It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1, NASB)

“Circle Up The Wagons Because We’re Heading Home To Romanticized Rome!”

This is a short follow-up to the Apprising Ministries post to “The Way Of The Monk” At Tim Keller’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church. There we noted again that it indeed appears Contemplative Sprituality/Mysticism (CSM), ala the spurious Spiritual Formation espoused by Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster along with his spiritual twin SBC minister Dallas Willard, keeps showing up in all the wrong places.

A case in point would be the following endorsements of the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook (SDH) by Adele Calhoun. Note that the first one is from Tim Keller:

Reviews & Endorsements

“I have long profited from Adele Ahlberg Calhoun’s gifts in the field of spiritual development, and I am delighted that she has compiled her experience with spiritual disciplines into book form. I highly recommend it and I look forward to using it as a resource at our church.”

—Dr. Timothy Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, NYC

“I love this book! Adele has provided a treasure trove of spiritual disciplines that will nourish your soul, striking a delicate balance between accessibility and depth that comes from her own faithful practice. Read it, engage the disciplines, and allow God to transform you in the deepest levels of your being.”

—Ruth Haley Barton, cofounder, The Transforming Center, and author of Sacred Rhythms and Invitation to Solitude and Silence (Online source)

Now as one whose been tracking the infestation of CSM, which is rooted in Counter Reformation spirituality of apostate Roman Catholicism, I can easily understand why Guru Ruth Haley Barton would gush over SDH. However, Dr. Tim Keller does take me a bit by surprise in his “highly” recommending SDH and then “using it as a resource” at Redeemer Presbyterian Church (RPC). A source close to AM tells me they tried several times to ask Keller about this when he was commenting at a particular blog a while back but, not surprisingly, he avoided answering the questions.

According to the Christianity Astray Today article How Tim Keller Found Manhattan the worship at Dr. Keller’s RPC is “is seemly and traditional.” We’re also told that:

In the late 1980s, Keller was happily teaching at Westminster, the staunchly Reformed Philadelphia seminary, while working for his denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Two things happened. At Westminster, he came under the influence of a small band of urban missiologists led by Harvie Conn. At the PCA’s home missions department, he was recruited by its head, Terry Gyger, who wanted to start a church in Manhattan. (Online source)

So there’s no doubt that Dr. Keller is, at the very least, well aware of Reformed theology. Returning now to his most unfortunate endorsement of Calhoun’s SDH, I first discussed SDH in Southern Baptist Pastor Rick Warren And Saddleback Church Openly Recommend Contemplative Spirituality. No big surprise there because in my opinion the highly ecumenical Rick Warren is about as reformed as I am Emergent. For those who don’t know, Adele Ahlberg Calhoun is:

currently copastor, with her husband, Doug, of Redeemer Community in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She was formerly pastor of spiritual formation at Christ Church in Oak Brook, Illinois. A trained spiritual director, she has taught courses at Wheaton College and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary. (Online source, emphasis mine) 

Interesting that Dr. Keller would promote Calhoun at his reformed RPC who, in violation of God’s Word, is allegedly a pastor. And right on the backcover of her SDH Calhoun tells us this handbook of heresy features “how to” information on Contemplative/Centering Prayer (CCP) and Lectio Divina. O yes, as I peruse my personal copy of SDH I’m informed that I can learn how to “open myself to God” through the Examen of Counter Reformation figure Ignatius of Loyola, founder of that militantly pro-Roman Catholic Church spiritual Gestapo Unit aka the Jesuits; who weren’t real fond of Protestant Reformers.

We’re also told that in Calhoun’s SDH we will learn the ways we can “reliquish the false self” through mantric meditation ala Roman Catholic mystic John Main (1926-1982), which actually originated in pagan Eastern religions:

Go into silence, placing yourself in the presence of God with the words “Here I am.” As distractions come to mind, let them go by imagining they are boats floating down a river. Let the current take the distractions away. Don’t follow the distractions. Gently return to God repeating “Here I am.” Let the current of God’s Spirit carry you. What is this like for you? (110)

Well, wouldn’t you know it; one of the “Resources on Silence” Calhoun recommends in SDH is another book on CCP by the aforementioned Swami Ruth Haley Barton. Actually the list of “pastor” Calhoun’s acknowledgements in SDH is a veritable who’s who of spurious spirituality including Ignatius of Loyola, Willard, Foster, Phyllis Tickle, Richard Rohr, Teresa of Avila “and many more.” Calhoun then informs us that, “Their ideas, voices and examples have shaped my own words and experiences of the disciplines” (10). A sad roll call indeed.

In closing this for now, I’m told that some website somewhere published an alleged response from RPC staff member Susan Castillo who, “wholly espouses Reformed Presbyterian theology while continuing to embrace her ‘inner monk,’” was mentioned in “The Way Of The Monk” At Tim Keller’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Apparently, if that email is actually from her, she takes issue with some things I say within. If so, I can be reached at apprising@hughes.net

But as I’ve said before; the mainstream pretending to be Protestant evangelical drift right back into the spiritual bondage, which brought about the Reformation to begin with, continues its acceleration into apostasy.

See also:

RICHARD FOSTER FORMING PROTESTANT SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION SPIRITUALITY

“INWARD JOURNEY” ESPOUSED BY RICHARD FOSTER IS A FORM OF DIVINATION

SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES AMIDST SPIRITUAL DECEPTION

“CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINE” BY RICHARD FOSTER AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THEOLOGICAL ERROR 

EVANGELICAL RIP VAN WINKLES EMPLOY QUAKER MYSTIC RICHARD FOSTER FOR BEDTIME FABLES 

DELUSIONS OF DALLAS WILLARD

MOVE OVER PASTORS FOR SPIRITUAL DIRECTORS/GURUS