For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1, ESV)

“You’re Not The Boss Of Me; And I’ll Worship God Any Way I Wanna!”

Circle up the wagons folks; the Emerging Church and the Elvis of Emergent Rob Bell want to take your young back to the Dark Ages and return them into the spiritual bondage of apostate Roman Catholicism. For some there’s been doubt that Bell, teaching pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church which he planted, is involved in the spurious Spiritual Formation spewed by Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster. 

Well, to see that Rob Bell is heavily involved with this Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism one need only go to the front page of the website for Mars Hill Bible Church and place your cursor over Teaching + Worship and a box appears. In the top right hand side you’ll see “Spiritual practices” under which there are following pdf flies available for download:

the daily office

lectio divina

prayer of examen

For our purposes here I draw your attention to Prayer of Examen where we’re told by allegedly “Protestant” MHBC:

Prayer of Examen
Description
The Prayer of Examen is a daily spiritual exercise developed by St. Ignatius Loyola. This practice seeks to grow followers of Jesus in God’s will, find God in all things, and enhance their understanding creation. The prayer may take between ten and twenty minutes. that time will be spent reviewing your day. Try not to dwell Instead, allow yourself to become aware and move on. (Online source, emphasis mine)

Ah yes, nothing like repetitive ritualistic prayer, which the Lord specifically told His genuine followers not to do, inorder to really connect with God. Anyway, the ” St. Ignatius Loyola” mentioned above was Inigo Lopez de Loyola (1491-1556), founder of the Society of Jesus—spiritual Gestapo of the Counter-Reformation—aka the Jesuits. In The Story of Christianity historian Justo Gonzalez tells us of “a vision” Ignatius had, allegedly of “Our Lady [Mary], with the Holy Child Jesus” that radically changed his life. 

Gonzalez explains that:

[Ignatius] then went on a pilgramage to the hermitage of Montserrat, where,…he devoted himself to the service of His Lady, the Virgin,…his spirit, tormented—as Luther’s had been earlier—by a profound sense of his sin. His account…is strikingly similar to Luther’s…”
(Vol. II, 117)

However, the reaction of each man to this revelation of their sinfulness would be radically different, and I might add, diametrically opposed as Gonzalez informs us:

At this point, however, the parallelism between Luther and Loyola breaks down, for while the German friar set out on a path that would eventually lead to an open break with the Catholic Church, the Spaniard took the opposite track. From then on [Ignatius] devoted his life, no longer to the monastic quest for his own salvation, but now to the service of the church and her mission. (ibid.)

As you should be able to see from the time frame in which he lived Ignatius was a major figure in the Counter Reformation of the Roman Catholic Church where he was extremely instrumental in defending the doctrines of demons advanced by seducing spirits in the Church of Rome against the Reformers who were raised up by the Lord. In the preface to “The Vintage Spiritual Classics Editon” of The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Avery Dulles, himself a Jesuit, tells us these exercises recapitulate (briefly restate):

some of the finest fruits of medieval spirituality and stands at the opening of a new age. It thus marks a crucial turning point in the history of [Roman] Catholic spirituality. St. Ignatius, as much as any individual, might be said to represent the transition from medieval to modern [Roman] Catholicism. He and his companions, even before they became aware of the Reformation as a threat, were at work revitalizing the [Roman Catholic] faith in southern Europe. In the mid-sixteenth century they vigorously opposed the tide of the Reformation in regions such as Austria, Bavaria, the Rhineland, and Poland.

They [the Jesuits] struggled mightily to recapture England and Scotland for the [Roman] Catholic faith. They spearheaded the [Roman Catholic] Church’s missionary thrust to the New World of the Americas as well as to Northern Africa, India, and East Asia. Favoring the growing centralization of the Church, they worked closely with the popes, as have their successors even to our own generation. In all these endeavors they used The Spiritual Exercises as their handbook. (xiii, xiv)

Very nice; so as an example of what men like Rob Bell want your kids to return to Apprising Ministries presents for your some of the instruction from the “handbook” used by this Spirital Gestapo unit of Ignatius while they “were at work revitaizing” the corrupt spirituality and dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, which led to the Reformation in the first place. And in fairness I give you the following from the online edition of Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatuis, 337 through 370, from the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) Oregon Province:

[SPEX352] TO HAVE THE TRUE SENTIMENT WHICH WE OUGHT TO HAVE IN THE CHURCH MILITANT 

Let the following Rules be observed. 

[SPEX353]
First Rule . The first: All judgment laid aside, we ought to have our mind ready and prompt to obey, in all, the true Spouse of Christ our Lord, which is our holy Mother the Church Hierarchical.

[SPEX354]
Second Rule . The second: To praise confession to a Priest, and the reception of the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar once in the year, and much more each month, and much better from week to week, with the conditions required and due.

[SPEX355]
Third Rule . The third: To praise the hearing of Mass often, likewise hymns, psalms, and long prayers, in the church and out of it; likewise the hours set at the time fixed for each Divine Office and for all prayer and all Canonical Hours.

[SPEX365]
Thirteenth Rule . To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black, if the Hierarchical Church so decides it, believing that between Christ our Lord, the Bridegroom, and the Church, His Bride, there is the same Spirit which governs and directs us for the salvation of our souls. Because by the same Spirit and our Lord Who gave the ten Commandments, our holy Mother the Church is directed and governed. (Online source)

In closing this for now, let’s put proper perspective to counter this lunacy in the Lord’s Name in our day of revisionist history by The Cult of Guru Richard Foster within evangelicalism. Below is Dr. James R. White of the fine labor in the Lord Alpha & Omega Ministries. This below is from his book Scripture Alone and should serve to shine a light upon what’s actually at stake as emerging icons in this Emergent rebellion against Sola Scriptura like Rob Bell continue to brainwash your youth in their own reimagined Counter Reformation.

And as he does White also further corroborates for you to just what Ignatius of Loyola, champion of apostate Roman Catholicism, actually stood for:

The Reformation, traditionally dated as beginning with the posting of Luther’s Ninety-five Theses on October 31, 1517, brought intense focus to the issue of scriptural sufficiency. Indeed, the formal principle of the Reformation was sola scriptura, for it was the assertion of biblical sufficiency over against tradition that allowed for the recovery of certain biblical doctrines: justification by grace through faith alone, the proper form and governance of the church, the individual priesthood of the believer, and much more. The preeminence of the Word can be seen in Luther’s comment: “The Word comes first, and with the Word the Spirit breathes upon my heart so that I believe.”

Rome taught that because she was the custodian of sacred tradition, people needed her magisterial authority; hence, Rome vehemently opposed and denied the idea of Scripture alone as the sole infallible rule of faith for the church. Neither did Rome sit quietly in response to the Reformation, as the Catholic counterreformation blossomed in the latter decades of the sixteenth century. The chief ecclesiastical manifestation of this movement was the Council of Trent (1546-1564), which began its work bu issuing a declaration on the issue of the nature of Scripture itself (April 1546). The council not only claimed authority to define the extent of the canon but also sought to “check unbridled spirits” (i.e., those who refused to acknowledge the ultimate authority of the papacy),…

Just how all-encompassing Rome’s authority claims were (and are) can be perceived by listening to the words of a leading counterreformation figure, the founder of the Jesuits order (The Society of Jesus), Ignatius Loyola. He taught his followers: “That we may be altogether of the same mind and in conformity with the Church herself, if she shall have defined anything to be black which to our eyes appears to be white, we ought in like manner to pronounce it black.” This is supremacy of the church over Scripture with a vengeance: Loyola sent out legions of like-minded men to “take back for mother church” what had been hers. The battle was joined, and while Calvin and Luther had discussed the issue of scriptural sufficiency in their writings, it would be left to their heirs to continue the conflict with the counterreformation. (11, 12)

See also:

WHERE DOES ROB BELL STAND REGARDING THE PRACTICE OF HOMOSEXUALITY?

ROMAN CATHOLICISM: WILL THE POPE DO?

THE HOLY AND CATHOLIC CHURCH IS NOT THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

IS ROB BELL EVANGELICAL?

ROB BELL RESOURCES FROM APPRISING MINISTRIES

THINK YOU’RE A ROMAN CATHOLIC IF YOU DISAGREE WITH THE POPE; BETTER THINK AGAIN