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Hath God Said? Emergent Church Theology

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Hath God Said? Emergent Church Theology Hath God Said? Emergent Church Theology ELLIOTT NESCH Hath God Said? Emergent Church Theology Copyright © 2014 by Elliott Nesch. 3rd edition. All rights reserved. www.HolyBibleProphecy.org ISBN-13: 978-0615861432 ISBN-10: 0615861431 Cover design: Mark Karis Acknowledgements Above all I want to thank my wife, Harmony, for her help in our home and in ministry. I want to thank my brothers in Christ, especially David Valderrama and Dennis Maloy, who offered wise counsel and helpful suggestions for the content of this book. I would like to express my gratitude to Linda VonBergen for editing this third edition. Thanks to Bob DeWaay, Gary Gilley, Phil Johnson, Robert LeBus, Eric Ludy, Jay Peters, Chris Rosebrough, Joe Schimmel, James Sundquist, Ray Yungen for their research and participation in my documentary film The Real Roots of the Emergent Church. David Bercot's A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs has been a very useful tool of reference for the writing of this book. Thanks to Mark Karis for designing the book cover. CONTENTS Preface i Introduction iii The “New Christians” 1 The Postmodern Rejection of Absolute Truth 27 Changing the Message 54 Questioning the Scriptures 69 Muddling God's Clarity 87 Women Rule Over Them 97 Queermergent 125 A Place Called Hell 151 Contemplative Mysticism 177 Eschatology of Hope 203 A Better Atonement 216 Another Jesus 237 Another Gospel 251 The Kingdom of God 271 HATH GOD SAID? EMERGENT CHURCH THEOLOGY Preface This book was written out of a growing burden for the professing and visible church which is emerging into something new. And emergence this is nothing new. The professing church has been emerging out of and into various heresies and apostasies throughout the centuries. But one of the primary deceptions of our day is the Emergent movement. It is my desire to lead people back to the Jesus of the Bible who is to be loved, believed and obeyed by true Christians. In 2012, I released a documentary film on the Emergent Church movement. Prior to producing the film, I read Emergent books and blogs, listened to Emergent sermons and podcasts, and watched Emergent videos. I was inspired and helped by many of the men I traveled to interview for the film who shared my concern with the Emergent movement. Along the way, I have met many who would call themselves postmodern Christians and have dialogued with them extensively in person and online about what they call Emergence Christianity. The film was dismissed as a “Mockumentary” by leaders within the movement because they argued that the subjects of the film were not directly contacted. Thankfully, I was able to respond that the subjects were contacted for direct interviews. For instance, I contacted Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt and other prominent leaders within the movement, but there was no response. At a Love Wins book signing, Rob Bell told me he would be willing to do an interview and to contact i ELLIOTT NESCH his church which I did several times with no response. I'm not going to fault them for that; I know they are all probably very busy people. The only person that ever got back to me was Shane Claiborne who spoke with me over the phone about a number of issues including community, social justice, and homosexuality. Prior to producing this second edition, I contacted the leaders of the movement once again in January of 2014 and asked them to review the film and respond if their views have changed, have been taken out of context or misrepresented. Tony Campolo and I corresponded by e-mail on a number of topics, but he asked not to be quoted. Doug Pagitt replied, “Good luck on your next edition.” Others did not respond. Nevertheless, the books, articles, sermons, podcasts, videos, and public statements of those leading the movement are plenty descriptive and sufficient for a critique such as the film and this book. These are my ways of joining the Emergent conversation. This book includes much of the research which could not be included into a two-hour feature film. ii HATH GOD SAID? EMERGENT CHURCH THEOLOGY Introduction Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). Satan, on the other hand, came "to steal, and to kill, and to destroy" (John 10:10). Satan "is a liar, and the father of it" (John 8:44). Today, Satan is repeating the lie told from day one in the Garden of Eden: "Yea, hath God said?" (Genesis 3:1). Before this conversation there were no questions or dilemmas. "Ye shall not surely die" (Genesis 3:4), the serpent told the woman, "then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). The attack and lie of the Serpent comes against God's Word. The Serpent suggests that people can disobey the Word of God without consequence, that people's eyes can be opened with some higher mystical experience and that people can be as gods. In other words, the Serpent would have us do what is right in our own eyes though it be contrary to God's commandments. Satan seeks to give the creature the right to sit in judgment against the Creator and His word. "He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it" (John 8:44). The weapon of choice in Satan's murdering and stealing and destroying is a iii ELLIOTT NESCH lie. It is not a dagger, not a sword, neither guns nor bombs, but a lie that Satan has designed for inflicting spiritual and eternal damage in the lives of people. "The devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8). Today, many people are being devoured, swallowed up, murdered spiritually, and destroyed for eternity by the lies of Satan; little do they know what they are being told and preached by professing Christian leaders. They speak lies. We live in a time so similar to the days of the prophet Jeremiah, just prior to the Babylonian captivity, that it's frightening. "Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness. For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies" (Jeremiah 23:9,11,14). It was the prophet and priest of Jeremiah's day, the spiritual leadership of the people who spoke lies. It is the church that Satan has targeted because Washington DC and Hollywood are already convinced that the devil doesn't exist. It is the profane pastors, teachers, leaders and authors within Christianity today that demonstrate how the lies of Satan are being propagated in the church. "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:13,14). R.A. Torrey wrote: When Satan gets into the pulpit, or the theological chair, and pretends to teach Christianity, when in reality he is corrupting it; pretends to be teaching Christian evidences when in reality he is undermining the very foundations of faith; pretends to be teaching Biblical Introduction, when in reality he is making the Bible out to be a book that is not worthy of being introduced — then look out for him; he is at his most dangerous work.1 As the Serpent was in the Garden, so he is now behind the pulpit 1 R.A. Torrey, What the Bible Teaches (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 1996), 517. iv HATH GOD SAID? EMERGENT CHURCH THEOLOGY preaching another gospel, within the house of God, on the pages of Christian books and on the screens of computers. Satan's goal is to rob the faith in and application of a single verse or word from the Living God. "Yea, hath God said?" (Genesis 3:1). Of these false and profane pastors, teachers, leaders and authors, we are told to beware because they "come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves" (Matthew 7:15). Thus these profane, ferocious and wild wolves are in the church masquerading as sheep. Sheep's clothing suggests that outwardly these false prophets look like Christians. They are in our midst of worship and fellowship, attending our gatherings and meetings. They look and smell like sheep but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Speaking to the church at Ephesus, Paul warned of false elders, "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock" (Acts 20:29). They look and act and sound like Christians, but inwardly they are liars and workers of iniquity. They speak and prophesy in the name of Christ; they do many wonderful works in His name. Jesus said, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22,23).
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