the much feared by protestants rapproachment between
the charismatic evangelicals (often in the persons of their
most blasphemous and heretical leaders like Kenneth
Copeland) and the Roman Catholic church is along exactly
the worst lines of RC: contemplative mysticism.
This started as a warp of the Desert Fathers and is falsely
blamed on them because the same terms are used, but mean
totally different things. Originally contemplative prayer was
to pray while contemplating Jesus or some verses in the Bible
usually Psalms. And lectio divina was to read the Bible in order
to learn from it and put it into practice. All very conscious, and
not mystical except in the Orthodox meaning, to accord one's
life and thought outside of church services and prayers with
those church services and prayers. not to keep religion in one
pocket and the rest of life in another.
After the Great Schism of AD 1054 when RC went into schism
from us (and proceeded to lie about it to this day claiming we
went into schism from them), there was less grace in them and
so they more easily fell to deceptions. Complicating this was
Jerome's mistranslation of Genesis 3:15, from the woman's SEED
being the one to crush the serpent's head, to the woman herself
doing this. GENESIS 3:15 IS THE FIRST MESSIANIC
PROPHECY OF CHRIST IN THE BIBLE, AND IT POSITS A
DEATH AND RESURRECTION SINCE BOTH THE SERPENT
AND THE SEED DO LETHAL ACTIONS TO EACH OTHER.
The serpent's bite can only refer to a poisonous bite, and the
crushing of the head well, obviously the devil isn't totally bound
and totally crushed, but a severe crippling has occurred. the final
permanent elimination of him from all of creation but the lake of
fire hasn't happened yet.
Jerome mistranslated this against the witness of three streams of
Holy Scripture: Septuagint, Masoretic, and Samaritan. This had
to be deliberate. A contemporary excused him that he was
influenced by corrupt Greek manuscripts, but he did enough
research to know better. This mistranslation set up the RC for
any "marian" visions that promoted an extreme focus on Mary as
the one to conquer the devil. Sure, she is powerful, and likely a
supreme exorcist after Jesus, but the picture presented by most
of these visions is flawed, and involves a lot more talkativeness
and multiple visitations over time than typical of the few events
that occurred before and after the Great Schism in the east.
Scholasticism kicked in, adopting philosophy as guide instead
of merely a tool to exploit to convert pagans. Monastics revolted
in the opposite direction, anti intellectual and more emotional.
Contemplative prayer became the sort of garbage now promoted
by saints and magisterium and new age alike, and lectio divina
became "soaking" to get in a mood which was then exited to deal
with the rest of life, and as the mood fades so does any holiness
assuming you got any in the process in the first place.
Stumbling somehow on Barbara Aho's site, Watch
Unto Prayer, I discovered a lot of stuff that really
alarmed me.
Now, first off, I am sad to see that Ms. Aho accepts the
Jewish world conspiracy line of thought, totally rejects
Israel (after all didn't Ezekiel say they would be brought
to their old land and THEN purified of their uncleanness?
This is hardly the picture of the return from Babylonia,
though a few priests and others had married Moabite
women and not converted them or their children, and
some other problems, it was hardly a picture of the kind
of apostasy typical of secular and race oriented Israel
now), and is pre trib and I am not sure of her end times
scenario,
all that said her research on ecumenical dangers and the
networking involved and the New Apostolic Reformation
and other charismatic heresies and demonic manifestations
is superb.
Aho is good at catching subtleties that go over a lot of
peoples' heads. Those subtleties are important, because
just like subtleties in times past they lay the groundwork
once accepted for less subtle things. Also she points out,
that when some occult ritual in disguise is going on, the
lack of understanding by most participants has no bearing
on the outcome, it may even enhance it. Probably because
lacking understanding that might make them reject it, they
wholeheartedly go along with it, and the energies they
generate in their "worship" services are directed to the
purposes of the demons.
Fuller Theological Seminary is one institution that you
do NOT want to see in the specs on a minister of your
church.
For details, cruise her site. http://watchpair.com
Now, an awful lot of materials produced by various
discernment ministries are good. But NEVER accept
a writer or teacher as the best thing since sliced bread.
They all have flaws. (They are usually protestant,
which means they will attack the clear Bible teaching
of the literal Body and Blood of Christ being in the
Eucharist, which is also upheld by early church writers
from the second and third centuries, 100s and 200s
AD.)
A major problem in Roman Catholicism or rather two
major problems is this.
a. the veneration of Mary is over the top, various visions
have promoted ascription of titles and functions to her
that are proper to Jesus Christ only. While prots misinterpret
the idea of her intercession being in conflict with Jesus as
the ONE intercessor between mankind and God, when in
fact she intercedes with Jesus for us, so do the saints, so
does anyone you ask to pray for you, the overall picture
and terms in play in these visions and pop Catholicism is
close to usurping that role of Jesus if not actually usurping
it. Notable also is the fact that all or most of this stuff
began AFTER they went into schism from the original
undivided church, now called Eastern Orthodox in AD
1054. Of course they lie and say we are in schism but
that is not the case. Supposedly we are heretical also, but
how this can be when they share the same core doctrine
we do, but added to it, I don't know. By official RC
statements, Orthodox Apostolic Succession and Sacraments
are as valid as theirs.)
b. closely allied to the whole visionary trend are the
practices called lectio divina and contemplative or centering
prayer. Supposedly this goes back to the Desert Fathers
of Orthodoxy, but that is a lie or at least a misconception.
lectio divina was originally reading The Bible in order to
practice it, live it. Contemplative prayer was originally
about contemplating verses or several verses of Scripture.
In the west in the Middle Ages, the extreme rationalism of
scholasticism was a turn off to many monastics, and a more
emotional "mystical" mindset developed to offset this. The
result was lectio divina became "soaking" in the Bible as
it is called now, an irrationalist kind of reading, a state you'd
get into, then leave, no connection to the rest of the day.
Contemplative prayer similarly became an exercise in dreamy
states. This of course helped the development of visions and
so forth.
A major problem I have with visionaries is "locutions." This
is where instead of hearing a voice from outside into your ears,
the voice speaks inside your body, maybe your belly, very
weird sounding.
A person of my acquaintance who could project to some extent
did this to me once, I found it very creepy and told him not to
do this, but obviously a whole lecture could be delivered this
way to a deceived visionary, by a secret heretic with paranormal
ability within a mile of him or her, and an agenda. Aside from
just demons.
NO LOCUTION SHOULD BE GIVEN ANY CREDENCE,
and the presence of locutions in any visionary's history should
discredit the entire batch of visions.
In precisely this New Agey form, these RC mystical practices,
unknown (almost except for some individual deceived monks)
in Orthodoxy and among the early Desert Fathers, has come
into evangelicalism in the emerging church and other such
movements. (Some of them play with Orthodox icons and so
forth, and might be approachable to educate them about the
realities of what they are doing, and maybe convert them to
Orthodoxy and non ecumenical sanity.)
Watchman Nee once said that passivity of the mind and will
is what the demons want, and will possess a pagan doing this,
and when Christians do this demons will act on them also.
(you can argue about whether Christians can get possessed or
not, but then there would be the issue of were they really
"born again" or devoted to Jesus of The Bible or were they
only seeking thrills, chills, miracles, and cultivating occultism
relevant passive mind states and perhaps other ways of opening
doors to demons, such as getting the pseudo Christian version
of hindu shakti pat the touch that transfers anointing so called
and can put you on your back, whether Christian or hindu
context.)
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