[TBC: The following review addresses a book promoting the “new mysticism” that is a part of everything from new age, latter rain teaching, and the excesses of such groups as the Elijah list.]
This is Not That: An Analysis of John Crowder’s “The New Mystics” [Excerpts]
This analysis will highlight the spiritual quicksand in the book so that fellow pilgrims won’t fall into the mire, just like the two travelers in the book, “Pilgrim’s Progress” put up a road sign warning others not to go the way leading to the slough of despond.
We must watch out for the schemes of the enemy of our souls and hold fast to the Word of God. God is supernatural and His gifts are not to be rejected. But the counterfeit powers of the spirit of antichrist are also metaphysical but are a snare to our souls leading many into spiritual quicksand.
Crowder attributes his theological understanding that is evident throughout “The New Mystics” to his favorite teacher, Rick Joyner . “Special recognition is due to Rick Joyner,” he writes in his acknowledgments, “whose thoughts one may find echoed in many respects throughout these pages; it comes from long years of saturating in his insightful writings.
Joyner is the author of the book, “The Harvest,” subtitled, “Strategic Vision for Mobilizing the Army of God.” Joyner’s views of an end-times overcoming army of conquering saints stem from the heretical Latter Rain movement of the late 1940s.
Although The New Mystics was written in 2006, Crowder was fairly unknown until he took to You Tube during Lakeland with his blasphemous video, “Tokin’ the ghost,” in which he simulates smoking a joint as if filling up on the Holy Spirit. In fact, throughout the book Crowder consistently uses unseemly things to compare to the power of whatever spirit he imbibes. He compares his spiritual highs to getting “loaded,” “buzzed,” “plastered,” “sloshed,” and to heroin.
Consistent with the older Latter Rain ideas, Crowder and company look to the formation of this army that will triumph over the world before the coming of Christ. This new church rules the Kingdom without the physical presence of the King, puts down all God’s enemies, and performs great feats that impress the world.
The New Mystics adapt the Emergent Church’s practices into the so-called apostolic/prophetic movement to create a new hybrid or long awaited new breed of saint to fulfill the latter rain prophecies of Joel’s Army, that in reality is identified as a demonic horde of locusts in Revelation 9.
