Youth Specialties

[Sing4Him]

Message Bible for Little Kids Instructs on Contemplative Meditation :ohno

Source: Lighthouse Trails

This past spring NavPress released My First Message by Eugene Peterson. The book is meant to be a child's first Bible. A product description of the book suggests that the contemplative practice called lectio divina is being utilized: It states:

My First Message: A Devotional Bible for Kids uses the time-tested practice of lectio divina (or "spiritual reading"), a simple but powerful practice used by Christians for centuries to deepen their devotional lives. It is based on four key elements: reading the Bible, thinking about what is means, praying in response to what is says, and living out the truth.1(This section is taken from the book - p. 5.)
Lectio divina is indeed powerful, as are other contemplative practices, but it will not "deepen" the devotional lives of children. On the contrary, it will introduce kids to a spirituality that produce detrimental results on practitioners. Former New Age medium Brian Flynn has written about lectio divina. We hope parents will read his warning before buying Eugene Peterson's book. Flynn states:
The modern day contemplative prayer movement stems from the monastic period of Christianity (early middle ages), which was a time of experimentation and mystical practices. One of the practices, lectio divina, meaning sacred reading, involved taking a page of Scripture and reading it over and over again.

However, Friar Luke Dysinger, a present-day monk at Saint Andrews Abbey, describes lectio divina in a different way:
Choose a text of the Scriptures ... Place yourself in a comfortable position and allow yourself to become silent. Some Christians focus for a few moments on their breathing; others have a beloved 'prayer word' or 'prayer phrase' they gently recite in order to become interiorly silent. For some the practice known as 'centering prayer' makes a good, brief introduction to lectio divina....

Then turn to the text and read it slowly, gently. Savor each portion of the reading, constantly listening for the 'still, small voice' of a word or phrase that somehow says, 'I am for you today ...Next take the word or phrase into yourself. Memorize it and slowly repeat it to yourself, allowing it to interact with your inner world of concerns, memories and ideas.

Learn to use words when words are helpful, and to let go of words when they no longer are necessary. Rejoice in the knowledge that God is with you in both words and silence, in spiritual activity and inner receptivity.1
This practice has become extremely popular in today's Christian youth organizations and programs. Youth Specialties, a world renowned Christian organization, instructs young people and youth workers to incorporate lectio divina into their prayer lives. In their magazine, Youth Worker Journal, they describe lectio divina this way:
This is a fancy Latin term for 'sacred reading' and has also been called 'meditation on the Word.' Sacred reading is the practice of reading scripture slowly in a spirit of contemplation. The goal isn't exegesis or analysis, but allowing God to speak to us through the word. Christians often refer to the Bible as God's love letter to mankind, and when we take the time to read it as such, we are practicing sacred reading."
The article then exhorts readers to:
Take a short passage and repeat it over and over again aloud. With each repetition, remove extraneous words until you've broken the passage down to one thought. An obvious example is John 14:27, which could easily be broken down to the word 'peace.'
The concept of allowing God to speak through His Word is perfectly legitimate. I experience that when I read or meditate on the Bible. However, in the context of this article the purpose is not to contemplate the meaning of a Bible verse by thinking about it but is rather meant to gain an experience from it.
There is a difference between reading the Word and understanding its meaning versus a method of focusing on a single word to gain a mystical experience.2
In light of NavPress' PrayKids magazine where contemplative prayer is encouraged, it makes sense that they would publish Peterson's contemplative promoting Bible for kids, but it is tragic to think of how many children could be drawn into a spiritual camp that ultimately negates the gospel and takes practitioners into what contemplative father Thomas Keating calls kundalini (serpent power),3 a Hindu term for the deep trance state that meditators experience. While Richard Foster himself admits that this type of prayer can be very dangerous, (see RAW, p. 144) it is a mystery then why contemplatives would want to teach this to children.

In the PrayKids magazine, NavPress says:
Contemplative prayer is a form of meditative prayer that focuses on communing with God. Although sometimes confused with its Eastern (and non-Christian) counterpart, true Christian meditation has been practiced since Bible times.
Typically, we have found that if something sounds eastern or mystical, it's because it is eastern or mystical. Eugene Peterson's book rings of the mystical, and we hope parents will avoid putting their children in contact with it.
And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. Mark 9:42

http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/index.php

[Berean Girl]

Evil, evil, evil and to hear Churck Swindoll promoting this man and his perversions makes my stomach turn, along with other so-called pastors who are going off the deepend...

It's really time to leave this lump of clay! :panic

[Leialoha]

I appreciate Lighthouse Trails very much. I think that they have done some good work. I also think that some of their work has been questionable. I don't question their motives, but sometimes they make leaps and use association to the 5th degree which proves little and it would be better to wait and see and let the truth come out more legitimately.

I got a lot of help and info from them a few years ago when contemplative spirituality was gaining ground in my church (which was changing over to being emergent at the time). I tend now to read their news releases and then check the information and verify it. One thing that I know is true: contemplative spirituality is beginning to be pushed on our teens and to a lesser degree (but still concerning) to our kids.

More than ever, I realize how it is the responsibility of the parents to be the spiritual trainers of our children. Our kids need to be able to talk to us when they are taught these things by church leaders (as it is almost impossible to avoid) and if they are grounded in sound biblical teaching they may recognize false teaching when they see it.

[extreme4jesus]

Evil, evil, evil and to hear Churck Swindoll promoting this man and his perversions makes my stomach turn, along with other so-called pastors who are going off the deepend...

It's really time to leave this lump of clay! :panic

chuck swindoll is promoting this??

[Sing4Him]

o.k. this is going to hurt:

CHARLES SWINDOLL: WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. (2Timothy 3:1-5, KJV)

Guilt By Association Or Contemplative Road To Apostasy?

On page 13 of his book So, You Want To Be Like Christ? Essentials to Get You There (SYW) Chuck Swindoll, the chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary, heartily endorses the work of Dallas Willard, a key teacher of Contemplative Spirituality through the Spiritual Formation movement teaching heretical practices which germinated in the so-called “Desert Fathers” and then flowered through the monastic tradition of the apostate Church of Rome.

Swindoll informs us:

I came across Dallas Willard’s excellent work The Spirit of the Disciplines. :doh Bedside reading it is not. This convicting piece of literature is not something you plop down on the sofa and read alongside People magazine. Willard's words make you think.
And here’s something that these words from Willard makes one think about. On his own website Dallas Willard tells us that people who don’t know Jesus can still be saved:

What Paul is clearly saying is that if anyone is worthy of being saved, they will be saved. At that point many Christians get very anxious, saying that absolutely no one is worthy of being saved. The implication of that is that a person can be almost totally good, but miss the message about Jesus, and be sent to hell.
What kind of a God would do that? 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. (emphasis mine)
This is the kind of thinking we get from a philosopher like Willard? The better question is: What kind of a God would even choose to save undeserving rebels in the first place? The loving and merciful, yet holy and just LORD God Almighty of the Bible Who became man Himself to go to the Cross and make a way for people who hated Him to be saved. What Willard conveniently leaves out is that it is our Creator God Himself Who stated what His Gospel would be; and not that He couldn’t save someone another way, it’s that the Lord said that He wouldn’t save anyone apart from Christ.

But this is what happens when evangelical leaders attempt to jump on a popular bandwagon without knowing where the doomed caravan is actually heading. In fact on page 15 of SYW Swindoll even refers to Celebration of Discipline, a book by Living Spiritual Teacher Richard Foster as a “meaningful work.” Many of us have been trying to tell you that everyone who practices these so-called "spiritual disciplines" of Contemplative Spirituality eventually falls in love with mankind.

Remember from our text above it is written that in last days men will be lovers of their own selves. As this happens their theology becomes more inclusive, and then they finally end up preaching universalism. Take for example in SYW that Swindoll quotes favorably from the book The Way of the Heart by the late Roman Catholic monk and Contemplative Henri Nouwen.

Nouwen’s own practice of the meditation of Contemplative Prayer, which is what Contemplatives mean by “silence and solitude,” ultimately led him to teach universalism in his book Sabbatical Journey. Nouwen says:

Today I personally believe that while Jesus came to open the door to God's house, all human beings can walk through that door, whether they know about Jesus or not. Today I see it as my call to help every person claim his or her own way to God (51)
Oh and let’s not get the idea that Swindoll wasn’t that familiar with Nouwen’s book because four years earlier in his article The Depths Of God Swindoll writes: “In his book The Way of the Heart Henri Nouwen does a splendid job of analyzing the downside of what he calls ‘our wordy world.’ ” And in fact it is a part of this same quote that appears on page 10 of SWY just a bit before Swindoll's citation of Willard mentioned earlier.

Dallas Willard, who practices these alleged spiritual disiplines of Contemplative Spirituality, and Nouwen who did as well, both end up saying the same antibiblical things regarding the salvation of mankind. Guilt by association or the broad contemplative road to apostasy? I’ll let you decide, but if I were you Charles Swindoll I’d get myself off the path you’re on post haste!

http://www.apprising.org/archives/2006/09/charles_swindol.html

[extreme4jesus]

i'm speechless :ohno

[Sing4Him]

me too...sad..

[cry060306]

Interesting. I posted a comment on another website about apostasy and contemplative prayer and I received a TON of comments back. Almost all of the women who responded to my post, totally agree with contemplative prayer and try to practice it. I was apalled. I only received 2 replies from women who agree that this is a disgrace to the church. Do you think it is ok to ask your children's director what they are teaching the kids in Sunday School? We are getting a new children's director and she hasn't been a member of our church very long. Please let me know your thoughts.

[Sing4Him]

Do you think it is ok to ask your children's director what they are teaching the kids in Sunday School? We are getting a new children's director and she hasn't been a member of our church very long. Please let me know your thoughts

Absolutely! If you can't find it in God's word.. run.

Lifeway Bookstores and products are full of Contemplative Material. Beware of "Youth Specialties."

[Berean Girl]

http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/007/pluralism-3-global-christian.htm

Trading Truth for Solidarity - Part 3

Shaping the Global 'Christian' Youth

By Berit Kjos - August 2007

Background information: Church Youth Trained for UNESCO's Culture of Peace
Part 1

Part 2

Emphasis added below

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"...the purpose of education and the schools is to change the thoughts, feelings and actions of students."[1] Dr. Benjamin Bloom, "Father of Outcome-Based Education"

"Postmodern culture is a change-or-be-changed world. The word is out: Reinvent yourself for the 21st century or die."[2] Leonard Sweet in Soul Tsunami (endorsed by Rick Warren)

"Kids can change the world... right now! So, how do you as an adult inspire these world changers? First, world changers need MENTORS to inspire them.... Honor and celebrate the uniqueness of each child. Ask relationship-building questions...."[3] KIDMO

"In this new reformation of self-esteem, the first thing required is to pull God down from His supremely elevated place so you can then lift yourself up."[4] A warning from Pastor John MacArthur


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"The whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one," we are told in 1 John 5:19. And the leaders of today's world are just as determined to undermine God’s Word as those who despised Christianity two millennia ago. The fact that their tools and tactics are more sophisticated these days gives us plenty of reasons to heed God's repeated warnings: Be watchful! Pray! Don't be deceived!

The guiding vision of contemporary world leaders was summarized by Professor Raymond Houghton back in 1970. As you ponder his words, remember that the key strategies used in secular schools are now embraced by market-driven churches around the world:

"...absolute behavior control is imminent.... The critical point of behavior control, in effect, is sneaking up on mankind without his self-conscious realization that a crisis is at hand. Man will... never self-consciously know that it has happened."[5]

The main targets of these change agents have been our children, our youth, and our Biblical faith. Have these revolutionaries succeeded? Yes! We are now immersed in the fruit of their labor: a postmodern world that rejects the Truth and moral foundations that shaped America's faith and freedom. .

GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION

Like our secular guides, today's postmodern, purpose-driven church guides keep sounding the call for continual change. And their restless audience -- dulled by decades of "progressive education" and corrupt entertainment -- are fast falling in line behind the most popular pied pipers.



There's little to hold them back from the tempting snares that tug at their hearts these days. The greatest obstacle to deception has always been God's unchanging Word. But that wall of resistance is crumbling fast. Today's transformational leaders know that their pleasure-loving followers would rather dialogue about "biblical principles" in popular movies than study or memorize Scriptures. And such facilitated dialogue is central to this revolution. As Professor Benjamin Bloom ("Father of Outcome-Based Education") wrote back in 1971,

"...a large part of what we call 'good teaching' is the teacher's ability to attain affective objectives through challenging the students' fixed beliefs and getting them to discuss issues."[6]

Bloom was building on the revolutionary foundation laid by Julian Huxley, first head of UNESCO. In his 1947 exposé of the UN agenda, "UNESCO: Its purpose and Its Philosophy," Huxley wrote:

"The task is to help the emergence of a single world culture.... And it is necessary, for at the moment, two opposing philosophies of life confront each other from the West and from the East.... Can these opposites be reconciled, this antithesis be resolved in a higher synthesis?...

"In pursuing this aim, we must eschew [shun] dogma - whether it be theological dogma or Marxist dogma.... East and West will not agree on a basis of the future if they merely hurl at each other the fixed ideas of the past... If we are to achieve progress, we must learn to uncrystalize our dogmas." [Read more here]

Could pastors and church leaders be willing to "uncrystallize" their Biblical foundations? Faced with the world's tempting incentives, today's pragmatic leaders are selling their souls for the latest marketing models. For example, one of today's popular Sunday School programs is the costly KIDMO. Its website emphasizes a unifying "mission," not Biblical literacy:

"In order to equip mentors to inspire world changers, your kids need a MISSION. ... It creates clarity, causes action, and changes perspective."[3]

Changing perspectives is key to this transformation. As Professor Houghton warned decades ago, you won't even "know that it has happened." Compromise becomes the norm as blinded shepherds of God's flocks pursue the latest strategies for "success." The steps below are vital to their unbiblical mission:

Replace solid Biblical teaching with feel-good storytelling.

Reinvent our sovereign holy God as a permissive buddy who applauds your goodness.

Keep affirming God's love and understanding; forget His holy standard and judgment.

Trade Bible study (too didactic and divisive) for facilitated group dialogue.

Stress human deeds not God's doctrine.

Contextualize the gospel and emphasize unity in diversity.

Tolerate everything except old-fashioned parents and other obstacles to change.

WHOSE VALUES WILL GUIDE OUR CHILDREN?

Parents? Where do they fit into this picture? Mike Yaconelli, the celebrated founder of the popular "Christian" Youth Specialties, gave us a clue in his article "The Problem of Parents:"

"What's the biggest obstacle to effective youth ministry? Parents.... Why are young people stressed out? Parents. Why are young people obsessed with education, good grades, SAT scores...? Parents.... Who supports our ministries until their child has a negative experience, or is disciplined, or is injured, or doesn't like youth group, or the music, or their counselor, or a new sponsor, or the way the youth group is being run? Parents."[7] Mike Yaconelli, "The Problem of Parents"

Concerned parents have distressed secular change agents as well. That's why Professor John Goodlad, who worked with UNESCO in the seventies, warned fellow educators that -

"most youth still hold the same values as their parents.... If we do not alter this pattern, if we don't resocialize... our society may decay."[8]

"Enlightened social engineering is required to face situations that demand global action now. Parents and the general public must be reached also, otherwise, children and youth enrolled in globally oriented programs may find themselves in conflict with values assumed in the home."[9]

Megan Fuller, a visitor to our website, shows us the results of this anti-family ideology. "I ran across an article by Mike Yaconelli from Youth Specialties about a week ago," she wrote, "and I was floored by his open disdain for parents and traditional church leadership. But it served to bring to mind my own rebellion, and I began to wonder if his disdain and my experiences in youth group weren’t really all that far apart."[10] She continued,

"I began attending a mega-church called Capital Christian Center which has recently strayed into the Emergent Church scene (though they wouldn’t admit it). Within one year of attending that church, I was in the beginning stages of rebellion against my parents and against the foundation of God's Word that was instilled in me as a young girl. Two years after becoming an ACTIVE member of the youth group (and in its leadership) I was in full rebellion against everything my parents had taught me as a child.

"I thought I was righteous. I thought I was the one who had it right. I thought my parents were legalistic (I HATED the writings of Paul). I thought my parents had too many expectations for me. I thought they weren’t really concerned about spreading the gospel as much as I was. I thought I was on fire for Christ. But I thought wrong…and had God not delivered me from that rebellion, I would be lost. Just another product of a youth group much like Mike Yaconelli envisions for every youth group. God help us!"[10]

[Since children and youth are the most vulnerable victims in this spiritual revolution, our next article will deal with three "Models" for facilitating a child's "spiritual formation." All are tested and used in public as well as church school: Contemplative-Reflective, Pragmatic-Participatory, and Media-driven Active Engagement Model.]

TRAINING TOMORROW'S WORLD CHANGERS?

Contrary to Biblical guidelines, the church and the world now share a common goal: to train today's youth to lead tomorrow's pluralistic world. Both church and world are picking out their most promising leaders -- those who heartily pursue the "right" vision and the evolving global mission. I met some of them at the UN conferences and [Gorbachev's] State of the World Forums. Those "chosen" teens from diverse nations were led, through the dialectic process, to synthesize opposing views and embrace an evolving, preplanned consensus. They were trained to think, speak and act as citizens of a collective global village.

Like postmodern "Christian" youth, many of those "chosen" youth believed in God but doubted the Bible. They believed in personal truths but rejected God's absolute Truth. They believed in a Christ but not in our Savior. They loved the creation but denied the Creator. As Harvard student Bill Burke-White reported during Gorbachev's 1996 Forum,

"We have spent this week re-imagining and re-envisioning the world we have inherited.... Just a few short steps from your meeting rooms this week there is a community of youth who were born into the global village.... This is a community that will not tolerate the continued ecological devastation of the sacred landscape of our home... [and] that has no tolerance for dogmatism and fundamentalism."

"This community needs to learn about the new paradigm or to unlearn the old -- we were born into an awakening Earth.... Imagine, if you will, a world which has realized the Youth summit's vision of building a Global Youth Alliance, a planet-wide conversation, an interlinking, a networking of the many youth organizations that share these heart-felt visions...."[11]

"Unlearning the old" ways is key to the global transformation. And its pied pipers are determined to break the old ties and restraints, whatever it takes. Like the Phoenix rising out of its own ashes, the new world must rise above the old beliefs and values. Their arguments sound good and noble -- almost Christian -- to those who never learned to love God's true and living Word. Notice the logical progression from untrue assumptions (#1) to mainstream deceptions (#3):

1. Global peace demands global oneness. Therefore all must follow the global guidelines to unity.

2. Global unity demands collective thinking. Therefore all must participate in small group dialogue.

3. Dialogue and consensus require respect for diversity and synthesis of opposites. Therefore resisters and their divisive Truth must be silenced.



Such spiritual assaults on Biblical Christianity are neither new nor surprising. God's holy ways have never pleased the world. They certainly don't fit today's emphasis on self-esteem and feel-good spirituality. And since they undermine God's moral and spiritual boundaries, they invite chaos rather than unity -- coercion instead of freedom.



The transformation is speeding up. Those who simply flow with the revolution will find acceptance, while those who passionately pursue "progress" will probably be tomorrow's leaders. But concerned resisters will face some hard choices. Dan (another website visitor) illustrates the battle:

1) My company was recently bought by another company. The new company had individual meetings with us to explain the 'company culture.' At the end of the meeting, we were asked to verbalize our commitment to the company culture with a yes or a no: 'If you agree to our culture, please answer 'Yes.' They wanted a verbal commitment. Car salesmen use the same tactic to get you in a 'yes' verbal pattern. It also matches the new evangelism.

2) A television commercial for Lexus automobiles shows a gentleman walking thru a metropolitan area, with extremely fast-moving scenery, attempting to give the impression that things are changing very quickly. The gentleman (aka the viewer) is looking things over, as if contemplating what to do. The narrator says something about how the world is changing very quickly, and then in a very pointed way, says - 'Are you IN, or OUT?' It's Us or Them!"

Where do you stand?

Rick Warren assures his followers that "fundamentalism, of all varieties, will be 'one of the big enemies of the 21st century.'" [12] He may be right! His worldwide influence will surely speed the rising hostility toward the fundamental Truths of God -- a major obstacle to global solidarity.[13]

"If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.... If they persecuted Me they will persecute you... for they do not know the One who sent Me." John 15:19-21



"But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." Acts 20:24



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See also Enemy of The People? | The Rising World Religion | Who defines the Kingdom of God?


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Endnotes:

1. Benjamin Bloom, All Our Children Learning (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981), 180.

2. Leonard Sweet, Soul Tsunami," pps 74-75. www.crossroad.to/Quotes/Church/post-modern/leonard-sweet.htm

3. Philosophy: Inspiring World Changers at http://kidmo.com. Clicking on "Product Details" brings this message: "...Professor Sock will help us unravel the mystery of our Bible story. Test your memory with our lesson review KNOCK-KNOCK. Picture your preschoolers engaged, laughing, learning in a fresh new way as they discover how precious and special God has made each one of them. God has made us special and He did it on PURPOSE. SERIES REMEMBER VERSE: Psalm 139:14 I praise You because You made Me wonderful. [That's a self-esteem building twist on Psalm 139:14. Where does conviction of sin fit into this picture?] EPISODE 1- God made our special world because we are so special to Him. EPISODE 2- God gives us special friends because we are so special to Him...." etc.
Clicking on http://kidmo.com/kidmotv/ brings you a silly cartoon about deadly dangers that a foolish man apparently survives because he keeps licking his ice cream. [More about this Media-Driven Model in our next article]

4. John MacArthur, Hard to Believe (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003), 4.
5. To Nurture Humaneness: Commitment for the '70s (Washington DC: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, NEA, 1970).

6. David Krathwohl, Benjamin Bloom and Bertram Massia, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, The Classification of Educational Goals, Handbook II: Affective Domain, (McKay Publishers, 1956), 55.

7. Mike Yaconelli, The Problem of Parents at www.youthspecialties.com/articles/Yaconelli/parents.php

8.John Goodlad, "Report of Task Force C: Strategies for Change," Schooling for the Future, a report to the President's Commission on Schools Finance, Issue #9, 1971.

9. James Becker, Editor, Schooling for a Global Age, (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1979), xiii, xvii.

10. Megan was referring to this article: “Piling on the Milestones,” which is not available.

11. The State of the World according to Gorbachev at www.crossroad.to/text/articles/tstotw1196.html

12. Paul Nussbaum, "The purpose-driven pastor," The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 8, 2006, at www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/living/religion/13573441.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

13. Five fundamentals: 1. Deity of Christ. 2. Virgin birth. 3. Blood atonement. 4. Resurrection of Jesus. 5. Inerrancy of Scriptures. (From http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/pewreligion.htm#fundamentals)


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