Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:11-12)

Prince Of Peace At War As Are His Children

What seems to have been lost as the spiritual blindness, not so unlike Amos 8:11-12, continues to grow in the church visible is that Satan is at war against God’s Christ; and we who are in Jesus have been thrust into the midst of this struggle. Even the supposed spiritual pacifists within the egregiously ecumenical Emerging Church aka Emergent Church, which is a cult of postliberalism—now morphing into Emergence Christianity (EC)—seem to be somewhat aware of this.

For just as soon as one the reputable online apologetics and discernment ministries such as Apprising Ministries takes a stand aginst them as they advance Satan’s schemes they are quick to whine: But our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Well whoever said it was; but whom do you suppose seducing spirits use to perpetuate their doctrines of demons? Answer: Human beings of flesh and blood. So let’s wrap our minds around that paradox.

Yes, I am a leading critic of Rob Bell; but he fact is I’m not defending the Gospel against people like Bell or Brian McLaren, or for that matter Tony Jones and his friend Jay Bakker, who’re both germane to this particular discussion. No, in the Holy Spirit I am warring against the spiritual forces of evil speaking through their work. Now consider the huge inroads made by Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) into main evangelicalism as evidenced e.g. by Southern Baptist Convention And “Insightful” Emerging Church Heretic Tony Jones.

As I recently told you in Turning Love Backward To Self evangelicalism has now set itself up spiritually for a time of what I’m calling dueling revelations. This is precisely why a while back Jesus told me as one of His pastor-teachers to begin covering the issue of the growing gay agenda within mainstream evangelicalism. And just how would you know that He didn’t? Think of it what you will, but I could see it coming as far back as my article Tony Jones And The Emergent Church: “Christian” Gay Is A-Ok.

It was but a couple of weeks later that Jones called me and we discussed the content of that post, during which time he confirmed his position as stated within. I’ve said it before, I’m not so much covering the issue of the biblically deviant lifestyle of having sexual relations with another of the same sex i.e homosexuality—which is the sin of sexual immorality—for that issue alone. No; using the imagery of wafare, it is with this topic—so clear-cut in Scripture—that I can use the Word of God to light up the night sky.

You should now be able to see the advance positions of the powers of this dark world, as evidenced again in a piece like this. I’ve tried to engage Jay Bakker in discussion concerning homosexuality but he has simply refused to address his position from the text of the Bible. You may recall Tony Jones Will Discuss Homosexuality But Not From Scripture where I gave you the link to a post by John Chisham; in it he brought to our attention An Honest Question about Gays in the Church.

There Tony Jones had written:

If you are one who thinks that homosexual sex is sinful, can you please explain to me WHY a gay or lesbian person who is in a long-term, monogamous relationship would not be able to wholeheartedly follow Christ?

My only stipulation is this: You may not quote one of the six verses in scripture that mentions homosexuality. (Online source, bold his)

Believe Homosexuality Is Not Sin If You Wish But You’re Fighting Against God’s Word

Have you wondered why it is gay affirming folk like Jones et al don’t want to use the Bible in their arguments? I’ll tell you; because they can’t. I don’t believe John Shelby Spong is a regenerate Christian; with that said, unlike Tony Jones and Jay Bakker, Spong is a formidable scholar. As I showed in John Shelby Spong Admits Homosexuality Is Condemned In Scripture, here’s what Spong told Drs. John Ankerberg and Walter Martin:

Spong: But let me say that I do not disagree that homosexuality is condemned in Scripture. I do not agree with that.

Ankerberg: Yes, you’ve said that before.

Spong: I think that is obvious. It’s in Leviticus; it’s in the Sodom and Gomorrah story; it’s in the Pauline  corpus at least, and probably some other places…

Ankerberg: All right, we’re…

Spong: The issue in my mind is not that. The issue is whether or not the people who lived at the time of the Bible and who wrote about homosexuality understood the scientific meaning of homosexuality. (Spong/Martin Debate on Sexual Ethics, transcript 9, 10, emphasis mine)

This is the proper background you need to understand what current Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson of the mortally wounded Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will tell you below. You may remember this is the same outfit, which in violation of God’s Word, ordains women such as “queer inclusive pastor” Nadia Bolz-Weber. The following report comes to us from One News Now, and gives you a peek at where the cancer of the gay affirming agenda, that’s now been injected into mainstream evangelicalism through its embrace of the EC, always ends up:

The presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is suggesting that the Bible isn’t the last word on homosexuality.

In a town hall meeting Sunday, Bishop Mark Hanson said, “the understanding we have of homosexuality today does not seem to be reflected at all in the context of the biblical writers.” Therefore, he said, Lutherans should consider more modern views on sexual orientation.

At its churchwide convention in August, the ELCA lifted its ban on partnered gay and lesbian clergy, prompting some traditional congregations to withhold funds and begin forming a separate denomination.But Hanson insisted the ELCA can accommodate both views. In his words, “God is still speaking to us.” He also suggests that more homosexual-friendly policies may help the denomination grow. (Online source)

It sounds very pious, but it’s steeped in the love of self; of mankind. But this is what your local church will “soon” be facing; you see, for years now evangelical churches have used their Young Adult and Youth Groups as spiritual testing grounds for EC teachings and practices of CSM. In the meantime, what you don’t know, is that such as these with their upgrade to Liberalism 2.0 were embedding themselves within mainstream evangelical denominational leadership structures, within its seminaries, and infiltrating evangelical publishing houses.

So as you can see, for example, in the interview here in Andrew Marin And Phyllis Tickle EC leaders are becoming bolder in rehashing tired old arguments from the original Cult of Liberal Theology while reintroducing the same rhetoric that would cause the now mortally wounded mainline denominations to cut loose their anchor of Sola Scriptura in favor of highly subjective, and spurious CSM. Bottom line, just as Hanson illustrates above, they are deciding issues by their fickle feelings; and you’d best get ready for it.

In closing this for now, I’ll give you a vivid example of these coming dueling revelations. As I recently showed you in Homopressive As Jay Bakker he told ABC News:

“The more I follow grace, the more I’m drawn to him [God], the more I’m willing to stand up for people being persecuted,” said Bakker. “It sounds so churchy, but I felt like God spoke to my heart and said ‘[homosexuality] is not a sin.’ ” (Online source, emphasis mine)

As I write this Jesus spoke to my heart and said: “Tell the Church that I never said that; he’s lying.” So, now what are we going to do; which of our diametrically opposed positions reflects what God actually said? And here, yet again, I will warn you: That very dark and threatening same-sex storm, right now approaching hurricane force, grows even closer to the coast of your own local evangelical church. 

HT: The Crosstalk Blog

See also:

NEO-ORTHODOX APPROACH TO THE BIBLE PERFECT FIT FOR EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY

THE NIGHTMARE BEGINNING FOR MAINSTREAM EVANGELICALISM

THE SIN OF HOMOSEXUALITY IS DIFFERENT

PUTTING BRIAN MCLAREN IN HIS PLACE

THE EMERGING CHURCH HIGHJACKING EVANGELICALISM

QUICK WORD ON SIN OF HOMOSEXUALITY

PHIL JOHNSON: AN EXCELLENT JEREMIAD FROM MR. SPURGEON