Rick Warren and the Mystic Daniel Plan

On January 7 and 13, 2011, Rick Warren announced on his website the launch of the Daniel Plan. A plan in which Medical professionals will share how to get healthy for life.

Rick Warren writes: “I can’t tell you how excited I am about the Decade of Destiny and what’s coming up at Saddleback. Next weekend, we’re launching the Daniel Plan, a 52-week plan to help you become physically healthier.” He calls the Daniel plan Gods’ Prescription For Your Health and invites: “Be a part of this transformational debut to be a healthier you!” (http://saddleback.com/blogs/newsandviews/news--views-1711/)

Introducing the Daniel plan this way, makes it sound innocent, exciting and attractive. However, the three doctors who developed the program, Mehmet Oz, Daniel Amen and Mark Hyman, are strong advocates of Eastern mystical practices.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, stated in his broadcast talk show (Ultimate Alternative Medicine Secrets) of January 6, 2010: “Try Reiki… Reiki is one of my favourites, we’ve been using it for years in the Oz family, and we swear by it.”

Dr. Oz’s wife, Lisa, is a Reiki Master. The Oz couple hold Reiki workshops and teach Hatsurei Ho meditation, which is “possibly the most effective way to increase the depth, quality and intensity of ones connection to the Reiki phenomenon.” (http://www.aetw.org/d_hatsurei_ho.html)

Reiki is a form of New Age Chakra energy healing. A chakra is one of seven basic centres in the body with dormant energy, or kundalini power, at the base of the spine. Through meditation this mystic energy will be awakened, activating each chakra with its specific function and level of awareness. This process is seen as being healthy, enhancing life and curing maladies. However, this process brings people into contact with the occult spirit world. Spiritual astral guides assist in the healing process and may prefer to stay always with you. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4N2URu4avY)

His colleague, Dr. Daniel Amen, is a Tantric sex promoter. He teaches brain health, and includes meditation. His instructor was the mystic Tantra educator T. J. Bartel. Dr. Amen wrote:

In my book The Brain in Love, I wrote about Tantric sexual practices, and was fascinated by the concept, which involves using the mind - the brain, that is - to enhance sexual response and intimacy. I wanted to experience it for myself… Finding someone… took quite a bit of research. In the end, T J Bartel, an advanced certified Tantra educator, became our teacher. Our experience with him was amazing and transformative… TJ was such a wonderful teacher that I felt as if I had to share his knowledge with everyone I knew. (Change Your Brain, Change Your Body, p. 283.)

This union of sexuality and mystic spirituality indicates or represents a union with the divine. As a recommended popular ancient tool for healing, it illustrates how much ancient Eastern practices and New Age thinking has penetrated our modern society. In another book, Making a Good Brain Great, Dr. Amen writes: “I recommend an active form of yoga meditation called Kriya Kirtan. It is based on the five primal sounds saa, taa, naa, maa, aa.” (p. 238.) And the advice is that these sounds should be repeated for 12 minutes straight.

The Kriya Kirtan that he speaks about is a form of kundalini yoga. When this is practiced during meditation a special force is activated. This kundalini force, or the divine, serpent power, is then awakened and it will travel up the spine as a mystical current and create a feeling of being divine. (See Appendix II for more information about the many possible kundalini effects).

Dr. Mark Hyman, the third medical professional in the Daniel Plan, recommends various mystic ancient tools. He emphasizes:

You have to learn tools to actively relax such as meditation, yoga, deep breathing, hypnosis… The Tibetan monks used meditation, which is very easy to learn… Mindfulness meditation is a powerful well-researched tool, developed by Buddhists, but now practiced and used all over the world… Pray, chant, dance and celebrate. All these are ancient tools for healing… Practice tai qi quan or qi gong. These are ancient, energy balancing tools…” (The Ultramind Solution, pp. 59, 278, 384.)

These ‘Tai qi quan or qi gong’ are internal styles of Chinese martial art and refer to the ancient Chinese cosmological concept of the two opposite forces Yin and Yang as being the foundation of creation. //www.shenwu.com/taichi,htm)

This Daniel Plan (also called Orange County Health & Fitness Seminar) with the involvement of these three doctors, illustrates again how deeply Rick Warren and his Saddleback church are involved in ancient spiritistic practices and disciplines.

Ellen White aptly noted: “The line of distinction between professed Christians and the ungodly is now hardly distinguishable... Satan determines to unite them... by sweeping all into the ranks of spiritualism... Papists, Protestants, and worldlings... will see in the union a grand movement for the conversion of the world and the ushering in of the long expected millennium. Through spiritualism, Satan appears as a benefactor of the race, healing the diseases of the people, and professing to present a new and more exalted system of religious faith; but at the same time he works as a destroyer. His temptations are leading multitudes to ruin.” (The Great Controversy, pp. 588, 589.)

Bron: Jan Voerman, The Hidden Agenda, A Look Beyond the Emerging Church, Meer uitgebreide, tweede druk, USA, Teach Services, 2011, blz. 135-137.