A Storm Is Brewing; Is Your Church Going Emergent?

In recent weeks, the number of viewers on this blog has increased drastically.  It appears that more and more people are becoming aware of change in their churches.

One topic, in particular, has received more comments than I can begin to publish on the site:  that of changes in the Baptist General Conference–now known by its missional name, Converge World Wide. 

I know there are many faithful local congregations in this denomination–and pastors who still honor a fundamental interpretation of Scriptures, while viewing all of Scripture as the Word of God.  Those of you who have such a local fellowship and faithful pastor are blessed.  I pray that your church will continue to preach and teach God’s Word, along with freely exposing and confronting error wherever it may be found.  Your pastor needs your support!

My experience with the above named denomination has been tragic.  My husband and I have seen a godly pastor dismissed by his congregation, with the aid and authority of the district leaders of the BGC.  People in the congregation criticized the pastor for spending too much time on Scripture, and for standing firm on a lifestyle issue which has been clearly delineated by that denomination in the past. 

He was also criticized for lacking charisma and sticking to his job of pastor/teacher rather than trying to make church “fun” for the community.  This local fellowship has compromised sound fundamental doctrine.  Instead, the members are going out into the community and asking, “What would you like our church to be?”

At the national level, the demise of a once Biblically sound group has been apparent to me through articles published in the denomination’s magazine.  Please see my March 2nd, 2009 entry for details. 

Concerned Christians have commented on the March 2, 2009 entry, legitimately wanting to know more about what is going on in their church.  Many times, I’ve read the question, “How does one know when a church is going emergent?

A thorough answer may be found online at the following site:  www.understandthetimes.org  .  Roger Oakland has published an article on the subject, titled:  “How to Know When the Emerging Church Shows Signs of Emerging in Your Church” .

In his article, Roger Oakland succinctly lists warning signs.  Among them are:  1) the encroachment of mysticism; 2) the error of experiences and subjective feelings as a way to know God in place of knowing Him through His objective Word; 3) a preponderence of psychology in place of sound theology; 4) the heresy that the Church has replaced Israel and Israel has no significance in prophecy; 5) the idea that the Church and Scriptures need to be “reinvented” in order to reach the post-modern generation; 6) a trend toward ecumenical unity, compromise of Christian distinctives, and syncretism of the world’s religions in order to promote missional activities.  These are some of Oakland’s warning signs, and more are listed on his website.

The storm is brewing in many denominations and local churches today.  All of this is prophesied again and again in the Bible.  In the book of Jude we read:  “For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you.  They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” Jude–verse 4

As Christians, we need to know what the leaders of our denomination are saying and writing.  We need to read their statements, and stay informed as to their activities.  What are these leaders preaching?  What political and ecumenical movements do they endorse?

Most of all, we need to be like the worthy Bereans.  We must search Scriptures daily, to ascertain whether or not whatever we hear is true!

Margaret L. Been–All Rights Reserved

Reflections on Worship

“Be still and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations.  I will be exalted in the earth.”  Psalm 46:10

Thirty-nine years ago this week I was born into the Kingdom of God.  Like Francis Thompson after decades of running from the Hound of Heaven, He caught me when–for the first time in my life–I attended a Christ-centered church where the Gospel message was clearly preached.

I was thirty-seven years old when I trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and began a whole new life.  Up to that point, as an adult, I had mainly attended two churches–both of them “social”. 

One church preached a “social gospel”, committed to overturning the existing order and thereby solving the world’s problems.  This church ”served” by fomenting and launching radical youth (and some misguided “adults”) into the anarchy of the 1960s and 70s.

The other church which I attended in my pre-Christian years preached a ”social life gospel”–committed to the heretical concept that “man is inherently good”.  This church exuded a country club atmosphere, and failed to acknowledge that there are problems in the world.

Like the Church of Laodicea, the two social churches were neither hot nor cold.  Focused on a human agenda rather than the Lord Jesus and God’s Word, and fueled by fallen human viewpoint, they represented the apostate church as prophesied in Scripture. 

Since my rebirth in 1971 I’ve attended Bible-believing churches, some Evangelical and some Fundamental.  These churches differ vastly in focus and theology, from the above-described social churches which I attended as a pagan. 

And yet there is one similarity between the apostate churches and the Bible fellowships where I’ve worshipped for nearly forty years–a similarity that sometimes breaks my heart and leaves me spiritually hungry:  the similarity of noise. 

The apostate churches were noisy under the banner of humanism, while Bible churches are equally noisy in the guise of Christian fellowship.  I am not throwing stones at other people, because I’m as guilty as the next person when it comes to socializing at the beginning of a service. 

Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to enter a sanctuary quietly, in preparation for worship?  Since we are born again believers indwelt by the Lord through His Holy Spirit, all of life is to be holy ground.  Yet we gather corporately to focus on Him and honor His holiness. 

Would it be terribly anti-social or “unloving” to reserve our conversation for after the worship service–when our minds have been riveted on God and His Word.  Perhaps our social contacts would contain more thoughtful content, poise, and serenity if we would put God first in our corporate worship time–relegating “fellowship” to the end of the service.  Although human relationships are vastly important, our relationship with the Lord should be even more so! 

Frequently I find myself contributing to some fluffy “har-di-har-har” banter as a prelude to worship.  Har-di-har-har banter can be harmless and fun, but I pray for the self-discipline to save the talking for later when our souls are full of God’s truth cogently taught and fervently preached.

Sometimes I do try to be still.  On one occasion I was labeled “unfriendly” by an individual–because I didn’t stand and chatter in the foyer before a service, but rather went immediately and quietly to my seat.  I had an overwhelming need to shut out all frivolous conversation and simply focus on the Lord and His Word.  Thus I was deemed anti-social!

How can this be?  I totally understand the value of sharing and bonding among members of a local church.  I’m not recommending an autistic kind of church experience where no one greets anyone, or where no one offers friendship and Christian love.  There are cold churches like that, and I want no part of them!  But I would like to see an atmosphere of quiet dignity in preparation for worship.   

Annie Dillard wrote:  “On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions.  Does anyone have the foggiest idea of what sort of power we invoke?”  (Annie Dillard, TEACHING A STONE TO TALK)

And God says it best of all:  “Be still and know that I am God.”

Margaret L. Been–All Rights Reserved

Another Sad Statement!

For those of us who cherish Scriptures and understand that God’s prophecies for the end times are being fulfilled, and will be fulfilled down to the last letter, the Lord’s imminent return is a given.  Although we are never to set dates, or do tricky math to nail down the moment, we are to watch for signs.  We know that the days are evil, and that the prophesied apostasy is rampant at this very moment in time.

In Matthew 24, the Lord Jesus presents an overview of the last days, and commands His disciples:  “Take heed that no man deceive you.“ (verse 4)  Then He procedes throughout the entire chapter, delineating the actual signs of which we are to be aware.

Countless other passages in the Old and New Testament dovetail to give believers a picture of things to come.  In I Thessalonians 4:13-18, Paul clearly presents the coming Rapture of believers before the Lord Jesus comes back to earth to reign.  Paul concludes this passage with, “Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

Peter affirms:  “But the end of all things is at hand:  be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.”  I Peter 4:7

It takes a quantum leap of blind, irrational, foolishly missplaced “faith” to discount the obvious, lucid teachings of God’s Word.  A mindless adherence to man’s fallen wisdom, is one of the signature characteristics of these last days.  Jude wrote about “. . . mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.”  (Jude, verse 18) 

The “mockers in the last time” are those popular leaders of what erroneously passes for the ”Christian Church” today:  the Emergent Church and any other cult which denies the doctrines of Scripture.  Included in the denial crowd are those groups which teach Replacement Theology–the heresy that the Church is a “New Israel”.  Any “Christian” leader or follower who negates the Scripturally clear and unique value of Israel and the Jewish people, is anathema to God. 

Many individuals are currently swallowing vicious lies pumped out by the Emergent Church and its leaders–men and women who are following their own ungodly lusts for “self-righteousness”, “human good”, “popularity”, and “power”. 

Conversely, there are still Christians who might not intentionally swallow the lies–believers who were well taught when they were young, and have never consciously denied the truths of the Bible.  But sadly, many of these “would-be faithful” believers attend Emergent churches.  And many of these misled individuals are senior citizens. 

The apostate heresies have been dished out gradually, over the years, and countless Christians have been so subtly indoctrinated that they are like the frogs in the pot–coming to a slow boil.  

Granted if these duped Christians were like the Bereans, who searched the Scriptures for themselves, they wouldn’t be clueless. And if they bothered to search the web they could be rewarded with eye-opening information concerning the signs of the end times, including the groundswell of apostasy engulfing our once-Christian nation. 

All of which leads me to examine a sad statement which I hear nearly every week:  “I don’t do computers.”  There’s a tragic resistance afoot, to the technology which–when responsibly and prayerfully used–can educate and prepare us for whatever lies ahead.

One cannot read the truth about what is happening in the Middle East on FOX NEWS or CNN.  One rarely hears anything about those heretical tenants of “Emergent Christianity” apart from websites which focus on facts!  Yet myriads of people who need to know what is happening in their world and their churches, “don’t do computers”.  And I often sense innuendoes of hostility from those who “don’t do computers”–along with a condescending attitude toward those of us who do! 

We must be like the Bereans.  Only God’s Word can awaken us to understand the shocking truths of this time in history.  Meanwhile, the world wide web is a giant blessing to mankind.  There are many sites which inform us, so that we can watch and wait with diligence and discernment.  And these sites are readily accessible, via one little mouse!  For the truth about current events in Biblical perspective, check out the websites listed in the Blogroll on this site.

Margaret L. Been–All Rights Reserved 

Yet no matter what . . .

. . . it’s CHRISTMAS! 

This morning I read the Airstream Communications weather report:  “Winter storm, snow batters west, heading east.”

I ache for travelers, as I recall countless snow filled Christmas holidays when we were on the road or waiting for loved ones at airports.  My husband and I have driven on treacherous highways and lingered for hours in midnight airports, clogged due to delayed or cancelled flights.  Indeed, it seems like an unwritten law that planes from Denver to Milwaukee will be delayed for hours around Christmas–and invariably at night! 

Yet no matter what the weather, it’s Christmas!

We have experienced some Christmas holidays which were far from “merry”–times shadowed by the death of a family member, or the rebellion of a loved one.  And there were celebrations where I went through all the festive motions with a broken heart due to fractured relationships!

Yet no matter what our circumstances, it’s Christmas!

Recently we attended a preschool Christmas program held at a huge church, once known for upholding the Gospel and God’s Word.  The program featured a manger scene with all the main players entering in their turn.  When it was time for the wise men to join the group, they were announced as “wise people”. 

Evidently it’s no longer “correct” to refer to wise men–even though the Biblical travellers (who didn’t actually arrive on the scene until about 2 years after Jesus’s birth) were historical figures, and men!  

Then the adult narrator of the program talked about “Jesus”, but I’m not sure which Jesus he meant.  He spoke of a Jesus who wants to come into our hearts ”so that we’ll know how much we are loved by God”. 

Well, good, and true!  But the life changing message of the Christian faith, the very core of the Gospel, was omitted.  Christmas is the prelude to Calvary and Christ’s resurrection.  However the narrator never mentioned mankind’s innate sin condition and our desperate need for salvation.  The children’s program presented a bloodless gospel, in other words no good news at all! 

Yet no matter what the world says or does in its attempt to obscure or distort God’s truth, it’s Christmas!  Our Lord has come.  He is risen!  He will come again as promised. 

“For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” Isaiah 9:6-7

 

Margaret L. Been–All Rights Reserved

Never Forget!

“And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you, and in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”  Genesis 12:3

“Which covenant He made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac, and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.”                        Psalm 105: 9-10 

On September 29, 1938 leaders of Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy met at Munich to decide the fate of the Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia made up mostly of ethnic Germans.  Adolph Hitler had alleged that Czechs in that area were mistreating the Germans, and Hitler wanted annex the territory for Germany.

Already, the Nazi war machine had grown to ominous proportions and Austria had gone under the Hitler’s boot.  Czech president, Edvard Benes appealed to Britain and France for help in protecting his little country against the advance of a tyrant so obviously bent on world conquest.

Hitler, meanwhile, was busy deceiving the world into thinking that this little part of Czechoslovakia was all he wanted.  Those who favored siding with the Czechs against Germany were labeled “war mongers”.   Our president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was not present at the Munich conference–but sent repeated pleas for Germany and Czechoslovakia to “negotiote”.

Need we say, “the rest is history”?  On September 30, 1938, headlines in the New York Times read as follows:  “Four Powers Reach a Peaceable Agreement”, “Germans to Enter Sudetenland Tomorrow and Will Complete Occupation in Ten Days”, “Nazi Demands Met”.

After the Munich Conference, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin returned to London waving the Munich Agreement for all to see, and boasting:  “A British Prime Minister has achieved peace in our time . . . . peace with honor.”

Those ironic words were followed by events we can never forget: 

November 8, 1938–”Krystalnacht” (“night of broken glass”) when Hitler’s anti-Semitic posturing turned into the methodical destruction of businesses owned by German Jews. 

March 15, 1939–The remains of Czechoslovakia caved in under Hitler’s aggression.

September 1, 1939–Hitler launched World War II, by attacking Poland and thereby bringing Britain and her European allies into the conflict.

December 7, 1941–Japanese war planes attacked U. S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor.

December 8, 1941–U. S. declared war on Japan.

December 11, 1941–Germany and Italy declared war on U. S.

Why don’t we learn from history?  Again and again, we hear the word “negotiate”.  How many of our presidents have aped Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin by thinking they are achieving “peace in our time, peace with honor”?

Negotiations with dictators who are bent on world power can only spell compromise and ultimate devastation.  Negotiations in 1938 resulted in the closest thing to Armageddon the world has ever experienced. 

Negotiations in 1938 also resulted in the torture and extermination of millions of God’s chosen people, the Jews.

Today Germany and Japan are friendly nations, purposing to never again repeat their past.  But other aggressive, diabolical regimes have risen up in the wake of the World War II tyrants–regimes with leaders who, like Adolph Hitler, are committed to wiping the Jews off the face of the earth forever.

Of course this will not happen.  God is faithful, and He will preserve His people and His nation.  There will be a genuine Armageddon, and our Lord will return to earth to reign. 

When the Lord returns, we will have “peace with honor”!  Meanwhile, any “negotiations” which threaten, harm, or in any way undermine the nation of Israel can only result in disaster!

“For you are a holy people unto the Lord your God:  the Lord your God hath chosen you to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.”  Deuteronomy 7:6

Margaret L. Been–All Rights Reserved

Very Scary Words!

Although I say that every season is “the best” in Wisconsin, perhaps Autumn is the best!  An Autumn day, bathed in hazy sunlight and vibrant with color, has a way of casting a quiet euphoria over our souls. 

Mellow!  That’s what Autumn is–a time for sitting and dreaming, reflecting on the goodness of life.  Surrounded by the beauties of God’s creation, one can easily forget the strife and struggles of the world around us which is becoming increasingly decadent and demoralized as I type these words!

Words have a way of jarring us out of our Autumn reveries.  Such were the words of a good friend who recently said, “I’m so glad I don’t have to think!  My church does that for me, so I don’t have to concern myself with what to believe or whatever is happening out in the world!”

Where does one begin to address such blatantly dangerous foolishness?  This friend’s church–the most fundamental of her denomination’s individual branches–may be described as “Part Bible and part heresy.”  We all know that the heresy part needn’t be huge, to derail a church.  A little leaven spoils the whole loaf.

A major flaw in my friend’s church is the insistence on infant baptism and the belief that this has replaced the Hebrew tradition of circumcision as a means of bringing the child into the fellowship of God’s people–thereby ignoring Scriptures such as I Corinthians 7:19 where outward circumcision (and hence infant baptism) is irrelevent, the issue being faith and the condition of a person’s heart. 

A main historic theological document undergirding churches in my friend’s denomination states:  “Concerning Baptism, our churches teach that baptism is necessary for salvation (Mark 16:16) and that God’s grace is offered through baptism (Titus 3:4-7).  Being offered to God through Baptism, they are received into God’s grace.”

Contorting Scriptures, this document ignores the fact that in the present, Church Age, baptism is an outward symbol of an inner transaction between God and a cogent individual.  It is ludicrous to imagine that a young infant could possibly understand his or her innate sin condition and make a decision to trust Christ for salvation!  The practice of infant baptism is heretical.

This heresy is dangerous in that it can lead to ignoring one’s personal accountability to God.  Where ritual predominates, individual responsibility often takes a back seat.  Also, the belief that baptised infants are automatically recipients of God’s grace undermines our God given mandate to share the Gospel. 

Even more devastating, is the widespread teaching of Replacement Theology which my friend’s church has embraced since its inception.  The heresy that the Christian Church has replaced Israel in God’s favor (and as beneficiaries of prophetic promises) dates back to the early church era. 

In the 1500s the founder of my friend’s church broke with the established church and traditions of that time.  We honor this reformer for some reasons–the prime one being his insistence that we are saved by grace alone, and not by anything we can do. 

Yet this church father embraced the disastrous error of Replacement Theology which feeds anti-Semitism–that bitter fruit experienced by Jewish individuals and communities for centuries in nearly every nation of the world, with the notable exception of the United States of America. 

Most Christians may be unaware that the revered founder of my friend’s church was radically anti-Semitic.  This fact is revealed in some of his writings, accessible online.  The polluted teaching of Replacement Theology tainted this reformer and resulted in ramifications centuries later in the reformer’s very own nation, in the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust. 

The conscientious Christian believer will militate at every turn against Replacement Theology.  As ”Bereans”, we can never sit back and accept what our church teaches; we must check out everything we hear against the infalliable standard of God’s Word.  If we are not a friend to God’s chosen people, the Jews, then I believe we are not really God’s friend at all, but rather those to whom our Lord will someday say, “Depart from me; I never knew you!”

Even on a beautiful Autumn day, when I’m tempted to merely sit back and dream, I must be alert to the world around me, ever awake to the implications of scary words!

Margaret L. Been

The God of Israel Is Not Sleeping!

“Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”  Psalm 121:4

Our president is currently in the Middle East, allegedly on a mission of “making peace” with the enemies of Israel.  Consistently over the years, these “peace missions” have resulted in horrendous compromise–hacking away at more of the land promised to God’s people, the Jews, and conceding to Arab nations who do not want (and have never wanted) peace.

The total extermination of Israel is all the Arab nations have ever wanted; and tragically, recent U.S. presidents have fed into the Arab agenda–always in the name of “making peace”. 

This spirit of compromise exists among many who call themselves Christian.  The ugly heresy of Replacement Theology–the teaching that the Church has replaced Israel and God is through with the Jewish nation–has permeated and polluted Christian circles since the early Christian era.

In circa 160 A.D., Justyn Martyr addressed the Jews with these words:  “The Scriptures are not yours, but ours.”  Tertullian, who lived between 160 and 230 A.D., wrote a treatise titled “Against the Jews”, stating that God rejected the Jews and transferred His favor to the Church.

The history of Replacement Theology is shocking.  You will find a detailed account of this doctrine of demons on http://www.therefinersfire.org/replacement_theology.htm . 

The list of Replacement Theology followers includes familiar names such as St. Augustine and Martin Luther–right up to some currently prominent Covenant theologians. 

The anti-Biblical view of Replacement Theology has fueled anti-Semitism over the centuries right up to the present time.  Now we are seeing the poisoned fruit of Replacement Theology in our once godly nation’s zeal to “make peace” with the enemies of Israel.

But God is not sleeping!  His plan is proceding, just as He mapped it out in Eternity Past.  When we read all of Scripture, and take the Bible to literally mean what it says, we know that a great day is coming when Israel will recognize our Messiah–a day of restoration and blessing! 

As the clouds gather, rather than be discouraged or fearful, we Christians need to look up!  The rapture is close at hand.  Then, after the Great Tribulation when God will pour out His wrath, our Lord Jesus Christ will return to reign in Jerusalem as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

In Romans 11:26, we read:  “And so all Israel shall be saved:  as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”

President Obama and others who believe that “peace making” lies within man’s power to accomplish have been blatantly deceived.  Their answers and solutions will come to nothing but more strife and deception–leading to the ultimate deception of the anti-Christ and his evil one-world government. 

Because we have failed to stand firmly with Israel in the last two decades, our nation will experience severe judgment–some of which we’ve already begun to realize in recent years.* 

God’s unconditional promise to Abraham stands:  “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:  And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”  Genesis 12:2-3

Margaret L. Been

*As well as deserving discipline for our disregard of Israel, our nation will suffer God’s righteous indignation over our moral collapse and the murder of millions of babies. 

We now have a president who openly supports child slaughter.  As if that were not travesty enough, President Obama has appointed the month of June as “Gay/Lesbian Pride Month”–while stating that these people “have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society”.

Is that a mind blower, or what?  It seems one would have to be either brain dead or thoroughly deranged, to imagine that gross immorality could possibly “strengthen the fabric of American society”.

Look up, fellow believers.  The Lord is coming soon!

“Mockers in the last time . . . .”

“But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”  Isaiah 57:20

“But beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.  These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.”   Jude: verses 17-19

Many of today’s churches are full of “mockers”–leaders and lay people who mock the efficacy of God’s Word, and turn instead to a fallen, sensual mentality as expressed in man-centered psychology and mysticism. 

This mentality has been labeled by some mockers as a “necessary paradigm shift”–from the centuries-old emphasis on spiritual growth through study and application of Scripture, to an alleged ”new paradigm” centered on man’s inner self, with a focus on emotions and experience.

I submit that this “new paradigm” is nothing new.  It’s as old as the scenario in the Garden of Eden, when the serpent said to Eve, “Thou shalt be as gods . . . .”

Those who focus on their “inner selves and emotions” rather than on God’s glory and God’s plan of redemption, are indeed like the troubled sea casting up mire and dirt!

Many churches are embracing a currently popular program called the Church Retool Kit.  This program and its agenda provide a clear illustration of the troubled sea whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

The Church Retool Kit actually encourages participants to look deep within themselves, cast up mire and dirt, and even share that mire and dirt with each other–whereas Scripture tells us to trust the Lord Jesus, confess our sins as He reveals them to us, and press on–focusing on God and His Word rather than on ourselves.

Eve fell for Satan’s lie, and it appears that countless people are doing likewise today.

For more analysis of the apostate church as evidenced in the Church Retool Kit, please check in at another of my blogs:  http://gracewithsalt.wordpress.com/

“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.  Amen.”  Jude, verses 24-25

Margaret L. Been

CONVERGE WORLDWIDE–flirting with demons?

In 1852, a group of Bible believing Swedish immigrants to the USA founded a Christian denomination known as the Baptist General Conference.  It’s fortunate that people don’t really “roll over in their graves”–for it that were true there would be a lot of underground rolling going on today!

The Baptist General Conference has changed it’s name to CONVERGE WORLDWIDE.  The name change–as ”New World Order-ish” as it may sound–is insignificant alongside changes in theology and practice now embraced by this once doctrinally straight Christian denomination.

We had documentation of accelerating foolishness and error in the Baptist General Conference a few years ago, with the growing popularity of former Bethel College professor Dr. Greg Boyd and his heresy of Open Theism–the idea that the future is partly open and that the world is engulfed in a cosmic war between God and Satan.

Open Theism infers that God has limited foreknowledge, and it denies the irreversible, inerrant plan of God throughout all of history–past, present, and future.  Open Theism is a Star Wars kind of concept, which undermines all of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.

Many Baptist General Conference leaders have effectively addressed the theories of the controversial Dr. Boyd, and he alone would not be reason enough to believe that the entire BGC-now CONVERGE WORLDWIDE is going down the primrose path to Emergent, Purpose-Driven apostasy. 

But if the denomination’s magazine, CONVERGE POINT (formerly BGC WORLD) is an indicator of a once-venerable organization’s defection, any discerning reader can see that there is trouble in the newly restructured CONVERGE WORLDWIDE.

The February/March 2009 issue of CONVERGE POINT contains a number of red flares to the present day “Berean” who runs everything he or she reads through the Word of God.

1)  An article titled “How to start a fire in your church”, by Steve Welling uses Acts 2:42-47 as a springboard for consideration.  This passage of Scripture starts out by saying, “And they continued stedfast in doctrine . . . .”

Yet author Steve Welling makes a disturbing statement, denying the relevance for today’s church in that passage.  According to the Welling:  ” . . . in the North American church there has never been more and better Bible teaching available.”

Then Mr. Welling goes on to give a couple of examples of people whom he considers to be good Bible teachers.  He never mentions the widespread contemporary lack of genuine, exegetical, dispensational Bible teaching. 

The idea that we have “more and better teaching” in our churches today is a downright fantasy which only a Biblically untaught and uniformed generation will believe!

In his article, Steve Welling goes on to infer that church growth is a positive goal in our current culture.  Most of us realize that many of today’s large churches are not great at all, but rather places to be avoided–sites where watered-down teaching prevails, cultural compromise reigns, and corporate America marketing practices abound.

To give due credit to Steve Welling, he states:  “One of the things we have missed in the American church is the idea of risk and suffering, of putting our lives on the line.”  Here I agree 100%! 

But today’s untaught church (consisting of millions of believers who have never heard of the end times apostasy, the salvation of the Jews, the restoration of Israel, and Christ’s ultimate return to reign in Jerusalem) will never be prepared for risk and suffering when it comes. 

All Steve Welling can offer, by eschewing thorough Bible teaching and preaching, is to witness without the power of Scripture:  a kind of “get cozy with Jesus and see how He can change your life” theology which is man-focused rather than God-centered. 

Yes, Jesus does change lives, but that fact is only a part of God’s plan.  The complete Bible includes God’s program for the ages, His plan to bring ultimate glory to Himself. 

Without knowing the whole Bible, we are helpless and ignorant–and man-centered enough to think that Christianity begins and ends with “What Jesus can do for me and you” or “How we can hold hands and feed the world”.

2)  The February/March 2009 issue of CONVERGE POINT gets worse!  On page 10, we find an article titled:  “Q & A with a hard-charging spiritual mystic,” featuring questions for and answers by Gary Rohrmayer, the director of CONVERGE WORLDWIDE’s church planting ministry in the USA.

In this Q & A session, Mr. Rohrmayer mixes truth with a tincture of error and the reader is reminded that a few drops of poison now and then will eventually kill.

Granted, meditation on Scripture is mandated for every believer.  The author of this article name drops, using as examples people whom we know to have been faithful servants of God’s Word–i.e. Hudson Taylor, George Mueller, etc. –as well as names of mystics with a questionable Biblical focus. 

I certainly believe in reading, and I constantly read non-fiction and fiction by Christian and non-Christian authors–especially the time-honored classics.  I read for inspiration, encouragement, fresh insights, challenge, information, entertainment, and for the exhilerating exercise of separating truth from error.

But Rohrmayer promotes the study of writings by Christians–subjective mystics as well as Bible oriented individuals–as a means of “centering our hearts on Him (God)” with the goal of gaining “spiritual authority to lead a flock, to touch a town, to impact a region.”

There’s confusion here!  Of course we are to “center our hearts on Him”, but by meditating on GOD’S WORD–and not on what humans, mystic or otherwise, say about God’s Word and the Christian life. 

All power and authority belong to God.  The slightest inference that a human can avail himself of this authority except through the thorough study of and obedience to Scripture alone, is enough arsenic to contaminate any truths that might be included on the Q & A page featuring Gary Rohrmayer.

Everything we need for spiritual growth and the deeper Christian life is imbedded in God’s Word.  When we immerse ourselves in Scripture, the Word of God dwells in us richly.  This is how we “experience God” and nurture intimacy with our Lord.  As helpful as the insights of our fellow humans may be, their writings are subjective–whereas God’s Word is solid, unchanging, and objective.

3)  The worst is yet to come.  Turn to page 12 and 13 of the February/March issue of CONVERGE POINT, and you will see an article which takes the proverbial cake:  “DREAMING THEIR WAY TO CHRIST”, by Dennis Danylak.

This piece is so outlandish, so reprehensibly anti-Scriptural, as to defy description.  The author justifies his topic by quoting dreams and visions from the Old Testament, those messages which God gave his faithful people and prophets in times when Divine Revelation was disclosed by dreams and visions–dispensations when God spoke not only in dreams and visions, but through burning bushes and donkeys as well.

In the Church Age, the Bible and the Bible alone is the voice of God.  If I were to presume that God was speaking to me through a dream, then I’d be open to believing He could reach me through a rose bush or via my Pembroke Welsh corgi!

God’s Word tells us that the human heart and mind are deceitful.  Even as saved individuals we cannot rely on anything from our minds, hearts, dreams, bushes, donkeys, or dogs, for spiritual leading.  We are to rely only on the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah God in the flesh, as revealed in the Bible from Genesis through Revelation.

Failure to rely on Scripture and Scripture alone is the gross apostasy operating in many of our nation’s “Christian” churches today.  This failure is becoming increasingly operative in the leadership mentality of the former Baptist General Conference as evidenced in their magazine, CONVERGE POINT.   

Some individual pastors in the denomination are holding on to God’s truth–continuing to preach a complete, unadulterated Bible.  I’m thankful for these courageous pastors and teachers, and I pray they will be allowed to continue their ministries.

Meanwhile, I’m thankful that those 19th century Swedish immigrants can’t really roll in their graves!

Margaret L. Been

Instruments, yes! But do we need the pagan, jungle beat?

“Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; praise Him with the psaltery and harp.  Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and organs.  Praise Him upon the loud cymbals; praise Him upon the high sounding cymbals.”  Psalm 149:3-5

The above verses should leave no doubt concerning the Scriptural validity of all kinds of musical instruments in worship.  I enjoy Hebrew music and the Messianic Christian praise music which has stemmed from our venerable Old Testament roots. 

I realize that folk music, sung and performed on a variety of instruments, has its place–even though I love “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God“, ”Great Is Thy Faithfulness“, and “To God Be the Glory“ best of all!

Instruments, yes!  Singing, yes!  Perhaps even joyous dancing, when it doesn’t cross the line into sensual expression! 

But what about that jungle beat currently pounding the walls of our churches–achieved by drums and/or amplified guitars?  What about the repetition of one line of music–same notes, same words, over and over and over and over and over?

What about electrified “background music” so powerful, that one cannot distinguish, let alone understand the lyrics?  So powerful that early loss of hearing is a strong possibility for those who regularly perform or sit under the spell of it?

Even in churches where the preaching and teaching is peerless, uncompromising, and totally focused on God’s Word, that jungle beat is growing in popularity. 

Is contemporary church music simply a passing fancy, subject to fading out when the next trend comes along?  Or is this music, with its pagan jungle beat, a Pied Piper–leading entire generations into a dark cave of no return?

Today at church I was unable to stand for the “praise choruses”, due to orthopedic issues.  As I sat in the pew, in the midst of the standing worshippers, I listened analytically to the guitar and drumbeat drowning out one-line of music and its handful of words–repeated over and over and over and over and over.  As I listened, something in my spirit cried out, “No, Lord.  NO!”

I wondered, What is going on here?  We think we are praying to the Lord of the universe, the all-sovereign Creator God.  From the pulpit we are taught His truths, as revealed in Scripture.  But our “worship music” brings to my mind pagan savages dancing around a bonfire, led by a shaman dressed in feathers and shaking a gourd.

To whom are we offering our worship when the congregation lapses into a toneless trance where one line and a few words are repeated again and again, like a mantra accompanied by a pagan, jungle beat?

Margaret L. Been