Are Splankna and Centering Prayer Okay for Christians?

I hope you love the products and resources I recommend here at A Little R & R. Just so you know, it is possible that I get a commission and collect income from the links on this page. Click here for more info.

Are Splankna and Centering Prayer Practices okay for Christians? If not, why not?

What happens when a church loses its salt and light?

What happens when Christians and Christian leaders are so in love with the world that they no longer realize that their lampstand has been removed?

Introduction

The Holy Spirit is grieved to the point that while they have a form of godliness, through their actions and their words, they deny His power.

They have to turn to alternative methods to infuse power and life in their meetings because, without them, they are dead, dried up, religious meetings with no purpose or direction.

And this is where we find ourselves today.

Just a couple of weeks ago, a reader wrote to me asking about Splankna. If you’ve never heard of Splankna, you’re in good company because I’d never heard of it before, either.

Curiously, only shortly before receiving her email, I had landed on a post about “centering prayer.”

And I knew that I needed to address these two topics, and I chose to do them together because they stem from the same root.

New Age.

The church is rapidly sinking into a swamp of New Age ideology and witchcraft.

Like a frog in the proverbial pot, the church slowly warmed to the ideas she is now not only eagerly embracing but parading, celebrating, and glorifying with books and seminars.

It began slowly with humanistic ideologies that we are all basically good.

That our children are born blank slates.

We slowly began to chant the phrase “believe in yourself” and “follow your heart”.

Pretty soon, it was not only the fringe parents who were teaching their kids safe sex and giving them condoms, but it was the majority of parents in the church who claim abstinence is far to high a bar to set for their teenagers.

Now, young people aren’t just listening to the questionable lyrics of Mariah Carey, but they listen to Cardi B and Nicki Minaj with explicit words that have made their way into their everyday speech.

And indeed, the Christian home is very often laced with words the church would have blushed at this side of 50 years ago.

We find ourselves now in a boiling cauldron of wickedness.

Church after church and denomination after denomination slowly bows its knee to political correctness and perceived tolerance.

Leading evangelical voices are growing distorted as one by one they claim that the Bible is no longer the final authority for Christian living…

That we need to “unhitch” ourselves from the Old Testament.

Refusing to call homosexuality a sin and failing to be a clear voice of biblical morality in the fog of confusion our culture finds itself in today.

And because they’ve lost the power of their salt and light, they now turn to alternative sources of power and life — something so grievous to Almighty God.

Rather than repent, they’d rather embrace an even further depth of wickedness.

What is Splankna?

When I first read this word, it almost seemed like a joke.

Splankna was developed nearly 20 years ago by Christian counselor Sarah Thiessen, who, despite her reservations about alternative forms of therapy being New Age, felt God leading her to become trained in them.

Taking what she felt was the Christian approach to “energy healing”, she developed what she calls Splankna and trains Christians all over the world in Splankna Therapy.

What Does the Bible Say About Splankna?

The problem with Splankna Therapy is that is in direct violation of God’s Word.

“When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.”

Deuteronomy 12:29-32

God clearly told the Israelites they were not to borrow practices from other religions and use them to worship Him.

He calls the worship of false gods an abomination, and you cannot take an abomination and make it pure by stripping it of whatever you believe to be wrong with it.

The Problem With Splankna

You can never purify an abomination to the point that it is pure enough to be used in worship of God.

And that is why God gave us His Word. In His Word, He tells us how He wants us to worship Him.

Nowhere in the Bible do we see any form of energy healing, Thought Field Therapy, Emotional Freedom Techniques, Neuro-Emotive Techniques, or any other New Age form of alternative therapy.

The healing power of the Holy Spirit is strong enough to heal to the uttermost and the Word of God is powerful enough to heal and cleanse body, soul, and spirit.

Mingling the New Age with God’s Word doesn’t purify the New Age, it defiles God’s Word – and that is displeasing to God.

What is Centering Prayer?

Also referred to as “contemplative prayer” or the more modern term “soaking”, this type of prayer is not new, it dates back to the Dark Ages and has its roots in ancient mysticism and Neo-Platonism.

However, as the church moves more mystical in its worship, contemplative prayer is growing ever more popular.

Centering prayer uses forms of Buddhist meditation combined with prayer as a way to be “present with the Lord”.

A person is to sit quietly with their eyes closed, choose a word – like a mantra – and make that word their focus, forgetting everything else that comes to mind…even devotional thoughts.

The Problem With Centering Prayer

But once again, we find this to be a mingling of New Age, mystical, and pagan practices with worship of God.

But is this really prayer?

Whenever prayer is mentioned in the Bible it is an action.

Even in Romans when Paul talks about the deep groanings of our spirit that do not have words, he says the Spirit prays through us. 

It isn’t silent or inactive. It is active and verbal.

Why the church is in delusion

There is one statement I continue to see as I have done my research into these New Age practices infiltrating the church.

That is those who have chosen to embrace them express how they felt uncomfortable or cautious at first because they knew these things were rooted in New Age.

But they somehow believed it was God leading them.

And here is where the delusion lies because God will never lead you to do something that violates His Word.

He will never lead you to a form of worship or ministry that mingles pagan worship and witchcraft with the worship of Him because any worship of Him that is mingled with worship of Satan is defiled worship.

And defiled worship is an abomination to Him.

Conclusion

Dear sister, I know this series has been heavy. My dad and I have addressed some heavy topics and have opened our hearts to you in grief and sorrow over the deception the church has bought into.

Our hearts are burdened to see the church once again arise with the true power of the Holy Spirit, in purity and righteousness, to be a bright light in the world.

My prayer is – as we finish our series – that you will be wise Bereans.

That you will search the word.

That you will eagerly receive it with joy and openness.

That you will surrender to it — even the difficult passages that call you to full surrender and submission.

But most of all, that the light of Jesus will shine through you, unhindered and unfiltered. Because this is what the world needs today!

Grab this free set of Bible verses on prayer when you click here or on the image below

---