Leonard Sweet’s new book – “I Am a Follower: The Way, Truth, and Life of Following Jesus” BEWARE!If anyone ever questioned if Leonard Sweet is teaching out both sides of his mouth trying to appear orthodox in his Christianity on one side saying he is following Jesus Christ while out the other side teaching classic Contemplative Spirituality and Mysticism (CSM) this one is an ‘argument ender’ and displays just how postmodern he is in his thinking with an introduction to “Breath Prayer” on page 23 of his 2012 book, Book I Am a Follower: The Way, Truth, and Life of Following Jesus Released Jan 3, 2012:

Vita: The Life page 233 – Bigger Upper Rooms
“Tell me, what is God? God is the breath inside the breath.” – Sufi Poet Kabir

Exact quote from Sweet:
“All of creation is made alive with the holy breath of the Creator. Breathing Yahweh breath is breathing the holy breath of life. Yahweh… our breathing and heartbeat are in tune with the name. Breathe in “Yah” and breathe out “weh” … I guarantee you will relax.”

Sweet openly promotes the contemplative practice of breath prayer, more in the book but it is the classic definition of it and at the very least the very statement above is a blasphemy to God. Starting the chapter with a quote of a Sufi Poet Kabir, “Tell me, what is God? A man as an authority as if he even knew the God of the Bible – a Yogi/Sufi mystic?

Sweet has not changed and his bent toward CSM, new age type thinking is self-evident here. Again in a book that gives the appearance of orthodoxy you have one teaching “God is the breath inside the breath.” Then Sweet springboards into teaching one of the Richard Foster type spiritual disciplines of breath prayer. Perhaps that is OK if you are universalist in your theology like Rob Bell that everyone is getting to go to Heaven including the most vile this world has ever seen BUT if you are a Christian who holds to the truth of the Bible this is NOT the book for you! Sweet as usual makes it clear how unclear the truth is introducing such a mish-mash of teachings that are supposed to be about being a follower of Christ! Beware!

More on the Beardsley site about Sweet and Viola and their heretical teachings!
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/organic.htm
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/organicp2.htm
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/organicp3.htm

1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.