In January of 2011, the Saddleback Church and Rick Warren kicked off a new year-long program to lose weight and get healthy called “The Daniel Plan.” It is the first initiative in what Warren calls “a Decade of Destiny.”
Three well-known doctors have been enlisted to develop and implement a comprehensive plan. They are–Dr. Daniel Amen, Dr. Mark Hymen and well-known TV doctor, Dr. Mehmet Oz.
Undoubtedly, these doctors have a lot of excellent medical advice, however, interspersed with all of the good advice are New (Age) Spirituality techniques such as mystical meditation, and energy healing methods such as Reiki (pronounced Ray-kee).
This was made evident by the very first interview of Dr. Amen for the Daniel Plan, he stated “There is a meditation exercise from Harvard–It’s not religious at all, it’s called the ‘relaxation response.’ Take a big breath, blow it out. Every time you breath out, say the word ‘one.’ Do it for 10 minutes, you’ve got all these thoughts coming into your head. Imagine a big broom–sweep them away.” [Emphasis mine]
Well, I could possibly be persuaded to agree that it might not be actually religious, but it certainly has mystical/spiritual effects. The instructions given are the exact ones given for any form of mystical meditation–relaxing, slow methodical breathing, repeating a single word over and over again (it doesn’t matter what word you choose), doing this for at least 10 minutes a day, and clearing your mind of all thoughts. You’ll find these basic instructions for any form of mystical meditation you hear about including the “Christianized” version called Centering or Contemplative Prayer. It doesn’t matter what you call it, it is still mystical meditation which produces an altered state of consciousness and opens you up to negative influences from the spiritual realm.
In an article by Lighthouse Trails Research…
“On the video interview with Rick Warren and Dr. Amen,Warren states that Dr. Amenʼs resources would be available for those attending the seminar this coming weekend. In almost all of the ‘resources’ by Dr. Amen, he advocates eastern meditation. In some of the books, he devotes many, many pages to meditation practices. On page 238 of Amenʼs Making a Good Brain Great, he states: ‘I recommend an active form of yoga meditation called Kriya Kirtan. It is based on the five primal sounds saa, taa, naa, maa, aa.” He tells readers to repeat these sounds for 12 minutes straight.’ ” [Emphasis mine]
Dr. Hyman also is a strong advocate of mystical meditation. In the same article by Lighthouse Trails Research, it states…
“In his book, The Ultramind Solution, Hyman emphasizes meditation, saying that it doesnʼt matter what religion one has to benefit from it (p. 322). Dr. Hyman suggests that “Mindful meditation is a powerful well-researched tool, developed by Buddhists” (p. 384).”
And last, but not least, On January 9, 2010, Dr. Mehmet Oz told 2 million viewers to “try Reiki.” Dr. Oz’s wife, Lisa, is a Reiki Master who called Reiki “my favorite treatment that could change the future of medicine forever.”
Reiki supposedly balances out your energy to facilitate healing. A Reiki treatement typically consists of the Reiki Practitioner holding their hand a few inches above different parts of the body. According to many Reiki experts and websites, it incorporates the assistance of Spirit Guides, whether the practitioners choose to acknowledge them or not.
New (Age) Spirituality practices of all kinds—mystical meditation and contemplative prayer, Yoga, Reiki, labrynths, communication with the spirit world, etc., all lead to the same belief system that is diametrically opposed to Biblical Christianity–interspirituality (all paths lead to God), Panentheism (God is in all), and universalism (all are saved). They are paving the way for the one world religious belief system yet to come.