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TransFORM: The Devil & His Emergent Church In Your Neighborhood
After viewing Rob Bell’s presentation of his false, heretical gospel recently, it was difficult, at the time, for me to imagine more disheartening news for the day. I was wrong. I appreciate the hard work and dedication of those at Apprising.org, and I am truly thankful to God for a site that actually keeps us up to date with the contemporary issues facing the visible church. Kudos to Ken Silva and gang.
But I was almost floored this morning when I viewed the latest video from the emergent ‘children of the Korn’. I know, I shouldn’t be shocked, but I am somewhat.
When I contemplate the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I am ever blessed, grace upon grace, always increasing in my thankfulness of what Christ has done on the cross, His propitiation on my behalf, and the unsearchable depths of His grace and mercy on such sinners.
Then there’s the ‘gospel’ of Rob Bell and the emergent church. Is there no end to this wickedness? Yes, but we must be patient, vengeance belongs to the Lord doesn’t it? What may be even more disturbing to me than Bell’s false gospel is the lack of prominent evangelical leaders to come right out and declare Bell a heretic. I guess politics and political correctness pays better doesn’t it? Why are evangelical leaders tippy-toeing around it? That’s another post.
I ran across this video this morning, newly tweeted by an emergent follower, and, after viewing it, I cringed and my imagination ran. I envision all the teens, tweens and all the other descriptors attempting to identify those various generations of people not my age and I think of how popular these emergent leaders and their false gospel has become. It is truly frightening. They are presenting, clearly a false gospel, clearly a false hope, and the bait and the attractiveness of it upon unregenerate men and women must be amazingly easy and comforting to those hearing it.
Well, there is a new push for this false gospel. It is a push to form communities all over the world – support groups, if you will – to continue the false gospel of Rob Bell and those of his ilk who worship creation and the restoration of it, rather than the Creator; who focus more on love and grace, effectually making idols of them, rather than worshiping the Lord and Sovereign of all, Jesus Christ.
They call themselves “TransFORM: Missional Community Formation”.
They are endorsed (not surprisingly) by such names as:
Brian D. McLaren who says:
“In my travels and interaction across denominations, I’m convinced that we need a network to be created. This network would help convene a new generation of leaders to support and encourage one another in the formation of new missional communities. Such a network could work within and alongside existing denominations; it would be bound together not by similarity in form or style but by a common mission and a shared ethos and values. I’m doing all I can to encourage and support this endeavor, and I hope others will join me.”—Brian D. McLaren
“There is probably no more pressing matter facing the Church right now than is the need to establish missional communities that will both live/be/carry the Word within the larger community we call ‘the culture’ and, at the same time, serve as a place of union and shared activity between established churches and emergence Christianity. It would be essentially impossible to exaggerate the magnitude of this need or to overstate how enthusiastically and hopefully I am embracing the concepts articulated by TransFORM.”—Phyllis Tickle
“It’s time to construct something, time to work proactively for the establishment of new communities of faith. That is clearly the next step of emergence, and I’m thrilled that the right people are getting ready to make this happen. I stand ready to help in any way possible, and I encourage others to wholeheartedly support TransFORM as well.”—Tony Jones, former National Coordinator of Emergent Village, author of The New Christians
The purpose of TransFORM is to bring together men and women who are on the verge of starting new communities (i.e., community catalysts) or are already cultivating new communities and to give them the encouragement and resources they need to get started and be sustainable:by providing training in missional community development, practical start-up issues, and theological engagementby connecting community catalysts with potential support structuresby helping community catalysts negotiate complicated and challenging support structure relationships and hurdlesto link community catalysts with mentors/spiritual directorsGoalsOrganize regional gatherings to bring together missional practitioners with those interested in forming new missional communitiesPartner with denominations/networks/groups to put on these regional gatherings and provide other resources and connections for community catalystsDevelop other resources to encourage missional community formationBuild and sustain momentum, share best practices and other learnings, provide mutual encouragement and exchange of ideas, and develop emerging leaders
“We have a deep passion for justice.” – Shane Claiborne
We don’t use a lot of church language…we just are. – Jay Bakker
This seems a little loose in some respects but why is it becoming so popular?…….maybe the “orthodox” church forgot something along the way. Too easy to throw stones at these folks and not say ok what are people drawn to? Community is not a bad word in fact a biblical principle. Its just dressed in extremes. Dont throw the baby………
Just a thought
Darrell,
It’s not the people, it’s Biblical doctrine that is the issue. We’re talking about Truth here, and truth, as revealed in Scripture, is paramount.
Joel,
Thank you for posting this and speaking out against the heretical false teachers. I agree with you that in today’s evangelical culture there is absolutely no discernment and anyone who boldly comes out to protect the flock by naming names and telling people to stay away from these wolves is often treated worse than the heretics. I commend great men of God like John MacArthur who are not afraid to not only boldly proclaim the full counsel of God but also to openly call out and warn Christians about false teachers.
Soli Deo Gloria!
- Jay
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Joel,
Thank you for another insightful post and warning to us all. I just wish more Christians would drop all the “only God can judge” attitude and actually follow the Bible’s commandments about marking heretics like Rob Bell.
In Christ,
David J horn
Sola Scriptura
The language is nebulous and utopian, but what is absent is Christ and any hint of evangelism. Perhaps ten years ago we might have though it was just a different focus, but it is far too evident now that eternity and the implications of such are not even on the radar screen.
This is humanism, universalism, and void of any vestige of a pursuit of holiness (pleasing God). It remedies hang-ups and sins through the redemptive process of sharing and caring. Sharing and caring certainly have their place, but without repentance through the mirror of God’s Word, and the forgiveness found only through Christ’s blood, you are left with little else than a support group designed to project the “I’m OK – You’re OK” philosophy.
Ironic/Fun Moments for me:
At about 1.55 min ‘…for some people, we’re their last stop on the way out of Christianity…’
at about 2.55 ‘reconciled to (skip a beat) God…’ (since the only vague mention of Jesus in the whole film was NB-W’s term ‘Christo-centric’, whatever that is…)
Dude talking about ‘art therapy’
The use of the words ‘organic’ and ‘authentic’ and ‘conversation’ that we just KNEW people couldn’t escape using as part of the new approved lingo that replaces old worn-out words like justification, sanctification, sin, propitiation, condemnation, heaven and hell, fear of the Lord
Galatians 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
Paul was not happy that the Galatians were abandoning the Faith and going back to legalism. This is what he says about the too often used baby with the bathwater.
The saddest part of the video and the movement is that some of these people are sincere in their desire to be Jesus to the world. Some of these people are immature Christians who need instruction via Bible milk but instead are being fed tainted food by the very ones they depend upon for nourishment. I pray daily for the Holy Spirit to draw out the ones who truly seek to honor God. While all the talk of love sounds good, the problem is that without Jesus Christ, there is no true love. More importantly, all the love in the world will not bring salvation. We can love people to death, but they will still be in Hell when they die. Sad but true.
Yes Amy, I had the same ironic/fun moments in the same places that you did! I learned something else that I did not know previous to watching this. I have terrible posture! Who knew?
I have one other thought on the “baby with the bathwater comment”. What if it’s Rosemary’s baby?
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I’m with you Darrell as I’m leaving this comment for you. First, if anyone was paying attention to the particular individual comments, there was much to be desired- many, many things those in institutionalized religion rarely if ever practice. These desires are in the least commendable and should be applauded. Kind of like Jehovah’s Witnesses repeated attempts to convert you from going door to door. These efforts shame most so-called believers.
Much of what Emergent has rejected should be rejected including all man made institutionalized religion, man made church heirarchies and countless traditions of men. Some of what they include, especially the desire for community is excellent. The desire for intimacy with each other, the desire to serve and a willingness to listen and accept others is outstanding.
Sadly, without God’s truth and a willingness to defend it this outreach may likely become next to 12 step programs the most subtle and deceiving counterfeit yet.
Unlike most of those who rightly criticize and expose emergent for what it is, few if any will place the blame where it should originate- with themselves. I specifically mean with those so-called leaders in organized religion. Year after year the same so-called authorities continue to amass larger “churches,” more “followers” and bigger “reputations” and “influences.” Instead of following the Biblical pattern for local assemblies these men continue to justify their “positions,” religious “titles” and man made ministries. Any educated man knows you can’t name a ministry- ministry is simply service rendered. Why do they continue to name “their” ministry, write more books and even have their own names on a Bible? Is anyone listening.
There is good news though. Hopefully the hate crime legislation will make speaking against homosexuals illegal. This will cause all man made “churches” (which God does not nor has ever sanctioned) forced to decide whether they really want to obey God or not. Hopefully all of them will close and force these so-called leaders like John M to be relegated to a simple saint. Obviously some people, whether they be Chuck Swindoll, Charles Stanley, Chuck Smith, Jack Hayford, John MacCarthur (or your favorite so-called Christian celebrity) despite knowing the history of the early ekklesia have no intention of telling you the truth- they simply are too proud and have too much to lose. That goes for the rest of you still defending the Baptist, Lutheran, Reformed tradition etc. You are no wiser, nor righteous than those you condemn on this video. Until you repent of your own sectarian spirit please refrain from attempting to inform others of truth or point us in the direction of super spiritual gurus who just arn’t worth following. May God be true, even if all men are liars.
I’m curious Michael as to your theology. How do you think one is saved? You threw a lot of names out there, which is all well and good, but do you know anything of what these men teach? Can you point out what is wrong with their teaching? If they are teaching false doctrine, please clarify what that is. You said that they were not speaking the truth so could you be a bit clearer on what they have lied about?
It is much easier to have a discussion on the problems with the denominations you pointed out here, if you can clearly define what it is you believe is incorrect and then back it up with Scripture. Otherwise all you are doing is merely spewing words on the screen that perhaps represent your own opinion, but not God’s opinion. The way debates typically work is that you begin first by clearly defining a position. Currently, I can only make an assumption by your ‘hate crimes bill’ comment that you are ‘for’ homosexuality, which God has a very clear opinion of in Scripture. Could you please clarify your position for the sake of those that are trying to follow this topic? I think Joel was very clear on the theological problems with those that were mentioned, so what do you bring to the table for your proof ?
Just so you know Michael, Jehova’s Witnesses go door-to-door with so much fervour because the fear of not getting into Heaven or being part of their ‘New Earth’ (reserved for the people above the original 144,000 heaven-dwellers when the JWs became more than 144,000 members and had to amend teachings). This fear is the fuel that drives them to proselytise, NOT the love of Jesus.
Further, why should we take the blame for what is happening in the Emergent chuches? First you state Emergents have rejected things that should be rejected by others, putting them on some moral high ground. Then you go on to say that there is criticism of the Emergents that is ‘expos[ing] emergent for what it is,’ but those who criticise should start with themselves because they are apparently to blame. How is it that you have determined that the Emergent church is both right and wrong, but in neither case worthy of blame? Better yet how is that all worked out Scripturally?
Yes, Catherine, I agree, Michael seems to throw out the baby, the bathwater, and the whole human race except for what he belives, whatever that may be. He seems to have thrown out scope, clarity, thesis, and the Bible too.