Lighthouse Trails regrets to report that on May 5th, Paul
Smith, brother of Chuck Smith (the founder of the
Calvary Chapel movement), was fired from his position in
the Calvary Chapel (CCOF) organization during an
unscheduled meeting that day. The motion to fire Paul
Smith was made by board member Roger Wing and seconded
by Chuck Smith's son-in-law, Brian Broderson. Other
board members affirmed the motion, and Paul Smith was
dismissed.
For some time now Paul Smith, who has been in full-time
ministry since 1951, has been putting forth tireless
efforts to help keep contemplative and emerging
spirituality out of the Calvary Chapel movement. At
times, this caused conflict with other Calvary Chapel
figures who did not resonate with these efforts. This
Lighthouse Trails report is being presented because of
recent statements such as the following that give a
biased view of Paul Smith's role at Calvary Chapel:
"Smith's desire to codify and enforce not only
the "Distinctives," but positions on such
matters as "The Shack" and secondary doctrinal
issues was at odds with other people in
leadership and that eventually cost him his job.
Smith was working out of a deep desire to see
his brothers legacy remain intact and define
what was and wasn't "Calvary Chapel." While I
think his motives were pure they also brought a
sense of restriction and censorship to many in
the movement." (from a Reformed Calvinist pastor,
formerly a Calvary Chapel pastor, who runs a
blog called Phoenix Preacher)
Comments made on that site suggesting that Paul Smith's
firing was warranted have prompted this Lighthouse
Trails report. This is the story behind the story.
On May 2nd of 2006, Lighthouse Trails was contacted by
someone who wishes to remain anonymous who explained
that a book written by Chuck Smith Senior contained
quotes by and references to contemplative and emerging
figures. In our efforts to expose the
contemplative/emerging movement,
Lighthouse Trails reviewed the book then issued an
article titled,
"What Happened to the Calvary Chapel Book,
When Storms Come?."
The article stated that Chuck Smith's book When
Storms Come contained quotes by and references to
contemplative Catholic mystic Anthony DeMello, for one.
DeMello is discussed in Ray Yungen's book, A Time of
Departing. De Mello wrote the contemplative classic
called Sadhana: A Way to God and in that book he
says:
"To silence the mind is an extremely difficult
task. How hard it is to keep the mind from
thinking, thinking, thinking, forever thinking,
forever producing thoughts in a never-ending
stream. Our Hindu masters in India have a
saying: one thorn is removed by another. By this
they mean that you will be wise to use one
thought to rid yourself of all the other
thoughts that crowd into your mind. One thought,
one image, one phrase or sentence or word that
your mind can be made to fasten on." (A Time
of Departing, p. 75).
Prior to this first article, Lighthouse Trails had begun
a working relationship with Roger Oakland who had been
involved with the Calvary Chapel movement (teaching and
evangelizing) for about twenty five years. We were in
the early stages of contracting with Roger Oakland for a
book on the emerging church.
On May 18th, Chuck Smith emailed Lighthouse Trails and
stated:
"[I have] prepared a position paper to be
distributed to the Calvary Chapel pastors on the
subject of the Emergent Church and its many
divergent and unscriptural theological positions
that trouble me greatly."
Chuck Smith also thanked Lighthouse Trails for sending
him a copy of A Time of Departing, which he said
he "read with interest," then added "[A
Time of Departing]
resonates with the concerns that I personally have
concerning the direction that many ministries seem to be
taking in their endeavor to unify all faiths. I do
believe that straight is the gate and narrow the way
that leads to life, and as Jesus said, He is that way,
He is the truth, and the life, and no man can come to
the Father but by Him."
Three days later, we reported that Calvary Chapel
released
a Position Paper,
denouncing mystical practices (i.e., contemplative
prayer) and the emerging church. A
second Lighthouse Trails article
discussed this move initiated by Chuck Smith Sr:
"This weekend, a position paper addressed to
pastors was posted on the Calvary Chapel
website. The paper indicates that Calvary Chapel
is taking a stand against contemplative
spirituality and the emerging church and decrees
that the title Calvary Chapel not be attached to
such movements."
In the Position Paper, Calvary Chapel pastors were told
not to use the Calvary Chapel title on their church name
if they were going to go in the contemplative/emerging
direction. On May 25, 2006, Lighthouse Trails released a
follow-up article titled,
"Calvary Chapel May Face Challenge in Upholding Position
Paper".
In the article, we quoted Roger Oakland regarding the
Position Paper:
"Calvary Chapel is at a critical point in the
history of the movement. If clear correction is
made, then the movement will go on and become a
lighthouse in these last days. If nothing more
happens than a written statement, and pastors
and churches are permitted to carry the name
Calvary Chapel but embrace contemplative,
purpose driven, seeker friendly market driven
ideas, the movement will break into various
segments. There are many Calvary Chapel pastors
who are asking for this kind of clear cut
direction and want Calvary Chapel to remain what
it once was."
On June 3, 2006, in our article titled,
"Calvary Chapel May Set Precedent at This Week's Pastors
Conference",
we reported that Chuck Smith Jr, then pastor of Calvary
Chapel Capo Beach, was officially no longer part of the
Calvary Chapel movement because of his
contemplative/emerging affinities. It appeared that
Calvary Chapel was going to stand strong on their
commitment to maintain biblical integrity, even though
this was a very painful situation for family members. At
that time, Paul Smith expressed his deep sadness at his
nephew's decision to embrace contemplative/emerging
spirituality. Our article also stated:
"Calvary Chapel may be the first large ministry
that has been directly influenced to actually
denounce the false teachings of these movements.
If Calvary Chapel stands firm on defending the
gospel message and rejecting these heretical
doctrines, it may be setting a precedent for
other Christian ministries to do likewise. With
organizations such as Purpose Driven, Zondervan,
NavPress publishers, Willow Creek and Renovare
all promoting contemplative spirituality and
with many other ministries appearing to head
that way, it is becoming less and less popular
to do what Calvary Chapel has done. But it is a
time in history when compromising the integrity
of the gospel could actually help to unfold the
greatest spiritual deception Christianity has
ever seen."
Then on June 16, 2006, we issued a short notice titled
"Calvary Chapel Rejects Purpose Driven and Emerging
Spirituality".
In an unexpected move, Calvary Chapel came out publicly
against the Purpose Driven movement. Our posting stated:
"This week a notice was placed on the Calvary
Chapel Distribution website recalling Chuck
Smith Sr's book, When Storms Come (which
had been tampered with). The notice (no longer
online) also stated: 'The teaching and positions
of Rick Warren have come into conflict with us
at Calvary Chapel. Pastor Chuck has directed us
to discontinue this product effective
immediately.'"
Shortly thereafter, Calvary Distribution (the resource
arm of Calvary Chapel) removed all Purpose Driven
materials from their resource database. In the meantime,
Roger Oakland was beginning to receive increased
criticism for his stand against Purpose Driven and the
emerging church. In a July 2006 article, he explained
some of his concerns in an article titled,
'Calvary Chapel and Purpose Driven'.
He told what he believed to be the main reasons why
Calvary Chapel and Purpose Driven do not resonate with
each other:
Why did Calvary Distribution remove Rick
Warren's Purpose Driven books and related
materials from their distribution? I believe
these four reasons I have discussed are
reasonable and a valid answer to that question:
-
Differences in Eschatology
-
Differences with regard to the Emerging Church
-
Differences with regard to contemplative prayer
and mysticism
-
Differences with regard to church growth
principles and beliefs.
-
Christianity has always been made up of strong
leaders who take different positions. In this
case, we see two well-known contemporary leaders
going in two different directions. I also know
that many Calvary Chapel pastors approved the
decision and applauded Calvary Distribution when
the Rick Warren materials were no longer being
distributed.
-
Because there are some Calvary pastors who
strongly disagree with this decision, it is very
possible that in the future there will be a
split of the Calvary Chapel movement. The
pressures on young pastors today to conform to
the current trends for the sake of having a
successful big church are ever increasing.
Over the next several months, Roger Oakland wrote
Faith Undone: the emerging church--a new reformation or
an end-time deception.
The book was released in the summer of 2007 and
documents many irrefutable connections between some of
today's most popular and influential
proclaiming-Christian leaders: Rick Warren, Brian
McLaren, Bob Buford, Peter Drucker, Richard Foster, Bill
Hybels, Leith Anderson, and others. It also reveals the
financial backing that was behind the birth of the
current emerging church movement, showing that the
movement wasn't just the "discontent grumblings of young
people looking for answers" (back cover) but entailed a
far more structured effort to bring about a new mystical
spirituality that would ultimately reject the very core
of the Bible's main tenets. Because the book connected
dots between the emerging church and highly regarded
leaders, needless to say it rocked the boat.
Over the next few months after Faith Undone was
released, Roger Oakland spoke in different locations
around the world, warning believers about the new
spirituality that had entered the Christian church. Then
two days after he posted an article called
Icabod,
Roger was promptly removed from Calvary Chapel's radio
network/station, KWVE. In
our article
"Roger Oakland Removed from Calvary Chapel Radio", we
stated:
"Lighthouse Trails contacted KWVE on November
19th [2007] to confirm the removal [of Roger
Oakland] and to find out the reason this took
place. Richard McIntosh, KWVE station manager,
confirmed the removal and told Lighthouse Trails
that while he knew the reason, he would not
comment."
During this time period, Roger Oakland and Lighthouse
Trails were receiving angry and threatening phone calls
and emails by unidentified persons. Nevertheless, we
knew we must stay the course.
While the long-time relationship between Roger Oakland
and Calvary Chapel became highly strained, in a meeting
between Roger Oakland and Chuck Smith, Pastor Smith
affirmed his support of Roger Oakland and his ministry.
It should be noted too that on a number of occasions,
Chuck Smith has expressed his support for the work at
Lighthouse Trails. And to our knowledge, he has never
reneged on his original statements to keep
contemplative/emerging/Purpose Driven out of the Calvary
Chapel movement. In fact, Chuck Smith invited former New
Age follower-turned-Christian Warren Smith to speak at
the 2008 Calvary Chapel Senior Pastors Conference in
Murrieta, California.
Warren Smith
delivered a powerful exhortation to pastors on June 5th,
2008, encouraging Calvary Chapel pastors to stand during
these times of great spiritual deception that the Bible
warns will take place in the last days.1
A large number of the 800 pastors in attendance gave
Warren Smith a standing ovation, indicating that many
Calvary Chapel pastors resonate with Warren Smith's
message, which is the same message as Roger Oakland, Ray
Yungen, and Lighthouse Trails.
But as with most denominations and Christian
organizations, there are indications that
contemplative/emergent/Purpose Driven is continuing to
influence the Calvary Chapel movement contrary to the
efforts and statements of Chuck Smith in 2006. For
instance, Calvary Chapel speaker Gayle Erwin has come
out strong in support of the New Age sympathizing book,
The Shack. Erwin's endorsement for William Paul
Young's New York Times best-seller sits on The
Shack website, and says:
"Riveting, with twists that defy your
expectations while teaching powerful
theological lessons without patronizing. I
was crying by page 100. You cannot read it
without your heart becoming involved."
[emphasis
added]
Even though a statement was issued by Calvary Chapel
denouncing The Shack, which is reported in our
article
"New Age Similarities, Popularity Continues, and Calvary
Chapel Gives Official Statement", Gayle Erwin continues speaking at Calvary Chapel
churches today.
In the summer of 2008, Lighthouse Trails issued a
controversial article titled,
"Greg Laurie Connects Purpose Driven to a Move of God -
Gives Financial Support".
Laurie, one of the most popular Calvary Chapel pastors
had given financial support to Rick Warren's New York
crusade, and at the same time, called the Purpose Driven
movement a move of God. This was disheartening for those
who hoped that Calvary Chapel was truly going to stand
strong against the heretical teachings of the day.
Later, Greg Laurie's ministry issued a statement denying
that they had financially supported the crusade, but
Lighthouse Trails spoke with crusade organizers who had
not only placed the information on their website but
confirmed it to us over the phone. In September 2008, we
issued a follow-up report:
Warren, Blanchard, Hybels, Laurie, Buford - Launching
New York Leadership Center.
Concerns over the direction that the Calvary Chapel
movement may go after Chuck Smith is no longer heading
the organization have continued to grow. And now with
Paul Smith, who strongly advocated and supported his
brother's hopes of having a
NON-contemplative/emerging/Purpose Driven movement,
those concerns are mounting. Just two weeks ago, Calvary
Chapel Costa Mesa (home church of Chuck Smith Sr.)
hosted a
Pure Worship Conference,
which included worship leaders from the nearby Rock
Harbor church. Rock Harbor has shown signs that it is
being significantly influenced by the emerging church,
including having had their youth group study New Age
sympathizer
Rob Bell's book,
Velvet Elvis
, for three weeks. A few months ago, Rock Harbor held a
meeting due to concerns by congregants as to whether
they were going emergent or not. Approximately 700
people showed up!
A second event is scheduled between Rock Harbor and
Calvary Chapel at the end of May,
Movement 2009.
The conference will take place at Calvary Chapel Costa
Mesa and will feature Rock Harbor's teaching pastor Mike
Erre and worship team. Mike Erre is the author of a new
book,
Death by Church: Rescuing Jesus from His Followers;
Recapturing God's Hope for His People.
The book is filled with
kingdom-now theology
and numerous favorable references to and quotes by
people like Brian McLaren, Dallas Willard, and other
contemplative, emerging figures. Based on this book
alone, it is accurate to say that Erre has all the
earmarks of an emerging church pastor. In Erre's 2008
book, Why Guys Need God, he quotes and
references a number of contemplative mystic-proponents:
Richard Rohr, Larry Crabb, Pete Scazzero, Rob Bell, and
others.
It is very clear by Erre's remarks about Richard
Rohr (whom he references over a half a dozen times in
the book) that he esteems him highly. And yet Rohr's
spirituality would be in the same camp as someone like
Matthew Fox (author of The Coming of the Cosmic
Christ) who believes in pantheism and panentheism.
Rohr wrote the foreword to a 2007 book called How Big
is Your God? by Jesuit priest (from India) Paul
Coutinho. In Coutinho's book, he describes an
interspiritual community where people of all religions
(Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity) worship the same God.
How ironic that Paul Smith's firing is sandwiched
between two Rock Harbor events at Calvary Chapel Costa
Mesa. Members at that church should be very, very
concerned.
Paul Smith came on board to Calvary Chapel about four
years ago to help with what could possibly be a sinking
ship. Paul believed that the only answer for the
movement was to hold to the basic tenets of biblical
Christianity. As he learned of the various
emerging/contemplative/Purpose Driven influences pouring
into Calvary Chapel, he often spoke up but was also
often received with resistance--until last Tuesday, when
an impromptu meeting in the middle of the day brought
his efforts to a halt.
When we spoke with Paul Smith this week, he was packing
his things, preparing to leave Calvary Chapel. At
approximately 80 years old, his mind sharp and his focus
straightforward, Paul isn't sure where he will go from
here. He isn't sure of the future of Calvary Chapel
anymore either. But he is sure of this - the One whom He
seeks to serve is faithful and will in these last days
draw a line in the sand and ask every true believer to
step on the side of biblical truth. Paul sent us an
email a few days after his dismissal. We asked him if we
could post part of it, and he agreed:
"I have enjoyed serving our Calvary Chapel
pastors through Calvary Chapel Outreach
Fellowship. Calvary Chapel is a wonderful and
surprising work of God. It has been used by God
to hold fast to simply teaching the Word of God,
book-by-book and verse-by-verse, the whole
counsel of God.... It is my prayer that we hold
fast to the sufficiency of the Word of God and
the sufficiency of the Holy Spirit to guide this
blessed ministry of God. My heart's desire is to
follow the way of my Lord Jesus Christ. I like
what the prophet Isaiah and David have to say
about the true Judge who would come and dwell
among us and His method and His heart in
righteous judgment."
Isa 11:1-5: "And there shall come forth a rod
out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall
grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the
LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the spirit of
counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge
and of the fear of the LORD ; And shall make
him of quick understanding in the fear of
the LORD : and he shall not judge after the
sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the
hearing of his ears: But with righteousness
shall he judge the poor, and reprove with
equity for the meek of the earth: and he
shall smite the earth with the rod of his
mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall
he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall
be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness
the girdle of his reins."
This situation with Calvary Chapel is not isolated.
Nearly every evangelical denomination and organization
of any size in North America is going in this same
direction to one degree or another. One key factor in
why this is happening so rapidly is that Christian
colleges, universities, and seminaries are heavily
saturated with contemplative/emerging spirituality.
Biola University,
for instance, where many Calvary Chapel pastors have
attended and graduated, is deeply involved in this "new
spirituality."
The spirituality of the desert fathers has gotten a grip
on the current theological thought and practice like no
one could have predicted just a few years ago, thanks
largely in part to the emerging church and the work of
Rick Warren and Bill Hybels. Remember, mysticism is what
gives the emerging church its momentum. Holistic doctor
and author
Dr. Rick Levy revealed
that in 2008 17 million Americans were practicing
meditation (eastern-style). That number is up from 10
million in 2003. At that rate, in another five years it
will probably be somewhere between 20 and 25 million.
There is no doubt that this surge of mysticism will have
a profound effect on virtually every North American
family. This statistic is sobering when you consider
what Richard Kirby observed:
"The meditation of advanced occultists is
identical with the prayer of advanced mystics;
it is no accident that both traditions use the
same word for the highest reaches of their
respective activities: contemplation." (Mission
of Mysticism, p. 7)
Our prayer at Lighthouse Trails is that everyone
involved in this issue would take that statement
seriously. Mysticism (i.e., the occult) is overtaking
all segments of society, and this means that the world
is falling under the spell of sorceries (magical arts)
that according to the book of Revelation will deceive
all nations (Revelation 18:23).
We close with this: In
Alan Jones' book,
Reimagining Christianity,
he talks about a mystical spirituality in which not only
all the world's religions will be united but all
humanity will be united whether religious or not. On the
back cover of Jones' book, Brian McLaren claims that
this view "stimulates" and "encourages" him "deeply" and
that Christianity is moving away from "dogma" (doctrine)
toward "authentic spirituality" (mysticism).
With the termination of Paul Smith and the embracing of
and teaming up with an emerging church, is this
"authentic spirituality" the direction that Calvary
Chapel is going to go? The answer to that question is
becoming clearer all the time
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