Sola Experienca?

Posted by Christine Pack

Erik Raymond of the Ordinary Pastor blog has written an excellent article entitled Sola Experienca Is For Real, which challenges a rising tide of mysticism among professing Christian believers. From the article:

"We have a culture awash in a neo-gnosticism that gobbles up personal experience like samples at Costco. We cannot resist them. Then we have people everywhere telling their own stories and then interpreting them with authority. And of course we have a church that goes right along with it to reinforce sola experiencia to the thousands who attend each Sunday morning." 

"I was reading about the new movie to be released this weekend about the runaway bestseller, Heaven is for Real. In this book, as I’m sure you are aware, a 6-year-old boy reportedly went to heaven and then came back to tell us all about it. Our supernaturalist society gobbled up the book. The family is a professing Christian family from small-town Nebraska. I am sure they are nice and truly believe all of what they wrote and say. However, what they are doing is unwittingly contributing to the fog that reinforces the heart’s unsubmissiveness to God and his word."

The article can read in its entirety here.


 Additional Resources 

What Is Mysticism?

Mysticism: A Counterfeit Holy Spirit

Interview With A Former Mystic

Contemplative Prayer, Spiritual Formation and the Kundalini Effect 

Mysticism: Who Needs Crack?

The Dangers of Contemplative Prayer

What Is Mysticism? (5-Part Series by Dr. Gary Gilley) - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Mystical Youth Ministry

Biblical Silence vs. Mystical Silence

Contemplating Contemplative Prayer: Is It Really Prayer?

The Origin of Contemplative Prayer (Apprising)

Richard Foster - Celebration of Deception (CIC Article, Bob DeWaay)

The Dangers of Spiritual Formation and Spiritual Disciplines, A Critique of Dallas Willard and The Spirit of the Disciplines (CIC Article, Bob DeWaay)

Contemplative Monvee: Placing Experience Above Scripture

Christians and Making Decisions

The Gospel Coalition and Mystic Thomas Merton?

Posted by Christine Pack

Speaking as a former mystic who was saved, by God's grace and mercy, out of mysticism, I am quite shocked to hear that a group as well regarded as The Gospel Coalition would have a writer who openly, and admiringly, quotes from one of the all-time best known mystics to have ever lived, Thomas Merton (“(I want) to become as good a Buddhist as I can”), as contributing TGC author Mike Cosper does in a recent post.

And so questions must be asked again: Is this okay with all the members of The Gospel Coalition? Mightn't someone among the men who comprise The Gospel Coalition feel compelled to correct this young man about the heretical nature of the Roman Catholic system he is delighting in (as evidenced by his frequent retreats to a Roman Catholic monastery)?

Anyone with concerns should address their questions to any of the current Council Members of The Gospel Coalition. They are shown below.

 Additional Resources 

Tim Keller on Whether or Not Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus and Jews are Saved After Death

Thomas Merton and The Gospel Coalition Blog

Tim Keller Teaching Lectio Divina, Mind-Emptying Mantra Meditation (by mystic Jan Johnson) at Redeemer

Tim Keller's "Trained Spiritual Director" Jan Johnson Recommends Mystic Richard Foster and Mystic Ignatius Loyola

Learn to Embrace Your "Inner Monk" at Pastor Tim Keller's Redeemer Presbyterian Church?

Posted by Christine Pack

 

 Additional Resources 

"The Way of the Monk" at Tim Keller's Redeemer Presbyterian Church

Does Tim Keller Endorse New Age Teachers?

Ron Choong’s Ties to Tim Keller and His Heretical Teachings (City of Deception, Jonathan Cousar)

Tim Keller and Social Justice (Sola Sisters)

Tim Keller Recommending Roman Catholic Mysticism (Sola Sisters)

Redeemer's Tim Keller Recommends Ignatius of Loyola? (Sola Sisters)

Tim Keller and the Problems with Ignatius of Loyola (Sola Sisters)

Tim Keller

What Is Mysticism? (Sola Sisters)

Mysticism: Spiritual Crack (Sola Sisters)

Catholic Mysticism Infused Into Our Society (Berean Beacon)

Why the Reformation Was Important (Sola Sisters)

After The Darkness, Light (Post Tenebras Lux) (Sola Sisters)

Biblically Explaining The Heresy of Catholicism (Dr. John MacArthur)

A Chart With Christian/Catholic Views Side-By-Side (Berean Beacon)

Testimony of a Former Roman Catholic Priest....From Darkness to Light (Berean Beacon)

Far From Rome Near To God (Amazon)

On The "Faith" of Mother Teresa: John Ortberg Strikes Out (Sola Sisters)

The Myth of Mother Teresa (Challies)

Mother Teresa A Lost Soul (Berean Beacon)

Mother Teresa in Her Own Words (Sola Sisters)

CNN Reports That Mother Teresa Underwent Exorcism (CNN Archives)

BBC Reports About Exorcism Performed on Mother Teresa (BBC Archives)

Lectio Divina at Tim Keller's Redeemer Presbyterian Church - material adapted from the book Sacred Companions by David Benner. (From David Benner's bio: "I first heard of spiritual direction through reading Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, and this quickly led me to an engagement with the Orthodox tradition of the Christian faith. It was here that I encountered the Jesus prayer – a gift from the Russian Orthodox Church – something that was to change the way I opened myself to God in prayer for ever. Here I also encountered the gift of using icons as an aid to prayer. This led me back to the Christian mystics I had long been attracted to but not ready to really engage, and to the discovery of the Benedictine and Cistercian traditions of centering prayer and lectio divina..... I discovered the Sufi mystical poets, Hafiz and Rumi, people who have been intimate spiritual companions since that first meeting. Within a few years, my wife and I were blessed to be invited to spend several extended periods of dialogue with Buddhists and Taoists at the Tao Fong Shan Centre for Christian Spirituality and Interfaith Dialogue in Hong Kong. Once I tasted the richness of meeting people of other faiths in this sort of sacred place there was no turning back. I quickly discovered that I had more in common with those on a spiritual journey within other religious traditions than I had with Christians who had allowed faith to be reduced to beliefs and counted the holding of these beliefs to be their journey. It remains so to this day.")

Mysticism: Spiritual Crack

Posted by Christine Pack

Roman Catholic mystic Thomas Merton once compared mystical meditation to the same powerful experience generated by mind-altering drugs.

"Isn't it a pity that people are going into LSD to have spiritual experiences, when we have a tradition in the Church [contemplative prayer] which no one knows anything about?" (Thomas Merton, from  a letter he wrote to fellow mystic Matthew Fox)

The thing that Merton (like all mystics before him and since) didn't understand is that mystical meditation is far more dangerous than drugs. Entering into an altered state of consciousness is playing with spiritual dynamite, and not in a good way.

Monvee, the new product put out by Leadership Network, markets itself as a way for Christians to draw closer to God through something called "Spiritual Formation." Spiritual Formation, for those who don't know, is the main avenue by which mysticism is coming into today's churches.  Today's Christians who are enamoured by this Christian sounding practice try to make the distinction that there is a difference between "bad" mysticism and "good" mysticism. Obviously, to those pleading this case, "bad" mysticism would be occultic, and eastern in origin. But "good" mysticism, so the reasoning goes, would be a type of mysticism that is Christian, biblical, and necessary for spiritual development.  

But the "Christian" mysticism taught in Spiritual Formation courses - and referenced by Thomas Merton above - is not Christian, and is in fact identical to classic occultic meditation practices taught in Hinduism, Buddhism, wicca, paganism, etc.  The technique is always the same: corraling one's thoughts through the use of some device (mantra, breathing, etc.), entering into an altered state of consciousness, then "listening" to God.  This is not Christian.  This is what pagans do. And wiccans. And Buddhists. And Hindus.  And just like with crack, a Monvee user will have to come back over and over again, trying to find that elusive high, trying to get another spiritual charge.  Christians "listen" to God through the study of scripture, not through using a mantra meditation to alter their state of  consciousness so they can get a little spiritual "bump" from God.

Instead of actually drawing a person closer to God, these occultic practices generate a "counterfeit Holy Spirit experience" which "feels" very real, very profound, and very spiritual.  Actually, when people engage in these practices, what they're experiencing is spiritual...only, it is not from God.

"And no wonder, for even Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light." (2 Cor 11:14). 

Beware of Spiritual Formation - and warn your brothers and sisters in Christ.  We "listen" to God not by powering down and getting a spiritual "hit" from God, but by reading and studying the Bible- Sola Scriptura.  Spiritual Formation techniques have many different names, but here are some of the most well known:

Lectio Divina 

Contemplative Prayer 

Contemplative Spirituality 

Ancient Future 

Spiritual Disciplines 

Centering Prayer 

Jesus Prayer

photo credit: daveblume via photo pin cc


 Additional Resources 

Secular Interview About What Mysticism Is - BBC Radio Program

What Is Mysticism? (Sola Sisters Article)

What Is Mysticism? (3-Part Series by Dr. Gary Gilley) - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5

Mystical Youth Ministry

Contemplative Monvee: Placing Experience Above Scripture

Contemplative Prayer, Spiritual Formation and the Kundalini Effect 

Mysticism: A Counterfeit Holy Spirit

Fighting For The Faith Interview on Mysticism - Testimony of a Former Mystic