http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/index.php?p=1555&c=1

Book Review on Castles in the Sandby C. Pack(Used with permission)"Spiritual Formation is Dangerous.... And Here's Why"

As a former New Ager, I have become increasingly alarmed at the New Age/New Spirituality practices and beliefs that I have seen flowing into the church. I was saved in a conservative, evangelical church that boldly proclaimed the gospel: Jesus is THE Way, THE Truth and THE Life, and no-one comes to the Father but by Him. Yet, within 2 years time, this same precious church began to preach sermons on past mystics (St. John of the Cross), began offering yoga classes, and began to adopt practices that eerily reminded me of my New Age days... all of which are an assault on the true gospel.

In my spiritual immaturity, I just assumed that there was a type of mysticism that was okay within the framework of Christendom. I even participated in "setting the stage" for these new practices to come into our church: I helped hang blackout curtains to set the right "atmosphere," I set up candles, I carefully placed incense stations so they were out of reach of small children, etc.However, after doing a little research (just to put my mind at ease), I came to the startling realization that these "Christianized" practices (yoga, contemplative prayer, Lectio Divina, etc.) were identical to what I (and my New Age friends) had done, way back in the 80s and 90s...they just had new names.

This book by Carolyn Greene unmasks the demonic nature of these practices and shows how our Christian children are being exposed to them. The heroine of this novel, Teresa, goes off to a Christian college that has always had a reputation for being doctrinally solid. Unbeknownst to her (and her foster grandparents, who themselves attended the school), the college has just begun implementing new classes in Spiritual Formation, Ancient Future, Lectio Divina, and Contemplative Prayer, among others. Not only that, but they've bulldozed the boring old soccer field to make way for a Labyrinth.... The story cuts back and forth between the experiences of the young student Teresa and another Teresa set in the 16th century - St. Teresa of Avila, a well-known mystic. As the student Teresa is unwittingly sucked deeper and deeper into a vortex of unbiblical practices and demonic deception, she becomes the star pupil of the college's glamorous new teacher, Dr. Jasmine Winters, who is introducing these enthralled young students to new - yet unbiblical - ways to "experience" God.

On a sidenote, let me state that as parents, we have been "trained" by our church leadership to turn over the spiritual discipling of our children to the leadership, whether at church or school.....but how sure are we that the youth group or private school or "Christian" college our kids are attending are, in fact, discipling them in solid Biblical truths?

The emergent church movement, which heavily promotes Spiritual Formation and Contemplative practices, is a HUGE and very popular movement today. It prides itself with being able to "dialogue" with today's youth, with being culturally relevant to them. But as Christians, we know that our children's deepest spiritual need is NOT to be "engaged" by someone with hipness and cultural relevancy, but is rather to be given spiritual truth: that they are dead in their sins, depraved at their core, and in need of God's mercy and plan of salvation, through Christ's atoning death on the cross. The emergent church movement never gives this message, because at its core, emergent theology is a cross between New Age and Universalist thought (man's divine inner goodness + good works = salvation.

If the gospel is not clearly given to our youth, but instead we are giving them exciting, but unbiblical, "experiences" - which seem spiritual because they're wrapped in Christian terminology - then we've damned them. In our rush to do the next big thing, we are taking the edge off the blade, as it were, and giving our children just enough "Christianity" to "feel" spiritual and saved, without them coming to God on His terms: through the blood of Christ. These emergent experiences do not have the power to save, but instead are just "a form of godliness" without salvific power (2 Tim 3:5).

This book will be eye-opening for anyone who has heard the terms Ancient Future, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation, Contemplative Prayer, Lectio Divina, etc. and perhaps wondered what they were, and if they were biblical. They absolutely are not... and Carolyn Greene shows us why.

(Originally posted at Amazon.com, used with permission from C. Pack)Click here for more information on Castles in the Sand. (This article copied from LighthouseTrailsResearch.Com)

From http://deceptionbytes.com/LatterRainHeresies
Disclaimer: We do not agree with everything on this site. It just so happens, that this article is very good.)

The following ideas and beliefs are characteristic of Latter Rain movement also known as Manifest Sons of God, The Melchizedek Order, New Apostles, The Third Wave, Manchild Company, and other names. These ideas and beliefs are steeped in new age philosophies, mysticism, gnosticism, and outright occultism and are being propagated in the church as a whole.
The following ideas and beliefs are characteristic of Latter Rain movement also known as Manifest Sons of God, The Melchizedek Order, New Apostles, The Third Wave, Manchild Company, and other names. These ideas and beliefs are steeped in new age philosophies, mysticism, gnosticism, and outright occultism and are being propagated in the church as a whole.
The following was taken from the Book Strange Fire, The Rise of Gnosticism in the Church written by Travers and Jewel van der Merwe.

See whether you can identify any of the following heresies:
1. Have an "elitist mentality".
2. Consider themselves essentially Divine, equal to Christ.
3. Believe they are the Manifest Sons of God.
4. Believe their Divinity comes from within themselves.
5. Reject the literal Biblical view of the resurrection and the "rapture" of the church.
6. Are Overcomers and Conquerors of evil and the world.
7. Are in the process of becoming perfect and immortal in this age.
8. Claim to be members of the Melchizedek Order - High Priest with Christ.
9. Will purge the world of undesirables.
10. Will reign on the earth as gods.
11. Attribute their revelations to the Divine Gnosis (knowledge) located in them.
12. Share the same political ambition to establish the government of the "Sons of God" to the exclusion of the personal presence of Jesus Christ.
13. Insist the Bible should be interpreted allegorically, symbolically and spiritually.
14. Believe it is wrong to interpret the Bible literally.
15. Reject Israel as a chosen nation of God.
16. Are anti-Semitic.
17. Reject the written Holy Scriptures as the final, inerrant and infallible Voice of God above all other voices or experiences.
18. Stress love and unity with little or no regard for sound doctrine or a sound mind.
19. Reject the resurrection and redemption of the body.
20. Spiritualise the resurrection and redemption of the body.
21. Reject the personal coming of the anti-christ.
22. Look forward to the dawning of the New Age on earth, ushered in by a select group of Overcomers, the Sons of God.
23. Reject Orthodox Christianity.
24. Are always receiving "new deep truth" apart from Scripture.
25. Are essentially into "mysticism".
26. Believe in the attainment of perfection and immortality here on earth without a literal resurrection and Rapture.
27. Rejects redemption by the blood of Christ.

The spirit of man is the god-man. These heresies project the following picture: The New Wave "Mystery Babylon" (New Age Religion) riding on the back of orthodox Christianity fulfilling the age long dream of the "Church of Illumination" (Rosicrucian/Gnostic church) i.e., the uniting of the Church founded on "love" and "godhood" - Satan's fruit. THE CHURCH OF ILLUMINATION has been steadily at work with the idea that ultimately the various churches would merge for the benefit of all religions as well as of all mankind. THE CHURCH OF ILLUMINATION looks forward with confidence to a constantly increasing feeling of good will and religious tolerance among the various creeds, so that some day in the not too distant future the dream of unification can be realised and one all-embracing religion taught to all the peoples of all the earth. [The Church of Illumination by Rev. R. Swinburne Clymer, M.D., Quakertown, PA, USA.] This is the vision the Church, for the most part, is accepting and upholding, above the Scriptures. This is the "elitism" that fundamentalists, charismatics, pentecostals and evangelicals are now opening to. This is the mysticism that enshrines the new age form of "elitism" in the Church

Why Compromise in Christian Publishing Costs in the Long Run"Why compromise costs in the long runExclusive: Jim Fletcher argues publishers can't leave truth to pursue manna"
By Jim FletcherWorldNetDaily

With attendance down significantly at the Christian Booksellers' Association trade show last week, I want to examine some reasons for the decline in Christian retail---without focusing on the much bemoaned economy.
Discussing the real reasons for that decline, however, can't be done in polite company.
The production and sale of Christian books assumes that the publishers, trade organizations and sales channels pull in the same direction philosophically. That would mean, of course, that fundamentally, a person working in the Christian book industry would embrace the teachings of the Bible. The Christian Booksellers Association operated on this philosophy for many years.
In the 1990s, however, there was a shift in philosophy. Publishers, stores and distributors began to realize the vast potential for making money. As time went on, to appeal to the broadest possible audience, works began to creep in that were decidedly not aligned with the Bible.
I remember years ago walking onto the floor of a CBA convention and seeing Health Communications' booth. They were rolling out the first of the wildly successful "Chicken Soup" books. In the first volume, I remember reading an essay that discussed the "Golden Buddha" inside us.
I don't have a Golden Buddha inside me, and neither do orthodox Christians.
So I wrote to a CBA representative, saying basically, "Hey, you'll never guess who I saw at CBA. You are probably not aware of this."
They were aware of it. The representative sent me a letter, then his lawyer sent me a letter. Both explained they had to allow Health Communications to display. Click here to read this entire article.
Related Stories:
A list of Christian publishers publishing contemplative/emerging material
Baker Book publishing goes contemplative
Christian publishers that are NOT promoting contemplative/emerging spirituality

You can't argue with this man/his credentials. He's one of the best apologetics of our time. (hmmm many of your local churches admire this book)

The Shack: Helpful or Heretical?A Critical Review by Norman L. Geisler and Bill Roach
http://normangeisler.net/theshack.html

The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina will be sponsoring a conference this fall featuring yoga proponent and emerging church leader Doug Pagitt. The Wired2Grow event will take place on October 16th in Burlington, North Carolina....Pagitt is the pastor of Solomon's Porch in Minnesota where yoga classes are often held. In the December 3rd 2005 issue of the Twin Cities Pioneer Press, it stated: "Christian yoga has been gaining a devout following, and Twin Cities pastor Doug Pagitt has endorsed the practice in his new book, Body Prayer: The Posture of Intimacy with God." A PBS news story (see video) on the emerging church featured Doug Pagitt. The video also showed yoga classes taking place at the 2005 Emergent Convention in which Pagitt was a speaker. In one segment of the video (25 second mark), there was an Egyptian god symbol above a sanctuary stage (25 second mark) of a church. Currently, on the Solomon Church website is advertised the Women's Yoga and Prayer class...

Pagitt, like most emerging church leaders, resonates with mysticism (such as yoga and contemplative prayer) and is sympathetic towards Catholicism. In Roger Oakland's book, Faith Undone, he quotes Pagitt. Pagitt states: "During a recent Life Development Forum we offered a session on Christian practices. In one of the four weeks we introduced the act of making the sign of the cross on ourselves. This gesture has become a very powerful experience for me. It is rich with meaning and history and is such a simple way to proclaim and pray my faith with my body. I hold the fingers on my right hand in the shape of a cross, my index finger lying over the top of my outstretched thumb. I use the Eastern Orthodox pattern of touching first head, then heart, then right lung followed by left. Others in the group follow the Roman Catholic practice with left before right." (Faith Undone, p. 51) ....

While many Christians think that yoga is ok if it is just practiced as a physical exercise omitting the spiritual aspects, even Hindu yoga masters say that you cannot separate the two. In one article titled "There is No Christian Yoga" by Hindu Yogi Baba Prem, Vedavisharada, CYI, C.ay, C.va, he states: It was quite astonishing to see on the flyer 'Christian Yoga! This Thursday night....' I could feel the wheels spinning in my brain. 'Christian Yoga,' I thought. Now while Christians can practice yoga, I am not aware of any Christian teachings about yoga. Yoga is not a Judeo/Christian word! It is ... certainly not a part of protestant teachings. It is not found within the King James Version of the bible. It is a Hindu word, or more correctly a Sanskrit word from the Vedic civilization.

So how did we get 'Christian Yoga'? In an email Lighthouse Trails received from a professor at the Classical Yoga Hindu Academy, he stated: Is Yoga a religion that denies Jesus Christ? Yes. Just as Christianity denies the Hindu MahaDevas such as Siva, Vishnu, Durga and Krishna, to name a few, Hinduism and its many Yogas have nothing to do with God and Jesus (though we do respect that others believe in this way). As Hindus who live the Yogic lifestyle, we appreciate when others understand that all of Yoga is all about the Hindu religion. Modern so-called 'yoga' is dishonest to Hindus and to all non-Hindus such as the Christians.In a DVD titled Yoga Uncoiled by Caryl Productions, she explains that Yoga is not mere exercise.

The postures themselves are specifically designed to worship the gods of Hinduism. For anyone who thinks that Yoga exercises (postures) are valid and safe, please get a copy of Dave Hunt's book, Yoga and the Body of Christ and Caryl Matrisciana's DVD. You will not only have a deeper understanding of the true nature of Yoga, but you will also see how dangerous it is to the spiritual welfare of the believer.
Unfortunately, Pagitt's role in the North Carolina Baptist event is not the only indication that the North Carolina organization is heading into the contemplative/emergent camp.

In their Spiritual Formation department, they include Marjorie Thompson's book Soul Feast. In a recent book review, Thompson is quoted from her book as saying: Some Christians find that "mindfulness meditation," a traditional Buddhist practice, helps them live their Christian discipleship more faithfully.... The practice of contemplative prayer might give a Christian ground for constructive dialogue with a meditating Buddhist. (from Prologue of Soul Feast)...BSCNC is also advertising the North Carolina Five-Day Academy for Spiritual Formation. A look at the retreat's brochure reveals influence by Catholic priest and mystic Thomas Merton, who said he wanted to be the best Buddhist he could be and who compared dropping LSD to practicing contemplative prayer... (This article is from LighthouseTrailsResearch.com)