Rick Warren Speaks Out Against Those Warning the Church of Meditation

by John Lanagan

No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ~ 2 Corinthians 11:14

Perhaps stung by criticism about his Daniel Plan alliance with three well known New Age doctors, Rick Warren simultaneously addressed and sidestepped the meditation issue during a recent sermon.1 Warren never acknowledged his own promotion of teachers of anti-biblical meditative practices such as contemplative prayer, never addressed the Daniel Plan controversy, but seemed to accuse instead the Christians who sounded the alarm about Eastern/New Age meditation advocates Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Daniel Amen, and Dr. Mark Hyman.

In a seeming attempt to “spin” the continuing controversy, Rick Warren claimed Christians on the Internet have been warning against biblical meditation! With a touch of sarcasm and making a scary, mocking, wooing sound, Rick Warren stated:

It’s called meditation. Meditation? What in the world is that? Some people think, wow, that’s scary. This has actually become a controversial word. Some very, very confused believers have been teaching—I’ve seen it on the Internet—that Christians should be afraid of meditation and run from meditation. That’s nonsense! The Bible talks about meditation and commands it.

Wait a minute. He’s “seen it on the Internet?” In reality, Rick Warren cannot identify one Biblebelieving blogger or online discernment or research ministry that teaches that Christians should fear and “run from” biblical meditation.

Biblical meditation is simply reflecting upon or pondering the Word of God. We “chew” upon it, or as Warren himself described it, we “ruminate” on what we read in God’s Word. It is wonderful, powerful, and something we are commanded to do (Joshua 1:8).

In biblical meditation, a repetitive word or chant is never used, the mind never ceases being active, and there is never an altered state of consciousness. Thus, one does not enter what is known as the silence. But this is exactly what happens during Eastern/New Age meditation. In his sermon, Warren explained it very well: “So when the Bible says meditate it’s not talking about zone-out in some psychic, New Age trance, or put your mind in neutral and contemplate your navel. Ommm.”

“Ommm,” indeed. Rick Warren has played a significant role for many years in promoting contemplative prayer—the barely disguised, “Christian-ized” version of Eastern/New Age meditation. Popular and influential, he has helped publicize very many contemplative teachers—Richard Foster and Dallas Willard (both exalted in The Purpose Driven Church, pp. 126-127), Henri Nouwen (a favorite of his wife’s, he says), Tricia Rhodes, Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, Gary Thomas (a “friend” of Warren’s), and many others (see quotes at the end of this article.)

Contemplative teachers in the Christian camp will not advise believers to focus on a mantra like “Ommm” (for example), but rather on a word or phrase like “Jesus” or “Abba Father.” In this way, the contemplative prayer appears “Christian” but nevertheless serves as entrance to the silence.

Many of those who enter the silence frequently end up believing all is in God, or God is in all—beliefs contradictory to biblical teaching and to the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. Sue Monk Kidd is just such a person. She started off as a conservative Southern Baptist Sunday School teacher, but when she was introduced to Thomas Merton, it changed her whole spiritual outlook, and eventually she became a worshiper of the goddess Sophia, saying that God is even in excrement. And should we not be concerned that her name sits on the back of Dallas Willard’s book, The Spirit of the Disciplines, and yet Rick Warren recommends that book on his website and shows great admiration and recognition for Willard’s role in the Spiritual Formation (contemplative prayer) movement in Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Church.

The silence is the realm of deceptive spirits. And more and more churches, ministries, organizations, and schools are going contemplative. For Rick Warren to stand up (just days after New Age meditation advocates Oz, Hyman, and Amen have addressed his congregation and even referring at times to their style of meditation) and belittle, mock, and scorn Christians who are warning against eastern style meditation coming into the church all the while he has been promoting the teachers of such meditation for years, is astounding, not to mention very wrong.

Read More Here:  http://www.johnfortune.com/articles/RickWarrenSpeaksOut.pdf

 

More Resources:

Exposing the Dangers of Contemplative Spirituality, Spiritual Formation, Unbiblical Emerging Church Practices, Eastern Mysticism and The New Spirituality

http://www.spiritual-research-network.com/contemplativespirituality.html