Mark Driscoll’s RESURGENCE and EMERGENCE with Catholicism
Well well Mark Driscoll, what do we have here…
How to Practice Meditative Prayer
Winfield Bevins Acts 29 Pastor – Church of the Outer Banks
In Hebrew thought, to meditate upon the Scriptures is to quietly repeat them, giving oneself entirely to God, and abandoning outside distractions. The two main things that we are told to meditate on are God’s word and God’s goodness. Paul tells us, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8).
[DTW: Oh so the word ‘think’ in that verse now justifies practicing occult practices. SATANIC PRACTICES are NOT honourable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, of excellence, and worthy of praise unless you are speaking about another god, which you are. Think about that. Now, now, don’t go sit on the floor in some quiet place, just right where you are, right now, use your brain (that GOD gave you to THINK with) and think about it. Then pick up your Bible and go find some real scripture to back up this nonsence – you will find none.]
We see the difference between the active and contemplative Christian life illustrated in the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and heard his word, while Martha was distracted with much serving. Jesus said that Mary had chosen the best thing because she sat at his feet and was not distracted. Meditative prayer is exactly this, sitting at the feet of Jesus and hearing his word. This is a wonderful example of the art of meditative prayer. We must allow time to let the Lord speak to us through meditating on him and his word in prayer.
[DTW: you know, sometimes I sit quietly and read the utter rubbish that is written by people who profess to be Christian. Please note the big difference between your wild imagination and the truth as written as clear as daylight in the Bible. “Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations…” Jesus Christ who is the Word made flesh was speaking (using his mouth to talk) and Mary was listening. Nothing mystical about this. Nothing at all. Nowhere does Jesus say to Martha that Mary made the right choice because she chose to avoided being ‘distracted’ when listening to Him speak. No, Jesus says to Martha “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” This means that Mary chose to listen to believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God and by believing in Him she received salvation, eternal life. Jesus is saying to Martha, you should not be worried about things on earth, you should be worried about where you are going to spend eternity and that Mary made the good choice.”]
Steps for Meditative Prayer
- Designate a quiet place. In a world full of distractions, we need a quiet place where we can allow God to speak to us. The most effective place to pray is where you are least likely to be disturbed.
- Give yourself 20-30 minutes. Many people only spend a few minutes each day in prayer. Very few people actually spend time in meditative prayer. It takes time to drown out the cares of the world, sit, prayerfully meditate on God’s word, and then allow him to speak to us.
- Choose Scripture to prayerfully meditate on. Prayerfully select a passage of Scripture that means something to you. Let it either focus on the goodness of God, the promises of God, or the worship of God.
- Allow God to speak to you. This is the hardest part. Many people never hear the Lord speak to them simply because they don’t allow him to. We need to sit and listen for the voice of the Lord. Samuel was open to hearing from the Lord (1 Samuel 3). He said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”
[DTW: *silent* …………. oh sorry, I was not meditating I was just thinking that one has to be completely deceived (or in the process of falling into deception ) to fall for this practice as being ‘Christian’ and so called approved by Biblical teachers. My dear readers, please note that if you do this, you are opening yourself up to demonic spirits who will come and speak to you disguised as an ‘angel of light’. In other words, you will get something else speaking to you – NOT GOD. You would get all freaked out if something that pretended to be God came and made it’s way into your thoughts? Well start freaking out, cos this is what you are going to get. STOP! Repent to Jesus Christ the Son of God if you have gotten yourself involved in this stuff – get out please. This is NOT Biblical and NOW WHERE in the Bible did Jesus tell us to do any of this. Biblical prayer vs. what these people are trying to shove down your throat are two different things.
As I type this, I am praying asking Jesus Christ to guide me as I write this. Your relationship with Jesus Christ should be a normal conversation in prayer. I am typing, I have books piled up that I am reading, I have the bible open, highlighting pens, I got the TV on in the background (quite loud I must admit) and amazingly (*Emergent’s gasp*) I am still able to speak to my Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ right now and I know He hears me and I praise Him right now as I write this. I think it’s also called multitasking; being able to speak and think and do other things at the same. Obviously when studying scripture I read and make notes all the while I have the guidance of the Holy Spirit showing me what scripture means, He helps me understand.
When I drive my car I speak to Jesus about my day ahead. When I get to work I speak to Jesus about why I have such a horrible job, but thank Him never the less because it could be worse. When I get lost while driving I am the first one to panic, and yet I speak to Jesus; I ask him to help me, keep me safe. Can you imagine if I need to get out of the car in a dangerous area, sit on the pavement in a Lotus position, chanting my mantra: ‘AUMMM I am lost and I am no where near step 4, what am I going to do, I am still only an apprentice” Repeat 100x for 30min.
Step 4 is the hardest part, they tell you – Hearing the Lord speak to you. Well oddly enough, the bible says that salvation is not difficult at all nor is it a burden to obtain.]
Matthew 11:30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.”
Matthew 23:4 “ They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.”
Well I can see why so many people will get caught up in this horrendous practice (disguised as Christian). Because they are right, 90% of people who call themselves Christian have actually never heard the conviction of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Or, have you and you ignored Him? And these are the ones who will be caught up into this evil trap. And chances are you will hear something alright, but as I said above, it will not be the God of the Bible who sent His only Son to die on the cross for our sins, for those who chose to believe.
——
Media, Networks, Partners, Authors and Friends who support The Resurgence:
- Mike Anderson: Director of the Resurgence.com
- Mark Driscoll – Mars Hill Church, Seattle
- Tim Smith – Mars Hill Church, Seattle
- Justin Holcomb – Resurgence Training Center / Mars Hill Church, Seattle
- Jeremy Carr – The Well, Augusta
- Matt Chandler – The Village Church
- Ed Marcells – Terra Nova Church / Coordinator for Acts 29 Network
- Time Gaydos (Tim Gaydos) – Mars Hill Church, Seattle
- Scott Thomas – Acts 29 Network
- Joel Virgo – Church of Christ the King, Brighton
- Winfield Bevins – Church of the Outer Banks
- Resound
- Retrain
- Desiring God – John Piper Ministry
- The Gospel Coalition – Mark Driscoll and John Piper are Council Members along with many others
Source: THE RESURGENCE
Amanda
>> God is crying in Heaven about the hole in the ozone layer? And we thank Him for challenging Christians to fix it?
Oh that must be in the book of CFCs 6:11-13
Heh!
DTW, please change the name of the book! (CFCs…) that’s my maiden initials!
thanks Amanda, I actually did a WHOOOOOLE lot of reading and read all these you’ve posted here even before I looked here!
cecilia
lol, well cfc gasses (Chlorofluorocarbons) is what caused the hole in the ozone. unless you are saying you are the cause…hmmm
i think this is devisive. you are tossing around semantics of the interface between meditation and prayer. meditation as a concept has been tainted by exposure to eastern religion and the perceived implications of the use of the word. whatever we do, we must sure we do it because its in the word, and glorifies God, i’m in agreement. meditation is in the word eg Gen24.
i think the tone of the comments (within, not subsequent ones) on this article are too harsh and read like an attack, and its a bit ugly; and not in a good passionate righteous indignation way. you may disagree with mark driscoll, but unity brothers, this is not a major point of theology, i think it pivots on an understanding of how we are defining how we interact with God. i think.
peace.
karen
Yes, unity at all costs, I know. But I wont unify with people who oppose the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can, I won’t. And the entire basis of New Age Christian teaching is on how the world DEFINES the gospel – the NEW definition that is supported by all faiths. So you can carry on defininig it the new way and I will carry on definining it the old Biblical way.
Driscoll: Christians Need to be ‘Go and Die’ People
By Michelle A. Vu
While people can begin attending church with a “come and see” attitude, they need to mature to become “go and die” people, stressed a prominent Seattle megachuch pastor Sunday.
“At some point, to be a Christian you have to transition from ‘come and see’ to ‘go and die’,” said Mars Hill Pastor Mark Driscoll as he preached to his congregation. “That is, you just can’t watch people walk with Jesus; you have to walk with them. You can’t just allow other people to serve you; you need to serve as well.”
Driscoll, preaching from Luke 6:12-19, examined lessons learned from the calling of the 12 disciples.
One of the eleven lessons he talked about was to “die with your boots on.”
Not counting Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, the other eleven disciples died horrible deaths or suffered intensely for faithfully proclaiming the Gospel, he said.
Peter, for example, was crucified upside down; Bartholomew beaten, crucified and beheaded; Philip stoned, crucified and buried; Andrew crucified; and Matthew murdered by a sword wound.
John, although he lived until the age of 100, was boiled alive but managed somehow to survive. He then was exiled and spent his time writing the Book of Revelation. He was eventually allowed to return and is thought to be the only one among the 12 disciples to have died a natural death.
“When people start giving their lives to the cause of the Gospel, all of those who were playing church stop playing,” said Driscoll in between reading how all 12 disciples died. “They either step up for Jesus and go from ‘come and see’ to ‘go and die,’ or like Judas, they just walk away and go do something else.”
Jesus, Driscoll noted, told his followers to pick up the cross and follow him. In the beginning the disciples were only invited to “come and see,” but after Jesus’ crucifixion they were called to follow the way of Jesus and give their life for what he gave his life for.
“We are glad that you come and see,” Driscoll said, “[but] you need to go and die.”
The casually dressed young pastor said a problem he often sees in the Church is with submitting themselves under authority. People want to be in authority but do not want to be under someone’s control.
People end up moving from church to church because of this problem, he said. They do not want to become a member. They do not want to commit themselves or be accountable to anyone.
“This is a sick world that hates leadership. Everybody thinks they should be able to text message the president and boss him around,” said Driscoll. “From social networking to continuing comments to consumerism, people don’t want to follow a leader. All they want to do is criticize the leader.”
Some Christian leaders have even told Driscoll that they don’t recognize leadership.
“Really? Do you believe in God? Because God is in charge,” he preached.
In concluding, Driscoll urged Christians to humble themselves before authority and learn to die.
His sermon, “Jesus Calls the Twelve,” is part of the series “Luke’s Gospel: Investigating the man Who is Go” at Mars Hill Church.
Founded in 1996, Mars Hill is a multi-site church with Washington campuses in Bellevue, Federal Way, Olympia, Shoreline, and a few more in Seattle. The church also has a campus in Albuquerque, N.M.
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100412/driscoll-christians-need-to-be-go-and-die-people/index.html
I think Mark Driscoll needs to get on his knees before God and repent big time before he get’s zapped by lightening.
Deborah (Discerning the World)
This was my thoughts too when I read this.
……. Deborah, now that lightning thing?….
That is exactly why I will not walk next to Mark. Just now it is his time to go, and because I walk beside him… I go with.
Robbie
My new catch phrase of the year is ‘zapped by lightening’. This can be added to the end of pretty much any sentence or in the middle…where ever.
When will he/she be ‘zapped by lightening’?
Is is possible they will or could be or have been zapped by lightening?
Angus Buchan had a worker zapped by lightening.
Angus raised a worker from the dead who was zapped by lightening.
One has a greater chance of being zapped by lightening than ‘fill in words here’.
When will someone prophecy that between this and that year that if you stand under a tree during a rainstorm (anywhere around the world) that someone will be zapped by lightening.
How many people out of 400,000 (this is just a random number) will go stand under the tree and be zapped by lightening?
Ahhh… ‘zapped by lightening’… love it.
Deborah (Discerning the World)
aha a good “zapped by lightening” spot. lol lol
Funny how long this thread has become, yet no one has asked – what about memorization of scripture? Is that to be encouraged? If so, how do you do that without repetition, over and over? And, at the same time, why would contemplating on that scripture, while repeating it over and over, be a bad thing?
Grizzled
Memorizing and meditating ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS.
When you studied for exams, do you memorise notes or meditate over them?
<— Bangs Head On Desk… It's less painful than having to think for everyone else all the time.
Deborah (Discerning the World)
LOL LOL
I do know how you feel.
Contemplation is scriptural. Elijah heard God as a small still voice. Contemplation is setting aside distractions to focus on and desire to know and hear God: ‘in the stillness you shall know me.’ Also, Catholics are Christian. I don’t know why Protestants have such an issue about the honouring of Jesus’ mum. You respect the mothers of other people you care about surely? Jesus asked his beloved disciple John to look after his mother, so I can’t see how He would raise objections about His followers respecting His mother. Instead of bickering and squabbling we as Christians should aim to overcome petty divisions within the body and instead focus on keeping Jesus’ commandments, which is to love one another as He loved us. There’s not going to be denominations in heaven so best we get used to getting along with each other before we get there. Peace.
Rachael
1) The way a born again Christian HEARS THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO ALREADY ABIDES IS US IS VERY DIFFERENT to contemplative spirituality. Anyone who has to set aside distractions to focus on in order to know and hear God has a problem and doing OCCULT practices. The Holy Spirit does not work this way. Yes He is still small voice and a gentle whisper BUT NOT what you are describing.
2) Catholics are not Christian. Mary of the Bible is NOT the Mary of the Roman Catholic faith – please do your research on this issue.
Rachael, along with most born-again believers, I respect Mary and that she was chosen to be the instrument of the birth of our Savior. However, the Catholic view of her is completely different and unbiblical. Roman Catholics view Mary as perfect as Jesus was and on an equal basis as Him – co-redemptix. They pray to her like a god! You must be in a contemplative fog if you can’t see this!! Like Deborah says – do your homework Rachael! This is not petty!! This is about blaspheming the name of Jesus Christ!
There is a christian type of meditation (prayer) and hundreds and hundreds of other meditations, only few of those hundreds do you practice another religion. meditation is stilling the mind, not always “going out in to other universes” or “worshiping other gods” or “taking part in satanic practices”. Meditation is a way of stress relief and helps relaxation. I like to practice meditation and christian meditation at the same time by sitting (lotus position), controlling my breathing, closing my eyes, folding my hands, and by concidering the lords word. The experience is euphoric and it builds your relationship with god. theres nothing “SATANIC” about that.
joe
>> I like to practice meditation and christian meditation at the same time by sitting (lotus position), controlling my breathing, closing my eyes, folding my hands, and by concidering the lords word. The experience is euphoric and it builds your relationship with god. theres nothing “SATANIC” about that.
You got to be kidding.
hagah- means to meditate in the Hebrew tongue. Outline of Biblical Usage
1) to moan, growl, utter, muse, mutter, meditate, devise, plot, speak
a) (Qal)
1) to roar, growl, groan
2) to utter, speak
3) to meditate, devise, muse, imagine
b) (Poal) to utter
c) (Hiphil) to mutter
http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H1897&t=KJV
Joshua 1:8 “This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
You are most of you horribly deceived. The Catholic Church is the Church Christ founded. You live outside of it, and outside of the Sacraments, at your peril. You know nearly nothing of what most of you speak and it is time to humble yourselves and read the Church Fathers. I have noticed most Protestants lose their false pride when they convert. Please come to Mass and honor Christ the way he left himself with us. God bless.
John
Bla bla bla, I could send you a billion pages of writing telling you why the RCC is totally and utterly HEATHEN and PAGAN. But would you believe it id I showed you? Tell you what, why don’t you do some research on your own to see why Catholicism is Pagan? Type in Google: Catholic Pagan and see what you get.
Joseph
And your point is?