“The great institution of Orthodox Christianity has failed.” -The Emergent Church.
WELL, THEY MAY THINK SO, but in reality, “THE FOUNDATION OF GOD STANDETH SURE” (2 Tim 2:19). The Amplified Bible reads: “BUT THE FIRM FOUNDATION (LAID BY) GOD STANDS SURE AND UNSHAKEN, bearing this seal (inscription): THE LORD KNOWS THOSE WHO ARE HIS, and, LET EVERY ONE WHO NAMES (HIMSELF BY THE NAME OF THE LORD GIVE UP ALL INIQUITY AND STAND ALOOF FROM IT” (see also Num 16:5; Isa 26:13).
The Greek word for “foundation” is themellos, which means “something put down.” Another Greek word is themelloo, which means “to lay a basis for, i.e. (lit.) erect, or (fig.) consolidate:-lay the foundation, settle.” You see, Jesus laid down His very earthly life so as to become the propitiation for our sins (see Rom 3:25 and 1 Jn 2:2; 4:10). Jesus became the One-and-ONLY Atoning “victim.” No one else in the history of man has done this or ever could do this-this is what the recreants mock! His Blood Atonement became the very foundation of our salvation, our freedom.
Created Destroying Its Creator!
THE FALSE Church built by rebellious and prideful men and women has turned and, like Frankenstein, is “DESTROYING” ITS CREATOR (at least they think so!). So, religion (the system built by the religious) wanders aimlessly in the haze and maze of theological speculation and human philosophies…and these Emergent Church (EC) philosophers espouse that “Only transcendental philosophy knows the path. Only the illumined reason can carry the understanding part of man upward to the light. Only philosophy can teach man how to save himself/herself, to live well, to die in peace, and in perfect measure be like God. Into this circle of the elect-those who have forsaken orthodox Christianity and chosen Emergence the philosophers of this wicked age invite YOU!”
Philosophy-Not New
“SEE TO it that no one carries you off as spoil or makes you yourselves captive by his so-called philosophy and intellectualism and vain deceit (idle fancies and plain nonsense), following human tradition (men’s ideas of the material rather than the spiritual world), just crude notions following the rudimentary and elemental teachings of the universe and disregarding [the teachings of] Christ (the Messiah)” (Col 2:8, AMP).
Take heed to what the Apostle Paul writes: DO NOT LET YOURSELF BE VICTIMIZED BY PHILOSOPHY. The phrase used in the RSV, “makes a prey of you,” is almost equivalent to “kidnap.” The language reverts to the figure of 1:13-in the positive sense, God has drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of (satanic) darkness and has transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love (v. 14 explains that “in whom we have our redemption (freedom) through His (Jesus’) blood, the forgiveness of our sin”). All this the Emergent Churchites SCOFF AT!
In the negative sense, 2:8 pictures the heretical (i.e., the EC) teacher as a MARAUDER “who makes a foray against the Kingdom of God and seeks to carry off its inhabitants as spoil.” Are you listening?
“Philosophy, in this single occurrence, is used in the negative, paired as it is with the phrase
‘empty deceit’ (RSV) or ‘vain deceit’ (AMP).” In classical writings, the word appears to have a good sense as “love of wisdom” or, more technically, “scientific pursuit of knowledge” or as designating a particular body of philosophic doctrine. In later Christian writings, “contrasting attitudes are seen” (Tertullian and Tatian denounced all philosophy; Justin Martyr coupled it with piety; and Clement of Alexandria declared that it is the gift of God to the Greeks, “a schoolmaster” to bring the Hellenic mind to Christ (see Miscellanies 1:5).
Paul, in 1 Corinthians 1:20, wrote “Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” He goes on to write, “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise, for the wisdom of this world is foolish with God” (1 Cor 3:18-19).
What Others Wrote
Aristides: “Great is the error that the philosophers among them have brought upon their followers” (c. AD 125; quote found in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 9, p. 266). Titian: “You (Romans) profess to despise death and to be sufficient of yourselves for everything. However, this is a discipline in which your philosophers are greatly deficient. In fact, some of them receive from the king of the Romans 600 aurei yearly. Yet they perform no useful service. So they will not even wear a long beard without being paid for it” (c. AD 160; Ibid., vol. 2, p. 73.; see also pp. 75-76).
Theophilus: “And regarding lawless conduct, those who have blindly wandered into the choir of philosophy have, almost to a man, spoken with one voice. Certainly Plato, to mention him first who seems to have been the most respectable philosopher among them, expressly, as it were, legislates (so to speak) in his first book, entitled The Republic, that the wives of all be common” (c. AD 180; Ibid., vol. 2, p. 112).
Tertullian: “For who compels a philosopher to sacrifice or take an oath, or put out useless lamps at midday? Nay, they openly overthrow your gods, and in their writings they attack your superstitions; and you applaud them for it” (c. AD 195; Ibid., vol. 3, p. 50; see also pp. 51, 130, 246, 482, 545, 183-184).
Origin: “I may tell you from my experience, that not many take from Egypt only the useful, and go away and use it for the service of God … Rather, there are those who, from their Greek studies, produce heretical notions, and set them up, like the golden calf, in Bethel” (c. AD 240; Ibid., vol. 4, p. 393; see also pp. 510, 574).
Cyprian: “We see that philosophers are neither lowly nor meek. Rather, they greatly please themselves” [sounds just like the EC’ers today!] (c. AD 250; Ibid., vol. 5, p. 484). Lactantius: “It has been handed down to us in the sacred writings that the thoughts of philosophers are foolish… Therefore, there is no reason why we should give so much honor to philosophers” (c. AD 304-313; Ibid., vol. 7, p. 70; see also pp. 44, 170, 172).
Other Religions
ANOTHER TRAIT among the EC’ers is that Biblical Christianity is just “ONE of MANY ways to God”-other “faiths” or religions are “just as good”; therefore, we should STOP EXCLUDING THEM from the Church, and embrace them as brothers and sisters. BUT WHERE DO WE EVER FIND SUCH A THING IN GOD’S WORD? Actually, there are only two classes of people upon the earth: the saved, and the unsaved. This is blasphemy according to the EC’ers, the Emergent Churchites/Churches. Read their books and see for yourself… “all faiths are valid.”
Paul, in his warning verse (Col 2:8), points out that the philosophy he was dealing with taught men to propitiate the “elemental spirits of the universe” instead of giving their allegiance to Christ ALONE-another truth the EC hates: CHRIST/JESUS ONLY!
Other Ways?
NANETTE SAWYER, spokeswomen for the EC, is INSULTED by the Gospel of Christ. This “lost” darling (who thinks she is saved), according to her own testimony, became a “Christian” thru Hindu meditation and the medieval mystical Roman Catholic practice of “centering prayer.” Having been to India three times and seeing the repulsive gods/goddesses, I’ll never believe one can become “born-again,” at least not the Biblical way, through Hinduism or anything like it! Get serious, Nanette!
Sawyer is a case and point of one who believes that “ALL are God’s children”-without REPENTANCE. Both her and McLaren have become less comfortable with being restricted to the “personal Savior” Gospel.
If one cares to read God’s Word, one will see that the Bible expressly speaks of “flesh” vs. “Spirit,” “goats” vs. “sheep,” the “lost” vs. the “saved,” “children of wrath-darkness” vs. “Children of God-light,” those who are “fruitless” vs. those who are “fruitful,” those who are “eternally SAVED” vs. those who are “eternally DAMNED.”
“We’re ONE!”
YOU MAY be “ONE” with those who worship idols, those who are steeped in animism (who worship the “elemental spirits” of Col 2:8), those who practice forbidden sex-sins (like those listed in the Bible: adultery, incest, homosexuality, lesbianism, sex with beasts etc.) and those who hold to men’s traditions/ceremonies/stories/etc., but I’m NOT “comfortable” with them. You may be “comfortable” with calling God “mother” and Jesus “sister.” McLaren’s writings REEK with such things. He refuses to say that Jesus is God; he says, “God is not a male” (A Generous Orthodoxy, p. 82). He goes on record as BLASPHEMOUSLY writing, “Jesus: Savior of what?” He detests the truth that Jesus died on the Cross to save individuals’ souls from eternal damnation (Ibid., p. 99).
Get Ready for This:
PRINCE CHARLES is now telling the world that it is “…my duty to save the world.” Yes, it’s true! Not only this, but he also wants to “deliver us from our sins.” And he goes on to clarify that the environment is the thing he cares the most about. Guess he has been talking with liar, fraud, globalist, environmentalist, pantheist Al Gore!
Both the delusional “left” and the mystical na’vi present “right” ideology have become “partners” in the effort to “save us”…and especially the planet. How thoughtful!
Barack Hussein Obama
LET’S NOT forget Barack Hussein Obama-liar, fraud, illegal alien, BISEXUAL, cigarette sucker, drinker, Muslim, hip-Marxist, New Ager, phony Christian…your president and “savior” (at least he and others think the latter!)! There is a new “hit CD” by a gospel choir, singing about their “messiah”-not Jesus the Christ, but Barack Hussein Obama!! (Have you heard this yet? I remember what Psalm 146:3 says when I get the urge to tap my toe to the “messiah” tune.)
Blair – Warren – Emergent Church
IF YOU care to check out the March 14, 2010, online editions of The Observer, you’ll read about ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair (now a very liberal Roman Catholic) and MEGA-CHURCH-man Rick Warren. They chose to “partner up” to launch a “faith offensive” in the U.S. and Canada. This dynamic duo is all part of the Emergent Church, wanting to make you CAPTIVE by their satanic philosophy and human intellectualism and vain deceit, disregarding the clear and sound teachings of Holy Scripture. The Bible tells us not to love the world (its values, philosophies, religions, etc.), and we’re to separate ourselves from those who are in sin. But never mind what the Bible says, these “Christian” warriors have their own philosophy-“TO HELL WITH SCRIPTURE!”
“GREEN” – Pantheism – Animism – Shamanism
YES, ALL the above are all part of the EC. Interspirituality, syncretism, universalism, moral ambiguity, “green justice”-all are euphemisms for the (wicked) EC. EC-ite Erwin McManus makes no bones about Christianity (see The Barbarian Way): he would like to destroy it!
And now Willow Creek Church (Chicago “MEGA CHURCH”) is declaring that they want to be the biggest “green” church on the planet. Might as well be, for they FAIL MISERABLY at getting lost souls saved, let alone raising them up in Godliness.
Biblical Christianity
BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY is “a revelation of the nature and purpose of the Lord God which transforms individuals and cultures.” We are warned to “Avoid the godless chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, for by professing it some have missed the mark as regards the faith” (1 Tim 6:20). Cosmological speculation (like “Global Warming” or better yet, “Global Disruptions”), mystic theosophy, religious fanaticism (e.g., Islam-the HATEFUL and INTOLERANT religion that the EC-ites welcome as a “partner”!), “incarnation,” etc., are all part of the EC.
Wonderful Climate
THE BACKSLID in heart, the ignorant, the rebel, the syncretist, the mystic, the empty-headed devotee, the quasi-puritan,…these and a thousand others would find a congenial “wonderful climate” in the EC. The agnostic, the philosophical, the occultist, the “traditionalist”-all are real comfy there.
“Illumined” Teachers
I HAVE thus far shown how that “to capture a man or woman, it is not sufficient to enslave his body-it is necessary to enlist their reason”; and “to FREE a man it is not enough to strike the shackles from his limbs-his mind must be liberated from bondage to his own rebellion, ignorance, pride.”
The Word of God tells us in John 8:32 that “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” You see, in the context of human existence and knowledge, many things are “true,” as they say. Yet there is only ONE TRUTH that will set people free from SIN and SATAN’S DOMINION-the TRUTH of Jesus the Christ-this is what the EC doesn’t tell you. They won’t point you to Ephesians 2:20-22. Indeed, SAVING TRUTH is revealed ONLY from God “by His Spirit” (see 1 Cor 2:10) and does not originate from any person or from human wisdom or philosophy (see 1 Cor 2:12-13).
Sinners/Slaves
WHILE THE EC tells us that one needs to be free from God’s “intolerance,” the Word-Jesus Himself-tells us that “whosoever committeth sin is the servant (slave) of sin” (Jn 8:34). The Lord went on to declare, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (v. 36). The unsaved, the backslider, the recreant/ apostate is a slave to sin (see Rom 6:17-20), enslaved to sin and satan, they must live according to the lusts of the sinful flesh.
Jesus’ Blood frees us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness (I have many teachings on this subject already). Tell me, what can the EC do for us?
Romans 7
ROMANS 7 is a good place to read about the Spirit-flesh-Law struggle. After Paul presents the “carnal”-“spiritual” struggle, he asked in verse 24, “…who shall deliver me from the body of this death (sin caused death)?” He answers, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” He could have said, “I thank the philosophers!” You see, both the unregenerate person and the apostate fight a losing battle against SIN-they both are slaves-but through Jesus Christ ALONE, a person can be free “from the law of sin and death” (8:2).
Noble?
SO THE philosophers tell us-they belong to the most “noble” order of man. They also believe that any nation or race which is blessed by illumined thinkers is truly fortunate. I haven’t noticed! And shame on those, like myself, that do not comprehend the “dignity” of the “reasoning power” they possess: according to them, we are “dead to the sphere of REALITY”! Really?
Jesus was God in flesh, yet He was a simple man with supernatural power, unlike those ego-freaks that can’t heal a fly wing or cast out a single devil, or humble their OUT-OF-CONTROL PRIDE!
True to Falsehoods
THIS PRETTY well sums up Part Two. In an effort to be “true,” the EC-ites embrace falsehoods, “plunging into the maelstrom of religious illusions and delusions.” Oh, the insanity of lost humanity! Christian apostates? OXYMORONIC! The precious little time they have upon this earth is WASTED “in the PATHETICALLY FUTILE EFFORT to establish themselves as an ‘enduring power’ in a realm of NON-ENDURING things.”
Emergent Churchites (most of them) are willing to sacrifice the beautiful teaching of Jesus, of the N.T. writers, of that which is true, of the good within and without the written Word upon the altar of worldly ambition and worldly philosophy. The beautiful future of a New Heaven, New Earth, of the “Eternal City of our God” fades from view. In its place rises an empire of falsehoods, “rumbling inevitably towards a fiery end.” Revelation 22:14 begins: “Blessed are they that do His (Christ’s / God’s) commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the (New) City. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever LOVETH and MAKETH a LIE.” Revelation 20:15 reads: “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast (alive) into the lake of fire” (see also Matt 22:13; 25:30; 2 Thes 1:9; Matt 13:42, 50; 2 Pet 2:4; Matt 25:46; Mark 9:43; Rev 19:20; 14:11;
Are You Fascinated Yet?
FASCINATED BY praise, glitter, gain and “honor,” the proud in heart would fellowship the Medusa if it would bring them more numbers into their covens (called churches).
Philosophy is believed by these reprobates to connect Heaven and earth like a golden ladder, “up the rungs of which the ‘enlightened ones’ climb…up, up, into the living reality of fascination of the ‘achieved’ realms of gods and goddesses.”
These ladies and gentlemen of letters and degrees have anointed and appointed themselves the final judges and executioners, for they are both human and “divine.” These “divine” ones in human form pronounce ANATHEMA on Bible-believing saints of God, who are CONDEMNED for being “TOO RELIGIOUS” (for they hold to faith alone, grace alone, the Scriptures alone, Jesus alone).
Only If And When
THE “ILLUMINED saviors” and sages of these special “worlds” point to the time when ALL will embrace their soulless, Christ-less cult. It is only a matter of time, say they, till the Emergence takes place (all faiths in “ONE”). I’m not speaking of philosophy in general, but of the philosophic-cultish realm.
Mind and body have essentially different properties. God has the capacity to cause the soul to exist without the body, “and the soul cannot be part of the body if it can exist apart from it” (declared Descartes). Well, however one views the mind, body and soul, one thing is certain: the Bible declares that the body dies (later to be resurrected) but the soul of man lives on in either Heaven or Hell eternally. Since this is true, why do the disciples of the EC seem so unconcerned about it?
Many within their ranks hold to annihilation; others to universalism. Neither are true.
The god Within
BRIEFLY STATED, ancient philosophy was to “discover a method whereby development of the rational nature could be accelerated instead of awaiting the slower processes of nature.” This supreme source of power and knowledge, this “unfolding of the ‘god’ within,” is concealed under “the epigrammatic statement of the philosophic life”…where the “alchemical transmutation had been accomplished.” Basically, they’re looking for power that’s not theirs, and for knowledge without going through the “school of hard knocks.”
Truly, what man lives, he comes to know-physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Dancing to the Devil’s Tune
THIS ESTABLISHMENT of the Emergent Church, the “philosophic rhythm,” is drawing crowds. The devil has been busy. The EC is the result of years upon years of liberalism, compromisings, and worldliness within the organized Church. The present EC would have no drawing power unless it had formulated an “adequate philosophy” and “dedicated its existence to a policy and to tenets consistent with that philosophy, not theology.”
So, what is their philosophy, their twisted theology? After I’m done with Parts 1-4 of this series, you’ll see it plainly. “Emergent theology must embrace mystery and paradox, and discard propositional truth, because of its rush to include all ideas and perspectives in the pursuit of ‘higher knowledge.’ Emergents often refer to their approach as ‘conversational theology’… they let everyone who comes along throw in any heresy he or she wishes, whether it’s fresh from the fertile fields of postmodernism, or stinking and moldy from the dark cells of the Middle Ages” (Dr. Paul M. Elliott, Ph.D., President of “Teaching the Word Ministries”).
Prof. Elliott hits the bull’s-eye! The EC welcomes ANY and EVERY idea the SINFUL mind of man can imagine…but at the same time, rejects God’s mind. EC’ers literally RIDICULE the Bible, saying it is “only a collection of literary artifacts”-so its value and usefulness are determined not by any objective standard, but by Emergents’ subjective agendas (which are mostly left-wing, social-economic-environmentalist-type agendas).
Emergents’ Fetishes
THE EC makes a fetish of its own fabrications; its gods/goddesses are of its own fashioning. The Amplified Bible uses the words “so-called philosophy, intellectualism, vain deceit, idle fancies, human traditions, crude notions” (Col 2:8). The Emergent leaders have become captains of a stinking, sinking, false gospel ship-these deluded folks are ignorant of their own ignorance!
“The criers of human philosophies and theologies call the ignorant, the rebellious, the prideful to a comradeship of the spirit (not Spirit); to a fraternity of thought (not the mind of God); to a convocation of selves (apart from the true Body of Christ).” Their philosophy and theology invites ALL “into the travesty of ‘fleshly’ ambition” (which we’re warned against in Gal 5:17-21, for the desires of the “flesh” are opposed to the desires of the Holy Spirit, for these are antagonistic to each other, and if one walks in the “flesh,”-its sins-Paul warns, “those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God!”).
Negative philosophy, the kind found inside the EC, leads men away from the Living God, not into Him!
Following the Holy Spirit, “bathed in the radiance of Spirit understanding,” becomes a beautiful reality: “the Spirit’s wisdom and knowledge permeating the inner man, the hidden man of the heart.”
Paul put it so beautifully: “If then you (Colossian Christians) have been raised with Christ (to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead), aim at and seek the (rich, eternal treasures) that are above…” (Col 3:1, AMP). Paul goes on to tell them to “kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members-those animal impulses and all that is earthy in you that is employed in sin: SEXUAL VICE, IMPURITY, SENSUAL APPETITES, UNHOLY DESIRES…GREED, COVETOUSNESS…IDOLATRY…” (v. 5). The EC-ites do exactly the opposite-they “RELEASE THE BEAST!”
CERTAINLY! CHRISTIANITY can be called a HOLY WAR!, for we wrestle against the “Big Four” (see Eph 6). On the other hand, the EC-ites wrestle against the “Big Three”-The Father, Son, Holy Ghost!
Whether Christian or non-Christian, man struggles from the womb (from physical birth and from spiritual birth-being born-again) to the tomb.
It was once said by a well-known philosopher, “The fool lives but for today; the philosopher lives forever.” Maybe in his or her own imagination; but man only lives eternally (with God) if he or she has “fought the good (worthy, honorable, and noble) fight…finished the race (of life)…kept (firmly held) the faith” (2 Tim 4:7).
Philosophers (of all kinds) hold to conscious immortality. They believe in it. Socrates once said, “Anytus and Meltitus may indeed put me to death, but they cannot injure me.” Jesus told the Jews, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again” (Jn 2:19): He was referring to His physical body. Jesus also said, “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but CANNOT KILL THE SOUL” (Matt 10:28). To the truly redeemed, physical existence is but “the outer room of the hall of life.” “Swinging open the doors of this antechamber, the redeemed pass into the greater and more perfect existence, to an endless duration with Deity; the unsaved, duration with the damned!” This, my dear readers, the EC scoff at. But the Bible is clear on this matter.
“Eternity” (the same Greek word, aionios, used both for the duration of the blessed/redeemed in Heaven and for the cursed in Hell), in one sense, is determined by man: do good = live; do evil = DIE (spiritually-separation from God’s blessings). This infinite period of time (“eternity”) has been designed, not by man, but by the ALL-MIGHTY GOD as the time of all accomplishment, consummation and fulfillment.
On one hand, philosophy (positive) “assists man to develop a sense of appreciation,” for it reveals “the glory and application of knowledge”; but as Jesus told the Pharisee Nicodemus (of the Jews), “…unless a person is born again (anew, from above), HE CANNOT EVER SEE-KNOW, BE ACQUAINTED WITH (AND EXPERIENCE) THE KINGDOM OF GOD” (Jn 3:3). The Lord repeats this Truth in verses five and six. WE MUST BE BORN AGAIN!
Philosophy and religion won’t assure us of eternal life. These may point to it, but we MUST BELIEVE in the ONLY Son of God, Jesus Christ the Lord, who bestows life upon them, freely, who have truly REPENTED of their sins.