This article is by Ken Silva at Apprising Ministries blog site:
Coming on the heels of Saddleback Church Pastors Using Rob Bell Teachings it must be pointed that men like teaching pastor Doug Fields of Saddleback Church have been teaching your youth highly ecumenical Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) right under your nose for years. And yet, you didn’t want to be bothered with looking into the fact that also for years he’s been involved with the spiritually corrupt Youth Specialties of the Emergent Church.
Well, if I had a hammer I’d nail this to the door of every evangelical church in this nation. There has been a spiritually lethal mix of semi-pelagian and neo-orthodox theological poison injected straight into the blood stream of evangelicalism from most of the youth leaders and youth minsters assembled by Doug Pagitt for Leadership Network circa 1997, which would become the Emerging Church. And now evangelicalism has been brought to its knees to become the base of a new counter reformation announced by Rick Warren as “deeds, not creeds.”
What you will now begin to see is more and more churches preaching outright a non-gospel of good works i.e. ”deeds” not “creeds”, their slur on the actual Gospel of Jesus Christ. But know this: A true look at the history of the Reformation will show that at its core it revolved around justification through God’s grace alone; by faith alone, in Christ alone. And the Roman Catholic Church, from which this spurious CSM orignates and would also contribute mightily to bringing about said Reformation, condemned that Gospel; cursing it, and the Lord’s Reformers to Hell.
Today, I urge those involved with CSM to repent of it, and to forsake it, before God gives evangelicalism over completely to its spiritual deceptions. And spiritual deception is exactly what we’re dealing with; and, Rob Bell is a perfect example. Eyewitness sources have informed me he was once a young man who, at Calvary Church, taught in similar fashion to a MacArthur. But then as he became more and more involved with the Contemplative/Centering Prayer of CSM Bell has continued a rapid drift into “preaching” in words far more consistent with those of heretical “Progressive Christian” Marcus Borg—neither progressive nor Christian—than with men like MacArthur.
I can tell you that nothing good is going to come from this new counter reformation of centered on the self good works vs. the Gospel. You mean you really cannot see that this very same stupid spirituality now being taught openly by ecumenical and interspiritual fools like Rob Bell is what brought about the original Reformation in the first place? Well, here I will stand and say: The evangelical church, right now, today, is every bit as in need of spiritual reform as when Martin Luther stood on this earth hammer in hand. The sad fact is; there are no Luthers left…
And I have no illusions; believe me, I know that “love wins.” I’ve read —in the end love of self will win… So, may God have mercy on those of us will never bow our knee to Baal.
