Could This Really Be the End of the Age?

In

Brian McLaren’s latest book, A New Kind of Christianity,
the reader is cordially invited to join the author in a
heretical assault upon God and the Bible. Indeed, as McLaren
enthusiastically demonstrates, it is not possible to attack one
without attacking the other.

Acknowledging the work of fellow emergent travelers such as
Phyllis Tickle, Tony Jones, and Doug Pagitt, McLaren tells us
“something is trying to be born among those of us who follow
Jesus Christ.” (pg.13) In fact, writes McLaren, “what is
trying to be born today echoes the Great Reformation in many
ways.” (pg.257) 

But does McLaren’s paradigm vision really echo the Great
Reformation? From the Reformation came the freedom of Sola
Scriptura—the Word of God alone. The chains of a false
religion were cast off. From the Reformation came men and women
who were willing to die for the right to believe and proclaim
Truth. 

What does McLaren’s “reformation” offer? An errant
eschatology. A New Age “christ.” The ascent of homospirituality
into the temple. (2 Kings 23: 7) All made possible, of course,
through creative misinterpretation of God’s Word. The
author has brought us his Great Deformation, a
theology that plays to the flesh even while being portrayed
as a spiritual journey.One of the major themes in A New Kind of Christianity,
homosexuality, cleverly defines Christians who speak out
against the homosexual lifestyle as suffering from “fundasexuality.”
(Pg.174-5) However, you are only a “fundasexualist” if you speak
out loudly against this sin. 

McLaren decrees, “The term does not apply to the quiet,
pious, respectful fundamentalism of straightforward, sincere
people, but rather to the organizing, angry, dominating
fundamentalism that declares war on those who differ.” (pg.
174-5)

In other words, when it comes to homosexuality, a good
Christian is a silent Christian.

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that
put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put
bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20)

As my wife and I have both repented of this particular sin,
it is difficult to comprehend Brian McLaren’s smiley-faced
rebellion. But make no mistake: McLaren and others are being
used to facilitate homospirituality, which may even assume an
elevated, even sacred, status.

Ridiculous? Simply look to the Episcopalians, Lutherans, and
Presbyterians. This is just the beginning.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places. (Ephesians 6:12)

Like Doug Pagitt, Brian McLaren believes Christians are
trapped in a “Greco-Roman” understanding of the faith. “Now the
god of this Greco-Roman version of the biblical story bears a
strange similarity in many ways to Zeus,” he tells us, which “is
a far different deity from the Jewish Elohim of Genesis 1…” (pg.
42)

Yet, no matter what name his god is given, you will not find
this redesigned deity in the Old or New Testament. The only way
to promote the existence of this “god” is to radically change
biblical interpretation—which is exactly what the author spends
much time and many pages seeking to accomplish. “There will be
no new kind of Christian faith without a new approach to the
Bible,” he opines, “because we’ve gotten ourselves into a mess
with the Bible.” (Pg. 67-68)

In his chapter, ‘What is the Overarching Storyline of the
Bible?’ McLaren notes he and others have “dared to tweak” the
content of the Word of God. “We might question conventional
theories of atonement or the nature and population of hell or
whether concepts like original sin or total depravity might need
to be modified.” (pg. 35)

McLaren does indeed “modify.” He modifies with a vengeance.
Thus this emergent “Jesus” was never sent by the Father to die
in our place for our sins. There is no substitutionary
atonement. There is no original sin.

The Bible tells us, “I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O
Lord: I will keep thy statutes.” (Psalm 119: 145)

McLaren believes traditional understanding of the Word of God
has made Christians a nasty, dominant bunch. We apparently have
difficulty with religious pluralism because of this flawed
understanding. On top of that, Christians “currently control
most of the world’s wealth, consume most of the world’s
resources, produce most of the world’s waste, and sell and use
most of the world’s weapons.” (Pg.215)

As in his other books, in A New Kind of Christianity
McLaren exhibits his ability and talent to write well and draw
readers with his conversational tone, seemingly measured, with
humorous comments sprinkled in here and there. He gives the
impression of allowing much room to disagree with him. He
invites us on a journey, which he portrays as part of the
natural “evolution” of Christianity.

“The old paradigm falls away behind us like a point of
departure, and we are won over to new possibilities, caught up
in a new way of seeing, looking toward a new and wide horizon.”
(Pg.30) But since the author does not comprehend the Bible (1
Corinthians 2:14), what practices does he engage in to gain
wisdom and knowledge?

Interestingly, McLaren identifies himself as a
“contemplative/reflexive.” (pg. 226) He writes, “In the
tradition of Julian of Norwich and St. Teresa of Avila and all
the other mystics, we can learn to render ourselves vulnerable
to the “favors of God”—those indescribable experiences that mock
our dualisms and so saturate our imagination with abundance that
they transcend our ability to convey joy and wonder. In the
tradition of St. John of the Cross, we can learn to survive and
derive benefits from the soul’s dark night.” (pg. 227) Like most
leading figures in the emergent movement, McLaren advocates
contemplative spirituality.

 A New Kind of Christianity will serve as a lure for
Bible-illiterate Christians. For believers who know the Word of
God, McLaren’s heresy will sadden and astound. His book is aimed
at the young, and at people who have perhaps grown up in
households with little or no faith. It is aimed at the unsaved
and the uncertain. It is for the disappointed and disenchanted,
and for people who simply know no better. If you have a gripe
against God or His people, this book will lick your wounds. But
what this book will not do is provide any measure of godly hope
and biblical virtue.

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Source:

http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/index.php?p=725&more=1&c=1