Practices within the Emergent Church...

Chapter Sixty-seven:

In the last chapter we looked at how the Emergent Church is being brought into the house of God in the guise of helping believers develop a closer walk with God. Many are now looking to these old forms of church practices and mysticism as a way to have a closer spiritual walk with God, and if we are not aware of these anti-Biblical practices we can easily incorporate them into our walk without realizing they are not of God.   We will look at some of these practices as we all need to be forewarned in case any of these are presented to us or are already being used in our churches or small groups.

The one that tends to confuse believers the most is the practice of meditation.  After all, we are told in various places throughout Scripture that we are to meditate.  Psalm 19:14 says, "May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my rock and my redeemer".  Joshua 1:8 tells us "Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night...".  As you can see, the issue of meditation needs to be clarified. 

The meditation that the Bible refers to involves us contemplating,  pondering, thinking about something we have read in the Word or have heard in a sermon and how we are to incorporate it into our life.  It is meant to involve a deep, continuous thinking about something.   However, the meditation the emergents use is different in that its goal is to still the mind by putting it into a state of thoughtlessness, emptiness and silence.  It involves ridding oneself of all thoughts in order to “still” the mind by putting it in pause or neutral.  What believers need to realize is that we are never told in Scripture to put our minds into neutral or to empty our minds.              

This is also called "centering prayer", "breath prayer" or "Jesus' prayer". It is all the same, just different terminology. The anticipated end result is that one's mind achieves thoughtlessness, emptiness and silence and there are two main ways that this state is achieved. The first is a breathing exercise where one focuses on their breath. The second is called a mantra which is simply repeating a word or phrase.  Repetition of the mantra is what triggers the blank mind and emptying one's mind is emphasized as being the way one can reach a higher level of spirituality.

One of the most common verses they like to use for mantras, and to justify their version of meditation, is Psalm 46:10a, which says, "Be still and know that I am God...".  They teach that this means we need to practice being quiet so we can listen for God's voice. However, this verse is being taken completely out of context.  If you read the surrounding Scriptures you will see that Psalm 46 has nothing to do with praying or getting closer to God. It is actually a proclamation of warning to Israel's enemies and a word of comfort to Israel. God is reminding Israel to be still and stop worrying, and to focus on the fact that He is in control.  It is also a word of warning towards those who would try to go up against Israel. This verse has been twisted to make us believe that we need to be silent so we can hear God's voice. 

Another verse that is taken out of context to encourage Christians to "be still and listen" is First Kings 19:12. The context of this was during the time of Elijah's being scared as Jezebel was hunting him in order to kill him and this verse is taken from the exchange he had with God during this time. It has nothing to do with meditation and listening for God's voice. Nowhere in Scripture does it tell us to let our defenses down and sit in silence.  On the contrary, Second Corinthians 10:5 gives us warning when it says, "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

Another troubling tool that is being used is the Labyrinth walk, which entails an area that resembles a maze, but is often built to be circular.  A person enters the labyrinth at a designated point and the end point is at the center of the labyrinth.  This re-invented New Age tool is being deceitfully marketed as a way to get closer to God.  A person is told that as he/she ventures towards the center they are to begin to pray while walking the single winding path towards the center, and along the way he/she will find "spiritual clarity and illumination" as they move along the path.  Emergents (also known as contemplatives), claim the labyrinth walk is meant to be symbolic of the path of the soul through its life, and is simply another tool to be used to develop our relationship with God and find the fulfillment that we seek. This goes against Psalm 145:18 which tells us, "The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth".  God is telling us He is already near to those who seek Him and no man-made structures are necessary.  

When we read Exodus, Chapters 35-40, and Second Chronicles, Chapters 3-7, we see that both the Tabernacle and the Temple and the fixtures built by Solomon were based on specific instructions given directly by God. These edifices were to be  built to God's specifications in order to signify His presence and He regularly had the Israelites destroy and demolish all temples or edifices that had been built to worship other gods.  I cannot believe that He would bless the use of the labyrinth walk today as its very origin is not of Him. We need to remember that we are reconciled with God through faith in Christ  and we should not expect that God is obligated to provide spiritual experiences just because we want them or initiate them using some method or formula.  God does not work that way. Unfortunately many Christians have taken part in labyrinth prayer walks, not realizing their real origin or purpose, and even churches are embracing them as a tool to help their followers expand their "spiritual" experience.

 

Another method that is used is called Lectio Divina, which means praying the Scriptures or reading a passage of Scripture slowly in order to ponder and think about it. However, the original technique is to take a passage of Scripture, or other writing, in order to read it slowly until you have narrowed it down to just a word or small phrase and then repeat it over and over. This helps you come up with a mantra-like word or phrase that has been taken from what you have read. The goal is to repeat it for several minutes with the intent of ridding your mind of thoughts and distractions so you can hear the voice of God and feel His presence.  While it sounds like a good way to spend time with God, that is not its real intent.  During the practice of Lectio Divina, when one repeats the word or phrase, it is meant to begin to lose its meaning in order to help the person enter into an altered state of consciousness.  God warns us not to perform special kinds of processes or formulas in order to induce mystical experiences (Deuteronomy 18: 9-11).  You can be sure that the "presence" that one ultimately experiences during this altered state of consciousness is not of God. 

We have only scratched the surface in this chapter by looking at a few methods that are being used. You may find that there are other ways they are bringing anti-Biblical practices into the Church.  For those of us who hold to the exclusive message of Jesus Christ as being "the way the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me" (John 14:6), being involved in any of these practices goes against the Bible as they are based on other religions, belief systems and pagan rituals. The Bible does not sanction any of these practices. In fact, God warns us many times in the Old Testament against divination, which is the practice of any ritual or method in order to obtain information from a spiritual source outside of Him (Deuteronomy 12:1-4, 18:9-13 and Exodus 34:10-17).  In fact, the Book of Jeremiah is about God punishing Israel because they have been involved in alternative religious practices and had strayed away from following only Him.

We need to remember Deuteronomy 18:12 which tells us that God considers these things to be an abomination. It does not matter how one enters this mystical realm (the silence), whether it be by meditation, mantras, yoga, labyrinth walking or even praying the Scriptures. In each case we are not connecting with the one true God but instead we are connecting with the realm of the occult, where we will be exposed to deceiving spirits pretending to be of God. We will be exposing ourselves to a counterfeit spiritual experience that comes straight from Satan.