Day: February 12, 2019

POLICE STATE NEW JERSEY TO ENACT RAIN TAX~THE SOAKING OF THE TAXPAYERS ACCELERATES UNDER LIBERALS

POLICE STATE NEW JERSEY TO ENACT RAIN TAX 
BY KIT DANIELS
SEE: https://www.infowars.com/nj-to-enact-rain-tax/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
New Jersey is expected to enact a ‘rain tax’ enforced on property owners.
Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy is prepared to sign the bill that will allow the state’s 565 municipalities to literally tax the rain by charging property owners a fee for their parking lots and driveways, or any other surface rainwater can’t penetrate.
“Every time you think there’s nothing left to tax, we come up with something else,” said Assemblyman Hal Wirths (R-Morris-Sussex) during a debate on the bill. “It’s just never-ending down here.”
Lawmakers who supported the bill claim revenue generated by the new tax will be used to upgrade the state’s storm water runoff systems, although some are predicting the new revenues will be redirected to another, unrelated purpose.
For one thing, the state has already claimed 5% of the revenue.
“Under the law, the utilities can levy steep fees on properties with large parking lots, long driveways, or big buildings — which create the most runoff,” reported the New York Post.
The state is already prohibitively expensive for the middle class: more people have fled New Jersey than any other state in 2018, meaning that the tax could have the unintended consequence of lowering the tax base by forcing even more people to leave.
In fact, according to United Van Lines, 66.8% of New Jersey-related moves were outbound, and a good portion of movers were baby boomers with high incomes and accumulated wealth.
“The data collected by United Van Lines aligns with longer-term migration patterns to southern and western states, trends driven by factors like job growth, lower costs of living, state budgetary challenges and more temperate climates,” said UCLA economic Michael Stoll, with emphasis added.
Taxes in particular are a large factor in the reason to move from New Jersey, according to The Fiscal Times.
“The past few years have really put the squeeze on cash-strapped states to find new sources of revenue,” the paper reported. “This environment has generated a level of tax aggression from certain states, which in turn has resulted in a net loss of revenue instead of the intended gain.”
“Residents have begun voting with their feet, deciding to move out of the state instead of thinning their pocket through unwanted taxation.”
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APPLE DEMANDS NATURAL NEWS STOP WRITING ABOUT ABORTIONS, SATANISM; THREATENS TO BLOCK APP FROM APPLE DEVICES

BOMBSHELL: Apple Demands Natural News Stop Writing about Abortions, Satanism; Threatens to Block App from Apple Devices
APPLE DEMANDS NATURAL NEWS STOP WRITING ABOUT ABORTIONS, SATANISM; THREATENS TO BLOCK APP FROM APPLE DEVICES

Dominant tech company overtly comes out in defense of Satanism, while threatening to censor prominent publisher

BY MIKE ADAMS-NATURAL NEWS
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

In a series of shocking “demand” emails containing screen captures showing lists of Natural News articles, Apple has demanded Natural News stop publishing articles critical of abortions or Satanism, threatening to block the Natural News app from all Apple devices if Apple’s demands are not met.



This is the first time that a dominant tech company has overtly come out in defense of Satanism while threatening to censor a prominent publisher that exposes the evils of Satanic influence. Many people will see this as yet more proof that Apple, along with other tech giants, is literally aligned with Satan and is exploiting its power of censorship to silence those who criticize Satanism.



With Democrats now openly pushing infanticide and the legalization of the serial killing of infants, tech giants like Apple are serving as the censorship “speech police” to silence all criticism of the gruesome practice. In threatening Natural News over our coverage of infanticide and abortions, Apple is staking out the position of being pro-infanticide, and anyone who dares to speak up for innocent children is deemed by Apple to be engaged in “hate speech.”



According to Apple, opposing the murder of children is now “hate speech”



Yes, you read that correctly: Speaking out to stop the mass murder of newborns is now “hate speech” according to the deranged, mentally ill Leftists who run Apple, Twitter, Google, YouTube, Facebook and Snapchat. Techno-fascism has now become a movement of mass infanticide that demands the silencing of those who oppose it. “Hate speech” means standing up for the innocent and demanding an end to the murder of children.



Here’s one of the many screen shots sent to Natural News by Apple, along with a warning that these stories would result in our app being blocked:







Apple claims all these articles are “objectionable content” that people might find “offensive.”







Some of the headlines named by Apple as “objectionable” include these important reports on Satanism, vampirism and blood harvesting from children, vaccines, cannabis, freedom of speech, the failed war on drugs, anti-Semitism and much more:
















Here’s another screen shot sent to Natural News by Apple, along with demands to remove all this content or face the consequences:







There are more screen shots, too, sent to Natural News by Apple, indicating that Apple is trolling all Natural News content and trying to find examples of stories to be “offended” about. Some of the other content the Apple says is “offensive” includes articles about abortion, infanticide, censorship, the LGBT agenda and illegal migration.



Fight back against Apple censorship



We must all fight back against Apple censorship. There are several ways you can help us do that. We need your help to take action now and let Apple know that we will not be silent in the face of techno-fascism and censorship:



First, fill out this Apple feedback form for the iPhone, and tell them you don’t want Apple censoring the Natural News app:




You can also Tweet to the official Apple account (assuming you haven’t yet been banned by Twitter, another evil tech giant). The official accounts of interest include:



@Apple



@AppStore



@tim_cook



@AppleSupport



When you tweet Apple, tell them to stop trying to control Natural News and stop censoring our app.



Finally, watch and share my full explanation here:




Like all the tech giants, Apple has been consumed by truly demonic forces and now demands the silencing of all those who oppose evil, murder or tyranny.

RACIST VIRGINIA GOVERNOR NORTHAM VOWS TO BE “MORAL COMPASS”, DESPITE PRO-ABORTION STANCE~DISGRACED, BUT HE SAYS HE’S NOT GOING ANYWHERE

RACIST VIRGINIA GOVERNOR NORTHAM VOWS TO BE 
“MORAL COMPASS”, DESPITE PRO-ABORTION STANCE~DISGRACED, BUT HE SAYS HE’S NOT GOING ANYWHERE  
BY DAN LYMAN
SEE: https://www.newswars.com/gov-northam-vows-to-be-virginias-moral-compass/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam vowed that he will remain in office and be a “moral compass” amid a slew of scandals engulfing the state’s chain of gubernatorial command.
During an interview on Face the Nation, Gov. Northam touted his own virtue and valor as leadership qualities necessary to guide his constituency through the on-going political turmoil.

Embedded video

CBS This Morning

✔@CBSThisMorning

Gov. Ralph Northam tells @GayleKing: “Virginia needs someone that can heal. There’s no better person to do that than a doctor. Virginia also needs someone who is strong, who has empathy, who has courage and who has a moral compass. And that’s why I’m not going anywhere”

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“We’ve had a good first year, and I’m a leader,” Gov. Northam told host Gayle King when asked why he “deserves” to remain in office amid myriad calls from both sides of the aisle for his resignation.
“I’ve been in some very difficult situations — life and death situations, taking care of sick children — and right now, Virginia needs someone that can heal. There’s no better person to do that than a doctor.”
“Virginia also needs someone who is strong, who has empathy, who has courage and who has a moral compass. And that’s why I’m not going anywhere,” he asserted.
Northam told King he has “learned” but has “a lot more to learn” from controversy stirred by the emergence of a photo possibly depicting him in ‘blackface’ or a Ku Klux Klan outfit during his time in medical school, although it is unclear if he is either or neither person in the photo, as he has both confirmed and denied his presence in the shot.
However, just days prior to the photograph’s emergence, Northam shocked many when he seemed to endorse post-birth abortion, raising pressing questions about his “moral compass.”
Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax has now been accused by two different women of sexual assault and rape.
Two out of three Fairfax staffers have now resigned, as well as two employees of his political action committee, according to reports.
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, who would become governor if Northam and Fairfax should fall, is embroiled in a ‘blackface’ scandal of his own.
Dan Lyman: 
Governor Ralph Northam recently stated that the first black people in Virginia were “indentured servants” and not “slaves.” Alex exposes the hypocrisy and manipulation used by the left on racial issues.

NAVIGATORS WELCOMES 2019 WITH THEIR CONTEMPLATIVE TREND BY PROMOTING JESUIT PRAYER PRACTICE

NAVIGATORS WELCOMES 2019 
WITH THEIR CONTEMPLATIVE TREND 
BY PROMOTING JESUIT PRAYER PRACTICE 
SEE: https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/newsletters/2019/newsletter20190211.htm; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

Navigators is a Christian organization, founded in 1933 by a young man named Dawson Trotman, that eventually became a household name in the evangelical church.* The Navigators motto is, “To Know Christ and to Make Him Known.” However, Navigators and its publishing arm NavPress have been on a contemplative trend for over 15 years, and in the January 2019 issue of the Navigator’s newsletter, “Worldwide,” it is evident that the stakes have become much higher.

Navigators History of Promoting Contemplative Prayer

In 2005, Lighthouse Trails posted a news brief titled, “NavPress – Whatever Happened to Navigators?” that stated, “Today, NavPress has become a leading publisher for contemplative spirituality books.” Some of the authors NavPress publishes include Brennan Manning, Jan Johnson, Dallas Willard, Henri Nouwen, and Bruce Demerest. NavPress is also publishing Eugene Peterson’s The Message (which is a key product for NavPress).
In 2009, a reader sent a letter to the Lighthouse Trails editors asking if we were aware that Navigators was promoting contemplative spirituality. She wrote:

This all hits hard. I was saved through the Navigators in 1973. They used The Word, Prayer, Scripture memory, time with the Lord back then. They had us witness and spend time in fellowship.

In 2011, Lighthouse Trails wrote an article titled, “NavPress (Navigators) Continues Push for Contemplative Prayer . . . for Kids Too!” The LT article stated:

The April issue of Pray!shows solid signs that NavPress is still advocating contemplative spirituality. For example, there is an article by contemplative Tricia Rhodes. Rhodes’ book, The Soul at Rest, “introduces a step-by-step journey of learning contemplative prayer.”1 In that book, Rhodes says:

“Take deep breaths, concentrating on relaxing your body. Establish a slow, rhythmic pattern. Breathe in God’s peace, and breathe out your stresses, distractions, and fears. Breathe in God’s love, forgiveness, and compassion, and breathe out your sins, failures, and frustrations. Make every effort to “stop the flow of talking going on within you—to slow it down until it comes to a halt.” (p. 28) (also see our research on “breath prayers.”)

In this quote, Rhodes is quoting Episcopalian priest and mystic Morton Kelsey. To “stop the flow of talking going on within you” is classic mystical prayer. This inner stillness of the mind that is sought by the mystic is different than an outer quietness, such as sitting by a stream or turning off the television and radio. One cannot naturally turn off thoughts, and since thoughts are the enemy of mysticism, so to speak, they must be turned off. 

It was in that 2011 article that Lighthouse Trails showed how NavPress was now attempting to advance the contemplative prayer movement into the lives of Christian children. Our article explained:

[D]on’t be mistaken in thinking that NavPress doesn’t push contemplative for kids too. They also publish a magazine called PrayKids!. Issue #25 titled “Contemplative Prayer” states:

“Contemplative prayer is a form of meditative prayer that focuses on communing with God.  Although sometimes confused with its Eastern (and non-Christian) counterpart, true Christian meditation has been practiced since Bible times.
“This issue of PrayKids!® helps kids learn to slow down their fast-paced lives long enough to experience a meaningful relational encounter with their Heavenly Father.” (source)

The 2011 Lighthouse Trails article offered some interesting insights:

There is a reason that contemplatives often give a disclaimer that contemplative prayer isn’t the same as eastern meditation – it’s because it is done the very same way. Their reasoning is that if the intent is good then it doesn’t matter about the method. But as Ray Yungen points out, if you jump off a building and say fly,fly, fly, you are going to get the same results as if you said fall, fall, fall. (ATOD, p. 86). Good intentions isn’t a safeguard against deception. Mantra-type meditation brings about an induced altered state that leads the practitioner into demonic realms . . .  regardless of the word that is repeated.

January 2019 “Worldwide” Newsletter Backs Up Contemplative History

In January 2019, a Lighthouse Trails reader sent our editors a copy of the January 2019 issue of Navigator’s newsletter “Worldwide.” The cover article is titled “An Ancient and Enduring Discipline” written by David Lyons, an International Vice President of Navigators who serves a staff of 5,000 in over 100 countries “by coaching leaders and leading change.” (source) Lyons’ article starts with:

Will The Navigators last 500 years? If so, it will be because we really do live our motto: To Know Christ, to Make Him Known and to Help Others Do the Same.

The Navigators is similar to another Christian organization—the Jesuits—that has lasted nearly 500 years. Although we are fundamentally different than the Jesuits in important ways, we share a passion for spending daily time alone with God.

Lyons explains he became “fascinated” with the “connection” between the Navigators and the Jesuits’ “passion for spending time alone with God” when he read a book called Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year Old Company that Changed the World, written by Jesuit-school graduate and Catholic Church leader Chris Lowney.

Ignatius of LoyolaIgnatius of Loyola in military outfit (Public Domain: taken from Wikimedia Commons)

The 450-year old “company” Lowney is referring to is the Jesuit Order of the Catholic Church, and the practices he is talking about are the mystical prayer rituals that the Jesuits practiced called The Daily Examen (or the Ignatius Exercises named after Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit Order).
While the five steps of The Daily Examen (Ignatius Exercises) do not specifically instruct on contemplative prayer, they present a framework where contemplative prayer can be practiced. For instance, step one is “Become aware of God’s presence.” This is an essential element of contemplative prayer. For example, the contemplative believes it is very important to “feel” God’s presence and thus the need for a meditative prayer practice. Never mind that the born-again believer has God’s presence (the Holy Spirit) in him whether he “feels” it or not and knows it is not necessary to feel a presence in order to be assured that He is with/in us. Not so with the contemplative practitioner – he often doesn’t have that assurance (possibly because he is not born of the Spirit or he does not know that God’s Word promises us He will live in us; thus he seeks out a substitute (i.e., contemplative prayer) so that he may “feel” God’s presence.
Chris Lowney’s Heroic Leadership describes the “Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius” as helping one to find “self-awareness” and aiding the “soul to rid itself of all its disordered affections.” (chapter 6, pp. 113-114) Lowney also describes what is known in contemplative circles as “spiritual directors”:

An experienced, impartial “director” guides each participant, not by teaching but by helping each recruit interpret his own experiences. (p. 114)

Contemplatives teach that spiritual directors are needed because of the esoteric experiences that take place with these mystical practices, and the director can help “discern” what these experiences mean. Contemplative pioneer, Richard Foster (author of Celebration of Discipline) takes it a step further and suggests that special prayers of protection are needed before engaging in such prayer practices because of the possibility of encountering demonic activity. (Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home, Foster, pp. 156-157; also see here.)
Heroic Leadership, which influenced David Lyons (and now Navigators through Lyons promotion), is an infomercial for the Jesuit Order and the Jesuit rituals and practices (including guided imagery exercises – p. 115); for instance, the word Jesuit is used 500 times in the book, and the “Suggestions for Further Reading” at the back of the book is five pages of resources that emphasize the Jesuit Order and the Jesuit practices. Of course, that would make sense that a Jesuit-school graduate would promote the Jesuits. But the Navigators? How does that make sense?

The Jesuits

For those who do not know much about the Jesuits (and their being the founders and igniters of the counter-reformation movement to stop the Reformation), read Roger Oakland’s booklet titled The Jesuit Agenda and the Evangelical/Protestant Church. It may send shivers up your spine when you realize just what the Jesuit Order is all about (basically, to end the resistance against the Catholic Church and to bring the “lost brethren” back into the fold of the “Mother Church.” One may ask, how have the Jesuits planned to do this? The answer to that is through contemplative prayer. Roger Oakland explains:

[I]f the methods of converting lost or prodigal souls back to Rome have changed, what is the method to accomplish these goals today? It is largely through what is called Jesuit Spirituality. A 2002 book titled Contemplatives in Action: The Jesuit Way reveals how the Jesuit order has had and continues to have a “great influence” in people around the world. It attributes this “vitality” to “its spirituality” which has also “evoked fierce loyalty and fierce opposition.”
What is the spirituality of the Jesuits that was so controversial? By their very roots, Jesuits are proponents of mystical prayer practices. The founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius Loyola, created “spiritual exercises” that incorporated mysticism, including lectio divina. Today, millions of people worldwide practice the “Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola.”
One Jesuit priest who resonates with the mystical spiritual outlook is Anthony De Mello (d. 1987), author of Sadhana: A Way to God. De Mello is often quoted today by contemplative and emerging authors and embraced the mysticism of Hinduism. He stated:
“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.” – Anthony de Mello, Sadhana: A Way to God (St. Louis, the Institute of Jesuit Resources, 1978), p. 28 (cited from A Time of Departing, by Ray Yungen, p. 75).
Tony Campolo, a popular figure in the evangelical church, reveals something quite interesting in his book, Letters to a Young Evangelical. In his book, he explains the role [Jesuit] mysticism had in him becoming a Christian. He explains:

“I learned about this way of having a born-again experience from reading Catholic mystics, especially The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola.” (p. 30, see “Coming to Christ Through Mysticism,” Oakland )

For skeptics who may need further evidence that Jesuit Spirituality has come into the evangelical/Protestant church, consider this: In 2006, Baker Books, one of evangelicalism’s top book publishers, released a book titled Sacred Listening: Discovering the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola written by James Wakefield. A publisher description of the book states:

“Central to the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), the Spiritual Exercises is a manual used to direct a month-long spiritual retreat. Now adapting these time-honored Exercises specifically for Protestant Christians, James L. Wakefield encourages readers to integrate their secular goals with their religious beliefs and helps them reflect on the life of Jesus as a model for their own discipleship.”

Wakefield’s book, devoted to the Jesuits and Ignatian Exercises, should be proof enough that the Jesuit Agenda has entered the Christian church and that mysticism is the tool by which the Jesuit Agenda is largely being brought into the lives of countless evangelicals and Protestants. . . .

. . . the “Jesuit Spirituality” has come into the Protestant church; thus this new modern (post-modern) mystical method to accomplish the goals of the papacy is working.

If Protestants and evangelicals can be convinced to practice mysticism (i.e., contemplative), this conditions them to begin embracing Rome and even all religions. It’s important to understand that mysticism is the bridge that unites all the religions of the world. In order to unite them, there would need to be a uniting, common denominator, so to speak. That common uniting medium is mysticism. . . .

Maybe it’s the years of promoting and practicing contemplative prayer ala Dallas Willard, Henri Nouwen, Jan Johnson, Brennan Manning, et. al, and reading Peterson’s The Message that has entranced the Navigators to see nothing wrong with promoting the Jesuit Order and The Daily Examen. It’s probably too late to get the organization to change its mind, but hopefully, there will be discerning Christians who will think twice before following its advice. 

*Navigators continues today to have a significant influence in evangelical Christianity. The ministry is active in over 160 colleges, in the military aiding chaplains, “in communities all over the United States,” in church settings, conducting hundreds of conferences each year, doing mission work in 102 countries, and having outreach to young millennials. Sadly, this means that there is the potential for millions to be introduced to contemplative spirituality through Navigators and NavPress.

MINDFULNESS IN THE SCHOOLS

Out of My Mindfulness Part 1,2,3

BY LYNN PRATT
SEE: http://www.lynnlusbypratt.com/2019/01/30/out-of-my-mindfulness-part-1/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
ACLJ attorney Jay Sekulow’s bulletin of December 11, 2018 focused on complaints about Buddhist/Eastern meditation being forced on school kids. More from that in a minute.
Various “relaxation” programs have been appearing in the public schools for years. Most parents and teachers didn’t pick up on the religious implications because (1) parents often didn’t even know this was going on; (2) most of us are naïve/uneducated about Eastern religions/the occult/New Age; and (3) the language describing these programs has been deliberately disguised.
Clear back in 1981, Jack Canfield (the Chicken Soup for the Soul guy) was interviewed by Science of Mind magazine. He described how to blur the terminology to get these practices accepted in the schools: “If we…point out to educators that they have an ‘essence’ that can be invoked through ‘meditation’. . . they’ll be put off by the buzzwords. But if we give them an experience that leaves them feeling better about themselves . . .” (Dec 1981, p 108. Quoted in Ray Yungen’s For Many Shall Come in My Name).
Even before that, The Centering Book: Awareness Activities for Children, Parents and Teachers suggested calling these practices “quiet time” or “relaxation” (Hendricks and Wills, 1975, p 169, 171, quoted in Yungen above)—and not the Eastern mindfulness/meditation they really are. Ray Yungen, before 2007, had found schools (even in very rural areas) whose teachers instructed students to “focus on their energy centers” (Yungen, p 69 above).
I’ve said all that to emphasize that this isn’t some little thing that’s being exaggerated. There are now years of momentum; the situation is worse than it might appear. We need to take it seriously.
Now back to the Sekulow report. There’s also a two-minute video at the bottom of that page, and a one-hour talk-show episode is available too. From all that, these highlights stood out:
  • There are many mindfulness/meditation programs, but one getting attention is MindUP. An Oregon professor has been given a $3 million Federal grant (your taxpayer dollars) to study the effects of MindUP on school kids. Parents are not informed. (It amounts to an experiment.)
  • MindUP comes from Buddhist Goldie Hawn, who says we must bring in “contemplative practice.” (There’s another confusing/disguised term. Read my article on this topic.) Hawn mentions “His Holiness the Dalai Lama” to give credibility to all this. Interestingly, regarding his own mindfulness practice, the Dalai Lama elsewhere said, “I myself cannot claim with confidence to have made any remarkable progress over the years.” (Hmm. If it doesn’t work for the god-king of Tibetan Buddhism, what hope is there for us lowlies?)
  • Sekulow’s lead researcher found that terminology is disguised (just as I described above)—changing, for example, “mantra” to “reflections.”
  • School kids are sometimes in the lotus position, and they are most often following a live feed; there’s no way for parents to review the content beforehand.
  • The researcher had trouble getting access to samples, but did obtain enough to hear things like “All the universe is sending out feelings of love and peace.”
  • Some schools do this as often as three times a day.
  • The ACLJ wonders why the ACLU and atheist groups aren’t complaining about this religion in the public schools. (Is this yet more evidence that only Christianity is to be pushed down?)

PART 2

Part 1 of this series told of the ACLJ’s action against Buddhist meditation being forced on school kids.
The ACLJ’s researchers dug into general (not just school-related) reports on mindfulness/meditation. Turns out that with this current craze, mindfulness being trendy and cool, studies don’t report the negative side effects (or they downplay those). That matches info I’d found recently.
One article gave several specifics (and it’s significant that this is a secular article):
  • A guy said meditation made him become more withdrawn.
  • Some people “describe a loss of emotion beyond what they wanted.”
  • One guy said he felt what I would call a “who cares?” attitude about other people’s problems. But then at some point, he swung the other way and became overly emotional.
  • A person mentioned feelings of having no self.
One psychologist said that “the purpose of mindfulness is not to make you dissociated.”
That may not be any given psychologist’s purpose, but isn’t that exactly Buddhism’s purpose? If you study Buddhism’s goal of detachment, it only follows that mindfulness/meditation amounts to being trained not to feel anything and to become enlightened to the idea that everything is an illusion.
This piece notes that many research studies on meditation aren’t even asking about negative side effects. (Doesn’t that mean the evidence is skewed?)
A professor said that when people experience bad side effects, “it’s hard to know what they were doing that caused harm.” It’s hard to know only because the poor professor is unaware of the dangers of false religions.
If you want more . . .
A 2015 report says that a student in a “meditation retreat” had very negative side effects. The reporter thinks this happens quite often but isn’t reported.
This 2017 report has some big words to wade through. But it definitely talks about how we in the West have tried to “secularize” this sort of meditation practice. And that there is under-reporting about bad side effects. The report is careful about placing too much blame, but still gives enough detailed information to make us feel some caution.
PART 3
Part 1 and Part 2 of this little series lead in to this foundational question: Is mindfulness/meditation an Eastern religion practice or not? With its use in schools, businesses, and psychologists’ offices, it tends to be billed as neutral. Sometimes, though, the Eastern-ness is cheered, and (it had to happen!) you also sometimes hear of “Christian mindfulness.”
This Huffington Post article insists that all Eastern-ness has been removed for us here in the West. But this Wisdom Publications piece hints that the real power in the practice is its Eastern religion basis.
To sidetrack for a minute: I was given a book that appears to be a collection of quotes on mindfulness. We have to realize that when things become trendy, opportunistic people take advantage of the chance to make a buck. Some of the quotes in this book aren’t about mindfulness at all but more of the “A stitch in time saves nine” variety. And some of the people quoted don’t have a clue as to what mindfulness is. Of the quotes that remain, I can separate the “mindfulness” quotes into two categories: (1) ideas that are actually borrowed from the Bible—but without crediting the Bible and (2) ideas that go against the Bible. Examples:
BORROWED FROM THE BIBLE
“Do not encumber your mind with useless thoughts. What good does it do to brood on the past or anticipate the future?” (Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche). The Scripture more clearly proposes this idea in Matthew 6:25-34 (“your heavenly Father knows [what] you need”); Philippians 4:12, 13; Colossians 3:2.
“Compassion means that you automatically restrain yourself from any thought, word, or deed that might harm yourself or others” (Bhante Henepola Gunaratana). See Zechariah 7:9, 10 (“show mercy and compassion to one another”); Matthew 6:12; Colossians 3:12-14.
AT ODDS WITH THE BIBLE
“We too should make ourselves empty, that the great soul of the universe may fill us with its breath (Laurence Binyon). See Acts 13:52 (“the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit”). Also some interesting Scriptures about “empty” and “full”: Isaiah 2:6; 59:4; Ephesians 3:19; 5:6.
“No one can help us as much as our own compassionate thoughts” (Buddha). See 2 Chronicles 14:11 (“Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty”); Isaiah 41:10; Psalm 16:7, 8; 18:3-18; 2 Timothy 3:16, 17.
“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness” (Thich Nhat Hanh). All present moments? Really? See John 16:33 (“in this world you will have trouble”); Romans 8:35-39.
That’s just a sampling. Since everyone can go straight to the Scripture for the Lord’s perfect teaching, there’s no need to go looking elsewhere. But worse, ultimately, is that mindfulness—being rooted in a false religion—aims to lead away from the true God, who is the true source of true wisdom, true peace, true love, and true power.
Back to our main point: There’s a big difference between a practice that’s completely neutral/nonreligious (like working a puzzle or watching the hummingbirds) and one that IS religious. What concerns me are the pagan practices that we are naïve about…and even try to sanitize into Christian practices. This, instead of starting with the Lord’s practices in Scripture.
Part 1 of this series said that people have been naïve about these practices. That’s understandable among certain people. But Christians are supposed to know how the enemy traps us, and we’re to be alert to his schemes. I suggest you read this series again. Do an hour or two of research—including flipping randomly in the Old Testament to…well, to any page! Because you’ll most likely land on a warning about false religion. There’s a clue.
To conclude all this: Let’s be aware of the big picture. And if schools intend to keep religion out of the classroom, let’s help them be consistent.
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SEE OUR PREVIOUS POSTS ABOUT MINDFULNESS: