Today emerging church leader Brian McLaren begins his fast for Ramadan. In this short piece, containing a must-hear clip from Fighting for the Faith by Chris Rosebrough, you’ll see from Scripture why this is absolutely wrong. And further, you’ll find proof that the non-gospels preached by McLaren and his disciple Rob Bell are virtually identical that spread by liberals like Marcus Borg.

The news outlets report that people calling themselves “Lutherans” are discussing allowing gay clergy and are drafting a “broader” statement on human sexuality in Minneapolis this week. (That oughta be a doozy.) But after reading reports for years of this denomination’s moral and theological misadventures, the time has come to question which Luther they are named after. We have all jumped to conclusions and assumed they were vaguely connected with Martin Luther, the Reformer. After a quick search online, I realized with a jolt that this group could be naming themselves after any number of other “Luthers.” That would explain why their teachings have nothing remotely to do with what Dr. Martin Luther taught and believed.

Are they named after Luther Vandross, the singer? Are they named after the Luther Burger, which Wiki informs me is a “hamburger, specifically a bacon cheeseburger, which employs a grilled glazed donut in place of the bun?” Are they named after a company by that name which produces “Masonic aprons and supplies?” Perhaps it’s a Luther I haven’t yet thought of. We can rest assured that Dr. Martin Luther, Reformer and expounder of the Word of God, would reject out of hand the apostate, moral and theological train wreck that is the ELCA. So which Luther do you think they’re named after? The mystery continues.

Update: A reader suggests they may be followers of Lex Luthor of DC Comics fame. But then they would be “Luthorens” which rather blows that theory out of the water…

Christianity Today Online is featuring what amounts to a promotional piece on “spiritual directors” that caught my attention. The article introduces the practice of using spiritual directors to evangelicals, most of whom have never heard of them. The piece details the author, Alice Fryling’s, warm and positive experiences with the spiritual director she encountered in a mainline church near the University of Wisconsin many years ago.

At first glance, who would argue with a ministry that supposedly puts people in touch with hearing and seeing God in their lives? But looking at it all a little more closely, problems emerge. Nowhere in the article is there a caution about the dangers of spiritual direction that takes you away from the truth of the Word of God. There is much in the piece about the author’s feelings spiritually and how the spiritual direction affected her emotionally, but never does she tell readers to be careful about the counsel they are receiving from these individuals who are giving spiritual guidance. Nowhere does she recommend asking, “to where am I being directed spiritually by this person?” or tell readers how to know if they are being directed into grave spiritual error.

The vast majority of “spiritual directors” operate within the Roman Catholic and Episcopal traditions. Other mainline churches (apostate) have followed with their own brand of spiritual direction. All of it is rooted in contemplative spirituality. It is easy to see why. The Reformation brought us the crucial emphasis on the authority of Scripture in the lives of believers. Contemplative spirituality removes that landmark and replaces it with subjective mystical experiences. That’s why a “spiritual director” is a key part of the contemplative spiritual package.

I remember reading Karen Mains’ book, Lonely No More, many years ago, long before there was much of any information available on contemplative spirituality within evangelicalism. At that time, the Mains’ program, Chapel of the Air, was on hundreds of stations nationwide. Formerly conservative evangelicals, Karen and her husband, David, converted to the Episcopal church, and the book detailed her new found enthusiasm for contemplative spirituality. She talks about going to visit a nun/spiritual director and Jungian psychotherapist who counseled her. She describes using her imagination to conjure up an image of Jesus Christ, sitting at a table as a bald, drooling idiot child, among other bizarre things detailed in her writing. She also describes her personal spirit guide who appears in her dreams numerous times,

He was tall … well formed and trim, somewhere in his early thirties … His fine, dark hair fell in a thick lock across his forehead … his blue-gray eyes looking earnestly into mine…You are everything I have ever wanted spiritually,’ he said before I started to drive away…

Karen Mains writes that this creature in her dreams had a “positively profound effect” on her that caused her to seek further spiritual direction. The clear cut Word of God was no longer enough for Karen, and the disturbing fruit of her mystical proclivities was all over her book. Unrepentant years later, she writes about the book here:

…Lonely No More looks those lies finally in the eye and begins to deal with them honestly. “If my marriage is as perfect as I say it is, why am I so lonely?” “What are these dreams, these painful emotions, these attractions pointing to?” This book was extremely controversial in certain sections of ultra-conservative Christianity so I warn you, read it carefully. I stand behind every word, despite the controversy. It may even shake the ground beneath your feet. I will probably never write anything this well again. But I have certainly paid for the effort to be excellent, to be lovingly truthful, to want God.

Source

After Chapel of the Air became a venue for promoting contemplative spirituality, VCY America removed it from our network. The program was removed from numerous other stations and ultimately went off the air. But within another 10-15 years, the contemplative spirituality Karen had embraced had been mainstreamed within evangelicalism. That’s why Christianity Today has been promoting “spiritual direction” without any qualms about controversy today. Most Christian radio stations today would have little problem with what Karen Mains was promoting back then. Lighthouse Trails Research includes this warning on spiritual direction:

A 2003 Christianity Today article, Got Your Spiritual Director Yet?, confirms two things, one that spiritual direction is contemplative, and two that it is becoming a part of evangelical Christendom. The article explains that popular Christian author Larry Crabb is changing his views. Once a believer in psychology he is switching to spiritual direction. The article credits contemplatives (mystics) such as John Cassian and Ignatius of Loyola for getting spiritual direction into the church and suggests that we can learn more about it from Richard Foster, Eugene Peterson, and Dallas Willard – with this we completely agree. As Rick Warren stated in his book, Purpose Driven Church, Foster and Willard are key players in the Spiritual Formation movement, but while Warren says that this movement is a vital wake up call for the church, we say it is a terrible seduction for the church.

Source

For a closer look at the contemplative spirituality we and others have been warning about, visit the Shalem Institute, an inter-spiritual organization dedicated to promoting spiritual formation through spiritual direction and all of contemplative spirituality. It is anything but rooted in the authoritative Word of God, and it is leading to a New Spirituality that runs counter to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

If Christianity Today is not intending to promote what the Shalem Institute is teaching, where are the warnings? Where is the counsel to be vigilant about those who are promoting a broad spiritual path in opposition to the Word of God? Before you jump on the contemplative/spiritual direction bandwagon, you need to answer that question.

The following article is by Jan Markell from today’s Understanding the Times, the e-update of Olive Tree Ministries.

Few would disagree that Willow Creek Community Church has been one of the most influential churches in America over the last thirty years. The church and pastor have impacted every evangelical church in the country. A year ago Willow Creek’s Pastor Bill Hybels admitted that the “seeker-sensitive” approach he had helped spread across the country had not been very effective at Willow Creek. In one interview here, he states that the church will now target people at all levels of faith. Well, that was an admission many of us were pleased about. The obvious question was, what would the new approach be? One thing was obvious: His leadership summits have not changed one whit.

I have followed his annual leadership conferences. Guest speakers have always been problematic — such as Jimmy Carter, and this year is no exception. Would not a “leadership conference” be training people how to be Christian leaders in the ways of faith? Or to equip attendees to help other believers grow in their faith as a result of some the information presented at this event? Apparently not.

As this is written, the 2009 conference is assembling to hear from Tony Blair. What’s wrong with this picture? Blair is one of the chief players on the globalistic, one-world religion agenda. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation screams “unity” with every sentence, and not biblical unity. Blair states, “God’s Spirit moves through us and the world at a pace that can never be constricted by any one religious paradigm. Be very wary of people who think theirs is the only way.”

Members of his board include a Zen Buddhist, a Hindu from Minnesota, an Anglican, Rick Warren, a Rabbi, and others. A goal is to “heal the divisiveness in the world.” This feeds into the end-time ecumenical effort predicted in the Bible.

Just as troubling is the appearance of rock star Bono. His U2 band was blatantly Satanic. Thanks to Good Fight Ministries, you can go to this link and type in the word Bono or U2. Bono is seen holding an upside down cross and singing praises to Charles Manson with the song Helter Skelter. Did Bono have a conversion experience? If he did, he has not changed the name of his music affiliation, which remains U2 from the days of blatant Satanism.

His efforts are directed at social change and he, too, is trying to build a bridge to all faiths. Bono says, “Look, on the God thing, I have to be really careful because I’m not a very good advertisement. I don’t want you to sit there and say I’m a man of faith. I just read in one of St. Paul’s letters, where it describes all the fruits of the spirit, I realized I had none of them.”

He also states, “I stopped going to churches and got into a different religion. That’s what being a rock- -and-roll band is: Showbiz, shamanism, and music is worship.”

U2′S 2005 Vertigo tour promoted Bono’s New Age, all-faith agenda. The word ‘coexist’ appeared on a giant screen — the ‘c’ represented by the Islamic crescent, the ‘x’ by the Star of David, and the ‘t’ by the Christian cross. Then the big screen displayed the favorite mantra/lie of the Emergent/New Age Church, “Everything you know is wrong.” Bono led the audience in a chant, “Jesus, Jew, Mohammed — all true!”

How will attendees grow spiritually or grow in leadership skills from Bono?

Some other speakers at this supposed evangelical leadership conference going on this week include a gal who was the number one business thinker in 2008 according to the Wall Street Journal; Fortune Magazine’s “most powerful woman in business”; and a businesswoman who is a regular guest on the Oprah Winfrey program. You can find most of the speakers here.

How does this further the Kingdom of God today? If this were being put on by the National Council of Churches, I would get it! But Hybels is an evangelical icon even if it is the “evangelical Left.” And it would be proper to ask, why does evangelicalism even have a Left? It did not until 20 years ago. Will these speakers spur the attendees on to share their faith with greater zeal? And why is Hybels subjecting his people to some potential sheep-steeling from some of these characters? Probably because the ecumenical effort is big on his agenda as well. Yet tens of thousands of churches are connected to his network.

Pastor Bill Hybels should know better. Other evangelical leaders need to speak up and stop the potential slaughter of some sheep. The hour is too late to spend several days each summer listening to fools.

–Jan Markell, Olive Tree Ministries

For more information visit her Spiritual Deception page at the website.

Jan has an excellent radio program out of AM980 KKMS, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Saturday, 9 to 11 AM CST. For podcasting, check this link. All weekend programming goes up at her Web site at “Radio Archives” late Monday.

Just because those under the spell of Rob Bell, and there are more then you think, refuse to look at the facts doesn’t mean they aren’t there as you’ll see here.

 This short piece concerns the issue of so-called gay marriage.

Within you’ll see that when emerging “pastor” Connie Waters can’t answer the Biblical text presented in my argument against this perversion of the marriage covenant, then she simply denies that I personally exist; seriously.

The Truthspeaker’s Weblog gives more information on Bill Hybel’s Leadership Summit that is about to kick off. Leadership can be a fine thing if the path leads to Jesus Christ. Bill Hybels and Tony Blair are leading people into an apostate world religion where doctrinal distinctives are divisive and the enemy of peace. Bill Hybels has no problem with that, and he is featuring gay rights champion Blair as the keynoter for his “summit.”

Here are some of the topics at the Leadership Summit. Where is Jesus Christ in all this?

This in-depth article examines some teaching by Emergent Church theologian Leonard Sweet showing a shift in Emerging Church theology concerning the nature of God Himself. You’ll see this new emergence is moving closer to the New Age movement than to anything resembling orthodox Christianity.

Apologist Chris Rosebrough does a serious and thorough deconstruction of the gospel-less gospel of Rob Bell in his in-depth Fighting for the Faith program where he begins:

Not only are there doctrinal errors in here; there are historical errors in here, and he’s engaging in something here called deconstructionism. This is a very, very dangerous “gospel” that he’s preaching.

And I am not going to back off from my assessment; I’ll tell you ahead of time, this is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is not the Gospel that the Apostles preached. This is something completely different…

You listen to this important program in its entirety here.

*Update* On his “Fighting for the Faith” broadcast today at 6 pm Eastern time Chris Rosebrough of Pirate Christian Radio will be deconstructing the message heard in the video below .

This post contains a video where you can see Rob Bell share his gospel-less view of “Good News According to Rob Bell”.

In this post, complete with audio, Chris Rosebrough points out that:

Rob Bell and the other pastors at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan have some serious explaining to do and need to repent, big time, for the rank heresy that’s been spewing from their pulpit lately.

Sadly, it still comes as shock to many; but nevertheless the facts are still here for those who have eyes that see.

As you’ll see, and hear in this piece, it’s sad but true.

Jim Schneider will be interviewing Pastor Larry DeBruyn, Senior Pastor of Franklin Road Baptist Church in Indianapolis, on today’s Crosstalk Show. William Paul Young, author of the wildly successful novel, The Shack, is speaking at the supposedly conservative Elmbrook Church on July 12, here in Southeastern Wisconsin, despite his denial of one of the core doctrines of the Bible, the penal substitutionary atonement of Christ. His book, The Shack, further introduces a false view of the Holy Trinity. Pastor Debruyn will address these concerns and discuss why it is that increasingly, cardinal doctrine is viewed as disposable in evangelical churches.

Listen live at 2pm Central at our website or later with the podcast.

Rick Warren’s new online magazine, Purpose-Driven Connection, is also promoting the heretical book, The Shack. It would not bother Rick that author William Paul Young denies the penal substitutionary atonement. Doctrine does not matter. What matters is if you feel “moved”, if you laugh, if you cry, if you feel “transformed” by whatever popular book is on the best seller list. Who cares that the substitutionary atonement is at the heart of the true Gospel? Who cares if William Paul Young is denying this basic biblical doctrine? He wrote a book that emotionally moves us, and that, today, is all that matters.

Elmbrook, Wisconsin’s oldest and supposedly most theologically conservative megachurch, is bringing William Paul Young to their church, Sunday evening, July 12. It will cost you $5 for the the privilege of hearing a man who denies the penal substitutionary atonement of Christ. Here’s a clip of Mr. Young denying this cardinal Christian doctrine. Here’s the written transcript.

Pastor Larry DeBruyn of Franklin Road Baptist Church has written a well-documented, multi-part series about the heresy in The Shack. So has Pastor Jeffrey Whittaker and Warren Smith. The various essays can be found here at the Herescope blog. (Please scroll down…)

Elmbrook Church is treading new and dangerous waters by allowing someone who openly denies the basic doctrine of the substitutionary atonement to come and speak to their people. The ticket prices are charged because Mr. Young is a celebrity. Celebrities come with a price tag. Heretical celebrities come with an eternal price tag that is much, much higher. Elmbrook Church leadership owes an explanation to its Bible-believing parishioners as to how someone who denies cardinal doctrine can be welcomed in their sanctuary.

Here is Pastor DeBruyn on Crosstalk discussing The Shack.

Rick Warren is a keynoter at the Islamic Society of North America’s Fourth of July weekend annual convention. He’ll be talking about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. What would you tell a convention of Muslims about the pursuit of happiness? Would you feel impelled as a follower of the one true God to let the Muslims know that true happiness is only found through the forgiveness of sins through the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s only Son? Or would you talk about finding a “higher purpose”, “living for others”, and all the ways we can feel better by finding something “bigger than ourselves” to live for? We’ll be watching and waiting for Rick Warren’s contributions to the discussion at the convention. I can say, authoritatively, that “God” will be talked about a great deal. That Muslims worship a false God and are lost for all eternity unless they repent and believe the Gospel, will not be said to these lost souls. You can take that one to the bank.

A Little Leaven reports that Bruce Wilkinson is back peddling his New Age heresy. Apparently the Prayer of Jabez wasn’t sufficient after all to get God’s limitless blessings in life, so he’s got an even better recipe for miracles and success in your life with his new book, You Were Born For This: Seven Keys to a Life of Predictable Miracles. This time it’ll really work. Honest. (Even though it sure didn’t work for Bruce in Africa…)

Apprising Ministries with an apologetic concerning the most important Subject there is and how critical doctrinal distinctives are now being clouded and then erased by Emerging Church teachers.

Another peek at the not so distant future of Christianity as it is emerging.

*Update* See also Nadia Bolz-Weber: Sermon On Judas And Grace Gone Wild to see just how far off the rails professed ministers of the Gospel are headed.