19 January 2014
Dear Phyllis,
The other day Paul and my friend, Ed Pew, were talking to me about the Emerging Church. This was a new term for me. What they were saying was so far off the wall it was hard for me to believe it. Ed had a DVD that he loaned me, and I checked it out on You Tube, and was surprised to discover how expansive this movement is.
There have always been civil wars going on in the Body of Christ. In what the Lord has shared with us concerning the Seven Churches in Rev. 2 and 3, we see serious problems in five of the seven churches. For years I struggled with these seven churches as I could not understand how, or why, Jesus would stand in the midst of them. One time I told the Lord He was dead wrong and should get out. He shouldn't associate Himself with some of those really bad churches. But then the Lord showed me the significance of the expression “Overcomer”. In all seven churches He uses that word saying, “To him that overcomes”. Then I saw that what He was talking about was seven religious environments that would be prevalent during the church period. Just as there were good things and bad things during the history of Israel in the OT, there would be good things and bad things during the church period. Israel was still God's people even during the times of some really horrible kings; and the church is still the Body of Christ even during some periods of terrible corruption. But the real church, Body of Christ, is not those corrupt false Christians, but the Overcomers during that period.
There have always been false prophets and heretics. They are to be called out and denounced. But there have always been civil wars among genuine believers over differing issues. Luther ands Zwingli persecuted the Anabaptists. That is hard to understand until we realize how far even genuine believers will fight for their personal position on controversial issues. There have been wars over baptism. This was the issue with the Anabaptists. The fight over Armenianism and Calvinism has been going on for centuries and still rages today. It is impossible to be too definitive here, as both sides have an abundance of scripture to bolster their position.
But black and white issues are different. To me, the water shed here is the Word of God. The first thing that ever came out of the mouth of the devil was, “Hath God said?” He questioned the word of God. And he hasn't changed his play book to this day. Here is where I will part company with anyone who says he is a Christian and yet is not clear on the authority and infallibility of the Bible. The Bible is the Holy Scripture and that stands unchallenged as God's Word to man. To any man who questions that, that man is my enemy.
In the 1950s and 60s the hottest war among Christians was over the term New Evangelicalism. This was a term coined by Harold Ockenga in his approach to reach out to liberals. He felt the best way to win liberals was to join them. This was the war where Billy Graham was the bone at a dog fight. He insisted that liberals be included in any platform where he was having a crusade. He hailed men who were clearly heretics and anti-Christ as great men of God. He embraced the Catholics, and called the Pope the greatest spiritual reformer of the 20th century. He told Robert Schuller that he felt many who had never heard the name of Christ who were Muslims, Hindu, or Buddhist would be in heaven because “they loved God”. All of this is clearly recorded on You Tube.
Ecumenicalism is the child of the devil, and has been around for millenniums. During the time of Ezra and Nehemiah the enemy of the people of God tried to get in on the act by saying, “Let us build with you; for we seek your God” (Ezra 4:2). The Bible is very clear on that issue, and leaves no room for argument. This was a blatant move of the devil to get in on ground floor with God's people. And the play book hasn't changed to this day. The first thing God ever did was to separate light from darkness; and the devil has been trying to blur the two ever since. In the days of Moses the Lord said to Pharaoh, “I will put a division between My people and thy people” (Ex. 8:23). The Lord was adamant that there was to be no compromise with Israel and the inhabitants of Canaan land. The hottest battle after the Babylonian captivity was the building of the wall (Neh. 2:17,19). In Ezekiel 40, when the Lord showed Ezekiel the new Temple, which clearly is the church, the first thing He showed him was the wall (Ez. 40:5). And in Revelation when we see the New Jerusalem, the first thing mentioned is the wall (Rev. 21:12). The devil hates walls, and this is the central fight to this day.
This Emerging Church is a new issue for me, but it has a very stale smell about it. We can be sympathetic with Billy Graham in his desire to win liberals for Christ. I am all for it. But I don't like the business of calling those who are clearly anti-Christ great men of God. I can be sympathetic with Andy Stanley in his desire to win generation X by being relevant. But I don't care for his lowering Christian culture to be relevant. I can understand why some Christians want to wear ear rings and have tattoos to win young people, but I don't care for their leading conservative young people into paganism and taking the church into the world. Apparently the Emerging Church is an old play under a new name. I was stunned to see Rick Warrens name listed among the key men in this new movement. I can understand his (their) desire to win souls for Christ, but deadly compromise is not the way to do it. Fumbling the ball is not the way to win a game.
I am just beginning to learn a little of what is going on. What I have seen so far is so weird that I am having a hard time taking it in. What I have seen is that it seems this new movement is extremely broad and many good conservative churches are moving in that direction. It is the same old game of moving left to win those on the left. Some of this is very innocuous. What is wrong with contemporary music? There is the usual criticism of dead religion. Much of this is well justified, but then some of the extreme that is brought forward is not the right solution. One of the practices that has surprised me is a strong movement towards Muslims. Rick Warren has been invited and spoken at several Islamic conferences. I see nothing wrong with working to present Christ to them, but there also has been a movement to mix the Bible with the Quran. There are churches where the Quran is presented as being equal to the Holy Bible. I was surprised to discover a new term of Chrislam which is the merger of Christianity with Islam. I don't know how long this has been around, but it was new to me.
Just because something is found in Buddhism does not mean it is wrong, and Christians should never practice it. Buddhist practice fasts. Does that mean that no Christian should ever fast? Buddhist practice meditation. Does that mean that no Christian should ever meditate. David talks about “In His Law doth he meditate day and night.” (Ps. 1:2). Buddhists place a strong emphasis on keeping the body in subjection. Does that mean that Christians shouldn't keep their bodies under control? Buddhism believes in external revelation. Does that mean that we should bar the door to the Holy Spirit to reveal things to us? Just because various things are found in Buddhism or Eastern religion does not mean that they are fundamentally wrong. But there is a fine line between getting in contact with the spirit world orchestrated by the devil and communing with the Holy Spirit.
The lead prophet of the Emerging church seems to be Bran McLaren. Another name frequently mentioned is Rob Bell. If we look at their teaching closely, it is obvious that they are heavily into mysticism, and Eastern religion. This seems to be a new involvement of New Age. After struggling with dead Christianity, I can understand their excitement with their encounters with the spirit world. And they are leading thousands of seeking Christians into something that has substance. It is not surprising that this movement would be a mutation of Christianity.
There are two things that I see that are fundamentally wrong and dangerous. The first is the notable absence of Jesus. It is highly significant that Jesus is not the focal point of this new movement. There is great emphasis on the spirit world, but Jesus is not front and center. Anything that diminishes Jesus is out in my book. If the Jesus of the Bible and the incarnate Son of God is lifted up, loved, and obeyed, I am all for it. Anything that moves in the other direction is “no thank you”. There has been a war raging on ever since Lucifer decided that he would take the highest seat, and was cast down (Isa. 14:12-15). The Father has appointed that seat for His Son, and any movement that challenges the honor of the Son is of the devil.
The second thing that I see that sends up red flags is that obviously this is a new thrust at the old play book of ecumenicalism. The devil has been running this play for millenniums, but this is a new approach. The ecumenical movement 50 years ago was an attempt to get all Christian churches under one flag and one roof. This one is different. This is not just an attempt to get Christian churches together, but to get all religions together. New age is fundamentally Eastern religion. The Emerging church is embracing this and borrows from Buddhism and Hinduism very much. As I said before, there is this new term of Chrislam which is a merger of Christianity with Islam. That is one wing of it. But with its emphasis on mysticism and Eastern religion practice, the Emerging Church is an attempt to bring Christianity into unity with occult garbage as well.
It is universally accepted that the anti-Christ will be a charismatic world leader.. He will come to power by political means. But along with his administration there is also with him the false Prophet. It is universally accepted that this is the religious half to support the anti-Christ. This is why we are seeing the movement to bring all religions together. In Rev. 16:13 and 20:10 we see a unique picture of the devil's trinity all together in one verse – the dragon, the best and the false prophet.
There are a lot of things that are not clear yet but it does seem clear that there must be globalization. To get the power that the anti-Christ obviously has, there must be a coming together of all (most) nations. A blind man with one glass eye can see what is happening and where we are going in this regard. Obama is very clear that this is one of his main objectives. We are extremely close to seeing a one world currency. Obama is increasingly trying to use the UN to enact laws that he cannot push through congress. We are increasingly seeing the convergence of nations politically. And this great push of ecumenicalism is the devils program to unite religions. We aren't there yet, but it is astounding to see this merging within churches under the banner of the Emerging Church. And it is extremely difficult for me to see men like Rick Warren as being involved with this movement. Jesus told us that there would be terrific deception in the last days; so much so that – if it were possible – even the elect would be deceived (Mt. 24:24).
What will happen in 2014? Who knows, but things are moving at a tremendous pace, and surly much that the Bible has warned us about is right at the door. From earths perspective this is an extremely dark picture. But from heavens view these are hallelujah days; for the return of Christ and His reign on this planet are extremely near. It is hold-your-hat-Hannah and a great time to be wide out for Jesus.
Ganbarimasho (let's give it our best shot),
bill
No comments:
Post a Comment