The Emergent Cult

I have come to the conclusion that the Emergent movement is fast becoming a cult, with its adherents moving towards a destructive and dangerous end.

A working definition of a cult is as follows:

Given this background, we propose a working definition of a cult as follows: theologically, a cult is a religious group which claims harmony with Christianity but which either denies or misinterprets essential biblical doctrines; [3] and/or, psychologically or behaviorally, a cult is a secular or religious group which tends to use extreme and unethical techniques of manipulation to recruit, assimilate, control and retain members. [4]

It should be noted with this expanded definition, that cults encompass not only ”traditionally” accepted new religious movements, but also fringe churches, as well as psychotherapy or self- fulfillment groups, New Age groups and secular political organizations.

HT Apologetics

The slippery things about almost all cultic definitions is that generally speaking, they are centrally located and take their marching orders from a central figure. The snake-like sliminess of emergent is dangerous in that they declare no leadership, and no real central core doctrines or beliefs. Tony Jones, when asked by me for a mission statement says “The Bible” The problem with that answer is that they can and do deconstruct truths in the Bible to make it shape their agenda. An example at the recent Christianity Apostasy 21 conference was the deconstruction of John 14:6 to say that Jesus was not THE Way, but a way. It is this same attitude that many emergents take towards the Kingdom of God, Sovereignty, the nature of God, the nature of Salvation, and the Atoning work of Jesus Christ, just to name few. The danger is that to those who lack any kind of discernment the emergent movement seems only about practice, and in that, it is very attractive to young, intelligent, and idealistic people.

A major danger is that emergent beliefs are seeping into our churches. There is no one denomination or group where all of emergent is located. In many cases, there might be several who hold to emergent beliefs infiltrating your church. One major method of infiltration is through youth groups from people like Rob Bell and his wildly popular Nooma video series, as well as the influence of Emergent authors (including Tony Jones) on groups like Youth Specialties. Many new youth ministers are influenced by emergent authors that are presented in their colleges, as well as the Contemplative Spirituality of men like Dallas Willard and the Social Justice causes of guys like Jim Ellis, Tony Campolo, and Shane Claibourne. Senior Pastors and elders would do well to guard the gates and maintain control over curriculum. Unfortunately, many in leadership take a laissez-faire stance as long as they observe numerical growth or do not have to worry about extra work dealing with the youth.

This same link provides this insight about cults:

Subjective: undue emphasis on experience and emotions
Esoteric: an emphasis on secret, hidden or inner truth.
Anti-Sacerdotal: lack of paid clergy and an emphasis on laity in leadership.

At the recent ChristianityApostasy 21 conference, there was more than one example of these very specific cult-like attitudes. There are many examples of emergents who emphasize experience and emotions over faith. In fact, the experience of doubt, as Tony Jones puts it- being almost agnostic at times- is emphasized and praised over faith. Experience in worship and in study of the scripture is something that the emergent strives for, which is why eastern mystic practices such as yoga, breathing exercises, contemplative prayer, visualization, and the Lectio Divina, as well as aesthetics such as candles, incense, and ‘mood’ music or chanting. These things used in public or private worship attempt to create an experience of God. If one does not have God, they need to produce a spiritual experience. These are the modern Pharisees, always looking for a sign. If they do not get one, they create one.

This emphasis of subjective experience crosses over into the desire to seek hidden truth. Many of these experiences that the emergent will have is an attempt to discover something new about God or experience a deeper relationship with him. Is it wrong to seek a deep relationship with God? Certainly not, as long as we do so in Spirit and in Truth. This hidden truth that emergents seek often takes them away from established Biblical orthodoxy. Most recently, emergents have jumped on the bandwagon supporting same sex marriage, and, in doing so have followed the ‘gay’ christian lead in mistranslating our rejecting the ’six’ biblical passages that speak about homosexuality. They also claim Jesus never spoke about homosexuality (though ultimately, He was the one who inspired the entire Bible). People who take the Bible for what it says are accused negatively as being modernists. God is accused of not knowing what He was writing about when he wrote the Bible- after all- (they have said) what did the Bible writers (God) know about homosexuality 2000 years ago? But this is not the only hidden knowledge. There is misrepresentation of Hebrew language on a regular basis (Rob Bell) to support their thoughts. They have taken their cue from Rick Warren as they also use multiple translations to support their own conclusions.

Lastly, an repeated theme of the Apostasy 21 conference, emphasized by Tony Jones, and repeated in the Twittersphere more times than I can count is a desire to have much more involvement of the laity, and less paid clergy. Emergent has always been a leaderless group (in theory) At Solomons Porch in Minneapolis, they have an open forum every Tuesday, where they discuss what they will have for a sermon this coming week. Any Tom, Dick, Or Jane can come in and have input on what they would like to see (one sermon I observed there was called Jewish/Muslim/Christian Iconography- it really didn’t have anything to do with scripture…) The Pastor, Doug Pagitt, sits on a stool at eye level (well, he is 6′8 or so) and hosts a conversation rather than preaching a message of truth from the Bible. Communion is not led by a Pastor or an Elder, rather, it looks more like a Corinthian love feast, where people break bread, pour wine (or grape juice) and have a party in the midst of the service. The problem they have with clergy is with those who would say ‘thus saith the Lord’ and would lead and teach them from the scripture. No, the emergent is far too wise for any of that.

And Dr. Enroth nails it specifically when he addresses a very specific type of cult:

Aberrant Christian: groups that claim to be Bible-based but which deviate in practice or belief, such as The Way International, the Boston Church of Christ and the Shepherding Movement.

The emergent cult is found in places like Solomon’s Porch and other ‘Missional Fellowships’ around the country. At least in these cesspools, it is easy to avoid. The problem is that there are people, members in our congregations, which are falling for some or all of the false teachings of emergent. Solomons Porch (and other fellowships like it) proudly strut their aberrant beliefs such as the practice of yoga and other eastern mysticism, along with the teaching of universalism and a lack of any right teaching about the cross, hell, salvation, sanctity of marriage, etc. Mix in their inter-spiritual beliefs, their belief that the ‘other’ can still have Christ, Add to that their refusal to participate in any conversation that does not support their views and you have yourself a cult.

Make no mistake, these are the foundations of the apostate one-world religion that we will see in the last days. If you stand with Christ, and the one true faith passed down to Us in the Word, you will be persecuted. The mish-mash emergent will surf freely from place to placed, tossed about by every wind of doctrine, and feeling no persecution whatsoever because they accept everything- to their eternal peril.