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EMERGENT CHURCH vs. THE CALL Chapter 15 The False Prophet – by Doug Krieger
The “Apostles and Prophets” arrived in Sacramento, California in celebration of the 10th Anniversary of their mega-rallies commenced in Washington, D.C. when some 400,000 showed up to repent of the Nation’s sins back in 2000 and to turn America back to God…imagine, within a week, we’ve had Glenn Beck’s mammoth D.C. rally of hundreds of thousands and now this – from sea to shining sea. The stakes were pretty high – Judge Vaughn R. Walker overturned California’s Proposition 8 defining marriage can only be defined between a man and a woman – not so, says Walker, himself a homosexual. Lots of changes going on around here – and on the Left Coast they’re all the more accentuated. While the State verges on bankruptcy and is gridlocked over a budget (i.e., has no budget) and Governor Schwarzenegger takes off for China to bring home the bacon (somebody must have money), the Church Militant strikes at the heart of our malaise – our season, if you would, of malcontent. The solution, according to THE CALL, lies not in the halls of government – morally and financially bankrupt as it is – but in galvanizing a generation in calling the State and the nation to repentance. Economic policy and California’s nigh 13% unemployment (nearly the nation’s highest – Nevada’s “actual unemployment” is 21.5% and California’s is just a little below that) do not wish to share the platform with “social issues” – abortion, same-sex marriage, you know – family issues…not when the pocket book is being squeezed – we simply don’t have the “luxury” to dilly-dally on the definition of a family when the “family” can’t pay the bills! BEER ME, JESUS! Thusly goes the argument – which leaves lots of wiggle room among believers “to be or not to be” – that is the question. So, from one end of the State to the other, folks of faith are jumping into the fray. In Arcata, California the debate centers on an evangelical Emergent Church (the Catalyst) caught up into a lively discourse by a local atheist, pro-gay agenda columnist (Deric Mendes) who outed the group’s beer-drinking pastor, Dan Davis, in an article entitled: Beer Me, Jesus…The ambiguously Christian leader of Catalyst Church is bored with hate and Hell. Apparently, under threat of boycotting the Church with a sit-in from the gay community via Craig’s List, bro. Dan capitulated and declared he would not support Prop. 8 but would vote NO – standing for same sex marriage (well, sort of). You see, “ambiguously Dan” (a play on words from Saturday Night Live’s comic series entitled “Ambiguously Gay”) decided to take a post-prop. 8 position (the people of the State of California already voted YES and ipso facto against same-sex marriage – never mind, one man – Judge Walker – overruled the people’s vote). But the real issue now facing Pastor Davis and his social-justice-oriented Catalyst flock (since he’s the shepherd) revolves around two super issues to be decided upon somewhere in October, 2010. The world will know (after extensive deliberation yet to be among the leadership and flock): (1) A decision to accept gays into the leadership of Catalyst; and (2) a decision to hold same-sex marriage in the Church. You might say that Pastor Dan is caught between a rock and a hard place – trying to be a “kinder and gentler” expression of the Body of Christ (who, last heard, was entitled, the “woman” – “Come, I will show you the woman, the Lamb’s bride” (Revelation 21:9 NKJV margins)), while maintaining his evangelical credentials: People are sinners under the wrath of God and desperately need the Savior, Jesus Christ, as Lord and Life in their lives – they need to be “born again” by the Spirit of God and birthed into the household of faith, the Church, the “pillar and ground” of the Truth! Stay tuned to the big decision(s) – we’re either going to see gay couples lining up to get their vows blessed by Catalyst, or knowing the “ambiguously Christian leader,” we’ll probably wind up in the Carson Sink…the river just disappears out there somewhere. THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ - THE EMERGENT CHURCH…
Dan graduated with a theological degree from that bastion of evangelicalism – the Bible Institute of Los Angeles – BIOLA University, virtually founded by R. A. Torrey when he took the “model” received from evangelist D. L. Moody in creating a dynamic biblical curriculum at Moody Bible Institute and extended MBI’s influence through the Moody Memorial Church – Torrey replicated the model in creating Church of the Open Door in downtown Los Angeles with the Bible Institute in tandem. So, Dan’s theological legacy has evangelical roots which go way back to D. L. Moody! But “the times they are a-changin.” Dene
McGriff has written extensively on the Emergent Church and its on-going
reaction to stultifying legalism, known by some as Christian Fundamentalism
(Please see: In Search of the
Last Days Church; Recognizing
Apostasy and Deception; and Babylon’s
Threefold Deception (Recognizing Deception)). With all its clever
phraseology – and allow me a massive broad brushstroke here – it’s nothing more
than an on-going struggle between the Harold Ockenga/Carl F. Henry-style
“traditional abolitionist” evangelicalism and the Bible-thumping fightin’ fundies which erupted
upon the American scene during the Scopes-Darrow Trial (a.k.a. “Monkey Trial” in the
1920s). Here you had the liberal Protestant wing of the American Church
succumbing to the “social gospel” and distancing
itself from the salvific message of the Cross vs. those evangelicals who
assiduously embraced the Message of the
Cross and the Gospel of the Grace of God; however, the latter were split into two
factions: (1) Christian Traditional Evangelicalism vs. (2) Christian
Fundamental Evangelicalism. In #1 the stress has ALWAYS been upon Christian Evangelical orthodoxy and the social merits and imperatives of the gospel (whereas the mainline, “liberal” Protestant wing of the Church watered down Christian Orthodoxy under the stress and strain of higher biblical criticism – stressing the social imperatives of the gospel of Jesus, virtually to the exclusion of the Gospel of the Grace of God). In the main the #2 Fundamental Evangelicals clung to the “Old Rugged Cross” and were uncompromised in their views of preaching the gospel without sacrificing its pristine witness by highlighting its social implications – those elements of “social justice” simply are a fruit of the Spirit; man’s wretched condition proclaims that “all our righteousness is as filthy rags” in the sight of God Almighty! Sadly, a number of latter-day evangelicals have accentuated the Gospel of the Kingdom as the hallmark of “social justice” – preaching its rage against the American capitalist culture to the veritable exclusion of salvation found in Christ alone (viz., Liberation Theology, evangelical-style).
So what Robert Schuller, Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, Brian McLaren, Erwin McManus, Tony Campolo, Tony Jones – now joined by Joel Osteen, Rick Cole and a host of old-line Pentecostals – preach and teach is a blend of tolerance (some call it compromise), social justice, and a hodgepodge of doctrine, some of which borders on certain Catholic teaching and practice (e.g., contemplative prayer) and some of which is “really out there.” Some Emergents are really pushed out of shape about the Evangelical Fundamentalists, especially regarding Dispensationalism and the pro-Israel premillenarian world-view which many hold—McLaren and Campolo, for example, found the recent Christian Zionist bashing by Porter Speakman, Jr. in his newly-released film, With God on our Side as “I would have to say the Church desperately needs it” (i.e., the film). Of interest are Speakman’s Emergent words which inadvertently condemn the European Church under Nazism with his theologically inane remarks in the film’s promotion and anti-Christian Zionist persuasion: “Some of the most tragic events in history have occurred from a bad interpretation of biblical texts.” In sum, most of these Emergent folks refuse to be pigeonholed (after all, they’re “emerging”) – sort of a “neither hot nor cold” approach to Christianity – and, if it works, then let’s do it and “grow the Church” by accommodating the present culture, whatever that is. Turns out that the “seeker friendly” folks who predated the Emergent Church to begin with, are now saying it was ten-miles wide and a half-inch deep – brought in hoards of spectators into the Church who were simply turned on by the entertainment and programs, and not captured by the Cross of Christ! ENTER THE CALL – THE PROPHETIC MOVEMENT
Well, THE CALL’s probably not in deep clover when something like this costs them around $200,000 – did something go wrong? Economics – that’s what killed the Promise Keepers (currently reinventing themselves) and their mega-man-rallies – which, incidentally, in 1997 in Washington, D.C., inspired Lou Engle (THE CALL’s main guy) to do the same among youth…thus began THE CALL’s 2000 Washington, D.C. rally, the first of nearly 15 now held throughout the nation and even the world, along with numerous spin-off ministries for impacting youth (See here: 1997 and 2000) The cast of organizers is impressive: Lou Engle, Wesley and Stacey Campbell, Che Ahn, Jane Hansen, Mark Gonzales, Harry Jackson, Dutch Sheets, Karen Wheaton, Jason Upton, Mike Bickle, David Ruis, Bill Johnson, Rita Springer, Rick Joyner, Lou Engle, and James Goll – these, among many more who sit on THE CALL’s board of advisors, constitute the ever-verbal, big rally “Prophetic Movement.” (See: Sarah). Throughout the rally were repeated claims to the “mantle” of the Moravian brethren (early stages of the missionary movement) up through scores of revivalists – with particular identification with the late 1960’s and 1970’s Jesus Movement. So, why so few attendees in Sacramento? First of all, you’re not in Nashville (70,000) or for that matter in San Francisco, where THE CALL garnered 40,000 at a rally several years ago – you’re at the footsteps of the Devil’s lair! You’re lucky to get anyone to show up around these parts, let alone 10,000 on a hot summer’s day. But again, what happened in Sac-a-tomato? Well, the local evangelical pastors gathered together prior to THE CALL and determined that too much controversy surrounded THE CALL folks – in particular, their strident and outspoken message to the gay community and anti-same sex marriage crusade – and make no mistake, it’s a crusade (THE CALL claimed 100,000 gays from S.F.’s Castro District for the Kingdom Now, the heart of gay activism). Thus, leading that charge to “take a pass on THE CALL” were Sacramento’s leading evangelical pastors. Next, the little problem amongst the Prophetics having to do with the Kansas City Prophets and their latest fiasco with Todd Bentley – tattooed prophetic whiz kid caught in adultery, divorce and expulsion from the ministry. In brief: The Emergents and their traditional evangelical allies, just couldn’t stomach the rough edges of the Prophetics and their wild prophetic notions, dancing, and freaky ways; and besides, when these guys leave Dodge, we’ll be stuck with their “spiritual carnage” having to deal with a bunch of rancor from the gay community and, in general, the whole CALL agenda.
Man, this is a mixed bag if there ever were one. On the one hand if you attended THE CALL, as I did with Doug Shearer, it was unmistakably and flamboyantly Christian; especially, the message of the Cross – given by a brother from Alabama who brought the house down…perhaps the clearest message heard that day from anyone on the Person and Work of Christ and what Christianity is really all about. Yet, in the midst of it all was the flavor of Christian Dominionism – detailed by a ministry in Tahoe (Tahoe Church Blog). Juxtaposed to this were the Emergents sitting on the sidelines and holding back thousands from the rally – and don’t think that wasn’t obvious; it was, big time! Yet, the Emergent Church with all of its stylish compromise and determination to make the gospel somehow more respectable, tolerant, palatable, artsy and accepting to a new generation (hardly in the fashion of the Prophetics) has got its whole bag of deception to boot! (See here: Christian Research Services) There you have it – your choice among the Emergents, the Prophetics or the John Piper-style Calvinists? (Just thought I’d throw that one in as well – get Doug Shearer’s text: Calvin on the Ropes and you’ll discover the wacko extremities of Calvinism.). The current culture wars enveloping America (in spite of the fact it’s the economy stupid) rage on – but what’s this all have to do with the False Prophet? Much, in every way. We’re told that in the Last Days the False Prophet will blaze the trail of the Antichrist – creating an Image to the Beast that would come to life, breathe and speak…a full reflection of the Antichrist! But preparing that ground of vast deception would be those prophetic precursors spoken of by Jesus Himself in Matthew 24:11-12: “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many…and because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.”You hear this – you see
that – you ponder – you try to discern what is of Christ, what isn’t. You and
I are being tossed to and fro – the Church is all over the map…and I mean the
whole lot of us, Catholics included. Discernment is mandatory…listen again to
these words of Paul the Apostle when faced with confusion of practice and
doctrine within the community of the faithful:
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