Rick Warren's source for 'Breath Prayers'
The term ‘breath prayers’ sounds innocent at first glance and this can be confusing to most Christians. Most people say, “What is wrong with praying ‘Jesus’ throughout the day?” This is where the difficulty for most Christians comes into play. Before I explain why this is a problem, consider this passage from Matthew 7:13-15
"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. 15 " Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
People have a very hard time believing that wolves in sheep’s clothing are wolves. There is a reason why Jesus said “Beware”. Beware means to be alert and on guard. There is a danger at hand that is deceptive and will go undetected if you are not on guard. Also notice that this warning comes on the heels of Jesus’ instruction to seek the narrow gate and not be lured into following the wide gate. Few will find the narrow gate because it is narrow and has very specific requirements. The wide gate is for all to enter – except those who find the narrow gate. If you look at the Purpose Driven / Seeker Sensitive movements, the gate has been widened to make room for the masses. Rather than reaching out to those who are willing to seek the narrow gate, the seeker friendly movements are herding all people to the wide gate – even those who would have sought the narrow. Rick is openly critical about anyone who is narrow minded and are unwilling to change into the ‘New Reformation’ as he calls it. It is reminiscent of Jesus’ criticism of the Pharisees when He said, “for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.”
Rick Warren is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He does not base his doctrine on the Bible and criticizes those who look solely to scripture as the final authority. His book is a masterful work of deception. In the first three chapters, he hammers down the principle that “It is about God and not about you”. This is an inoculation against criticism for if you criticize his focus on the seeker’s comfort and question this self gratifying gospel, all he has to do is point back to the beginning of the book and say, “I stated that it was all about God and not you”. The remainder of the book preaches a self-centered gospel that is about you. The Purpose Driven Church follows that foundation and makes it clear that the primary goal of the church is to grow numerically by making seekers feel welcomed. Jesus also said that you would know them by their fruit. What is the fruit of the purpose driven churches? Doctrine is slowly being pushed out and the modern church has become the flagmen waiving all to the wide gate. Even in Rick’s own church, Rupert Murdock is his most prominent member. Rupert has been criticized by many for launching into the pornography industry and introducing a new network focused on sexually explicit programming. Not one word of criticism has come from the leadership of Saddleback. The gate is wide, holiness is not a requirement but unity at all cost is.
While this does not directly answer your question, it does lay the groundwork for the answer of your question. It is important to understand that your starting point for meditation is not the same as emergent church leaders starting point. While Rick does not claim to be an Emergent Church follower, he does provide an avenue for emergent leaders to preach this message – even in his own church. When you think about meditative prayer, you probably think about thinking on God’s word or His works. That would be biblical. However, this is not what Rick is teaching when He states, “use 'breath prayers" throughout the day, as many Christians have done for centuries. You choose a brief sentence or a simple phrase that can be repeated to Jesus in one breath.” You must understand that this is a subtle introduction to Eastern Meditation that will be introduced to the reader through Rick’s endorsement of New Age teachers.
Rick has acknowledged that he and his wife read Henri Nouwen. One thing you may notice about Rick Warren is that he has an amazing ability to protect himself from criticism by introducing false doctrine second-hand. An example of this is his introduction to a New Age book by Henri Nouwen. On Pastors.com Rick stated, “My wife, Kay, recommends this book! In it, Nouwen divides the life of ministry into five categories: teaching, preaching, pastoral care, organizing, and celebrating”. In this statement, Rick has endorsed a New Age author while allowing himself to avoid direct criticism by pointing to his wife. The very book that he is introducing as recommended by his wife states:
“Today I personally believe that while Jesus came to open the door to God's house, all human beings can walk through that door, whether they know about Jesus or not. Today I see it as my call to help every person claim his or her own way to God” (Henri Nouwen p.51, Sabbatical Journey Crossroad publishing Co., New York,1998
Is this not the very thing Jesus warned us to beware of? Henri Nouwen has pointed everyone to the wide gate and Rick Warren has introduced this to all the pastors who use his website as a resource. He does the same thing with all New Age philosophies that he introduces. He introduced Brian McLaren from his pulpit as a new partner in his global P.E.A.C.E. plan and stated that McLaren would be providing leadership training. Warren has also written the forward for his book. Warren also has written the forward for another New Age author / Emergent Church leader Leonard Sweet. He also promoted the Spiritual Formation Forum on Pastors.com. One of the pastors of Saddleback is on the board of directors. This forum hosts conferences and hosts speakers such as Richard Foster and Dallas Willard. They also promote videos from Henri Nouwen, Richard Foster, and other Contemplative New Agers. You can see this material for sale on their website at http://www.mediatech1.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PLST&Store_Code=SFF
So even though Rick Warren does not blatantly teach New Age contemplative prayer, he does introduce it. He begins by laying a subtle groundwork in his book, introducing the topic without specifics in his church and on pastors.com and then completes the ‘transformation of the church’ by introducing blatantly New Age teachers from his church, book and website so that they can complete the transformation process. Ten to twenty years ago, none of these New Age philosophers would have been tolerated in the evangelical community; however, Rick’s single greatest impact in the church has been to endorse and promote teachers who have turned the hearts of the people away from the narrow gate. He has gained trust and then used that trust to endorse anti-Christian teachers who truly have begun a reformation – only this reformation is into the foretold apostasy.
Breath prayer sounds good, but if you read the contemplative series you will see the stark contrast from biblical prayer and New Age breathed prayers. The Bible endorses meditating on God’s word to gain insight and understanding, but ‘breathing scripture’ is designed to use a single phrase or word and focusing on that word – not to gain understanding, but to disengage the mind from thought. This is never biblical.
Also, for more insight, go to Rick’s pastors.com and search on the following names:
Brennan Manning
Henri Nouwen
Richard Foster
Thomas Merton
Each of these teachers are prominent teachers of Eastern Mysticism redefined as Christian meditation. Since Rick Warren favorably quotes each of these men who teach contemplative prayer and Eastern Religious practices, it is not unreasonable to assume that these have had an influencing factor in his concept of breathed prayers.
Here are some searches that I found on pastors.com
Brennan Manning
http://www.pastors.com/RWMT/?ID=124&artid=3209&expand=1
Henri Nouwen
http://www.pastors.com/RWMT/?ID=29&artid=953&expand=1
Richard Foster
http://www.pastors.com/RWMT/?ID=194&artid=7967&expand=1
Thomas Merton
Pastors.com had multiple quotes from Thomas Merton but his name has been removed from the pages. However, the partial quotes still show up in the search engine on his site.
http://www.pastors.com/en-US/searchresults.htm?term=Thomas%20Merton
Thomas Merton was a Catholic Priest who was a self-professing Buhddist. Here are Quotes from Thomas Merton
"And I believe that by openness to Buddhism, to Hinduism, and to these great Asian traditions, we stand a wonderful chance of learning more about the potentiality of our own traditions, because they have gone, from the natural point of view, so much deeper into this than we have."
"I want to become as good a Buddhist as I can." (Steindl-Rast, 1969)
Asia, Zen, Islam, etc., all these things come together in my life. It would be madness for me to attempt to create a monastic life for myself by excluding all these. I would be less a monk
I’m deeply impregnated with Sufism.
Rick Warren is one of the most influential leaders to the conservative churches and has done more to bring New Age ideologies into churches that would not have otherwise accepted it. While he does not publicly teach blatant New Age thought, he uses masterful deception to communicate this thought to those who believe that they are on guard. In his book ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ and through his sermons and pastors.com website, Rick introduces New Age terminology without explaining what this means. This is a common practice for those who view themselves as change agents. This is used in politics and religion to persuade others over a period of time. Once you are accepting of terms like ‘breath prayers’, he then introduces New Age teachers such as Leonard Sweet, Brian McLaren, Henry Nouwen and many, many others so that they can fill in the blanks. It is like the Trojan Horse. He brings in the innocent looking doctrine knowing that he has an army behind him to conquer the ‘old way’ that the church has been living in.
Rick masterfully introduces New Age philosophies by getting the church to accept ‘Christianized’ New Age terminology and then introduces to the church religious leaders that are supposed to be experts who use these terms in a more direct but subtle New Age teaching. If there is backlash, Rick is able to distance himself from the criticism because he didn’t actually teach the New Age doctrine. However, if you allow New Agers to teach from your pulpit, you are just as guilty as the one who teaches error. This is explained in 2 John 1:9-11
9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.
Eddie Snipes
Author of Simple Faith
Exchanged Life Outreach
http://www.exchangedlife.com
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