Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin. (Proverbs 21:2-4, ESV)

Sam Sincerely Sets The Record Sideways

If anyone truly doubts there is a cult of personality growing up around Rob Bell, who is himself a part of the new cult of liberal theology which is the Emergent Church, then you need only look at what will follow from an Emergent by the name of Sam Andress at his blog into the subversion.

Incidentally, it was Sam who first discovered Apprising Ministries and he decided to write me a while back because he apparently wanted to share with me his taking a bit of exception to my Biblical teachings about his “under-rabbi” Rob Bell. So using his best sarcasm and straw men Sam said:

Hey it is wonderful to see that you are critiquing Rob Bell as being some heretic of the faith. Now, if for MOST, meaning over 1600 years of Christian history, contemplative prayer was a CENTRAL “practice” of the Orthodox (apostolic) Christian faith how can you propose that the plethora of commodified garbage being sold in the “Christian” world is more proper.

What Rob Bell is trying to do is get people to understand that being a Christian, means following God, revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. The Christian faith is not some static set of beliefs. We should be running our “evangelical” statements of faith up against the ancient creeds and the apostolic writings of the Early Church Fathers!!!

I pray brother that you will see Rob Bell is not the one to be called a heretic, you should focus your efforts on Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn and the like who inculcate a consumerist heterodoxy and pawn as the Christian faith of following Jesus. Besides the first thing Jesus said in the Gospels was “Come Follow Me!”

Shalom,

Sam

And we first note that in typical Emergent cult form Sam ends his enraged rant with the obligatory “peace.” I did however; appreciate his rather clever touch by using the Hebrew Shalom for “peace.” Now before anyone gets all worked up and runs out to find the green wood and rope for the stake, I will tell you that absolutely nothing Sam has said above or even what he is about makes me the least bit angry with him.

The Lord knows that He has given me a real heart for the young. But at the same time this doesn’t mean I am about to coddle them when they are in need of some strong discipline. And there are well over a hundred former high school football players who would gladly confirm that for you in about ten years from now when they will finally speak of me and/or to me again. You see true love means sometimes we will run the risk of upsetting those we are trying to help.

Following His Under-Rabbi Rob To Fuller Theological Sewer

I personally have no reason to doubt that Sam means well but I also know that he is sadly misinformed and at Fuller Seminary–home of the Church Growth Movement and worse–he is quite likely to turn out with the same spiritual defects as his cult of personality hero Rob Bell. I have talked with many people who knew Rob when and I can assure you the theology of the Elvis of Emergent has long ago left the building.

Now, under the section “About Me” on his aforementioned blog Sam tells us a little about himself:

Name: Sam Andress
Location: Pasadena, California, US

::follower of Jesus:: ::seminary student:: ::azusa pacific university alum::
::theologian:: ::reader:: ::writer:: ::coffee connoisseur:: ::dark beer connoisseur:: ::baseball fan:: ::cultural critic::

Leaving aside his being a connoisseur of dark beer, which is a bit dubious for a genuine Christian to be proud of, the above will tell us that Sam is not an ignorant young man at all. Rather he is actually college trained and also claims to be a “follower of Jesus.” Further Sam informs us he is also a student in seminary and by his own claim is a “cultural critic” as well as a “theologian.”

Therefore since he has sincerely written in a prior attempt to correct and instruct me regarding his under-rabbi Rob Bell; and the following entry from Sam’s blog is readily accessible in the public arena of the internet, then we can use it as illustrative of one who is obviously quite familiar with, and who also follows, the teachings of Rob Bell. Sam will also tell us below that he is a member of an “emerging church” and knows quite well what this Emergent rebellion against the Protestant Reformation with its repainted inclusive pseudo-Christianity is really all about.

In fact what we will read next is quite telling for those of us who follow the proper Biblical historic orthodox Christian faith. Having talked with many Emergents over this past year or so from Dan Kimball to your youth pastor to Tony Jones, the national coordinator of Emergent Village, I can tell you that the Emergent Church is indeed the new cult of liberalism. Further it does have its own leaders who interpret the Bible for them and as you will see it even has it own subversive and cultic message.

The Emergent Spirit Of Another Jesus With Another Gospel

Lord willing I’ll have time later to cover this in more depth but for now what you will see below from Sam Andress, while using some of the same terminology, is not the Christian faith of the Bible. Rather it is a new repackaged social gospel which now reemerges with a new reimagined message of some “uncharted way and recovering the way of Jesus.” Herein is revealed the methodology of a cult in that the Emergent Church feels it must exist to “recover” the way of Jesus.

And simple logic will tell you that if something has to be recovered then that something previously held had been lost. So in the case of the Emergent Church and Fuller seminary student Sam Andress we are now supposedly rediscovering some uncharted way and recovering the way of Jesus. His under-rabbi Rob Bell refers to it as “repainting the Christian faith” and in The Secret Teachings of Jesus Emergent Guru Brian McLaren believes that the church has never actually understood the real message of Jesus in the first place.

However, the more you study this emerging liberal religion of social change in the Emergent Church section of the Ecumenical Church of Deceit the more one sees that this new “Rabbi Jesus” bears very little resemblance to the Christ Jesus of Biblical revelation and His simple Gospel has been wrenched and warped into some subversive revolution trying to transform the world:

It’s almost here…what our calendar system calls a new year. Perhaps its a time of reflection, celebration and anticipation which could even be a foreshadow of God’s future which is coming towards us, with the desire to make all things new.

This past year was marked with joy and lonliness (sic), hope and despair, excitement and disbelief, doubt and confidence. I guess this is the proper rhythms of life. Some of the highlights of the year have been:

1. Being able to study at a seminary such as Fuller, where theological and missiological acumen is high and passion for the church and world to be transformed is never lacking.

2. I became a participant in the life of Mountainside Communion a small and emerging church community of Jesus followers striving to be guided by Micah 6.8…

4. My friendship with Rod Koop, the director of church multiplication has been a godsend that has kept me from despairing at the insipid taste of much of what passes for church in the U.S.

No Longer Christians But Emergent “Jesus Followers”

Above we see Sam talking of “God’s future” and the “desire to make all things new.” But you see the way Satan works is to twist truth to set up false dichotomies. The Emergent Church has over-reacted to the current lethargy of Biblical Christianity by so concentrating on enacting social change it has all but neglected the actual and primary mission of Christ’s Church which is to seek and save the lost. And in addition Isaiah clearly tells us this present cosmos is doomed:

“Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.” (Isaiah 51:6)

So as admirable as being “missional” might sound the only way this world sees any real “transformation” is as God Himself converts one sinner at a time through the faithful preaching of the actual Gospel of Jesus Christ. Notice here again that the Emergent cult has also dropped the term Christian in favor of their so-called Jesus followers of social justice. Sometimes you will see the term Christ followers in place of the latter. Sam and I will find agreement however, on his last statement when he speaks of his disgust for “what passes for church in the US.”

And finally we’ll see more evidence of the classic cultic mentality of “us against them” that Sam has been programmed to believe by these emerging teachers of counterfeit Christianity like Rob Bell and Brian McLaren. And in true cult form Sam will also tell us below about the “special” mission of these “fellow travelers” who are going to be “beckoning forth the new emergence” of the true Church as they “risk much”:

I am thankful for the close and deep friendships of fellow travelers, fellow exiles who are on the verge of beckoning forth the new emergence of the Mission of God. Thosw (sic) of us who together will risk much for the sake of Christ. I thank God for the ones that are already forging this uncharted way and recovering the way of Jesus. The Journey Community of Madison Wisconsin is an amazing example of the prophetic future of the church…

May this be a year in which we have eyes to see and ears to hear the reign and rule of God break forth in new and unimaginable ways. May this year be one in which we participate in the renewal and making new of God’s church and God’s world. May we be those who would dare to follow our Rabbi Jesus, in the reality of his life and death and in hopeful anticipation of the resurrection!

Shalom (Online source, emphasis mine)

Men and women, as I have said before if you can’t see this Emergent Church is a new reimagined liberal theology, or worse a new religion entirely, then maybe you just don’t want to see this emerging cult springing up around men like Rob Bell and his “Rabbi Jesus.” May the Lord open your eyes before your own young are swallowed whole by these Emergent vipers.