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How to Experience God a Handbook for Evangelical Mystics

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How to Experience God A Handbook for Evangelical Mystics John Boruff Foreword by Mark Virkler Unless noted, all Bible quotes in this book are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version , © Interna- tional Bible Society 1973, 1978, 1984. Used by permis- sion. Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Ver- sion of the Bible. Verses marked NKJV are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version , © Thomas Nelson, Inc. 1982. Used by permission. Verses marked RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, © Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America 1946, 1952. Used by permis- sion. Verses marked NCV are taken from The Holy Bible, New Century Version , © Word Publishing 1987, 1988, 1991. Used by permission. John Boruff’s E-Mail: [email protected] HOW TO EXPERIENCE GOD: A HANDBOOK FOR EVANGELICAL MYSTICS Copyright © 2009 by John Boruff LifeTree Publishing Dedicated to the glory of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord. CONTENTS Foreword by Mark Virkler 5 My Statement of Faith 8 Introduction 12 PART 1: MYSTICAL PRACTICES AND EXPERIENCES 1. Worship 38 2. Meditation 47 3. Contemplation 66 4. Spiritual Experiences 85 PART 2: EVANGELICAL MYSTICISM DEFENDED 5. Contemplative Bible Verses 218 6. Alvarez’s Defense of Contemplation 225 7. The History of Christian Mysticism 242 8. 50 of the Greatest Mystical Texts in Church History 267 9. Is Contemplative Prayer a Pagan Practice? 270 A Final Word 292 Further Reading 294 About the Author 340 Foreword 5 FOREWORD BY MARK VIRKLER How to Experience God is a much needed book. It is a thoughtful reflection on the place of “experiences” in the Christian faith. Having come out of a religious belief that our relationship with God and Jesus is largely cognitive, John Boruff makes a case from Scripture and from church history for ongoing direct encounter between God and man. This book is written for the thinker, one who wants to fully understand these “mystical” experiences. Even the use of the word “mystical” is difficult for many. Although Webster defines it as “the belief that di- rect knowledge of God, spiritual truth, or ultimate reality can be attained through subjective experience (as intui- tion or insight)”—it is a word that most Evangelicals and even most Charismatics shy away from as we are much more inclined to gain our understanding of God through our reason and the Bible, than we are through a direct en- counter with Him. For some reason we believe our intel- lect is more trustworthy than our actual experiences. You know, experiences can lead you astray. However in my journal, God said to me, “You can trust My voice in your heart more than you can trust the reasoned theology of your mind.” Wow! Do I dare believe this? Does the Bible even support such an idea? Could you find one or several verses that agree with this? Actually, when I looked I found many verses which agreed with this. I bet you will too if you search the Bible with an open heart. So can we search with open hearts? What a chal- lenge. With everything being filtered through my mind, I 6 How to Experience God was not really open to heart responses at all. At one point in my life, I could not even define what my heart or spirit FELT like, and yet I was supposed to live and walk in the Spirit! How in the world could I do that if I could not even define the sensation? Evangelicalism has a 500 year old history of making Christianity mainly a rational and theological understanding about God, rather than an ac- tual ongoing encounter with Him. In my early days as a conservative Evangelical, I wrote off dreams, visions, the voice of God, healings, tongues, and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Actually any direct encounter with Almighty God was considered suspect as it came through experi- ences, rather than through my intellect. And I had been taught to rely so much on my intellect. Well it is time for everyone to take another look at the Scriptures and church history and see what God Himself has to say about direct ongoing spiritual encounters. I believe if you do this with an open mind and not through the lens of dispensationalism, you will be amazed at what you will find. I was! This book will help you take an open look at the Scriptures and church history. You will explore intellectually what the Bible teaches about worship, meditation, contemplation, and spiritual experi- ences in general. I pray your heart will be open to hear and receive what God wants to say to you through this book. A living encounter with the living God sure beats a theology about Him. I know. I have had both. I pray you try the ongoing living encounter and see how it feels to your heart and spirit and soul and body. I believe if you open up and give it a try, you will be well pleased at the Foreword 7 results in your life. And if you already live in ongoing encounters with the living God, then this book will help give you an increased understanding of the experiences you are having, and offer you ways of sharing your walk more clearly with others. Having an intellectual under- standing of your experiences with God can only help, and understanding how to steer clear of the New Age move- ment while having these experiences is a wonderful blessing. Mark Virkler Co-Author of How to Hear God’s Voice January 2010 8 How to Experience God MY STATEMENT OF FAITH God. I believe that there is one God, in Three Persons: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is omni- present—present everywhere in the created universe— and lives within Christian believers. This is a reality of omnipresence, not pantheism. I reject the pantheistic no- tion that the universe itself and nature itself is divine. I affirm that the created world and the omnipresent Holy Spirit overlap one another, but still remain distinct from one another. The omnipresence of God is the teaching of the Bible and is completely foreign to the Hindu panthe- ism of India. Jesus Christ. I believe in the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ—that He is the only Son of the Father—God in human flesh, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His return in power and glory. Scripture. I believe the Bible to be the inspired, perfectly acceptable, trustworthy Word of God. I deny that any pri- vate revelations are of equal or higher authority than the Bible, but rather I affirm that the Bible is exalted above any spiritual experience, revelation, or prophecy—and it is the theological standard by which all spiritual experi- ences should be tested. If any private revelation ever con- tradicts the Bible, then it should be considered a counter- feit revelation; however, I do believe in private revela- My Statement of Faith 9 tions about topics that the Bible is silent about—provided that they are in agreement with the general flow of Bibli- cal morality and Evangelical/Charismatic theology. Man. I believe that mankind is naturally sinful, because of Adam and Eve’s fall from God’s grace in the Garden of Eden. Naturally the human spirit, soul, and body are corrupt and tend towards unrighteous thoughts and feel- ings. Only through faith in Christ is it possible to gain control over one’s evil desires. Though it is true that God created man in His own image, it does not mean that man is the “god” of his own universe, nor does it mean that man has unlimited human potential. Miracles, signs, and wonders that certain men can perform are not so much from their innate willpower as they are from either divine or demonic assistance. I reject the so-called “Manifest Sons of God” or “Joel’s Army” teaching that end-time Christians will become militant Christ-gods with immor- tal bodies prior to the return of Christ. Salvation. I believe that for the salvation of lost and sin- ful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential. This spiritual transformation is produced by faith alone in Christ’s atoning death and resurrection, and by receiving God’s forgiveness for sin; it is evidenced by an increase of righteous behavior coming out of a heart influenced by the feelings of divine love, joy, peace, pa- tience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Jesus Christ is the only Way, Truth, and Life: no one comes to the Father except through Him. 10 How to Experience God There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other Name under Heaven that has been given among men by which we can be saved from the everlasting destruction of Hell. Heaven and Hell. I believe that Heaven, or the upper world, is the paradise abode of God, angels, and those that have been saved throughout the ages and have passed on. I believe that Hell, or the lower world, is literally lo- cated in the center of the Earth, and is the torturous abode of fallen angels, demons, and all who have not put their faith in the God of the Bible.
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