Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.

They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.” There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might. (Jeremiah 10:1-6)

If It Was Ever In It, The Emerging Church Has Now Left The Building Of Christianity 

Apprising Ministries has been making you aware of the now upgraded Emerging Church 2.0 with its newer, more clearly delineated, postmodern Progressive Christian theology—a Liberalism 2.0—that this sinfully ecumenical neo-liberal cult of the Emergent Church often refers to as “big tent” Emergence Christianity. You’re likely aware of leaders within this EC—seeker driven for the “counter-culture”—movement like the Emerging Church trinity of apostates, Living Spiritual Teacher and EC guru Brian McLaren, universalist Emerging Church pastor Doug Pagitt, and his friend Tony Jones, the progressive “theologian in residence” at Solomon’s Porch.

The fact is, this is all kind of a reimagined bohemian hippie counter-culture deal I would see as I was growing up in the late 60′s; where we were careful not to “sell out” and become part of “the establishment.” Well, now we have it in a spiritual form within the rhetoric of the Emergent Church and many of its faithless followers. It was phony then, and it’s just as phony now; you see, one by one I watched the pop philosophers of my youth who “spoke my language”—my then cherished rock stars—gladly take the money and run to blend right in to what we once said were so against. Have you ever noticed that these EC leaders never miss an opportunity to promote their books.

In pieces like God Is Father Of All Religion and Faith House Manhattan: Project Of Apostasy I have introduced you to one of the lesser known EC luminaries, and one of their up-and-coming ear-ticklers, Samir Selmanovic. Selmanovic is an interspiritual advocate and “an ordained pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist church” whose website tells us that he’s “been integral to the birth of the emerging church movement, serving as a member of the Coordinating Group of Emergent Village and representing emergents at the Interfaith Relations Commission of the National Council of Churches.”[1]

Selanovic’s main shtick is something called Faith House Manhattan (FHM), whose motto is Experience Your Neighbor’s Faith:

(Online source)

This is completely reflected in the book Selmanovic wrote in 2009 called It’s Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian. Wow, and interestingly enough this man who’s here with other Emerging Church leaders in order to rescue us from the imperialistic capitalist system oppressing the downtrodden because we need to redistribute the wealth, somehow; even manages to find a way to plug his book below. Such sacrifice, eh. We also note that this FHM is personally blessed by Tony Campolo as well as Living Spiritual Teacher and EC guru Brian McLaren , his fellow Red Letter Christian:

(Online source)

Well, accolades from apostates aside, you should be able to see that with FHM Samir Selmanovic is in violation of God’s Word with this interspiritual worship; it’s well beyond simply befriending people of other faith, which is desirable for the Christian. No, with Selmanovic and others in the Emergent Church we cross the line into participating in pagan religions, which has always been something God forbids. O, but just because Jesus wants us to know — what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons (1 Corinthians 10:20), heretics like Selmanovic aren’t going to let a little thing like what the Lords says stop them because they are — lovers of self (2 Timothy 3:2).

Come Now, Let Us Bow Down As One Before Pagan Idols And Religious Superstitions

You think I overstate; think again, and consider the following tweet from Samir Selmanovic earlier today:

(Online source)

Briefly, “the other” is Liberalism 2.0-speak for their belief that God is at work within all other religions; these neo-Gnostics believe they need to discover what God is supposedly doing in these other religions. Selmanovic told us his views in an earlier book, which was edited by the dubious duo of Tony Jones and Doug Pagitt; when he mused this mythology:

Can it be that the teachings of the gospel are embedded and can be found in reality itself rather than being exclusively isolated in sacred texts and our interpretations of those texts? If the answer is yes, can it be that they are embedded in other stories, other peoples’ histories, and even other religions?…

God’s table is welcoming all who seek, and if any religion is to win, may it be the one that produces people who are the most loving, the most humble, the most Christlike. Whatever the meaning of “salvation” and “judgement,” we Christians are going to be saved by grace, like everyone else, and judged by our works, like everyone else…

For most critics of such open Christianity, the problem with inclusiveness is that it allows for truth to be found in other religions. To emerging Christians, that problem is sweet… Moreover, if non-Christians can know our God, then we want to benefit from their contribution to our faith.[2]

This is not Christianity; it’s at best universalism, and at worst, it’s pagan universalism as we see when we follow Selmanovic’s link above to LIVING ROOM Samhain: A Season of Harvest, a Circle of Remembrance:

(Online source) 

Um, yeah; that is a pentagram you’re looking at, and:

(Online source)

Yet Selmanovic gushes:

(Online source)

Uh-huh; that’s an allegedy Christian Emerging Church leader “celebrating,” with a coven of witches, the superstition of Samhain:

(Online source)

Apparently while he’s been busy with his study of pagan practices Samir seems to have forgotten that Jesus told us in Luke 16:19-31 that once one departs this life they either end up in hades or in paradise; there is no time of any thin veil, and they are not free to walk about anywhere. Sadly, Selmanovic apparently forgot that practices of craft are an abomination to the Lord:

There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)

Yeah, that really doesn’t look to me like God thinks His children ought to be learning from Wiccans; but this is exactly what Selmanovic was doing:

 
(Online source)

Remind me again; why are these Emerging Church apostates even remotely considered to be evangelical?

_________________________________________________________________________
Endnotes

[1] http://www.samirselmanovic.com/about/, 10/14/10.

[2] Samir Selmanovic, “The Sweet Problem of Inclusiveness – Finding Our God in the Other,” in An Emergent Manifesto of Hope, Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones editors [Grand Rapids: Baker,
2007], 192, 195, 196, emphasis mine.

See also:

SAMIR SELMANOVIC AND BEING UNABLE TO FOLLOW JESUS WITHOUT ISLAM 

CHRISTIAN AGNOSTIC ADELE SAKLER AND SAMIR SELMANOVIC DISCUSS CHRISTIAN ATHEISM

SAMIR SELMANOVIC HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

FULLER SEMINARY SPONSORS EMERGING CHURCH HERETIC DOUG PAGITT

THE EMERGING CHURCH AND THE NEW PROGRESSIVE THEOLOGY ON OTHER RELIGIONS

THE EMERGING CHURCH AND THE NEW PROGRESSIVE THEOLOGY ON CHRIST

IS SHANE CLAIBORNE A CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM?