“In 2018, my spiritual journey took an unexpected turn, and I found myself in intimate fellowship with men who were teachers and practitioners of Richard Rohr’s work. I was introduced to Brian McLaren and conversed with him personally and through e-mail. I was also in fellowship with Mike Morrell (co-author with Rohr on The Divine Dance) and several other prominent leaders.
Initially, I had no clue how significantly influential these individuals were in the “Emergent Church,” never even having heard of such a thing. I soon discovered I was in a prime position among the “top dogs” to learn quickly and have personal training in contemplative (centering) prayer, the enneagram process, the Mankind Project, and other practices.
Coming from a lifelong conservative Protestant background, there were many red flags along the way. I quieted my fears and the nagging scriptural discrepancies I encountered, believing I was on a new path that would transform my broken heart in a new and living way. My 30-year marriage had dissolved in divorce a few years before, and I had wandered alone looking for a new spiritual home. I had found “believers” who accepted me and invited me to fellowship. I dove in with vigor.
After several years, I could no longer ignore the screaming evidence before me. The Scriptures were not at the heart of spiritual inquiry but simply a jumping off point into someone’s subjective dialogue, cleverly disguised as some deep mystical “secret” waiting for those of us who would abandon our limited, immature, and misguided scriptural understanding of things. We needed to disregard our primitive ideas and learn from the ones who knew better. Not only was I being directed to embrace beliefs that violated my conscience in moral matters, but the men I was in fellowship with were teaching that these compromises were the progressive unfolding of love’s acceptance. I too was accepting things into my life that were self-destructive and clearly contrary to God’s revealed standard. The “spiritual practices” left me empty and resulted in no reformation of my heart and mind into the image of Christ. It was Empty; and still brokenhearted, I got out.
These past years I have surveyed Richard Rohr’s work from a distance (his book, The Universal Christ was a big one) and listened to countless interviews and podcasts. I have been stunned at how anti-Christian his message is. And to my disappointment, I have seen him show up in unexpected places.
Thank you to Lighthouse Trails for sounding a true and clear warning. I will be maximizing your resources to help shine the light of God’s true beauty and the Majesty of our dear Savior.
T.G.”
Observations
In our own Adventist setting, we saw these teachings in the mystical explorations of Ohio Conference leadership from 2002 to 2013, and in the One Project.
Spiritual mysticism is not dead, friends. In fact, it is rising in our world. In our understanding of the Great Controversy, Satan uses two primary errors to deceive humanity: the immortality of the soul and the idea of Sunday sacredness. These neo-pagan errors pave the way for spiritualism and a union between apostate Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church, respectively.
A fascinating article: An Adventist sister gets free from spiritual formation.
Western culture is experiencing a revival, a pagan revival. It is coming into the Seventh-day Adventist Church, too. Watch for it.
Walk with the King, and be a blessing!
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“When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, "How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise." You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done... Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it” (Deut. 12: 29-31).