Daniel Plan News - Dr. Oz and Deepak Chopra Promote Meditation

By Justin Edwards

As thoroughly discussed in Rick Warren's Daniel Plan, New Age, Mysticism, Dr. Oz and More, Rick Warren is leading his Saddleback Church down the path of contemplative spirituality and mysticism. Recently, Dr. Oz invited Deepak Chopra on the Dr. Oz Show to suggest meditation as a means to lose weight. One can only wonder how long it will be when the Saddleback audience will be led to practice meditation just as Dr. Oz's audience was led in a short meditation as seen in the video.

Read about it here and watch (with caution) Deepak Chopra lead the audience in eastern-style meditation:  Rick Warren's Daniel Plan Embraces New Age Spirituality

Warning: Christianity and Yoga Do Not Mix!

By Jason Carlson and Ron Carlson

“Yoga purists are bent out of shape”. This was the headline of a recent article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper. The article explained that traditional Yoga “experts contend that Hindu religious elements are being profaned by fad versions of the ancient practice.”

So, what are these “fad versions” of yoga that are upsetting the Hindu yogis? The article cites as an example the “millions of Americans… practicing yoga to improve flexibility, strengthen muscles and relieve stress.” These 16.5 million American yoga enthusiasts “spend nearly $3 billion annually on classes and products”.

The problem with this, according to the Hindu yogis quoted in the article, is that yoga was never designed to be an exercise, yet alone an exercise “fad”. Rather, yoga is an ancient Hindu religious practice, intended to unite a person’s soul with the impersonal, universal force Hindus call “god”. The Hindu Sanskrit word “yoga” literally means to be yoked or joined in union. And the goal of every Hindu yogi is to use the religious practice of yoga to lose their personality and individuality and to become one with the monistic-pantheistic spiritual force of Hinduism. This is done through Hatha Yoga (the physical disciplines), where one seeks to call up what Hindus say is the Kundalini or spiritual force described as a “coiled white serpent of light” to aid them in their transcendence to impersonal spiritual monism. There should be no doubt about it; yoga is a 2,000 year old Hindu religious practice designed for very specific spiritual and occult purposes.

This Star Tribune article should be a wake-up call to the thousands, if not millions, of Christians who are regularly practicing yoga. And it should be a wake-up call to the hundreds, if not thousands, of Christian churches that have embraced yoga as a regular part of their weekly worship. Too many Christians have erroneously strayed into participating in various forms of this Hindu religious practice. The common claim is that they’re only doing yoga “for its exercise benefits”; or for those aware of its Hindu religious origins, that their yoga meditation is “directed towards Jesus Christ and not the gods of Hinduism”. The fact of the matter is this, God strictly forbids his people from dabbling in the false religious activities of the world.

As you read through Scripture, you will not find one example of God tolerating His people’s participation in pagan religious activities. Rather, over and over again God explicitly condemns this. So, why should we think that just because yoga has some exercise benefits, that God’s standards have now changed? Why should we think that a pagan religious practice, even one that may work, is suddenly acceptable in God’s eyes? Think about it, there are a lot of pagan religious practices that work (witchcraft, sorcery, spiritism, ouija boards, etc.), but we don’t recommend that our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ participate in them. So, why should yoga be any different?

Christians who have mistakenly gotten involved in the practice of yoga need to stop now; there is no excuse for staying involved in a pagan religious activity. And Christian churches that have embraced yoga as a regular part of their worship need to put an end to this and repent; God will not tolerate His people’s participation in pagan religious practices. God calls His people to be set-apart, to be salt and light to the world. How are we being faithful to this calling if we are participating in the rituals of pagan religions?

Minneapolis Star Tribune “Faith & Values” July 30, 2005, p. B5

(From Christian Ministries International)

Not Helping the Suffering (Emergence Christianity)

Ironically, the emerging church who says its main goal is to help the suffering and to help eradicate the world's problems, is not pointing the world to Jesus Christ and His body. Rather it is rejecting the atonement, locking arms with a religion (Catholicism) that teaches we are justified by works rather than by grace alone, embracing mystical practices and altered states of consciousness, and pulling these suffering lost souls further and further away from the only thing that will ever help them--a personal one-on-one relationship with Jesus Christ, who explains very clearly who He is.

--Roger Oakland (Faith Undone, p. 220)

(HT: The Berean Call)

Beyond a Doubt: Contemplative Spirituality = New Age Movement

By Ray Yungen

Before writing my book, A Time of Departing, I made sure I could prove, beyond a doubt, that contemplative prayer had not only slipped into the Christian faith, but also prove it is an integral part of the New Age movement. In fact, New Agers see contemplative prayer as one of their own practices. Why would both New Agers and Christians claim contemplative prayer as their own? Certainly you will not find the New Age movement promoting someone like Francis Schaeffer or Charles Spurgeon, but you will find many instances such as this in which New Age therapist Jacquelyn Small cites contemplative prayer as a gateway to the spirituality to which she belongs. She explains it as:

A form of Christian meditation, its practitioners are trained to focus on an inner symbol that quiets the mind … When practitioners become skilled at this method of meditation, they undergo a deep trance state similar to auto-hypnosis.1

The editors of the magazine New Age Journal have put together a book titled As Above, So Below—which they promote as a handbook on “Paths to Spiritual Renewal,” according to their worldview. Along with chapters on shamanism, goddess worship, and holistic health, there is a chapter devoted to contemplative prayer. In it they openly declare:

Those who have practiced Transcendental Meditation may be surprised to learn that Christianity has its own time-honored form of mantra meditation … Reliance on a mantric centering device had a long history in the mystical canon of Christianity.2

New Age author Tav Sparks lays out an array of doorways in one chapter of his book, The Wide Open Door. Again, along with a variety of occult and Eastern practices we find what Sparks calls Spiritual Christianity. He says, “The good news is that there are some forms of Christianity today that are alive with spiritual power.”3 He then uses a few contemplative prayer advocates as examples.

Perhaps the most compelling example of all is one by a prominent figure in the contemplative prayer movement itself, Tilden Edwards. Edwards is the founder of the prestigious Shalem Institute in Washington D.C.—a center which turns out spiritual directors from its training programs. In his book, Spiritual Friend, Edwards suggests those who practice contemplative prayer and have begun experiencing “spiritual unfolding” and other “unusual experiences,” should turn to a book titled Psychosynthesis in order to understand the “dynamics” at “certain stages.”4 For the Christian, there is a major problem with this advice. The book Edwards recommends is a book written by a world famous occultist, Roberto Assagioli.

These dynamics for certain stages of “spiritual unfolding” may be desirable by those in tune with occultism, but remember, Edwards is seeking to draw Christians into this form of prayer. Edwards himself puts to rest any pretense that this is truly Christian when he openly admits, “This mystical stream [contemplative prayer] is the Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality.”5

In answer to the well-meaning but folly-laden attempts of the Desert Fathers and their spiritual descendants, I must refer to the deep observations of Charles Spurgeon who penned:

Human wisdom delights to trim and arrange the doctrine of the cross into a system more artificial and more congenial with the depraved tastes of fallen nature; instead, however, of improving the gospel carnal wisdom pollutes it, until it becomes another gospel, and not the truth of God at all. All alterations and amendments of the Lord’s own Word are defilements and pollutions.6

(from A Time of Departing, 2nd ed. by Ray Yungen, pp. 44-46)

(HT: Lighthouse Trails Research)

What is Soaking Prayer?

By Justin Edwards

Another form of mystical prayer is called soaking prayer. It is a meditative practice that has no biblical foundation. If you hear this term in your church, it should serve as a red flag that something is amiss, and your church is heading down the heretical mystical pathway - Emergence Christianity loves this stuff. The following articles from Got Questions and Lighthouse Trails Research explain further:

Question: "What is soaking prayer?"

Answer: Since the 1990s there has been an increased focus on mysticism within various segments of Christianity. Bordering on the esoteric, these mystical experiences broaden the division between a "factual faith" and a "felt faith," and threaten to replace sound biblical teaching with emotion-driven response. Soaking prayer is one such mystical activity. It is described as resting in God's presence. This is accomplished by playing some gentle worship songs, either sitting or lying down, and praying short, simple prayers for an extended period of time, but otherwise keeping your mind free of other thoughts. At the point when you sense God's presence through some type of manifestation like tingling skin, a sensation of heat or cold, or even a gentle wind seemingly blowing through your body, you are to just "soak" in that presence.

Although that might sound a little strange to some, it does not immediately come across as being necessarily bad. However, the rule by which we measure our experiences in life is the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and when soaking prayer is examined accordingly, we find that it comes up wanting for biblical support. Nowhere in the Bible can a model of prayer be found that soaking prayer follows.

Prayer in its simplest form in the Bible is calling on the name of the Lord (Genesis 4:26), and in each instance where it is found in Scripture, it is descriptive of communicating with God. Soaking prayer starts that way, but quickly devolves into a trance-like meditative state. This is when soaking prayer ceases to be biblical and becomes more like a New Age practice or something an adherent of Hinduism would participate in.

There is no denying that experiencing the presence of God can be powerful and life changing. It is not the goal of soaking prayer that is biblically off base; it is its methodology. Soaking prayer focuses on obtaining a spiritual high by seeking out the presence of God through mystical exercises. In this it is very similar to ”contemplative prayer” and contemplative spirituality, which are equally unbiblical. Biblical prayer is talking to God with His will in mind (1 John 5:14). A biblically praying believer already understands that God's presence is always with him (Psalm 139:7; Matthew 28:20; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 Thessalonians 4:8; 2 Timothy 1:14), and he doesn’t need to experience any type of physical sensation to prove it.

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And more on soaking prayer from Lighthouse Trails Research:

A Form of Contemplative Prayer

"Soaking prayer is a modern form of contemplative prayer ... People put themselves in an attitude of stillness, focusing on Jesus and open to the Holy Spirit but with no requests or agenda. The aim is to be still in God’s presence, "waste time with Jesus.". The Toronto church sees soaking prayer as one of the main ways in which they encourage people to be open to the Holy Spirit." "SOAKING PRAYER" by Roger Harper

Kundalini Energy & Christian Spirituality

(the same as contemplative or soaking prayer)

Ray Yungen

Kundalini is a Hindu term for the mystical power or force that underlies their spirituality. In Hinduism it is commonly referred to as the serpent power. Philip St. Romain, a substance abuse counselor and devout Catholic lay minister, began his journey while practicing contemplative prayer or resting in the still point, as he called it. What happened to him following this practice should bear the utmost scrutiny from the evangelical community-especially from our leadership. Having rejected mental prayer as "unproductive" he embraced the prayer form that switches off the mind, creating what he described as a mental passivity. What he encountered next underscores my concern with sobering clarity. Read more .... Kundalini Energy and Christian Spirituality

Physical Symptoms and a Demonic Realm

Physical symptoms, which can include things like a tingling sensation, that occur during Soaking Prayer are similar to those experienced during the Kundalini experience, and both are dangerous and can take the practitioner into a demonic realm.

* * * * * * *

"Some of these phenomena are obvious: weeping, cries, exuberant and prolonged expressions of praise, shaking, trembling, calmness, bodily writhing and distortions, falling over (sometimes referred to as 'being slain in the Spirit'), laughter and jumping. Other phenomena are more subtle: slight trembling, fluttering of the eyelids, faint perspiring, a sheen on the face, ripples on the skin, deep breathing..." Wimber also said that people sometimes experience a sense of heaviness or tiredness, weeping or drunkenness." "SOAKING PRAYER" by Roger Harper


BODILY SENSATIONS AND "SOAKING PRAYER"
Kent Philpott

"Some leaders get tingling in their hands, some have their hands get warm when healing is about to occur, some feel "power surges" going through their bodies. Some claim that they see a person's "aura" when soaking a person in prayer. Soaking means pouring out lots of prayer over a person, often with laying on of hands and/or passing the hands over a person. It is reminiscent of what is called "Therapeutic Touch" [Reiki] practiced by new age and alternative medicine enthusiasts. People who believe in soaking prayer get the sense that power is passing through their bodies and actually helping to bring healing, comfort and love. And those who are soaking someone testify that they feel waves coming from the person or going toward the person being prayed for. Certainly something may be felt or experienced, however, is it the Holy Spirit?" TORONTO BLESSING: CHRISTIAN-BASED MAGIC? by Kent Philpott

To fully understand soaking prayer, it is necessary to understand contemplative prayer and its relation to the occult and Hinduism. Read A Time of Departing

Richard Foster and Dallas Willard - Mystical Quakers

RICHARD FOSTER: THE BIBLE A RELIABLE GUIDE DESPITE INCONSISTENCIES

By Ken Silva pastor-teacher on Mar 18, 2010  

Apprising Ministries has long been warning you about the danger of listening to neo-Gnostics like Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster. For years now Foster, along with his his spiritual twin Dallas Willard, has been teaching corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) under the guise of so-called Spiritual Formation. But what we’re actually dealing with is really a romanticized version of Roman Catholic Counter Reformation spirituality.

It’s not evangelical Protestant Christianity; and worse, this highly subjective CSM is truly hostile to the proper Christian spirituality of Sola Scriptura. Here’s a couple of examples from Foster. The first is from a 2005 piece in Quaker Life called The With God Life: An Interview with Richard Foster.  While hawking The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible, which had just come out, the Quaker mystic tells us how the experience-oriented Quakers subjectively approach God “in the gathered silence.”

And while explaining this to us Foster also reveals that he personally does not hold to the verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture:

“The Immanuel Principle is ultimately cosmic,” according to Foster. “We are to reign with God and be with God forever and forever. In the past God worked first directly, then indirectly with his people. Since Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection, God works both directly and indirectly. Quakers in the gathered silence experience God both directly and indirectly.” 

I noticed that the focus on the with-God life circumnavigates inconsistencies found in Scripture and differing opinions about theology. By looking at how God revealed himself to people throughout Biblical history negates all those arguments. “You bypass it all,” stated Foster. “You put your focus on how God has been with a person and what does that say to me, now? What are their strengths and weaknesses and how does that apply to me? It’s all about developing charact — character that goes on into the future where we will reign with God and be with God eternally. (Online source, emphasis mine) 

According to Richard Foster the infallible and inerrant Bible has “inconsistencies” that, as one of the new Gnostics, his “with-God life” helps him ”circumnavigate.” Foster’s practice of CSM supposedly allows him to negate and then ”bypass” all the “differing opinions about theology” because, well obviously, he and his fellow neo-Gnostics like Willard have gleaned superior direct gnosis (means knowledge) from God through their CSM:

Dallas Willard understands Quaker thinking about as well as anybody,” Foster acknowledged. “I had him do a study once on George Fox and his insights just blew me away.” (Online source) 

If you didn’t know, George Fox is the heretical mystic who founded the original Quaker sect and, right in lock-step with classic mysticism which believes God indwells all of mankind, taught of “the Inner Light.” Now we can consider Foster’s teaching in the video below, which is a segment from GET A LIFE!: The With-God Life. In this clip Foster is talking about the “zoe-life [aka with-God life] that we receive from God” which “will accomplish its work; sustaining us, and moving us inevitably forward into Christlikeness.”
However, the “we” Foster is talking about here is not restricted to Christians; as a practicing Quaker, Foster is speaking of “the Inner Light”—which they teach is Christ—within all of mankind as he says:

This is a life! Powerful; irrepressible, self-sustaining, life—a with-God life. You see, this zoe is built into the very DNA of who we are as beings created as the image of God. (:41-1:00)

What you’ll hear Foster teaching is classic Quaker doctrine, which is itself, right in line with classic Gnostic mysticism with its fantasy of “the divine spark” of God within all of mankind. [1] Since this isn’t the subject of this piece I’ll simply tell you that in John 14:6 Jesus tells us that He is zoe and the Bible teaches one receives the gift of zoe [aka eternal life] is given only by God’s grace alone; through faith alone, in the finished work on the Cross of Christ Jesus alone. In other words, by believing the Gospel of repentance and forgiveness of sins in Christ’s name.

Concerning our topic of Foster’s low view of Scripture, after talking about how supposedly this with-God life “flows from God through scripture and into the thirsty wasteland of the human soul,” at 7:09 into the video the Quaker mystic talks “very specifically about the role of the Bible in all of this.” First he sets up, and then knocks down, a couple of straw men, i.e. things those of us who adhere to Sola Scriptura are not actually teaching. Afterward Foster says:

Let me share with you what the Bible is. The Bible is a most reliable guide into this zoe life. You see, the Bible is God’s book; no one owns it, but God. And God has so superintended the writing of Scripture that it serves as a most reliable guide for our own spiritual formation. So you see, the purpose of the Bible is, a most reliable guide into the zoe life that God intends for you and for me. (8:20-9:10)

Right in line with classic Quakerism, and what he said above in the aforementioned interview, Quaker mystic Richard Foster has just told us that his experience in CSM will trump what Scripture says because it’s merely ”a most reliable guide”; but for these neo-Gnostics, the Bible simply is not the most reliable guide as in the proper Christian spirituality of Sola Scriptura. Those following people like Richard Foster had better wake up soon…

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Endnotes:
1. I refute this idea biblically in Understanding The New Spirituality: God Indwells Mankind.

See also:

CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY OF RICHARD FOSTER ROOTED IN THE EASTERN DESERT AND THOMAS MERTON
“CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINE” BY RICHARD FOSTER AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THEOLOGICAL ERROR
“INWARD JOURNEY” ESPOUSED BY RICHARD FOSTER IS A FORM OF DIVINATION
IS DALLAS WILLARD A CHRISTIAN?
CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY/MYSTICISM (CSM) OF SPIRITUAL FORMATION IS RECKLESS FAITH
THE TERMINOLOGY TRAP OF “SPIRITUAL FORMATION”
9 MARKS: INTERVARSITY PRESS SEEMS ADRIFT

More on the Labyrinth from LHTR

LABYRINTHS,  Prayer Paths That Promote the Occult 
 

WHAT EXACTLY IS A LABYRINTH? 



[See more pictures of labyrinths.]
 

According to the international Labyrinth Society it is "a single path or unicursal tool for personal, psychological and spiritual transformation. Labyrinths are thought to enhance right brain activity."

Don't be fooled!

The labyrinth is just another way to perform contemplative or centering prayer in which all paths supposedly
lead to God.
 

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"Within the world of the New Age and the occult, initiation is the principle key used in advancing the student of mysticism along the path of occult learning."
 
The Labyrinth: A Walk to Life or 

A Walk to Death Steve Muse - Eastern Regional Watch
 

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The Labyrinth Journey: Walking the Path to Fulfillment? By Carl Teichrib - September 2005 Paradoxically, while the evangelical Christian community talks about "spiritual warfare" and "putting on the full amour of God," many of these same churches can be found embracing that which they claim to counter. In seeking relevancy, we have become dangerously "experiential" in nature, and old forms of mysticism are becoming center-pieces in "experiences of faith." The labyrinth prayer-walk, which follows a single winding path to a central location, is a case in point. Primarily jump-started by a UK-based Christian movement in alternative spiritual expressions and by an influential San Francisco cathedral, denominations around the world are embracing labyrinths as a viable part of the "spiritual journey." But are labyrinths part of the Christian encounter, as suggested by the third introductory quote above? Read entire article...

Labyrinth Locator Find out where labyrinths are in your state - perhaps in your home town. The numbers are growing daily.

"Programs and practices rife with occult methodologies and techniques have been in the works at churches and youth ministries around the country: Taize, Lectio Divina, The Labyrinth (prayer walk), Renovare, guided imagery, Walk to Emmaus, Cursillo, Centering Prayer, Ignatian Awareness Examen, The Jesus Prayer, and The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, to name but a handful." Tom McMahon - The Berean Call

"Walking the labyrinth has become a popular spiritual exercise across the country and around the world. I first read of it in Leadership Magazine, a Christian publication and became a bit concerned; since looking into it further I'm definitely concerned."
Mike Oppenheimer of Let Us Reason Ministries

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"Walking a Labyrinth is a personal meditative activity and can be understood as a path of contemplation or prayer for people in seeking the Divine or seeking peace without regard to any particular religious tradition."—The Hingham Journal, 9/04

Research Tools for Labyrinth (These are not Christian sites)

Labyrinths Labyrinth Pictures Sacred Geometry

"Is the labyrinth inherently New Age or can orthodox Christians embrace it as an acceptable tool for prayer and meditation? The labyrinth has its origins in ancient pagan rituals, most famously at Knossos in ancient Crete, where one was located in the basement of the famous palace where the man-eating Minotaur was said to roam. The mythic hero Theseus journeyed through the labyrinth to slay the creature, which had a human body and the head of a bull. Theseus’s double-headed ax was called a "labrys," hence the name. Other labyrinths in ancient cultures were tied to fertility rites and goddess worship." Maze Craze Labyrinths Latest Fad for Spiritual Seekers by Mark Tooley

More on Christian Meditation - LHTR

Contemplative Prayer – Does Our Intent Justify the Method?

March 16th, 2010 | Author: Lighthouse Trails author

If our intent is to find Jesus, is the method of going about this acceptable, even if the method might happen to be a Buddhist meditation style. Brian Edgar, Director of Theology and Public Policy for the Australian Evangelical Alliance believes it is when he states:

Sometimes people suggest that certain methods (such as meditative, contemplative or imaginative prayer) are not Christian. But the key question is about the intention or the focus involved, rather than simply the technique. If the aim is to focus upon the Lord Jesus Christ through the presence of the Spirit then it is Christian. If a prayer is focused at something or someone else then it is not. It is really just the same as preaching. Speaking and listening can be a thoroughly spiritual exercise. But non-Christians also speak and listen, and what makes something a Christian exercise is the content rather than the method. (Edgar, Spirituality)

Panentheist and contemplative Tilden Edwards, of Shalem Institute would agree with Edgar when he states:

In the wider ecumenism of the Spirit being opened for us today, we need to humbly accept the learnings of particular Eastern religions … What makes a particular practice Christian is not its source, but its intent … this is important to remember in the face of those Christians who would try to impoverish our spiritual resources by too narrowly defining them. If we view the human family as one in God’s spirit, then this historical cross-fertilization is not surprising … selective attention to Eastern spiritual practices can be of great assistance to a fully embodied Christian life.(ATOD)

Ray Yungen elaborates:

The premise here is that in order to really know God, mysticism must be practiced-the mind has to be shut down or turned off so that the cloud of unknowing where the presence of God awaits can be experienced. Practitioners of this method believe that if the sacred words are Christian, you will get Christ-it is simply a matter of intent even though the method is identical to occult and Eastern practices. So the question we as Christians must ask ourselves is, “Why not? Why shouldn’t we incorporate this mystical prayer practice into our lives?” The answer to this is actually found in Scripture.

While certain instances in the Bible describe mystical experiences, I see no evidence anywhere of God sanctioning man-initiated mysticism. Legitimate mystical experiences were always initiated by God to certain individuals for certain revelations and was never based on a method for the altering of consciousness. In Acts 11:5, Peter fell into a trance while in prayer. But it was God, not Peter, who initiated the trance and facilitated it. By definition, a mystic, on the other hand, is someone who uses rote methods in an attempt to tap into their inner divinity. Those who use these methods put themselves into a trance state outside of God’s sanction or protection and thus engage in an extremely dangerous approach. Besides, nowhere in the Bible are such mystical practices prescribed. For instance, the Lord, for the purpose of teaching people a respect for His holiness and His plans, instated certain ceremonies for His people (especially in the Old Testament).

Nonetheless, Scripture contains no reference in which God promoted mystical practices. The gifts of the Spirit spoken of in the New Testament were supernatural in nature but did not fall within the confines of mysticism. God bestowed spiritual gifts without the Christian practicing a method beforehand to get God’s response….

[Y]ou can call a practice by any other name, but it is the same practice, hence the same results. For example, if you were to jump off a cliff with the intent to fly saying the word “fly, fly, fly” as you jump off and someone else jumped off the same cliff with the intent to hit the bottom saying “fall, fall, fall” as he jumps off, in either case both will hit the bottom. Unfortunately, this is exactly what is happening in contemplative prayer, although the intent may be to honor Christ. (A Time of Departing)

The Cross versus the "Higher Self"

By Ray Yungen 

The New Age and Christianity definitely clash on the answer to the question of human imperfection. The former [the New Age] espouses the doctrine of becoming self-realized and united with the universe, which they see as God but in reality is the realm of familiar spirits. On the other hand, the Gospel that Christians embrace offers salvation to humanity through grace (unmerited favor). Romans 3:24 boldly states: “… being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” In Romans 6:23 we read: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This gift is not earned or given as a reward for earnest or good intentions as Scripture clearly states:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

This Scripture that tackles the issue of pride sharply distinguishes all of man’s religions from Christianity. Religion persuades us that man is innately good and, therefore, can earn his way to heaven through human perfectibility or, better yet, through the realization of his own divinity. Christianity emphatically states the opposite view that man needs to humbly recognize his own sinfulness and fallibility, and consequently needs salvation through grace.

The Holy Spirit, through the Scripture, convicts the sinner of his sinful and lost condition and then presents to the despairing and repentant man God’s solution–salvation through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the Cross: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7) and then:

[I]f you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9-10)

Salvation is entirely a gift of grace bestowed on whoever believes in Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross as both God and man. Consequently, we must receive Him as Lord and Savior, understanding that it is by grace and grace alone that we are made acceptable in Christ before a holy God. Justification is God’s gift to the believer. This saving faith, also a demonstration of God’s grace, is more than an intellectual belief in Jesus’ death on the Cross but involves committing and entrusting one’s life to Jesus as both Lord and Savior–Christ’s going to the Cross was a finished work, and we as believers are now complete in Him. Nothing else can be added to this. How totally opposite from New Age thinking is God’s plan of salvation!

It all comes down to the preaching of the higher self versus the preaching of the Cross. New Agers may say God is synonymous with a person’s higher self, and the experience of God can only be discovered by way of meditation. However, the Christian admits his or her sinfulness before a Holy God and remembers he is saved only by the grace and mercy of God through the sacrificial shedding of Christ’s blood for his sins.

The message of Jesus Christ reaches out to the lost human race with the love of God who sacrificed His only begotten Son for the Swami Muktanandas of the world. The Bible teaches that man has an inherently rebellious and ungodly nature (which is evident), and his ways are naturally self-centered and evil in the sight of God. The Bible teaches that God is not indifferent to us. The sacrifice of Christ for the ungodly to reconcile us to God reveals the Lord’s love toward Man.

This explains why Christianity must be steadfast on these issues. If a belief system does not teach the preaching of the Cross, then it is not “the power of God” (I Corinthians 1:18). If other ways are correct, “then Christ died in vain,” rendering His shed blood unnecessary and immaterial (Galatians 2:21).

Because of this conflict, we can safely assume that Christianity is the most formidable obstacle to the New Age, standing like a bulwark against this tidal wave of meditation teachers and practical mystics. But, incredibly, many of the most successful practical mystics are appearing from within Christendom itself. Ironically, instead of stemming the momentum of New Age spirituality, it is our own churches that may very well be the decisive catalysts to propel this movement into prominence. Certain spiritual practices are becoming entrenched in our churches that, like an iceberg, seem beautiful and impressive on the surface but in reality will cause severe damage and compromise of truth.(from A Time of Departing, pp.24-26)

More on Contemplative Prayer as "Christian" Meditation

CONTEMPLATIVE/CENTERING PRAYER AS “CHRISTIAN” MEDITATION

By Ken Silva pastor-teacher on Aug 31, 2008  

At Apprising Ministries you will likely hear me talking more about the new spirituality which has now slithered its way deep into postevangelicalism from its den in the Emerging Church. The fact is this neopagan Gnostic spirituality is most pointedly on display in the misguided mysticism of the Emergent Church with its reimagined postliberal theology. Consider this dubious choice made not long ago by a couple of notable pastors in the EC who practice this new spirituality Seeds of Compassion Event: Rob Bell, Doug Pagitt with Dalai Lama.

And yes, I am fully aware that people involved in this highly schismatic movement prefer to be known as the Emerging Church, but no longer emerging, this cultic group has now fully emerged from the shadows on the outskirts of the American Christian Church right into the heart of the rapidly apostatizing evangelical camp itself.

…but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. (Psalm 106:35)

Via Contemplativa

The most dangerous aspect of the new spirituality is this idea propounded by the Emergent Church of supposed “spiritual disciplines,” which they insist must be performed in order to more fully “experience” God. Space does not allow a discussion of “the deeper life” that orthodox Christians such as A.W. Tozer would speak of, but we are clearly not talking about the same thing—nor am I necessarily endorsing it. Here I am simply discussing the heretical practices culled from so-called “Christian” mystics that they in turn adopted from Eastern religions and then passed off as consistent with the historic orthodox Christian faith.

Emergent Church theologian Tony Jones, National Coordinator for Emergent Village, having written extensively on the subject is to be considered a primary source concerning these messed-up mystic practices. In his book The Sacred Way (SW), Jones provides us with a list of what he refers to as “Contemplative Approaches to Spirituality.” These spiritual disciplines/practices would be: “Silence and Solitude, Sacred Reading, The Jesus Prayer, Centering Prayer, Meditation, The Ignatian Examen, Icons, Spiritual Direction, and The Daily Office.” (5)

It should also be noted that those who are following blind guides in the Emerging Church will insist that these areas are not all the same. However, the truth is that most of these practices are indeed aligned with what Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster—one of the leading “authorities” on this Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM)—refers to as “The Inward Disciplines” in his classic book on the subject Celebration of Discipline (CoD) (12). In fact with “Silence and Solitude,” “The Jesus Prayer,” and “Centering/Contemplative Prayer,” we are now involved with what even Foster himself calls “The Discipline of Meditation” (15).

Here is the most important point to understand with all the talk in the evangelical community today about Contemplative/Centering Prayer: The practice of this type of meditation is virtually identical to that practiced in Eastern religions such as Zen Buddhism and the transcendental meditation of Hinduism. This becomes readily apparent as Jones tells us:

As a Christian practice [meditation is] inextricably bound up with…silence, the Jesus Prayer, and Centering Prayer,… Further, it’s linked with the recent popularity in the West of Eastern religions, resulting in books with such titles as Christian Zen and Christian Yoga. While this makes some Christians nervous, others revel in the fact that God is revealed in all truth, no matter the religion of origin.
(SW, 79,80, emphasis mine)

Since Jones himself has now introduced the book Christian Zen (CZ) by the late William Johnston, a priest of apostate Roman Catholicism who wrote “numerous articles on Zen and Christianity, [and] on mysticism East and West,” let us turn to it. In this book Johnston “suggests techniques of Zen meditation” will “heighten Christian meditation.” In fact, Johnson “discovered in Zen a pool of quiet energy which transforms the Western intellectualized experience of meditation into a full-bodied, intuitive communion with God” (front flap). Johnson further enlightens us as he says:

Turning to Christian mystics,…[h]ere are men and women whose meditation (or contemplation) is more akin to that of the Zen Masters… [Thomas] Merton, too, belongs to the same tradition, and that is why he has such sympathy for Zen. (25)

Foster, who considers Merton to be one of his own mentors, then tells us what happens in this meditation “is that we create the emotional and spiritual space which allows Christ to construct a sanctuary in the heart.” And Foster is telling the truth when he writes that meditation “opens the door.” (CoD, 20) It is what inevitably comes through that open door which is the concern of this particular work. As we progress with this you will come to understand the dangerous spiritual reality about what Foster tells us concerning the eventual effect that arrived at through the meditation “of this kind [which] transforms the inner personality.” Indeed, it does.

West Meets East In Meditation

In CoD Foster does make the attempt to distance his brand of “Christian” meditation from Zen and Hinduism when he says:

there are those who assume it is synonymous with the concept of meditation centered in Eastern religions. In reality, the two ideas stand worlds apart. Eastern meditation is an attempt to empty the mind; Christian meditation is an attempt to fill the mind.” (Ibid., 20)

The problem is this just isn’t true as you have seen from CZ and from what Tony Jones himself admits in SW. As a matter of fact on page 73 of SW Jones mentions that M. Basil Pennington is “one of the Trappist monks who has developed the modern practice of Centering Prayer.” Among the “resources” that Jones recommends is Pennington’s book Centering Prayer: Renewing An Ancient Christian Prayer Form (CP). You will also find it interesting to note that in CoD Foster personally recommends another book called The Living Testament: The Essential Writings of Christianity Since the Bible, which just happens to be edited by Pennington and one Alan Jones—another name that should be familiar to those following this work.

We should find it of concern, as well as, quite revealing in CP as Pennington tells us that in “recent years” there has been “a significant number” of people who have been “turning to the East” in search of wisdom.” (15) In Pennington’s view this is a return to the ways of early Christian mystics who also headed “toward the East in search of wisdom.” While discussing the meaning of the words meditation and contemplation it becomes obvious that what Pennington writes about in CP is the same type of meditation as that practiced by what he refers to as “our brothers and sisters in the Hindu tradition.” (20)

The Christian has no “brothers and sisters” among practicing Hindus and/or Muslims who are faithful to the Qur’an, although you will also hear this kind of spiritual adultery coming out of the mouths of mystics like Emergent Evangelical Prophet Tony Campolo and his disciple Shane Claibourne, a hugely popular icon of the Emergent Church:

Islam is much more gracious towards evangelical Christians who are faithful to the New Testament, than Christians are towards Islamic people who are faithful to the Koran. The Islamic faith will ask, “Are you faithful to the book that you have?” Mohammad was very understanding that there was great truth in Christianity. He differed with us in that he felt he had a more complete truth, and Islam would hold to that, but Mohammad contended that we would ultimately be judged in terms of the truth that we had at our disposal.

I think there are Muslim brothers and sisters who are willing to say, “You live up to the truth as you understand it. I will live up to the truth as I understand it, and we will leave it up to God on judgment day.” (Online source)

This kind of universal foolishness is the direct result of the deception which comes when one continually practices this unbiblical form of transcendental meditation for the Christian (see—2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).

The Influence Of Thomas Merton

So it should not come as a great surprise then as I show you that this form of Centering/Contemplative Prayer, or so-called “Christian” meditation, really is nothing more than transcendental meditation lightly sprayed with Christian terminology. This is why there is such a grave danger in the practice of this neopagan Gnostic contemplative spirituality/mysticism which has been spreading like a spiritual wildfire through the Church of our Lord for a few years now. And perhaps the most prominent purveyor of this so-called “Christian” mysticism is Richard Foster, whom I mentioned earlier. A member of the The Religious Society of Friends (the Quakers) Foster is quite familiar with mysticism and very well versed in “the silence” aka meditation, and none other than Emerging Guru Brian McLaren himself calls Foster a “key mentor” in the Emergent Church.

In his fine series called Mysticism, which I highly recommend, Dr. Gary Gilley did great job whittling down this massive subject to its most important elements. Regarding Richard Foster’s work Gilley brings out just how deeply Foster was influenced by mystic monk Thomas Merton:

Foster cites and/or quotes Merton on at least nine separate occasions in Celebration of Discipline, yet Merton was not a Christian as far as we can tell. He was a twentieth-century Roman Catholic who had so immersed himself in Buddhism that he claimed he saw no contradiction between Buddhism and Christianity and intended to become as good a Buddhist as he could.

But despite his doctrinal views and New Age leanings Foster considers Merton’s Contemplative Prayer, “A must book,” and says of Merton, “[He] has perhaps done more than any other twentieth-century figure to make the life of prayer widely known and understood.” Merton wrote, “If only [people] could see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed…. I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.” ( Online source )

Mystic Monk Merton’s Message

The above quote from Merton comes from his Conjectures Of A Guilty Bystander. In this book Merton also denies the doctrine of original sin when he says at, “the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth.” (158) Here’s some more information on the theology that Thomas Merton “received” as a result of his years of practicing transcendental meditation. The following comes from Merton’s Message off The Thomas Merton Foundation a website favorable to this deceased heretic:

He takes people into deep places within themselves… At the core of Thomas Merton’s spiritual writings is the search for the “true self” and our need for relationship with God, other people and all of creation… He concludes that we must discover God as the center of our being to which all things tend…

Merton’s interests were prophetic,…he foresaw…the source of the problem [we face] is that man “has become alienated from his inner selfwhich is the image of God.” [The solution] requires a social conversion,… The first step in this turning is a transformation of consciousness and Thomas Merton is a preeminent guide to us in this first step…[and] a spiritual master whose influence crosses generations and religious affiliations.

For more on “true self” I refer you to The Real Truth About Your Evil “True Self” but of course Merton’s mystic musings would cross “religious affiliations”; certainly there is no mention of the inherent sin nature of man, or the need for being regenerated, or of the Cross of Christ as the only real solution for mankind’s sin. Because what we have just read from a website promoting Merton’s ill-fated works could be agreed uopn by virtually anyone from any spiritual background, and this is precisely my point. It is exactly this same message of New Age spirituality that comes through the “transformation of consciousness” to all those who practice this transcendental meditation long enough to anger God until He finally abandons them to their reprobate mind. (see—Romans 1:18-32)

Contemplative Spirituality And Mystic Meditation

What is happening here with men like Richard Foster and others who teach and practice this neopagan Gnostic new spirituality is they are equivocating with words. The goal of CSM, which as I have shown you is actually meditation for the “Christian” every bit as consistent as that practiced in Zen, is clearly spelled out here in Harper’s Encyclopedia of Mystical & Paranormal Experience. Meditation, we are told, consists of any “of the various disciplines of mind and body that enable one to achieve higher states of consciousness.” And further, exactly as in Merton’s mystic Message above, we see “the goal toward which [meditation] is applied is the transformation of consciousness.” (355, emphasis mine)

And it is precisely this “transformation of consciousness” that is a major source of concern in my work right now at AM. What makes the Emergent Church so very dangerous to your youth spiritually is that we have quite questionable “theologians” like Foster, Tony Jones, and Brian McLaren—as well as practioners and 
Emerging Church pastors like Rob Bell and his friend Doug Pagitt—molding the impressionable minds of young people who are simply not equipped to see through this non-Christian neopagan CSM. For that matter it seems we have very few leaders within the evangelical camp itself who appear capable of recognizing just how deeply the Devil has penetrated with his repainted Gnosticism into the Church of our Lord all over again.

In this generation it has become critical that the American Christian Church repent of virtually ignoring the spiritual side of our relationship with the one true and living God as revealed in the Bible. Men and women, to be a born again Christian—by God’s grace alone; through faith alone; in Christ alone—is to be indwelt by God Himself. And since Jesus of Nazareth—the LORD God Almighty Himself in human flesh—explains that God is Spirit, then it logically follows we are going to have to be involved in a spiritual life. Just as we see people “possessed” by demons (fallen spirits) in the Gospels, so it is that we who have been regenerated are to be possessed ourselves by God (see—John 14:17; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 5:18).

And the sooner we get over our fear of this the better, because what has happened now in our pagan “postmodern” nation is that some people have been quicken by God to become spiritually hungry for more of Him, which is a good thing. However, at the same time Satan has now rushed with his new spirituality into this vacuum of proper spirituality rooted in Scripture now created by a dead orthodoxy within much of the contemporary Christian Church in America. Tragically this has now given rise to a postevangelicalism and the Emerging Church, which are both rooted in a neo-orthodox and highly subjective “experience interprets Scripture” approach to the Bible that has rapidly coalesced into what is becoming the Ecumenical Church of Deceit.

See also:

ROB BELL IN A NUTSHELL: CONTEMPLATIVE MYSTICISM
RICHARD FOSTER AND GNOSTIC MYSTICISM
THOMAS MERTON AND THE BUDDHAS
EMERGENT CHURCH: DAN KIMBALL AND LECTIO DIVINA
EMERGENT WOLVES ENTER YOUR SHEEP PENS THROUGH YOUTH GROUPS
Rob Bell’s Recommended Author Interviews Neale Donald Walsch

What is Meditation?

By Justin Edwards

We previously discussed the New Age and contemplative spirituality. Because different types of meditation play such a significant role in these movements, it is important to lay out the basis of what is known as "mantra meditation".

Got Questions says the following about meditation:

Christian meditation has nothing to do with practices that have Eastern mysticism as their foundation. Such practices include lectio divina, transcendental meditation, and many forms of what is called contemplative prayer. These have at their core a dangerous premise that we need to “hear God’s voice,” not through His Word, but through personal revelation through meditation. Some churches are filled with people who think they are hearing a “word from the Lord,” often contradicting one another and therefore causing endless divisions within the body of Christ. Christians are not to abandon God’s Word, which is “God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). If the Bible is sufficient to thoroughly equip us for every good work, how could we think we need to seek a mystical experience instead of or in addition to it?

In his book, A Time of Departing, Ray Yungen explains the essence of mantra meditation:


Mantra Meditation

"The meditation most of us are familiar with involves a deep, continuous thinking about something. But New Age meditation does just the opposite. It involves ridding oneself of all thoughts in order to still the mind by putting it in the equivalent of pause or neutral. A comparison would be that of turning a fast-moving stream into a still pond. When meditation is employed by damming the free flow of thinking, it holds back active thought and causes a shift in consciousness. This condition is not to be confused with daydreaming, where the mind dwells on a subject. New Age meditation works as a holding mechanism until the mind becomes thoughtless, empty and silent.

"The two most common methods used to induce this thoughtless state are breathing exercises, where attention is focused on the breath, and a mantra, which is a repeated word or phrase. The basic process is to focus and maintain concentration without thinking about what you are focusing on. Repetition on the focused object is what triggers the blank mind.

"Since mantras are central to New Age meditation, it is important to understand a proper definition of the word. The translation from Sanskrit is man, meaning to think and tra, meaning to be liberated from. Thus, the word literally means to escape from thought. By repeating the mantra, either out loud or silently, the word or phrase begins to lose any meaning it once had. The conscious thinking process is gradually tuned out until an altered state of consciousness is achieved. But this silence is not the final objective; its attainment is only a means to an end. What that end entails was aptly described by English artist Vanora Goodhart after she embarked on the practice of zen meditation. She recounted:

[A] light began seeping through my closed eyelids, bright and gentle at first, but growing more and more intense … there was a great power and strength in this Light … I felt I was being drawn upwards and in a great and wonderful rush of power that rose eventually to a crescendo and bathed me through and through with glorious, burning, embracing Light.

"Such dynamic experiences as this are what New Age mysticism is really all about … not just believing in some doctrine or a faith that is supported by some creed but rather a close personal contact with a powerful Presence. The renowned occultist Dion Fortune acknowledged: 'shifting the consciousness is the key to all occult training.' In other words, meditation is the gateway to the 'light' Goodhart experienced. The ultimate objective of the meditation effort lies in the concept called the higher self. This is thought to be the part of the individual linked to the divine essence of the Universe, the God part of man. The goal is to become attuned with the higher self, thus facilitating the higher self's emergence into the physical realm bringing the practitioner under the guidance and direction of God.

"This connection is referred to in New Age circles as: awakening, transformation, enlightenment, self-realization, cosmic consciousness and superconsciousness. This is also why an interchangeable term for New Age is metaphysics. Metaphysics means that which is beyond the physical realm (the unseen realm) and being intimately connected to those powers not perceived by the normal five senses."


—Ray Yungen, A Time of Departing