Posted: 08/31/07

Beware the Bridge People

How can we engage in personal formation and theological reformulation for global transformation?

--Emerging author/speaker Brian McLaren, from his website.

Brian McLaren sent out an email today promoting his Deep Shift Tour. I've written about this tour before but a look at his Deep Shift site is extremely helpful in understanding how he is drawing young people into the apostasy of emerging spirituality.

I get press releases from a host of different groups, many of them emerging or New Age. The parallels between the content on these New Age and Emerging sites is unbelievable. Both continually describe an emerging spiritual paradigm, a change that will transform the world, a new spirituality that is no longer bound up by fundamentalist dogma.. In an interview I conducted with New Ager Neale Donald Walsch four years ago, he talked repeatedly of doing away with old thinking, redefining and re-imagining current religion and spirituality. Nobody, he assured me, would have to actually give up their beliefs to join up for this new spirituality. They would simply have to expand their thinking, redefine some terms and give up old prejudices. Sound familiar? If it does, that's because the Emerging church has been promoting the same thing.

But wait a minute, some will say. Brian McLaren talks about the Kingdom of God. He talks about Christ. He must be fine! When Brian McLaren talks about the Kingdom of God being available to everyone, he is not talking about those who repent, throw down their rebel arms at the cross and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is talking about those who embrace the new spirituality he is offering, a Christianity that teaches that there is no hell below us, something that Neale Donald Walsch has been preaching for years. As for the use of the term "Christ", I would remind you that the Lord himself warned how many would come in His name but who were counterfeits. We are seeing the cosmic Christ of the New Spirituality emerge in front of our eyes. The enemy has been able to infiltrate and corrupt evangelical churches because of their rejection of doctrine and a substitution of a man-centered message of life enhancement for sound biblical teaching. As the emerging leaders and teachers continue to erode confidence in the Word of God and to deny its authority over matters of faith and practice, they have simultaneously introduced their spiritual poison. The poison can be summed up this way, "Yea, hath God said?"

I call men like Brian McLaren, "Bridge People". Some within the spiritual realm seem to be assigned to be high level false prophets. They openly deny the Christ of Scripture, they seduce millions into believing that all paths lead to God and they don't pretend to be Christians. Then the enemy assigns others to be at the bridge between Christianity and the New Age apostasy. They stand at the bridge they have erected over the vast chasm below and assure those who are troubled by their teachings that it's really OK. All is well, they say. We're just tweaking Christianity for the postmodern era. They ask perpetual questions to undermine the authority of the Word. They know just the areas in which the church of Jesus Christ is weakest and they exploit that. Due to a disinterest in sound doctrine today, these men move in and out of our churches without being seriously questioned, they get contracts with major evangelical publishers, they hold conferences and they make the rounds of Christian media. These are the Bridge People. Did God really say that? Let's invent something new and more appropriate for our times. The old isn't working anymore. Who said 'faith alone'? Who invented that? Can't find it in the Bible. Who said homosexuality is sin? It's time to end such ancient prejudices and get more enlightened and compassionate. On and on they go.

 These Bridge People are charismatic in personality, they appeal to the intellectual vanity of their hearers by painting the Bible-believers as primitive, fundamentalist crackpots. Sneer. We're beyond all that now. These Bridge People are particularly dangerous because underneath their witty, urbane, sophisticated veneer that attracts so many, they are at war with God's Word. If you challenge them to give you a straight answer to a straight doctrinal issue, they will shuck and jive and weave all over the place, playing games with words and refusing to give a clear answer. They are skilled debaters and they use their considerable personal charm to convince their followers that anyone who questions them is illustrative of the problem of old religion. It is time for a big shift, they say.

As the winds of postmodern confusion uproot old institutions that once stood for biblical truth, make sure that you are aware of the work of the Bridge People. The bridge they control leads to utter spiritual darkness.

Note: As I was preparing this column, I was sent a link from an occult/New Age organization that truly startled me. The title of the demonic channeling on the site was entitled, "The Bridge People." I had never laid eyes on it before writing this piece. I had thought of the term "Bridge People" several years ago after studying Dr. Tony Campolo and his frequent citing of New Agers like Teilhard de Chardin and others. If you read what this New Age channeler is saying, he even announces afresh the coming of the "cosmic Christ." Just like Jesus said. It's a sobering time.

By Ingrid Schlueter Email: vcyproducer@aol.com Click here for bio and archived articles