The Emergent Church

Mother of Harlots

This is from the blog Grace and Truth:

Click on one of the below links in this series to read an article about the Emergent Church:

• The “Emergent”-cy of Post-Modernist Christianity
• Satan’s Tool in the Emergent Church
• The Falling Dominoes in the Emergent Church
• The Deep, Deep Roots of Emerging Mysticism
• Mysteries and Mysticism
• A Meditation on Emergent Spirituality
• The Emergent Church/New Age Connection
• A Harlot, an Emergent and a Pope Walked into a Bar
• The Evolution of the Emergent church

• Where’s Truth?
• Stand in the Ways and See – A Poem

The Hidden Streets of Babylon
Babylon the Great 
Zion and Babylon Compared

How Far We've Fallen

This is from the blog Homeward Bound:
 

High standards seem to be a thing of the past. What once was ordinary and expected of everyone is now deemed gifted, talented, and exceptional. Even simple things like being able to write longhand are considered extraordinary, and if perchance you happen to be an immigrant that speaks fluent English without the frequent insertion of ‘know what I’m sayin’?’ in your dialogue, people are surprised and dumbfounded.

We have consistently lowered the bar to accommodate the lazy and uninspired, and although that is a choice the world is free to make it ought not to be so when it comes to those responsible for the spiritual welfare of the household of faith.

The quality of shepherd has been steadily diminishing during the first few decades. We have let things slide, we have ignored the warning signs, and now the quality of shepherd has diminished to the point that no one seems to be put off by the idea that some 400 pastors, deacons, elders, and other church leadership have enrolled themselves and pay fees to a website whose sole purpose is to provide partners for illicit extramarital affairs.

In layman’s terms, they pay a subscription to facilitate the commission of adultery with other individuals who pay a subscription to likewise commit adultery on their significant other.

The surprise in the church was almost nonexistent. Some are even breathing a sigh of relief that the names of these pastors and elders were found on a website that facilitates heterosexual intercourse rather than one providing hookups for men to reciprocally sodomize each other.

At least they were looking to commit adultery with women. The fact that we can even think of framing the argument in such a manner proves how far we’ve fallen and how little is expected of our spiritual leaders nowadays.

It used to be men whose function was to serve food to widows were expected to be of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. Nowadays, as long as you can fit into a pair of skinny jeans and look hip enough wearing a pair of horn rimmed glasses, your spiritual pedigree, how much you know of the Word, or even what you believe is no longer relevant.

We make idols of men only to be overcome by hopelessness and despair once our idols turn out to be less then human, never mind a demigod.

In this entire unfolding there are no innocents. Everyone is culpable for the spiritual condition we find ourselves in. Everyone is culpable for the lukewarm, halfhearted, heretical offerings we bring before God, thinking we are doing Him a favor, and expecting to be generously rewarded via the material for our efforts.

The leaders are culpable because they stopped preaching truth, and began floating the idea that sin is no longer sin, and what you do  the rest of the week is irrelevant as long as you pay your tithe and show up on Sunday.

The sheep are culpable because they desired a wider path than that the Bible prescribes, and found themselves teachers to suit their proclivities and give them license to sin.

Those still preaching truth are likewise culpable, because they didn’t yell loud enough, or long enough, or often enough, but in their defense, even a dog can only be smacked upon the head so many times by those he considers friends before he just gives up his barking, and goes to sit in a corner somewhere.

We tried preaching the Word, and were called legalists. We tried preaching righteousness and were called zealots. We tried preaching the power of the Holy Spirit and were called mystics. We tried preaching Jesus and were called intolerant. We tried preaching the narrow path and were called exclusivists. We tried preaching the cross and were called old-fashioned, outmoded, and obsolete.

 

We were not called these things by the world; it was not the world that was persecuting us, but those who claimed to be of the household of faith, those who claimed to be of Christ, those who claimed to stand for truth. Yes, the selfsame individuals who now embrace sin with open arms, who see no problems with adultery, and whose notion of salvation is one even a toddler can poke holes in until it looks like a slice of Swiss cheese.

Who have we to blame for the world we’ve created but ourselves?

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

Special Forces

Dreams from the LORD 2011
27 March 2011

Last night I had a dream from the Lord. I was in this city. There was fighting going on between two armies: Army A and Army B. I was with Army A. The fighting took place among these big buildings; it looked like the downtown area of the city.

During the dream, it all reminded me of the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. The American Army was lulled into relaxing too much and then, all of a sudden, the Germans counter-attacked and took many prisoners.

In the dream, there was fighting between the two armies and then, all of a sudden, the soldiers from both sides put down their weapons and embraced each other. They were all smiling and became fast friends. I stood there looking at what was happening, but I knew something was wrong. In my spirit, I knew that Army B had tricked Army A into a ceasefire. It was a false peace (it reminded me of the phrase “peace and safety and then sudden destruction comes upon them”).

Then I saw strange things happen. These big columns (like they have at the Parthenon in Greece) came in on rollers and new buildings were being erected. But I knew this was wrong: these buildings were being built too fast and on shallow ground; they were built without any foundations. It all seemed false and pretentious.

Then I saw this small group of soldiers coming up behind me from Army A. There were probably ten to twenty men dressed in green uniforms and helmets. They were carrying rifles. They looked like Special Forces. They moved very quickly, were very aggressive; they had faces like flint. They paid absolutely no attention to the lukewarm soldiers of Army A and Army B. These guys meant business. In my spirit, I knew that they knew that something was very wrong with all of this false peace between Army A and Army B. These Special Forces guys moved quickly towards the interior of the city and the rest of Army B (the headquarters of Army B?). I followed with them.

What does this dream mean? Army A is the modern Christian church. Army B is the army of Satan. Army A APPEARS to be fighting the devil, but they really aren’t. They have compromised with the devil and have made peace with the devil (have become conformed to the world) (“they had a form of Godliness, but denied the power thereof”).

The Special Forces are the true Christian warriors—and they were much fewer in number than all of Army A (the modern lukewarm church). It would be like comparing Special Forces with the rest of the United States’ conventional army: there are probably 2 million military personnel and there may be several thousand in Special Forces.

In the dream, the Special Forces did not take heed to the false peace between Army A and Army B. They continued to attack Army B and head to the interior of the city and hunt down bad guys.

This dream reminds me of Elijah and the seven thousand who did not bow down to Baal in the days of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. There were probably around 3 million people living in Israel at the time. It is always a small minority that does the real fighting against Satan.

One more thing: the dream was rather long and many of the details are gone from me now. What is vivid in my mind is my observing the fighting of the Special Forces. They weren’t merely playing church, they were about their Father’s business—they were taking the fight to the enemy; they were taking out satanic strongholds.

Where Have all the Warriors Gone?