STAND & COMFORT Newsletter
Email NEWSLETTER #46 (Vol 3 No 13)
By Ed Tarkowski

The Dangers Of "Spiritual Direction"

God's plan is simple and always has been. He purposed to draw all men to Himself through the redemptive, once-for-all sacrifice of His Son Jesus, followed by Jesus' resurrection, glorification and sending of the Spirit of Truth to indwell all who would believe - though all men will not respond. He sent the Holy Spirit to warn of judgment and condemnation, and to call all to repentance through the sharing of what He clearly stated in His word. This is all we need to realize our fallen state and to turn to Him for salvation. Through our reading of the word of God, accompanied by a changed heart that desires the holiness that Christ is, man returns to God and is conformed to His image and likeness. That is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit: to conform believers to the image and likeness of Christ. This image is basically holiness, the very desire of God towards His children:

Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Believers in Christ form the body of Christ, which helps all members to hold fast to the truth and conform their lives to Christ:

Rom 15:14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.

Eph 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Truth is to be shared within the body of Christ by teachers and pastors. The other members should discern their teaching, realizing they are only men who can be influenced not only by the Holy Spirit, but by the world, the flesh, and the devil. Sharing also takes place among the members of the body, and where there is disagreement, the truth is to be sought out with honest hearts desiring only the truth. These sharings protect the body of Christ from deception, and the process itself serves to bring sinful ways such as anger, envy, jealousy, apprehension, ambition, etc., to the surface, where they may be repented of. In this way, all grow into the image of Christ. This is stated rather simply, but the point is we are to seek the truth together and grow in the image and likeness of Christ, with each member personally answerable to God concerning doctrinal truth and holiness. God has given ample supply within the body, and when all members cooperate with what He has established, the unity of the Spirit is preserved in the bond of peace. Love, truth and holiness become evident. There is no lording it over anybody, and the many and various spiritual deceptions are negated.

When fellowshiping with one another or when seeking help from a pastor, it is absolutely necessary that:

1. The central emphasis must remain on our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. The basis for working through the problem should be the revealed word of God in its proper context and witnessed to by the Holy Spirit.

3. One should not rely solely on the word of one person, but seek out the counsel of one or two others so the Holy Spirit can witness two or three times to any suggested solutions or answers.

What a Christian says and does has to have a two-fold foundation: the word of God and the Holy Spirit who reveals the word He Himself inspired. You can't have one without the other. If a person has the word without the Holy Spirit, the evidence of deception will quickly manifest itself. If he tries to follow the Spirit without the word, the result will be the same. The Toronto Experience is a good example of that. The individual Christian is responsible for knowing the word and acquiring a true understanding of it as taught, and witnessed to, by the Holy Spirit, disallowing any other influence that would alter the true meaning of what has been written.

The devil, of course, is always "inspiring" new revelations and new movements to lead people astray from what God has once for all revealed. Deception and lies, hammered and pressed and formed to look like the truth, have always been a problem throughout Church history.

During the past fifteen years, many "new" things have been introduced into Christianity which have supposedly "redefined" the church. The stance of the Christian should be, "If its new, it needs to be questioned, examined, discerned and judged." We're all familiar with the verse from Jude:

Jude 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

The faith of the Christian HAS been delivered to the original twelve apostles and passed on throughout the ages. There is nothing new under heaven to be revealed. My opening, simplistic paragraphs are the foundation on which we are to live the Christian life. A Christian is one who has a personal relationship with the living God, and though he may need help from his brothers to get through some spiritual rough spots regarding doctrine or personal holiness, his primary relationship lies with God Himself. The body of Christ is made up of all who have that relationship according to what has been revealed, and who have fellowship with one another in which they are strengthened and built up while the blood of Jesus cleanses all from sin.

Though in the present state of the Church we have grown used to hearing of "new" things, one "old" thing that has been surfacing in the Church is the role of the Spiritual Director, a concept which traces back to monasticism. The idea behind having a Spiritual Director is inner spiritual transformation. But it must be remembered that God has adequately provided for our inner transformation: personal repentance from sin resulting in the formation of Christ in us. Again, this takes place when an honest heart pursues the truths of the word of God in reliance on the Holy Spirit:

2 Cor 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Eph 4:21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
27 Neither give place to the devil.
28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

Rom 12:2 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.
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

These verses lay out the duty of every Christian. Is that possible, and if so, why? Because we all have the same word of God inspired and made real to our hearts by the same Holy Spirit.

Spiritual Direction

In an article on the Christianity Today website, we read that Larry Crabb believes therapy and counseling should be replaced by a "more ancient practice - spiritual direction" (Christian History Corner: Got Your 'Spiritual Director' Yet? The roots of a resurgent practice, plus 14 books for further study. By Chris Armstrong and Steven Gertz | posted 05/02/2003, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/117/51.0.html). Others have described this trend towards spiritual direction and a more contemplative life:

"Jeannette Bakke, author of Holy Invitations: Exploring Spiritual Direction (Baker, 2000) said in a Christianity Today interview, "Evangelicals are listening for God in ways that are different from our usual understanding of discipleship. We are looking at many Christian disciplines, including prayer, silence and solitude, discernment, journaling, and others. . . . Spiritual direction is one of these disciplines many evangelical Christians are learning about and exploring" (Ibid.).

The article attributes the origins of Spiritual Direction to Jesus and the disciples, and describes it as a relationship between a Spiritual Director and a Christian that is not for the purpose of counseling, but for regaining intimacy with God. The practice is said to have become embedded in the monastic life of the Catholic Church through John Cassian, St. Benedict, St. Dominic, Jesuit founder Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), and St. Francis de Sales. The spiritual exercises of these monastics have now found their way into Christianity through the writings of the people mentioned in the article:

"Such prominent Protestant writers on spirituality as Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, and James Houston have written on the subject in recent years. One excellent place to start is Eugene Peterson's valuable guide to books on Christian spirituality: Take and Read: An Annotated List (Eerdmans, 1996).

"In his chapter on spiritual direction, Peterson offers a broad definition of spiritual direction that includes all forms of spiritual friendship — 'the prayerful attention that we give to another person as a spiritual being and the accompanying prayerful conversation' that develops out of this attention. Then he says, 'By watching/reading the masters at work, we come to appreciate how important it is to learn and practice this art'" (Ibid.)

Even more disheartening is that reference materials that are definitely spiritually unsafe often accompany the practice of Spiritual Direction. One list includes Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's (a French Jesuit), who combined Christian thought with Science. Chardin believed that humanity's director was Earth and through the evolution and formation of man, humanity would reach the Omega Point, a place of convergence where Earth and its populace reach their highest point of evolution to bring about a global civilization of unity and peace.

Concerning some of the above examples of techniques and practices often associated with Spiritual Direction and Directors, T. A. McMahon wrote in the March 2000 issue of the Bearean Call:

"Lectio Divina (or 'holy reading') is one of the basic exercises of these disciplines. A phrase or single word is chosen from the Bible. However, rather than aiding understanding through one's dwelling on its plain meaning, the word or words become mediumistic devices for hearing directly from God. The word or phrase is then 'meditated upon' (meditatio) by being slowly repeated again and again in the fashion of a mantra (Jesus condemns as heathen 'vain repetitions' in prayer [Mt 6:7]). It is then prayed (oratio) as an incantation, thereby allegedly healing painful thoughts or emotions. Finally, the repeated word is used to help clear one's thoughts (contemplatio), supposedly making one an open receptacle for personally hearing God's voice.

"These biblical words are selected not for the purpose of attaining objective understanding — the 'contemplator' has almost no interest in the meaning, grammatical use or context of the verses, which simply become a mechanism to aid in listening for subjective communication from God. It should be obvious (especially for evangelicals!) that this is not how the Bible instructs us to learn or teach the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. Furthermore, classic contemplative concepts reject doctrine as a basis for knowing God and for receiving His salvation. Many of the movement's 'spiritual masters' blame western rationalism (with its penchant for reason and emphasis upon words) for nearly destroying 'our ability to intuitively experience our Creator.'

"While the contemplative movement is troubling in its antibiblical philosophies, it is downright alarming in its potential for demon involvement. Its methodologies have been the very stuff of occultism throughout the ages. A tutorial of this movement is The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, a primer for learning occult visualization (hailed by shamans as the most potent method for contacting spirit entities). In one of dozens of such exercises Ignatius instructs the reader 'to picture...Christ our Lord....standing in a lowly place in a great plain about the region of Jerusalem, His appearance beautiful and attractive.'3 Though this may seem innocent, even spiritually gratifying, in reality it's impossible. No one knows what Jesus looks like. Morever, this is visual idolatry (Ex 20:4-5), and a divination technique that opens the door to demonic spirits. We personally know former Jesuit priests (Ignatius founded the Jesuits) who report that they had been demonized by this method. The real Jesus will not respond, no matter how sincere the practitioner. Through the imagination the visualized Jesus (or any other personage) often takes on a life of its own and brings the practitioner into occult bondage. (See The Seduction of Christianity or Occult Invasion for more information on shamanic visualization.)

"Centering prayer, a foundational contemplative technique, is a 'Christianized' version of Eastern mystical meditation. Stripped of its deceptively biblical sounding terminology, it's no different from that which yogis have practiced for millennia; neither are its occult effects. For example, an instructor in the movement (who mentors two Catholic priests) tells of his recurring problem with his meditation breathing exercise:

"'The Spirit would flow into my heart and start burning and I couldn't get it to stop. The burning would proceed into my lungs and I could not take a deep breath for days, let alone do the breathing exercises....Do not get the idea that I was doing the exercises too forcefully. I wasn't. It was just that the Spirit had become unleashed and I was encouraging it to flow more forcefully than my nervous system could handle. I sought medical help but the doctor couldn't find any reason for the problem. How do you tell a doctor that the Spirit has really been rough on you lately and you want to learn how to cope with it?4'

"Rough 'Spirit"? Not the Holy Spirit! Still needing help, he wrote to a renowned Catholic monk, author of many books on contemplative exercises. The reply was revealing though not surprising. 'He graciously wrote back explaining that although the end in God is the same....he had not felt the heat or the flowing of the Spirit exactly as I did but that he had read about these experiences when reading of the kundalini (what [Western] yogis call the fire of the Holy Spirit [Hindus actually call it the 'Serpent force!']) experiences....'5 Similar 'rough' manifestations which wouldn't go away have been reported at the alleged revivals of Pensacola and Toronto, causing young people and their parents to seek medical counsel.

"If our small, central-Oregon town of Bend is any indication, the pied pipers of this movement are everywhere. Some of our local churches recently had Taizé 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 bestselling Celebration of Discipline, came to town with his contemplative spirituality-promoting organization, Renovaré. 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 Sider, J.I. Packer, Calvin Miller, Fr. Henri Nouwen, Ted Engstrom, Fr. Michael Scanlon, Eugene Peterson, John Wimber, and Tony Campolo" (Berean Call, "Please Contemplate This").

There are inherent dangers in seeking out a Spiritual Director. The main danger is that of reliance on man rather than on one's personal relationship with God through the Holy Spirit and the word. When a man becomes the mediator between you and God, it usurps the person and work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit whom He sent.

A very real danger is to approach conversation with God through meditative techniques rather than on the basis of Scriptural fact concerning union with God in Christ by the Holy Spirit through His shed blood:

Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

This second danger in having a Spiritual Director giving spiritual direction is the possible introduction of practices and techniques (used on the "journey" of spiritual transformation) that will lead to fellowship with spirits not of God. For instance, I sent out material on Labyrinths some time ago in which the "Christian" use of the Labyrinth was explained. Its promoters said that a Labyrinth is a spiritual tool which energizes the spirit as one becomes quiet within, in order to bring oneself to a place of spiritual insight, inner healing and solving problems within one's life experience. Through this quietness, one becomes receptive to and experiences God's presence, and in that presence is transformed. The Labyrinth is considered to be sacred ground, yet its origin is usually associated with the Minotaur of Greek myth.

An undiscerning Christian can easily be lead by a Spiritual Director into a variety of new age or occult meditations, practices and techniques disguised as Christian "transformational" practices. These techniques employed "to encounter God" include contemplative meditations such as Centering prayer. Centering prayer is the practice of repeating a phrase over and over again to help one focus the mind and bring oneself to a quiet state. In Christian circles, Scripture or Jesus' name is used. It is similar to Transcendental Meditation, a new age practice. Once in the state, one meditates on how the phrase used relates to God, others and/or the issues you are trying to resolve.

Less and less in Christianity do we hear of the "gut prayer." It goes something like this: "Father, in Jesus' name, I know you are with me, and if you were in trouble like I am in trouble, and I could help you like you can help me, I'd certainly do it," knowing God said He would always be with us to hear and always present to answer. No meditation is necessary, no phrases need to be repeated over and over again, no labyrinths need to be walked. He is there - always. He answers - always. To get alone and be quiet is okay. To place yourself in a meditative state through the repetition of some phrase is not. Spiritual Directors and their spiritual direction can be dangerous. Thankfully, some who carry the title practice none of these things. They realize that their helping a brother in Christ is a temporary thing. They center on Christ and help get people through the sticky parts of their Christian life. But it appears that the role of Spiritual Director is a rising phenomena with very real dangers in the Church today, so I wanted to at least bring it to your attention with a few examples. Beware.

The word of God is given to renew our minds. It is given so that, with our minds, we have a knowledge of God and an understanding of His ways. The Holy Spirit will never leave us nor ever forsake hovering over that word to bring it alive to us. God has given us the word of God, and along with it the responsibility to adhere to it. When we do, the Holy Spirit teaches us and witnesses to its truth. The Holy Spirit is God, and He is present WITH us. We don't need to meditate into His presence by altering our consciousness.

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References found for McMahon's quotes elsewhere on the internet http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Original-Gangsta/message/2134?source=1:

3. Understanding the New Age - Russell Chandler , Journalist and religion writer For Los Angeles Times.
4. Inside the New Age Nightmare - Randall N. Baer - former "crystal
power" expert and teacher. Huntington House, 1989.
5. When the World Will Be As One -The Coming NEW WORLD ORDER in=20
the NEW AGE by Tal Brooke - former follower of Sai Baba, presently with The Spiritual Counterfeits Research Group - Berkeley , Calif.

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