Posted: 05/17/06

The New Evangelicalism: Anything's Emerging

By Ken Silva

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. [1] (John 13:34-35)

Denying God And Love Of Man

As I recently shared with my local flock at Connecticut River Baptist Church, a small fellowship of 7 or so which meets in the home of one of its members, every now and then a pastor receives something he feel is of special importance to the times we find ourselves in, and this is one such message. What I am trying to help you see lately in my work here at Apprising Ministries is that right now in the American Christian Church God's attributes of love and mercy have been horribly magnified out of all Biblical proportion.

The reason anything's emerging today is because those opening verses have become as a meditative mantra within The Ecumenical Church Of Deceit (ECoD) of the new evangelicalism: "Anything that is emerging in the Church today is ok as long as we love one another. It's up to God to sort it all out." Well, as the ol' church lady would say, "how convenient." However, as I have said before, once you over-emphasize one attribute of God's nature you must then end up de-emphasizing another. And currently in the "love shack" that new evangelicalism has become they have finally succeeded in hammering out their own golden idol.

Through the practice of contemplative spirituality as taught by the "living spiritual teacher" Richard Foster a mystic mush god cast in their very own image has come Emerging. However, this spiritually fatal endeavor has been accomplished at the expense of the absolute holiness and justice of Yahweh Elohim, the one true and living LORD God of the Bible. For you see once we have created this non-existent mystic mush god of alleged "unconditional love," through this inexcusable idolatry we have now closed the door on the revelation of God the Holy Spirit necessary to rightly understand Holy Scripture.

What has happened instead is that the teachings of demons in the Contemplative Spirituality Movement sweeping through the Body of Christ has denied the Reformation, and this so-called "Christian" mysticism of the ECoD with its inherent Gnosticism has opened the mystical door of subjective experience for their rule and standard as they approach the Bible. And once this happens their sinful human nature takes over and they then begin to deny God while in turn elevating their own love of self. The opening text above spoken by Christ Jesus requires a whole lot more than simply a "syrupy" warm and fuzzy affection for each other. That ye love one another; as I have loved you encompasses the whole of Christ's experience with His disciples, as well as with all of mankind itself.

Thinking As Men Think

What I mean is, because of the self-centered sappy sentimentality inherent with contemplative mystic experience new evangelicalism now sees this verse as "we need to put aside all of our doctrinal differences for the sake of love." But this is a clear case of thinking as men think and not as God thinks. A Biblical example is Peter trying to stop Jesus from going to Jerusalem and to His crucifixion so the Master has to tell him – "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." [2] As someone who also works in the public school system I wish more parents understood what real love is as well because they are so terribly crippling their own children. Men and women, if we really love someone it will also encompass discipline and even punishment. As it is written:

Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?

If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. [3]

Being first a pastor-teacher I chose to include this lengthy passage here in the text to insure that we can see for ourselves what God has to say about love. As we return to this subject next time I will show you from the Bible that type of "love" taught by leaders within new evangelicalism is well below the standard God requires for Christians…but it does, however, qualify them to be pagans.

By Ken Silva Click here for bio and archived articles