DOWN WITH SOLA SCRIPTURA

In posts such as Phyllis Tickle And The Emerging Church: It’s Not If Sola Scriptura Ends But When and Emergence Pastor Rob Bell To Have Friend Peter Rollins In Conference I’ve been doing my part here at Apprising Ministriesto draw attention to this antichrist Emergence rebellion against sola Scriptura ala teachers of a counterfeit Christianity such as Doug Pagitt and his friend, the Elvis of Emergence Rob Bell.

Based upon the recent increase of those writing to offer words of encouragement, as well as a new marked increase in readership, it would seem that more people are listening. Men and women, one of the reasons I labeled this a postliberal cult early on is due to their approach to the Bible. Having been trained in Comparative Religion, apologetics, and counter-cult evangelism, one of the very first things I ever look at with any movement is their approach to the final authority of God’s inerrant, and infallible Word, in His Holy Scripture.

From its inception in Hell this Emergence against sola Scriputra, in favor of its highly subjective Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism aka the spurious Spiritual Formation espoused by Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster along with his spiritual twin Dallas Willard, has always been rooted in its father’s fatal question in Genesis 3:1 — “Indeed, has God said?” There are those who would ask me: Do you have to put it like that? My answer is the same as Dr. Walter Martin, a mentor to many: If you have any brains you do.

As you can see e.g. in Rob Bell In A Nutshell: The Bible Bell, a leading pastor of this Emergence Christianity, seems so adamantly against sola Scriptura as to even misrepresent it in what appears to be his eagerness to get rid of this foundational doctrine in the Body of Christ:

This is part of the problem with continually insisting that one of the absolutes of the Christian faith must be a belief that “Scripture alone” is our guide. It sounds nice but it is not true… When people say that all we need is the Bible, it is simply not true. (Velvet Elvis, 067, 068, emphasis mine)

But sola Scriptura never has meant that “all we need” in our relationship with God, and with our fellow man, is the Bible; rather, what we are saying is “Scripture alone” is to be the final authority in all matters of faith and morals as to how it is we then live out these relationships. As my friend, pastor of Twin City Fellowship, Bob DeWaay points out in his excellent article Abstract Elvis as Bell is denying sola Scriptura in Velvet Elvis he is actually taking the very same dead wrong position of apostate Roman Catholicism.

DeWaay scores a direct hit on Bell’s apostate ecumenicism when he points out:

Bell claims that people in church history (he gives Luther as an example2 ) were involved in “rethinking.” I don’t deny that. But when he says that we have no objective means to determine whether Luther’s teachings or those of the Council of Trent are in closer agreement with the teachings revealed once for all in the Bible—there I strongly disagree. In fact Bell rejects “Scripture alone” on principle:

This [that the canon was not settled until the 4th century] is part of the problem with continually insisting that one of the absolutes of the Christian faith must be a belief that “Scripture alone” is our guide. It sounds nice, but it is not true. In reaction to abuses by the church, a group of believers during a time called the Reformation claimed that we only need the authority of the Bible. But the problem is that we got the Bible from the church voting on what the Bible even is.

He thereby takes the same position that the Roman Catholic Church took against the Reformers: That since the Church (guided by the Holy Spirit) gave us the Bible, the Church (guided by the Holy Spirit) is authoritative over the Bible. Bell’s version simply expands that idea beyond Rome to any Christian group anywhere struggling with the meaning of the Bible. Rather than to rely on a grammatical/historical approach to determine the author’s meaning, he trusts that in some manner the Holy Spirit is “enlightening us.”

I believe that inspired, authoritative revelation was given once for all and is contained in the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit gave us the Bible by inspiring the Biblical authors, not by inspiring 4th century clerics. They merely recognized the evidence that pointed to the true apostolic source of writings Christians had cited as authoritative since the death of the apostles. Therefore revelation is not an ongoing process. (Online source)

And one of the reasons it’s entirely appropriate to label this Emergence Christianity, aka the Emergent Church, as a cult is because it’s openly attacking the cardinal doctrine of sola Scriptura. Just as any other cult must do this Emergence insurrection has to first get rid of the authority of the Bible in order to place the views concerning it by its various leaders above Scripture for their followers. If you’ve attempted to dialogue with unfortunate people duped by these teachers of a counterfeit Christianity you will have no doubt been told: “The Bible doesn’t teach sola Scriptura.”

Well, for openers, draw their attention to Deuteronomy 8:1-6 and Matthew 4:1-10 . And you also might note for them that according to our eyewitness account of Matthew we see Jesus—Who’s only God Himself in human flesh—appeal to our Old Testament, and specifically Deuteronomy 8:3, as the final authority in His stinging rebuke of Satan. But the critical question those so foolish as to deny sola Scriptura while spreading the doctrines of demons at the heart of Emergence Christianity ought to contemplate is: Can your leaders show from the Bible why we shouldn’t adhere to sola Scriptura?

See also:

THE EMERGENCE CONVERGENCE APOSTASIA-POLOOSA

THE EMERGENCE GOSPEL OF GOOD DEEDS

THE EMERGENCE OF POSTMODERN APOSTLES OF UNBELIEF

PETER ROLLINS AND PHYLLIS TICKLE ON THE EMERGENCE OF A BRAND NEW RELIGION

PETER ROLLINS AND EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY OPENING EVANGELICAL DOOR TO PRACTICING HOMOSEXUAL “CHRISTIANS”

EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY SOON TO PUT FORTH A GAY FACE

NO-CONTROVERSY FOR THE NEW DOWNGRADE