CENTERING CONFUSION

CP - THE PATH AWAY FROM CHRIST

(Book Recommendation included)

Imagine my horror when I learned that a friend of mine told me recently that she was going to a retreat so she can focus on her "Centering Prayer". Why? I have seen that kind of slippery slope before, when someone, whose Christian walk I once cared about, went from practicing this CP and other mystical mediation....to becoming a FULL FLEDGED BUDDHIST!!!

Centering Prayer is part of the Contemplative Prayer movement which leads one into a silent position "before God" so we can empty ourselves, in order to "hear from that same God". The official definition from their Centering Prayer website calls it " a method of silent prayer that prepares us to receive the gift of contemplative prayer, prayer in which we experience God's presence within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than consciousness itself. This method of prayer is both a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship".


The problem is, this is NOT what we are supposed to be doing! In actuality, what this does is lead many away from the TRUE Meditation and systematic study of the Word of God, to an altered state of consciousness and need for more and more intense EMOTIONAL fulfillment. The person involved in CP is then no longer fully engaged in the Word of God and seeking revelation and illumination THROUGH His Word, but is now seeking to find his/her true identity via the "inner self" and calling it God! They are now seeking after an 'experience' rather than an Encounter with the Living God, through His Word and His Holy Spirit!


Nowhere in the thoughts and discussions of those who are fully engaged in this heresy, is the Gospel proclaimed and prayed into. What happened to this one person, who ended up walking away from Christ and the Church and started chanting pagan Hindu mantras and adopting Buddhist/Zen ways....was that she was told was okay, by their "gospel writer" and CP "guru" Thomas Merton - ""Contemplative consciousness," say Merton, is "a trans-cultural, trans-religious, trans-formed consciousness … it can shine through this or that system, religious or irreligious"(Thoughts on the East, p.34).


If this CP nonsense is "trans-religious" according to the CP's top man Merton, this movement has ALREADY REJECTED JESUS - and He will reject them on the Day of the Lord, in front of God's Courtroom! When He said in John 14:6 "I am the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE", Jesus meant the ONLY way! He said the Way is Narrow and only a FEW find it. This CP thing, through which you can now find inner peace and meditate through, not just the so-called "God of Christianity", but the 300 pagan and/or animal gods of Hinduism and the philosophy of Buddhism will lead many straight into hell!

How can I, a man of God and supposedly of "Love" say such a thing? Well, I know a Chinese brother who was once a Buddhist, who told me over and over what they believe and what it means. For some of these professing Christians to now join the ungodly Centering/Contemplative or Breath Prayer movement to get closer to their concept of "God", they have to deny the reality of what these 'religious systems' (which Merton promotes above) teach and what they really are - a gateway to eternal separation from God!

Here are some of the Contemplative Prayer authors to stay as far away from as possible: Thomas Keating; Brennan Manning or anything by Teresa of Avila and anything by Richard Foster! Beware of these people and their books! BE DISCERNING! GOD DEMANDS IT OF US!


BOOK RECOMMENDATION:

For Many Shall Come in My Name by Ray Yungen

Book Information: 

ISBN 978-0-9721512-9-0

Retail - $12.95

Softbound 224 Pages

Click here for ordering information for For Many Shall Come in My Name.

Description: An Ancient Wisdom is drawing millions of people into mystical experiences and preparing the world for the end of the age ... find out how. Most people believe the New Age has been long gone from our society, and if practiced at all now it is only by unconventional fringe types. For Many Shall Come in My Name reveals this is not the case. In fact, quite the opposite has occured. The New Age movement (a term not normally used by its proponents) has permeated virtually all aspects of our society. This “Ancient Wisdom” spirituality can be quite readily encountered in the following fields: Business, Education, Health, Self- Help, Religion, and Arts & Entertainment. This book examines them all.

Author Bio: 

Ray Yungen, author, speaker and research analyst has studied religious movements for the last twenty years. He is also the author of A Time of Departing. He is available for radio and television interviews and for seminars, conferences and college assemblies. His exuberance for life and his love for Jesus Christ and for people are evident in his writing. Mr. Yungen resides in Salem, Oregon.

Table of Contents

1. The Age of Aquarius and its meaning in today's world

2. New Age practices like Reiki and yoga 

3. Harry Potter and real witchcraft 

4. The law of attraction and Oprah 

5. Present day New Age prophets

6. Yoga in the public schools 

7. Tantric sexuality and its spiritual risks

8. The Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) 

9. Wicca and its growing appeal 

10. The occultic explanation of the Holocaust 

11. Interspirituality and the coming false Messiah 

12. The New Age as a force in politics 

13. New Age hostility toward the church 

14. The New Age in light of biblical prophecy

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart....Hebrews 4:12 (NASB)

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THINK ON THESE THINGS - MONDAY

CP, TM AND OM 

NOTE: (CP, TM and OM are not an Acrostic of a Law Firm or the initials of the Three Stooges.....read on......)!!!


In troubled times, people seek comfort in many ways. 

Some look deep inside themselves for the answers.  In fact, many of the great self-help gurus of the past few decades became multi-millionaires selling just that concept. From the loud navel-gazing of Tony Robbins to the teachings of eastern mysticism, all have a form of godliness...but it is the god of this world.

Some look to the sky, without knowing how to ask. In a country where almost 91% of adults have NO Biblical worldview, this is easy to grasp.

Now comes a new thing...actually a New Age thing, which more and more people inside the christian church are getting caught up in. It is the wrong kind of meditation and something called Contemplative Prayer (CP). In some circles, it is called Centering Prayer.

But is it Biblical Prayer? Is it what Jesus called for when He said "...when you pray.." three times in a row in Matthew 6:6? The conclusion is - no way!

But what are the differences? Here are some of my thoughts in brief, as I attempt to get us to think about the simplicity and clarity of True Christian prayer.

Concerning CP and Christ-based Praying:

One is based on eastern mysticism, the other, not. One is based on self-realization through looking inside yourself, the other is not. One is based on emptying your mind and letting in universal "truths" in, the other is not....and on and on. One is even promoted by certain christian 'teachers' and speakers like Beth Moore, the other is not.

If you are ever invited to meditate with someone or are tempted to look into it, be very wary and extremely careful how you react. To follow this philosophy will put you in real and immediate spiritual danger!

But you ask "It sounds sooooo good! What could be wrong with meditation?"

Nothing! Psalm 1:1-2 leads us into an exhortation to meditate on the Lord "day and night". But if you look at the true meaning of the word "meditate", it means to 'speak, utter, proclaim, study and ponder' the Word of God! This is the LITERAL meaning. The reason we are supposed to do this to get the know the WORD better, which John 1:1 and 1 John 1:1 tells us - is Christ!

Joshua 1 says in verse 8 "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success".

This means we are to speak the Word of God! This includes prayer where we read the Word of God back to Him in praise and worship! 


This also means we are to actively walk the talk by walking out the elements of the Faith of Christ minute by minute for the rest of our lives!

This does not mean sitting down in some weird lotus position and starting to breathe deeply before you proceed to "empty your mind".

This does not mean you then "center" yourself by focusing on some one word of passage from your favorite mystic writer or even the Bible and then go beyond the Thoughts of God.

This does not mean now, with an empty mind, opening up your spirit to what you perceive to be 'closeness with God'!!!!

This does mean you are on a path you may never recover from, because of it is Self-realization you want, God will give it to you...and I guarantee you won't like it!

Psalm 46:10

Many proponents of CP quote Psalm 46:10 as their biblical basis. In fact, there are so many websites promoting "Christian Meditation" that it is so easy for seekers to be led astray! Almost ALL of them - to a man - quote Psalm 46:10 which most translations say definitively to "Be still and know that I am God".


The ACTUAL literal translation of Psalm 46:10 is from the New American Standard Bible: " Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." 


This means just that - quit trying to do things your way. Quit trying to be like those who built the Tower of Babel to show themselves just as wise as God. Quit trying to do reach God using man's ways rather than God's....literally God means "quit striving or 'raphah' (Hebrew) leave it alone to ME - GOD. I am all about Praise, Glory and Worship"!!!!


Does this sound like eastern mystic centering prayer to you??!! This is why knowing the True meaning of the Word is so important and why listening to men turn it into allegory is so dangerous!

TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION & OM


What the gurus of CP are really practicing is just an anglicized or westernized version of the hindu-based Transcendental Meditation (TM)! This is the same cult to which the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and others (like the Beatles) from the 1960's drug culture belonged!


The TM official website themselves describe TM as a "technique is based on the ancient Vedic tradition of enlightenment in India. This knowledge has been handed down by Vedic masters from generation to generation for thousands of years. About 50 years ago, Maharishi — the representative in our age of the Vedic tradition — introduced Transcendental Meditation to the world, restoring the knowledge and experience of higher states of consciousness at this critical time for humanity. When we teach the Transcendental Meditation technique today, we maintain the same procedures used by teachers thousands of years ago for maximum effectiveness".


TM uses a sanskrit symbol for OM- ॐ  as its chief mantra chant. I am not even going to explain what this means. It will make no sense to try and describe what all the "vibes" they get from chanting this thing. What Biblical Christians should understand before they even contemplate being a part of this heresy are the Word of Jesus about all this chanting and Centering Prayer and such here from Matthew 6:7 " "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words." 


In other words, the Creator of the Universe has just smacked down those who practice this gibberish, which worshiping their animal gods like cows and dogs, by saying "their prayers will never be heard"! Jesus was referring to the Egyptians, Moabites and other religions around Jerusalem...but today, it can refer to just about anything, worldwide, which practices the same!


Is this what people what? Their "prayers" and meditation reach only as high as the ceiling....because I guarantee you, this is where all that stuff will get them!


HOW TO PRAY THE JESUS WAY:


Over the "no-matter-how-long-it-takes" time, I will dissect phrase by phrase, the LORD'S PRAYER.  Jesus gave us the Lord's Prayer not to chant, but as the Guidebook to KNOW how to pray to the Father. 


As a Prayer Warrior and leader in the Prayer Movement, I can testify to the Power of such an exercise and how it can really improve you Christian prayer life. If this exercise is done by a soul, which  has been regenerated by Holy Spirit and is tuned into the Pure and Holy Heart of God, it will lead to what Psalm 1:1-2 is encouraging - meditating on the Word, day and night!

Amen!

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." (Mark 12:30)

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