More Proof: the East is Seducing the West

Bill Haymin
By Jan Markell

www.olivetreeviews.org

On Saturday I had a spirited on-air discussion with a Bethel University professor who acted as spokesman for the college regarding its recent interfaith symposium. As I wrote last week, Buddhism was featured and there was a suggestion that there just might be "common ground" with Buddhism and Christianity when it comes to "meditation." Hear the program at this link. The potential "common ground" regarding meditation would be an eastern-style mystical meditation. I saw once again how the East has been seducing the West for nearly 50 years.

When I came home from the radio studio I had more e-mails that brought the total to about 15 in two weeks on the issue of "spiritual formation." It is hitting Christian universities and churches like Hurricane Katrina. Bad metaphor, you say. Not really. It is causing real destruction. And since spiritual formation, too, deals heavily with the mystical, I thought I would take time to give a brief overview of this topic. I know many of you feel nothing unsound as this could walk in the door of your church, but don't be so sure!

Roger Oakland explains, "As the Word of God becomes less and less important, the rise in mystical experiences escalates, and these experiences are presented to convince the unsuspecting that Christianity is about feeling, touching, smelling, and seeing God. The postmodern mindset is the perfect environment for fostering spiritual formation.

"This term suggests that there are various ways and means to get closer to God and emulate Him. Thus, the idea is given that if you do certain practices, you can be more like Jesus. Proponents of spiritual formation erroneously teach that anyone can practice these mystical rituals and find God within. Some even say that having a relationship with Jesus Christ is not a prerequisite."

Oakland continues, "The spiritual formation movement is widely promoted at colleges and seminaries as the latest and the greatest way to become a spiritual leader. It teaches people that this is how they can become more intimate with God and hear His voice. Even Christian leaders with long-standing reputations of teaching God's Word seem to be succumbing. In so doing, many Christian leaders are frivolously playing with fire, and the result will be thousands, probably millions, getting burned."

The proponents of the spiritual formation would tell you the Christian life is always a process of spiritual formation. We are always in transition, becoming more and more spiritual. But they seem to suggest that it would be helpful if we had some gimmicks to help us speed this up.

In 2008, Christianity Today online gave the term of spiritual formation credibility: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/september/26.41.html by interviewing the man most prominent in this movement, Richard Foster. They said to Foster, "Evangelicals have been reading your book, A Celebration of Discipline, for 30 years. What is the discipline you think we need to be exploring more at this point?" Foster then promoted "solitude." But over time we have learned that once again those in this movement are borrowing from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Catholic mystics to perfect a practice for the 21st century.

Promoters of Emergent conversation say we are on the verge of an era that promises renewed spiritual awareness. "Spiritual disciplines" are being touted as the avenue to a spiritual reformation that will take Christianity to a new and higher level of spirituality, drawing all participants closer to God. The problem is that the means to attain this are not godly!

Pastor Bob DeWaay writes in his Critical Issues Commentary,: http://cicministry.org/commentary/issue91.htm "I met a lady who attends a Christian college. As part of her study program, she was required to take a course on spiritual formation. Spiritual formation in her class also concerned the study of Roman Catholic mystics and the search for techniques to help those who implement them feel closer to God. This study also explored 'spiritual disciplines' which promised to make those who practiced them more Christlike. After she finished the class, she shared her text books with me."

He continues, "To hear evangelicals like Dallas Willard and Richard Foster tell us that we need practices that were never spelled out in the Bible to become more like Christ or to get closer to God is astonishing. What is more astonishing is that evangelical colleges, seminaries, and church denominations are requiring their students and members to study practices that are relics of Medieval Rome, not found in the Bible, and closely akin to the practices of many pagan societies."


So while the term spiritual formation sounds like a good concept as we all want to grow spiritually, it comes with questionable baggage that is, once again, mystical and hardly sound. Ask questions of your church leadership or college staff. Challenge the issue by pointing out that much of this foundation has been laid by mystics and Catholicism -- and throw in some Buddhism and Hinduism as well. You will then conclude that when the term spiritual formation comes up as it does more and more frequently, it should have a "buyer-beware" label on it. If you see your church bulletin announcing its arrival, don't just sit there -- do something. Confront your leadership!

Such things as the Bethel University symposium on "meditation" and the spiritual formation movement are driven by what is known as "contemplative prayer." : http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/cp.htm Contemplative (mystical spirituality) is the heartbeat of the spiritual formation movement. It is more likely to derail you spiritually than draw you closer to God. Don't believe them when promoters of spiritual formation tell you that this will take you to a higher level of Christianity and to a new level of spirituality. New spiritual programs aren't necessary; rather, hearts yearning to grow in the knowledge of the Lord simply from reading the Bible. We cannot get any "closer to God" than Jesus Christ indwelling us through His Holy Spirit!

So, Isaiah had it right when he wrote, "For you have abandoned your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with influences from the east, and they are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they strike bargains with the children of foreigners" (Isaiah 2:5, 6).

Spiritual formation is just another "tickle the ears" http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=II%20Timothy%204:3&version=NASB effort drawing on experience rather than the Bible.

To help you better understand the dangers of this kind of prayer and the spiritual formation movement, check out the two items to the left: Roger Oakland's book Faith Undone and Ray Yungen's DVD, The Face of Mystical Spirituality. Also visit the "Spiritual Deception" http://www.olivetreeviews.org/wordpress/category/spiritual-deception/ category at my Web site.

RADIO: Catch last weekend's (November 14) archived program with a Bethel University professor. This is a spirited debate concerning a potential "common ground" Christianity could have with Buddhism. This weekend I'll be talking to Gary Kah and tentatively, Walid Shoebat.

We air live out of AM980 KKMS, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Saturday 9 - 11 AM CST with a rebroadcast Sunday, 12 - 2 PM. All programming is posted to "Radio Archives" late Sunday. For podcasting information go here. To see other outlets where the programming is aired, visit this link.

Starting this Saturday, November 21, our time changes on AM820 KGNW, Seattle, to 8 - 10 AM. There is a partial rebroadcast Sunday, 5 PM. Additionally, we are coming to FM99.5 KKLA in Los Angeles, Sunday, December 6, 8 - 10 PM. We are pleased to be on Los Angeles' Christian talk powerhouse.

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Awaiting His return,

Jan Markell

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Disclaimer: Posting articles does not necessarily endorse or agree with every opinion expressed in every article. All articles that are posted are aimed at getting people to think & consider the various issues, ideas & factual research presented.

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Presented by Bill Haymin, 2009
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Bill Haymin

Quotes that fit our times

Discerning Moment

The Foundation for American Christian Education, Friday, April 27, 2012

www.face.net

Timeless Truth Today for America´s Treasury

Unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain. Psalm 127:1

Why is the coming election the "most important in our lifetime"?

The coming election is the test of fire for conscience. It will shape the future and the generations to come. The largest issue —limiting government and freeing individual enterprise—touches us all every day in the job market and the supermarket. This generation is destined to test the principle of property in the election booth—the means of handling the natural right of private property. Hear counsel from our second president John Adams:

"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If 'Thou shalt not covet' and 'Thou shalt not steal' were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free." —John Adams, 1787

The election also addresses LIFE ISSUES that are not up for debate in the courts of heaven.

Life as God gives it from conception to the grave—not to be limited by the pursuit of happiness

Family—marriage enshrined not redefined—to sustain posterity

Religious freedom—the root of American liberty that channels the Gospel

Tamper with eternity at absolute peril. Life issues cannot be compromised.

"May all rejoice in the Lord, who has formed us into a nation, and honour him as our judge, lawgiver, and king, who hath saved us, AND WILL SAVE US FROM ALL ENEMIES AND FEARS, IF WE THANKFULLY RECEIVE AND RIGHTLY IMPROVE HIS GREAT MERCIES." [Emphasis mine] Ending prayer taken from: Samuel Langdon, THE REPUBLIC OF THE ISRAELITES AN EXAMPLE TO THE AMERICAN STATES http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php&title=816&search=%22The+Republic+of+the+Israelites+an+Example+to+the+American+States%22&chapter=69313&layout=html#a_1669622

This principle, that a whole nation has the right to do whatever it pleases, cannot in any sense whatever be admitted as true. The eternal and immutable laws of justice and morality are paramount to all human legislation. The violations of those laws is certainly within the power of a nation, but it is not among the rights of nations. John Quincy Adams, quote taken from the book: Political Sermons of the American Founding Era, 1733-1805, Published by Liberty Fund.

"Politics cannot produce character: Christianity must. The decline of faith is a decline of character and a decline of character is the forerunner of political decay and collapse.

Christianity has an obligation to train a people in the fundamentals of God's grace and law, and to make them active and able champions of true political liberty and order." ~ R. J. Rushdoony (Roots of Reconstruction, p. 552)

"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land" Leviticus 25:10

"Freedom is not 'free', freedom is not a licence to sin against the God who created liberty." A friend

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it." Thomas Jefferson

"The value of liberty was thus enhanced in our estimation by the worth of characters appreciated by the trial of adversity." George Washington

"An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it." Orlando A. Battista

"Your heart is 'free' have the courage to follow it." A friend

There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself in acts of bravery and heroism. Alexander Hamilton

"The counterfeit of this primal point is unfortunately prevalent today among the conservatives—the belief that self-government means man´s government of himself without regard for God or Christ, without regard for the Bible as the standard of political reference.

To understand where the power or sovereignty of government resides, is a leading point in understanding America´s Christian Constitution. Unless this point is accepted, the Constitution becomes like other constitutions, and government is treated as a force, an entity outside the individual, against which he must forever war or contend. This is essentially the European or Asian concept of government.

Where a people believe the power of government to reside determines whether they believe that man exists for the state or that the state exists for man. If it is believed that the power resides in the government, and a people dislikes what the government is doing, they resort to mob action such as we are seeing all over the world, and sadly to relate, in our own country as well. We are but reaping the harvest of false teaching and education concerning the history of our country and its form of government.

The Christian Roots of Our Constitution

By Verna M. Hall

http://www.principleapproach.org/resource/resmgr/docs/roots_of_constitution.pdf
Current News Comments:

The anti-capitalist liberals currently protesting on Wall Street are wasting their time. While they decry the supposed corruption of Wall Street, their "middle class" allies in Washington DC are raiding the US treasury like an unwatched cookie jar, padding the pockets of their friends and political cronies.

All this happens while Obama travels the country on the taxpayer´s dime, pushing a fake jobs bill that Senate Democrats won´t touch with a ten foot pole.

Liberals in America need to wake up to reality. The only real problem with Capitalism in America is government interference in free markets for the personal gain of politically connected crooks. The American Glob – Conservative Libertarian News and Views -

http://americanglob.com/2011/09/28/solyndra-redux-obama-gives-737-million-dollar-loan-to-solar-company-connected-to-nancy-pelosis-brother-in-law/

As Marti Oakley has just written, ["Smart Meters: No Federal Mandate." Aug. 15, 2011:http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2011/08/15/smart-meters-no-federal-mandate/#more-17629] the best way to look at what´s happening is to: "follow the money. In late October 2009, the [US] Department of Energy announced the $3.4 billion in stimulus grants under AARA. Award selections were announced for 100 smart grid projects that are intended to lead to the rollout of approximately 18-million smart meters, 1-million in-home energy management displays, and 170,000 smart thermostats, as well as numerous advanced transformers and load management devices."(5)

Smart-grid projects are supposed to "meet strict cyberspace guidelines"(6); but that has not happened, because greed trumped everything else: our health, safety, precaution, and any remnants of law. Government corruption is endemic, while Wall Street behind-the-scenes manipulation and the bankers theft of trillions of taxpayer dollars is ignored. White-collar crime is rarely prosecuted, because (1) there are few honest people left in government; and (2) those in charge are part of the bigger problem. All Precaution was thrown out in the race to compete for millions of fiat dollars. Without an informed and educated public and with the mass media compliant to elite and secret plans, no one is told the truth.

There has been no public discussion on the known biological hazards, both to humans and our pets, with these new meters. There has been no testing of these meters for any kind of safety. However, utilities Public Relations "spin" includes that: they will cut power costs to consumers, thus lowering your monthly bills; help customers reduce power consumption during peak times; and the meters can be read anytime, via a planned new "grid" in the works for the entire country that will use these meters. Utility companies insist these meters are safe.

As I've said in speaking engagements--both large and small--all over America, We have more to fear from Washington, D.C., than from Tehran or Baghdad, or from any other foreign entity. Chuck Baldwin

"The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." -- John Adams, 1772

"The function of the true state is to impose the minimum restrictions and safeguard the maximum liberties of the people, and it never regards the person as a thing."
-- Immanuel Kant, 1788

We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission. Ann Rand

If the policy of the government, upon vital questions, affecting the whole people, is to be inevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made, in ordinary litigation between parties, in personal actions, the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extant practically resigned their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. Abraham Lincoln

There´s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren´t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws … pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted and you create a nation of law breakers. Ann Rand

I worry that we're past the point of recovering our Constitutional Republic. We're devolving deeper and deeper into an oligarchy that has limitless powers. I'm a bit numb. Regardless of how we vote, regardless of what we're promised, regardless of the fiery speech and protestation, the downward spiral continues.
Bison Risk Management Associates at Accept The Challenge

"If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny."
~Thomas Jefferson, 1778

Because of Bill's increasing concerns about the serious, sobering and perilous times we are living and being manipulated into, his intentions will be mainly devoted (as he has been) to posting articles that will alert, inform, expose, and wake up a sleeping reading public. This involves the issues that are not covered, or not covered truthfully by the "National News Media." "In the time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell.

To warn the public of the present and coming danger of permitting the federalizing of local police departments across our nation is of the utmost importance, if allowed to continue it will result in the planned replication of the infamous "Nazi storm troopers" reminiscent of Hitler´s Germany in recent past history.

Also of grave concern is the agenda of "Sustainable Development."

"It is the official policy of every state government, and nearly every city, town and county in the nation. But, I warn you, accepting the perception that Sustainable Development is simply good environmental stewardship is a serious and dangerous mistake…
Sustainable Development is the process by which America is being reorganized around a central principle of state collectivism using the environment as bait...

…Sustainable Development calls for changing the very infrastructure of the nation, away from private ownership and control of property to nothing short of central planning of the entire economy…
…The Sustainablists insist that society be transformed into feudal-like governance by making nature the central organizing principle for our economy and society"…

Feudalism is the power over slaves.

…"According to Sustainablist doctrine, it is a social injustice for some to have prosperity if others do not. It is a social injustice to keep our borders closed. It is a social injustice for some to be bosses and others to be merely workers.

Social justice is a major premise of Sustainable Development: Another word for social justice, by the way, is Socialism. Karl Marx was the first to coin the phrase "social justice." Some officials try to pretend that Sustainable Development is just a local effort to protect the environment -- just your local leaders putting together a local vision for the community. Then ask your local officials how it is possible that the exact language and tactics for implementation of Sustainable Development are being used in nearly every city around the globe from Lewiston, Maine to Singapore. Local indeed…" Tom DeWeese www.americanpolicy.org

…"Are you starting to see the pattern behind Cap and Trade, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and all of those commercials you´re forced to watch about the righteousness of Going Green? They are all part of the enforcement of Sustainable Development…" Maurice Strong, Secretary General of the UN´s Rio Earth Summit in 1992

"…The politically based environmental movement provides Sustainablists camouflage as they work to transform the American systems of government, justice, and economics. It is a masterful mixture of socialism (with its top down control of the tools of the economy) and fascism (where property is owned in name only – with no control). Sustainable Development is the worst of both the left and the right. It is not liberal, nor is it conservative. It is a new kind of tyranny that, if not stopped, will surely lead us to a new Dark Ages of pain and misery yet unknown to mankind." Tom DeWeese

"A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences." - Proverbs. 22:3 N.L.T

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