Rob Bell’s Comments at Seeds of Compassion

From A Little Leaven:

Rob Bell shared the stage today with “his holiness” the Dalai Lama during an InterSpiritual panel discussion at the Seeds of Compassion conference.

Bell’s defenders claimed that he would be a voice for Christianity at this event. But, right out of the box Bell’s comments accomplished nothing more than blend the ooooie goooie non-sensical spirituality that was being promoted at this event.

Below is Rob Bell answering the question that a twelve year old boy asked. Here was his question…

“What can I do to not be so hard on myself when I make a mistake?”

If Bell were giving a Christian answer then he should have mentioned the forgiveness of sins won by Jesus Christ on the cross. Here was Rob Bell’s answer…

See Video HERE

In this second video pay close attention to how Bell allegorizes Christ’s death and resurrection so that it can fit into the generic one-world spirituality being promoted at this event.

See Video HERE

For more video of the Seeds of Compassion InterSpiritual Panel Discussion Click Here.

Erwin McManus’ Awaken 2008 Speaker Promotes Eckhart Tolle

From Lighthouse Trails Blog:

This week, the Awaken 2008 with Erwin McManus is taking place at William Carey University in Pasadena, California. Many of the event speakers (called “Thought Leaders”) promote contemplative mysticism, but one in particular, Mark Batterson, points readers on his website to Eckhart Tolle, a New Age guru who is currently being heralded by Oprah Winfrey. Batterson says that Tolle’s book, Practicing the Power of Now, is “instrumental in the way I think about life.” His public reading list also includes several other New Agers and mystics: Jack Canfield, Daniel Goleman (The Meditative Mind), Gary Thomas (Sacred Marriage, Sacred Pathways), Leonard Sweet, Tony Jones, Brian McLaren, and several others.Other “Thought Leaders” at the Awaken 2008 who are contemplative proponents are Willow Creek’s Nancy Beach, Bill Hybels, Dan Kimball, Erwin McManus, and Rick McKinley.

For those who do not understand the spirituality behind Eckhart Tolle, please read Warren Smith’s four part series and Ray Yungen’s book, For Many Shall Come in My Name

 

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Also see Oprah’s Gospel

Mark Driscoll Rejects McLaren But Embraces Contemplative

From Lighthouse Trails Blog:

Since last Fall, when Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church [in Seattle, WA], denounced some of the teachings of emerging church leaders Brian McLaren and Doug Pagitt at the Convergence Conference at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, his talk has been the topic of many discussions across North America. People feel that such a denouncement by someone who had a role in start up of the emerging church is very noteworthy.

However, while Driscoll has placed himself in what he considers a more conservative and a biblical form of the emerging church, evidence shows that when it comes to the driving force behind the emerging church – mysticism – Driscoll embraces the same spiritual technology as McLaren and Pagitt.

A “Recommended Reading List” on Driscoll’s website shows that Driscoll resonates with contemplative and emerging church leaders who teach and adhere to eastern-style meditation… Read More…

Ken Blanchard Joins “The Secret” Team

From Lighthouse Trails Blog:

Popular speaker and author for Christian conferences,Ken Blanchard, will be joining members of the New Age, occultic book/DVD project The Secret on January 19th for a one day seminar titled “Your Best Year Ever.”

The Secret focuses on the “law of attraction” and was produced by Australian-born screenwriter and producer Rhonda Byrne, who after a series of setbacks in her own life, discovered that past personalities like Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, William Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln and others had this secret knowledge, and Byrne came to believe that it “was part of every religion, including Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism.”… Read More…

Easter: “The New Earth” or the New Life?

From Herescope:

“A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH“The inspiration for the title of this book came from a Bible prophecy that seems more applicable now than at any other time in human history. It occurs in both the Old and the New Testament and speaks of the collapse of the existing world order and the arising of ‘a new heaven and a new earth.’… We need to understand here that heaven is not a location but refers to the inner realm of consciousness. This is the esoteric meaning of the word, and this is also its meaning in the teachings of Jesus. Earth, on the other hand, is the outer manifestation in form, which is always a reflection of the inner. Collective human consciousness and life on our planet are intrinsically connected. ‘A new heaven’ is the emergence of a transformed state of human consciousness and ‘a new earth’ is its reflection in the physical realm. Since human life and human consciousness are intrinsically one with the life of the planet, as the old consciousness dissolves, there are bound to be synchronistic geographic and climatic natural upheavals in many parts of the planet, some of which we are already witnessing now.”

–Eckhart Tolle, The New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (Plume, 2005), p. 23 [emphasis in original]

The New Spirituality teaches a collective salvation of mankind based upon the restoration of paradise on earth. To recreate paradise mankind must first overcome his “collective insanity” (p. 15). This is precisely the point where a self-help psycho-spiritual message connects with the idea of saving the earth. If only mankind could get it right, then the earth will become right. Tolle explains it this way: “Recognize the ego for what it is: a collective dysfunction, the insanity of the human mind.” (p. 76)… Read More…