They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth…

In the “Headlines” section of the March 2006 issue of Christianity Today [Falling Away] is a story about “high profile pastor” Carlton Pearson purveyor of the blatant heresies of the Word Faith movement who “lost 90 per cent of his church’s 5,000 members after publicly teaching that everyone will eventually be saved.” An author of “numerous books,” the “high energy” Pearson had “appeared regularly” on TBN (where else!) and even “hosted an annual Azusa Street conference that drew national figures such as T.D.Jakes,” a Oneness Pentecostal who denies God’s triune nature. We do know that heresy begets heresy.

The short article in CT informs us that Pearson’s Higher Dimensions Family Church started spiraling downward “when Pearson began preaching a form of universalism” that caused him to lose his “Pentecostal/evangelical followers.” Men and women, among the largely undiscerning American Church this is certainly not an easy thing to do! We’re told further that Pearson’s “gospel of inclusion” means that in his theology “Christ died for the sins of the world, and therefore the whole world will be saved” (19). Not really all that much different from the kind of universal atonement currently taught by leaders within the Emerging Church, and pretty consistent with what you see from Rick Warren himself as I pointed out in my previous article “All-ee All-ee In Free” The Universal Appeal Of Jesus. And thus we see the future of new evangelicalism.

The Inclusive Gospel To Come

As long as the Lord tarries you need to know that we will be witnessing a further slide downward toward this doctrine of inclusivism by more and more Christian leaders as the attack continues from within the Church itself on the inerrancy and authority of God’s Word in the Bible. Without the objective truth contained in Holy Scripture mankind’s warped reasoning–bent as it is toward the self–will back even further away from the doctrine of Hell. And their ready-made excuse is so-called “postmodernism.” Now let me give you an example of how the cowardly counterfeit ministers of the Gospel are using this as a loophole so they don’t have to bear the persecution that Christ tells us will come to all who stand unswervingly for God’s Truth (see–John 15:18-23).

In his book The Church on the Other Side Emerging Church theologian and postmodern proponent Brian McLaren performs his usual “service” of first clouding the issues before he tells us about what he considers to be a very poor example for leading a church. McLaren refers to this dastardly type of pastor as “the know-it-all-Bible-answer-man model.” However, even as McLaren masterfully knocks down his pet straw men he is revealing his own bias against the authority of Holy Scripture when he informs us:

This is the leader who led by knowledge, who made life sound so simple if you merely live by “biblical principles”…For him, there was a simple formula for everything,…this kind of leader in the old church gained power through esoteric knowledge…this church leader often promised to remove mystery through research,… Think of it–demystified principles and doctrine, even less interesting than microscope slides (110, emphasis mine).

And then McLaren shows us what the flawed philosophy of postmodernism is actually about–rebellion against authority–as the Emergent leader says, “in our postmodern world, most of us have come to realize that God, the Bible, life, and Christianity–like Heisenberg’s particles–are wild nonconformists. And we distrust anyone who tries to prove otherwise (111, emphasis mine). Anyone–being an all inclusive term–would now have to include God the Father and God the Son as Christ Himself told us – “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). And also God the Holy Spirit because He said – “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

The Rapid Slide To Apostasy

You may mark my words, throughout history whenever you see men who have denigrated the Word of God in any way it isn’t long until the Lord abandons them completely. And the slide is already well underway as can be seen elsewhere in this ignoble issue of CT. Consider the editorial by Episcopal Bishop Edward Little II that Ingrid Schleuter of Slice of Laodicea made some of you aware of here. Although he does say he has “a commitment to the authority of Scripture” Little’s commentary uses terms like “followers of Jesus” and “on the journey,” which is the lingo of the Emergent Church. He even refers to “Bishop” Gene Robinson, an openly practicing homosexual, as his “colleague” and Little goes on to tell us he even counts this counterfeit minister–in flagrant sin–as “a fellow pilgrim.” Using yet another EC catchphrase.

This same March issue of CT also includes an article by panentheist EC writer Frederica Matthews-Green all about seeking “the common good.” This itself is Emergent phraseology for finding the “common ground” in all religions. The inevitable lean in that direction for the compromisers of new evangelicalism is further evidenced in another article in this edition of CT. This one by “Pentecostal scholar” Amos Yong. Yong tells us he “is determined to follow the Spirit wherever the Spirit leads and to let the theological chips fall where they may” in regard to his deluded idea that he sees “the Holy Spirit” working in other religions too.

As Yong continues his own personal slide into apostasy we are enthusiastically told:

His central thesis is that, because the Spirit of God is universally active in creation and new creation, “the religions of the world, like everything else that exists, are providentially sustained by the Spirit of God for divine purposes”…that means Christians should be open to learning from and being enriched by the Spirit’s work in world religions… Dialogue must take place…so that all the religions–including Christianity–can learn from each other what the Spirit is doing. (53,54)

And Yong is a Christian theologian mind you! Silly Jesus, if only He’d have had the “wisdom” of these new evangelicals today He would have listened when Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him in Matthew 16:22 because the Master insisted on doing the will of the Father which would lead to His crucifixion. “Never, Lord!” Peter said. “This shall never happen to you!” I will suggest Yong had better carefully reread this portion of Scripture – [Jeshurun] abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Savior. They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to demons, which are not God (Deuteronomy 32:15-17). The erecting of altars to Baal and the carving of Asherah poles to be used as “common ground” in worship by the “Christian” Church can’t be too far off.

Contemplating Misguided Meditation

Here we are seeing the end result of the gross misapprehension of the love of God that is now being twisted even further by the Devil through mystical spiritual experiences untested by Holy Scripture. “The Back Page” section by Philip Yancey couldn’t provide us a clearer example when he says, “Brendan Manning, who leads spiritual retreats several times a year, once told me that not a single person who has followed his regimen for a silent retreat has failed to hear from God” (112). Yancey then informs us that he “signed up for one of his retreats.” Long story short Yancey goes on to tell us that he was skeptical that this experience was going to prove fruitful.

He then informs us that people could do as they wished with their time at Manning’s retreat “with only one requirement: two hours of prayer per day.” What Yancey will tell us below is the result of the tragic misunderstandings about true spirituality so prevalent in the evangelical community today. He has obviously bought into the indoctrination of false unity that Little was talking about earlier where due to the over-emphasis on the love of God that has literally been pounded into the Body of Christ today we must accept Manning as an authentic Christian. Next because of the influence of “kingdom now” theology upon new evangelicalism with its universal atonement of the entire cosmos Yancey then describes what watching “147 elk” for two hours “taught me about prayer.”

In words very reminiscent of Brian McLaren’s own description of a similar experience in A Generous Orthodoxy where the Emergent spiritual director also felt he “melded” with creation Yancey writes:

After a while, the very placidity of the scene began to affect me. The elk had not noticed my presence, and I simply melded into their environment… My body relaxed. In the leaden silence. “The quieter the mind,” wrote Meister Eckhart, “the more powerful, the worthier, the deeper, the more telling and more perfect the prayer is” (ibid.)

Men and women, this is a perfect demonstration of what so many of us in the discernment camp have been trying to bring to the Church’s attention. This gross infiltration of Gnostic neo-paganism in so-called “Christian” mysticism is rapidly accelerating right into the main bloodline of the Body of Christ. This practice is not consistent with Biblical revelation and the “emptying” of the mind is contrary to what God has clearly said – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). Those who indulge in these meditative practices invariably end up in the same place theologically as those I have been telling you about in this article: A transformed consciousness of the supposed “unconditional” love of a panentheistic God in which all mankind and all creation already dwell.

Note that Yancey quotes the mystic heretic Meister Eckhart above. Eckhart is a shining illustration of my point. As a matter of fact let me share with you what theologian Tony Jones of the Emergent Church tells us about Meister Eckhart himself. The following comes from his 2005 book The Sacred Way, which Brian McLaren personally recommends as a good resource for mystic spiritual disciplines. Under the category of “A short List of christian spiritual classics” (sic), which contains a veritable who’s who of mystics, Jones recommends Meister Eckhart’s Collected Works as:

A mystical treatise on the intersection between Greek philosophy and Christian theology with an emphasis on God’s indwelling of humanity (p.221, emphasis mine).

The Global Family Is Coming To A Church Near You

In his excellent book A Time For Departing Christian researcher Ray Yungen does a great job of exposing “contemplative prayer” with its roots in New Age meditation to seek an old age Gnosticism. Yungen further enlightens us that this mystic tradition that has come emerging into the Church today actually goes “back centuries to such figures as Meister Eckhart, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Julian of Norwich” (38). And we see something that is even more revealing about the satanic source behind contemplative prayer as Yungen writes:

The editors of the magazine New Age Journal have put together a book entitled: As Above, So Below–which they promote as a handbook on “Paths to Spiritual Renewal,” according to their worldview. Along with chapters on shamanism, goddess worship and wholistic health, there is a chapter devoted to contemplative prayer. In it they proudly declare: “Those who have practiced Transcendental Meditation may be surprised to learn that Christianity has its own time-honored form of mantra meditation… Reliance on a mantric centering device had a long history in the mystical canon of Christianity” (48, emphasis mine).

And because of the very heavy emphasis on spiritual disciplines–and contemplative prayer in particular–within new evangelicalism it shouldn’t be long before you will hear men like Rick Warren, Joel Osteen and particularly Brian McLaren all say with ol’ Carlton Pearson above that the eventual salvation of the Global Family of all mankind is simply part of “presenting the unconditional love of Jesus Christ.” In fact Rev. Stephen McKee, who happens to be the rector of the Episcopal Church that offers its building for use by Pearson’s heretical church, even stated that he “is comfortable with Pearson’s gospel of inclusion.” And McKee also said, “I have difficulty believing in a God that’s going to put my colleagues in hell.”

As only the Lord can do, the above comment now brings us full circle as you may recall Bishop Little using this term earlier for his openly sinful “colleague” Gene Robinson. Herein lies the future of new evangelicalism…and so shall all say who will not submit themselves to the authority of Holy Scripture…

But this is what the Lord says – “You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”