Jesus said, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

It Is Not Love To Withhold The Truth 

In the Apprising Ministries piece Outlaw Preachers And The Emerging Church I show you concrete proof that this rather rapscallion bunch, currently slithering up all around head Outlaw—gay affirming “pastor” Jay Bakker—who’ve crowned themselves outlaw preachers, have now been fully embraced by the egregiously ecumenical Emerging Church aka Emergent Church de-formation of the Christian faith—now morphing into Emergence Christianity (EC).

And as I also pointed out, these “out” laws actually end up as “no” laws because their gospel-less message over-emphasizes the grace of God, thereby neglecting the conviction of sin, which then ends up in an antinomianism. As you’ll see in a moment from out ignore-law preacher Khad Young, they are not unaware of that charge. Just this morning these ignore the Law preachers are busy retweeting something Young himself tweeted @outlawpreachers:

If the worst thing anyone says about you is that you love too much, you’re in good company. http://j.mp/2KTZiU #outlawpreachers (Online source)

I’m not sure who it is Young’s referring to, but being one who has written a bit concerning these preachers of a false gospel I can tell you, what I’m saying is they don’t love people—specifically GLBTQ people e.g. fellow outlaw preacher Adele Sakler of the EC group Queermergent—enough to tell them the truth about their sin. The link above takes us to Young’s July 9, 2009 post Love Too Much. In it he begins by asking the question: “How does one show grace without antinomianism?” He then shares his “secret”:

I would rather show too much grace than not enough. That usually takes me pretty far. (Online source)

My question is: Takes him pretty far toward what? Leaving people condemned within the prison of their sin (see—John 3:18; 3:36)? Since Young claims to be a minister of the Gospel, and is pastor of the Metamorphosis gathering he’s attempting to plant in LA, then he should know it’s not his place to decide he’s going to show “too much grace”; if Young is one sent by Jesus Christ, then he is to be — holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict (Titus 1:9, NASB). 

This is not optional; the Church is not a democracy, and the Lord isn’t at all interested in how we may feel about such things. As pastors we are bound in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, Who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom to — preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction (1 Timothy 4:1-2, NASB). And being ready in season and out of season means, whether a given culture, or a given individual, likes what the Word says or not.

Straw Men, And Red Herrings, And Rabbit Trails! Oh My! 

In his post Young demonstrates a very common EC straw man concerning “legalism.” The genuine minister of God is not advocating legalism; and we are sorry that so many who gravitate toward this postliberal cult of Emerging/ent/ence Christianity—essentially a Liberalism 2.0—with postmodern theology replacing outdated modern theology, were raised around legalistic churches with a dead orthodoxy. However, this has given rise to way too many “know-it-all” spiritual thirteen-year-olds who have now decided that “no one’s going to tell me what to believe.”

Well, I’m here to rain on your petulant parade, because what one believes grows out of what God Himself has clearly said in Scripture concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As John MacArthur said in his excellent book Hard To Believe, we can’t change the message because the message isn’t ours; it belongs to God. I have spoken personally with Young a couple of times, and while he seemed like a nice young man, he gave me absolutely zero indication that he was actually willing to listen to someone who’s been in the Gospel ministry for nearly as long as he’s been alive.

Sadly, one of the problems in attempting to dialogue with EC/no-law preachers, now embraced by the Emerging Church “conversation,” such as those Young has decided to become a part of—and therefore yoked with (see—2 Corinthians 6:14-18)—is that they are not really looking for actual dialogue with those like me who oppose their false doctrines. As such, the sooner they quit their hypocrisy, the better. They should at least be honest enough to admit they are, indeed, trying to convert people to their version of the Christian faith. So let’s lose all the blether like:

It’s not my job to convert, convince, or otherwise cajole anyone into believing anything. I’m just called to love them. As soon as I start judging, the Father wants me to back off. (Online source)

Right; out of one side of their mouth EC/no-law preachers say they don’t try and “convert, convince, or otherwise cajole anyone into believing anything,” but the fact is, this is a statement designed to do just that. Fine by me, but from five years of tracking this EC cult, whenever one tries to reason with such as these you’ll quite quickly find out the other side of that double-minded statement. I advise you to ignore the red herring: “As soon as I start judging”; no one’s telling anyone to be judgmental. That said however, the Christian is still to proclaim—not discuss—the Gospel with the unregenerate.

And unquestionably we are to do so just as loving, gently, patiently, and often, as we can; but proclaim it, we must. The genuine minister of Jesus already knows, “It’s not my job to convert, convince, or otherwise cajole anyone into believing anything.” So, with all of this in mind, no one could possibly model the Christian faith better than Jesus Himself does:

One of the teachers of the law came and heard [Jesus and Jewish leaders publicly] debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” (Mark 12:28)

The EC/no-law preachers will be hard-pressed to find anyone among them who could even carry the Apostle Paul’s parchments when it comes to preaching the Gospel as he did. His  friend Dr. Luke shares his eyewitness testimony:

Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them… As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures. (Acts 15:1-2; 17:2) 

Or even Apollos for that matter:

For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. (Acts 18:28)

If You Truly Love Someone You’ll Risk Telling Them The Truth, Even When It Hurts

In our examples from Scripture above, are we really to think that these sent by God weren’t trying to “convince” people to repent and believe the Gospel that Jesus died in our place for our sins, was buried, rising again the third day (see—1 Corinthians 15:1-2) and repentance for forgiveness of sins should be preached in the Name (means: character, power, authority) of Jesus Christ (see—Luke 24:46-47)? No, it becomes clear for those who wish to see, that each was following precisely what God has told the Christian to be doing:

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. (1 Peter 3:15, ESV)

Notice that “otherwise cajole anyone into believing anything” doesn’t appear anywhere within these texts; the truth is, it’s a pet EC/no-law straw man used as an excuse for their worldly gospel because they — speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them (1 john 4:5). But specific to the homopression being perpetrated by EC/no-law preachers upon GLBTQ people, for whom Christ died, again I ask: Why No Condemnation For Christians Who Are Homopressive? As I said before, Because I Love Jay Bakker And GLBTQ People, I will continue to tell them the Truth.

Young goes on to say:

If I begin to convict someone’s conscience, I find the Holy Spirit already there doing what He does best. (Online source)

Really; but who’s recommending human beings convict anyone’s conscience? But if we’re not teaching someone what the Bible actually says, then they won’t be coming to saving faith in the first place, because it’s written: So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ (Romans 10:17, NASB). Again Young, who you’ll see in Communion With Outlaw Preacher Khad Young has all the while been working very closely with Jay Bakker promoting this whole outlaw preachers shtick, confuses the issues and sets up a false definition of what it means to confront sin when he concludes:

Live by grace and God will give you the wisdom to know when to confront. I find that most often people already know when they are sinning and merely need to know that God still loves them. There isn’t really any confronting to do if confronting is defined as “pointing out their shortcomings.” They know. Love them. (Online source)

But who’s saying don’t love people? And, in his living by grace, why hasn’t God given Young the wisdom to confront his friend Jay Bakker concerning Bakker’s sin of lying to GLBTQ people and affirming them in their deviant lifestyle? Doesn’t Young love Bakker, and GLBTQ people, enough; obviously, no. Leaving the subject of God’s love aside here; the Bible tells us with crystalline clarity that all who unrepentantly practice sin, apart from Christ, will never enter the Kingdom of God:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, ESV)

In closing this for now, we can note at least a couple of things above: 1) That’s a pretty thorough list of sin, which even aside from homosexuality, covers everyone else as well; and 2) God says through Paul to His Christians — such were some of you; it’s past tense. Why? Because you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Young’s a college educated Lutheran, he should know Luther’s correct stance that the Christian is simultaneously sinner and saint; and yet, declared righteous because of Christ’s work on the Cross.

Apparently, even though I have spoken personally with him as I mentioned above, the only response Young has to a Biblical teaching such as this one is a misappropriation of Scripture as he tweets:

Matthew 18, Ken. Matthew 18. (Online source)

So be careful not to go running down EC/no-law rabbit trails, which were orginally cut by legalists who showed so many of these being drawn into this Emergence Christianity cult of a postliberalism, with its reimagined social gospel of good deeds, a bad example. Yes, we do feel sympathy for these people injured by others who may not have lived their profession of the Christian faith correctly. However, to jettison the genuine Gospel of Jesus Christ in favor of love of mankind (i.e. themselves, 2 Timothy 3:2) isn’t the answer. I implore you to turn your back on those who don’t love enough to tell the Truth.

See also:

JAY BAKKER RECEIVES AWARD

HOMOPRESSION IS AT LEAST AS BAD AS HOMOPHOBIA

ROB BELL, PETER ROLLINS, AND QUEERMERGENT’S ADELE SAKLER

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GOOD NEWS

THE SIN OF HOMOSEXUALITY IS DIFFERENT

EX-HOMOSEXUAL FRIEND OF APPRISING MINISTRIES 

THE NIGHTMARE BEGINNING FOR MAINSTREAM EVANGELICALISM