A Note from Pastor Jeff “Tickle Me NoMo” – 2 Timothy 4:3 “The time will come when many will not tolerate sound doctrine, but will want their ears tickled in accordance with their own desires.” The Contemplative Spirituality movement is in full swing today. But buyer beware: contemplative spirituality is an extremely dangerous practice for any person who desires to live a biblical, God-centered life. Contemplative Spirituality (CS) is a pseudo-Christian hybrid form of Eastern Mysticism, primarily centered on an unbiblical type of meditation. In CS, meditation focuses literally on nothing; the mind is supposed to be emptied in order to open yourself up to a greater spiritual experience. This is not biblical meditation. The Bible commands the opposite: our mind is to meditate on God’s Word. Joshua 1:8 commands, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night so that you will be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” Emptying our minds is contrary to what Scripture teaches. David wrote about meditation while he was in the Judean Desert, “When I remember You O God on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches” (Psalm 63:6). David was not emptying his mind, but filling it with accurate, biblical thoughts of God. David also declared, “I will meditate on all Your work LORD, and muse on Your deeds” (Psalm 77:12). Five times in Psalm 119, David connects meditation directly to God’s Word: “My eyes anticipate the night watches so that I may meditate on Your Word” (119:148, 15, 27, 48, 78). Romans 12:2, informs us that transformation, coming closer to God, happens in the arena of the mind, by filling the mind with proper biblical thoughts, “…but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The Apostle Paul gave the Philippian Christians a list of things to fill their minds with: “Finally brethren, whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, or of a good reputation, if there is any excellence or anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things” (Philippians 4:8). CS also encourages the pursuit of a mystical experience with God. Mysticism is the belief that knowledge of God, spiritual truth, and ultimate reality can be gained through a personal, subjective experience. CS emphasizes personal experience as the means of gaining knowledge about God and spiritual things. This erodes the authority of Scripture. People involved with CS often have personal spiritual experiences which contradict Scripture, do not align with Scripture, muddle the clear teaching of Scripture, or are placed above Scripture as a source of authority (God “speaking” or a “God encounter”). Many professing Christians are knee-deep in CS and try to “Christianize” CS or integrate CS with the Bible and traditional Christian theology. Christianized CS stresses dreams, visions, extra revelation in addition to the Bible, God “spoke” to me, God “impressed upon me,” or “God asked me to…” The Emergent Church Movement has been a primary vehicle for CS into many churches and denominations to introduce such false teachings: Hillsong Church, Mars Hill Church, Youth Specialties, Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, Mark Driscoll, Tony Jones, Karen Ward, and Dieter Xander. CS authors sell millions of books with titles such as “Enjoy the Silence” by Maggie and Duffy Robbins, “Every Breath We Take: Living in the Presence, Love, and Generosity of God” by Terry Wardle, and “The Sacred Way” and “Did God Kill Jesus?” by Tony Jones. The Center for Contemplative Spirituality states its unbiblical goal on its own website: “We come from a variety of secular and religious backgrounds and we each seek to enrich our journey through spiritual practice and study of the world’s great spiritual traditions. We desire to draw closer to the loving Spirit which pervades all creation and which inspires our compassion for all beings.” There is nothing biblical about this goal. Studying the world’s spiritual traditions is futility because any spiritual tradition that does not exalt Jesus Christ and Holy Scripture is false teaching. CS is an attempt to draw closer to God without Christ and without the Bible. The only way to draw closer to God is through the path that He Himself has ordained in Jesus Christ and in His Word. And biblical, God-pleasing meditation is filling our minds with God’s Holy Scripture and thinking on His Word day and night, and then obeying His commands. Repeating words, phrases, and prayers that teachers have created in order to draw closer to God is in direct opposition to what Jesus instructed (Matthew 6:5-15). Spiritual transformation according to God’s Word is not about a personal experience, but it is all about filling our minds and lives with God’s Holy Word. Check out these reliable “truth sites”:
- CARM: Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry
- GotQuestions?org
- Book: “A Time of Departing: How Ancient Mystical Practices are Uniting Christians with the World’s Religions” by Ray Yungen
