By Apprising Ministries correspondent Christine Pack of Sola Sisters

Thank you to Eric Barger for pointing out this story. Writer Brian McLaren, who is often identified as an evangelical (even though he rejects the central tenet of Christianity, Christ’s atoning death on the Cross, and calls it “false advertising for God”), will be one of the keynote speakers with something called The Vision Project.

The Vision Project is a New Age think tank and group that is dedicated to promoting its New Age view of the world: chiefly, that all of life is evolving upward, and that as all humans evolve spiritually, they will become spiritually enlightened and thus will be able to “co-create” and transform the world around them into a better and better place.

In joining The Vision Project, Brian McLaren has now openly aligned himself with New Agers like Barbara Marx Hubbard, Andrew Cohen, Jean Houston and Heidi Rose Robbins.

What is The Vision Project?

The Vision Project is a New Age think tank/community whose purpose is to advance the New Age eschatological view. Yes, even heretics and New Agers have eschatology. It’s wrong eschatology, but it’s eschatology nonetheless.

es·cha·tol·o·gy /ˌeskəˈtäləjē/ – Noun: The part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind.

The New Age eschatological view is that all people have a divine inner spark within, and, for a significant period of their physical evolutionary development, are unaware of this. But that, once humankind has physically evolved to a certain state, they will begin to awaken to this divine inner spark, and thus begin their spiritual evolutionary journey. This is believed to culminate in an awakening to one’s own divinity and one’s ability to co-create the future of our world with God.

It is believed that humanity will reach a “critical mass” in its spiritual evolution, at which time a paradigm shift will occur, and a “heaven” or “enlightenment” will be ushered in. This “critical mass” is believed to be achieved when “enough” people awaken to their inner divinity and ability to co-create the future of our planet along with God. (Of course, this is absolutely against the clear teaching of the Bible which is that God alone holds the destiny of our world in his hand, and that, rather than becoming better and better, the world will spiral into sinful wickedness as the return of Christ draws closer.)

You might be asking: Why does it matter how lost New Agers think about the end times? Because it is not only the New Agers who reject the clear teaching of the Bible that as God’s judgment draws closer and closer, the world will spiral into deeper and deeper depravity and wickedness. Leaders of the dangerous and heretical Emergent Church Movement – many of whom have bestselling books that are  popular among our youth – also embrace the New Age view of the end times. Best-selling author and creator of the NOOMA videos Rob Bell also talks about “co-creating” with God:

“I would begin with the understanding that God has left the world unfinished, and so, in Genesis chapter 1, this creation poem is about trees that are created to have the ability to create more trees. So, to me an authentic spirituality begins with the premise that we co-create the world with God. The world is not done, and that all of action is essentially rooted in creativity. Any way in which you contribute to the ongoing creation of the world you are in fact, in some form or another being creative and so then I think the question from there becomes ‘what is art?'”

Emergent Church leader Brian McLaren, besides openly partnering with New Agers on this platform, has already written of his alignment with this New Age eschatological thinking here.

You don’t think this is a big deal? That anyone is paying attention to this nonsense? That perhaps The Vision Project is just a vanity project without any power or bite? Look again at that roster. It is closely aligned with the United Nations, and lists the following speakers and organizations:

Kofi Annan,
Secretary-General UN

Bono,
Lead singer of band U2

Karan Singh,
Member of Parliament, India

Vacalav Havel,
Former president of the Czech Republic

Ela Gandhi, Member of Parliment, African National Congress, South
Africa

The Earth Charter Initiative (a United Nations document aimed at fostering sustainable development, and created by former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev)

This matters because the Emergent Church leaders I mentioned above (Brian McLaren and Rob Bell), while perhaps not all that familiar to many of us, are rock stars to our children, teenagers and college students. Their books sell in the millions.  Their influence is substantial. And we, as parents, are accountable for our children and will one day stand before the Lord and give an account for them. By God’s grace, may we awaken to the dangerous teachings and leaders that have crept in unawares, and make every attempt to make sure that our impressionable young people are awake and alert to their dangerous teachings.

The original article appears complete with a comments section right here.

See also:

BRIAN MCLAREN ADMITS KEN SILVA WAS RIGHT

IS OSAMA BIN LADEN HELLBOUND BRIAN MCLAREN?

BRIAN MCLAREN SPEAKS AS A UNIVERSALIST

SETTING BRIAN MCLAREN STRAIGHT

ROB BELL AND POSTMODERN NEO-LIBERALISM

ROB BELL ON THE RECORD CONCERNING SCRIPTURE

THE WILD GOOSE OF THE EMERGING CHURCH IS NOT THE HOLY SPIRIT