Roll Over Menno

In 2002 there appeared an article in the Direction Journal called Youth Encountering God written by Abram Bergen.

The article stated:

Ancient prayer practices need to become an essential aspect of ministry to youth in Mennonite congregations.

In the article, Mr. Bergen wrote about a new emerging paradigm for youth that looks like this:

-the labyrinth (Prayer Path)

-Lectio Divina

-St. Ignatius prayer

-centering prayer

-desert traditions

-spiritual guides

-ancient prayer practices

-guided meditation

-imagination

-spiritual formation

-silent retreat

-Youth Ministry Spirituality Project (Mark Yaconelli)

-Morton Kelsey (an Episcopalian priest who was a strong advocate for contemplative spirituality and said: “You can find most of the New Age practices in the depth of Christianity…. I believe that the Holy One lives in every soul -A Time of Departing, p. 67

According to the Direction Journal article, Abram Bergen is Assistant Professor of Practical Theology at Canadian Mennonite University, in Manitoba, and has been involved in youth ministry for the General Conference Mennonite Church. (He has since become the new Director of Development at CMU.)

Mr. Bergen’s heart is in the right place in his desire to teach youth to know God, as shown here, but are these ancient contemplative methods, many of them occultic, the way to do that?

ROM Index: HIGH

If a pastor logs onto this Mennolink Preaching and Teaching Resources page, he might find lots of good help for his next sermon, such as Bible search engines and John Piper notes. But wait! What is Leonard Sweet doing on this Mennonite pastor’s resources page?

Under Biblical Commentaries, Studies, and Other Helps is this link:

Leonard Sweet’s PreachingPlus
http://www.preachingplus.com/
-Leonard Sweet and Group Publishing, Inc. have partnered in this service planning resource for pastors. Most of the material is available only by monthly subscription.

Preachingplus is a site where pastors can sign up for a subscription to sermons by Len Sweet, Bud Reeves, Dave Stone, Dave Fleming & others.

But who is Leonard Sweet?

“Leonard Sweet’s online book, Quantum Spirituality, sheds some revealing light of the envisioned global “church” for the 21st century. In his view, the offense of the cross has been replaced with a passion for interfaith peace and possibility-thinking.” -lighthousetrailsresearch.com

Read more about Sweet here:

http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/leonardsweet.htm
http://www.crossroad.to/Quotes/Church/post-modern/leonard-sweet.htm

And who is Dave Fleming?

Spiritual seeker Dave Fleming, in his book Seeker’s Way, writes favorably about interspiritualists like Wayne Teasdale who believes in a global spirituality through meditation and sharing traditions from all the world’s religions.

Both of these men are prime time players in the emerging bunch of teachers who are reinventing Christianity today.

What would Menno do if he knew that the Mennonites at Mennolink were offering New Age interspirituality to pastors? Hopefully, most pastors who go to Mennolink will use the Bible study helps and do their own digging so that Menno won’t have to roll over in his grave for this one.

The Enneagram and Myers Briggs Personality type tests are rooted in ancient mythology, astrology and the occult. In fact, the Enneagram itself is an ancient occult symbol. It is no secret that the Meyers-Briggs personality profiling test was conceived from Carl Jung who practiced divination through a spirit-guide advisor named Philemon.

Read about the relationship between the Enneagram and Myers-Briggs here.

An article on the Enneagram called Tell Me Who I Am, O Enneagram (CRI) says this:

“The enneagram is particularly popular among Catholic groups, with parishes and retreat houses offering workshops across the country. Rarely are teachers or participants aware of its occultic origins, something that should be a source of real concern for the Christian church. Echoes of a false, Gnostic theology are heard in enneagram teachings, though its occult roots are masked.”

Inspite of their origins, the popular enneagram and personality profiling tests are being used together in church organizations today. You can read about the Occultic Enneagram being used at a pastor’s convention on Contemplative Emerging Church Blog here:
http://emerging-church.blogspot.com/2006/12/national-pastors-convention-using.html

And once again, the Mennonites are not immune from this latest trend. You will find the Enneagram and Myers-Briggs personality profiling in the following places:

Enneagram course recommended at the Young Leaders Summit, according to the Mennonite Brethren Conference here (halfway down the page):
http://www.mbconf.ca/events/youngleaders/maria.en.html

The Mennonite Church Canada promotes The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective, by Richard Rohr, here:
http://www.mennonitechurch.ca/resourcecentre/ResourceView/2/7032

There are many more examples. Simply typing the words Enneagram+Mennonite seminary into google.com will reveal instances too numerous to list where the Enneagram is being used by Mennonites. However, this is very typical in Christian organizations, not just within Mennonite circles. It’s not that shocking, but it just might make Menno roll over in his grave.

The question is, as followers of not only Menno Simons, but of Jesus Christ, do Mennonites (or Christians in general), actually need the enneagram to tell them what they are really like? Jesus said the Holy Spirit would do that:

“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” John 16:8

For a balanced discussion on the Enneagram see here:

A Voice in the Wilderness
http://www.a-voice.org/qa/women.htm#ennegram

“If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god; Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.”
Psalm 40:20,21

ROM Index: High (as usual)

Mark Baker is assistant professor of mission and theology at Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary in Fresno, California. He is also the coauthor of a book called Recovering the Scandal of the Cross: Atonement in New Testament and Contemporary Contexts. This book was required reading for pastors attending Fuller Seminary’s “2004 President’s Theological Conference for Pastors.”

Here is a quote from the book:

“We believe that the popular fascination with and commitment to penal substitutionary atonement has had ill effect in the life of the church in the United States and has little to offer the global church and mission by way of understanding or embodying the message of Jesus Christ.”

In a review of this book, Richard Nathan, M.A. concludes:

… throughout the book the authors try to sound fair while ultimately rejecting the commonly held Gospel that Christ died for sinners. Their logic can be summed up as follows:

1. The Bible does not teach the substitutionary atonement; rather, Anselm came up with the theory.

2. The theory has been distorted by modern conservative Evangelicals and is defunct and harmful.

3. We need new images based on perceived needs to “spread the Gospel” [What Gospel?] to the modern multicultural world.

Read the complete review of this book here:

Recovering the Scandal of Liberalism: Disdaining the Cross
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/04/scandal-cross.htm

Read another review of this book by David Linden, who says that “the evangelical church will be one no longer” if it follows the way of the men who wrote this book, here:

http://www.grebeweb.com/linden/recovering_scandal_1.html

ROM (Roll Over Menno) Index: High

I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

Galatians 1:6-9 (KJV)

“The overwhelming majority of Christians have probably never heard of C. G. Jung, but his influence in the church is vast and affects sermons, books, and activities, such as the prolific use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) by seminaries and missionary organizations…Christians need to learn enough about Jung and his teachings to be warned and wary.” - PsychoHeresy: C. G. Jung’s Legacy to the Church

The following Mennonites are not aware of this warning:

*Myers Briggs and Carl Jung are here at Bethel College in Kansas, the oldest Mennonite college in North America.

*The students at MBBS all must take the Myers-Briggs Type indicator. See here.

*Mennolink is an independent inter-Mennonite, user supported service providing news, information and discussion through email interest groups and links to Mennonite-related sites. In their Worship and Spirituality Resources section they recommend Myers Briggs, along with Shalem and SDI at the bottom of page here.

*In 2005 the MB Forum recommended the Myers Briggs test here, under DGD Tools (Description of a Growing Disciple, The Raft, #11. Personality Test: Take Myers-Briggs online).

These Mennonites are obviously unaware of the source of Carl Jung’s ideas…

“Jung received his information from at least three different spirit guides. These revolutionary teachings would captivate the world. Notice the references to those spirit guides, to Gnosticism, and to the occult practices of channeling and automatic writing.”

Read more about that in an article called Carl Jung, Alchemy, Taoism and Neo-Gnosticism here:

http://www.crossroad.to/Quotes/spirituality/jung.htm

WWMD? (What Would Menno Do?)

Probably roll over in his grave.