Question: I've homeschooled for over 20 years. Our group's former homeschool leader is now into this thing called...

Question: I've homeschooled for over 20 years. Our group's former homeschool leader is now into this thing called "Integral Christianity." I'm having a hard time understanding what it even is, but this, taken from her blog, tells me that it is very new age and ecumenical: "On Sunday I sat in the presence of at least seven of what I believe to be some of the world's greatest spiritual luminaries of our time and only a few were from a Judeo/Christian heritage. It was an awesome and life-changing event for me....While sitting there, I thought...to be integrally spiritual (for me) is to be able to be a fully devout Christian and Biblical scholar while holding in reverence the wisdom and spiritual appropriateness of the collaborative Integral Spiritual Community...." My question is: are you getting much feedback on Integral Christianity?

Response: There is certainly enough information to recognize the ecumenism above. It also sounds like universalism. It is of grave concern when evangelicals link up with other religions. It is one thing to work amicably with those of differing religious views in a secular setting. It is something else to come together with others on the basis that we are all "people of faith." There is a lack of discernment in speaking of "some of the world's greatest spiritual luminaries."

Our calling is to present the Gospel of Truth--how much more should we avoid giving tacit approval to false teachers? In 1 Corinthians, Paul wrote, "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you." There are vast disagreements on the person and nature of God between religions, and those who speak favorably of "Jesus" can easily be speaking of "another Jesus."

Paul warned the Corinthians, "If he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him" (2 Cor:11:4For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
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Finally, with a little digging, one can see the name Ken Wilber listed as an influence of Integral Christianity. As we noted on a radio broadcast (http://www.thebereancall.org/node/519), New Agers will recognize the name and one of his books, The Atman Project. "Atman," we assume, means the Hindu idea of the individual god Atman. Brahman is the universal god. Wilber says that if men and women have "ultimately" come up from amoebas, then they are ultimately on their way toward God. Here is the New Age lie (and there is nothing new about it--it's right out of the Garden): "ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Gn 3:5).

As Roger Oakland has written, "Ken Wilber was raised in a conservative Christian church, but at some point he left that faith and is now a major proponent of Buddhist mysticism. His book, A Brief History of Everything, which Rob Bell recommends, is published by Shambhala Publications, named after the term that in Buddhism means 'the mystical abode of spirit beings.' Wilber is one of the most respected and highly regarded theoreticians in the New Age movement today" (Roger Oakland, Faith Undone, p. 110).

Wilber is perhaps best known for what he calls "integral theory." On his website, he has a chart called the Integral Life Practice Matrix, which lists several activities one can practice "to authentically exercise all aspects or dimensions of your own being-in-the-world." A few of the spiritual activities that Wilber promotes are yoga, Zen, centering prayer, kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), TM, tantra (Hindu-based sexuality), and kundalini yoga. There are others of this nature, as well. A Brief History of Everything also discusses these practices in a favorable light.