But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. (1 Timothy 2:12, NASB)

Evangelicalism Opening The Same Door Of No Return As Did Mainline Denominations 

Christianity21 is less a conference and more a happening, an event—a gathering of voices and ideas that will shape the future of our faith.

We live in a time of epochal change. Many find this change exciting; for others, it’s a challenge. Call it globalization, pluralization, or postmodernism, this change affects our economy, politics, government, and education—all of society. And, of course, our faith and our churches are not immune to change.

So we have gathered 21 of the most important voices for the future of Christianity—21 voices for the 21st century—to speak into our future as people of faith in this age. They represent a diverse array of backgrounds, interests, and passions, and they will provide a wide range of innovative and challenging presentations. (Online source)

 One of these “most important voices for the future of Christianity” who’ll “speak into our future” in order to “shape the future of our faith” is Rev. Nanette Sawyer on “Jesus is not only anything.” Tony Jones, “a leader in the emergent church movement and a renowned expert on postmodern theology and the American church landscape,” tells us a little about Sawyer:

Nanette is also a long-time friend of Emergent Village and is on the Emergent Village Coordinating Group; she’s an artist, writer, and the organizing pastor of Wicker Park Grace, an emerging faith community which meets in an art gallery on the west side of Chicago. (Online source)

Previously in the AM article The New Christians With Christianity Worth Believing—No Sola Scriptura: Yes, Women Pastors And Queer Christians we told you that Sawyer is the “community pastor” of Wicker Park Grace church er, community, which was originally a “project was launched by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).” And the increasingly liberal PCUSA also happens to the denomination that ordained “pastor” Sawyer in violation of Scripture.

In addition Sawyer was also one of the contributors to the book An Emergent Manifesto of Hope (EMH), which you may recall was co-edited by the spiritually dubious duo of Jones and his quasi-universalist pastor Doug Pagitt. It’s also quite telling to note that in EMH Sawyer says:

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. (45, emphasis mine)

As previouly stated we make no mistake here;  it’s not as if Sawyer shouldn’t know better. She does have a “master of theological studies degree in comparative world religions” (EMH, 42). So this leaves her no excuse for that very wrong understanding. But yet, “pastor” Sawyer still tells us that she believes “all people are children of God,” while the Lord Himself very specifically says that they are not — But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12, NASB).

Simple logic tells us that if you have to become something, then it’s quite obvious you were not that thing before. But this is not an abberation in Sawyer’s messed-up mystic message. Just a couple of months ago at the Pomomusings website of fellow “presbymergent” and contributor to EMH Adam Walker Cleaveland we’re told that Sawyer is:

the organizing pastor of Wicker Park Grace, a faith community that meets in an art gallery in Chicago. She represents the Presbyterian Church (USA) on the Interfaith Relations Commission of the National Council of Churches of Christ and is the author of the book, Hospitality—the Sacred Art (Skylight Paths, 2008.) (Online source)

For those who don’t know, the National Council of Churches of *ahem* Christ is—to quote the late Dr. Walter Martin—”a honeycomb of liberal theology,” which becomes quite evident in a series called Plurality 2.0 where our Emergent Church “community, organizing pastor” Sawyer informs us while musing below:

Recently, I have been studying a document called “Interfaith Relations and the Churches” which is an official policy statement of the National Council of Churches of Christ… Significantly, and not surprisingly, the document states that Christians disagree about whether non-Christians can be reconciled to God, and if so, how.

This acknowledges that there are Christians who believe that non-Christians can be reconciled to God (without becoming Christians.) As a Christian who believes this, I felt liberated and affirmed simply to have this perspective included in a document of the National Council of Churches. (Online source, emphasis mine)

It’s beyond the scope of this piece to offer a full critique of Sawyer’s advancing apostasy so I’ll make but a couple of quick points in passing: 1) This (at best) is a derivative of salvation through osmosis of the wider mercy view i.e. people can be saved without hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ; 2) this is a clear case of 2 Timothy 4:3-4, and 3) Sawyer’s argumentum ad populum concerning “Christians who believe” means nothing. There are Christians like Fred Phelps who also “believe” homosexuals “fuel the fires of God’s wrath“, and I’m guessing Sawyer would disagree; as would I.

Earlier we noted Sawyer is author of the book Hospitality—the Sacred Art (HSA) published by Skylight Paths, who inform us they are “a place where people of different spiritual traditions come together,” which is completely consistent with Sawyer’s dead-wrong view “all people are children of God.” In HSA Sawyer tells us “the teachings of Jesus have been illuminated for me by the words of Mahatma Ghandi [Hinduism], the philosophy of Martin Buber [Judaism], and the practices of Thich Nhat Hanh [Buddhism]” (2).

The common thread with these people, none of which professed Christianity, is mysticism i.e. transcendental mediation known in “Christian” circles as Contemplative/Centering Prayer (CCP). And so it really comes as no surprise when Sawyer goes on to pay the usual tribute to spiritually corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism, which leads everyone who practices it long enough to the exact same quasi-universalism of some supposed Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of Man:

One method of nurturing a receptive spirit is through a technique of Centering Prayer, which is a practice of holding open an open, invitational posture towards God. Centering Prayer is also sometimes called the Prayer of Consent, because in Centering Prayer we are giving consent for God to become active in us. (18)

And how do we know all of this? Why, because “pastor” Sawyer says so; you’ll not find any of this in the Bible, which we know actually does originate with God. Sawyer then goes on to point out the first step in this CCP is to shut down the God-given reasoning process of our conscious mind:

The practice is based on choosing a focal point as a symbol of your intention to welcome God’s presence and action into your life. Many times this is a sacred word, but it could also be your breath or holding an inner posture of looking to the divine presence.

The sacred word you choose can be explicitly religious, based on your faith tradition [i.e. not necessarily Christian], or it can be implicitly spiritual, expressing your intention of receptivity… It is based on the idea that God cannot be fully known or understood through our intellect or described adequately by words. (ibid)

Please understand that 1) the above is a complete repudiation of the critical doctrine of Sola Scriptura, and 2) Sawyer’s mystic myths are based upon the delusion these mystics often describe as “the divine spark” allegedly of God thought to already be within mankind. I cover this rejection of regeneration in Understanding The New Spirituality: God Indwells Mankind. So in closing this for now, it truly is as I said in Christianity 21: Emerging Voices Of A Pseudo-Christian Faith, this C21 event grows further away from anything resembling the Christian faith “by the day.”

Men and women, these are the blind guides right now leading your youth into the spiritual ditch (or worse) in more and more churches within mainstream evangelicalism itself. And as AM also pointed out previously these alleged “innovative” and “most important voices for the future of Christianity” who’ll “speak into our future” in order to “shape the future of our faith” are already beginning to share what these new Christians feel is a Christianity worth believing: No Sola Scriptura: Yes, Women Pastors And Queer Christians. And sadly, that’s just for openers… 

See also:

CHRISTIANITY 21 AND ALLEGED INNOVATIVE VOICES IN THE FAITH: PHYLLIS TICKLE

PETER ROLLINS AND PHYLLIS TICKLE DISCUSS EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY

ROB BELL, PETER ROLLINS, AND QUEERMERGENT’S ADELE SAKLER

CHRISTIANITY 21 AND ALLEGED INNOVATIVE VOICES IN THE FAITH: SETH DONOVAN

CHRISTIANITY 21 AND ALLEGED INNOVATIVE VOICES IN THE FAITH: NADIA BOLZ-WEBER

APPRISING MINISTRIES WITH A PEEK AT THE COMING SOTERIOLOGY OF EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY

DOUG PAGITT AND CHRISTIAN UNIVERSALISM