…and why are evangelicals listening to him? If you've been following the work in the Lord here lately at Apprising Ministries you will have seen that I have been writing quite a bit about the apostate Church of Rome. Amazingly people who are supposed to hold to Reformed Protestant theology have become convinced that the Reformation is over and that all of this is somehow behind us now. If you feel this way, my question to you is: Says who? Because I can tell you, it certainly wasn’t God Himself.

A huge part of how this imprudence has been spreading into evangelicalism itself is through apostate mainline denominations, such as the United Methodist Church, the Congregational Church and the Episcopal Church to name a few, that have been involved with the Gnostic mysticism of contemplative spirituality for quite some time. Instead of being willing to stand for the absolute Truth of the Gospel and to actually come into conflict with false religions within this pagan society so steeped in relativism evangelicals have instead simply begun to meditate with them.

Men and women, this antichrist Contemplative/Centering Prayer (transcendental meditation for the Christian) began invading the Christian community with the apostate “fourth- and fifth-century Egyptian Desert Fathers and Mothers” who became involved in this exact same compromise with religions of the East. Shouldn’t a red warning flag be raised as we note the word Egyptian in association with these heretics? That quote by the way is taken from the back cover of a book by Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) called The Way Of The Heart, which is one of Nouwen’s most oft-quoted books.

Why Are Evangelicals Listening To Nouwen?

I find it interesting that it just happens to be published by HarperSanFrancisco, which is also the same publisher of Living Spiritual Teacher Richard Foster and others like Sue Monk Kidd who are involved in contemplative spirituality. On the back cover we read: “Henri J. Nouwen, a priest born and educated in the Netherlands.” Yet another Roman Catholic priest that more and more evangelical leaders are quoting, and thereby exposing their flocks to, as a positive source for furthering our relationship with God. But I ask: If someone is going to be lauded as a teacher of Christian spirituality, shouldn’t we insist that he first have to be a Christian?

So just who was Henri Nouwen…and why are evangelicals listening to him? From the website Henri Nouwen.org, the official website of the Henry Nouwen Society we are told: “Henri Nouwen spent his life helping people respond to the universal ‘yearning for love, unity, and communion that doesn't go away’.” In Ray Yungen’s excellent book A Time for Departing, and if you haven’t read the Second Edition, you really should as the book has nearly doubled in size with important new information, Yungen further informs us that:

An individual who has gained popularity and respect in Christian circles, akin to that of Thomas Merton, is the now deceased [Roman] Catholic theologian Henri Nouwen… Many pastors and professors are greatly attracted to his deep thinking. In fact, one of his biographers revealed that in a 1994 survey of 3,400 U.S. Protestant church leaders, Nouwen ranked second only to Billy Graham… (61)

Unfortunately, this widely read and often-quoted author, at the end of his life, stated in clear terms that he approached God from a universalistic view. He proclaimed: “Today I personally believe that Jesus came to open the door to God’s house, all human beings can walk through that door, whether they know about Jesus or not. Today I see it as my call to help every person claim his or her way to God.” (Nouwen, Sabbatical Journey, p.51)

Nouwen’s endorsement of a book by Hindu spiritual teacher Elnath Easwaran, teaching mantra meditation, further illustrates his universalistic sympathies. On the back cover, Nouwen stated, “This book has helped me a great deal.” (62)

“Christian” Meditation Is The Broad Pathway To Apostasy

Men and women, here again is an example of a leading practitioner of so-called “Christian” mysticism who ended up teaching that man can be saved apart from Jesus Christ. Not only that but Nouwen, like fellow Roman Catholic priest Thomas Merton, also would end up essentially becoming a Buddhist. How many more pathetic examples like this one by Henri Nouwen do discernment ministries have to present before evangelical leaders awaken from their love affair with deceiving spirits with their things taught by demons?

In closing, let’s consider the following from Nouwen in The Way Of The Heart. He's describing what he called “short prayers,” but it is actually the repetitive mantra one finds in transcendental meditation like that of Hinduism and Zen. Citing John Climacus while he instructs us, Nouwen inadvertently reveals just how influenced by Eastern religions those apostate Desert Fathers actually were: “ ‘Wordiness in prayer often subjects the mind to fantasy to and dissipation; single words of their very nature tend to concentrate [shut down] the mind. When you find satisfaction or compunction in a certain word of your prayer, stop at that point’ ” (81)

And if there's still any doubt that Nouwen is talking about a repetitive mantra derived from the Eastern religions that fatally warped the theology of these “Desert Fathers” he then says: “The quiet repetition of a single word can help us descend with the mind into the heart” (ibid., emphasis added). Now we ask: Who would have the most to gain if he could convince people, and especially born again Christians, to shut down critical reasoning skills and “find satisfaction…in a certain word…[and] stop at that point”? For those who can still reason in Christ the answer to this apparent mystery is obviously Satan himself.

The Power Behind Effectual Fervent Prayer

You see our Lord left no such foolish instructions about prayer, instead He said: "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do" (Matthew 6:7). The Devil knows that the prayers of the saints have a power he can do nothing about and he trembles before a child of God faithful in prayer. And while there is no power whatsoever in the act of prayer itself, there is infinite power available to the regenerated Christian through our Lord Who answers our prayers. No wonder these seducing spirits with their Contemplative/Centering Prayer want to get us to stop praying and simply sit around in mind-numbing silence.

If you are a Christian who has bought into this lie of contemplative spirituality, then I encourage you to utter some words of repentance and ask God to forgive you. And I exhort you to join the rest of us who are anxious to live out the Truth of James 5:16: The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Beloved of God, may we be silent no more! Let's continue to cry out to our Lord until He sends revival into His Church, and then together we can begin to push these enemy forces right back out of His precious Church. C’mon, child of God let us ride to the sound of the guns!