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Emerging Church Mirror
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Each according to its kind, and it was so. Gen 1:24 An evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. Matt. 12:35 The anti-Christian heresy of the emerging church movement (indeed, what could be more anti-Christ than doctrine which denies the deity of Christ?) should not be understood as some radical break with contemporary evangelicalism embodied in the raw pragmatism of the church growth movement. It is rather the next stage in the moral, intellectual, and theological decay inherent in that movement and in its progenitors, the conservative resurgence and the fundamentalist movement and their free-will dispensationalism theology. By the time the conservative resurgence had morphed into the church growth movement, there was very little theological content of any sort. Honestly, what was the point? If the Lord is going to rapture everyone who prayed the sinner’s prayer and signed a decision card out from the troubles of this world, the only thing that matters is bringing folks to that hour of decision – by whatever means. When your focus is to make sinners feel comfortable in the context of worship so they might decide that going along with Christ is a good thing, the effort required to assimilate God-size Bible doctrine is just too demanding; so much easier to wave your arms in the air and chant, “God is so goo-oo-ood.” Now the progeny of this so-called evangelism is adjusting the Gospel further, using the vocabulary of Christianity, but re-writing the dictionary. This is a form of the literay deconstructionism that has been used in the public sphere to corrupt our constitution and government. This method was widely used before in the church with great success by the neo-orthodox, The purveyors of the various emerging church heresies will use it with complete and utter success until they are quite firmly in command of the institutions, churches and denominations from which they emerged, precisely because no one in those organizations knows any theology. They are ignorant of the most basic meanings of the central tenets of Christianity because they have never been taught by leaders who were more focused on their image as executives and denominational power-brokers instead of pastor-teachers. When the lay people who sit on pulpit committees, deacon boards, and committees to nominate church officers are not well established in biblical doctrine, the door to the sheep-fold is open to any old wolf that wanders by. I believe it was R.L. Dabney who observed long ago that conservatism was vacuous; that it was always a total failure. The answer is never conservatism (drawing a line and saying we will accept this much corruption, but we will hold the line here), the answer is always and only orthodoxy. If you would serve Christ’s kingdom in this generation, gird up the loins of your mind and quit yourselves like men. Dare to lead, instead of being led by every wind of doctrine. Study (the grand old confessions of Protestant orthodoxy) to show yourself approved. Dare to preach doctrine, to confront sin, to challenge the regenerate to take up the cross.
Well said…
I DISAGREE WITH YOU, HARPIE. FIRST OF ALL, YOU MAKE VAST GENERALIZATIONS: “The purveyors of the various emerging church heresies will use it…” DO YOU KNOW THIS FOR A FACT, OR ARE YOU MERELY SPECULATING? “precisely because no one in those organizations knows any theology.” REALLY, NO ONE AT ALL? I FIND THAT DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE. I DO, HOWEVER, KNOW SOME EMERGENT LEADERS THAT NEED SOME TRAINING IN THEOLOGY, BUT I ALSO KNOW SOME WHO DO NOT. “…because they have never been taught by leaders…” HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY KNOW THIS? INDEED, MORE SPECULATION.
I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO ADDRESS YOUR ASSERTION THAT: “indeed, what could be more anti-Christ than doctrine which denies the deity of Christ?” AGAIN, I KNOW OF MANY EMERGENT LEADERS AND PASTORS WHO UPHOLD THE DEITY OF CHRIST TO THE UTMOST OF THEIR BEING. I REALLY DON’T THINK THAT THE ENTIRETY OF THE EMERGENT MOVEMENT IS AS HERETICAL AS YOU, AND OTHERS ON THIS BLOG, ESPOUSE. HOWEVER, I DO KNOW OF SOME EMERGENT LEADERS WHO ARE WAY OFF COURSE. THAT BEING SAID, I FIND IT OFFENSIVE THAT ALL EMERGENTS GET PAINTED WITH THE SAME BRUSH. THEREFORE, ALL I ASK IS THAT PEOPLE WRITE FROM FACT AND NOT FROM EMOTION WHEN ADDRESSING THESE KINDS OF ISSUES.
Thank you.