Slice of Laodicea

You’ll never see as many ringleader mugshots of the emerging evangelical apostasy as you will on this page promoting the National Pastors Convention. February 10 is the start of  the annual Zondervan marketing blowout only thinly disguised as a gathering for pastors. In reality, it is Zondervan’s greatest opportunity to market its books and products and earn even more money. If they can get the pastors to take home their latest rubbish to their churches, the publisher’s clever pyromarketing strategy will be successful. The fact that Zondervan, owned by Harper Collins, is hosting spiritually aberrant speakers and leaders who have hijacked biblical Christianity bothers them not at all. There’s big money in spiritual error these days, and the tanned, blow-dried wonders who will take the stage in San Diego have a whole lot more to give.

Brian McLaren, who denies cardinal doctrine like the atonement of Christ, the existence of hell and the Second Coming of Christ, will tell pastors how to live out “Christianity” in their every day lives. (Apparently pastors are a bit vague on that these days.) In that what McLaren teaches is anything but Christianity, this will be something of an accomplishment.

Shane Claiborne will be bringing his dreadlocks as well as his leftist political positions to San Diego to extol the virtues of socialism and natural fibers.

Rob Bell, whose skin has apparently taken on a permanent greenish tinge, (too many shots of wheatgrass juice?) will be sporting the latest pair of utterly cool glasses as well as his New Age beliefs. So many pastors to convert to New Spirituality, so little time.

Bill Hybels, fresh from his latest permatan spraydown, comes to the National Pastors Convention with something of a False Teacher Emeritus status. After all, he was one of the first to re-invent evangelical Christianity into something completely alien to the Scriptures way back in the 1970’s. There is apparently still some financial juice to be squeezed from the Elder in Error before he retires to a life of golf.

Those are just three of the glitterati who will be hawking their teachings and products in San Diego. Each year at this convention, there are always more young seminary grads with stars in their eyes who dream of being the next Erwin McManus, Brian McLaren or Rob Bell. Thanks to the prostitutional ways of publishers like Zondervan, that next batch of apostate teachers is right around the corner!