Deceptive Roots of the Emerging Church

Excerpts from

Faith Undone
and Another
Jesus

By Roger Oakland

 

 Roger Oakland’s

Faith Undone answers
the following questions:
 
1. How did the emerging church gain momentum and who were the
key players that helped accomplish it?

2. What exactly are “non-baptized believers”?

3. What are some of the mystical practices that earmark the
emerging church?

4. What contribution do the early “church fathers” make to the
modern day emerging church movement?

5. What are the global plans of the Catholic church, and how
does the evangelical church (and the emerging church) fit in?

6. In what ways is Rick Warren an integral part of the emerging
church and how is he helping to promote its agenda?
 

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Roger Oakland’s



http://www.lighthousetrails.com/anotherjesus.htm
explores these topics from a biblical
perspective – exhorting all to heed the Bible’s warnings. By
chronicling the growing cult of eucharistic adoration and the
increasing trend of eucharistic evangelization, Roger Oakland
points readers back to a “more sure word of prophecy” and the
true Jesus of the Bible.

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September 19,
2007

The
following is a special report from Roger Oakland of

Understand the Times:

There are pastors (including

Calvary Chapel pastors) who are promoting Rob Bell’s
view that Christianity must be “reinvented for the 21st
century.” Rob Bell is one of the prominent leaders of the
Emerging Church movement.

In Faith Undone, the following facts about Rob Bell are
presented:

“Bell, a graduate of
Wheaton College (the same as Billy Graham), is the
producer for short films called Noomas (derived from the
word Pneuma, meaning breath or spirit.) In his Nooma
film called Breathe, Bells states: “Each day we take
around 26,000 breaths … Our breathing should come from
our stomach, not our chest.”

“This sounds fairly benign at first glance. But in a 2004
Christianity Today article titled ‘Emergent Mystique,’
Bell says, ‘We’re rediscovering Christianity as an
Eastern religion, as a way of life.’ Is Bell just trying
to sound postmodern and culturally-relevant when he says
this, or does he really believe that Christianity is an
Eastern religion? The answer to that question can be
found in two people with whom Bell strongly resonates.

“In Bell’s Velvet Elvis, in the ‘Endnotes’ section, Bell
recommends Ken Wilber (whom I mentioned in chapter two
as one of Leonard Sweet’s ‘New Light’ teachers). Of
Wilber, Bell states:

“For a mind-blowing introduction to emergence theory and
divine creativity, set aside three months and read Ken
Wilber’s A Brief History of Everything.”

“Ken Wilber was raised in a conservative Christian
church, but at some point he left that faith and is now
a major proponent of Buddhist mysticism. His book that
Bell recommends, A Brief History of Everything, is
published by Shambhala Publications, named after the
term, which in Buddhism means the mystical abode of
spirit beings. Wilber is one of the most respected and
highly regarded theoreticians in the New Age movement
today.” (from pp. 109-11,
Faith Undone)

Any pastor (including a Calvary
Chapel pastor) who follows and promotes the teachings of

Rob Bell (Velvet Elvis , Nooma films, etc.), but claims
not to be part of the Emerging Church after reading the
following article (see link below) about Rob Bell, needs to
publicly declare whether he is Emerging Church or not. A
pastor who follows Rob Bell has the potential to be led away
from a Bible-based Christiantiy towards a New Age eastern
mysticism that includes contemplative spirituality. This is
a perfect example of how a shepherd who is supposed to
protect his flock from wolves can become a wolf in sheep’s
clothing and become a danger to his own flock and other
pastors who follow him or his methods.

 

Roger Oakland

Understand the Times

 

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‘Velvet Elvis’ Author Encourages Exploration of Doubts

Excerpts from the article:

Faith in Jesus, Bell says, must be repainted for each
generation if it is to avoid the fate of his velvet Elvis.
“What often happens in religion is people freeze the faith
at a certain point,” Bell says. “There’s no more need to
paint. We’ve got the ultimate painting.”

On the contrary, he says — religion, like art, must keep
exploring and reforming, or “you end up with a velvet Elvis
on your hands.”

“It is not possible to simply do what the Bible says,” Bell
writes. “We must first make decisions about what it means at
this time, in this place, for these people.”

Many of them are looking for what Bell says his book offers
— “a fresh take on Jesus.”

Bell also shakes up traditional evangelical beliefs. While
calling Christ’s way “the best possible way to live,” Bell
writes Jesus did not claim one religion is better than
another when he said he was “the way, the truth and the
life.” Rather, he writes, “his way is the way to the depth
of reality.”

As a follower of Jesus, Bell says, he is free to claim the
truth wherever he finds it.

“One of the lies is that truth only resides in this
particular community or that particular thought system,”
Bell says. “I affirm the truth anywhere in any religious
system, in any worldview. If it’s true, it belongs to God.”

LTRP Note: Please see
the articles below for more information:







Velvet Elvis: A Doorway to the New Age




Rob Bell: Hitting the road on a mission of “misplaced” faith




Poll Shows Many “Most Influential Christians” Promote
Contemplative




More research on the spirituality of Rob Bell




Calvary Chapel Rejects Contemplative Spirituality and the
Emerging Church!

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You can
order

Faith Undone  and

Another Jesus
from
Lighthouse Trails at

www.lighthousetrails.com/formanyshallcome.htm

Reference citations
are in the book.

Recent reports from
www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com:

They Like Jesus, But Not the Church

Erwin McManus: “A Secret Behind The Secret”

The Secret: A New Era for Humankind