Month: July 2013 (Page 4 of 10)

( After discovering that the Assemblies of God leadership had invited Ruth Haley Barton, a Spiritual Director (Guru) trained in pagan Contemplative Spirituality, to speak at their General Council in Orlando, Florida, I sent George Wood, General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, a set of questions.  The following is the email exchange between George Wood and me. )

Brother Fisher,

Greetings in the Lord.

With all the press of things calling for my attention, I’ve nevertheless tried to respond briefly to your questions below. I believe the more thorough response has already been given, which I believe you have.

Blessings!

George Wood

From: Woodward, Jewell
Sent: Monday, May 06, 2013 3:42 PM
To: Wood, George O
Subject: FW: Some questions

do you want to respond to him?

________________________________________
From: CH Fisher [mailto:cfisher@triad.rr.com]
Sent: Mon 5/6/2013 3:13 PM
To: General Superintendent
Subject: Some questions
Some Questions for the AoG leadership
(Please note that your answers will be published unedited on the Internet.) (George Wood’s responses are in red.)

1. Christianity is presently being inundated with a number of cult beliefs and practices directly from the New Age Movement. One of those practices is Contemplative Prayer. Even if your version is the genuine article, why are you introducing it during this surge of cult, occult, and pagan infiltration by means of a “spiritual director”? For everything God has, the devil has an imitation. Just because he has an imitation does not mean we stop doing the original. Waiting on the Lord and meditating on His Word is very Scriptural.

2. Before I was licensed and eventually ordained by the Oklahoma District of the Assemblies of God some 35 years ago, I was required to read a book by E. M. Bounds entitled, “Power through Prayer”. Nothing in the book even hinted of Contemplative Prayer. Here is a quote from that book; “The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.” Do you now reject or marginalize E. M. Bounds, Rees Howells, and other great praying Christians? If so, then what caused this change of opinion? If not, then why are their examples now insufficient? None of them are rejected even though I don’t believe they were Pentecostals. We need all the help we can get in motivating people to pray.

3. You say that Contemplative Prayer is a true Christian practice that is being mimicked by Satan. Obviously, just applying the term “Christian” to it does not change is intrinsic nature. If that is the case, then how do you tell the difference between the true and the copy? You apply God’s Word and the witness of the Holy Spirit. If you knew the Godly women who chose the speaker for their event as I do, you would have every confidence in their spiritual discernment. I regret that you do not know them and have unfairly judged them. These are ordained women in our Movement, spiritually mature and thoroughly Pentecostal.

4. If we are in the last days, then it is certain that deception will be a primary factor in the great and final apostasy. Deception usually arrives on the wings of some new thing. Since it arrived with a number of other New Age elements, spiritual formation, centering, spiritual directors, yoga, transcendental meditation, and etc., doesn’t it seem more likely that Contemplative Prayer (in my opinion a pagan practice and at the least a new term) is a vehicle for extreme deception? Not the least. Waiting on the Lord and meditating on His Word are part of Biblical disciplines. I would rather wait on the Lord and meditate on His Word then sing a simple chorus over and over (which is a musical form of contemplation) that gets overdone in many of our circles.

5. Has any of the leadership of the Assemblies of God practiced Contemplative Prayer, centering, or had any experience with the practices listed in the above section? If not, then why are you so adamant about introducing such a practice into the Movement? If so, can you give scripture references that prophesy such things will be revealed and ordained by God for His church in the last days? I’ve meditated on His Word and waiting on Him in prayer all my life. I’ve waited hours on the Lord. You can call that focus or centering – it’s certainly very Pentecostal. We need more people who will get quiet before the Lord, wait on Him, ingest His Word into their lives. In all the busy-ness of today – what we need is to get into our prayer closets. Contemplative prayer is the current term for what is a very Biblical practice – getting alone with God. I suggest you read Ruth Barton’s book, Strengthening the Soul.

6. Do you agree with the New Age beliefs of Rick Warren, Rob Bell, Brian McClaren, and others in the Emergent Church Movement? Are you in the process of merging the Assemblies of God into the Emergent Church Movement? Do you agree with its goal of global ecumenism using the vehicle of Contemplative Prayer? If not, would you issue an official statement of opposition to this aggressive cult, occult, and pagan-driven Movement? I know Rick Warren personally and he is not a New Ager. That is a slur on him and I will defend him as equally strong as I would defend Billy Graham. Rob Bell is heretical. I’m not familiar with Brian McClaren except for his name. There are many components of what passes under the umbrella of the term “emergent” church so I would not lump everyone under the same roof.

7. You sent out a call to unity. When everyone adheres to truth, there is obviously no need for a call to unity. Considering the controversy over whether Contemplative Prayer is of God or of Satan, would it not be more appropriate to send out a call to truth? I stand by the call for unity. We’ve had over 10,000 download my message so far. It touched a need in our Fellowship. Waiting on the Lord and meditating on His Word is not of the devil. Remember that my parents were missionaries to Tibet and I was a kid then. Tibetans under the power of the devil spoke in other tongues. That doesn’t mean that our speaking of the tongues is of the devil. Not at all! As I said earlier, the devil always tries to imitate what God has. What a shame that there are those in the body of Christ that are criticizing other believers for wanting to learn better how to wait on the Lord. We are spending a lot of our time needlessly shooting at one another rather than focusing on reaching the lost. Right here in Springfield, the big battle right now is on rights of homosexuals. We need to be together engaging on those issues rather than sapping time and energy dealing with that.

8. Does your call to unity mean that everyone who opposes the practice of Contemplative Prayer should drop their opposition and trust you completely that the practice is God ordained? Why would you require such a thing without proper research, without seriously considering the opposing views, and without putting it to a vote of the membership? I did not mention contemplative prayer in my message. If you took it that way, then that is your interpretation. I referred to multiple divisions in local churches and the body of Christ. Often those who reject the conviction of the Holy Spirit respond in a negative way – as you have discovered in your own ministry.

9. What do you expect to accomplish with the introduction of Contemplative Prayer at the General Council in Orlando? A significant number of AoG ministers have rejected this practice and do not agree with your introduction of it? If your decision divides the Movement, will you believe the forcible introduction of Contemplative Prayer was worth the cost? I’m not introducing anything. Our Credentialed Women in Ministry Task Force selected a speaker for their event. I suspect that the ministers who are rejecting “contemplative prayer” do not understand that within our context the term simply means waiting on the Lord and meditating on His Word. If we have ministers who are opposed to waiting on the Lord and meditating on His Word, then I do think even more that there is a need for a true revival in our midst.

10. I apologize in advance if the following questions offend anyone. I mean no disrespect, but in light of recent harsh actions by certain AoG leaders against credentialed ministers, these questions have to be asked. I am not aware of any harsh actions. I have done my best to respond kindly to all who have written or talked with me. I have been the recipient of many unkind emails and letters.
You were elected to lead the Assemblies of God. Do you believe that job description gives you the authority to force a controversial belief or practice upon the entire membership without any recourse on their part? I am accountable to the Executive Leadership Team, the Executive Presbytery, the General Presbytery and the General Council itself.
If so, when did you come to the conviction that being given the privilege of leading the great AoG Movement equals dictatorial dominance of the very ones that granted you the privilege of leadership? Anyone who works with me knows that I am not dictatorial, that I work with consensus among leadership. As for Ruth Barton, I and our executive leadership team approved the request of the credentialed Women in Ministry Task Force because we trust them.
Do you plan to excommunicate credentialed ministers that ignore your Call to Unity and openly disagree with your arbitrary decision? No. I’ve never threatened anyone with excommunication; and as you know, there is a process of dealing with credentials – and I don’t have that power, and wouldn’t use it if I did.
If you truly consider leadership as God’s word defines it, “not being lords over God’s heritage” (1 Pet. 5:3), when will you call for a conference with qualified speakers to enumerate the pros and cons of Contemplative Prayer, its origin and history, and the consequences or benefits of implementation? I think the blogs are perfectly capable of debating that issue without the need for a conference.

Thank you for your answers to these important questions. You are most welcome. I trust my responses are helpful to you. Perhaps we will not agree on some issues but it’s always right that we love and pray for one another. I do covet your prayers. The Lord richly bless you!
For His glory,
C. H. Fisher

The very disturbing but truthful news about the A/G is that the leadership and the highest level have accepted and are promoting Contemplative Spirituality. A/Gs colleges and seminaries have produced a generation of ministers that agree with their new direction into Contemplative Spirituality. As a result, many of the 40s something and younger group of ministers are very much into Rob Bell and the Emergent Church and support homosexuality. They were warned repeatedly over the past couple of decades. Instead of taking the warnings, the Denomination leadership trumped up false charges against the ones who warned them and ruthlessly excommunicated them. Anyone who resigns in protest will also be brought up on charges and not allowed to resign. They will instead be dismissed. One presbyter told a pastor friend that was being excommunicated after attempting to resign, “You don’t quit them…they quit you.” As a result, there are few voices left in the Denomination that are courageous enough to oppose this outrage.
I’m one of the few that managed to resign without enduring such injustice. I feel deep sadness for my friends that remain in the A/G. They are very distressed about this paradigm shift and venture into the vortex of deception and apostasy. This is beyond critical mass. We have to face the fact that our world is changing and there may be no going back. If this is not the last days, it is still going to be a time of darkness when “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived”. Guard your hearts and minds! Plant your hope and faith firmly in Christ Jesus! There is no middle ground.