Evangelical Leaders Promote New Ageand Eastern Spiritual Practices
by Lighthouse Trails Research Project
In what appears to be a sweeping phenomenon, Christian leaders are embracing practices and a new spirituality that borrows from Eastern mysticism and New Age philosophy. The changes are taking place worldwide and involve many of the most popular evangelical leaders including Rick Warren, Brian McLaren, Richard Foster, Tony Campolo, and Eugene Peterson.
In Rick Warren's Purpose-Driven Life, on Day Eleven, he encourages people to practice "breath prayers" by repeating words and phrases over and over in a mantra-style prayer, a practice used centuries ago by a group of mystical monks known as the Desert Fathers. This so-called "prayer" is identical to that found in Hindu yoga and Zen Buddhism.
Brian McLaren, leader of the emerging church movement has been caught with his hands in the contemplative cookie jar too by endorsing the back covers of some more-than-questionable books. One in particular, Reimagining Christianity by Alan Jones says that the doctrine of the Cross is a vile doctrine. Alan Jones is an interspiritualist and mystic in every sense of the words. Take a look at the Living Spiritual Teachers Project, in which Jones is involved. This group of about twenty includes Zen and Buddhist monks, New Agers and even Marianne Williamson and her Course in Miracles. The goal of this group is to integrate other world religious beliefs into Christianity. McLaren has also endorsed the back covers of Dave Fleming's The Seeker's Way and Tony Campolo's Speaking My Mind, both of which believe that Christianity is too limiting, and a union between other religions is necessary. In Speaking My Mind, Campolo states: "[M]ysticism [contemplative prayer] provides some hope for common ground between Christianity and Islam." (p.149)...
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