WORSHIP: A MATTER OF TRUTH OR IMAGINATION?

Jesus had instructed a Samaritan woman, whom He had met at a well, that worship wasn’t fundamentally a matter of geography (worship on Mt. Zion rather than on Mt. Gerizim) but of God’s truth:

·       But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24 ESV)

However, for the mystic, a relationship with God is not a matter of truth but of techniques geared towards “experiencing God.” In “Celebration of Discipline,” the mystic Richard Foster proposes many techniques, which go far beyond anything that Scripture teaches. One of his suggestions is the use of the imagination in meditation and prayer:

·       Hence, you can actually encounter the living Christ in the event, be addressed by His voice and be touched by His healing power. It can be more than an exercise of the imagination; it can be a genuine confrontation. Jesus Christ will actually come to you.

Is the use of our imagination a form of idolatry prohibited by the Second Commandment (Exodus 20:4)? Do we have the liberty to conceive of God in a way that feels right to us or must we adhere to His Word? (1 Corinthians. 4:6-7; Isaiah 8:19-20)? Paul had argued that since God has made His truth plain to us, we are “without excuse” (Romans 1:20) when we substitute the truth with the imaginations of our heart:

• Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. (Romans 1:21-23; KJV)

The false prophets had substituted God’s revealed truths with their imagination, “visions of their own minds”:

• Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds [or imaginations], not from the mouth of the LORD. They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’” (Jeremiah 23:16-17 ESV)

Even worse, these false prophets claimed that what they imagined was the “word of the Lord”:

•  “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, and say to those who prophesy from their own hearts [or imaginations]: ‘Hear the word of the LORD!’” (Ezekiel 13:2 17)

Instead, we are to expose such false imaginations, which oppose the “knowledge of God”:

• 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; KJV)

When we imagine God instead of abiding in His Word, we oppose the knowledge of God. Nevertheless, Foster insists that:

• Imagination opens the door to faith. If we can ‘see’ in our mind’s eye a shattered marriage whole or a sick person well, it is only a short step to believing that it will be so. (36)

However, to believe in the spiritual power of “my mental image” is idolatry:

·       “Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass, I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you, lest you should say, ‘My idol did them, my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’” (Isaiah 48:4-5)

However, Foster claims that we have the power through imagination to channel Christ’s healing:

• Imagine the light of Christ flowing through your hands and healing every emotional trauma and hurt feeling your child experienced that day. Fill him or her with the peace and joy of the Lord. In sleep the child is very receptive to prayer since the conscious mind, which tends to erect barriers to God’s gentle influence, is relaxed. (39)

This claim is highly presumptuous. Instead, God has His own will and timing. This is why patience is often counseled. Foster is also teaching another major fallacy about God, that He is not powerful enough to heal because our “conscious mind…tends to erect barriers to God.” In contrast, Scripture teaches that God is all powerful (Matthew 19:26; Revelation 3:7) and that our minds are not in opposition to God (Matthew 22:37), as Eastern religions claim. Besides, the Scriptures also suggest that we are not in need of mystical techniques:

·       All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Instead, Scripture is able to give us everything we need.