Rejected: the Emerging Church

Rejected: the Emerging Church

by Jesse Eastes

It has become a growing concern of mine that the modern church is adopting far too many modern ideologies and wholly embracing post-modern thinking. To make matters worse, and to highlight the insidious nature of the threat, I will admit to you right now that I too have been caught up in this dangerous vein of thought. God help us when soldiers like me with a fourth grade reading ability can also be led down the path of Christian liberalism.

Just what the heck am I talking about? I’ll give you a few anecdotes that highlight my concern. My insurance agent happens to be my best “guy” friend, to understand that you must know that I knew him before he was an insurance agent. Also, just to set the record straight my wife Carla is my actual best friend. Why do I ramble on? Here is a man who is very dedicated to the Lord. He spends time reading his bible, he prays and most of all he helps out other people with an open and genuine heart. Dale is the embodiment of Mark 12:30 and 31. In fact Dale often shames me just by his example and his constant outpouring of love for others.

So I was in for a surprise when I spoke to his sister a few years ago. She goes to “City Church” in Kirkland Washington. I cannot say I have anything against this church; they have a mission statement and a creed that I can not disagree with except that I don’t believe in mission statements or creeds in general. What Dale’s sister, had to say did cause me concern. When asked about her church she went on and on about the youth ministry, the stage production and the puppet show. She talked about the pastor and what a great man he was, she talked about the pastor’s wife and how she loved her sermons. When questioned on her faith she did profess what sounded like a genuine exegesis and Christian belief. Are you alarmed yet? She was also reading Teachings of the Christian Mystics by Andrew Harvey. I have this book and I will tell you it is a useful historical reference and that is about it. Dale’s sister was trying to apply these concepts, some of which are Gnostic or blatantly New Age to her spiritual walk. Where did she get this book? At the church bookstore.

Loreena McKennitt is a very popular New Age singer and songwriter you can find in the World Section of your local Borders bookstore. I have a handful of her CDs just because the instrumentals are amazing and her voice is clear as crystal. Do I recommend her work to other Christians? Hardly She is New-Age bordering on nature worshipper. I did go to a concert in Seattle and even though I sat in the nosebleed seats somewhere between LaGrange Five and the Kuiper Belt I was still impressed by her performance. Imagine my shock when I read an extremely positive review of her latest album on the website of the United Methodist Church 1. The review even went as far as to make an apology for New-Age music with a joke. “What you get when you play a New-Age album backwards is New-Age music.” The reviewer also stated that Loreena’s music could be useful in worship or meditation. I was trying to digest these developments as I was driving to work one day and I drove past a Methodist church. The marquee stated “Were not your grandmother’s church!” Excuse me, you are my grandmother’s church and I don’t think she would approve of your tone.

I read in the local newspaper that a council of local churches was to gather and discuss community needs. In addition to the many Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox churches attending the Mormon and Jehovah’s Witness churches were also invited. I have seen that some so-called evangelical churches are holding conferences with Mormon churches. I once went to a Mormon church at the invite of a friend. I was curious to see what goes on there. I am ashamed to admit it, but the deed is done. I intensely disliked the absence of scripture, I intensely disliked the so-called “testimonies” and I intensely disliked the Irish looking WASP “Jesus” hanging on the wall. When the elements of communion were passed out consisting of white Wonder Bread and thimbles of water I was downright distressed. You might as well partake in a black Sabbath. Since when has the church of Christ accepted such things?

Now we have the Emerging Church and all I can say is I am afraid. The term Evangelical used to be powerful and a force to be reckoned with. Now it is watered down and meaningless. The name “Jesus Freak” used to carry meaning and I aspired to be one. I am sorry; I wish I could find something positive here, but the Emerging Church is a hydra and it will kill us. The Bible is being ignored and I can easily point it out to you just as I can point out a killer storm on the horizon. Everything from questions on homosexuality to the authority of scripture are being ignored or diluted by the shepherds of confusion.

Brian McLaren writes: “Frankly, many of us don't know what we should think about homosexuality.2" Well Brian, the Bible says it is an “abomination before the Lord,” a judgment from God and that you should hate the sin and not the sinner3. Did I miss something? Perhaps I am a victim of what McLaren calls radio orthodoxy:

“Usually when I'm asked about this subject, it's by conservative Christians wanting to be sure that we conform to what I call ‘radio-orthodoxy,’ i.e. the religio-political priorities mandated by many big-name religious broadcasters. Sometimes it's asked by ex-gays who want to be sure they'll be supported in their ongoing re-orientation process, or parents whose children have recently ‘come out.4'”

How distressing to see such a thing on Christianity Today. My major gripe here is that the evangelical movement is embracing relativism to their own detriment. This is the darkest of all lies spawned by deconstructionist theories prevalent in academia. How many Christian college students have lost their faith to this socialist dogma? Is it not bad enough that most young and under-trained believers fail to survive school when confronted by literary carpetbaggers who teach that words have no true meaning, no presence? A sentence is only a “groundless chain of signifiers” open to infinite manipulation? Take it a step further, there is no truth! Nothing can be defined by right or wrong; truth is relative! Fair enough, Liberal Professor, I challenge you to defy gravity, do us all a favor and jump off of a cliff.

Now that relativism and deconstructionist thought is invading the church we find the New Age and the occult riding in on the coat tails. Many churches are adopting Centering Prayer which is a type of prayer that relies on repetition of a single word and the emptying of the mind. If it sounds like eastern philosophy, don’t worry it is. Centering or contemplative prayer was developed by a monk named Thomas Keating who tried to reach out to eastern mystics by adapting their practices to Christianity. Even the Roman Catholic Church has spoken out against Keating’s seminars and philosophies but that hasn’t stopped the Emerging Church from using his methods.

Is it any wonder that the church is falling for eastern mysticism given the rejection of scripture as the absolute word of God? Scot McKnight writes:

“The emerging movement is a protest against much of evangelicalism as currently practiced…The emerging movement tends to be suspicious of systematic theology. Why? Not because we don't read systematics, but because the diversity of theologies alarms us, no genuine consensus has been achieved, God didn't reveal a systematic theology but a storied narrative, and no language is capable of capturing the Absolute Truth who alone is God.5"

So what we have is a movement that refuses absolutes about who God is, read that as who Jesus is, on the basis that they were not democratically determined. I have two problems with that. Firstly God is not a committee and does not have to subject the truth to a public forum. Secondly the Lord always maintains a remnant not a majority6.

McKnight was nice enough to give us his motivation:

“A final stream flowing into the emerging lake is politics. Put directly, they are Democrats. And that spells "post" for conservative-evangelical-politics-as-usual. I have publicly aligned myself with the emerging movement. What attracts me is its soft postmodernism (or critical realism) and its praxis/missional focus. I also lean left in politics.7"

Ah ha, thanks for clearing up that ambiguity. Here I thought you were just a misguided believer. Now I know you’re a dedicated socialist.

“This stream flows from the conviction that the church must always be reforming itself.”

Stop it, you’re killing me! With such wonderful writing combined with titles like my Prosaic Jesus, Or Brown like Shit by David Sherwood and Please Don't Stereotype The Emerging Church by Dan Kimball I confess it is hard not to laugh when reading the literature coming out of these circles. But no one is laughing at the metrics.

More and more churches are adopting the seeker-friendly values of the Emerging Church and those that do, see growth in leaps and bounds. The production quality church services combined with a message lacking in the basic message of Christianity is a powerful draw to the populace.

“Worship is participatory and multisensory. People are encouraged to tangibly express their spirituality. Many are weaving together elements from different religious traditions, especially Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Some are discovering medieval mystical practices such as walking the labyrinth, but adding decidedly modern twists. It's a pick-your-own-mix approach that also stresses community and social justice8."– Kim Lawton.

“One of the deepest problems is that -- and nobody ever would intend this -- but that for some people, the traditional view of hell makes God look like a torturer. My purpose is to get conversation going about the old view and problems with it so that we can together move forward in reconsidering, and maybe there is a better understanding of what Jesus meant and what the scriptures mean when they've talked about issues like judgment, justice, hell.9” – Brian Mclaren

Of course a gospel like this is popular we have a Jesus without authority, a Bible you don’t have to agree with, a Hell without fire and sins without consequence. This is a complete denial of the certitude of faith. What is the point? There are now congregations where the truth has not been preached in years. I will tell you right now that if you have not heard in your church that you are a sinner, sin kills and only Jesus can save you from Hell and damnation then you have not heard the gospel in your church.

Where is it headed? Compare and contrast.

“New Lights offer up themselves as the cosmions of a mind-of-Christ consciousness. As a cosmion incarnating the cells of a new body, New Lights will function as transitional vessels through which transforming energy can renew the divine image in the world, moving postmoderns from one state of embodiment to another.10" -- Leonard Sweet, Emerging Church Leader.

“The Christ-Consciousness stands far above this common way of give-and-take thinking. It is from this superior and sublime point of view that we have to understand what it is to empty oneself and to be filled by the Spirit. When He says 'empty thyself and I shall file SIC thee', it is not that the Christ as Jesus, the personality, is going to sit on your head. He cannot fill you, as a person.11" - Sri Swami Krishnananda

The ecumenical movement will take us back to the Catholic Church. The emergent church will take us into New Age theosophy; they will unite into one monster religion. Evangelicals are starting to deny the future and God’s promises. Some say the Millennium of Christ will not come, reference Hank Hanegraaff’s recent bombshell book The Apocalypse Code Unveiled where he basically espoused replacement theology and disregarded dispensationalist theology. Then you have Bruce Wilkinson’s Prayer of Jabez that promotes a prosperity gospel and Rick Warrens Purpose Driven Life pointing to a gospel with a watered down exegesis lacking in a proper treatment of sin, hell and the blood of Christ. This is all leading to the conditions Jesus himself warned about in the Church of the last days:

“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” - Revelation 3:14-22

The warning seems all the more alarming in the light of this scripture.

"And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. Mat 24:10-14

Christians are either growing “cold or lukewarm.” Many are denying God’s promises to Israel and teaching replacement theology. Many are denying the kingdom age and the imminent return of Jesus. These things can only lead us to selfishness, bitterness, anti-Semitism and a crisis of faith. Religiosity is a sickness not a goal.

I urge you to read your Bibles and read them literally. I urge you to pray without ceasing. I urge you to find someone who is an elder who will guide you in the truth of the scripture. I urge you to cast off all religiosity and false religious systems whether they are New Age or Christian works based religions. Plug into the grace of God and the truth of Jesus. If you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus then develop one right now. The wolves are out there and they are hungry.

“But He answered and said, ‘It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'’ " -Matthew 4:4

1 http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.2574663/k.4FEE/Loreena_McKennitt_iAn_Ancient_Musei.html

2 http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2006/01/brian_mclaren_o.html

3 Romans 1:26-27, Leviticus 20:13, Luke 15:7, James 5:20

5 http://www.ctlibrary.com/40534

6 Romans 11:4, Revelation 7:4

7 http://www.ctlibrary.com/40534

8 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week845/cover.html

9 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week846/cover.html

10 www.LeonardSweet.com

11 www.dlshq.org/religions/christconscious.htm