Posts Tagged ‘emergent church’

On April 19-22, in Orlando Florida, Exponential 2010 will present a large number of speakers, many of whom are proponents of the New Spirituality. Just another effort to build momentum for what has become obvious to many discerning believers - an apostate leadership racing toward a “New Christianity” for millions of unsuspecting proclaiming Christians.

This year’s speaker list:

Obe Arellano	Hugh Halter	Kem Meyer
Mark Batterson	Bob Harrington	Brian Mosley
Joe Beam	Sarah Hatfield	Mary Nelson
Rick Bezet	Alan Hirsch	Dave Olson
Marcus Bigelow	Scott Hodge	Larry Osborne
Ken Blanchard (check LT)	Chris Hodges	Darrin Patrick
Brian Bloye	Billy Hornsby	Vanessa Pugh
Matt Carter	Rick Howerton	David Putman
Noel Castellanos	Troy Jackson	Lloyd Reeb
Francis Chan	Galen Jones	Dino Rizzo
Matt Chandler	Lisa Jones	Rick Rusaw
Steve Childers	James King, Jr.	Matt Smay
Shane Claiborne	George Klippenes	Dan & Shannon Smith
Neil Cole	Charles Lee	Efrem Smith
Caleb Crider	Brad Leeper	Wayne Smith
Mark DeYmaz	Shawn Lovejoy	Ed Stetzer
Bill Easum	Will Mancini	Tim Stevens
Dave Ferguson	Marc McCartney	Kirsten Strand
Sue Ferguson	Larry McCrary	Greg Surratt
Dave Gibbons	Mel McGowan	Ron Sylvia
Louie Giglio	Janet McMahon	Scott Thomas
Rich and Dori Gorman	Reggie McNeal	James Wafford III
Larry Grays	Brenda Salter McNeil	Scott Williams
Mike Hall

Related Information:

Cedarville University Cancels Shane Claiborne Event

Research on Ken Blanchard’s Promotion of New Age meditation/Buddhism and his connections with Rick Warren.

by Ken Silva
Apprising Ministries

Apprising Ministries has been covering the growing gay agenda within the church visible for the past year. It’s simply beyond question that it is causing major problems in the dying mainline denominations who long ago kicked out Sola Scriptura in favor of highly subjective Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism, which is actually a new form of Gnosticism. 

Through the evil influence of the the egregiously ecumenical Emerging Church aka Emergent Church—morphing into Emergence Christianity (EC)—which is a cult of postliberalism now firmly within mainstream evangelicalism—this issue is also crossing over as you can see in Growing Gay Agenda In Evangelicalism and Emerging Church And Adele Sakler TransFORM Gay Agenda In Evangelicalism.

Benefiting from wider acceptance within the EC we’re now seeing those like gay affirming “pastor” Jay Bakker  and “queer inclusive” ELCA “pastor” Nadia Bolz-Weber gaining louder voices as these rebels against the final authority of God’s Word try to convince us that having sexual relations with another of the same sex i.e homosexuality is fine for the regenerated Christian.

And this is precisely why the Lord moved me a while ago to begin covering this issue; with Holy Scripture we can light up the night sky so you can see the position of enemy forces, for only those who would reject Sola Scriptura like ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson Who Say The Bible Is Not The Final Authority. This is what to the tragic vote I covered in ELCA And Homosexuality.

What you need to understand here is that those who affirm that those unrepentant in their practice of the sinful and deviant lifestyle of homosexuality love to portray themselves as being so loving and tolerant; however, that façade quickly crumbles the moment you disagree with them. And let’s not forget here that the disageement is over what God has clearly said in the Bible. Click here to read the rest of this story.

Related Story:

Today is World AIDS Day – I Am Free From Homosexuality While Homosexual Activists Continue To Glorify The Sin That is Leading Cause of AIDS in U. S. by James Hartline

We are seeking to build a movement – hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of Catholic, Evangelical, and Eastern Orthodox Christians who will stand together.–Manhattan Declaration

On November 20th, a document called the Manhattan Declaration was released at an event at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. The Declaration has received wide media coverage, and as of this writing about ¼ million people have signed the document, with a current average of about 10 people a minute adding their names (around 14,400 a day).

One of the four drafters of the Declaration is Chuck Colson who also co-authored a document in the 90s called Evangelicals and Catholics Together. The ECT is similar in nature in that it identifies both Catholicism and Evangelicalism as part of the Christian church and asks members of both groups to unite in areas that they have in common. With this new document, the emphasis is on morality: gay versus traditional marriage, abortion, stem cell research, assisted suicide,  etc.

According to a Christianity Today article on the Manhattan Declaration, both prominent evangelical leaders and Catholic leaders are main signatories:

The declaration has received national attention because, in addition to many American evangelical leaders, its [main] signatories include nine Catholic archbishops, the president of the Catholic League, the primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, and the primate of the Orthodox Church in America.

Given the fact that a large number of the main 149 signatories have directly or indirectly promoted advocates of the New Age/New Spirituality (i.e., contemplative/emerging), it is not difficult to see that (even with good intentions) the Manhattan Declaration may provide an appealing and subtle avenue into the New Spirituality  for a vast number of signers, many of whom might not otherwise have had exposure to it given the conservative tendencies of most of the signers.

Some may ask, how could this introduction to the New Spirituality possibly take place just by signing the Declaration–even if some of the main signatories are promoting it? The answer, in part, has already surfaced. On the Manhattan Declaration website, it now states:

Thousands of you have sent e-mails asking what’s next – a good question. The goal of those of us who drafted and signed the document is not just to get a lot of names on a manifesto, gratifying though that is. We are seeking to build a movement – hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of Catholic, Evangelical, and Eastern Orthodox Christians who will stand together alongside other men and women of goodwill in defense of foundational principles of justice and the common good. These are people who could expose the lie which so many in our culture have embraced about self being the center of life; and then winsomely present, in the words of St. Paul, “a more excellent way.” (emphasis added)

We are looking for people who will work in every possible arena to advance the sanctity of life, rebuild and revitalize the marriage culture, and protect religious liberty.

So what’s next for you?1 

In answer to their question of “what’s next,” a Worldview Resource Directory** (see note at bottom of posting) is offered to signers as a place to find “excellent resources in support of these foundational truths.” The Resource Directory, located on the Manhattan Declaration’s website, has a large listing of books, DVDs, and other material compiled especially for the signers of the Declaration. But a close look at this Resource Directory should cause  believers to be quite concerned. For instance, there is a specific section titled “Spiritual Formation,” which carries recommendations to contemplative mystic advocates such as Dallas Willard, J.P. Moreland, and Kenneth Boa. The propensities of all three of these contemplative teachers are documented at Lighthouse Trails Research Project. One of the books that the Manhattan Declaration Directory recommends is J. P. Moreland and Klaus Issler’s book, The Lost Virtue of Happiness: Discovering the Disciplines of the Good Life.  This book is discussed in Roger Oakland’s hard-hitting book Faith Undone, an expose of the emerging church and the Purpose-Driven Movement. Oakland states: 

Moreland and Issler believe they have rediscovered important spiritual principles that have been lost. Two of the spiritual disciplines the authors have recovered are “Solitude and Silence.” The book says that these two disciplines are “absolutely fundamental to the Christian life.” …[T]he isolation and solitude Moreland and Issler promote have definite Eastern mystical overtones. 

The authors attempt to add credibility to this rediscovered spiritual discipline by quoting [the late Catholic priest and mystic] Henri Nouwen, who said: “A man or woman who has developed this solitude of heart is no longer pulled apart by the most divergent stimuli of the surrounding world but is able to perceive and understand this world from a quiet inner center (Nouwen, Reaching Out, p.38).

… Continuing to develop the idea of the lost art of finding the “quiet inner center,” Moreland and Issler state: 

“In our experience, Catholic retreat centers are usually ideal for solitude retreats… We also recommend that you bring photos of your loved ones and a picture of Jesus… Or gaze at a statue of Jesus. Or let some pleasant thought, feeling, or memory run through your mind over and over again.” (pp.54-55)

… But that isn’t all they recommend. For example, Moreland and Issler provide tips for developing a prayer life. Here are some of the recommendations they make:

[W]e recommend that you begin by saying the Jesus Prayer about three hundred times a day. (p.90 – see Matthew 6:7 on vain repetitions)

When you first awaken, say the Jesus Prayer twenty to thirty times. As you do, something will begin to happen to you. God will begin to slowly occupy the center of your attention.(p. 92) (from Faith Undone, pp. 117-118). 

Another book that the Manhattan Declaration Resource Directory recommends is Moreland’s Kingdom Triangle. In this book, Moreland makes his case for contemplative spirituality (Dallas Willard writes the foreword), encouraging readers to practice the exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Catholic order, the Jesuits (p. 156).

It is essential to understand that by the Manhattan Declaration pointing signers to contemplative proponents like Issler, Moreland, and Willard, they are giving their signers the spirituality of Henri Nouwen, who at the end of  his life (having adhered to mysticism for many years) said:  “Today I personally believe that while Jesus came to open the door to God’s house, all human beings can walk through that door, whether they know about Jesus or not. Today I see it as my call to help every person claim his or her own way to God.”2

You see, Nouwen emulated the “fruit” of Catholic contemplative mysticism, which is interspirituality (thus negating the Gospel of Jesus Christ) (For a documented expose on the spirituality of Henri Nouwen and the spiritual formation movement, see A Time of Departing by Ray Yungen).

Ironically, Nouwen probably wouldn’t have signed the Declaration. In his book, In the Name of Jesus (a book highly valued by many of today’s Christian leaders, including Rick and Kay Warren), he emphasized the need for “Christian leadership” to move from “the moral to the mystical.” In other words, the emphasis of the Christian life should be more on the mystical (i.e., contemplative) rather than on traditional taboos of Christianity, such as those that the Declaration defends.

The Resource Directory for the Manhattan Declaration signers has far more than just Willard, Moreland, and Issler. They are also recommending Brian McLaren, an emergent leader who has publicly denounced the atonement doctrine of the Bible, calling it “false advertising” for God. McLaren is also a major proponent of eastern-style mysticism (i.e., mantric), which can be clearly seen in his book, Finding Our Way Again. In this book, McLaren twists Scripture by suggesting that the Old Testament priest Melchizedek was of a different religion than Abraham, and Abraham used a mystical practice to connect with Melchizedek. Thus McLaren draws this conclusion: “[W]e discover practices for our own faith in an encounter with someone of another faith” (p. 25). This is what occultists believe. Occultist Aldous Huxley said that mysticism is the “highest common factor” that “links the world’s religious traditions” and leads man to recognize the divinity within all things (see As Above, So Below, p. 2).

Even though Brian McLaren rejects some of the basic tenets of biblical Christianity and clings to mystical beliefs of other religions, the Manhattan Declaration recommends him (p. 16).  

Other troublesome names that the Manhattan Declaration is calling “excellent resources”  and “like-minded worldview organizations and leaders working together for cultural transformation” (p. 7) are Buddhist-sympathizer Peter Kreeft, emerging church figure, Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz), the contemplative-promoting Teen Mania, and Ken Boa. The book the Declaration recommends by Boa, Conformed to His Image, is a primer in contemplative spirituality. In his book, Boa favorably references practices like lectio divina and figures like Richard Foster (Renovare), Thomas Merton, and Thomas Keating (Merton and Keating are two of the primary pioneers of the current contemplative prayer movement). Boa also references mystic Jean Pierre de Caussade’s book Abandonment to Divine Providence, referring to the “sacrament of the present moment“, a concept often used to encourage people to enter the silence.

And here is an interesting note: Boa tells readers: “The spiritual exercises of Ignatius of Loyola incorporate these and other meditative techniques.” Ignatius of Loyola was the founder of the Jesuits (an order in the Catholic church), whose purpose was mainly to bring “rebelling” Protestants back to the mother church. The barbarity and cruelness of the Jesuits was unspeakable. 

Another Jesuit priest, one who has indirect connections to the evangelical church today and one who is in line with the Aquarian Conspiracy [New Age christ-consciousness], is the late Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. In Chardin’s book, Christianity and Evolution, he makes these  comments:

[T]he Cross still stands … But this on one condition, and one only: that it expand itself to the dimensions of a New Age, and cease to present itself to us as primarily (or even exclusively) the sign of a victory over sin. (p. 219-220).

I believe that the Messiah whom we await, whom we all without any doubt await, is the universal Christ; that is to say, the Christ of evolution (p. 95).

What I am proposing to do is to narrow that gap between pantheism and Christianity by bringing out what one might call the Christian soul of Pantheism of the pantheist aspect of Christianity (p. 56).

In Warren B. Smith’s book, A “Wonderful” Deception, Smith reveals that Rick Warren colleague Leonard Sweet calls Chardin “Twentieth-century Christianity’s major voice” (AWD, p. 111 ). But Chardin does not represent biblical Christianity–on the contrary, he falls in a spiritual camp that embraces the “cosmic Christ,” which is the I AM (God) in every creature. Even though this christ-consciousness-in-all-people belief rejects the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, Sweet has openly aligned himself with Chardin. In Sweet’s book, Aqua Church, he favorably quotes Chardin saying: “Christ is in the Church in the same way as the sun is before our eyes. We see the same sun as our fathers saw, and yet we understand it in a much more magnificent way” (p. 39, Aqua Church).

While it is true that Leonard Sweet is not a signer of the Manhattan Declaration, this IS the direction that evangelical Christianity is heading. Please understand that this “vintage” Christianity (i.e. contemplative and/or emerging) is moving relentlessly toward the Catholic mystical tradition. So for Christian leaders, who already are nearly void of understanding the dangers of the contemplative/emerging movement, to stand together in solidarity with leaders of the Catholic church is only going to further remove the barriers in people’s minds that these two approaches to God are radically different, and even actually oppose each other (see Council of Trent anathemas).

Finally, we want to point out one more resource that the Manhattan Declaration is recommending: Renovare, which is the organization founded by contemplative pioneer Richard Foster. An entire book could be written on Foster alone, but in this article we are going to draw your attention to just one aspect. Those who understand the dynamics of the New Age/New Spirituality (i.e., contemplative) can research the Renovare website to gain further insight. One of the people whom Foster has used extensively for both his Spiritual Formation Study “Bible” and his  Life With God “Bible” is Walter Brueggemann. Brueggemann helped to edit these Renovare “Bibles.” Yet, Brueggemann, who could actually be considered a pioneer of the emerging church movement, resonates with atonement denier Alan Jones and actually endorsed the back cover of Jones’ book, Reimagining Christianity. In that book, Jones says that the doctrine of the Cross is a “vile” doctrine and that: The Church’s fixation on the death of Jesus as the universal saving act must end, and the place of the cross must be reimagined in Christian faith. Why? Because of the cult of suffering and the vindictive God behind it” (p. 132). It is THIS spirituality that the Manhattan Declaration is handing over to potentially millions of conservative Christians. And it is THIS spirituality of which we are compelled to warn against.

What is puzzling is that if these Evangelical leaders want to raise up morality in America, why have so many of them openly endorsed the emerging/contemplative spirituality in one aspect or another, which overall ignores or downplays a stand against homosexual marriage, abortion, and other moral issues that the Manhattan Declaration speaks of? Are they repenting? No mention of that. Many of them STILL are promoting the contemplative/emerging spirituality that will continue to remove traditional morality from our society. It seems rather distorted when these leaders are being seen as taking a stand for morality when all along they are promoting a spirituality that ultimately undermines it. We could give you example after example of the New Spirituality’s move away from morality (and we have in many articles these past seven years), and we could give you example after example of Christian leaders’ promotion of the New Spirituality and its cohorts (and we have also done that over and over again). Are these signers of the Manhattan Declaration truly concerned about the present moral condition of the United States? Probably most of them are. But it’s going to take a lot more than their signatures on a document–God will require much more.  For one, he is going to want them to renounce the heretical teachings of the New Age/New Spirituality.

Some media reports on the Declaration have suggested that these evangelical leaders are risking their very ministries by signing this document. This is hardly enough to be called a martyr for the faith. Those martyred in the past were often those believers who would not stand with the papacy and false gospel of Rome–hundreds of thousands of them were murdered for this.

For those who have any doubts as to the deceptive all-out efforts by Satan to destroy God’s truth by introducing “another gospel” (II Corinthians 11:4), especially in today’s world where the last days birth pangs are increasing (Matthew 24), we recommend you view a new film documentary titled A Lamp in the Dark (see link below). If you think there hasn’t been an ongoing move to destroy God’s Word and the true Gospel message, then this is a must-see film.  Before signing the ecumenical Manhattan Declaration, thinking that this kind of joint declaration is going to “save” America, get all the facts and ask the Lord for His wisdom (James 1:5-6),  not the dubious “wisdom” of Christian leaders today.

Lighthouse Trails is certainly not against standing up for morality. On the contrary. But one must look at the spiritual undertones that have found their way into Christianity today, including the endeavor addressed in this article. We must always keep in mind what Roman Catholic theologian Karl Rahner said, that the Christian of the future will be a mystic or he will be nothing at all. His vision is becoming more and more a reality.

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. James 1:5-6

More Information:

Five Opposing Responses to the Manhattan Declaration: John MacArthur (Grace to You), Jacob Prasch, (Moriel Ministries), Mike Gendron (Proclaiming the Gospel), Alistair Begg, Pastor Claude Stauffe (Calvary Chapel, North Amityville, NY)

“Evangelicals and New Agers Together” by Warren B. Smith

Should Christians Sign The Manhattan Declaration? by Pastor Adam Gislason

The Manhattan Declaration: Why faithful Christians SHOULD NOT sign it.–Cecil Andrews, Take Heed Ministries, Northern Ireland

Audio Clip: A Rebuke to the Manhattan Declaration Signatories by Pastor Ralph Ovadal

New Documentary Release: A Lamp in the Dark: The Untold History of the Bible

**Note: In the event that you cannot access the Resource Directory from the Manhattan Declaration website (if for some reason it is removed or becomes disabled),  you may view the exact same Resource Directory on Chuck Colson’s website. Click here.

In a posting by Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries, Silva addresses a video clip of emergent figure, Samir Selmanovic: 

The Scripture above shows us that the spirit of the age in which we now live is inversalism because mankind is in love with itself. A perfect example is the video [of
Selmanovic - see below] 

Silva states:

In posts like “Samir Selmanovic: God Is Father Of All Religion” previously Apprising Ministries has introduced you to Selmanovic, a member of the Coordinating Group for Emergent Village , itself a key cog in the egregiously ecumenical Emerging Church aka Emergent Church de-formation of the Christian faith—now morphing into Emergence Christianity (EC).

In the following several paragraphs, Roger Oakland discusses Samir Selmanovic’s spirituality in Faith Undone:

This misguided effort to unite all things, to give people the option of maintaining their own religious practices, suggesting they do not have to call themselves Christians is a spiritually slippery slope and an undoing of the Christian faith.

Samir Selmanovic was raised in a European Muslim home, then served as a Seventh Day Adventist pastor in the US. Today, he helps to develop the emerging church through his role in the Coordinating Group at Emergent Village and his leadership in Re-church Network. Selmanovic has some interesting and alarming views on Christianity. He states:

The emerging church movement has come to believe that the ultimate context of the spiritual aspirations of a follower of Jesus Christ is not Christianity but rather the kingdom of God. …to believe that God is limited to it [Christianity] would be an attempt to manage God. If one holds that Christ is confined to Christianity, one has chosen a god that is not sovereign. Soren Kierkegaard argued that the moment one decides to become a Christian, one is liable to idolatry.1

On Selmanovic’s website, Faith House project, he presents an interfaith vision that will:

…seek to bring progressive Jews, Christians, Muslims, and spiritual seekers of no faith to become an interfaith community for the good of the world. We have one world and one God.2

While Selmanovic says he includes Christians in this interspiritual dream for the world, he makes it clear that while they might be included, they are in no way beholders of an exclusive truth. He states:

Is our religion [Christianity] the only one that understands the true meaning of life? Or does God place his truth in others too? Well, God decides, and not us. The gospel is not our gospel, but the gospel of the kingdom of God, and what belongs to the kingdom of God cannot be hijacked by Christianity.3

While it is true that God is the One who decides where He is going to place truth, He has already made that decision. And the answer to that is found in the Bible. When Selmanovic asks if Christianity is the only religion that understands the true meaning of life, the answer is yes. How can a Buddhist or a Hindu or a Muslim fully understand truth when their religions omit a Savior who died for their sins?

Though world religions may share some moral precepts (don’t lie, steal, etc), the core essence of Christianity (redemption) is radically different from all of them. Interspirituality may sound noble on the surface, but in actuality, Selmanovic and the other emerging church leaders are facilitating occultist Alice Bailey’s rejuvenation of the churches. In her rejuvenation, everyone remains diverse (staying in their own religion), yet united in perspective, with no one religion claiming a unique corner on the truth. In other words all religions lead to the same destination and emanate from the same source. And of course, Bailey believed that a “Coming One”(4) whom she called Christ would appear on the scene in order to lead united humanity into an era of global peace. However, you can be sure that if such a scenario were to take place as Bailey predicted, there would be no room for those who cling to biblical truth.

As is the case with so many emergent leaders, Selmanovic’s confusing language dances obscurely around his theology, whether he realizes it or not. Sadly, for those who are lost and who are trying to find the way, the emerging church movement offers confusion in place of clarity. It blurs if not obliterates the walls of distinction between good and evil, truth and falsehood, leaving people to stumble along a broken path, hoping to find light. In sharp contrast, Jesus commanded believers to stand out as beacon lights in this dark world, bearing the Word of God to a lost and dying generation. In such times as these, in which we live, let us not be quickly deceived, but let us heed the words that give life and true peace:

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. (Matthew 5:14-15) (This excerpt from chapter 10 of Faith Undone by Roger Oakland.)

Notes:
1. Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones, An Emergent Manifesto of Hope, Samir Selmanovic section, “The Sweet Problem of Inclusiveness,” pp. 192-193.
2. From Faith House Project website: http://samirselmanovic. typepad.com/faith_house/2.WhatisFaithHouseProject.pdf.
3. Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones, An Emergent Manifesto of Hope, p. 194.
4. Alice Bailey: a term she used in her writings; see page 188 of Reappearance of the Christ for example. (Albany, NY: Fort Orange Press, 1948, 4th printing, 1962).

Emergent Manifesto of Hope is the new release from Emersion, a publishing partnership between Baker Books and Emergent Village. The book, edited and compiled by emergent leaders Tony Jones and Doug Pagitt, is a collection of essays by various emerging church leaders. Pagitt says the book “provides a rare glimpse inside the emerging church.” This “rare glimpse” actually lays out the agenda of the movement, and in essence Emergent Manifesto is the emerging church’s coming out of the closet tribute.

The back cover of Emergent Manifesto describes it as a “front-row” look at this “influential international movement” and promises readers that they will come away with “a deeper understanding of the hopeful imagination that drives the emerging church.” Readers are also told that they will “appreciate the beauty of a conversation that is continually being formed.” However, the book fails to deliver any “beauty.”

A more accurate title for this book would be Emergent Manifesto of False Hope, and a subtitle (albeit a lengthy one) that would describe it perfectly would go something like this:

The Kingdom of God is already here on earth, includes all people, all faiths, and in fact is in all people and all of creation and can be felt or realized through mysticism which connects everything together as ONE.

This new collective spirituality leads people into a socialistic community where rituals, practices, and social justice become a means of salvation, but not the salvation you think of in a personal sense of being born-again through Jesus Christ. This is a collective salvation 1 that includes whole cultures and communities who follow the way of someone referred to as Jesus.

Tony Jones lays the ground work for the book by referring to the “highest good” (for humanity) and explains that when Emergent began (in 1998) the group was “engaging in some sort of ’socially established cooperative human activity’”(p. 14). “Cooperative” is a theme that runs through the book. Doug Pagitt says Emergent is a “call to friendship … with the world” and this “friendship” is a “dangerous leap” in which many ways have been created to connect (p. 19). Throughout the book, these ways to connect become quite obvious. While often called other terms in the book, the concepts behind them are interspirituality (all religions coming together), panentheism (God is all creation), universalism (all are saved), and mysticism (the means by which this connecting takes place).

In this “sense of interconnection,” the book states:

[R]enewed popularity of the “kingdom” language is related to the emerging global narrative of the deep ecology movement – a consciousness and awareness that everything matters and is somehow interdependent (p. 27).

New Age sympathizer, Leonard Sweet (in his book Quantum Spirituality) calls this the Theory of Everything. This theory not only says that all creation is connected but that it is all inhabited with Divinity (God).

The Manifesto describes “themes” of “integrative theology” as: Interest in monastic practices, contemplative and bodily spiritual formation disciplines, celebrating earth, humanity, cultures, and the sensuous (p. 28). In a chapter titled “Meeting Jesus at Bars” the Manifesto favorably includes visiting monasteries, practicing yoga, engaging in silent retreats, and chanting with monks (p. 38). One writer in the book has this to say:

“I am a Christian today because of a Hindu meditation master. She taught me some things that Christians had not. She taught me to meditate, to sit in silence and openness in the presence of God…. I believe that all people are children of God.” (p.45)

While the book does list praying and reading Scripture as one of the practices to engage in, it offers a disclaimer that this is not what is most spiritually nourishing but rather “our relationship with others give us the most insight into who God is and where God is leading us” (p. 38). And this is really the essence of the book. Harmless, some may say. No, anything but. The Emergent Manifesto belittles personal, one on one relationship with the Lord and insists that it is a collective salvation that really matters. The goal of this cooperative movement is to participate in “the healing of our world” and to “collaborate with our Maker in the fulfillment of God’s reign on Earth” (p. 30).

The Manifesto makes clear that followers of this new, collective religion should not be concerned about saving “people from the jaws of hell,” but should rather be “motivated … to be in relationship with people who in many ways are different” (p. 35). The focus should not be on conversion as much as “cultivation of relationships.” The lofty language used in the Manifesto, reminiscent of legal or medical language, makes the writers seem highly intellectual but the reading difficult to comprehend. However, while the language in the book is often obscure and metaphorical, the ideologies are evident. To describe interspirituality, the book says:

“If the Emergent conversation is to have a ‘next chapter,’ it will need to learn from other sketches outside of Western Christendom” (p. 68). Translation: incorporate the belief systems of other religions.

Or this one:

[T]he environment that Emergent seeks to create – a studio for sketching, a place of freedom and divergence … [Emergent Village] is more committed to equipping any and all for the process of emergence (p. 70).

Manifesto talks significantly about those who refuse to change and bend with this “process of emergence.” Pagitt states:

While immovability may be a fine role for religion, it may not serve the story of God’s action in the world very well … I don’t think it is possible to tell the story of faith from the posture of sameness and stability …. Ours is a story of the expanding life of God generating new creation … of collective faith. (pp. 75-76)

When Pagitt speaks of “expanding life of God” and “new creation,” he means that we cannot contain truth or reality within the confines of the written Word of God but that truth is always changing and being created.

Universalism is a pronounced theme in the book as well. Manifesto calls salvation “a collective experience.” A Manifesto poem illustrates this:

Not only soul, whole body!
Not only whole body, all of the faithful community!
Not only all of the faithful community, all of humanity!
Not only all of humanity, all of God’s creation!(pp. 82-83)

And panentheism (God is in all) is exhibited through statements like the following, which talks about the “holiness of humanity”:

“[W]e are agents for change in the world (salvation, redemption, and reconciliation … it is a celebration of the holiness of humanity in which the fullness of God was pleased to dwell … it is our holy fleshiness” (p. 88).

What do the emerging church leaders hope to accomplish? Well, they tell us. They want you … they want the church to join up with them. Listen to this explanation:

“The existing church/emerging church matrix can dissolve into missional collaboration and generative friendship” (p. 107).

And hearing that, we must ask, Is that what Josh McDowell is doing by endorsing Dan Kimball’s book, They Like Jesus But Not the Church,2 and is that what David Jeremiah is doing by consistently promoting Erwin McManus?3 Are Christian leaders helping to bring about this dream of the emerging church by dissolving into it? Unfortunately, the answer to that seems to be yes. But how can we as believers follow them into this dark abyss?

In regard to biblical descriptions of last days apostasy, how does the Manifesto relate? It doesn’t. In speaking of the days that the Book of Revelation describes, the Manifesto states:

[F]olks who hang around the emerging church tend to see goodness and light in God’s future, not darkness and gnashing of teeth … [some] take the view that we’re in a downward spiral, and when things “down here” become bad enough, Jesus will return in glory…. We’re caught in the tractor beam of redemption and re-creation, and there’s no sense fighting it, so we might as well cooperate” (p. 130).

There is another underlying theme that is permeating the pages of this book and many of the other emerging church books in print, including Dan Kimball’s. There is a continual hammering away and chiseling down of the image of Christians (the kind who take the Bible literally and stand by its authority). This effort to villainize Christians is reminiscent of Germany in the 30s when artists would draw distorted pictures of Jews with certain facial features making them look weird, and when rumors and stories would run amuck even suggesting that Jews would rape your daughters, so don’t trust them. This all out effort to get society to hate and mistrust the Jews worked. It was a campaign, not based on fact, but based on a demonic kingdom that hates anything that has to do with Jesus Christ. In the Manifesto, Brian McLaren boils down the world’s evils to the fault of Western Christians and suggests that these resisting Christians might even become militant against people one day. (Hitler was able to persuade people that the Jews were a threat so they better take them out before the Jews got them.) McLaren states:

What are we in the so-called emerging churches seeking to emerge from? I asked myself. We are seeking to emerge from modern Western Christianity, from colonial Christianity, from Christianity as a “white man’s religion … into a faith of collaborative mission … It is immediately clear that this kind of emergence must lead to a convergence — in the West, across denominations and across current polarizations, a convergence of postconservatives and postliberals into what Hans Frei and Stanley Grenz termed a new “generous orthodoxy.” (p. 150)

[M]any will react and oppose this emergence, seeking to maintain the hegemony of the West … perhaps even seeking a revival of crusading Christendom. (151)

In Ray Yungen’s upcoming book, For Many Shall Come in My Name, he discusses this very thing and shows how New Age leaders have been framing a social mindset that will eventually become hostile to Bible believing Christians. Yungen explains how it will all be justified as doing humanity a favor by getting rid of them, and when he quotes the words of New Ager Neale Donald Walsch as saying that God believes Hitler did the Jews a favor by killing them, it sends chills up the spine. And whether they realize what they are doing or not, Dan Kimball, Brian McLaren and other emergent leaders are framing a similar mindset for people to climb into.

While it is sad to think about persecution that may be coming upon believers, it is even more tragic to realize how many unsaved people will never hear the gospel because so many Christian leaders have given the emerging church a thumbs up. The publishers and editors at Baker Books should be ashamed of themselves for exalting such anti-Christ teachings or at the very least stop calling themselves a Christian publisher.

For those who are still skeptical about the Emergent Manifesto’s message, pick up a copy sometime of Alice Bailey’s The Externalization of the Hierarchy, or Al Gore’s Earth in the Balance. And when you read those words by those “change agents” see if you notice that the message is the same, just dressed in a different outfit called Emergent.

Emergent Manifesto does indeed “provide a rare glimpse,” but not one of hope. Rather it is a look into the near future of a world that is racing toward spiritual destruction through severe deception as the Bible predicts when it says that Satan will deceive the whole world in the days prior to Christ’s return (Revelation 12:9).