Courtesy of Herescope’s well-researched article Apprising Ministries shows you we have real reason for concern about what’s coming out of the camp of the prophecy movement.
Transgender Politics vs. the Facts of Life
Author and speaker Nancy Pearcey examines the liberal worldview that holds that a person’s sex at birth is merely arbitrary and not a scientific, biological fact.
California has just passed a new law saying school districts may not bar transgender students from same-sex settings, like men’s basketball teams or women’s locker rooms (Assembly Bill 1266). Opponents promptly submitted a referendum to overturn the law. But it will take more than the usual political activism to stop the momentum on what some are calling the next major drive for “equality.”
It will take a serious, sustained program of education in both scientific facts and real respect.
Every law has an implicit worldview, a set of assumptions that justifies it. The worldview implicit in the transgender movement is that our physical bodies have no particular value — that our biology is irrelevant to who we are as persons.
The Revolution of the Family: The Marxist Roots of ‘Homosexualism’
In a piece posted at LifeSite News, Hillary White examines “homosexualism.”
I have been asked recently “what is homosexualism?” I started using the term in my writing on these issues a few years ago when it became clear that we were dealing not with a group of people, but with a particular ideology that is often held by people who are not themselves homosexuals.
A few days ago in The Guardian, Peter Tatchell wrote a pretty good description not only of that ideology’s goals but its origins. This political ideology, often called “queer theory” by its proponents in academia, is what is being pushed, quite openly these days, by the “gay rights” movement. Despite what we are told all day by their collaborators in the mainstream media, from the six o’clock news to your favourite sit-com, this movement is not about “equal rights”. It is about re-writing the foundational concepts of our entire society. I predict that it will not be much longer before the pretense of “equality” is dropped, having done its work.
God’s Gospel Was For Christ To Sacrifice Himself For Sinners
By Ken Silva
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:13-23)
God’s Word In The Bible Makes The Gospel Quite Clear
Let’s do something which is largely unheard in today’s highly subjective postmodern/postevangelical world; we’ll turn to the inerrant and infallible record of Holy Scripture as we examine the critical issue of the vicarious penal substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ.
In our text from the Gospel of Matthew, which remember, is his eyewitness deposition we read in verse 21:
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. (Matthew 16:21)
If we approach this verse without postmodern presupposition it’s pretty obvious that the Master is prophesying the sacrifice of His life. The following from J.C. Ryle proves helpful here:
We find our Lord revealing to His disciples a great and startling truth. That truth was His approaching death upon the cross. For the first time He places before their minds the astonishing announcement, that “He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer—and be killed.”
He had not come on earth to take a kingdom, but to die. He had not come to reign, and be ministered to, but to shed His blood as a sacrifice and to give His life as a ransom for many. ((J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels [Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007], 198.))
However, we still see that the ever ebullient and impetuous disciple:
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” (Matthew 16:22)
But how could God not allow what He Himself had decreed some 700+ years before:
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:4-10)
Yet even within the evangelical community itself we have people denying outright Christ’s penal substitutionary atonement. This part of liberal theology would slither into the mainstream of Christendom when it made the ill-fated decision to embrace e.g. the likes of Living Spiritual Teacher and Emerging Church guru Brian McLaren.
For the sake of this discussion I’ll simply point you to McLaren’s ringing endorsement of The Lost Message Of Jesus (TLMoJ) by Steve Chalke with Alan Mann. Leaving aside the cult-like idea of some “lost message,” you need to remember that we were told this seminal book is supposedly really good stuff by none other than “The Rt Revd N.T. Wright.”
Wright says of TLMoJ that:
“Steve Chalke’s new book is rooted in good scholarship,… Its message is stark and exciting.” ((Steve Chalke, Alan Mann, The Lost Message of Jesus [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004,], 1.))
So here following is what McLaren himself says concerning this “good scholarship,” which is so “exciting” to N.T. Wright:
Steve Chalke’s new book could help save Jesus from Christianity. That’s a strange way of putting it, I know. Not that the real Jesus needs saving. But when one contrasts the vital portrait of Jesus painted by Steve with the tense caricature drawn so often by modern Christianity, one can’t help but feeling the “Jesus” of modern Christianity is in trouble. The Jesus introduced by Steve in these pages sounds like someone who can truly save us from our trouble. Brian McLaren, author of The Church on the Other Side ((Ibid. 1, emphasis mine.))
Note that 1) EC leader Brian McLaren actually does admit this is another Jesus, and 2) he says that Chalke paints “the vital portrait of Jesus”. High praise indeed; and not only that, but McLaren also tells us that Steve Chalke, “could help save Jesus from Christianity.” Has helped introduce the liberal Jesus into the very heart of Christianity is more like it.
Well, to refresh your memory, below is what Chalke writes concerning God’s Gospel of Christ’s sacrifice of Himself for sinners in TLMoJ:
The fact is that the cross isn’t a form of cosmic child abuse — a vengeful Father, punishing his Son for an offence he has not even committed. Understandably, both people inside and outside of the Church have found this twisted version of events morally dubious and a huge barrier to faith. Deeper than that, however, is that such a construct stands in total contradiction to the statement “God is love.”
If the cross is a personal act of violence perpetrated by God towards humankind but borne by his Son, then it makes a mockery of Jesus’ own teaching to love your enemies and refuse to repay evil with evil. The truth is the cross is a symbol of love. It is a demonstration of just how far God as Father and Jesus as his Son are prepared to go to prove that love. The cross is a vivid statement of the powerlessness of love. ((Ibid., 182, 183.))
However, returning to the passage of Isaiah 53, which I cited above, the great Hebrew scholar Dr. Edward Young brings out the truth in his classic three volume commentary on Isaiah:
Despite the innocence of the servant, the Lord took pleasure in bruising him. His death was not in the hands of wicked men but in the Lord’s hands. This does not absolve from responsibility those who put him to death, but they were not in control of the situation. They were doing only what the Lord permitted them to do.
Emphasis falls upon the Lord, for inasmuch as the end to be attained, peace, is founded upon the divine nature, the means by which it was to be attained must also be in accordance with the divine character and of divine appointment. The pleasure of the Lord had in view the accomplishing of the divine will. Hence, all attempts of sinful man to produce a Utopia upon this earth are not only wicked, they are foolish. ((Edward Young, The Book of Isaiah [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1965], Vol. 3, 353, 354, emphasis his.))
Satan Speaks In Order To Try And Thwart The Will And Plan Of God
How sad that Brian McLaren et al weren’t paying attention to a real scholar of the Bible. The truth is, by denying Christ’s substitutionary atonement, men like McLaren are actually speaking for Satan. For you see, this is exactly what Peter himself was doing in our text when he rebuked His Creator by telling Him that He was not to go through with this vicarious sacrifice on the Cross — “Lord! This shall never happen to you.”
And now look at who Jesus tells us was actually speaking in this denial of the penal substitutionary atonement:
But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:23)
As Dr. John MacArthur has written, “Christ came with the express purpose of dying as an atonement for sin (John 12:27). And those who thwart His mission are doing Satan’s work.” ((John MacArthur, The MacArthur Bible Commentary [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005], 1155)) Then during his own insightful commentary on Matthew Robert Mounce hits the target dead on when he says, “those who oppose the will and plan of God are emissaries of Satan.” ((F.F. Bruce, New International Biblical Commentary [Grand Rapids:Zondervan, 1979], 164))
The truth remains that the Holy Spirit has told us with crystalline clarity that the “mission,” as well as “the will and plan of God,” for Jesus was for Him to give His life on the Cross as a sacrifice for sinners. The fact is, as they attack and deny Christ’s mission of the substitutionary atonement on the Cross, duplicitous deceivers like Steve Chalke and Brian McLaren are attempting to thwart our Lord’s work and opposing the will and plan of God.
Therefore, while doing the devil’s work as his emissaries they are absolutely not laboring for God at all. Rather, such as these are actually wolves in sheep’s clothing who truly do speak for Satan himself. So don’t let yourself be taken in by them. The vicarious penal substitutionary atonement is not merely some minor area of Christian theology in which we are free to disagree.
It’s a matter of the gravest importance.
Let the Little Ones Come to Me — Social Justice Gone Awry
Dr. Peter Jones of Truth X-Change weighs in on what liberals refer to as “Social Justice Christianity.” One example Dr. Jones offers is World Vision’s gradual move away from sharing the true Gospel of Jesus Christ with the lost as they instead encourage people to embrace a works-based social justice gospel. Jones writes:
The evangelical church is increasingly aware of the need to witness to Christ in acts of mercy, especially since some evangelicals in the past spoke almost exclusively of individualistic and future salvation. In reaction, some today are adopting “orthopraxy” (right action) as their main emphasis, downplaying or even abandoning “orthodoxy” (right belief). But good works and sound belief cannot be separated. Alas, instead of a biblical balance, we face the serious danger of a new form of the old “social gospel,” which turns the Christian faith into a system of salvation by works, Jesus into a mere example, like the Buddha, Socrates or Lao Tzu, and Christianity into one variant of interfaith good will. But orthopraxy alone cannot preach the gospel. We as redeemed sinners must “confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord.”
Al Mohler and SBTS Executive Team Visit Rick Warren
What’s Missing from this Picture?—Fertility on the Rise, Worldview on Display
Dr. Albert Mohler writes:
USA Today reported last week that the United States “is taking baby steps forward” in terms of the fertility rate. According to the forecasting group Demographic Intelligence, the USA’s total fertility rate is likely to increase to 1.90 per woman in 2013, up slightly from 1.89 in 2012. Last year’s figure was the lowest recorded in 25 years.
“The United States has seen marked declines in childbearing in the wake of the Great Recession, but we think that this fertility decline is now over,” Sam Sturgeon, president of Demographic Intelligence, told USA Today. “As the economy rebounds and women have the children they postponed immediately after the Great Recession, we are seeing an uptick in U.S. fertility.”
Sturgeon, like many others, points to economic factors as the main driver of fertility rate fluctuations. Similarly, Mark Mather of the Population Reference Bureau said: “Historically, we’ve seen fertility trends move up and down with economic indicators.”
But, wait just a minute.
David Barton Says Four Professors Criticized The Jefferson Lies; He Forgot Some
David Barton critic, Professor Warren Throckmorton, challenges the Christian historian’s claim that only four professors criticized Barton’s book, The Jefferson Lies. Throckmorton begins by saying:
Facts are pesky.
On July 19, Steve Deace interviewed David Barton (at 24:12 in hour 3) in Iowa after the big political confab there with Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. Deace asked Barton to describe the controversy over The Jefferson Lies (now approaching a year ago). He also asked if there was any substance to the criticism.
Barton said a bunch of stuff he usually says about it (e.g., publisher Thomas Nelson got scared of the scary professors, etc.). Then he said:
You’ve got about 6,000 universities in America and they found four professors who criticized what I did. Well, 6,000 universities, you probably have 60,000 professors and they found four who didn’t like it.
Well, we all know who two of them are. But just four? I think he forgot some.
Media Love New Jesus Book ‘Zealot’, Fail to Mention Author is Muslim
According to author John S. Dickerson:
Reza Aslan, author of the new book, “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth” has been interviewed on a host of media outlets in the last week. Riding a publicity wave, the book has surged to #2 on Amazon’s list.
Media reports have introduced Aslan as a “religion scholar” but have failed to mention that he is a devout Muslim.
His book is not a historian’s report on Jesus. It is an educated Muslim’s opinion about Jesus – yet the book is being peddled as objective history on national TV and radio.
Is Monogomy Unnatural?
Ken Ham, founder of Answers in Genesis, addresses the growing belief that unbiblical belief that monogomy is unnatural for many humans. He begins:
The moral decay continues in our Western culture! As shown again with the recent Supreme Court decisions regarding same-sex “marriage,” there has been a rise in the number of people promoting polygamous lifestyles and behavior.
Recently, CNN featured an opinion column by journalist and author Meghan Laslocky titled “Face it: Monogamy is unnatural.” In the column, Laslocky asserts that “monogamy is not natural for many, or probably even most, humans.”
National Christian Legal Organization Petitions California Supreme Court to Uphold Proposition 8
According to Christian News Network, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has filed a petition asking that the Court order all county clerks to uphold Proposition 8 and not continue issuing “marriage” licenses to homosexuals. ADF “has been one of the main legal entities defending Proposition 8 in the courts, including in the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to rule on the matter last month. The court had stated that those defending Proposition 8 in Hollingsworth v. Perry did not have legal standing in the case, since California government officials decided not to appeal the lower court’s ruling, which found the state’s marriage amendment unconstitutional.”
What Would Jesus Have You Do?
The question all Christians must ask themselves in their decision-making process is not so much “What would Jesus do?” but “What would Jesus have you do?” The way in which Christians conduct their lives is to be based on solid biblical principles—what Jesus says—certainly not based on what our corrupt culture deems appropriate. Yet a large number of professing Christians live as if they’re excused from the moral example God has set forth for His people in Scripture.
In this piece Marsha West offers food for thought on the do’s and don’t’s of Christian living. She begins:
No question, we are a culture that loves to be entertained. Even churches have caught on to the public’s desire for 24/7 entertainment. As a consequence, a large number of evangelical churches are now driven by a need to fulfill this desire in their congregants. And what better way to pack the house in ginormous auditoriums than to offer a 90 minute stage show enhanced with state-of-the-art sound, lighting and video systems.
Lights, camera, action!
‘Preachers of L.A.’ Brings the Prosperity Gospel to Reality TV
Here We Stand
In this article found at The Cripplegate, Mike Riccardi reflects on the Supreme Court’s rulings on the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8. Now, more than ever before, Christians are being pressed to soften their stance on the Word of God. Many Christians have caved to the pressure. Riccardi gives fair warning that we must not back down—not now, not ever. As good soldiers of Jesus Christ, we are to hold our ground. We have no choice but to stand firm! And when the spiritual forces of evil tempt us to soften on a particular doctrine of Scripture, “we must be ready to look that tempter in the face, to raise our copy of the Word of God, and say, “Here I stand!”
Liberty Baptist Seminary’s Enrollment of Homosexual Activist Called Into Question
Christian News Network reports:
The enrollment of an openly homosexual student at a prominent Baptist theological seminary is being called into question by those who wonder why the institution is seemingly overlooking immoral behavior by those it will be sending out into the ministry.
As previously reported, The Atlantic recently published an essay written by Liberty University graduate Brandon Ambrosino, in which the former student outlined his personal experience of coming out as a homosexual on campus.
The Fruit of Compromise
A video has been circulating—and drawing mixed reactions—of Andy Stanley discussing creation, Adam and Eve and the infallibility of Scripture. Andy Stanley has shown over and over again that he is a leader in what has come to be known as the “New Evangelism.” In watching this video, one must listen very carefully to what Stanley says about the Word of God and the “reason” he uses to discount it as having any authority in the Church. Sadly, Stanley’s comments did not surprise me except that he actually said this publicly. Please watch the video with all discernment.
The First Word in ‘BSA’ Now Stands for Betrayal
On May 24, 2013, the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) voted to revise its membership policy on the issue of homosexuality. The 1,400 voting members of the BSA voted to allow openly gay boys into its ranks.
Rick Scarborough and Robert Knight are outraged by the decision. They believe “it’s a betrayal of the boys in the Scouts’ care. It’s a betrayal of trusting parents. It’s a betrayal of a 103-year-old institution that has molded millions of boys into men. It’s a betrayal of truth and honor.” Moreover, “It’s a betrayal of God, in Whose name the organization furthered the priceless worth of being morally straight.”
Scarborough and Knight also believe the decision was motivated by the BSA’s greed for corporate dollars and the organization’s fear of being “on the wrong side” of what they deem “an increasingly coarse culture that not only rejects biblical truth but openly attacks it.”
On Discovering One’s Spiritual Gift
The Cripplegate takes a look at a question asked by every believer at one time or another: How does one identify his spiritual gift?
The New Testament gives at least three lists of spiritual gifts … strongly implying at the very least that every Christian has a kind of spiritual gift, and that not every Christian has every gift. So how do you find out what your gift is?
First, remember that every believer has the responsibility to be a faithful member of their local church, and that gifting is discovered, identified, and validated in that context. So if you are not a member of a church, fret about that before you fret about what you are supposed to do in that church.
Christians Mystically Encountering God
By Marsha West
For a couple of decades there has been a big push by numerous evangelical leaders to incorporate pagan practices into the visible Church. These unbiblical practices have their origins in Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, likewise the New Age movement. Roman Catholic Trappist Monks fully embraced Eastern religion’s pagan practices. Through the writings of Thomas Merton, Basil Pennington, William Menninger and Thomas Keating these practices have been introduced into mainline Protestant churches as well as independent, nondenominational, charismatic and Pentecostal churches.
Those who wish to develop a more meaningful prayer life are urged by popular evangelicals such as Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, Rick Warren, John Ortberg, Ruth Haley Barton and Tony Campolo, just to name a few, to undertake a mystical prayer practice called The Silence.
How does one achieve The Silence? By practicing eastern-style mantra meditation aka Transcendental Meditation (TM).
What is the goal of TM? To gain “ultimate knowledge of God by a direct experience that bypasses the mind.”
What must one do to attain this sort of mind-altering experience? Settle into a quiet comfortable place and with eyes closed repeat a word or phrase from Scripture over and over until the thinking process shuts down to the point of silence…..and, low and behold, the practitioner will allegedly have an encounter with God in the spirit realm.
Our final goal is ‘union with God,’ which is a pure relationship where we see ‘nothing.’ (Source)
Wow. Sounds a bit New Age, doesn’t it? No doubt about it! And because it is New Age, why, pray tell, do shepherds of the flock not have a problem pushing this sort of practice on their sheep?
Undoubtedly many Christians have never heard of The Silence. Be that as it may, terms such as Contemplative prayer; centering prayer; lectio divina; Divine presence; sacred word; transformation/transforming union; listening prayer; soaking prayer; and breath prayer may ring a bell. But it matters not what term we use; what matters is that to pray The Silence is unbiblical.
Former New Ager Marcia Montenegro wrote an in depth essay on Contemplative Prayer (CP) entitled “Contemplating Contemplative Prayer: Is It Really Prayer?” Marcia warns us that,
The influence of Buddhism and Hinduism on Contemplative Prayer … is apparent. Words such as “detachment,” “transformation,” “emptiness,” “enlightenment” and “awakening” swim in and out of the waters of these books. The use of such terms certainly mandates a closer inspection of what is being taught, despite the fact that contemplative prayer is presented as Christian practice.
Themes that one finds echoed in the CP movement include the notions that true prayer is: silent, beyond words, beyond thought, does away with the “false self,” triggers transformation of consciousness, and is an awakening. Suggested techniques often include breathing exercises, visualization, repetition of a word or phrase, and detachment from thinking. (Source)
Evangelical pastor Gary Gilley also tells us what to watch out for:
[C]ontemplative prayer is not the same as prayer defined biblically; “sacred reading” (also called lectio divina) of Scripture is not the same as Bible study; meditation (mystically encountering God) is not the same as knowing God and so forth. Many of the same terms are used, but as the classical liberals, and the more recent emergents, are fond of doing, they take our terms, including biblical ones, and give them new definitions and twists. (Source)
Spiritual Disciplines
Paul wrote, “Train yourself for godliness” (1 Tim. 4:7). This sort of training promotes Christlikeness. The ESV translates “train” as “discipline.” To “train yourself for godliness” means a call to holy living. It also means hard work. According to the John MacArthur Study Bible study notes, “train” is an athletic term “denoting the rigorous, self-sacrificing exercise an athlete undergoes. Spiritual self-discipline is the path to godly living.” Training such as this has been termed “spiritual exercises” or “spiritual disciplines.” As a result of “spiritual disciplines” many Christians now practice Contemplative Prayer. Many CP practitioners believe that they’re receiving direct revelations from God. “From years of studying mystics of all stripes,” says Ken Silva, “I can tell you their perceived revelations then trump the texts of Holy Scripture for them. In other words, rather than testing these experiences by God’s Word, now these (CP) practitioners … are instead using their feelings to interpret the Bible through what they think God is saying. I’m telling you, the tragic fact is, the mainstream of professing Christendom is rapidly devolving into all kinds of silly superstitions.” (Source)
D.A. Carson explains the spiritual disciplines thusly:
Nowadays spiritual disciplines may include Bible reading, meditation, worship, giving away money, fasting, solitude, fellowship, deeds of service, evangelism, almsgiving, creation care, journaling, missionary work, and more. It may include vows of celibacy, self-flagellation, and chanting mantras. In popular usage, some of these so-called spiritual disciplines are entirely divorced from any specific doctrine whatsoever, Christian or otherwise: they are merely a matter of technique. That is why people sometimes say, “For your doctrine, by all means commit yourselves to evangelical confessionalism. But when it comes to the spiritual disciplines, turn to Catholicism or perhaps Buddhism.” What is universally presupposed by the expression “spiritual discipline” is that such disciplines are intended to increase our spirituality. From a Christian perspective, however, it is simply not possible to increase one’s spirituality without possessing the Holy Spirit and submitting to his transforming instruction and power. Techniques are never neutral. They are invariably loaded with theological presuppositions, often unrecognized.
As I said above, many Christians feel like something is missing from their prayer life and they long to “connect with God” in a more meaningful way. So they’ll do just about anything to “cultivate intimacy with God,” including unbiblical meditation. The irony is that they’ll attempt to defend an unbiblical practice by quoting Scripture. Take for example Joshua 1:8:
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Some Christians will argue that Joshua 1:8 shows that God approves of this mind emptying type of meditation. Wrong! The text is instructing us to meditate on God’s Word, not to empty our minds.
I’ll explain biblical mediation in a moment. But first let’s look at how Webster’s defines meditation:
The words Ponder, Meditate, Muse, and Ruminate are synonyms and mean to consider or examine attentively or deliberately. PONDER implies a careful weighing of a problem or, often, prolonged inconclusive thinking about a matter; MEDITATE implies a definite focusing of one’s thoughts on something as to understand it deeply; muse suggests a more or less focused daydreaming as in remembrance; RUMINATE implies going over the same matter in one’s thoughts again and again but suggests little of either purposive thinking or rapt absorption.
Now let’s look at Psalm 119 to see what the Bible teaches on meditation:
I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. (119:15).
Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes. (119:23)
Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works. (119:27)
My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes. (119:48)
See also: 119:78, 119:97, 119:99,119:148.
The Apostle Paul says the following:
Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things. (2Tim 2:7)
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think [mediated] on these things. (Phil 4:8)
Could the Almighty have made the meaning of meditation any clearer? God has also made it abundantly clear that He forbids His people to indulge in any form of pagan idolatry. So practicing mystical mantra meditation is going against God! This alone should be enough to scare individuals away from this type of approach to prayer.
When it comes to pagan practices God leaves no room for doubt: Do it and die spiritually…even physically, as in King Saul’s case.
Yoga Meditation
Over the years I have dealt with “Christian yoga” in several of my columns. So I’ll briefly touch on it here for the simple reason that a large number of Christ followers have wholeheartedly embraced the Buddhist practice of yoga. Even churches offer yoga classes with a Christian spin on it! Not surprisingly, enterprising Christians head up successful yoga businesses such as “Holy Yoga,” “PraiseMoves and “Yahweh Yoga” (YY) just to name a few. YY’s website promises to “increase the kingdom of Jesus Christ by establishing, providing and maintaining a Christian yoga studio and teaching academy that honors God in all business and ministry endeavors. Yahweh Yoga seeks to…empower men and women to de-stress, to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ and to improve their mind, body and spirit…”
It’s not a stretch to say that the language used to promote YY comes right out of the New Age handbook.
Here’s the bottom line. So-called Christian yoga has nothing in common with authentic Christianity. In fact, the Bible warns:
For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. (Eph 5:8-11)
In one of my columns entitled Can A Pagan Practice Be “Christianized” I drew attention to the fact that,
Yoga is being marketed to mainline churches with the assurance of creating stress reduction, developing self-confidence, and improving concentration. It is also marketed to business and industry, athletes, senior citizens, students, teens and adolescents. Because of our fast paced life-style, who wouldn’t want to reduce stress? This is why yoga classes have become so popular.
Now here’s the main reason Christians should avoid yoga. Christian apologists John Ankerberg and John Weldon maintain that, “The basic premise of yoga theory is the fundamental unity of all existence: God, man, and all of creation are ultimately one divine reality.” To explain the basic premise, the authors quote from an editorial in the Yoga Journal:
We are all aware that yoga means ‘union’ and that the practice of yoga unites body, breath, and mind, lower and higher energy centers and, ultimately self and God, or higher Self. But more broadly, yoga directs our attention to the unity or oneness that underlies our fragmented experiences and equally fragmented world. Family, friends, the Druze guerrilla in Lebanon, the great whale migrating north — all share the same essential [divine] nature.
This quote alone should raise concerns among Christians but when looked at in light of Bible expositor John MacArthur’s comments extracted from a CNN Primetime interview where he was asked “Should Christians practice yoga,” it ought to be completely clear that Christians should not participate:
John MacArthur…wondered why Christians would want to “borrow a term that is part of a false religion” (that clashes with historic orthodox Christianity). MacArthur contends that Christians shouldn’t put themselves in weird physical positions, empty their minds, focus on him or herself, and try to find the “god within” as a way to relieve stress. “This is practicing a false religion,” he said rather pointedly. Then he boldly shared the gospel. He said in order to have a whole and complete life, Christians must go to the Word of God, to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, “The idea of Christianity is to fill your mind with biblical truth and focus on the God which is above you.”
We can be thankful that there are a few Christian leaders in America who are willing to stand up for the truth.
In conclusion, “Christian mysticism” has emerged from false religious systems. But instead of fleeing from magical mystical practices, scores of Christians have embraced them! The brethren must be warned that Scripture strictly forbids uniting with pagans and apostates. Moreover, those who profess Christ must be admonished not to participate in Contemplative Prayer or any sort of mantra meditation for the reason that spiritual harm can result from it.
Research:
Copyright by Marsha West, 2013. All rights reserved.
Exploiting Tragedy to Attack Critics
David Cousar is concerned about the way in which popular Bible teacher and author Beth Moore has used the tragic death of Rick Warren’s son to attack Warren’s theological critics, or, as Moore calls them, “bullies in the body of Christ.” Cousar begins:
I had promised myself not to write anything critical of Rick Warren in the wake of his son’s tragic and untimely death. My heart goes out to him and his family during this incredibly sad time.
So, what could possibly prompt me to write anything about him in less than a week after his horrific personal tragedy? It was his weekly email newsletter that he sends out to Pastors.com members. In it was featured an article by Beth Moore titled “Beth Moore: Sadness and Madness”.
What Southern Baptists Can Expect From Russell Moore and the ERLC
In this piece, Southern Baptist pastor Randy White lays out what he believes Southern Baptists can expect from the recent appointment of Dr. Russell D. Moore, who will replace the controversial Richard Land as the President of Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. “Whether or not you are Southern Baptists,” says White, “Moore will have huge influence on the Christian worldview and expression of Christianity for many years to come. It is not hard to discern where Moore will lead, what he will emphasize, and what his values are, and this Southern Baptist is concerned.”
The True Meaning of the Day in which Chocolate Was Invented
In our increasingly secular nation, a growing number of Americans are clueless as to the real reason for the Easter holiday. Case in point: This year’s White House Easter Egg Roll has as its theme “Be Healthy, Be Active, Be You!” In the United Kingdom somewhere around 80 per cent of children do not even know the true meaning of Easter. In this piece Marsha West reveals the far-left’s plot to secularize the Christian faith and then she lays out the true meaning of Easter.
What Does a First Jesuit Pope Mean for Biblical Christians?
David Wheaton’s guest on The Christian Worldview is Phil Johnson, executive director of Grace to You. They discuss the significance of the new pope and what it means for the world and for biblical Christians. Wheaton poses the following questions: Is there any special significance to a first Jesuit pope? And what does it portend that evangelical leaders such as Rick Warren proclaim, “Join me today in fasting and prayer for the 115 Cardinals seeking God’s Will in a new leader” and Luis Palau declare that the new pope is “really centered on Jesus and the Gospel, the pure Gospel”?
Retailers and Entertainment Industry Aspire to Hyper-sexualize Girls
Marsha West once again tackles our corrupt society’s hyper-sexualization of young girls. In this piece she exposes how lingerie company Victoria’s Secret is targeting middle school and high school girls with their new line of intimate undergarments. Marsha also confronts the popular teen girl magazine, Seventeen, for promoting Disney star Ashley Benson’s movie, “Spring Breakers,” on the magazine’s cover. The film is rated ‘R’ for strong sexual content, language, nudity, drug use and violence and contains graphic sex scenes between two women and a man, yet is being promoted to the young readers of this periodical.