Lighthouse

Lighthouse Trails Inc

  • HOME
  • ABOUT/CONTACT
  • STORE
  • RESEARCH JOURNAL
  • TOPICAL BOOKLETS
  • FREE E-NEWSLETTER
  • RESEARCH ARCHIVE

EMERGENT MANIFESTO: Emerging Church Comes Out of the Closet

EMERGENT MANIFESTO: Emerging Church Comes Out of the Closet

April 25, 2007 by Lighthouse Trails Editors
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

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).

Posted in: Christian Publishers/Bookstores, The Emerging Church Tagged: Christian publishers, doug pagitt, emergent, Emergent Village, The Emerging Church, tony jones

Search the Research

Categories

  • A Global Spirituality (541)
    • Chrislam (32)
    • Ecumenism (173)
    • One-World Religion (87)
  • Book/Film Reviews (595)
    • A Course in Miracles (3)
    • Book/Music Excerpts (266)
    • JESUS CALLING (66)
    • THE SHACK (60)
  • CHILDREN AT RISK! (562)
    • Abortion (55)
    • Child Abuse (79)
    • Children and Homosexuality (21)
    • Children and Meditation (89)
    • Education (51)
    • Homeschooling at Risk (28)
    • Kids and the Occult (19)
    • Transgenderism (74)
  • Christian Organizations (132)
  • Christian Publishers/Bookstores (72)
  • Churches in Crisis! (849)
    • Alpha Course (9)
    • Assemblies of God (26)
    • Bethel Church (Redding) (17)
    • Calvinist/Reformed (103)
    • Charismatic (40)
    • Christian & Missionary Alliance (18)
    • Concerns for Calvary Chapel (192)
    • Free Methodist (2)
    • Mennonites (7)
    • Saddleback (243)
    • Southern Baptist Convention (30)
      • Beth Moore (3)
    • Wesleyan Church (3)
    • Willow Creek/Hybels (59)
  • Conference Alerts (109)
  • Contemplative Spirituality (967)
    • Contemplative Churches (64)
    • Contemplative Colleges (192)
    • Contemplative Denominations (271)
    • Contemplative Organizations (103)
    • Contemplative Practices (239)
      • Enneagram (1)
      • Labyrinths (3)
      • Lectio Divina (67)
    • The Ancient Mystics (76)
  • Defending the Faith (861)
    • Creation/Evolution (59)
    • Discernment (48)
    • Persecution (158)
    • Spiritual Deception (290)
    • The Preaching of the Cross (112)
    • The Word of God (194)
  • General Information (287)
    • RESOURCES (215)
  • Health (187)
    • Mindfulness (43)
    • Reiki/Energy Healing (35)
    • Shepherd's Bible Verse Tea (1)
    • YOGA (88)
  • Hinduism (37)
  • Homosexuality (359)
    • Same-Sex Marriage (163)
    • Transgenderism (82)
  • Interspirituality (187)
  • Israel (142)
  • LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (308)
  • Missions (129)
    • BRYCE HOMES FOR WIDOWS & CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL (95)
  • Music (45)
  • Native Spirituality (39)
  • New Age movement (390)
    • Oprah Winfrey (25)
    • Paganism (17)
    • pantheism & panentheism (94)
    • Roma Downey (13)
  • New Evangelicalism (104)
  • On Christian Faith (259)
    • Encouragement (30)
    • The Gospel (68)
  • Publishing News (68)
  • Purpose Driven Movement (272)
    • Rick Warren (133)
  • Remembering Communism (48)
  • Remembering the Holocaust (115)
  • Road to Rome (250)
    • The New Evangelization (93)
  • Signs of the Times (1,002)
    • Canada (48)
    • Dominionism (13)
    • Eschatology (96)
    • False Signs and Wonders (62)
    • FOR MILLENNIALS (18)
    • FREEDOM (169)
    • Hate Crime Laws (67)
    • Islam (70)
    • Politics (330)
    • Pornography/Sexual Abuse (48)
    • The "New" Sciences (25)
  • Spiritual Formation (188)
  • The Emerging Church (491)
    • The New Missiology (33)
    • Universalism (29)
  • The New (False) Spirituality (102)
  • The New Spirituality (210)
  • The Role of Meditation (261)
    • Mystical Practices (103)
  • World in Crisis (181)
  • YEARS IN REVIEW (69)

RSS Recent Posts

  • The New Evangelization From Rome December 11, 2019
  • Ouija Angel Boards December 11, 2019
  • The New Gnostics in Today’s Church December 9, 2019
  • “Despite Common Core Promises, U.S. Kids Repeat Poor Performance On Latest Global Test” December 5, 2019
  • Southern Baptist Convention Adopts “Critical Race Theory”—A Dangerous Marxist “Solution” That Will Not Work December 2, 2019

Lighthouse Trails Writers

  • anita dittman
  • berit kjos
  • bill randles
  • carl teichrib
  • carolyn a. greene
  • caryl matrisciana
  • catherine brown
  • cedric fisher
  • chris lawson
  • david dombrowski
  • diet eman
  • egerton ryerson young
  • gregory reid
  • harry a. ironside
  • jim fletcher
  • john foxe
  • john lanagan
  • judson casjens
  • kevin reeves
  • l. putnam
  • larry debruyn
  • linda nathan
  • lynn lusby pratt
  • maria kneas
  • mary danielsen
  • michael tays carter
  • mike oppenheimer
  • mike stanwood
  • nanci des gerlaise
  • paul proctor
  • ray yungen
  • roger oakland
  • ruth hunt
  • sandy simpson
  • tamara hartzell
  • tony pearce
  • trevor baker (songwriter)
  • warren b. smith

Calendar

December 2019
S M T W T F S
« Nov    
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  

Archives

  • The New Evangelization From Rome
    by Lighthouse Trails Editors on December 11, 2019 at 2:05 pm

    The New Evangelization From Rome LTRP Note: The following is an extract from Roger Oakland’s booklet, The New Evangelization From Rome—Or Finding the True Jesus Christ. By Roger Oakland When Christians speak of evangelism, they are usually referring to efforts to fulfill the Great Commission. Just before ascending to heaven, Jesus commissioned every believer to proclaim the good news when ... [Read more...] The post The New Evangelization From Rome appeared first on Lighthouse Trails Inc.

  • Ouija Angel Boards
    by Lighthouse Trails Editors on December 11, 2019 at 3:21 am

    <strike>Ouija</strike> Angel Boards “While most children in the seventies knew enough truth to place divination in the forbidden realm of the occult, today’s children—who often feel more comfortable with occult games than biblical truth—see nothing wrong with pagan practices.”—Berit Kjos By Lynn Lusby Pratt “Well, would you try to Christianize a Ouija board?” When I’ve asked that question, ... [Read more...] The post <strike>Ouija</strike> Angel Boards appeared first on Lighthouse Trails Inc.

  • The New Gnostics in Today’s Church
    by Lighthouse Trails Editors on December 9, 2019 at 1:29 pm

    The New Gnostics in Today’s Church By Bill Randles(Author of the new release, War Against the Saints) I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. (1 John 2:21) The church is undergoing perhaps her final assault from within, as she has been beset with ... [Read more...] The post The New Gnostics in Today’s Church appeared first on Lighthouse Trails Inc.

  • “Despite Common Core Promises, U.S. Kids Repeat Poor Performance On Latest Global Test”
    by Lighthouse Trails Editors on December 5, 2019 at 1:51 pm

    “Despite Common Core Promises, U.S. Kids Repeat Poor Performance On Latest Global Test” LTRP Note: The following news story is posted for informational and research purposes. If you would like to read more about Common Core, see Berit Kjos’ article, “A ‘Common Core’ For a Global Community.” If you know a family whose children are in public school, please consider sharing a copy of Kjos’ article with them. ... [Read more...] The post “Despite Common Core Promises, U.S. Kids Repeat Poor Performance On Latest Global Test” appeared first on Lighthouse Trails Inc.

  • Southern Baptist Convention Adopts “Critical Race Theory”—A Dangerous Marxist “Solution” That Will Not Work
    by Lighthouse Trails Editors on December 2, 2019 at 8:43 pm

    Southern Baptist Convention Adopts “Critical Race Theory”—A Dangerous Marxist “Solution” That Will Not Work On November 25th, Lighthouse Trails received a link to a YouTube documentary titled “The Stain of Albert Mohler”(1) that documents how the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) passed a resolution (Resolution 9) this past summer (2019) which adopts “Critical Race Theory” (a theory that claims to be a solution to ending racism but according to critics ... [Read more...] The post Southern Baptist Convention Adopts “Critical Race Theory”—A Dangerous Marxist “Solution” That Will Not Work appeared first on Lighthouse Trails Inc.

  • Letter to the Editor: Reminder About Study Showing Adverse Effects of Meditation
    by Lighthouse Trails Editors on December 2, 2019 at 2:13 pm

    Letter to the Editor: Reminder About Study Showing Adverse Effects of Meditation Dear Lighthouse Trails: This article came up in a feed, and I thought it might be a useful reminder to your readers. It’s a 2017 shallow academic re-run of what LHT has devotedly and thoroughly covered in depth for years! I imagine a title like: “Study Names 59 Categories of Unexpected and Unwanted Side Effects ... [Read more...] The post Letter to the Editor: Reminder About Study Showing Adverse Effects of Meditation appeared first on Lighthouse Trails Inc.

  • World Leader of Salvation Army Meets With Pope Francis/Vatican to Discuss Ecumenical Plans
    by Lighthouse Trails Editors on December 2, 2019 at 1:50 pm

    World Leader of Salvation Army Meets With Pope Francis/Vatican to Discuss Ecumenical Plans According to a November 2019 posting on the Salvation Army website titled, “World Leader of The Salvation Army General Brian Peddle meets His Holiness Pope Francis,” it appears that the Salvation Army is part of the growing ranks of evangelical organizations in the race toward unity at all costs. The post from the Salvation Army ... [Read more...] The post World Leader of Salvation Army Meets With Pope Francis/Vatican to Discuss Ecumenical Plans appeared first on Lighthouse Trails Inc.

  • A Word About Salvation Versus “the Contemplative Way”
    by Lighthouse Trails Editors on December 1, 2019 at 1:18 pm

    A Word About Salvation Versus “the Contemplative Way” By Ray Yungen Knowing Jesus Christ is not merely religion or spirituality but is rather a personal relationship with Him. Romans 10:2 speaks of those who have a “zeal for God but not according to knowledge.” Many contemplative writers describe a spiritual despondency they suffer before turning to mystical prayer as a remedy, and consequently ... [Read more...] The post A Word About Salvation Versus “the Contemplative Way” appeared first on Lighthouse Trails Inc.

  • Being Thankful Through It All
    by Lighthouse Trails author on November 28, 2019 at 8:27 am

    Being Thankful Through It All By Warren B. Smith In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (1 Thessalonians 5:18) Thankfulness is our attempt as believers to express the inexpressible—the amazing gratitude we feel for the amazing grace bestowed upon us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He not only ... [Read more...] The post Being Thankful Through It All appeared first on Lighthouse Trails Inc.

  • Ironside: “If Only I Could Be Sure I Was in the Right Church.”
    by Lighthouse Trails Editors on November 24, 2019 at 2:40 pm

    Ironside: “If Only I Could Be Sure I Was in the Right Church.” LTRP Note: The following is from Harry Ironside’s book Full Assurance. By Harry Ironside A comment put to me: “If I could only be sure I was in the right church, I would feel secure; but there are so many different churches that I get all confused and upset.” My response: The church is not ... [Read more...] The post Ironside: “If Only I Could Be Sure I Was in the Right Church.” appeared first on Lighthouse Trails Inc.

Show Buttons
Hide Buttons

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name [Jesus Christ] under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12

HOME ABOUT US RESEARCH JOURNAL BOOKLET TRACTS RESOURCES OUR WEBSITES

Copyright 2002-2019. Lighthouse Trails Publishing, Inc.