“The organ in the worship service is a sign of Baal.”

Realencyklopadie Fur Protestantische Theologie und Kirche, Bd, 14, s.433 cited in Instrumental Music and New Testament Worship, James D. Bales, p. 130.

How long till that one shows up on Slice?

There’s a provocative piece over at C?N filed in “abominations by the ever mysterious editor.” You can imagine the church they are referring to is  teaching heresy, perhaps, they are saying that abusing women is just part of the cultural norm? Nope. What they are doing is a series called “Super Hero Parables.” From this title the clairvoyant writer at a little self righteousness leaven says that the pastor of that church has

He traded in preaching from the Bible to preaching from comic book stories

I wonder how he knows that? Has he heard the guy preach? How many times when Jesus was asked about the Kingdom did he reply with stories? I mean even in the picture that our friend at a little self righteousness leaven has so conveniently posted for us the church gives us a definition of a parable.

“Parable”= a story with a spiritual point

Perhaps, even Jesus wouldn’t have been spiritual enough for these people? I read this in Mark,

He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said:…

I mean why not just use the O.T.? Isn’t that inspired? Wasn’t that good enough for this friend of sinners who hung out, eating and drinking with sinners. You know, some even said that he was a drunkard and a bastard. After all, they knew who their father was.

Abominations indeed.

For those that have followed the various conversations I’ve been involved in here, it may come as a surprise that everything I’ve written on my blog about emergents have been less than overwhelmingly positive.

What happened? Why have I been forced to defend Rob Bell, Tony Jones and even Brian McLaren? How did I end up in Bizarro World?

The short answer to that is Ken Silva, the slightly longer answer is the arrogant, unloving, deceitful people like Ken Silva who have seen fit to vent their spleens and their terribly mistaken theology on the web. You see, while they are right, that doctrine matters, and it should be guarded carefully they’ve never learned that the way we go about doing that is just as much a matter of doctrine as the gospel itself.

Paul commands in Colossians 3:12: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Contrast that command with the various posts we’ve seen condemning Perry Noble, Rick Warren, Rob Bell, Tony Jones and others. For example, here Ken Silva, in reference to Brian McLaren says, “Frankly I am astonished that evangelical leaders even listen to this fool and accept him as brother in Christ.” Or consider this post in which Ingrid takes a story in which a church is opening an outreach center and uses that as a jumping off point to accuse this church in particular and emergents in general of being confused as to what the gospel is. Check out this line, “But with so many emerging churches denying the existence of hell, what sort of message do they bring?” Other than the guy she reported earlier who was run out of his church for saying hell doesn’t exist (which kind of gives you an indication how well this teaching is tolerated) how many emerging churches do you think Ingrid is familiar with, much less “many” emerging churches that teach hell doesn’t exist? As usual when these kinds of accusations are made no specific examples are cited.

But, let’s get back to the weaknesses seen in many emergent voices today. As much I like Rob Bell, and enjoy reading and listening to him, there are weaknesses in either his theology or the way he presents his theology. Ironically enough Ken links to an excellent breakdown of those weaknesses by Ben Witherington (BW3). If you read through that post you’ll notice a marked difference in the style of BW3 and the people we discussed earlier. Notice there’s no condescending tone, there’s no name calling, and perhaps most importantly, there’s no questioning of motives or salvation. Instead it is simply a gracious critique of Bell.

And, that, ladies and gentlemen makes BW3 a far more effective counterweight to Bell’s teachings. Because when Silva, Ingrid, and the rest of the folks at the “Christian” “Research” Network show up, it makes the dirty, dirty hippies of the emergent/emerging church look like the best thing going. It’s kind of like trying to pick up carnie chicks: sure the Lobster Woman may not be the one you actually want to ask out, but when the bearded lady shows up suddenly those lobster claws seem more quirky than disgusting (my apologies to carnies, lobster women, and bearded ladies).

I don’t want to sink to an extreme level of self-promotion, but my recent sermon covered this topic (not in response to these people, this series had been planned for several months) and there’s movie clips from Employee of the Month that accompany it. If you’re interested its right here.

I was at Mosaic’s annual men’s advance, Highlander, this last week. Erwin McManus was the speaker on Saturday night, and with him was the energy coach, Jon Gordon. You may have recognized that name from earlier comment threads brought up by several of our readers. Many watchdoggies criticized McManus for his involvement with this new-age leader. They said it was shameful and an abomination that Erwin would associate himself with such an unbiblical personality.

Jon spoke this weekend, explaining that when he met Erwin for the first time, they began a conversation about Jesus Christ and spirituality. As Gordon continued this conversation via email and radio broadcasts, he began to wrestle with the ideas found in the scriptures. It was when Jon recently went to a Buddhist healer that his struggles came to a head. The healer explained that you could work your whole life at Buddhism and not arrive to enlightenment. The healer went on to explain that Christianity was “spiritual cheating.” In essence, Jesus Christ comes down to us, so that we might become Children of God thru him. It was at that point where this new-aged Jewish man became a follower of Christ. He was baptized in the Atlantic Ocean a few months ago.

Jon said that he had seen all the websites criticizing Erwin for his relationship; he was worried about how Erwin would respond. Tonight during our gathering at the Mayan Nightclub in downtown Los Angeles, Erwin told the crowd that he would take all the heat from those websites if it meant that Jon would come into a relationship with Christ.

As I heard this story unfold over the weekend, I was amazed. Amazed at how God works. Amazed with the irony of it all. I read over this article written a few months ago by Ken Silva, and could only smile. Here is a guy who spends his time criticizing Erwin McManus for involvement with Gordon (not to mention trashing his own denomination in the process). Around the same time, Erwin was helping Gordon find his way to Christ. On top of all of that… Gordon made his final decision for Christ through the influence of a Buddhist healer. Isn’t it funny how God works?

I guess some sit back and criticize. Others are too busy doing the work of their Father, even when they are being pounded for it. And God often uses very unconventional methods to accomplish His will.