Article states the Emergent Church is dead-The Truth Behind the story

From my brothers and sisters in the Lord at Lighthouse Trails

According to a September 19th Christianity Today blog article, the emerging church is dead. “An overused and corrupted term now sleeps with the fishes,” the article states. But is this even remotely true? Or rather could it be that the emerging church, or what we call the “merging” church, is morphing into its next “higher” level, and just as a butterfly would not want to be called a worm, neither do many in this evolving movement want to be called “the emerging church” any longer. However, unlike the beauty of a golden butterfly broken from its cocoon, the merging church does not share such grandeur. In reality, it is a dangerous pied piper leading millions over a deadly cliff of deception. And just as the “birth” of the emerging church was a well-thought out, highly-financed “dream” of millionaire corporations and futurists, so too will be its supposed “death” and rebirth. But don’t be fooled, the emerging church and the spirituality behind it is alive and kicking.

The Christianity Today posting claims that an “informant” from a publishing house told him that two years ago plans were in the making to drop the term “the emerging church” because “the term has become so polluted.” The writer says that emerging church leaders, like Dan Kimball, don’t want to use that term anymore. Kimball says the current emerging church has too many “theological strands” that he “strongly disagrees with.” Kimball’s 2003 book The Emerging Church (endorsed by Rick Warren and Brian McLaren, both who wrote forewords for the book) has been considered a signature book for the movement.

The writer of the CT article proclaims: “It seems my informant’s prophetic word has come to pass. The emerging church is dead–at least in nomenclature, if not in spirit.” But nothing could be further from the truth. And just as there has been a concerted effort by top New Age leaders over the last decade or so to drop the term “New Age” because of its negative exposure, so too emerging church leaders want to drop the name of their movement, and for the very same reason the New Agers are running from their term … not because, as Kimball suggests, it’s too hard to define the movement anymore theologically but rather because the movement has been exposed for what it really is by Bible believing Christians.

Lighthouse Trails will assume that those reading this special commentary have already read Roger Oakland’s expose of the emerging church, Faith Undone, and understand how the movement began with big corporation dollars and the idea of an emerging church from men like Peter Drucker as well as Bob Buford’s Leadership Network (of which contained the influence of Rick Warren and Bill Hybels and mystics of the past). For those who have not read Faith Undone, you can read about this in our article, “Bob Buford, Peter Drucker, and the Emerging Church.” In essence, the major manipulation of success-driven leaders, publishing companies, and corporations created the emerging church movement, and now perhaps a new spiritual move (a better one at that) will arise, with many calling it a move of God, when in truth it will merely line more pockets and continue to bring confusion and disillusionment to millions.

If the CT writer’s words are true and a publishing house informant told him the plan that the publishing industry has to drop the term emerging church, what will they replace it with? The New Age gurus have attempted to replace their term with “the New Spirituality.” To define this new spirituality, they use words and terms like awakening, emergence, oneness, God’s dream, transformation, new reformation, Kingdom of God on earth, global peace, expansive redemption, rethinking, co-creation, christ-consciousness, and imagination. But while these New Age leaders have moved away from the term “New Age,” replacing it with these other terms, it is important to note that the woman who coined the term “New Age,” Alice Bailey, used most of the terms above to define the New Age. These words do define the New Age.

With that in mind, what words and terms are the emerging church leaders using today? Here’s the list: awakening, emergence, oneness, God’s dream, transformation, new reformation, Kingdom of God on earth, global peace, expansive redemption, rethinking, co-creation, christ-consciousness, and imagination. We could show you example after example. Phyllis Tickle’s new book, The Great Emergence, Erwin McManus’ book Wide Awake and his website Awaken (formerly Awaken Humanity), Leonard Sweet’s “christ-consciousness,” Rob Bell’s co-creation, Rick Warren’s global peace and new reformation, Brian McLaren’s God’s Dream, and the list could go on and on.

Just as the New Age movement has had to rename itself in order to maintain societal acceptance, so too the emerging church must put on a coat of different colors to maintain its welcome within the walls of Christianity. Those, like Roger Oakland, who have meticulously revealed the true nature of the emerging church, have forced its leaders (including the publishing houses and financiers) to play their hand.

What will be the next move and what will be the implications? The CT article says that “news has been leaking about a new network being formed by Dan Kimball, Erwin McManus, and Scot McKnight among others.” Dan Kimball and Erwin McManus HAVE been sharing some of the same platforms lately. At Robert Schuller’s 2008 Rethink conference, the two were there as speakers. At McManus’ Awaken 2008 conference, Kimball accepted McManus’ invitation to be a speaker there. Incidentally, as we stated in a a news brief about that event, one of the speakers at Awaken 2008, has promoted New Age leader and Oprah favorite, Eckhart Tolle. But in light of the marked similarities between the New Age and the emerging church, that really shouldn’t come as a surprise. As for a new network, Dan Kimball talked about Awaken on his own website after the event was over. On that post, Kimball stated: [W]e have been dreaming and meeting about forging a relational and intentional network/alliance.” Kimball was also with McManus at LeadNow08, another of many emerging-type conferences taking place across North America today. It will be interesting to see this new “network/alliance” – very likely we can expect to see the emergence of this dream of the awakening of humanity for the purposes of global peace brought about through a new reformation to establish the kingdom of God here on earth. Mysticism will be the vehicle to bring it about.

When the emerging church came on the scene in the late 1990s, it was able to enjoy several years of movement with virtually no criticism. Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt, Mark Driscoll, and the other formative men wrote book after book, did event after event, and quickly gained momentum and by the way, lots of media coverage, so much so that in 2005 Brian McLaren was named as one of Time magazine’s 25 Most Influential Evangelical Leaders, an entitlement that took some of the winners decades of ministry to obtain. But then books, like A Time of Departing which identifies the mystical elements of the emerging church, and Faith Undone, which shows the anti-biblical nature of the movement, came out, and many people began to understand that the emerging church was an interspiritual, universalist body that was against the atonement of Jesus Christ and perpetuated a growing hostility toward the bride of Christ (the body of born-again believers). It all became just too obvious; and thus a natural response is to say, that movement has become corrupted; we are moving on to something else.

Clearly, Erwin McManus is going to be one of the leaders in this revised, evolved merging church. Where is he going to lead it? In a trailer for his summer 2008 book, Wide Awake, McManus says “It’s amazing how a dream can have the power to change an entire planet … What would happen if all of us began to discover our god-given dreams? What would happen if all of us began to live wide awake? … If all of us began to live wide awake … the world would never be the same again.” How can “all of us” (all humanity is what he means) live wide awake when the Bible says that in the days before Christ’s return there will be a great falling away, and where it says that nations will turn against God and where it says an anti-christ will cause multitudes to bow down and worship him? Why is McManus suggesting that all humans can be wide awake? And to what are they awakening? The Bible says that in the last days Satan will deceive the whole world (Revelation 12:9). But perhaps McManus would agree with New Ager Barbara Marx Hubbard who says if enough people come together, then Revelation’s predictions can be avoided. This notion is what New Agers term Armageddon Alternative. In Warren Smith’s stunning expose’ of the New Spirituality, he describes this “alternative” to Armageddon and the implications it carries.1

While it appears that emerging is going to do another split (remember when Mark Driscoll (and others) divided the movement into a few different groups: revisionist, reformed, and relevant), the point to keep in mind is that it is still emerging spirituality. And such spirituality embraces mysticism, attempts to bring about a global kingdom on earth, and believes humanity can awaken to its own divinity and oneness. Those are the earmarks of the emerging church – calling it by any other name changes it no more than calling the New Age a new name makes it something else. As the saying goes, “A rose by any other name is still a rose.” In this case, apostasy by any other name is still apostasy.

When Erwin McManus said a few years ago it was his “goal to destroy Christianity,”2 it didn’t seem to bother Christian leaders. In fact, after that, respected and popular teacher David Jeremiah touted McManus and said he wanted to use McManus to help his church go through a major paradigm shift.3 Well, we are witnessing a paradigm shift – actually, we are already through the shift, and now the devil is scurrying about to maintain the momentum … and secrecy of his true plans. Darkness hates the light. Emerging, New Age spirituality is nothing new.

Thankfully, while spiritual darkness and deception seem to be overtaking the world like never before, we know that Jesus is the ultimate Victor. As believers, let us pray that many who are still in darkness will be able to hear the true Gospel, believe on it, and be saved. As the emerging church presents “another Jesus” and “another gospel” (II Corinthians 11:4), may the Lord give discernment and courage to those who belong to the One who said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36) and “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness” (John 12:46). The kingdom of this world is in darkness – it is not one we should hope to aspire to. But He has promised to bring us into His kingdom when we place our trust in Jesus Christ (by faith through grace), “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14).

Related Information:

“God’s Dream: What Does it Really Mean?”

They Like Jesus But Not the Church

EMERGENT MANIFESTO: Emerging Church Comes Out of the Closet

The Silent Church by Warren Smith

Great article by Lighthouse Trails and my friend and brother in the Lord Warren Smith-
Many Christian believers smirked when Shirley MacLaine stood on the beach in her made-for-TV movie, Out on a Limb exclaiming, “I am God!” Today, Marianne Williamson exclaims that we are all “God” and is introduced by Tom Brokaw on a primetime NBC special report about September 11 as one of our “religious leaders.”1 Gary Zukav, a man who personally endorsed the Barbara Marx Hubbard book that describes the “selection process,” tells us in his post-September 11 television appearances how we can all spiritually grow and bring peace to the world. And Wayne Dyer, in a post-September 11 PBS fundraising event, stands in an historic New England church and tells his national audience that the world would be a much more peaceful place if everyone adopted the “brilliant” teachings of A Course in Miracles.

Traditional Christian believers frequently mention the analogy of the frog that is so slowly and gradually boiled in a kettle of water that it dies before ever realizing what is going on. Yet many believers fail to realize that the very same thing is happening to them as they tell that story. How else do you explain the rapid rise of the “new gospel” movement with hardly a word of concern within the Church about what’s been happening? As “new gospel” advocates continue to publish bestselling books and flock to the airwaves in ever-increasing numbers to advance their cause, there is a strange silence in Christendom. Does the Church have any idea what is going on?

So often we have heard the impassioned refrain, “We can never let what happened in Germany ever happen again.” And with all of the Holocaust memorials, survivor testimonies, and multitudinous books on the subject, we have done a pretty good job of convincing ourselves that we will never make the same mistakes the German people did in allowing someone like Hitler to rise in their midst. We think that Americans would never stand by and allow something like that to happen here in our country. Our democratic processes and old-fashioned common sense would never allow it.

In the introduction to a 1999 publication (Sixth Pressing) of Hitler’s Mein Kampf, Konrad Heiden describes how everything that Hitler was about to do was telegraphed in his early writings:
For years Mein Kampf stood as proof of the blindness and complacency of the world. For in its pages Hitler announced – long before he came to power – a program of blood and terror in a self-revelation of such overwhelming frankness that few among its readers had the courage to believe it. Once again it was demonstrated that there was no more effective method of concealment than the broadest publicity.2
Somehow, Christians don’t seem to grasp Jesus’ warnings about the tremendous deception that characterizes the time of the end. Perhaps deceived into thinking that we can’t be deceived, we don’t take seriously enough His warnings that a Hitler-like antichrist figure will one day rise to rule the world – and that many people calling themselves “Christians” will support this spiritual counterfeit who will actually come in the name of Christ. Our adversary wants us to believe that these warnings are for another people at another time. Yet through Scripture, and in our heart of hearts, the Spirit of God tells us that they are not. As we study the Bible, and as we watch and pray and observe the events all around us, we come to understand that these future times described by Jesus are now suddenly and undeniably upon us.

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul warns of their vulnerability and susceptibility to false teaching in the name of Jesus. He suggests that if someone approached them with “another gospel,” “another Jesus” and “another spirit” they might very well go along with it (2 Corinthians 11:3-4). Earlier in that same letter Paul had indirectly encouraged the Corinthians not to be ignorant of their adversary’s schemes and devices, lest they be taken advantage of (2 Corinthians 2:11). Paul told the Ephesians that it is a shame that we even have to talk about the things of darkness, but when we expose them they are brought into the light (Ephesians 5:12-13). He also told them that he had not ceased to warn them night and day for three years that men who were “grievous wolves” would “arise” in the Church “speaking perverse things” as they attempted to lead men away from their faith and into the enemy’s camp (Acts 20:29-31). Let us beware of these same warnings today.

It is extremely disturbing to see the website of a Colorado-based Christian leader listed as a recommended resource in the back of a 1998 Barbara Marx Hubbard book entitled Conscious Evolution.3 It is equally alarming to find out that this individual is also a member of the same World Future Society that lists Barbara Marx Hubbard as one of its co-founding and current board members.4 And that this respected Christian leader serves as the secretary of a World Future Society subcommittee that once gave Hubbard a special award for her outstanding contributions to the field of religion.5 But perhaps what is most unbelievable is that the Colorado Springs Christian leadership lets him get away with it. Apparently, being “unequally yoked” with a woman who (at the direction of her “Christ”) has “re-written” the Book of Revelation and authored the “selection process” is not a major concern for church leaders – leaders who are actually starting to sound a lot like Hubbard themselves.

And it is, indeed, very disturbing to see many Christian leaders today using many of the same words and expressions commonly used by their “new gospel” counterparts. “New revelation” describing how a great “move of God” is going to take believers “pregnant with destiny” to “a new spiritual level” and into a “new dimension” sounds a lot more like the “new gospel” than the traditional Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Are Christian leaders leading the church ever closer to the cross, or ever closer to the “Planetary Pentecost”? Why is there almost no call for spiritual discernment within the Church (except to warn believers not to be deceived into doubting their appointed Christian leaders)? Why is spiritual experience taking precedence over spiritual discernment? Why are there so few warnings about a counterfeit “new gospel” movement that maligns the person of Jesus Christ and threatens the lives of His followers? Why is “new revelation” in many ministries starting to supersede God’s written Word? Why are Christians only being prepared for blessings and not for persecution? What in the world is going on?

Expecting only revival and the return of the true Christ, will the Church be deceived by the one who will come in the name of Christ and pretend to be Him? Caught unawares, will the Church mistake the counterfeit Christ’s “Planetary Pentecost” for the great “move of God” they had been told to expect? Are we getting set up for the great delusion described in the Bible? Is there any good reason not at least to consider that possibility?

The prophet Daniel makes mention of the God of “forces” in conjunction with antichrist (Daniel 11:38). The “God” of the “new gospel” asks Neale Donald Walsch, “What if I am not a ‘man’ at all, but rather, a Force?”6 The “Christ” of A Course in Miracles states that there is an “irresistible Force” within each person.7 Marianne Williamson explains that this “universal force” can be “activated” within each person and has “the power to make all things right.”8 The “new gospel Christ” tells Barbara Marx Hubbard that on the day of “Planetary Pentecost” a “planetary smile” will flash across the face of all mankind; that an “uncontrollable joy” that he describes as the “joy of the force” will “ripple” through the one body of humanity.9 Benjamin Creme describes the event “as a pentecostal experience for all.”10 The “Christ” of A Course in Miracles tells how the world ends in “peace” and “laughter.”11

Has anyone wondered whether this same “Force” may be counterfeiting the Holy Spirit in churches and may be producing “revivals” and “moves of God” that are not really “revivals” or “moves of God” at all? Is the “God of forces” in the process of preparing the Church for the “Planetary Pentecost”? Should we not be doing a more thorough job of testing the spirits? Have we put our faith and trust in Christian “leaders” rather than in God? Have we all talked ourselves out of the end times? Have we all agreed that persecution is not something we need to be concerned about? Have we prayed to God that we would not be deluded or deceived?

Ten years ago in my book, The Light That Was Dark, I wrote the following: “Clearly many who said they were of ‘the faith’ would soon become a part of the deception too, if they weren’t already.”

Were we already witnessing the great “falling away” predicted in the Bible? Was the “mystery of iniquity” talked about in the Scriptures already doing its deceptive work with “all power and signs and lying wonders”…? Would people calling themselves Christians abandon their faith in the Bible and the Bible’s Christ? Would they join an ecumenical movement that in the name of love and God and unity would sacrifice the truth of the Bible and perhaps one day merge with the new age itself?

Jesus warned that such a faith would lead not to life but to ultimate destruction: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).12

Could it be that the reason the Church is so unaware of the “new gospel” movement is because it is being led by that same spirit and heading down that same broad way? Is it happening now, right in front of our very own eyes?

This is from Reinventing Jesus Christ by Warren Smith, chapter 10. Click here to read the entire online edition.
http://www.reinventingjesuschrist.com/

Notes:
1. NBC News Special Report: America on Alert, Tom Brokaw hosting Marianne Williamson as guest, September 16, 2001 broadcast transcript (Livingston, New Jersey: Burrelle’s Information Services).
2. Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf (Sixth Pressing), translated by Ralph Manheim (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.: Mariner Books, 1999), p.xv.
3. Jay Gary website, referenced by Barbara Marx Hubbard in Conscious Evolution, p. 263.
4. Barbara Marx Hubbard, Conscious Evolution, p. 279.
5. Barbara Marx Hubbard and Jay Gary (http://web.archive.org/web/20020818151002/www.wnrf.org/programs/awards.htm and
http://web.archive.org/web/20020818150112/www.wnrf.org/networks/christian.htm). 6. Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations with God: Book 3, p. 325.
7. A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume, (Text) p. 479.
8. Marianne Williamson, Healing the Soul of America, p. 13.
9. Barbara Marx Hubbard, The Revelation, p. 243.
10. Benjamin Creme, Maitreya’s Mission: Volume Two (Los Angeles: Share International Foundation, 1993), p. 239.
11. A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume, (Manual for Teachers) p. 37.
12. Warren Smith, The Light That Was Dark, p. 150.
13. Alice A. Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 417.
14. Marianne Williamson, Healing the Soul of America, p. 205.
15. Benjamin Creme, Maitreya’s Mission: Volume Two, p. 239.
16. Barbara Marx Hubbard, The Revelation, p. 324

Another major player in the Emergent Church-Rick Warren

Rick Warren is a major endorser of the Emergent Church and has teamed up with guys like Dan Kimball and Len Sweet.
Here is a clip of America’s Pastor (certainly not my pastor) twisting scripture which is one of Rick Warrens many talents. PS I do not endorse John Piper who is shown at the end of this video and on Part Two. Piper has pretty much gone down a flawed path since this video was made. The purpose of showing this video was to expose the real purpose of Rick Warren. It is in no way a endorsement of John Piper. I do however enjoy much of Todd Friel’s work at this point in time.
Blessings
Tim

Get To Know Your Enemy Part 1

Here is a big player that is a front to bringing in the Emergent garabage into the Nazarene Denomination. Become familiar with your enemy so you know what to beware of in your church. get to know their catch phrases and schtick.
Get to know who is carrying a new age into the Body of Christ.
One of the big players is Allenon and Alan Roxburgh.
Here is a link for research purposes only on what Allelon is all about.
Click on the video link on the site to hear their own overview of what they are doing.

http://www.allelon.org/history.cfm

Nazarene Emergent Church Plant

So for those of you who are still thinking I must be nuts.
The Emergent Church cannot have hit the Nazarene Church.
This can’t really be true can it?
We would have nothing to do with this false movement.
Here is just a start of the truth I will bring you.
This movement has hit the Nazarene denomination hard.
This video is just the tip of the iceberg of whats going on in the Nazarene Denomination.
More to come.

Part 6 Roger Oakland on The Emergent Church

The final part of Roger’s excellent video on The Emergent Church. Click on my Lighthouse Trails Books to purchase Rogers excellent book on the Emergent Church titled “Faith Undone”.

Part 5 Roger Oakland on the Emergent Church

More on Roger’s excellent expose on Emergent and all its connection’s

Part 4 Roger Oakland on the Emergent Church

Part 4 Of Roger Oaklands excellent video on the Emergent Church

Part 3 Roger Oakland on the Emergent Church

Part 3 on Roger Oakland and his expose of the Emergent Church.

Part 2 Roger Oakland on the Emergent Church

Here is part 2 of Rogers excellent and biblically solid expose-