I found this thread looking for a reference to the list of Bible Verses in the memorization aspect of Prayer90X. I am on Day #22 this morning.
In the interest of dispelling what could be the start of a bad rumor, I respectfully challenge you to evidence your claim. I have heard Ivor Myers preach for several years now and have met him in person on several occasions - I have heard nothing contrary to Adventist doctrine and, instead, have heard much that he has presented in solid support of our firm foundation. Can you offer evidence to the contrary?
I've heard his testimony and his preaching on music and entertainment. I really enjoyed them.
When he started on the Adventist doctrine particular on the sanctuary with which the diagram he provided, it represented a popular deception. In his diagram, the sanctuary was placed north-south ward instead east-west ward and the furnishings were wrongly placed to be manipulated to form a cross which opposes what the true sanctuary message teaches.
I know most of SDAs are not familiar with our sanctuary message because it's 1.) no longer taught, 2.) been perverted. There is a 50 week sanctuary study here. And I have our pioneers' books on the sanctuary for anyone who's interested in additional reference. Study and show thyself approved and see why our sanctuary message is at the center of the Satanic attacks.
But what alarmed me is that Pr. Myers sold this popular error to the whole congregation. He had the audience on a string to react exactly the way he would want them to...to gasp in amazement at the things he said.
Before I became a SDA, I was into the PMA, psychocybernetics, new age thinking. I picked up on it, the atmosphere, the spirit of the place.
All of our pastors I would say since mid-90s have been trained in spiritual formation. This is a required study in all of our seminaries, colleges and universities. You can look it up on Andrew's online curriculum. One of the classes for the pastoral students is pastoral formation. It teaches the pastors to get the message across-ed to the audience through neuro- linguistic programming(NLP) bypassing the frontal lobe. Simply put, these are the arts of putting people under trance of various degrees.
The Bible teaches us to praise God for who He is. It teaches us to thank Him for what He has done for us. It teaches us to pray for others. Christ outlined principles of prayer in The Lord's Prayer.
The bible by divine wisdom gives no definitive way of praying. When Jesus was asked, he gave a simplistic example of praying. Praying is supposed to be spontaneous, often short and with whatever it's on your mind at the moment.
In Prayer90X, Ivor encourages the reader to go "deeper" into a text, searching for precious truths, and praying that God would teach you what He would have you learn. Each day has a "Cardio" portion where the focus is on burning the fat of sin from your life and he challenges the reader to ask God how the day's topic applies to the life.
There is no error or danger in such an introspection.
Eve had a memorized/mind-controlled by Satan. Did Eve know she was in danger?
Look up the definition of centering-prayer or contemplative prayer. What you described fits to a tee.
The Devil is indeed cunning deceiver. How is it that we allow him to lay claim to words? Meditation as a thought in our society has been stolen by the New Age movement. When the Psalmist wrote about meditating on the law of God day and night, he wasn't writing about meditating as it is commonly understood now.
Ellen White writes:
As a people, we don't think deeply enough. Ellen White encourages us here, and in many other places, to think deeper, to use our imagination to focus on God's Word. For every counterfeit there is a genuine - rather than use our minds the Devil would have us loan them to Hollywood so he can do our imagining for us.
Prayer90X is an encouragement to think more deeply, to go beyond surface reading.
We can not and are incapable to THINK deeply of things of God unless God already reveals them to us first. By emptying the mind of other thoughts, contemplating, centering on a particular text, or imagining meeting the presence of God...all these described in his book are tell-tell signs of mysticism. God made each one of us the guardian of our own conscience. No one should tell us what and how to use our imagination. Even the name, borrowing from P90X, a 90 day exercise program that incorporates Yoga to use the meditation/imagination to take over for the body. That's what participants are saying: the program does it for them when their bodies don't want to do it.
I have studied the esoteric. The experience I had in his meeting and what's described of his book sound so esoteric.
The deadliest deception in the last days is what Ellen White called the Omega apostasy. It's the captivity of one's imagination through esoteric/mystical practices: meditation and/or praying while focusing on a text/thought, using imagination for a spiritual experience, mental and physical mantra... all under the garb of Christianity.
"The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola are a month-long program of meditations, prayers, considerations, and contemplative practices that help Catholic faith become more fully alive in the everyday life of contemporary people. It is set out in a brief manual or handbook: sparse, taciturn, and practical. It presents a formulation of Ignatius' spirituality in a series of prayer exercises, thought experiments, and examinations of consciousness—designed to help a retreatant (usually with the aid of a spiritual director) to experience a deeper conversion into life with God in Christ, to allow our personal stories to be interpreted by being subsumed in a Story of God. The Ignatian method of prayer uses visual imagination to draw nearer to God.” - --
Spiritual Exercises
“Be not deceived; many will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. We have now before us the alpha of this danger. The omega will be of a most startling nature.” {1SM 197.4}
Adam knew the danger presented at the tree and warned Eve. But Eve strayed and was under the trance of Satan. I'm just giving out warnings when I saw the danger.
