A Facebook friend posted an article today from the following site. Just so you realize that I am not the only voice out here trying to warn the church about panentheism and Richard Foster (not that you were worried about that tee hee), but I like to pass along other folks who, like me, are alarmed and trying to warn the church of what is happening in the seminaries and evangelical churches and bookstores everywhere. Remember, brothers and sisters, False teachers are not going to wear a t-shirt! And the people warning you do not hate unity; it is breaking my heart to see the enemy tear apart the church. It hurts deeply to know that our efforts to love and protect the sheep are being scorned and ignored, but I can leave that only in the hands of God and must continue to obey His commandment to love my brethren and pass the warning to them. I ask you, if you found out that a building was on fire and you ran to escape, would you remain silent and hope that others found out on their own before the smoke overtook them and left them unable to save themselves? Or would you shout and plead and point and try to persuade them to run out of the burning building with you? Friends, that is all we desire to do here. The Holy Spirit will always point to Christ alone for your salvation and your growth; the teachings of these panentheistic mystics points you to nature, yourself, and other subjective means and AWAY from the objective truth of the Word.
“This concept of pantheism [God is all things], as well as panentheism [God is in all things], has gained a foothold in Christian circles as well as the normal occultic groups. Well known teachers such as Richard Foster, Thomas Merton, Tony Campolo, Doug Pagitt, Leonard Sweet, Brennan Manning, and Thomas Keating, all emphasize the mystic way of spirituality, with a special emphasis on centering prayer, often referred to as contemplative prayer. While they may or may not agree with each of the four points, they tread on dangerous, unscriptural ground in many of their teachings.” -Tal Brooke
Read the entire article here: Foundations of the Occult, Eastern, and Mystical Philosophy
“Tal Brooke is the president of the Spiritual Counterfeits Project (www.scp-inc.org). They carry a great critique of Brennan Manning, written by John Craddock. Also, the books by Tal Brooke are quite “enlightening”
The fears are unfounded. From St. Thomas to Meister Eckhart to Teresa of Avila to Catherine of Siena, along with all those listed and more, the contributions of the Christian mystics has been invaluable and indispensable. Mysticism is the heartbeat and life’s blood of Christianity. To witness the tremendous resurgence of interest in and practice of the mystical tradition of Christianity along with “centering” and contemplative prayer has given me hope that it may recover from its headlong slide into the very brand of legalism against which Jesus railed in his own time.
You may find this article on the subject to be of interest: Dry Bones: Why Religion Can’t Live Without Mysticism. There is no actual line of demarcation, of course, between the “esoteric” and “exoteric” facets of Christianity. In fact, one is (or should be) reflective of the other — the “exoteric” (the “face” Christianity shows the world) of the “esoteric” (its heart and soul). These should not be “at war.”
Love, Peace and Light
Would you care to let me know how those people you listed define salvation? How is a man/woman saved? How does one gain a relationship with God? I refer you to an excellent article written by DA Carson on this topic. I’m not interested in “religion” that requires Mysticism. I have a relationship with a Holy God wrought by the Holy Spirit who caused me to be born again and has given me a living Hope in Jesus Christ alone. His written Word and prayer is all I need. I do not need mysticism. And no one apart from those born by the Spirit of God can gain access to Christ by any other means…no matter how much they try. So thanks for your comment, but I stand by my post and all my previous posts that mysticism is not the way to get to God.
http://thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/spiritual_disciplines