The sad saga of Richard Foster being listed at the Living Spiritual Teachers Project (LSTP) continues. Unfortunately it would appear that there will be no further response from Lynda Graybeal who is “Personal Assistant to Richard Foster” at Renovare. I feel this leaves me no choice but to publish exactly what I have asked her so that the Church may also begin to question why Foster apparently refuses to answer the simple questions you will read later.

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial ? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

“Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).

Unanswered Questions

As of today (5/3/06) Richard Foster still remains listed as one of the Living Spiritual Teachers at the LSTP website maintained by Mary Ann and Frederic Brussat. I have made repeated attempts to get clarification from Lynda Graybeal as to why it is that this unfortunate listing still remains. I have corroborated proof that Graybeal was made aware of this listing of the man she is “Personal Assistant to” at least as early as March 28, 2006. This is more than enough time for someone from Renovare to contact the Brussats and have it taken down. I also have personal corroboration from Mary Ann Brussat that she would remove it if Foster asks her to.

Since Lynda Graybeal seems unwilling to return my email and/or to answer my questions I felt the evangelical community has a right to know what it is that I have asked of her. This is certainly not a minor issue in a time of rapidly accelerating apostasy within the mainstream evangelical church itself. Since I have been led by Christ to join other ministries as we attempt to expose the Gnostic roots of the misguided mysticism in the Contemplative Spirituality movement this issue involving Richard Foster is very important to this work. We must also keep in mind that I wrote Foster’s personal assistant Graybeal as a concerned pastor-teacher in our Lord’s Church.

We already know from Emergent Church Guru Brian McLaren that Richard Foster is an important leader within the Emerging Church, and from Purpose Driven Pope Rick Warren that the Guru of Contemplation is also a leader within the evangelical church as well. Therefore the above text becomes all the more important in the case of Richard Foster. It’s immaculately clear that God would certainly not want those who are leaders and teachers in the Body of Christ to be publicly connected to unbelievers. And with Foster’s being listed worldwide at the LSTP site he is setting a terrible Christian example by not having his name removed immediately.

In a backward man-centered love too many today are so willing to bend over backward in order to give everyone the benefit of the doubt that we are no longer willing to exercise discipline/punishment in the Body of Christ as God would have us. The key issue in Foster’s sad case with the LSTP is not whether this was even done intentionally on his part, rather it is now that Graybeal has had ample opportunity to have informed Foster that he is yoked along with heretics and unbelievers at LSTP. So I ask: Why does Foster’s listing as a “living spiritual teacher” remain there? And why won’t his “Personal Assistant” Lynda Graybeal just answer the simple questions that will be listed below?

Another key issue that actually runs parallel to why Foster remains listed at LSTP, and one that is most disturbing is: How is it that a Christian teacher and leader within the evangelical church has produced a body of doctrine that is so in tune with teachers of New Age theology and Zen Buddhist masters that he could be so easily integrated and then be listed right along with them as a part of the interspiritualist Living Spiritual Teachers Project in the first place? Even the nearly universally loved Billy Graham, hardly a bastion of completely sound Christian doctrine considering his long romance with apostate Rome, has at least set himself apart enough not to be included at the interfaith LSTP website.

Which begs another question: Why then is Richard Foster considered such a reliable source for Christian spirituality by the evangelical community when his “message” of Contemplative/Centering Prayer (transcendental meditation-lite for the Christian) is so “seeker friendly” it can easily be incorporated into the “spiritual journey” of “seekers” in any “faith tradition.” In this regard our text from 1 Corinthians asks a few quite salient questions itself:

For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?

In the mystic Gnosticism inherent in the Contemplative Spiritual Formation espoused by “living spiritual teacher” Richard Foster the answer apparently is: Plenty. I can’t help but wonder why in the world (actually “worldly” may explain it) are men like Chuck Swindoll and others who should have done their homework actually advancing Foster’s Gnosticism by quoting him in their own work? Yet apparently the level of discernment has dipped so low in the Body of Christ, and people are so anxious for an “instant experience” with God, that we are willing to bring in Quakers like Richard Foster to say what [our] itching ears want to hear.

Graybeal And Renovare

First we note that in addition to being Foster’s personal assistant Lynda Graybeal, whom I mentioned before is also:

The RENOVARÉ Administrator for 15 years, Lynda is the coauthor of A Spiritual Formation Workbook, a General Editor for the Renovaré Spiritual Formation Bible, and has worked behind the scenes bringing numerous publishing projects to completion.

So without question we see that Graybeal herself is also quite knowledgeable concerning the mysticism of Contemplative Spirituality and its related subjects. Deborah Dombrowski of Lighthouse Trails Research told me in personal conversation that when she first made Graybeal aware that Richard Foster’s name was listed at LSTP among teachers of New Age theology it was her impression that Graybeal didn’t seem very concerned about this at all. Apparently Graybeal also felt it was something she and Richard Foster really couldn’t do anything about. However, both Dombrowski and myself have since informed Graybeal that Mary Ann Brussat will remove the listing if Foster will but ask.

Since Foster is still embarrassing our Lord’s Church by remaining listed at LSTP, when he could easily have himself removed, I now feel it has become necessary to post the letters I sent to Graybeal with my concerns. Unfortunately it would now appear to me that Renovare is going to try and sweep this unfortunate incident under the rug. But before we get to the correspondence sent, it is critical to approach a most important issue here with Richard Foster being publicly unequally yoked together with unbelievers. This would be that Foster as a well-known and well-respected teacher in the Christian community, and particularly as it applies to the mainstream evangelical community, continues to violate the Biblical mandate of 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 by leaving his name up at the LSTP site.

What is also distressing in this situation is that even as this information is made public the evangelical community really doesn’t seem to care. So now we have the very regrettable situation of a man like Richard Foster who is also a Quaker teaching a quite questionable theology in the first place with his Gnostic mysticism of Contemplative Spirituality. And now that we have a legitimate reason to question Foster’s true intentions through his Reformation-denying theology due to the literal fact that even a month after being notified he is still listed as a “living spiritual teacher” along with heretics and unbelievers, apparently nothing at all is being done publicly about this.

In addition there is a very questionable section of material about the “experience” of meditation which appeared in the 1978 version of Foster’s Celebration of Discipline (CoD) that is no longer included in the latest printing of this book. I was first made aware of this section of CoD in Brian Flynn’s excellent book Running Against The Wind. This section of the 1978 section of CoD sounded so much like the astral traveling taught in Hinduism that I went and found a copy of it to read it for myself. There is no way something like this should simply be overlooked because people who buy the book today would know nothing of it once appearing in CoD.

I reproduced the section for Graybeal in my letter to her, so those of you who haven’t seen it will also have the opportunity to read it below. The reason I did so was to ask Graybeal if there was an official statement from Richard Foster as to why he removed it since I had never come across one in my research. I informed Graybeal that if he has repented of this kind of false teaching I would be glad to make public whatever statement she would send to me. This also applies to any statement regarding the LSTP listing as well. However, since she does not seem willing to answer the below questions, and no statement appears forthcoming as to why Foster remains as a “living spiritual teacher” or why the following material has been removed from CoD I now reproduce my letters for the edification of the Body of Christ.

Correspondence Sent To Graybeal

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Dear Lynda,

I have now been informed that Deborah Dombrowski of Lighthouse Trails contacted you personally on March 28, 2006 and made you aware that Richard was listed as one of the teachers of the Living Spiritual Teachers Project. If this is so you would have had ample time and opportunity to make Richard aware of this unfortunate occurrence if indeed he had not wanted to be a part of this Project in the first place.

The April 8, 2006 Lighthouse Newsletter also contains the following information: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/newsletter040806.htm#article7

“We contacted the owner of the Living Spiritual Teachers Project, Mary Ann Broussat. We learned that Richard Foster may not have known that he was added to the list. An email to Richard Foster’s assistant, Lynda Graybeal confirmed this. Ms. Graybeal felt that there was nothing they could do about his name being there. We contacted Ms. Broussat again and asked if she would remove a name should the person not wish it to be there. She affirmed that she would remove such a name. We re- contacted Ms. Graybeal and told her that Richard Foster’s name could be removed from the list if he so desired. We did not hear back from her again, and as of this writing, Richard Foster’s name remains on the list.”

What I would like to know is: 1) Did Richard Foster contact the Living Spiritual Teachers Project to become one of them? And 2) Now that Richard knows he is “yoked” with them in violation of 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 is he going to have his name removed? As I stated previously If I were to know that mine was there for instance I would immediately demand that they remove it post haste.

I await your response and I thank you for your attention to this matter of growing importance to the evangelical community in the Church of our Lord.

For Christ’s Honor,

Pastor Ken Silva
President
Apprising Ministries
https://www.apprising.org/

Wednesday April 26,2006

Dear Lynda,

It would seem that no statement is to be forthcoming about why after nearly a month of knowing that his name is listed on the Living Spiritual Teachers Project Richard Foster has apparently done nothing to have it removed. So I have another question that maybe you’d be willing to help me with.

In researching Richard’s teachings on meditation I discovered the following section below in my personal copy of the 1978 edition of Celebration of Discipline. It would appear that in later editions it went to a footnote but now as I look in my 1998 edition this section is now completely gone. Has Richard ever commented as to why that is? I’ve not come across his explanation anywhere but I will include it in the article I am writing if you’d be kind enough to send it to me.

“A fourth form of meditation has as its objective to bring you into a deep inner communion with the Father where you look at Him and He looks at you. In your imagination, picture yourself walking along a lovely forest path. Take your time, allowing the blaring noise of our modern megalopolis to be overtaken by the sound of rustling leaves and cool forest streams. After observing yourself for a bit, take the perspective of one walking, rather than the one observed. Try to feel the breeze upon your face as if it were gently blowing away all anxiety. Stop along the way to ponder the beauty of flowers and birds. When you are able to experience the scene with all your senses, the path breaks onto a lovely grassy knoll. Walk out into the lush large meadow for a time, lie down on your back staring up at blue sky and white clouds. Enjoy the sights and smells. Thank the Lord for the beauty.”

“After awhile there is a deep yearning within to go into the upper regions beyond the clouds. In your imagination allow your spiritual body, shining with light, to rise out of your physical body. Look back so that you can see yourself lying in the grass and reassure your body that you will return momentarily. Imagine your spiritual self, alive and vibrant, rising up through the clouds and into the stratosphere. Observe your physical body, the knoll, and the forest shrink as you leave the earth. Go deeper and deeper into outer space until there is nothing except the warm presence of the eternal Creator. Rest in His presence. Listen quietly, anticipating the unanticipated. Note carefully any instruction given. With time and experience you will be able to distin-(27)guish readily between mere human thought that may bubble up to the conscious mind and the True Spirit which inwardly moves upon the heart. Do not be surprised if the instruction is terribly practical and not in the least what you thought of as “spiritual.” Do not be disappointed if no words come: Like good friends, you are silently enjoying the company of each other. When it is time for you to leave, audibly thank the Lord for His goodness and return to the meadow. Walk joyfully back along the path until you return home full of new life and energy.” (28) [footnote * Another very enjoyable meditation entitled “pull the plugs” has the same purpose in mind and is described by Joy Kimmel in Chapter One of her book Steps to Prayer Power published by Abington Press. I have used this meditation numerous times with real profit.]”

Lynda, I hope you can see that the above representation of “meditating,” which is essentially astral projection, would have much similarity to the type of meditation taught by quite a few others in the LSTP. As I said if Richard has already issued an explanation or a statement concerning this removal of material I will publicize it because I’ve never seen one.

Would it be possible for me to share a deep concern with Richard that I have upon further personal study of his theology? For in my view we now have a serious problem with Richard Foster ministering as an evangelical Christian. I think he really needs to ask himself how it is that his teachings are so counter to the historic orthodox Christian faith as taught in the Bible that interfaith spiritual teachers such as Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat have now felt comfortable including Richard in the LSTP along with New Age, Zen Buddhist and Hindu spiritual teachers?

And the questions still remain unanswered: 1) Did Richard Foster contact the Living Spiritual Teachers Project to have himself included and 2) If not, now that he is aware he is “yoked” with them on that Site is he going to have his name removed?

For Christ’s Honor,

Pastor Ken Silva
President
Apprising Ministries
https://www.apprising.org/

Friday April 28, 2006

Hello Lynda,

I was just wondering if there was anything forthcoming from Richard concerning the subject matter I sent you that has been removed from Richard’s Celebration of Discipline or as to why even a month after you were notified that he is listed at in the LSTP he remains there even today: http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/teachers/teachers.php?id=259&g=

There are a couple of pieces I am currently working on regarding these things and I will be glad to include whatever information that may be forthcoming from you or Richard. I’m afraid that the longer these things go unanswered the worse it looks for Richard in the eyes of the evangelical community within our Lord’s Church that he also ministers to.

Thank you for your time.

For Christ’s Honor,

Pastor Ken Silva
President
Apprising Ministries
https://www.apprising.org/

Tuesday May 2, 2006

Hello Lynda,

It is an unfortunate situation indeed, but over a month later Richard Foster remains listed as a Living Spiritual Teacher, which unequally yokes him in the public arena with unbelievers and heretics at the LSTP website: http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/teachers/teachers.php?id=259&g=

I would also appreciate something from Richard or yourself which informs us why the lengthy portion on mediation I sent you from Richard’s 1978 version of Celebration of Discipline is no longer included in the current version of his book.

Thank you for your time in addressing these important matters.

For Christ’s Honor,

Pastor Ken Silva
President
Apprising Ministries
https://www.apprising.org/