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Sing4Him
June 19th, 2007, 10:10 AM
Author and pastor sounds warning about 'emergent church'
Allie Martin
OneNewsNow.com
June 19, 2007


Pastor and author John MacArthur says evangelical churches must be on guard against post-modernism and the emerging church. His new book says many church-going Christians are caught in a crossfire of teaching and writing that promotes alternative Christian histories and a push to eliminate absolute truth.:tsk::tsk:

Hear This Report
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/06/author_and_pastor_sounds_warni.php


In his book The Truth War; Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception, Dr. John MacArthur sounds a warning about the growing influence of the emerging church movement. The battle for truth, he says, is raging not only in society, but throughout the church.

"I think the emergent church, at its foundation, is unwilling to acknowledge propositional truth," MacArthur says. "And their spin is that the Bible is not that clear.

"We know there is absolute, objective, propositional truth. The fallout of rejecting that is pretty clear," he continues. "The apostles in the New Testament said 'We're begotten again by the Word of Truth.' If you don't have the true gospel, you can't be saved.":amen

He says the growing emergent church movement is in line with post-modernism. "Post-modernism simply is this idea that there is no absolute truth," MacArthur explains. "If that comes into the church, then that's not the church. That's not Christianity."

MacArthur says on the surface, the emerging church leaders seem sincere, with talk of reaching the culture:doh: for Christ. However, he says the underlying theology denies the truth of God's Word. That is why MacArthur says Christians must know the Bible.

"I love the language of First John 2: 12-14," he says. "We need to be spiritual young men, who are strong in the Word because the Word of God abides in us and we have therefore overcome the wicked one."

MacArthur says while he has received criticism from some evangelicals for writing the book, Christians are called to contend for the faith. To do that effectively, he says, Christians must know how to identify and address errors and false teachings that he says are smuggled into churches.

Lynn
June 19th, 2007, 11:15 AM
Author and pastor sounds warning about 'emergent church'
Allie Martin
OneNewsNow.com
June 19, 2007
Pastor and author John MacArthur says evangelical churches must be on guard against post-modernism and the emerging church. His new book says many church-going Christians are caught in a crossfire of teaching and writing that promotes alternative Christian histories and a push to eliminate absolute truth.:tsk::tsk:

Hear This Report
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/06/author_and_pastor_sounds_warni.php

MacArthur says Christians must know the Bible.
"I love the language of First John 2: 12-14," he says. "We need to be spiritual young men, who are strong in the Word because the Word of God abides in us and we have therefore overcome the wicked one."

MacArthur says while he has received criticism from some evangelicals for writing the book, Christians are called to contend for the faith. To do that effectively, he says, Christians must know how to identify and address errors and false teachings that he says are smuggled into churches.

It shouldn't surprise me that Dr. MacArthur has received criticism from some evangelicals for his book. Many of the churches today, imho, are made up of a lot of post-modern 'tares' that are trying their best to thwart the true message of God's Word.
As a side note, several years ago, after knee surgery, Dr. MacA. had two pulmonary embolisms (life threatening, as you know) and his radio program, Grace to You was broadcasting the urgent need for listeners to pray for him. At the time, as I was praying, I asked God, "If You take him home, who will be left to teach us?" This godly man is a faithful old soldier. Whenever he goes on Larry King Live, he doesn't 'waffle' around when asked a direct question by the host, as others have done. He proclaims the truth every time. I am so thankful for the instruction I've received from him over the past 20+ yrs.
Didn't mean to de-rail your thread, Denise. but every time I see a post about him, I can't resist the opportunity to tell others about his ministry. Even though you are familiar with his ministry (even got to meet him recently), others who read our board may not be aware of his good teaching.

Sing4Him
June 19th, 2007, 11:19 AM
Yes, glad you said I met him!! :yay:lol2

This man stand for TRUTH. The gospel.. sinners saved by Jesus' shed blood for their sins and giving them eternal life.

The gospel is NOT solely "go into the world" without the second half!

Please go and get his book!! :thumb

Zaphnathpaaneah
June 19th, 2007, 03:24 PM
At the time, as I was praying, I asked God, "If you take Him home, who will be left to teach us?"

If the Lord doesn't come for us first, doesn't it make you wonder what the next generation of teachers/pastors will be like?

How many would come from new "emerged' churches compared to Bible based churches?

What would a future generation "think" about Christianity if they all they heard was a "whatever you believe is OK" kind of gospel?


(Does this really require a posted answer?)

:ohno

JoelH
June 19th, 2007, 05:03 PM
The scary thing is that there are even many who post here that love the paradigm of the emergent church. I know quite a few who try to defend this on the grounds of "we must engage the postmodern generation! The evangelical chruch model is not truly 1st century ideal-based anyway which means that evangelism must tune with the times and package in the language 'people of the times' speak! Yes, I know po-mos are not biblically based but they are the epitome of our times, so we must convey the ideas in the spirit of the times!"

Not sure if they will come on this thread, but I know most of them are Arminian-leaning believers who believe in humanistic gospels anyway (the coinwords of Dan S from withchrist.org ).

Unfortunately, the way I see it probably the majority of godly next-generation teachers/pastors will probably be from outside the West. (churches in the Third World tend to trail theological developments of the Western evangelcial churches by about 40 years)

Sing4Him
June 19th, 2007, 06:31 PM
the coinwords of Dan S from withchrist.org :thumb:thumb:thumb

funmudder
June 19th, 2007, 07:59 PM
I could not possibly agree with the OP more :D

Astyrrian
June 25th, 2007, 02:45 AM
May God bless Dr. MacArthur. We need the leaders/pastors who are willing to fight for the Gospel and for the Truth. :pray

Barachem
June 25th, 2007, 04:41 AM
In the Netherlands most christians are blinded to the deceptions going around and i'm quite certain this includes the emergent church.
God does not need christians to praise Him so they can get power that elevates them!
God wants christians praising Him just for who He is and during praise not have any expectations and God wants christians to ask Him to bestow power upon them so they can brave the seductions from sin and fend the attacks of our adversary.
This is what i miss in most modern churches, the sense of knowing what praise and prayer is and what the great commission is.

I feel lonely in a place with so few local churches adhering to the biblical truth.

And yes, God please bless and protect Dr. MacArthur and the people who follow his example to witness to and for biblical truth.

Harley
June 27th, 2007, 03:34 PM
I'm currently reading his book. I'll withhold commenting until I have finished it.