ST. PAUL DENVER UNITED METHODIST BUDDHIST-CHRISTIAN INTERSPIRITUAL COMMUNITY

By Ken Silva pastor-teacher on Sep 28, 2010 in AM Missives, Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism, Current Issues, Features

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, because of the evil that they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to make offerings and serve other gods that they knew not, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers. Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!’” (Jeremiah 44:2-4)

Preparing For A Spiritual Free-Fall

Lately in pieces like Is Shane Claiborne A Christian-Muslim?, where you’ll see Claiborne talk about a “devout Muslim brother” he knows, Apprising Ministries has been showing you that doctrinal lines continue to be blurred at warp speed; and it’s getting so bad that more and more professing evangelicals are now even wanting to embrace other religions as viable before God. However, that never seemed to work out very well for Israel in the Old Testament; God takes a real dim view of syncretism.

This is simply the next step of a progression into apostasy followed by practitioners of critical thinking skills killing, and spiritually corrupt, Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM); and as I told you in Jim Wallis And Sojourners Making Muslim-Christians, the new postmodern version of Progressive Christian theology—aka “big tent” Emergence Christianity—spewed by the sinfully ecumenial Emerging Church aka Emergent Church has universalism at its calamitous core.

With this in mind then, I’ll tell you the motto for the United Methodist Church denomination is Open Hearts. Open Minds. Open Doors. Well, you’re about to see just how wide open the door of the UMC actually is. Meet St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, with Rev. Dr. Antoinette L. Cook as your pastrix presiding:

Pastrix Antoinette Cook, better known as Toni, also served as Co-Coordinator of Meditate 08 During the DNC Denver, CO Aug. 23-28, 2008:

The following gives you a flavor of what went on at Med 08:

In The Denver Post article St. Paul’s Methodist celebrates 150 years of progressive ministry in Denver Electa Draper informs us:

Yeah, I’m afraid you really did read that right; this UMC church—oops, I mean United Methodist, Reconciling, and Buddhist Christian InterSpiritual Community, offers Buddhist-inspired services; and more:

We see, here with St. Paul Denver ( SPD), another example of the fetid fruit of CSM and its crowning jewel Contemplative/Centering Prayer (CCP); a form of meditation in an altered state of consciousness i.e. transcendental meditation lightly sprayed with Christian terminology. This is evident within the phrase, “We nurture the Sacred within us all“; the quote from a Chief Seattle, “All things are connected,” and this from Living Spiritual Teacher of the New Spirituality Andrew Harvey, “The Sacred points us back to the Divine Consciousness within and without.”

The delusion all mystics who practice this kind of transcendental meditation eventually receive, no matter what religion they may be, is referred to as “a divine spark”; or as you’ll see below from Shane Hipps—co-teaching pastor with EC icon Rob Bell—sometimes this false belief that God already indwells all of mankind is called “a spark of the divine.” I showed you previously in Rob Bell And Shane Hipps Teaching Mysticism Hipps himself mused:

Pastrix Toni Cook Opens Door For Apostate Interspiritual Worship In A UMC Church

Electa Draper tells us in Buddhism strengthens ties to church, an earlier article in the Denver Post, that pastrix Toni was:

Draper explains in her later DP article that not converting people is a real theme for pastrix Cook; it seems, “In 1988-89, when attendance dropped to 15 at SPD, unfortnately for them “Toni Cook walked in” with her deluded dream:

Yeah, none of that messy preaching of the Gospel of repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ Name; O no, says pastrix Toni Cook, better we simply “coexist.” And share space they do; as indeed, this SPD is a most unusual Christian-Buddhist Interspiritual UMC church. Take for example:

Sure, as you can see, even your pet can now practice spiritual adultery right along with you; very nice. Then in the evening we can discover…ah, “The Joy of Being” with ol’ Dr. Bob:

Now, but of course, we don’t want to leave out evangelicalism’s new fave rave religion Islam; and so, there’s also dinner with an Imam:

You betcha, always a plus to learn your false spirituality from someone who’s also “a fabulous cook!” And if Native American practice that grew out of ancient Aztec medicine and spirituality is more your bag, then be sure to catch David Atekpatzin Young; he’s an Apache Curandero (traditional healer) and spiritual leader of the Iglesia de Aztlan:

We are coming to see that these doors at this SPD Buddhist-Christian InterSpiritual Community are as wide open as they can possibly be for this allee allee in free Love Train rolling down the track in the mainline UMC. O, and I would certainly be remiss if I didn’t note the books “for reflection” pastrix Cook would like to direct you to:

Uh-huh, it’s that Living Spiritual Teacher (LST) Ekhart Tolle; the pantheist orator of Oprahfied spirituality who was “born Ulrich Tolle, but later in life took the name of ‘Eckhart’ in honor of Catholic mystic Meister Eckhart, one of many mystics throughout the ages who have championed this idea of inner-peace-through-mysticism.”[2] By the way, the full title of that book by David Korten is The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, which gives you an idea where he’s coming from—building the Global Family for the Antichrist—and then there’s The Gospel of Thomas: Annotated & Explained by Stevan Davies.

From the foreword we read:

Prominent Proponent Of Anti-Christian New Spirituality Teaches In A UMC Church

And who do you suppose did this foreword; ya just can’t make this stuff up, the aforementioned Andrew Harvey. You might be interested to know e.g. that LST Andrew Harvey comes complete with the following recommendations; first, from fellow Living Spiritual Teacher Marianne Williamson:

Then there’s another guru of the New Spirituality, Living Spiritual Teacher Deepak Chopra:

Mighty high praise for Andrew Harvey from noted leaders in what was formerly called the New Age movement, but which is now known as the New Spirituality because it is indeed penetrating across all contemplative communities; Harvey has taught Two Hours of Rumi—a Muslim mystic—at SPD:

We’re also told:

Hoo-wee, and just what “unparalleled” wisdom and “insightfulness” do we find from guru Harvey at pastrix Cooks’ UMC church, oops, make that her UMC Buddhist Christian InterSpiritual Community; consider the following:

Well, “Beam me up, Scotty!” Huh, “the new planetary renaissance” is now “emerging”; but since when was that part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? O silly me, I forgot; we don’t want to convert anyone, so that’s why we’re not surprised by Rev. Dr. pastrix Toni Cook wanting to make sure we can order Harvey’s mystic mythology concerning the Gospel of Thomas:

Remember, guru Harvey already told us that the Gospel of Thomas is universalism; “the living Kingdom of God” already “burns in us,” and since “the Gospel of Thomas portrays Jesus as a wisdom-loving sage” teaching “that self-knowledge and contemplation of the nature of this world are the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven,” it’s a perfect fit with all who practice contemplative spirituality. You see, this is exactly where all mystics eventually end up from their practice of meditation in an altered state of consciousness, i.e. the very same transcendental meditation lightly sprayed with Christian terminology, which I told you above professing Christians call Contemplative/Centering Prayer.

In closing this, for now, I’ll tell you that St. Paul Denver, United Methodist, Reconciling, and Buddhist Christian InterSpiritual Community is on the very same broad path of progressive Christianity—with its contemplative spirituality—that’s taught, and practiced, in the upgraded Emerging Church 2.0 with its postmodern version of big tent Progressive Christian theology and its corrupt core of universalism:

Welcome to your evangelical nightmare…this spiritual blackhole is part of the United Methodist Church.

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Endnotes:

[1] I refute this Biblically in Understanding The New Spirituality: God Indwells Mankind.

[2] http://tiny.cc/7x0tz, accessed 9/28/10.

ST. PAUL DENVER UNITED METHODIST BUDDHIST-CHRISTIAN INTERSPIRITUAL COMMUNITY

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