SDA ministers are sent by their leaders
to Willow Creek to COUNSEL
with Babylon. This is direct violation of the three angel's messages and
Isaiah 8:9-16. All who do so and support such will be broken in pieces in the
next literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 9. In my King James Bible, in the margin,
the meaning of slaughter weapons in Ezekiel 9:2, is: "a weapon of His
breaking in pieces."
Every SDA minister is instructed at Andrews University to
join the Ministerial Association
whereever he/she should minister. This is another
way in which the church grossly violates Isaiah 8:9-12. All who knowingly
support the violators of God's Word commit unpardonable sin and will be
broken in pieces. Isaiah 8:9-12 offers ONE OPTION for such violators. This is
a sin unto death as are the sins elucidated in Jeremiah 11:9-15. That fact is
indicated by God instructing Jeremiah not to pray for any who so imbibed. The
sacred tithe should never be used to support such violators of God's Word.
Isa 8:9 Associate yourselves, O ye
people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far
countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird
yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.
Isa 8:10 Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought;
speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God [is] with us.
Isa 8:11 ¶ For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and
instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,
Isa 8:12 Say ye not, A confederacy, to all [them to] whom this people shall
say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.
"It
would be poor policy to support from the treasury of God those who really mar
and injure His work, and who are constantly lowering the standard of
Christianity" (Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 553).
Contemplative
Emphasis Continues at Willow Creek ... Stronger Than Ever Mike Stanwood
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and
to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to
feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I
know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you,
not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking
perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and
remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one
night and day with tears. Acts 20: 28-30
This October Willow Creek continues to
contribute to the wide spread influence of contemplative spirituality that is
infiltrating mainline church denominations. Not only have they recently begun
to sell Peter Scazzero's contemplative materials (1), they are also
promoting as one of their leadership training speakers Mindy Caliguire, the founder of Soul Care, a spiritual
formation ministry serving church leaders. She is scheduled to speak on Oct.
24, 2009 as a 'group life expert' at a conference called This Changes
Everything, (2) a one day
satellite training event designed to bring small groups to a point of
transformation and foster spiritual growth. 3
Mindy Caliguire will also be sharing the speaking
platform this week (4) with
contemplative Canadian pastor and author, Mark Buchanan, (5) at an Interactive Day for
Leaders sponsored by Willow Creek Canada called Leading from a Healthy
Soul--a conversation about the deeper things in life (October 6 in
Mississauga, ON, October 7 in Calgary, AB, October 8 in Surrey, B.C.). 6
The kind of transformation and spiritual growth in these Willow Creek
training sessions involves equipping leaders with spiritual practices that
are said to bring life to a thirsty soul. But just what kind of spiritual
practices are these?
One needn't attend one of these sessions in order to see the kind of
spirituality this particular speaker draws from. Upon closer inspection, we
find that Mindy Caliguire is not only the founder
and president of Soul Care (soulcare.com) but also
the author of six Soul Care resources. These are books which Willow Creek
Association sells (7), as
does Willow Creek Canada Leadership Center.8
While we are reminded that Soul Care's home organizations are Willow Creek
Community Church (www.willowcreek.org) and Willow
Creek Association (www.willowcreek.com), the Soul
Care website also recommends some ministries they work with as "some of
our favorite places to go." These include Renovare and Upper
Room.
The Upper Room organization not only promotes
contemplative prayer methods but encourages all types of eastern-style
meditation and offers various programs based
on mystical spirituality, including Walk to Emmaus, an adaptation of the
Roman Catholic Cursillo Movement. 9
Also recommended by Soul Care as places to go on retreats (short or
long-term) is Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House in
Barrington, IL, a place which "specializes in silent weekend retreats
for men and women adapted from the Spiritual Exercises of Saint
Ignatius." 10
Caliguire also has a blog at Soul Care, which also
reveals her contemplative leanings. 11
Another contemplative group Mindy Caliguire works
with is the Spiritual Formation Alliance, a network of Christian
organizations and individuals offering spiritual formation resources, as
mentioned on her biography at Building Church Leaders. 12
With all these contemplative connections, it's no surprise that Soul Care
founder Mindy Caliguire's teaching sessions are
also based on contemplative spirituality and the spiritual disciplines. This
is clearly evident if one listens on-line to her sessions. Caliguire is a good speaker, and she does quote and
reference the Bible, but for those who understand and recognize contemplative
spirituality, it becomes obvious in listening to her that Caliguire
is in that camp.
In Practicing Silent Prayer,
Caliguire teaches about mantras, silence, and
finding a quiet place undistracted. She also
mentions that this kind of prayer is "difficult to do. In Practicing Solitude
Part 1, she teaches on
how to prepare an undistracted quiet place or
retreat, and explains what things to bring to connect with God. Oddly, she
recommends bringing an alternative Bible translation that is less familiar to
you, a journal, and The Way of the Heart by Henry Nouwen.
The following is from Nouwen's book:
The quiet repetition of a single word can
help us to descend with the mind into the heart ... This way of simple prayer
... opens us to God's active presence. (p. 81)
In 2008, Mindy Caliguire
led an intermediate to advanced class at Willow Creek church that can be accessed
here.
During Soul Searching--Week 1, she told her class how she had drawn from
Dallas Willard, loved Brian Mclaren's book, quoted
John Ortberg and Ruth Haley Barton, and Henri Nouwen and said that David (author of the Psalms)
"got" the inner journey.
Some things she mentioned to her class were to not give each other
advice or quote Bible verses, and that we've hidden ourselves for so long we
hardly know our true selves anymore.
In Week 2 she began with a quote from Henri Nouwen
by saying she was "the living reminder" tonight (as Henri Nouwen referred to himself). The class then discussed
their stories about sensing an experience from God that week, to "let
the real you be brought into community." Then she taught them the
Practice of Examen, providing Richard Foster's
explanation from his book on prayer. One barrier to going deeper with God, Caliguire said, is a lack of awareness of God's presence.
She further explained how to do An Examen of
Conscience and An Examen of Consciousness or
awareness. She mentioned how Ignatius of Loyola was a rebel in the season
when he was ministering and was a reformer that created a following called
the Jesuits. Part of their way of deepening their relationship with God, she
said, involved this form of prayer, part of their rhythm of life as a
community, like the rule of life. She then explained essential steps to get
into the pattern, or rhythm, and highly recommended it. Roger Oakland, in Faith
Undone, says of the Jesuits:
Ignatius founded the Jesuits with a goal
of bringing the separated brethren back to the Catholic Church. He and his
band of ruthless men would do everything possible to accomplish this goal. (ch. 7)
Ignatius Loyola began the cruel order of
priests, the Jesuits, who would use Ignatius exercises to meditate, put
themselves into a trance and levitate. There are no scripture passages in the
Bible that tell us we need to practice Roman Catholic methods, monastic rules
of life to deal with our guilt ridden lives in order to experience God. The
things that Caliguire is teaching ought to be
setting off alarm bells within the Protestant church.
The "deep" prayer that Caliguire
recommends practicing every day is centering prayer, a practice of silencing
the mind that has led others into contact with spirit guides. In fact, Caliguire has been quoted to say that she has been led by
"soul guides" in the fall 2004, Leadership Journal, in an
article called "Soul
Health":
"Try centering prayer for about 20
minutes once a day for a week"
"Thankfully, I had a few soul-guides (in person and on pages) that led
me into a new way of life that, while still a work in process, keeps me much
more clear on my need for authentic connection to God, more than anything
else in my life."
In a Willow Creek magazine article,
contemplative advocate Keri Wyatt Kent talks about the paradigm shift taking
place through spiritual formation programs:
At first, many churches just wanted a
program to 'do' spiritual formation at their church ... Now, we're seeing a
shift as people start to get it--there's a process, and it can't be a
separate program, it needs to be adopted systemically. WILLOW
Magazine, Issue 4, 2007, "Rediscovering Spiritual Formation: From
monastic communities to the emergent church, spiritual formation continues to
shift and change a whole new generation of Christians" by Keri Wyatt Kent.13
It appears that the goal of not only Mindy Caliguire
and Soul Care, but the contemplative prayer movement as a whole, is to bring
this shift to the church leaders and then to their congregations. This is why
we are seeing so many "conversations," "discussions,"
pastors retreats and training sessions like this one promoted by The Center
of Congregations:
The Soul of
Your Congregation looks at spiritual formation for the whole congregation. In
April 2009, Mindy Caliguire from SoulCare and Lyle Smith Graybeal
and Chris Webb from RENOVARE led participants
through discussions and exercises to help them understand spiritual formation
and how to incorporate it into all aspects of congregational life. 14
It is of
great interest to note that The Center of Congregations is an ecumenical
organization where together, the Catholics, Unitarian Universalists, United
Methodists and Mennonites (all groups that heavily promote contemplative
mysticism) are connecting and becoming one in environmental consciousness,
with the help of a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. Congregations Explore Sustainability and Earth Care
This kind of ecumenical spiritual training is very widespread. For example,
Ascending Leaders is another leadership training organization that uses Caliguire's materials, alongside resources that include
Richard Foster, Spiritual Directors International, Renovare,
Thomas Keating, Contemplative Outreach and various centering prayer links. 15
To conclude, Mindy Caliguire and her contemplative
colleagues are moving full speed ahead to train others how to have healthy
souls through the practices of contemplative spirituality. And now, thanks to
Willow Creek and their far reaching membership promotions, the practices of
these spiritual "soul care" trainers (John 10:12) will help to
escalate this mystical spirituality. It may even be welcomed into your church
to "shift" your congregation--beginning with your church
leadership. Just like the "Emotionally Healthy Spirituality" resources
that Willow Creek has recently begun to promote, this type of spirituality is
not healthy or biblical, and may lead many sincere souls away from the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of practicing the Ignatius Examen, it looks like many Christians desperately need to
start "practicing" what the Bible teaches and examine what they are
being taught.
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