A directory of major Wesleyan Holiness denominations falling for Spiritual Formation and Emerging/Emergent heresies

NOTE – The blog below is not my latest blog. To find more recent blogs, browse through the “Archives” section to the lower right.  ——>  ——>  ——>
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(revised 01/02/13)

I have posted many blogs covering occultish Spiritual Formation (specifically contemplative spirituality) and heretical Emerging/ Emergent teachings.  A number of Wesleyan Holiness denominations are increasingly teaching these heresies.

And, these Wesleyan Holiness denominations are taking part in a number of joint projects. There may be additional joint projects, but we are tracking the following:

Global Wesleyan Alliance (GWA) ( note – these are prospective members – the Alliance is still in formation)
– UPDATE: press release describing 2012 meeting of GWA – 14 prospective members as of Dec. 2011, 18 as of Dec. 2012
National Association of Evangelicals (NAE)
National Council of Churches (NCC)
Wesleyan Holiness Consortium (WHC) (producers of the Holiness Manifesto; 16+ denominations; for the official list of Participating Denominations click here)
WordAction curriculum (WA)(6 denominations)
World Methodist Council (WMC)

I am working on adding stats for each member denomination.  Also, I am adding links to articles showing how contemplative and Emerging/Emergent heresies are entering each denomination (some more than others).

Note: it is not my intent to “attack” Wesleyan Holiness denominations. On the contrary, I love what Wesleyan Holiness denominations used to stand for. Specifically,  a biblically sound theology which placed priority on the message of Calvary (John 3:16) and personal holiness (Rom. 12:1-2). And the rejection all unbiblical heretical teachings. The Wesleyan Holiness denominations of yesteryear fought modernism tooth and nail. Unlike today’s Wesleyan Holiness denominations listed below, they would have condemned today’s heresies of Spiritual Formation/Contemplative Spirituality and Emerging/Emergent teachings.

I know what these Wesleyan Holiness denominations have lost. I am fighting (along with many others in counter-Emergent discernment ministries) to help these straying denominations hopefully return to a biblically sound theology, rejecting Contemplative Spirituality and Emerging/Emergent teachings.

If the denominations themselves reject correction (as is usually the case), we are encouraging members of these denominations to separate, to leave for biblically sound churches. I recommend Bro. David Cloud’s Independent Fundamentalist Baptist directory – particularly the “two-asterisk” and “three-asterisk”  churches – although these churches vary on some doctrines from fundamentalist Wesleyan Holiness churches of approx. 1890-1942.

WESLEYAN HOLINESS DENOMINATIONS FALLING FOR EMERGING/EMERGENT HERESIES

  Assemblies of God  – in NAE, WHC
– 2010 stats: 12,457 U.S. churches, 1,753,881 U.S. attenders
– main Wikipedia article
– Assemblies of God (AG) claims to oppose the NAR and other heretical movements, but recent AG activities show otherwise
– Repost critiquing the heretical Alpha Course: “ALPHA: New Life or New Lifestyle?”, by Elizabeth McDonald (AG is a big promoter of the Alpha Course)

Brethren in Christ Church – in NAE, WHC
– Wikipedia article

 Christian & Missionary Alliance– in WHC
– Wikipedia article x
– Christian & Missionary Alliance Workers will soon be learning Ancient Spiritual Disciplines (12/02/09)
– a list of blogs exposing Spiritual Formation in the C&MA

  Christian & Missionary Alliance – Canada – in WHC

Church of Christ Holiness USA – in GWA
– Wikipedia article

Church of God – Anderson (aka Church of God Ministries, Inc.) – in GWA, WHC
– Wikipedia article

Church of God – Cleveland – in WHC
– Wikipedia article

Church of the Nazarene – – in GWA, NAE, WA, WHC, WMC
– Wikipedia article x
– Reformed Nazarene website (provides many blogs and links exposing CotN involvement in heresies)

Churches of Christ in Christian Union – in GWA, NAE
– Wikipedia article

Congregational Methodist Church – in GWA
– Wikipedia article

 The Evangelical Church of North America – in GWA, WHC

Evangelical Friends Church International – in NAE, WA
– my critique of the EFCI and EFC-ER
I have many blogs on my blogsite exposing heresies of the Evangelical Friends (and Quakers in general). Click here for a partial list of my blogs on the Evangelical Friends.
– Wikipedia article

 Evangelical Methodist Church – in GWA
– Wikipedia article

Evangelical United Methodists – in WA

The Foursquare Church (International Church of the Foursquare Gospel) – – in NAE, WHC
– Wikipedia article

Free Methodist Church USA – in GWA, NAE, WA, WHC, WMC
– Wikipedia article

Grace Communion International – in NAE (joined 1997 as Worldwide Church of God), WHC
– Wikipedia article

International Fellowship of Bible Churches – in GWA

International Pentecostal Holiness Church – in NAE, WHC
– Wikipedia article

The Methodist Protestant Church – in GWA
– Wikipedia article

The Missionary Church, Inc. – in GWA, NAE
– Wikipedia article

Pilgrim Holiness Church – in GWA
– Wikipedia article

The Salvation Army – in GWA, NAE, WA, WHC
– Wikipedia article
– Lighthouse Trails exposes The Salvation Army’s involvement in Spiritual Formation
– “A Simple Way to Begin the Day with Prayer” (Richard Foster, The War Cry, October 1985)
– Cory Harrison, Emergent Salvationism? (blog by an Emergent Salvation Army member)

  Shield of Faith – in WHC

United Methodist Church – in NAE (observer status), NCC, WHC, WMC
– Wikipedia article

*** United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI) – WARNING – Oneness Pentecostals; UPCI was in the WHC at one time, but as of 12/11/12 the UPCI is no longer listed as a member. Why was the UPCI allowed to become a member in the first place?
– Wikipedia article

The Wesleyan Church – in GWA, NAE, WA, WHC, WMC
– Wikipedia article

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Wesleyan Holiness Consortium (WHC) continues to promote its heretical, Emergent/NAR postmillenial “Holiness Manifesto” (which EFCI helped write)

(blog under construction – revised 01/27/12)

In this blog I critiqued the Global Wesleyan Alliance (GWA), which I believe is being formed as an Emergent alliance.

So I was not surprised to learn that a hybrid Emergent/Dominionist alliance was formed back in 2006, in this case between Holiness denominations and Pentecostal denominations (which grew out of the Holiness movement): the Wesleyan Holiness Consortium (WHC).

Actually, the GWA is just now being formed, and it is an Emergent alliance from the get go. The WHC, formed in 2006, has also been into Emergent teachings and Dominion Theology from the very beginning.

I just learned from Manny Silva of the “Concerned Nazarenes” Facebook Group that the WHC met recently. (A press release about the meeting was publishing in the Nazarene Holiness Today, so it seems the postmodern Nazarene leaders have had their fingers in yet another Emergent pie for years now.) Manny wrote:

Unity is a big word here again. Note one of the participants- Jack Hayford – who is connected to C. Peter Wagner and the New Apostolic Reformation.

Among the various heretical charismatic/Third Wave denominations, the United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI) jumped out at me. They are Oneness Pentecostals (aka Jesus only Pentecostals), as this article of theirs clearly shows.   Most discernment ministries do not even consider them born again Christians – but rather a cult – since one of the key doctrines in a truly Christian doctrinal statement is the doctrine of the Trinity, which the UPCI denies. So why would the WHC even consider allowing the UPCI to join? This is just one example of the WHC’s terrible lack of discernment.

Another denomination that jumped out at me is the UMC (United Methodist Church). It is liberal/mainline, increasingly Emergent, and a member of the National Council of Churches.

I could go on and on describing heresies of the WHC’s participating denominations, But I am instead providing this link to the list of WHC participating denominations, for you to examine them yourself.

Regarding both the GWA and the WHC, it appears that neither group includes the Conservative Holiness denominations. I assume the GWA and the WHC 1) don’t want the Conservative Holiness denominations to join, or 2) the Conservative Holiness denominations have enough discernment and common sense not to join.

And here is an interesting pdf document for download, that discusses the origin and development of the WHC. On page 1, the Evangelical Friends denomination (EFCI) is listed as one of the denominations helping prepare The Holiness Manifesto. I find it interesting that the EFCI takes part in various Holiness ventures like this, without actually joining multi-denominational Holiness organizations. I can only conclude that the EFCI prefers instead to join ecumenical efforts with non-evangelical (nonchristian) Quaker denominations. Most significantly, the EFCI takes part in the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC), which they joined in 1970. [In case you’re wondering, many of my blogs on this blogsite deal specifically with the EFCI – the denomination of my childhood (it was still biblically sound at that time) and later the denomination of  Spiritual Formation heretic Richard Foster.]

But I digress. The EFCI is considered a Holiness denomination, but so far it is not a member of the WHC.

In this blog, I have merely discussed the WHC participant denominations. For further documentation that the WHC is a deeply Emergent/Dominionist consortium,  check out my blog critiquing the WHC’s “Holiness Manifesto”, published in 2006.

FOR FURTHER READING

Apostles, Prophets, and Aberrant Doctrine: Book review of Understanding the Five Fold Ministry (edited by Matthew D. Green), by Holly Pivec – This book review mentions Foursquare leader Jack Hayford, as well as the Assemblies of God, all connected with the Wesleyan Holiness Consortium.

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WordAction: heretical Emerging/Emergent curriculum for 6 Holiness denominations including EFCI

[blog under construction]

Awhile back, I received a blog comment [located below my blog] from a high official in the EFCI denomination (Evangelical Friends Church International). Defending the EFCI’s practicing Spiritual Formation, this official wrote:

Spiritual formation is simply the study of and the pursuit of how people grow spiritually. I think that is the heart of the holiness movement, of which we are still a part. We work with the Nazarenes and Free Methodists to publish common curriculum that is widely used for Sunday Schools, VBS’s, and the like.

[In the above quote, I emphasized certain points by bolding.]

My response is, first of all, Spiritual Formation is much more than this EFCI official claims – it includes the occultish spiritual discipline of Contemplative Prayer/Contemplative Spirituality. Second, it is shocking to hear this person imply that Spiritual Formation (which EFCI pastor Richard Foster popularized in 1978) is now considered “the heart” of the Holiness Movement.  Third, the EFCI may still be a part of what is now  considered the Holiness Movement, but the Holiness Movement today is far different from what the Holiness Movement was 100 years ago (1).

Several days ago, I discovered the publisher of the “common curriculum” that Dr. Evans referred to above.  The EFCI and other Holiness denominations get curriculum from WordAction.

Following is the title of the WordAction website:

WordAction: Innovative Biblical Solutions in Christian Education for the Changing Church

Note the website title above says “Innovative” Biblical Solutions … for the Changing Church.” By “innovative” they obviously mean “new ways of doing church.” And by “the Changing Church” they mean “the  Emerging/Emergent Church movement.”

Note the  list of Holiness denominations, under their About Us link:

WordAction Publishing Company is a not-for-profit organization that provides relevant Sunday School curriculum and small group materials to enable people of all ages to discover God’s Word. Our resources are designed through the cooperative efforts of The Salvation Army, Church of the Nazarene, Wesleyans, Evangelical Friends, Free Methodists, and Evangelical United Methodists. WordAction is a part of the Nazarene Publishing House and has become the largest publisher of Wesleyan-Holiness Sunday School curriculum in the world.

I guess the term “Wesleyan-Holiness” doesn’t mean anything anymore. Unless it means a denomination that USED to be Wesleyan-Holiness at some time in its past. The denominations listed above have all strayed from their biblically sound roots, as Googling them can quickly determine.

Another point about WordAction: the youth materials they list come from the heretical Barefoot Ministries, with materials sold through the WordAction website (click on Youth and scroll to the bottom left). There have been a number of critiques written exposing the Emerging/Emergent agenda of Barefoot Ministries for the youth of Holiness denominations.

I hope to write a separate blog about Barefoot Ministries. For now, here are links to a few critiques:

Click to access v002:credo.pdf

IMMERSE – another tool by Barefoot Ministries to promote the social gospel/contemplative/emergent agenda

ENDNOTES

(1) Holiness denominations of 1911 were Fundamentalist. That is, they adhered to The Fundamentals, a series of articles published between 1910-1915. Holiness denominations of 2011 are, for the most part, either New Evangelical or Emerging/Emergent. I would daresay, in terms of the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy of the 20th century, the Holiness denominations of 2011 are closer to being Modernist than Fundamentalist. Why do I say this? Because there is little difference between New Evangelical and Emerging. And the line between Emerging and Emergent is becoming more and more blurred. And, “Emergent” is nearly synonymous with “Modernist.” Shocking! [I hope to explore this 1911/2011 dichotomy further in a future blog.]

The following article claims that Christianity today still adheres for the most part to The Fundamentals of 1910-1915. Hogwash!:

http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Evangelicalism-Standing-the-Test-of-Time-Thomas-Kidd.html

Note that the above website is far from being born again Christian – as the following list of  “featured experts” shows:

http://experts.patheos.com/

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Lighthouse Trails exposes The Salvation Army’s involvement in Spiritual Formation

Traditionally, The Salvation Army has been a born again evangelical denomination, preaching the pure Truth – the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. But in recent years more and more Salvation Army Corps have been joining the apostate ranks of Spiritual Formation, the Emergent Church, and occult contemplative spirituality.

Lighthouse Trails put out an excellent expose of The Salvation Army. I am copying and pasting the entire article below; click here for the original  article.

[The proper name for the denomination is The Salvation Army. I have corrected this throughout the article.]

Salvation Army Joins the Contemplative/Emerging Ranks

[The] Salvation Army is now offering a full line of Spiritual Formation. Books “relevant to Spiritual Formation” include Celebration of Discipline  by Richard Foster, The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus, Spiritual Classics and Devotional Classics by Richard Foster and Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard. Also being offered is a men’s retreat called Wild at Heart:

“[The Wild at Heart retreat is a four-day quest into the recovery of your masculine soul as outlined in John [Eldredge’s] book, Wild at Heart.] Through teaching sessions, films, guided periods of reflection and journaling, and question and answer, we have designed something far more than a retreat—it’s an expedition of the heart. You will never be the same.”

If men attend this retreat, it is true, they will never be the same. The Wild at Heart retreat (held at a Young Life campus) is put on by Ransomed Heart Ministries (John Eldredge). On the Ransomed website, under [Recommended Reading], recommended books include titles by contemplatives Anne Lamott, Henri Nouwen, Dallas Willard and other contemplatives. [The] Salvation Army is also advertising the Women of Faith conference, which includes contemplative speakers Max Lucado and Sheila Walsch. But if the Wild at Heart retreat and the Women of Faith conference don’t provide enough contemplative/Emerging, [The] Salvation Army is also advertising a Renovare conference with Richard Foster (took place in July). And almost last but not least, [The] Salvation Army is pointing people to the Intervarsity conference called Urbana, which includes Rick Warren as one of the speakers. Intervarsity publishes many books on contemplative spirituality and promotes the emerging church in various avenues. Finally, [The] Salvation Army is advertising The Origins Experience. Speakers at this “experience” include Erwin McManus and his brother Alex. It appears it is a new season for [The] Salvation Army. The questions must be asked, is the gospel not sufficient enough for this ministry that has been around for a very long time, and have they too joined the ranks of Christian leaders and organizations that somewhere along the line began walking the fence and finally fell off on the side of the world, an emerging world … one filled with mysticism, delusion and the occult? It looks as though the Salvation Army is now marching to the beat of a different drummer.

Another point – I always thought the Officers’ Training Schools for the Salvation Army Corps officers were “on the up and up”, teaching biblically sound doctrine. But with all the Spiritual Formation and Emerging teachings in The Salvation Army, I would guess that the Officers’ Training Schools are now teaching this garbage. I hope to do some research on these schools.
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Update – I have located some Internet links describing the use of the New Age-ish prayer labyrinth by various Salvation Army Corps.

1) Salvation Army Central Territory prayer labyrinth instructions

2) Description of prayer labyrinth at Ashland, OH Salvation Army’s communitycenter

3) Prayer labyrinth at The Salvation Army at Wath-upon-Dearne, in Great Britain

I will list more articles about Salvation Army prayer labyrinths, as I locate them.

The Lighthouse Trails website provides a number of additional articles regarding The Salvation Army. I plan to sift through these (there is some repetition of search results):

http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/search/search.php?zoom_sort=0&zoom_query=%22salvation+army%22&zoom_per_page=10&zoom_and=0

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