I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. But if they had stood in My Council, they would have proclaimed My Words to My people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds. (Jeremiah 23:21-22)

Bell’s Hybrid And Highly Subjective Postmodern/Postliberal Form Of Christianity

A while back Apprising Ministries drew attention to the piece Rob Bell makes me angry by Pat Abendroth, Senior Pastor of Omaha Bible Church. It actually appeared as a guest article at Irish Calvinist, which is the website of pastor Erik Raymond. Abendroth begins to put his finger on the root of the problem with the pseudo-Christian message Rob Bell, and others within the egregiously ecumenical Emerging Church aka Emergent Church—morphing into Emergence Christianity—(EC), when he says:

Rob Bell makes me mad because he downplays the vital role of conversion. In a horrible overreaction against professing Christians wrongly not being compassionate, Bell says “the most powerful things happen when the church surrenders its desire to convert people…” (p. 167).

He then proceeds to establish a supporting argument that would surely set well with most anyone who is either ignorant of or ignoring what Jesus says in John 3—unless someone is converted, they will not see the light of day in the kingdom! Bell’s tactic is entirely unacceptable and irresponsible, but dare I say, fits with his mimicking the likes of the quintessential theological liberal Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969). (Online source)

Very close; and now let me further expose the very place where EC leaders like Bell go astray. It is as Abendroth correctly points out:

On page 21 for example, when he talks about Jesus’ claims of exclusivity in John 14:6, he spins them to mean something other than what they clearly say and have been recognized as saying by Christians throughout the ages. At first I was surprised at how much Bell sounded like a radical theological liberal like Marcus Borg, but then I saw that the very first endnote in the book was an unqualified recommendation of a book by Borg!

Bell’s recommended reading on his church’s web site promotes reading by John Dominic Crossan, the former co-director of the Jesus Seminar, so endorsing Borg is not a matter of isolation. Such men have a reputation for shamelessly doing violence to Jesus and His gospel. (Online source)

I have also noted striking similarities in Bell’s work with that of Living Spiritual Teacher and “Progessive Christian” scholar Marcus Borg e.g.  in Rob Bell and Marcus Borg and Marcus Borg And Rob Bell: The Bible Is Not A Divine Product With Divine Final Authority? As you’ll hear below in a clip from the Fighting For The Faith program of my friend Chris Rosebrough of Pirate Christian Radio he also notes the same “stick it to the Caesar man” message of Borg and Crossan within Bell’s view of the Christian faith.

This is why, as Rosebrough prepares to discuss the non-gospel of Rob Bell as evidenced from Bell’s book Sex God, he begins his segment below by asking a disturbing—but very valid—question, “How come every time Rob Bell opens his mouth about the Cross what comes out doesn’t [line up] with Scripture?” Because in the end, Abendroth is dead-on-target when summing up why he rightly rejects Bell’s quasi-Christian message:

Simply put, Rob Bell is a theological liberal resembling the mainline denominations of the early 1900s. The difference is that Bell is sporting a fashionable new dress or in his case, a new pair of geek-chic glasses.

If J. Gresham Machen were alive today, I suspect he would do what he did with Bell’s theological predecessors. Machen would remind him that while he has the freedom to start a new religion, he really should call it something other than Christian given that his religion does not resemble what Christ actually established as recorded in the Christian book, the Bible. (Online source)

See also:

ROB BELL ABSOLUTELY WRONG ABOUT SCRIPTURE

ROB BELL RESOURCES FROM APPRISING MINISTRIES

ROB BELL IN A NUTSHELL: THE BIBLE

ROB BELL SAYS “ALL-EE IN FREE…ALMOST”

ROB BELL: “TRAMPOLINIANITY” AND THE VIRGIN BIRTH

THROUGH ROB BELL “THE GREAT ENLIGHTENED ONES” TELL US MAN HAS DIVINE GREATNESS

EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY—A POSTLIBERAL CULT SLITHERS INTO EVANGELICALISM