Unbelievable and largely unseen ecumenical coalitions and ad hoc alliances are forming. These alliances are being forged by a small cadre of seeker-driven megachurch celebrity pastors/authors. These vision-casting celebrities are in effect acting as power brokers in forming ecumenical coalitions. As with all coalitions these players are attempting to gain something for themselves and their “ministries” and the expanding of their personal reputations. They are willing to exchange their platforms and pulpits with other celebrities of like class and clout. These platform exchanges often cross boundaries into false and even heretical territory. Consequently, these celebrities become an endorsement of false teaching to the masses of low information evangelicals who are fans of these various Christian celebrities.

The opportunity for these maneuvers is that classical evangelicalism as a theologically descriptive word is becoming near meaningless. Gregory Thornbury, now president of Kings College states: “the evangelicalism I signed up for is gone forever…. In fact many leading theologians today see evangelicalism as a relic of a bygone era.” (Thornbury, Recovering Classic Evangelicalism, Crossway, 2013, pp. 223)

The vacuum created by the disappearance of classical evangelicalism, unfortunately has been filled by TV ministries, bookstores, stadiums rallies, mega churches and extended mega church campuses and their media promotions.

These new media leaders have launched their own media outlets replete with fully equipped transportable entourages. If you can’t attend the events you can get it all on GodTV, TBN or a DVD for a price. These efforts are the beginnings of a back door ecumenism, an unpublicized ecumenical convergence. A sort of reverse ecumenical big bang is upon us. There is an unseen and undocumented ecumenical contraction in Christendom. This phenomena is unreported and even mostly an unspoken practical ecumenism. It’s as if there is a gravitational pull that draws even the most unlikely supporters together.

There is a handy deniable component built into this in that it is promoted by sharing a stage or platform. These coalition partners promote each other by inviting other celebrities to their platform of their mega church or stadium conferences. Some rush in to say that such so-called “platform ecumenism” is guilt by association. It is that, but more, so their presence together on a platform shouts for all to hear a guilt by endorsement. It is like forming a shadow government. This ground level ecumenism is not the product of denominational leaders. In fact denomination leaders in this postmodern era have been essentially relegated to the sidelines. The sheeple (the sheep as people) blindly follow their celebrities. They pay little or no attention to their unknown denominational leaders. Beyond that many denominational leaders join right in. The sheeple are out there. They can be organized to follow their leaders. Indeed sheep follow other sheep.

The seeds of this home grown ecumenical gravitational pull did not however burst on the scene from nowhere. One can trace this back many decades. The seeds planted earlier are now are maturing. The media megastars are now stage managing not only huge stadium filled extravaganzas, but in the process they are engineering a major ecumenical event without even using the term.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association was among the earliest efforts that pointed in this direction when it made a major ecumenical ground breaking decision to include Roman Catholic prelates on their crusade platforms and assigned Catholic responders to the Roman Catholic churches for follow up. Sorry, but it was in effect giving away a baby to a stranger.

The Charismatic Renewal

The Charismatic Renewal of which I was a part had the unintended experiential effect of promoting ecumenism. The best way I can describe this is the spectacle of Father Pearson pleading with the Virgin Mary to help a seeker be released in tongues. This did more to endorse Romanism that any words could convey. What a sight when Catholic nuns in full habits spoke at Full Gospel Businessmen meetings speaking in some unknown tongue. The believers that pray “in a spirit” together also stay together. This is ecumenism beyond any denominational sanction or effort. One could write page after page of the how we have gotten to where we are today. But now we have to consider some the very recent events that point to more ecumenical chickens coming home to roost.

Contemplative Prayer

“Spiritual Formation” has been taking evangelicals by storm for some years now. Richard Foster and his seminal book Celebration of Discipline has been an attempt to fashion a Catholic Contemplative prayer experience for Protestants. The often used term Spiritual Formation is simply a code word for Contemplative Prayer, and Contemplative Prayer is a revived form of early Catholic meditation going back to the early third and fourth centuries of Catholic Monastics called the Desert Fathers, who borrowed a form of meditation from interaction with Eastern mystics in Egypt. The source of Contemplative Prayer is Catholicism. But ironically there are probably more evangelicals pursuing this prayer method than Catholics.

In recent times Catholic monks, Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen devoted their entire lives to this prayer method and now many evangelicals are devoting themselves to Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen. Contemplative Prayer is essentially a meditative discipline with a desire to attain an altered state of consciousness by entering the “silence.” In this silence, and out of this silence, one supposedly attains oneness with God. But entering the silence is not easy and so an innovative Catholic monk, Thomas Keating, employed a centering prayer technique of repeating a chosen word (mantra). What formerly took monks months and years can now be attained in 20 minutes of centering prayer and repeating over and over a mantra. In the silence one supposedly finds God living deep in their unconscious being.

The rub is this – this internal god is also supposedly deeply buried in the unconscious of every other human alive today on the planet and even actually inhabits all created things. So this form of panentheistic meditative ecumenism eventually connects the contemplative not only to Catholicism but all of creation. Catholic monks Merton, Nouwen and Keating are like the trinity of Contemplative Prayer. This practice of Contemplative Prayer blurs the line between Catholics and and Protestants.

Peter Scazzero, senior pastor of New Life church Queens NYC, an evangelical and graduate of Gordon-Conwell Seminary, among others introduces this long neglected spirituality to evangelicals. But Scazzero doesn’t mention Catholicism but he quotes favorably and often from the Contemplative trinity noted above in his books. He attends a Trappist monastery in Massachusetts each year. He has made available a skinned down version of a Benedictine Daily Office for evangelical devotional use. Via DVD, Scazzero was introduced to our local AOG church. No one knew what it was all about but it did seem a little strange to a few. Scazzero’s pitch is that American Christians need to slow down from the daily grind and the best method is essentially contemplative meditation techniques. Scazzero has held conferences for AOG pastors, CMA pastors and Focus on the Family, etc. If people would note his dependence on Merton, Nouwen and Keating they would know the source of this new prayer technique. For our purposes Contemplative Prayer has proved to be a very effective ecumenical tool. It tends to legitimize Romanism. For further information the net is full of good explanations of Contemplative Technique prayer. I have an article that can be accessed on the net at my “Plumbline Newsletter Archive” called “Scazzero Scares Me.”

Gary Gilley states: “On the contrary, Merton demonstrates that there is much to fear when we try to mix truth with error. Merton saw that Buddhism, a religion with little interest in theology or truth offered the same mystical experiences that contemplative Christianity did. They both used similar methods…. In the end Father Merton came to the idea that because doctrine did not matter and only experience did… Buddhism and his understanding of Christianity was offering the same thing.” This is just the problem. Christian Contemplative techniques are not even hinted at in the teaching of scripture. Searching for something more from ancient and modern “holy men” can only eventually end badly.

The Elephant Room initiative

The Elephant Room was the brain-child Rev James McDonald the megapastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago. McDonald’s brain child was to bring together celebrity pastors and have a television media event in which the celebrities spared with each other asking hard hitting questions. Someone described it as prize fight. Television provided everyone with a ring side seat. No (holds) questions barred. These episodes were full of hipster coolness. In Elephant Room One megapastor Perry Noble was challenged for his featuring the demonic band AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” on Easter Sunday. But in the end the celebrities decided that Noble’s pragmatic prank was just a matter of personal choice. It appears that the elephant in the room was a disregard for the fear of the Lord.

McDonald surprised everyone in Elephant Room Two with his cheek to invite TD Jakes. Jakes was well known for his Word/Faith teaching and someone who denied the Trinity. Jakes has a well-earned reputation as a “Jesus only” modalist. In modalist teaching the Trinity is denied by teaching that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are just different “manifestations of God; at various times the one God appears as a different mode or manifestation. The Father is manifested as the Creator, The Son is a manifestation of God as the Saviour and the Holy Spirit is the manifestation for the church age…. Pentecostal Jesus Only followers are thus named “Oneness Pentecostals” because “Jesus only” is God. McDonald and Driscoll, however, merely tossed Jakes slow toss softballs and Jakes was allowed to say he believed in the Trinity but preferred to explain it with the term manifestations rather than persons. Mark Driscoll and McDonald could have simply asked Jakes one simple question: “Do you think the Son existed before the Son came to earth at Bethlehem?” But for whatever reason that never happened.

I have no idea what McDonald and the other celebrities had in mind when they staged the Elephant Rooms. But there is no doubt the result let Perry Noble and TD Jakes off the hook. In fact Elephant Room 2 was hardly over before the celebrity pastors were rushing to invite Jakes and other Word/Faith personalities to their megachurch platforms. Jakes was invited to McDonald’s platform, Pastor Steven Furtick, another participant of Elephant 2, also publicly called Jakes his favorite pastor. Christine Caine from Hillsong in Sydney, Australia, also a Word/Faith megachurch down under, and other famous Word/Faith personalities were suddenly invited to a wide range of megachurch platforms including Osteen’s Lakeland in Houston. The result was to mainstream Word/Faith heretics world wide. I will explain why I feel Word/Faith teaching is heretical.

Mainstreaming Word/Faith Heretics

Word/Faith teaching was brought to us by Kenneth Hagin. Hagin based his views on the writings of E.W. Kenyon and the plagiarizing of Kenyon’s writings. Before Hagin began to promote Kenyon’s views he was an AOG minister. Hagin’s teachings then became known as Word/Faith. Until recent times Word/Faith has generally existed on the periphery of pan-evangelicalism on a parallel track. But now rather than a close parallel movement it has essentially gained full acceptance. This is alarming because Word/Faith teaching remains throroughly heretical.

Based on Kenyon’s works Hagin taught, among other things, that when Adam was created he was a fully divine person and an exact replica of God. In the fall Adam lost his divinity and the human race lost the potential of divinity. Word/Faith teaching asserts that when Jesus died on the cross He died physically but more important Jesus died spiritually on the cross and lost his divinity. Jesus then descended into hell and was tormented by satanic beings for three days. Then the Father intervened and restored Jesus lost divinity and Jesus became the first born-again man. Now anyone who is born-again is rewarded with restored divinity on a par with Jesus and even God (that is God with a small g). This is why Kenneth Copeland and others aggressively claim divinity. This is also why Word/Faith believers claim they can create new realities, because they are now born-again replicas of the Father even as Adam was before the fall. This heretical teaching is wide spread among the Word/Faith faithful, TBN, etc. This teaching is emphasized by some Word/Faith teachers more than others, like Joyce Meyer. But any web search can find this teaching in almost all of them.

The reason I call Word/Faith heresy is because it is changing and editing the work of Jesus completed on the cross. Gary Gilley states: “Faith teachers like to teach that Christians are little gods.” Gary Gilley summarizes Word/Faith aberrant views about Jesus and His death:

• Christ was recreated on the cross from divine to demonic. Jesus took upon himself the very nature of Satan.
• Your redemption was not secured on the cross but in hell.
  Jesus was born-again in hell.
• Christ was reincarnated through his rebirth in hell and those who like Christ are born-again can be reincarnated as well” (See Gary Gilley, http://www.rapidnet.com)

Consequently this is infinitely much more serious than say holding a different view regarding the time of Jesus return, etc. Once again a simple question will do the job. “Did Jesus complete His atonement on the cross or later in Hell?”

Kenneth Copeland and James Robison and Pope Francis

Tony Palmer is a former director of Kenneth Copeland Ministries in South Africa. Later Palmer became a bishop in an Anglican Charismatic group of churches. As an Anglican charismatic Bishop Palmer became a close friend of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, the future pope Francis, while working with Catholic Charismatics in Argentina. Earlier this year the pontiff invited Palmer to the papal residence and recorded on his I Phone a message to Kenneth Copeland’s annual pastors meeting at Copeland’s Eagle Mountain megachurch near Forth Worth. On this recorded message pope Francis pleaded in tears for a unity of brothers in Christ with the charismatic pastors. Copeland responded by praying in tongues (uninterpreted) to the group and then asked Palmer to record a response (this apparently was all set up) to the pontiff. Palmer then announced to these Word/Faith pastors that “the protest (code for Protestant Reformation) is over, is it over for you? The over 1000 Word/Faith pastors at the meeting can be seen standing and cheering.

A few days later James Robison also televised this same I Phone message on his daily TV program “Life Today.” Shortly after this Palmer arranged for a papalvisit for Copeland, Robison and others. Copeland later reported of the meeting: “I am blessed! What Jesus asked the Father for in John 17:21 ‘that we all be one in Him’ is finally coming to pass.” JoelOsteen, Word/Faith, prosperity pastor, who recently was also granted a Papal visit, has also entered the Post-Elephant Room ecumenical fall-out of mainstreaming all things Word/Faith. As an aside, Co-Pastor Victoria Osteen recently gave voice to a Freudian prosperity slip telling their Houston Lakewood mega-church faithful: “when you worship Him [God] you are not doing it for God really. You are doing it for yourself.” (World Net Daily, 8-31-14).

There are two major forces within worldwide visible Christianity today: The Roman Catholic church (1.2 billion members) and the sign-gift Word/Faith prosperity larger Charismatic community (584, million, members). The Pontiff is a friend of Charismatics and at the same time a member of the Jesuit order. These two groups comprise the majority of all visible Christians” (“Copeland Rolls the Dice with Rome,” Rev. Bob Litchow). Word/Faith teaching is fast becoming the largest Protestant presence in Africa.
Postscript: Not many days after the papal visit Bishop Palmer was killed in a motorcycle accident in England. May God grant his family special grace.

Franklin Graham’s Three Rivers Festival Hope

Lighthouse Trails has learned that at the August 15-17 gathering in Pittsburg PA, Franklin Graham, who led the organized event, brought Catholic Bishop David Zubik to give the opening prayer on stage (my emphasis) During the Bishop’s prayer he acknowledged that Catholics and Protestants are all the same church.” (Lighthouse Trails, 8/27/14). In a later news release Zubik stated: We felt as long as there was a Catholic component to this crusade those who “respond to Rev. Graham’s invitation to make a decision to Christ who identify as Catholic will be given the opportunity to go to Epiphany Church adjacent to the Console Energy Center for the sacrament of reconciliation.” (8/10/14)

These assorted media episodes are very visible and silently without words they shout out: “I am essentially suggesting that this ministry is accepted.” This is simply guilt by endorsement. Though some may retort that they only have different styles and message emphasis and we are simply different battalions in the one army of The Lord.

All of these events noted above appear to have little specific planning at least as far as we know. Indeed, the megachurches are all about becoming bigger and more visible in the culture. Perhaps some of it is simply keeping up with the Jones and striving for market share. But in any case the sheeple are just going along for the ride wherever the celebrity pastors and authors will take them. The apostle Paul referred to professing Christians in Galatia who were calling for Gentiles to be circumcised as “false brothers” (Gal. 2:4).

These “false brothers” believed in the death and resurrection of Jesus. But still Paul called them anathema (accursed). They only wanted to add circumcision to the salvation message. Seems small compared to praying to Mary, and re-offering Christ as a sin offering each time in the Catholic Mass. Conversely, however, the Catholic Church in their Post-Reformation Council of Trent, still today calls anyone who holds to “faith alone” as anathema. False teachers have always folded ecumenical leaven into the whole loaf. But a little leaven leavens the whole loaf. What is happening today in platform ecumenism is the leavening of false teaching into an ecumenical loaf.

As the cardinals were in holy conclave in Rome, Rick Warren called for prayer for God’s choice of a Pope. After Pope Francis was chosen, self appointed celebrity NAR Prophet Kim Clement gave his oracle: “This man has been appointed to join the hearts of the Protestant faith – Catholic – those who are Spirit-filled.”

This invisible gravitational pull toward ground level ecumenism surely will continue and at an increasing pace. It will not come by denominational negotiations, but will just move unofficially. It will happen for the most part by the actions of postmodern evangelical media personalities. It will happen for example as it did with Francis Chan, a Neo-Calvinist media star who was invited to IHOP for a major conference. This becomes a public legitimation for all the people that Chan represents and vice versa.

The Truth of False Teachings

For more about the “whistle blowing” ministry of 4 Truth Ministry, please see our About page as well as our False Movements page which lays out several false teachings/teachers found within evangelicalism.

Another great “whistle blowing” ministry is Christian Research Network.

A gelding is a male horse born wild and free who has been “fixed.” The gelding having been fixed becomes preoccupied with eating and consuming. He is happy, and doesn’t even know what he was or could have been. He is happy, lazy and making himself useful to his handlers and providers. He has become a cultural pet.

Regrettably, a gelding is becoming an all too apt metaphor for pan-evangelicalism in our postmodern world. Now I know that there are many born-again believers who themselves would never see themselves as “culturally fixed.” Many believers are living authentic Christian lives. There are many local pastors who are doing their utmost to stave off the cultural infections that are entering the churches. But still too many local pastors have been swept along by the rapid cultural changes entering the church nationally. Local believers themselves, being immersed in the culture, happily give to their shepherds (local pastors) the role of discernment and choosing the menu for living the Christian life. Most local believers are totally preoccupied with living in a post-modern culture. There remain many pastors who guard their flocks with both a staff and a rod with which to beat back the wolves in sheep’s clothing. But local pastors have no trans-local voice in the larger church. They are not the ones who, broadly speaking set the agenda. Conversely too many local pastors have themselves bought into various postmodern versions of Christianity. These pastors then in turn look to their leaders above them in the food chain. These regional and national leaders look to the image making celebrity and media-driven class.

These published authors, and media driven leaders, and successful mega-church personalities then become the ones who promote their success stories. Unfortunately, many of the evangelical celebrity class eventually set the agenda and mindset for the church at large. The evangelical sheep in the pews look to their pastors and media icons and have no idea that many of these image makers have long since been culturally fixed. These media celebrities keep churning out materials and TV programs. Regrettably money also becomes a factor, for if you become a bestselling author, the publishers are pushing for more books. Their own financial success becomes like a successful verification and standard of truth. If a lowly Christian correctly questions these media leaders he will often be seen as dividing the body of Christ. Too many in the pastor class, rather than protecting the flock, end up drinking the cool aid themselves, hoping to become smaller versions of the current celebrity media icons. That being the case, what can a sincere evangelical in the pew do?

I just recently received the “preferred customer catalog” from Christian Book Distributors out of Peabody, MA. CBD has for decades provided a discount market of Christian books. On the first pages they post the bestsellers and favorite authors. It is their business to know what is currently selling to evangelical customers. In the recent catalog, on the first pages you will find Sarah Young’s “Jesus is Calling.” It is offered in a deluxe edition, women’s edition, the kids edition and teen edition.

Sarah Young inspired by the anonymous authors of “God Calling” of a period past, wondered if she could receive verbatim audible revelations from God as did the writers of “God Calling.” One day a warm mist enveloped her and she decided to listen to God pen in hand as did the authors of “God Calling.” She decided that Jesus was not just speaking to her but she must past these new revelations on to others. She found that the bible was not sufficient. Young does not suggest that her revelations are scripture. But if her revelations are the actual spoken word of Jesus and she provides these revelations to the general public, there can be no difference between her transcribed supposed words of Jesus and the words of Jesus in the bible. It seems to be like channeling in that she found the words were coming faster and faster as she wrote the book. If these are the actual words of Jesus they are by definition authoritative even as Jesus words in scripture.
Near by in the CBD catalog is Gary Thomas’ book “Sacred Pathways”

Gary Thomas book is very popular. Focus on the Family endorses it. In the book he recommends eastern mystical tantric sex. But even more alarming is his description and recommendation of Catholic Monastic Contemplative Prayer. Thomas writes: “centering prayer works like this: Choose a word (Jesus or Father) for example as a focus for Contemplative Prayer. Repeat the word silently in your mind for a set amount of time (say 20 minutes) until your heart seems to be repeating the word itself, just as naturally and involuntary as breathing.” (Thomas, Sacred Pathways, p. 185) It is interesting that this is essentially the method of altered states of consciousness in TM and other eastern prayer techniques.

Mark Batterson’s popular book “The Circle Maker” is also prominently featured in the CBD catalog with a journal, DVD curriculum and a 40 day “draw the circle” edition. This bestseller presents a new spin on prosperity teaching. Batterson discovered this new method of praying while reading from the Jewish Talmudic Book of Legends. He discovered one Honi, a miracle worker in the first century B.C. During a drought, Hone drew a circle around himself in the sand and commanded rain from heaven. Batterson is now promoting this Honi’ prayer legend. Batterson states:

“Your job is not to crunch numbers, your job is to draw circles in the sand and if you draw the circle God will multiply the miracles in your life.” (quoted at The Beginning and the End, September, 2012).

Now apparently, the power is not in your tongue ala Word/Faith teaching but in the chalk in your hand. Sounds magical to me. Honi was a magical legendary person. He reportedly questioned a young lady asking why she was planting a carob tree in that it takes 70 years to bear fruit. Well! A strange sleep came upon Honi and the 70 years later he awakens to see the carob tree bearing fruit. Was Honi a Christian? No, he was a Hebrew mythical legend. No more, no less.

Evangelicals as a religious/political subculture in America have been touted by the wider-culture non-Christian pundit class as a rising political power. But having failed to elect a Mormon cultist to the presidency suddenly some within the evangelical community itself began to see pan-evangelicalism as having already crested and the flood waters of influence falling rapidly. After basking in the political sunshine and credited with electing George Bush president, suddenly the past election revealed that all the “Save America” political evangelism efforts were apparently over-reach and hype.

Suddenly neoevangelicals seem to have come down with degenerate heart failure. The Christian Science Monitor on March 10, 2009 published an article by Michael Spencer, an online commentator with the moniker “The iMonk,” which called for “The Coming Evangelical Collapse.” In this article he direly predicts a collapse that will in a few decades lead to an “evangelical dark age.” Phil Johnson of the Pyromaniac website reflected:

Everyone including Matt Drudge is talking about iMonk’s op-ed piece in the Christian Science Monitor…. I say Amen to his article…. I agree the collapse he predicts is well underway… and I agree that the thing is so far sunk already that it’s not going to be possible to salvage the ship… man the lifeboats. Just put me in one with real oars. (“Evangelical Down the Drain” Phil Johnson, Pyromaniacs, March 10, 2009).

Some are making the call that evangelicalism is dead. Others want to it plugged into life support hoping the patient will revive. Neo-evangelicalism was birthed 50 or 60 years ago with Charles H. Henry, Harold Ockenga and Fuller Seminary leading the way by putting distance between them and separative fundamentalists. The mid-life of this movement was Billy Graham and his ecumenical evangelistic rallies. The movement then transitioned into church growth and market-based strategies popular in the culture. Marketing schemes and experts became the harbinger of apparent cultural success. In 1976, Time magazine declared the year of the evangelical.

After half a century of unprecedented growth in both evangelicalism’s adherents and its cultural visibility, and after the development of a vast network of evangelical seminaries and colleges, publishing houses and periodicals, para-church organizations an increasing vocal cluster of evangelical leaders is questioning whether American evangelicalism can survive its success… [All] perceive a theological declension in which the movements’ theo-centric theology has been replaced by an anthropo-centric and experience-driven faith without a theological grounding. (“Evangelicalism’s Insecure Calvinists,” Gregory Johnson, St. Louis University, Fall 1999)

Linking with popular culture so directly, however, carried with it dangers not noticed at the time. Instead of capturing the culture, and the political power of the culture, and political activism began to capture them. Like Israel in the past they relied on Egypt. They forgot that the Egypts of the world need to be served and paid tribute to annually.

As in the cultural/marketing world, to increase relevance requires alliances and new investments. But these alliances come with a price. They change things. In the negotiations certain features must be diminished or given a secondary status. It’s like a Christian concert, where an artist is given a lesser stage on which to perform. The big name gets the big stage.

To shore up evangelical unspoken weaknesses ad hoc alliances were and are still being made with Catholics, Mormons (a la Glenn Beck) and unbelieving Jewish institutions (John Hagee), and political operatives (David Lane and James Robison). But these alliances require dialing down and truncating aspects of the Gospel message.

To play the culture card you have to “mix and match.” Having put the focus on the culture as “evangelism” bait you find you then need the new and brighter and bigger bait. But then the unintended consequence – the bait itself becomes the message. This is a sign of the death of a movement. It is tacit acceptance that the Gospel is insufficient in itself without cultural additives and adaptations. We are informed we need the new and improved version of our Gospel line in order to make the sale to a culture of addicted consumers. We could go on and on about the mixing and matching….

Can the evangelical Humpty Dumpty be put together again? I think not. What was started in the 1940′s both in America and in Europe has had a wonderful run, has created a multitude of churches and para-church organizations, an immense and impressive array of scholarship, seminaries, colleges, social relief, missionary work and a massive enterprise in believing. However, today it is sagging and disintegrating. (David Wells, The Courage to be Protestant, Eerdmans, 2008, p. 8)

Indeed! The gelding has been castrated. Now the gelding can grow fat and live out his day consuming whatever the culture provides. Our youth pastors can pick up the latest cultural toys, hoping to impress Christian young people with the newest and latest the culture provides (current example, “The Harlem Shake.”)

But geldings cannot reproduce. They are sterile by definition. We need more than a C. S. Lewis “Mere” Christianity. A minimalist gospel, outwardly decked out with cultural paraphernalia, is too easily ignored by both unbelievers and believers. Our Gospel of salvation by Jesus Christ cannot be reduced to the role of a back-up singer to the main attraction just off stage, partially hidden so as to survive in the culture. Sell or die has replaced preach or die.

Have you ever heard of “panentheism”? It sounds a lot like pantheism but there are those two additional letters “en” inserted after “pan.” The word broken into its constitute parts is pan=all, en=in, and theos=God. Panentheism is the belief the universe is contained within God and that the universe is part of God. Unwittingly protestant and evangelical leaders are embracing panentheism, thinking it just an ancient form of prayer, and discipleship flying under the radar with the alias of “Spiritual Formation.” It appears that the pragmatics and superficiality of the seeker sensitive, market driven church has prompted a need for mystical medication. Larry Crabb, a popular evangelical Christian psychologist of the last decade and author of many books, has apparently graduated to the contemplative. He expresses clearly the bankruptcy of pragmatic seeker sensitive spirituality. For him the mindless mysticism of Contemplative Prayer has brought him reality he apparently never found in pragmatic seeker sensitive spirituality. Here is his description of his former prayer-life.

“[Biblical] praying to God is something like e-mailing a relative you’ve never met, who lives in a place you have never been…Your relative never sends a picture of himself, never sends a picture of his house or land, and always writes a generic letter addressed to ‘my much loved relatives,’ like the ones we receive every Christmas. His emails never come only to you and are therefore never addressed only to you. He never calls, and you can’t call him. He has no phone.” (Crabb, The Papa Prayer). It amazes me that silent nothingness of the contemplative solves his problem.

The antidote to Crabb’s unbelief appears to be an openness to mystical experiences repackaged centuries later from the so-called Desert Fathers and Mothers of 3rd and 4th centuries. These Christian monastics migrated and lived as hermits in the Egyptian wilderness. Here these Catholic monastic mystics interacted with eastern monastics and mystics. Living as hermits these Desert Fathers developed “hesychasm” from the Greek word meaning “stillness” and “silence” (Wikipedia). Hesychasm was the practice of interior silence. It didn’t become a formal movement until the 14th century. Now centuries later these Catholic mystics have been elevated to the status of celebrities tasked with saving us from the superficiality of pragmatic church growth spirituality. Unfortunately, these Catholic mystics down through the centuries also engendered an alien non-Christian worldview which has gained the name of panentheism. These ancient Catholic mystics as well as Catholic mystics in later church history never used the term panentheism. But their experience and writings clearly exhibit what we now call panentheism.

Today, panentheism is enjoying a phenomenal resurgence even though it never employs the term panentheism. This panentheistic worldview is well hidden by such terms as “Spiritual Formation” and “Spiritual Disciplines” etc. But though well hidden, panentheism is the undeclared foundational worldview of the so-called “Spiritual Formation” movement now becoming wide-spread in evangelical circles. Furthermore, panentheism is the worldview of the myriads of versions of the New Age. It is also the foundational worldview of eastern religions. These 4th century hermit/monastics such as John Cassian and Anthony the Great apparently reasoned that if the eastern monks with whom they had contact could find mystical union with their god why couldn’t the same techniques be successful to find mystical union with their Christian God. These monastic fathers, however, fell into oblivion for centuries only to be resurrected by other Catholic mystics in later centuries (14th-15th centuries). Now in the later part of the 20th century these ancient Desert Fathers and Mothers and other Catholic mystics are being heralded as the harbinger of a new spirituality. Many trace this current revival of contemplative meditation to 1974 when Father William Menninger, a Trappist monk, found an ancient book entitled The Cloud of Unknowing in the library at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Mass. This 14th century book of an unknown author offered a means by which contemplative mystical practices, long used only by ancient Catholic monks, could be taught to lay people. As Menninger began teaching these contemplative practices, his Abbot Fr. Thomas Keating and Fr. Basil Pennington began teaching and promoting these contemplative techniques to the laity both in the west and the east. Thus, was born the use of centering prayer and a mantra (repeated word) as the means to enter a mystical union with God. Centering prayer and meditation using a mantra became a short-cut method for meditation for Catholics as well as New Age mediators.

These New Monks have not only brought these ancient techniques into popularity and prominence into Catholic circles, but now these promoters have spawned a pandemic revival within protestant, evangelical and New Age circles as well. Father Flanagan who was involved in both contemplative prayer and TM says: “contemplative prayer is TM in Christian dress.”

But the fame and distinction for introducing Contemplative Prayer into the evangelical world goes to Richard Foster. Foster’s book Celebration of Discipline was first printed in 1978 and launched Contemplative Prayer among evangelicals. The evangelical periodical Christianity Today acknowledged Foster’s book as one of the ten best books of the 20th century. Foster, a Quaker with affinity to mysticism, was able to insert Contemplative Prayer as hidden yeast into the loaf of evangelical spirituality. He and his now myriads of evangelical comrades suggest that bible study only feeds the head, but if one wants to feed the heart, they must enter the silence of Contemplative Prayer. This revival of contemplative spirituality of course means a revival of the accompanying panentheistic worldview. But as already asserted, panentheism is a world view that Catholic contemplative spirituality does not own as its own. Panentheism today is a widespread worldview with many editions and versions beyond Catholic church history. Panentheism works well and provides a congenial mystical foundation for many varieties of mysticism for Catholics, Buddhists, Hindus and all the varieties of New Age spirituality. It is like panentheism is a long table and on this table is a smorgasbord of varieties of panentheistic spiritualities.

Some are Catholic, some New Age, and others eastern mysticism. But all rest on the one worldview table of panentheism. The long historical tradition of Catholic monastic mystics, now resurrected from ages gone by, have become a spiritual movement not only in Catholic circles, but also among a burgeoning protestant and evangelical market. In what appears to be a sweeping phenomenon, evangelical leaders are embracing these ancient prayer and mystical practices as if they are new toys or new versions of an iPad. Still, the underlying panentheistic worldview remains hidden from view, papered over with more appealing terms such as Christian meditation or prayer disciplines and most often vaguely called “Spiritual Formation.” This underlying philosophical worldview clashes directly with a biblical view of creation and theism.

Classical Biblical Theism Contrasted to Philosophical Panentheism

Biblical theism asserts that God alone is absolutely self-sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, all powerful and all knowing. Although He does not need the world, God eternally and freely chose to create it from nothing and sustain it through time. The bible teaches that God is distinct from his creation. He is not part of it, for he has made it (out of nothing, ex nihilo) and rules over it. Fraulein Maria, in Sound of Music got it all wrong when she sang “nothing comes from nothing.” (ex nihilo, nihilo fit.) Very simply, theism requires God as far “above” the creation and is independent of it. (Grudem p.1270) In distinction from theism, panentheism, a term coined by Karl Krause (1781-1832) means “the being of God includes and penetrates the whole universe, so that every part exists in Him.” (John W. Cooper Panentheism: The Other God of the Philosophers p. 127).

Unfortunately, biblical and theological unfaithfulness among protestants and yes, also among evangelicals, has allowed this new spirituality, sufficiently veiled by the term “Spiritual Formation,” to make deep and unbelievable penetrations among evangelicals. If contemplative prayer is taught at Saddleback or Willow Creek (and it is), then it is apparently endorsed for all. Church growth needs churches to grow, right? Evangelical leaders of all stripes take it on board always looking for a new gig or a new toy for their ministries. Panentheistic and contemplative practices have been given the evangelical version of the Good Housekeeping seal of approval. The writings of Catholic monastic panentheists have been adopted and promoted by evangelical celebrities and so the door is opened for contemplative spirituality among evangelicals.

Richard Foster, the evangelical godfather of the contemplative, exudes confidence when he states:

“By now enough water has gone under the Spiritual Formation bridge that we can give some assessment of where we have come and what needs to be done. When I first began writing in the field in the late 70′s and early 80′s the term Spiritual Formation was hardly known, except for highly specialized reference in relation to the Catholic orders. Today, it is a rare person who has not heard the term. Seminary courses in Spiritual Formation proliferate like baby rabbits. Huge numbers are seeking to become certified as Spiritual Directors to answer the cry of multiple thousands for spiritual direction.” (online source, The Ooze).

Catholic/Contemplative/New Age Leads to Monistic Universalism

A unifying element of Catholic/New Age mysticism is the panentheistic view that “everything” is one. In philosophy this is called “monism” derived from the Greek word “monos” meaning “one.” The pre- Socratic Greek philosophers asserted that reality was “One.” This is the teaching of monism which states that there is no distinction between god, men, animals or things… These are the “One.” This is ultimately and completely opposed to the Judeo-Christian revelation from God that all creation is distinct from the creator. The ancient Greeks and Hindus and Buddhists are all monists. Catholic New Age mysticism with its roots in the 3-4th century Desert Fathers is also monistic. They qualify this in saying they are not pantheists. But they are still monistic panentheists. The contemplative way of Foster, Willard and Scazzero to find union with the “One” is through wordless, silent meditation. This the contemplatives share with Eastern mysticism. Merton quotes Trich Nhat Hanh (Vietnamese Buddhist contemplative): “Buddhists and Christians know… the Kingdom of God as a mustard seed planted in the soil of consciousness. The Buddhist sutras speak of the Buddha nature as the seed of enlightenment that is already in everyone’s consciousness.” (Merton Introduction to Contemplative Prayer, Doubleday, 1996, p. 5).

But the result of this is realizing the “unity of all that is.” Henri Nouwen tells us that this leads to the “unity of all things”. Henri Nouwen, whom Ravi Zacharias calls one of the greatest saints of the church, died a universalist. When liberal theologian Paul Tillich was interviewed shortly before his death, he was asked, “Dr. Tillich, do you pray?” He responded, “No, I meditate.” Tillich called his god “the ground of all being.” Tillich’s view of God was monistic. It is interesting the author of The Shack identifies God as the “ground of all being” as well. Yet The Shack’s author is a common speaker in our churches. Even Bill Johnson’s Bethel church in Redding CA. invited him to his church. The pastor of a huge AOG church passed out copies of The Shack to his whole congregation.

Dr. Robert Morey has offered the solution to all this apostasy:

“With all the paganism around us today, now is not the time to water down the Gospel or deny the historic concept of God. The Church must arise and put her armor on… She must take up the shield of faith to quench all the fiery darts of doubt… to do this, the Christian Church needs truth – not error; courage not cowardice; doctrinal vigilance, not sentimentality; sacrifice – not sacrilege; faithfulness – not betrayal; and strength not weakness.” (Robert Morey, Battle of the Gods, 1989).

Distinguishing Panentheism from Pantheism

Historic pantheism simply means that all matter is God. All matter is impersonal and that is all there is. There is nothing beyond matter and the universe. But panentheism is a variant view to pantheism. The two are strikingly similar. Their differences are about as significant as the difference between an agnostic and an atheist. The pantheists and panentheists share the view that the universe and everything in the natural world and universe is pervaded by divinity. This is the view that the universe is contained within God and that the universe is a part of God.

For panentheists, God is located in all matter and the universe, but in some way, God is greater than the universe. God is like the head and creation the body. Krause, the originator of the term panentheism stated “everything is in God and God is in everything, but God is more than everything… God in essence contains the entire universe within Himself, but is not exhausted by it. The medieval Sufi (Islamic mystic) Kabir once noted “all know that the drop merges into the ocean, but few know that the ocean also merges into the drop.” All matter becomes inspirited – it breaths divinity. Earth becomes alive and sacred and offers us holiness in everything both upon the earth and the universe.

How did I learn about “panentheism?

It wasn’t easy. About 10 years ago, I became embroiled in a controversy over the inner healing ministry of John and Paula Sandford. I was forced to read their book The Transformation of the Inner Man. I was shocked by their psychological regression therapies based directly and unashamedly on Freud and Jung. I began a wide-ranging investigation of the Sandfords and their ministry. In the process, I happened upon some transcriptions of tapes by the Sandfords. These tapes and other Sandford books revealed a thorough going panentheistic worldview.

In one of the tapes, Dan M, the interviewer, asks Sandford about a statement made in the Sandfords’ book Elijah Task in which the Sandfords state: “Every plant and bit of earth, all seas and winds each animal and thing has intelligence, will, and desire in it.” (Elijah Task, p. 144). John responds: “You need to understand that God has so created everything and that his Spirit is redolent in it…all things have intelligence.” Sandford continues: “And in criminology they have found they can bring 4 suspects before plants and the plants will tell them who the criminal is… But they can’t use it in court. Can you imagine, “I was convicted by a rhododendron.” (tape 57). In these tapes Sanford refers to “animal spirits” which he says are looked after by Satan and others by angels. Sandford even allows for spirits of the departed to attach themselves to living persons, justifying this from the apocryphal book of 2 Esdras.

The Sandfords’ book The Transformation of the Inner Man and related materials were used in a local church and, as a regional minister with oversight, I confronted this and received a rebuke and curse from the Sandfords for my efforts. Initially, I called Sandfords’ view pantheism. But I found out later it was not pure pantheism as stated above but a close variant called panentheism which is a difference that is only slightly different.

Finally, I again encountered Contemplative Prayer ideas in a church nearby. It presented itself in a well-disguised form and became the basis of an 8-week series of sermons and bible study groups. The source was Peter Scazzero’s book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality and an introduction video and a self- published prayer guide called the Daily Office. I found out later that Scazzero, a graduate of Gordon- Conwell Seminary and his wife go on meditation retreats to a Trappist monastery each year. The Trappist monks and monasteries have become centers of contemplative prayer. The Daily Office, Scazzero’s workbook title, should have been a dead giveaway in that “Daily Office” is a well-recognized Catholic term used by monks for daily devotion. But for me, it was the end notes of The Daily Office that concerned me in that it was loaded with copious quotes from many current Catholic purveyors of Contemplative Spirituality including Merton, Nouwen, Keating and DeMello etc. These Catholic monks and mystics are the source of the current fad of Roman Catholic mystical teaching called Contemplative Prayer. These endnotes in The Daily Office were of no meaning to anyone in this bible study group but me. It turns out that Scazzero has a full agenda for his ministry of introducing Contemplative Prayer to evangelicals. I found that Scazzero has led retreats sponsored by Focus on the Family and at Saddleback Church. Scazzero is well schooled in the Desert Fathers etc.

The bait and cover for evangelicals is found in Scazzero’s book titled, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. The appeal is to believers drained emotionally and needing a place of quiet and stillness. Contemplative Prayer and stillness seem to be the answer for these emotionally challenged evangelicals. Historic Contemplative Prayer promises to help us slow down and enter quietness and find a new victory for our harried lives. In a congregation of 1200, as far as I know, no one realized what was going on. The pastor was able to loosely preach from the Scazzero’s book and retranslate Scazzero’s teaching back into familiar Christian evangelical terminology. I am not sure he was aware of what he was doing. For him it was an honest attempt to help people get off their treadmill existence an refocus spiritually. Who was to know that this study material was a clever introduction to an evangelical church of the historic practice of contemplative spirituality? Indeed, in his book, Scazzero does refer to “Centering Prayer” and entering into silence (p. 45). But who knows what “centering prayer” and entering “The Silence” actually is? Who would know that Merton, Nouwen, Keating and DeMello and others listed in the endnotes were the new catholic monks and mystics who are panentheistic practitioners?

Thomas Merton

Thomas Merton was the forerunner among the New Monks promoting the Contemplative Spirituality. He became a monk at age 26 just three days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Merton advocated moving the practice of Contemplative Prayer from its use by cloistered monks to a broader use by the common man. During his years practicing mystical contemplative prayer, he became more and more drawn to Buddhist and Hindu mystics. Ultimately, he saw no real difference between Christianity and Buddhism. He once visited the Dalai Lama to “discover truth in dialogue.” (Demarest, Satisfy Your Soul, pp. 269-277). He actually was electrocuted while on a teaching trip among Buddhist monks. Shortly before his death, he acknowledged that he was more Buddhist than Catholic. Merton was to the current Contemplative Spirituality what Henry Ford was to the automobile. Merton stated: “At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and illusions – a point of pure truth. This little point is the pure glory of God in us. It is in everything.” (quote from Merton and Sufism, Rob Baker and Gray Henry…1999, p. 109). At an interfaith conference in Thailand, Merton stated: “I believe that by openness to Buddhism and to Hinduism and to these great Asian traditions, we stand a wonderful chance of learning more about these traditions. We stand a wonderful chance of learning more about the potentiality of our Christian tradition.” (William Shannon, The Silent Lamp, The Thomas Merton Story p. 276). By the way Scazzero quotes Merton 8 times in his devotional The Daily Office.

Henri Nouwen

Nouwen, also deceased, like Merton has been able to influence evangelicals with his deep homespun spirituality. He is widely read by evangelicals. Even someone in my family relishes his spirituality. One of his biographers revealed in 1994 that Nouwen ranked second only to Billy Graham in his influence. In his book The Way of the Heart, Nouwen advised his readers: “the quiet repetition of a single word can help us to descend with the mind into the heart… That way of prayer…opens us to God’s active presence.” Nouwen displays his panentheism by stating: “The God who dwells in our inner sanctuary is the same as the one who dwells in the inner sanctuary of each human being.” (from Here and Now, p. 22). Nouwen further states: “Prayer is soul work because our souls are those sacred centers where all is one. In the heart of God, we can come to the full realization of the unity of all that is.” (Nouwen, Bread for the Journey, Harper, San Fran, 1997). Nouwen’s phrase “all is one” is pure panentheistic monism.

Fathers Keating and Basil Pennington

These two monks have honed the method of “centering prayer” to the point that mystical silence and union with God that took cloistered monks sometimes years to achieve can now through “centering prayer” and a repeated word (mantra) achieve it in days. Pennington and Keating have written a popular classic on centering prayer entitled Open Mind Open Heart. Keating boasts that by 1991 he had taught 31,000 people the art of “centering prayer.” Keating attended the 6th annual conference on Christian and Buddhist meditation held in Boulder, CO, August 10, 1986, with Christian and Buddhist attendees making contributions which included Keating’s presentation on “centering prayer.”

Keating and Pennington’s major contribution to the contemplative movement is the technique of “centering prayer.” Brennan Manning, a former Catholic monk, calls it wordless prayer involving breathing exercises and the chanting of a sacred word or phrase. The purpose, as Keating asserts, is to speed up the sensitizing of the unconscious. After reading a published description of “centering prayer”, a psychology professor said: “Your question is, is this hypnosis? Sure, it is.” (from The Danger of Centering Prayer, by Rev. John Dreher, pastor of Our Lady of Czestochowa Church in Coventry, Rhode Island.)

The Centering Prayer Process

Brennan Manning provides a step by step process for centering prayer. The first step is to stop thinking about God (Signature of Jesus, p. 212). The second step is breathing exercises and choosing a sacred word or phrase and inwardly and often repeating it (p. 218). Finally, close with the Lord’s Prayer or a Psalm. The result of this practice is the practitioner becomes less interested in objective spiritual knowledge as found in the bible and more interested in mystical revelation. Richard Foster speaks of “letting go of all competing distractions, even good ones… This can be done by focusing on a name, word or phrase.” (Foster, Sanctuary of the Soul: Journey into Meditative Prayer, p. 15). Deepak Chopra, a popular New Age Hindu who is a panentheist and believes all creation is God and divine, recommends the Catholic contemplative manual The Cloud of Unknowing and considers Christian centering prayer techniques to be the same as Hindu yoga. Chopra asserts: “There is no doubt that people resist the whole notion of God being an inner phenomena…” Yet its importance is stated eloquently in the medieval document known as ‘The Cloud of Unknowing,’ written anonymously in the 14th century… The writer (Cloud of Unknowing) informs us that ANY THOUGHT IN THE MIND SEPARATES US FROM GOD, because thought sheds light on its object…we are advised to go into a cloud forgetting anything other than the silence of the inner world… (How to Know God, 2000, pp. 94, 95, 98). In the same book, Chopra says, “I believe that God has to be known by looking in the mirror” (p. 9). Thus, Chopra is describing meditative methods whereby the individual can allegedly come into contact with his “higher self” or “divinity,” yet he advises using Catholic mysticism to get there. And the same manual, The Cloud of Unknowing, is one of the most popular manuals among evangelical contemplatives.

Richard Foster and Dallas Willard

These two men plus many others as well are kept busy introducing contemplative prayer techniques to the evangelical world. They have combined in establishing a contemplative training institution and a study bible called Renovare. They promote all forms of Catholic Contemplative Prayer and encourage people to read the likes of Merton, Nouwen, Rich Rohr and the full range of historic Catholic mediators. This newsletter could never list all the intrusions of Contemplative Prayer into evangelical circles. But I encourage you to acquire the book A Time of Departing by Ray Yungen. If you want a scholarly treatment of panentheism you should read Panentheism: The Other God of the Philosophers by John W. Cooper, who is a consistent biblical scholar.

Panentheism is everywhere in the evangelical world. David Cloud (online source, Evangelicals turning to Catholic Spirituality) asserts the following evangelical celebrities as either direct participants of Contemplative Prayer or endorsing it. I couldn’t believe the names on his list. I checked it out on the net and he is absolutely correct. We start off with Foster, but he is hardly a lone voice for Contemplative Prayer. Here are the others: Dallas Willard, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Chuck Swindoll, David Jeremiah, Beth Moore, Max Lucado, Ed Young, Gary Thomas, Charles Stanley, Leighton Ford and Phillip Yancey. Yancey in his book, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference, favorably quotes Richard Rohr, proponent of the “Cosmic Christ”, the 14-century contemplative manual called The Cloud of Unknowing, and Teresa of Avila whose meditation included erotic mysticism. This erotic mysticism echoes Lou Engle and Mike Bickle and IHOP bridal mysticism. This, however, at least has its source in the Song of Solomon but encourages IHOP young people to marry Jesus.

Check out the children’s books on Contemplative Prayer at NavPress. Dr. Gary Gilley, in an article on Spiritual Formation, lists the various evangelical publishers providing Contemplative materials (namely Nelson, Zondervan, NavPress, IVF by a wide range of authors). Even Rick Warren, the ultimate pragmatic church growth proponent, feels obliged to get involved in breath prayers and promote Contemplative Prayer. Foster, Willard, Sweet, Scazzero and a host of others, fill their calendars speaking in evangelical conferences and churches. The horse has bolted. The dike has been breached. Many evangelical pastors have not a clue that panentheism is actually the worldview base of Spiritual Formation. Panentheism has been sugar coated for evangelical appetites. Many of the rank and file will never actually pursue contemplative prayer practices for themselves. But others will take it up assuming it is a legitimate ancient/modern prayer method. But you will never hear the term panentheism. Rather, you will hear innocuous terms like Spiritual Formation and spiritual disciplines. It will all be retranslated into evangelical terminology, but of necessity it carries panentheism in its saddlebags, an anti-biblical worldview even though it is found only in the fine print. Each time someone recommends Merton, Nouwen, Foster, Dallas Willard, Sue Monk Kidd, Leonard Sweet, Manning, Leighton Ford, Larry Crabb etc., etc., just remember that each of them also have knowingly or probably unknowingly left biblical creation behind. Panentheism is hostile to and opposed to biblical creation and the gospel of Jesus Christ no matter how spiritual it appears and how much they talk about Jesus.

Biblical prayer could not be more contrastive. We don’t need to learn techniques from ancient masters and hermit monks. There is no need to vacate our rationale minds and enter a mystical Silence and enter altered states using mantras from the east. We have direct access to the throne of grace won for us at Calvary. Here we present our needs in audible form. God biblically answers with the Word of the Lord in scripture or He works all things according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Contemplative prayer could not be more antithetical to the revealed Word of God. Panentheism is a worldview that has no connection with the God of the Bible.

The Truth of False Teachings

For more about the “whistle blowing” ministry of 4 Truth Ministry, please see our About page as well as our False Movements page which lays out several false teachings/teachers found within evangelicalism.

Another great “whistle blowing” ministry is Christian Research Network.

The Bridge across the Tiber back to Home Sweet Rome is now open for traffic

The title and subtitle are metaphoric symbolism. Crossing the Tiber River near Rome is often used for Protestants returning to Roman Catholicism. Scazzero is an Italian name for Peter Scazzero who is senior pastor of New Life Church in Queens, New York City. Rev. Scazzero has not claimed Rome for his official residence, but makes many trips across the Tiber. Scazzero’s stated mission is to introduce Catholic contemplative prayer and practice to evangelicals. Scazzero avoids the term Catholic for obvious reasons but uses “Contemplative Prayer” freely, assuming probably correctly, that evangelicals will not know the meaning of the term.

Scazzero’s book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality recounts how after his seminary experience at Gordon-Conwell, he launched into growing an evangelical church in Queens. However, as the years went by, his marriage nearly collapsed and his time-consuming ministry was brought to a standstill. I am not sure why he and his wife Geri took a 6-month sabbatical and visited monasteries overseas including Taize in France. They came home, however, converted to Contemplative Spirituality (henceforth CS). They assumed that their church would refuse this but the elders were open to try it. The rest is history.

They implemented a Benedictine Daily Office devotional routine, a Sabbath experience and a Rule for Life. All of this is presented as the solution to Scazzero’s insufficient experience in traditional evangelical spirituality. Going further, Scazzero is convinced that living a life of contemplative rhythms and discipline is the primary way to bring evangelical emotional and spiritual lives into health.

Scazzero has found that he is in demand among evangelical pastors nationwide. He has been invited to speak to AOG pastors’ conferences, CMA pastors’ meetings, and even to Focus on the Family retreats. He quotes primarily from famous Catholic monastic mystics both living and dead, and he proudly announces that he attends a Trappist monastery in MS on a regular basis participating in the rigors of monastic life. It appears that his audiences have no problems with the source of his material. Trappist monks, and other emergent universalists get generous quotes in his writings and are ALWAYS quoted favorably. One can only assume he sees their teaching found in their writings as beneficial and that his evangelical audiences either don’t care or know to whom he refers in his writings.

The wider context of this is that there have been years of efforts to bring about a practical union between Rome and evangelicals. The prominent person in this endeavor has been and continues to be Chuck Colson. He has spearheaded this effort of some years now called ECT (Evangelicals and Catholics Together). One could say that Colson built the bridge over the Tiber and now Scazzero and others have widened the bridge and taken down any warning signs still remaining so that evangelicals can easily go back and forth. Now evangelicals can shoot across the Tiber and land in some of the historic monasteries. All of this now without even a waking or a stirring among evangelicals who owe their existence to the Protestant Reformation. Only a few “hard hats” so-called make a few grunting noises.

Given the quiet intrusion of postmodern deconstruction of almost all truth claims in the church and the prevailing winds of tolerance, the deal can now be sealed sooner rather than later. Luther, Calvin and Zwingli are quietly relegated to the scrap heap of ancient church history. The Reformation can be buried as an unfortunate mistake, and an inconvenient episode in church history. Many evangelicals are convinced CS is just a way to slow down and have quiet devotions in a busy life style. But for people who know, it is not remotely like a quiet bible study. It would only take a few minutes on a computer to establish that CS is not really an option.

Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen, the big two of monastic mystics leave no doubt that “entering the silence” is essentially an eastern way of eliminating all conscious thought so that we can uncover God’s presence already buried deep in all humans and in all living things (panentheism). Scazzero’s quotes are from nearly all the luminaries of CS. But he does not go on to describe in detail their practices and teachings, however. This is unfortunate, for very quickly that would nail down a few undeniable features of CS.

First, by meditative techniques and disciplines there is a desire to reach an alternate state of spiritual consciousness in which unknowing rather than knowing is the goal. In past centuries, that monastic goal often took years to attain. But in recent times, Father Thomas Keating, quoted freely by Scazzero (Thomas Keating, Intimacy With God: An Introduction To Centering Prayer, in Daily Office by Scazzero, p. 44) along with Father M. Basil Bennington [famous quote: “The soul of the human family is the Holy Spirit], found a way to attain mental silence and unknowing in about 20 minutes. Father Keating attended the 6th annual Christian-Buddhist meditation Conference recently. Here he presented this centering prayer short cut to “Nirvana” to Asian Buddhist monks. Father Keating was praised as a good bridge between Christianity and Buddhism. An attendee stated that his centering prayer seemed to tie in with Transcendental Meditation, yoga mantra meditation, the Jesus prayer and Hindu readings on meditation.

Tilden Edwards, founder of Shalem Institute who is also quoted in Scazzero’s book, p. 170, states in his book that “This mystical stream (CS) is the western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality” (Spiritual Friend, NY, NY, Paulist Press, 1980, p. 18). Scazzero on page 160 of his book recommends centering prayer. He states: “I often spend 5 minutes centering down…I follow James Findley’s guidelines…” (James Findley is a former Trappist Monk and promoter of inter-spiritual contemplative monk Thomas Merton.) Relying on James Findley, Scazzero’s book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality states: “Sit still, sit straight, Breath slowly and deeply…When you find your mind wandering, let your breathing bring your mind back…” (p. 160,161).

Finally, contemplatives ALWAYS end up in universal salvation. Thomas Merton, Scazzero’s apparent favorite and most quoted contemplative, simply says, “At the center of our being (every human) is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin…” [Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, p. 157].

Why am I writing now about CS? Well! It so happens Scazzero and his books and Daily Office are the basis of an 8 week attempt to recapture emotional and spiritual health in our very evangelical/Pentecostal church.

Contemplative Prayer Movement and Its Origin – Compiled by S.E. Ray

There is a prayer practice that is becoming popular within the evangelical church. It is primarily known as contemplative prayer. It is also known as centering prayer, listening prayer, breath prayer and prayer of the heart. The practice is now widely embraced and taught in secular and professed Christian seminaries, colleges, universities, organizations, ministries and seminars throughout the United States. Academic promoters have introduced these practices in the fields of medicine, business and law, while countless secular and Christian books, magazines, seminars, and retreats are teaching people how to incorporate these techniques into their daily lives. Promoters promise physical, mental and spiritual benefits.

The essential function of contemplative prayer is to enter an altered state of consciousness in order to find one’s true self, thus striving to find God. Proponents of contemplative prayer teach that all human beings have a divine center and that all, not just born-again believers, should practice contemplative prayer.

To achieve the state of emptiness, they employ a “mantra,” a word repeated over and over to focus the mind while striving to go deep within oneself. The effects are a hypnotic like state: concentration upon one thing, disengagement from other stimuli, a high degree of openness to suggestion, a psychological and physiological state that externally resembles sleep, but in which consciousness is interiorized and the mind subject to suggestion.

In the early Middle Ages during the 4th through the 6th centuries, there lived a group of hermits in the wilderness areas of the Middle East. They are known to history as the Desert Fathers. They dwelt in small isolated communities for the purpose of devoting their lives to God without distraction. The contemplative movement is traced to these monks. They were the first to promote the mantra as a prayer tool. [These desert fathers reasoned that as long as the desire for God was sincere anything could be utilized to reach God. If a method worked for the Hindus to reach their gods, then Christian mantras could be used to reach Jesus] (Ray Yungen, A Time of Departing).

Some of the most influential writers who have popularized contemplative prayer in the evangelical church are Richard Foster and Brennan Manning. Both these men have written popular Christian books about contemplative prayer. And both quote the Catholic mystics such as Thomas Merton and Thomas Keating.

Through the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, Father Keating and Father Bennington met together with an effort to understand the mass defection of young Catholics at the time these people were drawn in part to the East’s meditation practices. Their research led Keating, at the time an abbot at a Massachusetts monastery, to begin unearthing a similar meditative method based on a Christian tradition [the Desert Fathers]. The East was mixed with Catholicism to yield new appeal to the defecting younger generation of the time.

Contemplative prayer differs from Christian prayer in that the intent of the technique is to bring the practitioner to the center of his own being. There he is, supposedly, to experience the presence of God who [already] dwells in him. Christian prayer, on the contrary, centers on God in a relational way, as an independent power apart from oneself but realized intimately through the Holy Spirit.

The confusion of this technique with Christian prayer arises from a misunderstanding of the indwelling of God. The fact that God indwells us does not mean that we can capture His presence by mental techniques. Nor does it mean that we are identical with Him in our deepest self.

Silence, appropriate body posture and above all, emptying the mind through repetition prayer – have been the practices of mystics in all the great world religions. And they form the basis on which most modern spiritual directors guide those who want to draw near to God…Silence is the language God speaks…says Thomas Keating who taught “centering prayer” to more than 31,000 last year. “Keating suggests that those who pray repeat some ‘sacred word’ like God or Jesus.” (Newsweek, January 6, 1992, “Talking to God” p. 44).

The God Who is [Already] There

Francis Schaeffer once wrote a book entitled, The God Who IS There (emphasis added). Now, conversely, the Contemplative mystics teach that God is already there, namely He indwells every human in his inner and “higher self.” But furthermore, they teach that God not only indwells every human, but He indwells all his creation. This is not exactly pantheism, but a variant called panentheism.

Pantheism teaches that God is all things. But Pantheism has now been combined with Theism (God is a personality) and this produces panentheism, which attempts to retain God’s personality but adds that He also indwells every created thing.

Contemplatives fully schooled in the Contemplative paradigm embrace panentheism. Dr. Ken Kaisch, a prominent teacher of the contemplative, has written in his book, Finding God: “The first and important result [of this prayer] is an increasing sense of God’s presence in all things.” William Johnson also states in his book The Mystical Way, that: “God is the core of my being and the core of all things.” (compiled from Ray Yungen).

But this teaching undermines the biblical teaching of the sinfulness of all men and makes the atonement at the cross unnecessary. Furthermore, if God is in every human and all things, then he is in all religions. Tony Campolo and others see that this is a necessary corollary and Campolo has stated: ‘Mysticism provides hope for common ground between Christianity and Islam.’ (Speaking My Mind).

The lure of mysticism of all varieties belies a huge hollowed out vacuum in current evangelical spirituality, courtesy of Seeker-Sensitive. What else can account for the seeming insatiable hunger for all things mystical and particularly physical techniques leading to some kind of mystical and altered state of ecstasy. Across the evangelical spectrum people are signing on to various expressions of the contemplative. Below are a series of examples that defy understanding:

– Brennan Manning in his book “The Signature of Jesus” which explicitly gives training for centering techniques has his book endorsed by Max Lucado and Amy Grant.

– Youth Specialties has gone aggressively for contemplative spirituality being supported by Zondervan. The president of Youth Specialties, M. Oestreicher, is quoted as saying that ‘Christianity is an eastern religion.’ He dismisses criticism in the following quotes: ‘If a Buddhist is using a breathing exercise to bring some peace to her life – bless her. But that shouldn’t have any bearing on whether I chose to focus on my God-given breath.”

But, Mike Perschon, an Edmonton associate pastor of a Mennonite church, describes in a magazine “Youth Worker” his contemplative experience: “I built myself a room – a tiny sanctuary in a basement closet filled with books on spiritual disciplines, contemplative prayer and Christian mysticism. In that space, I lit candles, burned incense, hung rosaries and listened to tapes of Benedictine monks. I meditated for hours on word, images, and sounds. I reached the point of being able to achieve alpha brain patterns.”

This appears much more than focusing on my God-given breath. Though some may pursue contemplative as a way to be silent, etc., the origin of all this is ancient Catholic mysticism borrowed from Eastern mysticism in the 4th century and mixed with a Catholic tradition of monasticism.

The Contemplative Paradigm

– God lives deeply inside every human.
– Man’s problem: All man’s problems are from not being in contact with God inside.
– By ancient prayer techniques man can restore union with God within.
– Sin is neglecting to establish union with God within.

The Gospel Paradigm

– God requires righteousness.
– Man’s problem: since Adam, all have sinned and stand condemned before a holy God.
– Christ died to pay the debt of man’s sin.
– Christ’s righteousness is credited to the believing sinner’s record.
– God regenerates sinners who believe the Gospel and gives them the indwelling Holy Spirit.
– Man is thus accepted in God’s sight.
– Believers now focus on God and what He has done for them.

The Truth of False Teachings

For more about the “whistle blowing” ministry of 4 Truth Ministry, please see our About page as well as our False Movements page which lays out several false teachings/teachers found within evangelicalism.

Another great “whistle blowing” ministry is Christian Research Network.

A “world-view” is an arrangement of ideas in and through which a person interprets and judges reality. It is a background “script” that undergirds consciously or unconsciously, more or less consistently, a person’s thoughts and actions. In the jargon of biblical/theological studies there is a long German word heilsgeschichte (holy history), meaning roughly “salvation history.” Salvation history is the series of events and truths that portray God’s redemptive plan across the ages, a worldview focused specifically on the elements of salvation. From it is drawn the church’s historical teaching about salvation. It is broad in its scope, usually beginning with creation and the fall and moving on through the incarnation of Christ, His substitutionary death for human sin, His resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the founding of the church by the apostles, the second coming of Jesus, the final resurrection and judgment, and the final state of glory. But beware.

In recent decades a radically different script of salvation, a different worldview, has entered the church. It is called the Dominion Mandate. Unfortunately, it is rarely recognized as being outside the boundaries of orthodox belief. It has many things in common with traditional Christianity, but its underlying heilsgeschichte is fundamentally different. It is a rival salvation history, which promotes a false gospel. The current evangelical culture of downplaying theology in favor of pragmatic strategies is a main reason why this alien salvation history is often undetected when it creeps, or strides boldly, into the church.

The Dominion teachers have a unique and consistent theological viewpoint which underlies and undergirds all they do, and an unwritten standard by which they interpret and judge everything. Prayer walking, spiritual mapping and whole-city reaching and transformation efforts are connected to the heresy of restored offices of apostle and prophet. This teaching is a mutant form of the Latter Rain, a radical fringe movement of Pentecostalism that flourished at mid-20th century and then went underground for a period of time. It then resurfaced unrecognized in the Charismatic Renewal, and now comprises all independent churches organized under a top-down pyramid structure known now as the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR).

Although Dominion participants often have their own ministries and don’t always identify with the NAR they are linked together and know and recognize each other as comrades in the Dominion Mandate. They all know each other and recognize that they are part of an large extended family. They draw support from one another to develop dominion strategies. They all zealously propagate the new “revelations” of their leaders, the apostles and prophets, and recognize fellow apostles (whether publicly named or not) who exercise authority among themselves. They religiously believe God has reserved all of this for the very last days of the church age. [2]

Robert M. Bowman Jr. has given us a condensed summary of the Kingdom/Dominionist ideology.

“In the very beginning God created the universe and populated it with spirits (or angels) who lived in perfect obedience to Him. However, a third of these angels, led by Lucifer, rebelled against God’s authority, becoming demons. The angelic rebellion occurred in a “gap” between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. The result was that the earth, which was the headquarters of the demonic Evil Empire, was brought into chaos. In order to win back unchallenged dominion over the universe, God introduced into the earth, Man, a race of creatures which God intended to become a resistance movement that would conquer the Devil’s home planet and thus lead the way in taking back dominion over the entire universe. Man was to be a race of little gods exercising authority, thus overwhelming the devil’s forces.

Unfortunately the father of this race (Adam) was tricked by the devil into forfeiting Man’s place in this plan and actually brought God’s first plan to naught. God was then forced to come up with plan B to take back dominion. His solution: to introduce into this fallen race a man in whom the divine nature dwelled fully, who would become the prototype of a new race of human beings in which the original godhood of Adam was restored. This divine Man was Jesus, a perfect manifestation of God the Father and the “first fruit” of the incarnation of God.

This race of little gods who are spiritually united with Christ as members of His body is the church, constituting collectively with Him the complete incarnation, a corporate manifestation of God in the flesh, which together will overcome the devil and restore God’s dominion unchallenged on the earth. Ultimate victory over the devil, then depends finally upon the church accepting the calling to be little gods.It further depends on the church submitting to the restored apostles through whom God is seeking to mobilize the church into a unified army prepared to take dominion back from the devil.” [3]

After Adam had given it away, God didn’t have any more authority, according to this heretical teaching. This “false identity” teaching suggests that Jesus was taken to Hell after his death. Here Jesus was not only tormented by Satan, but he became a sinner. (Further study: The Born-Again Jesus of the Word-Faith Movement) But this caused Him to be born-again and he was raised to life as the first born-again man becoming a prototype or pattern son for all believers. Believers, according to this worldview, are meant to partake of the same power and authority as Jesus. But the church, like Adam, has botched the plan because of its unbelief and ignorance. Finally now, at the end of the age, in the time of the purported “Latter Rain” (since the 50’s), the church has been given new “prophets” and “apostles” to lead a united church to establish God’s lost rule, i.e. dominion, in the earth. Using spiritual warfare techniques, newly revealed to chief apostle of the NAR, C. Peter Wagner, [4] the church will take whole cities and nations for God, and will at long last take control of the heavenlies, having cast Satan down.

“Apostle” Ed Silvoso has said:

“The church has now been placed potentially in control of the heavenly places once ruled by the prince of the power of the air. But this reconstituted church must engage and defeat the enemy and retake the heavenlies in the name of her Lord.” [5]

This Dominion mythology is totally at odds with biblical teaching.

1. Dominion teaching paints a false view of Adam and his fall. It pictures him as a god who lost his godhood when Satan tricked him.

The Bible, on the other hand, teaches Adam fell into sin by rebellion and this resulted in judgment and death for him and his posterity. (Romans 5:12f).

2. Dominion teachers assert that by Adam’s failure God lost His legal authority over the earth to Satan.

However, multiple texts in Scripture show God has ongoing control over his creation. Job 37:15, Matt. 10:29, Daniel 4:17. Jesus has authority in earth and heaven (Matt. 28:18).

3. Dominion teachers view man as an extension of the incarnation of Jesus.

But there is no biblical teaching that Jesus is a ‘pattern son.’ (or that individual believers are “little gods”) Christ indwells His church through the Holy Spirit. (i.e. the church is not Jesus, the Head)

4. Dominion mythology teaches that the church has been given authority to invade and conquer the heavenly places.

But there is no biblical warrant for this fairy tale.

This constitutes the basis of Dominion mythology and it is the master plan behind all Dominion teaching and practices. [6] This mythology is constantly being refreshed by new and absurd “revelations”. But these wild revelations still fall and remain within the dominion mythology.

Endnotes:
1. Mark Pfeifer, “Theology of Reclaiming 7 Mountains: The Dominion Process,” http://www.reclaim7mountains.com/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=41538&columnid=4347
2. The extensive historical documentation on the points made in this paragraph, and the one above, can be found in Al Dager’s excellent book VENGEANCE IS OURS: THE CHURCH IN DOMINION (Sword, 1990), available here: http://home.etcable.net/hestervanboven/Books.htm
3. Robert M Bowman Jr., “The Gospel According to Paulk – A critque of Kindom Theology,” The Christian Research Journal, Vol. 10, No. 3, 1998, p. 8. Quotation reformatted for blog use.
4. To see an example of C. Peter Wagner’s teaching on this topic, see the lead quotation at the top of this Herescope post: http://herescope.blogspot.com/2007/07/cultural-mandate.html
5. Ed Silvoso “That None Should Perish” audio cassette, 1982.
6. See more quotations illustrating this mythology at http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com and also see: http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/premilpostmil.html

The Truth of False Teachings

For more about the “whistle blowing” ministry of 4 Truth Ministry, please see our About page as well as our False Movements page which lays out several false teachings/teachers found within evangelicalism.

Another great “whistle blowing” ministry is Christian Research Network.

Just yesterday, I went for my annual physical. Anticipating the usual long wait, I took along something to read. It just happened to be an exposé of IHOP. Finally, Doctor Johnson came into the room and asked me what I was reading. He is a very active and well read laymen in a very conservative church. His son has just graduated from a college with a long evangelical heritage of which Dr. Billy Graham served as president. His son is looking for ministry, so I replied to the doctor’s question that I was reading about IHOP saying this is not the International House of Pancakes.

He replied confidently that he knew of IHOP in Kansas City in that his son had recently spent a long weekend there at the recommendation of an elder at their traditional evangelical congregation. I then offered in as low-key fashion as I could that the paper was an expose of IHOP. The doctor then asked why would anyone do an expose of IHOP? I diplomatically offered that Mike Bickle’s whole ministry is predicated on prophetic words of Paul Cain, Bob Jones, and John Paul Jackson, and that Cain is a longtime homosexual and Jones is an admitted sex offender. I then added that the bible is our sole source of doctrine and practice, and the canon is closed isn’t it. To this the doctor grunted, suggesting yes! of course, I know about the closed canon. But his reply was to the effect that our young people desperately need to know the real presence of the Holy Spirit, sort of suggesting that this is more important than scripture.

Suddenly, I realized my doctor was exhibit A of a sincere evangelical, who is now unknowingly carrying the Postmodern virus. Postmodern pluralism is for many not a mentally defined position but a mood. In a nutshell postmodernism asserts that truth is not absolute but different for everyone. Unfortunately, if everything is true to some then nothing is true to anyone.

Evangelicalism has become a mélange of mushy spiritual feelings. Years of seeker-sensitive pragmatism has set the church up for a host of extra-biblical spiritual and mystical experiences. Externally within the wider culture Postmodern Emergents are pouring into City Evangelical. They, however, come in disguised as evangelicals and the biblically compromised city dwellers of City Evangelical welcome them through the city gates especially when Christianity Today writes positively about them. A handful of watchmen sound the alarm only to be pushed to the side.

Right behind the Emergents are the Contemplatives whose meditation procedures often lead to altered states of consciousness. They also appear in evangelical outer garments with endorsements from famous and influential evangelicals. The contemplative are promoted by Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, etc. A missionary friend of mine who came under great pressure turned to the writings of former priest Henri Nouwen, whose eastern altered state mysticism eventually took him to the east where he died in a Buddhist monastery. How could a seminary trained evangelical missionary look to a Christian form of mantra meditation?

There are thankfully, a few often maligned Online Discernment Ministries (ODM’s) that have followed the very move of the contemplatives including Brennan Manning author of “Ragmuffin Gospel” and Leonard Sweet, et. al. But all of this has distracted many discernment ministries from another internal false teaching.

The church is being invaded by another aberrant teaching. Virtually none of the ODM’s have given much attention to another false teaching right in front of us – a fast moving departure from the gospel. The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and its apostles and prophets with their dominion mandate have been able to ride the “Save America, Tea Party” train into total acceptance broadly among the Christian Right Activists and celebrity Evangelical leaders. “The Seven Mountains of Culture,” the agenda of the Apostolic/Prophetic Dominionists, has been bought by the Dobson’s and Franklin Graham’s. The National Day of Prayer used the 7 spheres (the NAR’s seven mountains) in the printed program. Peter Wagner was listed as on the advisory board. In fact the 7 Mountains Dominionist mandate is now already set to become part of the political agenda of the whole upcoming conservative Christian Right political campaign. Jim Garlow speaker at many Dominionists conferences has been tapped by Newt Gingrich as his religion advisor. The apostles/prophets now have their agenda ready to go politically. The political fix is in. Dobson and NAR apostle Lou Engle have pieced together the Manhattan Declaration, a product of the old “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” people. It is headed up by the Roman Catholic leaning ministry of Charles Colson with the 7 mountain dominion scheme of the apostles and prophets as a joint political/theological effort. Readers will be aware that the Apostles and Prophets of the NAR have identified seven spheres of culture and named them the 7 mountains of culture. They propose that radical spiritual warfare techniques will place Apostles into governmental rule world-wide.

So, on the one hand, the Postmodern Emergents are coming through the gates. And, on the other, the Apostles and Prophets have gone political in order to eventually take dominion and rule the world. Indeed the evangelical patient, who really is sick, emaciated and down to 92 pounds is nevertheless, flexing its’ muscles like a puny strong man that boasts they are about to create the third great awakening. The Postmodern Emergents see the dawning of a new age in the form of an ecumenical ancient future pluralistic church. The New Monastics are parading their new altered states of intimacy with God ala eastern mysticism. The Apostles are being wined and dined by the political evangelicals of the Christian Right. They see this as the step toward a Christian empire with false apostles and prophets perched on the 7 mountains of culture in absolute political dominion. Today only these current flavors are being advertised. Evidently, the gospel of Jesus, Paul and the real apostles have been put on the back of the menu – along with the over 50 crowd.

I just received my monthly books from IVF Book Club. The book I received is called “Breaking the Rules” by Fil Anderson. The sub-title is “Trading Performance for Intimacy with God.” The forward is by Brennan Manning. Manning is not even an evangelical but a defrocked Roman Catholic priest. He clearly teaches the “centering prayer” of contemplation in which a chosen mantra word is repeated endlessly until an altered-state of consciousness with God is achieved. IVF is a historic evangelical publishing house. Yes! they still carry biblical titles but they are rarely featured and relegated to the last pages of the catalogue. With these conflicting new recipes of the Gospel there comes confusion and competing spiritual roadmaps. The result is that the Gospel becomes something like modeling clay – people create their own gospel and it becomes a matter of personal preference and good advertising. There are at least two essential ingredients that are most often neglected in this current gospel mix. They are: man is exceedingly sinful and God is exceedingly holy and righteous. How does a holy God accept sinful man and still retain His essential character of holiness?

Man is Exceedingly Sinful and God is Exceedingly Holy

The Gospel was designed by God to allow Him to retain His holiness – unsullied – and at the same time exact punishment for the sinful disobedience of all men. This was in order that sinful man could be accepted into relationship with God. This plan of salvation is His creation and it centers in the Sinless Son of God paying the penalty of sin to God by a substitutionary death. This was the core of the Pauline Gospel and which was restored in the Reformation. It is called the Penal Subsitutionary Atonement. But increasingly evangelicals are denying that this is a needed part of the gospel. It is not new to deny PSA. Charles Finney, evangelist of the 19th century, denied this more than a century ago. But in recent times more and more evangelicals reject this central feature of the gospel. Joel Green of Fuller Seminary and Mark D. Baker with a misleading title “Recovering the Scandal of the Cross” suggested that PSA was based on a mistaken view of the concept of the wrath of God. They suggested it would promote a child abuse model of the Atonement.

So the total depravity of man is no longer the primary view of evangelicals. Some are rejecting it outright – and publicly. For others, it is simply being ignored or filed away as old business. The reason for and necessity of the Gospel was because of the total sinfulness of mankind. The current scene is like a medical doctor making a misdiagnosis. We all know that medically the diagnosis is absolutely critical. For without a correct diagnosis a successful solution is impossible. So in preaching the gospel the diagnosis of the sinfulness of man is absolutely crucial. Get the spiritual diagnosis wrong and you get the gospel wrong. It is the starting point of the gospel. If man is not a sinner he really doesn’t need a savior. If man can deal with his own deficiencies by law keeping and short cut mystical spiritualities, he can save himself with a little assistance from God.

Conversely, many current new evangelical gospels and spiritualities have diminished the absolute Holiness of God. He is a kindly old gentleman that enjoys to give sinful mankind a pass without any consideration of His holiness. Man’s sin isn’t really that much of a hindrance for God. He is bigger and more loving than to allow man’s sin to be any kind of obstacle to a loving relationship. In the end sinful man and a holy God can have a negotiated settlement. God apparently accepts the creative new spiritualities of sinful man and man is allowed to make spiritual shortcuts and end runs around the wrath of God and His holiness.

The Contemplatives simply disregard sin as a problem at all. For contemplatives every man is after all a part of the divine essence. Every human actually contains a part of divinity in his inner being. The reason humans have problems and feel separated from God is because the inner man has become cluttered and plugged up with all kinds of distractions. These distractions have to be taken away so the inner divine flame of God can be accessed and heard. So the mind has to be silenced because it is the repository of all the things that cover and hide the inner divinity. Consequently, techniques are produced to silence the mind. But the mind doesn’t easily go silent. So a mind clearing procedure is used. A chosen word (mantra) must be repeated again and again…(sometimes 20 minutes) until the mind becomes silent and a different and altered-state of consciousness is attained. Into the silence the inner divinity can easily relate and to the all pervasive divine mind. Now voices purported to be God are easily heard and accepted. It is this altered-state that is called “intimacy” with God. Two terms are code words for the contemplative experience: “Spiritual Formation” and “Intimacy.” In this plan Jesus is an unnecessary savior but an eastern guru of peace and existential false joy.

The New Apostolic Reformation offers a salvation from the surrounding culture of sin and evil. Sin is somehow picked up from all the evil rampant in the culture. They suggest that governmental dominion over evil can cure it. Their solution is to eliminate the sinful culture that surrounds us by extra-biblical spiritual warfare techniques. The Cross’s answer to sin is seen as preparatory but not finally effective. Surrounding sin in the culture must be eliminated and newly anointed false apostles must become cultural rulers. The culture will become more or less holy and Christians can live the good life until Jesus returns to observe the elimination of evil by his apostles/prophets and spiritual warriors. The catch is that Jesus said it was not the things (from outside) that defile us, but rather the evil within that gives rise to all forms of evil.Sinful man has three spiritual realities:

1. We deserve to die as the penalty of sin.

2. We deserve to bear God’s wrath.

3. We are separated from a Holy God by our sins.Jesus who was a perfect and holy man took upon Himself the guilt and penalty of our sin. Jesus perfect life is credited to the sinners account and sinful man is acceptable to a Holy God. Believers are reconciled to God and have been given the promise of Eternal Life.

The Truth of False Teachings

For more about the “whistle blowing” ministry of 4 Truth Ministry, please see our About page as well as our False Movements page which lays out several false teachings/teachers found within evangelicalism.

Another great “whistle blowing” ministry is Christian Research Network.

It was Palm Sunday in our local church, and the focus of the entire service was the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. The pastor painted a verbal picture of Holy Week in Jerusalem, including the agony in Gethsemane and the political and religious intrigue regarding the interaction between the Jewish authorities and the Roman government. Finally he gave a description of the crucifixion, focusing on the technique as it applied to the victim. If a picture is worth a thousand words, this pastor certainly painted a graphic one.

The account of the crucifixion itself was so well done that I could almost hear the crowd crying out “give us Barabbas,” and I could almost feel Jesus’ struggle on the cross as he tried to get His breath. I knew the historical resources that the pastor used as the palate for this spellbinding picture, and even though I had not seen Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” still I felt I was there “when they crucified my Lord.” Then the pastor abruptly pivoted toward his conclusion and appeal. He gave only a passing nod to Jesus’ death for our sins and having provided for our eternal life as he launched into his application.

Here are his actual words: “He died for you so you could approach Him today with whatever it is that is weighing you down. Maybe it is a relationship that is not right at home or school or work. Maybe it’s a financial crisis. Maybe your kids are breaking your heart. Maybe you are disappointed in yourself. You can’t get over the hump, or some behavior in your life. You are lonely, sick, or grieving. The cross is where God’s best meets man’s worst as we see the cross with fresh eyes.”

I have no idea what view this pastor holds regarding the atonement, but it really doesn’t fit any of the historical views. Maybe one could dub it the “life application atonement.” This type of appeal becomes more significant in the current environment now that we observe an open, frontal attack on the cross itself as the propitiatory sacrifice and substitutionary death that pays the penalty for our sins.

Inside evangelicalism, with its plethora of odd and often heretical teachings, we now have at least major skirmishes breaking out regarding the meaning of the death of Christ—if not all-out war. Many major voices identified and accepted as fellow evangelicals now chime in to challenge and target the Penal Substitutionary Atonement (hereafter referred to as PSA)……

Two books written by evangelicals were the two precipitating factors; one was published in the United Kingdom, and the other in America. In The Lost Message of Jesus, widely known British evangelical Steve Chalke opposed PSA. His inflammatory statement that PSA was a form of “cosmic child” abuse caused concern and open controversy among other British evangelicals.

In the U.S., Joel Green and Mark D. Baker recently authored “Recovering the Scandal of the Cross,” published by InterVarsity Press. Green and Baker’s thesis is that the New Testament displays a rich array of interpretations of the cross. Some have called their view the “kaleidoscope atonement.” Their burden is to show that a monopoly exists on the view of the atonement (PSA) and that there actually are many other biblical metaphors that can enable us to communicate the cross in fresh ways to our postmodern culture. Green and Baker are not content to place PSA in the mix of cross metaphors. They are suggesting that PSA is based on a mistaken concept of God’s wrath. They see PSA as promoting a “divisive child abuse model of the atonement” (p. 181).

Green is a professor at Fuller Seminary, and Baker, at Biblical Seminary. These authors and a growing list of evangelicals who endorse them represent voices of dissent from a long strain of mainline evangelicals. They assert that PSA is unbecoming of a God of love, and not an adequate expression of the biblical view.

Those attacking PSA cleverly begin their assault on PSA by emphasizing that a variety of views of the atonement exist in the scriptures. As we will see shortly, there are other truths taught in scripture regarding the cross. But these critics then proceed to call for the rejection of PSA and wish to eliminate PSA altogether. Most challengers suggest PSA is repulsive—making God into a psychopath or a cosmic child abuser. Other challengers employ the bouquet of roses metaphor as a full bouquet of atonement stories—differing colors and differing fragrances can appeal to a wider range of individuals. However they press for plucking out and discarding the PSA rose entirely and are bent on purging PSA from the church.

Perhaps here we need to define PSA more specifically. Tom Schreiner provides the following definition:

The Father, because of His love for human beings, sent His Son, (who offered Himself willingly and gladly) to satisfy His justice, so that Christ took the place of sinners. The penalty we deserved was laid on Jesus Christ instead of us, so that at the cross both God’s holiness and love are manifested….

I am not claiming that it (PSA) is the only truth about the atonement taught in the scriptures, nor am I claiming that PSA is emphasized in every piece of literature, or that every author clearly articulates PSA. But I am saying that PSA functions as the anchor and foundation for the other dimensions of the atonement. I define penal substitution as follows: The Father, because of his love for human beings, sent his Son (who offered himself willingly and gladly) to satisfy his justice, so that Christ took the place of sinners. The punishment and penalty we deserved was laid on Jesus Christ instead of us, so that in the cross both God’s holiness and love are manifested.

Wayne Grudem offers this definition:Christ’s death was ‘penal’ in that he bore apenaltywhen He died. His death was also a ‘substitution’ in that He was asubstitutefor us when He died. This has been the orthodox understanding of the atonement held by evangelical theologians, in contrast to other views that attempt to explain the atonement apart from the idea of the wrath of God or payment for the penalty for sin. This PSA view is sometimes called thevicarious atonement.

A vicar is someone who stands in the place of another or who represents another. Christ’s death was therefore ‘vicarious’ because He stood in our place and represented us. As our representative, he took the penalty that we deserve. (Grudem,Bible Doctrine,(p.254).

Indeed, as Dr. Schreiner stated, PSA is not the only teaching in scripture regarding Jesus’ death. There are truly other aspects to Jesus’ death. But the atoning death of Jesus stands alone in that it is the centerpiece of reconciling sinners to our holy and heavenly Father. Other matters that are corollary such as Christus Victor exist, but cannot serve as replacements for the central issue of PSA. We shall discus them.

The Moral Influence Theory

This view of the atonement limits Christ’s death to a radical example of His love that influences sinners morally but does not pay any price on their behalf. God’s justice demands no payment for sin. First Peter 2:21 is the primary text for this view. “Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example.” But just a few verses later (v. 24) Peter refers to the subsitutionary aspect of the cross, “He Himself bore our sins in his body on a tree…” Even in this primary passage regarding the moral influence of Christ’s death, it can’t stand alone without the central message of substitution.

Christus Victor

This view attempts to limit Christ’s work on the cross to the defeating of the powers of evil. Indeed, Col. 2:15 assets; “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him.” Indeed Christ’s death defeated the powers of darkness. But directly preceding this statement in verse 14, Paul points to the substitutionary aspect of the cross by stating, “By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside,nailing it to the cross.”Here as in other contexts, PSA stands in the central place.

These two views (Christus Victor and the Moral Influence Theory) are indeed presented in scripture. But they can’t stand alone. These views are only complementary to the sacrificial death of Christ. Someone over the course of my studies referred to the various presentations of the cross as a choir in which all the biblical references to the cross are harmonious. I would like to adjust the metaphor and suggest that the sacrificial death of Christ is the “soloist” and the other biblical references to the cross are “background singers” that enhance the soloist’s voice.

The Governmental Theory

This view states that there is no actual payment of sin at the cross. Rather, the cross was a public display of God’s grief because of our sin and that His government is based on law. In this view this public display of Jesus’ suffering is intended to cause people to feel sorry for their sin and repent. This view has no reference point in scripture.

The Ransom to Satan Theory

This theory was first put forward by Origen in the post- apostolic era and suggested that Satan was tricked into accepting Christ’s death in exchange for the souls of sinners, not realizing that Christ would rise from the dead. Origen based this on a misunderstanding of Mark 1:45 and 1 Timothy 2:6. In recent years this view has been revived by various Word-Faith teachers, especially Kenneth Copeland. They teach that Christ purchased a ransom for sinners by literally suffering in Hell after his death on the cross in order to render a payment to Satan (Phil Johnson).

They also teach that Jesus became a sinner in Hell, and after becoming a ransom and Satan’s tormenting of Him, Jesus became “born-again.” By this view Copeland can assert that Jesus did not pay for our sins on the cross. Jesus, the one who became a sinner in Hell after suffering there, was born again by the Father and later was raised to life on the third day. Jesus, while still in Hell became the original born-again sinner. The application point among Word-Faithers is that as Jesus was born-again, the “first born among brethren,” so also every born-again believer becomes a son of God with the same power and authority as Christ. But the whole theory is flawed because Jesus became a sacrifice to God. Satan has no rights in God’s redemptive scheme.

Paula White, a divorced Word-Faith TV personality, recently added a bizarre dimension to what Jesus did on the cross. In her new book The Seven Places Jesus Shed His Blood she refers to Jesus’ seven wounds and shamelessly asserts, for example, that “Jesus’ hands were pierced for your total dominion.” She states “If you want dominion, and want to break the spirit of poverty, sickness, disease, generation curses, God really did this for you on Calvary.” Larry Hutch, on the TV program with her, then asserts “Jesus is not the only begotten son of God. He is not. I am also a son of God for he is the first- born of many.” Like the Governmental Theory, the Ransom to Satan theory has absolutely no reference point in scripture.

Concluding Remarks

“In summary, Christ died instead of us (substitution) as a sacrifice that took away the guilt of our sins (expiation), the wrath of God (propitiation), God’s alienation from us (reconciliation), and delivered us from our captivity to the curse of the law, the penalty of sin, and the pollution of sin, (redemption)… The objectors to PSA openly dismiss the view that Christ alone, in a unique ministry, representing His people, stood in for us under the judgment of God, and by His blood atoned for us, satisfying God’s justice by his substitutionary death. Either Christ has endured God’s justice for us on the cross, or we must do so for ourselves in hell… They must assume God will accept what Paul calls ‘rubbish’ in Phil. 3:8. They shamelessly replace what Christ has done for us with what we can do for ourselves.” (David Linden)

“The bottom line is this: God does not dismiss his wrath against sin and sinners by a wave of his hand. Mercy is no magical wand that causes the holiness and justice of God to disappear. Either Jesus Christ is my substitute, has endured and suffered in himself and thereby satisfied the wrath of God I deserved, or I must do so forever in Hell.” (Sam Storms).

“…There was but one way to bring about the desired salvation which would be in harmony with God’s character, the law of God, the nature of sin and the needs of man. This one way was by the substitutionary blood atonement of the incarnate Son of God.” (Robert A. Morey,Studies in the Atonement, p.9)

End Notes: 1. http://theologica.blogspot.com/2005/schreiner-on-penal-substitutionary.html

The Truth of False Teachings

For more about the “whistle blowing” ministry of 4 Truth Ministry, please see our About page as well as our False Movements page which lays out several false teachings/teachers found within evangelicalism.

Another great “whistle blowing” ministry is Christian Research Network.

“Something … just happened in the evangelical community. For most of a generation evangelicals have been romanced by the ‘seeker-sensitive’ movement spawned by Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. The guru of this movement is Bill Hybels. He and others have been telling us for decades to throw out everything we have previously thought and been taught about church growth and replace it with a new paradigm, a new way to do ministry… The size of the crowd rather than the depth of heart determined success. If the crowd was large then surely God was blessing the ministry. Churches were built by demographic studies, professional strategists, marketing research, meeting ‘felt needs’ and sermons with these techniques. We were told that preaching was out, relevance was in. Doctrine didn’t matter nearly as much as innovation. If it wasn’t ‘cutting edge’ and consumer friendly it was doomed. The mention of sin, salvation and sanctification were taboo and replaced by Starbucks, strategy and sensitivity.

Thousands of pastors hung on every word that emanated from the lips of the church growth experts. Satellite seminars were packed with hungry church leaders learning the latest way to ‘do church.’ The promise was clear: Thousands of people and millions of dollars couldn’t be wrong… How can you argue with the numbers? If you dared to challenge the ‘experts’ you were immediately labeled as a traditionalist, a throwback to the 50’s, a stubborn dinosaur unwilling to change with the times.

All that has now changed… Willow Creek has released the result of a multi-year study on the effectiveness of their programs and philosophy of ministry. The study’s findings are in a new book titled ‘Reveal: Where Are You?’ co-authored by Cally Parkinson and Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. Hybels, himself, called the finding groundbreaking, ‘earth shaking’ and ‘mind blowing.’ And no wonder: It seems that the ‘experts’ were wrong. The report reveals that most of what they have been doing for these many years and what they have taught millions of others to do is not producing solid disciples of Jesus Christ…

Hybels laments: “Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping that much… We made a mistake… Our dream is that we fundamentally change the way we do church. That we take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink our old assumptions. Replace it with new insights. Insights that are informed by research and rooted in Scripture. Our dream is really to discover what God is doing and how he’s asking us to transform this planet. Isn’t that what we were told when this whole seeker-sensitive thing started?.. Please note that ‘rooted in scripture’ still follows ‘rethink’ and informed research.” Adapted from Bob Burney, Salem Communications award winning host.

Pragmatic evangelicalism has had about a 30-year run. During this (seeker-sensitive period since the early 80’s) the culture was absorbed by the self. Pragmatic evangelicalism appeared to be enormously successful appealing to the “self.”

“Responding to a society coming apart at the seams, Pragmatic Evangelicals created corporate churches, entertainment worship, need-driven programs and a therapeutic faith.. But a Christianity shaped by personal needs and private interest misses the point of a biblical and historic Christianity.” (Webber).

Webber also coined the term “Walmart churches” delivering a full range of Christian consumer goods. Webber sees especially evangelical youths as tired of all this. Webber calls the ‘younger evangelicals” the millennials, who are yearning for hymnology and liturgy. He tells of a staff member of a well-known contemporary singer and writer, who asked him to send a chaplain.

“Even though we write contemporary stuff, we hate it. When you do chapel for us, no contemporary songs please. We don’t know what you are going to do, but no contemporary stuff.” (Webber)

It appears like the youth are yearning for more traditional worship conversely most evangelical leaders have already adopted the “new stuff” which now appears to have had a relatively short self life. Many people may cheer Willow Creek’s remarkable honesty. Nevertheless, their statement leaves many with a very cautious feeling. The Willow Creek repentance is troubling. In their text it appears they are looking for a clean piece of paper, which still betrays their continued reliance on research.

Also recent new ministries at Willow Creek show an acceptance of contemplative mysticism and emergent teachers. The new paradigm of Willow Creek seems to lean toward the new fad on the scene, namely ancient mystical prayer practices of pre-reformation Catholicism. The contemplative mystical practices of the past are being joined to the postmodern emergent teachers who disparage the concept of “absolute” propositional truth and promote mystical experience.

Recently, headlines about Willow Creek have filled the pages of news outlets. But talk of taking a new sheet and starting all over seems to be overstated. In the most current issue of (Fall of 2007), Willow Creek’s magazine gives a clear indication of the their new spiritual emphasis. The issue entitled ‘ministry shifts’ has a subtitle that says ‘the landscape of our ministries is shifting, brace yourself for the after-shocks.’ In the first article to follow the ‘seismic shifts’ article, Ken Wyatt Kent, a meditation promoter, in an article entitled ‘Recovering Spiritual Formation’ writes positively about ‘monastic communities’ and the emergent church. Quoting or favorably referring to one mystic after the next (Richard Foster, Ruth Haley Barton, David Brenner, John Ortberg, etc), Kent paints a picture showing mysticism’s role in the seismic shift… She brings into her article Catholic Priest Richard Rohr who is spiritually similar to Matthew Fox who endorses pantheism and panentheism. She correctly states that while there are some conservative Christians (that’s us!) who are suspect of spiritual formation (code name for the contemplative) but by and large the term and practices have [already] become mainstream. These practices, of course, are the mystical practices that are the energy behind the spiritual formation movement.” Lighthouse Trails

It is apparent that the so-called blank sheet is already inscribed with the “contemplative/emergent” which is everywhere these days. Willow Creek, it seems to me, is now packing away the 30-year promotion of seeker-sensitive for what they recognize is the new “seismic shift.” The tide is rising and the contemplative/emergent is everywhere.

The Contemplative is Everywhere

Spiritual Formation, ala the Contemplative, is found in the most surprising places. The website Lighthouse Trails.com is a site dedicated to tracking the contemplative. If the contemplative is new to you, at this site you will see just how all pervasive it has become. I suggest you visit this sight. But I will now simply list some the evangelical ministries that are now practicing or endorsing contemplative:Awana, Beth Moore, Max Lucado, *Richard Foster/Renovare, Dallas Willard, Calvin Miller, Rick Warren, Willow Creek, Peter Kreft, Leonard Sweet, Baker Books, Zondervan, Nav Press, IVF Press, Eugene Peterson, Tony Compolo, Discipleship Journal, Biola, Brennan Manning J.P. Moreland…Biola/Focus on the Family/Gary Thomas’s writings. Many more too numerous to mention..

Contemplative Prayer Movement and Its Origin
Compiled by S.E Ray

There is a prayer practice that is becoming popular within the evangelical church. It is primarily known as contemplative prayer. It is also known as centering prayer, listening prayer, breath prayer and prayer of the heart. The practice is now widely embraced and taught in secular and professed Christian seminaries, colleges, universities, organizations, ministries and seminars throughout the United States. Academic promoters have introduced these practices in the fields of medicine; business and law, while countless secular and Christian books, magazines, seminars, and retreats are teaching our people how to incorporate these techniques into their daily lives. Promoters promise physical, mental and spiritual benefits…

The essential function of contemplative prayer is to enter an altered state of consciousness in order to find one’s true self, thus striving to find God. Proponents of contemplative prayer teach that all human beings have a divine center and that all, not just born-again believers, should practice contemplative prayer. To achieve the state of emptiness, they employ a “mantra,” a word repeated over and over to focus the mind while striving to go deep within oneself. The effects are a hypnotic like state: concentration upon one thing, disengagement from other stimuli, a high degree of openness to suggestion, a psychological and physiological state that externally resembles sleep, but in which consciousness is interiorized and the mind subject to suggestion.

In the early Middle Ages during the 4th through the 6th centuries, there lived a group of hermits in the wilderness areas of the Middle East. They are known to history as the Desert Fathers. They dwelt in small isolated communities for the purpose of devoting their lives to God without distraction. The contemplative movement is traced to these monks. They were the first to promote the mantra as a prayer tool. [These desert fathers reasoned that as long as the desire for God was sincere anything could be utilized to reach God. If a method worked for the Hindus to reach their gods, then Christian mantras could be used to reach Jesus] (Ray Yungen, A Time of Departing). Some of the most influential writers who have popularized contemplative prayer in the evangelical church are Richard Foster and Brennan Manning. Both these men have written popular Christian books about contemplative prayer. And both quote the Catholic mystics such as Thomas Merton and Thomas Keating. Through the late 1960s and early 1970s, Father Keating and Father Bennington met together with an effort to understand the mass defection of young Catholics at the time these people were drawn in part to the East’s meditation practices. Their research led Keating then an abbot at a Massachusetts monastery, to begin unearthing a similar meditative method based on a Christian tradition [the Desert Fathers]. The East was mixed with Catholicism to yield new appeal to the defecting younger generation of the time.Contemplative prayer differs from Christian prayer in that the intent of the technique is to bring the practitioner to the center of his own being. There he is, supposedly, to experience the presence of God who [already] dwells in him. Christian prayer, on the contrary, centers on God in a relational way, as an independent power apart from oneself but realized intimately through the Holy Spirit. The confusion of this technique with Christian prayer arises from a misunderstanding of the indwelling of God. The fact that God indwells us does not mean that we can capture His presence by mental techniques. Nor does it mean that we are identical with Him in our deepest self…

Silence, appropriate body posture and above all, emptying the mind through repetition prayer -have been the practices of mystics in all the great world religions. And they form the basis on which most modem spiritual directors guide those who want to draw near to God… Silence is the language that God speaks.. says Thomas Keating who taught “centering prayer” to more than 31,000 last year. Keating suggests that those who pray repeat some ‘sacred word’ like God or Jesus.” (Newsweek, January 6, 1992, article called, “Talking to God” p.44.)

The God Who is [Already] There

Francis Schaeffer once wrote a book entitled The God Who IS There. Now, conversely, the Contemplative mystics teach that God is already there, namely He indwells every human in his inner and “higher self.” But furthermore they teach that God not only indwells every human but He indwells all his creation. This is not exactly pantheism, but a variant called panentheism.

Pantheism teaches that God is all things. But Pantheism has now been combined with Theism (God is a personality) and this produces panentheism, which attempts to retain God’s personality but adds that He also indwells every created thing. Contemplatives fully schooled in the Contemplative paradigm embrace panentheism. Fr. Ken Kaisch, a prominent teacher of the contemplative, has written in his book, Finding God: “The first and important result [of this prayer] is an increasing sense of God’s presence in all things.” William Johnson also states in his book The Mystkal Way, that: God is the core if my being and the core of all things.” (compiled from Ray Yungen). But this teaching undermines the biblical teaching of the sinfulness of all men and makes the atonement at the cross unnecessary. Furthermore if God is in every human and all things then he is in all religions. Tony Compolo and others see that this is a necessary corollary and Compolo has stated: ‘Mysticism provides hope for common ground between Christianity and Islam.” (Speaking My Mind).

The lure of mysticism of all varieties belies a huge hollowed out vacuum in current evangelical spirituality, courtesy of the Seeker – Sensitive. What else can account for the seeming insatiable hunger for all things mystical and particularly physical techniques leading to some kind of mystical and altered state of ecstasy. Across the evangelical spectrum people are signing on to various expressions of the contemplative. Below are a series of examples that defy understanding:

–Earl Creps AOG Seminary Prof attempts to Link Pentecostal Spirituality to the Emergent/Contemplative Earl Creps, until recently a Prof at AGTS, blogs about his attempt to link Pentecostals to the Emergent/Contemplative hoping to establish common ground.

–Brennen Manning in his book “The Signature of Jesus” which explicitly gives training for centering techniques has his book endorsed by Max Lucado and Amy Grant.

–Youth Specialties has gone aggressively for contemplative spirituality being supported by Zondervan. The president of Youth Specialties, M. Oestreicher, is quoted as saying that ‘Christianity is an eastern religion.” He dismisses criticism in the following quotes: ‘If a Buddhist is using a breathing exercise to bring some peace to her life – Bless her. But that shouldn’t have any bearing on whether I chose to focus on my god-given breath.” But, Mike Perschon an Edmonton associate pastor of a Mennonite church describes in a magazine “YouthWorker” his contemplative experience: “I built myself a room – a tiny sanctuary in a basement closet filled with books on spiritual disciplines, contemplative prayer and Christian mysticism. In that space, I lit candles, burned incense, hung rosaries and listened to tapes of Benedictine monks. I mediated for hours on word, images, and sounds. I reached the point of being able to achieve alpha brain patterns.”

This appears much more than focusing on my god-given breath. Though some may pursue contemplative as a way to be silent etc, the origin of all this is ancient Catholic mysticism borrowed from Eastern mysticism in the 4th century and mixed with a Catholic tradition of monasticism.

The Contemplative Paradigm

–God lives deeply inside every human.

–Man’s Problem: All man’s problems are from not being in contact with God inside.

–By ancient prayer techniques man can restore union with God within.

–Sin is neglecting to establish union with God within.

The Gospel Paradigm

–God requires righteousness

–Man’s Problem: Since Adam all have sinned and stand condemned before a holy God.

–Christ died to pay the debt of man’s sin.

–Christ’s righteousness is credited to the believing sinner’s record.

–God regenerates sinners who believe the Gospel and gives them the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Man is thus accepted in God’s sight.

–Believers now focus on God and what He has done for them.

The Truth of False Teachings

For more about the “whistle blowing” ministry of 4 Truth Ministry, please see our About page as well as our False Movements page which lays out several false teachings/teachers found within evangelicalism.

Another great “whistle blowing” ministry is Christian Research Network.