The Re-Think Conference

Excerpts from

The Re-Think
Conference

Erwin McManus
Teams Up with Robert Schuller

Could Have
Far-Reaching Effects

 www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/newsletter083007.htm

“Many
shall come in My name.”

Matt 24:4

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The Rethink Conference will take place at
Robert
Schuller‘s Crystal Cathedral. According to Church
Communication Network (CCN), the event will be hosted by
Robert Schuller and Erwin McManus.

On the Rethink Conference
website, the event is described
as: “Leading Thinkers and Influencers offer a perspective
you may never have imagined.” These thinkers and influencers
include a wide array of prominent personalities such as Kay
Warren, Chuck Colson, former president
H.W. Bush,
Larry
King, John and Nancy Ortberg, Rupert Murdoch, Gary
Smalley,
and of course hosts
Robert Schuller and
Erwin McManus.

At first glance there might appear to be little, if
anything, in common between these speakers. However, a
number of them do have one thing in common, and that is a
propensity toward contemplative (i.e., mystical)
spirituality. Those would include Kay Warren, the Ortbergs,
Erwin McManus, Robert Schuller, Dan Kimball, and
H.B. London
Jr. (Focus on the Family).

According to the conference site, “If you want to increase
your influence as a leader in an ever-changing culture, then
… Rethink gives you the tools and perspectives you need to
lead today.”

The event is designed for pastors and leaders
in particular, and promises that even theologically
conservative pastors will feel comfortable. Ironically, many of the speakers whom Christian pastors and
leaders might be more willing to trust (those who are
professing Christians) may be the very ones who will pass on
a mystical perspective. For instance, H.B. London Jr. is an
avid promoter of Richard Foster’s spiritual formation, and
Erwin McManus, who says it is his goal to destroy
Christianity, claims that the core of his book,
The
Barbarian Way, is mysticism. Kay Warren recommends Henri Nouwen’s contemplative book, In the Name of Jesus, and her
husband Rick Warren has supported the contemplative
(spiritual formation) movement for years (see ATOD, ch. 8)

While Robert Schuller will be representing Christianity as
well, he too has a long history of mystical affinities.
Listen to Ray Yungen explain:

[W]hat many might not know about Schuller is his
New Thought
proclivities. Interspiritual scholar Marcus Bach once
related the following incident that took place at a
Unity
church in Hawaii in which Bach was speaking:

“Dr. Schuller attended the first of three services, this one
at 7:30 am. When we shook hands at the door, he tarried to
assure me how much Unity principles meant to him and how
helpful they had been to him in his work.

What could some of these
Unity principles be? Bach explains:

“Hinduism’s emphasis on meditation fit[s] well into Unity’s
patterns for enlightenment.”

This is one of the major principles that Schuller was making
reference to. In his own book, Prayer: My Soul’s Adventure
with God, he says:

Move into mighty moods of meditation. Draw energy from
centers of sacred solitude, serenity, and silence… Find
yourself coming alive in the garden of prayer called
meditation…. Yes, the “New Agers” have grabbed hold of
meditation…. Hey, Christian! Hear me! Let’s not give up
the glorious, God-given gift of meditation by turning it
over to those outside our faith.

The point that Schuller misses is that meditation is what
makes a person a New Ager! This perspective is something to
consider in light of the quarter million pastors who have
trained and been mentored under Schuller at his Leadership
Institute.

The Rethink Conference is bringing together leaders from
several different philosophical and religious camps under
the auspices of Robert Schuller. If one wonders what his
purpose is, that answer might be found in his book, My
Journey, when he states:

“I met once more with the Grand Mufti (a Muslim), truly
one
of the great Christ-honoring leaders of faith…. I’m
dreaming a bold impossible dream: that positive-thinking
believers in God will rise above the illusions that our
sectarian religions have imposed on the world, and that
leaders of the major faiths will rise above doctrinal
idiosyncrasies, choosing not to focus on disagreements, but
rather to transcend divisive dogmas to work together to
bring peace and prosperity and hope to the world….” p. 502

“Standing before a crowd of devout Muslims with the Grand
Mufti, I know that we’re all doing God’s work together.
Standing on the edge of a new millennium, we’re laboring
hand in hand to repair the breach.” p. 501

What is really taking place at the Rethink Conference is the
reality of Schuller’s dream that there be a global
unity
among all religions and beliefs and that all these paths
lead to the same God (i.e., “we’re all doing God’s work” and
all these paths can “bring peace and prosperity and hope to
the world.”) The glue is mysticism, and this is what is
being inculcated at the Rethink Conference. The effects of
this could be far-reaching as you can see by the earlier
quotes.

For more information on interspirituality,
click here.

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You can
order

For Many Shall Come in My Name from
Lighthouse Trails at

www.lighthousetrails.com/formanyshallcome.htm

Reference citations
are in the book.

Other reports from
www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com:

They Like Jesus, But Not the Church

Erwin
McManus: “A Secret Behind The Secret”

The Secret: A New Era for Humankind