The Inroads of Spiritualism by
Kevin Straub
Here are some more evidences of the great
working of spiritualism in the name of Christ. Remember, we have been
warned that this would happen. The dragon power of spiritualism would
invade the end-time "church" forming an unholy trinity with
Catholicism and apostate Protestantism. This force will form the image
to the beast and impose its will upon all people through control of the
powers of the state. At last, we will be required by law to obey man's
day of rest, the unholy Sunday.
A while back, I learned of Willow Creek's study on the spiritual status
of their members as it related to their programming. It was discovered
that the satisfaction levels of members with the church's paradigm negatively
correlated with their spiritual maturity. Therefore, it was suggested,
there was a need to rethink the way they "do church," to take out a
clean sheet of paper start afresh. I understood right then, as a
flash of insight, that the seeds of spiritualism which had been quietly
sown within the church growth movement (CGM) and which had been putting out
its leaves in the form of "contemplative spirituality/spiritual
formation", was about to flower. The busy bee pollinators such as
Leonard Sweet, Brian McClaren, Irwin McManus and
others have been faithfully doing their work. At the present time,
the fruit is setting.
This toxic fruit will ripen alongside the Lord's
harvest. The latter will be harvested into the heavenly
storehouse, while the rest is left in the field to be eaten by scavengers and
ultimately be cleaned up by fire. At last, there will be no planting of
any seed but God's, in fields sterilized of the seed of tares.
I just had a thought this morning, how it is that many of our Adventist
churches like to sponsor our leaders to go to these things to learn of their
ways. (Adventists are the largest group of attendees at Willow Creek
training sessions -- we play a significant role in keeping them in
business. This makes me shudder.) I wonder if they'd sponsor me
to go, as a researcher, to come back and report on what is happening, comparing
to the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy to see if we can work in these ways and
under the influences and philosophies of these modern leaders in Christendom? Do you think I should make the proposal
to my church board? ;-) KS
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Rick Warren's Small
Group Conference Speaker Says Small Groups Lead to "Christ
Consciousness"
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New Age sympathizer Leonard Sweet, who will be training church leaders
and pastors at the 2008 Saddleback Small Groups Conference in April, is
accepted by Rick Warren as a trustworthy source of Christian leadership.
However, Sweet's view of the value of small groups lines up more with the
New Age and Alice Bailey than it does with biblical
Christianity. In his book, Quantum Spirituality, Sweet states:
The power of small groups is in their ability to develop
the discipline to get people "in-phase" with the Christ
consciousness and connected with one another.
What Sweet means by "Christ consciousness" can
be determined through his book, Quantum Spirituality. For
instance, in the Acknowledgements pages Sweet thanks the "New Light
leaders" whom he has followed in his spiritual journey. He names interspiritualists/universalists such as Matthew Fox
(author of The Coming of the Cosmic Christ), Episcopalian priest/mystic
Morton Kelsey, Willis Harman (author of Global Mind Change) and
Ken Wilber (one of the major intellectuals in the New Age movement). In
the Preface of Sweet's book (p. 3), he (referring to other New Agers such
as Gary Zukav) says: "Unfortunately, little of this literature is
known or celebrated in the religious community." Zukav's book, The
Seat of the Soul, teaches people how to get in touch with their
spirit guides.
Since the release of Quantum Spirituality in 1991, Sweet has never
renounced the spirituality of the book, and in fact offers a free online edition from his current
website. This means he still agrees with its contents.
A key to understanding Sweet's meaning of "Christ
consciousness" can be partly found in his reference on page 13 to
Thomas Merton, whom he quotes as saying:
We are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And
what we have to recover is our original unity.
And also in Sweet's TOE (Theory of Everything) in which he
believes that a "unifying principle" binds all things together.
In February, Lighthouse Trails reported that the Saddleback Small Groups
Conference would be featuring Leonard Sweet as one of the speakers.1 The report explained that for many years Rick Warren has
resonated with Leonard Sweet, which was apparent in a 1994 audio series
the two did together, and also in a book written by Sweet (Soul
Tsunami), on which Warren wrote a front cover endorsement. Sweet's
idea that the power of small groups lies in their ability to develop the
Christ consciousness in participants is alarming, especially considering
the influence Warren has on hundreds of thousands of churches around the
world.
In A Time of Departing, Ray Yungen
explains that occultist Alice Bailey, who coined the term New Age, predicted
a time would come when new age philosophy would rejuvenate the
Christian church:
Bailey eagerly foretold of what she termed "the
regeneration of the churches." Her rationale for this was obvious:
The Christian church in its many branches can serve as a
St. John the Baptist, as a voice crying in the wilderness [for the New
Age], and as a nucleus through which world illumination may be
accomplished.
In other words, instead of opposing Christianity, the
occult [New Age] would capture and blend itself with Christianity and
then use it as its primary vehicle for spreading and instilling New Age
consciousness! (ATOD, p. 123)
Someone whom Leonard Sweet has looked to for spiritual
guidance is Matthew Fox, author of The Coming of the Cosmic Christ. A
brief look at Fox's "cosmic christ,"
will help sum up why we believe Sweet's teachings to small group leaders
and pastors will not give them the biblical Christ but rather a false
"christ consciousness." From Matthew
Fox:
Divinity is found in all creatures.... The Cosmic Christ
is the "I am" in every creature.2
Without mysticism there will be no "deep ecumenism," no
unleashing of the power of wisdom from all the world's religious
traditions. Without this [mysticism] I am convinced there will never be
global peace or justice since the human race needs spiritual depths and
disciplines, celebrations and rituals to awaken its better selves.3
We need to become aware of the Cosmic Christ, which means recognizing
that every being has within it the light of Christ.4
Notes:
2. Matthew Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ (New York, NY:
HarperCollins Publishers, 1980), p. 154.
3. Ibid., p. 65
4. Steve Turner interviewing Matthew Fox, "Natural Mystic?"
Nine O Clock Service, March 1995,
https://members.tripod.com/nineoclockservice/
mattiefx.htm
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Erwin McManus'
Awaken 2008 Speaker Promotes Eckhart Tolle
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Last week, the Awaken 2008 with Erwin
McManus took place at William Carey University in Pasadena, California.
Many of the event speakers (called "Thought Leaders") promote
contemplative mysticism, but one in particular, Mark Batterson,
points readers on his website
to Eckhart Tolle, a New Age guru who is
currently being heralded by Oprah Winfrey. Batterson
says that Tolle's book, Practicing the Power
of Now, is "instrumental in the way I think about life."
His public reading list includes several other New Agers and mystics:
Jack Canfield, Daniel Goleman (The
Meditative Mind), Gary Thomas (Sacred Marriage, Sacred
Pathways), Leonard Sweet, Tony Jones, Brian McLaren, and several
others.
Other "Thought Leaders" at the Awaken 2008 who are
contemplative proponents were Willow Creek's Nancy Beach, Bill Hybels, Dan Kimball, Erwin McManus, and Rick McKinley.
For those who do not understand the spirituality behind Eckhart Tolle, please read Warren Smith's four part series and Ray Yungen's book, For Many Shall Come in My Name
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“As He Is: Issues in the ‘Character of God’
Controversy”
Ch. 12: "Statements and Principles"
č Now Available at www.noothergod.blogspot.com
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