- It's a No-Brainer by Ready2Rapture
19 y
2,734 8 Messages Shown
Blog: Bible Study
Meditation in the Bible is always the practice of filling one's mind with deep thoughts of God and his Word, pondering his teachings. A glance at Psalm 119 reveals this unmistakable fact. That this is completely opposite from the meditation in various other religions is quite obvious, as will be shown.
Yet in spite of this, the Christian church is largely unaware of the subtle teachings that have infiltrated it to an alarming degree. Terms like "contemplative prayer", "centering", and worst of all, "the silence" have become household words in places where they should be considered curse words.
This could only be possible if the church at large is "asleep at the switch", not being at all able to recognize these wolves in sheep's clothing due to neglect of the Bible and its doctrine. Even if church leaders are shown the great danger in these things, they bristle at the notion that these "positive" things are not the work of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the pastors who are supposed to be guarding the flock are instead welcoming the wolves with open arms.
So what is unbiblical meditation? It's all about emptying the mind, not filling it. Known by various names such as "the silence" and "the cloud of unknowing", the goal of emptying one's mind is to be filled with another mind, another entity, another reality. When one learns to empty the mind to this point, it is the realization of the "higher self". This can be achieved through drugs, but the preferred method now is to sit in silence, repeating a mantra (any word will do; Christians are told to think of the name Jesus or something like that) with each breath, known as "breath prayer".
I just finished reading two excellent books on this subject: Deceived On Purpose and A Time of Departing, which can be found at http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/researchtopics.htm . The first one is written by a former New Age (NA) practitioner named Warren Smith; the second is by eastern religions researcher Ray Yungen. In these books is revealed the strategies, terminology, and global goals of the NA movement, and the ease with which their teachings are subtly undermining the gospel. It is very much like the familiar illustration of the frog in a pot of water. The water is slowly brought to a boil, but the frog never jumps out to save its life because it doesn't perceive the gradual change in temperature.
The technical term for the core of NA teachings is panentheism (not to be confused with pantheism). Panentheism basically means that you keep your present religion but tack on the belief that "God is all in all", which does not mean what the Bible is talking about concerning the omnipresence of God. God is everywhere, but he is not in everything. That would make the Creator equal to his creation, which is blasphemy.
I'm sure many well-intentioned churchgoers will scream, but one example of this subtle poison is The Purpose Driven Life (PDL), which Deceived On Purpose exposes as NA in Christian clothing. Remember, the author is a former NA practitioner, so he knows the jargon and understands the practices and teachings. He shows the many direct quotes of NA leaders in PDL, and how one of the "translations" used in that book (The Message) contains some unmistakable NA terminology. For example, instead of "on earth as it is in heaven", The Message renders it "As above, so below". This is a direct quote of a time-honored NA phrase (there is even a NA journal called As Above, So Below). What this means is that all/everyone is God(s) but we just don't know it.
You don't see the danger in this? Read this chilling quote from NA leader Barbara Marx Hubbard:
"All that hinders the manifestation of man's divinity must be driven from our planet... The crime of separation must be driven from this world... The fundamental regression is self-centeredness, or the illusion that you are separate from God. I "make war" on self-centeredness... one self-centered soul is like a lethal cancer cell in a body..." (emphasis mine)
People who don't "get with the program" are to be hunted down and destroyed as "cancer cells" who are in the way of global peace and harmony. This brings new light to the Biblical statement of the Antichrist, "And by PEACE he shall destroy many" (Daniel 8:25). We who do not practice mind-emptying techniques will be "criminals" who must be put to death.
Bruce Wilkinson's book The Dream Giver is a kind of "parable" that he uses to encourage people to achieve what they were meant to be, in which The Dream Giver (God) gives everyone a dream to reach their goal. The character Ordinary is given a Big Dream to become Somebody. To achieve this he must travel to Borderland, but as he reaches it he is opposed by Border Bullies who try to drive him back to the land of Familiar. Along come the Border Busters who help Ordinary reach his Dream. Eventually Ordinary wakes up in Sanctuary, whereupon he is to give up his Dream to the Dream Giver to have it blessed and returned to him. Now the Dream is not just Ordinary's (who is now Somebody), but it is instead the Dream Giver's.
Then Wilkinson presents himself as the Dream Coach, who encourages you to "wake up to your Big Dream and set out to achieve it". He adds, "You know you're ready to move past your Border Bullies when you realize that their objections belong to Familiar. But you don't live there anymore." In trying to somehow tie this in with anything the Bible says, Wilkinson says,
"... the path will lead us through the valley of potential humiliation before the crown of godly pride is placed upon our heads... The cross Christ calls us to bear will be offered as a dream... Tremendous human energy is needed... to complete [God's] dream for our self-esteem." (emphasis added)
Okay kids, can anyone guess who the Border Bullies are in this story? That's right, it's people like me who fill our minds and hearts with the Word of God, who lay down "self-esteem" at the feet of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who raise the alarm when the NA starts to rattle its saber from within the church. We are the "cancer cells" who are a stumbling block to world peace, the criminals who would keep everyone else from realizing "the god within". We must be eliminated for the greater good of mankind. There is no tolerance for negativity or separation from "the one".
This dream imagery is nothing new, but comes straight out of NA publications, such as NA leader Wayne Dyer's chapter on Oneness in the book You'll See It When You Believe It. The church does not realize how far it has strayed from the Truth. Jesus said, "You have left your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen and repent!" (Revelation 2:4-5).
Christian, how hot does the water have to get before you'll acknowledge that there is something terribly wrong?
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Ready2Rapture
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- interesting... by SqueakyClean
19 y
1,017
| I like what you wrote and mostly agree with it in a first read-through (would need to go back and think more deeply to be sure). I'm not familiar with the Bruce Wilkinson analogy you mentioned, but I wouldn't be so quick to associate the Border Bullies with people like yourself, as you did. I think Bruce would agree with your opinion, and so just to be fair I would want to find out who the Border Bullies really depict.
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SqueakyClean
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- Re: interesting... by Ready2Rapture
19 y
1,165
Hi, thanks for your comment. Of course Wilkinson would not go so far as to identify the Border Bullies as Christians, since he is considered to be one. What I'm saying is that this is an excellent portrayal of NA thought. The fact that this dream story is almost identical to prior NA material is what makes the analogy plausible.
It really is hard to summarize over 300 pages (total for two books) into so short a space, so it would be much better to read the books for yourself. My goal in posting this was to alert believers to the systematic subversion of Christianity from things that appear on the surface to be positive, uplifting, and "a movement of God". Satan is no idiot; he knows a frontal assult is much less effective than a "siren song".
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Ready2Rapture
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- Re: interesting... by SqueakyClean
19 y
924
Well, Wilkinson is definitely a Christian. I would be interested to read that book when I have time (in a month or so).
Hey do you have any more info on the Purpose Drive Life stuff? Because my church has just started it, it's a big deal, but I've heard some negative things about it. I'm trying to keep my eyes open for this.
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SqueakyClean
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- Which "THE Church" Huh... by kerminator
19 y
1,051
Never found so called "The Church" as refered to by the US Gov., news media, and general world.... because there is not any such....
It is not a building(s), a denomination(s), or some set of Religions Rules..... What we need to understand is that the only "True Church" is the body of believers, in the Salvation and good Graces GOD ALMIGHTY.... None other, period....
Each person is saved [Pardoned/ Forgiven/ Redeemed] thru the GRACE of GOD only...
Each must learn about their sin(s) thru the Truth of the Gospel, Prayer, and medition thru the Holy Spirit... Then seek to forgive all others, so you can accept the Forgivness and Salvation Of GOD....... HE DID FOR US WHAT WE COULD NOT DO FOR OURSELVES!! Amen
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kerminator
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- Re: Which "THE Church" Huh... by Ready2Rapture
19 y
1,077
This is a good example of the importance of context. "Church" in the context here means the Christian community, the people who attend church services. I did not intend to convey the idea that there could be mystics in the real body of Christ.
Yet the danger to real Christians is no less important. We can lose many rewards by failing to discern, by getting careless. Even if we ourselves are saved, we can be responsible for leading others astray by failing to recognize and oppose false teachings.
The NT is filled with warnings about false teachings and false teachers. It is our duty as believers to stay alert and stay faithful.
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Ready2Rapture
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