DAVID CLOUD’S “WAY OF LIFE”: A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW & GOOD MENTAL HEALTH

DAVID CLOUD’S “WAY OF LIFE”: A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW & GOOD MENTAL HEALTH 
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research 
purposes:
April 28, 2020
David Cloud, Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org
The born again child of God, who is saved by faith in Jesus Christ, has the privilege of understanding and believing God’s Word, and this gives good mental health in an age of unbelief, skepticism, confusion, uncertainty, turmoil, fear, lies, slander, and a bewildering multiplicity of conflicting philosophies. Of course, the good mental health doesn’t come automatically, even for the child of God, simply because the promises of God are available. They must be ”owned.” I must make them mine by studying them, understanding them properly, meditating upon them, and believing them in the face of adversity. And I must stay in “the place of blessing” by walking in the light, obeying God, and confessing my sin. Following are a sampling of the benefits of a biblical worldview: Victory over fear of judgment“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:11-12). “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Romans 8:31-34). Victory over fear of losing one’s salvationMy sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand” (John 10:27-29). Victory over fear of the times“Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding” (Daniel 2:20-21). “ But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God. My times are in thy hand” (Psalm 31:14-15). Victory over fear of enemies“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies” (Psalm 23:5). Victory over fear of lack“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). Victory over fear of trouble and tribulation“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:3-6). Victory over fear of persecution“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12). Victory over fears in old age“I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Psalm 37:25). Victory over fear of death“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Victory over fear in general“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). Victory over anxiety about today“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).”Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7). “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6). “In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul” (Psalm 138:3). Victory over anxiety about tomorrow“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6:33-34). Victory over unanswered questions“The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29). Victory over covetousness“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:6-10). “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:5-6). Victory over Satanic defeat“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9). Victory over fretting because of evildoers and their activities and conspiraciesFret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace” (Psalm 37:1-11). Victory over loneliness“for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). Victory over guilt from an unprofitable, unfruitful life“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it” (Luke 9:24). “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:4-5). Victory over guilt of sin“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9). Victory over pride and jealousy“Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building” (1 Corinthians 3:5-9). “Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me” (John 21:21-22). “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3). Victory over wrong imaginations“(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). Victory over wrong thoughts“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8). Victory over worrying about what people are saying about me“Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee: For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others” (Ecclesiastes 7:21-22). Victory over taking offense“Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them” (Psalm 119:165). The Bible’s Description of a Bad State of Mind vs. a Good State of Mind“Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace” (James 3:13-18).

YOUTUBE CENSORS VIRAL VIDEO OF DOCTORS CRITICIZING ‘STAY-AT-HOME’ ORDER

YouTube Censors Viral Video of Doctors Criticizing 'Stay-at-Home' Order
YOUTUBE CENSORS VIRAL VIDEO OF DOCTORS CRITICIZING ‘STAY-AT-HOME’ ORDER

Deleted after racking up over 5 million views

BY PAUL JOSEPH WATSON
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research 
purposes:
YouTube has censored a viral video in which two doctors criticized the logic of whether California’s stay-at-home coronavirus order is necessary.
The video, which had racked up over 5 million views, featured Dr. Dan Erickson and Dr. Artin Massihi, co-owners of Accelerated Urgent Care in Bakersfield, Calif.
See the full, banned video at Banned.videoyour new go-to site for videos censored by YouTube:
In the clip, Erickson asserts that there is only a “0.03 chance of dying from COVID in the state of California,” prompting him to ask, “Does that necessitate sheltering in place? Does that necessitate shutting down medical systems? Does that necessitate people being out of work?”
Erickson also asked why fatalities were being counted as COVID-19 deaths when other ailments were actually more to blame.
“When someone dies in this country right now, they’re not talking about the high blood pressure, the diabetes, the stroke. They’re saying ‘Did they die from COVID?'” Erickson said. “We’ve been to hundreds of autopsies. You don’t talk about one thing, you talk about comorbidities. ER doctors now [say] ‘It’s interesting when I’m writing about my death report, I’m being pressured to add COVID. Why is that?”
The video was deleted late last night for “violating YouTube’s terms of service.”
Earlier this month, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki told CNN that the company would ban any video content that contradicted World Health Organization recommendations.
However, Wojcicki suggested that this would mainly be focused on banning information about fake cures, not questioning of government policy.
The video platform has also set about banning any content that claims 5G cell towers are linked to the coronavirus outbreak.
During an appearance on Fox News last night, Dr. Erickson pointed to Sweden, which didn’t impose any drastic lockdown measures, but now has achieved herd immunity against coronavirus.
“And if you look at their numbers: 200 deaths per million compared to ours, [which is] about the same. Italy’s [is] about 400 per million and Spain is about 400 per million, so we are looking at this going, ‘OK, they took a completely different approach and their results are basically the same,'” said Erickson.
Another version of the original video that YouTube deleted appears below (ABOVE).
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Doctors Question Coronavirus Paranoia in Viral Video; YouTube Deletes Video

SEE: https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/health-care/item/35568-doctors-question-coronavirus-paranoia-in-viral-video-youtube-deletes-videorepublished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
Tyranny thrives on fear, and fear is usually based in large part on ignorance. We fear the things we don’t understand and the things we can’t see. When it comes to the current pandemic, we can’t see the pathogen, and, generally, most people don’t understand it. Moreover, most people don’t understand how a normal human immune system works and responds to a bacterial or viral invader. Because of this fear and lack of knowledge, opportunistic politicians have seized on the chance to impose ever-more-ridiculous restrictions on human activity. And because people are afraid of what they don’t understand, a compliant populace has rolled over to the imposition of authoritarian rule. Safety at all cost, from the phantom pathogen, is being used to wage war on the rights of the people. Fear, to paraphrase Randolph Bourne, is the health of the state.
Facts and understanding are the vaccines that are needed to fight off the virus of totalitarianism that is now infecting the world. And a devastating recitation of facts is just what has been provided by two doctors from California in a pair of videos, one of which has been censored by YouTube after having received 5.46 million views, but not before being posted on other channels (video below).
Drs. Daniel W. Erickson and Artin Massihi are co-owners of Accelerated Urgent Care in Bakersfield, California. Combined, they have more than 40 years of hands-on experience in providing medical care and in treating viral infections and respiratory illnesses. Today, they are a primary provider of tests for COVID-19 in their county, having performed several thousand such tests. In a lengthy “briefing” interview with the local ABC television affiliate channel 23 in Bakersfield, they provide the facts and data that demonstrates that the lockdowns are not needed and may, in fact, be counterproductive.
According to Dr. Erickson, first of all, the models that predicted doomsday scenarios and were used as justification by political figures for the lockdowns have proven wildly inaccurate. Actual data proves that the infection is very widespread, making death rates considerably lower than predicted by the models preferred by public health politicians and bureaucrats.
“What is materializing in the state of California is 12 percent positives,” notes Dr. Erickson. We have 39.5 million people. If we just take a basic calculation and extrapolate that out, that equates to about 4.7 million cases throughout the state of California, which means this thing is widespread. That’s the good news. We’ve seen 1,227 deaths in the state of California with a possible incidence or prevalence of 4.7 million; that means you have a 0.03 chance of dying from COVID-19 in the state of California.”
That’s a low number, Dr. Erickson notes. And it’s the same thing elsewhere. “The more you test, the more positives you get, the prevalence number goes up, and the death rate stays the same, so it gets smaller and smaller and smaller,” he remarks. “And as we move through this data what I want you to see is millions of cases, small amount of death. Millions of cases, small amount of death, and you will see that in every state.”
Critics argue that this outcome is due solely to the role of mitigation, of social distancing, of masks, and of the lockdowns in general. But, Erickson notes, we have data that calls that conclusion into question.
That data comes from a comparison of outcomes in Sweden, which did not lockdown the country, and next-door Norway, which did institute lockdown measures. Comparing these two Scandinavian nations, Dr. Erickson noted:
When you bring up a system of lockdown you automatically have to compare it to system of no lockdown. Sweden and Norway. Norway has lockdown, Sweden does not have lockdown. What happened in those two countries? Are they vastly different? Did Sweden have a massive outbreak of cases? Did Norway have nothing? Let’s look at the numbers. Sweden: Sweden has 15,322 cases of COVID. They did 74,600 tests, which is 21 percent, similar to the other countries, 21 percent of all those tested came up positive for COVID. What’s the population of Sweden? About 10.4 million. So if we extrapolate out the data, about 2 million cases of COVID in Sweden. They did a little bit of social distancing, they would wear masks and separate, they went to schools, stores were open, they were almost about their normal daily life with a little bit of social distancing. They had how many deaths? 1,765. California has had 1,220 with isolation. No isolation: 1,765. We have more people — what I’m getting at is millions of cases, very small death. Millions of cases, very small death. This is what we’re seeing everywhere. Norway, its next door neighbor, this is where I come from. These are two Scandinavian nations, we can compare them as they are similar. Let’s look at the data. Norway: 7,191 cases of COVID. Total COVID tests: 145,279. So they came up with 4.9 percent of all COVID tests were positive in Norway. Population of Norway: 5.4 million. So if we extrapolate the data as we have been doing, which is the best we can do at this point, they have about 1.3 million cases. Now, their deaths as a total number were 182, fairly small, but statistically insignificant from 1,700, you realize. Millions of cases, small amount of death. 1,700 [or] 100, these are statistically insignificant. So you have a .003 chance of death as a citizen of Norway, and a 97 percent recovery. Their numbers are a little bit better. Does it necessitate shut down, loss of jobs, destruction of the oil company, furloughing doctors? That’s the question I have for you.
In this analysis, Drs. Erickson and Massihi are not alone. Other health professionals and researchers, too, are questioning the necessity of the lockdowns or the wisdom of the authoritarian response. These include Dr. Knut Wittkowski, former head of Rockefeller University’s Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design; Dr. David L. Katz, former president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine; and Professor Johan Giesecke, an epidemiologist who was first chief scientist of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, among several others.
Intriguingly, Erickson and Massihi go further, arguing, as did Dr. Wittkowski, that the lockdowns will be counterproductive. Why this might be so is related to how the immune system functions.
Like much of biology, human physiology is wonderfully complex, and the immune system, considered on its own, is a marvel of biochemical engineering. Elaine N. Marieb, in her text Human Anatomy and Physiology, describes the immune system as a marvel “which stalks and eliminates with nearly equal precision almost any type of pathogen that intrudes the body.” While the immune system has mechanisms for general defense, ultimately it works to best effect only when it has learned what it must fight. The immune system “must ‘meet’ or be primed by an initial exposure to a foreign substance (antigen) before it can protect the body against that substance,” Marieb writes.
One way it does this, where viruses are concerned, is through the production and release of proteins that help cells defend themselves against viral invasion. Regarding this aspect of immunity, Marieb writes:
Viruses — essentially, nucleic acids surrounded by a protein coat — lack the cellular machinery to generate ATP [adenosine triphosphate, a molecule with a key role in powering cell activity] or synthesize proteins. They do their “dirty work” or damage in the body by invading tissue cells and taking over the cellular metabolic machinery needed to reproduce themselves. Although the virus-infected cells can do little to save themselves, they can help defend cells that have not yet been infected by secreting small proteins called interferons. The interferon molecules diffuse to nearby cells, where they stimulate synthesis of other proteins, which then inhibit, or “interfere” with, viral replication in those cells. Interferon’s protection is not virus-specific (i.e., interferon produced against a particular virus protects against a variety of other viruses.)
Thus, exposure to viruses in the environment tends to make the human immune system more effective against other viruses. This lesser-known response to viruses helps the body’s immune system as it prepares a defense against specific pathogens. This latter response provides adaptive protection against specific invaders and, as the body has learned what those invaders are, provides longer-term immunity against them. Collectively, when this happens among many people in the wider population it creates what is known as “herd immunity,” a key element in bringing an end to an epidemic.
For their part, Drs. Erickson and Massihi point out that the lockdowns, by keeping people inside and away from more biologically complex environments, may reduce the immune system’s effectiveness because of reduced exposure to pathogens that may stimulate immune activity.
“The immune system is built by exposure to antigens: viruses, bacteria,” Dr. Erickson noted. “When you are a little child crawling on the ground putting stuff in your mouth, viruses and bacteria come in, you form an antigen antibody complex.… This is how your immune system is built. You don’t take a small child, put them in bubble wrap in a room and say, ‘go have a healthy immune system.’ This is immunology, microbiology 101. This is the basis of what we’ve known for years. When you take human beings and you say, go into your house, clean all your counters, Lysol them down. You’re going to kill 99 percent of viruses and bacteria. Wear a mask. Don’t go outside. What does that do to our immune system? Our immune system is used to touching. We share bacteria, staphylococcal, streptococcal bacterium, viruses, we develop an immune response daily to this stuff. When you take that away from me my immune system drops. As I shelter in place, my immune system drops. You keep me there for months, it drops more. And now I’m at home hand washing vigorously, washing the counters, worried about things that are indeed what I need to survive. Let’s follow the science. This is immunology, folks. This is microbiology. This is what we’ve combined together, we have 40 years of experience in this. This is common sense immunology.”
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Big Tech Knows What's Good For You, So Obey!
BY SARAH CORRIHER

DANIEL GREENFIELD VIDEO: CORONAVIRUS-ESSENTIAL RIGHTS & NON-ESSENTIAL GOVERNMENTS

DANIEL GREENFIELD VIDEO: 
CORONAVIRUS-ESSENTIAL RIGHTS & 
NON-ESSENTIAL GOVERNMENTS
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research 
purposes:
[Please help us continue to bring you these vital perspectives on the news – perspectives that you won’t find anywhere else. Donate to the Freedom Center HERE.]
This video is brought to you by a Freedom Center-Glazov Gang collaboration on a new exclusive webinar series, Teach-Ins for the Twenty-First Century. Join us as some of the leading thinkers and pundits on the scene today discuss key issues related to the coronavirus pandemic and its ongoing implications, confronting the Left, the jihad terror threat, and much, much more. And make sure to ask your own questions of our experts.
Hosted by Anni Cyrus, producer of The Glazov Gang and Founder of Live Up To Freedom.
This new webinar features Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center and an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.
Daniel discusses Coronavirus - Essential Rights and Non-Essential Governments.
Don’t miss it!
And make sure to watch our previous webinar with Robert Spencer, the Director of Jihad Watch, where Robert discussed The Corona Virus and The Muslim Response.

POVERTY, DISEASE-RIDDEN LGBTQ COMMUNITY DEMANDS GOVERNMENT PRIORITIZE THEM AMID CORONAVIRUS

POVERTY, DISEASE-RIDDEN LGBTQ COMMUNITY DEMANDS GOVERNMENT PRIORITIZE THEM AMID CORONAVIRUS
SEE: https://reformationcharlotte.org/2020/04/27/poverty-disease-ridden-lgbtq-community-demands-government-prioritize-them-amid-coronavirus/republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
 The same militant group of LGBTQ activists who demands that the government force the country to celebrate their perverse lifestyle is now demanding that the government prioritize the LGBTQ community when policy decisions are being made regarding the coronavirus pandemic.
Recently, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) released a report that detailed the obvious health issues related to the lifestyle choices of LGBTQ people including their overwhelming susceptibility to other diseases such as HIV/AIDS place them at a disproportionate risk to COVID-19.
The report noted that up to 50 percent of gay black men and 50 percent of transgender women (males who dress like females) are diagnosed with HIV. Other risk factors include the LGBTQ communities inclination to smoking and disproportionate level of homelessness — all related to their personal lifestyle choices — place them at a higher risk requiring special treatment from lawmakers.
“In many cases, LGBTQ people are at greater exposure and risk of both economic and health complications than non-LGBTQ people because of the types of jobs they are more likely to have, because of their experiences with poverty and lack of paid leave, and because of the health disparities they have compared to non-LGBTQ people,” the report concludes, “This means that the responses to COVID-19 taken by the government, policymakers, and the private sector must actively consider the unique situations of LGBTQ people in their plans for addressing this crisis. This especially includes those within the LGBTQ community who are most marginalized. For example, responses to COVID-19 must consider older LGBTQ adults struggling to access care and satisfying basic needs in social isolation, or homeless LGBTQ youth struggling to find meal stability during changes in school operations. These responses must also consider the unique needs of LGBTQ people of color and transgender people who are more likely to live in poverty or forego care due to costs. Lastly, policymakers must prioritize making paid leave more accessible to all workers.”
We need to understand that the lifestyle decisions of the LGBTQ community are what has placed them at higher risk for complications related to COVID-19. To suggest that the government should prioritize the LGBTQ community with “explicit protections” is simply absurd. While we do not wish additional harm on anyone, giving priority to those who’ve actively chosen to engage in risky behavior at the expense of the taxpayer is simply not feasible.

WHY THE ENNEAGRAM IS A DANGEROUS NEW AGE TOOL

WHY THE ENNEAGRAM IS A 
DANGEROUS NEW AGE TOOL 
Marcia Montenegro of ChristianAnswersForTheNewAge.com and Don Veinot of MidwestOutreach.org expose the shocking hidden dangers of the Enneagram in their new book, “Richard Rohr and the Enneagram Secret,” available at EnneagramSecret.com
INTERVIEWED BY DOREEN VIRTUE, EX-NEW-AGER, CHRISTIAN CONVERT
SEE OUR PREVIOUS POSTS:
https://ratherexposethem.blogspot.com/search?q=ENNEAGRAM


AND:

Passion Conference Louie Giglio Gives Thumbs Up to Enneagram—Could Influence Scores of Young Evangelicals
SEE: https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/newsletters/2020/newsletter20200512.htmrepublished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
Louie Giglio is an extremely popular megachurch pastor and author as well as the founder and leader of the Passion conferences, which have drawn in hundreds of thousands of mostly young people since 1997.(1) On the week of March 16th, Giglio (a Calvinist) was a guest on emergent social-justice “Gospel” advocate Ian Morgan Cron’s Enneagram podcast. A week later, part 2 of the interview took place.
While it of no great surprise that Giglio (who has shown himself to be part of the ecumenical, “new” spirituality in more ways than one(2)) would form an attachment to Morgan Cron’s Enneagram, it is most unfortunate: because of Giglio’s vast following, the Enneagram has now received a substantial thumbs up in the evangelical world, especially among young evangelicals. So not only are Giglio’s followers being influenced by Calvinism and the New Spirituality, they are also being led into New Age-rooted practices.
For those who are unfamiliar with the Enneagram, Lighthouse Trails released a booklet in October of 2019 titled The Enneagram—An Enlightening Tool or an Enticing Deception?. Below are the contents of the booklet (written by Lois Putnam and the Editors at Lighthouse Trails):

The Enneagram—An Enlightening Tool and an Enticing Deception?

Today, there is an increasing amount of interest by Christians in the Enneagram, a nine-pointed diagram used to determine personality traits and character tendencies. While it may seem harmless and nothing more than a useful tool, the Enneagram is a seducing lure to deception and an example of what the Bible refers to as “the wiles of the Devil.” In this booklet, we hope to show how this tool is drawing participants away from biblical truth and in an enticing but dangerous direction.
A book titled The Wisdom of the Enneagram by Don Riso and Russ Hudson describes the Enneagram, stating:

The Enneagram . . . is a development of modern psychology that has roots in spiritual wisdom from many different ancient traditions. 1

The Enneagram Institute, a go-to website for information on the Enneagram, says:

The Enneagram . . . [is] one of the most powerful and insightful tools for understanding ourselves and others. At its core, the Enneagram helps us to see ourselves at a deeper, more objective level and can be of invaluable assistance on our path to self-knowledge.2

A 2017 Religion News Service article states:

In 1990, Franciscan Fr. Richard Rohr effectively Christianized the [Enneagram] system for Americans when he published “The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective” in English. This sparked a growing interest that slowly crept into church pulpits and small groups. In 2016, Christianity Today published “An Evangelical’s Guide to the Enneagram” after InterVarsity Press became the first evangelical publisher to release a book on the topic.3

While the Enneagram’s popularity within the Christian church has continued to grow, especially among millennials, there have been those in the church who have voiced their concerns about the Enneagram. Martin and Deidre Bobgan, who have studied psychology from a biblical perspective for many years, say this about the Enneagram:

Although the Enneagram is purported to be an ancient spiritual tradition, it is relatively new to the Western world. George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, who brought the Enneagram to Europe in the 1920s, claimed it originated about 2500 years ago in a Babylonian wisdom school. He taught that each person is born with a “planetary body type” with certain physical and psychological traits. He believed that a person’s physical and psychological characteristics are related to a dominant endocrine gland and to planetary influences on that gland. This implicates the Enneagram with Babylonian astrology, since those characteristics would be signified by a point on the Enneagram.4

Apologist and author Mike Oppenheimer says this about the Enneagram:

Enneagram claims to be an entry point for deep personal healing and renewal. Enneagram is a psychological and spiritual system for a higher consciousness. We are told it will help us understand the personality types and the differences in each other which should reduce unnecessary conflicts (transforming one into a more tolerant person). We can transform our habits by being our own observer in how we think and go from unconscious behavior to conscious behavior. This is done through a series of probing questions called a Personality Profile questionnaire where one learns what his or her type is. . . . The nine lines comprise a perfect triangle and a twisted hexagon contained within a circle. This is a New Age-type mandala, a mystical gateway to personality classification. The drawing is based upon a belief in the mystical properties of the numbers 7 and 3. 5

Richard Rohr’s Role

At the very epicenter of today’s Enneagram movement is Franciscan priest Father Richard Rohr, founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC). Rohr’s website states:

Seven of the nine Enneagram types are associated with the “capital” or “deadly” sins which originated with the Desert Fathers. But it was not until the late 1960s that Oscar Ichazo began teaching the Enneagram as we know it today. From Ichazo’s school in South America, a group of Jesuits learned the system and brought it back with them to the United States. Richard Rohr learned about the Enneagram from this group and was one of the first people to publish a book about it in English.

The Enneagram gained popularity as a tool within spiritual direction.* Today it is widely taught as a way of understanding personality, addiction, relationships, and vocation.6 (emphasis added)

After Rohr learned about the Enneagram in the 1970s, he shared his Enneagram teaching on ten tapes, later writing his now classic best-selling book, Discovering the Enneagram: An Ancient Tool for a New Spiritual Journey (now titled The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective).
In Rohr’s book, he explains that the underlying premise behind the Enneagram is that each person has a “true self and a “false self,” and with the help of the Enneagram, we can identify our true selves, and thus having identified it, we can now be spiritually transformed to live in that true self. Rohr explains:

[Co-author] Andreas Ebert and I again offer the Enneagram as a very ancient Christian tool for the discernment of spirits, the struggle with our capital sin, our “false self,” and the encounter with our True Self in God.7

When Rohr, who is an outspoken panentheist, says “True Self in God,” he is referring to his belief that the true self is the God within every human being. In echoing the Catholic mystics Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen, Rohr advocates the concept of dharmakaya. Rohr states:

God’s hope for humanity is that one day we will all recognize that the divine dwelling place is all of creation. Christ comes again whenever we see that matter and spirit co-exist. This truly deserves to be called good news.8 (emphasis added)

To further understand what Rohr means when he says, “the divine [God] dwelling place is all of creation,” we need to understand his views about Jesus Christ. In an article on Rohr’s website titled, “The Cosmic Christ,” he says that Christ is more of an energy than a personal being:

Christ is not Jesus’ last name, but the title of his historical and cosmic purpose. Jesus presents himself as the “Anointed” or Christened One who was human and divine united in one human body—as our model and exemplar. . . . This Christ is much bigger and older than either Jesus of Nazareth or the Christian religion, because the Christ is whenever the material and the divine co-exist—which is always and everywhere. . . . The coming of the Cosmic Christ is not the same as the growth of the Christian religion. It is the unification of all things.9

For Rohr, Christ and humanity are not separate because Christ is not a person (or God come in the flesh to save man from his sins) but is an energy that exists in everyone and everything. Man’s only problem isn’t that he is sinful; rather, it is that he doesn’t realize he already has divinity within him. This is where the Enneagram comes in, for according to Rohr the Enneagram is a “key to self-knowledge,”10 and the goal for using the Enneagram is “an awakening of true self-love [i.e., the divinity within].”11

Rohr’s Enneagram Disciples

Some of Richard Rohr’s most popular “disciples” who carry on his Enneagram teachings include Ian Morgan Cron, Suzanne Stabile, and Chris and Phileena Heuertz (though countless others have been influenced by Rohr). Since each of these people has written Enneagram books and are key presenters and teachers of Enneagram programs, let us examine them to further understand the Enneagram.

Ian Morgan Cron’s Road to Self

Episcopal priest Ian Morgan Cron is a best-selling author and psychotherapist. He wrote the best-selling book (co-authored by Suzanne Stabile), The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery (published by InterVarsity Press). In chapter one, Cron relates how as a grad student, he found Rohr’s Enneagram book at a conservative seminary retreat. Upon showing it to his professor, he was told to get rid of it. Cron confided:

I was a young, impressionable evangelical, and though my gut told me my professor’s reaction bordered on paranoid, I followed his advice.12

Although, as Cron wrote, he didn’t read the book until later when he was re-introduced to it by his spiritual director, “Br. Dave.” Upon reading it, he tells how he discussed with Br. Dave his initial reactions to the Enneagram. As they talked, Cron shared a Thomas Merton quote with him which read:
Sooner or later we must distinguish what we are not and what we are. . . . We must cast off our false, exterior self like the cheap showy garment it is . . . We must find our real self, in all its elemental poverty, but also in its grand and very simple dignity created to be the child of God, and capable of loving with something of God’s own sincerity and his unselfishness.13 (emphasis added)
The theme of the “self” permeates Cron’s book. In fact, the word “self” is in his book over 160 times (e.,g., “self-knowledge,” “self-aware,” “real self,” “self-understanding,” “authentic self,” the “original shimmering self,” “true self,” “deep knowing of self,” “self-confident,” “self-actualized,” and so forth). Cron states:

[B]y overidentifying who we are with our personality we forget or lose touch with our authentic self—the beautiful essence of who we are . . . we have a God who . . . remembers who we are . . . and he wants to help restore us to our authentic selves.14

Here, when Cron equates the “authentic self” (i.e., true self) with “the beautiful essence of who we are,” he echoes Richard Rohr’s belief that within each person is divinity. Contrary to Rohr’s and Cron’s building up of the “true self” as divine and beautiful, the Bible speaks otherwise:

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Psalm 51:5)

Cron a “champion of the Enneagram,” and “pioneer in the contemporary Enneagram movement” tells us who he is in his “Manifesto.” He begins with:

Today I will throw my hat into the ring of life. . . . I will stand on my own two feet and live my truth.15

Like so many in today’s post-modern “progressive” Western world, Cron will do his own thing and decide his own beliefs. To the contrary, Scripture reminds us that Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me.” A believer in Christ is not called to live his own truth but rather follow the One who says He is “the truth.” At the end of his Manifesto, Cron declares, “Today I will be my True Self.”16 This is the Enneagram’s goal like the book title says, The Road Back to You. Full of I, I, I.

Cron and Rohr Interview

Ian Cron hosts an Enneagram podcast titled “Typology. In “Episode 014: Richard Rohr, Finally Getting Over Your ‘Self’ with the Enneagram Pt.1,” Ian interviews Richard Rohr. He asks Rohr what has caused the “tidal wave of interest culturally and in church of personality identity”17 using the Enneagram. Rohr says its because we’ve done such a bad job of teaching Christians their “true identity.” We didn’t, he espouses, teach people about their images and their likeness of God. Rohr says most Christians find their identity in their group or denomination and never understand who they themselves are.
The crux of the interview is when Rohr asserts we don’t know our individual “Imago Dei” which cannot be given to us or taken away from us. This idea levels the “playing field of all humanity”18 says Rohr. Distinctions such as black and white, Catholic and Protestant, American and Canadian, or gay and straight do not mean anything. Rohr says that the “true gospel must be proclaimed that everything—humans, animals, or materials—is created in the image of a trinitarian and loving God.”19 Therefore, says Rohr, that settles all questions. For then we are all “universal children of God,”20 and thus, we are in “union” with all other children of God. Why? Rohr says it is because we all have the divine and the beautiful in us from the very start.
How contrary to the biblical Gospel that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and that in order to become a child of God, we must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. In Enneagramism, it’s not about sinners (“none that doeth good”—Romans 3:12) needing to be redeemed by a Holy God. There is no need for that. Rather, after working through our false self-delusions to find our true selves, we come to the realization that we have always been lovely and good. Ian Morgan Cron’s view of the self stands in stark contrast to the apostle Paul’s description when he says he has “no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3).

Suzanne Stabile

Suzanne Stabile, Cron’s co-author of the book The Road Back to You, is an internationally recognized Enneagram master, teacher, and author. Like Cron, Stabile is a great admirer of Richard Rohr and one of Rohr’s Enneagram disciples. After meeting Rohr, Stabile was so enamored with Rohr’s Enneagram program that she studied under him, consenting not to teach or share the material for five years.
At present, Stabile has conducted over 500 Enneagram workshops over the past 25 years, speaking to audiences at colleges, divinity schools, churches, and health centers. She has also taught at the Center for Action and Contemplation (Rohr’s contemplative center) and even internationally at Assisi with Rohr himself.
In a 2016 Houston Chronicle article titled, “Christians Rediscovering Ancient Enneagram,” Emily McFarlan Miller said she met Cron and Stabile at a Chicago Enneagram conference. Miller noted that Cron “thought the Enneagram was ‘genius,’ and saw nothing in it that conflicted with the gospel.”21 She wrote that Cron found it fascinating that even “the (conservative) evangelicals were completely fine with it.”22 Miller said that Stabile hoped that “teaching people to learn about the way they see the world and eight other ways people see the world will encourage compassion.”23 Stabile told Miller, “Our hope is that the book makes the world a more compassionate, more loving, and more generous place.”24
And this is the promise of the Enneagram, to make people (and the world) more compassionate, generous, and loving. The premise is, if we can somehow gain access to understanding our True Selves (i.e., the divine part of us), then we will become compassionate and loving individuals thus making the world a better place. But can the Enneagram accomplish this? If the premise is correct, then perhaps so. But according to the Holy Word of God, the premise of the Enneagram couldn’t be further from the truth.

Chris Heuertz

Chris Heuertz is another Rohr mentee and Enneagram enthusiast. Heuertz came from a Catholic family that converted to evangelicalism. His parents had six children. An article written by Jason Byassee titled “On the Side of Hope” describes how Heuertz’ parents worked seven jobs at one time just to send the children to private schools. Heuertz graduated from an Assembly of God high school and went on to Asbury College (now Asbury University).
In his book The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth, Heuertz states that the Enneagram is a tool for “excavating our essence, our True Self, from the lies, programs, and temptations we’ve wrapped around our identity.”25 (emphasis in original)
Soon after graduation from Asbury, Heuertz joined Word Made Flesh ministry to work with “the most vulnerable of the world’s poor.”26 This was how he landed in Calcutta, India working with Mother Teresa. Here he was later joined by his wife Phileena. Of the WMF organization, Jason Byassee wrote:

Rejecting the idea that missionaries bring salvation and services to benighted poor people, WMF has learned . . . that the poor are Jesus. WMF or ‘Fleshies’ . . . do not necessarily seek to fix poverty or convert people. Their first intention is to seek friendship with the poor. And through that they seek, with their friends, to be converted anew to God.27

Speaking of the “model of missions,” Heuertz states:

If I bring anything, it’s presence and hope . . . We work to recognize the divine imprint in all humanity, then together we are all converted to God. I’m not bringing a poor kid with me to Christ. I’m following their journey to the places in God’s heart that break in the face of such suffering.28 (emphasis added)

The Heuertz’ social justice work with WMF took them to Cambodia where Heuertz encountered the Enneagram. Fascinated, Heuertz later would delve deeply into the Enneagram, abandon his WMF community, establish the Gravity Center, and write The Sacred Enneagram (which we will talk about a little later in this booklet).

Phileena Heuertz

Phileena Bacon Heuertz was two years behind Chris at Asbury College. Phileena came from an evangelical family, her father being a Wesleyan Methodist pastor in Indiana. While working with WMF, the Heuertzes began their contemplative journey upon meeting Catholic contemplative priest Thomas Keating of Snowmass, Colorado. From him, they learned centering prayer (a form of contemplative prayer). The more they dipped into this contemplative path, the further they separated from their evangelical backgrounds. Eventually, in 2012, they left the WMF to establish the Gravity Center for Contemplative Activism.
Throwing aside her evangelical Wesleyan past, Phileena converted to Catholicism for she believed its rituals, liturgy, and prayer practices would best enhance her “inner work” to shed her false self and find her true self.29
Along the way, the couple met Richard Rohr, imbibed deeply from his teaching, and locked arms with him. Today, Phileena is on Rohr’s CAC board. Rohr, in turn, wrote the foreword to Phileena’s 2018 book Mindful Silence: The Heart of Christian Contemplation. Phileena is considered one of the top young contemplative prayer activists today. She is a retreat guide, a spiritual director, and a Yoga instructor and has spoken at numerous Christian universities including Biola University and Taylor University.

The Sacred Enneagram

In 2017, Chris Heuertz wrote what became a best-selling book, The Sacred Enneagram (published by Zondervan). In the foreword, written by Richard Rohr, Rohr writes:

Chris Heuertz, my dear friend and confidante, has gone on his own journey of transformation, I am most happy to recommend his excellent book on the Enneagram to you. In its pages you will find excellent content, many new insights, and the compassion that genuine spirituality always provides . . . You will not be the same after you read this book.30

Rohr is also an integral part of the Heuertz’ Gravity Center, serving as a founding board member much like Phileena serves on his CAC board.
In two chapters of Heuertz’ book, he unlocks his agenda for the reader to couple the Enneagram to contemplative practices to achieve finding one’s true self.

A Sacred Map?

Throughout the book, Heuertz uses terms such as “sacred experience,” “sacred Enneagram,” and “sacred map.” He says:

When we give ourselves to the hard work of integrating what we have come to learn about ourselves, the Enneagram becomes a sacred map of our soul, one that shows us the places where we have vulnerabilities or tendencies to get stuck as well as the possibilities of where we can go for deeper freedom and inner peace.31 (emphasis added)

Here we can see that Heuertz has exchanged what gives true freedom and peace for a powerless substitute—the Enneagram! There is only one true “sacred map,” and that is the Word of God.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

We do not find freedom and peace by identifying our “personality types” and discovering our “true selves.” The fact is, our true selves are our sinful, fleshly, carnal selves. It is only found in the person of Jesus Christ, who promises to come into our hearts and commune with us if we invite Him in and put our trust in Him (Revelation 3:20). Our Father in Heaven promises to deliver us from the kingdom of darkness (our fleshly carnal selves) into the kingdom of Light (through being born again into Christ).

[God] hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14)

The Enneagramites have missed the mark bigtime. They see the key to an abundant meaningful life lying in ourselves when in fact, it is quite the opposite as John the Baptist said when he proclaimed, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Jesus said, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:63). Paul, the apostle, said, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18). How interesting (and sad) that Chris Heuertz uses the term “Fleshie” to describe himself. Fleshies put the emphasis on how good their true selves are. “Believers” put the emphasis on believing in the finished work of the Cross (how good Jesus Christ is).

The Inclusive Kingdom

Chris Heuertz’ book, The Sacred Enneagram, uses The Inclusive Bible (authored by “Priests for Equality”) for all its Scripture quotations. Billed as the first egalitarian translation, a blurb on Amazon says:

. . . it is a re-imagining of the scriptures and our relationship to them. . . . [offering] new and non-sexist ways to express the same ancient truths. . . . Priests for Equality is a movement of men and women . . . where sexism and exclusion are left behind.32

Leaving “exclusion” behind is another way to reject the Bible’s message that says the kingdom of God is exclusive to “whosoever” believes on Jesus Christ as their Savior. This is the opposite of “inclusive,” which is the teaching of universalism (all are saved) and interspirituality (all paths lead to God). This inclusivism is what the New Age is all about.

The True Self

In Heuertz’ The Sacred Enneagram, the term “True Self” (capitalized to show the supposed divine attribute) is used over sixty times such as in the following quote:

The Enneagram offers much more under the surface. Its various facets—the names and needs, the Holy Ideas and Virtues—give us practical handles to better identify and understand our type. By digging deeper into the why behind each type we start to unravel the mystery of our True Self and essential nature. This is the real substance we aim for.33 (emphasis added)

Again, in Scripture, there is nothing good about our “essential nature.” The late Ray Yungen, who studied the New Age for many years, explains:

The New Age and Christianity definitely clash on the answer to the question of human imperfection. The former—the New Age—espouses the doctrine of becoming self-realized and united with the universe, which they see as God but in reality is the realm of familiar spirits. On the other hand, the Gospel that Christians embrace offers salvation to humanity through grace (unmerited favor). Romans 3:24 boldly states: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

This gift is not earned or given as a reward for earnest or good intentions as Scripture clearly states: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
This Scripture that tackles the issue of pride sharply distinguishes all of man’s religions from Christianity. Religion persuades us that man is innately good and, therefore, can earn his way to Heaven through human perfectibility or, better yet, through the realization of his own divinity. Christianity emphatically states the opposite view that man needs to humbly recognize his own sinfulness and fallibility, and consequently needs salvation through grace.
The Holy Spirit, through the Scripture, convicts the sinner of his sinful and lost condition and then presents God’s solution—salvation through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the Cross (Ephesians 1:7 and Romans 10:9-10).

It all comes down to the preaching of the higher self [i.e., “True Self”] versus the preaching of the Cross.34

Essential Virtue and Purity

Throughout The Sacred Enneagram, there are over one hundred diagrams of Enneacircles and Enneacharts. One of these (on page 108) is titled “Virtue Structure.” Of this chart, Heuertz writes:

I . . . emphasize Virtue because when we do return to our essence [i.e., True Self] . . . Our Virtue is the lingering fragrance of our essential purity; it is what makes each of us beautiful. . . . Of course, returning to our Virtue is familiar, like a homecoming, because it is who we have always been.35 (emphasis added)

God loves humanity. It is why He sent His Son to die on a Cross so that any person who believes on Him would be reconciled to God. And God does value us (He would never have sacrificed His Son to save us if He didn’t). But He does not love us or value us because we are pure or holy or virtuous; rather, He loves us and values us in spite of the fact we are not those things. He loves us because His very nature is love, forgiveness, and holiness; and no matter how much we learn about “ourselves,” we can never come close to matching the nature of God (although He does promise the born-again believer that we can be partakers of His nature—2 Peter 1:4. But being a “partaker” is not the same as owning it yourself. It is someone else’s, and you are given access to partake in and benefit from it).
You see, the Enneagram is the very antithesis of the Gospel. With the Enneagram, man is glorified; with the Gospel, God is glorified. And if we love God, how can we not desire to glorify Him who alone has done so many incredible and awesome things and will continue to throughout eternity. How can we, who cannot even create a speck of dust, glorify ourselves and not our Creator? Isaiah 42:8 says, “I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.”

Contemplative Prayer and the Enneagram

It is important to note that the majority of those who teach the Enneagram are proponents of contemplative prayer. In chapter ten of The Sacred Enneagram, “An Invitation to Inner Work,” Heuertz introduces the reader to three prayers that can be used “as an on-ramp to the . . . Christian contemplative tradition.”36 Introduced first is centering prayer: “Praying with the Feeling Center.” Of its relationship to the Enneagram, Heuertz states:

Centering prayer. . . is easily aligned with each specific Enneagram type, but even more so, it may be among the most effective in confronting the root additions of each of the Enneagram’s Intelligence Centers.37

Second is St. Ignatius of Loyola’s “The Examen: Praying with the Head Center.”38 Last is, “The Welcoming Prayer: Praying with the Instinctive Body Center” whose creator was Mary Mrozowski. Mrozowski was a Catholic mystic and lay contemplative who in 1983 attended the first ever “Centering Prayer” retreat experiment at the Lama Foundation in New Mexico.** It was she who helped found the Contemplative Outreach Ltd. She was also founder of the Chrysalis House which became “an incubator” of contemplative prayer practices, especially centering prayer.39 She was close to and encouraged by the late Thomas Keating.
In Phileena Heuertz’ book Mindful Silence, she explains how “incredibly helpful” the Enneagram is for “spiritual development.”40 She assures her readers that using the Enneagram is a crucial part of “expanding consciousness.”41 She says:

The Enneagram is a powerful resource for the contemplative path, for as it deconstructs the false self, it simultaneously reveals your true self.42

“Waking Up,” the last chapter, describes Phileena’s ongoing search “to live into your divine nature”43 as she took time for a hermitage at the Lama Foundation.*
In the foreword of Mindful Silence, Richard Rohr praises how quickly “contemplative teaching is occurring in our time.” He then says that “we are building on the Perennial Tradition.” Rohr describes what he means by “Perennial Tradition” in a 2015 article on his website:

The things I teach come from a combination of inner and outer authority, drawn from personal experience and a long lineage of the “perennial tradition” . . . The Perennial Tradition points to recurring themes and truths within all of the world’s religions.44 (emphasis added)

The Perennial Tradition (or Perennial Wisdom as it is also called) is the belief that all the different religions in the world are interconnected through metaphysics (mysticism). The fact that the “father” of today’s Enneagram movement (Rohr) promotes the Perennial Tradition in a book written by one of his foremost disciples—openly welcomed in mainstream evangelicalism—should not be overlooked or dismissed as irrelevant; nor should the Enneagram’s compatibility and connection with contemplative prayer and mysticism.

Christian Leaders Promoting the Enneagram

With the growing popularity of the Enneagram in the evangelical church, many well-known Christian leaders are coming out in favor of it. One of these is Mark Batterson, the senior pastor of a mega church in Washington, DC. and the author of the New York Times best-selling book, The Circle Maker: Praying Circles Around Your Biggest Dreams and Greatest Fears. Lighthouse Trails released a booklet in 2017 titled Circle Making and “Prayer Circles” Versus The Straight Line of Truth, which addresses Batterson’s teaching on “circle making,” a practice he popularized inspired from rituals of an ancient mystic name Honi. Our 2017 booklet states:

[Batterson convinces] people that if certain rituals or methods are performed, then things can be changed. In his 2017 book Whisper: How to Hear God’s Voice, Batterson continues with this mystical focus (i.e., contemplative spirituality). In one section, he gives a lesson on Lectio Divina, a practice that involves taking a word or phrase from Scripture and repeating it slowly, which is said to facilitate hearing God’s voice (in reality, Lectio Divina is a gateway practice to full-blown eastern-style meditation).45

Knowing Mark Batterson’s mystical propensities, we were not surprised to learn that Batterson had endorsed Ian Morgan Cron’s 2016 book on the Enneagram, The Road Back to You. Of Cron’s book, Batterson states:

Ian Morgan Cron, partnering with Suzanne Stabile, has gifted us with another timely and brilliantly written book. We’ve long needed a fresh, spiritually grounded approach to helping people grow in self-knowledge and compassion. This is a winsome and thoughtful primer!46

On a podcast called Typology, hosted by Ian Cron, Cron interviewed Batterson on October 24, 2019. The show’s title was “The Blessings of the Enneagram” where Batterson talked about he and his wife’s “journey” with the Enneagram.47
Numerous other evangelical leaders are rallying behind the Enneagram as well. New York Times best-selling author and president of Proverbs 31 Ministries Lysa TerKeurst was on Cron’s podcast in June of 2019 talking about how much the Enneagram means to her.48 Other evangelical figures who promote the Enneagram are William P. Young (author of The Shack), Michael Hyatt (former CEO of Thomas Nelson publishers), Aaron and Shawna Niequist (Shawna is Willow Creek’s Bill Hybels’ daughter), and Anita Lustrea (co-hosted Moody Radio’s Midday Connection program for 15 years).

The Enneagram or The Word of God?

The Enneagram focuses endlessly on the self through self-awareness, self-observation, self-motivation, self-knowledge, self-love, self-wound, self-this, and self-that. For as 2 Timothy 3:2 states, “For men shall be lovers of their own selves.” Through the “Sacred Enneagram,” it is said we’ll discover that underneath all our failures of our false selves, we’ll uncover our essence—that true self enabling us to make our world a better and more compassionate place.
On the other hand, God’s view of our “selves” is that at our core, we are sinners as Romans 3:23 declares, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” Therefore, we need to believe not in the power of the Enneagram or the voice heard in contemplative prayer but in a Savior who can save us from ourselves and our sins. Scripture says:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8,9; emphasis added)

In the end, it is through the Word of God and the sacrifice on the Cross by Jesus Christ, not the Enneagram, where we can find out who we are and what we must do. In 1 Corinthians 2:5, Paul tells us:

That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

And as Proverbs 9:10 reminds us, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom . . .” not the Enneagram! We pray that this enticing tool of deception will be rejected by Christian believers, pastors, and leaders.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

For endnotes or to print this booklet for free, click here. To order copies of The Enneagram—An Enlightening Tool or an Enticing Deception? click here.
*Spiritual direction or spiritual directors are terms used in the contemplative prayer movement (i.e., Spiritual Formation movement). Contemplative spirituality is an ancient mystical prayer practice in which the participant goes into what is called “the silence” by repeating a word or phrase so that the mind is no longer distracted with thoughts. In this altered silent state, one can supposedly hear the voice of God and be spiritually transformed. Spiritual directors are utilized to help the contemplative meditator “discern” the voice and messages received during meditation. Rohr’s statement above reveals to us that the Enneagram and contemplative prayer (both based on mysticism) are very compatible with each other.
**The Lama Foundation is tied to a well-known spiritual teacher and New Age Hindu guru Ram Dass who wrote Be Here Now.
Endnotes to the first 2 paragraphs of this post.
1. According to Wikipedia, the Passion Conferences have drawn over 1 million university students since 1997. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louie_Giglio.
2. Check out the following articles: http://herescope.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-significance-of-youth-filled.html, https://pulpitandpen.org/2017/03/13/louie-giglio-goes-new-age, https://coercioncode.com/2019/04/30/louie-giglio-as-you-never-knew-him.

 

MEDIA EMBARRASSED AS JOE BIDEN’S SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS EXPLODING OUT OF CONTROL

MEDIA EMBARRASSED AS JOE BIDEN’S 
SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS 
EXPLODING OUT OF CONTROL
★★★ A NEW CONSERVATIVE AGE IS RISING ★★★
The mainstream Media is utterly and completely humiliated as Joe Biden’s Sexual Assault Allegations have begun EXPLODING Out of Control! That’s what we’re going to be talking about on today’s video. It’s nothing short of a stunning scandal, really, if you think about it, the way the media has so deliberately attempted to bury this story. We’re going to take a look at the new evidence has just surfaced that is corroborating the allegations, and how it’s all blowing up in the mainstream media’s face! You’re going to absolutely love it!