"I am traveling down a long, straight path. There is nothing particularly compelling about it, other than the fact that it leads where I am heading. It seems to stretch forever, the same gray colors seem to blend into a drabness and boredom with no hope of change in sight.
"Suddenly I come to a split in the road. The same road continues straight into the distance, as gray and boring as ever. But curving to the left, I see something awe inspiring. The path is illuminated by a powerful golden light, and every rock and tree seem to crackle with life and a happiness that is unfathomable.
"Suddenly, I am reminded of Robert Frost's poem about the road less traveled. I look toward the spectacle of beauty before me, and then back at the doldrums of the old gray road, some dead leaves blowing in the wind. To the left is something fresh and wonderful; straight ahead is dreariness. The new road, with its curves and light, is very attractive.
"But I don't know the road; I don't know where it leads. It may take me miles out of the way of my destination. It would be a wondrous delight, at least it seems so from here. There really is no way to tell where a road will take you when you first start down it...
Such is the lure of mysticism. Wanderers throughout the mists of time have come this way before and stood perplexed by the choice. The promise of Higher Spirituality is inspiring, alluring many a traveler. But the road seemingly less traveled, the road of beauty, curves far away from where they really want to be.
Mysticism exists in a myriad of forms. Within Christianity, it is seen in Roman Catholic teachings, the 20th century Pentecostal and Charismatic traditions, and in the Quakers. In the great three monotheistic religions, it is seen in the practices of the Gnostic Christians, the Sufi Muslims, and the Kabalistic Jews. Outside of monotheism, mysticism expresses itself in the Western New Age movement, as well as the Eastern Buddhism and Hinduism, Yoga, and Native American spirituality.
The draw of the esoteric is powerful: an ecstatic spiritual experience connecting with the Ultimate in Divine Reality! But the alternative is equally possible and equally frightening: finding that esoterism is the ultimate in spiritual and mental bondage. Escaping the illusion of life becomes escaping everything in life that has any meaning. The rejection of the exoteric spiritual experience is the heart of esoterism.
Spirituality is like flying an aircraft. It is very easy to take off, but landing safely requires thousands of hours of training and skill. True spirituality must not merely take us to the highest heights of spiritual experience, but must bring us back safely to reality.
If you have comments, issues, or concerns, please email me directly: michaelh@ductape.net
"Much confusion today comes from various meanings of the word "meditation." When we are exhorted to meditate on God's word, it means to ponder, to deeply reflect, and to contemplate the meaning of a passage. The word translated as "meditation" in several verses in the Psalms means to meditate in the sense of reflecting upon. In fact, the New Living Translation uses the word "thought" for "meditation" in several of these passages, such as in Ps. 19:14: "May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you." We are to seek to understand God's word with our minds, not to empty the mind, or to bypass the mind for a merging with God.
"Ps. 46:10, far from endorsing a mystical meditative state, is stating to the hearers that they should be in awe of God as the Sovereign Ruler. How ironic that God’s words in this verse are misused to support mystical meditation techniques when the verse itself is a rebuke to pay attention to God’s might!"
This article focuses on how meditative techniques, unfortunately mistaken for Christian spirituality, are being taught to Christian youth.
"Suppose you were introduced to a promotion promising a direct line of communication with the Creator of the universe.
"Let's say you're initially skeptical, but you also find the idea appealing. After all, who wouldn't want to be able to hear from and speak with God as though He were on one's cell phone? As you listen to the deal being pitched and peruse some of the literature, you realize that the key to this is the use of a ouija board. You push the literature aside and head for the exit.
"Virtually every evangelical Christian would quickly reject the proposal, especially if he were aware that a ouija board is an instrument of divination, a device for contacting spirit entities, which the Bible explicitly condemns (Dt. 18:10). The basic problem with divination is that, even though the diviner is sincerely attempting to contact God, the entities with which one ends up communicating are demons (posing as Jesus, God, angels, departed loved ones, aliens, gods, etc.).
"Discernment regarding the above example is for the most part, as my kids would say, "a no brainer! " However, that's rarely the case in today's spiritual marketplace. In particular, the "new and improved' or "revived" ways of communicating with God promoted among evangelicals are highly deceptive and very seductive. God has given His Word and His Holy Spirit to help ifs discern what is of Him and what is not. It's particularly disturbing that a lethal portion of the "what is not" has entered the arena of our evangelical youth. Under the guise of "spiritual exercises that invite direct experiences with God," and with the assurance that they are "classical forms of biblical meditation," growing numbers of our "church" kids are being led unwittingly into the occult."
This article discusses the influence of Roman Catholic mysticism upon Evangelical Christianity, particularly in the popular works of Brennan Manning:
"Some Roman Catholics began to advocate the new theology which Francis Schaeffer warned of in his classic The God Who is There. Schaeffer pointed to Hans Küng and Karl Rahner (both influential in shaping Manning's views) and Tielhard de Chardin as the leading progressive thinkers who were following in the path of Heidegger, the existentialist philosopher. To the new theology, language is always a matter of personal interpretation and therefore the language of the Bible can be used as a vehicle fo continuous existential experiences. A given verse a thousands of different interpretations as each person has an encounter with God." ...
"Schaeffer predicted that the new theology would lead to mysticism. Karl Rahner showed the truth in Schaeffer's prediction when he wrote "The Christian of the future will be a mystic or he or she will not exist at all...By mysticism we mean a genuine experience of God emerging from the very heart of our existence." But Schaeffer had a different definition of mysticism than Rahner's: "Mysticism is nothing more than a faith contrary to rationality, deprived of content and incapable of communication. You can bear witness to it but you cannot discuss it." ...
"Manning speaks much of God's grace and love but these precious biblical concepts are actually replaced by vague notions of wholeness through an eastern religious meditation technique, Centering Prayer. Many of the contemplatives assert that this constitutes the spiritual journey and is the same process as integrating the conscious with the unconscious as described by Jungian psychotherapy. Throughout the course of this book some of the most crucial biblical truths, such as sin and forgiveness, are reinterpreted in the light of therapy. The irony is that a clear biblical gospel, if believed to be true, will produce assurance that has truly profound psychological benefits. There is no place for centering prayer in discipleship. Meditation is to be on God's Word, not on nothingness.
"Contemplative spirituality is dangerous. Christian leaders should warn their people about it. Those who are interested in a comprehensive biblical understanding of true biblical spirituality and of the gospel of Jesus Christ should be warned that Manning is traveling on a wholly other path."
"I was the guest preacher for a few days at a church on the West Coast recently, and the pastor took me sightseeing. Our longest stop on this warm autumn day was the bookstore of one of the largest and best-known evangelical seminaries in the country. Since we didn't have the luxury of half-a-day or more to browse, I headed straight for the section on spirituality and Christian living (I teach the courses in this field at the seminary where I'm a professor). I was delighted to find eight entire bookcases devoted to the subject. Shelf by shelf, however, my delight evaporated into disbelief, then discouragement. Seven of the eight bookcases were crammed with volumes dubiously connected with biblical and evangelical Christianity. Most were written by scholars or churchmen with impressive academic credentials, but who would not sincerely subscribe to one of the established confessions of faith found in historic Christian orthodoxy. These books championed things such as the pursuit of mystical experiences, adopting New Age meditation methods, blending Buddhist thought and devotion with Christianity, incorporating Native American spirituality into the church, harmonizing karma with the Bible, and to one degree or another, showing sympathy with Hinduism, shamanism, paganism, and eco-spirituality. The lesson: errors in theology tend to breed errors in spirituality." ...
"It is one thing for evangelicals to be aware of mystical spirituality and, where it is consistent with Scripture, to appreciate its strengths. It is another to embrace it without realizing that it can never be fully separated from the family of beliefs that produced it. As Arthur L. Johnson, author of Faith Misguided: Exposing the Dangers of Mysticism explained, "To adopt mysticism as a legitimate way of approaching God is to reject the basis of the Protestant Reformation and the basis of evangelicalism."
"The boundaries of Evangelical spirituality are the written self-revelation of God. Thus Evangelicals should also recognize that the boundaries of their spirituality specifically include the biblical doctrines of sola scriptura and sola fide."
This article describes clearly the difference between esoteric and exoteric revelation:
"Pagan religion and biblical orthodoxy ultimately represent the only two possible major religious configurations, namely, the esoteric and the exoteric, the god within or the God without. To be sure, there are multitudinous variations. The many religious expressions confusedly mix elements of both in different doses and mind-numbering computations. However these two represent the pure, mutually exclusive forms. They express the two world views that have given rise to the classic theological distinction known as the "Antithesis"." ...
"Just as you cannot mix oil and water, so you cannot mix paganism and Christianity, esotericism and exotericism. The God of the Bible cannot be both the God of the Bible and, at the same time, a card-carrying member of the pagan pantheon."
Available for purchase online here:
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http://www.lighthousetrails.com/books.htm ]
This book is difficult to find as it is out of print, however it is one of the best critiques of mysticism available. Of particular interest, chapter six deals significantly with the mysticism of Watchman Nee, followed by a chapter discussing the rise of the Charismatic movement and its mysticism. The last chapter deals with the more subtle entry points into mysticism that Evangelicals are often drawn to.
In addition to other strengths of this work, Jerram Barrs has an excellent treatment of the various issues surrounding Platonistic spirituality.
This work is a bit old, but it makes some powerful observations. Of particular interest is Chapter 7, which discusses, in Bloesch's words, the "two types of spirituality," "mystical" and "evangelical." The disctinctions and observations he draws out are profound and worthy of thought. This said, I have found Bloesch's description of true spirituality unsatisfying.
This book is listed above critiquing Mysticism; however it does an excellent job of then explaining what Christian spirituality truly is.
It would be difficult in so short a space to maintain a comprehensive list of authors that promote mystical techniques. However, I will list here some common ones:
Please note that in listing these authors, I am not trying to be offensive. But just because an author is popular does not mean he is practicing true spirituality. Some people are offended when I tell them that one of their favorite spiritual authors is following a deeply anti-Christian and worldly philosophy. However, I consider the writings of these authors dangerous to the formation of a truly spiritual life, and indeed would highly discourage reading them devotionally. We must be careful never to set an author up so high that his writings become a spiritual idol seperating us for the pure spiritual Truth of God's Word.
Donald S. Whitney's website focusing on Spiritual Disciplines in a non-mystical way. Plenty of resources available online.
Contemplative Spirituality comes to Modern Day Christianity
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http://www.lighthousetrails.com/contemplativespirituality.htm ]
© Matt Redman
When the music fades,
All is stripped away, and I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless your heartI'll bring you more than a song
For a song in itself is not what you have required.
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear;
You're looking into my heart.I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about you
All about you Jesus.
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
When it's all about you,
All about you Jesus.King of endless worth
No one could express
How much you deserve.
Though I'm weak and poor
All I have is yours, every single breath.I'll bring you more than a song
For a song in itself is not what you have required.
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear;
You're looking into my heart.I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about you
All about you Jesus.
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
When it's all about you,
All about you Jesus.
"There may still be some who, failing to grasp how close the relationship between God and His children is, will feel cheated if they do not have some subjective experience they can identify as the work of the Spirit. This yearning for the emotional element is likely the result of a history of mystically influenced teaching. It can not be justified on scriptural ground. Tragically, this desire for feelings is also a strong temptation to mysticism itself."
Arthur Johnson, Faith Misguided, p.148
"I'll always be younger than this society. What do you expect
me to do, keep silent all my life?"
Oleg Kostoglotov, from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward
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