Tony Campolo and Mary Albert Darling have recently co-authored a book titled, The God of Intimacy and Action. The “intimacy” to which they refer is experiencing closeness to God by engaging ancient spiritual and mystical practices, while the “action” refers to evangelism and advocacy of causes on behalf of the less fortunate in society. In the authors’ view, mystical intimacy stimulates and facilitates Christian advocacy. Private spiritual experiences enhance public societal engagement. Through practicing spiritual disciplines of ancient Catholicism, mystical experiences, according to the authors’ thesis, become essential for and foundational to the engagement of social justice for all. As to the possible downside of mystical intimacy, the authors seemingly write of “action” to mute criticism that engaging in mystical practices leads devotees, as typically has been the case, to disengage from society and retreat into monasteries. According to the authors, mystical experiences should not have that effect.

Read more

Apprising Ministries with some thoughts in this short post concerning a defining issue of the time in which we now find ourselves.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Colossians 3:16, KJV)
 
Admittedly, the issue is as “touchy” as it is “feely.” Music is “feely” because people “feel” it. In his book Music, The Brain, and Ecstasy, Robert Jourdain wrote of the ecstasy music generates. He states:

Ecstasy melts the boundaries of our being . . . engulfs us in feelings that are “oceanic.”  A defining trait of ecstasy is its immediacy . . . Ecstasy happens to our selves. It is a momentary transformation of the knower . . . Music seems to be the most immediate of all the arts, and so the most ecstatic . . . Nonetheless, once we are engulfed in music, we must exert effort to resist its influence. It really is as if some “other” has entered not just our bodies, but our intentions, taking us over.

As muscian John Johnson states, “This force . . . is powerful stuff.”

Music is “touchy” because all of us have preferences. Some styles of music we like. Others, we dislike. So we associate with people who possess similar tastes. Over the last decades “worship wars” have erupted in local churches over the “touchy” tastes of music, whether they are traditional or contemporary. Congregations divide, even split over tastes. Seemingly, some Christians would rather fight than switch. So to avoid the strife, it’s common for local churches to offer both a contemporary and traditional service, the difference being the style of music that is offered.

Romancing the Soul

In a recent internet article on music titled Secular or Sacred? Johnson states that, “when it comes to music, it’s all spiritual.” Then to buttress his assertion, he observes,

Music falls into one of those mysterious in-between places–the kind the ancients believed was prone to magic. Like the mythological space between night and day, darkness and light, or the present and the future, music inhabits a place somewhere between our mind, emotions, and soul–and it colors all of them.

Johnson describes music as mysterious, magical, and mythical. Yet when he later states that music’s power is “beyond language and laws,” Johnson implies that the medium is also mystical.

Read all

Regardless of what you might think of the operation of spiritual gifts—whether all of them, some of them, or none of them are operative today—we should be aware of the new spiritual gift on the block; the gift of “spiritual director.” As one spiritual director remarks, “I continue to be amazed at the richness of this gift to the church, whether it is experienced individually or in groups.”[1]  But just what is this gift?

Alice Fryling says that, “Spiritual direction is a way of companioning people as they seek to look closely, through the eyes of their hearts, at the guidance and transforming work of God in their lives.”[2]
 
Spiritual director appears to mimic the role of an eastern religious guru who tries to affect the spirituality of others in either one-on-one or small groups settings. As Fryling states, “People throughout the Christian church, including those of an evangelical orientation, are experiencing again the gifts that God gives to his people through the loving listening and the gentle guidance of spiritual directors.”[3] So what is the Bible believing Christian to think of this so-called gift?

We should know first of all, that in the lists of gifts in the New Testament (Romans 12:5-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 28-31; Ephesians 4:11; 1 Peter 4:9-10), there is no spiritual gift of spiritual director.

read all »

In his book The Other Side of the River, Kevin Reeves, a former worship team leader, explains that, “It was said regularly that believers coming into the service were either inner court, outer court, or holy of holies Christians, each one needing a certain period of time to come into the manifest presence of God.” It became his and the worship team’s responsibility, in an act he descibes as “charismatic ritualism” (I would call it, “mystic ritualism.”), to help people enter into the divine presence.

During the Old Testament era, entry into God’s presence was restricted to the High Priest one day per year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). For reason of the holiness of Yahweh, and to enter into the divine presence, the High Priest needed to pay attention to the required protocol, or face divine judgment, even death. The Lord would accept no offering of “strange fire” like that offered by the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu. For their offering of “strange fire . . . in the presence of the Lord,” the two sons of Aaron died. In explaining to Aaron why they died, the Lord said through Moses, “By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored” (See Leviticus 10:1-3.).

That’s why the presumptuous way in which some musicians and singers advertise themselves is troubling. One worship leader’s CD contains the following promo. It advertises her as, “Fresh, energetic and anointed . . .” The CD jacket goes on to state that she is “an accomplished singer/songwriter, keyboardist and speaker.” The promo concludes by stating that the recording, her second musical project, will take “you through the door of worship, right into the heart and presence of God.” Note the words of the blurb: her music will take “you through the door of worship, right into the heart and presence of God.” It’s as if, through her music, she will usher people into the Holy of Holies.

Read More

A short, but thorough piece, that talks about the growing mystical connection involving Sufi Islam and the contemplative spirituality of men like Tony Campolo and Rob Bell, as well as, the key role mysticism will play in Emergence Christianity.

A new book arrived yesterday entitled, Jesus in the Lotus: The Mystical Doorway Between Christianity and Yogic Spirituality. You can read more about it here. These lines in the promo materials were particularly interesting because of  ”Christian” Yoga proponents who deny the Hindu roots of the practice.

Paul begins by establishing that Yoga is far more than the practice of therapeutic postures that most Westerners associate with the term.  He explains that it is derived from Hinduism, the third largest religion in the world behind Christianity and Islam.  And while it is true that Yoga is universal in its application and therefore not a religion, he stresses the importance of remembering its roots, “Yoga, which developed in the fire of Hindu spirituality, was shaped by its philosophies and is ensconced in the Hindu way of life.”

The publisher continues:

Jesus in the Lotus presents a pathless path that blends the wisdom of Christianity and the spiritual teachings of Yoga for a holistic daily spiritual practice.  By demonstrating that these two seemingly separate and irronconcilable religions can actually unite in one person’s spiritual practice at the core of his life–as they did for him–he offers an alternative to religious intolerance and strife as well as hope for personal liberation.

The false churches of today that refuse to preach the actual content of Christian doctrine from the Bible have softened up the soil for the seeds of  interspirituality as presented in Jesus in the Lotus. Emerging church emphasis on mysticism has also contributed to it. Circus churches are not harmless. They serve to push thinking people away from the foolishness into something they perceive as deeper and more meaningful. Unfortunately, without the truth of the Word of God, such people will be spiritually deceived.

As a follow up to the Slice piece Abortion Clinic Story Horrifies, But Why?, more closely related than many realize, Apprising Ministries with a couple of interesting and thought-provoking video clips in this post from John MacArthur where he shows how Hitler and the Nazi’s give us a bit of a peek at the coming Antichrist . Within he teaches us that seducing spirits of the occult and its contemplative mysticism used these tools of the Devil with their doctrines of demons.

Caryl Matrisciana is the guest on Crosstalk today, talking about her new book Out of India: A True Story About the New Age Movement. As the co-founder and co-producer of Jeremiah Films for 23 years, Caryl contributed research and expertise to more than 55 documentaries and also served as the Creative and Marketing Director.  In 2002, she founded Caryl Productions, which produces cutting edge video journalism and information to help discern the times in which we live.

“Born and raised in India, Caryl Matrisciana was surrounded by a strange and mystical religion, seeing firsthand the effects Hinduism had on the people of that nation.  After leaving India as a young adult, she became involved in the counter-culture hippie movement, only to find that the elements of Hinduism and the New Age were very much the same.  Eventually, Caryl would discover that this same spirituality had entered not only the Western world, but th echristian church as well, unbeknownst to most people.

Out of India succinctly identifies the mystical religious roots behind Yoga, which is being practiced today by millions of people, many of whom are Christians.

This book shows the underlying beliefs of the New Spirituality and the move toward an interspiritual world “peace” brought through mystical practices.”

(From Lighthouse Trails Publishing)

You can listen live at our website at 2pm Central time or hear the archived show later.

The cowboy church trend I reported on several years ago is really taking off according to the Christian Post. The article gives some clues about the popularity of these churches.

Some Baptist leaders say their cowboy churches have grown so quickly because they offer an alternative for those who associate churches with long sermons and pressure to donate or accept Jesus as their savior.

That’s right, folks. If you don’t have long sermons (the article says the churches give “short devotions”), feature rodeo entertainment, don’t teach on tithing or present the need for Jesus as Savior, you can have a humdinger of a church. Yee ha.

Churches are now themed like amusement parks. Find one that’s fun for you. Churches like Saddleback led the way for picking your own personal worship preference. Don’t like cowboy churches? How about a Hawaiian-themed service with hula praise dancers and a luau afterward? Don’t laugh, they’ve already done the hula “island worship” theme at Saddleback. If the islands thing doesn’t suit your tastes, how about a Parisian café theme? The worship leader could stroll among small tables with a concertina while worshipers sip the best of the Loire Valley and munch croissants. Not into the Euro-snob scene? A Pirates of the Caribbean feel might be right for you. A swashbuckling pastor could dramatize all his sermons in a piratey sort of way, and the decor could be based on a pirate ship complete with a Jolly Roger hanging from the ceiling. Critics could be made to walk the plank.

A cutting-edge idea would be to have a dual-theme church where men and boys go off to the pirate service and women and girls go to a Disney princess service. There could even be some dramatic interplay between the two where pirates kidnap a damsel and Prince Charming rides into the service on his white horse to rescue the maiden. The sermon potential here is rich.

Lord, save us from this foolishness. Church worship was never supposed to be about us and our tastes, but a command performance for the King of kings. My objection to the cowboy themed churches is not that people are worshiping in jeans in a barn somewhere. It is the contrived nature of all of this, where people are encouraged to wear their spurs and chaps to fit in and come hang with Jesus for a few minutes before the rodeo. If people have a problem with long sermons and being taught about sin and hell, their greatest need is not accommodation—it is repentance. Sadly, few will hear that message in these circus-driven churches.

Mystic occultist, Neale Donald Walsch, made his cash and his fame by claiming to have had mystical encounters with a voice he calls “God”. His Conversations with God series was wildly popular for years, and he still travels the world claiming that there is no hell, that even Hitler is in heaven, because all, in the end is love…except, that is, if you are a fundamentalist. They, you see, go straight to hell.

He was in Milwaukee once, and I remember laughing openly while he was talking to a breathless crowd of fans at a bookstore. After giving his “all is love” talk, he then turned to the subject of Christians and began jeering at their ridiculous doctrines. He had the whole assemblage laughing uproariously at the stupid fundamentalists. The whole thing was a farce, but, unfortunately, Mr. Walsch and his disciples couldn’t see their own inconsistency.

Now Walsch is making headlines as a plagiarist after ripping off an essay this Christmas about, what else, “love”. The cool thing about being a mystical New Ager is that you can always claim you are “mystified” as to how it happened. The words just somehow drifted into your mind, you see. It was a supernatural thing. You didn’t deliberately lift the incident described, because perhaps, in an earlier life, the very same incident happened to you. Who’s to say?

The plagiarized author isn’t so kind and seems unimpressed with Walsch’s New Age ethics. I love this quote:

“Speaking of Mr. Walsch, she asked: “Has the man who writes best-selling books about his ‘Conversations With God’ also heard God’s commandments? ‘Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not lie, and thou shalt not covet another author’s property’?”

Apprising Ministries offers a bit more perspective in this post on a letter from RZIM Speaking Team/Associate Writer Margaret Manning and how it applies to Henri Nouwen and contemplative spirituality.

In this interesting piece concerning proper Protestant spirituality, Daniel Chew, author of Driven Away by Purpose, begins:

I recently had my personal spiritual retreat on Monday afternoon (December 29th), in order to seek God especially for His direction for the new year (2009). I have been clearing leave during this season so I have had the free time to slow down and take stock of this passing year, and Monday afternoon was the time I had set aside to seek God exclusively for an extended period of time…

The idea for this post came about in the course of the retreat itself as I prayed over the terrible blight of spiritual poverty in the [Visible] Church. It must be admitted that modernist Evangelicalism, with all its positive thinking, 12-steps-to-this and 7-steps-to-that programs, is spiritually bankrupt and the thirst for true spiritual reality has swept many professing Evangelicals into the contemplative camp in search of spiritual satisfaction yet all they receive are counterfeit trinkets…

As you’ll see in this post containing the latest response from RZIM they continue dismissing the results of study by Apprising Ministries into Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) as well as that of others who belong to what RZIM calls “various ‘watch’ groups.”

Unfortunately RZIM is still equivocating with words as they go on defending Ravi Zacharias’ claim that Roman Catholic monk Henri Nouwen (1932-1996)—a superstar of CSM—was, “One of the greatest saints of recent memory.” But this does not involve a mere source quote because the statement clearly means Zacharias accepts Nouwen as a regenerated Christian.

Apologist Ravi Zacharias continues to defend his praise of mystic Henri Nouwen as, “One of the greatest saints of recent memory.” And in addition RZIM is still spreading misinformation concerning the Contemplative/Centering Prayer Nouwen practiced and taught.

In this short post from Apprising Ministries are the facts as to where this antibiblical practice actually originated.

For those wondering about the strength of concern about Henri Nouwen and his defenders like Ravi Zacharias, here is an excerpt of a new book from David Cloud about this new mystical fascination in evangelicalism. This is taken from a press release regarding the book:

The following is excerpted from our new book CONTEMPLATIVE MYSTICISM: A POWERFUL ECUMENICAL BOND. Contemplative mysticism, which originated with Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox monasticism, is permeating every branch of Christianity today, including the Southern Baptist Convention. In this book we document the fact that Catholic mysticism leads inevitably to a broadminded ecumenical philosophy and to the adoption of heresies. For many, this path has led to interfaith dialogue, Buddhism, Hinduism, universalism, pantheism, panentheism, even goddess theology. One chapter is dedicated to exposing the heresies of Richard Foster: “Evangelicalism’s Mystical Sparkplug.” We describe the major contemplative practices, such as centering prayer, visualizing prayer, Jesus Prayer, Lectio Divina, and the Labyrinth. We look at the history of Roman Catholic Monasticism, beginning with the Desert Fathers and the Church Fathers, and document the heresies associated with it, such as its sacramental gospel, rejection of the Bible as sole authority, veneration of Mary, purgatory, celibacy, asceticism, allegorical interpretation of Scripture, and moral corruption. We examine the errors of contemplative mysticism, such as downplaying the centrality of the Bible, ignoring the fact that multitudes of professing Christians are not born again, exchanging the God of the Bible for a blind idol, ignoring the Bible’s warnings against associating with heresy and paganism, and downplaying the danger of spiritual delusion. In the Biographical Catalog of Contemplative Mystics we look at the lives and beliefs of 60 of the major figures in the contemplative movement, including Benedict of Nursia, Bernard of Clairvaux, Brother Lawrence, Catherine of Genoa, Catherine of Siena, Dominic, Meister Eckhart, Francis of Assisi, Madame Guyon, Hildegard of Bingen, Ignatius of Loyola, John of the Cross, Julian of Norwich, Thomas Keating, Thomas a Kempis, Brennan Manning, Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, Basil Pennington, John Michael Talbot, Teresa of Avila, Teresa of Lisieux, and Dallas Willard. The book contains an extensive index. 482 pages, $19.95

This book can be ordered online, by phone, or by e-mail with a credit card, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org, www.wayoflife.org

Excerpt:

“Henri J.M. Nouwen (1932-1996) was a Roman Catholic priest who taught at Harvard, Yale, and the University of Notre Dame. Nouwen has had a vast influence within the emerging church and evangelicalism at large through his writings, and he has been an influential voice within the contemplative movement. A Christian Century magazine survey conducted in 2003 found that Nouwen’s writings were a first choice for Catholic and mainline Protestant clergy. Nouwen is promoted by Christian leaders as diverse as Robert Schuller and Rick Warren (who highly recommends Nouwen’s contemplative book In the Name of Jesus).

Nouwen’s biographer said that he “had a homosexual orientation” (Michael Ford, Wounded Prophet, 1999).

Nouwen did not instruct his readers that one must be born again through repentance and personal faith in Jesus Christ in order to commune with God. The book With Open Hands, for example, instructs readers to open themselves up to God and surrender to the flow of life, believing that God loves them unconditionally and is leading them. This is blind faith. Nouwen wrote: read all »

Margaret Manning at Ravi Zacharias Ministries identifies as part of Ravi’s Speaking Team and an Associate Writer for the ministry. Yesterday, a reader sent me a copy of a letter sent out over her signature that is downright shocking. The letter was in response to a listener to Ravi’s show who was concerned after hearing Ravi refer to Universalist and quasi-Buddhist, Henri Nouwen, as one of the “greatest Christian saints.” Read the letter here.

“Today I personally believe that while Jesus came to open the door to God’s house, all human beings can walk through that door, whether they know about Jesus or not. Today I see it as my call to help every person claim his or her own way to God.”

—From Sabbatical Journey, Henri Nouwen’s last book
page 51, 1998 Hardcover Edition

“The God who dwells in our inner sanctuary is the same as the one who dwells in the inner sanctuary of each human being.”

Here and Now by Henri Nouwen; page 22

I’ll bet you didn’t know that Christians can pray better standing on their heads. Yahweh Yoga yogi (yogette?), Courtney, will be glad to show you how in this clip. Nothing will make a better Christian out of you than Hindu worship.

Here we have something entertaining called the Yahweh Yoga Faithful Flow Crow Clip. No, this is not satire. These yoga devotees seem to spent an amazing amount of time with their behinds in the air. This is the new mystical piety, friends, in all its, uh, glory.

This little gem just dropped into my email. The New Spirituality occultists are on the march and they want you. The link in the quote below will take you to their online edition of the new magazine which you can page through by following the arrows at the top of the page. This is what Phyllis Tickle means when she talks about the Great Emergence. The emergent leaders’ role is to pull evangelicals into this, their ultimate goal for world spirituality.

From the scientific pursuit of singularity to the spiritual practice of yoga, ideas that once seemed futuristic and esoteric are creating a new global meta-culture of “early adapters.”

The self-selecting members of this emerging market defy conventional demography and are moving political, scientific, social and spiritual inquiry beyond the traditional borders that have typically divided us.

Enter EnlightenNext, a new magazine for evolutionaries who are taking reality by the reigns, and exploring the evolution of consciousness itself and the impact that will have on the human experience and the future of life on Earth.

Here you can read the lyrics that Tim Kuhl was mocking at High Desert Church. (See post below.)

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of our dear Saviour’s birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

‘Til He appear’d and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! O, hear the angels’ voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born;

O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

His power and glory evermore proclaim.