It would be a good exercise to ask your grandparents sometimes if they felt fulfilled in their careers. They’ll probably look at you as if you’re speaking a different language, because you are. Fulfillment was not their goal. Food was, and faithfulness too. Most older folks would probably say something like, “I never thought about fulfillment. I had a job. I ate. I lived. I raised my family. I went to church. I was thankful.” Kevin DeYoung

http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2009/06/what-prayer-is-and-isnt-requested.html

I received the following comment from a reader on my Note of Repentance.

“At the Passion 2012 conference, Beth Moore, John Piper, Louie Giglio and company taught/led an entire sports arena (45,000 college aged students) in this practice. My son’s friends in attendance of this conference told of a young girl standing outside the arena crying her eyes out because she had not heard the audible voice of God as they had instructed. Others tried to comfort her but were also distraught at not hearing a thing. This is what Louie Giglio announced during a session that had them upset:

“How many of you heard the voice of God speak specifically, clearly, directly, and personally, to you? Can you just put a hand up? I’d like you to share it. Can you put a hand up for a minute?

Just want you to look around; that’s people saying, “God Almighty (pause) the Maker of heaven (pause) the one Who’s sitting on the only throne (pause) that’s not under threat (long pause, audience cheers)—He spoke to me. He spoke to me.”

“God spoke to me.” (long pause) Don’t let the voice of the darkness, tell you that you are not (pause) worth (pause) that God would not speak to you. (pause) Don’t let him tell you, you don’t matter. (pause) God spoke to you.”

They felt they must not be “good enough Christians” for God to speak to them. Thank you for warning others of this heresy. These children are diligently opening themselves to a potentially demonic spirit to hear God’s audible voice. Please pray for them and for all the others who raised their hands”

The issue at hand with the current push to “hear God speak” outside of His already revealed, complete, and written Word is that it creates confusion, hurt, and sets up a system of pietism within the body of Christ. Please understand this is precisely why I am repenting from endorsing the teachings of Beth Moore and Henry Blackaby. As well-intentioned as they might be, they are leading people down a dangerous path of subjectivity and confusion.

Read the rest here: Sola Sisters

First, it is necessary to understand what sola Scriptura does and does not assert. The Reformation principle of sola Scriptura has to do with the sufficiency of Scripture as our supreme authority in all spiritual matters. Sola Scriptura simply means that all truth necessary for our salvation and spiritual life is taught either explicitly or implicitly in Scripture.

It is not a claim that all truth of every kind is found in Scripture. The most ardent defender of sola Scriptura will concede, for example, that Scripture has little or nothing to say about DNA structures, microbiology, the rules of Chinese grammar, or rocket science.

This or that “scientific truth” for example, may or may not be actually true, whether or not it can be supported by Scripture—but Scripture is a “more sure Word,” standing above all other truth in its authority and certainty. It is “more sure,” according to the apostle Peter, than the data we gather firsthand through our own senses (2 Pet. 1:19). Therefore Scripture is the highest and supreme authority on any matter to which it speaks. But there are many important questions on which Scripture is silent. Sola Scriptura makes no claim to the contrary.

Nor does sola Scriptura claim that everything Jesus or the apostles ever taught is preserved in Scripture. It only means that everything necessary, everything binding on our consciences, and everything God requires of us is given to us in Scripture.

Furthermore, we are forbidden to add to or take way from Scripture (cf. Deut. 4:2; 12:32, cf. Rev. 22:18-19). To do so is to lay on people’s shoulders a burden that God Himself does not intend for them to bear (cf. Matt. 23:4).

Scripture is therefore the perfect and only standard of spiritual truth, revealing infallibly all that we must believe in order to be saved, and all that we must do in order to glorify God. That—no more, no less—is what sola Scriptura means.

The Westminster Confession of Faith defines the sufficiency of Scripture like this:

The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men (1:6).

The Thirty-nine Articles of the Anglican Church include this statement on sola Scriptura:

Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation (article 6).

So sola Scriptura simply means that Scripture is sufficient. The fact that Jesus did and taught many things not recorded in Scripture (Jn. 20:30; 21:25) is wholly irrelevant to the principle of sola Scriptura. The fact that most of the apostles’ actual sermons in the early churches were not written down and preserved for us does not diminish the truth of biblical sufficiency one bit. What is certain is that all that is necessary is in Scripture—and we are forbidden “to exceed what is written” (1 Cor. 4:6).

Scripture clearly claims for itself this sufficiency—and nowhere more clearly that 2 Timothy 3:15-17. A brief summary of that passage is perhaps appropriate here as well. In short, verse 15 affirms that Scripture is sufficient for salvation: “The sacred writings . . . are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Verse 16 affirms the absolute authority of Scripture, which is “God-breathed” (Gk. theopneustos) and profitable for our instruction. And verse 17 states that Scripture is able to equip the man of God “for every good work.”

So the assertion that the Bible itself does not teach sola Scriptura is simply wrong. (Scripture, Tradition, and Rome, Part 2)

John MacArthur

I’m no perfect one. I’ve been taught error AND I HAVE TAUGHT ERROR. Hi, I am Amanda Bowers and I was a False Teacher. I took lightly the grave responsibility that comes with feeding sheep. I let my emotions and my own deceitful heart lead me, rather than the Word of God. Now, I THOUGHT I was letting the Word of God lead me, but I wasn’t. Honestly, there were even times when the Holy Spirit was bringing conviction that I wasn’t preparing and studying enough, but being a natural with words and feeling sure I was understanding these things given the STRONG EXPERIENCES I was having, Ibarreled right past those warning signs. I even had well meaning friends trying to warn me about Beth Moore, but I dismissed it. I found blogs online telling me she was not properly exegeting the Scripture, but I thought, “Nah. These people are kind of hateful. They are mean. I won’t listen to them”

Many of you may be thinking the same about me now or others who are trying to sound the alarm that the American church is headed toward apostasy. Please dear brothers and sisters don’t worry about rejecting me, but please, don’t reject Christ! I love you too much for that. Please examine the teachings of EVERY BELOVED TEACHER against the SOUND WORD. NO MATTER WHO THEY ARE.

Finally, the Lord had to PLUNGE ME INTO THE DEEP END OF UNIVERSALISM AND SPIRITUAL FORMATION AT A CHARLOTTE MASON HOMESCHOOL CONFERENCE TO WAKE ME UP!!!!! (Read about that here)

When I was a child, false teaching kept me awake at night. I had grievous sins as a child and young adult; too dark to share in a public fashion, but regardless, as the Word says, we all have sinned greatly before the Lord. Growing up in a church that was telling me that I had to be perfect or I could lose my salvation, and that I needed the “second blessing” was detrimental to me. Crying and fearful, I went to the altar thousands of times. By my mid twenties I was exhausted trying to keep myself saved and I had given up. You would still be told I was a Christian if you asked, but I was living for myself and not God!

In 2001, at a desperate point in life when my own ability to control my life and circumstances had reached an all time low; when 9-11 occurred and the world seemed to be falling apart, I had that fear come back to me. What if He returns? Will I be ready?

One day after weeks of praying and searching for truth and not understanding the Word, I cried out the most blasphemous prayer. It was NO SINNER’S PRAYER. I said, “God, if you are real you need to show me the truth or get out of my life and leave me alone, I can not live this way any longer.” Knowing the Sovereignty and Severity of God, it is only a testimony to His long suffering and mercy toward me that He answered my prayer in the way that was best for my soul and not in the way I deserved.

Showing me Hebrews 10:12, “But this man, after he had offered ONE sacrifice for sins FOREVER, sat down on the right hand of God;”

For the first time in all my life, the Holy Spirit illuminated this truth to me that Christ had FINISHED HIS WORK, and I was merely to repent and believe to be saved.

This is no martyrdom statement. It is just a fact! I committed serious and grave sins against my God, and sadly, I often still do, however, with His help I press toward the goal of that upward call. With my brother, Paul, I can say I am the chief of sinners, but like Him I will no longer live for myself. I will live for the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word.

I firmly believe it is the duty of every Christian who understands free grace of God to fight tooth and nail to preserve it. It is a most hateful thing to cover sin and to cover the truth in the name of unity for it torments the children of God and it damns men’s souls to hell.

My conscience is held captive to the Word of God! Here I stand! I can do no other!

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.   But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doeth he meditate day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2

“The law of the Lord” is the daily bread of the true believer.  And yet, in David’s day how small was the volume of inspiration, for they had scarcely anything save the first five books of Moses!  How much more, then, should we prize the whole written Word which it is our privilege to have in all our houses!  Bu, alas, what ill-treatment is given to this angel from heaven!  We are not all Berean searchers of the Scriptures.  How few among us can lay claim to the benediction of the text!  Perhaps some of you can claim a sort of negative purity, because you do not walk in the way of the ungodly; but let me ask you–Is your delight in the law of God?  do you study God’s Word?  Do you make it the man of your right hand–your best companion and hourly guide?  If not, this blessing belongeth not to you. -Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus Job did continually.  Job 1:5″

Imagine! On the day that Job’s children were ripped from his physical presence it would have been just before he would have offered a burnt offering on their behalf.

While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”  Job 1:18-19 

As it was put this morning by my SS teacher, “this was the added knife to the heart…that he had not had the chance to offer a sacrifice on their behalf that they ‘might have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts’. 

And yet, the very thing that Job continuously sought forgiveness for on behalf of his children,  Satan accused before God that Job would do, not in his heart, but to God face to face.

“But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” Job 1:11  

But Job did not!  

“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and WORSHIPED. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.  Job 1:20-22

Do you pray continually for God to consecrate your children and give them a heart of flesh that they might repent and believe on the One True Living Christ and that they might love the Lord their God with ALL their heart, soul, mind and strength?

Yes Indeed!  Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

Spiritual direction provides an “address” on the house of your life so that you can be “addressed” by God in prayer. When this happens, your life begins to be transformed in ways you hadn’t planned or counted on, for God works in wonderful and surprising ways.
~ Henri Nouwen, Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith

My final post (certainly not my final area of concern) regarding Richard Foster deals with his promotion of Spiritual Direction. The above quote is taken from Renovare’s site on Spiritual Direction. The Henri Nouwen Society describes Nouwen’s spirituality as follows,

“Henri Nouwen was a spiritual thinker, a synthesist and one of the first in our time, along with Thomas Merton, to consciously develop a “theology of the heart” and to lay this down as a template for both clergy and lay persons. Henri had an unusual capacity to write about the life of Jesus and the love of God in ways that have inspired countless people to trust God more fully.

He showed, and continues to show, a generation of ministers, teachers and seekers how one’s gifts are to be placed at the service of those whom God places in our path. He gives us a model for building the kinds of relationships and communities that will allow each person to find his or her personal mission.

As Merton before him, Henri always stressed the relational. He writes very directly about our contemporary longings for meaning, belonging, and intimacy and, at the same time, integrates this with a powerful vision of service and social justice. Fr. Nouwen often used the three core themes of solitude, community, and compassion to help people enter into a fresh vision of the spiritual life.

“I believe you can look at solitude, community, and ministry as three disciplines by which we create space for God. If we create space in which God can act and speak, something surprising will happen. You and I are called to these disciplines if we want to be disciples.“
–Henri J. M. Nouwen

As a side note, you will find books by Henri Nouwen recommended by Rick Warren’s Saddleback under the “spiritual formation” heading. (along with a few other questionable authors-but that’s a post for another day.) Of course, we must also point out what is said of Thomas Merton,

“During his last years, he became deeply interested in Asian religions, particularly Zen Buddhism, and in promoting East-West dialogue. After several meetings with Merton during the American monk’s trip to the Far East in 1968, the Dali Lama praised him as having a more profound understanding of Buddhism than any other Christian he had known. It was during this trip to a conference on East-West monastic dialogue that Merton died, in Bangkok on December 10, 1968, the victim of an accidental electrocution. The date marked the twenty-seventh anniversary of his entrance to Gethsemani.”

On Richard Foster’s ministry site, Renovare, we read the following about Spiritual Direction,

“The spiritual direction relationship includes a director and directee, with the director often being called a “spiritual director.” While different directors have different approaches to their practice, typically she takes an active/passive role, simply creating the environment for the direction to take place. The director intentions to do more listening than talking, asking leading and, sometimes, probing questions as needed and appropriate. Times of silence are apropos and welcomed. There is very little actual direction given as this is commonly understood. Rather, the spiritual director convenes a conversation during which a direction will be determined by the directee and director together, co-laboring with God. Both directee and director explore together what God might be doing in the areas being discussed.”

The first obvious question to be begged is, “Is this Biblical?” What Scriptural support is there that anyone needs to be a co-laborer with God to help another “explore what God might be doing” in the areas discussed? Certainly, seeking Godly counsel is spoken of in Scripture.

Proverbs 11:14 tells us,

“Where there is no guidance, a people falls,
but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”

Is that perhaps all this is? Is this simply seeking a counselor to aide in making wise and godly decisions in life? Well, let’s let Renovare answer that question.

While the lines may be blurry at times depending on the style of the spiritual director or present circumstances, spiritual direction is different from pastoral counseling. People usually enter a counseling relationship because something is wrong with life. Counseling tends to be crisis-oriented or problem-driven. Solving particular problems or handling specific crises is not the goal of spiritual direction. The spiritual direction relationship takes the long view. It looks for how God is working, calling, prodding, and inviting us to new ways of being with Jesus in the midst of our circumstances. It focuses on building an intimate relationship with God over a lifetime, through all the problems, crises, joys, and blessings.

So Spiritual Direction is NOT pastoral counsel or Biblical guidance. Okay, what is it then? We know Henri Nouwen has told us it is putting an “address” on the house of our life. So, does this mean that God can’t find me if I don’t practice this discipline? Does this mean He needs the help of this “spiritual director” to “co-labor” with Him to assist Him in finding His children?

In the account of Zacheaus in Luke, Zacchaeus confesses, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” Luke 19:8b after which Jesus declares: “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:9b-10

Here we see a confession of repentance and a declaration by Christ that Salvation has come to the house of Zaccheaus since Zachaeus’ confession has revealed him to be a son of Abraham. We see Jesus declare that He came to seek and save the lost. Jesus didn’t need any help from a co-laborer to find the house of Zacheaus. Jesus doesn’t need a co-laborer today to find any of His children. Christ is the Sovereign God and Creator of the Universe, and His children hear His voice. He needs no help from anyone to find the “address” of His children.

To further emphasize that this “spiritual direction” is not one in which a brother or sister in Christ is assisting another brother or sister in counseling or guidance from a perspective of Biblical wisdom, read the following guidelines for appropriate spiritual direction:

Other items for consideration include:
• Direction sessions are usually one hour in length, once per month and can be held anywhere conducive to intentional conversation—a quiet office, coffee house, or park bench.
• The director may or may not give the directee a spiritual practice to work with between sessions.
• There is a place for group spiritual direction, but the classical model and that in mind here is the one-to-one interaction between director and directee.
• Many spiritual directors will discourage the relationship extending beyond the direction sessions so that they might remain objective and not get caught up in personal feelings and opinions.

So clearly this is not a situation where Godly counsel and brotherly edification, encouragement, admonition, and prayer support is taking place. No! This is mediation; plain and simple! This is seeking a human being to act as a mediator between you and God. That, my friends, is strictly forbidden by Scripture! And why not? Why do we NEED a mediator when we have Jesus Christ, the great High priest?

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 1 Timothy 2:5

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. Hebrews 9:14-15

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, ²³ and to the assembly^[a] of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Nancy Almodovar, author of, A Modern Ninety-Five: Questions For Today’s Evangelicals, writes in Through the Doctrines of the Bible in a Year,

“Scripture also guides us in our daily lives. Many people wonder what they are supposed to do with their lives and look for signs and visions or someone coming to them telling them, “God told me…” But that would mean we still needed a mediator to arbitrate between us and God in order to “hear” from God. Our gracious heavenly Father has not left us in the hands of others but has given us all things necessary for life and godliness.”

John Calvin’s commentary on 1 Timothy 2:5 so clearly lays out the problem with Richard Foster’s and others’ endorsement of using some human “spiritual director” as a mediator between us and God.

“When he declares that he is “a man,” the Apostle does not deny that the Mediator is God, but, intending to point out the bond of our union with God, he mentions the human nature rather than the divine. This ought to be carefully observed. From the beginning, men, by contriving for themselves this or that mediator, departed farther from God; and the reason was, that, being prejudiced in favor of this error, that God was at a great distance from them, they knew not to what hand to turn. Paul remedies this evil, when he represents God as present with us; for he has descended even to us, so that we do not need to seek him above the clouds. The same thing is said in Hebrews 4:15,

“We have not a high priest who cannot sympathize within our infirmities, for in all things he was tempted.”

And, indeed, if this were deeply impressed on the hearts of all, that the Son of God holds out to us the hand of a brother, and that we are united to him by the fellowship of our nature, in order that, out of our low condition, he may raise us to heaven; who would not choose to keep by this straight road, instead of wandering in uncertain and stormy paths! Accordingly, whenever we ought to pray to God, if we call to remembrance that exalted and unapproachable majesty, that we may not be driven back by the dread of it, let us, at the same time, remember “the man Christ,” who gently invites us, and takes us, as it were, by the hand, in order that the Father, who had been the object of terror and alarm, may be reconciled by him and rendered friendly to us. This is the only key to open for us the gate of the heavenly kingdom, that we may appear in the presence of God with confidence.

I think one of the fundamental issues with Foster as I continue to read his teachings and writings is he is so opposed to the total depravity of man, that he must contrive to use all manner of other methods to get to God rather than the simple gospel message of repent and believe. I’ve outlined this problem in his theological understanding here and here.

Calvin goes on to state in his commentary on 1 Timothy 2:5, “

Hence we see, that Satan has, in all ages, followed this course, for the purpose of leading men astray from the right path. I say nothing of the various devices by which, before the coming of Christ, he alienated the minds of men, to contrive methods of approaching to God. At the very commencement of the Christian Church, when Christ, with so excellent a pledge, was fresh in their remembrance, and while the earth was still ringing with that delightfully sweet word from his mouth,

“Come to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest,” (Matthew 11:28,)

there were, nevertheless, some persons skilled in deception, who thrust angels into his room as mediators; which is evident from Colossians 2:18. But what Satan, at that time, contrived secretly, he carried to such a pitch, during the times of Popery, that scarcely one person in a thousand acknowledged Christ, even in words, to be the Mediator. And while the name was buried, still more was the reality unknown.

Now that God has raised up good and faithful teachers, who have labored to restore and bring to the remembrance of men what ought to have been one of the best-known principles of our faith, the sophists of the Church of Rome have resorted to every contrivance for darkening a point so clear. First, the name is so hateful to them, that, if any one mentions Christ as Mediator, without taking notice of the saints, he instantly falls under a suspicion of heresy. But, because they do not venture to reject altogether what Paul teaches in this passage, they evade it by a foolish exposition, that he is called “one Mediator,” not “the only Mediator.” As if the Apostle had mentioned God as one out of a vast multitude of gods; for the two clauses are closely connected, that “there is one God and one Mediator;” and therefore they who make Christ one out of many mediators must apply the same interpretation in speaking of God. Would they rise to such a height of impudence, if they were not impelled by blind rage to crush the glory of Christ?

There are others who think themselves more acute, and who lay down this distinction, that Christ is the only Mediator of redemption, while they pronounce the saints to be mediators of intercession. But the folly of these interpreters is reproved by the scope of the passage, in which the Apostle speaks expressly about prayer. The Holy Spirit commands us to pray for all, because our only Mediator admits all to come to him; just as by his death he reconciled all to the Father. And yet they who thus, with daring sacrilege, strip Christ of his honor, wish to be regarded as Christians.

In addition to the violation as Christ being our ONLY MEDIATOR, I invite you to watch this PBS documentary on Spiritual Direction. I apologize as the video won’t embed properly in my post for some reason (WP experts I invite your help , but please just follow the link. You will quickly see that the real aim of Spiritual Direction is a combining of ALL FAITHS into one. In this video you will hear the following:

“SEVERSON: At this spiritual retreat, they learn how different faith groups reach out to God, including the Muslim prayer of Salat, always facing Mecca five times a day.

RAHMAN: An Islamic prayer is essentially about praising God and thanking God, and when we bow to God, the wonderful saying is: one prostration of prayer to God liberates you, frees you, from a thousand prostrations to your ego.

SEVERSON: The Sufi’s whirling dervish, performed here by Reverend Karen Lindquist, the Interfaith Church’s co-founder, is also a mode of prayer, although it requires a life-long commitment.

FALCON: One of the benefits of ritual is it gives us a form, for example, the ritual of prayer. But every ritual that we do in our lives also has us going on automatic. So there comes a time where I might be doing it outwardly, I might be saying the words, but I’m no longer conscious of them.

Woman speaking at retreat: “Months later, I realized it was an act of surrender to God, that my life is not in my own hands.”

SEVERSON: A common theme among spiritual directors is that first it’s necessary to value and love oneself as God’s creation.

MARQUIS: So what I’ve been doing is using the Buddhist prayer to quiet me down, quiet my thoughts down and open myself up, and then the Sufi prayer to just reassure and love my own heart so that I can feel really full and complete, and then from that place I can pray for people that are struggling, people that are sick, people that I feel like need some extra love.

SEVERSON: Even Sister Joyce Cox, in describing her method of personal or centered prayer, finds herself borrowing the language originally of the ancient Indian Vedic tradition.

COX: What I do in centering prayer is I choose a mantra, which is my sacred word, doesn’t have to have any meaning for me. What I simply do is return to that sacred word as a method of intention and just sit.

SEVERSON: Liz Ellmann says it’s a sign of our times that so many people have turned from searching for material things to the pursuit of spirituality, and, she says, it’s a good thing.”

Brothers and sisters, we’ve no need of another mediator: dead or alive. We know that these men and women fumble around in the dark trying to discern the spiritual things because the natural man can not discern them, but this ought not be so of us who have been bought by the blood of Christ and given every spiritual blessing. I pray that my brothers and sisters will consider the gravity with which you ought to take your responsibility to study and know the Word of God in this dark age of falling away and apostasy. Be on guard and verify EVERY THING that you are being told is from God. Test ALL THE SPIRITS. Do not believe because someone can point to a so-called “rich tradition” of prayer or practice, that it is a “tradition” that is grounded in the Word of God. Be warned and turn from the evils of contemplative prayer, lectio divina, and spiritual formation. Do not be dragged back to Rome, but study to show yourselves approved dear ones.

I also point you to several other resources for your own research into the true intent of Spiritual Direction. It is most certainly not of the Holy Spirit for we know that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is this:

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. John 16:13-14

Additional direct sources for Spiritual Direction:

Renovare

Yukon Angel Productions

Religion & Ethics

Spiritual Directors International

Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation

In Why I Believe Richard Foster Is A False Teacher: Reason 1: Centering Contemplative Prayer , we discussed the dangerous practice of contemplative prayer and it’s unbiblical eastern mystical roots. We also covered in greater detail the dangers of Contemplative prayer in, Are You Bowing To The Golden Calf of Mysticism? If you still need further evidence that the end result of contemplative prayer is a satanic one, watch Fr. Thomas Keating tell us in the following video that the final destination of contemplative prayer is, “that we not only become God, but are God”.

A quick search for the name, Thomas Keating, on Renovare’s ministry page yields this plethora of recommendations to look to Thomas Keating as a resource for contemplative prayer.

In Why I Believe Richard Foster Is A False Teacher: Reason 2: Denies Total Depravity and Salvation By Grace Alone,we reviewed some statements made by Foster in various articles he has written over the years and determined that clearly Foster believes there is something man must do in order to receive the Kingdom of God. Foster says,

“Then I understood: The kingdom of God is veiled to us because God does not want us to see or understand until we have an inward heart disposition toward God. Without this inward heart disposition the knowledge and power of the kingdom will hurt us rather than help us. It is only when we desire God with all our heart that we can be trusted with the life of the kingdom of God.”

What is missing so often in Mr. Foster’s descriptions of salvation, the need for repentance and spiritual rebirth. When salvation is discussed it is wrapped in such scripture twisting lingo, that it is nearly impossible to detect exactly how it is that Mr. Foster believes a man is justified before the Lord. It is apparent, however, that Mr. Foster has a misunderstanding of man’s totally depraved nature with regard to salvation as well as a misunderstanding of the reason for the cross. In an article written in 1977, entitled, “The Day God Died” Foster writes,

“Now the usual notion of what Jesus did on the cross runs something like this: people were so bad and so mean and God was so angry with them that He would not forgive them unless somebody big enough could take the rap for the whole lot of them. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It was love–not anger–that brought Jesus to the cross. He saw that by His vicarious suffering, he could actually internalize all the evil of mankind and so heal it.”

Nothing could be farther from the truth? Does the Scripture say nothing of the wrath of God against the sinfulness of man?

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience Ephesians 5:6

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Romans 5:8-10

The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the

wrath of God abides on him. John 3:35-36

His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it andbe satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Isaiah 53:9-11

This is basic fundamental Christianity 101.

Later in a paper written for Theology Today in 2004 entitled, “Salvation Is For Life”, Mr. Foster muddies the water further when he states,

“Now all of this new life comes to us by the grace of God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith”, says Paul, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph 2:8-9) Grace is the action of God bringing to pass good things that we neither deserve nor can accomplish on our own. It is this tremendous dynamic of personal experience in which the reality of God’s life enters in to what we are doing and feeling and thinking, and the grace-filled power of Jesus life moves into every aspect of our own. Grace is, of course, “unmerited favor”, but the form it takes is NOT USUALLY A “CREDIT” TO OUR ACCOUNT. No, the form it MOST COMMONLY TAKES is an interactive relationship between God and us: God’s initiating action and our responding action. We know that we have done nothing more than receive a gift.”

Well, let’s see if the Scriptures speak to exactly how it is that this “unmerited favor” is transferred to believers? Is it by this “interactive relationship” of taking on the life of Christ, as Mr. Foster purports as the “most commonly” acquired means or is it that salvation comes from this “not usually ‘Credit[ed]‘ to our account” method? Incidentally, I find it interesting that in Mr. Foster’s line of thinking there are some cases where it is merely a “credit” to our account, but that isn’t the “common” way. Perhaps that is how he explains away the salvation of Abraham, in which the Scriptures clearly state,

“For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:“BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED. “BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.” Romans 4:4-8

No, Mr. Foster, I am afraid that it is your words that couldn’t be farther from the truth! Salvation is BY GRACE ALONE through FAITH ALONE to the GLORY OF GOD ALONE!

Make not mistake folks, his teachings and the teachings of his cohort, Dallas Willard, are making inroads into modern-day evangelicalism in a fast and furious manner. Of the four or five ministers I spoke with regarding Foster, only one was able to quickly tell me what he was teaching is not biblical. Several told me his book, Celebration of Discipline, was a “Christian Classic”–now this is the book which contains the following quote:

In your imagination allow your spiritual body, shining with light, to rise out of your physical body. Look back so that you can see yourself lying in the grass and reassure your body that you will return momentarily. Imagine your spiritual self, alive and vibrant, rising up through the clouds and into the stratosphere. . . Go deeper and deeper into outer space until there is nothing except the warm presence of the eternal Creator. Rest in His presence. Listen quietly, anticipating the unanticipated. Note carefully any instruction given. With time and experience you will be able to distinguish readily between mere human thought that may bubble up to the conscious mind and the True Spirit which inwardly moves upon the heart. (Foster: 27, 28)

There is nothing in Scripture either from Christ or the apostles that instructs us in any way shape or form to practice such forms of so-called ‘prayer’. Nothing Folks! There is nothing classically “Christian” about this man’s instruction. Listen carefully in as Richard Foster says, “This Zoe (life) is built into the very DNA of who we are as beings created in the image of God it is an inward principle and it will do it’s work” he goes on to say, “there is also a principle of death within us that stems from the fall and it is warring against the principle of life”.

The Bible tells us as a result of the fall, we have all received complete spiritual death. There is no zoe life in our DNA spiritually speaking UNLESS the Spirit of God by grace through faith regenerates us; thereby making us a new creature in Christ.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,Ephesians 2:1-6

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. Romans 5:12-14

To Foster, it seems, salvation is always an ongoing process that is a cooperative effort between us and God. There is no one justification by faith. There is a definite blurring of justification and sanctification, and he can re-label it all he wants, but what he advocates is a justification by works. Be on guard church.