Experiencing God or Knowing God: Examining Mysticism

Interest in mysticism – the connecting to or “experiencing” of God through various techniques and practices – has become rampant, especially among younger Christians in search of church alternatives.

Suggested practices are numerous – meditation (not on Scripture), silencing the mind, visualizations, rituals, imaginations, and dream analysis. Others, like the deceased Catholic priest, Henry Nouwen, have promoted the mindless repetition of words:

• The quiet repetition of a single word can help us to descend with the mind into the heart…This way of simple prayer…opens us to God’s active presence.

Is the expectation that we can connect to “Gods active presence” biblical? For one thing, the Bible never promotes mindless, understanding-less repetitions. The Apostle Paul had warned that even the supernatural speaking of foreign languages – tongues - was useless unless accompanied by understanding:

• Now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction? (1 Cor. 14:6)

This principle does not just apply to the experience of speaking in tongues but also to mystical experience. Whatever we do, we must proceed in the light of understanding.

This certainly shouldn’t be an argument against experience, but against the pursuit of experience for its own sake. Of course, the Spirit is always working in our lives, providing learning experiences even when we are not aware of them. It has become a great joy for me to meditate on what God has done for me – forgiving my sins and promising that I will be with Him, in a place of bliss, for all eternity.

Similarly, the Bible emphasizes seeking understanding, not experience. Moses had arguably the greatest mountaintop experience. His appearance was even transformed. However, when he returned to the Israelites, he told them nothing about the experience and everything about the words God had given him (Exodus 34:29-34).

Jesus’ disciples also had a great mountaintop experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. However, God’s heavenly voice had nothing to do with learning techniques about experiencing Him but everything to do with a doctrinal revelation of the Person of Jesus:

• “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)

There is absolutely no Scriptural evidence that we can experience God by repeating a set of words. In fact, there is evidence against such a hope and practice:

• “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.” (Matthew 6:7)

In addition to this, God regards mindless rituals as an abomination:

• The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable— how much more so when brought with evil intent! (Proverbs 21:27; 15:8; 28:9)

Even when prescribed rituals are performed without “evil intent,” they are “detestable,” because the offerer is not right relationship with the Lord. This raises a great concern about mysticism, which presents an unbiblical God – a God who cares more about technique and mystical methodology than about what God values – faith, confession, repentance, sin and obedience. Mysticism implicitly communicates that having a relationship with God and experiencing “God’s active presence” are about practicing techniques and not about what the Bible teaches.

Meanwhile, the Bible claims that it is totally adequate in itself, through the Spirit, to produce in us what God desires:

• All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16-17)

However, the teachings of the mystics implicitly deny this truth, claiming that we need their techniques in order to achieve the blessings of God.

What do mystics experience when they claim that they are experiencing God or union with God? Although the Spirit works within us, producing His fruit in our lives, Scripture mentions nothing about experiencing God in a mystical manner. In fact, those Israelites who did experience the Presence of God were terrified and not enraptured by joy!

The Israelites were gathered around Mt. Sinai to experience the Presence of God. However, they found that this Presence was the last thing in the world that they ever wanted to experience again. Instead, they cried to Moses:

• “Speak to us yourself [Moses] and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” (Exodus 20:19)

Their experience was typical, even for prophets, like Isaiah, who actually saw the Lord Jesus:

• “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5)

In fact, Israel’s temple communicated that only the High Priest could approach the Lord without being struck dead. Even in the NT, contact with the Divine was a frightening thing. The three disciples were terrified on the Mt. of Transfiguration (Mat. 17:6). John was even terrified by the presence of a mere angel (Rev. 1:17).

So what is it that the mystics are experiencing? Do they know? Is it possible to coerce God into intimate contact through a set of extra-biblical practices? They claim that if we imagine that we are in contact with God, then we will be. In Celebration of Disciple, mystic Richard Foster insists that:

• As with meditation, the imagination is a powerful tool in the work of prayer. We may be reticent to pray with the imagination, feeling that it is slightly beneath us. Children have no such reticence. (172)

• Since we know that Jesus is always with us, let’s imagine that he is sitting over in the chair across from us. He is waiting patiently for us to centre our attention on him. When we see him, we start thinking more about His love than how sick Julie is. He smiles, gets up, and comes over to us. Then, let’s put both our hands on Julie and when we do, Jesus will put His hands on top of ours. We’ll watch the light from Jesus flow into your little sister and make her well. (173)

However, Scripture does not give us the freedom to use imagination in worship, as Jeremiah warned:

• This is what the Lord Almighty says: "Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They keep saying to those who despise me, 'The Lord says: You will have peace.' And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts [“walketh after the imagination of his own heart;” KJV] they say, 'No harm will come to you.'” (Jeremiah 23:16-17; Ezek 13:2; Luke 1:51)

Instead, God requires us to worship Him according to who He is, in spirit and in truth (John 4:22-24), contrary to the assertion of the mystics, who want to bypass considerations of truth and doctrine.

So what are the mystics experiencing? Their own imaginations, but perhaps something even worse! Paul warned that demons can disguise themselves as entities of the light (2 Cor. 11:14) and that when we worship in an unbiblical manner, we might be opening ourselves to demonic fellowship:

• The sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. (1 Cor. 10:20)

How can the mystics be sure that they are not participating with demons? Even Foster admits this possibility, according to writer Roger Oakland:

• Richard Foster claims that practitioners must use caution. He admits that in contemplative prayer “we are entering deeply into the spiritual realm” and that sometimes it is not the realm of God even though it is “supernatural.” He admits there are spiritual beings and that a prayer of protection should be said beforehand – something to the effect of “All dark and evil spirits must now leave.” (Faith Undone, 99)

Will the demons obey Foster? How can Foster know that these evil spirits have left and that he now communes with God? By departing from the teachings of Scripture, he cannot know!

Why are vast numbers of young educated people embracing mysticism? I think that there are many possible reasons for this:

1. They have never known the Savior.
2. They have rejected God’s Word.
3. Experiencing spirituality has become far more socially acceptable than believing in a set of truths.
4. Experiencing, instead of accepting a demanding set of doctrines, does not interfere with one’s lifestyle or politics.

In any event, mystical pursuit represents a costly rejection of God and His Word – an attempt to set up our own spiritual workshop and play-station.

Hearing the Spirit: Through Mysticism or Scripture?

Religious pluralism – the notion that all religions are equally correct - is speaking, and where it speaks, there is confusion and uncertainty! We therefore ask, “How do I know I am hearing from the Spirit, that I am going in the right direction?”

There are many different answers. The popular writer, Brennan Manning, offers one in The Signature of Jesus:

• “The first step in faith is to stop thinking about God in prayer…” “Contemplative spirituality tends to emphasize the need for a change in consciousness…we must come to see reality differently.” “Choosing a single, sacred word…repeat the sacred word inwardly, slowly, and often.” “Enter into the great silence of God. Alone in that silence, the noise within will subside and the Voice of Love will be heard.” (Ray Yungen, A Time of Departing, 83).

Well, if you want to hear God’s “Voice of Love,” you need to learn Manning’s methodologies – all entirely unbiblical:

1. “Stop thinking about God in prayer,
2. Change in consciousness,
3. Repetition of one word in order to bring this change in consciousness about,
4. Practice silence to hear”

In contrast to Manning’s program, the Bible gives ample testimony that we don’t need to learn techniques to amplify or actualize God’s presence. He is omnipotent! He can even speak through donkeys and evil prophets (Numbers 22:30-31). Instead, it is our lack of repentance that prevents us from hearing God. This is what the Spirit stated to the Church at Laodicea:

• As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. (Rev. 3:19-20)

The Spirit didn’t criticize this church because they hadn’t learned certain mystical techniques for hearing God. Instead, it was a matter of their failure to “be zealous and repent!” Our God cares about righteousness, truth, and faith, not about learning generic methods to change our brain waves.

Jesus insisted that a relationship with God and hearing His voice had nothing to do with a mindless repetition of the same word:

• And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. (Matthew 6:7)

How then do we hear the voice of God and discern His will? The primary source of His voice is His Word! He therefore gave the church pastors and teachers to disseminate this Word for the edification of the church:

• So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

It is through this knowledge that we attain spiritual maturity and freedom from the suffocating demonic blindness:

• Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (2 Tim. 2:25-26)

God grants us repentance through Gospel preaching to produce a “knowledge of the truth” – the voice we should pursue - and this enables us to “escape from the trap of the devil.” There is no mention here or in any verses about the need to learn certain techniques to hear the voice of the Spirit.

In fact, Scripture explicitly tells us that we hear His voice when we read Scripture. Each of the seven letters to the churches (Revelation 2, 3) concludes:

• Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

By reading and meditating on Scripture, we hear what the Spirit has to tell us. Scripture is His Word to us:

·         [Peter] said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas. (Acts 1:16 quoting Psalms)

Even the very personal Book of Psalms is the Word of the Spirit. Therefore, when we read the Hebrew Scriptures, we are hearing the voice of God. Jesus affirmed the same thing – that when David spoke (Psalm 110), he spoke “in the Spirit!” According to the Book of Nehemiah, when the Prophets of Israel spoke, they were speaking “by your Spirit” (Neh. 9:30). The Spirit and the Word are so closely associated that the Word is called the “sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17)!

However, when we read Scripture, we naturally reject it, as the Hebrews had done (2 Cor. 3:14-18). This reading must also, therefore, be combined with a repentant heart:

·          So, as the Holy Spirit says [quoting Psalm 95]: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness.” (Hebrews 3:7-8)

We have erected a barrier against hearing what the Spirit says. We do not hear the Spirit because we do not want to hear Him. It has nothing to do with a failure to learn certain mystical techniques but a rejection of His Word (1 Cor. 2:14) – the voice of the Spirit. Consequently, blessedness is a matter of reading the Word of the Spirit with a willing heart:

• Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. (Psalm 119:1-2)

Consequently, King David prayed that he would be granted a “willing spirit” (Psalm 51:12), not mystical practices.

In contrast, according to Manning, blessedness comes from the repetition of a single word which then changes our mental state and brings us into the silence of God. However, can we be certain that this changed mental state opens us to the Spirit? Roger Oakland cites the “Christian” mystic, Richard Foster, who acknowledges the inherent dangers:

• Richard Foster claims that practitioners must use caution. He admits that in contemplative prayer “we are entering deeply into the spiritual realm” and that sometimes it is not the realm of God even though it is “supernatural.” He admits there are spiritual beings and that a prayer of protection should be said beforehand – something to the effect of “All dark and evil spirits must now leave.” (Faith Undone, 99)

Perhaps Foster hasn’t heard from the Spirit at all, and perhaps he needs to re-examine his disciplines and where they are leading him.

I hope that reading Scripture, trusting that the Spirit will speak to us through it, doesn’t seem overly dry. On occasion, it has for me. I wanted more. However, years ago, in the midst of decades of intense depression, there were numerous occasions when God spoke profoundly to me through Scripture. These were occasions when I was at my lowest, unable to read even a verse. Suddenly, a phrase would jump out at me like, “And God heard him!” It was as if an explosion of light went off in my head. “He heard me, He heard me!” It was so powerful that all my depression was driven away. I looked around, but it just wasn’t there! I was assured that God had heard me, and nothing else mattered.

This hasn’t happened to me for about 25 years. Yes, God still does speak to me through Scripture, but not with such profundity. I guess He expects me to stand on my own feet now.

The Labyrinth and Post-Modern “Christianity”

 

Postmodernism has rejected doctrine in favor of experience, as Julie Sevig has written:

• Post-moderns prefer to encounter Christ by using all their senses. That’s part of the appeal of classical liturgical or contemplative worship: the incense and candles, making the sign of the cross, the taste and smell of the bread and the wine, touching icons and being anointed with oil. (The Lutheran, “Ancient New,” Sept. 2001)

Are these really ways to “encounter Christ?” How do we know this? If so, why doesn’t the Bible specify these things? Are we even supposed to be seeking to “encounter Christ?” For many, these questions don’t even seem to matter. Instead, it’s a matter of the experience.

Meanwhile, the Christian faith suggests that if we “encounter” Christ, it is through His Word:

• Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (2 Peter 1:2-3) 

Nevertheless, techniques, not Scripture knowledge, abound which purport to get us into contact with Christ. One of the many is the prayer labyrinth walk. Lauren Artress is credited with reviving this technique:

• For her, the labyrinth s for the “transformation of human personality in progress” that can accomplish a “shift in consciousness as we seek spiritual maturity as a species”…She calls her discovery of the labyrinth…one of the “most astonishing events of my life.” For her, the labyrinth is a “spiritual tool meant to awaken us to the deep rhythm that unites us to ourselves and to the Light that calls from within.” (Faith Undone, Roger Oakland, 68)

If the labyrinth is essentials for the “transformation of human personality,” why isn’t it ever mentioned in Scripture? Instead, Paul has written that Scripture contains everything we need for spiritual growth:

• All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16-17)

To claim that the labyrinth is essential, is to add to Scripture! This is something that Scripture warns against:

• I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (Rev. 22:18-19)

I don’t mean to pick on the labyrinth. There is certainly nothing wrong with walking in circles when you pray. (I even enjoy walking as I pray!) The problem with the labyrinth is not the labyrinth or even the action. Instead, as with the many other mystical techniques promising a “connection” with Christ, it is a matter of what we believe – where we place our faith.

To believe that the labyrinth as an essential part of the Christian life is to believe in a different God, one who cares more about learning various mystical techniques than what He specifies in His Word – righteousness, holiness, peace, faith, repentance and obedience.

In fact, nowhere in Scripture are such techniques specified. Instead, God warns against rituals, even those He specifies, when they are not accompanied by true piety:

·        Then the Lord said to me, "Do not pray for this people, for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence." (Jeremiah 14:11-12)

Jesus insisted that believers “must” worship God in truth (John 4:22-24)! Why? Any relationship must be founded on truth. If my wife discovered that I love her because she reminds me of my first fling, our relationship is doomed.

Instead, belief is foundational to experience. I used to feel that God condemned me. I was rescued by the truth that “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ” (Rom. 8:1). This enabled me to reject the feelings of condemnation and to love God.