False Teacher Mike King Continues His Influence in the Nazarene Denomination

Mike King may not be THE “king” of modern contemplative spirituality (Richard Foster is most often viewed as the leader), but he certainly is very influential. What makes him even more dangerous is that he has a long history of working with youth, including within the Church of the Nazarene. Mr. King is still involved, and currently is an Adjunct Faculty in the NTS Christian Formation and Discipleship Degree Program at Nazarene Theological Sedminary, and leads a program that connects youth with helping the hungry.The question is, why do leaders within the denomination still give a platform to someone who promotes false teaching and is more interested in quoting mystics and Roman Catholics? He is scheduled to speak on a FaceBook live session on Spiritual Formation and Youth on September 11, 2019.

I present here as much evidence as I could find about Mike King, as a warning to anyone who will consider it, including the leadership in the Church of the Nazarene. (And to be clear however, Mike King is a symptom of the problem within the denomination, not the problem itself). I will begin with some general information about him. I then follow with a sampling of his religion-related tweets, going as far back as December, 2018. It is very interesting that a man who is still invited to Nazarene universities, seminaries, and colleges, has such a very strange liking for those he quotes. You can visit his Twitter site at: https://twitter.com/mdking

During the years from 2005 to 2011, Mike King was a heavy promoter of emerging spirituality and contemplative (New Age) prayer techniques. He also was a guest speaker at the Nazarene M7 Conference in February, 2007, where he spoke on contemplative spirituality. He was a founding board member and past Board chairman of the heretical, far left Wildgoose Festival, an annual event that features some of the most radical and apostate leaders in “Christianity.”

Mr. King also took part in a conference called Children, Youth, And A New Kind Of Christianity in 2012, in Washington D.C.  Some of the promoters of that event included the extreme and radical racist pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.  Also, emergent leaders such as Brian McLaren, Shane Claiborne, Tony Campolo, Samir Selmanovic, and Jim Wallis were there.  Mike King associates with these people who are unbiblical in their belief system, because he identifies with them!

 

Mike King And Wildgoose

When King organized the Wildgoose Festival in 2011, he was adjunct professor at Nazarene Theological Seminary, and also was a top youth leader in the church, organizing youth events nationwide. He is still the president of YouthFront, which seems well-intentioned, but which serves to help promote all the contemplative mysticism that he is so fond of, as well as his ecumenicalism and his connections with Roman Catholicism. It sadly serves as a major source of indoctrination of youth into all sorts of religious garbage masquerading as Christian.

The lineup over the years at Wildgoose Festival, which Mike King was clearly aware of and promoting, has been a steady parade of false teachers, heretics, and non-Christians claiming to be Christians. The Festival also openly invites people of any faith to come, but there has never been any focus on presenting the true Gospel of Jesus Christ to anyone. Instead, Wildgoose clearly has stated its values as being fully open to anything and anyone, including homosexuals who claim to be Christian.

In a report by Jeffrey Walton on his blog in 2013, he writes on how much even worst that year’s Wildgoose would become.  The push for creating “trans” inclusive communities was on the list of topics, along with the recurring themes of homosexuality, non-Christian religions and activities, and of course the all night parties.
http://juicyecumenism.com/2013/07/12/wild-goose-festival-migrates-through-turbulent-issues-of-transgenderism-intersex/.
Here are two typical quotes from their website a few years ago: “We are a community creating a festival at the intersection of justice, spirituality and art. We take inspiration from many places, such as Greenbelt, Burning Man, the Iona Community, SXSW, and others. The festival is open to everyone; we don’t censor what can be said;”

“The Wild Goose is a Celtic metaphor for the Holy Spirit. We are followers of Jesus creating a festival of justice, spirituality, music and the arts. The festival is rooted in the Christian tradition and therefore open to all regardless of belief, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, denomination or religious affiliation.”

This is the kind of utter foolishness that Mike King has promoted for years, and yet, he continues to work and speak at a top seminary of the Church of the Nazarene. Here is just a short list of the many heretical headliners who typically appear at Wildgoose: Brian McLaren, Jim Wallis, Jennifer Knapp, Ian Cron, Shane Claiborne, Phylis Tickle, Lauren Winner, Frank Schaeffer, Spencer Burker, Carl McColman, Pete Rollins, and many more.

“Instead of Bible studies, there were labyrinth walks. Instead of praise-and-worship music, there was hymn-singing in a beer garden and a bluegrass liturgy presided over by a tattooed female Lutheran minister. Visitors were greeted with buckets of water in which to baptise themselves, and tubs of mud to remind them that “dust thou art”. (In Britain, the mud is usually underfoot.) Lecture topics ranged from sex trafficking and social justice to authority in the church and interfaith relations. Visitors could learn from Tom Prasada-Rao, a singer, how to chant “Om” and “Hallelujah Hare Krishna”, or hear Paul Fromberg, a pastor from San Francisco, talking about his 2005 wedding to another man.
“God is changing the church through the bodies of gay men,” Mr Fromberg told a packed session on human sexuality. Also under discussion was “religious multiple belonging”—in other words, belonging to a clutch of different faiths at once.” (http://www.economist.com/node/18898389)

As you can see, Wildgoose is not committed to anything approaching the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and you will not find any real reference to the Gospel.  It is a festival committed to spirituality which is not Christian; it is blasphemous, disobedient to Christ, and worldly. And yet we have Mike King, an unabashed promoter of this festival, still speaking to f and influencing future Nazarene pastors, as well as influencing countless youth.

Mike King and The Enneagram

Mike King also is a fan of the Enneagram, which has occultic origins. It is a system invented years ago which uses a symbol that has nine points, and also has nine lines. It’s function is to analyze personality types and match people to a specific type. According to the Enneagram Institute, the Enneagram can help people restore balance to their “personality structure” and develop more desirable spiritual and psychological qualities. Believers in the Enneagram seek to unravel the mystery of their “true identity.” They see themselves as spiritual beings who have lost contact with their true nature. Once they discover their “true self”—by means of the Enneagram—they experience a spiritual awakening full of freedom and joy. (source: gotquestions.org).

This practice seems to be appearing more thoughout the evangelical world. I believe there is a great spiritual danger in the use of the Enneagram, especially if a Christian starts relying on it for spiritual guidance and direction. Quoting Kevin DeYoung: “[it] has been, from its inception (whenever that was), infused with spiritual significance. And therein lies the danger.”

 

Mike King Reveals His Love For Mysticism On Twitter

In this compilation ot tweets from his Twitter account, I searched for religion-related posts going as far back as December, 2018. It is quite interesting what I found, and you can see those here. Except for one quote of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and a few other names I did not recognize, all the other quotes were clearly not from people who would be considered traditional evangelicals, nor even close to being of the Wesleyan tradition. Instead, we see quotes by Henri Nouwen, Peter Enns, Julian of Norwich, Pope Francis, John Cassian, Ian Morgan Cron, Juergen Moltman, Cyprian of Carthage, Stanley Haurwaus. By far his favorite seems to be Henri Nouwen. Following this list of tweets, I will give brief summaries of each of these people that he has quoted, and what they believed and promoted.

 

 

Who Does Mike King Quote Or Promote? What Do They Believe? Here Are A Few

They say that your character or your philosophy of life is often reflected by the company you keep, or perhaps by the people you read or quote from. So who are these people that Mike King so glowingly quotes for the world to see? Is it wrong to come to any conclusions about Mike King, just based on who he quotes? Certainly not, especially since the abundance of evidence besides these tweets clearly shows where Mike King’s heart is at, at least in the world of Christianity.

 

Brian McLaren

Pastor, and godfather of the emergent movement; likens the Cross to false advertising for God, is confused as to whether homosexuality is a sin or not, promotes contemplative mysticism, rejects biblical inerrancy. McLaren performed a commitment ceremony for his son’s same sex marriage in 2012.
Quote: “The Bible is not considered an accurate, absolute, authoritative, or authoritarian source but a book to be experienced and one experience can be as valid as any other can. Experience, dialogue, feelings, and conversations are equated with Scripture while certitude, authority, and doctrine are to be eschewed!  No doctrines are to be absolute and truth or doctrine must be considered only with personal experiences, traditions, historical leaders, etc. The Bible is not an answer book.”
Source: A New Kind of Christianity, p. 52 Published: 2001.

 

Henri Nouwen

A Roman Catholic mystic who promoted contemplative prayer and also dabbled in Eastern religions. Nouwen claimed that contemplative meditation is necessary for an intimacy with God: “I do not believe anyone can ever become a deep person without stillness and silence” (quoted by Chuck Swindoll, So You Want to Be Like Christ, p. 65). He taught that the use of a mantra could take the practitioner into God’s presence. Nouwen’s involvement with mysticism led him to a form of universalism and panentheism (God is in all things).
“The God who dwells in our inner sanctuary is the same as the one who dwells in the inner sanctuary of each human being” (Here and Now, p. 22).
In his final book Nouwen described his universalist doctrine as follows: “Today I personally believe that while Jesus came to open the door to God’s house, all human beings can walk through that door, whether they know about Jesus or not. Today I see it as my call to help every person claim his or her own way to God” (Sabbatical Journey, New York: Crossroad, 1998, p. 51).
At David Cloud’s website, you can read a comprhensive article on this mystic who is very popular now in the Nazarene denomination and many others as well: https://www.wayoflife.org/database/beware_of_henri_nouwen.html

 

Jim Wallis

Liberal political activist, radical social justice proponent, uses religion to sell his agenda in the political arena.  Founder of Sojourner’s.  Former spiritual advisor to President Obama. Quote: “Being born again was not meant to be a private religious experience that is hard to communicate to others, but rather the prerequisite for joining a new and very public movement—the Jesus and kingdom of God movement. It is an invitation to a whole new form and way of living, a transformation as radical as a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. It is far more than a call to a new inner life, or a rescue operation for heaven.”
Source: The Great Awakening: Seven Ways To Change The World [New York: Harper Collins, 2008] p56 Published.

 

Carl McColman

Author of “The Big Book of Christian Mysticism”, as well as books on Celtic spirituality. He spent several years as a Celtic pagan (neo-druid) before entering the Catholic church.  He is a blogger on contemplative spirituality.  He describes mysticism as Christianity’s best kept secret. He quotes the writer Abhishiktananda, a Benedictine monk who dabbled in Hindu spirituality: “The life of prayer and contemplation is simply to realize God’s presence in the depth of our being, in the depth of every being, and at the same time beyond all beings, beyond all that is within and all that is without.”

 

Peter Enns

Dr. Peter Enns promotes the idea that Adam and Eve were not real, historical people. He also believes that Moses did not write the first five books of the Old Testament. You can read more about his views on Genesis and creation her: http://servantsofgrace.org/peter-enns-jesus-genesis/

 

Jennifer Knapp

“Christian” artist who “came out” in 2010 about her homosexuality and her lesbian relationship.  Actively promotes homosexuality as being compatible with Christian living. Her bio says: “Under heavy scrutiny, Jennifer has unashamedly claimed her faith and her sexual orientation with astonishing straightforwardness and honesty.”

 

Spencer Burke

Founder of the website, The Ooze.  Universalist “Christian.” Quote: “I don’t believe any single religion owns heaven or God—even a religion that tries to include everyone. When I say I’m a universalist, what I really mean is that I don’t believe you have to convert to any particular religion to find God. As I see it, God finds us, and it has nothing to do with subscribing to any particular religious view… Universalism says that a theology of grace implies salvation for all, because if grace could be limited to some people and not to others,… it is in fact no grace at all…grace is bigger than any religion.” (A Heretic’s Guide To Eternity, pg 196, 197, 198)

 

Phylis Tickle (now deceased)

Author of The Great Emergence. Emergent leader.

Quote: “The new Christianity of the Great Emergence must discover some authority base or delivery system and/or governing agency of its own. It must formulate—and soon—something other than Luther’s Sola Scriptura which, although used so well by the Great Reformation originally, is now seen as hopelessly outmoded or insufficient …”
Book: by Phyllis Tickle entitled: The Great Emergence, pg 151 Published: 2008.

 

Ian Cron

Episcopal priest, mystic, speaker, author, wrote book on St Francis of Assisi and other books. Quotes mystic monk Thomas Merton on his Facebook page: “Just remaining quietly in the presence of God, listening to Him, being attentive to Him, requires a lot of courage and know-how.” Thomas Merton”

 

Julian of Norwich

She was a mystic, contemplative, feminist and pantheist from the 13th century. Her universalism is seen in part in some of her quotes:
“For in man is God, and God is in all. And I hope by the grace of God he that beholdeth it thus shall be truly taught and mightily comforted…” JoN  “And after this I saw God in a Point, that is to say, in mine understanding, — by which sight I saw that He is in all things” JoN

 

Shane Claiborne

Emergent leader, promotes contemplative mysticism. Quote: “The time has come for a new kind of conversation, a new kind of Christianity, a new kind of revolution.” Book: by Shane Claiborne entitled: Irresistible Revolution p. 29 Published: February 2006.

 

Cathleen Falsani

Director of New Media at Sojourner’s (Jim Wallis’s group); author of Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace.  Promotes homosexuality in Christianity, as reported here: http://apprising.org/2011/01/14/gay-awakening-for-mainstream-evangelicalism-grows-closer/

 

Pope Francis

Head of the Roman Catholic Church. Promoter of all sorts of false teachings which is characteristic of Romanism, including a works-based salvation.

 

BioLogos

Mike King also promotes this organization, which is a group whose purpose includes promoting evolution, and which also has members who promote such heresies as process theology and open theism.

 

Links for further research:

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2011-06/left-leaning-christians-rally-around-wild-goose

https://wordandway.org/2011/06/27/progressive-christians-flock-to-wild-goose-festival/?fbclid=IwAR1_ZAICeeNKTrWVa44AeupdLG_HSMa6c4GS-ktGV1aW7rJ62mE7jjkrEZo

https://king.typepad.com/mike_king/wild-goose/