By Lighthouse Trails Research
In the July 2012 issue of Charles Stanley’s In Touch magazine, in an article titled “Welcome In, Reach Out,” the author writes glowingly of what is called “Celtic Spirituality, basing her article on George H. Hunter III’s The Celtic Way of Evangelism and John Finney’s book Recovering the past: Celtic and Roman Mission. The article talks about how to reach out to unsaved friends and associates and that Celtic Spirituality has some valuable insights from which we can learn to evangelize, calling it a “uniquely Celtic brand of faith.” Hughes elaborates, for a half a page no less, on Hunter’s affinity toward Celtic monasteries where “faith wasn’t even a prerequisite to enter into the fellowship with the community.”
At first glance, Hunter’s evangelistic focus seems commendable as he talks about reaching out to drug addicts, poverty stricken people, and others who have often been overlooked and neglected. But what exactly is Celtic Spirituality? Hunter differentiates between what he calls “Roman Christianity” (Catholicism), its “Reformation offshoots” (Protestantism), and “ancient Celtic Christianity,” saying they all have value but Celtic Christianity “could show the way ” (p. 10).
A good question would be, just what is Celtic Spirituality really promoting? Well, we believe it’s a cover for contemplative spirituality and panentheism. In an interview about his book, Hunter states: “Within the Celtic outreach model, people are being grounded in Christian truth and spiritual disciplines.” In his book, he identifies at least one of these disciplines – he says that the Celtic communities turn to “contemplative prayer” that “characterize[s] Celtic Christian piety” (p. 32). In that same book (the one featured in In Touch), Hunter references two key contemplative mystics, Pierre Tielhard de Chardin and Thomas Merton, saying they both drew from a “distinctly Celtic theological vision” (p. 108). From what we understand regarding Celtic Spirituality’s panentheistic undertones, we can believe Hunter when he says that Merton and Chardin drew from the Celtic way. It is Chardin who said:
What I am proposing to do is to narrow that gap between pantheism and Christianity by bringing out what one might call the Christian soul of pantheism or the pantheist aspect of Christianity. (Chardin, Christianity and Evolution, p. 56)
And Thomas Merton who stated:
It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race, … now I realize what we all are … If only they [people] could all see themselves as they really are. I suppose the big problem would be that we would bow down and worship each other…. At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth….This little point … is the pure glory of God in us. It is in everybody. (Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, pp. 157-158)
Hunter indicts all three – Chardin, Merton, and Celtic Spirituality – by linking them together. Chardin and Merton drew from it because they spiritually resonated with it. What’s more, Hunter acknowledges that the “new monasticism, the Taize community in France, and many of the emerging churches, missional churches . . . have conscious Celtic roots.” (Kindle edition, Location 1953). This too would go hand-in-hand.
We didn’t have an opportunity to review John Finney’s book, Recovering the Past: Celtic and Roman Mission, featured in In Touch, but Hunter makes an interesting observation in his book that identifies Finney as a pioneer of Celtic Spirituality coming into the Western church. He states:
A renaissance in Celtic music, Celtic art, Celtic dance, Celtic love of nature, and Celtic spirituality is already under way. John Finney’s Recovering the Past began the movement to help Western Christianity do evangelism and mission in more Celtic ways. (Kindle Edition, Locations 1755-1757)
And for sure, Celtic Spirituality is taking root here in North America. Christian colleges, such as Fuller, are teaching courses on it, a 2000 Christianity Today article titled Saving Celtic Spirituality gave the movement a big boost forward, books such as The Path of Celtic Prayer by contemplative advocate Calvin Miller (published by InterVarsity Press) came out in 2012. Bibles, such as the ESV, are coming out with Celtic Crosses on their covers. Holman Publishers has a new one that it calls a Celtic Bible saying it is ”reflective of the growing interest modern Christians have in the ancient roots of their deepening faith.” But is Celtic Spirituality really reflective of our true biblical roots? We don’t believe it is. In future articles, we will write further about this growing direction within evangelical Christianity.
While the term may be fairly new to many Western Christians, like contemplative spirituality once was, Celtic Spirituality has been simmering for awhile, but it is starting to fast forward. That is evidenced just by seeing it featured in what was once a traditional evangelical magazine by one of the church’s most trusted pastors, Charles Stanley. However, we have witnessed In Touch magazine heading in the contemplative direction several times now in the last couple years, and we are becoming less surprised all the time by where the ministry is going.
When you see that term Celtic Christianity or Celtic Spirituality, be on the look out – contemplative spirituality is it’s kindred spirit, and they are walking hand in hand.
Incidentally, one of the terms used in Celtic Christianity is “thin places.” Roger Oakland talks about the Celtic thin places in his book, Faith Undone. We will close with this quote from that book and hope you will contact In Touch magazine and ask them to reconsider the direction they are heading:
Thin Places of “Oneness” in Celtic Spirituality
By Roger Oakland
Mantra-style meditation is actually divination, where practitioners perform rituals or meditation exercises in order to go into trances and then receive information from spiritual entities. [Tony]Campolo elaborates on the fruit of mysticism, an atmosphere he calls “the thin place”:
The constant repetition of his name clears my head of everything but the awareness of his presence. By driving back all other concerns, I am able to create what the ancient Celtic Christians called “the thin place.” The thin place is that spiritual condition wherein the separation between the self and God becomes so thin that God is able to break through and envelop the soul.1
This term “thin place” originated with Celtic spirituality (i.e., contemplative) and is in line with panentheism. Listen to one meditator:
I experienced a shift deep within me, a calmness I never knew possible. I was also graced with a sense of “oneness” with nature around me and with everyone else in the human family. It was strangely wonderful to experience God in silence, no-thingness.2
This “oneness” with all things is the essence of the ancient wisdom. Marcus Borg, a [former] professor at Oregon State University and a pro-emergent author, also speaks of “thin places.” One commentator discusses Borg’s ideas on this:
In The Heart of Christianity, Borg writes of “thin places,” places where, to use Eliade’s terminology, the division between the sacred and the profane becomes thin. Borg writes that he owes this metaphor of “thin places” to Celtic Christianity and the recent recovery of Celtic spirituality. As the following passage reveals, his understanding of “thin places” is deeply connected to his panentheism, his articulation of God as “the More,” and his—like Eliade—division of the world into layers of reality.3
Borg says these thin places (reached through meditation) are “[d]eeply rooted in the Bible and the Christian tradition,”4 but he, like others, is unable to show biblical evidence that God mandates meditation. . . . Thin places imply that God is in all things, and the gap between God, evil, man, everything thins out and ultimately disappears in meditation:
God is a nonmaterial layer of reality all around us, “right here” as well as “more than right here.” This way of thinking thus affirms that there are minimally two layers or dimensions of reality, the visible world of our ordinary experience and God, the sacred, Spirit.5
Mike Perschon [once a writer for Youth Specialities] also found these thin places as he went into the silence:
We held “thin place” services in reference to a belief that in prayer, the veil between us and God becomes thinner. Entire nights were devoted to guided meditations, drum circles, and “soul labs.”44
I believe that Campolo, Borg, and Perschon each experienced the same realm in their thin places, but the question is, what is that realm? (from Faith Undone, pp. 114-116)
Notes:
1.. Tony Campolo, Letters to a Young Evangelical (New York, NY: Perseus Books Group (Basic Books), 2006), p. 40. 37. Ibid., p. 25. 38. Ibid., p. 26. 39. Ibid.
2. Carol and Rick Weber, “Journeying Together” (Thin Places, April/May 2007, Year Eight, Issue Four, Number 46), p. 1.
3. Chris Baker, “A Positive Articulation of Marcus Borg’s Theology” (Sandlestraps Sanctuary blog, April 5, 2007, http://sandalstraps.blogspot.com/2007/04/positive-articulation-of-marcus-borgs_05.html.
4. Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity (New York, NY: HarperCollins, First HarperCollins Paperback Edition, 2004), p. 155.
5. Ibid.
6. Mike Perschon, “Desert Youth Worker: Disciplines, Mystics and the Contemplative Life” (http://web.archive.org/web/20041204133251/http://youthspecialties.com/articles/topics/spirituality/desert.php).
More on In Touch’s move toward contemplative spirituality:
Dear Dr. Charles Stanley, what are you trying to tell us? Are you a contemplative?
Contemplative Spirituality Lands on Charles Stanley’s In Touch Magazine . . . Again
June 22, 2012
Cultism, Catholicism & Authoritarianism
Last month we referred to the fact that new "prophets" are arising to play an important role in preparing the world for the Antichrist. They are of two kinds: (1) charismatics/Pentecostals, who claim to receive extrabiblical inspiration directly from God; and (2) so-called "Christian psychologists," who promote what they claim are extrabiblical revelations of "God's truth" ("all truth is God's truth") given to godless humanists and anti-Christians such as Freud, Jung, et al. Increasing numbers of professing Christians are following the guidance of both kinds of false "prophets," placing modern "revelations" and "experience" above the Bible.
Buck's book wasn't published until 1979. If we take his word, however, that he actually had such a paranormal experience, then a demon was clearly the source of this "revelation." The seductive purpose was obvious: to make it appear that God himself desires a union between Protestants and Catholics under the Pope.That the ecumenical movement has gained irresistible force cannot be denied. The climate for Protestant-Catholic "unity" today is a slap in the face of the Reformers, all of whom were convinced that the Roman Catholic popes were antichrists. This was the view of Protestant leaders during the next 400 years. Even Billy Graham, in 1948 at the start of his celebrated career, identified Roman Catholicism as one of the "greatest menaces faced by orthodox Christianity...." 2
Yet today, leading Protestants refer to Roman Catholics as "Christian brothers and sisters" with whom we can work together in "evangelizing the world by the year a.d.2000." Encouraging this new view, Billy Graham refers favorably to "the new understanding between Roman Catholics and Protestants" and sends converts back into Catholic churches. He thus undermines the very gospel which he, as the world's most honored evangelist, preaches so earnestly.
It is extremely difficult for Roman Catholics to escape the cultic grip in which they are held because they have been convinced that their Church controls the gates of heaven. To disobey her is to be lost forever. Rome's power to brainwash is evident in the fact that in spite of the Reformation that shook Europe in Luther's day, John Paul II commands nearly 900 million followers (about fifteen times the number of Lutherans) who are bound to him by oaths typical of most cults. Here is a further portion of the oath quoted above from The Convert's Catechism:
I recognize the Holy Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church as the mother and teacher of all...and I promise and swear true obedience to the Roman Pontiff, successor of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and Vicar of Christ. ...This same Catholic Faith, outside of which nobody can be saved, which I now freely profess and to which I truly adhere, the same I promise and swear to maintain and profess... until the last breath of life.... 4
As it is with Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses or any other cult, so it is with Catholics: though there is much talk about Christ, in the final analysis salvation is not in Him but in the Church. The first thing Mormon missionaries push on prospects sounds very much like Catholicism with a few names and dates changed: that theirs is the one true church outside of which there is no salvation, and that its current head is the true representative of Christ on earth, having inherited that position through apostolic succession that can be traced back to Joseph Smith, God's true prophet. The claims of Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists, Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church and other cults are much the same.
Crying out against the already growing trend among Protestants in his day to accept Catholicism as not so bad after all, C. H. Spurgeon passionately decried "the spirit that would tamper with Truth for the sake of united action":
O for the same uncompromising love of truth!
Endnotes
- See, for example, Dt 32:3,4; 2 Sm 22:47; 23:3; Ps:62:1,2; and many more similar verses.
June 12, 2012
Setting Aside the Power of the Gospel for a Powerless Substitute
If I were to say to you that much of the church today has set aside the power of God, would you be shocked? After all, we live in a time where having the power of God in your life is a major theme preached from pulpits across the country. And book after book, sold in massive quantities, pour off the presses promising a special connection or intimacy with God that will revolutionize your life and make it more dynamic. Yet, I believe that I can prove in this article that in fact, the power of God is being laid aside, and I will tell you how.
Let us pause for a moment and think about what makes Christianity uniquely different from the world’s religions. Christianity teaches that man is sinful and God is holy and consequently man is unable to save himself. Heaping up good deeds does not atone for the fact that man’s sin has separated him from God. Then Jesus came as a sin offering to atone for sin, thereby eliminating our separation from God. As we receive Him by faith as our Savior, our sins are forgiven and the Holy Spirit indwells and transforms us where we can rightfully say we have been born again. Jesus then has Lordship over our lives as we continue to trust and yield our lives to Him (we will say more about that later). But the religions of the world all teach the opposite – that man is basically good and has the power within himself to live a life pleasing to God and thereby through his good works is able to save his own soul. Unfortunately, when the preaching of the Gospel was set aside in favor of a more seeker-friendly social gospel, it seems that the armor of the church was also laid down, and much of the false teaching of the world’s religions crept in.
Whatever happened to the Christian church? Those of us who are old enough to remember can recall the unrest of the 1960s including the Viet Nam War and the Hippie movement. It was an era of a lot of experimentation not only with drugs but with eastern religions and varied lifestyles. Then came the Jesus Movement where many lives were transformed under the preaching of the Gospel. Many people forsook their old lives and habits. All over the land, the phrase “praise the Lord” could be heard, and Bible prophecy was so popular back then as countless numbers were considering that we could be in the last days. Yet, over time, the joy and excitement of that new era waned, but I have not heard an explanation why. Most likely, the answer does not lie in any one thing, but one thing in particular happened, and that again is the laying aside of the Gospel. Perhaps multitudes of believers, in the exhilaration of the times, had a sense that their needs and expectations would be met by the Lord.
But then stories of woe began to emerge at the tail end of the Jesus Movement. Many who had come to the Lord began to return to their old ways and habits. Some went back to drugs, others to deviant lifestyles. Others, who thought they would find sure victory in the Lord found that they lacked the power within to overcome their life-controlling and destructive habits. Also, you would hear stories . . . like the one where a trusted Sunday-school teacher had been molesting kids. And, those bound by pornography never forsook it, or they returned to it.
Now the question is, if all of these negative things were happening or beginning to happen again, who or what was to blame? It seemed that multitudes had given the Gospel a good shot, but for many it was not working.
Let me tell you, there is a great undoing effect to those who try to live as Christians but find they are living in defeat. Then, too, hearing story after story of Christians, many of whom you may have known personally, falling to a defeated lifestyle is also most disconcerting. In either case, the conclusion for many must have been that the Gospel was not working – that it was powerless to transform lives. Hence, the preaching of the Cross has been stilled. It has been estimated that at least fifty percent of American pastors view pornography (largely on the internet) on a regular basis. These estimates may in fact be quite conservative when we consider how many are probably too ashamed or afraid to admit their addiction. Pastors with life-controlling habits such as this are also often faced with a dilemma of who to look up to for help as they are supposedly at the top rung of the ladder and expected to live flawless lives. Then, when they go to preach on Sunday morning on the power of the Cross, they find that they cannot because they know their lives are marred by defeat. Likewise, the wives of these pastors go through an incredible hell as they feel both challenged and insulted by something that has now robbed them of their husbands’ affection and devotion. One thing I might say in passing is that years ago I heard there was an agenda among the communist party to destroy our nation, not by warfare, but from within by corrupting our morals largely through pornography. Now if the communist party has not attempted this, then Satan certainly has, knowing that the husband is a key figure and a prime target in destroying the family unit.
What we find then is that the Gospel, both for pastors and their congregations, seemingly is not working. The natural recourse for this would be to blame God, but rather than do this, other avenues of finding victory in God are being explored. The fact of the matter is that once the Gospel has been determined to be powerless there is a scrambling for answers and new teachings. Hence, with this in mind, one can see why such a flood of new teachings has cropped up today – whether it be practicing eastern mysticism via contemplative prayer, the reemergence of the spiritual disciplines of the Desert Fathers, or the varied teachings of the emerging church. Brian McLaren, in his endorsement on the back cover of Alan Jones’ book, Reimagining Christianity, has this to say:
It used to be that Christian institutions and systems of dogma sustained the spiritual life of Christians. Increasingly, spirituality itself is what sustains everything else. Alan Jones is a pioneer in reimagining a Christian faith that emerges from authentic spirituality.These are the words of an emerging leader pointing to the work of another emerging leader and, in a nutshell, telling us that the power of the Gospel is dead, and we need to explore other options. And the options most commonly turned to are New Age and eastern meditative practices. And what you get from these teachings is that in the core of every human being is a “divine center” (i.e., God himself) and if you tap into that, through meditation, you will find your own divinity and have limitless power. Sadly, what Brian McLaren has to say in the above quote has become the running orders of many Christians who have forsaken dogma (doctrine) for experience. Rather than seeking sound teaching, they seek an experience or “anointing” that works for them and empowers their lives. But, all the while, as they are engaging in experience-based “Christianity” they are becoming further removed from the truth of Scripture.
The Bible affirms that there is power for the believer. David sang these words after being delivered from the hand of Saul: “God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect” (2 Samuel 22:33). In Psalm 62, David sings, “God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God” (Psalm 62:11). Then in Psalm 68, David says, “O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people” (Psalm 68:35). Without question, Scripture declares overcoming power to God’s people, but then why are God’s people lacking it and looking for it now?
We don’t need to search very far for the answer to that question, for the answer can be found in the words of Paul:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16Then in his Gospel, John says, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12). From both of these Scriptures, it is clear that God gives power to the believer for holy living – but that power is found in the Gospel to those who believe it.
Apparently, what has happened in the church is that there has been so much failure that believers have reckoned the Gospel to be powerless and have looked essentially to “other gods” for help. Jeremiah speaks of our day when he says:
But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. Jeremiah 7:23-24Regardless of what our natural instincts may tell us, God has declared that His overcoming power is to be found in the Gospel. Yes, a struggle may ensue for a period of time, but that is all the more reason to hold fast to the Gospel because only in it can true and lasting victory be found.
In Romans, chapters 7 and 8, Paul describes the inner turmoil that may ensue in a person’s life as he struggles with sin. Theologians speculate if Paul was speaking of his own struggles, and if so, before or after his conversion. I believe that Paul was writing of both our struggles and his own struggles both before and after conversion. And the lesson learned is that once we become believers, we cannot go back to trying to live in victory in the flesh; just as it did not work before conversion, it will not work now. This is what is happening in the church today, and it will fail because victory can only be found in the power of the Gospel. We can never live an overcoming life in the flesh (i.e., our own strength). Our power and might is found in the Lord, and that is why Paul directs us in Romans to live in the Spirit:
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Romans 8:1And this is all a part of the Gospel message because when we receive Christ at conversion by trusting in His atoning work as a free gift, God imparts His Holy Spirit to us (Romans 8:9), and we are born again or “born of the Spirit” (John 3:6). The life of the Christian means death to self (the flesh) but also new life in the Spirit that enables us to bear the fruit of the Spirit. Have you ever wondered how you can bear the fruit of the Spirit if your life is not empowered and directed by the Spirit? Each day we need to give Jesus Lordship over our lives – and that means that just as we trusted Jesus to save us on the day we came to Him we need to trust Him to guide our steps as we commit our way to Him. In other words, just as we trusted Christ to save us on the day we received Him, we need to continue to trust Christ to complete His work in us. Remember that we were purchased by God through the death of His Son, so our lives are no longer our own, but we belong to Him.
If you are a Christian and your life is full of struggle, do not forsake the Gospel, but cling to it more fully knowing that you are not strong, but God is strong. Whether it be facing temptation or being chased by life’s circumstances (as David was chased by Saul), our power and victory is found in the Lord only and not in ourselves. Do not ask the Lord to help you live the Christian life, but allow Him to live the Christian life in and through you. Eastern mysticism and the New Age teach that in the center of our being we will find God (and become God-like or Christ-like); Christianity teaches that in the center of our being we find a heart that is utterly wicked and deceitful. Have no dealings with the old nature, but be renewed in the Holy Spirit. Remember that God promised to make a new covenant with us, not written on stony tablets but engraved on our minds and hearts (Hebrews 8:10). This New Covenant has the power to transform the human heart. Before Jesus went to the Cross, He spoke of this when He said, “this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). In other words, Jesus was leaving a testament or will that would take effect after His death – with His own blood serving as the stamp or seal validating that will. It is interesting to note that if you take your Strong’s Concordance and look up the Greek word for covenant (like the one used in Hebrews 8:10 above) and compare it with the Greek word for testament (like the one just used by Jesus), it is exactly the same Greek word. Jesus’ death on the Cross was not only that perfect sacrifice for sin but it also sealed the covenant prophesied in Jeremiah 31 and repeated in Hebrews 8:10 that God would write His laws on our minds and hearts. This is the marvelous transformation that so many people are looking for but think the Gospel is too weak to provide, yet it is the only sure and true way to holy living. The Gospel is that new covenant, and it is available to us when we acknowledge that apart from Him we can do nothing. Jesus said:
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. John 15:5So, if we abide in the Vine (Jesus) we will be victorious in our quest to live the Christian life. Have nothing to do with substitutes to the Gospel message. God saves and transforms people His way and not our way. Any other way is futility and idolatry.
We are living in a time of mass deception and delusion. If you were to fall off a cliff and only had a rope to hold you, would you not hold onto that rope more tightly? That is what we must do with the Gospel. Jesus’ death on the Cross purchased our salvation; we have also been bought by His blood, sealed in a new covenant, and His indwelling presence empowers us to live the Christian life. There is no other power to save!
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18
For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. 1 Corinthians 4:20
Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to everyone that is to come. Psalm 71:18
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