GC Imposes Spiritual Formation Globally
The month of 9-11-01, as the entire world was focused on the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, the Adventist Structure implemented Spiritual Formation for all of its ministry around the world in all 13 world regions.
A Stunning Picture of Spiritual Direction From a Structure Theology Professor
‘Trust ye not in a friend [companion, fellow, associate, neighbor], put ye not confidence in aguide [familiar, confidant], keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
“For the son dishonoreth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, and thedaughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.
“Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hearme.”
Micah 7: 5-7.
Jesus quoted Micah 7:6 in Matthew 10: 35, 36 embedding it in the gospel.
Derek J. Morris, Professor, Advocates Jesuit Spiritual Formation
A few years ago, Derek J. Morris, then Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology at Southern College of Seventh-day Adventists, (more recently a pastor in California) gave a talk and produced a paper calling for Spiritual Formation in Adventism. Its title is “Spiritual Formation in Ministry.
”In this talk and paper, calling for Spiritual Formation in ministry, you have a stunning revelation of the inner working of Spiritual Directors.
“I would like to explore with you this morning the process of spiritual direction and its relevance as a dynamic for spiritual formation in ministry.” –Derek Morris, Spiritual Formation in Ministry. (emphasis mine)
Morris Credits Jesuits With Preserving Spiritual Direction
Derek writes, “For much of the Christian era the practice of spiritual direction was confined to Catholicism, particularly monasticism and the Society of Jesus [the Jesuits]. In recent years, there has been a revival of interest in spiritual direction as a resource for spiritual formation among both Catholics and Protestants. A leading Protestant advocate of spiritual formation is Tilden Edwards, director of the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation in Washington, D.C. [CC note: Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries is promoting the Shalem Institute as the leading place for studying to become a Spiritual Director. Shalem is staffed with Roman Catholic nuns who are experts in the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola,founder of the Jesuits, with Episcopal priests, psychiatrists, etc.] As I began my own prayer search for a spiritual friend, I came across the significant work by Tilden Edwards, Spiritual Friend: Reclaiming the Gift of Spiritual Direction. I [Derek Morris] strongly recommendthis book as a valuable resource….
“In the final chapter of this book, Edwards refers to a spiritual direction training program at theShalem Institute for Spiritual Formation in Washington, D. C.” –Morris, p. 7.
Morris Explains About RC Spiritual Direction Programs
At this point Morris refers the reader to his footnote where he explains more: “The ShalemInstitute for Spiritual Formation began its experiment with long-term group spiritual direction in the fall of 1973. Its spiritual direction -training program commenced in the fall of 1978. Another such program began at the same time at Wainwright House in Rye, New York under the Guild for Spiritual Direction. The two most intensive Roman Catholic training programs offering graduate degrees in spiritual direction are run by the Jesuits of Weston, MA, and by the Dusquesne Institute of Formative Spirituality in Pittsburgh,PA. The only non-Roman Catholic graduate program in spiritual direction is offered by the Center for Christian Spirituality at the General Theological Seminary (Episcopal) in New York.”–Derek Morris, footnote, page 7
Obviously, Morris is quite comfortable with Jesuitism, Jesuit Spiritual Formation and Spiritualdirectorship, and is an enthusiastic advocate of implementing this Jesuit training within Adventism.
Morris anxious, Afraid; Finds Comfort In Assuring Himself That God is Leading Him Into Spiritual Direction
Morris continues, “I called Shalem and shared with Dr. Gerald May that I was a pastor, interested in the process of spiritual direction.” –Morris Spiritual Formation in Ministry, 8. Dr.May sent him a list of names of graduates and enrollees in Shalem’s program.
Morris relates how he was “embarrassed, anxious, afraid. This whole experience was a journey into the unknown. However, I found comfort in the counsel of Elizabeth O’Conner, reiterated by Dr. May. I prayed, ‘O Lord, I know that you are leading in thisprocess. Please give me thecourage to follow you.” –Morris, p. 8.
Morris Plunges Ahead, Overriding the Spirit’s Powerful Warnings
Notice how the Spirit was warning Morris about the course he was taking, but he plunged ahead, insisting that the Lord was leading Him. What lord was this, leading him into Jesuit Spiritual Formation and Jesuit Spiritual Direction?
High Level of Resistance From Conscience
Morris tells how he was “experiencing a high level of resistance. I was to learn later that suchresistance is common…” (p.8). The resistance is the voice of conscience warning you not to do this. Therefore, Morris just overrode the resistance. He tells of how he had “twenty days of resistance” but then he ‘called Louise Young. I shared with her my spiritual journey and my desire to explore the process of spiritual direction.” (p. 8).
Jesuit Experts Explain How to Overcome “Resistance”
Morris tells of how Barry and Connolly, two Jesuits, in their book, The Practice of Spiritual Direction, spend an entire chapter dealing with the phenomenon of ‘resistance.” (Morris, p. 8).Therefore, Morris would have us go to the Jesuits to find out how to overcome the Holy Spirit’svoice of warning us about Jesuit Spiritual Direction
Jesuits: “The Practice of Spiritual direction;” “Finding God in All things: A Companion to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius
William A. Berry, S.J., one of the Jesuit authors of the Practice of Spiritual Direction, has also written a Companion to the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola, called Finding God in All Things: A Companion to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria,1991)
Foster Recommends Jesuit Barry
From the titles of the books by those Jesuits, it is clear that they are in the vanguard of the Jesuit order in producing materials for the implementation of Spiritual Formation and Spiritual Directorship. Foster comments on the Companion to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius: “This book of reflections on spiritual teachings of Ignatius Loyola is an excellent treatment by a noted Jesuit spiritual director and retreat leader.” Foster and Griffin, p. 299. (emphasis mine)
Finally, after much “resistance” and fear, Barry Young became Morris’ Spiritual Director. Morris describes the ‘tremendous freedom” once he took the plunge to reveal his hidden self.
Spiritual Director, Father Confessor
Basically, the Spiritual Director functions as a kind of Father confessor. Morris quotes Elizabeth O’Conner describing the process: “It is an open relationship where your fear, feelings of rebellion, critical attitudes, misgivings, etc., are confessed… Your Spiritual director is one to whom you want to reveal your hidden self.” (Elizabeth O’Conner, Call to Commitment(New York: Harper and Row, 1963), p. 201. (emphasis mine)
Whereas traditionally in Roman Catholicism, in the confessional the priest is supposedly not supposed to see the person confessing, in the new confessional of Jesuit Spiritual Formation and Jesuit Spiritual direction, there is a face-to-face contact on a regular basis at regular times(p.11) a la Jesuit Spiritual Directorship.
Morris Receives Article by Jesuit On Spiritual Direction, Written For Roman Catholic Orders
In this first session with Barry, his Spiritual Director, Morris says, “I shared very openly about my personal history and my family relationships… Barry also shared with me an article by William J. Connolly, entitles ‘Noticing Key Interior Facts in the early Stages of Spiritual Direction.’ [William J. Connolly, ‘Noticing Key Facts in the Early Stages of Spiritual Direction,’Review for Religious 35 (1976): 112-121.]
William J. Connolly is a Jesuit. This article was published in Review for Religious. “Religious” isa Roman Catholic Term for its adherents who belong to a Roman Catholic Order orcongregation, or who are a monk, friar, or nun.
In other words, the education material generated by the Jesuit Connolly for other JesuitsFranciscans, Benedictines, Dominicans, monks, friars, and nuns regarding the practice of“spiritual direction” is now eagerly devoured by Morris and, by his example and advocacy,recommended to his hearers.
70% of Morris’ Spiritual Director’s Directees are Involved in Ministry
In another note Morris states, “Barry Young generally meets with directees on a monthly basis.It is interesting to note that approximately 70% of his directees are involved in someform of ministry.” Thus, Spiritual Directors are first targeting the ministries of the Protestant Churches, training them in Jesuit practice, forming them in the image of the Roman hierarchy. Even the Mennonites are deeply into spiritual formation. Their syllabus has the Jesuits William A. Berry & William J. Connolly’s The Practice of Spiritual Direction in their NC School for Christian Spiritual Formation as one of its readings.
Spiritual Directors International
“Ignatius was, in modern parlance, a good listener.” –Joseph A. Munitiz, S.J. and Philip Endean, S.J. preface and introductory notes to Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Personal Writings (London: Penguin, 1996), cited in McDonough and Bianchi, 111.
Spiritual Directors International – A Global Network of Confesso
Spiritual Directors international is spanning the globe with an organized network of confession-hearing Spiritual Directors. “Spiritual directors International began in 1989, in a gathering of spiritual directors of the Christian faith at Mercy Center in Burlingame, California, USA.” –Spiritual Directors International website, “Purpose and History of Spiritual Directors International.”
Mercy Center, run by nuns, not only hosted the founding of Spiritual directors International,but hosts conferences such as a conference March 4-7, 2005, attended by the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, the San Francisco Zen Center, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), led by Friar Thomas Hand, and celebrated its 20th anniversary at the Sisters of Mercy of Burlingame. (Project MUSE website.)
Secretary of Spiritual Directors International is a Jesuit
A Jesuit, James Keegan, S.J., Mdiv ’06, serves as the secretary of the group out of Gloucester, MA. Cathleen Murtha, DW, is the President. Spiritual Directors international is all organized, from world regions down to state levels.
Dominican, Benedictine, Franciscan Nuns Coordinate the Spiritual Director
Just the first few pages of listings (out of many, many pages) for just the states of Illinois,Indiana, South Dakota, and Michigan reveals that the coordinators on the state level are Dominican and Franciscan, Benedictine and other orders of nuns, with OSF (Order of SaintFrancis), OP (Order of Preachers-Dominicans), I.H.M. (Immaculate Heart of Mary). And OSB(Order of St. Benedict-the Benedictines) appended to the coordinator’s name. Some of as PHJC, andMPS, SNJM, and DASD. Some of the designations of the Sisters are not even listed in the Catholic Encyclopedia, such as PHJC, andMPS, SNJM, and DASD.
Thus, nuns, Jesuits, and others are directing the global work of Spiritual Directors.
Rome’s Intelligence System
The confessional is the greatest information-gathering system in the world. This is why Rome’s intelligence is the best that there is on the face of the planet. This is why, during the Reagan administration, the United States exchanged an ambassador with the Vatican, and the Vatican sent a Papal nuncio to the United States. Now this papal intelligence is flooded with the inner sanctum from the heart of what once was Protestantism.
Spiritual Directors International is a global organization, organizing the global work according to world fields, of the global confessional network of Spiritual directors. Thus, the Jesuits now have a global network of confessionals in all denominations from the Mennonites to the Adventists, from the Presbyterians to the Buddhists. Spiritual Directors International was founded at the Sisters of Mercy in Burlingame, California. Sisters of Mercy was founded when Mary Baptist Russell and her group of eight women landed in San Francisco in 1854. Their organization, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, is the organization that has fostered Spiritual Directors International, which has broken down the world into regions and state organizations to organize the global network of nuns coordinating Spiritual Directors confessionals.
Thus, Rome has access now to inside information in all churches and religions through the confessional of Spiritual Directors.
Waldenses: Christ’s Altar is My Confessional
The Waldenses rejoiced that Christ was their confessional: “Many were undeceived in regard tothe claims of Rome. They saw how vain is the mediation of men or angels in behalf of the sinner. As the true light dawned upon their minds, they exclaimed with rejoicing: “Christ is my priest; His blood is my sacrifice; His altar is my confessional.” They cast themselves wholly upon the merits of Jesus, repeating the words, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.” Hebrews 11:6. “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12.” GC 74.
It is absolutely astounding to hear this Structure professor of theology describe his experience in finding a Father confessor type of Spiritual Director. I feel very sorry that he did not take hisheart to the Lord in secret prayer, and that instead he opened it to a human being in a new confessional-spiritual directorship, and is now advocating this terrible departure from Protestantism to others across the board in ministry.
“I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. A forward heart shall departfrom me: I will not know a wicked person.” Psalms 101: 3,4.
The Phenomenon of a State of Imagined Euphoria in Transgression
Notice what happened to Eve when she crossed the border against the resistance of conscience and moved into the domain of rebellion against God. She imagined she was entering a plane of higher existence, and experienced a rush of a state of euphoria. Then she became an evangelist for sin and rebellion:
“When she “saw that the tree was good for food, and it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree tobe desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat.” It was grateful to the taste, and as she ate, she seemed to feel a vivifying power, and imagined herself entering upon a higher state of existence. Without a fear, she plucked and ate. And now, having transgressed, she became the agent of Satan in working the ruin of her husband. In a state of strange, unnatural excitement, with her hands filled with the forbidden fruit, she sought his presence, and related all that had occurred.” PP 55, 56.
Are we not to take all of our inner heart to the Lord alone in secret prayer that none but the Lord is to hear? Are we not to hold to the Word of the Lord in faith?
Submitting to Jesuit-trained Men
This is not just one personal departure, but Derek has become a leader in training the ministry to submit the soul to man, and Jesuit-trained men at that, rather than to God. He has become a change agent, seeking to convert the rest of the church structure to this hallmark of Roman Catholicism. Spiritual Directorship is the hallmark of Roman Catholicism as opposed to true Protestantism.
None But the Prayer-Hearing Go
“In secret devotion our prayers are to reach the ears of none but the prayer-hearing God.No curious ear is to receive the burden of such petitions.” MB 84.
The Secret Place
“When thou prayest, enter into thy closet.” Have a place for secret prayer. Jesus had select places of communion with God, and so should we. We need often to retire to some spot, however humble, where we can be alone with God.
No Man Needed to Act as Mediator
“Pray to thy Father which is in secret.” In the name of Jesus, we may come into God’s presence with the confidence of a child. No man is needed to act as a mediator. Through Jesus wemay open our hearts to God as to one who knows and loves us.”
Serious Prayer
It is now that we need to revive the practice of secret prayer to our heavenly Father. Greatmen of God have taken prayer seriously, and made prayer one of the most important functions of their lives. Luther prayed three hours a day at the height of the Reformation crisis. Wesley said that he did not think much of a man who did not spend five or six hours in prayer a day.Oliver Cromwell prayed for hours on end. George Washington prayed for long periods of time. Jesus prayed all night.
Serious Prayer
“In the secret place of prayer, where no eye but God’s can see, no ear but His can hear, we may pour out our most hidden desires and longings to the Father of infinite pity, and in the hush and silence of the soul that voice which never fails to answer the cry of human need will speak to our hearts.” MB 84.
What the Lord Says About Confessing the Secret Things of the heart to Man
“He who kneels before fallen men, and open in confession the secret thoughts and imaginations of his heart, is debasing his manhood and degrading every noble instinct of his soul. In unfolding the sins of life to a priest, --an erring, sinful mortal, and too often corrupted with wine and licentiousness, --his standard of character is lowered, and he is defiled in consequence. His thought of God is degraded to the likeness of fallen humanity, for the priest stands as a representative of God. This degrading confession of man to man is the secret spring from which has flowed much of the evil that is defiling the world and fitting it for the final destruction. Yet, to him who loves self-indulgence, it is more pleasing to confess to a fellow mortal than to open the soul to God. It is more palatable to human nature to do penance than to renounce sin; it is easier to mortify the flesh by sackcloth, nettles, and galling chains than to crucify fleshly lusts. Heavy is the yoke which the carnal heart is willing to bear rather than bow to the yoke of Christ.” GC 567, 568.
Morris Recommends That New Pastors Find a Spiritual Director To Guide Them
In concluding his paper, Derek Morris recommends that the young theology student, wholeaves the seminary for his first parish, should get a Spiritual Director as soon as he arrives athis parish: “In the years that followed I discovered experientially what Roy Oswald had concluded from his research of 102 Seminary graduates some years before: Crossing the boundary for Seminary to parish is never easy. Moreover, the need for personal spiritual formation is ongoing. However, the process of spiritual direction is a tremendous resource. Henotes that ‘Those who had the good fortune of finding a spiritual father/mother/friend as they begun in the parish found the going somewhat easier.’ [Oswald. P. 18.]” –Derek Morris,Spiritual Formation in Ministry, pp. 11, 12. And that is the point of Morris’ entire paper fromthe first to the last paragraph, that Seminary students need to find a Spiritual Director and tobe under the direction of a Spiritual Director when they begin their work as a pastor in the field.
The Structure International Board of Ministerial And Theological Education Imposes Spiritual Formation
The Adventist world church created the International Board of Ministerial and Theological Education (IBMTE) in September 2001, designed to provide overall guidance and standards tothe professional training of pastors, evangelists, theologians, teachers, chaplains andother denominational employees involved in ministerial and religious formation, orspiritual formation, in each of the church’s 13 regions around the world.” -ANN [Adventist News Network] Feature: Church, Congregations Increase Focus on ‘SpiritualFormation,’ Feb, 3, 2004, http://www.adventist.org/
Now, by order of the GC IMBTE Jesuit spiritual formation and spiritual directors compromise allof the Structure ministerial cadre. Students in the colleges are now taking Spiritual Formation classes, Spiritual Formation groups have been formed in the churches, and a completely new class of ministers called Spiritual Directors has been established.
The Rejection of Christ’s Testimony Regarding Rome Is Now Breathing Spirit Into the Image of the Beast.
The rejection of the vision of Christ Himself given in the book of Revelation, the book of Daniel,and the Great Controversy, with reference to the terrible danger of Rome and the Jesuits, has completely compromised the Structure to the place where the Jesuits, by pen and Spiritual Directors, are now educating the full spectrum of the Structure ministry, from pastors to evangelists, theologians, teachers, chaplains, and all other employees involved in spiritual formation, the students in training, and the people in the pew, with the most fundamental Jesuit training-spiritual formation.
Ignatian Spirituality
The Jesuits have a name for it -Ignatian Spirituality. Spiritual Directors now are imposing the very ‘spirituality,” Ignatius Spirituality, possessed by Ignatius de Loyola himself, upon all of Protestantism, including the Structure of Adventism, and even non-Christian religions such as Buddhism.
The prophecy of GC 564, 565, of Rome’s plan to wage “a fierce and determined conflict toregain control of the world, to re-establish persecution, and to undo all that Protestantismhas done,” is now most strikingly being fulfilled.
Forming All of Protestantism, Including the Structure, in the Image of the Jesuit Order
The result of this training will be to form the entire Structure of Adventism, as well as the structures of the other Protestant churches, from Methodism, the Southern Baptists, Episcopalians and Salvation Army, to even the Mennonites, in the image of the Jesuit order. There is no more effective way than this formation of the image of the Jesuit Order could take place than to institute the very training of Jesuit Order in all the Protestant Churches.
The Jesuits ran the Inquisition (GC 235). The Jesuits ran the Nazi SS, which was formed in the image of the Jesuit Order, through Heinrich Himmler, whom Hitler said was ‘our Ignatius deLoyola,” and Himmler’s uncle in the SS, who was a Jesuit.
A Chilling Observation
It is impossible to know how many pastors are following Derek Morris’ example and advice andis now under the personal direction of the Jesuit-trained Spiritual Directors, who are co-ordinated by Spiritual Directors International; run by Jesuits [a Jesuit is the secretary of Spiritual Directors International], and Dominican, Franciscan, Benedictine and other priests and nuns. The thought that the Order that ran the Inquisition and Nazi SS has now been givenan open door to form and run the Structure ministry is a chilling one indeed.
This major and critical development of implementing the most fundamental Jesuit training inall of Protestantism, and even Buddhism, is a fundamental component of the erection of the image of the beast, foretold in Revelation 13. This is the breathing into the image of the spirit of Jesuitism. The ultimate end result will be the imposition of the Mark of the Beast, and finally the universal death decree.
The Way of Truth
The way of truth is the way of Scripture itself, the way of true Protestantism. It is the way offaith in following the Master in true discipleship, being taught by the Master Himself, with no human mediator between the soul and Christ. The way of truth is the way of meeting the conditions of discipleship, coming to Christ, hating father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children,and even one’s own life, or we cannot be His disciple. Luke 14:26. The way of truth is the way of putting our trust in Christ alone, and not in any confidant or guide or friend. Micah 7: 5-7. For those who forsake all for Christ, He has promised a hundred fold more, with persecutions,and with the promise of eternal life with Him forever and ever. Please, my friends, be very vigilant and watch for these things that are overtaking Protestantism. The Holy Spirit will continue to guide you and family into all truth, and remember, Jesus Christ said, “I am the way the truth and the way, no man cometh unto the Father except by me. John 14:6.
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So, is he still the Sabbath School Teacher? Even I, as a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, know that we are not to follow or pattern after the Jesuits. Yet he did not realize this till now? I find that difficult to believe, I am sorry.
ReplyDeleteClaudia Thompson,
ReplyDeleteBeing a member of the SDA Church you ought to be used to disingenuous statements from Church Stewards. One of the first joshes I ever heard was that the GCSDA had an observer status at the World Council of Churches...
Oh yes, Brother Arsenio, I am all too familiar with how they do this thing. In fact, one of the Leaders who was saying how much against Spiritual Formation that he is, was the one one who co-authored a book back in the 1980s called "Managing Life's Stress" in which he instructs people how to do Relaxation exercises which are nothing more than New Age self-hypnosis exercises; then at the end of it he recommended that people go buy some cassette tapes by Steven Halpern, as well known New Age Musician who tells people to get in touch with the 'Spirit World', and a New Age Hypnotist named Emmett Miller. I personally believe they only say they are sorry once they get caught, then they simply carry on with what they were previously doing before. Its just that now that everyone knows what is going on, they pretend to be against Spiritual Formation and things like that. But they are the very ones at work behind the scenes who are working to get our people involved in it.
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