I Have a Bone to Pick with the American "Church"

I have a bone to pick with the American church. Not all churches, of course, but a great many of them are veering off in the wrong direction, and I’m not happy with where they’re headed. Let me tell you why.

I'm sorry to say this, but there is a spiritually dangerous teaching making its way through the church in America. Be on your guard.

I came across a young preacher who was a big proponent of something called contemplative prayer, a term I’m not familiar with, so I did some digging. First, let me say that contemplating while you pray on the surface doesn’t sound like a bad thing. It sounds “churchy,” doesn’t it?

The Bible does instruct us to pray with our minds, as in 1 Corinthians 14:15:  “What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.” But this isn’t what contemplative prayer has come to mean.

Contemplative prayer begins with a “centering prayer,” which should automatically be a red flag. Gotquestions.org said it’s a meditative practice where the practitioner focuses on a word and repeats the word over and over for the duration of the exercise.

Supposedly, the purpose is to clear your mind of outside concerns so that God’s voice is more easily heard. After the centering prayer, the practitioner is to sit still, listen for direct guidance from God, and feel His presence.

Does this sound Biblical to you? There is no scriptural support for this whatsoever, so my next question is, where did the young pastor I referred to learn this?

It turns out, some of the biggest pastors and online influencers are falling into this trap. They all seem to be looking for the next big “revelation” they can share, write books about, and make a lot of money on the speaking circuit, talking about the “next big thing from God.”

This kind of thing has been going on since ancient times. Remember in Acts 17:21, where Paul talks about his audience in Athens, comprised of Athenians and foreigners who lived in the city? They spent their time” talking about and listening to the “latest ideas,” in the words of Paul.

By design, contemplative prayer focuses on having a “mystical” experience with God. That’s purely subjective and doesn’t rely on truth or fact. It’s all about what we “feel,” rather than what God’s Word says. Sounds spiritually dangerous to me and dangerously close to divination.

Divination in the Bible is the forbidden practice of clearing one’s mind and seeking hidden knowledge, future events, or guidance through occult, demonic, or supernatural means rather than from God. And this “mystical experience” with God movement is making its way through the American church in multiple denominations.

Don’t you think the devil knows this, too? If you’re looking for a revelation from God outside of the Bible, you run an excellent chance of being deceived. After all, the Bible said Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. How do you know the “revelation” you’re receiving comes from God and not the other side? You don’t.

I can hear the question: “What’s wrong with wanting to hear from God? After all, He spoke to all kinds of people in the Bible, right?” That’s a fair question.

The Bible records God speaking audibly to people many times, and there’s no Biblical reason He can’t do the same today. But while He spoke hundreds of times to people in His Word, please remember this was over the course of approximately 4,000 to 4,500 years. God speaking audibly is still the exception, rather than the rule.

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And as a follow-up, how many of those conversations between God and human beings involved a person sitting down, “clearing their minds,” and waiting for a “deeper understanding” of God? Zero.

Moses spoke to God at the burning bush in Exodus 3-4, but after God first called him. Samuel in the Temple (1 Samuel 3) spoke to God, saying, “Speak for your servant hears,” after God called to him. The conversation is almost a divine interruption rather than a human-initiated encounter.

He still speaks to us through the Bible. After all, the Word is called “living and active.” I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve read a verse multiple times over the course of years, and suddenly, a burst of inspiration from the Holy Spirit opens up a deeper understanding. It’s called an A-HA moment, and I didn’t have to look for it outside the Word of God. That A-HA moment was BASED on the Word of God.

Maybe if the church spent less time looking for extra-Biblical words from God and read the ones He wrote down on paper, we’d all be pulling in more of the same direction. And stop with the mystical mantras and trying to find a “new understanding” of God. He’s already given us a whole lot about who He is in His Word. How hard is it to read the Bible?

After all, Paul told Timothy that “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” It’s a manual on how to live a Godly life in an ungodly world.