tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281102312024-03-12T18:17:54.957-07:00Inheritance of the SaintsAnd we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light (Colossians 1:10-12).Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-17292193794186544762020-06-24T13:10:00.003-07:002020-06-24T13:10:37.787-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjULIG7XTfxKJp0j6F_RyasWRYvr-5lSUFop3lzGQDlPV8uCZ2U1QUK0NNKf4sTHl1giNSFh-BlmopmVxU8EMQuBhkJcR7cIZyeEvn_6SyN-y2iISoMUbOnbXYN6fxT7RktSt8bKg/s1600/BookBrushImage-FANTASY-FAITH+2019-10-22-13-4026.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjULIG7XTfxKJp0j6F_RyasWRYvr-5lSUFop3lzGQDlPV8uCZ2U1QUK0NNKf4sTHl1giNSFh-BlmopmVxU8EMQuBhkJcR7cIZyeEvn_6SyN-y2iISoMUbOnbXYN6fxT7RktSt8bKg/s320/BookBrushImage-FANTASY-FAITH+2019-10-22-13-4026.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.theglitteringweb.com/blog/when-fantasy-becomes-the-voice-of-faith">When Fantasy Becomes the Voice of Faith: </a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.theglitteringweb.com/blog/when-fantasy-becomes-the-voice-of-faith"></a><a href="https://www.theglitteringweb.com/blog/when-fantasy-becomes-the-voice-of-faith">How Edgy “Christian” Fiction </a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.theglitteringweb.com/blog/when-fantasy-becomes-the-voice-of-faith"></a><a href="https://www.theglitteringweb.com/blog/when-fantasy-becomes-the-voice-of-faith">Is Transforming Today’s Church</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
by</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Richard and Linda Nathan</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Click on the title to read the article</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
or go to www.theglitteringweb.com/blog.</div>
</h2>
Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-25117571690849286292020-01-19T12:30:00.001-08:002020-01-19T12:30:41.512-08:00<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>SIGN UP THROUGH JANUARY 22 FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A COPY OF <i>THE GLITTERING WEB </i>AND 20+ CHRISTIAN AND INSPIRATIONAL NOVELS</b> from your favorite bestselling and award-winning authors via @BookSweeps, plus a brand new Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet! </span><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"type":104,"tn":"*N"}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/amreading?source=feed_text&epa=HASHTAG&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCbPQk6c7DE4SJ9Zqfcu6R2wZH-HXx2MwY4l19p0ZUnEwvP34WYcE9X5mSvDRDlMcS_gDh28il0kD9vfYbIXIyDmGj8OHLBtAGO7rmVouTo2MdxMY1LNsLcXRDwRBI11xwTvXq8JI1c8cJfKjHBxj5ldvj5eVo04V2aGTFlCWWZcsKRCxdm16XzgWPFYIqAslJHKm7DcPJ6Z7YYCRbPihdaMTHw9Pch8oDHREhHy8N7A5b2mq1XnW8u1gIXralBrDOspT3d-hRZDHJK9bLGFe7i_bDDqp46sqMZHjZ7ZVtaS8QH8lpf1QSIkT1vdlLFIBYXgE2WUrvFm-Ia3m6Xgt8&__tn__=%2ANK-R" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #365899; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">AmReading</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>HERE IS THE CONTEST LINK:</b> </span><br />
<div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 16pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://ryanzeeauthormarketing.acemlnb.com/lt.php?s=07a36aab6a7d6fb0ca0e8c5b4be97282&i=4151A5272A13A67889">https://www.booksweeps.com/giveaway/january-2020/christian-inspirational-fiction</a></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 16pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH7Rxk05KahBJK7-41hlFMS6d5PHI3ey87iyrLauUPI487zrXz_WZJzBD2dPN1LjmcnQk8lKa2LBoT5gq5TSEvmeiNSbRA3ntone6V-_qpAFMDsEF-FlIv6vTko9JH-Rle7Ahokg/s1600/BookBrushImage+FB-2020-1-11+for+Booksweeps.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH7Rxk05KahBJK7-41hlFMS6d5PHI3ey87iyrLauUPI487zrXz_WZJzBD2dPN1LjmcnQk8lKa2LBoT5gq5TSEvmeiNSbRA3ntone6V-_qpAFMDsEF-FlIv6vTko9JH-Rle7Ahokg/s400/BookBrushImage+FB-2020-1-11+for+Booksweeps.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 16pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-19193055475074770622019-12-20T22:35:00.002-08:002019-12-20T22:38:56.299-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzc-NdWpZfglUvv6QWRAYUGa0EJhD_XoysfDPzobPT49A1RPpWY7kav48WiKCpAEQjmvqhzhllZbFMQb7B2MHt3nPqF8-zzcM8RBM1PiJXAD3_Gd7bfDHWy-tmWSqAjMZxFTymnA/s1600/BookBrushImage-PODCAST+2019-12-6-19-348.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzc-NdWpZfglUvv6QWRAYUGa0EJhD_XoysfDPzobPT49A1RPpWY7kav48WiKCpAEQjmvqhzhllZbFMQb7B2MHt3nPqF8-zzcM8RBM1PiJXAD3_Gd7bfDHWy-tmWSqAjMZxFTymnA/s400/BookBrushImage-PODCAST+2019-12-6-19-348.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<h3>
What is the New Age Movement?<br />How do Christians get ensnared in it?<br />Is there a relation to pot? Psychedelics?</h3>
<h3>
Listen to this timely interview<br />with the authors of <i>The Glittering Web</i></h3>
</div>
</h2>
<br />Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-19883467659197789472019-10-29T13:40:00.000-07:002019-11-07T14:00:05.127-08:00<h3>
<span style="background-color: white;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSE6XNioYKcig5ZG89VzdI5hNfQK9f8kBNNdahrHcyVIZzmcEvwhycf6iMCMxuCFXGJCqQh67pRZk_NIdf1uwonBi9teAxFXLvURFzpZ5gOQjHrwtGh5g6V3DFeu0DOtN9-PzwHA/s1600/BookBrushImage-SHIPS1+2019-11-4-17-616.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSE6XNioYKcig5ZG89VzdI5hNfQK9f8kBNNdahrHcyVIZzmcEvwhycf6iMCMxuCFXGJCqQh67pRZk_NIdf1uwonBi9teAxFXLvURFzpZ5gOQjHrwtGh5g6V3DFeu0DOtN9-PzwHA/s400/BookBrushImage-SHIPS1+2019-11-4-17-616.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent;">"I hated that it ended </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent;">and can't wait 'til the next book."</span></div>
</span><div style="text-align: center;">
--Green Fire</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Amazon Reviewer</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Meet the Authors Video at</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.theglitteringweb.com/">www.theglitteringweb.com</a></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Join the <a href="https://www.theglitteringweb.com/insiders-club.html" target="_blank">Insiders' Club</a></div>
<ul style="font-family: Birdseye, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 500; list-style-image: initial !important; list-style-position: outside !important; margin: 5px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<li style="list-style: disc outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Free quarterly ezine with Q&A section for your questions</li>
<li style="list-style: disc outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Be entered into a drawing for a new Kindle</li>
<li style="list-style: disc outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">First look at Book 2 with progress reports; free first chapter (coming soon)</li>
<li style="list-style: disc outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Short story prequel to <em style="position: relative;">The Glittering Web</em></li>
<li style="list-style: disc outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Regular promotional items, contests & drawings</li>
<li style="list-style: disc outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Drawings for free autographed paper copies of the book</li>
<li style="list-style: disc outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Be first to know about our books on sale</li>
<li style="list-style: disc outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Be first to know about upcoming new books by Richard & Linda</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h2>
Available on Amazon<br /><a href="http://bit.ly/glitteringweb" target="_blank">Kindle Unlimited</a></h2>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
</h3>
Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-19177021065710463912019-04-24T20:40:00.002-07:002019-04-24T20:40:57.124-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4nPrkxHzChz2mmvWBwizyd3vjSgj4qePm5sRsX05gBaZl3SVGUpAXXHS7Hy7Zciuc0UM-iXFTQgIh_fQVbQhWzPTA9SuM-46FSHb1JNIvTcHvM8nCayfR8JzAuVgwPRyVkW_3Hg/s1600/Richard+and+Linda%252C+this+is+dynamite+stuff-3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="940" height="536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4nPrkxHzChz2mmvWBwizyd3vjSgj4qePm5sRsX05gBaZl3SVGUpAXXHS7Hy7Zciuc0UM-iXFTQgIh_fQVbQhWzPTA9SuM-46FSHb1JNIvTcHvM8nCayfR8JzAuVgwPRyVkW_3Hg/s640/Richard+and+Linda%252C+this+is+dynamite+stuff-3.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<br /></h2>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<br />
<br />Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-29195743543992322902019-04-16T15:06:00.001-07:002019-04-16T15:06:40.094-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimhwiNu6SM58hnEgEBRhDLhY4CIDzxbfEaD3OJgtuh652vb15dhb1Z8z_oc0kFEtjnJGA2NpynreU8qE__Yn5nsL1phT9fItWH4wEec_PpubcQilmox0OPwQclfT2uOmTOJ8sMjg/s1600/FB-JointheInsiders-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="940" height="536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimhwiNu6SM58hnEgEBRhDLhY4CIDzxbfEaD3OJgtuh652vb15dhb1Z8z_oc0kFEtjnJGA2NpynreU8qE__Yn5nsL1phT9fItWH4wEec_PpubcQilmox0OPwQclfT2uOmTOJ8sMjg/s640/FB-JointheInsiders-2.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><a href="http://www.theglitteringweb.com/"><span style="font-size: x-large;">http://www.theglitteringweb.com</span></a></b></div>
Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-48706334729194483612019-02-17T16:56:00.000-08:002019-02-17T17:01:07.522-08:00<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO18Cq5tQte64a-1EmO6UxfvWJXzTYeCOTV1Rft4aTONe_lcXhz1zblWYaa25gw5RYF6-2kfPBto0Kh1I6ACxgnTnW8iLM-Y7qL7FqT66b72zQaEjOUTpu9ivtSg3z804CfqbeLQ/s1600/12-9-18+The+Glittering+Web+Front+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO18Cq5tQte64a-1EmO6UxfvWJXzTYeCOTV1Rft4aTONe_lcXhz1zblWYaa25gw5RYF6-2kfPBto0Kh1I6ACxgnTnW8iLM-Y7qL7FqT66b72zQaEjOUTpu9ivtSg3z804CfqbeLQ/s320/12-9-18+The+Glittering+Web+Front+Cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h3>
<b>COMING </b><b>EARTH DAY ~ APRIL 22, 2019</b></h3>
<h3>
<b>REDEMPTION PRESS</b></h3>
<h3>
<span style="color: #4b4f56; font-family: "copperplate gothic bold"; font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="color: #4b4f56; font-family: "copperplate gothic bold"; font-size: 16pt;">…a plunge into the heart of darkness...</span></h3>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h2>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in;">
Stripping away years of deception doesn’t come easily—especially to Loren and Eve Montcrest who believe they’re following the true path as initiates in Seattle’s Arcane Institute, their society’s elite training order in 2050.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in;">
Pursuing spiritual power, they are caught up in a fiery, fast-paced succession of intrigues and dangerous adventure that rocks their love for each other and finally even their sanity.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in;">
Only a shocking, last-minute intervention can strip away the veil of deception, rescue them from destruction, and reveal the truth--but will they give up everything for it?</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.375in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">“Wow! An amazing book! Out of their own fiery experiences, the authors have emerged with a deep understanding of the battlefield that is fast growing fiercer in our postmodern times. A riveting story of two souls caught in a web of deception they can never hope to escape on their own.” </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.375in;">
—Berit Kjos, Author, <span style="font-style: italic;">How to Protect Your Child from the New Age and Spiritual Deception </span>(Lighthouse Trails Publishing), and other works.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.375in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.375in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">"Richard and Linda, this is dynamite stuff! Your story is a real 'page turner.' I can't commend you enough! Your writing was excellent; your powers of description were amazing; the characters were believable; the action was fast and creative; the plot was unpredictable; and you made your points concerning Christianity very well without preaching.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.375in;">
—Dean Halverson, Author, <span style="font-style: italic;">Crystal Clear: Understanding and Reaching New Agers</span> (NavPress); Editor, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Compact Guide to World Religions</span> (Bethany House).<br />
<br />
Follow us at https://www.facebook.com/glitteringweb/</div>
</h2>
Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-84699409080930112192018-05-12T15:49:00.001-07:002018-05-12T15:49:38.541-07:00The Cross & the Marijuana Leaf - New booklet! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC5RDad149lEV4lujx7UVAUfJkreZMI2tNrkO8j_YGRyX_NoMRXg_XxRpsqgl5-2jFYeyJHtzc2gL6dlIE05DJo2VlbouT0rOma2ZrQ-MXP7pGKd7rK2r-ZUPVEwVzigJRbRQ29A/s1600/The+Cross+and+the+Marijuana+Leaf+Cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC5RDad149lEV4lujx7UVAUfJkreZMI2tNrkO8j_YGRyX_NoMRXg_XxRpsqgl5-2jFYeyJHtzc2gL6dlIE05DJo2VlbouT0rOma2ZrQ-MXP7pGKd7rK2r-ZUPVEwVzigJRbRQ29A/s400/The+Cross+and+the+Marijuana+Leaf+Cover.png" width="266" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h4>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">A survivor of the ‘60s speaks out from both </span></div>
<span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: center;">
experience and research about today’s pot culture </div>
</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: center;">
in this biblically-based, carefully documented booklet.</div>
</span></h4>
<br />
For the first time in U.S. history, Christians in America are facing the challenge of a majority approval of marijuana. By September 2017, there was some form of marijuana legalization in 29 states and the District of Columbia.<br />
<br />
This massive change has occurred in less than fifty years, and it is a major sign of the seismic shift occurring in our culture—a shift that should concern Christians deeply.<br />
<a href="https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=25828" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></a>Available in print for $1.95 at <a href="http://www.lighthousetrails.com/home/1451-booklet-the-cross-and-the-marijuana-leaf.html" target="_blank">Lighthouse Trails Publishing</a>. 19 pages.<br />
Discounts for large orders.<br />
<br />
<h4 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Read the content of this booklet</span><a href="https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=25828" target="_blank"> here</a>.</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-92171521916476858642013-03-16T15:58:00.001-07:002013-03-16T16:26:52.461-07:00The Hermeticist Next Door: Part II<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>2265</o:Words>
<o:Characters>12914</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Logos Word Designs, Inc.</o:Company>
<o:Lines>107</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>25</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>15859</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>The Hermeticist Next Door<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Part II: <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>C. S. Lewis, Undiscerning Christian Leaders, <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>and the Western Esoteric Traditions<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Introduction<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXyJIWKWw1LZDdoij03DR0994owxlZo0c64hY3jWFJC_tc5h4qPQHs78beYSX1kD1ydTkPfKeiAz5HYKjGutMORmGPY9I8BxhwOtOmSfpmtp96UTsWF_eFEOmzOq6q6U-gDfygYA/s1600/HermesTrismegistusCauc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXyJIWKWw1LZDdoij03DR0994owxlZo0c64hY3jWFJC_tc5h4qPQHs78beYSX1kD1ydTkPfKeiAz5HYKjGutMORmGPY9I8BxhwOtOmSfpmtp96UTsWF_eFEOmzOq6q6U-gDfygYA/s320/HermesTrismegistusCauc.jpg" width="235" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hermes Trismegistus, <br />
Supposed Founder of <br />
Hermeticism</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Earlier articles in this blog have often focused upon problems
with the teachings of C. S. Lewis and the other Inklings, but in this, the second part of our Hermeticist Next Door series, we will look deeply
at the historical stream of which he and the influences surrounding him were a
part. As we understand their philosophical, religious, and literary roots,
their true nature will become clearer. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lewis is deeply rooted in what is known as the <b>Western Esoteric Traditions</b> (or
Tradition). This term describes a number of important movements and practices
that have occurred over many centuries—powerful influences that have been very significant
in the history of Christianity, right down to our present age. Yet sometimes these
influences have gone <i>completely unnoticed by the majority of Christians. </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What exactly are the Western Esoteric Traditions?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
The Western esoteric traditions
have their roots in a religious way of thinking, which reaches back to
Gnosticism, Hermeticism, and Neoplatonism in the Hellenistic world during the
first centuries A.D. In the Renaissance, the rediscovery of ancient texts led
to the scholarly revival of magic, astrology, alchemy, and Kabbalah. Following
the Reformation, this spiritual current gave rise to theosophy, Rosicrucianism,
and Freemasonry, and the modern occult revival extends from nineteenth-century
spiritualism, H. P. Blavatsky’s Theosophy, and ceremonial magic orders to
twentieth-century esotericists such as Rudolf Steiner, Alice A. Bailey, and
George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, and the analytical psychology of <a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/08/nathan/jung.htm">Carl Gustav Jung</a>.
[<i>The Western Esoteric Traditions: A
Historical Introduction</i> by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Introduction. Oxford
University Press, 2008. Kindle edition location 62,]</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The book <i>Western
Esotericism</i> by Antoine Faivre and Christine Rhone offers four definitions
of esotericism, but we’ll just go with the first and most common one:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Five Meanings of the Term
Esotericism</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
1. Meaning 1: A Disparate
Grouping </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
In this meaning, which is the most
current, esotericism appears, for example, as the title of sections in
bookshops and in much media discourse to refer to almost everything that exudes
a scent of mystery. Oriental wisdom traditions, yoga, mysterious Egypt,
ufology, astrology and all sorts of divinatory arts, parapsychology, various
“Kabbalahs,” alchemy, practical magic, Freemasonry, Tarot, New Age, New
Religious Movements, and channeling are found thus placed side by side (in
English, the label used in the bookshops is often <i>Occult</i> or <i>Metaphysics</i>).
This nebula often includes all sorts of images, themes, and motifs, such as
ontological androgyny [the belief that man was originally made a hermaphrodite],
the Philosopher’s Stone, the lost Word, the Soul of the World, sacred
geography, the magic book, and so on. [<i>Western
Esotericism</i> by Antoine Faivre and Christine Rhone. (Suny Series in Western
Esoteric Traditions). State University of New York Press, 2010. Kindle edition
location 115.]</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Romantic Movement, which I have written about extensively in this blog, is just one element in the much
greater movement of the Western Esoteric Traditions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To study the Western Esoteric Traditions as they manifest among
non-Christians is strange, but not nearly as strange as seeing how people
calling themselves Christians have played a major part in these traditions and
have defended them as a valid part of Christianity. After Christ rescued me out
of my involvement in that esotericism (and I definitely did not consider myself
as a Christian until after my rescue), I found to my surprise that people were
accepting aspects of it as totally valid and very positive for Christians to
participate in. This was very difficult for me with my life experience to cope
with. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For example, when I was a new Christian and waiting in a
church lobby to see a pastor, I got into a conversation with a lady who was
also waiting. She began sharing about her involvement with a well-known
occultic figure named Rudolf Steiner. She said that she didn’t talk about it
with most other Christians because they always thought Steiner was very weird and
condemned her. (Steiner created a type of subdivision of Theosophy called
Anthroposophy.) At the time I had been reading a book by C. S. Lewis in which
he said there were some positive aspects about Anthroposophy, so, therefore, I
didn’t become alarmed about what this woman was telling me. Later, I learned
that Anthroposophy was actually just like the evil non-Christian occultism I
had left behind. But because C. S. Lewis had approved of it, I didn’t warn this
woman of the danger she was in. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another time I got into a conversation with another student at
the University of Oregon. I was sharing with him how positive I thought C. S.
Lewis was and that I’d been reading his space trilogy, especially the last book
called <i>That Hideous Strength.</i> I said
quite innocently that I was a little disturbed because its ending scene
reminded me of my previous occult involvement. In the scene, a group of Anglicans prayed for help against evil forces and through their prayer raised up Merlin the
Magician from a long sleep. Merlin then led animals—bears and such—to attack
the evil people. The other student was very shocked and annoyed that I’d think
something was wrong with the occult. He was an avid reader of C. S. Lewis, and I
believe he considered himself a Christian. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After years of studying historically the role of the Western
Esoteric Traditions in Germany, Great Britain, and other countries, I have come
to see how intricately all of these strange ideas and practices are connected with certain
types of literature that many people consider Christian; and, furthermore, how more
and more often this literature is being considered Christian by Evangelicals who used
to be wary of literature but are now experiencing a literary renaissance with
an explosion of fantasy writing under the label of “Christian fiction.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These are just a few examples of why I am so disturbed about
what is happening among Evangelicals today and feel compelled to keep speaking
out.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I do think it can be positive that Evangelicals are more
open to historical and cultural influences, but there must be discernment
because some of these influences definitely are evil, and to look upon them
without discernment is very dangerous. Church history has proven what a stumbling block for
Christian thinking and living that pagan thinking and fantasy can be.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Furthermore, there is a massive occult explosion happening
right now all around us, and many Christians—and especially young
Christians—are being swept into tremendous bondage by these forces and
influences. Perhaps one of the worst aspects of this explosion and its effects
on the Church is the lack of discernment by some major Evangelical leaders and
the influence they exert on their followers. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Undiscerning Evangelical Leaders<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>And Their Influence<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is an age in which many Evangelicals are caught up in
certain aspects of the Western Esoteric Traditions while thinking they are really
good, desirable, and innocent, and enable us to be alive in Christ. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One major influence comes from the Inklings and the support
of the Inklings given by some Evangelical leaders. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>John Piper. </b>The
most popular example is John Piper, who is currently giving lengthy and
enthusiastic apologetics for Lewis, and encouraging people to read all of Lewis’s
works. The bizarre nature of Piper’s approach is evident in his online video, “<a href="http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/biographies/lessons-from-an-inconsolable-soul">Lessons
from an Inconsolable Soul</a>.” He first lists the many problems and dangers
with Lewis’s thinking and then extols his work as wonderful for Christians. He
even subtitles the video, “Seems I Shouldn’t Find Lewis so Helpful.” Indeed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>John Warwick
Montgomery. </b>Another modern example of a supposed Christian leader
introducing Hermeticism to Christians is John Warwick Montgomery, who as an
apologist for the Inklings in his defense of Charles Williams, made appalling
statements about the “usefulness” of Tarot cards for Christians.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In his book, <i>Principalities and Powers</i> (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany Fellowship,
1973), Montgomery claims that writers “such as T. S. Eliot (The Waste Land) and
Charles Williams (<i>The Greater Trumps</i>)
have employed its [the Tarot] imagery so effectively both in describing the
lostness of the human condition and the Christian redemptive solution” (p.
131). He states, “Because the cards are so potent symbolically, they are also
most dangerous when misused or perverted.” Misused? Perverted? They are essentially already
dangerous occult techniques of divination and should never be used at all.<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Montgomery also described Arthur Edward Waite as a
Christian. Waite was a co-creator of a Tarot deck, wrote many occultic books, and
was in the hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in England. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY9w4KAJrcWw4wtM0K9aYnPTihUSfUTKP7R8v5a2_AQRccpcmDlK4hWFthuGes5dc1kslxxZb5gxtu5MIllYzGIjehdxWFlbFOHhtcdTDrcZAmbA3gWe7wj4rnSKEgtRTt62TnxQ/s1600/Templeofrosycross.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY9w4KAJrcWw4wtM0K9aYnPTihUSfUTKP7R8v5a2_AQRccpcmDlK4hWFthuGes5dc1kslxxZb5gxtu5MIllYzGIjehdxWFlbFOHhtcdTDrcZAmbA3gWe7wj4rnSKEgtRTt62TnxQ/s320/Templeofrosycross.png" width="252" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Temple of the Rosy Cross<br />
Teophilus Schweighardt Constantiens, 1618</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Montgomery wrote his Ph.D. thesis defending the man who
wrote the basic documents of <a href="http://www.gloriousriches.blogspot.com/2009/02/tares-in-protestantism-rosicrucianism.html"><b>Rosicrucianism</b></a>,
trying to dismiss them as just a joke. (See his <i>Cross and Crucible: Johann Valentin Andreae (1586-1654), phoenix of the theologians, Volume 1.) </i>(Founded
in the 1600s by Christian Rosenkreuz, Rosicrucianism is an occult philosophy
and part of the Western Esoteric Traditions.) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Basically, Montgomery has been introducing Hermeticism to Christians.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Regent College</b>, a
graduate school in the Anglican tradition located in Vancouver, B.C. (where J.
I. Packer has taught for years), has been republishing the <a href="http://www.regentbookstore.com/products_search.php?category_id=&search_string=Charles+Williams&search=+Go+">works
of Charles Williams</a>, an open hermeticist. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Speaking of Regent College evokes
memories of our trip there around 20 years ago when we were exploring the
possibility of attending. What we experienced was like a scene out of a novel.
First we met with a professor and his wife whose office was like a cave out of <i>The Hobbit</i>. Then we met with the
founder, John Huston, who treated us as though we were generic ciphers and who,
after we had explained our ministry of many years, dismissed it and said that
what we really needed was <i>spiritual
formation</i> (his big focus). Then we met J. I. Packer, who staunchly defended
psychology as a means of sanctification. So it’s not surprising that Regent is
republishing the works of Charles Williams. (We decided not to attend.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>George MacDonald. </b>Because
C. S. Lewis has so greatly extolled George MacDonald, his writing has emerged
from obscurity and become mainline Protestant literature. Lewis called
MacDonald his <b>“master”</b> and stated
that through reading MacDonald’s works, he experienced a “baptism” of his
imagination. MacDonald, while appearing seemingly innocent, is actually very
deceptive. MacDonald had been a Scot Calvinist preacher, but when he was removed from the pulpit for unorthodox doctrines, he began writing stories. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
MacDonald was strongly influenced by <b>Novalis</b>,
a 19<sup>th</sup> century hermeticist who was part of the Romantic Movement. (Novalis
was his pen name; his real name was Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg.)<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span>MacDonald translated some of Novalis’ works into English and quoted him
in some of his own books. (See my article, <a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/006/nathan/romanticism.htm">“’Christian’
Romanticism, the Inklings, and the Elevation of Mythology”</a> for more
details; also, the book <i>Romantic Religion: A Study of
Barfield, Lewis, Williams, and Tolkien </i>by R. J. Reilly. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1972.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="text-align: center;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="text-align: center;"> A Historical Perspective</b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A good way to grasp what the Western Esoteric Traditions are all about is to look at the historical figure of <b>Jacob Boehme</b> (1575-1624), who influenced Charles Williams. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Boehme
was a leading Protestant mystic and a member of a Lutheran church in a region
in Germany rich in Hermetic tradition. He presented an esoteric psychology
based on alchemy, Kabbalah, and astrology, which placed him firmly within the
Western Esoteric Traditions. This weird mixture is typical of the ways esotericism
has been combined with Christian practice. Orthodox pastors rebuked him and
forbade him to write, but he wrote secretly and gained many followers. (See <i>The Western Esoteric Traditions: A
Historical Introduction </i>by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. Oxford University
Press, 2008, Kindle edition, location 1712.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There’s a direct connection between Boehme’s “theosophy” and
Charles Williams in that William Law, a disciple of Boehme’s teachings, was
very influential upon Charles Williams, who then was very influential upon C.
S. Lewis. This is one example of how these occultic traditions have been passed
along. In fact, Lewis considered Williams [a Hermeticist] as one of the holiest
men he’d ever met. (<i>See other posts in
this blog discussing the problems with Williams.</i>) Williams was also a
Neoplatonist. Lewis apparently confused holiness with mysticism. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>C. S. Lewis and the
Cambridge Platonists</b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lewis’s fascination with the occult is apparent in that he
wanted to write his doctoral thesis on Henry More, a known alchemist and one of
the most important of the Cambridge Platonists (1600s), but he decided to go
into literature instead of philosophy so he changed the focus of his thesis. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I showed in my earlier post, “<a href="http://www.gloriousriches.blogspot.com/2012/01/hidden-war.html">The
Hidden War</a>,” Lewis actually was a Platonist and was teaching Platonism in
his children’s stories.<b> </b>Frederick W.
Baue, in his article, “<a href="http://www.brocku.ca/concordiaseminary/LTR/LTR%20XIX.pdf">It’s All in
Plato: An Examination of C. S. Lewis’s Worldview</a>,” revealed how strongly
Platonism and Neo-platonism influenced Lewis’s worldview right up to his death.
As I pointed out in that article, and believe it is important to stress, <i>Lewis’s work has become so accepted that
there is a universal blindness to the philosophy embedded in it.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Cambridge Platonists were professors at Cambridge
University who, though considering themselves Christians, incorporated
Hermeticism and Neoplatonism with their Christian practices and thinking. And,
of course, these practices and philosophies are contradictory to the teachings
of the Bible, which warns against vain philosophies and witchcraft.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
See to it that no one takes you
captive to hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition
and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: center;">
Colossians
2:8</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, <b>those who practice magic arts, </b>the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
“I, Jesus, have
sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and
the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: center;">
Revelation 22:14–16<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 10.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Summary<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today the resurgence of Hermeticism
and its blind promotion by many Christians is shaping modern Evangelicalism in
powerful and disturbing ways. This article is a mere beginning in showing
how very strong and alive the spiritual battle is of the temptation to be a
“magical” Christian and how very destructive it is of a solid Christian life. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is also a strong warning to be careful about whose
writings we are following and ingesting into our thinking. Having our minds
shaped by Biblical teaching is of the greatest importance. The Bible does not
have to be the only book we should ever read, but it should be the<i> canon—the measuring rod</i>—of what we are
reading and hearing. It is the very unique Word of Truth. </div>
<!--EndFragment-->Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-11211213680696496822013-01-04T15:40:00.002-08:002013-01-07T15:58:00.024-08:00"Christian" Magic<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>1983</o:Words>
<o:Characters>11304</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Logos Word Designs, Inc.</o:Company>
<o:Lines>94</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>22</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>13882</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Introducing a new
series: <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: blue;">The Hermeticist Next
Door</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Part I</b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>“Christian” Magic<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
“The Spirit clearly says that in later times </div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
some will abandon the faith and<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
follow deceiving spirits and</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
things
taught by demons.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
(1 Timothy 4:1, NIV)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dan Brown’s popular novel <i>The Da Vinci Code</i> has created a storm of controversy. Many seem to
believe it’s completely true, some dismiss it, and yet others find it difficult
to separate fact from fiction. Discernment can be difficult, not only with Dan Brown’s tangled work but
with history in general. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What I have to say may seem more like a novel than history,
but recorded writings and historical descriptions exist that confirm what I am
about to say. It is a historical tale of deception in the Church that is not
only stranger than fiction but is actually true. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Proceed at your own risk because facing disguised demonic
teachings that pass for Christian—both past and present—can be disturbing,
shocking, and nearly unbelievable. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Origen is the Origin<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/origen-of-alexandria/" target="_blank">Origen</a>
is the origin of this story, which begins around 200 A.D. Some call this famous
Greek Church Father a great mystical Christian theologian; others call him a
heretic.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Origen was a man of extremes and imbalances, whose father
was martyred in a great persecution. As a youth, Origen fervently wanted to
join his father in martyrdom, but his mother hid his clothes so he couldn’t
throw himself into the clutches of the persecutors. He was extremely brilliant—probably
the most educated man of the time—and he wrote many books on the Holy
Scriptures and philosophy. But, in his fervency to put Matthew 19:12 literally
into practice, he also castrated himself.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Origen ranged far beyond Christian orthodoxy<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[i]<!--[endif]--></span>,
and, as a matter of fact, he was partially educated under a pagan philosopher—a
man named Ammonius Saccus (named Saccus
because he moved sacks as a laborer). Saccus is considered the Father of <b>Neoplatonism</b>
in Alexandria, Egypt, one of the great metropolises of the ancient world that
became a center of Christianity. A fellow student of Origen was a pagan named
Plotinus, known for propagating Neoplatonism. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Given this
background, Origen came up with some rather strange ideas. These included the
pre-existence of the soul; the eventual reunification of all creation into a god-figure
that was not the Christian Trinity; and that the devil and the fallen angels
and animals would all be saved, i.e., incorporated back into the “One.” For this
last idea especially, he was condemned as a heretic after he died. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>What is Neoplatonism? <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/society/neoplatonism-the-impact-neoplatonism.html"><b>Neoplatonism</b></a><b>
</b>was a new version of the teaching
of the Greek philosopher Plato. It was a mixture of Egyptian religion,
Platonism, and Greek and other non-Christian and Eastern philosophies. It also
included magical practices, with an emphasis on demons. It is truly a doctrine
of demons that has endured throughout the centuries and has exerted
considerable influence within the Christian Church. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Augustine was a
Neoplatonist before his conversion under the influence of the Christian
Neoplatonist Ambrose of Milan. After becoming a Christian he became somewhat critical
of Neoplatonism, especially about following demons, and the fact that the
system didn’t have any place for Christ. However, he continued to hold some
Neoplatonist attitudes, though not necessarily consciously. For example, he
continued to view marriage as a lower state than celibacy (asceticism). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Neoplatonism was a
little different than <b>Gnosticism</b>, mainly in that the Gnostics tended to view
the world as evil, whereas the Neoplatonists tended to view it as just very low
on the totem pole. But both the Gnostics and the Neoplatonists viewed achieving
salvation as going up a spiritual “ladder,” attaining more and more knowledge
and holiness until they finally returned to the godhead they supposedly came
from. It definitely wasn’t salvation through faith by grace as taught in the
Scriptures (see Ephesians 2).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What most people
think of as Gnosticism in the early Church is what is called “negative”
Gnosticism, but Neoplatonism could be described as a “positive” Gnosticism. Positive
gnosis is very much like that view held by Neoplatonists and, in modern times,
by people like C. S. Lewis and Charles Williams.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=28110231#_edn2" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[ii]<!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The kinds of
teachings that Origen favored have persisted all throughout church history, and
they are still influential today. They all fit under the general category of
Hermeticism.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Hermeticism, Dan Brown, and Harry Potter<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To date, I have
written extensively about <b>Romanticism<i> </i></b>(see
previous posts). Due to my continuing research, however, I have come to view
Romanticism as the more general movement (or tradition) of an ancient tradition known as <b>Hermeticism.</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>We can view Neoplatonism
as the philosophical arm of Hermeticism</b>, <b>but Hermeticism also includes
the practice of magic and alchemy.</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hermeticism was
essentially just an umbrella for a wide variety of occult teachings and practices.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[iii]<!--[endif]--></span>
It is basically Egyptian mythology and theology, which gathered pagan teachings
from many different cultures under the name of a mystical figure: <b>Hermes Trismegistus</b>
(“thrice graced”). Hermes was considered a great prophet, a great priest, and a
great king. (Sound familiar?—like
Christ?) <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Egyptian name
for <b>Hermes Trismegistus</b> was Thoth (the Egyptian god of wisdom and
magic). The Romans called him Mercury, and the Greeks called him Hermes, which
gives us the word <b>hermetic, i.e., hidden or sealed</b>. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we will see, as Hermeticism
developed, some of its practitioners were considered Christians. They attempted
to integrate it with true Christianity—and even to replace true Christianity
with it. A long history of these teachings exists woven into the development of
the Christian Church, especially among Roman Catholic and Orthodox monks. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A highly honored manual
of Neoplatonism written by someone called ‘Pseudo-Dionysus’<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[iv]<!--[endif]--></span>
appeared in the 5<sup>th</sup> or early 6<sup>th</sup> century. Pseudo-Dionysus
“<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">acquired
almost apostolic authority” among Christians (see </span><a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pseudo-dionysius-areopagite/"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.5pt;">here</span></a><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">).<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[v]<!--[endif]--></span></span> (The Pseudo—meaning “false”—comes from
the fact that the man who wrote it was not the real Dionysus, who was an
associate of St. Paul.) <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The book brought
this type of teaching into monastic thinking where it continues today,
especially within Roman Catholicism and the Orthodox Church. Accepting these
teachings as Christian is a harmful fraud; they are actually disguised
paganism. One of the evil results of these teachings is the diminishing of the
importance of family and the very creation itself, that God made man male and
female and created marriage. Asceticism distorts the Word of the Lord and is
anti-family. (The Book of Colossians warns about this false mysticism and
asceticism.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>This influence has continued up until today
and is rapidly growing in the Christian Church. </i>Amazingly, many contemporary Protestants
continue this view. It partakes of the double view of paganism that the body is
both something to be worshipped, through sex, and something to be rejected.<i> </i>Later blog posts and articles will go
into this influence and discuss some of its practitioners in the Church in
detail.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fast-forward now to
the Renaissance in the 1400s and to a very influential family in Florence
called the Medicis. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lorenzo de Medici
(called “Lorenzo the Magnificent”) was a major Renaissance leader who had two
talents: making money and sponsoring art and literature on the model of ancient
Greece. Under his influence, a scholar named Facino translated some manuscripts
from Greek into Latin (read in Italy at the time by the educated classes)<i>. </i>These teachings, a set of books called
<i>The Corpus Hermeticum,</i> became well
known by scholars in the Renaissance and influenced many of the Church leaders.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During this period,
an idea developed about gathering all religions together as one, in a way very
similar to what is happening today through the World Council of Churches and
other syncretistic<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[vi]<!--[endif]--></span> movements. These
hermetic teachings were the unifying factor.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Amazingly, at the
same time, the teachings of the mystical Jewish books called <i>The Cabbala</i> were enthusiastically
incorporated into this scheme. They taught many things similar to Hermeticism,
and their promoters even called them “The Christian Cabbala.” This tradition
still exists today. (Cabbala is spelled many different ways.) The main
difference between Hermeticism and the Cabbala was the Cabbala’s emphasis upon divination
through the Hebrew words and letters of the Old Testament. The currently
popular book, <i>The Harbinger, </i>is
another version of Cabbalism.<b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A lot of these
writings incorporated mythological stories and themes, as well as secret
writings, mystical imagery, and symbols. While Hermeticism was becoming
popular, it was still treated as a mystery religion, suitable only for the
initiated—the wealthy and educated. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Hermeticism in the heart of the Protestant Reformation<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One aspect of this strange
history that is very difficult for me to cope with is that this strong Hermetic
influence was not confined to Roman Catholicism. In fact, there was an <b>explosion
of interest in Hermeticism among Protestants</b>. And, the center of this
“Christian” Hermeticism ended up actually being in Germany shortly after the Reformation.
After the upsurge of so-called “Christian” Hermeticism in Germany, similar
upsurges occurred in Great Britain and other European countries.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Following are a few examples.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Sebastian Franck</b> was a former Roman Catholic priest who became a Reform preacher in the
1500s. He was also a major supporter of Hermeticism. The following quote exposes
his real teaching:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
“Franck derived his image of Hermes, as he acknowledges, largely from
Ficino, though he clearly assigns a distinctly earlier date to Hermes: he was a
contemporary of Abraham and thus clearly antedated Moses. Franck’s
interpretation of Hermeticism was far more radical, however, in that he
considered the Hermetic writings to be a pagan replacement for Christianity and
for Judeo-Christian revelation. The <i>Pimander</i>
contained ‘all that is necessary for a Christian to know.’”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[vii]<!--[endif]--></span>
[<i>The Pimander</i> was a name for <i>The Corpus Hermeticum</i> mentioned
earlier.]<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is just an
example of how highly regarded Hermeticism was, even in the heart of the Protestant
Reformation. The young Luther tended to look favorably upon some of these
Hermetic and mystical writings, but later in his life he called Hermeticism
fanaticism.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another example.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Hermeticism in the Service of Promoting Tolerance<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Christian apologetics had used Hermeticism to demonstrate that the
Christian religion was consistent with the philosophy and theology of the
ancient world. By the sixteenth century, however, circumstances had changed,
and Christianity had become the cultural matrix, but, even then, Hermeticism
served to indicate the compatibility of various cultures and religions. <b>Indeed,
once again Hermeticism served Christian apologetics.</b>” (Same article, Kindle
location: 1763, my bolding]<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>[Note: This same practice occurs
in the 20<sup>th</sup> century in the apologetic works of C. S. Lewis and his
fellow “Inkling,” Charles Williams.]<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Jacob Bohme. </b>Bohme
was a strange man—a sixteenth century shoemaker who started having visions. He represents
a turning point of the influence of Hermetic philosophy because he tried to
make it an acceptable aspect of Lutheranism. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
“Bohme is a turning point in the history of Hermetic philosophy.
Hermeticism and Christianity had always been strange bedfellows, and as we have
seen, much of Hermetic thought—such as its conception of the divine or semi-divine
status of man—is heretical by Christian standards. [Giordano] Bruno [a
Dominican priest] even went so far as to advocate the abandonment of
Christianity and the return to a Hermetic, ‘Egyptian’ religion. Bohme, in
effect, acted to prevent the self-destruction of Hermetic philosophy in the
face of its clear conflict with the dominant, orthodox faith. David walsh
writes that ‘For the new occult philosophy to work, the old Christian
philosophy must be redirected. The individual with the theoretical genius to
effect their reconciliation and, thereby, become the transmitter of the new
symbolism to the modern world was Jakob Bohme.’”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[viii]<!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bohme used Christian
terminology but changed the real meanings. For instance, he used the word
trinity, but definitely not in a Biblical sense. His influence extended even to
England where he was quite popular. The English mystic William Law promoted his
writings, which even influenced John and Charles Wesley for a while.
Fortunately, they later turned away from Law’s influence.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Contemporary Examples of Hermeticism<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some obvious examples
of contemporary Hermeticism in English literature can be seen in Dan Brown’s
books, especially <i>The Da Vinci Code</i>
and <i>Angels and Demons</i>, as well as the
immense popularity of imaginative, magical literature. This genre includes
Tolkien’s <i>The Hobbit </i>and <i>The Lord of the Rings,</i> as well as his
lesser-known <i>Silmarillion, </i>along with
the fiction of C. S. Lewis. More recently, there is the popularity of the <i>Harry Potter </i>series and Phillip
Pullman’s trilogy, <i>His Dark Materials, </i>which
includes <i>The Golden Compass.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In summary, the
above facts give but a taste of the pervasive, corrupting influence of Hermetic
thought and practice upon the Christian Church historically. Unfortunately, this
influence has never died away, and today it is expanding with great speed
within the Church. In coming posts, we will see that it is alive and spreading unconsciously
through the teachings of many well-known Christian leaders. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div>
<!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<br />
<div id="edn">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
ENDNOTES</div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[i]<!--[endif]--></span> I’ve
encountered confusion about the term orthodoxy. One pastor I knew actually said
orthodoxy means when a pastor wears a suit,
but in reality it’s the solid core of biblical theology, included in the main
Christian creeds and in the teachings of the Apostles: the Virgin birth, the
Incarnation, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the Second Coming; and
including justification by faith in Christ alone through grace alone.</div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[ii]<!--[endif]--></span> This
concept of positive and negative gnosis is described in <i>Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition</i> by Frances Yates.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991, 22.</div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[iii]<!--[endif]--></span> Also known
as the Western Esoteric Tradition. It basically views humanity as on a
spiritual path to return to unity with the Divine. </div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[iv]<!--[endif]--></span> Although <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudo-Dionysius_the_Areopagite">Wikipedia</a>
states that the works of Pseudo-Dionysus
were “mystical and show strong Neo-Platonist influence,” it still calls him a
“Christian theologian and philosopher.” You can see the confusion I mentioned
above. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[v]<!--[endif]--></span> “<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Since
Pseudo-Dionysius represented himself as St. Dionysius the Areopagite, an
Athenian member of the judicial council, the Areopagus, who was converted
instantly by St. Paul, his work, strictly speaking, might be regarded as a
successful ‘forgery’, providing him with impeccable Christian credentials that
conveniently antedated Plotinus by over two hundred years. So successful was
this stratagem that Dionysius acquired almost apostolic authority, giving his
writings enormous influence in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance…” </span><a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pseudo-dionysius-areopagite/"><i><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.5pt;">Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</span></i></a><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[vi]<!--[endif]--></span> Syncretism
is the uniting of religious ideas that conflict with one another.</div>
</div>
<div id="edn">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[vii]<!--[endif]--></span> <i>The Secret History of Hermes Trismegistus:
Hermeticism from Ancient to Modern Times</i> by Florian Ebeling. Cornell
University Press, November 11, 2011. Kindle Edition. Location: 1735. </div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[viii]<!--[endif]--></span> <i>Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition </i>by
Glenn Alexander Magee. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. 2001. The quote at
the end of the quote comes from footnote 60: David Walsh, “A Mythology of
Reason,” 151.</div>
</div>
</div>
<!--EndFragment-->Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-63943679694369877762012-01-28T16:01:00.002-08:002012-01-28T16:29:14.927-08:00The Hidden War<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgivBljsmDcDu9y5HmjD7rR81ciJqsDChJrXIU6wsZhAII46MA6C61V27AfSUYwsSK53znturketd_BcScdOnN0Vu1tOcpFSOvy5YdpPHh472Y6iEQxr9DqI0U7tmCGXFxe_zS2nw/s1600/Gustave+Dore+-+Angel+in+Pool.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 162px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgivBljsmDcDu9y5HmjD7rR81ciJqsDChJrXIU6wsZhAII46MA6C61V27AfSUYwsSK53znturketd_BcScdOnN0Vu1tOcpFSOvy5YdpPHh472Y6iEQxr9DqI0U7tmCGXFxe_zS2nw/s200/Gustave+Dore+-+Angel+in+Pool.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5702840739105563570" /></a> <p class="p1"><span>There is a war going on that most Christians don’t recognize. I call it a war of <a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/006/nathan/romanticism.htm"><span class="s1">Romanticism</span></a>, and it's all well documented in numerous books and articles.</span></p><p class="p3"><span>How does this war affect the everyday lives of Christians? It affects them a lot. For one thing, we have friends who are caught up in this war and made captive by it without really realizing it, to the point of even (unknowingly) naming their children after witches in fantasy stories. </span></p> <p class="p3"><span>We’ve mentioned <a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/007/nathan-fiction.htm"><span class="s1">before</span></a> what tremendous shifts are going on in Christian thinking and worldview. One of these shifts is the enormous influence of <b>imaginative literature</b> in the lives of Christians, a shift some of whose effects I see particularly among young people. We are seeing Christians whose focus is becoming increasingly focused upon fantasy rather than Scripture. Why? Because of the progressive dominance of Romanticism in Christian literature. </span></p> <p class="p3"><span>Connected with this shift is the escalating use of street drugs both in the general culture and in the Church (especially in church youth groups). I am convinced that there is a strong connection between this love of imaginative literature and the escape into drugs. I have personally seen children of fervent evangelical Christians, raised within a close community, turn to drugs. Influenced by Christian “culture heroes” like Donald Miller, whose book <i>Blue Like Jazz, </i>promotes drugs and liberalism, they are simply swept away. (See my critique of Miller <a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/08/nathan/green_like_envy.htm"><span class="s1">here</span></a>.) </span></p> <p class="p3"><span>I have also met Christians who have gotten tangled into drugs and ended up on the psychiatric unit where I work. At that same unit I often see people tattooed with occult symbols, including runes (Celtic magical symbols used in <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>). These same people are reading and deeply engaged in games involving imaginative literature, especially mythology and fairy tales. The connection can be very strong because many street drugs—especially LSD, Mescaline, and marijuana—stimulate the imagination and can open the mind’s door to the occult. (I speak from experience.)</span></p> <p class="p3"><span><b>Can fairytales really be harmful?</b> </span></p> <p class="p3"><span>The answer I have seen in my studies of recent history is <b>yes.</b> I’ve been reading a book called <i>Metapolitics: From Wagner and the German Romantics to Hitler</i><span class="s2"> </span>by Peter Viereck. Fantastic as it may sound, this thick and impressively documented book reveals the powerful influences arising from a love of mythology and fairytales that influenced Germany (<i>and especially its youth</i>) and led directly to Nazism.</span></p> <p class="p3"><span>Following is a list of some relevant books and articles I’ve been reading lately that are giving me deeper insight into the strong connections between Romanticism and the resurgence of paganism: </span></p> <ul class="ul1"> <li class="li3"><span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Metapolitics-Wagner-German-Romantics-Hitler/dp/0765805103"><b><i>Metapolitics: From Wagner and the German Romantics to Hitler</i></b><span class="s2"><b> </b></span></a>by Peter Viereck</span></li> </ul> <p class="p4"><span>Viereck explains conclusively how Romanticism so changed the worldview of everyday Germans that it actually shaped political history and led to the Third Reich—which was a political, Romantic crusade. Viereck is a very interesting man uniquely suited to tackle this subject. A Pulitzer Prize winning poet, he studied Nazi propaganda as an Army intelligence analyst during World War II. At the same time, his father, a Nazi propagandist, was in federal prison.</span></p> <ul class="ul1"> <li class="li5"><span><b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Fascism-Judeo-Christian-Worldview-Scholarship/dp/0570046033/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324293262&sr=1-1-spell">Modern Fascism</a></i></b><i> </i>by Gene Edward Veith, Jr.</span></li></ul><span>I’m just beginning to read this. Veith talks about the influence of Romanticism. Veith is the Provost at Patrick Henry College and the Director of the Cranach Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary. </span><ul class="ul1"> <li class="li7"><span><b><a href="http://voices.yahoo.com/the-lord-rings-vs-ring-nibelung-5521023.html?cat=2;"><i>The Lord of the Rings</i> vs. <i>The Ring of the Nibelung</i></a></b> by Genevieve Heely</span></li> </ul> <p class="p9"><span>Heely compares J.R.R. Tolkien’s <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> with the opera <i>The Ring of the Nibelung</i> by Richard Wagner. This is a very disturbing article because the comparisons between the two works are so clear. They are a strong confirmation of how these streams and risings of Romanticism are really interconnected, whether supposedly “dark” or “light.” (I’ve been trying to make the point for some time that there is no “dark” vs. “light” magic, as is so often represented in modern writing; it is only <b><i>dark</i></b>.) In <i>The Ring of the Nibelung</i>, Richard Wagner retells an old German myth about the power of a gold ring. And <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> also tells a story of a magical golden ring. The article mentioned above reveals many other comparisons.</span></p> <ul class="ul1"> <li class="li3"><span><b><a href="http://www.brocku.ca/concordiaseminary/LTR/LTR%20XIX.pdf">“‘It's All in Plato’: An Examination of C. S. Lewis's Worldview”</a></b> by Frederick W. Baue</span></li></ul><span>Baue reveals how much secular philosophy there is in Romantic literature, and especially how strongly Platonism and Neo-Platonism influenced C. S. Lewis’s worldview. This influence began early in his life, after he left Christianity. It continued later when he returned to Christianity and lasted up to his death. In fact, his final book, <i>Till We Have Faces,</i> retells a pagan myth. Lewis also incorporates Platonic philosophy into the <i>Narnia</i> stories. This is pretty sophisticated stuff to give to children, and, as a matter of fact, the stories are designed more for adults than for children. (Tolkien's fairy stories also seem designed more for adults than for children.)<br /></span><ul class="ul1"> </ul> <p class="p4"><span><b>Lewis’s work has become so accepted that there is a universal blindness to the philosophy embedded in it.</b> Normally evangelicals do not accept Platonism/Neo-Platonism as their worldview, but through Lewis they have embraced certain aspects of this unbiblical worldview. (Platonism is a philosophy, and Neo-Platonism is more like a way of life.) This acceptance is quite apparent in the ministry of John Piper, by the way. (Watch his video, <a href="http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/biographies/lessons-from-an-inconsolable-soul">“Lessons from an Inconsolable Soul”</a> for an amazing demonstration.)</span></p><p class="p4"><b><span>Conclusion</span></b></p> <p class="p3"><b><span>It is astonishing to see in all of these writings how much Romanticism (that is, the love of mythology) has to do with the rise of fascism. </span></b></p> <p class="p3"><span>Basically, my research reveals that the same kind of mythology that became the religious and philosophical foundation for pre-Nazism in Germany was also exalted in England and is now wildly popular in the United States. This does not necessarily mean that just because Romanticism is growing in epic proportions in the United States that it’s going to dominate, but it does indicate that seemingly innocent fairytales can have a problematical effect on the mind and imagination, especially of young people.</span></p> <p class="p3"><span>Such powerful stories and films as <i>The Lord of the Rings </i>and the <i>Narnia </i>series have greatly altered the worldview of many people in the United States and, especially, of pastors and seminary professors. They appear to have very little awareness of the difference between Christianity and Romantic religion. Yet Christians, of all people, should be discerning and aware of the possible dangers of such a movement.</span></p> <p class="p13"><br /></p> <p class="p14"><br /></p>Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-77329135255097145842012-01-19T16:46:00.000-08:002012-01-19T18:37:53.521-08:00Our apologetics booklets for sale<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7xX1o2C9BLZ43igB4k3YrheX0nkUg7NcvduxS2EQfr4WOGDPju9xBUJjkR1VvMxJPZRSwWnjyaOVkILpTimXhZWGVpVyaBqLei_E90hhL_BdAhgmmqB5synUnde00VmkUwBUJeA/s1600/FOR+WEB+Eric%2527s+Logos-Logo-250dpi.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 172px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7xX1o2C9BLZ43igB4k3YrheX0nkUg7NcvduxS2EQfr4WOGDPju9xBUJjkR1VvMxJPZRSwWnjyaOVkILpTimXhZWGVpVyaBqLei_E90hhL_BdAhgmmqB5synUnde00VmkUwBUJeA/s200/FOR+WEB+Eric%2527s+Logos-Logo-250dpi.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5699536133228710722" /></a><br /> <p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1" style="text-align: left;"><b>We have recently updated most of the booklets we have written on various aspects of apologetics, and <a href="http://www.logosword.com/pub_orders.htm">are now offering them for sale in PDF format</a> </b><b>http://www.logosword.com/pub_orders.htm</b></p><p class="p1" style="text-align: center;">*****</p> <p class="p1"><b>The Martial Arts: Should I Be Involved? – $5. </b>Are you already a Christian and wondering if there’s a problem being involved with the martial arts? Or, maybe you’re not a Christian but wondering. Perhaps you’re involved but uncertain and want more information. This booklet’s aim is to help you understand the many grave implications of involvement with the martial arts. </p> <p class="p1"><b>The Glittering Web: A Survey of the Occult and the New Age Movement in Contemporary Culture and the Church – $7.50. </b>The broad sweep of this 33-page booklet covers the false conversion involved and provides a historical perspective, and a chart of 15 current New Age (more popularly called “interspirituality”) trends. The booklet examines Eastern religions, psychedelics, witchcraft, Gnosticism, Romanticism, Mind Science, business usage, holistic health, cosmic evolutionary thought, globalism, education, women’s “spirituality,” UFO cults and mysticism, and Jungian psychology. At the end there are three pages of terms defined and two pages of resources.</p> <p class="p1"><b>The Christ of the Bible – $1.50. </b>This booklet discusses who Christ really is and includes a chart comparing the biblical facts about Christianity with a variety of counterfeits.</p> <p class="p1"><b>The Gifts of the Holy Spirit vs. Psychic Counterfeits –$3.50. </b>Some Christians see any evidence of certain of the gifts of the Holy Spirit as demonic; others accept all spiritual manifestations as genuine. This booklet isn’t meant to take on the entire controversy but to focus upon one area we believe is of great importance—an area that many Christians largely overlook and often even avoid—that there is confusion today between the gifts of the Holy Spirit and psychic “abilities” and powers.</p> <p class="p1"><b>Strategies of Evangelism to New Age Culture –$3.50. </b>The current shift in popular culture is affecting the Christian Church in a major way. In recent years the emergence of the syncretistic “Emergent Church” movement has swept the evangelical world by storm. The rising flood of paganism and rebellion is overwhelming many of our culture’s historical “antibodies” against it. The roots of the shift are many and deep, and focusing upon them is not this booklet’s purpose. What concerns us here is what Christians can do to reach out.</p> <p class="p1"><b>Visualization, Imagination & the Christian: Differentiating Between Biblical Prayer and Meditation and Occult Visualization –$3.50. </b>Although originally the sphere of secret occult societies and private practitioners, the explosion of New Age / occult thinking in the past forty to fifty years has thrust occult visualization techniques into enormous popularity both in secular society and in the Church. In some instances, Christian teachers who have been confused about the difference between the two approaches have unknowingly promulgated occult methods. These days occult visualization techniques abound in many vital areas</p> <p class="p1"><b>Worldview Comparison Chart –$1.50. </b>This handy chart compares the biblical worldview with the Eastern religious worldview in 6 major areas: the nature of reality, the problem of evil, the nature fo good and evil, the solution to evil, the nature of Jesus Christ, and the view of the serpent/dragon</p> <p class="p1"><b>The Christian and Yoga –$2.50. </b>It’s everywhere these days. Schools and universities teach it. Health clubs promote it. The YMCA and YWCA (once Christian organizations) have classes in it all the time. And it constantly appears in popular magazines. Is yoga really as harmless as it seems? And is it for Christians?</p> <p class="p1"><b>The Devil’s Doorways</b> is not available at this time.</p> <p class="p2" style="text-align: center;">*****</p> <p class="p4" style="text-align: center;"><span class="s2"><b>Buy the above PDFs through Paypal at <span class="s3"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%22">http://www.logosword.com/pub_orders.htm</a></span></b></span></p> <p class="p5" style="text-align: center;">*****</p> <p class="p5" style="text-align: center;"><b><span>Coming Soon!</span></b></p> <p class="p5" style="text-align: center;"><b><span>Our new novel, </span></b></p><p class="p5" style="text-align: center;"><b><span><i>The Glittering Web</i></span></b></p> <p class="p5" style="text-align: center;"><b>Email editor@logosword.com for a free PDF copy of the first chapter and for advance notice of publication.</b></p> <p class="p1">Recognizing deception isn’t easy—especially to Loren and Eve Montcrest who are convinced they’re on the true path. Newly initiated into Seattle’s Arcane Institute, the elite training order of their occult society in the year 2025, they become caught up in a fast-paced succession of intrigues and adventure that rocks their love for each other and even their sanity—and brings them to the brink of destruction. But in the fierce battle for their souls, God is working to strip away the glittering web of false spirituality.</p> <p class="p5"><i>“When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.” (Isaiah 59:19, KJV)</i></p><p></p>Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-38789735727415380002011-12-06T23:44:00.000-08:002011-12-07T00:28:26.232-08:00Speculative "Christian" / Emergent Fiction<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtEtfDW7WGrHRbnoA4CFg-WCu1Aw-oLvcbjEeIPBzbJjYqp3oSyD4pjNX0pShpkDsjw7bJJp368RAXPCf9ifI11MJL4u3cA8fg3uyJ2yNDdsuXN0DtpkIzQi3sVhYDNC5riCQtTQ/s1600/248px-Hohenschwangau_-_Schloss_Neuschwanstein1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 139px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtEtfDW7WGrHRbnoA4CFg-WCu1Aw-oLvcbjEeIPBzbJjYqp3oSyD4pjNX0pShpkDsjw7bJJp368RAXPCf9ifI11MJL4u3cA8fg3uyJ2yNDdsuXN0DtpkIzQi3sVhYDNC5riCQtTQ/s200/248px-Hohenschwangau_-_Schloss_Neuschwanstein1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5683299218424150274" /></a><br />This post is in particular response to comments and questions left by Danny Polglase after my third Meltdown article. I apologize it's taken so long to answer. We never received notification when your response arrived and only found it and published it recently.<div><br /></div><div>Danny, since one of your questions had to do with speculative fiction, I recommend that, first, you read our article, "Children of the Inklings: Emergent 'Christian' Fiction" at the link above. We put a lot of thought and effort into that article. </div><div><br /></div><div>The larger issue though isn't types of fiction or just being wary of hidden paganism, but realizing that there is a movement that is gaining ground rapidly among evangelicals that is generally undiscerned in the churches. It is connected with an ignorance of Christian history, especially since the beginning of the 19th century when a major spiritual-artistic-intellectual movement, which was Romanticism re-cast in a modern form, began sweeping the culture and the churches. Because American evangelicals have very little awareness of this influence and the seductiveness of its philosophy and literature, many Christians have been seeing it as a new move of the Holy Spirit--a breath of freedom--rather than what it really is--another aspect of worldliness and paganism. They think of it as an answer to materialistic thinking and don't see how very far it is from true Biblical thinking.</div><div><br /></div><div>I believe that what would help Christians most to discern this deception is to understand the roots of this kind of literature and its artistic productions. Speculative fiction is only a part of this much larger milieu. </div><div><br /></div><div>While I agree the Holy Spirit does give us checks in our spirits sometimes, I don't think that depending upon this and assuming it's going to happen is always a reliable approach, not to mention knowing whether what you are experiencing is really from the Holy Spirit. </div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, you might read something and be aware of a non-Christian worldview behind it but still just want to read the story and be able get good things out of it anyway. But if you then start using that book as a teaching aide, or giving it to your children who are not equipped to discern, it can be a real problem. For instance, a friend gave our son the <i>Narnia</i> stories when he was about eight, and it turned out his fourth grade teacher at his Christian school was also reading some of the stories to the class at the same time. We finally decided that, since we knew he was going to get it from all sides of the culture as he grew up, we would go over them with him and teach him to recognize the clearly pagan elements. We couldn't do all this when he was only eight, of course. It's been a process over the years, and it's been a real battle because that kind of literature is so attractive to young people. The real problem I think is when pastors deliberately read <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> and the <i>Narnia</i> stories to their children as part of their devotions. I know personal examples of this, and Russell Moore, Dean of Theology at Southern Baptist Seminary, mentioned doing this on the Albert Mohler radio program. (I mentioned this in another blog post.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks for your questions and comments, Danny. I hope this helps and may God strengthen you in your search for truth and desire to write. And I sympathize about trying to find discerning fellowship.</div><div><br /></div><div>As for writing speculative fiction, that's a whole kettle of fish I don't have an easy answer for. Some of our own fiction could be called speculative; however, it also clearly shows the difference between paganism and Biblical thought. We like to think of it as anti-Romanticism spiritual adventure fiction, as part of our purpose is to expose deception. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-21468874563588511302011-06-01T20:16:00.000-07:002011-06-01T20:35:43.749-07:00The Second Great Evangelical Meltdown: Part III: The Romantic Assault<style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Arial; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Courier New"; panose-1:2 7 3 9 2 2 5 2 4 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 2 1 2 1 8 4 8 7 8; mso-font-charset:2; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 65536 0 -2147483648 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Lucida Grande"; panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} h1 {mso-style-link:"Heading 1 Char"; mso-style-next:Normal; margin-top:24.0pt; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan lines-together; page-break-after:avoid; mso-outline-level:1; font-size:16.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; color:#345A8A; mso-font-kerning:0pt; font-weight:bold;} h2 {mso-style-link:"Heading 2 Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-outline-level:2; font-size:18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Times; mso-hansi-font-family:Times; font-weight:bold; mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;} p.MsoCommentText, li.MsoCommentText, div.MsoCommentText {mso-style-link:"Comment Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.MsoHeader, li.MsoHeader, div.MsoHeader {mso-style-link:"Header Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; tab-stops:center 3.0in right 6.0in; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.MsoFooter, li.MsoFooter, div.MsoFooter {mso-style-link:"Footer Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; tab-stops:center 3.0in right 6.0in; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.MsoCommentReference {mso-ansi-font-size:9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:9.0pt;} span.MsoEndnoteReference {mso-style-noshow:yes; vertical-align:super;} p.MsoEndnoteText, li.MsoEndnoteText, div.MsoEndnoteText {mso-style-link:"Endnote Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} p {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.MsoCommentSubject, li.MsoCommentSubject, div.MsoCommentSubject {mso-style-parent:"Comment Text"; mso-style-link:"Comment Subject Char"; mso-style-next:"Comment Text"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; font-weight:bold;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char1"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:9.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:"Lucida Grande"; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:"Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph {margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.Heading1Char {mso-style-name:"Heading 1 Char"; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:"Heading 1"; mso-ansi-font-size:16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; color:#345A8A; font-weight:bold;} span.Heading2Char {mso-style-name:"Heading 2 Char"; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:"Heading 2"; mso-ansi-font-size:18.0pt; font-family:Times; mso-ascii-font-family:Times; mso-hansi-font-family:Times; font-weight:bold; mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; mso-ansi-font-size:9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:9.0pt; font-family:"Lucida Grande"; mso-ascii-font-family:"Lucida Grande"; mso-hansi-font-family:"Lucida Grande";} span.EndnoteTextChar {mso-style-name:"Endnote Text Char"; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:"Endnote Text"; mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;} span.CommentTextChar {mso-style-name:"Comment Text Char"; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:"Comment Text"; mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;} span.CommentSubjectChar {mso-style-name:"Comment Subject Char"; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-parent:"Comment Text Char"; mso-style-link:"Comment Subject"; mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-weight:bold;} span.BalloonTextChar1 {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char1"; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; mso-ansi-font-size:9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:9.0pt; font-family:"Lucida Grande"; mso-ascii-font-family:"Lucida Grande"; mso-hansi-font-family:"Lucida Grande";} span.HeaderChar {mso-style-name:"Header Char"; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:Header; mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;} span.FooterChar {mso-style-name:"Footer Char"; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:Footer; mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 67.5pt 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:78330908; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:585813910 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; font-family:Symbol;} @list l0:level2 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:o; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; font-family:"Courier New";} @list l1 {mso-list-id:312418382; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:-2064079632 -1560529384 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l1:level1 {mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-weight:bold;} @list l2 {mso-list-id:332339341; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:73565224 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l2:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:38.85pt; text-indent:-.25in; font-family:Symbol;} @list l3 {mso-list-id:471022660; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:1663988664 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l3:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; font-family:Symbol;} @list l4 {mso-list-id:669871666; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:1136066266 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l4:level1 {mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-style:normal;} @list l5 {mso-list-id:912008108; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:1924927886 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l5:level1 {mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l6 {mso-list-id:1045835931; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:-225966896 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l6:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:72.3pt; text-indent:-.25in; font-family:Symbol;} @list l7 {mso-list-id:1171482599; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:-1858017884 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l7:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; font-family:Symbol;} @list l8 {mso-list-id:1197962459; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:-1940590094 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l8:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:.75in; text-indent:-.25in; font-family:Symbol;} @list l9 {mso-list-id:1322273344; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:-1965242858 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l9:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; font-family:Symbol;} @list l10 {mso-list-id:1477532176; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:-1181039406 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l10:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; font-family:Symbol;} @list l11 {mso-list-id:1575817790; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:909660584 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l11:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; font-family:Symbol;} @list l11:level2 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:o; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; font-family:"Courier New";} @list l11:level3 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; font-family:Wingdings;} @list l12 {mso-list-id:1578399805; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:498623976 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l12:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; font-family:Symbol;} @list l13 {mso-list-id:1597051722; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:2049501020 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l13:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; font-family:Symbol;} @list l13:level2 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:o; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; font-family:"Courier New";} @list l14 {mso-list-id:1936279142; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:-383324876 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l14:level1 {mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l14:level2 {mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l14:level3 {mso-level-number-format:roman-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:right; text-indent:-9.0pt;} @list l14:level4 {mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l14:level5 {mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l14:level6 {mso-level-number-format:roman-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:right; text-indent:-9.0pt;} @list l14:level7 {mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} --> </style> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;color:black">Introduction</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="color: black;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="color:black"><br /></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">The first two articles in this series</span> laid a basic groundwork for understanding the current state of Evangelicalism from a biblical and historical point of view. <a href="http://gloriousriches.blogspot.com/2010/10/second-great-evangelical-meltdown.html">The first article</a> discussed another meltdown that took place in the early part of the 20th century called the “Liberal (or Modernist) / Fundamentalist Controversy” and showed how the fragmentation that occurred then weakened Evangelicalism and set the stage for many of today’s problems. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://gloriousriches.blogspot.com/2010/11/second-great-evangelical-meltdown-part.html">The second article</a> exposed the falseness of the current view that the rise of “postmodernism” means the Church has to change and become more like the world. It pointed out that, in spite of much contemporary Christian activity and commitment of resources, the Church’s response to postmodernism is flaccid and ineffective. Why? Because the Church is already compromised.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">This third article now focuses upon a major reason for that compromised state, an aspect of today’s Meltdown that most Christian leaders are not only overlooking but are often blindly embracing and proclaiming as being Christian. That is because<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"> it often comes in a disguised form that seems to fit into Christianity.</i> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This disguised element involves a historical movement called <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Romanticism. </b>Its influx into contemporary Evangelicalism is great, and its intimate connection with the occult is strong. Furthermore, it is subtle, for it seems like it’s spiritual rather than worldly, whereas it’s actually just another form of worldliness.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The present-day assault on Evangelicalism exhibits a rapid increase of the character of Romanticism. Not only is this occurring in secular Western culture; it is influencing countless Christians to the extent of becoming nearly a paradigm shift within the Body of Christ in the United States. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Yet there is almost no Christian analysis that both sets its contemporary influences within its true historical context and compares it with the biblical worldview. </i>This series is the beginning of such an attempt.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><br /></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Major Assaults on the Evangelical Church </span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">in the Second Meltdown</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Although this article is meant merely to introduce the issue of Romanticism and some of its major effects upon the Body of Christ today, I could write an encyclopedia about it. However, I’ve written extensively about Romanticism, what it is, and some of its influence in today’s Church in other places, so this article will not discuss it in great depth.<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="" href="#_edn1" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="">[i]</span></span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a style="mso-endnote-id: edn" href="#_edn1" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote"><br /></span></span></a> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Unfortunately, Christian leaders are also struggling with an enormous tsunami of other assaults, some combined with Romanticism. These include but are not limited to the following:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l12 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>Rationalism / Enlightenment thinking</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l12 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>Romanticism / paganism </p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l12 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>The rapid increase of mysticism, e.g., contemplative prayer and spiritual formation, in the churches<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn2" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[ii]</span></span></a></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l12 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>Evangelical ecumenism that is trying to integrate Roman Catholicism with Evangelicalism and saying that the Reformation was just a big misunderstanding. A major example is the movement Chuck Colson helped develop called <a href="http://www.biblicalstudies.com/bstudy/contempry/catholic.htm">Evangelicals and Catholics Together</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l12 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>Marxism and its many mixtures</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l12 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>The paganization of Christian youth culture through the popularity of the pagan drug culture; their seduction by rebellion and the occult (exemplified by the popularity of books like <a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/08/nathan/green_like_envy.htm"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Blue Like Jazz</i></a>, dressing like rebels, imitating and glorifying sex, rock bands, etc.)<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id: edn" href="#_edn3" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[iii]</span></span></a>, <a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn4" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[iv]</span></span></a></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l12 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>Alliances with and the embrace of occult / New Age thinkers by Evangelicals. For example, speakers like Ken Wilbur, the “Pope of the occult,” and New Agers Leonard Sweet and Ken Blanchard appear at Evangelical get-togethers and are often called Christian despite their blatantly occult teachings.</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l12 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>The market-driven church, turning the Church into a business (Druckerism) and pastors into business managers and change agents. The main part of the Meltdown is the market-driven church.<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn5" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[v]</span></span></a></span> </p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l12 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>Being “cool.” Straight people aren’t seen as creative; they’re boring, they aren’t free, etc. This is just another aspect of Romanticism. Examples include leaders like Shane Claiborne, Mark Driscoll, and Donald Miller.</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l12 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>Politically conservative Evangelical leaders becoming involved with and supporting political conservatives who are not Christian (e.g., Glenn Beck, a Mormon).<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn6" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[vi]</span></span></a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Of course there are other areas as well, but the point of this article is to emphasize the insidious influence of Romanticism, a less-known phenomenon that is of great importance in the battle. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Rationalism followed by Romanticism</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Today’s assaults on Evangelicalism represent a mixture of two elements. First, the same attack of Rationalism that occurred in the early 20<sup>th</sup> century during the <a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/010/nathan/meltdown-1.htm">Liberal-Modernist Controversy</a> is still at work. Now, however, it is combined with a basic theological shift that began about 1950 and was strongly underway by the 1960s.<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn7" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[vii]</span></span></a></span> This shift is from Word-centered to image/mythology-centered Christianity, or <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Christianized Romanticism</b>, and today it is in full bloom.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">The changing view toward Scripture. </b>At the heart of the various contemporary assaults is the view toward Scripture. The focus upon the inerrant Word of God used to be one of the key definitions of being an Evangelical, but many Evangelicals are not focusing upon it the way they used to. Rather, their focus is upon social issues, psychological health, church growth, and being culturally sophisticated. There is a tremendous emphasis upon providing entertainment and using the fast-shifting images and sound bites of the media. Christian pop culture “stars” have become big, their shows and sound systems replacing biblical preaching in many churches to the point of becoming idolatry-driven Christianity.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Liberalism, handmaiden to Romanticism. </b>The liberalism of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was a reaction to a flood of Rationalism that was completely destroying people’s faith in the Bible. Early liberalism (especially the work of <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/28309755/Schleiermacher-Dawn-of-Liberal-Theology">Friedrich Schleiermacher</a>) became a handmaiden to the promotion of Romanticism, for liberals tried to salvage faith by removing people’s dependence upon the authority of the Bible and placing it upon inner feeling states, intuitions, etc. As a result, instead of Rationalism, now the flood is a flood of idolatry and imaginative paganism. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><br /></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Life and doctrine. </b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><br /></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in">“Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Timothy 4:16)<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="color:black"> <span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn8" name="_ednref" title=""><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[viii]</span></a></span></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><br /></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">During the First Meltdown, the main attack upon the Church was an attack upon doctrine; later it led to an attack upon Christian <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">life</i>, or how we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">live out</i> our faith. During the Second Meltdown, the attack is upon Christian life (which of course leads to an attack upon doctrine, i.e., Rick Warren’s “Deeds not creeds.”). You can see this degeneration of Christian life everywhere from the vulgar obscenities popular in many modern preaching styles to casually worn provocative clothing to the emphasis upon entertainment in church services. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:red"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Enchantment with mythology. </b>You could say that the weakness of the Evangelicals in the First Meltdown was their enchantment with science and reason while the weakness of many Evangelicals in the Second Meltdown today is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">enchantment with mythology</i>.</b><span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn9" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[ix]</span></span></a></span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">What does this mean? The Bible is quite clear what our attitude towards myths should be:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in">“As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">or to devote themselves to myths</b> and endless genealogies.” (1 Timothy 1:4)</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in">“For the time will come when people 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. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths</b>.” (2 Timothy 4:4)</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">That time has come. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Christian Mythmakers, </i>Rolland Hein, professor emeritus at Wheaton College (often viewed as the “Harvard of Evangelicalism”), says, “Myth is necessary because reality is so much larger than rationality. Not that myth is irrational but that it easily accommodates the rational while rising above it.” That’s not all. He also says, “Myth is a lane down which we walk in order to repossess our soul …”<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn10" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[x]</span></span></a></span> Hein is a George MacDonald scholar and an enthusiastic promoter of “Christian” mythmaking who is very positive about mythology. His book highlights the works of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, George MacDonald, and Madeline L’Engle, along with those of other mythmakers.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Unfortunately, many Evangelical theologians, preachers, and teachers who are supposed to be shaped by biblical teaching are embracing such mythology that the Bible calls evil. Later in this article we will look at the practices of some current popular teachers.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It’s a foolish thing to disregard the Bible’s warnings about the damage that can occur when we ignore doctrine. But perhaps you’re thinking, “So what? Granted, the Bible is against mythology, but, after all, they’re just stories, and Jesus told stories. They don’t do any harm—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">they’re just fiction.” <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="color:black">But mythological fiction is not just entertainment;</span></b></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="color:black"> its power and danger lie in the fact that it draws readers into a worldview with another gospel and shapes their minds. </span></b><span style="color:black">It embraces the soul and the imagination. It teaches. And appearing as Christian, it can fool many. Look at how our children are swept up in it.<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id: edn" href="#_edn11" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[xi]</span></span></a></span></span><span style="color:red"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Let me tell you a little about some of the harm I’ve seen personally. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Many modern sermons often include positive references to, or quotes from, Tolkien’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Lord of the Rings</i> or from C. S. Lewis’ literary works, which engender a pagan worldview. (See <a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/nathan-index.htm">our other articles</a>.) Besides living in San Francisco through the Sixties and personally experiencing the power of Romantic literature’s connection with the occult, I’ve also seen countless young people over the years succumbing to this darkness. They’ve tattooed themselves with runes from reading Romantic literature, delved into magic and countless dark areas, and practiced witchcraft. Many are ending up deranged. Especially troublesome was a talk I heard on the Internet by one Evangelical minister about how he had been reading Harry Potter regularly to his five-year-old daughter until she finally asked him to stop because it was scaring her. I also heard one mental patient say to another, “I stopped reading Harry Potter because it got too dark.” Yet some Christians are actually defending these kinds of works.<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id: edn" href="#_edn12" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[xii]</span></span></a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Mythology isn’t the same as Bug Bunny. Whether considered good or evil, mythologies are powerful, as the Bible’s warnings testify. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>“Okay,” you may say, “I admit that some of this might be a problem. But is it really serious enough to say that Evangelicalism is ‘melting down’?” </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Yes, it definitely is. The Second Great Evangelical Meltdown is visible to most Christians concerned with the true Gospel. Countless Christians are complaining that they can’t find a church that preaches the Bible or a seminary or a Bible school that isn’t replacing the Bible with spiritual formation programs, mysticism, and psychology.<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id: edn" href="#_edn13" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[xiii]</span></span></a></span> Look around at the powerful influence of the Emergent Church movement, at the floods of paganism and immorality appearing not only in our culture but among <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Christians</i>. Many have lost their way. And we are losing our children to the pagan culture. Drugs, sexual immorality, and the occult are immensely popular among Evangelical youth. I have worked in a psychiatric crisis unit for almost twenty years and frequently see the results of this disaster in the lives of young people from Christian homes. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:red"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The assault of Romanticism upon the Church is especially effective because it can hide in the folds of certain kinds of Christianity. That is because it emphasizes certain kinds of spirituality—approaches involving mysticism and the imagination that are enormously popular today. It is also similar to certain movements in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance that many people are reviving in their attempts to be inclusive in our age of Evangelical ecumenism.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The spirit of Romanticism is sweeping the Evangelical world.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""> </i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><br /></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Contemplative spirituality. </b>One major assault is coming through the enormously popular technique of <a href="http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/">contemplative spirituality and the spiritual formation movement</a>. Its proponents basically believe that this approach mystically unites Christians with each other <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">and with other religions. </i>They focus upon visions, mandalas, continually repeated phrases (maybe from the Bible or some other religious text), chanting, etc. in order to enter what they call “the Silence,” a passive trance-like state akin to self-hypnosis. The term used among Evangelicals for one type of contemplative practice is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">lectio divina, </i>which involves chanting a Scripture verse repeatedly<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">. </i>Richard Foster’s visualization techniques (called active imagination) are very popular. This area blends into the counseling movement because visualization, along with “Christian” yoga, is part of popular contemporary occult therapy.<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn14" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[xiv]</span></span></a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">There is a big difference between contemplating the Word of God as a series of words and viewing it as the vehicle of the truths God is speaking to us. Yet this unbiblical mystical method of contemplative prayer is sweeping the once-Evangelical world. People use it thinking it will strengthen the Church, but it actually weakens it because of its self-focus and the fact that it trains people to look for salvation from within. It also opens the door for occultic influences and is the same method used by witches to contact spirit guides. (We speak from personal experience.)<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id: edn" href="#_edn15" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[xv]</span></span></a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Marxism. </b>A similarity of this Second Meltdown to the First Meltdown is that the truth gap allows Marxist ideas to enter under the guise of social justice. Thus, you get Evangelical youth leaders making the same kinds of erroneous statements as Marxist radicals in the 1960s did, such as accusing the United States of being the absolute worst purveyor of violence in the world, etc. You can hear these kinds of statements from one very popular leader of today’s Christian youth, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Shane Claiborne</b>.<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id: edn" href="#_edn16" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[xvi]</span></span></a></span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Promotion of the drug culture and the occult. </b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><br /></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">The connection between Romanticism, the drug culture, and the occult is very strong. Along with drugs, an enormous amount of occultic concepts and techniques have been flooding our culture since the Sixties. These influences appear nowadays in everything from “Christian” yoga and martial arts</span><span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn17" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[xvii]</span></span></a></span> <span style="color:black">to a huge influx of the occult and fantasy in “Christian” literature<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn18" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xviii]</span></span></a></span> to Buddhist therapy in mental hospitals.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><br /></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Many Christians try to spread the Gospel by uniting intense, emotional images of drug-like experiences (i.e., a type of Romanticism) with what is supposed to be a Gospel outreach. I think it must often end up converting the youth ministers to paganism rather than converting the pagans to Christians. Some rock bands especially do this. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Donald Miller’s</b> popular book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Blue Like Jazz</i>, which has been sweeping the Evangelical world, and especially its youth, for years, basically portrays the pagan drug culture as much more free, attractive, and creative than that of conservative Evangelical Christianity.<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn19" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xix]</span></span></a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Another illustration is the similarity of some of the writings of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Charles Williams</b><span style="color:red"> </span>(a close friend of C. S. Lewis) to LSD experiences. His novel,<span style="color:red"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Greater Trumps, </i>for example, depicts the Tarot cards as a channel for Christ—the same Tarot cards we used in the Sixties for divination. In fact, unbelievably, some Evangelicals are actually using the Tarot cards as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">ministry tools</i> to New Agers.<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn20" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[xx]</span></span></a></span> Influential biblical apologist <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">John Warwick Montgomery<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn21" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xxi]</span></span></a></span></b> teaches that you can profitably view the Tarot cards from a Christian perspective and basically use the techniques of divination if you use them for the “right purpose.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"> <span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn22" name="_ednref" title=""><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[xxii]</span></a></span></span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">The Emergent Church. </b>Part of today’s rebirth of Romanticism is appearing in the form of a flood of rebelliousness masquerading as a new wave of Christian freedom and spirituality that is especially apparent in the Emergent Church movement and through the <span style="color:black">writings of such authors as Brian McLaren. Its rejection of God’s Word provides an open door for the occult and other unbiblical approaches. Interestingly, they are also using the same scholars as the Evangelicals do—C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, and Henri Nouwen. Because of its theological content and flavor, the movement can seem somewhat Christian. Nevertheless, its true base is paganism and syncretism. They don’t realize how revolutionary and pagan Romanticism is. Its traditions go back to paganism and led to Nazi Germany. That’s what’s moving in the Emergent Church.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"> </b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="color: black;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="color:black"><br /></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">What is considered “postmodernism” today was just normal counterculture life in the Sixties. That period was an explosion of Romanticism, kindled by Tolkien’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Lord of the Rings</i> combined with LSD, the occult, and the mystical teachings of such men as Aldous Huxley, Alan Watts, and Timothy Leary, along with the political Marxism and moral radicalism in the universities and colleges. Talking to trees seemed normal then. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">The Emergent Church movement seems like an almost exact replica of Haight-Ashbury thinking and practice</b>—the couches, the coffeehouses, the incense and candles, the chanting, the light shows, the rock and acid rock music. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Déjà vu. </i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="color: black;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="color:black"><br /></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Both postmodernism and Romanticism are types of worldliness, even though some Christian leaders are seeing Romanticism as an antidote to postmodernism. However, there are different factors at work, and there is a different balance of the types of worldliness in each. The First Meltdown was a more rationalistic worldliness; in the Second Meltdown, it’s a more Romantic worldliness. In the First, the Church wanted to look rational and acceptable to the culture. In the Second, the Church wants to look wise and cultured. Both concern pride and wanting to be acceptable.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:red"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It is becoming increasingly difficult to find a church that preaches the Gospel faithfully. There are numerous churches with all types of small groups based mainly upon psychological methods, and churches that contribute to the social good but don’t want to preach from the Bible or spread the Gospel. They ignore the whole counsel of God, avoiding talking about hell, wrath, and judgment. This affliction is enormously widespread these days. Many, many churches are turning to gimmicks to increase numbers. The Emergent Church elevates experiences to the same level as revelation and truth—creating the very mythology the Bible warns against. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">‘Reformed’ Romanticism: “Rock solid” but unholy.<span style="color:red"> </span></b>Another example of the corrupting influence of Romanticism<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"> </b>is appearing in a movement referred to as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">the Resurgence</b>.<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn23" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xxiii]</span></span></a></span> Its purpose is to promote the Gospel with a Calvinist style. Yet many of its leaders (including Al Mohler, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, CJ Mahaney, and Tim Keller) are promoting paganism through their enthusiasm for C. S. Lewis, and some are even supporting Henri Nouwen. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This corrupting influence shows in subtle and sometimes not so subtle ways. The greatest symptom that something is wrong is their support of Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Driscoll, one of its leading members, acts like a stand-up dirty comedian, frequently resorting to foul and abusive language and coarse discussions about sexuality. He is a prime example of trying to win people by acting ultra-cool.<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn24" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[xxiv]</span></span></a></span> Traditional Calvinists, with their emphasis on holiness, never would have allowed this. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Clearly, there is some blindness among its very idealistic leaders. With their biblical foundation they should know better, yet they support Driscoll and his shock-jock tactics by refusing to distance themselves from him because he supposedly offers “Reform preaching” (although not all support Driscoll the same way). This is a clear example of the degeneration of Christian morality resulting from life being separated from doctrine. They are willing to overlook gross examples of behavior in order to promote their view that Reform doctrine is all that matters—or, as John Piper says, is “rock solid.” Their message appears to be: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">“I will not compromise with the world on my doctrine, but I will compromise with my life.”</i> Yet Scripture is clear what our stand should be:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in">“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Therefore do not be partners with them.</b>” (Ephesians 5:3–7)</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Although they are truly seeking to renew the church in a Gospel way, these undiscerned problems expose some built-in weaknesses. A more discerning reading of history could greatly help, as ignorance of Romanticism and its effects is blindsiding many leaders today.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">There is a lot more to say about this movement, but there isn’t room to go into it here. I only bring up the issue of the Resurgence now to show the manifestation of the blindness to Romanticism among even those leaders that are trying to promote the Gospel. I hope to discuss other symptoms in the future. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Where are the heroes?</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><br /></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">These are but a few influential examples of the way the spirit of Romanticism is sweeping the contemporary Evangelical world. Where are the strong voices speaking out against it? On the contrary, many leaders are succumbing to worldliness when they should be depending upon the Holy Spirit.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:40.5pt;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">“It is that evangelicals, while commonly retaining the same set of beliefs, have been tempted to seek success in ways which the New Testament identifies as ‘worldliness’. Worldliness is departing from God. It is a man-centred way of thinking; it proposes objectives which demand no radical breach with man’s fallen nature; it judges the importance of things by the present and material results; it weighs success by numbers; it covets human esteem and wants no unpopularity; it knows no truth for which it is worth suffering; it declines to be a ‘fool for Christ’s sake’. Worldliness is the mind-set of the unregenerate. It adopts idols and is at war with God.”<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn25" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[xxv]</span></span></a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Many Christians enthusiastically assume that there’s a revival going on, but in reality Evangelicalism is extremely divided and fragmented and appears to be growing weaker.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Dr. Ian Murray’s incisive book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Evangelicalism Divided: A Record of Crucial Change in the Years 1950 to 2000, </i>spares no quarter in its excellent overview of conflicts in Evangelicalism. He discusses how often such leading Evangelicals as Billy Graham, J. I. Packer, and John Stott, among others, have succumbed to worldly methods that have compromised the preaching of the Gospel. For instance, “Keeping a customary eye for maximum public impact and ‘trying always for the largest possible crowds’ was a settled part of the Billy Graham Association’s strategy.” Yet, ironically, the optimism over filling churches turned out to be an illusion for later research revealed “’the main impact [of the crusades] was among already sympathetic church members.’”<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn26" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[xxvi]</span></span></a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Murray lists many more examples, showing how the way that some Evangelicals are elevating ecumenical relationships and seeking popularity allows manipulation to replace preaching the truth.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Today’s church growth movement echoes this attempt to imitate a true Holy Spirit awakening through the use of publicity. People are trying to initiate renewal through worldly means and a wrong spirit. Mark Driscoll is a perfect example; he hungers for publicity, even to the point of broadcasting himself on the Internet cursing. He is a powerful example of that weakness that runs through Neo-evangelical attempts at renewal.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">All of the above elements and many others are coalescing today into a broad, influential, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">and frequently invisible</i> movement. I believe that the lack of many apologetics ministries to address these problems is due in part to the great prestige of some contemporary leaders, such as C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, and J. R. R. Tolkien. It seems that once leaders reach a certain “legendary” status, mere mortals fear to criticize them.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">During the First Meltdown many major leaders, especially Dr. J. Gresham Machen, recognized the Church’s main problem at that time, which was the alien religion of liberalism. But it seems like most Evangelical leaders today are rather blind to what’s happening during this Second Meltdown. Some recognize some parts of it but are blind to other parts and end up advocating things that are really destructive to their ministries. Albert Mohler is a good example. While he has done a wonderful job defending biblical inerrancy and turning around Southern Baptist Seminary, his radio program consistently promoted Romanticism while it was on the air.<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn27" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[xxvii]</span></span></a></span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Another example is Dr. Peter Jones, whose <a href="http://www.truthxchange.com/">ministry</a> focuses upon reaching a pagan culture. He hosted a conference to deal with the problem of Romanticism, yet some of its speakers praised C. S. Lewis.<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn28" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[xxviii]</span></span></a></span> <a href="http://apprising.org/2009/11/06/peter-jones-of-truthxchange-and-mark-driscoll-of-the-resurgence-announce-joint-conference/">Dr. Jones also has joined with Mark Driscoll</a> in ministry. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Few contemporary leaders seem to see the bigger picture. Dr. Ian Murray is one of the few who do, yet he’s neither a major leader nor that well known in the United States (he’s British). Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones pointed to some of these problems before his death in the 1980s. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">History’s sad lessons. </b>Many leaders during the First Meltdown adopted certain strategies to deal with liberal Christianity that weakened Evangelicalism, and many leaders during the Second Meltdown are doing the same. In the First Meltdown pastors became psychologists; in the Second Meltdown pastors are becoming business managers (or “change agents”), following Peter Drucker’s manipulative management style. And their guide for living is just as soon a leadership text as the Bible. They are also becoming spiritual formation counselors that are introducing their flocks to mysticism. And shock jocks promoting a false, worldly freedom.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"> </b>Many <a href="http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/PressReleasemarhc252005.htm">major figures</a> are also embracing and promoting New Age and Romantic leaders these days. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The destructive results of the strategies embraced during the First Great Meltdown are clearly visible in the shrinking and weakening of the churches that shifted to liberalism. Today the insidious influence of Romanticism is weakening and fragmenting Evangelicalism to the point where “Evangelicalism is being redefined, reimagined and reinvented.”<span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_edn29" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character:footnote">[xxix]</span></span></a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Let us take warning from the Bible and from church history that we should be extremely careful about loving the world and embracing its ways of thinking and acting. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in">“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” (James 4:4)</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in">“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. <sup>16</sup> For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:15–17) </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in">“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces<sup> </sup>of this world rather than on Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;color:black">Conclusion</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="color: black;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="color:black"><br /></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in">“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. <sup>1</sup>Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” (Ephesians 5:15–16)</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in">“For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 Corinthians 1:5)</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In conclusion, Romanticism as it is operating in the Body of Christ today is a largely unrecognized, undiscerned stream of great negative influence that is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">disguised by its popularity</i>. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><br /></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I’m not condemning all of Evangelicalism and saying it’s no use trying for unity, but a very destructive false unity is operating. There needs to be a true unity based on the Gospel and Scripture and a discerning theology rather than a worldly theology.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><br /></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In our attempts to expose and resist its influence, I don’t want my readers to:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l7 level1 lfo8"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>Hide in a fearful ghetto mentality </p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l7 level1 lfo8"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>Reject education and intellectual effort</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l7 level1 lfo8"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>Reject art, literature, and history</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l7 level1 lfo8"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>Fear uncharted realms</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l7 level1 lfo8"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>Feel they must operate in a rigid religious system that can only exist in a very enclosed environment.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">But, on the other hand, let’s not:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l8 level1 lfo9"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>Exalt education to the point of idolatry or seek the acceptance of the world</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l8 level1 lfo9"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>Follow Christian leaders blindly or accept any form of leadership without using discernment and differentiation. The Bible commands us to grow in the discernment of good and evil.</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l8 level1 lfo9"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>Ignore the fact that the Church has a history. In fact, we desperately need much more understanding of that history in order to avoid the pitfalls all around us.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="color:black">Can the Meltdown be stopped or reversed? </span></b><span style="color:black">It would be very easy to just say, well, the end is at hand. This is the Great Apostasy. While it’s very hard to predict the future, we can look to the past to see if there have been restorations—and there have been. For instance, the First Great Awakening was certainly a restoration. Things were very bad in Colonial America. Drunkenness, immorality, and skepticism were prevalent. Yet God moved sovereignly in a mighty way. The Holy Spirit is the corrector, the reviver, of the Church. He is in charge.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Has prayer lost its effectiveness? Are the Word and the Holy Spirit so weak that we must turn to worldly methods to promote the Gospel, which Paul calls “the power of God unto salvation”? Why are we turning elsewhere than the Bible for wisdom? </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">What a time to pray! Let us pray that God will open the eyes of our leaders and raise others with the wisdom to see these things and the strength to stand and to walk in obedience to God’s Word. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">The Church needs both revival and reformation.</b> Revival is an awakening and convicting by the Holy Spirit—a sovereign outpouring, a shaking. Along with revival, reformation also involves a transformation: an awakening of the mind and an embrace of the truth of Christ—especially the truth of the Gospel. A biblical reformation is essential. But both come from God.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Let us not lose heart but repent and pray for both.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center">Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,<br /> that the mountains would tremble before you!<br /><sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>As when fire sets twigs ablaze<br /> and causes water to boil,<br />come down to make your name known to your enemies<br /> and cause the nations to quake before you!<br /><sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,<br /> you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.<br /><sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Since ancient times no one has heard,<br /> no ear has perceived,<br />no eye has seen any God besides you,<br /> who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center">—Isaiah 64:1–4<span style="color:black"></span></p> <div style="mso-element:endnote-list"><br /> <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%"> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn1" title=""></a> </p> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Endnotes</b></p> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"> </p> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[i]</span></span> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">See footnote (vi) in </span><a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/010/nathan/meltdown-2.htm"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Part II</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"> of “The Second Great Evangelical Meltdown.”</span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[ii]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">See </span><a href="http://www.faithalone.org/journal/1997ii/Caddock.html"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">“What is Contemplative Spirituality and Why is It Dangerous? A Review of Brennan Manning’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Signature of Jesus</i>”</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"> by John Caddock for a good discussion of this issue. </span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[iii]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">See <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Spiritual Junk Food: The Dumbing Down of Christian Youth</i> by Cathy Mickels and Audrey McKeever. (Pleasant Word, 2002). A well-documented presentation of how "pop" psychological concepts have infiltrated Christian youth groups all across the country. John MacArthur calls it "A much needed wake-up call for parents and youth leaders." Of course, since this was written, youth ministries have been inundated with mysticism, especially through such influences as Zondervan’s Youth Specialties.</span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[iv]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">For an example, see: </span><a href="http://covenant-theology.blogspot.com/2009/04/mark-driscoll-and-sex-driven-church.html"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">“Mark Driscoll and the Sex-Driven Church.”</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"></span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoNormal"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[v]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">David Wells clearly discusses this issue in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Above All Earthly Pow’rs: Christ in a Postmodern World</i>, in the chapter “Mega-churches, paradigm shifts, and the new spiritual quest.” (Eerdmans, 2005).</span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[vi]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">See </span><a href="http://theexpositor.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/evangelicals-unite-with-glenn-beck%E2%80%99s-new-age-mormonism/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">“Evangelicals Unite with Glenn Beck’s Mormonism.”</span></a></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn7" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[vii]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Herrick, James A. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Making of the New Spirituality: The Eclipse of the Western Religious Tradition</i>. (Downers Grover, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003). Herrick chronicles the development of Western religious thought and life that are at the root of much ‘modern spirituality’. As the endorsement on the back by James W. Sire states, “The dominant god today is the cosmic spirit embodied in the self.”</span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn8" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[viii]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.</span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn9" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[ix]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Herrick’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Making of the New Spirituality</i> has documented the historical movements that transformed the popular view of the Bible over the past three hundred years into that of a mythical document instead of an historical one.</span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn10" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[x]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Hein, Rolland. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Christian Mythmakers. </i>(Chicago: Cornerstone Press Chicago, 2002, 2<sup>nd</sup> ed.) Quotes from pp. x, xi, xiii, respectively.</span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn11" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xi]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">See our article on “edgy” and Romantic “Christian” fiction, </span><a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/007/nathan-fiction.htm"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">“Children of the Inklings: Emergent ‘Christian’ Fiction.”</span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Also, here is an excellent article on the subject: </span><a href="http://pastordanielcox.com/2011/02/09/is-harry-potter-or-twilight-something-a-christian-can-support-scripturally/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">“Is Harry Potter or Twilight Something a Christian Can Support Scripturally?”</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"></span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn12" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xii]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">See </span><a href="http://www.crossroad.to/text/articles/Harry&Witchcraft.htm"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">“Harry Potter Lures Kids to Witchcraft w</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:18.0pt">ith Praise from Christian Leaders”</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:18.0pt"> by Berit Kjos for one example</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">. Another is </span><a href="http://harrypotter.savvy-cafe.com/harry-potter-and-the-views-of-his-christian-community-supporters-2007-03-20/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">“Harry Potter and the Views of His Christian Community Supporters.”</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"></span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn13" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xiii]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Lighthouse Trails Publishing’s </span><a href="http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">research website</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"> is doing a fine job documenting this shift.</span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn14" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xiv]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">We have written several booklets on these topics, “Visualization, Imagination & the Christian” and “The Christian and Yoga,” available </span><a href="http://www.logosword.com/pub_orders.htm"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">here</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">.</span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn15" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xv]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Lighthouse Trails’ </span><a href="http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">research website</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"> provides an excellent definition of contemplative spirituality and spiritual formation along with numerous contemporary examples.</span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn16" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xvi]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">See his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical</i> (Zondervan, 2006).</span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn17" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xvii]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">See </span><a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/karate.htm"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">“Your Child and the Martial Arts”</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"> by Linda Nathan, as well as </span><a href="http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/BookDetail.aspx?Book=233818"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">The Dark Side of Karate</span></i></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"> by Linda Nathan and Tonie Gatlin (Authorhouse, 2004).</span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn18" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xviii]</span></span></a> <a href="http://www.marcherlordpress.com/our_story.html"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Marcher Lord Press</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">, founded by Christy Award-winning editor Jeff Gerke, states as its purpose: “Marcher Lord Press is the premier publisher of Christian speculative fiction. Whether it's fantasy you love, or science fiction, time travel, chillers, supernatural thrillers, alternate history, spiritual warfare, superhero, vampire, or technothriller—if it's speculative and it comes from the Christian worldview, Marcher Lord Press is your publisher.” </span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn19" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xix]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">See my article, </span><a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/08/nathan/green_like_envy.htm"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">“Green Like Envy: An Ex-pagan Looks at <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Blue Like Jazz</i>.”</span></a></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn20" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xx]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">E.g., John Mark Ministries at http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/13596.htm</span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn21" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xxi]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Montgomery has 11 degrees in various disciplines and focuses on apologetics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Warwick_Montgomery</span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn22" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xxii]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">In his book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Principalities and Powers </i>(Minneapolis, MN: Bethany Fellowship, 1973)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">, </i>Montgomery claims that writers “such as T. S. Eliot (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Waste Land</i>) and Charles Williams (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Greater Trumps</i>) have employed its imagery so effectively both in describing the lostness of the human condition and the Christian redemptive solution” (p. 131). He states, “Because the cards are so potent symbolically, they are also most dangerous when misused or perverted.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Misused? Perverted? </i>They are already dangerous occult techniques and should never be used at all. </span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn23" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xxiii]</span></span></a> <a href="http://www.equip.org/articles/reformed-theology-resurgence"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">This website</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"> (CRI) offers a good overview of the Resurgence movement and its focus on Calvinist doctrine, but it fails to critique its leaders’ support of ungodliness. </span><a href="http://peterlumpkins.typepad.com/peter_lumpkins/2009/02/mark-driscoll-sex-education.html"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">This website</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"> and </span><a href="http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/56609176.html"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">this website</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"> detail some of the problems with Driscoll that poison the Resurgence movement.</span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn24" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xxiv]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Check out these articles for a start: </span><a href="http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/56609176.html"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">“Sexpert Pastor Mark Driscoll is Told ‘Enough is Enough’</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"> and </span><a href="http://defendingcontending.com/2008/09/27/john-macarthur-on-mark-driscoll/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">“John MacArthur on Mark Driscoll.”</span></a></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn25" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xxv]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Murray, Ian. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Evangelicalism Divided: A Record of Crucial Change in the Years 1950 to 2000. </i>(Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2000), p. 255.</span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn26" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xxvi]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Murray, pp. 58–59. </span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoNormal"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn27" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xxvii]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">One example of this is that on 9/4/09 Dr. Mohler bewailed the intrusion of mythological thinking into current views of the Bible. Yet on 7/31/09, his guest host, Dr. Russell Moore, the dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Seminary, had explained how he incorporates Tolkien’s stories into his devotional times with his children. I’m sure Dr. Moore doesn’t realize that he’s giving them mythology. Tolkien viewed it as mythology; Lewis viewed it as mythology; and both men considered mythology divine revelation. </span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn28" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xxviii]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Unfortunately, I can no longer find the MP3s from this conference on the Internet. It took place several years ago.<br /></span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:endnote" id="edn"> <p class="MsoNormal"><a style="mso-endnote-id:edn" href="#_ednref" name="_edn29" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote">[xxix]</span></span></a> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">See Lighthouse Trails Publishing’s older but excellent </span><a href="http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/PressReleasemarhc252005.htm"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">article</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"> on this. </span><a href="http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Lighthouse Trails Research Website</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"> is nearly alone in following all of these things, reporting publicly on them, and trying to call leaders to account. They came out of nowhere to take a stand. </span></p> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"> </p><br /></div> </div>Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-10475254750839651582010-11-15T19:02:00.000-08:002010-11-16T12:07:10.391-08:00The Second Great Evangelical Meltdown - Part II<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">The False Picture:</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Unmasking “Postmodernism” </span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Meltdown Series:</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This article is the second in a series about ongoing sea changes in Evangelicalism today. The series utilizes Scripture and church history in an attempt to clarify those issues that are tending to weaken, break down, and misdirect Evangelicalism. Even though the effects are obvious, the forces behind these changes are not. </span><br /><br />"My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments." Colossians 2:2–4<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Introduction</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>The last article in this series laid a basic groundwork for understanding the current state of Evangelicalism. Many Christian leaders are saying that the crisis in Evangelicalism is the rising up of a new factor called postmodernism. This postmodern challenge is the reason they give for why the Church has to change and become more like the world. This article addresses that view and shows how it really misses the mark.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">Pop Postmodernism<br /></div><br />Nowadays the concept of “postmodernism” is in the air. It’s become almost a mantra to say something like “We’re entering a new period of culture surpassingly different from anything that came before.” Everyone talks about it, but any attempt to define it is an exercise in futility because postmodernism as a movement actually opposes definition. It’s like trying to define the indefinable (or trying to describe a doughnut hole)—yet ironically scholars use the term all the time.<br /><br />Many intellectuals and some church leaders are saying that a word like “truth” that is supposed to apply in all times and in all ways is basically a way of thinking that is a product of the Enlightenment.<span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >(i)</span> I intend to show that this is a distortion of the Bible and of history.<br /><br />In actual fact, the concept of postmodernism is a faddish way of thinking and a kind of cartoon picture of history—a Marxist cartoon.<br /><br />Here’s why.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">First of all, the hidden heart of the concept of postmodernism is Marxism, which has always had a materialistic-historical focus that evaluates history on the basis of economics, technology, and class struggle.</span> This will become clear as I explain the idea and influence of deconstructionism a little later.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Second, postmoderns say that all learning and knowledge are culture-bound. </span>They describe the Enlightenment period as focused upon Rationalism,<span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >(ii)</span> where abstract universal terms like “mankind,” “freedom,” etc. were used to explain reality. Postmoderns assume that these terms have a built-in limitation because they supposedly refer to everyone rather than to specific cultures, classes, groups, etc. Thus they think there could be no such thing as a universal guilt or salvation because that doesn’t take into account the individual or separate groups. But these abstract terms were not just products of the Enlightenment for the Bible used such terms over seventeen hundred years before the Enlightenment: “God is love.” “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” “The fool says in his heart there is no God.”<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Third, postmodernists believe that twentieth century churches, and especially Protestant churches, adopted the Enlightenment emphasis upon technical and linear thinking.</span> One of the ways postmodernists say that this occurred was through a focus upon systematic theology and the idea of the inerrancy of Scripture. But, again, this is a distortion of history, first of all, because the emphasis on systematic theology among Protestants started in the sixteenth century and not in the twentieth. And, second, because the belief in the inerrancy of Scripture goes all the way back to Christ.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fourth, postmoderns claim that this Enlightenment (or modernist) worldview began breaking down in the twentieth century.</span> According to postmoderns, the breakdown of modernism came from many places: Einstein’s theories of relativity; the vast increase in the knowledge of and contact with other cultures; the worldwide Web; the growing revulsion of younger people for the consumer society; the rebellion of the Sixties and the rise of the counterculture, and so on. Young people became more “hip,” rejecting modernism while their parents continued to accept it. They focused instead on the organic v. the mechanical; they yearned for communities and turned away from the mega-churches to smaller, highly relational church communities. They turned away from evangelism and missionary work to the false “missional” idea of finding Christ in all cultures. Postmodern Christian thinking generally dismisses the doctrines of Heaven and Hell and focuses instead upon living life here and now as the most important aspect of Christianity.<br /><br />Just to clarify, I’m not saying that all this is true; I’m just saying this is how postmoderns analyze the historical situation. Bear with me as I explain how this postmodern view of reality is really inaccurate and acts to deceive people into viewing the struggles of modern Christians in a worldly and unhistorical light rather than in a biblical light. Today we are seeing the results of this worldly thinking that the Church is accepting, but many Christian scholars and church leaders do not see the underlying deception and worldly assumptions that are, as the Bible says, trying to squeeze them into their shape. Working on these assumptions, people like Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, and others are saying that the Church must become postmodern to appeal to these new postmodern, mainly young, Christians.<br /><br />The following two sections on political correctness and deconstructionism show in some detail the Marxist character of these false teachings.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Political Correctness</span> </div><br />“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).<br /><br />Political correctness is a major factor in our society today that reveals the tyrannical influence of postmodernism with its underlying Marxist philosophy. If you work, for instance, in social services, in government, in education, or in any number of fields, you will undoubtedly find that you must speak a certain way or you will be attacked—you might even lose your job. For example, it is politically incorrect to view homosexual relationships negatively. Example from life: An office worker brings in a shirt proclaiming the joys of the homosexual lifestyle. A Christian in the office objects and is called on the carpet for her protest even though she wouldn’t be allowed to wear a tee shirt proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord. She might even have to take “sensitivity training.” This extends even to the kindergarten level where children have been forced not to share Jesus in their drawings or even allowed to use words like “mother” and “father.” This is especially rampant in California. Thousands of similar examples exist today.<br /><br />This practice derives from totalitarian countries where the government seeks control not only of the way people act, but of the way they talk and think. It is a tool of totalitarianism (think the book <span style="font-style: italic;">1984</span>), and, sad to say, our government is tending to support this practice under the guise of being fair and tolerant. It often requires using words as euphemisms to diminish the power of the word, for example, “terminating a fetus” instead of killing a baby.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Deconstructionism and the Bible</span><br /></div><br />“Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” Galatians 1:7–8<br /><br />Probably most people wouldn’t be interested in learning about postmodernism. And even less about a word like deconstructionism. (No, it doesn’t have anything to do with the building industry.) The reason that understanding these terms is important for the Christian in the pew is that this is what seminaries and graduate schools are teaching your church leaders. And it is affecting your life in ways you can’t imagine.<br /><br />One example is the role of niche music in the church, such as hip-hop. Rick Warren boldly declared how he went around their neighborhood and asked people what kind of music they liked and then he had that in his new church. In other words, the congregation and their felt needs created the teaching and worship strategies.<br /><br />Some churches de-emphasize preaching because, they say, although it would be fine for people during the 1850s to the 1950s, it “doesn’t work” for “postmoderns” because it’s built on “another culture.” Another example is the way Brian McLaren talks about the blood atonement. He says it only makes sense in the context of Roman-occupied Judea. The acceptance of homosexuality by many churches is yet another example. A teaching exists that in Bible times people needed big families so they condemned homosexuals who didn’t have children. Thus, in that cultural context homosexuality was bad. But in this age, the Church has to drop its biblical attitude because we’re in a “new cultural context” of population overgrowth that makes homosexuality “acceptable.”<br /><br />Enough said.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Deconstructionism involves a philosophy and techniques borrowed to a great extent from Marxist thinking. </span><br /><br />The term deconstruction was coined in the late 19th century, and it really means to dismantle or to destroy a structure. As applied to a literary work, the process is fiercely critical, intent upon destroying the author’s meaning and replacing it with something entirely different.<span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >(iii)</span> In academia it means to take apart a work of literature or a history or some kind of academic work to find out what it’s supposedly “really” saying. And what it’s really saying usually turns out to be something to do with Marxism. This process is not new. It began in the 1700s with the attack on the Bible as the Word of God.<br /><br />Many scholars in the 18th century, especially in Germany and France, used this acidic process of analysis to supposedly discover the “original intent” of manuscripts, but it really was a method of trying to destroy belief in the Bible as truth. This led to the rise of liberal Biblical scholarship in the form of a method called “Higher Criticism”<span style="font-size:78%;">(iv)</span>—a process clearly seen today in the “<a href="http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/jesussem.html">Jesus Seminar</a>,” which totally misuses and ignores the Bible. Proponents of this “Higher Criticism” came up with the following “assured results”: Four different people wrote the book of Isaiah, and four or five different people—and certainly not Moses—wrote the first five books of the Bible. Daniel could not have written the book of Daniel, and Paul could not have written First and Second Timothy.<span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >(v)</span><br /><br />The end result of this method is a famine of the Word and chaos.<br /><br />My article, “<a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/04/scandal-cross.htm">Recovering the Scandal of Liberalism: Disdaining the Cross,</a>” shows deconstructionism in action as “Evangelical” scholars launched a full-scale attack on the Gospel and the Bible at a popular pastors conference at Fuller Seminary in 2004, using a technique of devaluing Scripture that theological liberalism borrowed from Marxism. Writing in accordance with liberal political correctness (including the viewpoint of “Christian” feminism), they claimed that the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement gives people the impression that Jesus’ death on the Cross was some kind of “divine child abuse” by God the Father. They made sociology the touchstone of truth instead of the Word of God. They approached Scripture as if it is just historical writing full of errors and prejudice and not divinely inspired.<br /><br />Unfortunately, most mainline seminaries today have adopted these methods.<br /><br />This same process of deconstructionism—or destruction—is happening right now not only in our society but particularly among what used to be Bible-believing churches. Brian McLaren provides one of the most vivid examples. His stated goal is to “change everything.” And he uses this same kind of destructive analysis that developed in Germany to undermine the Bible in order to claim that Jesus didn’t come to give personal salvation, that He was a social revolutionary, and that somehow this is much closer to the truth than orthodox theology. This may not be terribly surprising in the worldly culture, but it’s tragic to see its growing influence among Christians and especially among those who call themselves Evangelical Christians.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stripping off the Mask of Postmodern Rhetoric</span><br /></div><br />Keep in mind that postmodernism is really just a philosophy. It’s not an objective analysis of history; it’s a philosophy of history seen through a particular lens. It’s a spin on history whose driving purpose is the acceptance of the Marxist worldview. For instance, it is fairly clear that the Civil War had to do with the problem of slavery. A Marxist would say though that it was really a class struggle where the Northern capitalists tried to eliminate the competition of the Southern system of slavery so they could further exploit the workers in the North, and that it had nothing to do with freeing the slaves or treating them like human beings. In the same way, the original postmodernists reduced everything to economic motives.<br /><br />By now it should be clear that the word “postmodern” does not effectively describe what is going on. It’s rather like a mirage. It gives one impression, but when you get close to it, you can see there are many different things happening than what the label actually describes. It’s important to understand this because false teachers like Brian McLaren are using this label and approach to truth to say that this is why the Church must change in response to the changes in our culture; it must be <span style="font-style: italic;">relevant</span>.<br /><br />That word <span style="font-style: italic;">relevant</span> was also extremely important in justifying unbiblical changes to the Church during the First Great Evangelical Meltdown. At that time, critics said the Church had to change because of the development of science and developing criticism of the Bible. In our time, critics say that the Church must change because the culture has changed—culture meaning the way people view art, life, politics, marriage, etc.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Actually, what people are calling postmodernism today is really a resurgence of a historical movement called Romanticism with a different label. </span>(Elsewhere I’ve written extensively on the rising tide of Romanticism in our time. See the list in the footnote.<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(vi)</span></span><br /><br />What is Romanticism?<br /><br />During the late 18th and early 19th centuries there was an upheaval of Romantic fervor combined with a revolutionary spirit, a love of art and poetry, and a love of rebellion, which flaunted the established morals and elevated the artists, writers, and poets as the true revolutionaries and the leading edge of a movement toward liberation. People felt like they needed liberation from both aristocratic society and church authority, which often supported the aristocrats. It was also a rebellion against moral restraint and indulgence in unmarried pagan sexuality, much as the Sixties was in our time. The Romantic Movement developed in opposition to the Rationalism of the Enlightenment by focusing on dreams, intuition, visions, fantasy, nature, mythology, fairy tales, the elevation of folk culture, and a love of paganism.<br /><br />Thus, Romanticism sounds exactly like what postmodernist thinkers are calling postmodernism today. Understanding Romanticism is difficult, and it’s hard to find another term to substitute for it. <span style="font-weight: bold;">A good description is “an exaltation of imagination and feeling as vehicles, or even the greatest vehicles, of truth.” </span>Future articles in this series will provide many examples in our times of the resurgence of Romantic thought and life and show how greatly it is affecting modern society and the modern Evangelical Church.<br /><br />This article emphasized that, in spite of much contemporary Christian activity and commitment of resources, the Church’s response to postmodernism is flaccid and ineffective. Why? Because the Church was already compromised.<br /><br />The next article in the Meltdown Series will discuss the reasons involved.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">END NOTES</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >(i)</span> <span style="font-size:85%;">“<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment">The Age of Enlightenment</a> (or simply the Enlightenment) is the era in Western philosophy and intellectual, scientific and cultural life, centered upon the eighteenth century, in which reason was advocated as the primary source for legitimacy and authority…. The ‘Enlightenment’ was not a single movement or school of thought, for these philosophies were often mutually contradictory or divergent. The Enlightenment was less a set of ideas than it was a set of values. At its core was a critical questioning of traditional institutions, customs, and morals, and a strong belief in rationality and science." It was also a period of the strong rejection of the authority of the Bible.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">(ii)</span> <span style="font-size:85%;">Rationalism is the view that reason is the controlling factor in knowing truth. In other words, human thinking is more important than Scriptural revelation.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >(iii)</span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructionism">Go here</a> for details. <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=Bnf&defl=en&q=define:deconstructionism&ei=DcbnStn6KYGcswPrx-mcBQ&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CAoQkAE">Go here</a> for a list of sites that define deconstructionism. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >(iv)</span> <span style="font-size:85%;">Jan Markell’s Olive Tree Ministries website has a 10/5/09 article called “Red Letter Christians: Neo-Marxism in the Church.” Vee, commenting about this article in his <a href="https://livingjourney.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/red-letter-christians-neo-marxism-in-the-church/">blog entry</a> by the same name dated 10/9/09, says, “And don’t think that this is not a political Christianity…During the latter part of the nineteenth century virtually all cardinal doctrines of the faith were challenged or denied by the growing liberalism (derived mostly from German Rationalism and Higher Criticism) which was threatening the Evangelical church. From the Godhead to the necessity for salvation to the existence of hell to the atonement to the inspiration of Scripture to the meaning of the gospel, every doctrine held precious by the Evangelical community was gutted of biblical meaning and infused with ideas fitting the times.”</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >(v)</span> <span style="font-size:85%;">A few references: <span style="font-style: italic;">Daniel in the Critics' Den: Historical Evidence for the Authenticity of the Book of Daniel </span>by Josh McDowell (1979, Campus Crusade for Christ). Also see <span style="font-style: italic;">The Battle for the Bible</span> by Dr. Harold Lindsell (1978, Zondervan). Gerhard Maier wrote extensively on the Historical-Critical method.<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >(vi)</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> We could fill this article with citations, but we are only trying to paint the big picture here. Because we have written extensively on Romanticism already, we refer you to the following:<br />“’<a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/006/nathan/romanticism.htm">Christian’ Romanticism, the Inklings, and the Elevation of Mythology”</a></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/007/nathan-fiction.htm">“Children of the Inklings: Emergent ‘Christian’ Fiction”</a><br /><a href="http://gloriousriches.blogspot.com/2010/01/wonderments-strange-situations-in.html">“Wonderments—Strange Situations in the Modern Church”</a></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://gloriousriches.blogspot.com/2009/11/mythology-and-erosion-of-inerrancy-in.html">“Mythology and the Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism”</a><br /><a href="http://gloriousriches.blogspot.com/2009/02/tares-in-protestantism-rosicrucianism.html">“Tares in Protestantism: Rosicrucianism and Evangelicalism”</a><br /><a href="http://gloriousriches.blogspot.com/2009/01/hidden-triumph-of-romantic-or.html">“The Hidden Triumph of Imaginative or Romantic Religion”</a><br /><a href="http://gloriousriches.blogspot.com/2008/12/mere-anglicanism.html">“Mere Anglicanism”</a></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://gloriousriches.blogspot.com/2006/10/emerging-from-emerging-church.html">“Emerging from the Emerging Church”</a><br /><a href="http://gloriousriches.blogspot.com/2006/07/getting-inkling-about-romantic.html">“Getting an Inkling About Romantic Christianity”</a><a href="http://gloriousriches.blogspot.com/2006/08/romantic-christianity-inklings-and.html"><br />"Romantic 'Christianity', the Inklings, and the Elevation of Myth"</a></span>Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-3547028183189360712010-10-04T18:00:00.000-07:002010-10-04T18:48:10.779-07:00The Second Great Evangelical Meltdown<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Introducing The Meltdown Series:<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">This article is the first in a series about ongoing sea changes in Evangelicalism today. The series will utilize Scripture and church history in an attempt to clarify those issues that are tending to weaken, break down, and misdirect Evangelicalism. Even though the effects are obvious, the forces behind these changes are not. </span></span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Part I<br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Introduction<br />and</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The First Great Evangelical Meltdown</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></div>Many Christians today believe that Evangelicalism is becoming stronger and more influential due to the popularity of such high profile preachers as Billy Graham and Rick Warren—some even include Robert Schuller. These leaders are capturing headlines and talking about their influence in the White House and in Congress. Mega-churches are springing up with thousands of attendees, giving the impression of a kind of revival.<br /><br />But such appearances are illusory.<br /><br />From a biblical and historical point of view, it might rather be said that Evangelicalism is actually weakening and collapsing in the United States in a manner equivalent to a meltdown. And this meltdown is only equaled by another meltdown that took place in the early part of the 20th century called the <span style="font-weight: bold;">“Liberal (or Modernist) / Fundamentalist controversy.” </span>I will discuss this first meltdown in a few minutes for understanding it is very important in grasping what is occurring in the Church today.<br /><br />Our present age uses the word Evangelicalism in many ways. I use the term to refer to a historical movement that had its roots in the 16th century Reformation and that gained great power during the 18th century revival in England and America, known in America as the First Great Awakening and in England as the Evangelical Revival. That type of Evangelicalism manifested two basic qualities:<br /><br />(1) An enormous emphasis on the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—that Christ died to save sinners, and that this is the basic message of Christianity and of the Bible; and<br /><br />(2) The certitude that the Bible is the very Word of God and that it is the greatest authority in and over the Church.<br /><br />These Evangelicals accepted and embraced the historical creeds—the Nicean Creed, the Apostles Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. They did not see themselves as something new, but they harkened back to the roots of the Apostolic Church and differentiated themselves from Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.<br /><br />The Evangelical spirit in the United States has had a lot of ups and downs. One of the high points was the <span style="font-weight: bold;">First Great Awakening</span>, just mentioned. There was also a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Second Great Awakening</span> just before the Civil War, but it was much more of a mixture due to the introduction of the idea that human beings could generate revival by their own works. It was very clear that the First Great Awakening came by God alone, but it was not so clear in the Second Great Awakening who people believed was really in charge.<br /><br />This next section is necessary to provide the groundwork for understanding the Second Great Evangelical Meltdown.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The First Great Evangelical Meltdown:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Liberal (or Modernist) / Fundamentalist Controversy</span><br /></div><br />What I call the First Great Evangelical Meltdown occurred in the early 1900s in contrast to the First Great Awakening in the 1700s. It was widely accepted in the early 1900s that Evangelical and Reformed thinkers and preachers were promoting the true Gospel. They also had strong intellectual backing through schools like Princeton Theological Seminary, which was considered a bastion of Evangelical orthodoxy. However, heretical and unbiblical views of Christianity began entering the Church around that time, especially through the seminaries and universities. These assaults focused particularly on the authority of the Bible.<br /><br />The two main assaults were, first, a philosophy of <span style="font-weight: bold;">naturalistic science</span> that claimed the biblical picture of the origin of the universe was an archaic myth and that science trumped the Bible; and, second, an<span style="font-weight: bold;"> attack on the Bible </span>itself that came mainly from German theological schools steeped in Enlightenment Rationalism and German Romanticism (more about that later). These schools claimed that they could tell what was “really true” in the Bible and what was “myth.” One of the “myths” that they claimed was just superstitious thinking was the Resurrection of Christ. They also taught that Moses didn’t write the first five books of the Old Testament. These heresies took the American seminaries and universities by storm, and later the denominations. Unfortunately, the churches were vulnerable partly because they wanted to be academically “relevant” to “modern people.”<br /><br />Another factor that contributed to the First Great Meltdown was the rise of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">social gospel</span> around the beginning of the 20th century.<br /><br />Promoters of the social gospel assumed that the biblical Gospel wasn’t really true because “of course Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead.” Therefore, the only thing left for people who wanted to affect society was to do good, because of course Christ talked about being helpful to the poor and the sick, the alienated, and so forth. And since there was no longer a Gospel of grace and salvation to believe in, they said that what we have left is the social gospel: “Go into all the world and do social good works.” In other words, <span style="font-weight: bold;">“deeds not creeds.”</span> Many came to see this as the mission of the Church. The world missionary movement that had flourished just before this controversy arose changed its basic focus from bringing the Gospel to the nations to going to the nations “recognizing” that the “hidden Christ in all nations” was already there. This became the theology of the World Council of Churches.<br /><br />This truth gap in the mission of the Church left a big hole, and into that hole poured Marxist thinking, which agreed with liberal theology that all that mattered was to “do good to people.” The Marxists believed that capitalism was the great cause of suffering, war, and poverty, and as the liberal theologians gradually embraced Marxism, the Marxists were happy to use the churches for their own purposes. During this process, almost every mainline church either capitulated or split due to the terrible conflict. The groups called Fundamentalist united on the fundamental truths of Scripture that the liberal churches denied (more about that below). The liberal churches focused on the social gospel and gradually turned away more and more from biblical preaching, teaching, and eventually even from biblical morality. In many circles psychological methods replaced biblical sanctification in the search for the transformation of the inner man.<br /><br />This situation has continued up through today and, if anything, is snowballing. The mainline churches are continuing in their liberalism and are moving more and more towards Marxism. The Fundamentalist churches are now moving more and more into the syncretism that they abhorred during the first Great Meltdown. In addition, the following influences in Evangelicalism are very strong:<br /><ul><li>The marriage of psychology and mysticism; </li><li>Compromises with Roman Catholicism in the political arena; </li><li>The popularity and spread of the spiritual formation / contemplative prayer movement and Romanticism; and </li><li>Literary apologetics and an undiscerning embrace of culture, especially through the popularity and influence of such writers as C. S. Lewis and the Inklings and the compromising Anglican style. </li></ul>We will discuss these elements more in later sections.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What is fundamentalism? </span>Understanding the word fundamentalism can be very confusing because the first manifestation of Christian fundamentalism was basically a movement uniting Evangelical churches in their stance against liberalism. A document called The Fundamentals promoted five basic biblical truths that defined the movement: the inerrancy of Scripture, Christ's virgin birth, the Substitutionary Atonement of Christ, Christ's bodily Resurrection, and the historicity of Christ's miracles.<br /><br />The coalition included Reformed as well as dispensational theologies, and though they had theological differences they were united on the need to stem the tide of liberalism (Modernism). However, after the famous Scopes “Monkey” Trial (1925), a lot of the Reformed churches withdrew and the coalition broke down. Thus, what became Christian Fundamentalism as we know it today basically changed to reflect certain characteristics of dispensational thinking that were more central to dispensationalism than to early Fundamentalism.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>The term fundamentalism has been misused in the media to mean “fanatical,” but originally Fundamentalism was a movement of conservative Evangelicalism. Until recently the conservative-fundamentalist element formed the main group of Evangelicals. The current movement though does not necessarily represent all of conservative Evangelicalism. For example, the Missouri Synod, a body of conservative Lutherans, agrees with all the basics of The Fundamentals, but they are not considered Fundamentalists today because they are not dispensational.<br /><br />Basically, then, Evangelicalism became broken and fragmented, which is its condition today.<br /><br />This, then, in very broad brushstrokes, is what I mean by the First Great Evangelical Meltdown. This first meltdown allowed for the flourishing of what I call the Second Great Evangelical Meltdown—a situation that is occurring all around us right now and that coming articles will discuss.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">*<br /></div><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The next part of this series will focus on The Pied Piper of False Freedom and Clarifying the “Postmodern” Rhetoric. And then we will move into looking at the Second Great Evangelical Meltdown—what I see happening today in the churches and among Evangelical leadership as they attempt to deal with the increasing floods of compromise and deception. </span><br /><br /><br />I welcome your comments.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Recommended Resources</span></span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">1. Machen, J. Gresham. 1923. <span style="font-style: italic;">Christianity and Liberalism</span>. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.<br />2. Marsden, Charles. 1980. <span style="font-style: italic;">Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism 1870–1925</span>. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Note: Marsden has prejudices about Fundamentalism that sometimes come through in his work.<br />3. Packer, J. I. 1958. <span style="font-style: italic;">Fundamentalism and the Word of God</span>. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. </span>Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-51877796476205638282010-09-30T23:07:00.000-07:002010-09-30T23:17:40.712-07:00What would it take to get you to go to church?We got this response from a friend in southern California who is weary of looking for a church.<br /><br />Stop with the ridiculous gimmickery, first and foremost. It only makes our faith appear superficial, trite, and totally lacking in life-transforming power.<br /><br />Pastor, be a man of prayer! Elevate the Holy Scriptures once again and PREACH from them! Give it to us straight, challenge us to follow Christ without reserve, make it hard for us to NOT be convicted every time we come through those doors. Be kindly toward those of us who are struggling, but cause the blatant hypocrites, the lukewarm, and the unbelieving to squirm until they either leave and make room for the serious-minded disciples, or until they break and repent under the Holy Spirit's heavy hand of conviction. Stop caring if the Word of God offends people, and stop acting as if God needs you to apologize for His more "unflattering" attributes.<br /><br />I don't care what the pastor looks like. I couldn't care less if he is considered hip or or if he's a total geek. I don't care if he's old or young, whether he wears a Hawaiian shirt or a suit and tie. As long as he understands the nature of his high calling, which is first and foremost to FEED THE SHEEP, not entertain the goats, as the saying goes. I'm not against humor in the right context, either, but pastors need to stop thinking that they've got to be stand-up comedians.<br /><br />Seriously, if you were having a spiritual crisis and you needed to have a few of your more troubling questions answered before you surrendered your life to Christ, would you feel comfortable seeking answers from some buffoon who just made holy Messiah--the One who holds the keys to death and hell in His hands--sound like an everyday surfer dude in his sermon? Is THAT Jesus the one who is going to save me? Or would you call upon that same man to come to your bedside if you were dying of some incurable disease and you desperately wanted to get right with God? It's such a mockery, and I'm so sick to death of it.<br /><br />I plead with God nearly on a daily basis for Him to have mercy on His American Church, to not leave us as sheep without shepherds, but to raise up many more courageous men of God who will preach the Gospel faithfully and who will not tolerate heresy in their churches.<br /><br />I am so inspired by our Christian brothers and sisters overseas who are living out the book of Acts on a daily basis, literally risking their lives to bring the Gospel to the lost. Teach us to live THAT way, Mr. Preacher Man. All or nothing.<br /><br />KimberlyRichard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-36692641198225196112010-09-09T16:25:00.001-07:002010-09-09T16:29:16.073-07:00Book Contract Signed!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjbVn-0_by-GG3RDaKgdx9wMOzzZp25JTuds5Gh9x4ngEedCjHpCOfiK5mqYpyt6OuH-4utNCJe3kMYWYjYJJaj8F2K18-NSOTLydbNx3oejBDMrBUq_ooak4QEjsZEWf-Ho19VA/s1600/fictionlogo.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 75px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjbVn-0_by-GG3RDaKgdx9wMOzzZp25JTuds5Gh9x4ngEedCjHpCOfiK5mqYpyt6OuH-4utNCJe3kMYWYjYJJaj8F2K18-NSOTLydbNx3oejBDMrBUq_ooak4QEjsZEWf-Ho19VA/s200/fictionlogo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515058990605660994" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />Great news!<br /><br />We just signed a contract with <a href="http://www.lighthousetrails.com/">Lighthouse Trails Publishing</a> to publish our novel <span style="font-style: italic;">The Glittering Web, </span>which is<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>about spiritual deception. We're very pleased to be associated with this publisher that is fighting so hard to stand for biblical truth in this age of deception.<br /><br />Have you checked out their <a href="http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/contactus.htm">research website</a>?Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-63457401907116611522010-01-13T22:04:00.000-08:002010-02-17T07:17:51.781-08:00Wonderments-- Strange Situations in the Modern ChurchSome questions continually perplex me about the modern church.<br /><br />There is as much warfare going on today as when the Church in the early 1900s broke up into liberalism and conservatism, turning many of the major denominations into shrinking mausoleums. Yet it seems like the vast majority of today’s leadership in evangelical and Reformed churches is blind to or unconcerned with some of the basic issues radically shaping our culture, Christian adults, and especially our children.<br /><br />It's vitally important that the leadership in evangelical and Reformed circles face the spiritual situation and repent of the compromising spirit that has prevailed. If the leadership approves, the people follow.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">Questions<br /></div><br />1. Why is it that every church we encounter has some strong connection with or promotion of the works of C. S. Lewis? We've run into this phenomenon in numerous churches, new and old, contemporary and traditional, Reform and liberal, in a wide variety of denominations across the United States, not to mention in seminaries and Bible schools.<br /><br />2. Hardly any evangelical Christian nowadays seems to question the benefit of indulging in mythological/fantasy thinking. Why? Fifty or sixty years ago, this type of thinking would have been anathema to most biblical churches.<br /><br />3. Why are so many children raised in Christian families given, or are read to from, The Lord of the Rings and The Narnia Stories without any precautions or preparation for the very vivid paganism and occultism in them?<br /><br />4. Why are Christian schools and universities promoting these works? Even very conservative schools.<br /><br />5. While there are parts in Lewis's work that are totally pagan, such as the Great Dance that features Bacchus, Silenus, and other grossly pagan characters, there is never a word of warning to children, or adults, that there might be something wrong--and even dangerous--going on here. There seems to be an assumption that pagan mythology is totally harmless to modern children. Some Christians even argue that Harry Potter is harmless and actually beneficial for teaching Christian doctrine to children.<br /><br />6. Why have I seen no concern about the lengthy passage in Lewis's book, Surprised by Joy, which many people have read, where he defends pedophilia? I quote: "If those of us who have known a school like Wyvern [which he attended as a youth] dare to speak the truth, we would have to say that pederasty, however great and evil in itself, was in that time and place the only foothold and cranny left for certain good things" (p. 105).<br /><br />7. Why do Christians seem to overlook Lewis's promotion of Bacchus, Silenus and bacchanalian feasts? Bacchus was the mythological god of drunkenness and orgies. Berit Kjos has written an excellent in-depth article about this called <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%22Narnia%20-%20Part%204%20-%20A%20book%20review%20of%20Prince%20Caspian%20by%20C.%20S.%20Lewis%20%27Awakening%20Narnia%20with%20Bacchanalian%20Feasts%22">"Narnia - Part 4 - A book review of Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis 'Awakening Narnia with Bacchanalian Feasts"</a> (May 11, 2008). See also <a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/narnia.htm">"Blending Truth and Myth"</a> by Berit Kjos (the other 3 parts of the series).<br /><br />8. There is a strong connection between embracing Lewis's works and a lot of modern cultural thinking by Christians who want to embrace the culture, such as psychology, literature, cinematography, the emergent church movement, etc. Lewis was an artistic and literary intellectual. Why are evangelicals so enamored of this type of lifestyle? What makes many of them blind to the bad aspects of these cultural phenomena?<br /><br />9. Why is it so widely assumed that C. S. Lewis was such a wonderful Christian when he actually promoted paganism? It's never questioned. (Or, if it is questioned, it's rationalized away: See <a href="http://thehogshead.org/bacchus-worship-and-the-chronicles-of-narnia-43/">http://thehogshead.org/bacchus-worship-and-the-chronicles-of-narnia-43/</a> It's kind of like, if C. S. Lewis does it, it can't be wrong. And even if he does it in excess, it still can't be wrong.<br /><br />10. Why do some staunch Calvinists view G. K. Chesterton as a wise man? He had nothing but contempt for Calvinists and thought of Reformed life and theology as a perversion of a "healthy medieval" (i.e., Roman Catholic) way of life.<br /><br />Why do so few seem to be noticing--or caring about--these issues?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Partial Answers</span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Anglicanism.</span> There is a tremendous influence coming through Anglicanism, especially through the Inklings and through such well-known, highly respected Anglican intellectuals as:<br /><br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Os Guinness</span>, a founder of the Veritas Forum, which features a combination of biblical and anti-biblical teachers, united only by their respect for academia;</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">John Stott</span>, probably the major figure leading the worldwide ecumenical movement that is trying to combine all sorts of contrary theological viewpoints in a syncretistic manner;</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">J. I. Packer</span>, a man known for endorsing almost anything, who combines a strange mixture of solid biblical theology with an openness to very weird, anti-biblical teachings and lifestyles;</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">James Huston</span>, founder of Regent College in Vancouver, B.C. and of the C. S. Lewis Institute, as well as a major promoter of the spiritual formation / contemplative prayer movement;</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chuck Colson</span> (who claims his conversion came after reading Mere Christianity). Many of Colson's teachings are laced with Lewis's influence and modeled after Lewis's apologetics and ecumenicalism, which attempts to dismiss the importance of the Reformation and blur its lines with Roman Catholicism. Some of Colson's associates also manifest these qualities.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nancy Pearcey</span> is one of those associates. (See earlier <a href="http://www.gloriousriches.blogspot.com/#uds-search-results">blog entry</a> on Colson and Pearcey.)</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Schools and Ministries</span><br /></div><br />Just about every major Christian college, seminary or graduate school, as well as many major Christian ministries, are drenched with Lewis. To mention a few: Wheaton College, Regent College in Vancouver, B.C., Fuller Theological Seminary, Westminster Seminary in California. Other groups include the Association of Confessing Evangelicals (ACE), The White Horse Inn, the Christian Research Institute (Walter Martin, founder) and especially Gretchen Passantino, the Spiritual Counterfeits Project, World Magazine, etc. All of these are connected with John Warwick Montgomery, who is probably the A, No. 1 living Lewis apologist. The original Bob Jones of the fundamentalist Bob Jones University was very enthusiastic about C.S. Lewis. And we heard from a student there that they are uncritically positive about his works and carry his books.<br /><br />The hard thing is finding a Christian institution or ministry that isn’t in favor of Lewis. The fundamentalist Baptists seem to be the only major group I know of who aren’t enraptured with this image of Lewis. If you search the Internet, you will find just about only one or two apologetics ministries that don’t favor Lewis.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Neo-evangelicalism</span><br /></div><br />All of the above is intimately connected with what is called Neo-evangelicalism, a great sea-change in traditional evangelicalism that occurred around 1950, though the roots of the change existed before then. Neo-evangelicalism has so transformed the face of traditional evangelicalism that it’s hardly recognizable today.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">
Traditional evangelicals:</span> Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Charles Spurgeon, and Dwight Moody.<br /><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Neo-evangelicals:</span> Billy Graham, John Stott, J.I. Packer, John Warwick Montgomery, Robert Schuller<br />
Heirs of neo-evangelicals (basically those with the market-driven church / emergent church philosophies): Brian MacLaren, Tony Campolo, Shane Claiborne, Rob Bell, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels.<br /><br />Only two major figures among 20th century traditional evangelicals were critical of C. S. Lewis. Those were Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Dr. Cornelius Van Til.<br /><br />In conclusion, there is still a lot of mystery about the enormous, uncritical acceptance of the works of C. S. Lewis and the other Inklings by Christians.<br /><br />There’s no doubt that C. S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were world-class writers, but why should the content of their writings be so uncritically accepted when they have so much in them that should disturb a discerning Christian? Even secular people can see it, while many Christians are blind to it.<br /><br />Why?<br /><br />Why don’t you let me hear from you out there?<br /><br />What do you think about these questions and issues?Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-9373194852636738142009-11-27T20:27:00.000-08:002009-11-27T21:03:31.354-08:00Mythology and the Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Wni22BcVsHPyBw0llIsssuxH5BG64LUYEIVTj5YLMspKf1U3lHWVnH5fZHXqY4Qt2S8YgEn6bjdbc_ou5N6ul0QQL_yn30qqn7e75EU0pESbYPt2ZaeEEhL5XSSP5QcvGIXPFg/s1600/51K5FVXXG2L._SS500_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Wni22BcVsHPyBw0llIsssuxH5BG64LUYEIVTj5YLMspKf1U3lHWVnH5fZHXqY4Qt2S8YgEn6bjdbc_ou5N6ul0QQL_yn30qqn7e75EU0pESbYPt2ZaeEEhL5XSSP5QcvGIXPFg/s200/51K5FVXXG2L._SS500_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409014692006492322" /></a><br />I’ve been listening to the <a href="http://www.albertmohler.com/radio/">Albert Mohler</a> Internet radio program for several years now and have always gotten a lot out of it. Albert Mohler is the president of Southern Baptist Seminary and a staunch defender of biblical inerrancy. I enthusiastically agree with much that he says. Recently though he featured two apparently inconsistent broadcasts, one promoting biblical inerrancy and the other promoting Romanticism. I noticed the inconsistency because I listened to them closely together on my MP3 player:<br /><br />• <span style="font-weight:bold;">7/31/09 Storytelling and a Child’s Imagination</span><br />Guest Host: Dr. Russell Moore<br />Guest: Andrew Peterson<br /><br />• <span style="font-weight:bold;">9/04/09 The Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism</span><br />Host: Dr. Albert Mohler<br />Guest: Dr. Gregory Beale<br /><br />The one on storytelling is a celebration of mythology hosted by Dr. Russell Moore, the dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Seminary. Dr. Moore proudly explains how he incorporates the stories of J.R.R. Tolkien into his devotional times with his children. Unfortunately, I’m sure Dr. Moore doesn’t realize that what he’s giving to his children is mythology. Tolkien viewed it as mythology; Lewis viewed it as mythology; and both men considered mythology divine revelation. <br /><br />Now, in the other program on the erosion of inerrancy in evangelicalism, Dr. Mohler bewails the intrusion of mythological thinking into current views of the Bible. <br /><br />It seems apparent to me that the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing in these two programs. Or perhaps the right hand doesn’t recognize that the left hand is holding something destructive in it and that this destructive element is an enchantment with mythology. <br /><br />Apparently some of those theologians and Bible scholars who were raised with Lewis and Tolkien are now carrying that love of mythology into their work, ignoring the Scriptural warnings against the love of mythology, and passing it onto their children.<br /><br /> <br />I’ve spent many years studying the issue of Romantic religion (for background, see my article <a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/006/nathan/romanticism.htm">"’Christian’ Romanticism, the Inklings, and the Elevation of Mythology”</a>).<br /><br />R. J. Reilly’s book <span style="font-style:italic;">Romantic Religion: A study of Barfield, Lewis, Williams, and Tolkien</span> originally inspired me to begin studying this topic. Since then I've come to see how this Romantic religion is not evangelical Christianity and, as a matter of fact, is quite opposed to it. Yet this Romantic religion in the form of the writings of — especially — C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien has swept through the evangelical world and been uncritically accepted as almost universally authoritative in many prominent Christian venues. I have also come to believe that there is a very strong connection between the attitude toward the inerrancy of Scripture that Dr. Mohler is so concerned about and the teachings of this Romantic religion, especially as it appears in the works of C.S. Lewis. <br /><br />I just got a book called <span style="font-style:italic;">C. S. Lewis on Scripture</span> by Michael C. Christensen (1979). The book is an apologetic for Lewis’s attitude toward Scripture, including his belief in purgatory and that the penal substitution is just one of many theories that can be put aside if found troublesome. That attitude is exactly the one that is appearing among these new “evangelical” scholars that Dr. Mohler is so disturbed about.Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-50480635947911786622009-10-17T23:31:00.000-07:002009-10-18T21:48:13.153-07:00The Drucker-driven, Murdoch-driven Church <meta name="Title" content=""> <meta name="Keywords" content=""> <meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 2008"> <meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 2008"> <link rel="File-List" href="file://localhost/Users/richard/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0clip_filelist.xml"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:documentproperties> <o:template>Normal.dotm</o:Template> <o:revision>0</o:Revision> <o:totaltime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:pages>1</o:Pages> <o:words>2610</o:Words> <o:characters>14881</o:Characters> <o:company>Logos Word Designs, Inc.</o:Company> <o:lines>124</o:Lines> <o:paragraphs>29</o:Paragraphs> <o:characterswithspaces>18274</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:version>12.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:drawinggridhorizontalspacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:drawinggridverticalspacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:displayhorizontaldrawinggridevery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:displayverticaldrawinggridevery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:dontautofitconstrainedtables/> <w:dontvertalignintxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="276"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;} p.MsoFootnoteText, li.MsoFootnoteText, div.MsoFootnoteText {mso-style-link:"Footnote Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;} p.MsoHeader, li.MsoHeader, div.MsoHeader {mso-style-link:"Header Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; tab-stops:center 3.0in right 6.0in; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;} p.MsoFooter, li.MsoFooter, div.MsoFooter {mso-style-link:"Footer Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; tab-stops:center 3.0in right 6.0in; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;} p.MsoEnvelopeAddress, li.MsoEnvelopeAddress, div.MsoEnvelopeAddress {mso-style-noshow:yes; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:2.0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-element:frame; mso-element-frame-width:5.5in; mso-element-frame-height:99.0pt; mso-element-frame-hspace:9.0pt; mso-element-wrap:auto; mso-element-anchor-horizontal:page; mso-element-left:center; mso-element-top:bottom; mso-height-rule:exactly; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;} span.MsoFootnoteReference {vertical-align:super;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph {margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:.5in; mso-add-space:auto; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;} p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;} p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;} p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:.5in; mso-add-space:auto; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;} span.FootnoteTextChar {mso-style-name:"Footnote Text Char"; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:"Footnote Text";} span.HeaderChar {mso-style-name:"Header Char"; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:Header;} span.FooterChar {mso-style-name:"Footer Char"; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:Footer;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:57048940; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:2036093258 315539784 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-number-format:roman-upper; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.5in;} @list l0:level2 {mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:.75in; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l0:level3 {mso-level-number-format:roman-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:right; margin-left:1.25in; text-indent:-9.0pt;} @list l0:level4 {mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:1.75in; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l1 {mso-list-id:321734769; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:1861258030 -1132550632 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l1:level1 {mso-level-start-at:3; mso-level-number-format:roman-upper; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:.75in; text-indent:-.5in;} @list l2 {mso-list-id:433744092; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:-1104934916 -961096422 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l2:level1 {mso-level-start-at:2; mso-level-number-format:roman-upper; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:.75in; text-indent:-.5in; mso-ansi-font-weight:normal;} @list l2:level2 {mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l2:level3 {mso-level-number-format:roman-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:right; text-indent:-9.0pt;} @list l3 {mso-list-id:819419274; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:930876848 -2018743968 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l3:level1 {mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:.25in; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @list l3:level2 {mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:.75in; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l3:level3 {mso-level-number-format:roman-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:right; margin-left:1.25in; text-indent:-9.0pt;} @list l4 {mso-list-id:970282907; mso-list-template-ids:1017425382;} @list l4:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:.5in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Symbol;} @list l4:level2 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:1.0in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Symbol;} @list l5 {mso-list-id:1124424766; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:374356828 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l5:level1 {mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l5:level2 {mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l6 {mso-list-id:1665548451; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:1041956818 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l6:level1 {mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @list l7 {mso-list-id:1793983851; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:710074880 -1302433698 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l7:level1 {mso-level-number-format:roman-upper; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:.75in; text-indent:-.5in;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} --> </style> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="">
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A lot has been written about problems with the Purpose-driven Church movement, but when a friend asked me for information about those problems it seemed a shame not to share this research on this blog. This is by no means comprehensive, but I think it covers the basic major areas of concern. Even if you're familiar with the topic, you may learn something new below.
<br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>
<br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><b style=""><span style="">
<br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><b style=""><span style="">A word about using discernment ministries and apologetics</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center">
<br /><b style=""><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: normal;"><span style="">Just a word about the different types of discernment ministries that are out there, our own approach, and why we recommend the articles we do. It seems good to clarify that there are a variety of approaches to discernment and apologetics. Just because someone does have discernment about a problem doesn’t mean that the person’s theology is necessarily solid, but also, just because someone’s theology is unbiblical or unbalanced doesn’t mean that the person’s discernment of a situation is wrong. A good example is the book </span><a href="http://www.lighthousetrails.com/faithundone.htm"><i style=""><span style="">Faith Undone</span></i></a><span style=""> by Roger Oakland, which is very discerning about problems with the Emergent Church, but the man himself is rigidly dispensational in his theology. </span><a href="http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/"><span style="">Lighthouse Trails</span></a><span style=""> also has a dispensationalist background, but their research is excellent and well documented, as is the material by the Leslies (mentioned below). We are neither dispensationalists nor fundamentalists, but we do believe that the Bible is inerrant and can recognize good research backed by facts. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: normal;"><span style="">Some people are wary about some of the discernment ministries because of the continuing repercussions in the Church today from the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalist-Modernist_Controversy"><span style="">fundamentalist-modernist controversy</span></a><span style=""> that occurred in the U.S. in the early 1920s. It’s a complex issue, and there is a lot of stereotyping that goes on, both in pro-fundamentalist and anti-fundamentalist writings. But there are other groups of apologists who aren’t dispensational at all, like the </span><a href="http://www.extremetheology.com/"><span style="">Extreme Theology website</span></a><span style="">, overseen by a conservative Lutheran. There are also critiques of Rick Warren through the </span><a href="http://www.whitehorseinn.org/"><span style="">White Horse Inn</span></a><span style=""> website, which is a radio talk show sponsored by a coalition of conservative Reformed (Calvinist) thinkers and conservative Lutherans with a very high level of theological education. So, it’s a very wise approach not to use stereotypes when dealing with theological controversies. (Incidentally, we don’t believe you’re going to hell if you don’t use the King James Version; we use the NIV.)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Cambria;font-size:12pt;" >
<br /></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="">Following are the major problems with Rick Warren’s approach that we have identified:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style=""><span style=""><span style="">I.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style=""><span style="">The Purpose-driven Church = The “Drucker-driven Church”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style=""><span style=""><span style="">II.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style=""><span style="">The Abandonment of Orthodox Theology<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style=""><span style=""><span style="">III.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style=""><span style="">The Misuse of the Bible<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style=""><span style=""><span style="">IV.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style=""><span style="">The Murdoch-driven Church<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style=""><span style=""><span style="">V.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style=""><span style="">The use of pop psychology in the Purpose-driven Church movement <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style=""><span style=""><span style="">VI.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style=""><span style="">Summary and Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><b style=""><span style="">______________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center">
<br /><b style=""><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;" align="center"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style=""><span style="font-size:14pt;"><span style="">I.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style=""><span style="font-size:14pt;">The Purpose-driven Church = <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><b style=""><span style="font-size:14pt;">The “Drucker Driven” Church<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="">Management guru Peter Drucker is Warren’s mentor. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">Rick Warren views Peter Drucker as his mentor.<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftn1" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[1]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span style=""> </span>Drucker’s vision for society combines government, business and the Church all under his master plan, which is a broad vision of social engineering. <i style="">For an excellent and very comprehensive analysis of the problems with Druckerism and Rick Warren’s use of it, see </i></span><a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/04/pied_pipers_of_purpose.htm"><i style=""><span style="">“The Pied Pipers of Purpose”</span></i></a><i style=""><span style=""> by Lynn D. Leslie, Sarah H. Leslie and Susan J. Conway</span></i><span style="">.<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftn2" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[2]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> According to this article, the latter part of Drucker’s life was devoted to targeting churches, parachurches and charities. Yet he left dealing with sin out of his calculations.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; line-height: normal;"><span style="">“Peter Drucker has exerted a considerable influence on Rick Warren. A December 24<sup>th</sup> 2002 CNBC documentary about Peter Drucker (“Peter Drucker: An Intellectual Journey”) claimed that he is one of Rick Warren’s mentors and influenced the start and growth of Saddleback Church.”<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftn3" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[3]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="">The Church is NOT a business. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">Though this is too big an issue to go into in depth here, the Church is NOT a business—it’s Christ’s own Body and Christ’s means of salvation. To reduce it to a business model is to radically distort and debase it with human-centered techniques and teachings not based on the truth of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1.5in; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">“</span><span style="">In my life, I've had at least three mentors: my father, Billy Graham, and Peter Drucker. They each taught me different things. Peter Drucker taught me about competence. I met him about 25 years ago. I was invited to a small seminar of CEOs, and Peter was there. As a young kid—I was about 25—began to call him up, write him, go see him. I still go sit at the feet of Peter Drucker on a regular basis. I could give you 100 one-liners that Peter has honed into me. One of them is that there's a difference between effectiveness and efficiency. Efficiency is doing things right, and effectiveness is doing the right thing. A lot of churches—not just churches, but businesses and other organizations—are efficient, but they are not effective.”<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftn4" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[4]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">This q</span><span style="">uote from “The Pied Pipers of Purpose” provides a solid overview of some basic problems with the way Warren has applied Drucker’s approach to the Church:</span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; line-height: normal;"><span style="">“All three of these men – Drucker, [David] Salamon and [LESTER] Hornbeck – have emphasized ‘human capital’ as foundational to the transformation of the private sector. Why would “human capital” be of relevance to the Purpose-Driven church? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1.25in; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">II.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="">This radical view of economic man is the chief cornerstone of all of Drucker’s management theories.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1.25in; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">III.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="">Drucker’s theories undergird the Purpose-Driven model.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1.25in; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">IV.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="">This philosophy has nothing in common with the traditional Christian doctrines about the nature of man.</span><a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/04/pied_pipers_of_purpose.htm#_ftn55"><span style="font-size:9pt;">[55]</span></a><span style=""> The humanity of Man is markedly devalued.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1.25in; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">V.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="">These men believe that a man’s human worth and a church’s effectiveness can be “assessed” – measured by psycho-social instruments.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1.25in; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">VI.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="">Intangible matters of the spirit are codified into “results,” and “ineffective” ministries are cancelled (“abandoned”). This new criteria ensures that lost souls will begin to fall through the cracks.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1.25in; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">VII.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="">Profit-driven models are applied to matters of ministry of the Gospel, effectually degrading private acts of charity and compassion.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1.25in; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">VIII.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="">The Word of God becomes secondary to systems theory implementation.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1.25in; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">IX.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="">Disturbing questions are raised about those precious people in our lives who do not or can not possess ‘human capital’ or ‘knowledge capital’.”<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftn5" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[5]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 2.25in; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 2.25in; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="">Some signs of Druckerism in the Purpose-driven church movement<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.75in; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.75in; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">1.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style=""><span style=""> </span>The Church is viewed as a business model. The bottom line is that church growth means numbers. This is absolutely contrary to the Bible’s teaching. (See quote above.) See John 6, esp. vss. 60-66. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">2.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="">The movement “builds” churches with marketing surveys, e.g., “What music do people like?” <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in; line-height: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">2 Timothy 4:3 NIV • “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 <b style="">itching</b> <b style="">ears</b> want to hear.”</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">3.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="">The movement purports to get rid of anything that might interfere with the transition to the purpose-driven model, e.g., older members who don’t want to change. Numerous reports exist of this phenomenon. For one example, see the article “Spiritual Euthanasia,” which at the bottom lists numerous pastors and church members who were driven out by these changes, along with <i style="">their phone numbers.</i><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftn6" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[6]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">4.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="">Church leaders are viewed as “change agents” instead of as servant ministers of Christ. This fits in with Warren’s social engineering approach to the Church. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">5.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="">The movement constantly tests for results using humanistic psychological methods, e.g., Myers-Briggs, to fit people into slots (more on this in the section on psychology).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="font-size:14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="font-size:14pt;"><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: 150%;" align="center"><b style=""><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:14pt;" >II.<span style=""> </span>The Abandonment of Orthodox Theology<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="">A business guide<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">Warren’s book <i style="">The Purpose Driven Church </i>is basically a business guide for pastors for growing the church numerically.<b style=""> He downplays the basics of true Christianity: the Cross, the wrath of God, the helplessness of humanity in the grip of sin and Satan; the devil; the atoning blood of Christ. </b>These are God’s only way that we can be saved; and after we’re saved we still have to continually cope with the world, the sinful nature, and the devil, which we can only do by the continual recognition of the Gospel of grace—by grace we are saved, through faith in Christ alone (Ephesians 2). <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="">“Deeds not creeds.” <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">Beware of Warren’s statements about a “new” Reformation of “deeds not creeds” for he totally ignores orthodox Christian theology, which countless Christians have died defending. Warren may claim to be loyal to the ancient creeds (the Apostle’s Creed, the </span><a href="http://www.spurgeon.org/%7Ephil/creeds/nicene.htm"><span style="">Nicean Creed</span></a><span style="">), but it doesn’t mean that in practice that’s what he preaches. For instance, he says that creeds (i.e., Christian doctrine) were important then but not now. Calling his approach a “new reformation” is sheer arrogance that matches that of one of his mentors, Robert Schuller. Schuller wrote a heretical book that he mailed out to pastors all over the U.S. called <i style="">Self Esteem: The New Reformation.</i><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftn7" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[7]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Now Rick Warren has come out with his. But the Reformation has already taken place over 400 years ago, and the Bible holds true.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="">Abandonment of the true Reformation. </span></b><span style="">Most people in the Church don’t realize how Warren’s approach is an abandonment of the good recovery of doctrine that took place in the Reformation during the 16<sup>th</sup> century. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="">The Bible has <i style="">both </i>deeds <i style="">and </i>creeds (i.e., doctrine)</span></b><span style=""> as part of a balanced and powerful approach to living for Christ, whereas the idea of “deeds not creeds” is one of the main concepts in <b style="">theological liberalism</b> (Dr. Gresham Machen explains this well in his book, </span><a href="http://www.biblebelievers.com/machen/"><i style=""><span style="">Christianity and Liberalism</span></i></a><i style=""><span style="">.</span></i><span style="">)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="">A generic message<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">Warren shapes his message and his methods for “generic” religionists. His message could be given to Roman Catholics, Mormons, Jews, and perhaps even Muslims. And as of now he is making common cause with Islam—not just working with Muslims but partnering with them. One example is how he calls a valid call to ministry being a nun. With just a nod he includes Roman Catholicism in his sweep, saying nothing about them having another gospel and that they worship Mary as the Queen of Heaven, etc.<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftn8" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[8]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a><b style=""> </b>This makes sense in view of his abandonment of the true Reformation that had to do with pulling out of the morass of the Roman Catholic Church and recovering the clear Gospel of grace.<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftn9" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[9]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Although its official doctrine denies justification by grace alone a person can attend the Roman Catholic Church and still be saved (though not by its doctrines). Roman Catholicism is a church gone astray, whereas Islam and Mormonism were never part of the Christian Church. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">Quotes:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: normal;"><span style="">“There are purpose driven congregations in more than 200 different denominations and associations. Our desire is to work with denominations to strengthen their churches. Each church can maintain its own heritage of doctrinal convictions while cooperating with others on accomplishing the five purposes.”<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftn10" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[10]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: normal;"><span style="">The same article quotes from <i style="">USA Today</i>: “Warren’s pastor training program welcomes Catholics, Methodists, Mormons, Jews, and ordained women.” <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: normal;"><span style="">The same article also quotes Rick Warren when asked about the problems of training Mormons, among others. He said: “I’m not going to get into a debate over the non-essentials. I won’t try to change other denominations. Why be divisive?” But Mormonism is not just another Christian denomination; it’s another religion, a pagan religion with a Christian veneer that doesn’t have the same Christ. Warren isn’t discerning.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="">Syncretism / idolatry<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">Rick Warren is basically a syncretist, someone who combines contrary religious ideas and practices. The whole Old Testament testifies from beginning to end that syncretism is an abomination to God—spiritual adultery, also called idolatry. That doesn’t mean that there can’t be genuine fellowship between Christians of different denominations when the foundation in Christ and the orthodox doctrine of the Gospel are prominent.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="">Robert Schuller. </span></b><span style="">Warren has enjoyed an intimate relationship with the heretical Robert Schuller and lied outright denying it.<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftn11" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[11]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Robert Schuller is the man who said that Christians have to stop preaching what he calls “negative stuff”—like sin, judgment, the cross, wrath—and to substitute building self-esteem. (See Schuller’s book: <i style="">Self-esteem: The New Reformation.</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="">Obama. </span></b><span style="">Warren has embraced Obama, who supports abortion, and called him his “friend.”<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftn12" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[12]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> And he spoke at Obama’s inaugural address, evidence of more than a casual relationship and immensely disturbing to many evangelicals.<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftn13" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[13]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;" align="center"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style=""><span style="font-size:14pt;"><span style="">III.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style=""><span style="font-size:14pt;">The Misuse of the Bible<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="">Isogesis not exegesis<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">Many books address Warren’s misuse of the Bible. From the point of view of biblical theology he is practicing “isogesis” (or “proof texting”) – that is, reading into the Bible his own previously held doctrines. He does not do exegesis, i.e., looking at what the Bible says and taking doctrine from that. In other words, he shapes it his own way. A big example is that he first took his purpose-driven system from Drucker; then he hunted through the Scriptures and numerous versions of the Bible and its paraphrases and tried to make them support his system. (More about this a little later.) Examples re <i style="">The Message:</i><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="">Examples of Warren misusing <i style="">The Message</i><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">In <i style="">The Purpose Driven Life</i> Warren says, <i style="">“The Bible warns…”</i> and then quotes from <i style="">The Message</i>.<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftn14" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[14]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> The way he depends upon paraphrases so much shows that he is unwilling or afraid to deal directly with the text of Scripture. <i style="">The Message </i>is full of many very subjective and psychology-driven interpretations. A paraphrase is really a commentary, and to quote from it as if it is a true translation is a poor or dishonest practice.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">Warren grasps onto translations that say what he wants them to say, which shows that he is stretching the translations to reinforce his Drucker-generated theories. The book <i style="">Who’s Driving the Purpose Driven Church<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftn15" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[15]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a></i> deals with this in detail.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.75in; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;" align="center"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style=""><span style="font-size:14pt;"><span style="">IV.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style=""><span style="font-size:14pt;">The Murdoch-driven Church<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style="">Rupert Murdoch<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">Warren allows this obviously sinful and unrepentant worldly and wealthy person to support him and to be a member of his congregation without publicly correcting him. Murdoch is widely known in many countries as the world’s biggest pornographer. (See “Purpose-Driven Pornography.”<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftn16" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[16]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a>) Murdoch owns Zondervan Publishing as well many trashy newspapers and the Fox Channel. Murdoch has contributed millions to Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. Plan and backed his books in a major way, a support that Warren covets. (Zondervan is also a big supporter of the Emergent Church gurus, such as Brian MacLaren, etc.)<b style=""> <o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">When challenged about having this active pornographer in his congregation at Saddleback, Warren said only that he could work with anyone on common good goals. In other words, he didn’t want to deal with the fact that a member of his congregation <i style="">and a personal supporter </i>was sinning mightily against the Lord. You might almost say that it appears that Warren is in Rupert Murdoch’s pocket.<b style=""><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.75in; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;" align="center"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style=""><span style="font-size:14pt;"><span style="">V.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style=""><span style="font-size:14pt;">The use of Pop Psychology in the <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><b style=""><span style="font-size:14pt;">Purpose-driven Church movement<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b style=""><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">This is too large a subject for our purposes, although it needs to be addressed. Unfortunately it isn’t unique to Saddleback for we live in a society focused on therapy and self-help. Propagating a “gospel of psychology” is a growing phenomenon in all mainline churches and in what used to be called evangelical churches. (If you want to know more about this, we can deal with it in another “brief” analysis.) The Leslies’ article points out how Warren believes that psychosocial instruments can assess a man’s human worth and a church’s effectiveness.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.75in; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5in; line-height: normal;" align="center"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style=""><span style=""><span style="">VI.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style=""><span style="font-size:14pt;">Summary and Conclusion</span></b><b style=""><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">Rick Warren is moving the evangelical church in a very negative direction, a direction that strongly resembles the way liberalism swept into the evangelical churches in the early 1900s. This had the devastating result of tremendously weakening them and making them extremely vulnerable to Marxism and all kinds of vain philosophies so they could not stand against abortion, the elevation of the homosexual lifestyle, and leftist politics that emerged later.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">As someone who has worked with thousands of mental patients over the years, I (Richard) have to say that I think Warren exhibits a grandiosity that seems terribly inappropriate for a Christian minister. For one thing, he claims that he will unite two <i style="">billion</i> Christians around his plan to deal with the “giants” of poverty, etc., but somehow he doesn’t include the giants of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Nor does he mention salvation through Christ. Where’s humility? Where’s the Gospel? Where’s the Cross? Where’s the Lordship of Christ?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="">The above are only a few of the numerous reasons why many Christians today have a problem with Rick Warren. We are among them because, in addition to the above, we have personally been in churches where the purpose-driven approach has swept through and wreaked havoc. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=""><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; line-height: normal;"><sup><span style="">18</span></sup><span style="">For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. <sup>19</sup>For it is written:
<br /> "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
<br /> the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; line-height: normal;"><span style=""> <sup>20</sup>Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? <sup>21</sup>For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. <sup>22</sup>Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, <sup>23</sup>but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, <sup>24</sup>but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. <sup>25</sup>For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Cambria;font-size:12pt;" >1 Corinthians 1:18–25 (NIV)</span></div> <div style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->
<br />
<br /> <hr size="1" width="33%" align="left"> <!--[endif]--> <div style="" id="ftn"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftnref" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[1]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> See <i style="">Time </i>magazine article (first paragraph) at <a href="http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1830147-2,00.html">http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1830147-2,00.html</a><span style=""> </span></p> </div> <div style="" id="ftn"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftnref" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[2]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/04/pied_pipers_of_purpose.htm"><span style="">http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/04/pied_pipers_of_purpose.htm</span></a></p> </div> <div style="" id="ftn"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftnref" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[3]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Leslies, et al., Section 1.4.</p> </div> <div style="" id="ftn"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftnref" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[4]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Quote from Rick Warren at <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/03/21/8254830/index.htm">http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/03/21/8254830/index.htm</a> </p> </div> <div style="" id="ftn"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftnref" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[5]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Section 5, “The Pied Pipers of Purpose.”</p> </div> <div style="" id="ftn"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftnref" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[6]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> See <a href="http://www.cephas-library.com/purposedriven/purposedriven_spirutal_euthanasia.html">http://www.cephas-library.com/purposedriven/purposedriven_spirutal_euthanasia.html</a> </p> </div> <div style="" id="ftn"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftnref" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[7]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="http://cicministry.org/commentary/issue18.htm">http://cicministry.org/commentary/issue18.htm</a> </p> </div> <div style="" id="ftn"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftnref" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[8]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <i style=""><span style="">The Purpose Driven Life, </span></i><span style="">229.</span></p> </div> <div style="" id="ftn"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftnref" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[9]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> If you’re interested in this subject, Richard can point you to some books.</p> </div> <div style="" id="ftn"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftnref" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[10]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span style="">From “Rick Warren ‘Works with’ and ‘Strengthens’ Mormon Churches and other non-Christian sects” at </span><a href="http://www.alittleleaven.com/2007/05/Rick_Warren_wor.html"><span style="">www.alittleleaven.com/2007/05/Rick_Warren_wor.html</span></a></p> </div> <div style="" id="ftn"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftnref" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[11]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> For details about his relationship with Schuller, see Lighthouse Trails research Website.</p> </div> <div style="" id="ftn"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftnref" name="_ftn12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[12]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> A friend of an abortion promoter: <a href="http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090407/rick-warren-clarifies-relationship-with-obama/index.html">http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090407/rick-warren-clarifies-relationship-with-obama/index.html</a> </p> </div> <div style="" id="ftn"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftnref" name="_ftn13" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[13]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> “Why is Obama’s evil in Rick Warren’s pulpit?” by Kevin McCullough, Nov. 17, 2006. <i style="">World Net Daily </i>at <a href="http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID+52998">http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID+52998</a> </p> </div> <div style="" id="ftn"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftnref" name="_ftn14" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[14]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> P. 77.</p> </div> <div style="" id="ftn"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftnref" name="_ftn15" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[15]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <i style="">Who’s Driving the Purpose-driven Church: A documentary on the teachings of Rick Warren </i>by James Sundquist (Bible Belt Publishing, Oklahoma City, 2004). Sundquist is obviously very much in the fundamentalist camp, but he is only documenting what he has observed. Appendix C of his book contains a very good article by Rev. Ed Hurd (Anglican minister), “Carl Jung, Neo-Gnosticism, and the (MBTI).” [Meyers-Briggs Temperament Indicator] </p> </div> <div style="" id="ftn"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=28110231&postID=5048063594791178662#_ftnref" name="_ftn16" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[16]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a> See “Purpose-driven Pornography” at <a href="http://www.extremetheology.com/2007/05/purposedriven_p.html">http://www.extremetheology.com/2007/05/purposedriven_p.html</a> </p> </div> </div> <!--EndFragment--> Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-8497502283772367972009-02-25T18:27:00.000-08:002009-02-25T19:03:29.571-08:00Tares in Protestantism: Rosicrucianism and Evangelicalism<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CLinda%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CLinda%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CLinda%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark/> <w:dontvertaligncellwithsp/> <w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables/> <w:dontvertalignintxbx/> <w:word11kerningpairs/> <w:cachedcolbalance/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathpr> <m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"> <m:brkbin val="before"> <m:brkbinsub val="--"> <m:smallfrac val="off"> <m:dispdef/> <m:lmargin val="0"> <m:rmargin val="0"> <m:defjc val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent val="1440"> <m:intlim val="subSup"> <m:narylim val="undOvr"> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" defunhidewhenused="true" defsemihidden="true" defqformat="false" defpriority="99" latentstylecount="267"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="0" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Normal"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="heading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="35" qformat="true" name="caption"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="10" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" name="Default Paragraph Font"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="11" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtitle"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="22" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Strong"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="20" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="59" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Table Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Placeholder Text"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="No Spacing"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Revision"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="34" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="List Paragraph"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="29" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="30" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="19" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="21" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="31" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="32" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="33" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073741899 0 0 159 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:12.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="">I once thought that <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rosicrucianism </span>was confined to those fringy ads in magazines advertising hidden power and knowledge, but after studying it extensively, I’m seeing that it’s like tares sown among the wheat of Protestantism. More and more amazing connections are emerging between the ideas of Rosicrucianism and hermeticism and the intellectual life of contemporary evangelicalism.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="">One example is <a href="http://www.crossroad.to/Excerpts/books/lewis/inklings-williams.htm"><b style="">Charles Williams</b></a>, one of the Inklings and the dear friend of C. S. Lewis, whom Lewis called the most holy man he ever knew. Williams was a member for a while of the hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in England, which was just a variation of Rosicrucianism. The notorious Satanist Aleister Crowley led it for a long time. Rosicrucianism is basically alchemy that is expressed through literary symbolism, and it integrates all sorts of bizarre, occultic themes, such as the Cabala, the hermetic teachings, neo-Platonism, astrology, <a href="http://www.crossroad.to/text/responses/granger.htm">alchemy</a>, mystery religions, Egyptian-Babylonian religions—you name it. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="">Unfortunately, most Christian apologists, in order to maintain the image of C. S. Lewis and the Inklings as wonderful Christian intellectuals, ignore or rationalize these weird aspects of their thinking and personalities. <b style="">John Warwick Montgomery</b>, for example, spends a lot of time defending Tarot cards as useful for Christians because Charles Williams thought Tarot cards were a symbolic avenue to the divine. We spent years immersed in studying and using the Tarot cards and other forms of divination when we were in the occult, and they have absolutely nothing to do with Jesus Christ, the Bible, or any biblical or godly truth. Charles Williams’ book <i style="">The Greater Trumps, </i>is like a trip into an occult hell, and reading it is to experience once again immersion into that weird world of the occult from which Jesus rescued us. Sadly, Regent College in Vancouver, B.C. is republishing Williams’ books. And—no surprise—Regent is a graduate school in the Anglican stream. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="">Speaking of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Regent College</span> evokes memories of our trip there over 15 years ago when we were exploring the possibility of attending. What we experienced was like a scene out of a novel. First we met with a professor and his wife who seemed like they were up to their eyeballs in Tolkien. We also met with the founder, John Huston, who treated us in a totally impersonal manner and who, after we explained our ministry of many years, dismissed it and told us that what we were really looking for was spiritual formation (his big focus). Then we met J. I. Packer, who staunchly defended psychology as a means of sanctification. So in a way it is not surprising that Regent College would be republishing Charles Williams’ novels. (By the way, we were so repelled by what we encountered at Regent that we decided not to attend.)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="">Years ago these odd kinds of syncretism and occultism remained more confined within the Anglican Church, with some overflow into the Roman Catholic Church, but now, through the Emergent Church movement, this <a href="http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/006/nathan/romanticism.htm">syncretistic or imaginative Romantic evangelicalism</a> has spread throughout the denominations to the extent that you would be hard put to find any denominations without it, except perhaps a fundamentalist Baptist church. However, interestingly enough, the original Bob Jones of Bob Jones University was very positive about C. S. Lewis. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="">The only writings about Lewis by well-known church leaders I’ve ever encountered that were critical of his work were by <a href="http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/living_grace/archives.asp?bcd=">Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones</a> and <a href="http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&keyword=Dr.%5ECornelius%5EVan%5ETil">Dr. Cornelius Van Til</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="">So, the beat goes on. <o:p></o:p></span></p> Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-41005896625545517512009-01-15T22:18:00.000-08:002010-01-20T00:14:19.833-08:00The Hidden Triumph of Romantic or Imaginative ReligionI was very disturbed to learn recently that <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dr. Peter Jones </span>is apparently quite enamored with Lewis and the other Inklings.<br /><br />While listening to various speakers at a recent conference about Romanticism that his <a href="http://www.truthxchange.com/">website</a> offers as MP3s, I was amazed at the contrast between some of the speakers. One speaker was followed by another who extolled the opposite of what the previous speaker was warning against, without any apparent awareness of the problem by either. One speaker from South Africa did a wonderful job of elucidating Gnosticism; yet another speaker—I think originally from Britain—extolled Robert Webber’s book, <span style="font-style: italic;">Ancient and Future Faith,</span> which is one of the foundational books of the Emergent Church. Another speaker, apparently with Jones’ total support, extolled Lewis and the Inklings as leading the way in showing how Christians can do cultural apologetics through stories.<br /><br />This situation is terribly discouraging because I felt that Peter Jones was really very aware and balanced in his exposure of neo-paganism. How can one expose neo-paganism and not recognize what is perhaps the major form in which it is entering the Church?<br /><br />But in one way, it’s not a surprise because Dr. Jones is connected with other Christian leaders who are well-known apologists and who also are enamored with Lewis, such as John Warwick Montgomery and Michael Horton—and even apparently R. C. Sproul.<br /><br />What a mystery this is.<br /><br />Unfortunately, this is all very familiar from our years of experience in the Anglican/Episcopal Church. We’ve already encountered everything I’ve heard about in the Emergent Church years ago in the Anglican/Episcopal Church. And all the syncretistic writers whom I saw exalted in the Episcopal Church are now being exalted in the Evangelical and even in the Reform churches.<br /><br />We feel like the need to expose the roots of this movement, especially among young people, is becoming an urgent necessity and call on our lives. And this call is growing as the Emergent Church rises more and more into dominance.<br /><br />It’s so alarming to see people getting sucked into the kind of evil and darkness that the Lord Jesus Christ rescued us from. Fellow Christians are becoming enamored with the terrible distortions of the San Francisco LSD movement, the siren music of rebellion, and the love of paganism and the occult. Although it seems like it’s the intellectuals who are most vulnerable to this deception, it's spreading through the culture like a dark spiritual tsunami because Oprah and various other media personalities and programs are popularizing these ideas. This malignancy focuses especially upon the children.<br /><br />God help us.Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-73767815823037132942008-12-17T20:49:00.000-08:002008-12-17T20:56:22.357-08:00"Mere Anglicanism"<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CLinda%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CLinda%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CLinda%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark/> <w:dontvertaligncellwithsp/> <w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables/> <w:dontvertalignintxbx/> <w:word11kerningpairs/> <w:cachedcolbalance/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathpr> <m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"> <m:brkbin val="before"> <m:brkbinsub val="--"> <m:smallfrac val="off"> <m:dispdef/> <m:lmargin val="0"> <m:rmargin val="0"> <m:defjc val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent val="1440"> <m:intlim val="subSup"> <m:narylim val="undOvr"> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" defunhidewhenused="true" defsemihidden="true" defqformat="false" defpriority="99" latentstylecount="267"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="0" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Normal"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="heading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="35" qformat="true" name="caption"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="10" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" name="Default Paragraph Font"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="11" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtitle"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="22" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Strong"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="20" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="59" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Table Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Placeholder Text"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="No Spacing"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Revision"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="34" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="List Paragraph"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="29" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="30" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="19" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="21" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="31" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="32" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="33" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1107304683 0 0 159 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073741899 0 0 159 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:12.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: times new roman;"><b style=""><span style="">Legitimized syncretism under the guise of Christian unity: </span></b><span style="">This phrase describes what is happening today among evangelicals, and it is a key to understanding the destruction that C. S. Lewis has brought to Biblical Christianity.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="">The Gospel is the ONE Gospel—it’s not one of many. Under the guise of Christian unity, Lewis has brought in syncretism—<i style="">many</i> gospels. For instance, he believed in purgatory (a Roman Catholic invention), which necessarily follows from another gospel—a form of Pelagianism. This view holds that one must be purified to come into the presence of the living God, but purgatory is not by the righteousness of Christ. That is another gospel, but Lewis doesn’t have any problem holding and promoting that view. That’s one reason why people who follow Lewis can blithely become Roman Catholics (e.g. <span style="color: black;">Peter Kreeft, Sheldon Vanauken, Thomas<span style=""> </span>Howard, Joseph Pearce)</span> and can become syncretists with Eastern religions (e.g. Dom Griffiths). <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="">Lewis also preaches that God speaks through myths and that pagan myths are actually precursors to the Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ. He believes in universal revelation. And he extols George MacDonald, whom he called his “master,” who believed that eventually all will be saved—even Satan.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style=""><span style="font-family: times new roman;">The gospel that C. S. Lewis preached was not the same Gospel that Paul preached. This is why I consider C. S. Lewis so dangerous for Biblical Christianity. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28110231.post-79878857683654390132007-06-16T23:44:00.000-07:002010-01-01T17:28:04.324-08:00Nancy Pearcey and Chuck ColsonA friend recently was asking me about problems with the thinking of Nancy Pearcey and Chuck Colson, so I wrote the following.<br /><br />Nancy Pearcey and Charles Colson are both part of a stream of Evangelicalism that has a history and that is much broader than their individual influence.<br /><br /><strong>Chuck Colson<br /></strong><br />Let’s look at Chuck Colson first. His conversion, he says, came through reading <em>Mere Christianity</em>, and his theological perspective now seems to reflect that foundation. The problem with <em>Mere Christianity</em> is its lack of clarity about the Gospel. C.S. Lewis says in the book that if you don’t understand the substitutionary atonement or have problems with it, just don’t worry about it. So, right off, the clarity of the Gospel is lost within a syncretistic context.<br /><br />Another problem with Chuck Colson’s thinking is connected to the fact that he is married to a Roman Catholic. I believe that as a result of that and Lewis’s influence, he has been led to try to make coalitions between Evangelicals and Roman Catholics. This is especially expressed in the movement Evangelicals and Catholics Together, which he and Richard John Neuhaus (a Roman Catholic) formed together. It's very influential today. Neuhaus is a RC convert from Lutheranism. Among other things, Colson has been teaching that the conflict of the Reformation was more a misunderstanding about words than a real basic conflict about truth. This is a total distortion of church history, and trying to say that somehow the preaching of the Gospel today in Evangelicalism can be harmoniously linked with Roman Catholicism is nothing more than false teaching. Any gospel that would fit into that would have to be a false gospel. (Romans 3 clearly lays out the true Gospel.)<br /><br />It is a matter of fact that the <strong>Council of Trent</strong> (1600s), called by the RC Church as a counter-movement to the Reformation, declared that to hold justification by faith alone is a heresy that leads to anathema or eternal damnation. The Roman Catholic Church has never rescinded this declaration and still promotes it today. A council like the Council of Trent is supposed to be infallible according to the Roman Catholic Church. Officially, Roman Catholics still accept that as part of the teaching authority of the Church (the Magisterium). And official Roman Catholic doctrine today is that justification is by <em>both </em>faith and works.<br /><br />In order to make an alliance or coalition of these extremely different views—Roman Catholicism and Evangelicalism—one obviously has to sacrifice truth. Luther called the doctrine of justification by faith alone the cardinal doctrine of the Church upon which the truth of the Church stands. Luther was willing to be burned alive rather than repudiate that doctrine. If you’re wrong on this point, any doctrines following it will also be wrong.<br /><br />One other problem with Colson’s views is that he has confused <strong>civil religion</strong>, which is basically the religion of the state in U.S. history, with Biblical Christianity. In civil religion, one can have the Ten Commandments, but the Gospel is not there. Therefore, you can make alliances with anyone who is conservative and believes in moral principles (such as Mormons and perhaps even Muslims). In a recent conference leading Evangelicals, including Richard Mouw (president of Fuller Seminary) and Ravi Zacharias (an apologist), came together with Mormon leaders to proclaim their commonality and to pray together. This is one of the obvious evil fruits of this syncretistic approach to conservative religion in the United States. The idea is let’s get together on the moral issues and deal with the great enemy—secularism—and leave those sticky doctrinal issues aside. So it really turns into a battle between secularism and supernatural religion—not necessarily Bible-based Christianity.<br /><br />A good example of the intellectual alliance that both Pearcey and Colson are associated with is the <strong>Veritas Forum</strong> (<a href="http://www.veritas.org/">www.veritas.org</a>). This forum brings speakers to college campuses to talk about truth. However, the speakers are a real mixed bag. They include such as Madeline L’Engle (a New Age writer blindly extolled by many Christians), Ravi Zacharias (mentioned earlier), several Roman Catholics, and Dallas Willard. Willard is known as one of the “fathers” of the Emergent Church, along with Richard Foster. The forum isn’t all bad, but it’s very syncretistic, and, again, the main worldview expressed is supernatural vs. secular or materialistic. The hope of the Gospel is not the centerpiece. Instead, the centerpiece is having a “Christian worldview,” which ends up being more of a religious or theistic worldview and not necessarily a Christian one.<br /><br /><strong>Nancy Pearcey</strong><br /><br />I’m not as well acquainted with Nancy Pearcey, but from what I’ve read of her books, she was strongly influenced by Francis Schaeffer. I believe Schaeffer was very aware of the dangers of syncretism in the Church, and he certainly was very wary of any kind of alliance with Roman Catholicism. He emphasized a Christian worldview based on the Bible, and with his Reformed background had great clarity on the Gospel. But Nancy Pearcey appears to have taken Schaeffer’s worldview and combined it with what I call the <strong>Anglican-Lewisian worldview</strong> (described below), which I believe Schaeffer definitely would not have favored. In fact, Schaeffer’s book <em>The Great Evangelical Disaster </em>warns about just this type of syncretism.<br /><br />This type of syncretism is like a strategy in a war that doesn’t come down from the General but rather is done by some lower-level commanders who think they know best but who are making grave errors—especially in forming wrong alliances, which the Bible warns against over and over.<br /><br />In some sense, the Anglican Church is probably the most compromising church there is. And if you know the history of Anglicanism, which I have studied in great detail, you can see the effect of this. They desperately try to keep everything under a big tent, so there are streams in Anglicanism that are totally contrary but which continue to exist side by side. Now, there are also very good things, especially in Evangelical Anglicanism. However, that compromising spirit pervades even that stream of Anglicanism. A good example is J. I. Packer, who has stood for Reformed Theology and yet will make alliances with those who actually reject Reformed Theology, and somehow rationalize it as if there’s nothing wrong with it at all!<br /><br />Another example is—and this is a major one—C. S. Lewis and his satellites. This is a big topic, having to do with a major stream called <strong>Romantic Religion</strong>, of which Lewis is a part. (I've written about this extensively in other blog entries.) This stream stems from movements in both England and Germany during the 1800s, which moved away from Word-centered to image-centered religion and left the Gospel way behind. It actually preaches a form of Pelagianism, that is the belief that man really saves himself.<br /><br />And yet, modern-day Evangelicals can write a book, for instance, like <em>Life Essential: The Hope of the Gospel</em> (Harold Shaw, 1974, edited by Rolland Hein, Prof. Emeritus, Wheaton College). This book is a compilation of the writings of George MacDonald, who rejected the Gospel and was thrown out of his church for preaching such things as the eventual salvation of Satan. Yet Lewis calls MacDonald his “master.” To say that the influence of such Romantic religion is huge today is an understatement. It permeates a great deal of popular Christianity, including Evangelicalism.<br /><br />Here’s a quote from George MacDonald revealing his view of the Gospel: “I well remember feeling as a child that I did not care for God to love me if he did not love everybody: The kind of love I needed was the love that all men needed, the love that belonged to their nature as children of the father, a love he could not give me except he gave it all men” (p. 9).<br /><br />You see, the point is, MacDonald is saying that all people are already children of God. They’re not made children of God by God's sacrifice; they’re already His children. George MacDonald started out in the Reform Church and then became an Anglican after the Reform Church rejected his teaching. This kind of preaching was perfectly in line with a type of Anglicanism that said, “We won’t send missionaries because Christ is already present in people of all religions.” They even used the term “the hidden Christ in all religions.”<br /><br /><br />In summary, there are tremendous conflicting movements operating within Evangelicalism today. Some, in the guise of trying to help the spread of the Gospel, are actually doing just the opposite and basically spreading another gospel—not that about which Paul said, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:8-9)<br /><br />It is essential to discern carefully the influences in all teachings. John MacArthur’s new book <em>The Truth War</em> powerfully addresses these issues, although I’m not sure if he is aware of the great influence of Romantic religion in Evangelicalism.Richard Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15199233909325671636noreply@blogger.com2