The Avalanche
of Spiritual Formation
By
Deborah Dombrowski
"When I first began writing in the field
in the late 70s and early 80s the term ‘Spiritual Formation’ was hardly known,
except for 
highly
specialized references in relation to the Catholic orders. Today it is a rare
person who has not heard the term. Seminary courses in Spiritual Formation
proliferate like baby rabbits. Huge numbers are seeking to become certified
as Spiritual Directors to answer the cry of multiplied thousands for spiritual
direction." (1 Richard Foster)
What is spiritual formation and what
is its premise? According to Roger Oakland, spiritual formation came upon
the Church like an unsuspecting avalanche: A move away from the truth of God's
Word to a mystical form of Christianity has infiltrated, to some degree, nearly
all evangelical denominations. Few Bible
teachers saw this avalanche coming. Now that it is underway, most do not realize
it has even happened.
The best way to understand this process is
to recall what happened during the Dark Ages when the Bible became the forbidden book. Until the Reformers translated the
Bible into the language of the common
people, the great masses were in darkness. When the light of God's Word became
available, the Gospel was once again understood.
I believe history is repeating itself. As
the Word of God becomes less and less important, the rise in mystical
experiences escalates, and these experiences are presented to convince the
unsuspecting that Christianity is about feeling, touching, smelling, and seeing
God. The postmodern mindset is the perfect environment for fostering spiritual
formation. This term suggests there are various ways and means to get closer to
God and to emulate Him. Thus, the idea that if you do certain practices, you
can be more like Jesus.
Proponents of spiritual formation
erroneously teach that anyone can practice these mystical rituals and find God
within. Having a relationship with Jesus Christ is not a prerequisite. In a DVD
called Be Still, which promotes
contemplative prayer, Richard Foster said that contemplative prayer is for
anyone and that by practicing it, one becomes "a portable sanctuary"
for "the presence of God." (2) Rather than having the indwelling of the
person of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, spiritual formation through the
spiritual disciplines supposedly transforms the seeker by entering an altered
realm of consciousness.
The spiritual formation movement is widely
promoted at colleges and seminaries as the latest and the greatest way to
become a spiritual leader. It teaches people that this is how they can become
more intimate with God and truly hear His voice. Even Christian leaders with
longstanding reputations of teaching God's Word seem to be succumbing. In so
doing, many Christian leaders are frivolously playing with fire, and the result
will be thousands, probably millions, getting burned.
It isn't going into the silence that
transforms a person's life. It is in accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and
allowing Him to change us, that transformation occurs. (Faith Undone,
pp. 90-92)
Just how widespread is the spiritual
formation movement? Well, as research analyst and author Ray Yungen points out,
even Rick Warren is behind the movement.
In [Purpose Driven Church], Warren
praises a number of parachurch movements he believes God has "raised
up" to remedy a "neglected purpose" in Christianity. One of
these he mentions is the spiritual formation movement, which promotes
contemplative prayer through the "Spiritual Disciplines." Warren
names Richard Foster and Dallas Willard as leaders of this movement. (3)
It is interesting that as far back as the
early 90s Rick Warren connected Richard Foster to the spiritual formation
movement. This is an accurate assessment on Warren's part (Warren's guilt
doesn't lie in identifying Foster - it lies in calling the movement
"vital" and "needed" and then promoting it ever since.)
To understand spiritual formation, all one
needs to do is understand the spirituality of Richard Foster. Lighthouse Trails
has documented his beliefs through A Time of Departing, Faith Undone, and Running Against the
Wind, as well as through numerous articles on the Lighthouse Trails
Research site. In this particular article, let us turn to a small book Richard
Foster wrote called Meditative Prayer. Foster says that the purpose of
meditative prayer is to create a "spiritual space" or "inner
sanctuary" through "specific meditation exercises" (p. 9).
Foster references several mystics in the book who can point the way to these
exercises: Madame Guyon, Teresa of Avila, Francis de Sales, Henri Nouwen, and
Thomas Merton. Foster breaks the contemplative process down into three steps.
He says:
“The first step [into meditative prayer] is
sometimes called "centering down." Others have used the term re-collection;
that is, a re-collecting of ourselves until we are unified or whole. The idea
is to let go of all competing distractions until we are truly centered, until
we are truly present where we are.”
Foster suggests that ‘practicing
visualization methods’ help us center down (p. 17). In the second step of
meditation, Foster suggests that mystic Richard Rolle experienced
"physical sensations" during meditation which perhaps we may or may
not experience as well (p. 18). Step three of meditation, Foster says, is that
of "listening" to God. Once the meditative exercises have been
implemented and the "spiritual ecstasy" is reached, this entered
realm is where the voice of God can be heard (p. 23). However, as any
New Age meditator knows, this ecstatic state is an altered state of
consciousness where everything is supposed to be unified and one with God.
Foster acknowledges the interspiritual
attribute linked to contemplative prayer when he states: "[Jesus] showed
us God's yearning for the gathering of an all-inclusive community of loving
persons" (p. 5). Foster defines more of what he means by
"all-inclusive" in his book Streams of Living Water when he
says this "all-inclusive community" includes everything from a
"Catholic monk" to a "Baptist evangelist."(4) In other
writings, he says that contemplative prayer (and its results) are for everyone
and anyone (see Be Still DVD).
Interestingly, Foster discusses the practice
of lectio divina in his book, which is being heralded in many Christian settings
as a Christian, biblical practice. People are persuaded to believe that repeating
phrases and words of Scripture over and over again is a deeper way to know
God. They believe that since it is Scripture being repeated (and not just
any words), then this validates the practice and that this sacred reading
is sacred because it is the Bible
being used. But Foster himself proves that it has nothing to do with Scripture.
It's the repetition that is effective, not the words. He states: "[L]ectio
divina includes more than the Bible.
There are the lives of the saints and the writings which have proceeded from
their profound [mystical] experiences" (p. 25). Foster obliterates the
supposed premise of lectio divina by saying this. That is because as a meditation
proponent he knows that meditation has nothing to do 
with
which words are repeated over and over; it is the repetition itself that puts
one into an altered state. Thus, whether you say Jesus, Abba, Buddha, or OM,
it produces the same effect.
Just in case there is any doubt in the
reader's mind, Richard Foster tells readers to study Thomas Merton for a deeper
understanding of meditation, calling his book, Contemplative Prayer a
"powerful analysis of the central nature of contemplative prayer."
Spiritual formation is contemplative
spirituality, and it is sweeping quickly throughout Christianity today. If
a college, a seminary, a church, or an organization (like Focus on the Family)
wants spiritual formation, may they keep in mind, they will get eastern meditation
and the occultic realms that accompany it.
As Roger Oakland states: “We are reconciled
to God only through his ‘death’ (the atonement for sin), and we are presented ‘holy
and unblamable and unreproveable’ when we belong to Him through rebirth. It has
nothing to do with works, rituals, or mystical experiences. It is Christ's life
in the converted believer that transforms him. (Faith Undone)
End Notes:
1. Spiritual Formation: A Pastoral
Letter.
2. Richard Foster, Be Still DVD (Fox Home Entertainment, 2006),
section titled Contemplative Prayer.
3. From chapter 8 (America's Pastor)
of A Time of Departing, citing Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Church,
op.cit., p. 126.
4. Richard Foster, Streams of Living Water (San Francisco, CA: Harper,
1998), p. 273.
Deborah Dombrowski is the co-founder, along
with her husband Dave, of Lighthouse Trails Research located in Silverton,
OR. Their website, LighthouseTrailsResearch.com, is a huge site devoted to
exposing the various satanically inspired variations of New Age mystical spirituality,
its supporters and promoters, and how these movements have infiltrated the
Church. A wide variety of well documented
books and articles on the Emerging Church, contemplative prayer, mystical
spirituality, and related topics are available on there website. I
highly recommend visiting their website www.LightHouseTrailsResearch.com. The Dombrowski’s can be contacted by
writing them at Lighthouse Trails Research, P.O. Box 958, Silverton, OR 97381
or calling them at (503) 873-9092.
