Two years ago, Lighthouse Trails posted an article titled “Christian Colleges and Seminaries in More Trouble Than Ever as Many Plunge Into Emergent Spirituality.” As Christian parents are preparing to send their high-school graduate kids to Christian colleges and universities this coming fall, we hope that article (posted below) will provide a desperately needed warning. And in fact, now that contemplative schools have turned “woke” and progressive, that warning is more needed than ever. You may send your sweet child of faith to one of these schools only to watch in horror as his or her faith is turned upside down in a short period of time, and he or she may come home during a semester break and tell you the words you never thought you would hear, “Hey Mom and Dad, I am now an atheist, and I don’t believe what the Bible says anymore!”

The article:

For nearly 18 years, Lighthouse Trails has been reporting on the slide that evangelical colleges, universities, and seminaries have been taking into the contemplative/emergent/ecumenical river. It would be great if we could say there’s been a real turn around and things at these colleges are getting better. It would be great if we could say that your college-age child is safe in most Christian colleges today. And it would be great if we could say that these schools have realized the error of their ways and have made dramatic efforts to get back on the biblical course. Unfortunately, we cannot say any of these things because they simply are not true.

We were once again reminded of how far off the track evangelical schools have gone when earlier this month we received an e-blast from Christianity Today announcing a 50%-off tuition special for qualifying students to Seattle Pacific University. That will sound very enticing to parents who are looking for Christian education for their college-age children at affordable rates. But let’s take a glance at what these children will be introduced to if they attend Seattle Pacific University:

At SPU’s Center for Biblical and Theological Education, students will be introduced to various forms of contemplative spirituality, and faculty members are being trained to pass them on. For instance, in a 2019 faculty retreat syllabus, the list of activities at the retreat include lectio divina, praying with icons, sabbath keeping, Ignatian Spirituality, and Prayer of Examen. At the upcoming 2020 Winter Discernment Weekend, prospective students will be introduced to “Guided Prayer” and Lectio Divina. “Spiritual Formation” and contemplative spirituality are integrated throughout the spiritual infrastructure of SPU. Faculty Staff Bulletins are peppered with recommendation and accolades for Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, and numerous other hard-core mystics and panentheists.

In addition to the heavily contemplative element at SPU, you will find promotion for all things emergent such as “critical race theory” (a Marxist-leaning ideology) and the so-called “social-justice gospel” (with recommendations for social justice leaders such as Shane Claiborne and SoJourners).

For anyone who understands contemplative spirituality, these things we are sharing won’t come as a surprise because contemplative prayer is the gateway ‘drug,” so to speak, to all things emergent, socialist, Marxist, New Age, and anti-morality. And if there is one thing we hope to get across in this article, it is this: A very large number of Christian higher education institutions are now exhibiting signs that they are being influenced and directed by emergent ideologies; and many of these same schools are the ones we warned about years ago as they started down the contemplative path; the inevitable “fruit” of contemplative prayer is a drastic change in spiritual outlook (i.e., no longer resembling biblical Christianity; i.e., now emergent).

Lancaster Bible College in PA, one of the schools that has been on the Lighthouse Trails Contemplative College List for several years, continues down the contemplative path going deeper and deeper into the emergent world. For a convincing example, their Formational Leadership Master of Arts Degree program is taught by contemplative/emergent/Replacement Theology/New Missiology leader Wayne Cordiero. (More information on this program).

Northwest Nazarene University in Idaho continues incorporating emergent believes into the lives of its students. Some of our readers may remember our 2010 story titled “Buddhist/Universalist Sympathizer Woos Nazarene Students at NNU.” Most Nazarene universities had already been seduced by Catholic contemplative mystic Brennan Manning by then, and so bringing in a Buddhist/universalist sympathizer to NNU was just following contemplative protocol, which they have continued to do.

A few examples of NNU’s current status are the following: In the THEO4900 Religion Capstone course, The Living Reminder by Catholic mystic Henri Nouwen is one of two required textbooks. A graduate course titled COUN6594A Mindfulness Approaches uses Mindfulness and Psychotherapy for its textbook. Another graduate course (YCFM6730 Missional Ministry) uses these four textbooks— Celtic Way of Evangelism, Future Faith, Kingdom Come, and Creating a Missional Culture. In Creating a Missional Culture, the author introduces the reader to Jurgen Moltmann, Karl Barth, Marcus Borg, and several others of the same caliber (these three men are heroes of the emergent movement). In these NNU textbooks, you find the path to emergent, “progressive,” socialist, New Age “Christianity”—something that has become the hallmark for Nazarene universities today. If you attend a Nazarene church, and that church is looking for a new pastor, it would be a good idea to find out how much of his seminary/university training rubbed off on him because you can be sure, he’ll be bringing it to your church.

In 2013, we released our special report titled An Epidemic of Apostasy – How Christian Seminaries Must Incorporate “Spiritual Formation” to Become Accredited, documenting how contemplative spirituality was entering the Christian colleges at an alarming rate. Fast forward to today, and many of these schools are hardly recognizable from where they were at just seven years ago.

In this relatively short article, we have provided examples of just three schools. But we could give countless more of other schools that began opening their doors to the contemplative element, and now are becoming full-fledged emergent schools.

When we started warning about the contemplative movement entering the church through the evangelical colleges, seminaries, and universities back in the early part of this present millennium, our warnings were brushed off and dismissed by many Christian leaders. Today, some of these same leaders are being vocal against the left-leaning, anti-God, socialistic condition of this country. But they either don’t realize or don’t care that the early contemplative pioneers that they embraced twenty plus years ago brought in that very same mindset into the church through contemplative prayer. And now, as older pastors are retiring or passing away, the new younger pastors, trained in the colleges and seminaries, have become evangelists for this anti-Gospel, anti-biblical worldview.

The Calvinist Factor

For the editors at Lighthouse Trails, and for many of our readers, we are not surprised that this paradigm shift has occurred. We have witnessed the terrible apathy and indifference by Christian leaders and many pastors for nearly 18 years. Not only has there been apathy and indifference, but there has been hostility and anger. Just last week, a pastor in Oregon who had been placed on our Christian leaders and pastors booklet mailing list (at the request of one of our readers) called and told us to remove him from the list. He then proceeded to list off about a dozen adjectives to describe us including pugnacious, slanderous, and hateful.

We were curious about this pastor’s church and checked it out on the Internet. It was a Calvinist-promoting church. One reason we have experienced a new level of anger by some pastors and leaders is because of the book we published in 2018 warning about Calvinism (Calvinism: None Dare Call it Heresy). And this brings us to something that needs to be said in this article with regard to the direction evangelical colleges, universities, and seminaries have headed: Many Christian colleges and universities are now embracing or are in the process of embracing Calvinism and Reformed Theology.

This presents a different set of serious problems, in one respect. But as we have stated in other articles, and wholeheartedly believe based on what we have observed, many young people trained in or drawn into Calvinism end up emergent or leaving the faith altogether (such as in the case of the recent departure from the faith by I Kissed Dating Goodbye author Josh Harris).

Aside from the colleges that have historically been Calvinist and Reformed (e.g., The Master’s Seminary, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Calvin College), new ones are continually getting on board with Calvinism. A perfect example of this is Bob Jones University (historically the antithesis of a Calvinist school), which now has a Calvinist president. And then there is Southern Baptist Convention. We estimate that as many as half of the Southern Baptist colleges and universities are now Calvinist leaning. One caller, who is a longstanding SBC member that has been in leadership positions, told us that almost all the SBC universities are now Calvinist or Calvinist influenced. A 2007 Christian Post article titled “Calvinism on the Rise” stated: “Nearly 30 percent of recent SBC seminary graduates now serving as church pastors indicate they are Calvinists.” This statistic was based on data presented at the 2006 SBC “Building Bridges: Southern Baptists and Calvinism” conference. We believe that percentage is much higher today because of the increase in Calvinism in the schools. And if our theory is right that many young Calvinists will eventually become emergent or defect the faith (sometimes because they cannot handle the dismal beliefs of John Calvin and Calvinism and sometimes because they haven’t found a personal relationship with Christ through Calvinism), then the outcome is going to be disastrous.

CONCLUSION

Either way you look at it, Christian/evangelical colleges, universities, and seminaries are in trouble. And if they are in trouble, then so are our churches because the schools are producing today’s and tomorrow’s pastors and leaders.

Our exhortation to parents and grandparents is to carefully and prayerfully choose the schools your children and grandchildren will attend. The pickings are getting slimmer every day, but your choices can potentially have eternal consequences or eternal blessings. Please don’t take it lightly.

Editor’s Note: If you know of a young person who attends or who plans to attend a Christian college, university, or seminary, please consider asking him or her to read Castles in the Sand or A Time of Departing. If you cannot afford to get one of these books, write to us at editors@lighthousetrails.com, and we will send a free copy for you to give to that college-age person. If you are wondering why we have so much concern about this, read an article we wrote in 2013 titled “Want Your Child to Become an Atheist? – Send Him to LeTourneau University in Texas (or Any Other Contemplative/Emergent School For That Matter).” It’s a true story, and tragically, it is happening too often.

2022 Note: Since writing the above article in 2020, we have posted several letters to the editor from parents and grandparents regarding their personal experiences with children attending Christian schools:

Letter to the Editor: Liberty University Taking Students on “Spiritual Journey” With Contemplative/Emergent Leader Richard Foster

Letter to the Editor: To All Parents of Students Considering Attending Gordon College

Letter to the Editor: “Christian” Professor Finds “Warm Welcome” at Wheaton College to Teach and Promote Critical Race Theory

A Parent’s Summary of the Spread of Critical Race Theory At Gordon College

Letter to the Editor: I Discovered the Christian College I Was Attending Was “Woke”!

Letter to the Editor: Diana Butler Bass and Westmont College Steered Daughter Away From the Faith

Letter to the Editor: Christian Colleges Destroyed Children’s Faith While Those Who Chose Other Career Training Still Walking With the Lord

“‘Christian’College Now Giving Students Pronoun Options”

(Photo from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission; design by Lighthouse Trails)

LTRP Note: This past week, our office received a call from a woman who was concerned about her church and in particular, the women’s Bible study leader. That leader, our caller said, was using various books to teach the women of the church, and many of the books were seriously unbiblically sound. When our caller approached the leader, the women’s leader told her that because she was born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, she could not be deceived nor had she ever been deceived as a Christian. The logic to such a belief would be the same logic in saying that a Christian can never sin (and we know that isn’t true). Below, former evolutionist Roger Oakland discusses the question, “Can Christians be spiritually deceived.”

By Roger Oakland

If our battle is not against flesh and blood, then why is it that when we are in conflicts here on this Earth that flesh and blood always show up? What are the reasons for this? Is it possible for believers to be agents for darkness and not even know it? Is it possible for entire organizations to be misled because they have not kept their focus on Jesus Christ and His Word? How is it possible for believers and even leaders to believe they are following Jesus, when instead they are following man? These and other questions intrigue me. Only the Bible has the answers. And though, I am sure, not all of these questions will be answered fully in this life, we can gain the vital insights we need from the Word of God. The book of Revelation, which has often been ignored for a lack of understanding, will prove to be more and more insightful in these last days before Jesus returns.

For example, the letters to the seven churches have much to say about churches going apostate. In Revelation, it foretells how the whole world will be wrapped up in vast delusion and apostasy. We are seeing that happening right now. And just as God used His humble servant, John, to warn the churches to get their houses in order, God is sounding out a warning again to the churches that will listen. Repentance has always been the trademark of those who are His. They know that God will come back for a church “not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27). It has been said that the church has a lot of washing and ironing to do before Jesus returns if we are to be without “spot or wrinkle.”

But just as the churches in Revelation were given opportunity to repent, so is that invitation going out today. The Bible warns:

[F]or the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17)

This is a very sober warning, and as we hear the voices of many scoffers throughout the land, we can hear the thunderings of judgment, in the distance, approaching closer by the day.

One thing the Bible is very clear on, we cannot serve man and God at the same time.

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24)

Most believers start out right and have a desire to follow Jesus Christ, not man. I know this was my case, and it is also the heartfelt desire of many others whom I have known. When we become born-again followers of Jesus and servants enlisted in the army of God, the Bible says God has “delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13). We have crossed the bridge from one side to another. But we must remember that Satan knows it, and so do his agents described in the Bible as demons, principalities, and powers.

While Satan has lost his grip on those written in the Book of Life, meaning he will not be spending eternity with us, his focus now changes to making us ineffective in the service of God. As the wiles of the Devil are subtle, he is able to cleverly change or manipulate our focus and alter God-given goals. In some cases, the Devil is able to turn someone around one hundred and eighty degrees and put him back on the same team he was originally part of before his conversion to Jesus Christ. “How is that possible?” you ask. This is hard to fathom, but I have seen it with my own eyes. “Perhaps that person was never saved in the first place,” you say. Maybe so. Only God knows the heart of each person, and the Bible says He knows who are His, and they hear His voice (John 10:4).

For anyone who might argue that spiritual deception cannot happen to the Christian, just consider how often the New Testament warns against spiritual deception. Listen to just a few of these verses:

And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. (Matthew 24:4, and see Mark 13:5)

For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. (Matthew 24:5)

And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived. (Luke 21:8)

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition (2 Thessalonians 2:3)

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. (1 Corinthians 3:18)

Also see Romans 7:11 and 16:18, 1 Corinthians 6:1, 1 Corinthians 15:33, Galatians 6:7, Ephesians 5:6, 2 Timothy 3:13, Titus 1:10. And there are more. I list these to demonstrate that spiritual deception is real and is frequently discussed in the Bible. No doubt, it is a recurring theme from Genesis where Eve was deceived by the serpent all the way to Revelation, where it says the day will come when Satan will deceive the whole world (Revelation 12:9).

I have heard many pastors say, “I don’t need to talk about spiritual deception as long as I teach the Bible verse by verse.” And I have heard many others say, “I don’t want to be negative; I just want to focus on what I am for, not what I am against.” But I say to these pastors, to ignore the topic of spiritual deception is to ignore a biblical principle. How can one teach the Bible verse by verse, yet never have anything to say about spiritual deception? And when reading these passages (of which there are many), would it not be negligent to overlook their relevancy to what is happening in the church today? Going through the Bible verse by verse is good, but it takes more than just reading what happened in the past; through the Holy Spirit, the Bible is to instruct, exhort, teach, and warn us about the present and the future. To ignore the Bible’s warnings, to dismiss them, to minimize their importance for today is just downright irresponsible and so dangerous for the sheep.

It is highly likely that we will become deceived if we are prone to following men rather than Jesus Christ and His Word. Many new believers have been led astray early in their walk by following a man. This man may appear godly and may even seem to be a good teacher of the Word. Behind the pulpit, he may even be anointed because he teaches the Bible. The Bible is God’s Word, and God anoints His Word.

However, there is more. Not all men who seem to be anointed behind the pulpit are anointed behind their desk or in their business dealings. Some may abuse the Word of God by their style of leadership. Some may even use the Scriptures to manipulate people in order to exhibit power. Such mind control is extremely damaging.

Such leadership by a pastor would be confusing, at best, for a young Christian growing up in this environment. That young believer would wonder how a man of God can also be a carnal man all at the same time. Is that even possible? This would certainly be a paradox. By the way, history shows that there have been many men looked up to as great leaders who led multitudes astray.

Another thing new Christians (and old ones too) run into is being taught to unquestionably follow the teachings of their pastors and elders. They are told they lack the spiritual maturity to decipher spiritual matters on their own, and that by obeying their leaders, they are obeying God. Put another way, they are told that their leaders serve as their spiritual covering, and therefore, they are always safe and obedient to God when they follow the teachings of their leaders. One such leader told a friend of mine, “You aren’t qualified to spot spiritual deception.”

When a group or organization gets to this point, things can get very dangerous. In essence, a cult-like environment has formed, and those in it do not know it. It is possible that the leaders may not even know it. Soon the “cult” members are quoting the leaders and their sayings. They now wait for the leaders to make announcements and edicts. If the leaders say nothing about apostasy, then it must be OK. If they say something about apostasy, then they say, ay.

I have seen this over and over where believers no longer think for themselves nor check out the Word of God for themselves. They have enveloped themselves with a false sense of security by relying solely on their pastors and elders. This is not the way Christianity should function according to the Bible. Jesus said to go out and make disciples, not children. The followers have followed leaders who have been like pied-pipers heading to the jagged and perilous cliffs. By following men, their methods, and their movements, danger awaits, and eventually those movements will implode.

With many of these movements today, the leaders have issues that have not been dealt with. When this happens to a movement, the movement takes on the look of the leadership model, and the unresolved mistakes and sins are handed down.

I have been surprised at how many people I have known over the years who would tell me, “I’ll never go to another conference by that group again—they are so compromised.” But then I would learn that he or she would attend again. It just seemed so hard to break away from “going with the flow.”

Satan does not care how one is deceived, just as long as deception occurs. If he can get your attention off the Word of God and back to the world, then he has been successful. There have been many who have fallen away like this. The lures of the world are very enticing for the flesh. Why not, the mind ponders, indulge in the things of the world? It could be through what we take in our mouths that we indulge. It could be even more sensual and sexual. It could be intellectual, as Satan wants us to believe that the Bible is not the infallible Word of God. If he can put seeds of doubt into our minds, those seeds can fester and grow like a body overtaken with disease.

One of the greatest attacks in history against Bible-believing Christianity has been underway for over five hundred years. Most Christians, including most pastors and most denominations, are not aware this is even happening. The Pope and, in particularly, the Jesuit Order author a vigorous effort to bring Christian believers into the Roman Catholic Church, whatever means it takes. The objective? That the world will worship the Pope in the manner they worship God. The plan is to make God’s Word into the word of man and the Pope’s word into the word of God.

Throughout history, there have been many who have run into the wrath of the Pope’s men. This agenda is still very active in the world today and is impacting many churches and organizations, through avenues such as the emerging/progressive church and the Purpose Driven movement.

Many Christians don’t see themselves in a battle—perhaps they feel secure and safe in their large lively churches week after week. They may take their Bibles to church and even give regular offerings. But if their loyalty is toward a man, a movement, or a denomination, God is not impressed. God is looking for hearts “after His own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14), wholly devoted and loyal to Jesus Christ and the Word of God.

The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. (Romans 13:12)

Related Information:

How to Know if You Are Being Spiritually Abused or Deceived—A Spiritual Abuse Questionnaire by Chris Lawson

Wiles of the Devil DVD lecture by Roger Oakland

(The article above is an excerpt from Roger Oakland‘s biography, Let There Be Light, chapter 22)

LTRJ Note: The following article is also in booklet format so it may be shared with pastors and others who are in Christian leadership.

By David Dombrowski
Editor at Lighthouse Trails

Often times, people call our office asking what denomination we are. We realize that this is a probing question designed to find out more about us. The truth is, Lighthouse Trails Publishing has never been affiliated with any denomination. From the onset, we have always endeavored to be connected with the body of believers scattered throughout the world who are very concerned, as we are, with the state of the church today. Many of our readers have told us they felt very alone and even ostracized in witnessing the apostasy in the churches today prior to their finding our website and realizing there were other Christians who saw what they did.

We know firsthand how it feels to be labeled troublemakers for having legitimate concerns about what is happening in the church today. We too have felt disillusioned as we have witnessed a gradual departure in the churches from the Word of God. Pulpits throughout the land, many of which formerly proclaimed the biblical Gospel of God’s saving grace through the sacrifice on the Cross now espouse an assortment of pseudo-gospel, pop-psychology, seeker-friendly, Purpose-Driven, emerging, New Age, mystical/contemplative spirituality that may be chicken soup for the soul but what God calls an abomination (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). It is no wonder that God in referring to the lukewarm warns that He is ready to “spew thee” out of His mouth” (Revelation 3:16). How much better it would have been if churches and their pastors had stuck with John 3:16!

Out of this frog’s slow-cooking kettle,  some emerged only to witness that a great many were staying in the pot. Many discerning believers now find they have become watchmen for the Lord, compelled by God to sound out a clear warning of the impending doom of the church. In fact, it appears that God  is presently calling out believers from various denominations to stand up and be counted among those who refuse to comply with the compromised experience-driven Christianity of today. Yes, God is calling out His own.

If you love Jesus Christ and His Word and if you really want to serve Him, now is the time to be fully surrendered to the Lord without reservation. Whatever the cost. We are invited to the wedding feast, ready to meet our Savior, with wicks trimmed and lamps burning. Now is the time to make ready.

Nearly on a daily basis, we witness our very earth in what seems like birth pangs— be it nuclear threat, terrorism, hurricanes, earthquakes, or tornadoes—or violence, wars and rumors of war—while most people seem almost oblivious to what is happening (or may see something is amiss but do not turn to Scripture and Bible prophecy to understand the implications). Again, God is sounding out a warning to make ready.

Even now, while the reality of the Antichrist and a one-world religion is looming closer and closer all the time, preachers and teachers are sitting at their desks inking out sermons that discredit Bible prophecy.

If you are a pastor, let us remind you that you have a great responsibility. When we first began Lighthouse Trails Publishing, we contacted our pastor at that time, trying to encourage him to warn his congregation of the apostasy that was beginning to creep into the church back then. His reply was that he lives in a bubble and consequently sees no need to warn his congregation about anything as long as he keeps expounding the Word to them. Our reply to him was “you may be in a bubble, but your congregation is not.” The question is this: if it is not the pastor’s job to warn his congregation of impending spiritual danger, whose job is it? In the Old Testament, the prophets referred to individuals with this kind of responsibility as watchmen or shepherds. The prophet Zechariah, for example, has much to say about the responsibilities of a shepherd in chapters 10 and 11. In referring to the spiritual condition of his day, he said:

For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled because there was no shepherd. (Zechariah 10:2)

Nothing could speak more succinctly of the condition of the church today. We never dreamed in all our years as Christians that there would ever be such blatant heresy as we see in the organized Christian church today. Years ago, we would never have imagined that anyone would be given the green light to stand in front of a congregation and deny the atonement of Jesus Christ. Yet this is exactly what is happening in the emerging/progressive/contemplative “church” as well as in some of our Bible colleges and seminaries. Many have fallen from a great height, and we should be mourning as God surely must be mourning.

If you are a pastor who feels that it is not your calling to warn your congregation, let us remind you that the closest New Testament equivalent to the Old Testament watchmen or shepherd’s is the position of a pastor. There is a time for speaking uplifting encouraging words of peace and comfort—but when ravenous wolves are about, is it not wiser to “reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2)?

WHAT IS THE TEST?

Sometimes we are asked, what is the criteria for deciding whether or not a doctrine or practice is biblical or validates criticism. Over the years, many  pastors, elders, and youth pastors have contacted us and told us we have no business in doing what we are doing. We have often thought after hearing this that what we would like to say in reply is, “If you pastors were doing it, people like us wouldn’t have to.” It has not been a pleasant task, but the church needs to be warned of the impending danger. If you have read our books, then you understand what we are talking about.

But getting back to the question, what is the test for deciding if a particular teaching or practice validates criticism? There is but one test that we have used consistently from the inception of Lighthouse Trails. The Book of Proverbs says: “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight (Proverbs 11:1).

And again from Proverbs: “Divers weights are an abomination unto the Lord; and a false balance is not good  (Proverbs 20:23).

It is interesting that Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, placed such emphasis on accurate scales. It is even more amazing that God would call false scales an abomination – amazing only until we realize that God is speaking of the spiritual—not just physical, scales here.

So what we are looking for is a spiritual balancing scale—something that will reappear throughout the Bible—through the Old and New Testaments. There is such a scale, a consistent theme, which John refers to in his first epistle:

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. (1 John 4:1-3)

Some Bible commentators have believed that John was referring here to a particular sect who denied that Jesus Christ actually came in a human body. If that is all John meant, then this passage is of little relevance to us today, because you will scarcely find anyone who does not believe that Jesus as a historical figure was a man who walked the earth. But the name Jesus Christ in this passage is not a historical term; it is a name loaded with meaning —referring to Jesus as the Messiah, God come in the flesh, our Savior and Redeemer, who atoned for our sins. If we look at the context of 1 John 4, we can verify that this is what John is talking about because in it he says, “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14). In other words, John is saying here, I am referring to the Jesus I wrote about in my gospel— the Word made flesh who in the beginning was with God and was God (see John, chapter 1).

This is the balancing scale we have been looking for. Just as all human history and our blessed hope hinges on what Jesus did on the Cross, so too we can weigh a doctrine or practice by whether or not it agrees with the fact that we are justified by faith alone through the atoning, redemptive work of Christ on the Cross. The question then is, does a particular doctrine or teaching agree with the Gospel the apostles all preached?

With this discerning tool in hand, if you stop to measure all of the world’s religions and systems, you will find that all of these are opposed to the Gospel. The natural man will not acknowledge the need for a Savior, consequently all of the world’s belief systems (except biblical Christianity) are works based—believing that it is possible to earn our way into Heaven or to become “Christ-like” through mysticism and “spiritual disciplines.” But the Gospel says it is not possible. John knew all too well the contrariness of the natural man and the world’s belief systems. That is why in the same chapter of his epistle, he offers another test:

[H]e that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:6)

In other words, John is saying that when the world rejects you for sharing the Gospel, it is because the Spirit of truth in not in them.

Whichever way you look at it, the Gospel is the fulcrum of our balance in discerning truth from error. When Lighthouse Trails Publishing began, this became, and has always been, our standard of truth and also the deciding factor as to whether something is significant enough to bring to the attention of our readers. We are careful not to get involved in issues in the church where the Gospel is not attacked or compromised; but when it is we are compelled to speak up— because as believers in Christ, we are called to defend the Gospel; and is that not the calling of pastors especially?

The Gospel is the most precious thing on God’s heart, and it is worthy of our defense and protection. Wouldn’t you like to be remembered as a man (or woman) after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13: 14)? If so, then defend the Gospel.

You may recall that in the Old Testament the Israelites took great pains in transporting the Ark of the Covenant. According to the instructions given by God to Moses (Exodus 25:13-15), the Ark was to be carried by staves (poles) on the shoulders of the Levites (1 Chronicles 15:15). However, in 1 Chronicles 13:7-10, contrary to Moses’ specific instructions, they put the Ark on a cart to be pulled by oxen. But the unexpected happened. When “Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled . . . the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him” (1 Chronicles 13:9-10). The Levites, who were the “pastors” of that day, were careless about following Moses’ instructions; and it ended up costing a life. The Ark of the Covenant was a type and foreshadowing of the Gospel. It was sprinkled with blood to symbolize Christ’s death on the Cross. Today, similar to back then, so many pastors and Christian leaders have become careless about the Gospel. If you are one who has grown careless with the Gospel, isn’t it time to make some changes and return to following the instructions of the Lord?

This article is also in booklet format.

(Photos used in cover design are from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission. Design by Lighthouse Trails)

By Ray Yungen

Contemplative advocates propose that something vital and important has been missing from the church for centuries. The insinuation is that Christians have been lacking something necessary for their spiritual vitality; but that would mean the Holy Spirit has not been fully effective for hundreds of years and only now the secret key has been found that unlocks God’s full power to know Him. These proponents believe that Christianity has been seriously crippled without this extra ingredient. This kind of thinking leads one to believe that traditional, biblical Christianity is merely a philosophy without the contemplative prayer element. Contemplatives are making a distinction between studying and meditating on the Word of God versus experiencing Him, suggesting that we cannot hear Him or really know Him simply by studying His Word or even through normal prayer—we must be contemplative to accomplish this. But the Bible makes it clear that the Word of God is living and active and has always been that way, and it is in filling our minds with it that we come to love Him, not through a mystical practice of stopping the flow of thought (the stillness) that is never once mentioned in the Bible, except in warnings against vain repetitions in the New Testament and divination in the Old Testament.

Thomas Merton

Thomas Merton (the man who inspired contemplative pioneers Dallas Willard and Richard Foster) said that he saw various Eastern religions “come together in his life” (as a Christian mystic). On a rational, practical level, Christianity and Eastern religions will not mix; but add the mystical element and they do blend together like adding soap to oil and water. I must clarify what I mean: Mysticism neutralizes doctrinal differences by sacrificing the truth of Scripture for a mystical experience. Mysticism offers a common ground, and supposedly that commonality is divinity in all. But we know from Scripture “there is one God; and there is none other but he” (Mark 12:32).

In a booklet put out by Saddleback Church on spiritual maturity, the following quote by Henri Nouwen is given:

Henri Nouwen

Solitude begins with a time and place for God, and Him alone. If we really believe not only that God exists, but that He is actively present in our lives—healing, teaching, and guiding—we need to set aside a time and space to give Him our undivided attention.1

When we understand what Nouwen really means by “time and space” given to God, we can also see the emptiness and deception of his spirituality. In his biography of Nouwen, God’s Beloved, Michael O’ Laughlin says:

Some new elements began to emerge in Nouwen’s thinking when he discovered Thomas Merton. Merton opened up for Henri an enticing vista of the world of contemplation and a way of seeing not only God but also the world through new eyes. . . . If ever there was a time when Henri Nouwen wished to enter the realm of the spiritual masters or dedicate himself to a higher spiritual path, it was when he fell under the spell of Cistercian monasticism and the writings of Thomas Merton.2

In his book, Thomas Merton: Contemplative Critic, Nouwen talks about these “new eyes” that Merton helped to formulate and said that Merton and his work “had such an impact” on his life and that he was the man who had “inspired” him greatly.3 But when we read Nouwen’s very revealing account, something disturbing is unveiled. Nouwen lays out the path of Merton’s spiritual pilgrimage into contemplative spirituality. Those who have studied Merton from a critical point of view, such as myself, have tried to understand what are the roots behind Merton’s spiritual affinities. Nouwen explains that Merton was influenced by LSD mystic Aldous Huxley who “brought him to a deeper level of knowledge” and “was one of Merton’s favorite novelists.”4 It was through Huxley’s book, Ends and Means, that first brought Merton “into contact with mysticism.”5 Merton states:

He [Huxley] had read widely and deeply and intelligently in all kinds of Christian and Oriental mystical literature, and had come out with the astonishing truth that all this, far from being a mixture of dreams and magic and charlatanism, was very real and very serious.6

This is why, Nouwen revealed, Merton’s mystical journey took him right into the arms of Buddhism:

Merton learned from him [Chuang Tzu—a Taoist] what Suzuki [a Zen master] had said about Zen: “Zen teaches nothing; it merely enables us to wake and become aware.”7

Become aware of what? The Buddha nature. Divinity within all.

That is why Merton said if we knew what was in each one of us, we would bow down and worship one another. Merton’s descent into contemplative led him to the belief that God is in all things and that God is all things. This is made clear by Merton when he said: “True solitude is a participation in the solitariness of God—Who is in all things.8

Nouwen adds: “[Chuang Tzu] awakened and led him [Merton] . . . to the deeper ground of his consciousness.”9

This has been the ploy of Satan since the Garden of Eden when the serpent said to Eve, “ye shall be as gods” (Genesis 3:4). It is this very essence that is the foundation of contemplative prayer.

In Merton’s efforts to become a mystic, he found guidance from a Hindu swami, whom Merton referred to as Dr. Bramachari. Bramachari played a pivotal role in Merton’s future spiritual outlook. Nouwen divulged this when he said:

Thus he [Merton] was more impressed when this Hindu monk pointed him to the Christian mystical tradition. . . . It seems providential indeed that this Hindu monk relativized [sic] Merton’s youthful curiosity for the East and made him sensitive to the richness of Western mysticism.10

Why would a Hindu monk advocate the Christian mystical tradition? The answer is simple: they are one in the same. Even though the repetitive words used may differ (e.g. Christian words: Abba, Father, etc. rather than Hindu words), the end result is the same. And the Hindu monk knew this to be true. Bramachari understood that Merton didn’t need to switch to Hinduism to get the same enlightenment that he himself experienced through the Hindu mystical tradition. In essence, Bramachari backed up what I am trying to get across in my book, A Time of Departing, that all the world’s mystical traditions basically come from the same source and teach the same precepts . . . and that source is not the God of the Old and New Testaments. That biblical God is not interspiritual!

Evangelical Christianity is now being invited, perhaps even catapulted into seeing God with these new eyes of contemplative prayer. And so the question must be asked, is Thomas Merton’s silence, Henri Nouwen’s space, and Richard Foster’s contemplative prayer the way in which we can know and be close to God? Or is this actually a spiritual belief system that is contrary to the true message that the Bible so absolutely defines—that there is only one way to God and that is through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, whose sacrifice on the Cross obtained our full salvation? If indeed my concerns for the future actually come to fruition, then we will truly enter a time of departing.

For more about Ray Yungen’s work, visit: www.atimeofdeparting.com.

Endnotes:

1.. Henri Nouwen, cited in Saddleback training book, Soul Construction: Solitude Tool  (Lake Forest, CA: Saddleback Church, 2003), p. 12.

2. Michael O’ Laughlin, God’s Beloved (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2004), p. 178.

3. Henri J.M. Nouwen, Thomas Merton: Contemplative Critic (San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row Publishers, 1991, Triumph Books Edition), p. 3.

4. Ibid., pp. 19-20.

5. Ibid., p. 20.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid., p. 71.

8. Ibid., pp. 46, 71.

9. Ibid., p. 71.

10 . Ibid., p. 29.

(photo from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission)