In response to a pair of posts by Tony Jones at Out of Ur, Tim Challies has responded with his own evaluation, “Is Emergent the New Christian Left?” Tim chastizes Jones for his “feigned” naiveté and incredulity that other Christians should be troubled by the Emergent Church movement (which is not so much a movement, or so it seems to me, as it is the chaotic, self-absorbed flight of deserters from the real spiritual battle). Tim also takes Jones to task for the latter’s abandonment of biblical, correspondent truth and his circular argument: “If you disagree, you don’t understand; if you understand, you don’t disagree.”

There are but two points that I wish to make in this post, both of which are important and need to be kept in mind. The first point is this: the Emergent Church is not Sauron. The people in the Emergent Church are not the true enemy in our spiritual warfare in the same sense that Sauron and his minions - balrogs, ringwraiths, orcs, and Uruk-hai - were the enemies of Gandalf, Aragorn, and all free people of Middle-earth. Sauron’s goal, as was the goal of Morgoth before him, was the eradication of good from Middle-earth and the elimination of the Children of Ilúvatar: Elves and Men, the Eldar and the Edain.

Sauron’s war was ultimately against God (Eru Ilúvatar) and not merely the kingdoms and realms that resisted him. From the beginning Morgoth (who corrupted Sauron and persuaded him to join in the rebellion) sought to supplant the will and purposes of Eru: Morgoth destroyed the Two Lights, the Two Trees, and was eventually cast into the void. His rebellion and war, like Sauron’s after him, was against God.

Not so with Saruman. Although he was also an incarnate angel (as was Gandalf and, earlier, Sauron), he did not seek to overthrow God but rather accomplish God’s purposes in his own way. Saruman, it is to be remembered, did not intend to rule with or under Sauron: his conversation with Gandalf in the cold chambers of Orthanc reveal as much:

The Elder Days are gone. The Middle Days are passing. The Younger Days are beginning. The time of the Elves is over, but our time is at hand: the world of Men, which We must rule. But we must have power, power to order all things as we will, for that good which only the Wise can see . . .

“A new Power is rising. Against it the old allies and policies will not avail us at all. There is no hope left in Elves or dying Númenor. This then is one choice before you, before us. We may join with that Power. It would be wise, Gandalf. There is hope that way. Its victory is at hand; and there will be rich reward for those that aided it. As the Power grows, its proved friends will also grow; and the Wise, such as you and I, may with patience come at last to direct its courses, to control it. We can bide our time, we can keep our thoughts in our hearts, deploring maybe evils done by the way, but approving the high and ultimate purpose: Knowledge, Rule, Order . . .

“The Ruling Ring? If we could command that, then the Power would pass to us. That is in truth why I brought you here.” (LOTR, pp 252-253)

Saruman’s madness is evident: he believes that he can somehow control the Evil One, i.e., Sauron, and that there are times when it is necessary to take the wrong path in order to arrive at the desired destination. His strategy, it appears, is “Let us do evil that good may come.”

But for all his treachery, this much is true of Saruman: he does not seek to serve an evil master; in fact, he does not so much seek to serve any master at all. Saruman wants to set himself up as autonomous and free from the restraints of others. He has no hope in the old, established order, believing it to be weak and antiquated; his hope is in something new, and the new is better in his eyes. All who disagree are foolish and fail to understand what it is that he seeks to achieve.

Seen in this light, is there any doubt about the Saruman-like means and ends of the Emergent Church? While its leaders do not seek to serve Satan (although they may unwittingly serve his purposes), they wish to establish a new order with themselves at the top. The old ways are passing: modernism in the church must give way to postmodernism; that which was true in the past is not necessarily true any longer - if, indeed, anything can be considered true.

Like Saruman, the leaders of the Emergent Church are eloquent and elusive speakers, carefully choosing their words to evade the suspecting and to ensnare the unsuspecting. Much is promised; little is delivered. The envisioned, utopian solution fails to accurately assess the power and threat posed by the real enemy, believing that peace can be made with evil by a smiling, engaging tolerance. As an Indian proverb says, “One sure way to appease a tiger is to allow it to eat you.” What appears to be an eirenic solution today will prove to be a disasterous dinner tomorrow.

The apostles knew such duplicity well, having encountered it in their own day. Paul, for example, wrote:

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these . . .

“Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith . . .

“13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived . . .” - 2 Tim 3.1-5, 8, 13

Jude and Peter gave similar, even darker warnings:

These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.” - Jude 12, 13

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.” - 2 Pe 2:1

This is not to suggest that any or all of those involved in the Emergent Church are damned: I would find it difficult to believe that all of them are.

It is to say, however, that they are false prophets to the extent that they depart from the truth that has been given in Scripture.

It is to say that they inject into the Body of Christ “destructive heresies,” even if - if - they stop short of denying the Savior.

It is to say that they are trees without fruit - true, spiritual fruit - and clouds without rain - rain which would water the ground and facilitate genuine growth in others.

It is to say that, though they may not be evil men - for Paul does make a distinction - they are imposters on a path from bad to worse.

And, finally, it is to say that they are form without substance: they manifest an appearance of godliness but the power is absent because the Holy Spirit is quenched, grieved, or resisted.

The Emergent Church, its leaders, and its adherents, it seems, are little different than Saruman: they seek to establish their own kingdom in their own way, eschewing that which has been made clear and instead pursuing a path enlightened only by the darkness of their own minds.

Related Tags: , , , ,



Namárië.