David Mains - General Teachings/Activities

- David and Karen Mains are best known as the hosts of the (former) daily 15-minute radio broadcast from Wheaton, Illinois, The Chapel of the Air. (Chapel of the Air was begun in 1939 and led by John D. Jess. David Mains took it over in 1977, after serving ten years as founder and pastor of the Circle Church in Chicago.) Chapel of the Air was heard over 500 times each Monday through Saturday on approximately 185 radio outlets across the United States and Canada; the show went off the air in April of 1995 due to the loss of several key markets serviced by some of these stations. At the time of its shutdown, Chapel of the Air maintained a donor list of approximately 12,000, receiving over $5 million a year. This closing left the Mainses about $1 million in debt, forcing the sale of two office buildings. David Mains admits the loss of key stations was due from accusations that he and his wife, Karen, are New Age sympathizers. (See later in this report for documented proof of the Mains's New Age leanings.)

Remaining on the air is the Chapel's latest media outreach, a one-hour, weekly television broadcast called Focal Point, produced in cooperation with Channel 38, the "Christian" television station in Chicago. (The Mainses first guest was "Christian" New Ager Richard Foster!) Another television show, You Need to Know, is a half-hour program seen daily on 1,400 stations carrying the highly-ecumenical ACTS Cable Network. In light of the shutdown of the radio broadcast, David Mains announced he will embark on a "huge transition to reposition the Chapel Ministries" and "will personally assist the revival movement, and will expand the Fifty Day Spiritual Adventures International for a more effective impact and will revitalize over one hundred thousand churches." Mains plans to "monitor, interpret and encourage the moving of His Spirit in North America." (Reported in the 5/95, Bold Truth Press, p. 7.)

- The Mainses are also the originators of the annual "50-Day Spiritual Adventure" series (a seven-week, eight-Sunday series) -- 50-day journeys "built around a central theme with eight supporting preaching topics created to help listeners achieve measurable spiritual growth accelerated spiritual renewal. a proven way to nurture, mature, and sustain revival within your church." Chapel's "50-day Adventure Journals" have been used in thousands of so-called evangelical churches since their inception in 1980, with over three million professing Christians participating, including more than 19,000 pastors. [Often when churches use this program (about 3,700 churches participate annually), the Sunday sermons follow the message of the study journals.] To promote the "Adventures," the Mainses each year sponsor dozens of pre-Adventure "Pastor/Church Leader Training & Orientation Conferences" (130, one-half-day conferences were held in 1995-96 at churches in 40 states and four Canadian Provinces), and offer hundreds of books and audio and video cassettes. Also sponsored are "Super Seminars -- one day spiritual learning events for layperson inspiration," and annual "4-Week Workshop Celebrations."

The churches selected to hold the 1995-96 training seminars were a hodgepodge of charismatic, psychologically-oriented, works-oriented, and in some cases, outright apostate denominations -- First Church of God, Nazarene, PCUSA, E-Free, Christian, Assemblies of God, ELCA (Lutheran), Episcopal, Mennonite, United Methodist, Missionary Alliance, Pentecostal, etc. In many cases, it is the leaders of these churches that are instrumental in developing the Adventure series (i.e., " developed with the help of four focus groups of pastors from dozens of denominations"). In addition, endorsers of the 50-Day Adventures include a Who's Who in neo-evangelical and/or charismatic "Christianity" -- Joe Aldrich (Multnomah Bible College), Jane Archer (Salvation Army), Don Argue (NAE), Stuart Briscoe, Paul Cedar (former E-Free president), Robert Coleman (E-Free seminary professor), hyper-charismatic Jack Hayford, Steve Hayner (IVCF), Jerry Rose (president of Channel 38, Chicago), and Don Spader (Sonlife Ministries).

[The shutdown of the radio program has also adversely affected the finances of the Spiritual Adventure project. Mains claims that because of the ministry's woes, 1,500 fewer churches and about 200,000 fewer adults participated in 1996 than 1995, leading to an income loss of over $1 million (in addition to the losses from the radio shutdown), plus the loss of a quarter-million-dollar bank line of credit. David Mains has now resorted to begging previous donors for funds to keep operating, or else, he says, the Spiritual Adventure ministry will also be forced to shutdown. He claims he needs $800,000 immediately to launch the 1997 Adventure cycle. (Source: 6/3/96, Chapel of the Air Ministries letter.)]

- The Mainses, in all their various ministries, have bought into and teach a host of psychological concepts, including self-love/self-esteem, unconditional love/acceptance, codependency/recovery, and various Freudian concepts. (See the Mains sub-report summarizing the last five year's Adventure series, plus the series scheduled for early-1996.)

To make matters worse, the Mainses currently extol the "virtues" and philosophies of various New Agers. For example, on a 7/26/91 radio program, David Mains remarked that he had been attacked and labeled as a "New Ager." Indeed, after he had for several earlier programs favorably referred to M. Scott Peck's Developing a Global Community, he did receive numerous letters of protest. [Peck has been a featured writer for the New Age Journal, calling for a new American Revolution and "radical therapy for the Church." Peck admits he is "weak on traditional Christian redemption theology -- which holds that Jesus is this spotless, sinless lamb that was sacrificed for us, and redeemed us." He writes, "I have trouble with that in two ways. One is, there is a real question about whether or not Jesus was sinless, because Christian doctrine also holds that while he was fully divine he was also fully human, and I don't see how you can be fully human and be sinless. Secondly, I worry about theology that says that because this or that was done, that we've been saved or even part of us has been saved. " (Reported in the Fall Edition:1991, Bold Truth Press.) In a 1991 interview with Playboy magazine, Peck said, "I believe pornography can be healthy." In his continual best seller, The Road Less Traveled, Peck writes, "God wants us to become Himself (or Herself or Itself)" (p. 269).] Why should Mains be surprised that he was criticized for promoting a metaphysical New Ager and his blasphemous philosophy?

- Both David and Karen Mains are on Renovaré's "Board of Reference" -- Renovaré is an international, New Age, ecumenical organization that emanates from the religious traditions of Quakerism, whose message is that today's Church is missing out on some wonderful spiritual experiences that can only be found by studying and practicing the "meditative" and "contemplative" lifestyle "of early Christianity." In actuality, Renovaré espouses the use of the early pagan traditions of guided imagery and visualization, astral projection, "Zen" prayer techniques for meditation (i.e., Buddhism), and Jungian psychology (i.e., a blend of Eastern mysticism and Roman Catholic mystical spiritual tradition, which nicely fits the New Age model), all as means of obtaining "personal spiritual renewal" in the lives of believers. (For a more detailed analysis of Renovaré and the teachings of its co-directors, psychologist Richard Foster and William Vaswig, see Media Spotlight 's Special Report of March, 1992: "Renovaré: Taking Leave of One's Senses") [Evidence that David Mains continues to be enamored with psychologist Richard Foster and his New Age organization, Renovaré, was the fact that Foster was a guest on the 5/26/93-5/28/93 Chapel of the Air radio broadcasts, was a 1994 Focal Point television guest, and his books are still being offered in Mains's 1996 "Chapel Choices" catalogue.]

- Karen Mains is a prolific author (18 books), television personality (Focal Point and You Need to Know), former radio broadcaster (Chapel of the Air), and an extremely popular speaker at Christian women's conferences (about two dozen meetings a year). She is also chairperson of the trustee board for (neo-evangelical/psychologically-oriented) InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. She has few peers when it comes to influence upon professing evangelical women. Therefore, Karen Mains' 1993 book, Lonely No More, is even more shocking than it otherwise would be (see next section for details). The book is an exercise in pseudo-mystical journaling and reflects Mrs. Mains' inner-healing foundations -- a mixture of Freudian/Jungian psycho-occultic concepts and spiritual beliefs, practices, and techniques. The book combines magical superstitions and witchcraft-theology with Christianity. (Mrs. Mains received training in inner healing at the School of Pastoral Care, established by the godmother of inner healing, Agnes Sanford. Mains considers Sanford-disciple and inner-healing/spiritual therapist Leanne Payne to be one of her "spiritual directors.")

The route of psychospiritual self-therapy through which Karen Mains leads the reader of Lonely No More is a deadly swamp subjectively infested with Jungian dream analysis, symbolic imagery, shamanic visualization, interactive communication with dream entities, projections from the (Freudian) subconscious, and mystical contemplative prayer and fasting. It is particularly frightening that a woman who claims to be "a historical evangelical" and "well aware of the dangers of undisciplined subjectivity" would buy into such spiritual mockery, let alone try to pass it off as beneficial in knowing God. There is abundant evidence throughout Lonely No More that Karen Mains penchant for the psychospiritual has corrupted whatever Biblical sense she may have had at one time (4/94, The Berean Call).

- In Lonely No More, Karen Mains relates how she has established communication with a personal spirit guide! She tells of a young man who has been appearing in her dreams. Her descriptions of him are vivid: "He was tall ... well formed and trim, somewhere in his early thirties ... His fine, dark hair fell in a thick lock across his forehead ... his blue-gray eyes looking earnestly into mine." The details of his communication are specific: "'You are everything I have ever wanted spiritually,' he said before I [in the dream] started to drive away." Mrs. Mains claims that this experience has taken place "six or eight times a year for the last four or five years," and has had a "positively profound effect" on her, compelling her to seek psychospiritual counsel (Leanne Payne, director of Pastoral Care Ministries and Karen Mains' "spiritual mentor").

Her "spiritual director," a Catholic nun and Jungian psychotherapist, confirms what her evangelical, inner-healing therapist friend and "unofficial spiritual mentor" told her: "Your male-self is certainly wooing you." Karen Mains explains, "... this indeed is my male-self, the animus that I need to complement my female being, the anima. This psychological concept of the male-within-the-female and the female-within-the-male was developed by Carl Jung, but it has always seemed exceptionally scriptural to me." Mrs. Mains notes Jung's perspective "that for spiritual and psychological health a person must have a harmonious and friendly relationship with his or her unconscious" and adds, "Through the insistent initiation of the Holy Spirit, I am being forcefully guided to make rapprochement with my inner, deepest self." [What incredible self-delusion! The Holy Spirit's work and Jung's anti-Biblical concepts couldn't be more contrary to each other. Much of what Jung taught was derived from his own personal spirit guide, a demon named Philemon. (See America: The Sorcerer's New Apprentice for Jung's heavily demonized background.)]

In a later Jungian session with her "spiritual director" at Cenacle, a Catholic contemplative retreat center, Mrs. Mains tells of a drastic change in the entity which has been appearing in her mind. In graphic detail, she describes an "idiot-child sitting at a table with other people ... totally bald head lolled to one side ... drooling ... six, seven or eight years of age ... emaciated and malnourished ... sad, huge eyes ... This is my idiot-child, the idiot-self of my self." Her "spiritual director" has her close her eyes and "see the child again." She does so and begins to communicate with the image who surprises them both by revealing that it is the "Christ child." [!!] (This is right out of the book, The Occult Christ, by Ted Andrews.) Mrs. Mains ponders the thought that the young man and the idiot-child are both Jesus Christ who has "been attempting to woo me because an essential part of my identity in Him has been expelled from my adult development." We find that this "Christ child," whom she is instructed to always take with her, is her "spiritual authority" [classic New Age terminology for "spirit guide"] which she is "afraid of having" and has "rejected not only [as] a part of myself, but a part of myself that is Christ."

There are three possibilities concerning Karen Mains and her spirit guide: (1) What she has written is the promotion of her own agenda through a vehicle which she self-characterizes: "Mains, you have a wacko creative imagination"; (2) Her penchant for introspection and symbolism have swept her into the delusionary world of the experiential and hopelessly subjective. This is pure Jungian hokum, nothing more; or (3) One and two have led her down the path to New Age shamanism, where, under the guise of psychological concepts and symbolism and through the occult practice of guided imagery, she has been in communication with a spirit guide -- in fact a demon appearing as an angel of light! From what she writes in this book, it appears that the third possibility is the reality in the life of Karen Mains. Indeed, with Jung's "christ" come Jung's demons. (Reported in/excerpted from the 3/94 The Berean Call and/or Media Spotlight, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 5-7. For another independent review of Lonely No More, see Michele Witchell's article in the July/August 1994, Contender's Journal: "The Fruit of a Psychological Gospel.") [Lonely No More was also advertised as a gift-giving book in Chapel of the Air 's 1994, 50-Day Spiritual Adventure Journal booklet.]

- The spiritual path that Karen Mains describes in Lonely No More, one can easily find in most occult spiritual transformation books. Mrs. Mains writes about embarking into a "spiritual soul journey." Housed in this journey is archetypal psychology, dream analysis, earthen spirituality, imagery, mental energizing and guided shamanistic visualization. Also expressed are transmission of magical powers, dream entities, and contemplative meditation. Mrs. Mains is immersed in pagan religions, undergirded by the philosophy of Taoism. In her religious philosophy and perception of God, she embodies elements of the ancient mysteries of Chinese religions and Buddhism. She incorporates the mysticism within the Catholic Church traditions and the Theosophical Society -- New Age. It is much more than merely being "New Age sympathizers." (Reported in the 5/95, Bold Truth Press.)

- Because of the critical articles in The Berean Call and Media Spotlight, and due to heavy criticism leveled by a "Christian" radio station in Milwaukee (WVCY) against the Mains's obvious New Age teachings, a firestorm of controversy has raged. In response, both David and Karen Mains wrote open letters to their supporters. In David Mains's letter, dated 3/25/94, he defends his wife and himself by calling his accusers "unbalanced" and worthy of "pity." He also takes consolation in being in "good company" with the likes of such "Christians" (a.k.a., psychoheretics) as Don Hawkins, Chuck Colson, Stuart and Jill Briscoe, Richard Foster, and Tony Campolo. The Mainses even consider "Mother" Teresa as part of this "good company" of Christians being "defamed" by their unbalanced critics!

More recently, an article in the 5/16/94 Christianity Today ("Hunting for Heresy," pp. 38-40) was very favorable toward Karen Mains and her explanation of her teachings. Despite her overwhelming blasphemy and heresy in Lonely No More, Christianity Today quotes Mrs. Mains as saying she "is guilty of a failure to communicate, not of any doctrinal error." She also claims that those questioning her are "narrow-minded, self-appointed arbiters of legalism leveling unfair and personal attacks." The article complained that both David and Karen Mains have been misunderstood and harshly judged, but gave no specifics. (See also the attached 6/94 open letter to the Mainses from Media Spotlight's Al Dager.)

- The Chrysostom Society is another New Age group started by Richard Foster. (It was named for St. John Chrysostom, a fourth-century mystic who became the archbishop of Constantinople. He later came to be known by the Romans as the Church Father.) It describes itself as a contemporary Christian writers group. Each year this group of twenty "writers of faith" gather together in a different state to talk about writing, to share manuscripts and frustrations, and to collectively write. They also contribute articles for their official magazine, Image: A Journal of the Arts and Religion. In 1990, the Society gave birth to a book called Reality and the Vision, which contains the insights of eighteen members of the guild. Reality pays tribute to each of the writers' mentors -- those who most "stimulated their passion, and changed their lives in monumental ways." In reading Reality and the Vision, one finds members of the Society promoting both paganism and Christianity.

Karen Mains is a member of the Chrysostom Society. She chose to write about a true hero of modern times, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whose toughness and perseverance in the face of the worst of adversity underscores his struggle in Russian labor camps. However, Mains' chapter twists this man's genuine agony into what she calls a "mythological type of heroism." She lapses into esoteric jargon, quoting from an interview between avowed occultist Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers on the PBS-TV program, "The Power of Myth." She praises Campbell for his emphasis upon mythical heroes and then redefines Solzhenitsyn's personal struggles, claiming he experienced a "transformation of consciousness, [losing] himself for the sake of a higher end, undergoing a form of death and resurrection." (It is deeply disturbing that Karen Mains would praise "The Power of Myth," an interview in which Joseph Campbell blasted Christianity, denied the divinity of Jesus Christ, the inerrancy of Scripture, and everything Christians hold sacred, while at the same time speaking highly of human sacrifice, demonic possession, and other occult practices.)

Throughout her chapter, Mrs. Mains endorses other New Age ideas, such as Carl Jung's theory of the collective unconscious and an occultic Time of Beginnings. She asks, "And, should not we then cherish those rare few who can help us recover the buried memory, both individual and collective?" Why is this so-called Christian writer promoting the concepts of an occult psychologist? Where is she getting this New Age heresy? Another Karen Mains book, The Key to an Open Heart, reveals the source of some of this influence. Under the acknowledgments, she wrote, "I am grateful to the pioneering work of Agnes Sanford, on which much of the structure of this book is based." Agnes Sanford, an Episcopalian mystic and pantheist, who believed that God is nature itself, and who melded Jungian psychology with New Age healing techniques to formulate her own style of "inner healing," is held in high regard by many New Agers -- and also by Karen Mains.

In Reality and the Vision, Mrs. Mains describes her personal collection of books that have gripped her "at a personal level," striking "a soulish satisfaction" in her (p. 152). Among these is The Chosen, written by Chiam Potok, a Jewish mystic. Within this novel, Potok weaves elements of occult numerology, the Jewish books of mysticism, the Cabala, and the Zohar. (David Mains evidently shares his wife's admiration for Potok. On his 7/1/92 Chapel of the Air radio program, David called Potok one of his favorite authors and devoted an entire broadcast to The Chosen, never once referring to Scripture.) [Excerpted in part from The Trojan Horse: How the New Age Movement Infiltrates the Church, by Brenda Scott and Samantha Smith, pp. 123-131.]

- David and Karen Mains have championed psychospirituality for decades, from their radio and television shows to the material used in their 50-Day Spiritual Adventures for churches. Additional evidence of the Mainses sell-out to pop psychology can be gleaned from past monthly issues of The Chapel Newsletter, wherein one can find glowing endorsements, recommendations, and radio show guest scheduling of such Freudian, humanistic, and/or behavioral psychologists/psychologizers as Larry Crabb, Frank Minirth, Sandra Wilson, David Seamands, Richard Foster, Joni Eareckson Tada, Larry Burkett, Tim Sledge, Mark Senter, Josh McDowell, etc., etc. (Josh McDowell was David Mains' guest on his 1/26/93-1/28/93 radio programs -- McDowell admonished Mains for not being "self-love oriented" enough!)

Conferences and seminars sponsored by Chapel of the Air also give good indications of the psychological bent of the Mainses. In 1992, Chapel of the Air led two conferences designed especially for lay leaders on the topic: "Hope for Hurting Christians: Moving from Shame to Grace in our Families and Churches." Psychologist Dr. Sandra Wilson (author of the books Released From Shame and Hurt People Hurt People) was the guest speaker. In 1994, Chapel of the Air co-sponsored two "Super Seminars" titled "Healing the Wounds from a Painful Past." Teachers were clinical psychotherapists Sandra Wilson and Michael Crutcher -- "They'll be helping participants identify and overcome feelings of shame and worthlessness that are byproducts of a painful past." (Chapel of the Air also promoted Wilson's Hurt People Hurt People -- "If you were raised in a dysfunctional home, this book can help you relinquish hurtful patterns you learned as a child. Subtitled Hope and Healing for Yourself and Your Relationships, it explains how to make the transition from being a hurting and hurtful person to being a helpful one. It also serves as a how-to guide for improving your relationship with yourself, friends, spouse and children. If you were raised in a hurting or hurtful home, this book offers specific guidelines for transforming a hurting identity, friendship or marriage.")

- Karen Mains was also active in the social gospel of political activism and liberation theology in the 1970s; Mrs. Mains was a participant in the Evangelical Women's Caucus (EWC). She was a choreographer for the "Liturgical Dance" (Liturgy of Liberation) at one of their conferences. EWC was founded in 11/74 to focus on "social concerns and women's issues." One of their interests was to compile a directory of evangelical feminists.

Other resolutions followed at succeeding conferences. In 1975, two resolutions were passed "affirming and pledging to work for the Equal Rights Amendment. (ERA)" A resolution also affirmed "solidarity with Roman Catholic Sisters who were seeking ordination for women." By the 1978 conference, EWC had discussion groups on such topics as "Biblical Authority" and "The Holy Spirit as Female." Mrs. Mains's involvement and affiliations with womanism, socialism, and liberation theology led her to occultic witchcraft. It did not happen overnight. Apostasy comes in sequence. First comes departure from Scriptural truths, then a downward spiral to everything that is "politically correct." (Reported in the 10/95, Bold Truth Press.)

- The Mainses have extended their connections with Socialist advocates. On 5/23/95, a joint declaration titled "The Cry for Renewal" (CFR) was signed by Jim Wallis of "Sojourners" and Ron Sider of "Evangelicals for Social Action." Among others were Catholic bishops and "historic Protestants." A partial list of endorsers list Karen and David Mains, Ted Engstrom, Tony Campolo, Richard Foster, J.I. Packer, Bishop Walter F. Sullivan (from the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, Virginia), Margaret Cafferty (executive director of the "Leadership Conference of Women Religions"), Carol Cross (of the "Seamless Garment Network"), Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton (from the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit), and Gretchen Hull (of "Christians for Biblical Equality"). The declaration "offers an alternative voice to the Christian Right."

Among CFR "concerns," you'll find the same rhetoric of the old socialism organizations based on a philosophy of collective ownership and redistribution of goods. In their publication, there is talk of a "different future," "new directions," "discarding the 'old options' and 'false choices.'" They say we are in a "historical juncture," and have to "re-examine old solutions." The wall between "public" and "private" solutions must come down in favor of the new partnerships and configurations that involve everyone. The CFR bunch call their new approach, "Biblical faith and spiritual politics." Instead, many of them should be called "left-wing Socialist sympathizers"! (Reported in the 10/95, Bold Truth Press.)

- In addition to Karen Mains' Jungian and mystical preoccupation with self in her book Lonely No More (see above for details), she also offers the basic thesis of humanistic and "Christian" psychology (Emphasis added; p. 73):

That is certainly not the way Jesus put it, nor is it the way of sacrificial love He both demonstrated and promises to live through us (4/94, The Berean Call).

- In his 1991 book, Healing the Dysfunctional Church Family, David Mains explores what he calls "destructive family patterns" which can infiltrate the body of Christ. Key teachings in this psychologically-oriented book are as follows:

- David Mains has for years taught a charismatic concept of spiritual warfare, i.e., that demons can and do cause one to sin . In his 1980 booklet, How to Resist Temptation, Mains teaches that all evil desires come directly from Satan, and that if a Christian succumbs to temptation, he simply hasn't properly prepared his mind [didn't give himself the correct pep-talk?]. But if he does overcome, then he can feel good about himself. (Emphases added.):

- Promise Keepers is the gigantic new (1991) "men's movement" among professing evangelical Christians. Its roots are Catholic and charismatic to the core. PK's contradictory stand on homosexuality; its promotion of secular psychology; its unscriptural feminizing of men; its depiction of Jesus as a "phallic messiah" tempted to perform homosexual acts; and its ecumenical and unbiblical teachings should dissuade any true Christian from participating. Promise Keepers is proving to be one of the most ungodly and misleading movements in the annals of Christian history. Nevertheless, David Mains is a promoter of this ecumenical, charismatic, psychologized men's movement. In The Chapel Ministries 2/9/96 "Dear friend" letter, Executive Director David Mains says he sees, "this excitement factor regarding our Lord" present in the Promise Keepers movement. (He says he also sees it in the Campus Crusade organization.)

- David Mains is a Steering Committee member of COR (Coalition on Revival), a Reconstructionist/Dominionist organization dedicated to a social gospel/activism agenda that proposes to impose Biblical standards (e.g., Old Test. law) on unbelieving peoples and institutions. As an indication of what the people affiliated with COR believe, the following is from a brochure announcing the 12th Annual Northwest Conference for Christian Reconstruction. Does this not sound like a different gospel? (All emphases added):

That David Mains has no problem identifying with this movement is a bit disconcerting to say the least. (For further details of COR's unbiblical strategy for "taking the world for Christ," see COR' documents titled A Manifesto for the Christian Church; Forty-two Articles of the Essentials of a Christian World View; and Twenty-five Articles on the Kingdom of God -- P.O. Box A, Sunnyvale, CA 94087.)

Biblical Discernment Ministries - Revised 8/96


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David & Karen Mains

General Teachings/Activities

Biblical Discernment Ministries - Revised 8/96