Sola Sisters: jesuit

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Tim Keller and the Problems with Ignatius of Loyola

"The best things that have been written, almost, are by Catholics during the counter Reformation: Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis de Sales, John of the Cross, St. Theresa of Ávila.....great stuff." (Tim Keller)

Pastor Tim Keller

In a recent post, we documented that Tim Keller, a Presbyterian-PCA pastor and a leader of The Gospel Coalition, had given a talk in which he pointed his followers to the teachings of Ignatius of Loyola. In this post, we will be documenting more specifically the problems with Ignatius of Loyola. Our position is that, in today's church, the sad fact is that many Christians are not very discerning about what is biblical or not biblical, what is true and not true, and will often default to simply trusting their pastors to give them sound teaching and good book recommendations. Christian brothers and sisters, we should respect our Bible-teaching pastors, but at the same time, we are not off the hook for being discerning about any and every teaching that is recommended to us.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8)

Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. (Acts 17:11)

And so why, exactly, might it be a bad thing for an evangelical pastor like Tim Keller to give a positive recommendation of Ignatius of Loyola to his followers? Because Ignatius of Loyola, a Roman Catholic and the founder of the Jesuit Society, wrote a book called Spiritual Exercises which was written as a counter-attack against the Protestant Reformation, and against which Ignatius was vehemently opposed. In short, Ignatius of Loyola poured his life's work into destroying the Protestant Reformation. So the fact that a Protestant pastor of some stature would recommend his work is almost incomprehensible to anyone with even a little bit of knowledge about church history. A few excerpts from Ignatius of Loyola's Spiritual Exercises:

2nd Rule

"To praise confession to a priest"

Our Response: The Bible tells us to "call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Matthew 23:9; and to "confess your sins one to another" (James 5:16)

5th Rule

"To praise vows of Religion, of obedience, of poverty, of chastity and of other perfections of supererogation."

Our Response: Supererogation means "a class of actions that go 'beyond the call of duty.' " These kinds of actions are encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church for the purpose of promoting a (false) sense of righteousness and piety. As Christians, we know that our righteousness comes from Christ alone, and through any works of our own. ("Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the Cross I cling.") (1 Corinthians 1:30)

6th Rule

"To praise relics of the Saints, giving veneration to them and praying to the Saints."

Our Response: This practice is absolutely nowhere in the Bible. In fact, we regard this to be a Satanic device designed to get our eyes off of Christ and his finished work on the Cross. It it is only through the blood of Christ that we are able to pray to God. Jesus alone is our mediator....not dead men and women have lived in ages past. We pray to God alone, and only God hears our prayers, and only He has the power to respond to our prayers. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

8th Rule

"To praise the ornaments and the buildings of churches; likewise images, and to venerate them according to what they represent."

Our Response: Same as for Rule 6.

13th Rule

"To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black, if the Hierarchical Church so decides it, believing that between Christ our Lord, the Bridegroom, and the Church, His Bride, there is the same Spirit which governs and directs us for the salvation of our souls. Because by the same Spirit and our Lord Who gave the ten Commandments, our holy Mother the Church is directed and governed."

Our Response: According to Ignatius, the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church are "more right" than Jesus/Scripture. But the Bible tells us that "In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1) And the way that we know truth and Jesus himself is through the study of Scripture. We don't need a church to interpret God's word for us.

Our Final Thoughts: All Bible-believing Protestants should praise God for providentially orchestrating the Reformation and the printing press so that the God-breathed, inerrant Word of God could be known all over the world. God provided faithful men during the Reformation who reclaimed the faith from Roman Catholicism for us, and then God oversaw the development of the printing press so that all the world could read the Bible for themselves. What an amazing God! And yet, many pastors today are turning away from the blood-bought truths reclaimed during the Reformation for the heresies and man-made snares of Roman Catholicism. It's almost inconceivable that such a thing could even happen, and yet......

Additional Resources

Redeemer's Tim Keller Recommends Ignatius of Loyola?

Ignatius of Loyola, an Examination of His Teachings (Pastor Gary Gilley)

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)

The Reformation: Post Tenebras Lux (Sola Sisters)

Mystical Calvinists? (Sola Sisters)

Neo-Calvinist Contemplative Spirituality (Apprising)

Friday, June 15, 2012

Redeemer's Tim Keller Recommends Ignatius of Loyola?

Posted by Christine Pack

Pastor Tim Keller,
Redeemer Presbyterian

An excellent post by Pastor Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries points us to a talk by Tim Keller in which Keller points his followers to the mysticism of Roman Catholic Monastic practices for deepening their prayer lives. Keller, who is a Presbyterian-PCA pastor and a leader of The Gospel Coalition had this to say:

"The best things that have been written, almost, are by Catholics during the counter Reformation: Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis de Sales, John of the Cross, St. Theresa of Ávila.....great stuff."

At the end of this short video is the reminder that Ignatius of Loyola founded the Jesuits in 1540 with the specific purpose of destroying the Protestant Reformation. The obvious question is: why would a Protestant pastor point Christians toward the teachings of a Roman Catholic mystic who poured his life's work into destroying the Protestant Reformation?

Let me also point out that the meditation practices of the Catholic mystics recommended by Pastor Keller are pagan, occultic practices. As a former mystic who was saved out of mysticism, my challenge to the church will always be this: what could a Catholic mystic who holds to Catholic doctrine (and thus is lost) teach us about deepening our relationship to God? These are pagan practices that have been Christianized with biblical terminology, but they are pagan to the core. Focusing repetitively on ANYTHING for a length of time (whether it is one's breathing, a candle, an icon, even a snippet of Scripture) will put someone into a light hypnotic state. Thus, the thing focused on becomes merely a device, so trying to clean this practice up by making the device a snippet of Scripture does not somehow sanctify this practice. Christians, I urge you to reject these unbiblical practices. Christians are meant to be a people who "walk by faith," (2 Cor 5:7) not a people who walk by tangible experiences. In fact, the the entire book of Hebrews is written as a warning against tangibility, as this was a critical time in the church's history during which many Jewish Christians were struggling with the idea of giving up the tangibility of the sacrificial system which had been a part of their culture for several thousand years. Is this not what mysticism encourages, though? A chasing after of mystical encounters with "God?" I put "God" in quotes here because, as a former mystic, I can assure those who engage in mysticism that this is not the way we are to enter into God's presence. Those who engage in mysticism will encounter something of a spiritual nature. Only, it will not the God of the Bible.

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

I'm going to circle back to the Reformation here, and do a little history lesson. The Reformation came about when God providentially raised up brave men who were willing to fight for the truth, and point people back to God's Word instead of the fallible, human priests of the Roman Catholic church. The Roman Catholic church had had a spiritual stranglehold on the world for centuries, but through the providential invention of the printing press, and men like Martin Luther, John Huss, John Wycliff, etc., the tiny spark lit by Martin Luther's 95 Theses, a document exposing the unbiblical nature of Roman Catholic teaching, became a flame that tore through Europe and England, and eventually impacted the entire world. Men and women were now reading God's Word - truth - for themselves, not waiting for it to be told to them by priests.

Thus, the motto of the Reformation became Post Tenebras Lux (translated, After the Darkness, Light). This motto meant that truth (light) was now piercing a dark world that had been taken captive to mysticism and tradition....for lack of having access to the Bible.

And yet, with this willful embracing of mysticism in the church today, I sometimes think this generation's motto ought to be Post Lux Tenebram (After the Light, Darkness). By rejecting Sola Scriptura and embracing mysticism, the church today seems to be going back to the Middle Ages in which, instead of not knowing God's Word because it's not available to them (as was the issue during the Middle Ages), they now do not know God's Word because they are rejecting it in favor of mystical experiences. And pastors like Tim Keller are leading the way.

Additional Resources

Ignatius of Loyola, an Examination of His Teachings (Pastor Gary Gilley)