Sweet aromas.....

"But praise be to God who makes us strong to overcome in Christ, and makes clear through us in every place the value of the knowledge of him. For we are a sweet perfume of Christ to God in those who are getting salvation and in those who are going to destruction; To the one it is a perfume of death to death; to the other a perfume of life to life." 2 Corinthians 2:14-15 BBE

"The church exists in order to change the subject from us and our deeds to God and his deeds of salvation, from our various "missions" to save the world to Christ's mission that has already accomplished redemption." Michael Horton writes in his article "Christless Christianity" (Modern Reformation May/June, Vol. 16 No. 3 2007 pp 10-16) "If the message that the church proclaims makes sense without conversion; if it does not offend even lifelong believers from time to time, so that they too need to die more to themselves and live more to Christ, then it is not the gospel."

Michael Horton is the J. Gresham Machen professor of apologetics and systematic theology at Westminster Seminary California (Escondido, California), host of The White Horse Inn national radio broadcast, and editor-in-chief of Modern Reformation magazine. He is author of several books, including Power Religion, A Better Way, Putting Amazing Back Into Grace, God of Promise: Introducing Covenant Theology (Baker, 2006), and Too Good to be True: Finding Hope in a World of Hype (Zondervan, 2006).

We are called, by the authority of the Great Commission, to preach the Good News (read Gospel) to the ends of the Earth to every people, tribe and nation. But the more mankind takes 'charge' of his religion, the further from such 'preaching' or 'evangelizing' we wander. It is no wonder, in the complexities of our institutions of faith, that we are as unattractive as a wart on a hedge hog.

And the world, in its ignorance and blind sinful state, has the right and the logic to accuse us of being hypocrites. For the message of the Good News is lost in our 'painted faces' that we've put on in the churches throughout our land to attract the 'seeker'.

What is this Good News? Simply put, Christ came to Earth born of woman, fully God and Man, and was crucified upon the Cross, died. After three days, He rose again and ascended to Heaven. He will be coming back. The simplest of stories, lacking the complexities of human interpretation or desire that is often added to and subtracted from depending on our ability to 'read' the other person's level of interest.

And when the flame is put to the 'progressive, modernistic' form of Good News retelling, the odor is far from pleasing to anyone's nostrils, too often making them sick to their stomach with the malodorous stench of self-righteousness and believed authority. Doctrine becomes interchangeable with conviction and is as fleeting in its resoluteness. Absolute Truth becomes a manner of subjective interpretation and the battle lines, once so clearly drawn, have become hazy in the smoke screens of charismatic and energetic leaders.

As my mentor puts it, the main character in the telling of our 'story' is an indicator of our spiritual journey through this world. If God is the author and main character, then it is His larger story that ours is told in context with. If we are the main character, the woes and tribulations become an indictment against God's love and authority.

In the first context of 'story', when God is larger than we ourselves and His plan is of primary highlight within its borders….as a mountain top covered in the mist of the burning off of the darkness' deposited moisture by the dawning sun that we know is there despite the denial and inability of our eyes to see its contours.

In the context of our own 'story', not seeing the mountain top invokes anger and disillusionment within us. We walk around the mountain, denying its existence and its authority to block our path. When someone else tells us that 'there be a mountain', we argue and berate them into silence; for our acknowledgement of that mountain would invalidate our very existence and call into question the complexities of our lives.

We smell the 'sweet perfume' of Christ and gag; for His aroma is displeasing to our illusions, like the 'burning', heavy-laden and misty smell of the morning air from that imaginary mountain.

Humans are gifted story tellers, especially when it is a subject or experience by which they have personal acquaintance with. Be it horror, science fiction, or documentary in nature; mankind will not speak or reiterate that which it doesn't know and we often look down upon those who claim such ignorance. Many Christians, in an effort to be considered 'growing', find themselves overwhelmed by the various doctrinal and theological discussions out there.

It's simple, really……if God said it, God meant it and we're to follow it even if we don't understand it.

Even in our broken, sinful humanity we are to boldly go forth, tripping over our own feet that often want to go in the direction opposite of our LORD's which calls to our very souls with a sweet melody.

"The more we confess our sins and receive forgiveness, and pass this good news on to others, the more our lives will be authentically changed in the bargain." Horton says, "…..the gospel is only something that can be told (i.e., words), a story that can be declared. When our lives are told within that larger story, rather than vice versa, there is genuine salvation for sinners and mission to the world."

In the manipulation of activities worthy of Jesus' pleasure, tailoring 'worship' to suit the emotional strings of hearts yet spoken for by Christ and corporate-style leadership where the legalistic protection of the church is greater than the desire to bring ordinary ministries that express the Good News and the reception of Christ's salvation that is given to us by grace and grace alone.; we lose Christ as the sole answer to our condemnation through the commission and denial of sin's embrace. That we must suffer as Christ did, though realistically often far less than the suffering inflicted upon His human body on the Cross.

But the Church wants to be 'relevant' to the seekers, progressives, liberals, lost and disenfranchised of the world and can only promote such an agenda through a gospel retooled to offer Christ as the answer to everything else and a lifestyle of prosperity of all too-human desires.

"Our only true triumphs are God's triumphs over us." Henry Alford, the English Churchman and theologian said, "His defeats of us are our only true victories." God is 'made manifest by us', that is; His triumph lies within the 'catching' of us and preserving us 'alive in Christ' so that the sweet aroma of that triumph over the wages of our sins is manifested in the Triumphant Conqueror's victory.

That sweet smell of Christ's triumph assaults the eyes, invades the nostrils and overwhelms all of our senses. And it is that righteous, holy incense that brings attacks from those who would promote an alternative offering of what the Good News is. To those who find delight and profitability within preached Word of God, such a smell is sweeter than the finest offerings of our finest cooks, and brings life within the dead flesh of our broken bodies within our spirits that cling to the realized hope of eternity.

It is those, willingly ignorant and obstinate, that have their corruption heighten by this aroma of Christ, and reject through the alteration, manipulation or simple denial the Good News; creating in their limited capacities the 'humanistic' gospel of survival and make-up perfumes in the form of a 'god' to cover the stench of their sin.

Josh Graves, Teaching and Young Adult minister of Rochester Church of Christ and author, writes about Phyllis Tickle's new book The Great Emergence, in his blog "Jesus Feast: Spirituality for the Hungry" (www.joshgraves.blogspot.com). Tickle, Graves mentions, categories the types of Christianity that exist in an "emerging world landscape." (141-143) that I have placed unaltered here:

• Traditionalists: "Like those who have fallen heir to Grandpa's old home place and who still like things just the way he had them, they see no need either to fight with the neighbors or to change the furniture." This group is content, fine with business as usual.

• Re-traditioning: This group has chosen to stay with their inherited group, but unlike the Traditionalists "they energetically wish to make it [the church] more fully what it originally was." These folks want to keep the house, but make major interior changes and modifications: create a new kitchen, update the plumbing, drop new floors.

• Progressives: "[W]hile wanting to maintain their position in institutional Christianity, they want also to wrestle with what they see as the fool heartedness of holding on to dogma based ideas and doctrinally restricted governance and praxis." This group will knock out some walls, extend favorite rooms, even build additions if need be.

• Hyphenateds: "[T]hey recognize theirs is the most schizophrenic of the encompassing circles . . . householders who have fallen heir to Grandpa's old home place, feel a compelling need to honor the land it sits upon and the trees that surround it, but no need to retain its structural shape. Imaginatively enough, though, while they may tear down the house, they will savage some of the material out of which it was built and incorporate those honored bricks and columns, plinths and antique doors into the new thing they are building."

I haven't read Tickle's material, but I would offer (based on these categories) one more to add to the list.

Pilgrim: Those who, through no appreciative ability or reasoning of their own, have been told that they are being given inheritance in the form of a homestead from an forgotten Grandfather to whom they were estranged from. And as they walk upon the grounds of their inheritance, amid the majesty and beauty of the landscape, they realize that it is far more than they could ever be capable of comprehending its uniqueness to the point where they feel comfortable enough to attempt alternations. For any alteration that they could do would diminish and tarnish the glory and scope of the original.

Far from maintaining status quo like the "Traditionalists", returning to remembered comforts like the "Re-Traditionalists", or listening to the yammering of the latest contractors to loose this or that like the "Progressives" or the self-justifying 'honoring' of the homestead while dismantling the structure standing upon it to morph into their own expression of 'inheritance' the 'modern homestead' like the "Hyphenateds", the pilgrim realizes that all they will ever need is already built and lies simply- as yet- undiscovered within the rooms of Grandpa's old home and scattered throughout the trees and fields of the landscape.

And they realize within the context of the inheritance that they won't be there long enough to fully explore the power and strength of the foundation or the craftsmanship of the builder, for the inheritance is of a temporary nature and they will, in the fullness of time, move on as their Grandpa did, to a more permanent homestead to which their Grandpa went to prepare. It is that to which the inheritance has been obtained.

It is that, to me, which is the truest expression of what we have in Christ and it is the aroma given off by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within the lives of those who have embraced the sweetness of salvation in its full reality that attracts others into our sphere where we, as commissioned story-tellers in God's epic adventure, are compelled beyond the utterance of a doctrinal formula or formal declaration to speak the "Good News" that has been brought into our own lives so that others may see the grace of God and His love for those who would turn to Him.

Living life in a realized outlook of an eternal future, bringing joy and peace within the storms of our lives to attract the wonder of those who are rocked in the same stormy seas as we are.

Living in the context of the inscription on Alford's tomb;

" Diversorium Viatoris Hierosolymam Proficiscentis"

("The inn of a traveler on his way to Jerusalem")

Journey on........

Brueggemann revisited.....

"No matter who you are, if you judge anyone, you have no excuse. When you judge another person, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things." Romans 2:1 (GWT)

I am opposed to the emergent movement within the Church today; there are many articles where I have discussed that 'opposition' and consider it a false movement away from the true worship and praise of God. Though the movement's doctrines are what I believe are flawed, I've had to reexamine my opposition to some of its 'labeled' theologists, such as Walter Brueggemann, noted Old Testament theologian and scholar.

I read his book, Prophetic Imagination, for the leadership class and have another one in the 'required reading' list. One of my friends, at least I believe he is, is pursuing a Masters and studying currently under Brueggemann for what might very well be his last teaching class. Josh Graves; newly 'minted' father-to-be and minister at Rochester Church of Christ, among other noteworthy pursuits, speaks of his first class under this giant of the Old Testament and passes on some of his handwritten notes during the lecture.

You can peruse them at his blog, www.joshgraves.blogspot.com

One that struck a chord with me that Josh posted is:

"The Bible, just like the humans who wrote them under God's influence, is complex. Therefore, just as we move beyond judging people for their complexity, we must move beyond judging the Bible and move into a living, breathing relationship. We must allow the Bible to critique us. To ask questions we would not dare ask if left to our own devices."

Ummmmmmm, does 'WOW' really express the bingo I felt when I read that comment.....and re-read it because of whom I knew Graves spoke. I've expressed to one of my fellow brothers who is in the leadership class with me that Brueggemann bothers me....not because of what he says, per se, but rather the words and the way he says it. Psycho-babble in bibli-speak. It still does, but that comment above, along with so many others that Graves graciously imparted to his reading audience, smacks not-of-biblispeak, but of human conceptualizing of the understanding of God.

Too much longer and I'll be speaking like Brueggemann.

It is that concept that we fight against the entire time we walk this earth as Christians, 'moving beyond judging people for their complexity', and judging according to 'biblical-critiques'; agape love judging not to condemn but to restore. Not to deliver circumstances but to bring healing.

I have been getting better at it, but still cannot do such 'judging' without human influences that I have to return back to God for the process of 'weeding out.' What I worry about what Brueggemann is saying is that humans are too complex to righteously judge, i.e. we cannot declare homosexuality sin even though the Bible states that it is....and that is what confuses me about his teachings.

He says "people for their complexity" i.e. complex human beings and then "We must allow the Bible to critique us." So, is it that we, complex beings that we are, have a commonality...an Absolute Truth....that is the standard to which we are to be judged? And, if so, doesn't that fly in the face of the true emergent? Who says that we, as complex human beings, cannot say with absolute certainty what is truth, because it is all subjective truth----based on one's perceptions. At least, the emergent movements I know of......

"To ask questions we would not dare ask if left to our own devices."

I agree that we, as humans, shouldn't follow our own divining, but rather stretch ourselves into the realm of the eternal and face God. But such questioning, designed to excite us as 'forbidden questions', those that we dare not ask....regardless of the context....seems to me to be dangerous.

We are not going to define, landscape, or otherwise bulid an accurate model of what God is, who God is, and how God is to act because our own linear humanity is flawed; living in a world in a design we were never intended to be in, but are because of our forefather's actions and the continuation of them throughout the generations.

There are two other comments that Graves posted on his blog that Brueggemann said. One I totally agree with and the other, totally disagree with.

"We are all selective fundamentalists. That is, we all choose which parts of the Bible we read and which parts we do not. Therefore, a healthy reader will confess to this problem, help others to see their own participation in selective reading of the Bible and courageously move forward to let all of Scripture serve as our guiding force."

This is an argument designed to cut off the opposition to anything that anyone says in doctrinal debates or theological arguments. I cannot accept one part of the bible as truth, therefore I am not a 'selective fundamentalist' and acknowledge that my human tendency is to part things according to my own need....but, pursuing God; I accept all the Bible as His word and authority....therefore I don't read selectively rather in-depth for understanding.

But, if I have a disagreement with another theologian such as a Jehovah Witness, Mormon, Islamic, or Emergent, then I am a 'selective fundamentalist' and therefore guilty.

Sometimes I enjoy the way that Brueggemann stretches me to new ways of thinking and other times, he leaves a major headache right behind the eyeballs.

"The text calls us to more freedom than we are ready to have."

I believe that Brueggemann has this dead on; we, as children of the Most High God, are called to perfection, to a freedom that lies beyond our humanity...and its ability to grasp and comprehend such freedom. It is beyond our corrupted and sinful flesh.

"The ruin of sinners is their walking after a hard and impenitent heart," Matthew Henry writes, "In the description of the just man, notice the full demand of the law. It demands that the motives shall be pure, and rejects all actions from earthly ambition or ends."

There are a bit of the absolute truth in everything theologians and teachers say, even in the false doctrines and liberal interpretations.

The key….is finding that kernel.

God is being made in our image.....

"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry." 2 Timothy 4:2-5

They say that I am sometimes inflexible, to the point of separating myself from the very people that God wants to reach, because I am not one who appreciates, condones, or edifies the church doctrine of "revelevancy to the culture" type of preaching. When man decides what God is saying, rather than seeking God's wisdom that stands above and beyond man's interpretation, we find ourselves recreating God in our image. This leads to the hard questions of "Why?" and "Good and Evil; which does God do?" and "God is love, but He punishes the wicked."

In today's world, we have defined God by human characteristics and action. This so that we can feel unburdened by the sheer separation that lies between us and God, due to our own sins and the failure we face as we struggle to be the men and women that God intended and designed us to be. We figure if we can make God human, then we won't face judgment and God would give us the 'freedom' to make our own morality and ethics. This is what is preached and why churches are the size of thousands (called mega), because we all want to feel good about our relationship with God......without accountability, without fuss. The smaller, intimate churches of old are dying--- if not already dead --- because that would call into the spotlight the folly of our making of God in our image. Truth would destroy the fantasy of the Mega-God.

"God is not a man, that He should lie. He is not a human, that He should change His mind. Has He ever spoken and failed to act? Has He ever promised and not carried it through?" Numbers 23:19 (NLT)

God is beyond man's complete understanding and therefore is immeasurably unknowable, in our linear mindset. What He said, stands. What He did, remains in silent testimony to the will and the power of this Almighty God. His message hasn't changed in thousands of years, only the way and the amount of truth that the Church decided to deliver to a culture that doesn't want absolutes, but watered and leave alone gospels. That is why true bible-teaching, accountable churches are slowly dying in the landscape of the American consumerism culture.....if you don't preach what I want to hear, I'll leave and find some place else that does.

An up and coming church, once finding that 'elusive' formula that dances with the Truth and appeals to the masses, will refuse to hear any descension from anyone else; branding them intolerant, haughty, and demon-possessed. As one preacher told the congregation, "You bible theologists and teachers who don't agree with Henry Wright's theology (God wants us never to be sick), think that you are God's gift to the church and you can just leave."

Just because the fulfillment of this scripture is seemingly coming true, it doesn't not relinquish me from the calling to speak what I believe is truth. In all situations, circumstances, and communities.

Even the saved can stray.....

Tides of Good and Evil......

“In the day of wealth have joy, but in the day of evil take thought: God has put the one against the other, so that man may not be certain what will be after him. These two have I seen in my life which is to no purpose: a good man coming to his end in his righteousness, and an evil man whose days are long in his evil-doing. Be not given overmuch to righteousness and be not over-wise. Why let destruction come on you? Be not evil overmuch, and be not foolish. Why come to your end before your time? It is good to take this in your hand and not to keep your hand from that; he who has the fear of God will be free of the two. Wisdom makes a wise man stronger than ten rulers in a town. There is no man on earth of such righteousness that he does good and is free from sin all his days.”(Ecc 7:14-20 BBE)

God creates both good and evil (rather, the potential for evil)? Dangerous theology to be preaching in the days of the emergent church or a loving God who wants nothing more than to have you totally healthy and totally rich, or even the God of Total Love (the best, never the worse).

Gone are the words Christ spoke of a rich man’s difficulties to get into Heaven. Gone are the thoughts that God wants us to be His, totally and without blemish, and brings that about through testing, trials, and tribulations. God only wants to love us our way, to be rich, to heal the world, and to be totally healthy, or even.....never sick.

A lot is said about Jesus’ words to his disciples, of bringing us life, life in abundance. Many pastors point to this as proof of the desire of the Almighty to give us health untold and riches beyond our dreams.

The properity gospel. The name-it-and-claim it doctrine. The emergent movement. The list goes on and on about the doctrinal teachings of an All-powerful vending machine God that only takes special tokens given to Christians "in the know", a God who doesn't want anyone to perish so we've nothing to worry about regardless of our "sinful lifestyles, rotten fruits, or self-serving natures"...God is hog-tied and cannot let us go or a God that is solely love that doesn't "use" evil to the means only He knows.

Job admonished his friends and family for such views that God only gives or allows good for us, even in his trials;

“Job replied, "Don't talk like a fool! If we accept blessings from God, we must accept trouble as well." In all that happened, Job never once said anything against God.” (Job 2:10 CEV)

Did God then create man to be evil? Is this just some cosmic bet that God seems to have lost in the domination battle that wages between the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with the "Lord of the Air" (i.e. the fallen one, the usurper, Satan)? Or is it more of a cosmic roll of the dice, where God created and then got bored?

Why, if God is for us, do babies die within hours of their birth while their parents desperately pray for a miraculous healing? Why do adult Christians, spiritually strong in mighty proportions, die at 32 with a wife and three children left behind to carry on? Why do evil men, like the Iranian President, live freely without compulsion or fear? If God indeed uses His powerful righteousness not to spare evilness from entering a righteous man's life, why does He do it? Does He love us or just don't care, allowing the lucky to gain while the unfortunates wither from lack of nutrious food?

No, we were created perfectly by a righteous and holy God, in His Image, and we are living in the sin of Adam and Eve, who would be god. Though our creation was in perfection, a image of the Holy and Righteous God I AM, our minds became corrupted by the introduction of sin into the Garden.

That is why we struggle against our old nature even when the new has been born through the baptizmal of the Holy Spirit. That is why some succumb to the call of their old selves, still clawing for life within the unfruitful soil of the righteously redeemed. That is why some never achieve the peace that Christ left before His ascension to Heaven, His perfect peace. That is even why we, as did the great apostle Paul, "do what I know not to do and don't do what I know to do."

"I did learn one thing: We were completely honest when God created us, but now we have twisted minds." (Ecc 7:29 CEV)

One thing that Solomon consider one of the most important things he ever discovered was very simple and basic. So far a cry from the doctrine that is plying complexity within the humanistic and universalism view of who this God is. Either He is beyond comprehension or He is untrue.

The first family, Adam and Eve were made in perfection, in the image of God Himself, Genesis 1:27. They were made to be 'upright', to be "right and innocent before Him" in their soul, by which they were given knowledge, righteousness, and holiness to be children of God as Paul speaks of in Ephesians 4:24. We were created in original form, to be knowledgable of the Godhead, Three in One, to understand righteousness, to live in holiness because of a God-given knowledge of His mind and will, the manner of worship He desired, and perfect without defect.

We were created to have "understanding clear of all errors and mistakes, either about divine or human things; [our] affections regular and ordinate, no unruly passion in [us], no sinful affection, lust, and desire; [we] loved God with [our] his heart and soul, and delighted in him, and communion with him; the bias of his will was to that which is good; the law of God was written on his heart, and [we] had both power and will to keep it; and, during [our] state of integrity, was pure and sinless." (Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)

Sin didn't always exist. Even Solomon, the wisest person in all the world, could not find such timelessness but rather "the fountain of all sin, the origin of moral evil; namely, the corruption of human nature through the fall of Adam." (Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)

It is not God who created sin or evil, rather it is the design that man was created with 'free will' and who fell into our own sin and folly through the originial sin of desiring more knowledge and happiness through unapproved methods to ultimately become as wise as God Himself, against the desires of God's design and through such action, against God Himself, as well.

And we have sought out theologies and doctrines that better give us an 'excuse' to give us gratification to the unending question as to 'why'? From Adam's blaming Eve for sin's introduction, Eve's throwing the blame upon the serpent, and our loss of that knowledge of righteousness, holiness, power to know good and do it, and even the prescense of God.

The original sin has been perfected through the ages as man sought out new ways of having the happiness that is genetically and spiritually written within ourselves. Decay of the moral standards to suit the living of sinfulness, pursuit of riches, self-value, decadent pleasures of the flesh, humanistic scientific knowledge in which to manpulate our world, or even doing good works for our own acolodaes.

But this generational knowledge, this 'measure of faith' that God implanted within His creation, has not been lost totally, which is why some have answered the cry of the heart and heard God's voice. A remenant of the image of God, the law that He wrote upon our hearts, and the cry in our souls that this is not right; we were born for greatness that we cannot achieve within the confines of our broken, sinful nature shows us that we were made for something other than what we are now.

It is those who find themselves discontented with the explainations of the world, who stand against the manipulation of the worldly knowledge to once again 'rediscover' that generational desire within us to be 'as knowledgable as the Creator' or to be 'god', and find themselves struggling in peace and mercy through the trials of this world that realize the wisdom that Solomon himself found;

“I know that God is testing us to show us that we are merely animals. Like animals we breathe and die, and we are no better off than they are. It just doesn't make sense. All living creatures go to the same place. We are made from earth, and we return to the earth. Who really knows if our spirits go up and the spirits of animals go down into the earth? We were meant to enjoy our work, and that's the best thing we can do. We can never know the future.” (Ecc 3:18-22 CEV)

By chosing our 'portion' in this world and its pleasures of self-indulgence and self-protection, we have declared ourselves to be nothing more than a random chance coupling of amno-acids and primordial soup bringing ourselves level with the beasts of Creation. And, by denying God, we have not only denied our salvational gifting but we have denied our spirit, that very thing that separates us from the beasts of this world.

We spend our limited knowledge and earthly wisdom in the pursuit of filling that empty space we've created by such denial. Like the beasts of the earth, if we seek only self-fulfillment, self-perservation, and self-contentment, we shall die like those beasts returning both in body and spirit into the dust from whence we were formed.

Such is why God is delaying His interference within the matter of mankind's redemption until the appointed time He has set and allows such trials, temptations, and tribulations to exists in the world of the righteous as well as allow good to come to the wicked.

Under the 'free will' development of man, with the introduction of sin and its progetity, the distinction of those of the world and those of the spirit will become manifest to the degree that man's sinfulness is visible under the condemnation and oppression of the faithful through so-called human justice, which is nothing more than human brutishness based upon the linear human process of thought.

"If one disregards the idea of God's interfering at a future time with the discordant human history, and, in general, if one loses sight of God, the distinction between the life of man and of beast disappears." (Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)

Those who raise themselves beyond the level of the beasts of the earth develop a sense of eternity based upon the revealed act of Jesus Christ, and through Him the desires and reality of God, His Father. In God's desire to perfect us and make us holy and blameless in His sight, His plan has developed to bring us to that place, in the course of His timing, in perfect condition whereas the imperfections born of sin are lanced from our souls.

German Biblical Critic Ferdinand Hitzig speaks of this mingling of good and evil in the life of men, “Because God wills it that man shall be rid of all things after his death, He puts evil into the period of his life and lets it alternate with good, instead of visiting him therewith after his death.”

In other words, “God causes man to experience good and evil that he may pass through the whole school of life, and when he departs hence that nothing may be outstanding (in arrears) which he has not experienced.” (Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)

As Matthew Henry speaks of in his commentary, "How an eternity of existence may be to us an eternity of enjoyment?" is the question that we find the answer to in this journey home. This revelation of God's plan, design, and purpose is shown in the physical manifestation of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the only Hope for all sinners, of which mankind is solely existent as.

This learning in the 'school of hard knocks' or the 'school of life' creates, in the words of John Wesley, a position where we “therefore might live in a constant dependence upon God, and neither despair in trouble, nor be secure or presumptuous in prosperity.” (John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes)

"Beloved, do not be amazed and bewildered at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality, as though something strange (unusual and alien to you and your position) were befalling you. But insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, rejoice, so that when His glory [full of radiance and splendor] is revealed, you may also rejoice with triumph [exultantly]." 1 Peter 4:12-13 (AMP)

"Someone once said, "A faith that can't be tested isn't a faith worth having!" Trials are meant to increase our faith in God – the greater our needs, the greater our trials – then the greater our dependence on Him," George of Worthy News writes in his devotional for today, "and usually its in this state of utter dependence upon Him that we enjoy the deepest, most intimate times with our God."

Carolyn Baker, devotional writer for AllAboutGod.com, said in her submission today, "The adventure of a lifetime begins with one surrendered step." We know not where we will be called to go, as children in the body of Christ and we cannot number our days with certainity and rigidiousness.

We can step out in faith, accept a gift that we are unworthy of obtaining, and submit ourselves in willing obedience to the One who purchased it with His own blood for our benefit. Enduring the process of becoming what we were intended to be, facing the persecution of those who would die like the beasts of the earth, and even facing those who would redefine Christianity into a non-threatening entity, we cast off the power of this world, its current lord, and find ourselves prepared for a life spent in eternal life with our Creator.

We discover, in the face of the trials that sorrow our hearts, challenge our faith, and manifest our weaknesses, that there is a hope that springs eternal. And as that wisdom and knowledge settles upon our very hearts, we show others the testimony and good news of our God, Abba Father.

We live a life without fear, for we know that if we seek to do what God calls us to do, He will either reveal our faithfulness or redeem our foolishness. And it will show when those who are of the world look at us, in our familiar sinful, broken body that is so like theirs, and ask, "Why are they peaceful and content in this?"

"As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the person." Proverbs 27:19

If we see the design God intended for us, writing His commandments and Word upon our hearts, we will reflect it to the world and snatch those from the fire of the enemy's design.

"But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work." 2 Timothy 2:20-21

The first thing that greeted me at work this morning when I arrived was my neighbor in the bay next to me, who knows that I'm a Christian (we've had many discussions). He looked at me and simply said, "You know that God of yours? You can tell him for me to kiss my a**. He took my grandmother last night."

I told him, "I can understand your feelings, I recently lost my grandmother. I hope that it was a peaceful passing and I hope that the journey home for your parents is uneventful. As for me telling God, you can honestly do that yourself. I'll pray for your peace and comfort in this trying time." Not exactly what one is taught in the chaplain training, or what usually would've come out of my mouth. "I'm sorry for your loss. I'll pray for you." would've been my standard reply.

Four years ago, the standard response would've been given without any more thought. And, even with the standard sorrow greeting, I would've just thought...'Gee, I've got alot of worse and more immediate problems than that. Your grandmother lived a long time, it happens." A callous response, not totally uncaring, but dismissive all the same.

Involvement in this guy's life isn't one of my top choices; he constantly ridicules my faith, my beliefs, and my God. But God's put me here next to him. For a reason I assume. That is a change from the way I was, but that wasn't the biggest thing that confronted me today.

Faced with a impending loss of my residence because I cannot pay the rent, the lawsuit that will surely follow because of the breaking of the lease agreement, the continued problems with the vehicle that I drive to and from, my daughter's emotional struggles, my son's congitive impairment, the situation with my soon-to-be ex wife and her health issues, the bleak and dismal outlook of my job of five years being laid off because of the automotive market, the beak and equally dismal outlook of me going back to school (a 42,000 price tag), and the beating I'm taking from myself in regards to all of that..........

My first thoughts weren't of myself and the disaster looming over the horizon, but of my coworker's statement, the sorrow and loss, and the grief that wrapped itself around the anger and mistrust of God that this young man has. I wondered how this would be best handled, how Christ would've answered this young man's grief. And I started to pray. For wisdom, for guidance, and to give this young man a glimpse and a bit of heaven's peace.

His grandmother was a believer, he told me. She was in good health, at least appearance wise, and this was definately unexpected. She was travelling Europe, a life long dream, with his parents who were now coming back home with a inert body that once was his grandmother, his mother's mother.

"You can see her again, you know." I told him, before we began our workday that separates us widely despite the physical proximity.

"Yeah," he said as he turned away. "Say some prayers for my parents and me."

"I always do and will continue." I replied. He gave a brief smile and turned away.

A seed planted. I look forward to the possible growth.

And I thanked God for the opportunity to represent Him in this crazy and chaotic world we have to live in......

I've finished Dr. Larry Crabb's book Finding God, and find myself in the unique (well, not so unique in Michigan anymore) position where I am at that crossroad between the actual beginning of the destruction of the fallen structure I have lived with for most of my life and the rebuliding of a godly structure, where I long to set hammer to nail to begin the work before me.

As I cried out in my stress, my grief, and my pain to God, "Where are you?", He answered.

Not by giving me a financial windfall that will answer my bills or shelter needs.

Not by fixing my car of its ailments.

Not by giving me the assurance that everything will be fine with my children.

Not by giving me the glib and quick 'christian' comment to another's sorrow.

And He answered today. "This is what I've called you to do. This and nothing more."

I've been on sabbatical from the chapel ministry. Recently I asked my ministry leader, Chaplain Gotberg, if the offer for ordination was still available even if I didn't return to the chapel on a full-time basis. He said it was. I was going to use the ordination cert to see if that met the Army's qualifications to reenlist and send me to seminary before I serve my obligation of two years for each one of education. But the silence from the recruiting arm of the Army has been ominious in its errie lack of noise.

But it has been on my mind lately to pick up that purpose that I seem to have dropped, to move forward despite the uncertainity, the total lack of confidence, and the ridicule of others that claim the same 'family name' as me. To press on.

It has been a rough, time-consuming, difficult, and personally terrifying trip these last few years as I've fought against the 'floors' of my fallen structure; I doubt God (terror and rage), I need you (demanding dependence), I hate you (interpersonal conflict), I hate me (poor self-image), I will survive (arrogant determination), and Here's how (foolish and self-centered style of relating). All the buried, fallen structure Dr. Crabb says we all have standing in our path of finding God in this broken, sinful, and chaotic world.

I have tried to work at buliding the godly structure, that leads to 'fruitful living', through the slow progression of buliding the floors; I believe God (quietness, trust, worship), I love you (freedom from dependence), I accept you (intimacy), I judge me (repentance and rest), I will obey (humble cooperation and joy), and here's how (wise and other-centered style of relating).

Sometimes the buliding looks like a mottley collection of both structures, intermixed and poorly designed. And other times, I've watched the 'godly structure' fall and began rebuliding the 'fallen one' in its place.

Each time, the godly structure goes up quicker, last longer, and is gaining more preference over the fallen structure when rebuliding is necessary.

"God has a unique call on each one of our lives. Our biggest barriers to true growth in Him comes from our refusal to trust Him to point the way. We are simply often afraid of the unknown so we stop ourselves dead in our own tracks and end up wandering for a season. The amazing grace of God is that even in our wanderings He is guiding us slowly back to the starting gate and then empowering us to bolt free to a future of unlimited possibilities asking only that we stay in His will. Praise Him. He alone is worthy." Carolyn Baker says in her devotional prayer today.

I would have to agree.

I have to trust God because the world seems bent on not having me around, the stack in that place is against me and mine. But, God promises and God delivers, in His way and His time.......but He does.

I will trust God

I will obey God

and I will praise Him in this storm.


side note: I also finished reading The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann. Apparently I missed something in the reading, based on the comments by others on my reading list website, www.goodreads.com and other locations on the worldwide web.

I wrote my blog about the book and the author, agonzing about listing it on my blogpage because I am not too happy with the discussion of 'consciousness' and 'alternative realities'. It may be just my heavy heart about the emergent, universalist, and new age predomination that has hit the christian community and is causing it's fracture. Scholar wise, Brueggemann is a intelligent, and thought-provoking authority.

Spiritually, I think he is more of the 'emergent' bent and it shows. But, if you wish to read that article, you can access it on www.faithwriters.com. Look for it under the author name Jim Hutson or under the title "The Prophetic Imagination".
I'd love to get comments from those who read this blog, about either book comment.

Battle Cry! Graceful obedience....

My thoughts have been captive the last few days over the reply that I received from a dear friend and brother regarding my original post about McLaren’s new book. Not only those things which I replied to in my posting yesterday, but the P.S. statement that was made at the end of the comment;

“Let's all manifest some more of that blood-bought grace, even to those we don't understand and don't agree with.”

Tolerance, that often misused and misunderstood word, is something that I’ve myself have struggled with as I stand for what I believe in, face ridicule and scorn for such beliefs, and when I speak out about the false doctrines and religions and morals, that I don’t receive. Tolerance is the endurance of the presence or actions of objectionable persons, or of the expression of offensive opinions.

And yet, it is Christians who face the most intolerance, or the inability or desire to endure the presence of an objectionable person or opinion. It is not the evangelicals that are facing comments of “They can burn our house down,” etc. which the emergent church declares is the feeling behind the objections of their movement.
I am intolerant, of not being able to speak my beliefs.

On any subject.

That is the constitutional right of any American, whether you have been born here or came from another land. It is your right, under the flag of the US and the Constitution that allegedly governs it. It is how the country was founded and created. It is the call of every Christian, given through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

I speak, not to hear my own words or to gain some kind of notarity as a ‘fanatic’. I don’t speak to enable someone to ‘annoint’ me with the office of Pastor, teacher, or prophet. I speak what my heart says is the words of the Father, and I speak them without (as much as is humanly possible) embellishment.

During my devotional today, I felt led to spend time in Romans, specifically Romans 10. This is what I read.

“Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they do not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the Law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the Law: ‘The man who does these things will live by them.’ But the righteousness that is by faith says: ‘Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down) or ‘Who will descend into the deep? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile ---the same Lord is Lord of All and richly blesses all who call on Him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:1-13 (NIV)

Christians are no longer under the Law and its fulfillment, because Christ perfectly brought every part of it to completion, obeying its demands and fulfilling its requirements. A blood debt, owed by each of us, whether Jew or Gentile, free or slave, rich or poor, was not purchased for us, but paid for us. It is freely available for us, if only we believe in faith that it is so.

Righteousness is not gain by mystical means, by contemplative prayer, or by even believing in such prophecies as ‘end times’ or the interpretation of Revelations. Whether you are pre-Trib, mid-Trib, post-Trib or believe the Tribulation happened already, that doesn’t free you from Sin’s debt. You have been freed; you just have to believe that the debt has been paid.

Salvation involves a inward belief (the heart) and outward confession (the mouth), It is by those things that you know that you have realized the gift given. That is the Christian’s generic purpose: to confess Jesus to those we meet, saved and unsaved.

“Those who oppose him (the Lord’s servant) he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.” 2 Timothy 2:25-26 (NIV)

Jesus didn't have to 'be right' or prove the Pharisees wrong. He gave instruction to correct them so that the work of His Father could begin within their hearts to escape through the confession of their lips. To help them realize their errors so that they could be FREE!

And so, every Christian has the battle cry;

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion ---to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.” Isaiah 61:1-4 (NIV)

That is the purpose of each and every believer in the body of Christ. And, still, it is not by our fulfillment of this call to arms, this cry as we face the enemy and his minions that still more will be saved. We are but a broken and sinful people.

It is God in which the power remains and keeps us, not men.

“May God Himself, the God of Peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NIV)

Anything that glorifies man, that is done by man, prevents God from doing what He would do for each of us. We can discover that in the history of Adam and the Fall. We discover that in the story of the Tower of Babel. We discover that in the story of the Passion of the Christ.

When we stop looking to justify our salvation, we become warriors for the King. We become those who stand in the world and are identifiable as not part of the world.

We endure great trials, tribulations, and persecutions and LIVE.

That is the grace I’ve given and the grace I give, not through my own strength, but through the strength that is God, perfected in my weakness.

Absolute Truth, part II

Absolute Truth, which my friend considers an arrogant presumption on an evangelical Christian’s part, is “the concept of an absolute, unconditional reality which transcends limited, conditional, everyday existence.” Which automatically rejects my friend’s statement that an evangelical or any other believer cannot discover such a truth, for it stands against any individual attempt to define it in terms favorable to the speaker. What I believe was being referred to was subjective truth (a concept of truth that is based on a person’s perspective; i.e. feelings, beliefs, and desires) which can be impacted by humans and alters according to the introduction of new perspectives by voices that are more vocal than others.

Subjective truth is unique to the person who experiences it and is the core of what I believe the emerging church subscribes to. This is an logical explanation of why each ‘village’ subscribes to varying ‘truths’. Of course, this can be considered to be subjective to me and my perspective. So, we must apply it to something, some understanding of Truth, which lies beyond my or their perspective. The emerging theology claims that this cannot happen, which is applying their subjective truth to a concept that –by its definition, cannot be contained within the limited walls of such truth.

Historically, even before the apparent 'rebirth' of a monotheistic belief system under Abraham (according to the Christian tradition, and even the Islamic tradition), the sudden birth of Zoroastrianism, Orphism, Jainism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, the "new" Hinduism, and post-exilic Judaism in the span of a hundred year, early cultures shared a ‘high gods’ belief system despite animism, totemic, and naturist practices. High gods, who were all-knowing, eternal, and all-powerful, who controlled the moral order and interacted with the affairs of men. There is too much historical evidence to support that these ‘pagan’ cultures simply ‘went along to get along’ with the ‘new’ religions that came upon the cultural landscape.

As if it is in our societal memory, Socialogist David Stark points out in his book Discovering God, "Humans will tend to adopt and retain those elements of culture that appear to produce 'better' results, while those that appear less rewarding will be discarded." Is this a memory that is imprinted in our genetic makeup, reminders of a better life and place that we once resided in?

If Absolute Truth could be modified by such human beings, to shape and mold a god that was totally rational, loving and limitless in abilities and authority that is servant to our whims, what would it look like? As Stark asks in his book, “Did we discover God or have we just invented him?”

I find it hard to believe that a god who we invented would look like the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and would send His only begotten Son to die for a people who wouldn’t receive Him. But, how would we know that we have the Absolute Truth concerning this ‘invention’ of this God? How do we know that He is who we believe He is?

Religious traditions that swerve from a consistent core “can be relegated to human origin”, according to Stark’s criteria for this question of what faith is true. “According to the principle of divine accommodation, revelation should become increasingly sophisticated, telling us more, not less, about God over time..” is the second compelling criteria.

Regis Nicoll, an Centurion for the Wilberforce Foundation, points out in his article God and the evolution of belief, that only the monotheistic belief systems of Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity can claim adherence to this criteria.
Each share the fundamental core regarding the nature of man, creation, and God in addition to a “progressive growth” of faith infancy that develops into an increasingly complex and comprehensive belief in “the doctrines of the Trinity, substitutionary atonement and other-centered love embedded in a historical, rather than mythical, context,” Nicoll points out.
The other ‘sudden’ developing traditions of Taoism, Confucianism, Jainism, Buddhism and a revamped Hinduism address man’s irrepressible need to now, “Now what?” The latter three have additional doctrines regarding a meritable ‘afterlife’. Nicoll points out that these movements define, “doctrines of good, evil, and the importance of right moral actions in one's destiny."

But none of these have an important part of the criteria Stark sets. None express a growing understanding of and regarding the complexity of God.

Understanding Salvation has become for some, as my friend stated, a purely transactional belief (i.e. the Roman Road). Others believe that it is inherently bulit into the original design and is a inheritance that we automatically claim upon the realization of our first breath. The truth is that the only transaction that takes place is the covering of our sins by the sacrificed blood of an innocent, who took the sins of our broken, sinful nature upon Himself to pay the price of Sin's existence. This was a debt we couldn't pay, even in our best efforts, for sin begets sin. The only thing that takes place is a 'replacement' for the payment of sin by God who became Man.

We only have to believe that He stood in our place. No transaction, an exchange for services or goods, takes place.

So that we couldn't boast that we were more righteous, more Christian, or even more understanding of the Truth than another.

Doctrinal differences exists even within the Christian community, but every one has this as their base, their foundation, and an unalterable truth. Otherwise, they aren't Christ-ian.

We have to believe in Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, death, and resurrection to understand the rest.

An absolute. Something that defies change. You can either accept that or reject it.

It stands alone.

What bothers me about McLaren and other emergent authors is the selectiveness of their biblical expression, and the exclusion of the absolute truth of Christ. What sounds good isn't necessarily good.

And they want us to regress rather than progress to a ‘new age’ thinking system using those practices in the past that glorified man, not God.

As my friend remarked, Jesus taught us who would be first has to become last, who is rich to become poor, and those who are wronged, to forgive and not retaliate. Jesus also told us, as he pointed out, to pick up our cross and follow Him. The cross, where we have to submit to the absolute authority of Christ, who is God, and who indwells within us through the Holy Spirit.

It was also Christ who cleared the temple area twice, tossing out those who would tarnish His Father’s house with their greed, corrected not only His disciples but also the Pharisees in the distortion of the Scriptures. It was Christ who said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Light. None can come to the Father but through Me.”

What truth will you believe? The truth told through the translation, personal experiences, and opinions of another.

Or the provable, historical, and authoritarian Truth that defies our understanding, logic, or desires?

I believe in the absolute Truth that is Jesus Christ. Not by my own authority, but as established by the authority of God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Not by any action of my own.

If I am intolerant, so be it. I am intolerant of distorts of any truth; be it the gospel, the 'global warming', or the effects of the destruction of the family upon the cultural and societal landscape of this world.

Why?

"I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me."

I speak what I believe for the sake of those who question, wonder, and seek that Truth.

As do those who don’t believe as I do.

Absolute Truth, arrogance or fact beyond ourselves?

"We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty…For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1:16, 21)

I spent most of the day thinking about what my friend, who was to have been a mentor for me in the pursuit of the Calling, had to say about my blog on the "emergent" movement, its leadership, and authors. Within his reply, I found both admonishment and thoughtful reflection. Although I’ve posted his comment to stand alone, I do want to speak my peace about some of what he said.

I continue to be somewhat troubled by statements made of "How arrogant of any of us to presume that we have “perfect truth” in spite of our personal prejudices, our upbringing, our cultural context, and information passed down through the generations. If we have Perfect Truth, then we are right and everyone else is wrong" and "Jesus didn’t have to be “right” nor did he have to prove anyone “wrong”."

Seems to me that I am hearing often lately the words intolerant and arrogant, just because I believe what I believe, live what I believe is the faithful pursuit of God and take offense at such terms as ‘hijacking’ and a statement that leads me to believe that my belief in the end times is nothing more than flights of fancy for a mind that has to be deceived into doing things my beliefs call me to do.

It all comes down to Truth.

Because I believe the Truth, that absolute truth that defies any attempt of man to change it, is something beyond my complete ability to defy it, alter it, and claim it as something I've created. I cannot create truth, in that way that defies someone else from coming along and changing it. I can define truth in relation to me, but then again I run into the wall of 'cultural community' bringing overwhelming weight in changing it to reflect the community's opinion as a whole.

I agree with my friend's argument that the emerging movement has taught evangelical born-agains some of the things that we have neglected, just as the Mormons have taught us about the passion of evangelism. Or the service they perform as part of their faith. Neither does the awakening of the emergents to social justice, etc. Some of everything is based on good, just as vampires are based on a disease that made people act like the myths. Does that make their definition of God correct? There are a multitude of papers, historical documentation, errors, and logical thought that show an overwhelming preponderance that they aren't correct. Just as the vagularities of the emerging church in reaching into pagan, or as my friend called them, pre-nicean beliefs. To what standard to we, as Christians, hold them? The emergent movement would have us include them, Hindu, Tao, occultism, and other religious traditions in our definition of truth.

Does that mean that we should believe in the Dracula we’ve seen in the horror films?

Who chooses what is included and what is rejected? Are we going to stand upon the mistruth of the Nicean Council as stated in the DaVinci Code by Dan Brown and follow the scholarly book of the Holy Blood, Holy Grail?

Are we going to define God according to our understanding of Him?

Or the Mormons?

Or the Islamics?

I don't believe that the entire journey of a evangelical Christian is only to revolve around the thought of 'end times', where Christ will come back to reclaim His own; from the Creation that groans to the faithful who remain on the earth upon His ride on that white horse. I never said that was the offense to which I took the statement by Brian McLaren. I took offense because he decided to ridicule my beliefs as an excuse to fool myself into reaching beyond my sinful nature to a higher standard to which God calls all Christians.
I don't know, though I tend to think along the pre-trib lines, whether the Faithful will be raised up before, during, or after. Therefore, McLaren's statement of ridicule to those who believe like I do that the end times prophecies are only that bedtime story that we tell ourselves to help fool ourselves into doing the other things that believers in Christ are called to do is insulting, at best, and arrogant at its worse.

I didn't say that the 'end times' were to be the focus of the Christian. Yet, that is what I'm admonished about. I didn't say that the emergents weren't doing some good things. Yet, that is where I am called to account.

I said the core was rotten.

And, if the branches are bearing what looks like good fruit, one should be able to look to the core of the tree to see the same health displayed. As Christ said, if the core is healthy, then the tree will bear good fruit. If the core is rotten, isn't it part of the logical deduction that the fruit would be rotten also?

Truth stands beyond an ability to modify it to our culture, our morals, and our wishes.

And, then increasing desire to understand truth takes us beyond our humanity of self-preservation, self-motivation, and self-edification. Even though we may believe that our house will burn down tomorrow, we continue to struggle to conform to this Truth...in effect, cleaning our room despite our depressed outlook on the future of its existence.

We become increasingly aware that we are not in control. The house may burn down tommorrow or it may not. We may not even have the right to live in that house come the morning and so set fire to it ourselves out of spite.

The Truth, realized, means that we aren't right, can never be 'righteous', and are beyond the ability to force our own views upon another. The views we subscribe to stand beyond our personal prejudices, upbringing, cultural context, and even information that is taught from generation to generation. It is something that stands above our own sinful nature and understanding and stays the same in the changing cultural landscape.

Only the Truth can force itself upon an unwilling subject. Then, in accordance with our 'Free Will', we can either deny it for what it is or accept it unaltered. But, whatever choice we make, it still exists. It still remains.

If we reject the Truth, then we spend our time rejecting those who believe in it and spend an increasingly verbal violent means to force them to reject that belief. Yet the Truth continues to exist, continues to operate and run things according to its own definition. It remains, even if we try and reject its premise.

For those who accept the Truth, adopting its validity into the core of their lives, an awakening and understanding starts to grow. It becomes more and more evident in the experiences of those who reach into its core. It remains unaltered, and its believers become altered as they grow more and more understanding of its viability and solidity as something they cannot claim as their own but can only value, emulate, and seek its underpinnings in the unexplainable.

How do we know it is not 'our truth' that is that which we believe is the "Truth"?

Does it stand beyond any inconsistencies? If it doesn't, if the 'truth' changes with the cultural demands of the society that subscribes to it, how can it be anything other than human origin?

Once slavery was believed to be okay, since the black man was considered inferior, only a small step beyond the monkey in intelligence, and incapable of having a soul. Today, we only have to look back into the annals of human history to discover the un-truth of a premise on which slavery was claimed to be 'okay'. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, George Washington Carver, and the Tecumseh Airmen, among others stand as greats within our human culture. And society as a whole has abolished this practice of slavery of Africans and other races as inhuman and morally wrong. The truth of slavery changed as the culture changed. Yet, the unaltered Truth of the value of the African remains the same, in accordance with the standard of consistency. "All Men are created equal" and "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

Once, a man stood before others who belonged to the same ethnic background to which he was born, grew up in the same culture that he, himself, had been raised, and had the same societal values written into his psyche. He declared his race to be the 'master race' and in full authority to rule the world, and destroy those inferior to that ethnicity. He began an ethnic cleansing that he believed, along with his fellow countrymen, to be correct as his truth defined it. The world opposed this man and his 'axis of evil', offering the blood of their youths upon the field of battle in defiance to his truth. To this day, ethnic cleansing is an abomination to the world and is opposed wherever it rears its ugly head; Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur. The Truth remains unchanged, only the truth as defined by another was changed.

So, how can we discover this Truth?

“There are differing claims on such questions as what constitutes truth; how to define and identify truth; the roles that revealed and acquired knowledge play; and whether truth is subjective, relative, objective, or absolute,” the online free encyclopedia Wikipedia states. And the subject is hotly debate by more intellectual minds than mine.

Another view.........

A brother in the Lord, whom I respect and value his input, sent me a comment regarding my post on the "emerging church movement." Some things I agree with totally with him, some things I don't, and some portions of the comment made me want to ensure that I clarified that while I do not 'trust' the emergent movement insofar as doctrinal truth, there is a benefit of that forcing me more and more into examining my weaknesses, strengthening my faith, and solidifying my beliefs. Do I hate the emergents? No, but I caution the hook-line-sink approach many christians are taking.

I disagree that we do not have an avenue to the perfect Truth. Perfect truth stands beyond our ability to alter it and Christ gave it to us.

Salvation is key. Faith is given as a choice for us to use wherever we do. But there is several absolutes given that God will not back down on.

Christ is the Truth, the Way, and the Light and none shall come to the Father but through Him. By the blood.

I have published my friend's comments below, as well as on the blog comment section, so that you can verify, if need be, to show I've altered nothing.


Those “emergent” authors you mentioned, NT Wright, Brian McLaren, Dallas Willard, Scot McKnight, John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas, comprise much of my reading list. But also in that list are Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther, Luke Timothy Johnson, C. S. Lewis, Charles Swindoll, and Billy Graham who are as “orthodox” in their Christianity as anyone.

It is true that the “emergents” cover a wide swath that overlaps non-orthodox (non-Nicean) views of Christianity. Be that as it may, it is also true that the Emergents have also helped us by illuminating our blind spots. A big blind spot has been ignoring the Beatitudes. While I don’t agree with everything that McLaren says, he is correct when he states, "If you thought your house was going to burn down tomorrow, there's no incentive to clean up your room." Jesus taught about an imminent Kingdom, breaking in on the groaning Earth of Romans 8. If all that matters is “the End Times”, then why did Jesus ask his disciples to pick up the left-overs of the miraculous feeding so that “nothing would be wasted”?

How arrogant of any of us to presume that we have “perfect truth” in spite of our personal predjudices, our upbringing, our cultural context, and information passed down through the generations. If we have Perfect Truth, then we are right and everyone else is wrong. Jesus, who was perfect truth incarnate, became sin for us by allowing himself to be judged “wrong”. Jesus didn’t have to be “right” nor did he have to prove anyone “wrong”. His opponents proved themselves wrong the moment they opened their mouths “seeking to justify themselves”.

Many of us see Salvation as purely transactional, i.e. the “Roman Road”. Indeed the transaction of Jesus’ blood paid for our sins is essential to our salvation. Unfortunately we see Salvation as only a contract where we must have an exact understanding of the terms to receive it. But if that’s all there is, what do you do with Luke 15:11? Where the father embraces the wayward son who spent half the father’s wealth on wild living and harlots. Where is the transaction when the father embraces his son and weeps over him? What theology explains the hug? It seems to me that the transactional emphasis was manifest by the elder brother. How could the father pour out lavish grace on the prodigal brother when he himself had fulfilled requirements of righteousness.

Jesus taught us who would be first to become last, who are rich to become poor, who are wronged to endure it, forgive, and not lift a hand in response. To be a light. To restore the sin-marred imago dei in the most broken of us. Most importantly, Jesus taught us to pick up our cross and follow him. The cross is where our will is broken. It is where we have totally given up control of our lives to the Father. If we have not reckoned ourselves dead so that Christ can live through us, I don’t think any cognitively correct understanding of Salvation can save us. The Emergents are the least of our worries.


P.S. Let's all manifest some more of that blood-bought grace, even to those we don't understand and don't agree with.

Part two, Emergent danger.....

It isn't through ancient pagan practices of mystics that the believer draws strength and power but through Jesus Christ and the very foundation of salvation or goodness isn't an ability to be drawn from outside influences. "Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:9).

Unfortunately and fortunately (dependent on your view), emergents share many things with other Christian groups such as a belief in contextualization, caring for the needy, friendship evangelism, and fellowship. Terms and catch-phrases can be interchanged between these opposing movements, which further smudge the demarcation lines between Christianity and Emergent theology. By claiming these as their own, the emergent church believes that they can sway 'resistors' and their children by claiming these are distinctive essences of the true follower. Regardless of the fact these have been a part of the evangelical movement for hundreds of years, supported by the biblical principles found in Scripture and the teachings of Jesus Christ, they have been poorly taught to the generations through the congregation and family. Cultural Christianity, which is the poor cousin of the emergent Christian, has said one thing and done another. Emergent is from the same family.

David Kowalski expresses in his article Appropriate Response to the Emerging Church Movement, a clear analogy of the Emergent movement,

"If we think of this distinctive essence of emergent as a lake, we can observe that some people, such as Brian McLaren, are swimming in its deepest spot, while others, such as Scott McKnight, are wading in the lake at a shallower depth. Still others (perhaps John Ortberg and Rick Warren fit this description), seem to enjoy boating on the lake and occasionally drinking its water, enjoying friendship with the movement while maintaining a distinctly Evangelical identity."

Which brings me full circle to McLaren's statement in his book, "If you thought your house was going to burn down tomorrow, there would be no incentive to clean your room?"

My incentive, as McLaren puts it, to clean my room ---that is, to conform my life and my goals to the model presented in the life, ministry, and salvation gift of Jesus Christ is rather really simple. I would put it in the format of a father's teaching responsibility to his young son (because I have experience there),

"If you clean your room, and keep it clean, you will have time to enjoy yourself with the time you save and be content in the fact that anyone who comes over to spend time with you will see a well-kept and inviting room in which to play. Let tomorrow worry about itself."

When God places His righteous and holy fire to the tinder of our room, will it ignite into a firestorm that claims everything and reduces it all to a charred mess or will we find that all that is truly valuable has already been safely removed before the flame consumed it all?

I agree with McLaren on one thing that is the focus of his book: the past holds the answers for our future. What I disagree with is what he chooses to call good.

Once again the serpent is whispering half-truths and outright lies within our ears so that we can be cut off from the hope and love of our Creator. All we have to do is taste the fruit.

"Stop quarreling with God! If you agree with Him, you will have peace at last, and things will go well for you. Listen to His instructions, and store them in your heart. If you return to the Almighty and clean up your life, you will be restored. Give up your lust for money, and throw your precious gold into the river. Then the Almighty Himself will be your treasure. He will be your precious silver." Job 22:21-25

Some research sites I used:

www.lighthouse.com
www.carm.org
Jones, Alan., Reimagining Christianity, (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons), 2005.
Pagitt, Doug and Jones, Tony, eds., An Emergent Manifesto of Hope (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books)
Kowalski, David., Appropriate Response to the Emerging Church Movement, (www.lighthouse.com)

As promised, my thoughts on the emerging church part one

"But the narrow gate and the road that lead to life are full of trouble. Only a few people find the narrow gate." Matthew 7:14 GWT

I find it difficult, when pressed, to explain why I feel the Emergent Church movement is such a danger to those who walk in faith with the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not an intellectual giant, as much of the emergent leadership is, nor do I have much time to research, correlate and decipher what the various 'sects' of emergents believe. Many Christians today don't worry about the emergent movement, even if it has infested their congregation and swayed their leadership. Numbers are numbers and community service is community service. Beyond that, so long as the teaching sounds sound, what's to worry about?

After all, the seeker movement—started to try and stave off the bleeding of our college aged youngsters that were departing from the church proper, was simply a response to carry the Gospel message in more impactful and meaningful ways. Gone were the 'hell and damnation' speeches, accountability, and stale reiterations of the Scriptures. The leadership of the Evangelical church only responded to the need to address this problem, right? Even Willow Creek, a major force in the 'seeker' movement came to realize that program-based teaching failed because of the lack of personal responsibility. But by that time, Postmodernism had smeared itself across the Christian landscape, and thus the emergent movement was birthed.

Postmodernism meets Scriptural authority. Insomuch as the Seeker friendly movement tried to reach the culture through adaptive methods, the emergents took this further by trying to shape theology to suit the culture. All this has done is removed the theological foundation of an objective basis for faith to be replaced by borders for orthodoxy, rejection of 'absolute-set' theology. This is one of the reasons there is no clear definition of emergent theology.

Absolute authority of one community's truth and morals vary from emergent village to emergent village. Exclusive claims to reveled truth and morals are declared arrogant and philosophical quicksand. The declaration of absolutes within these villages are considered to be nothing more than an illegimate power play; to manipulate others under a immoral authority. There is no room for proclamation of an historical, objective, and universal absolute declaration of scriptural text. This rejection of the quest for certain, objective, and universal knowledge that unites the postmodern thinkers that created the emergent movement.

Dualism and assumption of goodness are the knowledge they preach. No constructive paradigm to replace the modern vision of the cultural relativity of the Gospel exists.

Too much of what is central, definable (individually), and evident in the sweet, smooth whisperings of the subscribers and creators of the Emergent or Emerging church; NT Wright, Brian McLaren, Dallas Willard, Scot McKnight, John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas, Ryan Bolger, Wilbert Shenk, Elizabeth O’Connor, and Nancey Murphy, is sweetened by the humanistic and New Age distortion of postmodernism in alleged defiance of traditional doctrine to reach the straying generations of the 'evangelical' church.

The seeker movement of the Willow Creeks and Saddlebacks of the Mega Church phenomena has warped themselves into a shadowy mirror of Christianity. The Millennials, trained in the seeker program format, have birthed leaders seeking a 'redirection' of the faith that has been hijacked by the evangelical 'old guard'. This is the draw of the emergents and the goal. Of course, the entire Emergent movement makes me feel like Joseph Smith's religion, the Mormons, have been reincarnated and revamped for the modern culture. Everybody is a god, everybody is good, and everybody lives in the heaven within. The words of the emergents are just as sweet as the serpent in the Garden, enticing and inviting.......and just as empty of truth and life.


"Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made....... "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden '?" The woman said to the serpent, "...God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'" The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Just like the serpent, who actually sweetened the words that would've warned Adam to the usurping of his authority within the Garden, McLaren entices defection from God's family through sweet, seemingly generous statements such as;

"Perhaps our ‘inward-turned, individual-salvation-oriented, un-adapted Christianity’ is a colossal and tragic misunderstanding, and perhaps we need to listen again for the true song of salvation, which is ‘good news to all creation.’ So perhaps it’s best to suspend what, if anything, you ‘know’ about what it means to call Jesus ‘Savior’ and to give the matter of salvation some fresh attention. Let’s start simply." McLaren, Brian, A Generous Orthodoxy, p. 93.

Like God, but never God Himself. Never with the ability to stand for the Truth, something that defines Him and yet IS Him.

We failed in the Garden to learn the lesson of sweet talking serpents and have been trying to find that promised 'blessing' of eating that forbidden fruit...........the ability to be like God and know good from evil. The closer we seem to be at being able to define, detect, and disassemble what we call God, the further we get away from the core reality: God cannot be defined by our standards, because our standards have been corrupted by the fall of our father Adam.

The closer we come to defining god, the further we go from the Truth that lies in our path.

John Gill points out that the way to eternal salvation is a gate, 'difficult to enter' and the way 'is unpleasant to the flesh to walk in, being hedged up on each side with afflictions and tribulations. Much of the emergent movement is too readily seen in Gill's comment, "Men choose large gates, broad ways, and much company. The flesh loves to walk at liberty, unconfined, and uncontrolled."

John Calvin relates this, ” For whence does it arise, that each of them knowingly and willfully rushes headlong, but because, while they are ruined in the midst of a vast crowd, they do not believe that they are ruined? The small number of believers, on the other hand, renders many persons careless. It is with difficulty that we are brought to renounce the world and to regulate ourselves and our life by the manners of a few."

The emergent church grows stronger and larger by the day. Mega churches are the norm, not the exception in this community of intellectual conversationalists. Is it any wonder that we are told "few there will be that find it"? This narrow way through the straight gate......

Author and Pastor Brian McLaren, one of the 'influential thinkers' of the emergent movement believes that a literal, global, and pre-Christ return kingdom of God exists now and the world's preparation for Christ's return is simply a matter of incorporation of the world's religions in a 'world yet to be born' that protects, practices, and melds together all the 'spiritual practices' from the 'three Abrahamic faiths' and the other religious movements that scatter the face of the planet like small pox.

In his latest book, Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices, McLaren tells us that we shouldn't oppose these spiritual disciplines; they cleanse, enlighten, and bring us closer to God helping us surpass the unsatisfying alternatives of secularism, fundamentalism, and 'mushy spirituality.' McLaren states: "[W]e need to move beyond our deadlock, our polarization, our binary, either/or thinking regarding faith and reason, religion and science, matter and spirit ... We need a fusion of the sacred and the secular" (pp. 4-5).

Sounds like soundbites from the LEFT BEHIND series of books, the book of Revelation, and a host of other movies, commentaries, and sermons which have touched upon the Deceiver and his 'reign' on this world. The alleged "end times". Only in this case, it is an alleged 'follower of Christ' that is saying there is nothing more desirous than such a world religion rather than the Anti-Christ character of Nicolas Carpathia.

The solution, believed by many of the emergent movement leaders, is to turn to mystical practices, contemplative prayer, and 'conversations' with the unsaved, as an avenue to being closer to God. By identifying and preserving the classical experiences of enlightenment as given through Buddhist monks, Hindu gurus, Aboriginal shamans, Sufi sheiks, Hebrew kabalists, and even such 'bold' Christians that describe themselves as 'spiritual guides' or mystics, we can gain the necessary impus to have Christ return and tells us we've realized the kingdom...which is already here and waiting for expressions of unified peace and human spirituality.

These human-defined religious experiences have commonality; radiant light and an experience of 'oneness' with creation. Without a mystical connection, there is no oneness. And without oneness, there can be no mystical connection. The perfect Catch-22.

This was once misidentified; the emergent leaders apparently want us to believe, with the heart of occultism.

Now it is called, "Emergent theology". A religion of the young.

Lighthouse.com has this to say about McLaren's book, "McLaren spends page after page trying to prove his points. He condemns traditional Christianity to dangerous and fearful, he applauds efforts to reconcile all religions together, he rejects any thoughts that Christ's kingdom is only for the born-again, and he upholds a New Age kingdom in which man is in union with God (regardless of beliefs). He embraces mysticism wholeheartedly and in fact believes the world cannot be healed without it.”

This is nothing new for McLaren. The focus of his latest book is the emphasis on HOW to attain an awakened state of 'reconciliation with God, one another, and all creation in a global community' (p42.) through the mystical practices, such as contemplative exercise, of the world's religions.

Josh Graves, a minister and prolific author himself, interviewed him about. I took offense to one of the 'greatest moments' of the interview, in which Graves asked McLaren about a statement made in his new book; Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices, regarding eschatology, the belief of the end times.
Graves asked McLaren what he meant by "Eschatology always wins."
McLaren seems to look down his nose at us poor souls, who believe in the prophecies of the Bible in regards to the end times with the reply,
"If you thought your house was going to burn down tomorrow, there's no incentive to clean up your room."
Of course, that is only the tip of the iceberg for McLaren. In the PBS special about the Emerging (aka Emergent) Church, he expanded upon the eschatology comment further. "The church has been preoccupied with the question, 'What happens to your soul after you die?' As if the reason for Jesus coming can be summed up in, 'Jesus is trying to help get more souls into heaven, as opposed to hell, after they die.' I just think a fair reading of the Gospels blows that out of the water. I don't think that the entire message and life of Jesus can be boiled down to that bottom line."

Fellow emergent, Alan Jones, the dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, in his book Reimagining Christianity, looks at it this way. "The church's fixation on the death of Jesus as a universal saving act must end, and the place of the cross must be reimagined in Christian faith. Why? Because of the cult of suffering and the vindictive God behind it." Page 132

This is nothing new for the emergent movement, this rejection of the evangelical 'resistors' that have stood the line between the Gospel accounting and the postmodern attempts to rewrite it. Rick Warren, the famous pastor of Saddleback Church, who wrote the Purpose Driven Life and variations of it, recognized this resistance to the emergent eschatology early on;

"Moses had to wander around the desert for 40 years while God killed off a million people before he let them go into the Promised Land. That may be brutally blunt, but it's true. There may be people in your church who love God sincerely, but who will never, ever change."

Missed is the fact that it was the people themselves, who refused to listen to God's absolutes that required them to journey through the desert for 40 years. It was their sinful ways that caused God to make them stay out of the Promised Land until the generation that committed the abominations against God all died. And it was Moses' own disobedience of God's command that caused him to be prevented from entering the Promised Land. The punishment for sin was death, and the generation passed before God would bring His people home.

Dan Southerland, another Emergent, gives embattled pastors a method of labeling such 'resistors' in his book Transitioning: Leading Your Church Through Change, written to support Warren's Purpose Driven agenda. "If you have read Nehemiah recently, you will remember that Sanballat is Nehemiah's greatest critic and number one enemy. Let me put it plainer than that. Sanballat is a leader from hell. We all have some Sanballats in our churches. This is the guy who opposes whatever you propose.... You cannot call this guy a leader from hell to his face - but you could call him Sanballat (p. 115)."

Religious profiling at its finest. But often times, it is the emergents that say the evangelical born-agains are the 'hate-mongers' and 'name callers'.

This may seem innocuous on the surface, but the 'get with the program, change, or die' is a common trait of the New Age movement, of which the emergent is only a new twig. Those who don't get onboard, or ride the wave, of the emergent movement will simply be washed away or die, in the opinion of the emergent leadership. The focus of the emergent isn't on the 'old guard' evangelicals in the church, though. History has taught them its lesson well. They are targeting the youth. Emergents Doug Pagitt and Tony clarify this agenda in their An Emergent Manifesto of Hope:

"Since the church has been one of the main perpetrators of parental fear-mongering, it's only fair we take up the cause of creating a culture of parenting that is less about what we don't want for our children and more about what we do want." p52

The new thinkers of this so-called hijacked Christianity, like McLaren, preach that emergents must infiltrate "institutions that reject it" –which they consider to be conservative Protestants who have managed nothing more than to repeat the Roman Catholic mistakes, like the rejection of Galileo, with this refreshing and spiritual emergent movement. McLaren encourages his followers to wait for the evangelicals eventual death with "…..over time, what they reject will find or create safe space outside their borders and become a resource so that many –if not most—of the grandchildren of today's fundamentalists will learn and grow and move on from the misguided battles of their forebears (biblical believers)" p133. These forbearers are considered 'pushy religious fundamentalists' by the emergent leaders.

Gone within the emergent movement are the absolutes that evangelical born-again Christians have declared for generations and Jesus Himself declared:

1. We can properly proclaim the truth of who God is.
2. We can properly proclaim what God requires for salvation.
3. We can recognize errors that that would jeopardize salvation.
4. We can allow for a diversity of worship practices as long as the essentials are not violated.

All McLaren claims to offer, as do many of the emergent leaders dotting the landscape today, is a creative and fresh alterative to the seeker-friendly and 'hell-and-damnation' models of Christianity, that gains its strength from the old worldly religious traditions to bring fresh life to an emerging worldwide postmodern unified spirituality that brings a global community of dysfunctional and opposing religions under a "Love, Love, Love" banner of distorted truth. This reawakening of mysticism will bring about interspirituality to awaken man's own understanding of his divinity. Open to people of all faiths, this will narrow the gap to "becoming awake and staying awake to God." P18. The admonishments of the Bible and the scriptural support opposing this 'reawakening' is strangely missing from McLaren's 'improved' Christian model.

Not all emergents are so opposed to the evangelical born-again belief system. There are teachers who hold to the essentials and just graft the emergent postmodernism to its structure and keep their heads down. The danger is there are also emerging church teachers who not only deny them, but consider them to be somewhat irrelevant to their view of the "Christian conversation", which is the eschatology that McLaren preaches to the converting masses.
There is silence with the comparisons to occultism and new age thinking within the emergent villages, no matter how little or how much they subscribe to the essentials of the Christian faith.

In the book entitled, Metaphysical Primer: A Guide to Understanding Metaphysics, which outlines the basic laws and principles of the New Age movement there is an echo of the emergent movement's philosophy, "You are one with the Deity, as is all of humanity. Everything is one with everything else. All that is on Earth is an expression of the One Deity and is permeated with Its energies." Doesn't this also sound like Oprah's religion?

Oprah's promotion of New Age thinking alarms Christians in the evangelical movement and the musings of the like of Eckhart Tolle send shivers down the spine, but no one is alarmed by the emergent message. Live and let live is the common thread of Christian thought. 'Emergent isn't New Age' is the claim to keep the evangelical born-agains silent.

Gone within the postmodern eschatology of the emergent movement are the absolutes of the Trinity, the virgin birth, authority of Christ to be the only way to salvation, monotheism, the Gospel, the resurrection of Christ in bodily form, the grace of Salvation free of human works, and even the deity of Christ as unique and unattainable by human means.

Even those who would offer praise and accolades to the emergent leadership have inadvertently shown its ties to the New Age and postmodern philosophies. George Mair, attempting to offer a candid accounting of Warren's life as a testament of praise, reveals a connection to New Age prophet Norman Vincent Peale and an obscure teacher of occult science, Florence Scovel Shinn. Mair praises Warren's Saddleback with the statement, "Saddleback distinctly bears the stamp of Reverend Norman Vincent Peale" with the teachings of unification of psychology and religion.

In offering his own take on what he believes is his calling, McLaren mirrors such New Age thinking. In the via illuminativa, McLaren defines his calling:

"The purpose of the via purgativa [the practices] is to prepare us for the via illuminativa [the awakening], and the purpose of the via illuminativa is to prepare us for the via unitiva [all is one], the union of our nature with the nature of God" (pp. 171-172). "We join God in being fire ... Before the beginning ... God was All, and All was God"

McLaren declares that this isn't something that is new, but a 'return' to the true path set forth by the greatest man of faith that Christians acknowledge, Abraham. Somehow McLaren has deciphered that the Old Testament priest Melchizedek was from a different religious movement and Abraham himself used a mystical practice to relate with this priest. McLaren believes that this shows us that we can discover commonality in another's faith that mirror our own. So did Occultist Aldous Huxley. Mysticism, Huxley declared in his book As Above, So Below, is the highest common factor in every one of the world's religious movements that leads man to recognize the divinity of everything, including himself.

Fellow emergent Tony Campolo, in Speaking My Mind, offers that mysticism unites the two largest religious movements; Christianity and Islam. Of course, the New Ager Barbara Marx Hubbard echoes the emergent thought with "Christ-consciousness and Christ-abilities are the natural inheritance of every human being on Earth."

The difference between Christians and these 'followers of Christ' are large and looming. Whereas the 'follower' believes that there is a method in which he can call God unto himself and become divine, that inherent and natural right of humanity. A Christian knows that Christ dwells within and it is His life that gives the power to become progressively more like Him (sanctification). This is shown in the Scriptures:

"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians 3:18).