PETER SCAZZERO BRINGING ROME HOME TO HIS CHURCH

By Ken Silva pastor-teacher on Oct 1, 2010 in AM Missives, Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism, Current Issues, Features, Southern Baptist Convention

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

Peter Scazzero And Rick Warren Are Spreading Contemplative Spirituality

As part of the online apologetics and discernment work being done here at Apprising Ministries we’ve been covering the upgrading of the sinfully ecumenical Emerging Church aka Emergent Church into a full blown neo-liberal cult—an Emerging Church 2.0—now pushing its new form of postmodern Progressive Christianity as “big tent” Emergence Christianity. Already part of its legacy is creating the current fad of Protestant evangelicals practicing corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) ala Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster—and his spiritual twin Dallas Willard.

I’ve mentioned many times before that this spurious CSM under the quise of Spiritual Formation, with it’s main vehicle of Contemplative/Centering Prayer (CCP)—meditation in an altered state of consciousness—was a core doctrine from the EC’s evil inception. What I’m about to show you here from Peter Scazzero is simply another example of just how far this romanticized version of anti-sola Scriptura CSM has penetrated the mainstream of the church visible, and, what happens when one continues these spurious spiritual practices long enough to anger the Lord.

Earlier I showed you that in SBC Protestant Pastor Rick Warren Double-Minded On The Reformation And Roman Catholicism that, for all intents and purposes, Purpose Driven Pope Rick Warren is about as Protestant as Pope Benedict XVI himself. Then in Rick Warren And Peter Scazzero Up To Monk-ee Business I reminded you that at his conference Radicalis last February at Saddleback Church, which also featured Mark Driscoll, Perry Noble, and Andy Stanley, Warren pronounced his PDL blessing upon an “evangelical” CSM guru by the name of Peter Scazzero.

You might remember that in an email promoting that conference, Chat Live with Radicalis Speaker, Pete Scazzero, Wednesday, December 9 at 11 am pst, Warren told us:

Well, Peter Scazzero is the founder and senior pastor of New Life Fellowship Church:

And, consistent with others that Rick Warren is promoting e.g. Judah Smith, Scazzero also has no problem serving with a rebel against the Word of God like Jacqueline Snape as his Assistant Executive Pastrix:

Scazzero is also using his pastorate to lead people right back into Romish spiritual bondage, of which, the Protestant Reformation freed them through the proper Christian spirituality of sola Scriptura; also really not unlike Rome-loving Rick Warren himself, as you can see in posts like Saddleback Church, Rick Warren, And Spiritual Disciplines and Rick Warren Wants Us To Learn From Henri Nouwen.

Below is guru Scazzero’s:

The Fetid Fruit Of Contemplative Spirituality Would Lead To The Protestant Reformation

You can see now how we’re adding things to the Christian life such as “Sabbath”-keeping, and practices perpetrated within the anitbiblical monastic traditions of apostate Roman Catholicism, like the Daily Office ala Ignatius of Loyola, who was a champion of apostate Roman Catholicism and the founder of the militantly pro-Roman Catholic Church spiritual Gestapo Unit known as the Jesuits.

In addition, Protestant pastor Pete Scazzero has instituted a “Rule” just as we’d see for a Roman Catholic monastic order:

We learn about this Rule Of Life here:

However, this actually doesn’t provide spiritual freedom; but it does openly encourage contemplative, romanticized, Roman Catholic mysticism. The below is from that “rule” written by pretending to be Protestant wannbe monk pastor Pete himself:

You may recall that in Contemplative Spirituality Catalyst Peter Scazzero I told you how CatalystLeader tweeted a link to a video by guru Scazzero who was a speaker at this influential conference within the mainstream of evangelicalism. At the 4:00 mark I pointed out that you’ll hear quasi-monk Scazzero tell us, “For example, next week I’m going for my—I’m going to spend a week with the Trappist monks.” When Scazzero said, “for my,” he was very likely going to say “for my annual weekly retreat.” You see, in his post Four Days with the Trappists: Part 1 (Friar?) Scazzero informed us:

I don’t know if you know that the contemplative Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance (Trappists) of the Roman Catholic Church, so named for their strict adherence to the Rule of St. Benedict, produced one the most revered of all the Golden Buddhas of CSM, Thomas Merton. Merton’s practice of transcendental meditation in an altered state of consciousness, which is that CCP—the Crown Jewel of the CSM I mentioned earlier—had him so whacked spiritually that by the time Merton was tragically electrocuted in 1968 he was far more like the Buddha than the Christ.

If you want to make the time, you can see his nauseating idolatry for yourself from his own diary in Thomas Merton And The Buddhas. Still Scazzero goes on to tell us in the video that he engages in “monastic rhythms in my own life”; hence the reason I’ve called him a monk wannabe, but why not go all the way then pastor Pete? Well actually, you’re about to see that guru Scazzero’s heading further into that direction as we look at the following tweet Wednesday night:

The link then takes is to Three Thoughts That Have Changed My Life by Bill Donaghy of the Roman Catholic organization Theology of the Body Institute, whose job I told you in Peter Scazzero Enjoys Praying Through Apostasy is to act as “The Online Resource For John Paul II’s ‘Theology Of The Body.’” In his post Donaghy, who “is filled with a passion for his [Roman Catholic] faith and dedicated to spreading the joy of the New Evangelization [of the Roman Catholic Church],” shares the usual mush-headedness of mysticism with tumid tripe like:

Well now, God is also a Judge; yeah, but somehow as we dance around mysticism’s man-centered Maypole the mystics never seem get to that, do they Bill? My best guess is God isn’t leaping about and dancing over the toxic theology of a late apostate who dared to blaspheme by allowing himself to be referred to as Holy Father, and usurped the place of God the Holy Spirit claiming to the Vicar of Christ. Perhaps you should meditate on that, eh. O, and by the way, the “seminar” prtending to be Protestant pastor Pete so looks forward to is this one below:

(Online source)

Yes, as you can see, “Protestant” aspiring monk and guru Peter Scazzero is bringing in a Roman Catholic to teach Roman Catholic theology to his *cough* Protestant church. Ah, but the Reformation’s over now; right. Really; we couldn’t find someone who actually believes the Gospel of repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ Name? You know, what the Roman Catholic Church—to this day still anathematizes—salvation is by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in the finished work on the Cross of Christ alone. Seems God has shared His view concerning any “gospel” other than that in Galatians 1:6-9.

*Hint* It’s not a good thing. O, but we all know that monks in their monk-ee business are a special breed of human beings; who through their ascetic spiritual disciplines possess a wholly other-worldly holiness. So well hey, if a monk says it, then we know it’s godly due to their special closeness to God they’ve earned dutifully doing disciplines like good spiritual doobies. Well then, let me leave you with the following words from a man who was a Roman Catholic monk for many a moon; he must be right, after-all, he was monk. ;)

But such is the sorry state of the visible church.

PETER SCAZZERO BRINGING ROME HOME TO HIS CHURCH

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