As part of our online apologetics and discernment labors Apprising Ministries been documenting the New Downgrade within evangelicalism and I’ve been talking about The Build-A-God Shop, a venue where you can come in and share the characteristics of the god of your choosing.

Right now there are those furiously building a version of the mush god of mysticism with a man-shaped hole in his/her/its heart; particularly as typified by the Emerging Church aka the Emergent Church, a sinfully ecumenical neo-liberal cult with its new postmodern form of “big tent” Progressive Christianity—a Liberalism 2.0—sometimes referred to by these rebels against the final authority of God’s Word as Emergence Christianity.

However, you need to know that these are neo-Gnostic fools who, through their practice of existential corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM), have now unbuckled themselves from the Word of God and have embarked upon their wild goose chase of subjective experience.

This is beginning to produce some really rather bizarre ideas such as those I’ve mentioned in The Emerging Church And Transgender Agenda In Elementary Schools and Doug Pagitt Points Us To Evolutionary Evangelist Michael Dowd.

Of course this all negates the proper Christian spirituality of sola Scriptura and ends up getting it exactly backward; where the Christian is to measure all experience by Scripture (cf. 2 Thessalonians 5:21), the EC wild goosers interpret the Bible against the what they think they have heard and seen from God in the lifestyle of Jesus.

Cueing the song What if god was one of us, I’ve told you that EC mystic mush god is essentially a bigger version of man; and in fact, he/she/it is really but a mirror of themselves. It’s against this backdrop that I now point you to Apocalypse, Planetary Birth Or Deception? over at Herescope:

Not since Y2K has there been such a global frenzy over predicted massive and universal doom. This time, the fever pitch is considerably higher due to the number of ancient and modern prophecies, prophets, and phenomena guiding the way—all pointing to the year 2012. (See previous post.)

Most of these dire forecasts come from occult, pagan, astrological, astronomical, and extra-biblical sources, such as the I Ching (Chinese book of divination), the ancient Cherokee Rattlesnake Prophecies, the 2012 Solar Maximum, the Zohar, Nostradamus, UFO crop circles, and even Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s Noosphere (earth’s new evolutionary cycle).[2] By far, the most popular comes from the ancient Maya who base their predictions on an astronomical event tying the precise day that the earth and sun align with the center of the Milky Way galaxy, to the day their long calendar ends: December 21, 2012.[3]

Sadly, a few professing Christians have piggy-backed their own predictions on to some of these myths and hysterias, when they should have clung to the Bible alone—especially in light of a doubly exposed, date-setting false prophet named Harold Camping.[4]

“…instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.”
–1 Tim.1:4-5 [emphasis mine][5]

TOM HORN: THE MAN, HIS MYTHS—AND THE YEAR 2012

Tom Horn is a noted author, publisher, and radio host—and is a former Assemblies of God pastor/deliverance minister and one-time Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) television host.[6] Horn is also a self-professed “UFOlogist” who displays an inordinate fascination with mythical, extraterrestrial, as well as demonic entities—themes which comprise the bulk of his many books, articles, and audio/visual presentations.

Since he cannot find sole Scriptural support for most of his ideas, he relies heavily upon Apocryphal, Pseudepigraphal, Mythological, UFOlogical, and even occultic sources. Here is how his book Nephilim Stargates: The Year 2012 and the Return of the Watchers begins (note also the themes carried in the book’s title):

Something alarming has been happening since the dawn of time, which has been recorded in the history, holy books, and mythos of every great civilization. Ancient rabbinical authorities including Septuagint translators and early church fathers understood it. Sumerians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks, the Hindus, the America Indians, and virtually all other civilizations throughout history believed it.

Beings of super intelligence sometimes referred to as “gods” have since time immemorial descended through openings of sky, earth, and sea to interact with this planet’s creatures. The behavior of these “unknowns” is recurrent and seems to revolve around the need to harvest or manipulate molecular matter, especially human and animal. The unknowns appear to come to us from nearby planets and/or dimensions and may actually be represented by the Watchers of Apocryphal texts.[7] [emphasis mine]

These intelligent “gods,” “unknowns,” and “Watchers” (a term taken from the apocryphal Book of Enoch), who have come through these invisible, multi-dimensional heavenly “gates” through the centuries,…Horn adds, “…thousands of years ago heavenly beings visited the earth. They engaged in experiments resulting in a race of mutant offspring called Nephilim [cf. Genesis 6:4].”[italics mine][10] Citing Christ’s prophecy in Matthew 24, Horn asks, “Are current “UFO” visitors, and resultant abductions and experiments, the same as those of Noah’s day?”[11]…

Further building on Genesis 6—and his “Watchers” theme, (which is the central thrust of his many projects), Horn cites dozens of extra-biblical sources (including occult, pagan, and even his own fictional novel, The Ahriman Gate) to arrive at a sensational conclusion on page 131 of Nephilim Stargates:

“vital energy” by ultraterrestrials to form dimensional gateways—whether by manipulating animal, plant, or atmospheric molecular energy—brings interesting questions to the biblical story of Genesis, where some believe superintelligent angels known as “Watchers” descended to earth and used antediluvian cell matter,  including women, animals, and plants to construct for themselves “portals,” through which they extended themselves into the material world, bringing with them physical and psychotronic warfare. Note the implication behind this activity in Genesis, “the benei Elohim saw the daughters of Adam, that they were fit extensions” (Interlinear Hebrew Bible, Gen. 6.2).

“Fit extensions” could be understood to mean portals (stargates) or the use of molecular energy to format navigational dimensional pathways. Current advances by modern scientists to blend DNA of various species using biotechnology (such as transgenics to genetically modify crops, create mice with human brains, goats with human blood, and animal-human hybrids for medical research) raise a host of prophetic possibilities and questions in light of Genesis 6:[21]

Again, relying on his own interpretation of Genesis 6 (and the Book of Enoch), Horn runs with this theme in his latest book, Forbidden Gates, taking the issue of so-called GRIN technologies (genetics, robotics, artificial intelligence, and nanotechnology) to new heights—with a disturbing call-to-action:

The need to parse information is changing so rapidly that we expect to hit the knee of the techno-info curve sometime around the year 2012, followed by Singularity and critical mass. As a result, the authors of this book have teamed with a group of ministries and intellectuals and are currently organizing a new national conference, the World Congress on Emerging Threats and Challenges (tentative conference title), the first of which is to be held the third week of July 2011 in Branson, Missouri. [emphasis mine][22]

What is this “techno-info curve” leading up to “Singularity” and “critical mass”? If it’s going to take place “around the year 2012,” then the reader should prepare quickly, right?… If this sounds alarming, then consider how New Ager Barbara Marx Hubbard similarly defines “critical mass”:

The alternative to Armageddon is the Planetary Pentecost. When a critical mass is in the upper room of consciousness on a planetary scale, each will hear from within, in their own language, the mighty words of God. All who are attuned will be radically empowered to be and do as Jesus did. (The Revelation, p. 157) [emphasis mine][24]

In other words—based on his sensational assumptions—Horn believes that something very threatening is going to happen very quickly. Is Horn serious, mistaken about these terms, or simply over-stating his cause? The evidence suggests that Horn is dead serious… Note his tone and urgency in the Foreword to this letter:

In recent years, astonishing technological developments have pushed the frontiers of humanity toward far-reaching morphological transformation that promises in the very near future to redefine what it means to be human. An international, intellectual, and fast-growing cultural movement known as transhumanism, whose vision is supported by a growing list of U.S. military advisors, bioethicists, law professors, and academics, intends the use of biotechnology, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, cybernetics, and artificial intelligence as tools that will radically redesign our minds, our memories, our physiology, our offspring, and even perhaps—as Joel Garreau, in his bestselling book Radical Evolution, claims—our very souls.

The technological, cultural and metaphysical shift now underway unapologetically forecasts a future dominated by this new species of unrecognizably superior humans…. The issues raised by human-transforming science must be addressed by Christian leaders in a serious national conversation. To fail in this responsibility may lead to the question “what does it mean to be human” being abdicated to a frightening transhuman vision. [emphasis/italics mine][25]

Here, as well as in Forbidden Gates, Horn piggybacks his “Watcher-Nephilim” theory onto the transhumanism movement. Here is how Herescope defined “transhumanism” in a 2006 article series on the “New Breed”:

This… series…would not be complete without an examination of the rising science of biotechnology known as “transhumanism.” This high-tech, bio-tech concept is working to create a physical “new breed” of man. There is a mystical component to it that comes from Hermeticism and Theosophy. This represents the ultimate mixture of science and religion.[26].

The same Herescope post featured an article by Christian professor, author, and international expert on the ethical implications of nanotechnology, Dr. Martin Erdmann, entitled: “Creatures in Pursuit of Autonomous Perfection.” Here is how he defined “transhumanism”:

Transhumanism takes human enhancement further, in morphing the vision of perfect man into a human-machine complex properly called “posthuman”…. The actual work of transhumanism involves technologies such as brain-computer interfaces, neuropharmacology, and perhaps most notably, nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is a molecular science, whose other pursuits range from alternative energy to cancer cures….

Yet rather than confining itself to “simple” goals of healing cancer or even restoring sight, transhumanism posits that men are in an early stage of evolution, and pushes to enhance fundamentally humanity through nanotechnology and other sciences…. Despite transhumanist rejection of supernatural force, its philosophy mirrors mysticism…. [27] (Online source)

You can read this Herescope article in its entirety here.

See also:

SEDUCING SPIRITS SOUNDING THE SAME

MIKE MORRELL ON MATTHEW FOX, JOHN WIMBER, AND THE EMERGING CHURCH

THE OTHER SIDE OF EMERGENT: THE NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION

THE EMERGING CHURCH, DOUG PAGITT & PROCESS THEOLOGY

MICHAEL DOWD AND SCIENCE FICTION CHRISTIANITY

MICHAEL DOWD & SPENCER BURKE—INTEGRITY AND EVOLUTIONARY CHRISTIANITY (PART 2)

THE EMERGING CHURCH ON A WILD GOOSE CHASE