by Ezra McGill Free-lance writer In his book, A Christianity Worth Believing, emergent leader Doug Pagitt presents a theology that is worth exposing, because it is neither biblical nor Christian. This is the unfortunate power of media-savvy emergent leaders–errant theology is couched in Christian terms, and the undiscerning are drawn in. As others have … [Read more…]
COMMENTARY Doug Pagitt, one of the original “Emergent” leaders from Leadership Network, announced last fall that he would be running for office in the Minnesota State Legislature, but has now announced that he will be postponing his political campaign until 2012 because of lack of financial support.1 (link removed by Doug Pagitt’s website) Pagitt is … [Read more…]
On September 14th, Lighthouse Trails reported that Doug Pagitt would be the featured speaker at the Baptist State Convention North Carolina Wired2Grow 2007. We have now learned that Pagitt is no longer scheduled to speak. We spoke with personnel at the BSCNC office after learning that Pagitt’s name had been removed from the conference website. … [Read more…]
Baker Books, another Christian publisher that is getting on the contemplative/emerging bandwagon, will be releasing a book next spring called Emergent Manifesto. Here is a link to a 32 page excerpt of the book (from the publishers website). The book, edited by Jones and Pagitt, is a conglomeration of the writings of several emerging leaders, … [Read more…]
Emerging church leaders Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, and Mark Scandrette have gone on a summer road tour across the US as we reported on May 22nd in our article, Emergent Road Show Receives Sponsorship From Major Organizations. In a June 19th posting on the tour blog, Tony Jones asks the question, “What in the world … [Read more…]
In light of the October 7th attack against Israel and the subsequent anti-Israel, antisemitic demonstrations around the world (including within “Christian” circles), it’s important for Bible-believing Christians to understand the role that many popular evangelical figures have played over the last couple of decades in bringing about a disastrous paradigm shift within the church, part … [Read more…]
In 2007, Lighthouse Trails wrote a book review on a book titled Emergent Manifesto of Hope. Today, thirteen years later, we are seeing the “fruit” of the emergent church (that, incidentally, was spawned by leaders like Rick Warren, Bob Buford, and Bill Hybels as is documented in Faith Undone by Roger Oakland). The so-called fruit … [Read more…]
On December 19th, 2019, Christianity Today, the magazine that considers itself the “flagship” magazine for Christianity released an article written by the just-retired editor-in-chief, Mark Galli, titled, “Trump Should Be Removed from Office.” According to CT, the article set off a firestorm. And by our estimates, millions have now seen the article as scores of … [Read more…]
In May of 2013, Lighthouse Trails released a report titled, “They Hate Christianity But Love (Another) Jesus – How Conservative Christians Are Being Manipulated and Ridiculed, Especially During Election Years.” In view of the upcoming elections and some of the things going on around the country in the “background,” it seems diligent to repost the … [Read more…]
Hundreds of Protestant and evangelical scholars, pastors, and theologians have signed a document called “Reforming Catholic Confession” to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, which will be commemorated on October 31, 2017. According to Dr. Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama, who co-chaired the Confession’s steering committee, “a significant motivating … [Read more…]
Dear Lighthouse Friends, When I searched your blog, I did not find information on “Vicky Beeching.” She is apparently a big figure in Christian pop music. So you might want to put her on your blog list. I did not know about Vicky Beeching until yesterday: claiming to be an evangelical Christian, she revises Scripture … [Read more…]
LTRJ Note: The following is the content of Roger Oakland’s booklet, The New Missiology – Doing Missions Without the Gospel. We are reposting this important article because Lighthouse Trails has many new readers who may not have seen this. By Roger Oakland Emergent Missiology I must add, though, that I don’t believe making disciples must … [Read more…]
After a request by a Lighthouse Trails reader to check into Southern Baptist Convention’s Gateway Seminary which has locations in five different US cities, Lighthouse Trails has added Gateway Seminary to the Lighthouse Trails Contemplative-Promoting College list. If you are not familiar with that list, it is a list of NOT recommended Christian colleges, universities, … [Read more…]
By Bob DeWaay Imagine a world where the polarity of time is reversed so that history moves backward toward Paradise rather than forward toward judgment. Consider a world in which God is so immanently involved in the creation that He is undoing entropy1 and recreating the world now through processes already at work. Think of … [Read more…]
According to a Christian Post article dated December 31, 2014 and titled “Former Mars Hill Pastor Mark Driscoll Launches New Website,” the former pastor of the mega church has started a new resource ministry & website. All we can say at this point is, that sure didn’t take long. Interestingly, Rick Warren gave the final … [Read more…]
Hi Lighthouse Trails! Thank you so much for your ministry! My family has been learning about apostasy for a little while now, and we stumbled across your website recently. . . We read your article about VOM and Michael Wurmbrand and were deeply saddened by it. We have supported VOM for many years so it … [Read more…]
Recently, a reader brought to our attention a new development within the emerging church – the Cana Initiative, a think tank comprised of “faith-engaged organizations, individuals, institutions and networks.” On the Cana Initiative website, it states: The CANA Initiative seeks to create a healthy ecosystem for connection among existing and emerging individuals, organizations, and networks and will serve … [Read more…]
By Roger Oakland Understand the Times For those who are not aware of the Catholic Church’s New Evangelization program, let me provide a brief overview. The Catholic Church plans to establish the kingdom of God on earth and win the world to the Catholic Jesus (i.e., the Eucharistic Christ). This will be accomplished when the … [Read more…]
This year, from August 8th through 11th, the Wildgoose Festival will take place in Hot Springs, North Carolina. The festival is an emergent “church” event, which since its inception has included on the speaker list names like Brian McLaren, Phyllis Tickle, Jim Wallis, Richard Rohr, and Tony Jones. This year, Christianity Today editor and popular evangelical author … [Read more…]
by Roger Oakland The emerging church talks a lot about the kingdom of God on earth, but in language and philosophy much different from the Bible. One emergent writer hopes the emerging church will handle the problems of this world in a manner that is “smarter” and “more effective” than those who have gone before. … [Read more…]
June 2013 Update: In 2008, Lighthouse Trails wrote an article about the contemplative propensities of the FGBC (Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches). We have posted that article below this update. Please note that many of the FGBC links on the 2008 article have been removed by FGBC and CE National. This update will discuss two items. … [Read more…]
By Roger Oakland You may not have heard the term before, but contextual theology is a prominent message from the emerging church. In his book, Models of Contextual Theology(1992), Stephen B. Bevans defines contextual theology as: …a way of doing theology in which one takes into account: the spirit and message of the gospel; the … [Read more…]
The New Missiology – Doing Missions Without the Gospel written by Roger Oakland is our newest Lighthouse Trails Booklet. The booklet is 14 pages long and sells for $1.95 for single copies. Quantity discounts are as much as 50% off retail. Below is the content of the booklet. To order copies of The New Missiology … [Read more…]
To Lighthouse Trails: Eli Lilly, a major pharmaceutical company, in conjunction with Christian Theological Seminary (a liberal seminary in Indianapolis, IN) is funding pastoral sabbaticals. It appears it is just a part of a national program. Seems highly suspect to me. I wouldn’t be looking twice except that I know a local pastor applying for … [Read more…]
LTRP Note: Ray Yungen and the editors at Lighthouse Trails have put together our Top 50 “Christian” Contemplative Books – A “Not Recommended Reading List.” If your pastor, your professor, your children, or your friends are reading any of these books, then they are being led down a path that will take them toward a mystical, panentheistic spirituality … [Read more…]
Biblegateway, “an online searchable Bible in dozens of versions and languages” is one of the most popular websites on the Internet today, ranking in the top 1000 sites in the world. Over 48,000 websites link to or recommend Biblegateway. Needless to say, their reach is substantial. Thus, it is with dismay to report that on … [Read more…]
Hitler used the same tactic when organizing the German church into an arm of the state. Quelling dissent among Christians and using pastors to bring their congregations into line with Third Reich policies actually enabled the Holocaust. by Mike Oppenheimer Let Us Reason Ministries Used with permission. Christians should be more aware than other people … [Read more…]
2014 Update: To further illustrate how Compassion International is going down the contemplative/emergent path, in April 2013, there was a lectio divina “webinar” held at Compassion International. To Lighthouse Trails: We have seen references to conferences with Willow Creek that included several Emergent speakers, but link search on your site did not lead me to any specific article … [Read more…]
by Roger Oakland The serpent’s temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden, that we can be like God, remains with mankind to this very day. Satan’s plan is to lessen or eliminate (he hopes) the gap between himself and God. The following explanation puts it well: It is important to understand that Satan is not … [Read more…]
In 2007 and 2008, books, videos, broadcasts, and news articles were pouring into mainstream America with a guilt-ridden message that basically manipulated conservative Christians into thinking that either they shouldn’t vote because “Jesus wouldn’t vote,” or they shouldn’t vote on morality issues such as abortion or homosexuality. Suddenly, all over the place there was talk … [Read more…]