Read this excerpt from an article entitled "The Evangelical Attraction To Mysticism" By Alan Morrison. ( You can read the whole article at:
http://www.bereanbeacon.org/EvangelicalAttraction.htmlI. A BASIC INTRODUCTION TO MYSTICISM
1. DEFINING MYSTICISM
It has been well-said that mysticism 'begins with a mist and always ends in schism'! There is more than a degree of truth in that witty aphorism. Chambers' Dictionary defines 'mysticism' as 'the habit or tendency of religious thought and feeling of those who seek direct [with the accent on this word 'direct'] communion with God or the divine',
2 while a mystic is defined as 'one who seeks or attains direct intercourse with God in elevated religious feeling or ecstasy'.3 Evelyn Underhill's defines Mysticism as 'the art of union with Reality. The mystic is a person who has attained that union in a greater or less degree, or who aims at it and believes in such attainment.'
Aldous Huxley wrote: The technique of mysticism may result in the direct intuition of, and union with, an ultimate spiritual reality that is perceived as simultaneously beyond the self and in some way within it.'
Professor Ferguson, Dean of the Open University and an ardent advocate of mysticism, lists five generalised points which one can identify in any manifestation of mysticism:
'First, mystics believe that there is an Ultimate Being, a dimension of existence beyond that experienced through the senses...[which] is often, though not invariably, conceived in personal terms and called God... Second, mystics claim that the Ultimate can in some sense be known or apprehended... Third, the soul perceives the Ultimate through inward sense... Fourthly, it would be widely held by mystics that there is an element in the soul akin to the Ultimate, a divine spark...a holy spirit within. In this way, to find God is to find one's true self... Fifth, mysticism has as its zenith the experience of union with the Ultimate... The mystic seeks to pass out of all that is merely phenomenal, out of all lower forms of reality, to become Being itself'.
4 We can see from this description of mysticism, first, that God is reduced to a pantheistic 'dimension of existence' beyond the normal senses, although this is sometimes called 'God' for convenience; second, that there is an element of this divinity, a divine spark, a 'holy spirit within' all people (a foundational error); third, that it is possible to tap into this 'inwardly' so that one is absorbed into it, and can even become that 'Ultimate Being' oneself; fourth, the relegation of this present life to a 'lower form of reality', something 'merely phenomenal'. Finally, there is the idolatrous and even blasphemous assertion that 'to find God is to find one's true self'.
There is very much more we could say, as there are as many definitions as there are people to make them. What we find is that the operation of mysticism, wherever it occurs, involves the utilisation of certain practices in order to bring about an altered state of consciousness so that a person can not only personally experience the Divine presence — however that may be perceived — but actually become unified with the Divine Essence, usually in a stupendous ecstatic experience.
And so we find that what mysticism is all about — as it has manifested throughout the world over the centuries, whether it is Eastern mysticism or so called Christian mysticism — can be reduced to two heads: 1) The seeking out of a direct experience of God, without any mediator; 2) The setting up of the individual's subjective experience as the sole arbiter of religious truth.
And the manifestation of these twin-tenets of mysticism in the Christian scene has been diverse: ranging from one extreme in the passive navel-gazing of the Quietists, to the opposite extreme in the enthusiastic fanaticism of the Holy Spirit Movements which have dogged orthodoxy throughout the Gospel Age. (The so-called 'Toronto Blessing', for example, is a classic manifestation of manipulated mysticism, as we shall come to appreciate).
These twin-tenets of mysticism have always played a vital part in the religions of the world. Some world religions are primarily mystical, e.g., Hinduism and Buddhism. Whereas other religions are primarily formalist but have their mystical wings, such as the Sufism of Islam and the Kabbalism of post-AD.70 Judaism. How Roman Catholicism came to be involved in mysticism is a complex story, with a number of seemingly disparate influences.
Now read Rob Bells book (Velvet Elvis page 021) Rob Bell is saying that when you live the way of Jesus you notice something DEEPER going on. Bell says, that living the way of Jesus is the best way to live because it is rooted in profound truths about how the WORLD is. You find yourself living in tune with reality. You are more and more in sync with how the UNIVERSE is at its deepest levels. Bell then says, Jesus' intention was and is to call people to live in tune with reality. Bell then says that God is the ultimate reality. What Rob Bell is doing here is equating God with the world, with the universe. Rob Bell is saying that God is the universe. Rob Bell goes on to say that Jesus is not the exclusive way to God, He is just the "best" way to the "DEPTH" of reality. Rob Bells god is a pantheistic god. His god is not God at all, and his jesus is some other jesus who resides in every single human being as a Divine spark ( see Bells new book Sex God pg. 019) Rob Bell says, ....."something of God has been placed in them. We reflect what God is like and who God is. A DIVINE SPARK resides in every single human being." Rob Bell is a false teacher teaching anti Christ, humanistic, new age teaching. It looks like truth, it smells like truth, but it is a counterfeit. THIS is the truth, Ephesians 2:8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship,created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
