lord to be worshiped. Actually, we must be so bold in this article to take it to the extreme that it really is. To follow this "way of Jesus" as McLaren and other New Age prophets  declare means the atonement (Christ's shed blood for our sins) must be kicked in the mud, and the Bible must be shattered and tossed as debris. Strong you say ... not near enough. And it's time to say so, because this Deep Shift will take place according to Scripture. But Scripture calls it what it truly is ... a great falling away where doctrines of demons seduce and delude, and where Satan will deceive the whole world (Revelation 12:9 - see A Time of Departing).

On the atonement, Brian McLaren sees it as "false advertising for God." His cohorts agree with him that God would be barbaric to send His Son to a violent death (see atonement article below). Jesus' going to the cross was an example of servanthood, but that is all, they say. No blood necessary. In fact, the idea of spilt blood is called vile by some.1

On the Word of God, emergent teachers condemn those who take the Bible literally and call such people legalistic fundamentalists who are the cause of all the ills of the earth. Dan Kimball, in his new book They Like Jesus But Not the Church, 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.2

A perfect example of this "way of Jesus" that tosses the authority of the Word of God to the wind is in an article by Pastor Dave White of Pantano Christian Church in Arizona. In White's sermon titled "Is the Bible True?"3, White states:

One day I mustered the courage to actually ask myself out loud, "Is the entire Bible to be read primarily as literal and factual or could at least parts of it be read as metaphorical stories that illustrate truth?" Could some of the Bible not be literally and factually true but be PROFOUNDLY TURE [sic]? I want to make it clear that some of you here might just say, "NO WAY" to that question. If you do, that is OK with me. I am not trying to get you to believe that some of the Bible may not be factual. My point is that in my own journey considering that possibility and confronting it has been revolutionary to my faith in both God and the Bible.

While there is probably not a Christian on earth that hasn't at some time had doubts and questions, White is taking his doubts to a new level. Now, when he says that some of the Bible is not to be taken literally but rather metaphorically, he isn't just referring to the parables of Jesus. He includes the story of Adam and Eve and original sin in the Garden of Eden, the story of Job, and the story of the prophet Jonah. White goes on to say that "No where does inspiration [of God's Word] seem to be connected with the idea of guaranteeing the facts" (p. 2), and "some of the passages that can seem challenging if you think of them as literally factual and see how they read as stories that are profoundly true but not literally true" (p. 3). White sums it up by saying that even if the Bible is not all true, he would

"still be a follower of Jesus! Why? Because the way of Jesus - loving God and loving your neighbor - has proven to me to be life I like living. I believe I will enjoy the richest and most satisfying life possible by following in the way of Jesus and modeling my life after Him.

In the Pantano Christian Church's Spiritual Formation program, they offer "tools" in solitude, which include fighting "through all the internal and external distractions by repeating a simple prayer like 'Jesus, I belong to you,' or 'Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,'" and reading contemplative author Fil Anderson's Running on Empty: Contemplative Spirituality for Overachievers, who incidentally quotes and speaks highly of Thomas Merton in his book. It makes sense that a church would be promoting contemplative spirituality as well as downplaying the authority of Scripture. Such downplaying is a product of deep contemplative meditation that Anderson discusses in his book.

Roger Oakland of Understand the Times believes that the emerging church is a bridge between evangelical Christianity and Rome (Catholicism). The fact that there will be a Eucharist service at the Everything Must Change tour is significant and is another indication of the spiritual deception that many Christians are falling prey to.4

You [Jesus] are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood ... Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. (Revelation 5: 9 & 12)

 

10,000 Expected to Attend Women of Faith Conference

LTRP Note: The Women of Faith Amazing Freedom conference begins in a few weeks. Last July we reported on the organization because its online bookstore was carrying (and still is) numerous titles by New Age sympathizers and contemplative/emergent authors. It is our concern that the millions of women who attend Women of Faith conferences will be exposed to mystical spirituality, and because they trust Women of Faith, they will be caught unaware and put in harm's way. See our July 2006 report below the following news article.

Outside source news article:
Lara Becker Liu
Staff writer

The Women of Faith, a national organization of Christian women, plans to hold a women's conference at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial on June 1 and 2.

The conference, in Rochester for a second time, is expected to draw 10,000 attendees. A total of 28 cities will host the gathering this year. The theme is "Amazing Freedom."

More than a women's getaway, the conference aims to tackle serious subjects, ranging from political unrest and war to the average woman's need for emotional freedom. Organizers promise "a place where there is freedom to laugh, to cry and to relate as women." Click here to read the rest of this news story.

Our July 2006 report:

Women of Faith is a Christian franchise that has held conferences for over 3 million women since its inception in 1996. In 2000, Christian publisher Thomas Nelson bought the Women of Faith franchise and has a strong influence in the organization. Nearly all of the regular Women of Faith speakers are Thomas Nelson authors, and Thomas Nelson books are sold at the Women of Faith conferences, thus women attending the conferences will get a hearty dose of Thomas Nelson.

In light of books published by Thomas Nelson that have contemplative/New Age theologies, women attending these conferences should use discernment and wisdom. Below is a list of some Thomas Nelson books and authors that have New Age and/or contemplative content. Incidentally, nearly all of these books below are sold through the Women of Faith online bookstore, including Yoga for Christians and The Secret Message of Jesus:

Yoga for Christians by Susan Bordenkircher
The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren
Cure for the Common Life by Max Lucado
Speaking My Mind by Tony Campolo
Celebration of Discipline (Spanish) by Richard Foster
The Sacred Romance by John Eldredge
Turn My Mourning into Dancing by Henri Nouwen
How to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life by Mark Victor Hansen
Seeing What is Sacred by Ken Gire
So You Want to Be Like Christ (Workbook) by Chuck Swindoll

Other authors that Thomas Nelson publishes include Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz), John Maxwell (Leadership Guru), Steven Covey (New Age Mormon), and New Age sympathizers Laurie Beth Jones and Ken Blanchard.

* * * * * *

Note: Our previous posting of last evening, "Everything Must Change says Brian McLaren" states that McLaren's upcoming book, Everything Must Change, is published by Thomas Nelson. This book is not currently being offered by Women of Faith.

For further research:

Women of Faith Newsroom

Thomas Nelson Publishes Yoga for Christians

Rick Warren Still Propagating New Age and Mysticism

 
Webster's definition on the word "Propagation": "the spreading of something (as a belief) abroad or into new regions."

The May 9th issue of Rick Warren's newsletter is propagating New Age/emerging theologies through its promotion of those who teach such.

This week's newsletter states the following about the National Pastors Convention, which took place earlier this year:

Zondervan podcasts its National Pastors Conference - You can now get Zondervan's Pastor's Conference on your iPod. Eugene Peterson and John Eldredge were among the featured speakers at the conference. Zondervan also podcasts interviews with some of its authors, including Phillip Yancey and Ann Spangler.

The National Pastor's Convention, an event that Rick Warren has also attended in the past, was originally presented by Youth Specialties. Now, the event is hosted by Zondervan publishers. Both Zondervan and the convention have become venues for contemplative (i.e., mystical) spirituality and the emerging church movement (both of which are New Age in nature and premise).

This year's National Pastors Convention list of speakers includes some of the strongest proponents of contemplative/emerging spirituality: Brian McLaren, Ruth Haley Barton, Eugene Peterson, John Eldredge, Mark Yaconelli, and several others.

While over 400,000 churches have participated in the Purpose Driven Life program thus far, most people do not realize Rick Warren's connections with mystical/New Age theologies. Former New Age follower Warren Smith was one of the first people to alert others to Rick Warren's spiritual proclivities in his 2004 book, Deceived on Purpose. Later in 2005, a special report showed that Rick Warren had teamed up with New Age sympathizer Ken Blanchard.1 Today, two years later, Purpose Driven is still going strong, and Rick Warren is part of an ecumenical, global movement to unite all religions. Under the auspices of Warren's global P.E.A.C.E. Plan, he is helping to bring about a new reformation 2, one he says will be built on unity and works rather than beliefs and doctrine. He has consistently marginalized Bible believing Christians 3 and endorsed those who have taught a panentheistic gospel.
* * * *

For further documentation on Rick Warren's propagation of mysticism and the New Age, see:

Database of articles on Purpose Driven reformation

Rick Warren Distorts the Instructions of Jesus to Fit His Global Peace Plan

Is Rick Warren Promoting Contemplative Prayer?

Community Connections

Also read: A Time of Departing

ALERT: Global Day of Prayer - May 27, 2007

The next Global Day of Prayer will take place on May 27th. People from around the world from many different countries will participate. The event began in 2000 in South Africa. The website describes the event:

IMAGINE the emerging generation from all the nations of the globe praying on the high places on 27 May 2007, the Global Day of Prayer . . . Yes, can you imagine the effect when on this day people from 220 nations of the globe fill stadiums, community centers, city squares, churches and all kinds of buildings?

The growing movement is hoping to unite all "Christian traditions" as this excerpt from an article in London UK explains:

Britain's [sic] is home to a wide range of Christian traditions, each of them have something to offer and we all have something to learn from each other. The exciting thing about the Global Day of Prayer is that it will bring together Christians from different ethnicities and different expressions of the Christian faith to pray for unity, London and the World.

To understand more of the vision of the Global Day of Prayer, we need only look to the organization's youth program. In that section of the GDOP website, there are instructions on how to "mobilize young people far and wide." Unfortunately, this includes Pete Greig's Red Moon Rising book and the 24/7 Boiler Rooms. While Greig's book and ministry may, at first glance, appear to be a movement of Christian prayer, research shows that both the book and the movement are heavily influenced by contemplative spirituality, Catholicism, and New Age thought. And while youth around the world are taking shifts (to pray) in Greig's boiler rooms (prayer rooms), they may be getting into something entirely different than biblical prayer. Please see links below to some of our previous articles about 24/7 prayer rooms and Red Moon Rising. We think you will find what we say to be true, and if this is the case, the Global Day of Prayer is going to be a conduit for interspirituality through mystical meditation, and the results will be spiritually disastrous for millions.

Right now, 24/7 prayer rooms are being added all over the world, and each year more countries are joining the Global Day of Prayer. With the strong emphasis on meditation in both the prayer rooms and the global prayer event, we believe this warning is warranted and vital.

For more information:

Red Moon Rising: An Army for God with a "Violent Reaction"

ALERT: 24-7 Prayer Rooms Increasing in North America

Red Moon Rising: 24-7 Prayer Leads Youth into Contemplative and New Age Thought

Pete Greig's The Vision and the Vow"

More about the Global Day of Prayer

England and the Occult

CBS News
May 13, 2007
A Look At Black Magic In Great Britain

"[W]hen it comes to the occult, we've [England] cornered the market. Harry Potter isn't just a best seller and an international movie hit - it is real life for many of us. There are parts of England where one in ten of the people believe they have the power to teleport their neighbors - pick them up and spirit them away, literally." Click here to read the rest of this article.

Related Information:
What is the New Age? by Ray Yungen (from For Many Shall Come in My Name)

Wycliffe Not Included on Sponsor List for 2007 Cornerstone Festival

The 2007 Cornerstone Festival will take place June 25th - 30th in Bushnell, Illinois. The festival promotes contemplative spirituality and the emerging church. Last year, we reported that World Vision and Wycliffe Bible Translators were two of the festival's sponsors. In our report, we stated:

Cornerstone Festival (July 2006) offers a labyrinth, contemplative "prayer rhythms" and more.

On July 4th through 8th, Cornerstone Festival (a ministry of Jesus People USA) took place. Sponsors of the event included World Vision and Wycliffe Bible Translators. The event offered a prayer labyrinth and "contemplative journeys of prayer." In addition, the festival offered an Imaginarium titled Days of the Dead. (Caution: Young children should not view this link.)

The festival also presented The Burning Bush Program, which offers labyrinths and "Mystical Art Soup ... helping young people identify and develop their gifts in the arts."

The question must be asked, what were World Vision and Wycliffe Bible Translators thinking when they agreed to sponsor this event? With seminars on Celtic Monasticism, Kierkegaard's Relevance to the Contemporary Church, Martial Arts and Missions, and The Revolutionary Way of Christ: Toward a Postmodern Christology, it would be difficult to mistake this for anything other than a promotion for contemplative and emerging spiritualities with overtones in the occult.

While this year's festival will still present features like Imaginarium (no children viewing please), The Burning Bush and many workshops and seminars on contemplative/emerging spiritualities (which are based on occultic philosophy), World Vision and Wycliffe do not appear to be sponsoring the event this year. On the Sponsors page, both organizations' names are missing.

There have been growing concerns that World Vision is being influenced by contemplative/emerging leaders. A May 2006 article titled "World Vision Promotes Emerging Leader", reported that World Vision's Child View magazine carried a full page article by emerging church leader Brian McLaren. World Vision later responded with the following comments:

[R]egarding Brian McLaren's column in the "Faith in Action" section of Childview. At World Vision, we recognize that the body of Christ includes all who follow Jesus and who seek God's kingdom here on earth. As Christians, we may not all agree on the same doctrines. But let us strive for tolerance and inclusion as we work toward our common purpose of being the hands and feet of Jesus in a suffering world.

Unfortunately, this "inclusion" creates a serious problem for the Bible believing Christian because contemplative/emerging spiritualities ultimately are panentheistic (God in all) and occultic in nature.

According to archived web files, 2005 was the first year Cornerstone Festival website showed its sponsors1. The 2005 sponsor list included World Vision, Wycliffe, Zondervan publishers, Teen Mania, and Greenville College. The 2006 Sponsor list also included Zondervan, Teen Mania, and Greenville College (along with World Vision and Wycliffe).2  The 2007 list not only is missing World Vision and Wycliffe Bible Translators, it does not include Teen Mania and Zondervan. However, Greenville College is still sponsoring the event. Added to this year's list is Compassion International.

Greenville College has an emphasis on spiritual formation and offers courses such as COR102: Christian Thought & Life, which include Henri Nouwen, M. Scott Peck, Robert Webber (Ancient-Future worship), and Richard Foster as "possible text" material. A 2005 new materials list in the Greenville library shows titles by Brian McLaren, Eugene Peterson, and Michael Frost. With regard to Cornerstone Festival, a 2004 press release shows that Greenville's decision to be a part of the festival had to do, at least in part, with the music.3 Greenville College is affiliated with the Free Methodist denomination.

We hope that Greenville College and Compassion International will reconsider their sponsorship toward Cornerstone Festival, which is a conduit for mystical spirituality.

For related information:

The Music and the Mystical by Pastor Larry DeBruyn

Our List of Contemplative Promoting Christian Colleges

Rick Warren Says Christians Have "Big Mouth[s]" and "Haven't Done Zip"

Commentary:

Rick Warren once again condemns conservative Christians and further marginalizes them, according to a Los Angeles Times article.1 The article states:

Evangelical leader Rick Warren came to the heart of the religious right movement last week to criticize a narrow focus on abortion, homosexuality and pornography as un-Christian.

Strikingly, top Christian conservatives agreed.

During a three-day summit here, members of Focus on the Family and Campus Crusade for Christ joined Warren and dozens of other pastors from across the nation in a pledge to devote more of their resources and clout to helping children in need.

"We've got some people who only focus on moral purity and couldn't care less about the poor, the sick, the uneducated. And they haven't done zip for those people," said Warren, a mega-church pastor in California and author of the best-selling "The Purpose-Driven Life."

Warren hastened to say that he also opposed abortion and gay marriage. But too often, he said, Christians these days are defined by their "big mouth" -- what they argue against, not what they embrace. He pointed to a verse from the Book of James that calls caring for orphans an essential element of a "pure and undefiled" faith.

Rick Warren believes that Christians have done little to help the needy and that the world needs the Purpose Driven agenda to bring about a new reformation and world peace. In the past few years, Warren has consistently stated that conservative Christians who are against abortion and homosexuality (and Purpose Driven) are fundamentalists (he likens them to Islamic fundamentalists - see article below) and says these kind of Christians are one of the biggest enemies facing our society. A Purpose Driven pastor has gone so far as to call resisting Christians "leaders from hell."2 Warren says change can't come about until they are out of the way, either through leaving the church or dying (see article below).

According to the LA Times article, Warren has now added pornography to his abortion/homosexuality list. This could be because of recent stories that report Rick Warren's connection to Rupert Murdoch and Murdoch's investments in pornographic-promoting companies.3

Using language like "big mouth," "couldn't care less," and "haven't done zip," Rick Warren is coming out of the gate with his hair on fire ... he appears to be hopping mad at people who criticize him for his non-biblical theologies. And he's going to the let the world know he condemns those who question and challenge him.

Rick Warren is wrong in what he says. True Christians (those with Jesus Christ indwelling them) have been serving the Lord faithfully since the church began 2000 years ago. Charities, missionary societies, Christian foster parents and adoptive parents, martyrs, inner city missions, and more are all proof of this. To say that believers have nothing but big mouths and don't do zip is inaccurate, misleading, and shameful. The Bible is very clear that those who are born into Jesus Christ through faith by His grace are being prepared to be a spotless Bride for Christ. This is not saying that believers are without sin, for the Bible says in I John that if we say we are without sin, we are liars. But the Bible also says that He is faithful never to leave us or forsake us, and we are His workmanship created for good works, (Ephesians 2:10) and He is changing us all the time to become more like Him (II Corinthians 3:18). To say that the church has done nothing is to say that God has done nothing, for as believers we are in Him. While the New Testament does condemn those who live in habitual ongoing sin and calls them to repent, and it does distinguish between those who are really born again and those who are not (the sheep and the goats), it does not speak in a derogatory manner about the true church as Rick Warren does. While he continues to promote contemplative spirituality, leading followers further from truth, he also appears to be zealously condemning those who will not go along with the Purpose Driven paradigm (see video).

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10)

"Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:28-29)

For further documentation, please see:

Rick Warren Predicts Christian Fundamentalism To Be Enemy of 21st Century!

Rick Warren's New Reformation

Purpose Driven Resisters

On Pornography: Ted Haggard Story Will Raise Serious Questions For All

Purpose Driven Global Peace Plan

Is Kundalini Similar to Contemplative Silence?

 by Ray Yungen

Kundalini is a Hindu term for the mystical power or force that underlies their spirituality. In Hinduism it is commonly referred to as the serpent power. Philip St. Romain, a substance abuse counselor and devout Catholic lay minister, began his journey while practicing contemplative prayer or resting in the still point, as he called it. What happened to him following this practice should bear the utmost scrutiny from the evangelical community-especially from our leadership. Having rejected mental prayer as "unproductive" he embraced the prayer form that switches off the mind, creating what he described as a mental passivity. What he encountered next underscores my concern with sobering clarity:

Then came the lights! The gold swirls that I had noted on occasion began to intensify, forming themselves into patterns that both intrigued and captivated me ... There were always four or five of these; as soon as one would fade, another would appear, even brighter and more intense ... They came through complete passivity and only after I had been in the silence for a while.

After this, St. Romain began to sense "wise sayings" coming into his mind and felt he was "receiving messages from another." He also had physical developments occur during his periods in the silence. He would feel "prickly sensations" on the top of his head and at times it would "fizzle with energy." This sensation would go on for days. The culmination of St. Romain's mystical excursion was predictable:

When you do Christian yoga or Christian zen you end up with Christian samadhi as did he. He proclaimed:

No longer is there any sense of alienation, for the Ground that flows throughout my being is identical with the Reality of all creation. It seems that the mystics of all the world"s religions know something of this.

St. Romain, logically, passed on to the next stage with:

[T]he significance of this work, perhaps, lies in its potential to contribute to the dialogue between Christianity and Eastern forms of mysticism such as are promoted in what is called New Age spirituality.

 Los Angeles Housing Department and ZEN

By Jessica Garrison and Ted Rohrlich
Times Staff Writers

The Los Angeles Housing Department has paid thousands of dollars to a Zen Buddhist priest from Hawaii for management training that includes teaching breathing with sphincter control, learning "how to stand" and playing with wooden sticks.

Norma Wong, a former Hawaii state legislator and leadership consultant, has been paid $18,819 since 2005 to conduct at least four training sessions for executives and other staff. The most recent one was last week.

Mercedes Marquez, the general manager of the department, said the training was designed to help "center" Housing Department managers and teach them to react nimbly to problems such as the city's housing shortage. Up to 30 people attended each session.

"She asks when you center yourself to hold yourself in," Marquez said of the instructor.

The breathing exercises and stick play, she said, were a small part of two-day sessions, which also included discussions of team building and improving department procedures. Click here to read rest of story.

Publishing News - For Many Shall Come in My Name

An Ancient Wisdom is drawing millions of people into mystical experiences and preparing the world for the end of the age ... find out how.

For Many Shall Come in My Name will be back from press on May 15th. If you have already ordered a copy/copies, we will be shipping backorders on May 15th.

  Chapter One
Media Sheet

Most people believe the New Age has been long gone from our society, and if practiced at all now it is only by unconventional fringe types. For Many Shall Come in My Name reveals this is not the case. In fact, quite the opposite has occurred. The New Age movement (a term not normally used by its proponents) has permeated virtually all aspects of our society. This "Ancient Wisdom" spirituality can be quite readily encountered in the following fields: Business, Education, Health, Self- Help, Religion, and Arts & Entertainment. This book examines them all. Order today, receive this week.

Note: Lighthouse Trails is a Christian publishing company. While we hope you will read the books we have published, we also provide extensive research, documentation, and news on our Research site, blog, and newsletter. We pray that the books as well as the online research will be a blessing to the body of Christ and a witness to those who have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.