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If our small, central-Oregon town of Bend is any indication, the pied pipers of this move-
ment are everywhere. Some of our local churches recently had Taize meetings (repetitive chanting,
meditative silences, candlelit rooms, etc.) for their youth. Walk to Emmaus has its local adherents.
Richard Foster, who introduced shamanic visualization to evangelicals in his best-selling Cele-
bration of Discipline, came to town with his contemplative spirituality-promoting organization,
Renovare. Its board of reference and speakers have included Jack Hayford, Lloyd John Ogilvie,
Don Moomaw, Robert Seiple, David and Karen Mains, Martin Marty, C. Peter Wagner, Ron Si-
der, J.I. Packer, Calvin Miller, Fr. Henri Nouwen, Ted Engstrom, Fr. Michael Scanlon, Eugene
Peterson, John Wimber, and Tony Campolo.

Not far from here, Eastern mystical guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had his massive
ashram/ranch, which the Lord graciously turned over to Young Life, the evangelical para-church
ministry. So it's grievously ironic that the speaker for their pre-opening leadership conference at
the 60,000-plus-acres Wild Horse Canyon complex was former Catholic priest/present Catholic
mystic Brennan Manning. His book The Signature of Jesus advances the philosophies and meth-
odologies of the contemplative mystical/New Age pundits. It is Jesus to whom he attributes the oc-
cult technique of centering prayer: "The hunger I encounter across the land for silence, solitude,
and centering prayer is the Spirit of Christ calling us from the shadows to the deep." His most in-
fluential admirers (and promoters among our youth) are some of the biggest names in Christian mu-
sic, Michael Card, D.C. Talk, and A Ragamuffin Band -- named after Manning's Ragamuffin
Gospel (endorsed by Eugene Peterson and Max Lucado). His contemplative and "unconditional
love" gospel, however, is not the biblical gospel of salvation; therefore, neither can the Jesus who
he claims appears to him be the biblical Jesus.

The problems with this bogus spiritual approach to God are too many to fit into this brief
article. Nevertheless, my prayer is that those youth leaders and pastors involved, or thinking about
getting involved, would contemplate (in the biblical sense!) the following:

Where do you find any of these methods or techniques in the Bible? Did any prophet or
apostle, New Testament or Old, practice any of these "spiritual" exercises? No. Then how can
these exercises be considered God's way of knowing Him?

How much of this movement with its mystical saints and classic works is Catholic,
advancing the Catholic way of salvation? Are you interested in having your youth group follow the
"check your brains at the door" teachings of St. Ignatius found in his spiritual exercises -- such as,
"If we wish to proceed securely in all things, we must hold fast to the following principle: What
seems to me white, I will believe black if the hierarchical [Roman Catholic] Church so defines"?

Have you ever found the biblical gospel in any of the classic or modern contemplative ma-
terials? Could there be any significance in the fact that this movement practically died out after the
Reformation, only to be revived today? How does one discern whether or not the God being
"heard" through the subjective, experiential mode of communication is truly our Lord speaking --
especially if the authority and sufficiency of His Word is downplayed, even rejected?

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