Update: To be fair, early this morning Emergent No issued an apology for anything that they may have said, not just about Lucado but the entire Emergent movement, that came across as mean spirited. Ok, well it isn’t exactly an apology and you have to wait for it until well into the post but it is a great start. If you would like to read that post you can find it here. I didn’t know that I held that much sway!!! 🙂

Original Post:
Due to my background, I have heard all kinds of critisim directed toward Max Lucado. I heard that he isn’t a good speaker. I heard people complain about his writing. I heard that he doesn’t believe in baptism. You name it, I’ve heard it. Now, the negative nancies over at Emergent No have accused Lucado of being a Quaker.

I’m not here to be a cheerleader for Lucado. I have enjoyed his insight into Scripture and as a young Christian he helped me focus my life on the Savior. For that I am thankful and will always be thankful. Countless numbers of people can say the same thing.

I am more dismayed by the Emergent No people who love to ring their “It’s the end of Christianity as we know it!!!” bell. The owners of the blog consistently turn off the comment feature thus defeating the community conversation that they pretend to have. I read their blog like I slow down when their is an accident on the highway. I crane my neck to see what the hullabaloo is all about. Emergent No is one of the great alarmist websites out there today right next to AV1611.0rg and Steath Bible.

Here is what Denise has to say about Lucado’s new book.

From the Lightouse blog: “Cure for the Common Life, by author Max Lucado, is a book about “living in your sweet spot.” Lucado tells readers in chapter one to “[h]eed that inner music,” and quoting mystic Martin Buber from his book, The Way of Man (a book on Jewish mysticism), Lucado tells readers they each have a “divine spark.” Buber had panentheistic affinities as he embraced the teachings of Hasidism (Jewish mysticism) and believed that this divine spark that Lucado refers to is in every human being and every part of creation. Through Lucado’s book he quotes other mystics and contemplatives: Saint Thomas Aquinas,Thomas Merton, Eugene Peterson and Richard Foster.”

The “divine spark” sounds like what the Quakers teach:

“At the very centre of the Quaker faith lies the concept of the Inner Light. This principle states that in every human soul there is implanted a certain element of God’s own Spirit and divine energy. This element, known to early Friends as “that of God in everyone”, “the seed of Christ”, or “the seed of Light”, means to Friends, in the words of John 1:9, “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world”.”

“The fundamental belief of Friends is that there is that of God in every person. This core belief shapes all of Friends’ faith and practice. Because we believe that every person has access to the Light Within, we seek to follow the Spirit as it is revealed in our own experience, rather than dogma, and our worship grows out of silent waiting for the awareness of truth. Because we believe in the Divine Spark in all persons, we are called to seek nonviolence and social justice. This is exemplified in Friends’ conscientious objection to war, and our historical role in the US antislavery movement. –The Oxford Ohio Friends (Quakers).

The quote from the Ohio Quakers sounds just like the Contemplative Spiritualists. Do a web search on “divine spark” and see the massive amount of pagan websites that come up.

Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries has an article on the Quakers which mentions a “divine spark.” Richard Foster is a Quaker, so this is no surprise that it has come into professing Christianity via Foster and Dallas Willard (also influenced by not only Foster, but Quaker founder, George Fox).

Apparently Lucado is also on the “Be Still” dvd as well.

Watch out for Max Lucado. Check your church libraries to see if they carry his books. Alert your pastors and anyone you know that likes him. He’s another huge author that has apparently gone Contemplative. This error is infiltrating many areas, creeping in under the radar often times, and we need to be watching carefully, be on guard, so that we can stay away from false teachers and their teaching, and cling to only what is good and Scriptural and Christ-honoring.

That last paragraph is my favorite. Chicken Little Er, Emergent No has yet again come to the rescue. Thanks guys.

All sarcasm aside, I believe that using phrases like “inner music” and “Divine spark” acctually speak to men and women who are looking for some sort of spirituality in their life. I bet that type of approach would be greeted with open arms at your local Hot Topic. This language is something that they are looking to understand. I can guarantee that Lucado, Foster, and Peterson do not subscribe to some sort of humanistic ideal. That isn’t their goal. Their goal is to bring as many people as possible into a relationship with Jesus Christ. I guarantee it.

Is using those words any different from Paul quoting pagan poets in Acts 17? I don’t think so.