“Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘ These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ” (Matthew 15:8-9)

Pious Words And Deeds Have Never Fooled God

Sadly, by the way we live today—and the ease in which a rapidly increasing number of serpentine deceptions are slithering into the mainstream evangelical camp—we are demonstrating that there’s far too much of our opening text within the visible Christian church today.

Take for example the sinfully ecumenical Emergent Church aka the Emerging Church; this was from its evil inception a rebellion against the proper Christian spirituality of sola Scriptura and has now with its postmodern form of Progressive Christian theology raised a barrier up against the genuine Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I’ve told you before that this so-called Emergence Christianity, rooted in the fairy tale for adults that is the theory of evolution, is a direct result of their prolonged practice of highly subjective Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) ala two of the EC’s most important mentors—Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster and his spiritual twin Dallas Willard.

These men with their mystic mythology have quite literally become the leaders of what could be called Foster-Willardism; if these two rebels against the final authority of the Word of God say something is true spiritually, those under their bewitching spell simply fall right into lock-step. O sure, people like to make sport of me for saying such things, but I really couldn’t care less.

If I might use language familiar to the Foster-Willardites, to God alone be the glory for insight He’s chosen to reveal to me in my times of meditation upon His Word in Holy Scripture. If leaders within the visible church are too timid to speak plainly then others of us have no choice during this The New Downgrade With Its Apostles Of Unbelief; we simply must sound warning concerning apostates like Tony Jones, heretical “theologian in residence” at the church of his equally heretical quasi-universalist pastor Doug Pagitt, and Pagitt’s pal Rob Bell, the Elvis-like rock star pastor of the EC.

Despite dwindling funding, in the recent pieces such as Doug Pagitt And His Solomon’s Porch Affirm Homosexual Sin, Rob Bell And Postmodern Neo-Liberalism, and The Emerging Church On A Wild Goose Chase, online apologetics and discernment work Apprising Ministries allows you to follow some of the growing infections within mainstream evangelicalism as their fractured fables metastasize like a spiritual cancer throughout the church visible.

I admonish you in the Lord to ask yourself: Do I really think these guys preach the Gospel of the historic orthodox Christain faith? You might remember that Jesus told us to be fruit inspectors because we’ll recognize these false teachers and false prophets by their fruits (Matthew 7:16). The commentary of Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown is helpful here concerning what is meant by fruit:

not their doctrines–as many of the elder interpreters and some later ones explain it–for that corresponds to the tree itself; but the practical effect of their teaching, which is the proper fruit of the tree. (Online source)

With this all in mind then, using our text from the Bible above we can see that it is indeed possible to actually worship God in vain, and to end up with man-made doctrine; and that, no matter how sincere—or well-intentioned—someone might be. And this is especially so, if we’re not careful to follow the Divine command of 1 Thessalonians 5:21 to — test everything. Notice Scipture doesn’t say some things; but rather God commands that we test everything. Now please remember that no one credible is saying that the Joneses and the Pagitts and the Bells are bad people or that they are not sincere in their teaching.

The problem is, by their rejection of sola Scriptura in favor of centered on the self spurious CSM they have become deluded. And so it now becomes obvious why, with this emerging infestation of prophets and teachers not sent by God growing within the visible Christian community, it’s so important today to know your Bible. As a matter of fact, it’s absolutely critical for finite, corrupt, degenerate, and sinful mankind not to trust in his flawed reasoning—himself. Listen carefully to Jeremiah 17:9 — The heart [of man] is deceitful above all things and desperately sick.

Here I like the way the King James Version reads — the heart is desperately wicked. Remember now, speaking to His own disciples, Jesus said — “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:11). Because of our corrupt human nature we need some objective standard of measurement—the Bible—to examine whether ideas, or rules, have come from God, man, or Satan. Otherwise, like these EC practitioners of CSM, people end up in demonic deception on a wild goose chase after a different spirit (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:4).

Many will be forever lost upon the Sea of Relativity; a ship without anchor—drifting from one conflicting opinion to another—with no real way to decide anything on a given issue, since no one person’s opinion can be considered any more right than anyone else’s. Haven’t you ever watched a political debate, or a talk show, and observe them as they just go ’round and ’round and ’round—ad infinitum, ad nauseum? I realize that we’d all like to think we’re right; that we’re all God’s children, that God is unfair not to let people whom we consider good into His Heaven apart from the blood of Christ; and that all religions will somehow eventually lead to God.

But, unlike Rob Bell And His Love Wins Mythology, the Bible—His infallible, eternal, and inerrant Word—says it isn’t so. And the LORD God Almighty—by definition—is perfect and right. If we happen to think in a way that is contrary to His revealed Word, then we are…just…wrong; period. It really is as simple as that. The EC wild goosers can use all the Humpty Dumpty language they want to, but this isn’t Alice in Wonderland; and further, you simply don’t have the option of holding your breath until you get your way. Sorry about that; all you sallow seeker sensitive preachers with your Robert Schullerisms and postmodern purveyors of Bellesque mystery polluting the church visible today, the absolute truth is that we live in the world God created, and He makes the rules.

We who are Christians—being bought with a price—are to honor God by representing the Lord Jesus Christ, the living Word of God, without one iota of compromise. So many difficult issues face us today and the world is looking for answers “in all the wrong places,” as the old Country song goes. How possibly can we afford to just sleep on when they need the absolute truths found only in the written Word of God? Beloved, it is up to us to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world; but if we don’t believe there is such a thing as those who are lost and absolute truths—then how can we?

Who would commit themselves to something they are not sure of; now do you see why so much of the church today is so pathetically weak? The fact is, God had His original Apostles seal their testimonies in their own blood; and you just can’t get any more committed than that. Yet I wonder, how committed are we when the vipers of the neo-liberal cult within the Emerging Church are literally being given forums within mainstream evangelicalism? So, is it really such a surprise that Satan and his forces of evil minions are now mounting such a mighty attack on the Bible?

You must understand thst often they use nice people like Rachel Held Evans who help advance the EC’s silly circus “big tent” universalism and write postmodern deconstructing posts like What Does “Biblical”Really Mean? And this Emergent cult slithers deeper into the mainstream. So as it continues swallowing up the younger sectors of spiritually spineless evanjellyfish I encourage you to take a long and careful look at what’s happening to the actual Gospel of Jesus Christ as the visible Christian church continues loosening its own grasp on the Holy Scriptures in favor of a return to the murky mysticism of apostate Roman Catholicism.

See also:

MEDITATION IN ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS AS TRANSFORMATION FOR A GLOBAL FAMILY

MYSTICISM AND POSTMODERNISM, THE EMERGING CHURCH, AND EVANGELICALISM

POSTMODERN MYTH AND SOME HOMEBREWED ROB BELL

TOXIC THEOLOGY OF DOUG PAGITT

TONY JONES, THE EMERGING CHURCH AND PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY

JAY BAKKER, HOMOSEXUALITY, AND GOSPEL REDUCTIONISM

HEARTLAND CLERGY ADOPT PRO-GAY POSITION