False Doctrines Poisoning the Church
Part 5
“Mysticism”
2 Tim 4:3 “The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”
Tonight I want to talk about spiritualism and mysticism–two poisonous teachings infiltrating today’s church.
But first, let’s define what healthy spirituality looks like.
• Authentic Christian spirituality is a Spirit-led relationship with God that shapes how a believer thinks, lives, and loves. Christian spirituality is grounded in Scripture, centered on abiding in Christ, and aimed at growing in holiness through obedience to God’s word rather than through mystical experiences.
That’s what healthy spirituality looks like!
But one of the counterfeits out there today goes by the name of spiritualism.
Sounds spiritual, right? Spiritualism can include the belief in communicating with the dead, including the belief that when a person dies their soul may wander the earth, and evolve to a higher level through constant reincarnations until finally reaching perfection. This is a key feature of eastern religions like Buddhism.
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But there is another branch on the tree of spiritualism that is called mysticism.
Mysticism emphasizes dreams and visions, feelings and experiences, and new revelation over and above Biblical truth. In mysticism, EXPERIENCE is king. In NT Christianity, SCRIPTURE is king.
The face is that in much of today’s church, experience has taken the driver’s seat.
Norman Geisler writes, “A mystical maze has settled on our land. Fuzzy thinking is the order of the day. The Good Ship Evangelicalism is sailing without rational rudders in the hazy sea of subjectivity.”
In mysticism, FACT is replaced with FEELING. In the la la land of mysticism, if one feels it, senses it, is stirred emotionally, or experiences it, then it is valid, it is true. Truth comes to be measured by subjective experience, not by objective reality, nor by the clear teaching of Scripture.
Put another way, the mind God gave us is thrown into neutral in favor of experiences not validated by reason or Scripture.
Arthur Johnson in his book, Faith Misguided, writes, “Christianity is an appeal to the heart, but God never bypasses the head on the way to the heart. The Scriptures do not oppose feelings like passion for God, but feelings are a notoriously unreliable means for testing truth.”
Martin Luther put it well:
For feelings come and feelings go,
And feelings are deceiving;
My warrant is the Word of God,
Naught else is worth believing.
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Unfortunately, one of the teachings poisoning the church and wreaking all kinds of havoc and heartbreak is the mystical message that feelings, emotions, and experiences are the proof of truth and one of the sole pursuits to undertake.
It has produced in some quarters ‘experience junkies’, people that live and breathe for the next new goosebump producing experience.
Here’s the danger. With mysticism, one of the subtly spoken suggestions is that the human mind, the intellect, logical thought is of no value when it comes to God. So, if you really want to go deep with God, if you want to get to the deep, secret, hidden things of God, if you want to bring yourself into union with deity, then you’ve got to disengage your mind.
As someone said, “put the noodle in park.”
In other words, if you think, or exercise critical thinking, use logic or rational reasoning, connect the dots of reality and add 2+2, if you use your mind you’re not walking by faith!
Think that’s not out there? Think again. For instance, one very well known TV preacher said:
“Stop trying to get hold of God with your head. It’s a heart thing. You’ve got to see what’s in your heart. As soon as you get into reasoning, you’re going to have trouble believing.”
But is that true? Does God condemn his people for using reason? What about what God says to his people through the Prophet Isaiah:
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be like wool.”–Is 1:18
The Hebrew word translated into the English word ‘reason’ expresses the idea of exposing what is wrong and establishing what is right.
God is saying to His people, “Let’s sit down and think this through to a conclusion.”
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Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’”
God gave us a mind for a reason, He wants us to use it.
Philippians 1: 9 says, “And this I pray, that your love would abound still more and more in full knowledge and all discernment.”
He connects the knowledge of God with good discernment!
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And think about what else this preacher said. “It’s a heart thing. You’ve go to see what’s in your heart.” In other words, let your heart guide you. But when it comes to discovering truth is that a good idea? What does the Bible say?
Jer. 17:9 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?”
Pr 28:26 “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But whoever walks wisely will be delivered.”
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Unfortunately, many believers today have decided that doctrine and theology are almost like bad words:
“Well, I don’t need doctrine, I don’t need theology; I just love Jesus.”
But you DO need sound doctrine and theology. They are the foundation stones upon which your spiritual life is built!
The Bible never separates the knowledge of God from the love for God; it always combines these things. And it is sound doctrine, it is good theology that deepens our knowledge of God; and when our knowledge of God is deepened, then that enables our love for God to be deepened.
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Let me give you a few more examples of when Christians were expected to throw their minds into neutral in order to believe someone’s experience.
A popular woman often interviewed on Christian TV and podcasts fully counts on the minds of her listeners being in neutral. She claims to be transported to heaven on almost a daily basis and said on a live, national TV show that:
Jesus told her in one of her visits about a place in heaven called Christmas Town and Jello Land. We can go and have conversations with trees, with the rocks.
“In Christmas Town,” she claims, “when you go there, that is where Nicholas lives; yes, Nick. Some people call him St. Nick, some people call him Santa, call him whatever. His actual name is Nicholas. But I do want to say this. He lives there, he loves the snow. It snowed where he lived on earth, and so God created this beautiful place. When you make a snowman in Christmas Town, in heaven, it is alive.”
And further, “In part of that land, of course, there’s houses made out of candy, they’re made out of all kinds of things. I know there’s chocolate waterfalls; probably would be a part of that mansion made out of candy. You can just go jump off the waterfall and drink the chocolate, or swim in the chocolate.”
Now, the deeply concerning thing for me when I saw this–aside from feeling badly for a deeply disturbed woman–is that the Christian TV interviewer along with the audience clapped and said “amen!”
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One more example and that’s about all I can take. On one very popular ‘Christian’ TV show, a guest was being interviewed that also claims to be taken up to heaven on a regular basis, and that Jesus visits him a lot while here on earth.
He claimed on one fairly recent show that Jesus made an appearance in his bedroom doing something rather unusual. Jesus, he claims, brought with him a saxophone and taught him how to play.
The host wanted to know what kind of sax Jesus had. The man said, “It was interesting, because there are several types of sax. This one had a surprise. It was a soprano sax. It was a beautiful gold saxophone.”
The man then said, “And I was sleeping at the time, and I heard something. So, when I woke up, He was standing there, and He had this sax in His hands playing over me, you know, because He sings songs of deliverance over us.”
You say, “That couldn’t have been on a mainstream program!” But sadly it was. It is a program that enjoys 1.5 million subscribers, has had 253 million views, and is growing at the rate of 1,400 new daily subscribers.
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So why does all this matter? Because:
The neutralized mind is the enemy of the Christian and the friend of the false teacher.
Because the more your mind is disengaged,
the easier it is to lead you astray,
the easier it is to get you to believe the wild, outlandish claims that are made, And (can I tell you the truth?) the easier it is for them to get your money!
Both the audiences and interviewers have sacrificed Scripture and God-given reason on the altar of experience. They are mystics with itching ears, not Word grounded Christians, though they would tell you they are!
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These kinds of false messages and outlandish claims blanket social media. And the messengers bringing them are counting on Christians that have believed they must neutralize their mind in order to walk by faith.
–But Bible faith NEVER requires us to bury our minds in order to walk with God!
Listen to these verses:
Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt 22:37).
• Faith does not require abandoning reason.
In fact, the Bible often encourages believers to think, discern, and seek understanding. Proverbs 2:2-5 says,
“So that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”
Reason, discernment, and critical thinking help us to interpret Scripture accurately and avoid being misled by false teachings.
Acts 17:11 praises the Bereans for examining the Scriptures daily to see if Paul’s teaching was true. Their faith was not blind; it was informed and thoughtful.
The Bible also encourages the use of the mind in faith through logical argument and evidence. Paul often reasoned with Jews and Gentiles alike, appealing to their understanding and knowledge. Acts 17:2-3 records,
“And Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead.”
God gave us a mind for a reason, He wants us to use it!
In closing, put on discernment. Don’t be afraid to think or question what you’re hearing. Be a good Berean!