Apprising Ministries has been telling you that today in the church we’re living in a postmodern Wonderland of Humpty Dumpty language where words mean whatever a person wants them to mean. One word that’s lost any real meaning is: evangelical. Today Purpose Driven pope Rick Warren is a Reformed Protestant and both Emerging Church guru Brian McLaren and gay-affirming “pastor” Jay Bakker  are evangelicals. Oh-kay; um, and my very close friend Rob Bell  just stopped by with the Dalai Lama to invite me to dinner at the home of progressive/liberal evangelical Tony Jones, too.

Imagine that; I think I just saw a herd of pigs flying right past my window. Not long ago in an interview with Timothy Dalrymple called Why Liberal Is Not a Bad Word McLaren mused:

I still consider myself an evangelical, because I believe that the good news of Jesus Christ is good news for all creation, and is worth sharing with joy. (Online source)

That’s a pretty wide-open door; and that’s precisely the point of “big tent” Christianity and it’s hollerback: All-ee, All-ee, in free; everyone’s going to be saved! But as I shared before in Brian McLaren And His New Emerging Progressive Theology Dr. Michael Horton gives us the actual definition of evangelicalism when he correctly teaches us that: 

The term [evangelical] itself derives from the Greek word euangelion, translated “Gospel,” and it became a noun when the Protestant reformers began their work of bringing the “one holy, catholic and apostolic church” back to that message by which and for which it was created. People still used other labels, too, like “Lutheran,” “Reformed,” and later, “Puritans,” “Pietists,” and “Wesleyans.” 

Nevertheless, the belief was that the same Gospel that had united the “evangelicals” against Rome’s errors could also unite them against the creeping naturalism and secularism of the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. The so-called “Evangelical Awakening” in Britain coincided with America’s own “Great Awakening,” as Wesley, Whitefield, Edwards, Tennant, and so many others centered their preaching on the atonement. (Online source) 

As I said before, Brian McLaren can’t even see the evangelical neighborhood from where he’s currently drifted to; and in my opinion frankly, I don’t think he even wants to see it. Which gives us the proper backdrop as I tell you that today Jay Bakker seems excited and tweets:

To all my California friends I’ll be at the TEN Conference 2010 – www.regonline.com/ten2010 http://twitpic.com/1c3ikl (Online source)

The letters TEN stand for something called The Evangelical Network:

The Evangelical Network (TEN) is a group of Bible believing churches, ministries, Christian workers and individuals bound together by a common shared faith, united in purpose and witness and established as a positive resource and support for Christian gays and lesbians. (Online source)

So you can already see from the above this network is only “evangelical” in the postmodern Wonderland of Humpty Dumpty language. Another indication TEN doesn’t add up is this year’s Embrace conference coming up April 29 which features Bakker, “pastor of Revolution Church NYC,…founded on the ideas of inclusion, love and grace”; as well as practicing lesbian pastrix Sharon Hollis, “Senior Pastor of Circle City Pentecostals in Indianapolis, IN. Pastor Sharon and her partner Amy are celebrating 19 years of commitment and their son’s 22nd birthday in 2010.” [1]

Again, “evangelical” just like I’m “Emergent.” A couple of other notables at Embrace (heresy) would be Andrew Marin, “a very outspoken advocate for the LGBT community. He regularly speaks at large mega churches.  In his work he exposes how evangelical Christians have hurt the LGBT community and why the church needs to apologize for its judgmental actions” [2]; and Chuck Smith, Jr.:

Chuck Smith Jr. started Capo Beach Calvary Church and served as pastor fro 30 years. His father founded Calvary Chapel,  a  southern California church that developed innovative ministries in the 1970’s to reach young people in the hippie counterculture.Today, Chuck is doing the same thing  with  emerging generations of the post modern age. Chuck was featured in the TV documentary “Frisbee-The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher” about a gay man in the 1970’s who lead many people to God. (Online source)

Well, I’ve got a couple of questions for Andrew Marin: Are you going to apologize to these dear LGBTQ people, for whose sin Christ died, but who end up in Hell because these “evangelicals” lied to them? Are you going to apologize to LGBTQ people because such as these didn’t love them enough to tell them the truth that all same-sex sexual relations i.e. homosexuality is outside the marriage covenant, and is therefore, the sin of sexual immorality? And are you going to apologize to the church for aiding those who practice homopression by withholding the Gospel from the LGBTQ community?

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Endnotes

1. http://tinyurl.com/25k8asn, accessed 4/21/10.
2. Ibid.

See also:

HOMOPRESSIVE AS JAY BAKKER

WHAT JAY BAKKER WISHES THE BIBLE SAID ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY

THE SIN OF HOMOSEXUALITY IS DIFFERENT

ANDREW MARIN METHODOLOGY

CORRECTING BRIAN MCLAREN “ON FAITH” AND HOMOSEXUALITY

JAY BAKKER IS GOING TO HAVE TO GROW UP

JESUS DEFINES MARRIAGE FOR RED LETTER CHRISTIANS