GATEWAY TO APOSTASY:
SOUTHERN BAPTIST GATEWAY SEMINARY http://www.gs.edu/
ADDED TO CONTEMPLATIVE PROMOTING COLLEGE LIST
SEE: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/newsletters/2016/newsletter20160919.htm; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
You can do some of your own research on Gateway Seminary by visiting this page that lists all their course’s syllabi: http://www.gs.edu/academics/course-syllabi/. But here is one example:
- In Gateway’s Dr. David Robinson’s Spiritual Formation course, his syllabus states: “This course is designed to explore and experience the concepts of Christian spiritual formation and the establishment of spiritual disciplines that foster continuous spiritual growth. Students will participate directly in specific spiritual disciplines.” Here’s the required textbooks for the course:
Benner, David G. The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery. DownersGrove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004.That means if your future (or even present) pastor or youth pastor is studying at that school, he is going to get a hardy helping of the writings of contemplative prayer advocates. You see Dallas Willard was highly influenced by the Catholic contemplative prayer movement as is David Benner. And don’t be fooled by Mark Buchanan’s innocent sounding book title. His book is endorsed on the back cover by emerging figures Lauren Winner and Philip Yancey. And why wouldn’t they endorse the book?—It fits right in with what they believe. And his book is filled with the usual contemplative language and suspects.
Buchanan, Mark. The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath. Nashville, TN:W Publishing Group, Div. of Thomas Nelson, 2006.
Willard, Dallas. The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives. NewYork, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991.
You must remember, in the contemplative prayer movement, the whole objective is to convince people they must “stop thinking,” “rest the mind,” “still the soul,” “be still,” “turn off thoughts,” and so forth. What they are really talking about is putting the mind in neutral, so to speak, and thus going into an altered state of consciousness as prescribed in eastern meditation. Why? So one can “hear the voice of God.” What is this “voice of God” going to tell you? That you are “beloved,” “divine,” “I AM,” “a higher self,” “the true self”—oh yes, that you are God!! That’s what this whole movement is all about. Whether it’s Jesus Calling, The Shack, Purpose Driven, Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, or Henri Nouwen, the message is coming across loud and clear, YOU’VE GOT TO HEAR THE VOICE OF GOD! This “hearing the voice of God” that happens during contemplative meditation is different than the legitimate prompting, leading, and guiding of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life.
The problem contemplatives have run into in their idea of hearing the voice of God is a two-fold obstacle: the Word of God and our minds (our thoughts). So we have to turn the Bible into a meditation tool with things like lectio divina and then shut out those thoughts we have with meditation exercises. Then we can finally hear “the voice of God.” Remember what Brennan Manning said:
“The first step of faith is to stop thinking about God at the time of prayer.” -From Signature of Jesus, Brennan Manning, p. 212 (page 198 in a later edition)Lighthouse Trails has always said that contemplative and emerging are synonymous terms? Take a look at professor Robinson’s bibliography for his Spiritual Formation course at Gateway Seminary. It’s a “Cream of the Crop” who’s who in emerging contemplative spirituality. A few names in his list: Brian McLaren, Henri Nouwen, Richard Foster, Morton Kelsey, John of the Cross, Doug Pagitt, Eugene Peterson, and Teresa of Avila. These are the people from whom this professor is gleaning spiritual food. Not only are these all promoters of contemplative mysticism, most of them are panenthestic.
Another class from Gateway that is taking instruction from contemplative authors is Dr. Dallas Bivins’ Spiritual Formation class. Many of the same names as Robinson’s class, but add Kenneth Boa’s Handbook to Prayer to that. Boa, as Lighthouse Trails has documented in the past, is a strong advocate for contemplative spirituality.
Then there is Dr. Bob Bender’s Pastoral Counseling class at Gateway Seminary with a number of contemplative/emergent authors listed in the syllabus including Brian McLaren admirer Dan Allender (not to mention Henri Nouwen, Brennan Manning, David Benner, Larry Crabb, and others of similar caliber).
Robinson, Bivins, and Bender’s classes are part of Gateway’s Leadership Formation program. Scary to think of the kind of leaders Gateway is going to produce for the church.
Lest you think it’s just their Leadership Formation program that has serious problems, their Global Missions program is riddled with contemplative emergent influences as well. Other syllabi authors used by Gateway Seminary include emerging figures N.T. Wright, Alan Hirsch, Eddie Gibbs (see Faith Undone), Mark Driscoll, Bill Hybels, Sally Morgenthaler, Tim Keller, Buddhist sympathizer and Catholic convert Peter Kreeft (listed under In Defense of the Christian Faith!), not to mention C. Peter Wagner. We think you get the point.
If you belong to the Southern Baptist Convention and are thinking of sending someone you care about to Gateway Seminary, we hope you will reconsider.
Here’s a closing piece of documentation we found from Gateway Seminary’s website. It’s an article written by Dr. Doran McCarty called “A Guide for Spiritual Formation Mentors.” In this article, McCarty talks about spiritual hunger. He says even Christians have this. This is typical of those who promote contemplative spirituality. Across the board, contemplatives insist that Christians feel dry, empty, want to go deeper, etc. We can’t think of one contemplative we have studied who has not indicated this. What has always puzzled us is this: If someone has had the new birth in Jesus Christ, which means he or she has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (God), how can we feel empty, dry, and needing to “go deeper”? Now one may feel this way if he or she has neglected time in the Word and in prayer but what contemplatives suggest is that even time in the Word and normal prayer are not enough – something more is needed. What they neglect to tell us is that while the Holy Spirit has been given to believers to nurture, convict, and guide us as we pray and study His Word, there is also a pseudo Holy Spirit (i.e., familiar spirits) that come to those who engage in mind-altering meditation. We know that contemplative prayer is wrong because mind altering or mantra meditation is forbidden in Deuteronomy 18:9-13, and Jesus instructed His disciples not to use such a prayer practice in Matthew 6:7. We also know contemplative prayer is wrong because the proven fruit of this practice is that it leads to a pantheistic or panentheistic spiritual outlook while the message of the Cross (the Gospel) becomes irrelevant as the participant grows to believe that we are already a part of God.
Now if we are in Christ, we do have the Holy Spirit with and in us, and He promises never to leave us. But those like McCarty have something else in mind. What caught our attention most in this article by McCarty is his reference to and quoting of panentheist Tilden Edwards (also co-founder of the Shalem Prayer Institute in Washington, DC). McCarty quotes Edwards referencing the “spiritual friend.” In Edwards’ book, Spiritual Friend, he says the following:
“This mystical stream [contemplative prayer] is the Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality.”—Tilden Edwards, Spiritual Friend, p. 18.This is what Lighthouse Trails has been trying to warn the church about for nearly 15 years.
For those who are unsure as to how the majority of Christian schools ended up in this mess, please read our special report “An Epidemic of Apostasy – How Christian Seminaries Must Incorporate “Spiritual Formation” to Become Accredited.” In that report, you will learn that largely due to accreditation associations (such as ATS, where Gateway Seminary is accredited) requiring Christian schools to have Spiritual Formation integrated into their schools if they want to be accredited (kind of a quazi-bribing situation, if you will) is why this is happening at such a fast rate. From nearly fifteen years of research, we estimate that over 90% of the Christian higher education institutions have brought in Spiritual Formation (aka contemplative spirituality). That’s called a spiritual crisis in modern-day Christianity and a gateway into apostasy.
If you are confused about what contemplative prayer is, please read this article by Ray Yungen:http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=18192.
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THE GETTYS ARE COMING TO GATEWAY
SEE:
"The Gettys-The Pied Pipers of Contemporary Worship Music"
QUOTES: The Getty’s ecumenical, one-world-church goal is to “bring everyone together musically” (www.keithgetty.com). They want to “bridge the gap between the traditional and contemporary” (www.gettymusic.com/about.aspx). The Gettys are also a bridge to a wide variety of theological heresy. Any bridge that Bible-believing churches build to the Gettys is a bridge beyond the Gettys to people like Bono of U2. In the same 2013 interview, Getty claimed C.S. Lewis as a major theological influence. Yet Lewis rejected the fundamental doctrines of the infallible inspiration of Scripture and “penal substitutionary atonement” and believed in purgatory and baptismal regeneration. Any bridge that Bible-believing churches build to the Gettys is a bridge beyond the Gettys to heretics like C.S. Lewis. The Gettys have a close working relationship with Stuart Townend, who is radically charismatic and ecumenical. In October 2012, the Gettys joined hands with emerging heretic Leonard Sweet at the National Worship Leader Conference in San Diego. Sweet calls his universalist-tinged doctrine New Light and “quantum spirituality” and “the Christ consciousness” and describes it in terms of “the union of the human with the divine” which is the “center feature of all the world’s religions”. Any bridge that Bible-believing churches build to the Gettys is a bridge beyond the Gettys to heretics such as C.S. Lewis and Bono, to the Roman Catholic Church, to the Charismatic movement, to the filthy world of secular rock, to emergents and New Agers like Leonard Sweet, and to every element of the end-time one-world “church.”
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SEE OUR PREVIOUS POST ABOUT DAVID G. BENNER:
ALSO SEE: http://ratherexposethem.blogspot.com/2013/02/catholic-rooted-spiritual-formation-not.html;
republished in full:
CATHOLIC ROOTED SPIRITUAL FORMATION NOT FOR SEXUALLY ABUSED BIBLE BELIEVING CHRISTIANS
We recently recommended GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) http://netgrace.org/. In the resources area of this website we found an article that we disagree with. Here's why:
Andrew Schmutzer of Moody Bible Institute, has written for Biola University's "Institute of Spiritual Formation", specifically their "Journal of Spirtitual Formation and Soul Care". Biola is one of the most extreme proponents of contemplative mysticism and new age spiritual formation, as reported by Lighthouse Trails Research here: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=1416. Schmutzer's is a mystical article recommending such practices for the sexually abused at: http://netgrace.org/wp-content/uploads/Sexual-Abuse-and-Formation_Schmutzer-copy.pdf.
We are warning Bible believing, Reformation adhering Christians to avoid any such program which maligns traditional "Western" Christianity as lacking the ability to heal the full person who has been sexually abused. See pages 77-83 of this article in particular, which alleges that Christianity has had a gross problem with sexuality in all forms, demonstrated in the quote:
"Precisely where transformation and healing are needed in SA, one may encounter a minimization of the 'soma' as a suspicion of the 'flesh' and a practical denial of sexual impulses. When this occurs, it has 'left us with a disembodied theology and a great deal of shame.' Assessing spiritual transformation, for example, Dallas Willard has recently lamented that it often does not work because it 'does not involve the body in the process of transformation.' Willard quips, 'One of the ironies of spiritual formation is that every ‘spiritual’ discipline is or involves bodily behavior.' This disembodied theology remains one of the greatest hindrances to the healing of the sexually abused in Christian ministries".
This mystical and unmeasurable theory claims that, based on the "Eastern" (Hindu/Buddhist/Taoist) new age philosophies and theologies of persons like Dallas Willard,
Andrew Schmutzer of Moody Bible Institute, has written for Biola University's "Institute of Spiritual Formation", specifically their "Journal of Spirtitual Formation and Soul Care". Biola is one of the most extreme proponents of contemplative mysticism and new age spiritual formation, as reported by Lighthouse Trails Research here: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=1416. Schmutzer's is a mystical article recommending such practices for the sexually abused at: http://netgrace.org/wp-content/uploads/Sexual-Abuse-and-Formation_Schmutzer-copy.pdf.
We are warning Bible believing, Reformation adhering Christians to avoid any such program which maligns traditional "Western" Christianity as lacking the ability to heal the full person who has been sexually abused. See pages 77-83 of this article in particular, which alleges that Christianity has had a gross problem with sexuality in all forms, demonstrated in the quote:
"Precisely where transformation and healing are needed in SA, one may encounter a minimization of the 'soma' as a suspicion of the 'flesh' and a practical denial of sexual impulses. When this occurs, it has 'left us with a disembodied theology and a great deal of shame.' Assessing spiritual transformation, for example, Dallas Willard has recently lamented that it often does not work because it 'does not involve the body in the process of transformation.' Willard quips, 'One of the ironies of spiritual formation is that every ‘spiritual’ discipline is or involves bodily behavior.' This disembodied theology remains one of the greatest hindrances to the healing of the sexually abused in Christian ministries".
This mystical and unmeasurable theory claims that, based on the "Eastern" (Hindu/Buddhist/Taoist) new age philosophies and theologies of persons like Dallas Willard,
the practices of spiritual formation, comprised of individual but mostly communal rituals, liturgies, and practices (unspecified), can heal the sexually abused where just "ordinary" Christian counseling, prayer and study in the word of God fails, because traditional Christianity ignores the "whole person".
This is gnosticism pure and simple, which makes the claim to have found superior knowledge that only the select few highly educated have discovered and revealed to us, and which ordinary Christians are ill-equipped to understand.
For Schmutzer to rely on the recommendations of Dallas Willard and people of similar beliefs is first a repudiation of the Reformation and the five solas, and is de facto, an alignment with the Catholic Church's many "anathemas" of the Inquisition. Secondly the practices of spiritual formation are doubly dangerous, because it purports to be a new found methodology of a cure for the sexually abused who should not be experimented with, and who also risk being spiritually abused by a system which has pagan, Catholic, and new age roots, without any disclaimers or warnings. Disclaimers and/or warnings would have been appropriate in view of the non-Christian roots of these practices (noticeably lacking in the article), with the added very real possibility that a participant would "bring down" and "connect with" a demon or demons who masquerade as the one true God. Thirdly, Scmutzer maligns the Western church's reliance on "grace", and implying that those who subscribe to grace rather than a methodology of works as found in spiritual formation would feel "hedged in" by such works. We would propose that true Bible believers would in fact not just feel so, but likewise condemn such practices not only because it is works added to grace, but also because it is non-Christian to the core.
Schmutzer and his wife lead a "CHAI" (Courageous Healing of Abuse and Isolation) group at Wheaton Bible Church for the sexually abused: http://lifeatwheatonbiblechurch.com/2012/02/22/like-chai-its-catching-on/.
References and research on Dallas Willard and his contemplative/mystical/new age associations:
From Lighthouse Trails Research:
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/dallaswillard.htm.
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?tag=dallas-willard.
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=5734.
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=5058.
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/withgod.htm.
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=3837.
Southern View Chapel by Gary Gilley:
http://www.svchapel.org/resources/book-reviews/4-christian-living/773-hearing-god-developing-a-conversational-relationship-with-god/.
Apprising.org:
http://apprising.org/2008/08/12/delusions-of-dallas-willard/.
http://apprising.org/2008/08/30/dallas-willard-an-emergent-conspirator/.
http://apprising.org/2010/02/07/is-dallas-willard-a-christian/.
http://apprising.org/2010/03/16/debunking-dallas-willard-and-being-worthy-to-be-saved/.
http://apprising.org/2008/04/26/the-spiritual-disciplines-of-dallas-willard-destroyed/.
Stand Up for the Truth:
http://standupforthetruth.com/2012/05/spiritual-formation-and-neo-gnosticism-lead-believers-down-shakey-path/.
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Todd Friel of Wretched Radio on Dallas Willard on universalism and works salvation in video below.
Dallas Willard quotes:
“Now, I believe that everyone who deserves to be saved will be saved no matter where they are or what they do.”
"(God) is open and in touch with everyone in the world, and for all who seek them with all of their heart—and that is defined in terms of coming to love Him, and not just have the right beliefs about Him—but coming to love Him, and loving their neighbor as themselves."
"I am not going to stand in the way of anyone whom God wants to save. I am not going to say ‘he can’t save them.’ I am happy for God to save anyone he wants in any way he can. It is possible for someone who does not know Jesus to be saved."
Dallas Willard quotes:
“Now, I believe that everyone who deserves to be saved will be saved no matter where they are or what they do.”
"(God) is open and in touch with everyone in the world, and for all who seek them with all of their heart—and that is defined in terms of coming to love Him, and not just have the right beliefs about Him—but coming to love Him, and loving their neighbor as themselves."
"I am not going to stand in the way of anyone whom God wants to save. I am not going to say ‘he can’t save them.’ I am happy for God to save anyone he wants in any way he can. It is possible for someone who does not know Jesus to be saved."
