This is what's going on at Rick Warren's and other seeker sensitive type "churches". Disgusting what's being fed to people in God's Name! Is it any wonder that our country is in the shape it's in? Lord help us.
Showing posts with label rick warren. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rick warren. Show all posts
February 28, 2013
July 19, 2011
Weighed and Found Wanting
Ex-New Ager Warren Smith exposes New Age, a.k.a as 'New Spirituality', teachings that have invaded the church. Warren has written several books on the subject that are excellent resources for those wishing to research further. The books can be found on his website or on Amazon. Please beware of those who are preaching ANOTHER Jesus and steer clear of their erroneous seductive teachings!
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils" (1 Tim.4:1)
Rick Warren’s Daniel Plan
by Warren Smith
Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. —2 Corinthians 2:11
Who would have believed it? Occult/New Age doctors being invited into the church to teach Christians how to be healthy? Charles Spurgeon must be rolling over in his grave. On January 15, 2011 a fifty-two week health and wellness program—the Daniel Plan—was initiated at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church. More than six thousand people attended the well promoted and carefully staged event. Warren took the opportunity to announce that his own personal goal was to lose 90 pounds in 2011. The Daniel Plan website states that “the Daniel Plan envisions starting a movement so the result is better physical and spiritual health for current and future generations.”1 It describes how Rick Warren “recruited three best-selling authors” to create and oversee the Daniel Plan Curriculum—Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Daniel Amen, and Dr. Mark Hyman.2 Although these three physicians are all involved with New Age teachings, they describe themselves respectively as a Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew.
On their church’s Daniel Plan website, Saddleback pastor Brandon Cox tried to defend Rick Warren’s indefensible decision to recruit three New Age doctors to implement a Christian health and wellness program. In his “Pastoral Response” to the question “Why did Saddleback Church choose to use these Doctors who have been linked to other beliefs?,” Cox wrote:
“Pastor Rick knows each of these Doctors personally and has the utmost trust in their ability to advise us about matters related to physical health.” In a statement reminiscent of Little Red Riding Hood’s “grandmother,” Cox goes on to state: “These Doctors are helping us as friends, but are in no way advising our church on spiritual matters.”3
By repeating and emphasizing the term “physical health” three times in the response, Saddleback was obviously trying to distance itself from Oz, Amen, and Hyman’s New Age beliefs. But the “we’re only using them for physical health purposes” defense was not convincing. All three physicians are alternative medicine/holistic health practitioners who teach the indivisibility of “mind, body, spirit” in achieving optimum well-being. In other words, their New Age spiritual beliefs are necessarily embedded in their medical practice, their best-selling books, and their public appearances.
Dr. Mehmet Oz
Dr. Oz is the cardiovascular surgeon who was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show for five years before gaining his own popular daytime TV show. He also has a daily talk show on Oprah & Friends satellite radio and writes columns for several magazines including Oprah’s O Magazine. Operating out of Columbia University’s Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Oz is like a modern-day shaman as he mixes traditional medicine with a wide variety of occult/New Age practices. In The Way of the Shaman, a “foremost resource and reference on shamanism,” Michael Harner—an anthropologist who “has practiced shamanism and shamanic healing” for several decades4—gives the following definition of a shaman:
A shaman is a man or woman who enters an altered state of consciousness—at will—to contact and utilize an ordinarily hidden reality in order to acquire knowledge, power, and to help other persons. The shaman has at least one, and usually more, “spirits” in his personal service.5
The following is a sampling of what Dr. Oz subtly, and not so subtly, incorporates into his medical practice and into his life. For instance, Dr. Oz’s prominent endorsement is displayed on the front cover of self-described psychic Ainslie MacLeod’s book The Instruction: Living the Life Your Soul Intended. Juxtaposing the phrase “spiritual well-being” with the word “purpose,” Oz writes: I recommend this book to those who seek greater spiritual well-being and a better understanding of their life’s purpose.6
In Oz’s endorsement of another Ainslie MacLeod book, The Transformation: Healing Your Past Lives to Realize Your Soul’s Potential, Dr. Oz makes it clear that his approach to physical health is inextricably bound up with his beliefs regarding spiritual health. They cannot be neatly separated out as Rick Warren’s Saddleback staff would have everyone believe. Dr. Oz’s front cover endorsement states:
Ainslie MacLeod is at the frontier of exploration into the soul and its profound influence on our physical selves.7
In The Transformation, MacLeod’s spirit guides tell MacLeod’s readers “that we are standing on the brink of the greatest leap in human consciousness in 55,000 years.”8 Later, in a psychic reading that MacLeod gives to one of his clients, his spirit guides refer his client to Dr. Daniel Amen for help.9 Amen, of course being one of the other two Daniel Plan physicians. In The Instruction, among other things, MacLeod teaches readers how to meditate and contact spirit guides. In fact, spirit guides are referred to a whopping 175 times in the book—40 times before you even get to Chapter 1. In his introduction, MacLeod describes how the skeptic in him used to read a book like his and think—“Who died and made this guy an expert?” In his own case, MacLeod said the answer was his spirit guides—one of them being his deceased Uncle John.10
Dr. Oz’s New Age affinity for psychics, spirit guides, past lives, and contacting the dead was showcased on his March 15, 2011 program—just two months after the launch of the Daniel Plan—titled, “Psychic Mediums: Are they the New Therapists?” The promo on his website read: “Can talking to lost loved ones heal your grief? Hear why psychic John Edward believes you can talk to the dead.”11
On a January 6, 2010 Dr. Oz Show, Dr. Oz revealed what he believed to be “the most important alternative medicine treatment” for his viewers in that coming year. His #1 “Oz’s Order” was to “Try Reiki”12—an occult bodywork practice that incorporates the channeled guidance of spirit guides. Dr. Oz was reported in one press release as stating: “Reiki is one of my favorites, we’ve been using it for years in the Oz family, and we swear by it.”13
On a video on Dr. Oz’s website, New Age leader Deepak Chopra teaches viewers how to meditate.14 Chopra’s 2009 book Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul features Dr. Oz’s back cover endorsement.15 Dr. Oz is a personal practitioner of Transcendental Meditation,16 which was founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He has also practiced Yoga for over twenty years17 and is devoted to the New Age teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg—teachings that resonate with the mystical Sufi branch of the Muslim faith that he and his wife most identify with.18
Dr. Oz wrote the Foreword to “US”—a New Age book written by his wife Lisa, who is a Reiki Master19—a book that opens with a quote on oneness by New Age patriarch Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. In his Foreword, Oz credits his wife’s spiritual influence while also mentioning that a number of years ago he “matriculated at Oprah University.”20 Dr. Oz endangers those who put their trust in him by interjecting his occult/New Age beliefs into his medical practice.
Presumably, the “Open Heart meditation” given to Ainslie MacLeod by his spirit guides21 is not used by Dr. Oz before he does open heart surgery. One thing is for spiritual sure, Dr. Oz may be a skilled cardiovascular surgeon but spiritually he is overlooking one of the most important aspects of the heart. God, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, warns: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Multiple references in the Bible also warn about the extremely dangerous and deceptive nature of “familiar” and “seducing” spirits that Dr. Oz is in the process of normalizing through his extreme influence in the world and now in the church (see Leviticus 19:31; Deuteronomy 18:10-12; 1 Timothy 4:1; etc.).
Dr. Daniel Amen
Dr. Amen is a child and adolescent psychiatrist, best-selling author, and medical director of the Amen Clinics for Behavioral Medicine. In his book Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, he encourages readers to “Learn and use self-hypnosis and meditation on a daily basis.”22 In Change Your Brain, Change Your Body, Amen, a self-professed Christian, specifically recommends a Hindu Kundalini form of meditation called Kirtan Kriya. He instructs his readers to chant “sa ta na ma” repeatedly while simultaneously doing repetitive finger movements.23 In a New Age world that says “everything happens for a reason” and “there are no accidents,” the first five letters of this Hindu meditation spell the name of Satan. The last three letters just so happen to be the abbreviated letters of the American Medical Association (AMA). Is this pure coincidence, some kind of cosmic joke, or spiritual mockery?
In his book The Brain in Love (formerly titled Sex on the Brain), Dr. Amen recommends tantric sex to his readers. He writes that tantra “is a term applied to several schools of Hindu yoga in which sex is worshipped.”24 He states that “[s]ome tantra yoga teachers recommend meditative practices that also share elements with Kundalini yoga, where subtle streams of energy are raised in the body by means of posture, breath control, and movements.”25 He later adds:
After you have agreed to safe boundaries, you can take sex to a new level by investing in a few books or magazines. I write for Men’s Health magazine and it is always filled with great sex tips for couples. Cosmopolitan and other magazines have playful ideas as well. Books on tantric sex or role-playing games can also be fun.”26
Dr. Amen’s fascination with tantric sex and Kundalini yoga is very similar to the teachings of Indian gurus like Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and Swami Baba Muktananda. Dr. Amen’s New Age sympathies are also evident in his willingness to write the Foreword to author Lucinda Bassett’s The Solution. In her book, Bassett quotes New Age leaders Marianne Williamson, Eckhart Tolle, the Dalai Lama, Neale Donald Walsch, and others. She describes Walsch as “a spiritual messenger whose best-selling books and lectures profoundly touch the world.”27
Dr. Mark Hyman
Dr. Hyman is the chairman of the Institute of Functional Medicine and author of the best-selling book The UltraMind Solution. With its front cover endorsement by Dr. Mehmet Oz, The UltraMind Solution offers practical medical advice while at the same time recommending a number of New Age resources to his readers. For example, he recommends the website of New Age author and guided imagery proponent Belleruth Naparstek.28 Her books and materials are designed to help people meditate, become more psychic, and connect with spirit guides. Her website describes how her materials are used worldwide by patients, hospitals, HMO’s, government agencies, etc. Dr. Hyman and New Age leader Dr. Bernie Siegel are listed as two of Naparstek’s “contributing health and mind-body health practitioners.”29 Siegel, of course being the New Age leader Rick Warren used to introduce the idea of hope and purpose in The Purpose-Driven Life. Like Dr. Oz and Dr. Amen, Dr. Hyman recommends meditation and yoga to his readers.30
Dr. Hyman endorsed a New Age book entitled Power Up Your Brain—The Neuroscience of Enlightenment. It is co-authored by shaman/medium Alberto Villoldo and neurologist David Perlmutter. The Foreword from the publisher states:
And now two men, two seers—a shaman and a scientist—are combining their experiences and expertise to explore the totality that includes all of the spirit world and all of the scientific world—as One.31
David Perlmutter writes:
For it had become clear to us that access to the Great Spirit or Divine Energy—that natural force which is called by so many names—is available to all. In a sense we are all shamans, and the most advanced teachings in cellular biology are validating lifestyle activities that for centuries, have been paving the way to enlightenment through meditative practices not just for the chosen few but for all who care to learn. Our collaboration explores the implications of this not only for individuals but for all of humanity.32
Villoldo—who spoke at a 2011 Palm Springs Prophets Conference with New Age leader Barbara Marx Hubbard33— writes:
During my years studying with the shamans, I learned about their belief in the Divine Mother, which we each have the potential to discover in nature. This was not the bearded old man whose image I had come to associate with “God.” Rather, this was a force that infused all creation, a sea of energy and consciousness that we all swim in and are part of. I came to understand that our Western notions of the divine are perhaps a masculine version of this life force that infuses every cell in our bodies, that animates all living beings, and that even fuels stars.34
Power Up Your Brain includes a chapter recommending various “Shamanic Exercises” that include an invocation to the “Great Serpent.”35 Dr. Hyman’s back cover endorsement of this book sits alongside New Age leaders Bernie Siegel and Greg Braden.
In his endorsement, Hyman betrays his belief in shamanism and the inextricable New Age link between physical and spiritual health. He writes:
The shaman and physician for millennia were the same person until the 19th century when they were split apart in the name of science. Now through the lens of 21st-century science, Villoldo and Perlmutter bring them back together, illuminating the web that links together our physical and metaphysical energy. For anyone feeling a loss of energy of body or soul, Power Up Your Brain is your guide to restoration and rejuvenation of your deepest energies.
Also referring to “restoration” in The UltraMind Solution, Dr. Hyman lists three New Age centers in his “Resources” section. Under the heading of “Restorative and Educational Retreats,” he recommends the Omega Institute, the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, and the Shambhala Mountain Center.36 Ainslie MacLeod—the Dr. Oz endorsed psychic—is a “faculty member” at both the Kripalu Center and the Omega Institute.37 The Omega Institute offers a number of workshops led by key New Age leaders like Neale Donald Walsch, Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle, and Alberto Villoldo. Classes such as “Conversations with God,” “Contacting the Spirit World,” “How Shamans Dream the World into Being,” and “Bootcamp for Goddesses,” are readily available to those following Dr. Hyman’s advice.38 And at the Dr. Hyman endorsed Kripalu Center, New Age leader Deepak Chopra offers a workshop on his Dr. Oz endorsed book, Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul. In case people can’t make it to Saddleback Church, Dr. Daniel Amen also teaches a workshop at Kripalu.
Key Scriptures Regarding Rick Warren’s Daniel Plan
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. —2 Corinthians 6:14
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. —Ephesians 5:11
Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. —1 Corinthians 10:21
Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way. —Romans 14:13
Shepherding the Church into a New Age/New Spirituality In the 1990’s, a well-known Christian leader rightly warned that alternative medicine and holistic health can provide an easy entryway for deceptive New Age teachings. He further warned that changing your diet can also end up changing your worldview. In other words, sometimes losing weight can also mean losing your soul. Speaking from his leadership role with the Christian Medical Association, Dr. David Stevens also urges great discretion regarding alternative health practitioners. He states: “Not only do we have to make a choice; we also have to evaluate the trustworthiness of each messenger and the validity of the message.”39
The Christian Handbook to Alternative Medicine also warns: “Consider carefully not only the therapy but also the character and worldview of those offering the treatment.”40 Thus, it is definitely “buyer beware” when it comes to mixedbag physicians like Oz, Amen, and Hyman. But that doesn’t seem to matter to Rick Warren as he openly aligns himself with these New Age doctors and promises to make their joint Daniel Plan a worldwide phenomenon. Instead of sounding a warning trumpet and protecting the church from three New Age physicians, Warren praises them and trumpets his ungodly alliance with them.
One can only wonder if the prophet Daniel’s vision of the end days included a look at Rick Warren’s Daniel Plan—a compromised pastor and three New Age doctors with their psychics, spirit guides, tantric sex, necromancy, Yoga, Reiki, Transcendental and Kundalini “sa ta na ma” meditations and more—all in Daniel’s name. If so, it is no wonder the Bible records that he “fainted” and became “sick” for a number of days (Daniel 8:27).
It doesn’t make any difference in God’s scheme of things if Rick Warren stands slim and trim in front of an adoring church audience after losing 90 pounds. What may be remembered is that in the midst of all the self-congratulatory statistics and frenzied media hoopla, a finger suddenly appeared on the wall behind Rick Warren and wrote the following:
"Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting" —Daniel 5:27
Source
Appendix A: The Daniel Plan
1. Week 11: Re-Focusing The Daniel Plan (http://www.saddleback.
com/thedanielplan/?category=Week%2011).
2. The Daniel Plan: What Makes it Different? (http://www.saddleback.
com/thedanielplan/healthyhabits/whatsdifferent/).
3. Pastoral Response, Brandon Cox, Saddleback Church, (https://www.
saddleback.com/thedanielplan/toolsandresources/pastoralresponse/).
4. Michael Harner, Ph.D., The Way of the Shaman, (New York, NY:
HarperCollins Publishers, 1980, 1990), back cover.
5. Ibid., p. 25.
6. Ainslie MacLeod, The Instruction: Living the Life Your Soul Intended
(Boulder, CO: Sounds True, Inc., 2007, 2009), front cover.
7. Ainslie MacLeod, The Transformation: Healing Your Past Lives to Realize
Your Soul’s Potential (Boulder, CO: Sounds True, Inc., 2010), front cover.
8. Ibid., front flap.
9. Ibid., pp. 243-244.
10. Ainslie MacLeod, The Instruction: , op. cit., p. 9, 12.
11. “Psychic Mediums: Are they the New Therapists?,” The Dr. Oz
Show, aired 3/15/11, (http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/are-psychicsnew-
therapists-pt-1).
12. “‘Try Reiki,’ Dr. Oz Tells Millions on TV,” 1/9/10, The Reiki
Digest, (http://reikidigest.blogspot.com/2010/01/try-reiki-dr-oz-tellsmillions-
on-tv.html).
13. “Dr. Mehmet Oz Declares Reiki as his #1 Alternative Medicine
Secret,” 1/9/2010, Bio-Medicine, (http://www.bio-medicine.org/
medicine-news-1/Dr–Mehmet-Oz-Declares-Reiki-as-His–231-Alternative-
Medicine-Secret–64270-1/).
14. “Meditation Techniques Demonstrated by Deepak Chopra,” The
Dr. Oz Show, added to videos on 2/25/10, (http://www.doctoroz.com/
videos/deepak-chopra-meditation).
15. Deepak Chopra, Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul: How
to Create a New You, (New York, NY: Three Rivers Press, a division of
Random House, Inc., 2009).
16. AARP The Magazine, May/June 2010 issue, p. 82.
17. Ibid.
18. Lisa Oz, US: Transforming Ourselves and the Relationships That Matter
Most (New York, NY: Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.,
2010), p. 179.
19. “‘Try Reiki,’ Dr. Oz Tells Millions on TV,” 1/9/10, The Reiki
Digest, op. cit.
20. Lisa Oz, US, op. cit., p. x.
21. Ainslie MacLeod, The Instruction, op. cit., p. 17.
22. Daniel G. Amen, M.D., Change Your Brain, Change Your Life (New
York, NY: Times Books, a division of Random House, Inc., 1998), p. 302.
23. Daniel G. Amen, M.D., Change Your Brain, Change Your Body
(New York, NY: Three Rivers Press, a division of Random House, Inc.,
2010), p. 223.
24. Daniel G. Amen, M.D., The Brain in Love (New York, NY: Three
Rivers Press, a division of Random House, Inc., 2007), p. 144.
25. Ibid., p. 145.
26. Ibid., p. 148.
27. Lucinda Bassett, The Solution: Conquer Your Fear, Control Your Future
(New York: NY: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 2011), p. 146.
28. Mark Hyman M.D., The UltraMind Solution (New York, NY:
Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2009), p. 402. (Belleruth
Naparstek’s website recommended by Dr. Hyman: http://www.
healthjourneys.com/).
29. Our Practitioner Bios, Health Journeys, (http://www.
healthjourneys.com/practitioner_bios.asp).
30. Mark Hyman, The UltraMind Solution, op. cit., p. 384.
31. David Perlmutter, M.D., F.A.C.N., Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D., Power
Up Your Brain: The Neuroscience of Enlightenment (New York, NY: Hay
House, Inc., 2011), p. xiv.
32. Ibid., p. xviii.
33. The Prophets Conference (http://www.greatmystery.org/).
34. David Perlmutter, Alberto Villoldo, Power Up Your Brain, op. cit.,
p. xxi.
35. Ibid., p. 154.
36. Mark Hyman, The UltraMind Solution, op. cit., p. 403.
37. Ainslie MacLeod, The Transformation, op. cit., About the Author,
p. 327.
38. Omega Institute, (http://www.eomega.org/).
39. Donal O’Mathuna, Ph.D. and Walt Larimore, M.D., Alternative
Medicine: The Christian Handbook (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001,
2007), p. 9.
40. Ibid., p. 123.
Note: Thanks to Jennifer Pekich, Ray Youngen, and Lighthouse Trails
for initially breaking this “Daniel Plan” story.
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils" (1 Tim.4:1)
Rick Warren’s Daniel Plan
by Warren Smith
Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. —2 Corinthians 2:11
Who would have believed it? Occult/New Age doctors being invited into the church to teach Christians how to be healthy? Charles Spurgeon must be rolling over in his grave. On January 15, 2011 a fifty-two week health and wellness program—the Daniel Plan—was initiated at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church. More than six thousand people attended the well promoted and carefully staged event. Warren took the opportunity to announce that his own personal goal was to lose 90 pounds in 2011. The Daniel Plan website states that “the Daniel Plan envisions starting a movement so the result is better physical and spiritual health for current and future generations.”1 It describes how Rick Warren “recruited three best-selling authors” to create and oversee the Daniel Plan Curriculum—Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Daniel Amen, and Dr. Mark Hyman.2 Although these three physicians are all involved with New Age teachings, they describe themselves respectively as a Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew.
On their church’s Daniel Plan website, Saddleback pastor Brandon Cox tried to defend Rick Warren’s indefensible decision to recruit three New Age doctors to implement a Christian health and wellness program. In his “Pastoral Response” to the question “Why did Saddleback Church choose to use these Doctors who have been linked to other beliefs?,” Cox wrote:
“Pastor Rick knows each of these Doctors personally and has the utmost trust in their ability to advise us about matters related to physical health.” In a statement reminiscent of Little Red Riding Hood’s “grandmother,” Cox goes on to state: “These Doctors are helping us as friends, but are in no way advising our church on spiritual matters.”3
By repeating and emphasizing the term “physical health” three times in the response, Saddleback was obviously trying to distance itself from Oz, Amen, and Hyman’s New Age beliefs. But the “we’re only using them for physical health purposes” defense was not convincing. All three physicians are alternative medicine/holistic health practitioners who teach the indivisibility of “mind, body, spirit” in achieving optimum well-being. In other words, their New Age spiritual beliefs are necessarily embedded in their medical practice, their best-selling books, and their public appearances.
Dr. Mehmet Oz
Dr. Oz is the cardiovascular surgeon who was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show for five years before gaining his own popular daytime TV show. He also has a daily talk show on Oprah & Friends satellite radio and writes columns for several magazines including Oprah’s O Magazine. Operating out of Columbia University’s Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Oz is like a modern-day shaman as he mixes traditional medicine with a wide variety of occult/New Age practices. In The Way of the Shaman, a “foremost resource and reference on shamanism,” Michael Harner—an anthropologist who “has practiced shamanism and shamanic healing” for several decades4—gives the following definition of a shaman:
A shaman is a man or woman who enters an altered state of consciousness—at will—to contact and utilize an ordinarily hidden reality in order to acquire knowledge, power, and to help other persons. The shaman has at least one, and usually more, “spirits” in his personal service.5
The following is a sampling of what Dr. Oz subtly, and not so subtly, incorporates into his medical practice and into his life. For instance, Dr. Oz’s prominent endorsement is displayed on the front cover of self-described psychic Ainslie MacLeod’s book The Instruction: Living the Life Your Soul Intended. Juxtaposing the phrase “spiritual well-being” with the word “purpose,” Oz writes: I recommend this book to those who seek greater spiritual well-being and a better understanding of their life’s purpose.6
In Oz’s endorsement of another Ainslie MacLeod book, The Transformation: Healing Your Past Lives to Realize Your Soul’s Potential, Dr. Oz makes it clear that his approach to physical health is inextricably bound up with his beliefs regarding spiritual health. They cannot be neatly separated out as Rick Warren’s Saddleback staff would have everyone believe. Dr. Oz’s front cover endorsement states:
Ainslie MacLeod is at the frontier of exploration into the soul and its profound influence on our physical selves.7
In The Transformation, MacLeod’s spirit guides tell MacLeod’s readers “that we are standing on the brink of the greatest leap in human consciousness in 55,000 years.”8 Later, in a psychic reading that MacLeod gives to one of his clients, his spirit guides refer his client to Dr. Daniel Amen for help.9 Amen, of course being one of the other two Daniel Plan physicians. In The Instruction, among other things, MacLeod teaches readers how to meditate and contact spirit guides. In fact, spirit guides are referred to a whopping 175 times in the book—40 times before you even get to Chapter 1. In his introduction, MacLeod describes how the skeptic in him used to read a book like his and think—“Who died and made this guy an expert?” In his own case, MacLeod said the answer was his spirit guides—one of them being his deceased Uncle John.10
Dr. Oz’s New Age affinity for psychics, spirit guides, past lives, and contacting the dead was showcased on his March 15, 2011 program—just two months after the launch of the Daniel Plan—titled, “Psychic Mediums: Are they the New Therapists?” The promo on his website read: “Can talking to lost loved ones heal your grief? Hear why psychic John Edward believes you can talk to the dead.”11
On a January 6, 2010 Dr. Oz Show, Dr. Oz revealed what he believed to be “the most important alternative medicine treatment” for his viewers in that coming year. His #1 “Oz’s Order” was to “Try Reiki”12—an occult bodywork practice that incorporates the channeled guidance of spirit guides. Dr. Oz was reported in one press release as stating: “Reiki is one of my favorites, we’ve been using it for years in the Oz family, and we swear by it.”13
On a video on Dr. Oz’s website, New Age leader Deepak Chopra teaches viewers how to meditate.14 Chopra’s 2009 book Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul features Dr. Oz’s back cover endorsement.15 Dr. Oz is a personal practitioner of Transcendental Meditation,16 which was founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He has also practiced Yoga for over twenty years17 and is devoted to the New Age teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg—teachings that resonate with the mystical Sufi branch of the Muslim faith that he and his wife most identify with.18
Dr. Oz wrote the Foreword to “US”—a New Age book written by his wife Lisa, who is a Reiki Master19—a book that opens with a quote on oneness by New Age patriarch Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. In his Foreword, Oz credits his wife’s spiritual influence while also mentioning that a number of years ago he “matriculated at Oprah University.”20 Dr. Oz endangers those who put their trust in him by interjecting his occult/New Age beliefs into his medical practice.
Presumably, the “Open Heart meditation” given to Ainslie MacLeod by his spirit guides21 is not used by Dr. Oz before he does open heart surgery. One thing is for spiritual sure, Dr. Oz may be a skilled cardiovascular surgeon but spiritually he is overlooking one of the most important aspects of the heart. God, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, warns: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Multiple references in the Bible also warn about the extremely dangerous and deceptive nature of “familiar” and “seducing” spirits that Dr. Oz is in the process of normalizing through his extreme influence in the world and now in the church (see Leviticus 19:31; Deuteronomy 18:10-12; 1 Timothy 4:1; etc.).
Dr. Daniel Amen
Dr. Amen is a child and adolescent psychiatrist, best-selling author, and medical director of the Amen Clinics for Behavioral Medicine. In his book Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, he encourages readers to “Learn and use self-hypnosis and meditation on a daily basis.”22 In Change Your Brain, Change Your Body, Amen, a self-professed Christian, specifically recommends a Hindu Kundalini form of meditation called Kirtan Kriya. He instructs his readers to chant “sa ta na ma” repeatedly while simultaneously doing repetitive finger movements.23 In a New Age world that says “everything happens for a reason” and “there are no accidents,” the first five letters of this Hindu meditation spell the name of Satan. The last three letters just so happen to be the abbreviated letters of the American Medical Association (AMA). Is this pure coincidence, some kind of cosmic joke, or spiritual mockery?
In his book The Brain in Love (formerly titled Sex on the Brain), Dr. Amen recommends tantric sex to his readers. He writes that tantra “is a term applied to several schools of Hindu yoga in which sex is worshipped.”24 He states that “[s]ome tantra yoga teachers recommend meditative practices that also share elements with Kundalini yoga, where subtle streams of energy are raised in the body by means of posture, breath control, and movements.”25 He later adds:
After you have agreed to safe boundaries, you can take sex to a new level by investing in a few books or magazines. I write for Men’s Health magazine and it is always filled with great sex tips for couples. Cosmopolitan and other magazines have playful ideas as well. Books on tantric sex or role-playing games can also be fun.”26
Dr. Amen’s fascination with tantric sex and Kundalini yoga is very similar to the teachings of Indian gurus like Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and Swami Baba Muktananda. Dr. Amen’s New Age sympathies are also evident in his willingness to write the Foreword to author Lucinda Bassett’s The Solution. In her book, Bassett quotes New Age leaders Marianne Williamson, Eckhart Tolle, the Dalai Lama, Neale Donald Walsch, and others. She describes Walsch as “a spiritual messenger whose best-selling books and lectures profoundly touch the world.”27
Dr. Mark Hyman
Dr. Hyman is the chairman of the Institute of Functional Medicine and author of the best-selling book The UltraMind Solution. With its front cover endorsement by Dr. Mehmet Oz, The UltraMind Solution offers practical medical advice while at the same time recommending a number of New Age resources to his readers. For example, he recommends the website of New Age author and guided imagery proponent Belleruth Naparstek.28 Her books and materials are designed to help people meditate, become more psychic, and connect with spirit guides. Her website describes how her materials are used worldwide by patients, hospitals, HMO’s, government agencies, etc. Dr. Hyman and New Age leader Dr. Bernie Siegel are listed as two of Naparstek’s “contributing health and mind-body health practitioners.”29 Siegel, of course being the New Age leader Rick Warren used to introduce the idea of hope and purpose in The Purpose-Driven Life. Like Dr. Oz and Dr. Amen, Dr. Hyman recommends meditation and yoga to his readers.30
Dr. Hyman endorsed a New Age book entitled Power Up Your Brain—The Neuroscience of Enlightenment. It is co-authored by shaman/medium Alberto Villoldo and neurologist David Perlmutter. The Foreword from the publisher states:
And now two men, two seers—a shaman and a scientist—are combining their experiences and expertise to explore the totality that includes all of the spirit world and all of the scientific world—as One.31
David Perlmutter writes:
For it had become clear to us that access to the Great Spirit or Divine Energy—that natural force which is called by so many names—is available to all. In a sense we are all shamans, and the most advanced teachings in cellular biology are validating lifestyle activities that for centuries, have been paving the way to enlightenment through meditative practices not just for the chosen few but for all who care to learn. Our collaboration explores the implications of this not only for individuals but for all of humanity.32
Villoldo—who spoke at a 2011 Palm Springs Prophets Conference with New Age leader Barbara Marx Hubbard33— writes:
During my years studying with the shamans, I learned about their belief in the Divine Mother, which we each have the potential to discover in nature. This was not the bearded old man whose image I had come to associate with “God.” Rather, this was a force that infused all creation, a sea of energy and consciousness that we all swim in and are part of. I came to understand that our Western notions of the divine are perhaps a masculine version of this life force that infuses every cell in our bodies, that animates all living beings, and that even fuels stars.34
Power Up Your Brain includes a chapter recommending various “Shamanic Exercises” that include an invocation to the “Great Serpent.”35 Dr. Hyman’s back cover endorsement of this book sits alongside New Age leaders Bernie Siegel and Greg Braden.
In his endorsement, Hyman betrays his belief in shamanism and the inextricable New Age link between physical and spiritual health. He writes:
The shaman and physician for millennia were the same person until the 19th century when they were split apart in the name of science. Now through the lens of 21st-century science, Villoldo and Perlmutter bring them back together, illuminating the web that links together our physical and metaphysical energy. For anyone feeling a loss of energy of body or soul, Power Up Your Brain is your guide to restoration and rejuvenation of your deepest energies.
Also referring to “restoration” in The UltraMind Solution, Dr. Hyman lists three New Age centers in his “Resources” section. Under the heading of “Restorative and Educational Retreats,” he recommends the Omega Institute, the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, and the Shambhala Mountain Center.36 Ainslie MacLeod—the Dr. Oz endorsed psychic—is a “faculty member” at both the Kripalu Center and the Omega Institute.37 The Omega Institute offers a number of workshops led by key New Age leaders like Neale Donald Walsch, Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle, and Alberto Villoldo. Classes such as “Conversations with God,” “Contacting the Spirit World,” “How Shamans Dream the World into Being,” and “Bootcamp for Goddesses,” are readily available to those following Dr. Hyman’s advice.38 And at the Dr. Hyman endorsed Kripalu Center, New Age leader Deepak Chopra offers a workshop on his Dr. Oz endorsed book, Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul. In case people can’t make it to Saddleback Church, Dr. Daniel Amen also teaches a workshop at Kripalu.
Key Scriptures Regarding Rick Warren’s Daniel Plan
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. —2 Corinthians 6:14
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. —Ephesians 5:11
Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. —1 Corinthians 10:21
Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way. —Romans 14:13
Shepherding the Church into a New Age/New Spirituality In the 1990’s, a well-known Christian leader rightly warned that alternative medicine and holistic health can provide an easy entryway for deceptive New Age teachings. He further warned that changing your diet can also end up changing your worldview. In other words, sometimes losing weight can also mean losing your soul. Speaking from his leadership role with the Christian Medical Association, Dr. David Stevens also urges great discretion regarding alternative health practitioners. He states: “Not only do we have to make a choice; we also have to evaluate the trustworthiness of each messenger and the validity of the message.”39
The Christian Handbook to Alternative Medicine also warns: “Consider carefully not only the therapy but also the character and worldview of those offering the treatment.”40 Thus, it is definitely “buyer beware” when it comes to mixedbag physicians like Oz, Amen, and Hyman. But that doesn’t seem to matter to Rick Warren as he openly aligns himself with these New Age doctors and promises to make their joint Daniel Plan a worldwide phenomenon. Instead of sounding a warning trumpet and protecting the church from three New Age physicians, Warren praises them and trumpets his ungodly alliance with them.
One can only wonder if the prophet Daniel’s vision of the end days included a look at Rick Warren’s Daniel Plan—a compromised pastor and three New Age doctors with their psychics, spirit guides, tantric sex, necromancy, Yoga, Reiki, Transcendental and Kundalini “sa ta na ma” meditations and more—all in Daniel’s name. If so, it is no wonder the Bible records that he “fainted” and became “sick” for a number of days (Daniel 8:27).
It doesn’t make any difference in God’s scheme of things if Rick Warren stands slim and trim in front of an adoring church audience after losing 90 pounds. What may be remembered is that in the midst of all the self-congratulatory statistics and frenzied media hoopla, a finger suddenly appeared on the wall behind Rick Warren and wrote the following:
Source
Appendix A: The Daniel Plan
1. Week 11: Re-Focusing The Daniel Plan (http://www.saddleback.
com/thedanielplan/?category=Week%2011).
2. The Daniel Plan: What Makes it Different? (http://www.saddleback.
com/thedanielplan/healthyhabits/whatsdifferent/).
3. Pastoral Response, Brandon Cox, Saddleback Church, (https://www.
saddleback.com/thedanielplan/toolsandresources/pastoralresponse/).
4. Michael Harner, Ph.D., The Way of the Shaman, (New York, NY:
HarperCollins Publishers, 1980, 1990), back cover.
5. Ibid., p. 25.
6. Ainslie MacLeod, The Instruction: Living the Life Your Soul Intended
(Boulder, CO: Sounds True, Inc., 2007, 2009), front cover.
7. Ainslie MacLeod, The Transformation: Healing Your Past Lives to Realize
Your Soul’s Potential (Boulder, CO: Sounds True, Inc., 2010), front cover.
8. Ibid., front flap.
9. Ibid., pp. 243-244.
10. Ainslie MacLeod, The Instruction: , op. cit., p. 9, 12.
11. “Psychic Mediums: Are they the New Therapists?,” The Dr. Oz
Show, aired 3/15/11, (http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/are-psychicsnew-
therapists-pt-1).
12. “‘Try Reiki,’ Dr. Oz Tells Millions on TV,” 1/9/10, The Reiki
Digest, (http://reikidigest.blogspot.com/2010/01/try-reiki-dr-oz-tellsmillions-
on-tv.html).
13. “Dr. Mehmet Oz Declares Reiki as his #1 Alternative Medicine
Secret,” 1/9/2010, Bio-Medicine, (http://www.bio-medicine.org/
medicine-news-1/Dr–Mehmet-Oz-Declares-Reiki-as-His–231-Alternative-
Medicine-Secret–64270-1/).
14. “Meditation Techniques Demonstrated by Deepak Chopra,” The
Dr. Oz Show, added to videos on 2/25/10, (http://www.doctoroz.com/
videos/deepak-chopra-meditation).
15. Deepak Chopra, Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul: How
to Create a New You, (New York, NY: Three Rivers Press, a division of
Random House, Inc., 2009).
16. AARP The Magazine, May/June 2010 issue, p. 82.
17. Ibid.
18. Lisa Oz, US: Transforming Ourselves and the Relationships That Matter
Most (New York, NY: Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.,
2010), p. 179.
19. “‘Try Reiki,’ Dr. Oz Tells Millions on TV,” 1/9/10, The Reiki
Digest, op. cit.
20. Lisa Oz, US, op. cit., p. x.
21. Ainslie MacLeod, The Instruction, op. cit., p. 17.
22. Daniel G. Amen, M.D., Change Your Brain, Change Your Life (New
York, NY: Times Books, a division of Random House, Inc., 1998), p. 302.
23. Daniel G. Amen, M.D., Change Your Brain, Change Your Body
(New York, NY: Three Rivers Press, a division of Random House, Inc.,
2010), p. 223.
24. Daniel G. Amen, M.D., The Brain in Love (New York, NY: Three
Rivers Press, a division of Random House, Inc., 2007), p. 144.
25. Ibid., p. 145.
26. Ibid., p. 148.
27. Lucinda Bassett, The Solution: Conquer Your Fear, Control Your Future
(New York: NY: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 2011), p. 146.
28. Mark Hyman M.D., The UltraMind Solution (New York, NY:
Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2009), p. 402. (Belleruth
Naparstek’s website recommended by Dr. Hyman: http://www.
healthjourneys.com/).
29. Our Practitioner Bios, Health Journeys, (http://www.
healthjourneys.com/practitioner_bios.asp).
30. Mark Hyman, The UltraMind Solution, op. cit., p. 384.
31. David Perlmutter, M.D., F.A.C.N., Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D., Power
Up Your Brain: The Neuroscience of Enlightenment (New York, NY: Hay
House, Inc., 2011), p. xiv.
32. Ibid., p. xviii.
33. The Prophets Conference (http://www.greatmystery.org/).
34. David Perlmutter, Alberto Villoldo, Power Up Your Brain, op. cit.,
p. xxi.
35. Ibid., p. 154.
36. Mark Hyman, The UltraMind Solution, op. cit., p. 403.
37. Ainslie MacLeod, The Transformation, op. cit., About the Author,
p. 327.
38. Omega Institute, (http://www.eomega.org/).
39. Donal O’Mathuna, Ph.D. and Walt Larimore, M.D., Alternative
Medicine: The Christian Handbook (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001,
2007), p. 9.
40. Ibid., p. 123.
Note: Thanks to Jennifer Pekich, Ray Youngen, and Lighthouse Trails
for initially breaking this “Daniel Plan” story.
December 30, 2010
RICK WARREN'S "APOLOGETICS" WEEKEND SHOULD APOLOGIZE FOR REPRESENTING "ANOTHER GOSPEL"
Eight years after the release of The Purpose Driven Life and numerous efforts by discerning Christian believers to warn others of this movement, the Saddleback Apologetics Weekend unveils more clearly than ever the spiritual direction toward which the evangelical church is racing . . .
In September 2009, Rick Warren held his first Apologetics Weekend conference at Saddleback Church. The conference featured some known apologists such as Norman Geisler and Gary Koukl. (It also included contemplative teacher J.P. Moreland.) The conference was a surprise to some who have followed with discernment the teachings and promotions of Rick Warren over the last decade-it seemed out of place for someone who had promoted the emerging church, contemplative prayer, and kingdom-on-earth-now beliefs to be presenting an "apologetics" conference. No doubt, some assumed that Rick Warren was changing his ways. Just a month prior, at the annual Harvest Crusade by Greg Laurie, Chuck Smith (founder of Calvary Chapel) stood in front of thousands and introduced Rick Warren who was sitting on the platform as his "good friend," inviting him to lead the audience in prayer (see video). Just three years earlier, Chuck Smith denounced the Purpose Driven teachings as incompatible with Calvary Chapel teachings and dropped Warren's book from the Calvary Chapel book distribution.
Between the Harvest Crusade and the Apologetics Weekend at Saddleback, both in 2009, it's no wonder some people were thinking Rick Warren and the Purpose Driven movement were now coming into alignment with traditional evangelical thought. But no evidence showed that Warren's focus or direction had actually changed. And one year after the 2009 Saddleback Apologetics Weekend, the 2nd Annual Apologetics Weekend took place and has provided the proof (once again) that Rick Warren's Purpose Driven movement is indeed going down a path that is contemplative, emerging, and even on a ecumenical road to "Rome." The title of the 2010 "Apologetics" conference was "Who is Jesus?" We believe that the "Jesus" represented at this conference is another Jesus with another gospel, as we will show in this article (2 Corinthians 11:4, Galatians 1:8).
Seeing this year's Apologetics Weekend speaker lineup was even a surprise for Lighthouse Trails. Not because we thought Warren's choice of speakers was contrary to what he believes but because it seemed so blatant and obvious.
This report will focus on three of the speakers at Saddleback's 2010 Apologetics Weekend conference: Philip Yancey, Peter Kreeft, and Scot McKnight. By the time readers finish reading this article, we think you may agree that Rick Warren's Apologetics conference should really be titled: "Rick Warren's Emerging Contemplative Road to Rome Apologetics Weekend."
Christianity Today editor-at-large, Philip Yancey, has been the subject of a number of Lighthouse Trails articles for his strong propensity toward contemplative prayer as well as his public statements regarding the homosexual lifestyle. Last week we posted an article about Yancey's upcoming speaking engagement with the "Gay Christian Network." Roger Oakland addresses some of Yancey's views in Faith Undone (p. 215):
In 2004, Philip Yancey accepted an interview with Candace Chellew-Hodge for Whosoever, "an online magazine for Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, and Transgendered Christians." When Chellew-Hodge asked Yancey about his views on gays and lesbians in the church, Yancey answered:
"When it gets to particular matters of policy, like ordaining gay and lesbian ministers, I'm confused, like a lot of people. There are a few-not many, but a few-passages of Scripture that give me pause. Frankly, I don't know the answer to those questions."
My question to Yancey and other proclaiming Christian leaders is why don't you know the answer? The Bible is clear on this matter . . . part of being a Christian is accepting God's Word and trusting that it is truly just that. Yancey may not be an emergent leader, but his beliefs certainly fit with emerging spirituality. The following statement he [Yancey] makes shows he shares a similar disregard for biblical doctrine:
"Perhaps our day calls for a new kind of ecumenical movement: not of doctrine, nor even of religious unity, but one that builds on what Jews, Christians, and Muslims hold in common. . . . Indeed, Jews, Christians, and Muslims have much in common."
Yancey is not just causing confusion over the sinfulness of practicing homosexuality, but he is a strong advocate for contemplative mystical spirituality as well. In his 2006 book (with a 2010 edition with the same basic components), Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference, there is a who's who of mystical prayer and panentheist references some of which are Thomas Merton, goddess worshipper Sue Monk Kidd, Henri Nouwen, Evelyn Underhill, Kenneth Leach, Meister Eckhart, Teresa of Avila, The Cloud of Unknowing, Francis de Sales, Richard Rohr (referring to him as a "theologian - p. 205), and Anne Lamott-not to mention emerging innovators such as Phyllis Tickle, Jurgen Moltmann, and Walter Brueggemann. Yancey frequently references Thomas Merton in the book and recommends his readers turn to Merton (p. 337) and David Steindl-Rast (p. 338) for spiritual guidance. Yancey must have read these authors for he not only recommends them but also quotes from their books. This is not guilt by association but rather guilt by promotion. We could give you almost countless examples of what these authors believe, but let us just briefly look at a few quotes.
In Ray Yungen's book, A Time of Departing, he discloses that: "David Steindl-Rast once asked Thomas Merton what role Buddhism played in his going deeper into the spiritual life. Merton replied quite frankly: "I think I couldn't understand Christian teaching the way I do if it were not in the light of Buddhism" (The Dawn of the Mystical Age, Tuoti, p. 127, ATOD, p. 140).
Even more disturbing is Steindl-Rast's view of the atonement of Christ:
Unfortunately, over the course of the centuries, this [Christianity] has come to be presented in almost legal language, as if it were some sort of transaction, a deal with God; there was this gap between us and God, somebody had to make up for it-all that business. We can drop that. The legal metaphor seems to have helped other generations. Fine. Anything that helps is fine. But once it [the atonement] gets in the way, as it does today, we should drop it. (The Ground We Share, p. 45)
And lastly, we give you this quote by another Yancey author, Richard Rohr:
The term "cosmic Christ" reminds us that everything and everyone belongs. . . God's hope for humanity is that one day we will all recognize that the divine dwelling place is all of creation. Christ comes again whenever we see that matter and spirit co-exist.
It's not just that these authors who Yancey resonates with are individually bad-it's their collective movement that is bad. This is the same movement that Yancey clearly seems attracted to. This is the very reason Lighthouse Trails exists, not to slam people but to warn them where the contemplative, emerging movement will take them-ultimately away from the message of the Cross.
If you are unfamiliar with some of these names we have mentioned in this article, type them into the Lighthouse Trails search engine - what you find will be another "gospel" that is universalistic, mystical, socialistic, and interspiritual. Quoting one of Merton's biographers, Yungen recounts a scenario which reveals Merton's view on the relationship between God and man:
During a conference on contemplative prayer, the question was put to Thomas Merton: "How can we best help people to attain union with God?" His answer was very clear: We must tell them that they are already united with God. "Contemplative prayer is nothing other than 'coming into consciousness' of what is already there." (from Brennan Manning's book, The Signature of Jesus, p. 211)
Ray Yungen explains: "Merton was referring here to his pure glory-of-God-in-everybody worldview. He is not just speaking of Christians. His universalism elsewhere repudiates that fact" (ATOD, p. 83).
For Rick Warren to feature Philip Yancey at an "apologetics" conference gives another green light to the panentheistic contemplative prayer movement and the emerging theology that goes hand in hand. According to Webster's dictionary, the word "apologetics" is "a branch of theology devoted to the defense of the divine origin and authority of Christianity" (i.e., a defense of the biblical Christian faith).
Scot McKnight, one of the other speakers at Rick Warren's conference, is also part of the emerging spirituality. Roger Oakland speaks of McKnight in Faith Undone. What Oakland shows here illustrates the "road to Rome" views of those in the emerging/contemplative church:
McKnight, another emerging church influencer, was professor of religious studies at North Park University and on the Coordinating Group for Emergent Village. Of the emerging church, he stated:
"As a theologian, I have studied the movement and interacted with its key leaders for years-even more, I happily consider myself part of this movement or "conversation." As an evangelical, I've had my concerns, but overall I think what emerging Christians bring to the table is vital for the overall health of the church." ...
In referring to an Anglican service, McKnight speaks of the Eucharistic focus. He stated:
"[T]he point of an Anglican gathering on a Sunday morning is not to hear a sermon but to worship the Lord through the celebration of the Eucharist.... First some scripture readings and then the sermon and then some announcements and then the Eucharist liturgy with everyone coming forward to kneel and participate-publicly-in the body and blood."
McKnight said that "the Eucharist profoundly enables the grace of God to be received with all its glories and blessings" (Turning to Jesus, p. 7). No doubt, McKnight has had an impact on those in the emerging church movement, and his views on the Eucharist will rub off. (Faith Undone, pp. 136-137)
In McKnight's books Embracing Grace: A Gospel for All of Us (with an endorsement by Brian McLaren on the front cover and McLaren references within) and in his book A Community Called Atonement, McKnight doesn't necessarily reject penal substitutionary atonement (as does McLaren) but says there are many ways of viewing atonement, likening it to golf clubs-using different ones for different purposes (Prologue). Worth noting, McKnight's Atonement book was published by the emerging publishing partnership of Abingdon Press and Emergent Village. McKnight is seen by the emerging church as someone who represents it. And McKnight's website and his books confirm this with numerous favorable references on these issues. In his book Jesus Creed, he recommends a variety of books by contemplative advocates including Gary Thomas' book, Sacred Pathways, where he instructs readers to repeat a word for twenty minutes (which is mantric like meditation) and several other authors of whom we have already mentioned in this article. One of the books McKnight recommends is Eternal Wisdom from the Desert: Writings from the Desert Fathers. St. Anthony is one of the desert fathers featured in that book. Contemplative teacher, Willigis Jager disclosed the following:
Christian literature makes reference to many episodes that parallel the experiences of those going a yogic way. Saint Anthony, one of the first desert mystics, frequently encountered strange and sometimes terrifying psychophysical forces while at prayer. (Jager, Contemplation: A Christian Path, p. 72)
What is being described here is the Kundalini experience that can happen during mantric-like episodes. While McKnight does not come right out in his books and recommend practicing this, he recommends those who do. What we consider McKnight to be is a "bridger," someone who claims orthodoxy but is actually being used as a bridge between orthodoxy and a dangerous mystical practice.
Lastly, this article will focus on Peter Kreeft, one of the other "apologetic" teachers at Saddleback this past fall. Kreeft was a Dutch Reformed Protestant who converted to Catholicism. He is considered by many to be a leading apologist of the Catholic faith. Kreeft embraces wholeheartedly the doctrinal elements that have traditionally split Catholics and Protestants such as the validity of the devotion to Mary and the validity of the Catholic sacraments. In his book, Ecumenical Jihad, he states the following:
Now I see that God prefers to work through intermediaries-Mary and the saints . . . He wants us to pray through Mary and not only directly. (p. 154)
[Mary] may bring the churches together again and heal the tears in her Son's visible body on earth, she, the very one who seems to divide Catholics from Protestants. The most distinctive Catholic doctrines, especially those concerning the Eucharist and Mary, may prove to be the most unifying and attracting ones. (p. 158)
Consecrate your life to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She is the one who will win this war. She is the one (as the Bible says) who triumphs over Satan. (p. 169 - parenthesis in original)
In Faith Undone, Roger Oakland explains Kreeft's predictions of the plans of the Catholic church to bring in a eucharistic, mystical "Christ" whom the world will worship. Oakland states:
What if the Eucharistic Jesus that Catholics worship and adore miraculously started healing those who adored his presence? Wouldn't this be a strong draw to those yet outside the Catholic Church? And as Boston College professor and meditation proponent Peter Kreeft predicted in his book Ecumenical Jihad, Eucharistic adoration will have a powerful ecumenical, interspiritual effect. He says "the power that will reunite the [Catholic] Church and win the world is Eucharistic adoration. (FA, pp. 141-142)
For readers who do not understand the significance of the papacy's efforts to win back the lost brethren (Protestants) to the Mother of all churches (Rome) through the Eucharistic "Christ" and the new evangelization plan, please read Roger Oakland's powerful expose, Another Jesus (we have several excerpts free on our site).
In addition to Kreeft's absolute commitment to the Catholic Church's Eucharistic "Christ" and the role of Mary, he is a proponent of contemplative spirituality as well. Kreeft was one of the speakers in the Be Still DVD, the infomercial for contemplative prayer, with Beth Moore and Richard Foster. As with most, if not all, long-term contemplative proponents, Kreeft's interspiritual propensities are illustrated in his writings. In Ecumenical Jihad, he says that it is "very likely" that within the Hindu and Muslim faiths there is a "hidden Christ" (p. 156). Quoting the late panentheist and interspiritualist Raymond Pannikar ("the apostle of inter-faith dialogue"), Kreeft gives credence to Pannikar's cosmic christ that Pannikar believed exists in all people. Kreeft believes that if all the religions of the world can come together in unity (and in adoration of the Immaculate [without sin] Mary), then the ills of the world can be healed. Remembering something Rick Warren said about four years ago in referring to a "second reformation in the church" helps one to understand why Warren resonates with Kreeft enough to invite him as an apologist:
The man of peace is open and influential ... and here's the other thing, the man of peace does not have to be a Christian believer, could be Muslim, could be Jewish. (Interview with Charlie Rose - 29:00 min. mark)
Yancey, McKnight, and Kreeft - apologetics for the biblical Christian faith? Based on what we have just shown here, how would you answer that question? Apparently, these are not important issues to Rick Warren though. Rick Warren told Larry King once that his goal in life is to bring about a new reformation. But the reformation Warren has defined over and over is ecumenical, contemplative, and emerging. Obviously, he considers Yancey, McKnight, and Kreeft fellow defenders of the faith. But we must ask ourselves, what faith is Rick Warren defending?
In a SoJourner's magazine article (see *below) Philip Yancey once stated that he was surprised at how much he had gotten away with in the evangelical church. We wonder if Rick Warren may be saying the same thing these days. We beseech Christian leaders who have helped further the Purpose Driven movement through their public adherence to step up to the plate and say, "I Was Wrong. I was wrong to promote him. I was wrong to be silent when I did finally realize the truth." Is it really that difficult for Christian leaders to see the direction that Rick Warren has been going all along? Leaders, pastors, teachers, are you going to continue linking arms with "America's Pastor" who is clearly drawing closer and closer to a spirituality that the likes of David Steindl-Rast would embrace? Or will you choose to hold fast to the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Will you please men or will you be the servant of Christ?
"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ". Galatians 1:6-10
Notes:
* Philip Yancey: "I myself have been surprised at what I can get away with. When I sent off the manuscript of What's So Amazing About Grace? I said to my wife, Janet, "That's probably the last book I'm going to write for the evangelical market." It's got a whole chapter on Mel White, who's now a gay activist, and it's got a whole chapter on Bill Clinton, who's not the most favored president of evangelicals." Sojourner Magazine "Sex, Lies and Living on the Evangelical Edge".
In September 2009, Rick Warren held his first Apologetics Weekend conference at Saddleback Church. The conference featured some known apologists such as Norman Geisler and Gary Koukl. (It also included contemplative teacher J.P. Moreland.) The conference was a surprise to some who have followed with discernment the teachings and promotions of Rick Warren over the last decade-it seemed out of place for someone who had promoted the emerging church, contemplative prayer, and kingdom-on-earth-now beliefs to be presenting an "apologetics" conference. No doubt, some assumed that Rick Warren was changing his ways. Just a month prior, at the annual Harvest Crusade by Greg Laurie, Chuck Smith (founder of Calvary Chapel) stood in front of thousands and introduced Rick Warren who was sitting on the platform as his "good friend," inviting him to lead the audience in prayer (see video). Just three years earlier, Chuck Smith denounced the Purpose Driven teachings as incompatible with Calvary Chapel teachings and dropped Warren's book from the Calvary Chapel book distribution.
Between the Harvest Crusade and the Apologetics Weekend at Saddleback, both in 2009, it's no wonder some people were thinking Rick Warren and the Purpose Driven movement were now coming into alignment with traditional evangelical thought. But no evidence showed that Warren's focus or direction had actually changed. And one year after the 2009 Saddleback Apologetics Weekend, the 2nd Annual Apologetics Weekend took place and has provided the proof (once again) that Rick Warren's Purpose Driven movement is indeed going down a path that is contemplative, emerging, and even on a ecumenical road to "Rome." The title of the 2010 "Apologetics" conference was "Who is Jesus?" We believe that the "Jesus" represented at this conference is another Jesus with another gospel, as we will show in this article (2 Corinthians 11:4, Galatians 1:8).
Seeing this year's Apologetics Weekend speaker lineup was even a surprise for Lighthouse Trails. Not because we thought Warren's choice of speakers was contrary to what he believes but because it seemed so blatant and obvious.
This report will focus on three of the speakers at Saddleback's 2010 Apologetics Weekend conference: Philip Yancey, Peter Kreeft, and Scot McKnight. By the time readers finish reading this article, we think you may agree that Rick Warren's Apologetics conference should really be titled: "Rick Warren's Emerging Contemplative Road to Rome Apologetics Weekend."
Christianity Today editor-at-large, Philip Yancey, has been the subject of a number of Lighthouse Trails articles for his strong propensity toward contemplative prayer as well as his public statements regarding the homosexual lifestyle. Last week we posted an article about Yancey's upcoming speaking engagement with the "Gay Christian Network." Roger Oakland addresses some of Yancey's views in Faith Undone (p. 215):
In 2004, Philip Yancey accepted an interview with Candace Chellew-Hodge for Whosoever, "an online magazine for Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, and Transgendered Christians." When Chellew-Hodge asked Yancey about his views on gays and lesbians in the church, Yancey answered:
"When it gets to particular matters of policy, like ordaining gay and lesbian ministers, I'm confused, like a lot of people. There are a few-not many, but a few-passages of Scripture that give me pause. Frankly, I don't know the answer to those questions."
My question to Yancey and other proclaiming Christian leaders is why don't you know the answer? The Bible is clear on this matter . . . part of being a Christian is accepting God's Word and trusting that it is truly just that. Yancey may not be an emergent leader, but his beliefs certainly fit with emerging spirituality. The following statement he [Yancey] makes shows he shares a similar disregard for biblical doctrine:
"Perhaps our day calls for a new kind of ecumenical movement: not of doctrine, nor even of religious unity, but one that builds on what Jews, Christians, and Muslims hold in common. . . . Indeed, Jews, Christians, and Muslims have much in common."
Yancey is not just causing confusion over the sinfulness of practicing homosexuality, but he is a strong advocate for contemplative mystical spirituality as well. In his 2006 book (with a 2010 edition with the same basic components), Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference, there is a who's who of mystical prayer and panentheist references some of which are Thomas Merton, goddess worshipper Sue Monk Kidd, Henri Nouwen, Evelyn Underhill, Kenneth Leach, Meister Eckhart, Teresa of Avila, The Cloud of Unknowing, Francis de Sales, Richard Rohr (referring to him as a "theologian - p. 205), and Anne Lamott-not to mention emerging innovators such as Phyllis Tickle, Jurgen Moltmann, and Walter Brueggemann. Yancey frequently references Thomas Merton in the book and recommends his readers turn to Merton (p. 337) and David Steindl-Rast (p. 338) for spiritual guidance. Yancey must have read these authors for he not only recommends them but also quotes from their books. This is not guilt by association but rather guilt by promotion. We could give you almost countless examples of what these authors believe, but let us just briefly look at a few quotes.
In Ray Yungen's book, A Time of Departing, he discloses that: "David Steindl-Rast once asked Thomas Merton what role Buddhism played in his going deeper into the spiritual life. Merton replied quite frankly: "I think I couldn't understand Christian teaching the way I do if it were not in the light of Buddhism" (The Dawn of the Mystical Age, Tuoti, p. 127, ATOD, p. 140).
Even more disturbing is Steindl-Rast's view of the atonement of Christ:
Unfortunately, over the course of the centuries, this [Christianity] has come to be presented in almost legal language, as if it were some sort of transaction, a deal with God; there was this gap between us and God, somebody had to make up for it-all that business. We can drop that. The legal metaphor seems to have helped other generations. Fine. Anything that helps is fine. But once it [the atonement] gets in the way, as it does today, we should drop it. (The Ground We Share, p. 45)
And lastly, we give you this quote by another Yancey author, Richard Rohr:
The term "cosmic Christ" reminds us that everything and everyone belongs. . . God's hope for humanity is that one day we will all recognize that the divine dwelling place is all of creation. Christ comes again whenever we see that matter and spirit co-exist.
It's not just that these authors who Yancey resonates with are individually bad-it's their collective movement that is bad. This is the same movement that Yancey clearly seems attracted to. This is the very reason Lighthouse Trails exists, not to slam people but to warn them where the contemplative, emerging movement will take them-ultimately away from the message of the Cross.
If you are unfamiliar with some of these names we have mentioned in this article, type them into the Lighthouse Trails search engine - what you find will be another "gospel" that is universalistic, mystical, socialistic, and interspiritual. Quoting one of Merton's biographers, Yungen recounts a scenario which reveals Merton's view on the relationship between God and man:
During a conference on contemplative prayer, the question was put to Thomas Merton: "How can we best help people to attain union with God?" His answer was very clear: We must tell them that they are already united with God. "Contemplative prayer is nothing other than 'coming into consciousness' of what is already there." (from Brennan Manning's book, The Signature of Jesus, p. 211)
Ray Yungen explains: "Merton was referring here to his pure glory-of-God-in-everybody worldview. He is not just speaking of Christians. His universalism elsewhere repudiates that fact" (ATOD, p. 83).
For Rick Warren to feature Philip Yancey at an "apologetics" conference gives another green light to the panentheistic contemplative prayer movement and the emerging theology that goes hand in hand. According to Webster's dictionary, the word "apologetics" is "a branch of theology devoted to the defense of the divine origin and authority of Christianity" (i.e., a defense of the biblical Christian faith).
Scot McKnight, one of the other speakers at Rick Warren's conference, is also part of the emerging spirituality. Roger Oakland speaks of McKnight in Faith Undone. What Oakland shows here illustrates the "road to Rome" views of those in the emerging/contemplative church:
McKnight, another emerging church influencer, was professor of religious studies at North Park University and on the Coordinating Group for Emergent Village. Of the emerging church, he stated:
"As a theologian, I have studied the movement and interacted with its key leaders for years-even more, I happily consider myself part of this movement or "conversation." As an evangelical, I've had my concerns, but overall I think what emerging Christians bring to the table is vital for the overall health of the church." ...
In referring to an Anglican service, McKnight speaks of the Eucharistic focus. He stated:
"[T]he point of an Anglican gathering on a Sunday morning is not to hear a sermon but to worship the Lord through the celebration of the Eucharist.... First some scripture readings and then the sermon and then some announcements and then the Eucharist liturgy with everyone coming forward to kneel and participate-publicly-in the body and blood."
McKnight said that "the Eucharist profoundly enables the grace of God to be received with all its glories and blessings" (Turning to Jesus, p. 7). No doubt, McKnight has had an impact on those in the emerging church movement, and his views on the Eucharist will rub off. (Faith Undone, pp. 136-137)
In McKnight's books Embracing Grace: A Gospel for All of Us (with an endorsement by Brian McLaren on the front cover and McLaren references within) and in his book A Community Called Atonement, McKnight doesn't necessarily reject penal substitutionary atonement (as does McLaren) but says there are many ways of viewing atonement, likening it to golf clubs-using different ones for different purposes (Prologue). Worth noting, McKnight's Atonement book was published by the emerging publishing partnership of Abingdon Press and Emergent Village. McKnight is seen by the emerging church as someone who represents it. And McKnight's website and his books confirm this with numerous favorable references on these issues. In his book Jesus Creed, he recommends a variety of books by contemplative advocates including Gary Thomas' book, Sacred Pathways, where he instructs readers to repeat a word for twenty minutes (which is mantric like meditation) and several other authors of whom we have already mentioned in this article. One of the books McKnight recommends is Eternal Wisdom from the Desert: Writings from the Desert Fathers. St. Anthony is one of the desert fathers featured in that book. Contemplative teacher, Willigis Jager disclosed the following:
Christian literature makes reference to many episodes that parallel the experiences of those going a yogic way. Saint Anthony, one of the first desert mystics, frequently encountered strange and sometimes terrifying psychophysical forces while at prayer. (Jager, Contemplation: A Christian Path, p. 72)
What is being described here is the Kundalini experience that can happen during mantric-like episodes. While McKnight does not come right out in his books and recommend practicing this, he recommends those who do. What we consider McKnight to be is a "bridger," someone who claims orthodoxy but is actually being used as a bridge between orthodoxy and a dangerous mystical practice.
Lastly, this article will focus on Peter Kreeft, one of the other "apologetic" teachers at Saddleback this past fall. Kreeft was a Dutch Reformed Protestant who converted to Catholicism. He is considered by many to be a leading apologist of the Catholic faith. Kreeft embraces wholeheartedly the doctrinal elements that have traditionally split Catholics and Protestants such as the validity of the devotion to Mary and the validity of the Catholic sacraments. In his book, Ecumenical Jihad, he states the following:
Now I see that God prefers to work through intermediaries-Mary and the saints . . . He wants us to pray through Mary and not only directly. (p. 154)
[Mary] may bring the churches together again and heal the tears in her Son's visible body on earth, she, the very one who seems to divide Catholics from Protestants. The most distinctive Catholic doctrines, especially those concerning the Eucharist and Mary, may prove to be the most unifying and attracting ones. (p. 158)
Consecrate your life to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She is the one who will win this war. She is the one (as the Bible says) who triumphs over Satan. (p. 169 - parenthesis in original)
In Faith Undone, Roger Oakland explains Kreeft's predictions of the plans of the Catholic church to bring in a eucharistic, mystical "Christ" whom the world will worship. Oakland states:
What if the Eucharistic Jesus that Catholics worship and adore miraculously started healing those who adored his presence? Wouldn't this be a strong draw to those yet outside the Catholic Church? And as Boston College professor and meditation proponent Peter Kreeft predicted in his book Ecumenical Jihad, Eucharistic adoration will have a powerful ecumenical, interspiritual effect. He says "the power that will reunite the [Catholic] Church and win the world is Eucharistic adoration. (FA, pp. 141-142)
For readers who do not understand the significance of the papacy's efforts to win back the lost brethren (Protestants) to the Mother of all churches (Rome) through the Eucharistic "Christ" and the new evangelization plan, please read Roger Oakland's powerful expose, Another Jesus (we have several excerpts free on our site).
In addition to Kreeft's absolute commitment to the Catholic Church's Eucharistic "Christ" and the role of Mary, he is a proponent of contemplative spirituality as well. Kreeft was one of the speakers in the Be Still DVD, the infomercial for contemplative prayer, with Beth Moore and Richard Foster. As with most, if not all, long-term contemplative proponents, Kreeft's interspiritual propensities are illustrated in his writings. In Ecumenical Jihad, he says that it is "very likely" that within the Hindu and Muslim faiths there is a "hidden Christ" (p. 156). Quoting the late panentheist and interspiritualist Raymond Pannikar ("the apostle of inter-faith dialogue"), Kreeft gives credence to Pannikar's cosmic christ that Pannikar believed exists in all people. Kreeft believes that if all the religions of the world can come together in unity (and in adoration of the Immaculate [without sin] Mary), then the ills of the world can be healed. Remembering something Rick Warren said about four years ago in referring to a "second reformation in the church" helps one to understand why Warren resonates with Kreeft enough to invite him as an apologist:
The man of peace is open and influential ... and here's the other thing, the man of peace does not have to be a Christian believer, could be Muslim, could be Jewish. (Interview with Charlie Rose - 29:00 min. mark)
Yancey, McKnight, and Kreeft - apologetics for the biblical Christian faith? Based on what we have just shown here, how would you answer that question? Apparently, these are not important issues to Rick Warren though. Rick Warren told Larry King once that his goal in life is to bring about a new reformation. But the reformation Warren has defined over and over is ecumenical, contemplative, and emerging. Obviously, he considers Yancey, McKnight, and Kreeft fellow defenders of the faith. But we must ask ourselves, what faith is Rick Warren defending?
In a SoJourner's magazine article (see *below) Philip Yancey once stated that he was surprised at how much he had gotten away with in the evangelical church. We wonder if Rick Warren may be saying the same thing these days. We beseech Christian leaders who have helped further the Purpose Driven movement through their public adherence to step up to the plate and say, "I Was Wrong. I was wrong to promote him. I was wrong to be silent when I did finally realize the truth." Is it really that difficult for Christian leaders to see the direction that Rick Warren has been going all along? Leaders, pastors, teachers, are you going to continue linking arms with "America's Pastor" who is clearly drawing closer and closer to a spirituality that the likes of David Steindl-Rast would embrace? Or will you choose to hold fast to the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Will you please men or will you be the servant of Christ?
"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ". Galatians 1:6-10
Notes:
* Philip Yancey: "I myself have been surprised at what I can get away with. When I sent off the manuscript of What's So Amazing About Grace? I said to my wife, Janet, "That's probably the last book I'm going to write for the evangelical market." It's got a whole chapter on Mel White, who's now a gay activist, and it's got a whole chapter on Bill Clinton, who's not the most favored president of evangelicals." Sojourner Magazine "Sex, Lies and Living on the Evangelical Edge".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
