Tickle Our Ears With Some Bedtime Stories Rob
Unfortunately the Americian Christian Church has continued
turning its back on the all sufficiency of Christ and His Word in the
Bible to instead seek her solice in more
man-pleasing messages. This ignominious idea is itself the
very hallmark of the Church Growth Movement, whether it’s
the Purpose Driven pragmatism of PDL pope Rick Warren, or
the repainted version of liberalism’s gospel of social
reform ala Rob Bell.
Or do you think it’s simply an odd coinicidence that both men happen to
be graduates of Fuller Theological Cesspool Seminary—the very den from
which this Church Growth Movement would slither.
And I say it’s well past time for evangelical leaders
and pastors to cease their dead on impression of Rip Van Winkle and
wake up to the fact that Bell has far more affinity e.g. with the “Progressive Christianity”
of Marcus Borg
than he does with the Biblical Christianity of John MacArthur. For
more information Apprising Ministries refers
the interested reader to “Progressive
Christianity” Is Neither Progressive Or Christian. However, with
this accelerating apostasy within evangelicalism comes the elevation of
false teachers who are submerging proper doctrine on their way into positions
of prominence within the visible Church of our Lord.
One of these teaching a counterfeit
Christianity, which more and more within the evangelical
camp are now openly embracing, is Emergence
Christianity pastor Rob Bell. You need to understand that
Bell is absolutely HUGE within youth groups right now and is well
on his way to becoming an idol among ”Christian Untouchables” such as Ravi
Zacharias and Ray Comfort.
Right now Bell’s every bit as much an icon with youth pastors and youth
ministers as Elvis was to so many adults in this nation. Now lest
you think this is simply an old issue I literally received a letter this
morning from somone whose evangelical church has started using Bell’s
materials; and at this point, let’s keep in mind his book Jesus Wants
to Save Christians. And just what do you suppose Bell’s Jesus
wants to save Christians from; well, as you can see in Rob Bell In
A Nutshell: The Bible, stodgy old Sola Scriptura for
one.
I also point to ”Conversation With Rob
Bell, a Different Kind of Evangelist,” which is an interview
recently conducted by David Crumm at Read the
Spirit. First, to give you an idea of just how far that
particular website is from evangelical Christianity (as is
Bell) Crumm promotes a book Interfaith
Heroes, which he says “is perfect for study groups or
personal reading anytime throughout the year”:
Produced for the 1st Annual Interfaith Heroes Month in
January 2008, these 31 stories highlight men and women who took the risk of
making new spiritual connections in their lives to promote peace…showcasing
short biographies of men and women throughout history who have crossed
traditional boundaries of religious groups to build stronger communities…
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is included as well as biographical sketches
of Mahatma Gandhi and St. Francis, among the more famous names in the book…
Of his recent sit down with Bell, and my theological
differences aside, I will say that Crumm is correct when he
says, “Rob Bell is one of the hottest voices in American religion today.”
Crumm goes on:
He’s a best-selling author. He’s a best-selling
direct-to-DVD filmmaker. He has been profiled by Time Magazine. When he
announced a worldwide pastors’ conference at his church near Grand Rapids —
essentially by word of mouth — thousands showed up to spend several days
learning from him…
He’s such a major influence in American religion that he
doesn’t need to preach old-fashioned revivalist rallies… His passionate
mission in life is to wake up the hundreds of millions of Christians in the
United States to the reality that God is far larger than their limited view
of religion.
The point being that in this “Conversation” with Rob
Bell we notice Crumm is quite excited because with Bell’s
quasi-universal message of pseudo-Christianity Crumm is now
envisioning him as being another one of these “faith heroes” in the
making. And in a sense he is correct; Bell is a hero to the mystical
interspiritual set who in their deluded spiritual pride think their neo-Gnostic
meditation powwows of Contemplative/Centering
Prayer will eventually unite all religions. But this now begs
the question: If the so-called crossing of ”traditional boundaries of
religious groups to build stronger communities” really was the message
of Jesus Christ and His Apostles then why were all of them, save John,
murdered? They should have been as revered as Bell is. But you
should now be able to understand why we’re experiencing such a
diluting of doctrine; you see, if they were to
teach in straight Biblical purity it wouldn’t make them very
good role models at all for these fickle “faith heroes.”
Enthralling Myths From The Murky Mystery Of Mystical
Revelation
And finally, I draw your attention to the post What do You
Know About Rob Bell? from year ago by Matt Dabb, “an
associate minister at the Northwest Church of Christ in St.
Petersburg,” that gives us further illustration concerning the
way Bell is still being “discovered” by those outside of the postliberal
cult of the Emerging
Church. Dabb informs readers that he had just learned
about Bell’s first book Velvet Elvis. The comments
section there will give you a vivid portrait of just how dangerous Rob
Bell will be to the genuine Gospel of Jesus Christ in this coming
year. This is because Bell is a bridge into
conservative evangelical circles—and with it access to your
young—for the more heretical teachers of the anti-Reformation
Emergence Christianity such as Bell’s friend Emerging
Church Pastor Doug Pagitt, who is the pastor of Tony Jones—another
notable in this Emerging neo-liberal rebellion against the final
authority of God’s Word in the Bible.
So with this in mind I’m providing the links to a
couple of excellent articles by Rev. Casey Freswick, pastor of Bethany
United Reformed Church in Wyoming, Michigan, where he does a
fine job of completely deconstructing and totally dismantling Rob Bell’s
first book Velvet Elvis. Men and women, as one who is well-versed in the
antichristian Cult of
Liberal Theology, and who’s also studied Bell’s
teachings for years now, I can tell you that Freswick is dead-on-target when
he says in Postmodern
Liberalism: Repainting A Non-Christian Faith—Part One:
His repainting is not an interpretation of the text of
Scripture but an alteration of the text of Scripture. Ultimately, Rob Bell
does not repaint the Christian faith. He paints a picture that is not a
picture of the Christian faith or the truth of Christianity. But his new
picture of error is not really new at all. It is old error. It is old false
teaching. It is the same old errors of the past repainted. Rob Bell forsakes
truth. He rejects it. He deceives. He is a false teacher. He repaints the
errors of the past….
Rob Bell’s repainting of false teaching looks like a
merger of the dialectic philosophy of Hegel, the liberalism of Rudolph
Bultmann and the neo-orthodoxy of Karl Barth. Rob Bell has embraced these and
other errors and merged them into postmodernism, an anti-Christian philosophy
teaching the impossibility of absolute truth. Both postmodern 21st century
philosophy and 20th century “modern liberalism” have influenced Rob Bell. A
more appropriate title for Rob Bell’s painting, his “Velvet Elvis”, is
“Postmodern Liberalism”.
Ken Silva
Ken Silva is pastor of Connecticut River Baptist Church in
Claremont, NH. In addition he is president of an Internet discernment work
called Apprising Ministries at www.apprising.org
He is also a contributor of Ingrid Schulter's blog located at www.sliceorlaodicea.blogspot.com
and has made numerous appearances of the Crosstalk Radio Talk Show on the VCY
America Radio Network.
The author of many articles pertaining to the seeker
sensitive movement, Ken and his wife Donna feel especially led of the Lord to
bring attention to the growing danger of contemplative spirituality and
mysticism in the Body of Christ. Largely trained through the work of the late
Dr. Walter Martin, for the past year Ken has been intensely studying the
Emerging Church movement and its increasing threat to the historic orthodox
Christian faith.
5 comments:
I'm just not sure why the author chooses to say: "God's Word in the Bible." The Bible is God's Word. It does not simply contain God's Word. When you are writing against heresy, it is important to not use descriptive language that could be construed as unorthodox. Hopefully the author did not mean to imply that the Scriptures only contain the Word of God.
Seeker friendly is a term that has been around for quite an amount of time. I think it is a good term and churches need to be sensitive to people.But I have seen a few churches that go overboard to the point of entertaining and babying people. I am speaking of what I have seen and it is sad. One large church that my wife and I attended for 3 months would zoom right through Communion like it was a brief comment and down the elements as though it was a chore.
We need to hear TRUTH. We need an atmosphere that is comfortable and a place that has challenging teaching and preaching. There is no better way in teaching than combining truth in love and showing it.
USA former
HALLELUJAH!!!! The traditional church is being challenged. Traditional doctrine is being challenged. And the traditional church is SCARED!!!! As it should be. Every single criticism leveled against the emerging liberal church I believe is more appropriately leveled against the traditional church and doctrine. This article to me just proves how scared the tradtitional, orthodox church is of the liberal movement. It seems to be almost in the death throes. Praise God for that. Now perhaps we can actually return to worshiping God, and not the church or doctrine. As I have said almost ad infinitem - any doctrine that says it can understand God, that says it knows what God says and wants, any church or teacher that says similar things, is most definately NOT of God. God is way too big for human mind to comprehend that revelation, to know the mind of God, to understand the teaching of God. If we could do all this, then we would be proving that we are equal to God, that God is FINITE enough for mere humans to comprehend. That in itself would prove that God does not exist. Anyone that says 'This is what God desires' or 'This is the wholly revealed word of God' or 'This is the absolute truth of God' etc. is to me proving that God does not exist. We will each be judged according to the revelation of God we have received, and so I have faith that I will see them in heaven - but I wonder what God will say to them in rebuke about attempting to prove to the world that God does not exist.
Yours in Christ,
Graeme Randall
Former Australian East.
I know some folk have a problem with Rick Warren but what I have read and seen has been helpful (Purpose Driven Life)to me. His book gives direction and from what I see helps the reader to focus in their faith and purpose in life.
Rob Bell is another story. In all fairness I have not read much of his material. What I have seen I am uncomfortable with . I actually think deep down he has a lot of questions. Maybe more than I have. He may mean well but I feel he is misleading. I see confusion in him.
USA former
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/19/rob-bell-punches-back-against-claims-of-heresy/
'After a budding career as a rock star was derailed by a freak illness, Bell set his sights on the seminary. Now, at 40, he has risen to become America’s hipster pastor and one of the most influential preachers in the country.
He is quick-witted, non-denominational, and he unabashedly loves Jesus. He preaches to 10,000 people at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, the church he founded.
His first four books sold nearly a million copies combined, and his short film series, Nooma, has sold more than 2 million DVDs.He will tell you he again and again he is a pastor, not a theologian or a biblical scholar.
Former against using his material in TSA.
UKT
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