In Touch Ministries promoting some not very good books and things

I sat down with the first coffee of the year for my first devotional reading of 2010 this morning and began to read, when I nearly spit out my first sip. And just when I had recommended this a few short weeks ago as one of the few monthly devotional magazines we can still trust in, too. The articles and devotionals by Charles Stanley’s In Touch Ministries are usually pretty good, but I have to report that this month’s issue is promoting some not very good things.

The January 2010 edition of In Touch contains an article called i didn’t want to be a Christian, But…How running away can take you on an unexpected journey by Joseph Bentz (page13, In Touch Magazine). It’s about people finding God while running away from Him as fast as they can. While it’s true that no one seeks God, but it is the Lord who seeks after us and draws all men to Himself, the two main unlikely “conversion” stories this article focuses on caught me by surprise - Anne Lamott and Sara Miles. You can read it at the above link and see that these two are positively promoted, their conversion stories highlighted. But are these conversions biblical examples of being born again, as Jesus said we must all be to inherit the Kingdom of God? Are these testimonies consistent examples of the gospel message preached by In Touch Ministries of Charles Stanley?

Sara Miles (saramiles.net) is the founder and director of The Food Pantry and speaks, preaches and leads workshops around the country. She is the Director of Ministry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. One of her books is called Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion. The following is from the Prologue, where she tells of her "conversion" that happened after walking into a church, eating a piece of bread and taking a sip of wine, and how that moment changed everything:

Eating Jesus, as I did that day to my great astonishment, led me against all my expectations to a faith I'd scorned and work I'd never imagined. The mysterious sacrament turned out to be not a symbolic wafer at all, but actual food — indeed, the bread of life. In that shocking moment of communion, filled with a deep desire to reach for and become part of a body, I realized what I'd been doing with my life all along was what I was meant to do: feed people.

And so I did. I took communion, I passed the bread to others, and then I kept going, compelled to find new ways to share what I'd experienced. ...

- http://saramiles.net/books/take_this_bread

This is how Miles stumbled into what she describes as a radically inclusive faith that was centered on sacraments and action. Her conversion seemed to be one of eating with her mouth, not confessing with her mouth that Jesus is Lord. This faith was not about "arguing a doctrine — the Virgin birth, predestination, the sinfulness of homosexuality and divorce — or pledging blind allegiance to a denomination." It was about "body, blood, bread, wine poured out freely, shared by all." This kind of religion that she found is a table where everyone is welcome and honored - a communion to bridge the divide.

This book which has the distinct aroma of universalism is endorsed by contemplative/emerging church speaker Phyllis Tickle[1] as well as Anne Lamott (who calls it “The most amazing book”).

Anne Lamott, remember, is the other example which the In Touch article focuses on. Lamott is best known for her book, Traveling Mercies. She is often referred to as "potty mouth" Lamott due to her choice of vocabulary. Her beliefs resonate with Oprah's New Age meditation author, Elizabeth Gilbert. In fact, Lamott's endorsement is on the back cover of Gilbert's book Eat, Pray, Love. [2] Lamott has also written the foreword in a book which is leading our youth astray, called Contemplative Youth Ministry: Practicing The Presence of Jesus by Mark Yaconelli, co-founder of the Youth Ministry & Spirituality Project. These associations are instrumental in showing where Lamott's beliefs and loyalties lie – with the emerging/New Age/contemplative gospel.

Lighthouse Trails Research documents the following about Lamott:

“I am at heart a Jesus-y person”... Lamott is a perfect example of someone who “likes Jesus” but rejects biblical Christianity. Lamott illustrates this by her recent back cover endorsement of the best-selling book, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Gilbert’s book is heavily promoted by Oprah and has been at the top of the New York Times best-seller list for over a year. Gilbert was a disillusioned young woman who traveled to an India ashram where she learned to meditate and find oneness with God. During her time at the ashram, Gilbert had a meditative experience where she says “the scales fell from my eyes and the openings of the universe were shown to me.”

Her book is a virtual primer on New Age thinking. Of the book, Lamott says: “This is a wonderful book, brilliant and personal, rich in spiritual insight.” The reason McLaren resonates with Lamott is because the New Age and the emerging church (or what we call the merging church) are going in the same direction – to help man awaken to his inner divinity through mysticism. When McLaren states in this chapter that he learned from Hinduism, what else could he have learned than this?

-SOURCE

Then there’s this problem:

Take for instance, an interview with Christianity Today published in the January 2003 edition of the magazine, in which Lamott admits to being pro-abortion and to dating a non-believer, about whom she says, "he loves God. It's just that he doesn't quite commit. He's been sober as long as I have, and we both have a higher power. I call mine Jesus." In the article, the author tells of sending Lamott a later email to ask her the question, "Do you think that people from other faiths who don't believe in Jesus are God's children and will go to heaven?" Her response: "Yes". And she goes on to add, "I think Jesus is divine love manifest on earth, as it comes through the community of Christians." The author says she describes Jesus as the "beautiful Jewish uncle" who says, "Well, I can show you the way." She continues, "Only Jesus has come to me, and I experience God's love in an immediate and personal way through his companionship." And finishes by adding that non-believers in unevangelized countries "feel Divine Love come to them through more local teachings, through other expressions of that love." In summary, she's a classic universalist.

-The Problematic Anne Lamott
[From the Christ and Culture blog
Thinking Biblically in a Post-Christian World
danielrandle.blogspot.com]

Wow! As you can see, these books and things certainly do not sound very good. What a way to start the new year! It's very unfortunate and disheartening to see that Charles Stanley's very popular magazine would promote such figures as examples of how God seeks and converts the lost. Perhaps In Touch, an older established ministry, is trying to stay in touch with the current day culture, but by showing this lack of discernment in promoting these very controversial authors, it looks like they may have begun to get out of touch with the true gospel.

Endnotes:

[1] See: WHO IS PHYLLIS TICKLE? @ apprising.org

[2] See: Eat, Pray, Love (But Don't Think): An Evaluation of THE spirituality in eat, Pray, love by elizabeth gilbert @ www.christiananswersforthenewage.org

Note: The writer of this In Touch article, Joseph Bentz, has written other In Touch articles, and is also the author of several books, including Silent God, and When God Takes Too Long: Learning to Thrive During Life’s Delays, (see here @ In Touch Ministries).

Related:

Letter to Charles Stanley: Is In Touch Getting Out-of-Touch With the True Gospel?
www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com