By: Caryl Matrisciana
The current popularity of visualization techniques is largely due to a woman named Shakti Gawain. Her book, Creative Visualization, teaches that we can, in essence, create our own reality. Her teaching goes beyond the boundaries of a normal use of the imagination--it delves into the supernatural, mystical world where one can conjure up beings from the spirit realm and alter the course of the future. Gawain considers these spirit guides friends who can help us through life: "Many people who have established a relationship with their guide meet them every day in their meditation."1 But as do all New Age thinkers, Gawain believes that man shares divinity with God. "There is no separation between us and God,"2 she states. She calls this "our divine potential."3
How do visualization techniques line up with the Christian faith? The Bible says that the "blessed hope" of the church is the physical return of Jesus Christ to earth (Titus 2:13). But if we are longing for a mystical experience that will somehow bring Him into view now, we need to weigh our desires against biblical principles. God is not a shimmering puppet whom we can control with our own cleverly devised mental strings: He is a Spirit, a person separate from ourselves, and we must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
We must test all spirits, as the apostle John instructed. To the New Ager, God appears as light. The Bible warns that Satan comes as an angel of light (II Corinthians 11:14), but that Jesus is the real Light of the world. So what can we do to be sure that our "visions" and our "messages" are from the true God? "[E]very spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God" (I John 4:3). Jesus is God's only-begotten Son. He died on the Cross for our sins. He was raised from the dead on the third day. He is fully God and fully human. He is the Christ, not a bearer of the christ-consciousness.
Unfortunately, many Christians don't understand that there are other spiritual sources of power besides Jesus. For every true gift, there is a counterfeit, and many people are using the counterfeit power, often through visualization. This reminds me very much of my own former use of psychic powers. In fact, visualization or imaging is unrelated to anything I have ever learned from the Bible. Norman Vincent Peale described the technique in his book Positive Imaging:
As the years went by, I began using imaging techniques whenever I wanted to achieve a certain goal. In my second little church, located in Brooklyn, New York, attendance was low; in fact one day I found the sexton dragging one of the back pews out of the building. When I asked him why, he said he was going to chop it up for firewood. "No one sits in it anyway," he explained.
"Put it back," I told him grimly. "Somebody is going to sit in it!" I visualized that pew full, and all the other pews full, and the church filled to capacity. I held that image in my mind. I worked for it with every ounce of strength I had. I made it part of my innovative thinking. And the day came when the image became a reality. . . .
Perhaps the idea of the power of positive thinking was conveyed to me right then and there. But behind that idea, and in it, and beyond it was the concept of imaging-holding the image of yourself succeeding, visualizing it so vividly that when the desired success comes, it seems to be merely echoing a reality that has already existed in your mind.4
Norman Vincent Peale's positive thinking is nothing short of faith in faith. This has been substituted for faith in our God. And faith in our faith is nothing short of faith in ourselves: our wills, our desires, our minds, even our subconscious minds and illusions--in other words, our dreams....
In view of this, what should we be doing? The Bible gives us sound and sure instruction: Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (II Timothy 2:15)
Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. (Psalm 119:11)
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (Ephesians 6:13)
And let us "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3). Satan is the mastermind behind New Age thinking, and his plan is to "deceiveth the whole world" (Revelation 12:9). He wants to change the minds of billions, to restructure, recondition, and reprogram them as rapidly as possible. And he is doing it successfully, unbeknownst to the masses. (from Out of India, chapter 13)
Notes:
1. Shakti Gawain, Creative Visualization (Novato, CA: Nataraj Publishing, 2002 edition), p. 97.
2. Ibid., p. 167.
3. Ibid.
4. Norman Vincent Peale, Positive Imaging (Ballantine Books, First Ballantine Books Trade Edition, 1996), pp. 28-29.
Showing posts with label bible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bible. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
"Emergent Church" is Satan's Deception by By Jan Markell
The "Emergent" or "Emerging" church is an ecumenical movement within the Christian church that focuses on rethinking theology within the cultural context of Postmodern culture. This movement strives for "greater mutual respect, tolerance, and cooperation between the world religions". In other words, it smacks of "one-world religion"!
If you're over age 35, your spiritual health may be at risk in that new "church movements" are focusing in on primarily "GenXrs." You may not have even heard of the latest, the "Emergent Church" or "Emerging Church." Many today are looking for a new "methodology," "new wave," or "new thing God is doing." I ask, "What is wrong with the old way?" Apparently just the Bible is no longer sufficient.
Some say the "Emergent Church" (EC) is the next step beyond the "seeker movement." Leaders of the EC say they have answers for our generation even though it focuses on experience much more than the Bible. But leaders of the movement insist that in our fast-changing culture, something is happening. What was once a Christian nation with a Judeo-Christian worldview is becoming a post Christian, unchurched, unreached nation. There is arising in our midst new generations without any Christian influence, and thus we must re-think everything we have done with Christianity over many centuries. Part of what they say is true and their evangelistic fervor is genuine no doubt.
Defining the EC is a little bit like nailing jello to the wall, but here goes anyway. It relies heavily on mysticism, a great danger to believers of all denominations. Some leaders will tell you that you cannot know truth. An EC service will often meet in homes, and will rely on extra-biblical paraphernalia, extra-sensory images, sounds, smells of candles and incense, silence, mystical meditation, making the sign of the cross, touching icons, statues of saints, rosary beads for Protestants, liturgy, yoga-like deep breathing, contemplative prayer, and sacraments--all for a full sensory immersion with the divine. In other words, they are looking for an encounter with the Lord using all their senses. Worship is stressed, but some would say more than the Word.
They borrow liturgical practices from the Orthodox, Lutheran, and Catholic Church and heavily from the traditions and views of Catholic Church Fathers.
It would seem to me that if the Bible were being taught, the extra-biblical paraphernalia, extra-sensory images, sounds, smells, etc., would hardly be necessary, but maybe I'm making much ado about nothing.
The most visible leader is Brian McClaren whose book, "A Generous Orthodoxy" has caught on all over. In it he states that, "The Christian faith should become a welcome friend to other religions of the world, and not a threat." He states in the book that not all people need to be Christians to follow Jesus. Some may be able to be "Buddhist or Hindu followers of Jesus." He also states that, "God is interested in not only saving us from consequences after this life but in saving us from injustice, oppression, greed, and war, in this life." He was uninvited as a speaker at the Kentucky Baptist Convention when leaders learned McClaren suggested that people could be saved without being Christians.
Others either in the EC movement or supportive of it include Robert Schuller, Richard Foster, Brennan Manning, Dan Kimball, Bill Hybels, Dallas Willard, Bruce Wilkinson, Eugene Peterson, John Ortberg, John Eldredge, Dr. Robert Webber, Tony Campolo, Rick Warren, and dozens of lesser-known people.
While the movement is ecumenical and attracts numbers and particularly youthful followers, it hardly seems biblical when so much involves the extra-biblical.
If you're over age 35, your spiritual health may be at risk in that new "church movements" are focusing in on primarily "GenXrs." You may not have even heard of the latest, the "Emergent Church" or "Emerging Church." Many today are looking for a new "methodology," "new wave," or "new thing God is doing." I ask, "What is wrong with the old way?" Apparently just the Bible is no longer sufficient.
Some say the "Emergent Church" (EC) is the next step beyond the "seeker movement." Leaders of the EC say they have answers for our generation even though it focuses on experience much more than the Bible. But leaders of the movement insist that in our fast-changing culture, something is happening. What was once a Christian nation with a Judeo-Christian worldview is becoming a post Christian, unchurched, unreached nation. There is arising in our midst new generations without any Christian influence, and thus we must re-think everything we have done with Christianity over many centuries. Part of what they say is true and their evangelistic fervor is genuine no doubt.
Defining the EC is a little bit like nailing jello to the wall, but here goes anyway. It relies heavily on mysticism, a great danger to believers of all denominations. Some leaders will tell you that you cannot know truth. An EC service will often meet in homes, and will rely on extra-biblical paraphernalia, extra-sensory images, sounds, smells of candles and incense, silence, mystical meditation, making the sign of the cross, touching icons, statues of saints, rosary beads for Protestants, liturgy, yoga-like deep breathing, contemplative prayer, and sacraments--all for a full sensory immersion with the divine. In other words, they are looking for an encounter with the Lord using all their senses. Worship is stressed, but some would say more than the Word.
They borrow liturgical practices from the Orthodox, Lutheran, and Catholic Church and heavily from the traditions and views of Catholic Church Fathers.
It would seem to me that if the Bible were being taught, the extra-biblical paraphernalia, extra-sensory images, sounds, smells, etc., would hardly be necessary, but maybe I'm making much ado about nothing.
The most visible leader is Brian McClaren whose book, "A Generous Orthodoxy" has caught on all over. In it he states that, "The Christian faith should become a welcome friend to other religions of the world, and not a threat." He states in the book that not all people need to be Christians to follow Jesus. Some may be able to be "Buddhist or Hindu followers of Jesus." He also states that, "God is interested in not only saving us from consequences after this life but in saving us from injustice, oppression, greed, and war, in this life." He was uninvited as a speaker at the Kentucky Baptist Convention when leaders learned McClaren suggested that people could be saved without being Christians.
Others either in the EC movement or supportive of it include Robert Schuller, Richard Foster, Brennan Manning, Dan Kimball, Bill Hybels, Dallas Willard, Bruce Wilkinson, Eugene Peterson, John Ortberg, John Eldredge, Dr. Robert Webber, Tony Campolo, Rick Warren, and dozens of lesser-known people.
While the movement is ecumenical and attracts numbers and particularly youthful followers, it hardly seems biblical when so much involves the extra-biblical.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
