Faith, Family & Freedom: Part 4‏ of 21

Good day friends!

Welcome back.

In this edition we will investigate the philosophy known as existentialism- another denial of absolute truth. This worldview has become a major threat to American culture, the foundation of God's Word, and has begun to facilitate a false-dominant church movement that is wooing a large number of Christians to it's destructive rhetoric- particularly our youth. Akin to it's counterpart moral relativism, existentialism holds to the lie that there is no absolute standard of right and wrong, good or evil and that morals and ethics are autonomous and can evolve and change to fit the needs and desires of an individual or society.

The pastors and authors of one of America's fastest growing spiritual movements, the Emergent Church, sing praises of socialism and champions the neo-Marxist call for a Utopian society through spiritual evolution where good and evil merge to form a "better" third option...

"Faith, Family & Freedom: Our American Values Under Fire"

Soren Kierkegaard

(1813-1855)

Whatever is right for you is right for you. Although many Americans don’t know the name Soren Kierkegaard, they know all too well his essential philosophy of life. In the mid-1800’s Kierkegaard, who claimed to be a Christian, denied any consistent morality. Known as existentialism, his ideas suddenly gained steam in America a hundred years later. The central tenet of existentialism is that there is no absolute truth. “Christians” practicing existentialism introduced what is called neo-orthodoxy. The American version of this movement grew popular in the 1960’s and virtually took over in the 70s and 80s.

There is really nothing new under the sun, and I contend that this neo-orthodoxy laid the foundation for what we now call the Emergent Church. It consists of post-modern radicals who could be characterized as neo-orthodoxy and has been labeled as simply a fad that will soon fade away. But that is like saying Secular Humanism, the New Age Movement, postmodernism; Gnosticism, pagan spirituality, or existentialism is a fad. While it’s true the term Emergent Church may go away, the philosophies, theologies, values, and ideas that make up the movement are not new and will not simply go away.  Emergent Church pastors and leaders such as Jim Wallis, Ken Wilber, Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, Leonard Sweet, Jerry Haselmayer, Doug Pagitt and a host of others have convinced millions of our youth that all roads lead to God, that the social gospel is our highest calling, socialism is the economic philosophy that Jesus Christ embraced, homosexuality is the new civil rights, abortion is a matter of choice, pagan spirituality and Christianity are compatible, and proclaiming absolute truth is intolerant. Emergents believe the problem with Christianity in America today is narrow-mined evangelicals who oppose their emerging worldview because of our commitment to the divinely inspired Word of God- which Emergents say is a man-made product.

Kierkegaard’s existentialism proclaimed that “truth is subjective” and is a worldview very much alive today in America. Of course, once a person or society rejects absolute truth, the consequences of the downward spiral into moral relativism become increasingly brutal. While I am certain Kierkegaard would have absolutely rejected Adolf Hitler’s worldview, Kierkegaard’s dismissal of a Biblical worldview and commitment to subjective truth nevertheless set up a cultural slippery slope.  Today we find such slopes are often greased by many professors, philosophers, intellectuals, and liberal theologians to the benefit of a dictator or tyrannical central government. Kierkegaard believed a person could not know truth, that we should embrace the mysticism of the world and reject absolutes. We can see this influence of Kierkegaard on both the American culture and many of America’s churches, seminaries, and Christian colleges.

Postmodernists seek to deconstruct Western society by denying absolute truth even in the disciplines of reading and writing. Postmodernists within the American church deconstruct Christianity (as did Kierkegaard) by proclaiming that the bible is not the absolute, inerrant, divinely inspired Word of God. And the Emergent Church is gaining ground in spreading this false idea. Deconstructionism undermines a Biblical worldview in the areas of law, family, science, education, economics, history, and social issues, and replaces it with “social justice,” a masking term for socialism, communism, and Marxism. By deconstructing the influence of the Bible and Biblical doctrine, the neo-orthodox create a “neo-evangelicalism” that is all-inclusive, pluralistic, and committed to a social gospel which is nothing more than socialism.

Remember Alice Bailey and her demon from our first study? She predicted the “new world order” would come about through the educational establishment and the apostate (false-dominate) church. Clearly, both institutions promote the same humanistic, postmodern worldview. Many within the Emergent Church are committed to being mystic Christians, which fosters their merger with pagan spirituality. Yoga, Freemasonry, transcendental meditation, and walking the occult “labyrinth” are increasingly popular practices in the Emergent, to say nothing of the mainline churches. The truth is, the Emergent Church is really proclaiming Liberation Theology which is a mixture of liberal Christianity with Marxism.

Christians who have not “studied to show themselves approved” unto God and who are not committed to the Word of God, are at great risk for spiritual deception. And for those caught unaware, there will be an Emergent Church eager to welcome them. Kierkegaard would be smiling.

Sources:

David Noebel, Understanding the Times (Manitou Springs, CO: Summit Press, second printing, 2006)

Bob DeWaay, The Emergent Church: Undefining Christianity (St. Louis Park, MN: Bob DeWaay , 2009)

David Breese, Seven Men Who Rule the World from the Grave (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1992)

Andy Crouch, “Hipper-Than-Thou Pastor” (Time, December 6, 2007)

Brannon Howse, Grave Influence (Worldview Publishing, 2009)

"A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous." - Proverbs 13:22

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