Dedicated to Truth

Ruth · Veteran Member

The Emerging Church

Dedication · Senior Member

Thanks for the quote, Ruth --
For yes, the emerging church is a MERGING of the those three.

The question is often asked is this an emerging church or a re-merging church?

While the "emerging Church" is RE-merging,
in a sense it is also EMERGING.

It's emerging into the last great counterfeit WORSHIP church that will become
the "state" --> "national" --> "international" church.

This new worship and spirituality, "emerges" from ancient Roman Catholic
liturgy, Eastern spirituality, penticostal, charismatic worship, and postmodern
culture, and "merges" it all together.

The aim is to renew into an ecomenical experience the center of the evangelical
movement.

Quote:
:"As goes the Church, so goes America, and as goes America, so goes the world…
We want 10,000 churches in the U.S. and 100,000 churches
worldwide to SHIFT! This will be revolutionary!"

The shift of course, is to fully embrace the "emerging church" movement.

"The Great Emergence" (books are written on this subject)

An "emergence" that supposedly bursts asunder the traditional western
Christianity, breaking free of it's multiple structures and biases, and
exclusivness, and incorporates the great spirituality of all faiths.

"An Emergent Manifesto of Hope"
"Not only soul, whole body!
Not only whole body, all of the faithful community!
Not only all of the faithful community, all of humanity!
Not only all of humanity, all of God's creation.

Ironically, the emerging church, which claims to be the "answer" to suffering
humanity, is not pointing people to Christ our Savior and urging them to repent and confess their sins, accepting Christ's forgiveness, cleaning, merits and power over sin.
Rather it is placing scripture and the our need of a Savior, on the back shelf.
In its place they push mystical practices, emotional experience, and altered
states of consciousness, combined with a linking with the mystical practices of
Catholicism. Then coat it with "love" "the way of love" for everyone.

And in the end -- those who refuse to join will be blamed for the failure of the
movement to stop trouble which will be increasing.

Dedication · Senior Member

The Emerging Church goes back much, much further than Roman Catholicism and the
Charismatic movement. New Age ties the Emerging Church to the ancient
Babylonian and pagan mystery religions, where the cosmic gods and counterfeit
christs were celebrated hundreds of years before our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, took upon Himself humanity for our salvation.

Rev. 13:4 tells us that all the people worship the dragon who as
Rev. 12:9 tells us is satan, the devil.

For centuries he has been carefully conditioning the minds of people and laying
out a master plan involving education, government, churches, theology,
philosophy, psychology, science, and culture. Startling developments within
this plan are emerging from liberal Roman Catholicism amalgamated with the
Eastern religions, transmitted into Protestantism, which seems to be embracing
it with energized zeal.

The soul transforming relationship Christ offers to humanity, Satan seeks to
supplant with mysticism and an emotional sensuality under the label of "love".

This is a battle between the TRUE CHRIST Who offers salvation, and the
counterfeit "christ" deceiver who leads all who follow into predition with
himself.

The issue cannot be brushed aside, for the Dominican scholar within the Catholic
Church -- Matthew Fox, who is now a member of the Episcopal Church, was an
influential exponent of a movement that came to be known as Creation
Spirituality.
Fox has written 30 books that have sold millions of copies and by the mid 1990s
had attracted a "huge and diverse following" from all religions.
"The Coming of the Cosmic Christ," (1988)was one of his books. In it he
declares that deep ecumenical realignmnet of the churches is taking place based
on mysticism. The foremost example that he gives of this deep realignment is:
"At a recent summer workshop on creation spirituality in North Carolina there
were not only Roman Catholics and Quakers, Anglicans and Methodists, but even
Southern Baptists adn Seventh day Adventists." (p.239)

The title of that workshop was deeply significant. New Age believes that
"embracing the Cosmic Christ will demand a paradigm shift, and it will empower
us for that shift" (p.134)
This invovles a deep paradigm shift in the way people think. One dimension of
that paradigm shift is the shift from thinking theologically and spiritually in
terms of "fall-redemption religion" which is the Biblical Great Controversy
concept, to "creation-centered spirituality" which isn't really creation as we
know it at all.

Creation Spirituality considers itself a "green" theology, emphasizing a holy
relationship between Man and nature. Accordingly, the protection of nature is
considered a sacrament and an expression of God and a "Cosmic Christ". It
involves spiritualism and pantheism.

Fox declares "the issue today for the third millennium of Christianity-- if the
earth is to survive into the next century-- is the quest for the Cosmic
Christ....This will require a deep letting go of the old paradigms of education
and theology...

"In calling for a paradigm shift in theology and religion itself we are not
talking about an easy change of consciousness or a simplistic change of agenda.
To move from "personal Savior" Christianity--which is what an anthropocentric
and antimystical Christianity give us -- to a Cosmic Christ Chrisitnaity calls
for metanoia (Greek fo repentance and change), a change of perspective by all
those who do theology and by those schools which claim to teach theology."
(p77-79)

Ruth · Veteran Member

Creation Spirituality

That sounds like "double talk" to me -- using words that mean something to Christians and putting another meaning to it.

When I think of creation, I think of God creating the world in six days and resting on the seventh day, blessing and sanctifying it.

But here you mentioned that this Creation Spirituality will destroy the worship of the Creator and turn worship into the worship of the created, it will disregard the Sabbath.

It's true these leaders in the "Christian" new age movement don't believe in creation like we do. They believe in the evolutionary progress of mankind. The "Christianized" evolution theory where God supposedly uses evolution to create-- thus, according to that theory, there was no fall from perfection into sin from which mankind needs to be rescued and restored, rather the theory pictures mankind as slowly progressing to higher and higher levels. The cross, no longer considered the means for atonement, becomes merely a catalyist to propel mankind from one level of evolution to the next.

Thus the "emerging" is one of mankind supposedly emerging from the old form of Christianity, into a new and higher level of spirituality where he becomes superhuman.

-- Edited by Ruth on Tuesday 29th of May 2012 01:42:18 PM

Dedication · Senior Member

What do you understand when you see the phrase "The Emerging Church".

One view --

1) Protestantism began as a reform of the Catholic Church and a return to
scripture.
2) The Reformation was fragmentary as "sola scripture" was at times interpreted
differently by different leading reformers.
3) A system of Protestant theology was developed using Roman Catholic
philosophical foundations -- producing a "creed" as to what constitutes
"mainline" Christianity.
4) So called science and athiestic challenges threw major curve balls at
Christianity causing a "backing down" from strong foundamentalism
5) Charasmatic and Emotional experience takes its place.
6) The General assumption is promoted that people can't come to truth without
some guidance -- someone to show them HOW to "rightly divide truth.

Where is it all heading?

Where is Adventism in the picture?

Dedication · Senior Member

A rather lengthy essay on the Emerging Church:

http://www.understandthetimes.org/commentary/c29.shtml

Just a few quotes from the above:

"According to the Bible, Christian faith must be directly related to God's Word.
Faith comes by hearing what God has said and then acting accordingly. With regard to church growth, if the growth is the product of some technique authored by some man, and this technique is not based on God's Word, the results ma actually be deceptive.

"Perhaps you have not heard about another new trend sweeping the Christian
church. Many are saying a great change lies ahead. The seeker-friendly era is
over. Now we are headed into another new period of church history. It's called
"the emerging church."

"They say, while the seeker-friendly era was successful in bringing a generation
of "baby-boomers" to Jesus, that time is past. Now we need to find new
innovative methods that will reach this new generation for Jesus.

"Dr. Robert "Bob" Webber is recognized by pastors, denominational leaders,
scholars and lay people as one of the foremost authorities on worship renewal.
He regularly conducts workshops for almost every major denomination in North
America through the Institute of Worship Studies which he founded in 1995.

In this article, Dr. Webber stated that "the Spirit is working a new thing in
the church" and an "ancient-future worship is being born." He listed a number of
things that he believes are necessary for "talented workers" to discover if they
are going to be a successful part of this new movement. Some of these are:

--"Rediscover how God acts through the sacred signs of water, bread and wine,
oil and laying on of hands.

--Rediscover the central nature of the table of the Lord in the Lord's Supper,
breaking of bread, communion and Eucharist.

--Rediscover how congregational spirituality is formed through the Christian
celebration of time in Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter and
Pentecost.

"I wonder where the ideas originate. Further, when I hear about "rediscovering
the central nature of the table of the Lord in the Lord's supper, breaking of
bread, communion and Eucharist" I am reminded about the "new evangelization"
program that is presently underway. Did you know Pope John Paul II has called
for a "missionary vision" centered on "a rekindling of amazement focused on the
Eucharist" to bring the world to the Eucharistic Jesus?

"Is the "Emerging Church" emerging or remerging?

"It seems that the "Emerging Church" is reemerging. However, rather than going
back to the inspired Word of God found in the Old and New Testaments, the goal
is to reintroduce an "Ancient-Future" faith based on the ideas, dogmas,
traditions and views of the Roman Catholic Church Fathers.

"It appears to me the "Emerging Church" of the present era and the church that
emerged after the New Testament was written are one and the same. Remember the
words of Paul as recorded in the book of Acts:

"For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among
you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking
perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. [28]

"While Rick Warren, Dan Kimball and Dr. Robert Webber and others may be excited
about the "Emerging Church" and the direction it is presently headed, I am
concerned the "Emerging Church" may actually be a re-emergence of what has
already occurred in church history. If the pattern continues expect to see
evangelical Protestants become more and more Roman Catholic."

Ruth · Veteran Member

Its really sad to see people hungering for salvation, yet turning to all this mystical stuff instead of turning to the true Christ, their Savior.

All this "celebration" "spiritual exercises" or spiritual formation as it's called, the introduction of wild music to "reach the young people" the entertainment factor, all in substitution of a genuine repentance and confession of sins and turning to Christ in Bible Study and prayer and walking with the Lord.

Yet it is all foretold --

"The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of Spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience.--The Great Controversy, p. 588.

Dedication · Senior Member

The paradigm shift into an "emerging church" claims:
1. CHURCHSHIFT will help transform nations by introducing a new way to do
church.
7. CHURCHSHIFT teaches Kingdom values for societal transformation.
10. CHURCHSHIFT provides the keys for NATIONAL TRANSFORMATION!

But what kind of "transformation"?

A transformation from CREATOR worship,
to
worship of the created.

The basis of true worship is the Creator worship distinction. The duty to
worhsip God is based upon the fact that HE is the Creator and that to Him all
other beings owe their existence.

The Sabbath plays a central role in this battle --
The Sabbath points us to the CREATOR.

J.N.Andrews, Adventist Pioneer and author of "History of the Sabbath" writes:
"The importance of the Sabbath as the memorial of creation is that it keeps ever
present the true reason why worship is due to God --becaus He is the Creator,
and we are His creatures. The Sabbath therefore lies at the very foundation of
divine worship, for it teaches this great truth in the most impressive manner,
and no other institiution does this. The true ground of divine worship, not of
that on the seventh day merely, but of all worship, is found in the distinction
between the Creator and His creatures. This great fact can never become
obsolete, and must never be forgotten."