Few who personally know me realize I have concerns over the devotional publication entitled Our Daily Bread. This little publication gives a daily text reading from the Scripture accompanied by a little story of some kind designed to give encouragement as the reader travels the rat race of life for the day.
However, when the daily bread of the infallible, inerrant AND holy Word of God is watered down with the drivel of the world, it will at best become nothing more than a daily crumb and at worst will prove to be poison that will slowly (almost imperceptibly) destroy the soul of the one who is reading. This is especially true if the one who is reading is not grounded in the Word of God.
Before I continue, I want to ensure the reader that I do not necessarily discredit daily devotional books or booklets. I do give fair warning though that they can easily become a quick fix to the morning or evening period when one should be spending time with the Saviour of their soul reading the Scriptures He has provided through His Holy Spirit.
Our Daily Bread has been on a long slippery road for quite some time and until doing some research on another topic matter, I did not realize how slippery the slope has become.
M. Scott Peck, Henri Nouwen, Larry Crabb, Brother Lawrence, Brennan Manning and others are (or were) either New Age proponents or hugely influential in what is known as contemplative mysticism. The latter is making huge inroads into evangelical churches, and I would go so far as to say it actually taking the church by storm! The connection that these individuals have is that they are all quoted favorably and extensively on a regular basis by Radio Bible Class and Our Daily Bread publication.
Henri Nouwen as an example was a Roman Catholic heretic who privately held to the sinful belief that he was also a homosexual and believed that men could be saved apart from Jesus Christ. Radio Bible Class has no problems endorsing this man as a fine example of a “Christian!”
Brennan Manning, who is also a Roman Catholic, has his salvation experience thus on his website, “In February 1956, while Brennan was meditating on the Stations of the Cross, a powerful experience of the personal love of Jesus Christ sealed the call of God on his life.”
I would encourage the reader to go to the Radio Bible Class website and in their search engine type any of the above names and see what articles and books show up. I have no doubt that you will be as surprised as I was to find a so-called evangelical publication and publishing house openly endorsing contemplative mysticism as well as Roman Catholic homosexual heretics!
Dr. M.R. De Haan would be appalled at what this organization has come to today. His goal to maintain and present biblical purity through the spoken and written Word has been put to the wayside. The meat of the Word has been laid aside for the sake of doctrinal inclusiveness and the crumbs of worldly philosophy have been injected into the morsels being provided daily to unsuspecting believers.
2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
Hungering for the Meat of the Word,
The Desert Pastor
Pilgrim
thejunglemissionary
Bill
Manfred
abidingthroughgrace
Chris Hohnholz
Amen, sadly. My mother used this devotional with us boys many years ago. When I left the army in 1984, I spied it on the chaplain’s table and subscribed. When my father died in 1988, the Lord used His Word and this devotional to comfort me as no man could. As I have matured – in spurts – in my faith, I have been nourished less and less by this bread. sigh
I like to start my day with Scripture and devotion, having a hard time finding a solid Reformed alternative. Hate to turn on the computer during this time of the morning.
I never much cared for these types of “daily devotionals.” But having revealed this information, I’m glad I never did.
If you recall, another big name in evangelicalism has also endorsed Henri Nouwen. Ravi Zacharias not only has no problem favorably quoting the Roman Catholic mystic, but he also called him “one of the greatest saints of recent memory.” You can read more about it here and here.
- The Pilgrim
My 88 year old mother lover her “daily” bread. She has torn out devotionals she thought would encourage me, she has mailed them to me, and at least one with her notes are taped in my Bible. However, I have been questioning the ministry for some time. Just this week my mom gave me one of the RBC’s, “Been Thinking About” publications, on Emerging Churches. Must husband saw it and took it with on his bus commute. It was as weak and uniformed as I thought. In the end, we all have blind spots and people “do Church” in different way. Now with your article on contemplative, catholic mystics being introduced and endorsed, I will have to warn my precious mom. May the Lord give us discernment to know truth from error. Thanks, Karie
PS-I just read your article to my mom and she is going to write them a note that she no longer will taking the Daily Bread and supporting their ministry financially, she thanked me. How naive of them to think the ECM is just “another” way of doing church. So many are becoming casualties of these movements of error and heresy.
I was sad to see that Philip Yancy has been added as a regular contributor of Daily Bread. This is just one more example of the diluting of this once-respected devotional.
This type of failing will continue until Jesus returns for His Church.
Maranatha!
~Yvonne
I just sent RBC this note:
“Why do ya’ll use quotes from and endorse folks such as Henri Nouwen and others who embrace and teach false doctrine that harms and deceives many? Roman Catholic mysticism is wrong and should not be tolerated within the body of Christ.
“I’ve been blessed much by your publications over many years, but endorsing false teachers will cause me to end this relationship lest ye repent.”
I ran across a Martin Dehaan article on the Discovery Webite that was not only supportive of W.P. Young’s The Shack but dismissively critical of its critics. I questioned this online but never heard back from mr. Dehaan. I did hear back from another RBC staffer who also gushed over The Shack, while admitting many of his friends and family think it is blasphemous. I could not help ending my reply with the closing, “I can only hope that some of those friends & family work at RBC. Daily Bread, The Gaithers, the slide into apostacy is nearly diizzying.
I’ve been amazed at the speed with which, a lot of men we thought were godly as well as publications we thought were sound, are going downhill! The slippery slope gets easier and easier while the climb uphill gets harder and harder.
Just goes to show we can’t put our trust in men or hold them in high regards.
Surprised me and my wife to see the videos of Gilly G. where he denies Jesus is the only way to God. I wish I could get coppies of those on dvd and some of the other wacked out comments todays beloved preachers have made.
Wouldn’t saying that Jesus is not the only way be the spirit of anti-christ?
It is!
Wow ~ I’m shocked. Hard to find anyone that truly preaches and teaches the truth anymore!
sham,
We are witnessing the great falling away. Chuck Swindoll wrote a book a few years ago endorsing Henri Nouwen and new age contemplative prayer; Tony Evans now sounds like a prosperity pimp; John Piper seeks after experience. sigh
SEVERAL YEARS AGO THERE WAS AN ARTICLE IN DAILY BREAD, ABOUT SOME BIRDS THAT CARRIED ROCKS IN THEIR MOUTHS , SO THEY WOULDN’T MAKE ANY NOISE . TO KEEP PREDITORS FROM FINDING THEM ,THE THEME WAS ABOUT GOSSIP , SUGGESTING WE SHOULD CARRY ROCKS IN OUR MOUTH . DOES ANYONE HAVE A COPY OF THIS .?? PLEASE HELP….
I am sure that many years ago the GLBT got together and decided that revolution would be impossible, but evolution into the church was a better method. As more and more “evangelicals” fall into its trap, they are celebrating the fall of the American church. Will Christ tarry too much longer?
I never thought too much of the Daily Bread. There was always too little Scripture and too much spin. You know many preachers today are “spin doctors”. They dazzle with high sounding words … words that ticke the ear but signify nothing. T.D. Jakes, and J. Olsteen (nothing but a motivational speaker) are two. I even liked Joyce Meier for awhile until I realized her sermons were little more than pseudo-Christian psychology. Beware of New Age phrases such as “the god within man”. There is no God in man unless man accepts Jesus. Then he is governed by THE HOLY SPIRIT. Men do not become Supermen! I’m sorry to hear about the Daily Bread, but as the world gets darker, Christians must shine brighter! The only way to discern the darkness is to study the Light, the Bible.