A major factor contributing to this is the spread of Counter Reformation spirituality and Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) ala gurus Dallas Willard and his spiritual twin Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster.

You need to realize that it’s even slithered deeply into the mainstream of evangelicalism as you can see e.g. in Gospel Coalition Contributor Mike Cosper Defends Retreat With Roman Catholics. CSM is not a neutral practice; know this, my research shows that once someone begins dabbling in this they almost immediately begin to drift away from proper Biblical doctrine.

The following quote is from Richard Foster — Celebration Of Deception Evangelical Mysticism, an important Critcal Issues Commentary article by Christian apologist Bob DeWaay. It also highlights another aspect of the rancid fruit of CSM; a growing rebellion within evanjellyfish against Sola Scriptura. With this article DeWaay sends a clear Biblical warning concerning a core teaching of spurious CSM.

Foster’s musings are really rooted in classic mysticism and actually comprise a large part of the faulty foundation of the deformation of the faith originally espoused in the evangelical camp by the Emerging Church aka the Emergent Church. We’re now beginning to experience the price paid when leaders in mainstream churches turned their younger sectors over to wolves like Rob Bell with his Love Wins mythology.

And there’s no excuse; for example, two years ago I warned you that Rick Warren Now Openly Promoting Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism as he brought Protholic CSM guru Peter Scazzero in to the first Radicalis conference. Sadly however, as you can see in John Piper, Rick Warren & Foster-Willardism and Tim Keller And Contemplative Spirituality CSM has now infected the Reformed community.

Now there’s virtually no place left in the visible church where one can escape the ecumenical effects of the divination of CSM. Listen carefully; because I tell you in the Lord that Bob DeWaay is dead-on-target as he explains to you:

In February 2008, Christianity Today ran a glowing cover story about Evangelicalism’s recent embrace of medieval Roman Catholic mysticism entitled The Future lies in the Past… The article views Foster as one who continues to guide the movement… Foster’s “journey inward” is unbiblical and dangerous. I will show [in this article] that most of the spiritual disciplines that he calls “means of grace” are no means of grace at all—but a means of putting oneself under spiritual deception.

The Journey Inward

The Bible nowhere describes an inward journey to explore the realm of the spirit. God chose to reveal the truth about spiritual reality through His ordained, Spirit-inspired, biblical writers. What is spiritual and not revealed by God is of the occult and, therefore, forbidden. We have discussed this in many articles and have produced DVD seminars on the topic. But the concept of sola scriptura is totally lost on mystics such as Richard Foster. They, like the enthusiasts that Calvin and Luther warned against, believe they can gain valid and useful knowledge of spiritual things through direct, personal inspiration. Foster describes the idea of the disciplines that are the topic of his book: “The classical Disciplines of the spiritual life call us to move beyond surface living into the depths. They invite us to explore the inner caverns of the spiritual realm.”

So Foster has conceptually repudiated sola scriptura on page one to replace it with a journey inward to explore the realm of spirits. Something must have been seriously amiss in evangelicalism already in 1978 to render this book a bestseller! It ought to have been repudiated on the spot. In a footnote to that statement Foster writes, “In one form or another all of the devotional masters have affirmed the necessity of the Disciplines” (Foster: 1). The devotional “masters,” by the way, are mostly Roman Catholics who never were committed to the principle of sola scriptura.

It is not surprising that they looked for spirituality through experimentation. But as an “inner light” Quaker, Foster never was committed to sola scriptura either. Forgetting that the Bible forbids divination, Foster explains what he is after: [W]e must be willing to go down into the recreating silences, into the inner world of contemplation. In their writings, all of the masters of meditation strive to awaken us to the fact that the universe is much larger than we know, that there are vast unexplored inner regions that are just as real as the physical world we know so well. . . . They call us to the adventure, to be pioneers in this frontier of the Spirit. (Foster: 13)

Realizing that his readers would likely take this as an endorsement of Eastern religions, he makes a disclaimer that it is not Transcendental Meditation (TM) or something of that ilk: “Eastern meditation is an attempt to empty the mind; Christian meditation is an attempt to empty the mind in order to fill it” (Foster: 15). But what Foster wishes us to fill our minds with are personal revelations from the spirit realm that we naively are to think are the voice of God. This sort of meditation is not meditating on what God has said, but uses a technique to explore the spirit world. In other words, it is divination. (Online source)

See also:

MARK DRISCOLL AND NEO-REFORMED NEW CALVINIST CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY

MYSTICISM: WHEN GOD SENDS AN EVIL SPIRIT

JUST SAY NO TO CONTEMPLATIVE/CENTERING PRAYER

See also:

DOMYSTIC

RICK WARREN, JOHN PIPER & CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY/MYSTICISM

TIM KELLER RECOMMENDING ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTICISM

MARK DRISCOLL, ACTS 29 NETWORK, & THE EMERGING CHURCH

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
(Galatians 3:1-3)

Pretending To Be Protestant Evangelicals Adopting Roman Catholic Ascetic Practices

As part of our online apologetics and discernment labors Apprising Ministries been documenting the New Downgrade within evangelicalism, which accelerated when its own mainstream made the fateful decision to more fully embrace the sinfully ecumenical Emergent Church aka the Emerging Church. Now upgraded to the Emerging Church 2.0, it actually has its own new postmodern form of “big tent” Progressive Christianity—a Liberalism 2.0—sometimes referred to by these rebels against the final authority of God’s Word as Emergence Christianity.

The EC would prove to be a Trojan Horse where Satan has been able to off-load his ne0-Gnostic mystic corruption Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM), an infestation of which is now becoming pandemic within the very heart of the church visible. I’ve told you before that this spurious CSM—the refried Roman Catholic mysticism “discovered” by Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster, and now perpetrated as supposed Spiritual Formation with an able assist from his spiritual twin SBC minister Dallas Willard, was a core doctrine in the EC right from its hatching in hell.

Let me give you an idea of how long this CSM has been slithering around in mainstream evangelicalism and exactly how far it has now spread. Dr. Gary Gilley has just reviewed The Life You’ve Always Wanted, Spiritual Disciplines For Ordinary People By John Ortberg and begins by telling us that Ortberg is:

a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, [who] published The Life You’ve Always Wanted in 1997 and expanded it in 2002. (Online source)

So this book dates back to when the EC left from its demonic den to begin slithering toward your local church circa 1997; and further, Willow Creek—though like the EC a part of the semi-pelagian (at best) Church Growth Movement—is not Emergent but a highly influential evangelical church in the more Purpose Driven/Seeker Driven-type camp. Yet just look at the CSM skubalon Ortberg throws at the flock:

The book, however, is heavily laced with the teachings, and teachers, of mysticism and Roman Catholic traditions and rituals.

The authors he draws from and quotes are a virtual Who’s—Who of mystics both past and present:

Richard Foster (pp. 9, 81, 100, 112, 113, 143)
Dallas Willard (pp. 10, 27, 35, 43, 52, 66, 92, 106)
St. John of the Cross (pp. 36, 157)
Thomas Kelly (pp. 76, 140, 150)
Thomas Merton (pp. 85, 95, 96)
Henri Nouwen (PP. 86, 99, 158, 161, 180)
Julian of Norwich (p. 91)
George Fox (p. 142)
Ignatius of Loyola (p. 142)
The Desert Fathers (pp. 171, 180)
Francois Fenelon (p. 173)
Madame Guyon (p. 186)

In addition, there are assorted liberals and Roman Catholic leaders that he quotes positively including:

James Dunn (p. 31)
G. K. Chesterton (p. 61)
Mother Teresa (pp. 66-68)
Carl Jung (p. 77)
Tony Campolo (p. 104)
Pope John XXIII (pp. 124, 207)
Soren Kierkegaard (pp. 11, 175, 218)

And as expected, since this book is about “spiritual disciplines for ordinary people,” there is much borrowed from Roman Catholic tradition, especially from the mystical wing (pp. 44, 54, 98, 102, 131, 201). (Online source)

Despite all of the above reasons to roundly reject it, as you can see below, this book of Romish coprolite comes highly recommended by Saddleback Church of Purpose Driven Pope Rick Warren:

(Online source)

For more on books by teachers of CSM, which you’ll find recommended and sold at Saddlback, I refer you to a couple of my pieces from last year, Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, And Spiritual Disciplines and Saddleback Church, Rick Warren, And Spiritual Disciplines. So here I’ll just show you that right underneath Ortberg’s book of mystic mythology at Saddleback’s recommended resources for Spiritual Disciplines you’ll find both of the main gurus in what’s becoming a cult of Foster-Willardism:

(Online source)

Notice that both of these books are made available to its flock by Saddleback, itself one of the most influential churches within the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest *cough* Protestant denomination in the U.S. Dr. Gilley has rightly referred to Foster’s magnum opus as a virtual encyclopedia of theological error.[1] I guess other than that it’s a pretty valuable book for evangelical Protestants; such is the growing syncretism and spiritual blindness. Ah, but there’s more; you’re probably aware that Dr. John Piper has apparently taken it upon himself to rehabilitate Rick Warren’s rep for the Reformed community. 

Well, let me now show you that they may possibly have even more in common than we knew. A year ago I wrote Questions Concerning Dr. John Piper where, even after they changed links at the online library of Bethlehem Baptist Church (BBC) of John Piper, we also find both books by Richard Foster and Dallas Willard. The links for the BBC library have again been redone since that piece I just referenced; however, today we will still find Foster:

(Online source)

You’ll also still find Foster’s sidekick Dallas Willard as well:

(Online source)

The other day in John Piper, Rick Warren & Foster-Willardism I pointed out that Foster’s Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home actually teaches us how do practice the crown jewel of CSM, a form of meditation in an altered state of consciousness commonly known as Contemplative/Centering Prayer (CCP), which was never taught by Jesus or His Apostles. I’ve also told you in previous AM posts such as Acts 29 Network And Reformed Counter Reformation Spirituality? and Mark Driscoll And Neo-Reformed New Calvinist Contemplative Spirituality, this CSM really is infiltrating the younger sector of the Reformed camp.

In my estimation there’s very good reason for concern as these people, because of the credibility of John Piper—who’s seen by some as a “pioneer” of this New Calvinism[2], are rapidly growing in popularity and influence within the younger sectors of largely pretending to be Protestant mainstream evangelicalism. Another who is also making quite an impact within what looks to me to be a postmodern form of Calvinism, which embraces Reformation theology and then weds it with Counter Reformation spirituality, is Dr. Tim Keller. Note the following resource recommended by Saddleback:

(Online source)

This Spiritual Disciplines Handbook (SDH) by Adele Calhoun, a pastrix at Redeemer Community Church, is part of the fetid Formatio line at InterVarsityPress (IVP), which itself is absolutely chock full of CSM skubalon. We’re told SDH will teach us, “Fasting. Solitude. Contemplative prayer. Lectio divina.” [3] My guess is this is the kind of stuff that would prompt former staff worker at IVP, J. Mack Stiles, to write What’s Happening to InterVarsity? that ran recently at 9 Marks. And sadly, we aren’t even surprised anymore to see Tim Keller as the first with an endorsement for SDH:

 (Online source)

And just what “profited” Dr. Keller from the “experience” of pastrix Calhoun (in violation of God’s Word) that he would wish to so “highly recommend?” Well, right on the back cover of her SDH Calhoun tells us this handbook of heterodox (at best) practices features “how to” information on CCP and Lectio Divina. 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.

You need to understand this stuff isn’t a mere abberation, and it’s definitely not guilt by association; no, this is guilt by endorsement. Remember, John Piper is the one who opened up Warrengate and then decided to continue promoting him in a recent interview, which I covered e.g. in John Piper Interviews Rick Warren At Saddleback. So, if you want more information, here I’ll just point you Hangin’ With Mr. Piper (Some Observations On The Piper-Warren Interview) by Lane Chaplin:

there has been a lot of talk with Warren being called a chameleon, and I certainly appreciate this commentary. There is abundant evidence for this conclusion. However, make no mistake, “chameleon” is just a nicer way of saying, “hypocrite” or “deceiver.” The interesting part is that the “chameleon” label is not just being applied by wing-nut discernment folk who also believe aliens give them Smucker’s for their toast every morning. It is also being applied by significant leaders in evangelicalism abroad to characterize Warren.

I find this encouraging. A true leader stands up in the face of adversity, and it’s refreshing to see so many leaders not capitulating to Piper’s endorsement even though it may, no doubt, cost them something temporal whether that be status, income from books, advertising, etc. (Online source)

Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism Is Melding Evangelicals And Progressive/Liberals

As I begin to close this out, for now, I’ll tell you plainly that the concern needs to be the kind of fruit that this refried Roman Catholic mysticism invariably produces. Lord willing, and should funding allow, I plan to document further for you what CSM does to those who persist in it. Your biggest clues are 1) as it spread through the antibiblical monastic traditions of the Church of Rome, CSM played a major role in producing apostate Roman Catholicism in the first place; and 2) just take a look at what it’s done to those in the Emerging Church like its iconic rock star pastor Rob Bell, who’s now openly arguing for Christian Universalism through his Love Wins mythology.

Here’s an example that touches directly upon both Willow Creek and Saddleback; at his inaugural Radicalis conference Rick Warren featured a CSM guru by the name of Peter Scazzero (in video below), founder and pastor of New Life Fellowship Church:

(Online source)

As you can see, Scazzero’s shtick is teaching CSM to Protestant evangelical pastors; and you need to know that he also does it for the Willow Creek Association (WCA), which extends from the man-centered Church Growth Movement mega-church Willow Creek Community Church. In Peter Scazzero Recommending Contemplative/Centering Prayer I brought out how we’re told that WCA “is regarded as the most influential ministry to evangelical pastors in the U.S.”[4] You’ll see below that Scazzero’s Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (EHS) is officially partnered with WCA:

(Online source)

The point is, with the ringing endorsement of CGM gurus Rick Warren and Bill Hybels we can see that Peter Scazzero, sadly, is now gaining more and more of a forum within mainstream evangelical circles for his Romish psychobabble, which has little to nothing to do with proper Christian spirituality. They aren’t the only ones recommending Scazzero either; consider what Redeeemer Presbyterian Church (RPC) of Tim Keller lists under Recommended Resources for Community Formation and Small Group Ministries:

As I first showed you in Tim Keller Also Promoting Mystic Guru Peter Scazzero, on page 144 of The Emotionally Healthy Church (EMC) Scazzero teaches the mystic myth of the “true self”; and as you’ll see below, he appeals to apostate Roman Catholic mystics Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen to do it:

Since guru Scazzero uses Merton as his expert witness on this so-called true self, and you can see in Thomas Merton And The Buddhas his lifelong devotion to CSM would make him more like the Buddha than the Christ, I’ll tell you it ends up a clear denial of the cardinal doctrine of original sin. Merton mused that at “the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth.”[6] And here’s a couple of revelations from Nouwen that he gleaned from his CSM:

One of the discoveries we make in [contemplative/centering] prayer is that the closer we come to God, the closer we come to all our brothers and sisters in the human family. God is not a private God. The God who dwells in our inner sanctuary is also the God who dwells in the inner sanctuary of each human being.[7]

Today I personally believe that 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 way to God.[8]

Note Nouwen, like all mystics, believed God already dwells within each human being thereby negating need for  regeneration; and what is more he also adhered to the Love Wins mythology of Christian Universalism now argued for by Rob Bell from inside mainstream evangelicalism. Well, following is a little sample of where CSM has been leading Peter Scazzero himself; he who is so highly recommended by Rick Warren, WCA, and RPC. Look at this tweet sent out by Scazzero a little while back:

(Online source)

The link above takes us to Contemplative Outreach where we’re told that Living Spiritual Teacher and apostate Roman Catholic monk Thomas Keating is it spiritual guide:

(Online source)

You can learn more about guru Keating’s mystic musings in Thomas Keating On Contemplative/Centering Prayer; for now, I want to draw your attention to the book Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening (CPIA) by Cynthia Bourgeault (below), which Peter Scazzero tells us he’s “[e]njoying as part of my time with God.” I’m going to show you just how united these neo-Gnostic dreamers are becoming, and just how far they have now penetrated into the heart of mainstream evangelicalism. We have real reason for concern here because you’re about to see this even includes heretical progressive/liberals like Living Spiritual Teacher and EC guru Brian McLaren:

In Good Shepherd Church Going Ape…Almost I first told you about “The Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault, Ph.D” whom The Contemplative Society informs us is an:

Episcopal priest, writer, and internationally known retreat leader [who] divides her time between solitude on Eagle Island, Maine, and a demanding schedule traveling globally to teach and spread the recovery of the Christian contemplative path. She is the founding Director of both The Contemplative Society and the Aspen Wisdom School. (Online source)

Her name is already familiar to those of us tracking the traitorous teachings of McLaren because in his post 11 Women Writers You Should Be Reading McLaren mused:

Here are some of my favorite women writers of spirituality and theology in no particular order with short comments on why I recommend them… 5. Cynthia Bourgeault: Cynthia reminds me of Thomas Merton — she is a mystic with a brilliant mind who deserves far wider readership. (Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening)… (Online source, bold his)

Notice guru McLaren specifically recommends CPIA. Well, I turn now to my personal copy of Bourgeault’s book—also cited above by Scazzero—and following I’ll show you what this “mystic with a brilliant mind,” who “reminds” McLaren of the CSM Golden Buddha Thomas Merton, and whom apparently guru Scazzero also feels “deserves a far wider readship.” Here’s what she has to tell us concerning the alleged “awakening” mystics seek in their silent meditation, i.e. CCP:

But why is intentional silence so important to this process of awakening?… I had read somewhere that without spiritual training the human mind is unable to concentrate on anything for more than two minutes… The Buddhists smilingly call this “monkey mind.” The little beast jumps from one tree limb to the other, taking the whole of it with us.[9]

Bourgeault also draws from the work of Living Spiritual Teacher of New Age spirituality Eckhart Tolle; and in the midst of a bunch of psychobabble about the “work on self,” she tells us in CPIA—whose foreword is done by the aforementioned guru Thomas Keating—that:

Most spiritual teachers link the inner observer [alleged true self] with a state of being they call presence, or in other words, an active awareness of Being itself [pantheism or panentheism]. Rather than getting lost in the contents of consciousness (those “reactions, desires, and aversions” Tolle speaks of), you learn to pay attention to the field of consciousness as well—not just the boats [individual-self] floating down the river, but the river itself [God-self].[10]

That’s why the mystics seek to silence the mind, aka the “monkey mind” as they seek union with God in their true—untouched by sin—self. So to further instruct us about this mythic monkey mind I’ll now call as an expert witness Shane Hipps, the new co-teaching pastor now along with his good friend Rob Bell at Mars Hill Bible Church. The below is from his sermon Enlightenment, which is all about the supposed “spiritual discipline of silence” aka CCP. MHBC pastor Hipps hopes:

Silent prayer is when you go to a silent place and then you quiet the mind; and you don’t say anything to God…you just “be.” Now, if any of you have ever tried this, you know it’s totally maddening (laughs) to try to just stop thinking, right?

And because we all know that’s pretty much impossible because the mind is like a frantic monkey bouncing around on the inside of your brain…[11]

If there’s any question of the origin of this monkey mind myth, let me refer you to The Monkey Mind entry in the online A Guide to Buddhism A to Z where we find out:

The monkey mind (kapicitta) is a term sometimes used by the Buddha to describe the agitated, easily distracted and incessantly moving behaviour of ordinary human consciousness (Ja.III,148; V,445). Once he observed: ‘Just as a monkey swinging through the trees grabs one branch and lets it go only to seize another, so too that which is called thought, mind or consciousness arises and disappears continually both day and night’ (S.II,93). (Online source)

Which now begs the question: Why are Christians, who ostensibly have a personal relationship with God in Christ, now having to turn to Buddhists, who may or may not even believe there is a God, in order to learn about Christian spirituality? You might want to consider this: With today’s barely even pretending to be Protestant evangelical community we have now come full circle in turning to pagans, and adopting their spiritual practices. This is precisely what those original apostate desert hermits in the third century would do; and through John Cassian their mystic musings would then go on to flower in the aformentioned Roman Catholic monastic traditions.

Again, bottom line: That deceptive subjectivism would eventually lead to the Protestant Reformation; but unfortunately, this time I don’t see any Reformers, just joiners. I’ve been warning you, in no uncertain terms, that it’s well past time for recognizing the inclusive—and increasingly universal—fruit of the Emerging Church, and of the spiritual skubalon of Foster-Willardism. You see, they go hand-in-hand; all who dabble in this mysticism eventually begin to believe God is trying to bring unity and all Christian factions together. Is it any wonder we see Saddleback Church Of Rick Warren Using Rob Bell Teachings?

You really can’t see that those in the Emerging Church on the wild goose chase after another spirit are merely a little farther down the path than the Ortbergs and the Warrens are, for now? You mean to say you haven’t noticed the drastic drift of neo-Gnostic mystics like Rob Bell over the past few years resulting in his ear-tickling Love Wins mythology? I’m telling you, from years of studying mysticism, be it from Living Spiritual Teacher and Roman Catholic priest Richard Rohr to Sufi Islam to Hinduism, all mystics eventually end up in love with mankind; and then later finally shipwreck upon the reef of universalism.

The truth is, God is not going to save everyone and He isn’t trying to bring all religions together; or even all traditions of professing Christendom for that matter. However, this isn’t what you’re hearing right now in the broader visible church; and the fact is, the spread of mysticism has much to do with this. Bank on it, you’ll hear more and more of the below mumbo jumbo in the days to come:

(Online source)

It should be quite obvious that the Apostles and other early Christians were not martyred for encouraging questions; no, they were murdered for offering Jesus as the only answer to man’s sin problem. Let me warn you, as evangelicalism drifts deeper into mysticism you’ll see more people laying aside answers, i.e. doctrinal distinctives, in order to join The Emerging Church On Its Wild Goose Chase. This is because God is sending 1 Peter 4:17 judgments upon this gelatinous generation and allowing spiritual darkness to increase. A word to the wise among us, it has now become Critical To Know Your Bible!

Next time I’ll give you yet another peek at the future of evangelicalism if its younger sectors, from years of propaganda from Foster-Willardism and by Emergent leaders like universalist Emerging Church pastor Doug Pagitt, continue on their current course.

_________________________________________________________________________
End Notes:

[1] http://tiny.cc/7k2bz, accessed 6/28/11.

[2] http://tinyurl.com/az6xvh, accessed 6/28/11.

[3] http://tiny.cc/h3vv9, accessed 6/28/11.

[4] http://www.willowcreek.com/about/, accessed 6/28/11.

[5] Peter Scazzero, The Emotionally Healthy Church [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003], 144.

[6] Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander [New York: Doubleday, 1966], 158, emphasis mine.

[7] Henri Nouwen, Here And Now [New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1994], 24, 25, emphasis mine.

[8] Henri Nouwen, Sabbatical Journey [New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1998], 51, emphasis mine.

[9] Cynthia Bourgeault, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening [Cambridge: Cowley Publications, 2004 ], 10, 11.

[10] Ibid., 126.

[11] From transcript within my post Shane Hipps Exposed II.

See also:

THE WILD GOOSE OF THE EMERGING CHURCH IS NOT THE HOLY SPIRIT

THE DANIEL PLAN OF RICK WARREN ENCOURAGES “NEW AGE WACKO-ISM”

DR. JOHN PIPER AND UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

DONALD WHITNEY, MYSTICISM, AND SPIRITUALITY WITHOUT BOUNDARIES

CONTEMPLATIVE/CENTERING PRAYER AS “CHRISTIAN” MEDITATION

WRONG SPIRITUAL PRACTICES REPRODUCE SAME WRONG EXPERIENCES

MEDITATION AWAKENING FOR TRANSFORMATION OF THE GLOBAL FAMILY

Briefly, Leadership Network’s propped up Purpose Driven Pope Rick Warren has actually been been up to spiritual monk-ee business for years now in opening the door for corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) ala Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster—and his spiritual twin Dallas Willard—within the mainstream of evangelicalism.

You need to understand that this spurious CSM is basically reimagined Roman Catholic mysticism allegedly “discovered” by Foster, and now perpetrated within the mainstream of evangelicalism as supposed Spiritual Formation—with an able assist from his running mate Willard; both were key mentors of the sinfully ecumenical neo-liberal cult of the Emergent Church aka the Emerging Church.

CSM was a core doctrine in the EC right from its hatching in Hell and plays a crucial role in the development of its postmodern Progressive Christian theology—a Liberalism 2.0—that they often refer to under their circus “big tent” as Emergence Christianity.

The truth is that the very rotten core practice of this CSM is Contemplative/Centering Prayer, which is sometimes referred to as practicing “silence and solitude” or by the ridiculous moniker “wordless prayer”; but it’s actually a type of meditation in an altered state of consciousness that’s virtually identical to that practiced in Eastern religions such as Zen Buddhism and the transcendental meditation of Hinduism.

And yet this kind of spurious spiritual formation—so-called “Christian” mysticism, which really developed in the antibiblical monastic traditions of apostate Roman Catholicism, is now showing up in more and more evangelical churches.

The following comes from a series called Gospel Spirituality-MCM by New Calvinist Dr. Tim Keller:

(Online source)

As you can also see in Meditation What it is? , “This talk was given during a leadership training session at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City” October 5, 1998:

(Online source)

In this myth of meditation Dr. Keller teaches us something that is not Biblical meditation and counter to sola Scriptura:

Meditation is sensing with the mind instead of just thinking… I’m talking about seeing even though I’m not seeing anything… In other words, by letting your heart sense the truths rather than simply understanding them you’ve begun to meditate. Meditation is to bring the truth in contact with the heart until the Triune God becomes so real to you that you seek Him with all your being.”

So this is where I’m going to recommend an afternoon meditation for you; here it goes:

If meditation really is to bring the truth in contact with the heart so that you seek God with all your being, then just how is it these vaunted Roman Catholic mystics, who had forgotten more about meditation than Dr. Keller will ever know, never discovered the truth concerning actual Gospel of Jesus Christ?

 They denied that salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in the finished work on the Cross of Christ alone, and remained slaves to the spiritual bondage of apostate Roman Catholicism, which Dr. John MacArthur rightly stated is, “Satan’s best front for the Kingdom of God.”

The more time I spend contemplating the subject, it seems to me—in my heart—I really believe that the truth is Jesus would say of such as these:

Let them alone; they are blind guides. (Matthew 15:14)

See also:

TIM KELLER AND CONTEMPLATIVE PASTRIX ADELE CALHOUN

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH DR. JOHN PIPER?

ACTS 29 NETWORK AND REFORMED COUNTER REFORMATION SPIRITUALITY?

First, it is necessary to understand what sola Scriptura does and does not assert. The Reformation principle of sola Scriptura has to do with the sufficiency of Scripture as our supreme authority in all spiritual matters. Sola Scriptura simply means that all truth necessary for our salvation and spiritual life is taught either explicitly or implicitly in Scripture.

It is not a claim that all truth of every kind is found in Scripture. The most ardent defender of sola Scriptura will concede, for example, that Scripture has little or nothing to say about DNA structures, microbiology, the rules of Chinese grammar, or rocket science. 

This or that “scientific truth” for example, may or may not be actually true, whether or not it can be supported by Scripture—but Scripture is a “more sure Word,” standing above all other truth in its authority and certainty. It is “more sure,” according to the apostle Peter, than the data we gather firsthand through our own senses (2 Pet. 1:19). Therefore Scripture is the highest and supreme authority on any matter to which it speaks. But there are many important questions on which Scripture is silent. Sola Scriptura makes no claim to the contrary.

Nor does sola Scriptura claim that everything Jesus or the apostles ever taught is preserved in Scripture.  It only means that everything necessary, everything binding on our consciences, and everything God requires of us is given to us in Scripture.

Furthermore, we are forbidden to add to or take way from Scripture (cf. Deut. 4:2; 12:32, cf. Rev. 22:18-19). To do so is to lay on people’s shoulders a burden that God Himself does not intend for them to bear (cf. Matt. 23:4).

Scripture is therefore the perfect and only standard of spiritual truth, revealing infallibly all that we must believe in order to be saved, and all that we must do in order to glorify God. That—no more, no less—is what sola Scriptura means.

The Westminster Confession of Faith defines the sufficiency of Scripture like this:

The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men (1:6).

The Thirty-nine Articles of the Anglican Church include this statement on sola Scriptura:

Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation (article 6).

So sola Scriptura simply means that Scripture is sufficient. The fact that Jesus did and taught many things not recorded in Scripture (Jn. 20:30; 21:25) is wholly irrelevant to the principle of sola Scriptura. The fact that most of the apostles’ actual sermons in the early churches were not written down and preserved for us does not diminish the truth of biblical sufficiency one bit. What is certain is that all that is necessary is in Scripture—and we are forbidden “to exceed what is written” (1 Cor. 4:6).

Scripture clearly claims for itself this sufficiency—and nowhere more clearly that 2 Timothy 3:15-17. A brief summary of that passage is perhaps appropriate here as well. In short, verse 15 affirms that Scripture is sufficient for salvation: “The sacred writings . . . are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Verse 16 affirms the absolute authority of Scripture, which is “God-breathed” (Gk. theopneustos) and profitable for our instruction. And verse 17 states that Scripture is able to equip the man of God “for every good work.” 

So the assertion that the Bible itself does not teach sola Scriptura is simply wrong. (Scripture, Tradition, and Rome, Part 2)

John MacArthur

Sadly, we’re watching the Reformation being undone as more and more people embrace corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM); particularly within the neo-liberal cult of the sinfully ecumenical Emerging Church. One of the trends developing as the above happens is a neo-Reformed new Calvinism, which I touched upon recently e.g. in Mark Driscoll And Neo-Reformed New Calvinist Contemplative Spirituality.

As I said in recent posts such as Acts 29 Network And Reformed Counter Reformation Spirituality? and Acts 29 Pastor Matt Chandler On Being A Reformed Charismatic, in my estimation, there’s very good reason for concern as these people are rapidly growing in popularity, and in influence within the younger sector of the Reformed Camp; blessed as they are by Dr. John Piper, who’s seen by some as a “pioneer” of this New Calvinism.[1] Now I will tell you that I’m really not very familiar with Dr. Piper as he’s never been my cup of tea; it’s not that I’d thought badly of his ministry, it simply wasn’t one that I felt led to follow.

As I recall, one of the first posts in which I ever mentioned Dr. Piper was Doug Pagitt, John Piper, And Karma Kick-Back where heretical universalist Emergent Church pastor Doug Pagitt, part of the Emergent trinity along with his progressive theologian in residence Tony Jones and EC guru Brian McLaren, takes issue with Dr. Piper’s views of the Emerging Church and its new “big tent” progressive/liberal Emergence Christianity. A couple of days later I would write Rick Warren To Be Featured At Desiring God 2010 where I was among the few who broke the story that Dr. Piper had made the ill-advised decision to invite Leadership Network’s propped-up Purpose Driven Pope Rick Warren to DG 2010 as a keynote speaker.

Then, as I shared in Rick Warren Doctrinal And Sound?, unfortunately it got even worse when Dr. Piper decided to defend his decision:

At root I think [Rick Warren] is theological and doctrinal and sound.
(as cited Online source)

So whether one even knows it or not, Warrengate still is slowly simmering; Dr. Piper’s choice here has had the rippling effect of people, even outside of any discernment ministries, beginning to look a little closer at his theology, educational background, and associations; e.g. his charismatic bent, his connection to Fuller Theological Seminary, and with the late Ralph Winter. To give you a peek into how someone like myself becomes aware of some of these issues, I received a tip from a source back in June of this past year; as I followed up on it, it would eventually lead me to discover some disturbing information which I orginally began sharing in Questions Concerning Dr. John Piper and Dr. John Piper And Unanswered Questions.

When I wrote those initial articles Dr. Piper was on his much talked about sabbatical; now however, he is back and a few of the mystic books I pointed in the latter piece are no longer in the BBC online library. However, questions remain because what you’ll see below is still available; as such, we now have sufficient reason to assume they are approved, where the others are not. I also believe it really becomes all the more necessary to wonder about all of this when I was sent a link a few months ago to a book review by Dr. Gary Gilley, pastor of Southern View Chapel, where he looks at Dr. Piper’s When I Don’t Desire God; in his review Dr. Gilley brings out his own concerns with some of the theology of Dr. John Piper:

• Finally, Piper quotes favorably from a very disturbing stable of authors: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (popular liberal theologian, who, by the way, was executed not for his faith in Christ, but for his part in an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler) (p. 90), Dallas Willard (leader in the unbiblical spiritual formation movement) (p. 119), G.K. Chesterton (Roman Catholic author) (p. 196), and Richard Foster (father and main promoter of the infiltration of Roman Catholic mysticism into evangelical circles) (pp. 192-193). He also speaks twice of the “dark night of the soul” which comes from counter-reformation Catholic mystic St. John of the Cross (pp. 217, 229).

Most disturbing is Foster’s quote calling for “new prophets to arise in our day” to which Piper responds, “And when they arise, one way that we fight for joy in God is to read what they write” (p. 193). After authoring a book which majors on pointing us to the Bible in our fight for joy, it is disconcerting to now read of an encouragement to read the words of modern prophets; and coming from Foster’s perspective and Piper’s theology on prophets, they are both referring to extrabiblical revelation through present-day prophets).
(Online source)

Most disturbing is right; you know e.g. from Steve Gladen, Saddleback Church Small Groups, And Quaker Mystic Spirituality and Saddleback Church, Rick Warren, And Spiritual Disciplines that the sinfully ecumenical neo-liberal cult of the Emergent Church aka the Emerging Church would end up being a Trojan Horse that squishy evanjellyfish leaders would bring right into their own camp as the vehicle from which corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM)—a romanticized version of the Counter (hello) Reformation spirituality of the apostate Roman Catholic Church—would be unloaded. The EC has been pawning off this spurious CSM for years as so-called Spiritual Formation.

I’ve also pointed out that it’s an incontrovertible fact the main purveyors of CSM would be the Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster, along with Southern Baptist minister Dallas Willard; whom many people don’t seem to realize is quite literally Foster’s spiritual twin and teaches, and practices, the exact same things. You may recall that I’ve also told you, in no uncertain terms, it’s well past time for evangelical leaders to begin recognizing the inclusive, and increasingly universal, fruit of this spiritual skubalon of Foster-Willardism. So now you have the backdrop upon which to see what I am going to show you concerning Piper’s church; and it just may also shed some more light upon what I already showed you above.

First of all, if you don’t know, Bethlehem Baptist Church (BBC) is where Dr. John Piper is listed as “Vocational Elder; Pastor for Preaching & Vision; Chancellor, Bethlehem College and Seminary”:

(Online source)

Under Resources at the BBC website we find the Library, and then at the bottom of that page under Links we find the Online catalog; the links to the Online catalog have been changed, so I am correcting them to better enable you to examine what I’m going to show you below. First, notice above that Dr. Gilley correctly expressed concern that Dr. Piper “quotes favorably from a very disturbing stable of authors.” Two of these happen to be leading proponents, and personal practitioners of, Quaker—and refried Roman Catholic—mysticism; and in addition, both Foster and Willard are sinfully ecumenical and hostile to Reformation theology.

Have you stopped to think, if someone knows another’s work well enough to be familiar with it so as to favorably quote from it, then they are indeed reading it. The question is: What could a Calvinist supposedly holding to the doctrines of grace inherent within Reformation theology be learning about proper Christian spirituality from a Quaker mystic, whose own prolonged practice of spurious CSM has led him into the sinful ecumenicism of—contra Reformation—considering the apostate Roman Catholic Church, which Dr. John MacArthur calls a front for Satan, as a genuine expression of the Christian faith; even though she long ago placed her anathema on the very Gospel itself?

The main vehicle for CSM is corrupt Contemplative/Centering Prayer (CCP); a type of meditation in an altered state of consciousness, which itself is a form of neo-Gnosticism that flowered in the antibiblical monastic traditions of apostate Roman Catholicism. I’ve also showed you that Foster’s “Christian” message, which is also the fruit of his own practice of CSM, is now so drastically diluted that he’s even listed as one of the spiritually bankrupt gurus at something called the Living Spiritual Teachers Project. Over at the interspiritual website Spirituality & Practice you will find this Quaker mystic included; and since when were Quakers ever evangelical Protestants anyway?

But there is Richard Foster listed right alongside such false religious teachers as Deepak Chopra, the Dalai Lama, Emergent Church guru Brian McLaren, Thich Nhat Hanh, Eckhart Tolle, and Marianne Williamson. Do you think there’s any chance whatsoever that the aforementioned Dr. John MacArthur would ever find himself listed there; well, maybe…right about the time ice skates become standard issue in Hell. But I’m sorry to have to inform you it now gets worse concerning Dr. Piper. Look at the following one finds in the Bethlehem Baptist Church library as we search online. Richard Foster, Prayer Finding the Heart’s True Home:

(Online source)

Here, from my personal copy, is a little sample of what we learn about “prayer” from guru Foster:

Contemplative Prayer immerses us into the silence of God. How desperately we in the modern world need this wordless baptism… Contemplative Prayer is the one discipline that can free us from our addiction to words. Progress in intimacy with God means progress toward silence… It is recreating silence to which we are called in Contemplative Prayer…

A Warning And A Precaution

At the outset I need to give a word of warning,… Contemplative Prayer is not for the novice. I do not say this about any other form of prayer… Contemplative prayer is for those who have exercised their spiritual muscles a bit and know something about the landscape of the spirit. In fact, those who work in the area of spiritual direction always look for signs of a maturing faith before encouraging individuals into Contemplative Prayer…

I also want to give a word of precaution. In the silent contemplation of God we are entering deeply into the spiritual realm, and there is such a thing as a supernatural guidance. While the Bible does not give us a lot of information on that, there are various orders of spiritual beings, and some of them are definitely not in cooperation with God and his way! … But for now I want to encourage you to learn and practice prayers of protection.[2]

As I pointed out elsewhere, this couldn’t be clearer that what we’re actually dealing with here is a new form of Gnosticism. Can you see; above we have the “initiated” and “enlightened” ones who are the superior Christians, as they “work in the area of spiritual direction” (when was this ever part of Protestant practice), and then they are looking for those disciples “who have excercised their spiritual muscles” enough for initiation because this CCP—even though necessary for “intimacy with God—still “is not for” every Christian. This is a return to Romanist religious bondage; and an asceticism-lite form of Pietism.

It seems peculiar to me that Dr. Piper would wish his flock to be exposed to Foster’s foolishness. Then there’s Foster’s clone Dallas Willard and his own ode to asceticism Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives:

(Online source)

Even though Dallas Willard admits that the so-called spiritual disciplines are not taught in the Bible, elsewhere in a thorough, and biblical, dismantling of Willard’s twisting of God’s Word in the book above we find that he does try to teach Willard-Fosterism’s quasi-Quaker and Roman Catholic mysticism is found in Matthew 11:29-30; where Jesus says to us — “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Obviously, on the face of this text we don’t see any semi-ascetic so-called spiritual disciplines; Willard instead imports them into this passage of the Bible.

Then we’re told that completely consistent:

with most unbiblical approaches, the spiritual disciplines are based on the idea of innate human powers that can be harnessed for good. Holding a false concept of sin as a “disruption of that higher [spiritual] life,” Willard looks for a solution through finding our true potential, individually and corporately, through spiritual disciplines that will enable us to reconstruct the rule of God now…

Starting with a serious misinterpretation of Matthew 11:29, 30, Dallas Willard built his entire system on the idea that Jesus’ “yoke” consists of various spiritual disciplines. The issue in Matthew 11 was Messianic salvation—finding true Sabbath rest in Christ rather than following meticulous religious rules decreed by the Scribes and Pharisees. The idea of practicing spiritual disciplines was imported to the text, not found there.

We live in an age of mysticism. People lust for spiritual reality and spiritual experiences. The danger is that unbiblical practices will give people a real spiritual experience, but not from God. (Online source, emphasis mine)

Why then would Dr. John Piper, a Calvinist, want his followers exposed to this kind of man-centered and blatantly false mystical teaching of Foster-Willardism? Notice also the quasi-dominionism these debunked spiritual disciplines are supposed to enable us to start to accomplish as we supposedly “reconstruct the rule of God now”; and now we consider that in the BBC library Online catalog we find five books from former professor of Church Growth at Fuller Theological Seminary School of World Mission C. Peter Wagner, including his infamous Third Wave of the Holy Spirit Encountering the Power of Signs and Wonders:

(Online source)

As I pointed out before, Christian apologist Sandy Simpson has collected some informative articles concerning C. Peter Wagner at his fine Deception In The Church website[3]; so for now I’ll just tell you that “C. Peter Wagner [has been] Convening Apostle of the International Coalition of Apostles”[4], one of the spiritually nefarious Kansas City Prophets, and “has long held to the heretical Latter Rain position.”[5] Again it would seem rather odd for Dr. Piper to appeal to a false prophet for teaching concerning “spiritual warfare”[6] and to actually encourage his flock to read his warped works[7]. Sadly, since Dr. Piper made his error of inviting Rick Warren to DG 2010, more questions will be arising.

In closing this, for now, let’a consider that Dr. John Piper and C. Peter Wagner were both quite taken with the late “mission engineer” Ralph Winter[8]; each associated with Fuller Theological Seminary, and as you can see in Influences: Rick Warren And C. Peter Wagner Of New Apostolic Reformation, it was Wagner who was Rick Warren’s mentor when Warren “wrote his doctoral dissertation at Fuller Seminary on his church growth ideas.” Now we remember when Dr. Piper said in his defense of the Warren invitation, “I just think he could put me to shame with his aggressively, in-your-life, transformative discipling of his church.”[9]

And we’re told that Dr. Piper met Rick Warren at Ralph Winter’s funeral; as we stop and consider all of the above, another question comes emerging: Could it be they all already had much more in common than we even knew?

________________________________________________________________________________
Endnotes:

[1] http://tinyurl.com/az6xvh, accessed 1/10/11.

[2] Richard Foster, Prayer: Finding The Heart’s True Home [New York: Harper Collins, 1997], 155, 156, 157.

[3] http://tinyurl.com/2fxqqon, accessed 1/10/11.

[4] http://tinyurl.com/2b7rlnp, accessed 1/10/11.

[5] http://www.letusreason.org/Latrain33.htm, accessed 1/10/11.

[6] http://tinyurl.com/klrtxa, accessed 1/10/11.

[7] http://tinyurl.com/34l5chm, accessed 1/10/11.

[8] http://tinyurl.com/n8wxjx, accessed 1/10/11.

[9] http://tinyurl.com/387e677, accessed 1/10/11.

See also:

IS THIS DOCTRINAL AND SOUND DR. JOHN PIPER?

CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY OF RICHARD FOSTER ROOTED IN THE EASTERN DESERT AND THOMAS MERTON

DEBUNKING DALLAS WILLARD AND BEING WORTHY TO BE SAVED

ROMAN CATHOLIC MONASTICISM BEGINS WITH “DESERT FATHERS”

TIM KELLER ALSO PROMOTING MYSTIC GURU PETER SCAZZERO?

PETER SCAZZERO RECOMMENDING CONTEMPLATIVE/CENTERING PRAYER

MARK DRISCOLL AND NEO-REFORMED NEW CALVINIST CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY

HT: Email Brigade

By Apprising Ministries correspondent Christine Pack of Sola Sisters

It used to be that Universalists behaved and stayed in the New Age where they belonged.  But sadly, those days are over.  And it used to be that a Universalist message was easy to “hear” and distinguish from the exclusive message of Christ.  Again, no more.  A new, peculiar brand of Universalism – unique to Christianity – does not deny the reality of sin and the resurrection of Christ, and yet still manages to have a distinctively Universalist message.   For the sake of simplicity, I’ve given this new virulent strain of spiritual bacterium the name of “Christian Universalism.”  Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?  Like “jumbo shrimp” or “virtual reality.” A Christian Universalist is someone who makes a verbal profession of Christ, uses Christian terminology, but who holds to a Universalist view that attempts to work a non-exclusionary Christ into their message.  Sometimes a false teaching called “the Wider Mercy Doctrine” is worked into this odd Universalist message, but not always.

There are two very popular pastors/writers today that I think hold to this view of Christian Universalism, and they are Dallas Willard and Leonard Sweet.  Let me explain why I think this.

Let’s start with Dallas Willard who is a prolific writer and is well-regarded in evangelical circles. Dallas Willard, though he is identified as an evangelical, is anything but orthodox in his views.  In fact, Willard’s own words prove that he is far outside of orthodoxy in his views.  In a recent interview, Willard made some shocking statements which I have highlighted below, along with the correct Biblical teaching:

“(A)nyone who is going to be saved is going to be saved by Jesus: ‘There is no other name given under heaven by which men can be saved.’”

“It is possible for someone who does not know Jesus to be saved.”

“The first of these five untheorized observations is that New Light embodiment means to be “in connection” and ‘in-formation’ with other Christians. Deeper feeling and higher relating go together. The church is fundamentally one being, one person, a comm-union whose cells are connected to one another within the information network called the Christ consciousness.” p 122

“The power of small groups is in their ability to develop the discipline to get people “in-phase” with the Christ consciousness and connected with one another.” p 147

“New Lights offer up themselves as the cosmions of a mind-of-Christ consciousness. As a cosmion incarnating the cells of a new body, New Lights will function as transitional vessels through which transforming energy can renew the divine image in the world, moving postmoderns from one state of embodiment to another.” p 48

“Christ consciousness” was – and still is – a very prominent New Age Spirituality term used to describe a Christianized form of panentheism, which is the belief that God is “in” all things.

“A surprisingly central feature of all the world’s religions is the language of light in communicating the divine and symbolizing the union of the human with the divine: Muhammed’s light-filled cave, Moses’ burning bush, Paul’s blinding light, Fox’s “inner light,” Krishna’s Lord of Light, Bohme’s light-filled cobbler shop, Plotinus’ fire experiences, Bodhisattvas with the flow of Kundalini’s fire erupting from their fontanelles, and so on.” p 235

Sweet is attempting to show here that the “light” of God has manifested itself in many different ways through many different cultures.  This is contrary to the teaching of the Bible, which is that God chose to reveal truth (“light”) through the Jews in the Old Testament times, with Christ being the culmination of this revealed truth in the New Testament.  Born-again believers also have the privilege of bearing this light in a dark and fallen world.  But, was there real “light” (i.e., truth) coming from “Muhammed’s light-filled cave?” Or from the Universalist Quaker George Fox’s mystical “light” experiences? Or from the “flow of Kundalini’s fire” which was said to be the awakening of “serpent power” in the Hindu tradition? If so, then the Cross was a mockery, for what God would let his own Son die such a wretched, torturous death if all other paths to God were acceptable?

“For in Christ all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” (my emphasis)

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

“Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent—the LORD detests them both.”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, professing Christians have crept in unawares into our churches and are using Christian terminology to teach and promote a damning message of universal salvation.  To make matters worse, they don’t outright deny Christ (which would be easy enough to spot).  They simply say things like this:

“Well, sure, Jesus is important, but couldn’t other ways be possible too?”

“Don’t put God in a box.”

“Who am I to say that God couldn’t save someone in any way He wants?”

“Jesus is the only way that we know of.”

We must not allow the salvific power of the gospel message to be adulterated with today’s easy-going universalist thinking. We must not let this idea of all-paths-lead-to-God infiltrate our own thinking or the gospel message that we proclaim.  It is the gospel that saves, and we must not be ashamed of it to the point of watering it down, or worse, denying its exclusivity.  God will save all who come to him…BUT, everyone who comes to him must come on the terms God has set forth.

The original article appears complete with a comments section right here.

See in addition:

IS DALLAS WILLARD A CHRISTIAN?

GIVING LEONARD SWEET A NUDGE

FULLER SEMINARY SPONSORS EMERGING CHURCH HERETIC DOUG PAGITT

DOUG PAGITT AND CHRISTIAN UNIVERSALISM

ROB BELL AND CHRISTIAN UNIVERSALISM

SPENCER BURKE: I’M A UNIVERSALIST WHO BELIEVES IN HELL

CHRISTIAN UNIVERSALISM AFFIRMS SALVATION BY JESUS

People say, ‘Do not be negative; let us be positive; let us just preach the simple gospel’. But the Bible is full of negatives, full of warnings, ever showing us these terrible possibilities. If you find in yourself a dislike of the warnings of the Scripture and of this negative teaching, it is obvious that you have been duped by the wiles of the devil. You have not realized the situation in which you are placed.

The movements to which I am referring can be best classified and considered along the following lines. We start with Heresies within the Church, which have been caused and produced by the devil and his powers. I am not concerned to go into the detail of heresies; I am simply concerned to emphasize the fact of heresies, the fact of movements within the life of the Church that have so often led to terrible trouble and produced a state of chaos.

A heresy is ‘a denial of or a doubt concerning any defined, established Christian doctrine’. There is a difference between heresy and apostasy. Apostasy means ‘a departure from the Christian truth’. It may be a total renunciation or denial of it, or it may be a misrepresentation of it to such an extent that it becomes a denial of the whole truth. But a heresy is more limited in its scope. To be guilty of heresy, and to be a heretic, means that in the main you hold to the doctrines of the Christian faith, but that you tend to go wrong on some particular doctrine or aspect of the faith. The New Testament itself shows us clearly that this tendency to heresy had already begun even in the days of the early Church.

One of the first things you are to learn in this Christian life and warfare is that, if you go wrong in your doctrine, you will go wrong in all aspects of your life. You will probably go wrong in your practice and behaviour; and you will certainly go wrong in your experience… We read about these things constantly in the newspapers. Some are rejoicing because Protestantism and Roman Catholicism are drawing nearer together. ‘What does the past matter?’ they say, ‘Let us have the right spirit, let us come together, all of us, and not be concerned about these particularities.’ I have but one comment to make about this matter, and I regret to have to make it. To me, all such talk is just a denial of the plain teaching of the New Testament, a denial of the Creeds and the Confessions and the Protestant Reformation! It is carnal thinking, in addition to being a denial of the truth.

According to the teaching of the Bible, one thing only matters, and that is the truth. The Holy Spirit will honor nothing but the truth, His own truth. But that, He will honor. To me the most marvelous thing of all is that, the moment you come to such a conclusion, you realize that in a sense nothing else matters. … Nothing matters in the spiritual realm except truth, the truth given by the Holy Spirit, the truth that can be honored by the Holy Spirit. Is there anything more glorious in the whole of the ld Testament than the way in which this great principle stands out? God often used individual men, or but two or three, against hordes and masses. Is there anything more exhilarating than the doctrine of the remnant? While the majority had gone wrong, the ones and the twos saw the truth.

Take a man like Jeremiah. All the false prophets were against him. There is a man who had to stand alone. Poor Jeremiah – how he hated it and disliked it! He did not like being unpopular, he did not like standing on his own, and being ridiculed and laughed at, and spat upon, as it were; but he had the truth of God, and so he endured it all. He decided at times to say nothing, but the word was like fire in his bones, and he had to go on speaking it. Obloquy and abuse were heaped upon him, but it did not matter; he was God’s spokesman and God’s representative. Similarly Moses had to stand alone when he came down from the Mount where he had met God. To stand in isolation from one’s fellows, but with God, is the great doctrine of the Old Testament in many ways. And it is emphasized in the New Testament also. (Online source)

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

See also:

THE NEW DOWNGRADE AND ITS APOSTLES OF UNBELIEF

ROB BELL IS DEFINITELY NOT LIKE JESUS

TOXIC THEOLOGY OF DOUG PAGITT

CORRECTING TONY JONES

JIM WALLIS SAYS YOUR SALVATION ISN’T YOURS

JAY BAKKER PREACHES ON TWITTER

BIG TENT CHRISTIANITY A GROUP HUG IN THE EMERGING CHURCH

Religion is, shortly, the reaction of the human soul in the presence of God. As God is as much a part of the environment of man as the earth on which he stands, no man can escape from religion any more than he can escape from gravitation. But though every man necessarily reacts to God, men react of course diversely, each according to his nature, or perhaps we would better say, each according to his temperament. Thus, broadly speaking, three main types of religion arise, corresponding to the three main varieties of the activity of the human spirit, intellectual, emotional, and voluntary. According as the intellect, sensibility, or will is dominant in him, each man produces for himself a religion prevailingly of the intellect, sensibility, or active will; and all the religions which men have made for themselves find places somewhere among these three types, as they produce themselves more or less purely, or variously intermingle with one another.

We say advisedly, all the religions which men have made for themselves. For there is an even more fundamental division among religions than that which is supplied by these varieties. This is the division between man-made and God-made religions. Besides the religions which man has made for himself, God has made a religion for man. We call this revealed religion [Christianity]; and the most fundamental division which separates between religions is that which divides revealed religion [from God] from unrevealed religions [of man]. Of course, we do not mean to deny that there is an element of revelation in all religions. God is a person, and persons are known only as they make themselves known — reveal themselves. The term revelation is used in this distinction, therefore, in a pregnant sense [i.e. important meaning]. In the unrevealed religions God is known only as He has revealed Himself in His acts of the creation and government of the world as every person must reveal himself in his acts if he acts at all. In the one revealed religion [Christianity God has revealed Himself also in acts of special grace, among which is included the open Word.

There is an element in revealed religion [of God], therefore, which is not found in any unrevealed religion [of man]. This is the element of authority. Revealed religion comes to man from without; it is imposed upon him from a source superior to his own spirit. The unrevealed religions, on the other hand, flow from no higher source than the human spirit itself. However much they may differ among themselves in the relative prominence given in each to the functioning of the intellect, sensibility, or will, they have this fundamental thing in common. They are all, in other words, natural religions in contradistinction to the one supernatural religion which God has made.

There is a true sense, then, in which it may be said that the unrevealed religions are “religions of the [human] spirit” and revealed religion is the “religion of authority.” Authority is the correlate of revelation, and wherever revelation is—and only where revelation is — is there authority. Just because we do not see in revelation man reaching up lame hands toward God and feeling fumblingly after Him if haply he may find Him, but God graciously reaching strong hands down to man, bringing him help in his need, we see in it a gift from God, not a creation of man’s. On the other hand, the characteristic of all unrevealed religions is that they are distinctly manmade. They have no authority to appeal to, they rest solely on the deliverances of the human spirit. As Rudyard Kipling shrewdly makes his “Tommy” declare:

The heathen in his blindness bows down to wood and stone,
He don’t obey no orders unless they is his own.

Naturally it makes no difference in this respect whether it is the rational, emotional, or volitional element in the activities of the human spirit to which appeal is chiefly made. In no case are the foundations sunk deeper than the human spirit itself, and nothing appears in the structure that israised which the human spirit does not supply. (excerpt from Mysticism and Christianity, emphasis mine)

Benjamin Warfield

See also:

CORRUPT CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY/MYSTICISM GAINING GROUND IN EVANGELICALISM

DISCIPLINES TO DECEPTION IN SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION

THE TERMINOLOGY TRAP OF “SPIRITUAL FORMATION”

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

MEDITATING ON CONTEMPLATIVE/CENTERING PRAYER

KEN SILVA ON IRON SHARPENS IRON: EMERGING CHURCH GURUS AND ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTICISM IN PROTESTANT EVANGELICALISM

THROUGH ROB BELL “THE GREAT ENLIGHTENED ONES” TELL US MAN HAS DIVINE GREATNESS