10. There are a few topics that I feel are important to touch on before I expound further on topics already covered. One of these is the 
"contemplative" prayer/spiritual formation/emergent church movement".
It has been described by another as "liberalism clothed in the garment of mysticism", as to varying (and progressive) degrees the Scriptures are downplayed and mystical experiences are elevated. The bottom line being promoted is that the Scriptures are NOT sufficient, we need continuous extra-Biblical revelation. This in spite of the fact that Scripture itself teaches us that the man of God who has the Scriptures is "FULLY EQUIPPED". 2 Tim 3:16,17
Prayer is us talking to God, the Scriptures are God speaking to us. And not the other way around. This is an important distinction, one that many claim to believe in theory, but too few in practice.
Because the false ecumenical movement has eroded the seperation between Biblical Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church, the leaders in the "contemplative prayer" movement have been emboldened to borrow heavily from the Catholic mystics. These ancient mystics were engaging in such occultic practices as what is now commonly known as "transcendental meditation". IE. repeating some word or phrase to yourself until you reach an "altered state of consciousness" by which you are now open to hear from "God". (anything that comes into your head would be believed to be coming from God, after all when you are feeling like you are in such a spiritual state, it would just have to be God). This, according to it's proponents is "contemplative prayer" Of course it is nothing of the sort it is TM in sheep's clothing even if the word or phrase was taken from the Bible.
Some names to avoid at House of James would include,
Dan Kimball,
Erwin McManus,
Brian McLaren, Richard Foster,Mark Yaconelli, Brad Jersak for a few.
A few months back a church that I was at had invited Brad Jersak of Fresh Wind church of
Aldergrove to speak. After Jersak's opening observation that the Church was very brightly lit, he went on to give us some strange mystical reason for it. (it seemed lost on him, that perhaps the church was very brightly lit because there were lots of light bulbs going). After an intro. like that I must admit I was kinda wondering who had found this speaker and where?
His message twisted off from the words of Jesus, "my sheep hear my voice", to imply that all Christians should be hearing God talk to them personally and regularly. It also seemed lost on Brad that the verse, "my sheep hear my voice and the voice of another they will not follow", was referring to false teachers like himself who would be trying to call the sheep after himself, and not at all that we should be hearing from God outside of His Word.
The message ended with the congregation instructed on how to personal prophecy over each other and then were teamed up to practice. People give your head a shake, God does not deliver on command. IF God were to speak to us (and it is not impossible, just unlikely) He does it according to His perogative, NOT ours.
Unfortunatly, both Columbia Bible College and Briarcrest have failed to be discerning and have invited Brad Jersak in as a guest speaker. At Briarcrest Jersak went so far as to introduce himself as "an Ambassador for the Renewal" (translated that means a promoter of the Toronto Blessing).
Briarcrest even though it is not in Abbotsford is still a place where many of our youth are
encouraged to attend. But they need to tred carefully, Marv Penner is strongly promoting the "contemplative prayer" movement and Catholic mysticism at Briarcrest in his Spiritual Formation class.
UPDATE: I was told by a friend that they have made headway in getting the contemplative prayer/spiritual formation teaching out of Briarcrest, I have no way of confiming this, as the first step that Briarcrest did was to remove any reference to the subject from the internet. So, as with anything these days go with your eyes and ears open.
I acknowledge that I have not done much research on how much headway this movement has made in the Churches of Abbotsford. At www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com they have many resources to help you to become better informed so as to protect the flock under your care. They even have a special "Canada Watch page (just add /canadawatch.htm to the above URL).
In His service, A. Berean
"contemplative" prayer/spiritual formation/emergent church movement".It has been described by another as "liberalism clothed in the garment of mysticism", as to varying (and progressive) degrees the Scriptures are downplayed and mystical experiences are elevated. The bottom line being promoted is that the Scriptures are NOT sufficient, we need continuous extra-Biblical revelation. This in spite of the fact that Scripture itself teaches us that the man of God who has the Scriptures is "FULLY EQUIPPED". 2 Tim 3:16,17
Prayer is us talking to God, the Scriptures are God speaking to us. And not the other way around. This is an important distinction, one that many claim to believe in theory, but too few in practice.
Because the false ecumenical movement has eroded the seperation between Biblical Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church, the leaders in the "contemplative prayer" movement have been emboldened to borrow heavily from the Catholic mystics. These ancient mystics were engaging in such occultic practices as what is now commonly known as "transcendental meditation". IE. repeating some word or phrase to yourself until you reach an "altered state of consciousness" by which you are now open to hear from "God". (anything that comes into your head would be believed to be coming from God, after all when you are feeling like you are in such a spiritual state, it would just have to be God). This, according to it's proponents is "contemplative prayer" Of course it is nothing of the sort it is TM in sheep's clothing even if the word or phrase was taken from the Bible.
Some names to avoid at House of James would include,
Dan Kimball,
Erwin McManus,
Brian McLaren, Richard Foster,Mark Yaconelli, Brad Jersak for a few.A few months back a church that I was at had invited Brad Jersak of Fresh Wind church of
Aldergrove to speak. After Jersak's opening observation that the Church was very brightly lit, he went on to give us some strange mystical reason for it. (it seemed lost on him, that perhaps the church was very brightly lit because there were lots of light bulbs going). After an intro. like that I must admit I was kinda wondering who had found this speaker and where?His message twisted off from the words of Jesus, "my sheep hear my voice", to imply that all Christians should be hearing God talk to them personally and regularly. It also seemed lost on Brad that the verse, "my sheep hear my voice and the voice of another they will not follow", was referring to false teachers like himself who would be trying to call the sheep after himself, and not at all that we should be hearing from God outside of His Word.
The message ended with the congregation instructed on how to personal prophecy over each other and then were teamed up to practice. People give your head a shake, God does not deliver on command. IF God were to speak to us (and it is not impossible, just unlikely) He does it according to His perogative, NOT ours.
Unfortunatly, both Columbia Bible College and Briarcrest have failed to be discerning and have invited Brad Jersak in as a guest speaker. At Briarcrest Jersak went so far as to introduce himself as "an Ambassador for the Renewal" (translated that means a promoter of the Toronto Blessing).
Briarcrest even though it is not in Abbotsford is still a place where many of our youth are
encouraged to attend. But they need to tred carefully, Marv Penner is strongly promoting the "contemplative prayer" movement and Catholic mysticism at Briarcrest in his Spiritual Formation class.UPDATE: I was told by a friend that they have made headway in getting the contemplative prayer/spiritual formation teaching out of Briarcrest, I have no way of confiming this, as the first step that Briarcrest did was to remove any reference to the subject from the internet. So, as with anything these days go with your eyes and ears open.
I acknowledge that I have not done much research on how much headway this movement has made in the Churches of Abbotsford. At www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com they have many resources to help you to become better informed so as to protect the flock under your care. They even have a special "Canada Watch page (just add /canadawatch.htm to the above URL).
In His service, A. Berean
posted by A. Berean | 8:09 AM
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