Just
ten days after Lighthouse Trails
posted its last and most important
article of 2010,
Rick Warren’s “Apologetics” Weekend
Should Apologize for Representing
“Another Gospel," we must issue
this Special Report regarding a
year-long event that will be
kicking off at Rick Warren's
Saddleback Church on January 15th.
Near
the end of 2010, Rick Warren
announced that Saddleback
Church would be entering "a Decade
of Destiny." He told his
congregation that they would be
focusing on several key areas, one
of them being "health and wellness."
The "Daniel Challenge" or the
"Daniel Plan" is Saddleback's new
health "initiative." On
Saddleback's website, it states:
Gods’
Prescription For Your Health
Be a part of this
transformational debut to be a
healthier you!
The kick-off event is next
weekend, January 15. We’ll hear
from world-renowned doctors on a
plan to get healthy and stay
that way in the new decade.
Who
are the "world-renowned doctors"
that will be helping to kick off
Saddleback's Decade of Destiny? Dr.
Mehmet Oz, Dr. Daniel Amen, and Dr.
Mark Hyman.
The video on the website states
that this program has been
"Exclusively Designed for Saddleback
Church by Three of the Leading
Health Specialists in America."
Let
us get right to the point: The three
doctors who have put together a
52-week health program for
Saddleback congregants are absolute
advocates and proponents of not just
eastern-style meditation but actual
eastern meditation and much much
more as this article will reveal.
Right off, let us say that if you
are thinking perhaps that these
doctors will only advise Saddleback
on legitimate health advice
(exercise, healthy eating, etc.)
take a look at this video (taken
place at Saddleback) between Rick
Warren and Dr. Daniel Amen. Amen
intends to help Saddleback
participants to have good "brain
health," which he firmly believes
comes from meditation. In
this video, he openly discusses
meditation with Rick Warren.
What are the spiritual underpinnings
of the meditation these three
doctors are propagating? This report
will lay it out for you.
Dr.
Amen, founder of Amen Clinics, is
the author of over 25 books.
He teaches techniques that will
improve "brain health," claiming
that poor brain health is associated
with a host of problems from
overeating to depression. As Dr.
Amen describes in the video you just
saw, he includes meditation (and in
fact this is his primary tool) as a
way to have a healthy brain.
It is
the nature of this meditation that
sets Dr. Amen apart from any other
individual that Lighthouse Trails
has ever written about concerning
Rick Warren. In a 6-CD set called
Create a More Passionate Night,
Dr. Amen has teamed up with advanced
certified
Tantra educator, T. J.
Bartel. It is important that you
visit Bartel's website to better
understand the nature of what he
stands for. By the way, when you
hear Bartel say "Namaste," this
means the god in me bows down to the
god in you. We have discussed
tantric sex in a number of
Lighthouse Trails articles in the
past, such as one called
What's Sex Got to Do with It?"
Please refer to this article if you
are unfamiliar with this spiritual
practice. In essence, Tantra or
tantric sex is the use of Hinduistic-type
mysticism during sexual intercourse.
Please listen to what Ray Yungen has
to say about Tantra and the serious
implications of it:
Tantra is the name of the
ancient Hindu sacred texts that
contain certain rituals and
secrets. Some deal with taking
the energies brought forth in
meditation through the chakras
and combining them with
love-making to enhance sexual
experiences.
Once completely off-limits to
the masses of humanity, Tantra,
like all other New Age
methodologies, is now starting
to gain increasing popularity. .
. . The potential to impact a
very great number of people,
especially men, was brought out
in
an article by a sex worker who
incorporates “Tantric Bodywork”
into her services. . . . she
has turned to Tantric Union to
give her clients what she feels
is not just sex but “union with
the divine.” . . . Now the
“multitudes of men” who come to
her get much more than they
bargained for. In the past,
wives and girlfriends needed
only to worry about sexually
transmitted diseases from
cheating husbands and
boyfriends, but now their men
may instead bring home spiritual
entities!
(For Many Shall Come in My Name,
Yungen,
pp. 115-116)
We
are sorry to be so frank - but we
must - we are dealing with Rick
Warren, "America's Pastor" and one
of the most, perhaps the most,
influential evangelical leaders
today. And in just a few days, he
will be starting a 52-week health
program that has been designed by
Dr. Amen, a tantric sex
activist! Dr. Amen expresses his
strong feelings about tantric in his
book, Change Your Brain, Change
Your Body:
In my book, The Brain in
Love, I wrote about Tantric
sexual practices, and was
fascinated by the concept . . .
I wanted to experience it for
myself and thought it would be a
wonderful way to enhance my
relationship with my wife, Tana.
. . . T.J. Bartel . . . became
our teacher . . . I felt as if I
had to share his knowledge
with everyone I knew."
(p. 283)
Everyone he knows? Will that include
Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, and
even overflow to thousands of
Purpose Driven churches? That could
potentially be millions of people.
On the video interview with Rick
Warren and Dr. Amen, Warren states
that Dr. Amen's resources would be
available for those attending the
seminar this coming weekend. In
almost all of the "resources" by
Dr. Amen, he advocates eastern
meditation. In some of the books, he
devotes many many pages to
meditation practices. On page 238 of
Amen's Making a Good Brain Great,
he states: "I recommend an active
form of yoga meditation called Kriya
Kirtan. It is based on the five
primal sounds saa, taa, naa, maa, aa."
He tells readers to repeat these
sounds for 12 minutes straight.
Many
of you have heard of New Age leader
Eckhart Tolle, whose 2008 book A
New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's
Purpose was highly popularized
by Oprah. Tolle stated that the
book's purpose was to bring about a
"shift in consciousness" (pp. 6-7).
In his earlier book, The Power
of Now, he speaks of
this "consciousness," what he
considers a christ-consciousness:
Christ is your God-essence or
the Self, as it is sometimes
called in the East. The only
difference between Christ and
presence is that Christ refers
to your indwelling divinity
regardless of whether you are
conscious of it or not, whereas
presence means your awakened
divinity or God-essence. (p.
104)
For
more on Eckhart Tolle and the great
awakening that New Agers seek after
for the planet, read Warren B.
Smith's 4-part article, "
The Great Heretical Idea: Oprah and
Eckhart Do the New Age Shift."
Dr. Daniel Amen talks about Tolle's The
Power of Now in his book,
Change Your Brain, Change Your Body,
calling Tolle's
book "extraordinary."
Dr.
Amen's meditation technique of
choice is Kriya Kirtan, as we stated
above. This is a form of kundalini
yoga (see his book,The Brain in
Love, p. 146). Those who have
studied with discernment the New
Age, know that kundalini (or serpent
power) is the spiritual "energy"
behind meditation. Ray Yungen
explains the relationship between
kundalini and the chakras:
The chakras act as conduits or
conductors for what is called
kundalini or serpent energy.
They say this force lies coiled
but dormant at the base of the
spine like a snake. When
awakened during meditation, it
is supposed to travel up the
spine activating each chakra as
it surges upward. When the kundalini force hits the crown
chakra, the person experiences
enlightenment or
Self-realization. This mystical
current results in the person
knowing himself to be God. That
is why kundalini is sometimes
referred to as the divine
energy. According to New Age
proponents, all meditative
methods involve energy and
power, and the greater the
power, the greater the
experience. (FMSC, pp.
76-77)
Dr.
Mark Hyman, one of the three doctors
who "designed" the "Daniel
Challenge" for Saddleback , is
another strong advocate for mystical
meditation. In his book, The
Ultramind Solution, Hyman
emphasizes meditation, saying that
it doesn't matter what religion
one has to benefit from it (p. 322).
Dr. Hyman suggests that "Mindful
meditation is a powerful
well-researched tool, developed by
Buddhists" (p. 384). On the front
cover of The Ultramind Solution,
sits an endorsement by Dr. Mehmet
Oz, the third doctor who will be
training Saddleback on health.
Anyone who watches daytime
television, in particular Oprah,
will know the name Dr. Oz, a highly
renowned cardiovascular surgeon. It
was Oprah who featured him on her
show for five years, making him a
household name, which eventually led
to his own television show, one of
the most popular shows on
television.
Last
February, Lighthouse Trails posted a
piece titled "Dr.
Oz Tells Millions of Americans: 'Try
Reiki!'" In January 2010, Dr. Oz
brought a Reiki master onto his show
to demonstrate Reiki and then ended
the show saying, “try Reiki” as the
#1 'Oz’s Order.' It would make sense
that Dr. Oz would tell his viewers
to try Reiki - his wife is a Reiki
practitioner.
One press release related:
Reiki Masters across America and
the world had cause for
celebration on January 6 when
Dr. Mehmet Oz revealed his
Ultimate Alternative Medicine
Secrets for 2010 during his
nationally broadcast afternoon
talk show. He ranked Reiki #1.
Dr. Oz said, “Reiki is
one of my favorites, we’ve been
using it for years in the Oz
family, and we swear by it.”
As
Lighthouse Trails has documented for
years, Reiki is a type of "energy
healing" that is based on the New
Age chakra system and puts those
practicing it into contact with the
realm of familiar spirits. If this
sounds far fetched, listen to what
one Reiki master wrote in the
Everything Reiki Book:
During the
Reiki attunement
process, the avenue that is
opened within the body to allow
Reiki to flow through also opens
up the psychic communication
centers. This is why many Reiki
practitioners report having
verbalized channeled
communications with the spirit
world. (cited in A Time of
Departing, p. 97)
Recently,
we posted a YouTube video that
describes the spiritual
consequences of practicing Reiki.
The person doing the video told the
story of one woman, who after
practicing Reiki came into contact
with 35 spirit guides, and she was
unable to rid herself of them. They
told her they would be with her
forever. If you have not yet viewed
this 10 minute video, it is
imperative that you do. Reiki is a
catalyst or channel, as stated
earlier, into the spirit world. This
is not a silly, nonsensical ritual
with no meaning. This is serious
stuff!
How
serious? Consider this: A book
titled The Instruction
written by Ainslie MacLeod, is
described by the publisher as the
following:
Have you ever sensed that your
life has a deeper, more
meaningful purpose--but don't
know what it is? If so, you're
not alone. To help you and the
millions like you, psychic
Ainslie MacLeod's spirit guides
have given him a systematic
approach to uncovering who you
really are--and the life your
soul has planned for you. They
call it The Instruction. Now,
for the first time, this unique
teaching is offered as a
step-by-step program for
realizing personal fulfillment.
The Instruction will take you
through ten "doorways" to unveil
the life plan your soul created
before you were even born.
In
the foreword written by MacLeod,
he says the "purpose of the book is
to understand the coming shift
in consciousness that is poised
to sweep the planet.
This transformation will affect
everyone of us in some way." This
book, which is given by spirit
guides and lays out the basic
foundation for the New Age impressed
Dr. Oz so much that he wrote an
endorsement for the front cover. He
stated: "I recommend this book to
those who seek greater spiritual
well-being and a better
understanding of their life's
purpose." Dr. Oz's endorsement is
also on the front cover of MacLeod's
2010 book, The Transformation:
Healing Your Past Lives to Realize
Your Soul's Potential,where he
exclaimed: "Ainslie MacLeod is at
the frontier of exploration into the
soul and its profound influence on
our physical selves."
Make
no mistake about it - Reiki,
meditation, tantric sex - these are
very powerful mystical experiences
that have the capability to delude
and deceive those who are involved
with it. While many of the health
ideas these three doctors share in
their books and DVDs are legitimate
(exercise, vitamins, and good diet,
etc.), these doctors firmly believe
in meditation and want to
make it widely accepted and embraced
and have interwoven this belief into
their programs. As Dr. Amen admitted
himself, he wants to tell everyone
he knows about meditation. Rick
Warren and Saddleback are in danger
as could be the millions who Rick
Warren influences.
We
urge all discerning believers to
contact their own pastors and any
other pastors or leaders they know
to warn them about what is taking
place in the name of wellness and
fitness in the church. We urge you
also to contact ministries who have,
in one way or another, either
through consent or silence,
supported the "new" spirituality
that is trying to enter the church
and tell them where it leads. The
wellness and fitness aspect of this
is just another face of this whole
movement that is impacting our
entire culture.
In
this plea, consider what Roger
Oakland stated at the end of
Faith Undone:
There are still pastors and
churches dedicated to
proclaiming the truth. Find out
where they are and support them.
If you are in a location where
this does not seem to be
possible, seek out materials
that are available from solid
Bible-based Christian ministries
and hold Bible studies in your
homes.
When Jesus returns, He will not
find a utopian world filled with
peace but one in shambles,
unrest, violence, and war for
having forsaken the Word of God,
the true Gospel, and the One
true God. Rather than being a
time when He will praise the
world for discovering its christ-consciousness,
He will come as a Judge and
powerful King (p. 230).
Let
us hold fast to the truth, and in
considering the fact that
compromising our spiritual health
and wellness is never the right
avenue to physical wellness,
remember the words Paul spoke to the
Romans. He did not tell them to
entertain spirit guides, practice
mantra meditation, yoga, or Reiki.
This was his instruction to
believers:
I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service. And be
not conformed to this world: but
be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye
may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of
God. Romans 12: 1-2
As
important as physical health may be,
we must remember that our bodies are
only temporal. Yes, we should take
care of them, but in the process we
should not do as Esau did and sell
out our spiritual heritage for a
bowl of pottage.
See also:
Reiki |
The Purpose-Driven Church
New Spirituality for an Awakening Planet?
Spirit-led or Purpose-Driven:
Dealing with Resisters
Oprah and Tolle fuel New Age revival
Home
