 Brian
McLaren's Book, The Secret Message of Jesus
by
Berit Kjos
Who Defines the Kingdom of God?
Where
is the Kingdom of God? How inclusive is it? Who defines
the terms? Today's
emerging church has already moved the boundaries of His Kingdom.
It has redefined God's Word and is fast embracing the latest versions
of the old Gnostic quest for secret knowledge (gnosis)
and self-actualization, whether through mystical experience or
collective imagination.
Stamping
out faith in Biblical absolutes is central to this transformation.
A mind anchored in God's Word won't compromise, but when that
anchor is removed, the current of change can carry that mind anywhere.
As Jesuit scholastic, Mark
Mossa, wrote in his endorsement of Brian McLaren's latest
book: "The Secret Message of Jesus, challenges us to
put aside our sterile certainties about Christ and
reconsider the imaginative world of Jesus stories, signs
and wonders." Read
Entire Article, Who Defines the Kingdom of God (a critique
of The Secret Message of Jesus)
McLaren
Redefines Christianity
"After
Brian McLaren of the 'Emergent' brand of neo-evangelicalism was
named one of the top 25 most influential Evangelicals in America
today by TIME magazine (Feb. 7, 2005), Homiletics Online published
an interview with him entitled 'A
Generous, not Suspicious, Orthodoxy.' In this interview McLaren
discusses a new term that he has invented: post-colonial."—Emergent
"Post-colonial" Disingenuousness
An Enemy
of the Cross?
Is
Brian McLaren becoming an enemy of the Cross of Jesus Christ?
While his signature and endorsement on the back of such books
as Tony Campolo's Speaking My Mind
and Dave Fleming's The Seeker's Way, was horrible enough, that
was mild compared to what he has now done.
In
the midst of the Purpose Driven craze and an apparently sleeping
church, Brian McLaren has endorsed a book that calls the doctrine
of the Cross a vile doctrine.
(p. 168, Reimagining Christianity - Alan Jones)
That
book? None other than Alan Jones' new book, Reimagining Christianity.
Alan Jones is an interspiritualist and mystic. Take a look at
the Living Spiritual Teachers
Project, of which Jones is involved. This group of about twenty-five
includes Zen and Buddhist monks, New Agers and even Marianne Williamson
and her Course in Miracles.
"Brian
McLaren wants us to learn more about 'meditative practices, about
which Zen Buddhism has said much. To talk about different things
is not to contradict one another; it is, rather, to have much
to offer one another' (A Generous Orthodoxy, p. 255.) Can Zen
Buddhism have something to offer that would improve a Christian's
spiritual life when the Bible teaches us that we are already partakers
of Christ Jesus' divine nature? (2 Peter 1:3-11) McLaren cites
contemplative meditation promoter Richard Foster as one of the
key mentors for the Emergent movement."—Spiritual Fusion:
East comes West, Mike Oppenheimer, Let Us Reason Ministries
New
Age Leonard Sweet 
and Brian McLaren have a new book.
A
is for Abductive:
The Language of the Emerging Church
"McLaren
reveals his true stripes when he goes on, in the same article,
to make this uninspiring judgment: 'I don't think the liberals
have it right. But I don't think we have it right either.
None of us has arrived at orthodoxy.' What else can this mean
but that McLaren denies the teachings of the conservative
Christian community of which he pretends to be a part? What
else can this mean but that those who ascribe to the faith’s
historic fundamentals are just as doctrinally retarded as
those who mock the fundamentals?"
—Anthony Paul Mator, Postmodern
Antiquity: "Emerging Church" Claims Pre-Modern Roots
Brian
McLaren:
Christianity is Limited? |
When Brian McLaren endorsed the back cover of Dave
Fleming's book, "The
Seeker's Way," did he agree with Fleming who made
the following remarks in his book?:
"A
seeker admits the limits of particular belief systems and
acknowledges that God is far bigger than any human being's
conceptions."
"The path of Jesus does not lead so much to assurance
as to adventure and transformation."
Read more
of Dave Fleming's book,
"The Seeker's Way."
In The Seeker's Way, Dave Fleming writes favorably
about the following panentheist authors:
Wayne Teasdale
Alan Jones
Joan
Chittister
Marcus Borg
By
McLaren's endorsing of this book, he is helping to lead countless
young, seeking people right into the arms of a New Age spirituality
and away from the arms of Jesus Christ.
Brian
McLaren on Uniting
Christianity with Catholicism |
Several
years back, you (Chuck Colson)tried to bring Evangelicals
and Catholics together, an effort which I applaud and in which
I am involved myself." (In
a letter
to Chuck Colson on Youth Specialties web site.)
Brian
McLaren and Contemplative
Prayer |
"[H]e (Brian McLaren)concludes that the emerging
church must be "monastic"—centered on training disciples
who practice, rather than just believe, the faith.... He cites Dallas Willard and Richard Foster, with their emphasis on spiritual disciplines,
as key mentors for the emerging
church"
Brian
McLaren and Thomas
Merton, who said he was impregnated with Sufism |
"One
other thing I want to do for you, if you are going through
a low tide of faith. I want to encourage you to step up to
a new level of Christian thinking by investigating some new
authors and speakers....The fact that your faith is struggling
means that you need some new teachers.... Philip
Yancey ... Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Walker
Percy and Thomas Merton."—Brian
McLaren, Doubt
Brian
McLaren and Gay
Marriage |
"Asked
at a conference last spring what he thought about gay marriage, Brian McLaren replied, 'You know what, the thing that
breaks my heart is that there's no way I can answer it without
hurting someone on either side.'" from Time magazine.
|
