SOUTHERN
BAPTIST PASTOR:
“JESUS
IS THE FOUNDER OF LIBERALISM"
By Paul Proctor
A reader sent me an amazing
article over the weekend from the Religion section of The Decatur Daily titled
"An
emerging Christianity is reshaping faith." It was written by the
pastor of a Southern Baptist church in
Addressing the
"Reshaping the
traditional faith?" -- Isn't that a little like reshaping an old clay pot into an ashtray?
Just how does one do that? Since you can't re-mold
hardened pottery into something else, it seems to me the only course of action
is to smash it and then set your smoldering stogy on one of the broken pieces.
Does that mean it's still
an earthen vessel? - I'd say about as much as the
In my view, the only thing
that has been "reshaped" here is rebellion - a rebellion that
is wreaking havoc in the Church today - something our Decatur Daily
pastor/columnist didn't bring up - even though many have written about it,
including yours truly in a recent piece called "The
Emerging Civil War." Or, could this be what the good reverend
meant when he wrote that the movement was "creating excitement?"
Isn't positivism
refreshing?
I thought it was cute the
way he casually explained the Emerging
Church movement in the third person - as if he was just an objective
observer reporting on an ecclesiastical trend that he happened to be privy to
but wasn't actually a part of himself.
You see, if you visit
Pastor Evans' own church website,
you'll see, hidden in plain sight, right there in the big fat middle of an
otherwise traditional looking church homepage, pictured beneath the words "A
Journey in Faith," an occult symbol and prayer device commonly
associated with Eastern Mysticism and the Emergent Church, called a Labyrinth.
My guess is, the older,
more traditionally-minded members of his church have no idea what a Labyrinth
is - where it originated - what it represents or what it means to the future of
Auburn Alabama's First Baptist Church. But then, that's the way change agents
work among the flock today - in stealth - below the radar, if you will -
publicly appearing to represent one thing while covertly promoting another.
In the Decatur Daily
article, Evans proceeds to quote Scott McKnight, a Northpark
Seminary professor from
"Emerging
churches are communities that practice the way of Jesus within post-modern
cultures. This definition encompasses nine practices. Emerging churches
identify with the life of Jesus, transform the secular realm, live highly
communal lives, they welcome the stranger, serve with generosity, participate
as producers, create as created beings, lead as a body, and take part in
spiritual activities."
"Practice the way of
Jesus?" What's that suppose to mean?
As
for his nine
1. We are not called to "identify with the life
of Jesus." We are called to repent and believe the Gospel. The former
is ambiguous, esoteric and misleading. The latter is biblical. (Acts
2.
We are not commissioned to "transform the secular realm." We
are called to preach the Word in season and out, whether secular society hears
it and accepts it or not. (2nd Timothy 4:2)
3.
We are not commanded to "live highly communal lives." Communes
are where socialism and consensus are preached and practiced and where hippies
and flower children were known to hang out back in the 60s. Where do you think
the term "communism" comes from? Faith in Christ is not about
following a group or going along to get along, but rather about obeying God and
proclaiming His Word even if no one else around you will. (2nd John 1:9-11)
4.
"To welcome the stranger" does not mean we are to fellowship
with unrighteousness and "unequally yoke" ourselves to unbelievers.
(Ephesians 5:11, 2nd Corinthians 6:14)
5.
"Serving with generosity" is not an acceptable replacement for
knowing, believing and obeying the absolute truth of God's Word - something the
6.
Nowhere in scripture is the Christian encouraged or expected to "produce"
anything. The Holy Spirit does the "producing," which may or
may not involve my participation in a commune. (1st Corinthians 3:7)
7.
Nowhere in scripture is the Christian commanded to "create"
anything, but only obey the Word of God. It is He that does the creating
and, in spite of the
8.
Jesus did not tell Christians to "lead as a body," but instead
to take up their cross and follow Him. You cannot lead and follow at the same
time. Those who think they can, are the same people who think they are God.
(Matthew 10:38, Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, Mark
9.
Witches, Satanists, New Agers, demons and devils
regularly "take part in spiritual activities" - that doesn't
make them biblical or even Christian. (1st John 4:1)
Nevertheless, the pastor
continues with this: “…one of the
central concerns of the emergent Christian movement is the desire for their
faith community to be all-inclusive - to welcome the stranger.”
First of all, the "central
concern" of any Christian, pastor or church, especially in this day
and time, should be our innate propensity, both individually and collectively,
to stray from God's Word - to run after every "wind of doctrine" that
comes along (Ephesians 4:14) - not a "desire for their faith community
to be all-inclusive." There is no biblical mandate to be "all-inclusive."
That ludicrous notion is the demonic doctrine of new age liberals masquerading
as Christians - trying to get everyone onboard the U.N.'s peace train to a
humanistic heaven on Earth.
He goes on to say: “This concern has resulted in high tolerance
for people of other faiths. Emergent Christians have serious doubts about
doctrinal ideas which hold that some are in and some are out - that is in or
out with God.”
Is the re-shaped
reverend suggesting here that the
Another agenda maybe?
"Not every one that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that
doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that
day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast
out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." - Matthew 7:21-23
As if that wasn't enough,
Evans adds absurdity to absurdity: “This means, of course, that emerging
Christians are not very evangelistic - at least in the traditional sense. For
the most part we will not find them trying to convert people from one faith to
another or from no faith to their faith.”
So, Emergents might "transform
the secular realm" - but don't expect them to "convert people
from one faith to another or from no faith to their faith," even if
they're Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Moonies, Wiccans,
Satanists, atheists or agnostics, huh? Just bring 'em
all in, light the candles and let the good times roll - is that it?
The U.N. folks will love
that. What about Jesus saying: "he
that gathereth not with me scattereth?" I guess "practicing the way of
Jesus" isn't really all it's cracked up to be - biblically speaking.
Still, Evans continues: “Emergent
Christians also tend toward a more liberal social view. They are concerned
about the poor and about the environment. The emphasis here for emergent
Christians is on serving and being generous. They think it is more important to
live and act in faithful ways rather than obsessing about what we should
believe. This concern for people and the world is not a stance related to any
political party. For emerging Christians, caring about people in this world is
their mission in life.”
Well, if that's true, then
I guess Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Al Gore, Rupert
Murdock, Bill Gates, Simon Cowell, Ted Kennedy, Ted
Turner, Sheryl Crow and Madonna are all Emergent Christians.
If this pastor is not
immediately removed from the pulpit of
But, you know what? He's
not going anywhere - and neither is AFBC. You know why?
Because you can go to the
Southern Baptist Convention's LifeWay Christian Stores online or to any of their
walk-in bookstores nationwide and find a wide array of books promoting the
This is not just a James
Evans problem. It's not just an
This
is a global spiritual catastrophe in the making and very few from today's
Church are even aware of it, much less are speaking out against it.
"If any man teach
otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud,
knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes
of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and
destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw
thyself." -
1st Timothy 6:3-5
© 2007 Paul Proctor - All
Rights Reserved
E-Mail: watchman@usa.com NewsWithViews.com
=============================================================
THE
EMERGING CIVIL WAR
By Paul Proctor
In a rather unsettling new
article entitled,
“An
influential Baptist in
In the article, Barrick goes on to say: “Moran's driving concern is the
rise of the emerging church and its threat to the future of the Baptist church
in
"Not since the stealth
tactics of the CBF (Cooperative Baptist Fellowship - a group of more moderate
Baptists which left the SBC) have we seen a movement operate so successfully
below the radar of rank and file Southern Baptists," said Moran at an SBC
Executive Committee meeting earlier this year.
She continues with a
warning from Moran: “"In my home state, the Missouri Baptist Convention is
on the brink of a near civil war - and at the heart of our struggle has been
the blatant dishonesty of those who are determined that Missouri Baptists will
embrace this new post-modern approach to ministry…"
Now, I don't know what all
troubles brother Moran about the Emerging
Church - and though I am extremely pleased to finally see someone's
objections to the EC make it to the pages of a widely read publication like The
Christian Post, I am troubled that the more unchristian aspects of the movement
were curiously overlooked by the reporter. Though I share Moran's stated
objections, which were clearly cited in the piece, one would think, after
reading it, that the practice of speaking in tongues, playing R-rated movies
and serving alcohol during services, were the only concerns.
Since other Christian
denominations have for some time, utilized all three of these things in one way
or another as part of their worship, wouldn't this reduce what might otherwise
have been considered Christian concerns into merely Baptist
concerns - at least in the eyes of the average non-Baptist churchgoer, thereby
silencing the alarm, so to speak, as to the more pressing dangers of the EC, until the story is remembered as
little more than a silly account of another agitated old fogy crying "wolf"
over denominational differences and worship styles? And, wouldn't that insure
that those who recall the article might never be interested in hearing the
subject addressed again, having already made up their minds that the
controversy is largely nonsense?
Somehow, I kind of doubt
this was Moran's intent or doing. I might be wrong, but I would be more
inclined to place the blame for this little oversight elsewhere, if you'd care
to call it that - maybe at the feet of the writer, editor or publisher of the
piece.
In my view, the conspicuous
absence of the real Emergent
threat to the Church makes this Christian Post article as dangerous as the
movement itself because it dialectically distracts those who are not yet
familiar with it from truly understanding the spiritual peril it poses to
Southern Baptists and protestant Christianity in general - thereby undermining
any opportunity for scriptural rebuke, correction, conviction and repentance -
effectively neutralizing the opposition. I seriously doubt there are many
Southern Baptists reading this commentary right now that haven't seen an
R-rated movie or know at least one brother or sister in Christ (and probably
several) who, though they be in leadership positions, not only speak in tongues
but probably consume alcohol outside of church on a regular basis. So, just how
shall we rally them and those they lead into rebuking the
That renders the CP article
little more than an SBC invitation to hypocrisy, does it not? And, only a fool
would grab the ears of that snapping dog.
The end result? - More SBC
compromise, complicity and capitulation toward the new global spirituality of
"whatever it takes" and "whatever works" - all while the
Emergent church marches on in unaccountable rebellion against God and His Word.
If this isn't a Trojan horse, then I
don't know what is.
You
see, not a single word was written in the article about the overtly pagan
practices, mystical beliefs and outright rejection of absolute truth that
distinguishes the
The words "spiritual
formation," "contemplative," "centering prayer,"
"breath prayer," "Labyrinth" and "lectio
divina" were nonexistent in the piece. Neither
was anything said about how the mind-emptying mantras of the
As far as I'm concerned,
this Christian Post article is just
one more example of the controlled opposition at work in the Church today.
Frankly, I wish they'd just go ahead and change the name of their publication
to The Post Christian because it
would certainly be more representative of our time. Instead of alerting and
informing the Body of Christ in a thorough and responsible manner about the
Emerging Church movement, propaganda pieces like this only disengage, dissuade
and discourage the brethren from the spiritual battle we are called to by
turning their ignorance, apathy and iniquity against them until they run for
the tall grass in search of fig leaves rather than courageously standing and
calling for repentance in obedience to God's Word.
And you know what? It's
working - because this Emergent leaven
is everywhere in Southern Baptist life today and almost no one in SBC
leadership and authority that I know of is resisting it - at least not
publicly.
In fact, by and large,
today's church welcomes it and celebrates it because it puts butts in the seats
and makes participants feel culturally relevant, spiritually savvy and
tingly all over - today's measure of success.
To them, I suppose that's
worth a civil war.
"These six things
doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a
lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running
to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and
he that soweth discord among brethren." - Proverbs 6:16-19
Related
Articles:
1, Influential
Baptist Layman Challenges Emerging Church
2, A
Line Has Been Crossed…No Turning Back
3, Contemplative
Spirituality - The Latest 'Christian' Craze
4, God
Sends Shocking Message To Emerging Church!
© 2007 Paul Proctor - All
Rights Reserved
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