EMERGENT CHURCH OPENLY ACCEPTS PRACTICING HOMOSEXUAL “CHRISTIANS”

Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words Or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar. (Proverbs 30:5-6, NASB)

The New Cult Of Liberal Theology With Its Emergent Fruit Of Homosexual Christians

If there was any wonder why I have been calling the Emergent Church, a cult of the new aka post-liberal theology then this ought to extract your head from the foul fog of alleged “postmodernism.” The designation of a cult fits precisely because this Emergent rebellion against the Word of God has its own leaders, its own methodology in how it interprets the Bible, it rejects the historic orthodox Christian faith recovered in the Protestant Reformation, and it preaches an inclusive reimagined version of the social gospel which deemphasizes the role of God the Holy Spirit–and for some EC leaders like Living Spiritual Teacher Richard Foster–also obscures even to the point of negating altogether the need for regeneration.

This Emergent cult has also introduced into evangelicalism itself the heretical practices of so-called “Christian” mysticism under the benign moniker of contemplative spirituality/mysticism. And there is an emerging man-love which has come forth as a direct result of the deception received by those who practice this transcendental meditation for the Christian. Now through this Emergent rebellion against the Bible men lacking evidence of regeneration like the following, who would dare to defy their Creator Christ Jesus while calling themselves Christian, have been given a voice even inside the largely non-discerning evangelical camp. In researching issues involving Emergent “Evangelical” Prophet Tony Campolo, who also happens to be a good friend of Emergent Guru Brian McLaren, I was later led to the ECWR website.

For those who don’t know and you may believe me I’m sorry you will even need to be made aware of this oxymoron; ECWR is the website for Evangelicals Concerned: Creating Safe Places for GBLT Christians, as in Gay, Bisexual, Lesbian, and Transgender “Christians.” You might be shaking your head at this point. Yes, that is exactly what I meant to write. Under Who Are We? We read:

In our walks of faith, we sometimes wrestle with issues surrounding our sexuality. Some faith communities may even shun us because we are different sexually from the majority.

Evangelicals Concerned (EC) provides safe and comfortable places for men and women to reconcile their Christian faith with their sexuality. By fostering a supportive community of believers, we desire to reunite people, regardless of their sexual orientation, with our friend, Jesus Christ.

So if you’re asking, can I be Christian and gay? We enthusiastically say Yes!

“Can you be Christian and gay?” God emphatically says No! Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders (1 Corinthians 6:9). Yet under the banner What’s Our Mission? they tell us, “Evangelicals Concerned (EC) is a non-denominational evangelical resource providing a community of fellowship that is a safe place for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians to reconcile and integrate their faith and sexuality, and to grow toward Christian maturity.” Ah, right. But this is the exactly the kind of nonexistent “Christian” faith in the twilight zone which the Emergent Church has now brought slithering right into mainstream evangelicalism.

The Ignorant And Unstable Twist Scripture To Their Own Destruction

One other pertinent issue for the discerning Christian would be to wonder how in the world could this be justified Biblically. It can’t. But you may find it interesting that in ECWR’s “frequently asked questions” section they still give it the ol’ satanic try:

2. How can you justify your biblical stance?

In the Bible, there is no record that Jesus Christ condemned homosexuality. Instead, Jesus always showed concern for people no matter who they were. An example included the Samaritan woman at the well who was living with a man who wasn’t her husband. Today, some Christians teach that we come to God “just as we are,” yet most of them exclude homosexuals and other sexual minorities from church fellowship. We ask why. God does not hold sexual orientation as a factor in salvation. Evangelicals Concerned has many reasons for advocating this position. Read our page on Homosexuality and the Bible for detailed questions and answers about this subject.

Well, they must be reading the new emerging Bible from Hell because the LORD God Almighty expressly condemned the abomination of the practice of homosexuality long before He walked upon His planet earth. So I would venture to say that Jesus simply didn’t feel the need to repeat Himself. And yikes, this is the kind of irreverent and unbiblical blether that Emergent leaders like Tony Jones can’t see through? Why Tony Jones? I cover this a bit further in Tony Jones Says , but for now our resident Emergent “theologian” is on record in Relevant Magazine as saying Emergent has, among others, “lesbian mainline pastors in New England… We haven’t yet found that there’s anything that justifies us breaking fellowship with somebody else who loves and is trying to follow Jesus.” (hard copy on file at AM)

But you see it doesn’t matter what these Emergent vipers say and it doesn’t matter at all what Emergent deceivers like Tony and Peggy Campolo say. The emerging truth is, as Ingrid Schlueter and Rev. Wayne Sedlak pointed out in their article Campolo and Homosexuality, that “Tony Campolo has tried to straddle the fence for years on the issue of homosexuality” (1). As a matter of fact Ingrid has also pointed out that for decades Peggy Campolo has been an outspoken gay supporter. And then again in Campolo and Homosexuality Schlueter and Sedlak inform us that Peggy Campolo has been forthright about:

her conversion to supporting open homosexuality and describing the vacations she and her husband take each year to the resort community of Provincetown, Massachusetts, she talks about the “holy presence of acceptance” she felt in the town which is known for its homosexual “culture”. The following are quotes from Peggy Campolo:

“I remember saying to Tony, ‘what I feel here is something of what I have always imagined I would feel in heaven.’ ”

“But I fell in love with Provincetown–not in spite of the gay and lesbian culture there, but because of it. And I have been going back for twenty years” (2)

Returning To More Emergent Defiance Of God’s Word

Peggy Campolo went “back” again to this issue so to speak when she was keynote speaker at the ECWR Women’s Retreat in July 2006. Her bio tells us of her own Emergent:

personal journey [which has] led her to integrate her faith with social justice. As a result, her personal faith in Jesus has been strengthened. She has become an advocate of justice for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people and a strong proponent of full inclusion of GLBT people within the church.

If you want to know more about Peggy Campolo’s views on homosexual “Christians”, as well as those her husband Emergent Prophet Tony Campolo (at least as of 12/21/06), you will find them at Gay Christian.net which is also known as The Gay Christian Network (GCN). I say “as of” because Tony Campolo does not believe in the inerrancy and final authority of the Bible and this means his views will only continue to morph. Emergent Prophet Campolo’s bio on GCN gives us some key information in that he is:

professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern College in suburban Philadelphia, [and[ is a well-known and highly respected voice in evangelical Christianity today. Dr. Campolo is an ordained Baptist minister, a popular speaker, author of numerous books, and founder of a ministry which reaches out to poor and hurting people worldwide in the name of Jesus.

What I highlighted is sad enough in itself and only further shows just how far off track rapidly apostatizing evangelicalism truly is. And then at Tony Campolo.org Tony’s Biographical Sketch informs us:

Dr. Campolo is an ordained minister, [who] has served American Baptist Churches in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and is presently recognized as an associate pastor of the Mount Carmel Baptist Church in West Philadelphia.

Mount Carmel Baptist Church where Dr. Campolo serves as associate pastor is also affiliated with American Baptist Churches USA and having been with the ABC myself in the early nineties I can tell you the Lord removed their lampstand long ago. Even back then this sad organization had already rejected the inerrancy and final authority of the Bible and was ordaining women to the office of pastor-teacher. Study it out for yourself and you will see that there is an absolute progression that happens to denominations who turn their back on God’s Word like this.

First the inclusive liberation theology of the social non-gospel comes to the forefront, the doctrine of Hell is rejected and then comes the open acceptance of homosexual “Christians.” At this point I remind you again that Emergent Prophet Campolo is a very good friend of chief waffler Brian McLaren. The eminent confusion of these two Emergent dreamers over what they believe about Holy Scripture is undoubtedly a major factor why in the article Brian McLaren on the Homosexual Question: Finding a Pastoral Response for CT’s Leadership Blog Swami McLaren is found whining:

Frankly, many of us don’t know what we should think about homosexuality. We’ve heard all sides but no position has yet won our confidence so that we can say “it seems good to the Holy Spirit and us.” That alienates us from both the liberals and conservatives who seem to know exactly what we should think. Even if we are convinced that all homosexual behavior is always sinful, we still want to treat gay and lesbian people with more dignity, gentleness, and respect than our colleagues do.

If we think that there may actually be a legitimate context for some homosexual relationships, we know that the biblical arguments are nuanced and multilayered, and the pastoral ramifications are staggeringly complex. We aren’t sure if or where lines are to be drawn, nor do we know how to enforce with fairness whatever lines are drawn.

Perhaps we need a five-year moratorium on making pronouncements.

Deny God’s Word And He Will Quickly Deny You

No, Brian and Tony what you both personally need to do is to either once and for all surrender your lives to Christ and be born again. Either that or you need to finally grow a spiritual backbone and begin preach the actual Gospel of the One you claim sent both of you to be among His pastor-teachers. I cover this issue of homosexuality further in Brian McLaren: What’s So Hard About That but history shows that as soon as a minister, a church, or a denomination caves in on the inerrancy of His Holy Scripture God very quickly abandons them.

In the end we have already seen that Peggy Campolo has rejected anything close to a proper Christian position of the issue of homosexuality. Brian McLaren himself is well on his way to embracing her heretical views himself because this is the direction the wind of popular opinion is blowing. And although Emergent Prophet Tony Campolo is publicly claiming (for now) that he “differs” from his wife right now on this issue of practicing homosexual “Christians” you may mark my words; when women run the church, and when women run the home, it is only a matter of time before Tony the tiger will be publicly dancing to Peggy’s sordid song on so-called homosexual “Christians.”

O yeah, you can be sure that eventually Emergent Evangelical Prophet Tony Campolo will also one day openly accept these practicing sinners as genuine believers just the same as Tony Jones has told us the Emergent Church itself already has. Take as an example the “god” of Emergent Pastor Jay Bakker personally told him that the practice of homosexuality is no longer sin:

“The more I follow grace, the more I’m drawn to him [God], the more I’m willing to stand up for people being persecuted,” says Jay today. “This sounds so churchy, but I felt like God spoke to my heart and said ‘[homosexuality] is not a sin.’ ” (Online source)

But hear the Word of the actual LORD God Almighty: 

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until Heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” 

“Anyone who breaks one of the least of these Commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these Commands will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-19)

See also:

TONY CAMPOLO: ADVANCED FENCE-STRADDLING AND DENYING THE EXCLUSIVITY OF THE GOSPEL

TONY JONES AND THE EMERGENT CHURCH: “CHRISTIAN” GAY IS A-OK

JAY BAKKER CHALLENGES MEGA-CHURCH PASTORS ON HOMOPHOBIA