The Truth Behind The Postmodern Emergent Church
by Sandy Simpson, 1/7/11

I am going to write some things in this article that will doubtless anger people who are into the Emergent Church (EC) movement.  These comments come from a careful observation of the teachings and practices of the leadership and followers of the EC.  My goal is to get Christians rethinking their involvement in this movement by pointing out some of the background behind it.  We already have ample articles on the false teachings of the EC, but I wanted to touch on what is behind their desire to subvert the Word of God.  Normal biblical Christians are happy to obey the commands of the Lord set out in His written Word because they know they prove their love of the Lord by doing so.

John 14:15  "If you love me, you will obey what I command.
1 Jn. 14:23  Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
1 Jn. 14:24  He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
1 Jn. 15:10  If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Fathers commands and remain in his love.
1 Jn. 5:3  This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,
But the Bible paints a picture of those who "will not obey my teaching".  When you look at the background of the leadership of the EC, you will discover it is made up of a lot of rebellious people who have never liked the rules of a decent society or Christianity and have set out to prove they can do anything they want to under the guise of postmodern "Christianity".  They try to challenge every precept of the Bible because they have been brought up in a permissive postmodern world where "every man does what is right in their own eyes" (Jud. 17:6, 21:25; Pr. 12:15, 21:2).  They were likely disobedient to parents and disrespectful and want to drag every other Christian into their infantile delusions, being at the very least immature in the Faith.  They demonstrate a patent disregard for the authority of the Bible, as evidenced amply in their teachings and practices, as well as a disdain for morality.  They expect everyone else to jump into their deluded debauchery with them just because they can juggle some semantics and seem as though they are really hip and knowledgeable.  For proof of what I am saying read all the articles in our Emerging Church section of the site.  There are 400+ articles on the plethora of false teachings and practices being introduced into churches by this movement.

But this has been going on for much longer than the recent advent of the EC.

Gal. 5:19-21  The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Pet. 4:3-5  For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
Lest you think I am being too harsh in my criticism of the EC, read the following articles about their promotion of homosexuality and their holding church services in bars while, as luck would have it, drinking beer.  These are just two of the aberrations of this movement.

Acceptance of "Christian" Homosexuality
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=4891
http://webcommentary.com/asp/ShowArticle.asp?id=westm&date=081130%20
http://www.apprising.org/archives/2006/02/brian_mclaren_t.html
http://emerging-church.blogspot.com/
http://apprising.org/2010/08/25/doug-pagitt-and-the-emerging-church-gay-agenda/
http://apprising.org/2010/10/11/doug-pagitt-and-homosexual-sin/

Holding Church services in bars
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2009/10/emergent-inebriates.html
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2009/10/pub-theology.html
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Church/Default.aspx?id=1268736

I am quite familiar with what drives the younger generation today because it was what I had to repent of when I was a youth.  So I know the desire to try to justify yourself and what you are doing because you want to be able to continue to do those things while assuaging your conscience because so many others are doing them along with you.  I attempted some of the same tactics when I had drifted away from the Lord early in my life.  But no amount of jury-rigging the truth can change God's absolute truth.  The bottom line is that, as believers, we either have to choose to follow the foolishness of men or the wisdom of God.

1Co 3:19  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness"; {Job 5:13}