When Mysticism Fills the Vacuum of Nominal Christianity

By Ray Yungen

Why are the mainstream denominations so open to meditative and holistic practices? A professor of theology at a United Methodist college gave this explanation:

A spiritual vacuum exists in organized religion that might be filled by theologies that draw—for better or worse—from what is called parapsychology, paranormal studies, psychic phenomena and, somewhat pejoratively, the “New Age” movement.1

New Agers have become very much aware of this “spiritual vacuum” and have directed their efforts toward filling it. Metaphysical leader James Fadiman makes the following observation:

The traditional religious world is just beginning to make changes, but it’s a slow process—denomination by denomination. When religious institutions begin to lose members year after year, they eventually become aware that they’re not meeting people’s needs. Before long they’re scurrying around looking for innovative programs and improvements.2

Even atheists have observed this trend. Science-fiction writer Richard E. Geis comments in his personal journal that:

The mainstream Christians are lip-service religions in the main, convenience religions, social religions, and they are the ones most subject to erosion and defections and infiltration and subversion. A large and successful effort seems to have been made by the occultists’ New Age planners to dilute and alter the message of most of the mainstream Christian religions.3

This is made evident by a quote which appeared in a newspaper interview with the owner of a New Age bookstore. She reveals:

A lot of people come in who are very Christian. They are looking, by whatever means, to move closer to God on an individual basis.4

This shows that a great number of people who consider themselves to be Christians have a rather dull and dreary attitude toward their faith. They are looking for something to fill the void.
One of the foremost individuals who has attempted to fill this void with the New Age is Marcus Borg, professor and author of many widely read books. In one of them, The God We Never Knew, he lays out very concisely how he went from being a traditional Christian to a “mature” Christian. He relates:

I learned from my professors and the readings they assigned that Jesus almost certainly was not born of a virgin, did not think of himself as the Son of God, and did not see his purpose as dying for the sins of the world. . . . By the time I was thirty, like Humpty Dumpty, my childhood faith had fallen into pieces. My life since has led to a quite different understanding of what the Christian tradition says about God.5

Like multitudes of liberal or nominal Christians who believe as he does, Borg turned to mysticism to fill the spiritual vacuum that his way of thinking inevitably leads to. Borg reveals:

I learned about the use of mantras as a means of giving the mind something to focus and refocus on as it sinks into silence.6

This is a recurring theme in all his books, including his very influential book, The Heart of Christianity. Even though Marcus Borg would certainly not call himself a New Ager, his practices and views on God would be in line with traditional New Age thought (i.e., God is in everything and each person is a receptacle of the Divine, which is accessed through meditation).
Borg is not some Hindu guru or counter-culture type personality. He represents the mainstream for millions of people in liberal churches. But his spiritual platform is pure New Age as he makes clear when he expounds:

The sacred is not “somewhere else” spatially distant from us. Rather, we live within God . . . God has always been in relationship to us, journeying with us, and yearning to be known by us. Yet we commonly do not know this or experience this. . . . We commonly do not perceive the world of Spirit. (emphasis mine)7

This perception is, of course, as I have shown in other articles, the outcome of mantra-induced silence.
The following is another barometer of Christian tolerance to New Age ideas. The late psychologist M. Scott Peck wrote a phenomenal best seller on psychology and spiritual growth titled The Road Less Traveled. The book contains insights and suggestions for dealing with life’s problems, which is why it has generated the interest it has. But the book also incorporates the central theme of the Ancient Wisdom:

God wants us to become himself (or Herself or Itself). We are growing toward godhood. God is the goal of evolution. It is God who is the source of the evolutionary force and God who is the destination. This is what we mean when we say that He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.. . .
It is one thing to believe in a nice old God who will take good care of us from a lofty position of power which we ourselves could never begin to attain. It is quite another to believe in a God who has it in mind for us precisely that we should attain His position, His power, His wisdom, His identity.8

Madame Blavatsky and Alice Bailey could not have said it any better. Peck revealed where he was coming from when he said, “But [The Road] is a sound New Age book, not a flaky one.”9 This book, which was on the New York Times best seller list for over 400 weeks, has been incredibly popular in Christian circles for years. Peck himself said the book sells best in the Bible Belt.

Endnotes:
1. David R. Griffen, San Francisco Sunday Punch, March 8, 1987.
2. James Fadiman (Science of Mind, June 1988), p. 77.
3. Richard E. Geis’ personal journal, “The Naked Id.”
4. “New Age Isn’t New to Salem” (Statesman Journal newspaper article, Salem, Oregon, March 9, 1991), p. 2-A.
5. Marcus Borg, The God We Never Knew (New York, NY: Harper Collins, First HarperCollins Paperback edition, 1998), pp. 25, 29.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. M. Scott Peck, M.D., The Road Less Traveled (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1978), p. 270.
9. Charles Leerhsen, “Peck’s Path to Inner Peace” (Newsweek, November 18, 1985), p.79.

Invisible Denomination, the New Age with Ray Yungen

Emerging "Christianity"

FROM GNOSTIC ROOTS TO OCCULT REVIVAL
by Berit Kjos

A flood of mystical temptations is sweeping through churches and culture. They beckon us "let go" of the old inflexible Word and explore the new ways of the world and spirit. Naturally, a growing consensus of "open-minded" seekers claim that God's truth is "too divisive" to fit their new vision of global unity and experiential spirituality.

“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," wrote Pastor Brian D. McLaren, a "key figure" in the Emerging Church and author of A New Kind of Christian. "Alan Jones is a pioneer in reimagining a Christian faith that emerges from authentic spirituality. His work stimulates and encourages me deeply.”1 [Emphasis added]

Do you wonder what McLaren means by "authentic spirituality?" Or by "reimagining a Christian faith?" I did. So I read Reimagining Christianity. In it, Alan Jones, the Episcopal Dean (priest) of San Francisco's gothic Grace Cathedral, offers some provocative clues:

"I am no longer interested, in the first instance, in what a person believes. Most of the time it’s so much clutter in the brain.... I wouldn't trust an inch many people who profess a belief in God. Others who do not or who doubt have won my trust. I want to know if joy, curiosity struggle, and compassion bubble up in a person’s life. I’m interested in being fully alive. There is no objective authority...."2 [Emphasis added]

Wrong! There is an objective authority: our Sovereign God, Creator of the universe. He has revealed His will and authority through His Word! But, as in Old Testament days, today's masses "love evil more than good!" (Psalm 52:3) Despising His authority, they deny the only Truth that can set us free! Their earthly destiny is summarized in 2 Timothy 3:7: "...always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

In Reimagining Christianity, Jones explains that "Any journey toward belief must begin with the task recognized by mystics throughout history. They realized that merely knowing about things (science) wasn't enough. In fact, it was a distraction."3 Then he points to a major goal of mystical insight -- one that is emphasized in Purpose-Driven as well as emerging churches:

"They realized that there was a deeper and potentially frightening task of self-knowledge. Knowledge of God and knowledge of self were sides of the same coin. It was a knowledge that had no end.... Those on a spiritual path share this vision of the universal and unending character of our Journey to and in God. The principle is that all things are lights guiding our way—even a stone or a piece of wood—but they are not what we seek. What stops our drive for facts from going haywire? The discovery of a higher form of knowing."3

Let's summarize his main points, then compare them with some occult systems formerly hidden in secret societies:

1. Biblical beliefs are out. They are irrelevant -- to be discarded as mere "clutter in the brain."

2. Being "fully alive" is in -- no matter what spirit or religion inspires the obligatory passion.

3. There's no room for objective reality or absolute truth.

4. This "higher form of knowing" would be based on mystical experience, intuition and self-knowledge. The latter supposedly leads to knowing (gnosis) a universal god -- or the spirit of love in everyone.

This worldview lies at the heart of Western occultism! Alan Jones' quest for a "higher form of knowing" is simply a new version of ancient Gnosticism and the mystical "Jewish" Kabbalah. Starting in the first century, the two occult threads intermingled and formed new pathways to secret knowledge (gnosis). Those dark, mystical paths hid for centuries underground. Then, starting in the 12th century, Kabbalah began to sprout mystical "brotherhoods" and secret societies that laid foundations for Alchemy, Theosophy (which would embrace Hinduism), Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism (these two incorporated Egyptian myths and symbols), the teachings of Swedenborg, Anthroposophy (Rudolf Steiner and Owen Barfield), and Hermetic magic. 4

During the 20th century, this hidden "knowledge" began to spread into mainstream culture and churches through revered poets and authors such as Alfred Lord Tennyson, William Blake, George McDonald, Tolkien, Charles Williams, and C. S. Lewis. Suddenly, the hidden mysteries of occult masters were laid bare to a thrill-seeking world hungry for a "fresh" and exciting spirituality -- purged of the old offensive truths. But even before these dark secrets were exposed, Georg Hegel, who was deeply involved in the several branches of Western occultism, provided educators and globalist visionaries with the dialectic process needed to transform both church and world.5

Not only did these enticing glimpses of forbidden mysteries affect beliefs and worldviews, they helped change the way we think and communicate. Even people who still treasure God's Word are learning to approach information in radically new ways. Nothing seems absolute anymore! Even God's Word is being adapted to the global values spawned by this cultural transformation.

Francis Schaeffer , founder of L'Abri, saw the beginning of change back in the sixties. Ponder this warning from his 1968 book, The God Who Is There:

"The present chasm between the generations has been brought about almost entirely by a change in the concept of truth. Wherever you look today the new concept holds the field. The consensus about us is almost monolithic, whether you review the arts, literature or just simply read the newspapers and magazines.... On every side you can feel the stranglehold of this new methodology—and by ‘methodology’ we mean the way we approach truth and knowing. ... And just as fog cannot be kept out by walls or doors, so this consensus comes in around us, till the room we live in is no longer distinct, and yet we hardly realize what has happened....

"Young people from Christian homes are brought up in the old framework of truth. Then they are subjected to the modern framework. In time they become confused because they do not understand the alternatives with which they are being presented. Confusion becomes bewilderment, and before long they are overwhelmed. This is unhappily true not only of young people, but of many pastors, Christian educators, evangelists and missionaries as well. So this change in the concept of the way we come to knowledge and truth is the most crucial problem... facing Christianity today.... The shift has been tremendous."6[Emphasis added]

When minds are no longer grounded in certain absolutes, there is no frame of reference that allows logical thinking. Without factual or Biblical certainty, a person cannot rationally resist today's enticing spiritual counterfeits. Alan Jones said it well:

"All the great religious traditions are in upheaval, and the divisions are within rather than between or among them. I have more in common with my friend Stephen, the rabbi at a large synagogue in San Francisco, than I do with many fellow Christians. I don’t mean that we simply find each other congenial. I mean that I am more ideologically compatible with Stephen than with, say, any Christian fundamentalist. ...

"Although there are some Christians who are unafraid of other spiritual paths and have learned from them... battle lines are being drawn between 'orthodox' and 'progressives.' And some people, like me, are at home on neither side. There’s a celebrated couplet by the poet William Blake that sums up for me much that is disturbing about exclusionary versions of Christianity:

"That vision of Christ, which thou dost see
Is my vision's greatest enemy."7

In light of this spiritual melting pot, it's not surprising that Rick Warren has announced that fundamentalism, of all varieties, will be "one of the big enemies of the 21st century."8 What, then, does Warren mean by Fundamentalism? In a May 2005 interview the Pew Forum on Religion, Warren stated:

"Today there really aren't that many Fundamentalists left; I don't know if you know that or not, but they are such a minority; there aren't that many Fundamentalists left in America.... Now the word 'fundamentalist' actually comes from a document in the 1920s called the Five Fundamentals of the Faith. And it is a very legalistic, narrow view of Christianity."9

Actually, Jesus told His disciples that His way would be narrow and difficult. "There are few who find it," he said. But "wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it." [Matthew 7:13-14] But for those who walk with Him, there's abundant strength in Christ for all the challenges ahead! This promise is for us today:

"My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9

Notes:
1. Alan Jones, Reimagining Christianity (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2005), back cover.
2. Ibid., pages 79, 83.
3. Ibid., page 78.
4. See "How mysticism & the occult are changing the Church at www.crossroad.to/Excerpts/warnings.htm. This page includes links to descriptions of the main occult societies that affect our culture today.
5. See Georg Hegel 's vast influence, first in the Soviet Union, then the Western world at www.crossroad.to/Quotes/spirituality/hegel.htm
and www.crossroad.to/articles2/2003/occult-rpg.htm#steps
6. Francis A. Schaeffer, The God Who Is There (Intervarsity Press, 1968), pages 13-14. See excerpts at www.crossroad.to/Excerpts/books/schaeffer/who-is-there.htm
7. Alan Jones, page 83.
8. Paul Nussbaum, "The purpose-driven pastor," 1-8-06 at www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/living/religion/13573441.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
9. The Pew Forum's biannual Faith Angle conference on religion, politics and public life, 5-23-05. http://pewforum.org/events/index.php?EventID=80

The Impact of Practical Mystics vs. Cults

By Ray Yungen
(Author of A Time of Departing)

Evangelical scholar David L. Smith correctly assessed the powerful, yet subtle, impact New Age spirituality is having on society when he made the following observations:

Not since Gnosticism at the dawn of the Christian era has there arisen a philosophy as pervasive and threatening to orthodox Christianity as the New Age movement . . . It would be difficult to find any area of life, which has not been touched or redirected to some degree by the concepts of this movement.1

Smith recognizes that, rather than just a small segment, the overall social fabric of society is being impacted. This movement has clearly evolved well past the subculture stage into something much more dynamic and sophisticated. This stunning change has been brought about by the rise of a new breed of mystic—one that presents mysticism as a complement to secular goals and one that is adept at easing the public’s natural impulse to reject the strange and unfamiliar. Some examples of this are:

A prominent, influential speaker and seminar leader, Brian Tracy, promotes the use of the “superconscious mind” (i.e., the higher self), “to improve productivity, performance and output” in the corporate world.2

An article in one major Pacific Northwest newspaper features a large color picture of a local university professor in a classic Zen Buddhist meditation pose. He has not joined the Buddhist religion but is trying to reverse his heart condition through Eastern meditation.3

A popular morning talk show entices viewers with the promise of “how to get along with your spouse.” The show then features popular New Age author Wayne Dyer exhorting viewers to “go into the silence for guidance” when they get angry with their mate[s].4

These are just a few examples of what could be called secular mysticism or generic mysticism, meditation practiced not for religious reasons but as a tool to improve life. Many Christians have a difficult time comprehending this concept. They have been trained to think in terms of cults such as the Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) or the Watchtower Society (Jehovah’s Witnesses). But these groups are rather limited in their impact because, even if they become sizable, they remain only isolated islands in society. The advantage practical mystics have is that they only have to piggyback a seemingly benevolent meditation method onto whatever programs they are promoting—in other words, they do not have to proselytize people to a dogma, only a practice.

New Age publisher Jeremy Tarcher spoke of this challenge in an interview. Speaking of practical mystics he explained: “They have to learn to present their perceptions in appropriate language and actions that don’t arouse fear or resistance.”5

Because of their success at this effort, one writer declared that interest in meditation was currently exploding. This explosion in Western culture is unprecedented and very real.

In the West, mysticism had always been restricted to a tiny fraction of the population (i.e., shamans, esoteric brotherhoods, and small spiritually elite groups). Never before has there been a widespread teaching of these methods to everyone. Now, mysticism pervades the Western world. How did this happen?

The first such book to reach a broad audience was Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain. This book could rightfully be called a practical mystic’s bible. Many people can trace their first involvement in metaphysics to this book. Since its publication in 1978, it has sold millions of copies and has influenced the fields of psychology, health, business, and athletics.6

The book became so popular because it addresses such topics as creativity, career goals, relationships, better health, and simple relaxation and peacefulness. Who wouldn’t want to have all this, especially if all it takes is engaging in a simple practice?

Gawain spells out very clearly what that practice entails. She teaches her readers:

Almost any form of meditation will eventually take you to an experience of yourself as source, or your higher self . . . Eventually you will start experiencing certain moments during your meditation when there is a sort of “click” in your consciousness and you feel like things are really working; you may even experience a lot of energy flowing through you or a warm radiant glow in your body. These are signs that you are beginning to channel the energy of your higher self.7

There had been books like hers before, but those appealed to people already in the New Age subculture. This wasn’t true of Creative Visualization. This book had just the right secular slant on something inherently spiritual. Gawain believed that one could stay a Jew, Catholic, or Protestant and still practice the teachings of the book. All you were doing was developing yourself, not changing your religion.

Gawain was merely the forerunner of what has become a flood of such books. A more recent book, The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, which is about the “spiritual path to higher creativity,”27 has sold over two million copies.

A good example of this approach was a business in a major West Coast city that sold books, tapes, and videos on stress reduction. The owners were very active in their community. Doctors, therapists, and teachers came to them for help. They gave talks to school faculties, major corporations, and all the major hospitals in their city. Their clientele tended to be affluent, well-educated professionals and business people who were interested in personal growth.

Yet, along with stress reduction and self-improvement, another element was subtly present—spiritual awareness. One of the owners wrote how she attended a powerful workshop with “Lazaris” and discovered that his techniques were “practical and useful.”8 That does not sound too extraordinary at first glance—however, Lazaris is not a person but a spirit guide!

Because of the stereotypes about people who gravitate toward mystical experiences (such as counterculture types), we may tend to assume people associated with these practices have strange personalities or are in other ways offbeat. On the contrary, these individuals are professional, articulate, conservatively dressed, and above all, extremely personable. They are positive and likeable. A newspaper reporter who did an article on one of them told me, “She is one of the most calm, serene persons I have ever met.” The reporter added, “People want what she has!”

The health, self-help, and recovery sections of secular bookstores are now saturated with New Age metaphysical books. Christian columnist Terry Mattingly summed up the situation brilliantly when he observed: “The New Age didn’t crest, it soaked in . . . It is now the dominant theme in commercial bookstores.”9 If the self-help and personal growth sections of most secular commercial bookstores were examined, the only conclusion to come away with would be that New Age mysticism is the prominent spiritual viewpoint of this country.

A case in point: One day while strolling through a shopping mall, I noticed a New Age bookstore and a secular bookstore just around the corner from each other. Upon examination, it was clear the secular bookstore had far more New Age books than the New Age bookstore did—hundreds more. Moreover, the vast majority were not in the New Age section but in the self-help, health, and other sections. Thus, New Age bookstores have almost been rendered obsolete by the explosion of practical mystic books stocked in traditional bookstores.

This is not an understatement or scare-tactic conjecture. Take a look at book sales for some of the major New Age authors around today. Just the top two, Wayne Dyer and Deepak Chopra, have sold fifty million books between them. James Redfield, the author of The Celestine Prophecy, can boast of a staggering twenty million books sold, and Neal Donald Walsch, the channeler of Conversations with God, a paltry seven million.10

The basic message of these books and hundreds of others like them could be reduced to one simple word, a word that cries out a uniform consistent theme—meditate! That is to say, you’re not going to get anywhere in this life unless you get that “click” that Gawain spoke of earlier and to do it, you must meditate.

If you think the New Age movement is a colorful assortment of strange cults populated by free-spirited aging hippies and assorted oddballs who are being duped by money-hungry charlatans and egocentric frauds, then think again. We are not dealing with fringe religious groups or chanting flower-children anymore but with a broad-based concerted effort to influence and restructure our whole society. (Excerpt from A Time of Departing, chapter 1)

Notes:
1. David L. Smith, A Handbook of Contemporary Theology (Victor Books, 1992), p. 273.
2. Brian Tracy, Maximum Achievement (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1993), pp. 179, 17.
3. “Change of Heart,” (The Sunday Oregonian, September 19, 1993), p. L1.
4. AM Northwest Morning Talk Show, KATU Channel 2, Portland, OR, Interview with Wayne Dyer, March 27, 1997.
5. Jeremy Tarcher, “Living with Vision” (Science of Mind, April 1, 1992), p. 44.
6. Shakti Gawain, Creative Visualization (Novato, CA: Nataraj Publishing, 2002), back cover.
7. Ibid., 1983, 9th Printing, p. 57.
8. Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way (New York, NY: William Morrow Co., 10th Anniversary Edition), front & back covers.
9. What’s New at Stiles newsletter, 1985.
10. Terry Mattingly, “Marketplace of the Gods” (Christian Research Journal, May/June 1986), p. 6.

A. W. Tozer Denied Being A "Mystic"

A good response from TBC on the rumors being spread throughout the emergent/contemplative movement of A.W. Tozer being a "mystic" - clearly they are seeking, for credibility sake, to claim Tozer as one of their own, which he absolutely is NOT!

Question: You have promoted books by A.W. Tozer, yet Tozer constantly quoted from Catholic mystics, and some have said that he even practiced "Lectio Divina." In view of your warnings regarding the Contemplative Movement, how could you offer his books, knowing of his practices?

Response: Tozer did not practice Lectio Divina, a method that many mystics and occultists have used to supposedly experience God. The exercise involves reading a Bible verse or phrase, often repeating it many times like a mantra, for the purpose of stimulating insights that transcend what might be gained from the normal reading and understanding of the Scriptures. Rather than understanding a passage based on the objective meaning of the words, the grammar of the verses, and the context, the words become devices for receiving personal, subjective revelation from God. Anyone who is familiar with the writings of Tozer knows that such a technique is completely foreign to what he taught throughout his lifetime. Nevertheless, that hasn't stopped some people from referring to him in order to support their promotion of mystical methods and teachings. John Armstrong, for example (who is general editor of Roman Catholicism: Evangelical Protestants Analyze What Unites and Divides Us, Moody Press, 1994), has stated that Tozer "listened to God and practiced lectio divina in his reading habits." The "Emerging Thought" blog, among other Emergent writers, has commented, "I am going to go through the book by Brother Lawrence called Practice of the Presence of God: The Best Rule of Holy Life. I already had someone on the leadership team comment (jokingly) about me teaching RCC stuff. Yet, I see that John Wesley and A. W. Tozer both recommended him."

To quote someone does not necessarily include recommending him. Yet, we would take issue with Tozer regarding some of the people he quotes. In chapter 3 of The Pursuit of God, "Removing the Veil," Tozer quotes Chinese sage, Lao-tze: "That is the first step, and as...Lao-tze has said, 'The journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step.'" Quoting this one point, which is hardly profound, is not "endorsing" Lao-Tze. One might wonder, however, where Tozer stood when one considers the Roman Catholics (Augustine, Nicholas of Cusa, Thomas á Kempis, Francis of Assisi, von Hugel, Bernard of Clairvaux, the poet William Blake, and hymn writer Frederick Faber, a convert to Catholicism) that he has quoted or referred to in his books. That's rather puzzling, since the gospel that Tozer preached and wrote about so well couldn't be more contrary to the gospel and dogmas of Catholicism, beliefs strictly held by those mentioned and most of whom were canonized as saints by the Church of Rome. TBC does not condone Tozer when he quotes those with whom we have serious theological disagreement (and with whom, we are sure, he would also disagree). Moreover, instances of such quotes are so few in his many, many volumes that it's clear they were in no way significant to his teaching.

Tozer himself recognized the confusion he generated by quoting those noted for their Roman Catholic mysticism. He wrote in his own defense, "Some of my friends good-humoredly--and some a little bit severely-have called me a 'mystic.' Well I'd like to say this about any mysticism I may suppose to have. If an archangel from heaven were to come, and were to start...telling me, teaching me, and giving me instruction, I'd ask him for the text. I'd say, 'Where's it say that in the Bible? I want to know.' And I would insist that it was according to the scriptures, because I do not believe in any extra-scriptural teachings, nor any anti-scriptural teachings, or any sub-scriptural teachings. I think we ought to put the emphasis where God puts it, and continue to put it there, and to expound the scriptures, and stay by the scriptures. I wouldn't--no matter if I saw a light above the light of the sun, I'd keep my mouth shut about it 'til I'd checked with Daniel and Revelation and the rest of the scriptures to see if it had any basis in truth....I don't believe in anything that is unscriptural or that is anti-scripture" (A.W. Tozer, "What Difference Does the Holy Spirit Make?")

Even so, some object that quoting Tozer to prove he wasn't a mystic ignored his advice to "get still to wait on God" with the "Bible outspread." To say that Tozer practiced lectio divina because of this statement is to be driven more by surmise than substance. The full paragraph reads: "It is important that we get still to wait on God. And it is best that we get alone, preferably with our Bible outspread before us. Then if we will, we may draw near to God and begin to hear Him speak to us in our hearts. I think for the average person the progression will be something like this: First a sound as of a Presence walking in the garden. Then a voice, more intelligible, but still far from clear. Then the happy moment when the Spirit begins to illuminate the Scriptures, and that which had been only a sound, or at best a voice, now becomes an intelligible word, warm and intimate and clear as the word of a dear friend. Then will come life and light, and best of all, ability to see and rest in and embrace Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord and All."

There is a vast difference between Tozer's teaching and lectio divina. The Lord tells us to "be still" at times. To "be still" is not to empty our minds, as in lectio divina. Reading Scripture without distraction, we trust the Lord to bring illumination, or "understanding." Though Tozer speaks of a "sound as of a Presence walking in the garden," he means that the Holy Spirit begins to bring understanding (1 Cor 2:11). "Then a voice," denotes better understanding of a formerly opaque Scripture. Tozer speaks of "an intelligible word" consistently throughout his writing. His focus remains "the Word." "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein" (Jos 1:8).

The Scriptures warn us to fully discern the truth of a matter. Discernment is more than suspicion. We are cautioned in the scriptures against "evil surmising" (1 Tm 6:4), which today might be called "evil suspicion." To establish Tozer as a "Catholic mystic" cannot be done objectively, without exaggeration, and with only selective use of evidence.