Contemplative Prayer

Dr. Couch, I understand the Contemplative Prayer people use Psalm 46:10 and Matthew 6:6-7 to advocate that we should go into the lotus position, tune out all thoughts, and contemplate God. Is that what these verses are all about? ANSWER:  The Contemplative Prayer advocates are not talking about meditating on God. They are advocating Hinduism by which one pushes out all thoughts, even about God, and go into a silent mental state, whereby then they are filled up with the divine! This is Hinduism and not Christianity! They believe we should divorce the mind from all thinking. God then comes and simply fills up the silence space in a mystical "no thinking" way.    This is a repudiation of all objective, conscious thinking. It is a denial of living by objective doctrine, whereby we act on the truths of God's Word. The Contemplative Prayer people admit that they are uniting their view of "Christianity" with other religions. Most of the advocates are coming out of Anglicanism. They are also going back to contemplation and musing from the "desert fathers," those in the Middle Ages who left the world in order to find God "in silence." This is cultism and it is driven by demonism! It is exploding in liberal churches, but too, it is spilling over into Evangelical churches. This is leading to a one-world religion!    In the NAS Psalm 46:10 reads: "Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." The "cease striving" is not speaking about tuning out contemplation, it is about waiting on the Lord in His sovereignty to do the work He has determined in His world. In other words, they misuse the passage and do not understand what it is about. Matthew 6:6 is also not talking about going brain-dead and shutting out all thinking. Christ said: "When you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you." The point is that one simply goes into a private place and speaks with Him alone. Don't "perform" with your praying in order to impress others. Since God is Spirit, He sees and hears all things. He knows our every thought!    Be alert! Satan is working overtime in destroying the truth of God's Word. Because doctrine is no longer "in", especially among those who are thirty-five and under, we can expect all kinds of occultism coming in, in order to destroy biblical Christianity. Satan is working overtime to mislead our churches!    Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch