Showing posts with label labyrinth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label labyrinth. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Stations of the Cross and the Emerging Church
By Justin Edwards
As we near Resurrection Sunday in remembrance of the price paid by the Savior to atone for our sins and His glorious resurrection from the grave, it is important to recognize the trappings of ancient rituals of which many are entering evangelical churches through Emergence Christianity. One of such religious traditions are Catholocism's Stations of the Cross, which seek to engage the senses in order to draw closer to God.
This religious experience is subjective and holds no biblical support for its practice. Born-again Christians do not need such mystical props of candles, incense, static, and tangible "things" to "experience God. We are to "encounter" God through worship, His Word, and prayer - all of which are found in Scripture - not man-made traditions.
The material found at this Lighthouse Trails Research link gives a brief description of this practice and some examples to follow. The most dangerous aspect of this ritual is that a non-believer can go through these stations and come away with an "experience from God", and falling into deception that this subjective experience was a genuine encounter God and one that gives them a false hope. There is no salvation in these mystical methods of "worship". Salvation comes by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone - and absolutely everything we need to come to saving faith comes from the Word of God ALONE.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
More on the Labyrinth from LHTR
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.
"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
The Labyrinth Journey: 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...Walking the Path to Fulfillment? By Carl Teichrib - September 2005 |
"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
"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) |
"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
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The Spiritual Labyrinth - Mike Ratliff
By Mike Ratliff
Back in 2005-2006 as I attempted to understand the Purpose Driven paradigm as my old church became devoured by it, I did so that I could clearly show the leadership there that they were being deceived. What I ran up against, however, was a leadership of mostly very new believers who had their minds completely made up and would not listen. I struggled for many years since that time with coming to terms with this many-headed monster. Over the last year or so the picture has become much more clear as the corrupt roots of Purpose Driven/Seeker Sensitivity are the very same ones from which Emergence Christianity has sprung, which is the Leadership Network. The visible church in our time has a “timid tolerance” for everything that calls itself “Christian.” Once solid looking “leaders” are still accepted and protected by their sycophants even as they reveal the corrupt roots of apostasy in how they handle the the Word of God. In all of this, many others and I have been trying to filter through the maze of paradoxes and relationships in all of this so we could address it as one or even just a few basic errors. However, this deception is actually one very complex spiritual labyrinth as Ken Silva shows us here.
We must never stop contending for and defending the truth even if that means the deceived perceive us as mean, unloving, and divisive. These are the spiritually blind who, because of that blindness, are lost in the labyrinth. Their feet are not on the solid ground of Christ, but on the sinking sand of false hope, false faith, false prophets, and false teachers. The following is an excerpt from Ken’s post to which I linked above.
In the Apprising Ministries post Philip Clayton With “Big Tent” Christianity In The Emerging Church I reminded you that the Emerging Church (EC) was a Trojan Horse taken inside mainstream evangelicalism; and further, at its corrupt core the EC has always been an existential rebellion against the final authority of the Bible i.e. a rejection of the proper Christian spirituality of Sola Scriptura. I also told you I fully realize that what I’m covering here concerning the EC, as well as the Purpose Driven/Seeker Driven camp, very likely appears to be a theological maze.
Again, you’re quite correct; it is. That is precisely a major strategy right now of these seducing spirits sowing their doctrines of demons; they are weaving them into a veritable spiritual labyrinth. As I said before, Jesus does warn us — “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold” (Matt. 24:10). That has zero to do with the Left Behind series; regardless of eschatological beliefs, I am warning you that Satan’s goal right now is to unleash a tsunami of heresies, which are very fine-tuned, and then aimed precisely at areas where the visible church can be easily divided.
When I read that the other day it was as if a dark tunnel or passage that I was traversing in search of the truth suddenly became floodlit with a piercing light that burnt through every shadow of deceit. Ken is right. The masses of deceived in the visible church seem to be all around us, but be assured my brethren, God has His own who are not blinded by the tsunami of heresies. This is true not because of their wisdom or understanding or knowledge, but because God is preserving them. If you are seeing the truth and know what we are saying here is true then praise the Lord and thank Him with your all because He is keeping you from being swallowed by the deception. In this, stop listening to those preachers and teachers who prove they are false with their error. Stop being timid about confronting error! It matters not what the unregenerate do to us in this life. What matters is eternity. How we stand for the truth here and how we contend with our all for Christ and His gospel in this life has everything to do with how we are received by our Lord when we stand before Him to give an account.
The early church dealt with false prophets and teachers. The Apostle Peter gave the Church a detailed description of false teachers in 2 Peter 2:1-22. Let us look at this carefully because our enemy has not changed and neither has his methods as well as the characteristics of his minions who serve him.
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (2 Peter 2:1-3 ESV)
It is as if Peter wrote a description of our own time here. Never forget my brethren, the greatest sin of those who bring in destructive heresies is misrepresentation of the truth and, from that, the resultant deception. Nothing is more wicked than to profess to preach the truth from God, and, within that profession, claim to be one whose ministry has been the cause of the salvation of untold numbers of souls when, in reality, these evil people speak for Satan himself to the damnation of souls (cf. Deuteronomy 13:1-18; 18:20; Jeremiah 23; Ezekiel 13; Matthew 7:15; 23:1-36; 24:4, 5; Romans 16:17; 2 Corinthians 11:13, 14; Galatians 3:1, 2; 2 Timothy 4:3). Never forget my brethren, one of the first and most deceptive tactics of defense of a false prophet or teacher is, “look how many souls have been saved in his or her ministry so why are you attacking them like this?” How can any of us know by just looking at numbers how many are truly in Christ or if they are merely in the same dark deception as their leaders?
This is why our measuring rod of authenticity for a prophet or teacher is their handling of the Word of God. It is not based on emotional arguments. It is not based on feelings. It is not based on numbers. No, it is on how subjected he or she is to Sola Scriptura and how they handle it in their ministries.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. (2 Peter 2:4-10a ESV)
Here we see that God is allowing these false preachers and teachers to fill up the cup of His wrath especially for them. The more they do evil, the more full the cups become. Do not believe the lies that God is not to be feared. Oh yes He is! The following passage is a direct quote made by our Lord Jesus Christ about this very thing.
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:24-28 ESV)
As we read these two passages, it should fill us with a deep desire to stand firm and fear not what these evil people and their defenders do or say about us or do to our ministries. Has your name been maligned lately for telling the truth in the face of lies and heresies? Then this passage is for you.
Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. (2 Peter 2:10b-16 ESV)
If you have ever done battle with those who are totally blind to the heresies that are consuming them then you know how well this passage describes them. Say the truth about a beloved false teacher and watch out! They have their own concept of the truth, which is not God’s truth, but is one that is based entirely in humanism or philosophy or fairness. God’s Sovereignty is an alien concept to them. Everything is about a false unity based on not offending anyone, that is, unless you rock the boat by telling the truth. Then, they will most certainly unleash their wrath on you and their rules about not being offensive will be applied to everyone except you. The rights of free speech only extend to those they agree with.
These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” (2 Peter 2:17-22 ESV)
Here we have the perfect description of the professing Christian leader who is now apostate. They are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. Worthless! They teach and preach nothing but the things of man pretending it has spiritual worth, but it has none. Their teachings promise transformation, but they ignore passages like Romans 12:1-2 and send their disciples to learn Spiritual Formation. This passage is not a critique of leaders losing their salvation, because that is impossible, but is rhetorical and shows the utter emptiness of those who professed to be in Christ and became preachers and teachers only to show their disingenuousness by apostatizing and proving it with the mishandling of God’s Word and leading their people to follow them into darkness and corruption.
This spiritual labyrinth is deception. It sucks in those who believe they are following Christ, but all they are following is man-made Jesus that is of the devil. Many once solid looking spiritual leaders are now showing the cracks of disingenuousness by compromising with the leaders of those setting up this labyrinth. I see some I still admire making friends in its leadership and am puzzled. I pray they do not get too close. I pray they are there to preach the truth into the darkness, but I contend that we cannot make partnerships with the devil.
Be ye bold, Holy and separate my brethren!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Monday, March 15, 2010
The Labyrinth in Contemplative Spirituality
By Justin Edwards
This past Wednesday night my wife and I went to visit dear friends at the hospital who just welcomed their first precious baby into the world. As we were leaving the hospital, my wife pointed to a sign and said "Look." I took a quick read and was taken aback, as the sign said "Labyrinth". I couldn't believe it! I've never seen one in person before, so I proceeded to walk into the courtyard to see it first hand.
If you are familiar with labyrinths at all, you may know that the premise behind it is that there is only one way into the center, and only one way out of the center. So I just couldn't resist breaking this rule immediately by ignoring the intended barriers and walking directly to the center - I got a bit of a chuckle out of this. As I stood there in the middle, I studied the pathway of the labyrinth and just couldn't understand how people could exchange a real, personal, and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ for this subjective, mystical practice of "experiencing" God.
The idea of the labyrinth is to prepare yourself to become one with whatever religious god you serve, or with your higher self, or the universe itself. The practice of this mystical trap is found nowhere in Scripture, yet it is infecting churches across America. The Emergent Church has much to do with bringing this ancient pagan and Catholic practice into the mainstream, and even Evangelical churches are falling prey to its deception. The following article from Got Questions provides a general overview of the labyrinth revealing the history and how it is indeed unbiblical.
Answer: A labyrinth is a path which leads, via a circuitous route, to the center of an intricate design and back out again. A labyrinth’s route is unicursal; that is, it has only a single path. Unlike a maze, a labyrinth is designed for ease of navigation, and it is impossible to get lost within one.
A prayer labyrinth is a labyrinth used to facilitate prayer, meditation, spiritual transformation, and/or global unity. The most famous prayer labyrinths today include an ancient one in the cathedral of Chartres, France, another in the cathedral of Duomo di Siena, Tuscany; and two maintained by Grace Cathedral, an Episcopal church in San Francisco. While prayer labyrinths have been used in Catholic cathedrals for centuries, the past decade has seen resurgence in their popularity, especially within the Emergent Church and among New Age groups and neo-pagans.
Labyrinths have been used by a wide variety of cultures for at least 3,500 years. Evidence of ancient labyrinths exists in Crete, Egypt, Italy, Scandinavia, and North America. Ancient labyrinths had what is usually called the “classical” design of seven rings, or circuits. They were decidedly pagan in function: many labyrinths were dedicated to a goddess and used in ritualistic dances. The Hopi Indians saw the labyrinth as a symbol of Mother Earth, and the hundreds of stone labyrinths along the Scandinavian shoreline were used as magic traps for trolls and evil winds to ensure safe fishing.
In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church adapted the labyrinth for its own purposes within its cathedrals. The classical form gave way to a more intricate design of 11 circuits in 4 quadrants, usually called the “medieval” design. Within Catholicism, the labyrinth could symbolize several things: the hard and winding road to God, a mystical ascension to salvation and enlightenment, or even a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for those who could not make the actual journey.
The modern “rediscovery” of the labyrinth and its use in church settings is celebrated by groups such as The Labyrinth Society and Veriditas, The World-Wide Labyrinth Project. According to these groups, the labyrinth is a “divine imprint,” a “mystical tradition,” a “sacred path,” and a “sacred gateway.” The stated purpose of Veriditas is “to transform the Human Spirit,” using “the Labyrinth Experience as a personal practice for healing and growth, a tool for community building, an agent for global peace and a metaphor for the blossoming of the Spirit in our lives” (from the official Veriditas website).
According to Veriditas, walking a prayer labyrinth involves 3 stages: purgation (releasing), illumination (receiving), and union (returning). Purgation occurs as one moves toward the center of the labyrinth. During this stage, one sheds the cares and distractions of life and opens his heart and mind. Illumination occurs at the center of the labyrinth; this is the time to “receive what is there for you” through prayer and meditation. Union occurs as one exits the labyrinth and involves “joining God, your Higher Power, or the healing forces at work in the world.”
Proponents of prayer labyrinths speak of using the labyrinth to become enlightened, realigned with the universe, and increasingly empowered to know one’s Self and to accomplish the work of the soul. Some, such as Dr. Lauren Artress, president of Veriditas, also speak of the “many levels of consciousness” which touch the worshiper in a labyrinth, including the consciousness that he is “one of those pilgrims walking in the early times. It feels like it’s from another time; it doesn’t feel like it’s in this life” (from an interview with Dr. Lauren Artress on the official Veriditas website).
Perhaps as a throwback to the old goddess worship, many prayer labyrinths contain feminine symbols in the center. Dr. Artress recognizes the symbolism and speaks freely of connecting with the “sacred feminine” in a labyrinth and of the need to view God as both a “he” and a “she.”
Are prayer labyrinths biblical? No, they are not. Not only are labyrinths never mentioned in the Bible, but they also conflict with several biblical principles of worship and prayer.
1) God seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24; Philippians 3:3; Psalm 29:2). Proponents of prayer labyrinths speak of “body worship” and the goal to employ all five senses in worship. But body worship is not a biblical concept. We live by faith, not by sight, and worship is not a sensuous, physical activity; worship is a matter of the heart, expressed in praise and service to God. For the New Testament believer, worship has nothing to do with external trappings such as lighting candles, kneeling at an altar, or walking in circles.
2) Prayer is not to become ritualistic (Matthew 6:5-8). Dr. Artress says that “ritual feeds the soul” and recommends repeated, regular trips through the labyrinth. If ritual were truly food for the soul, then the Pharisees of Jesus’ day should have been the best-fed souls alive—after all, their religious system abounded in ritual and tradition. Yet Jesus rebuked them on more than one occasion for the deadness and hypocrisy of their religion (Matthew 15:3; Mark 7:6-13).
3) Every believer has the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). Many who walk prayer labyrinths are seeking special insight, new revelation, or a discovery of “the God who’s within” (Dr. Artress, op cit.). Such an emphasis on mysticism and esoteric knowledge comes dangerously close to Gnosticism and New Age thinking. The Christian has no need of mystical experience or extra-biblical revelation: “You have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth” (1 John 2:20).
4) God is near to all those who call upon Him in truth (Psalm 145:18; Acts 17:27). No ritual, including walking a labyrinth, can bring anyone any closer to God. Jesus is the way (John 14:6). Repentance and faith are what is required (Acts 20:21).
5) The Bible is sufficient to make the Christian holy, wise, and completely proficient for his work in this world (2 Timothy 3:15-17). To say that, in order to find real power, we must add mysticism or tradition to the Bible is to denigrate God’s Word and the Spirit’s work through it.
Historically, labyrinths were rooted in paganism and incorporated by Catholicism. Now they are promoted by the Emergent Church and others who seek an open spirituality apart from the Bible. Paul’s warning to the church should suffice to keep us focused on Jesus and avoid empty ritual: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ” (Colossians 2:8).
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