Apprising Ministriesis an online apologetics and discernment work which has begin specializing in analyzing these current trends in the visible church, apprising you as to what they are, and then informing you as to how you can deal with them. Due to increasing syncretism it’s now become increasingly difficult to cover the various strains of unbiblical teaching now slithering their way into the church visible, and which, are quickly blending together in ways we’d previously not even have imagined.

Case in point would be the rise of the Emergent Church aka the Emerging Church; now a full-blown neo-liberal cult operating within mainstream evangelicalism, which also proved to be a Trojan Horse unloading critical-thinking skills numbing Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM)—under the guise of so-called Spiritual Formation—into the very heart of the Christian community.

Sadly, because mainstream evangelcalism would embrace such as these, the visible church now finds itself in the throes of an accelerating apostasy. You need to understand that the spiritual glue is this spurious CSM with its crown jewel, a form of meditation in an altered state of consciousness commonly known as Contemplative/Centering Prayer(CCP); and these Emergent neo-Gnostics who are pushing their TM-lite CCP know that there’s a very real “transformation” which occurs after its prolonged practice.

There are those who don’t like it when I point this out as bluntly as this; however, I can’t help it if the truth hurts. The fact remains that leaders in the EC such as heretical quasi-universalist EC pastor Doug Pagitt, who heads the emerging gathering Solomon’s Porch where the equally heretical Tony Jones happens to be his progressive/liberal “theologian in residence,” and the Emerging Church rock star icon Rob Bell exhibit a quiet arrogance because, you see, they believe that they are the truly enlightened ones in the “gno” (know).

As I just explained in Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism Produces A False Sense Of Reality all mystics have to jettison their reasoning ability in order to create their own synthetic version of reality; and in their delusion, these who consider themselves just a little bit better than those who don’t practice CSM and its CCP, end up attacking the historic orthodox Christian faith in their supposed enlightenment. You should also know that I am not alone in my assessment of Emergent arrogance.

The following is from a few years ago and concerns Living Spiritual Teacher and leading EC guru Brian McLaren, the other third of the unholy Emergent trinity along with the dubious duo of Pagitt and Jones. In his series The Arrogance of the Emergent Church Movement Dr. Ron Carlson, pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church, fires his spiritual tank dead-on-target as he tells us that:

the more I read books by Emergent/Emerging authors, the more I’m convinced that what I said a couple of years ago—at least—is becoming increasingly evident. When I finished reading McLaren’s A Generous Orthodoxy it was clear to me that this was going to be an aberrant, heterodox movement. McLaren’s new book Everything Must Change seems to be his (vain) attempt at ethics and deviates even further from true Christianity. I have read a large number of books on ethics and this one—along with Jim Wallis’ God’s Politics—qualifies as one of the worst…

McLaren’s book parallels Wallis’ books and makes many of the same left-wing points that Wallis makes, only more poorly. Another aspect of McLaren’s book that irked me as I read it was McLaren’s arrogance. Like N.T. Wrights What Saint Paul Really Said, McLaren gives us the impression that up until this point in theology and ethics we have been surrounded by incompetents and dolts, but now Bri is here to rescue us from our blatant ignorance. While the old dead guys were spewing out all that doctrine stuff and burning witches at the stake, Brian has bigger, better, kinder, and gentler fish to fry…

[O]n pp. 177-178 of Everything Must Change McLaren makes this creative statement: “If Jesus were in a conversation with Chris Hedges and others like you and me who are concerned about the pervasive human pull towards war, I think he might say something like this:” McLaren then proceeds to have Jesus say nothing of sin and salvation, but puts all kinds of pronouncements in his mouth about war and global warming. In short, McLaren has created a Democrat Jesus in Birkenstocks drinking a Starbucks $5.75 (plus tax) cinnamon-gingerbread-persimmon latte with coxcomb sprinkles.

This is the “real Jesus of the Bible” that the rest of us knotheads have missed, but if we had only looked closely enough we would have discovered that he really looked just like Brian McLaren all along. (Online source)

In closing this, for now, I leave you with Heretics that are Holier than You from The Official CARM Blog; again, as one who has been in dialogue with people in and around the Emerging Church for years now, I can personally testify as to the truth of what you’re about to read:

Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, and Emergents: What Do They Have in Common?

Lawlessness comes in two main forms: Legalism and Antinomianism. These two heresies are dealt with extensively in the New Testament, so my point in writing this article is not to delve deeply into those two forms of legalism. No, what I want to talk about is moral-superiority-complex of heretics that is evident all throughout Scripture and among contemporary enemies of the Christian faith. Consider the enemies of Christ Himself, viz. the Pharisees & Co., and the putrid scent of sanctimoniousness that wafts out from the pages of the New Testament whenever they speak…

You know them well; everyone does – they make it their business to make sure everyone see how holy they are, especially in comparison to those who believe that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone as revealed in the Scriptures alone to the glory of God alone.

The Pharisees & Co. may have some external differences with Emergents, but they have more in common than the superficial observer would notice. The Pharisees & Co., for instance, played fast and loose with the Scriptures in order to justify their sin, all the while claiming that they were doing so for the sake of serving God…

They are good at performing as though they were holy; they are skilled at using their moralism as an excuse for not believing what Christ Jesus says of Himself, and as justification for looking down their noses at the followers of Christ who trust His Word alone, resting upon Him for salvation, and looking forward to the Day when He returns to judge the living and the dead. The Pharisees & Co. and the Emergents have an external religion of works-righteousness; both sought to put on a show and talk a big moral talk in order to cover up their unbelief and their hatred of Christ. Essentially, they both pray aloud:

“God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this [Reformed, Baptistic Calvinist]. I [recycle every] week; I give [all of my book proceeds to GreenPeace and the LGBT movement]…”

If the connection between the Pharisees & Co. and the Emergents isn’t clear yet, just go to an Emergent blog, read an Emergent book, or talk with one and it will all become clear as day. Critic after critic of Orthodox theology is leveling moral criticisms against various Christians and/or Christian denominations and using that as justification for twisting the Scriptures, denying their basic teachings under the guise of reading the Bible through new lenses/eyes, from a different perspective, for some grandiose moral pursuit.
(Online source)

As I’ve said before, the sad truth is, the neo-liberal cult openly operating now within the Emerging Church has created a “Jesus” who is essentially Mahatma Gandhi with a beard.

See also:

PHILIP CLAYTON AND A “JESUS” WHO’S GANDHI WITH A BEARD

TOXIC THEOLOGY OF DOUG PAGITT

DOUG PAGITT AND HIS SOLOMON’S PORCH AFFIRM HOMOSEXUAL SIN

THROUGH ROB BELL “THE GREAT ENLIGHTENED ONES” TELL US MAN HAS DIVINE GREATNESS

JOHN MACARTHUR ON EPIC HERESY OF ROB BELL

ROB BELL AND POSTMODERN NEO-LIBERALISM

SEDUCING SPIRITS SOUNDING THE SAME