In The Signature of Jesus, Manning teaches how to suspend thought.
He instructs his readers methodically:
[T]he
first step in faith is to stop thinking about God at the time
of prayer.
[C]ontemplative
spirituality tends to emphasize the need for a change in consciousness
… we must come to see reality differently.
Choose
a single, sacred word … repeat the sacred word inwardly, slowly,
and often.
[E]nter
into the great silence of God. Alone in that silence, the noise
within will subside and the Voice of Love will be heard.46
If
one could draw a spiritual tree of both Manning’s and Foster’s
mystical heritage it would look like this: from India—to Alexandria—
to the Desert Fathers—to Thomas Merton—to them; and now, through
them and others like them—to you. What it should look like is:
from the triune God—to His holy prophets and apostles—to you.
Very simple! That, my friend, is the decisive factor of this controversy.
I am aware that Foster and Manning both say things that would
stir the heart of any Christian. But the issue here is one of
mysticism. Is their mysticism legitimate? Biblical meditation
and prayer, as found abundantly in the book of Psalms, is not
to stop thinking about God but rather to think intently on God
and to direct all our thoughts toward God. The following statement
by William Shannon quoting Merton leaves an inescapable conclusion:
The contemplative experience is neither a union of separate
identities nor a fusion of them; on the contrary, separate identities
disappear in the All Who is God. (emphasis mine)
In essence, he is saying there is only one big identity—God. This
is more in tune with core shamanism than Christianity, yet Manning
embraces Shannon. In Leviticus 19:31, God says "I am the
Lord your God." Only God possesses God’s identity. Any other
teaching is heretical.
I challenge the Christian community to look at the facts surrounding
the contemplative prayer movement and see its connection to New
Age occultism and Eastern mysticism. Just because a writer is
emotionally stirring, sincere, and uses biblical language does
not necessarily mean he or she  advocates
sound, biblical truths. (From A
Time of Departing by Ray Yungen, 2nd ed., pp. 88-89) |
