The Emergent Church Pt. 10

Wrapping up, what do we have to do?

Be aware that Brain McLaren called for Emergents to infiltrate Bible believing churches, and slowly begin to affect the churches from within, by stealing away the youth. The older people in the church will die off, the youth will take over, and soon idols will be trucked inside, with a rock band standing in the middle of them.

Musically, Contemporary Christian music is slowly insinuating Emergent beliefs into your consciousness. Nobody’s really doctrinally analyzing the words in CCM to see if it lines up with the Bible. If it sounds good, it makes its way up the charts. Let me explain music for a minute, and very few of you will undertand this. There’s seven notes in the western scale – I iim iiim IV V vim and viidim. The chord progressions usually involve I IV V in Western music, because the major chords are strong chords. They resolve. The diminishing of the 3rd in a chord makes it minor. The minor chords, depending on their voice in the scale (iim,iiim and vim) are darker. They create undertones. So, what musicians do to write a song is to use I, IV and V to make the song, and add a minor tone to it to give it richness. iim is brighter than vim, and iiim is the darkest note of all. So if you take C, F, Dm and G, it’s a rich song, and it resolves. Here’s where it gets complicated.

I wants to go to IV, which wants to go to V, which immediately makes you think of I again. Play C, F, G C and it’s done. Resolved! Contemporary Christian music is starting to have a lot of songs that go I, iiim, IV, V IV I IV. Or… C Em F G C F.

It doesn’t resolve. There’s no completing. it raises a feeling that everything’s relative. You know, that Emergent buzzword. Incidentally, when jazz began to change from Big Band jazz (based on Tchaikovsky, believe it or not) to modern Jazz in the ’50’s, Jazz began to feature a lot of movement towards IV as well. “Everything’s relative, man.” By listening to songs that do not resolve, it subtly changes you and prepares you for “Maybe there’s no absolute truth.”

Once you start thinking like that… the Emergent church has you.

How to fix this? Get a proper understanding of God. Get yourself DEEP in the word of God. I’m constantly recommending the One Year Discipleship course by David Cloud, as well as the Way of Life Encyclopedia and Things Hard to Be Understood book. You can get all three ebooks for $25, I think it is.

Make sure you’re going through those, with your Bible open. Get deep into Bible study. Don’t let me determine your doctrine, let the Bible develop your doctrine for you!

A good rule of thumb is, if the world says swim downstream, start swimming upstream, because what the world says is usually the opposite of the Bible.

Remember, Jesus Christ is not difficult to follow. He loves you and gave His life for you. Accept his atoning sacrifice for you.

There is absolute truth. You CAN know it. it’s in the Bible.

6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Malachi 3:6 (KJV)

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The Emergent Church Pt. 9

“It’s not a sin to change your beliefs.”

I read this blog post back in 2013, and I’d meant obviously to address this. It was a poorly slanted article, and the author used emotionally laden buzzwords to slant readers’ opinions towards his Emergent liberal bent.

I’m guessing it was his attempt to be relevant.

I’m not going to discuss the author or the blog, because I have no way of knowing if he ever got saved – that’s right, I said got saved – and repented of his thoughts and beliefs.

Early on in the post, he makes the statement:

Indoctrination is preferred over critical thinking, certainty is favored over doubt, and we expect our leaders to offer black-and-white answers. A change of theology is viewed as weakness, poor exegesis, and a sign of insecurity. “If they change their views now, how can I believe anything they say in the future?

Indoctrination is preferred over critical thinking, he says. If you read John 3:16, and ask me what it means, and I repeat it word for word, and you agree with me that it means exactly what it says… how is this indoctrination?

I’ve said it many times… the Bible says what it means.

Theologies are often considered too “valuable,” “right,” and “holy” to change or question.

um… well if by that you mean, the literal interpretation of John 3:16 cannot be changed – uh, yeah, you’re right! See, GOD wrote it, not me. I have no right to change the Bible, to say, “Well, I don’t like that!!!” and insist that we reject or cut out those verses. Certainly, that’s what Wescott and Hort did.

If I change my mind about the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, that does not mean I’m weak – it means I am a heretic. Heresy is to say and teach something other than what the Bible teaches. If I decide that I’m right and the Bible is wrong then… I’m wrong. I’m a man. I make mistakes.

God is not a man. God makes no mistakes. God wrote the Bible. If you question that, or if you decide that society’s issues and being politically correct over-rules God, then… you can explain that at the Great White Throne.

Additionally, Christian communities often reinforce the idea that any variations from sanctioned teachings about God are dangerous and destructive. If pastors change their views — they’re forced to resign. If professors sway beyond a college’s strict theological statement — they’re fired.

As they should be. What does the Bible teach us to do when a pastor denies the deity of Christ?

9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. 2 John 1:9-11 (KJV)

17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. 18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Romans 16:17-18 (KJV)

A pastor that questions the Virgin Birth should be fired or asked to resign. You’re denying the deity of Christ if you do. And we shouldn’t read their works, books, or quote them from the pulpit. Should I allow them to continue?

It is a sin to change your beliefs, if they do not line up with the word of God.

But theology — our study and beliefs about God — should be a natural process involving change instead of avoiding it. Our God is too big and too wonderful to completely understand by the time we graduate high school, or college, or get married, or have children, or retire.

What are you talking about??? It’s pretty simple. God revealed Himself in this world as Jesus Christ. He gave us His words in the Bible.

You make the statement that our theology should naturally involve change. And you give no reason for your heresy. Why should I suddenly decide that God is different from the way He’s presented Himself in His word???

Oh, yes – it’s the “You put your God in a box” theology. Here’s my answer to that – I stand upon the unchanging word of God. Jesus Christ, yesterday, today, tomorrow, forever world without end Amen!

I’ve experienced God by reading my Bible. I see a loving, forgiving God. But He also has a vengeful side, and He explains that in His word.

19 And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters. 20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. 21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. 22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. 23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. 24 They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. 25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs. Deuteronomy 32:19-25 (KJV)

God offers you everything. God offers it freely! And to think, He came and suffered, and poured out His own sweat, blood, tears. He suffered for us. If you despise that, His wrath will fall upon you at the Great White Throne Judgment.

This article I’m talking about was not just written by some Emergent guy, one of those willowy guys with the rooster comb haircut and the little square glasses… this was written by a Moody Bible College graduate.

He knows better. But he’s a wolf in Sheeps clothing, or was at the time of this writing. If he is of the same opinions still, and is occupying a pulpit, his congregation needs to do the very thing the Bible commands us to do… mark him and avoid him. Separate from him. Do not even bid him God speed.

I pray he’s repented. I pray he’s gotten saved, because no pastor from God could write these things. I really pray he puts a comment on here, saying “I wrote those words two years ago, and I truly repent of them. I wish I’d never written them. I’ve gotten right with God since then.”

Because the alternative is too horrible to contemplate.

The Emergent Church Pt. 8

Elementary questions about the Emergents and the Bible.

without getting into debates, I’d love for some simple answers to these questions. Because I’ve got a conclusion, based upon their teachings, and I’ll state it at the end of this post.

The Emergent says that we don’t have the Gospel right yet.

But i Cor. 15 says 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (KJV)

So, whose right? Your teachers, your feelings, or your Bible?

“well, the Bible can mean anything to anyone.” is one response I’ve seen.

Well, no… I think that everyone reading 1 Cor. 15:3 above would agree that when it says that “Christ died for our sins” that means only… that Christ died for our sins. I mean, what else are you getting out of that? The Yankees win the pennant? Skies will be sunny and warm tomorrow? All I can get out of that to mean is…. that Christ died for our sins.

That He died for our sins according to the Scriptures I can only interpret that the Scriptures said that Christ would die for our sins, and that the manner of His death was prophesied. Sure enough, that’s what it means.

“He was buried.”

What other meaning can that have?

It means Christ was put in a tomb.”And He rose again the third day.”

What else can that mean? I ask you honestly, what else can that mean???

Well, if it sounds to you like Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures was buried and rose again the third day…. I’d say that we’ve had the Gospel right all along.

So, here’s the conclusion.

The Emergents do not believe the Bible. Corrent me if I’m wrong, please! I don’t want to be accused of mis-representing you! But if you can read two simple verses like 1 Cor. 15:2-3 and still say we don’t have the Gospel right yet… then you do not believe your own Bible.

What you believe and trust is your own feelings.

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9 (KJV)

Or you trust that your own desires are far above the Bible.

18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) Philippians 3:18-19 (KJV)

Does the Bible say, “trust your feelings?” THat’s not the Bible, that’s Star Wars.

1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. 3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. 5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. 7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. Proverbs 3:1-7 (KJV)

What does it mean, in your eyes, if you disregard the words of the LORD, and substitute instead your own feelings, desires, wants, and what you THINK it should mean vs. what it says?

It means that you have placed yourself as god instead of God. You value your own philosophies over that of God’s word. Read again Phillipians 3:18-19 – if you think that way, then those verses are talking about you.

I beg you, seriously, read God’s word, the Bible. Read it. Learn what He thinks. He tells you, right there in black and white. He tells you what He thinks is important. And a LOT of that actually resonates with what you Emergents think is relevant.

Think it’s important to feed the poor? Yup. God’s word says that.

Think it’s important how we treat each other? Oh, yeah, God does too.

Think it’s more important we not cheat or lie or steal from each other than to pray? The Lord Jesus says if you’re about to make an offering unto the Lord and remember that there is someone you’ve angered or hurt, go make it right, THEN come back and pray.

That’s what the Bible says. Maybe you should try reading it.

The Emergent Church pt. 7

Let’s turn to the doctrines of the Emergent. They claim a bias against “Dogma” when it comes from the Bible, but when it comes from Emergent teachings, suddenly it’s doctrine.

The two words mean the same.

I’ve addressed the attitude before. “Doctrine divies” They cry. “Let’s get rid of Doctrine!”

Um… no. Let’s translate that into English, and see what it is you’re really saying. “Teaching Divides! Let’s get rid of teaching!”

That’s really… silly.

What it is, is that young people are really good tape recorders. They hear something, they parrot it without understanding. A Pastor’s sermon can be completely in line with the Bible, profound and full of truth. THe recording machine hears it, preserves it for eternity, but does not comprehend it – just preserving it.

I’ve noticed that young people are like that. Good mercy, I know I was very much the exception. I believed the nonsense I spouted when I was young, and I had facts, figures… boy, I’ll betcha I really annoyed quite a few persons.

Well, some things don’t change, I guess!

It reminds me of Marilyn Manson fans (remember them?) They used to boldly say that Manson was giving values the same way Christianity was. I challenged one to explain that, and he got a blank look on his face. I then challenged him to tell me what Christian values Manson was teaching. He looked embarassed, and I quit picking on him. Really, it was mean of me, and I regret doing it.

Here’s the truth: The phrase sounded good, he kind of understood what it meant – he just couldn’t see how it applied, but it sounded right. So he repeated it.

Well, today, we have young people, under the spell of Brian McLaren and Rob Bell, which is a far sight worse than Brian Warner (Marylin Manson) ever was.

And they’re doing the same thing, repeating that which they’ve heard, because it sounds right. They don’t see how it applies, but it just sounds right!

So… what passes for doctrine among the Emergent?

Well… they don’t have doctrine. But they advocate a lot of idolatrous things. Like praying to icons. Lighting candles. Incense. Services that roughly are a lot of shuffling around from one place to another.

that’s some emergent church services. Others are more contemporary, featuring loud music.

okay, great. What’s the doctrinal basis for doing this?

“We don’t know. We don’t think we’ve got the Gospel right yet.”

But you know that pacing mazes, silent contemplation, lighting candles to icons and burning incense are all right? You must, because you do them. So… how do you justify that from the Bible? If you’re not sure you have the Gospel right yet…. what are you doing?

THe basis of a church of the Lord Jesus Christ is the Gospel. You know, 1 Cor. 15…

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (KJV)

Here’s the Gospel. Let’s see if we have it right…

• Christ died for our sins
• according to the scriptures (prophesy written in the Scriptures)
• He was buried
• Rose again the third day

Okay, please enlighten me! What part did I get wrong?

“uh….”

Okay, I didn’t get it wrong then. But it SOUNDED right to you. You can’t really understand it or explain it, but it just sounded right to you, so you believe it FERVENTLY and believe it, right?

Well… it’s not. You’ve been misled. You’ve been completely bamboozled, flim-flammed, taken down the primrose path. You need to STOP, read the Bible for yourself. If you don’t think you’ve got the Gospel completely right yet, and you want to prove me wrong, get Wordsearch basic (it’s free) and… make sure you spend one good year in study of the King James Bible. Read my pages again on how to study the Bible. I just did some, and I’m about to do some more.

Work on that.

Let me know a year from now how I don’t have the Gospel right, and what it really is.

Prove me wrong.

Am I trying to get you saved? Absolutely.

The Emergent Church Pt. 6

“So we must stop looking for some objective Truth that is available when we delve into the text of the Bible.” –Tony Jones  (Postmodern Youth Ministry, p. 201)

“Let me offer 10 suggestions for reclaiming the Bible for contemporary readers…Drop Any Affair You May Have with Certainty” –Brian McLaren  (Adventures in Missing the Point, p. 81­84)

(if it is true we cannot know anything with certaintiy), then we cannot know anything for sure, which is self defeating… if all truth is relavtive, then the statement ‘All truth is relative’ would be absoultely true. If it is absolutely true, then not all things are relative, and the statement ‘all truth is relative’ would be false. (Matt Slick)

There’s an entire page where Matt Slick proceeded to take all possible permutations of the “truth is unknowable” argument, and defeats it in every case by applying the arguments to themselves. It’s great. I loved it.

At this point, I think I’ve run the Relativism main argument into the ground and buried it. Let’s turn to the next statement of the Emergent, “how do you know who’s doctrine is correct?”

THe Emergent likes to use the word “dogma” when referring to doctrine. Something to watch for, because in common usage dogma has a negative connotation. When Brian Mclaren speaks of the beliefs of Fundamentalists, he uses “dogma”. but when he wants to suggest he can re-interpret the Bible for you, he uses the less difficult “doctrine”. Which is silly, because both mean the same thing – “Doctrine” means “teachings”. To say, “I don’t like doctrine, but I like Bible teachings” is nonsense.

So, let me answer the question – we let the Bible intrepret itself. I just got done with a brief series on how to interpet the Bible, showing it step by step. Now, I know that asking an emergent to do something like go to the left hand side of the page and click on a category is waaaay too much. So I’ll explain it.

The Bible is not self-contradicting. It is self affirming. Any study of church and Bible history leaves you with an unmistakeable conclusion, that the Bible has survived every attempt to destroy it. The Bible has survived many, many attempts to wipe it out. And that leaves you with the conclusion – God is prottecting it.

That’s a doctrine called “Preservation”. Any doctrine of “inspiration” and “Inerrancy” must also be accompanied by a doctrine of preservation. LIterally, Jesus Christ declared that the Bible was not only inspired, but preserved.

35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Matthew 24:35 (KJV)

18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Matthew 5:18 (KJV)

If the smallest parts of the letters are preserved, then the very letters themselves are inspired.

See, here’s how you determine what is doctrine – let the Bible interpret itself.

“Well, the Bible was written by men, and men can be in error…”

THat’s not what the Bible just said. Can I prove the Bible is inspired?

Absolutely. I’ve listed over 150 prophecies of Jesus Christ that date back to as far before Jesus Christ as 4,000 years before He was born. Now, those prophecies fall into two categories…

1. those which can be arranged (getting arrested, speaking in parables, visiting the Temple)
2. Those which cannot be arranged (the method of your death, resurrection, where you were born, the manner in which you were born, other people’s statements and actions about you, who your parents would be, where they came from, who would choose to follow you, where you would be buried, the activities of those around you as you were being executed)

As you can see, the VAST majority of the prophecies about Jesus Christ belong to category two. Being “The seed of a woman” right away rules out anyone not virgin born.

Yet it was fulfilled. Something like the Roman Legionnaires gambling over your clothing as you are struggling to survive on a cross is something you cannot arrange. Yet it was fulfilled. Jesus Christ was buried in a rich man’s tomb. Let’s see you arrange that after you’ve been killed. You can make deals, but hey… I’ve seen someone’s death bed wishes conveniently ignored after they had passed on to Glory. Joseph of Aramathea had intended that tomb for himself and his family. Those kind of tombs cost a lot of money. You can make whatever deal you like while you’re alive, but the record shows the apostles fled after Jesus died. Joseph of Arimathea could very well, if you were making all this up, look at your dead body, and sigh, and have you buried in a pauper’s grave. After all, Christ had no money. That tomb cost a lot. And we’ve got to keep in mind that wealth in those days in Israel is about the equivalent of today’s lower middle class in America.

So, okay, let’s try an experiment. Let’s see if you can fulfill just TWO prophecies by yourself. Here’s what you have to do.

1. be crucified
2. rise from the dead.

Ready???? ….GO!!!!

Hm. Did it work?

The ressurection of Jesus Christ is one of the greatest historically verifiable facts in existence. It’s far easier for me to prove the ressurection of Jesus Christ than it is to prove the existence of some historical personages, like Homer.

How can we know truth? OPen your Bible and start reading it.

How do we know whose doctrine is correct? Try this. Assume nobody has correct doctrine. Get yourself Nave’s Topical Bible, Torrey’s Topical Bible, a King James Bible, the Treasury of Scriptural knowledge, Strong’s concordance, and a notebook.

Write the name of a different subject on every page of the notebook, and start reading the bible. As you’re reading it, list EVERY VERSE you encounter as belonging to one or more subjects. It’ll take a good long while. You’ll be amazed.

Because you’re going to find that just about everything that classical Christianity has taught for 2,000 years is, well… true!

How to do this in Wordsearch? Wordsearch BAsic is free. And it comes with all those tools… free.

Create a user book (alphabetical). Call it whatever you want, you have to save it. Now, go through it and enter in as many subjects as you can think of (Trinity, Creation, Sin, Jesus Christ, Jesus (prophecies of), Messiah, Israel, The Law… everything.)

Now, as you read, enter the address (Gen. 1:1) of the verse you read under the subject heading (example, “Creation”, “Evolution???” “God”, “Trinity”). . You can type it in under the first subject, and THEN… highlight it, CTRL+C, then go to the next subject it concerns, and CTRL+V to paste it. That saves you a lot of typing.

Ten minues of that a day, and within one year, you should be (well, by then, more used to it and you should be up to 20 minutes to 30 mintues a day…) completed.

And your user book will probably be highly sought after, because it’ll be essentially, a very thorough topical Bible.

You will have allowed the Bible to interpret itself, and you will KNOW sound doctrine. Essentially, that’s what happens in Bible colleges and Seminaries. You’re going through the Bible over and over again, but in the context of different subjects, and you’ll know a LOT about doctrine. If you go back to the first posts of this blog, you’ll notice that the tenor of my knowledge of the Bible increased rapidly, because I began writing consistently from when I was about in the fifth semester. now I’m graduated. And still putting off writing my Master’s Thesises, because, oh my goodness, my brain just absolutely hates the format you have to write in. If I could write them up as 300 page books, yes, easily could do that. But APA Master’s THesis guidelines AAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! (bangs forehead on table).

How to know doctrine? bottom line – ask God. Read His word Understand that the Bible is inspired, preserved, inerrant. Not in the original manuscripts only! THat’s a copout. Timothy was told he had the Scriptures as a child, and… I really doubr he possessed the originals written by Moses. Timothy had copies. “ALL SCRIPTURE” is how 2 Tim. 3:15

There’s your answer, kids!

15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Timothy 3:15-17 (KJV)

God considers you, at your age, to be capable of knowing the Bible. Brian McLaren doesn’t think you can know anything. What do you think???

The Emergent Church Pt. 5

In the 1880’s until, well, today – a “New breed” of theologian arose. They harkened to the teachings of the German “Rationalists”, who questioned the Bible, based upon the import of the teachings of Darwin. The new rationalists say Isaiah was written by two men (apparently both named Isaiah) and that four authors wrote Genesis, nicknamed J, E, P, & D. They considered Genesis a “semitic Myth”, they did not believe in the ressurection, and denied the existence of Hell.

You know what? I don’t think they deny its existence any longer. Pretty much a day in the flames, and you stop denying it’s existence.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon encountered their teachings, where it had earned the nickname of the “Downgrade controversy”. Here’s his reponse…

Find if you can, beloved, one occasion in which Jesus inculcated doubt or bade men dwell in uncertainty. The apostles of unbelief are everywhere today, and they imagine that they are doing God service by spreading what they call “honest doubt.” This is death to all joy! Poison to all peace! The Savior did not so…

So, if we combine old world Greek Orthodox with the weird spiritualist practices of Roman Catholocism with Hinduism wrapped up in the Beatles… we can make a container where the old teachings of the old world rationalists such as Harry Fosdick are presented upon an unsuspecting Christianity… we may reject it, but the young kids are eating it up.

I read where there was a missions trip planned, where a church youth group was literally getting ready to go overseas to preach the Gospel. And the Youth Group leader told them the night before they left, they were not to preach the Gospel to anyone they met while over there. Why? He’d been reading Rob Bell’s “Love Wins”.

That’s a Youth Leader. He should know better. A lot better. He’s supposed to be leading the kids. He’s supposed to have his faith SET. He’s supposed to know his doctrine. If he can read “Love Wins” and not recoil in righteous anger over outright blasphemy… he shouldn’t have been teaching in the first place!

“Emergent doesn’t have a position on absolute truth, or on anything for that matter. Do you show up at a dinner party with your neighbors and ask, ‘What’s this dinner party’s position on absolute truth?’ No, you don’t, because it’s a non­sensical question.” –Tony Jones (http://theoblogy.blogspot.com/2005/11/national­youth­workers­convention.html)

10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 (KJV)

Tony Jones’ quote is what we call a “Straw Man” argument – the Emergents are champions at building them. Do I ask guests at a dinner party their position on absolute truth? Well, if it’s a Pastor’s convention, yes. If it’s a dinner for friends, they’d have to be Christians anyway… so I wouldn’t bring it up.

But do I ask a church its stand on Doctrine before I join?

Oh, yes I do. I need to see their statement of faith. If they do not believe the Bible to be God’s word, Inspired and inerrant, then… I move on.

Folks, the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. The essense of the Emergent Church is this: Truth cannot be conclusively known. Truth is relative. Truth changes.

Well, in the second article in this series, I blew that out of the water with an elementary logic argument. “A cannot be A and not-A at the same time.”

“We cannot know truth!” Claims the emergent leaders.

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6 (KJV)

If you do not know Truth, you do not know Jesus Christ, and you are not saved. I know truth. Why don’t you?

“What’s true for you may not be true for me.”

Matt Slick has a great comeback for that…

“If what is true for me is that relatavism is false, then is it true Relativism is false? If you say no, then what is true for me is not true and relativism is false. If you say yes, then relativism is false.”

THe issue is, nothing in what the Emergents are saying is new. It’s the same drivel that Fosdick was spouting in the 1930’s. It’s the same that Spong and Borg and Tubingen and Wellhausen and a thousand other modernist heretics have spouted for 200 years – “the Bible is a myth, blah blah, we must be social christians.”

And if you believe this nonsense… and a lot of young people do… you’re not saved. You’re in GRAVE danger of going to Hell when you die.

Repent.

The Emergent Church Pt. 4

I suppose one of the first things someone may well ask me is, “If this movement is not very large, why are you dealing with it?”

Well, I spend almost two months dealing with Hebrew Roots and Messianic Jews, and they aren’t in particularly large numbers, either.

Suffice it to say, the Emergent Church remains one of the biggest threats doctrinally facing today’s Christianity, besides the Roman Catholic Church.

Why?

Both movements influence one man – who influences everyone else.

Rick Warren.

Rick Warren really is a little alarming, how he simply absorbs everything and then it emerges again as a sermon, a book, a Twitter post. Warren has become today’s Protestant Pope, with millions following his Twitter posts (Does he have Facebook, I wonder? I’m sure he must).

Because SO MANY PEOPLE (note I didn’t say Christians, because David Cloud’s interview with a man attending Warren’s church responded to the question of “How long have you been a Christian?” with a blank, uncomprehending stare and the flat answer of, “I’ve always been a Christian.”) listen to Warren, and regurgitate his every teaching the same way that people quote Osteen’s happy nonsense, we have a great danger.

Because there was a conference sponsored by InterVarsity Press & Zondervan Books, where Bill Hybels and Rick Warren were joined by Brian McLaren and Rob Bell, along with Leighton Ford, Gordon Fee, Shane Claiborne, J.P. Moreland, John Ortberg, David Kinnaman, Scot McKnight, Alex McManus, and Christopher Wright. There were over 1,500 pastors and church leaders in attendance.

Now, if I were invited to a Pastor’s conference, and any of these people were to start speaking, I’d probably leave. If I’d gotten a ride, I’d have gone out into the lobby and read my Bible.

But apparently, the people all stayed. There was no reports of any disruption from Pastors listening standing up and shouting, booing, rejecting what McLaren and Bell and the others all said.

So, this is why I’m doing this series.

The Emergent church may not end up being a stealer of the congregation. What is most likely to happen, is, like some kind of sci-fi movie involving lettuce from outer space forming into people, we may walk into our church tomorrow and find that it has taken over our Church.

McLaren points out that preaching on Leftists topics like the environment are far more important than the Gospel. I’m not sure how he concludes that Ranger Rick is more important than Jesus Christ, but if he’s into Gaia worship, then fine – let Gaia save him when he passes on. Oh, Gaia is a non-existent god? Well, then, you should have listened to our warnings! And your Bible.

The main issue is, the Emergent church somehow thinks that doctrine changes. The Gospel changes.

From what into what?

I have no clue. And neither do they. And they’re all right with that.

“So we must stop looking for some objective Truth that is available when we delve into the text of the Bible.” –Tony Jones  (Postmodern Youth Ministry, p. 201)

Funny, when I look into the Bible, all I see is truth!