This "new gospel" of the "emergent" church is spreading quickly, and passionately. People like Brian McLaren and Rob Bell are preaching a "gospel" message that is smooth, easy to hear, and readily accepted by a great many people - especially young people. It sounds good. And really, it does. It's the sort of message that I myself would have been very susceptible to had I heard it before I was graciously saved by God.

And as it emerges, man does it ever emerge. It's gets worse with every passing day, it seems. To the point that we are currently dealing with the Crowder Crowd (and their sucking the breast of God, tokin' on the bong of Jesus, living in the carcass of our lord)... and, ...

Ladies and gentlemen... Todd Bentley (I need say no more).


These guys make Rob, Rick, and Brian look like altar boys.

Being a software engineer, my first instinct is to debug it - to debunk it. But I don't have that kind of time. And frankly, I don't have that kind of inclination.

I'm tired. Very tired, of having to say "But don't you see? Jesus said this would happen!" I read a lot of blogs and websites, many of them bent to my own inclination: exposing the darkness by shining the light of the truth of scripture. But sometimes, I get tired of reading them. Always the same; page after page after page of reports of new spiritual wickeness and deception that is now running absolutely rampant throughout all of what used to be, and perhaps what is now simply left of "the church."

And then there are the blogs and websites - very often by Reformed/Calvinistic Theology bloggers and webmasters - where they are posting video after video after video of the same damned thing, over and over and over again. I get tired of it. And I get tired of people who, for whatever reason, feel compelled to watch or need it.

Basically, what I mean is this. For example: It takes exactly ONE video of Todd Bentley to correctly and properly identify him as all of the following: a false teacher, a false prophet, an apostate, a wolf in sheep's clothing, a lunatic, a deceiver and an idolater, a proud, arrogant, violent pagan seeking fame and glory and reputation amongst men.

Just one video is all you need to assure yourself of this. Yet Reformed Blogdom has become a parade of videos dedicated to spreading his influence and fame all over the world. My angle: One look, "yeah, this guys apostate" - not a single word ever mentioned of him again. Enjoy your toasty spot in hell, Todd.

If you don't "get it" after just one of these videos, then a hundred of them will not help you. On the other hand, if you "get it" at all, then you "get it" on the very first video.

Remember when that guy asked Jesus to send someone to warn his brothers about the reality of Hell? Remember Jesus' answer? They have Moses and the prophets. If they will not believe them, they will not believe even if someone were raised from the dead right in front of their eyes. The point is, some people will not believe because they cannot. They are lost, deceived, deluded and there is nothing that can be done about them. The Gospel is not for them. Neither is the Messiah. They do not hear because they are not Christ's sheep. Jesus said it plainly. So if one video of Bentley isn't enough to convince you, then no amount of them would be. You will never be convinced no matter how many videos you watch.

And every site has a dozen videos of the Crowder crowd. Look, I'm sorry, but in some cases you really can judge the book by it's cover. If the cover has a hundred pictures of naked women, it's a pretty good bet that there's nothing worth reading on the inside. One good expose is enough to steer clear of the entire crowd.


But instead, I get to wade through dozens and dozens of videos of this idiot and a dozen others. Video after video. Book after book. Article after article.

I read it and think to myself, "Ok, ok, alright already! I get it. We all 'get it' - things have gone to hell in a handbasket..." It's all been duly noted. Can we stop now, please? I'm tired of this..." But I know we can't stop. I just want to sometimes.

I've grown weary - ever so weary of casting pearls before swine. I'm not a patient man. If I had been there, I would have been the one Jesus was rebuking for asking, "Lord, shall we call down fire from heaven to consume them?"

I'm content to draw in the sand and let them be the blind leaders of the blind that they are. I'm no longer interested in even trying to reach those. I can scarcely muster the compassion for them that Jesus had. If you will absolutely insist on perishing, then I bid you Godspeed...

It's a terrible truth - a horrifying reality; but it's not my judgement. There are some who do not hear because Jesus said plainly "They CANNOT hear." Not that they will not... not that they don't try... not that they need help...., but that they CANNOT. There is nothing that can be done for them. I wish it weren't so, but it's not mine to command.

But for the sake of the church, the elect, the saints who hear his voice... For those not hopelessly lost... For those who hear this "new gospel" and say to themselves, "something's not quite right here..." For those who hear this false gospel and cannot make themselves accept it - to those I say, "there is a reason that you question this. There is a voice that you are hearing that you need to listen to..."

For those who hear this new "gospel" message from the likes of Bell and McLaren, et al, and say "I don't recognize this voice" (you know who you are) - the question I'd like to put forth is simply this: What is the defense?

The answer is really quite simple. People fall for this false gospel because they have a false image of God, and a false image of themselves. Those who have a correct view of God, and more importantly, a correct view of themselves, will very easily see the error of this new, "emerging," gospel. Very easily.

And I'm going to say how, in just a moment. But before I do, I want to share a little secret with you. It will be perhaps an encrouragement to some. A confirmation to others. But one way or another, if you are one whom the Holy Spirit is calling, revealing, if you are one of what we would call "The Elect", then you will recognize this as absolute truth the very instant that you hear it. You won't have to "think about it." You won't have to mull it over for a while. The very instant that you hear it, there will be a voice in your head that says, "That's right. That's the truth." If you hear that voice, my friend, I beg you to heed it and hear it more. That's GOD drawing you with His Loving Kindness!

So... Here it is. The reason that people fall for this false gospel of post-modernism is that they have a false view of God, and an even more faulty view of themselves.


Here it is:

God is completely, and infinitely holy.

You are completely, and infinitely evil.


That's the whole sum of the matter right there. That's it! That's all!

The truly saved recognize that truth immediately! It's the reason why they cannot buy this new emergent gospel. Red flags fly and alarms go off in their heads as soon as they hear it. They may not even be able to put their finger on the reason why, at first; but they know something is wrong. And if they look into it long enough, if they pray for God to help them and reveal the error, they soon come to that same conclusion. "This doesn't fit right because God is holy, and I am evil."

If you are still struggling to see it, let me go on a bit and try to help you. I'm going to borrow from two other articles of mine entitled "The Sum of All Fears" and "the Width of a Dime" - both of which borrow heavily from "My Testimony."

When you come to consider yourself as a sinner, you must realize that you will be and will remain a sinner for the rest of your life. But if you are truly born again, this struggle will be a lifelong struggle, and it is a struggle that you will gladly and joyously undertake.

Every sin that you defeat reveals to you a dozen others that still bear you down. And every sin that you defeat is just that much more light on the path. Every sin that you defeat is just that much more revelation that God has given you of exactly how far you have fallen, and how far above the earth He truly is.

The understanding of God's glory, and the realization of sin go hand in hand. You see God as bigger and more wonderous than ever before because you see yourself as ever more and more loathsome, wicked, and depraved. He increases proportionately as you decrease. If you are not decreasing, then He is not increasing in your life.

... The root of the Christian life is what I call "Jesus 101." In this lesson, you learn two things. First, that Jesus 101 is a lifelong course. You don't graduate from this class – at least not in this life. Why? Because of the second thing: Jesus 101 is a continual revelation because the roots of sin go so deep, and are so intertwined with the person that discovery of exactly what is sin is a never-ending process.

Sin is everything and anything that God is not. And God is infinately good. God's goodness knows no end. God's greatness is unlimited. God's purity is unbounded. God's righteousness goes out in all directions for all eternity.

If sin is any and everything that God is not; and if what God is does not end, guess what that says about your sin? You don't "fall short in some ways...". No. The ways in which you fall short winds off into eternity like a yellow brick road that has no ending!!! You are infinately wicked and evil for no other reason than that God is infinately good and holy!

In a sense, you stand condemned not simply for what you are, or what you have done, but also for what you are not, and, perhaps even what you simply cannot be.

And, secondly,

The universe is vast beyond your wildest imagination. The pictures above all come from that tiny sliver of sky, no wider than the width of a dime at arm's length. But it is that way in every direction that we can look. A million different dimes, in a million different directions, and you see the same thing. Trillions of stars buried in billions of galaxy's, each containing millions of planets orbiting stars just like ours.

...And yet, God is mindful of every one of these things to the infinate depths of them. From the very smallest of creatures in the drop of water, to the outermost expanses of space, God views it all as though it were through a microscope - but instead, he simply views it directly as though he were right there. Because He is. Not even so much as a single atom spins, anywhere in this universe, that God is not mindful of it's inner workings to the minutest detail.

The Bible tells us that every man can know that God exists, because what can be known about him is made plainly evident in creation - in the pictures of the Universe that I just presented, for instance. God's tremendous glory is demonstrated to anyone who will simply go outside at night and look up and realize the vastness of what they so casually, and so fearlessly walk beneath every day and every night.

God is unbelievably and incomprehensibly glorious.

So far all that I've told you is public knowledge. Even demons know and believe all that I've told you so far.

What can it mean to say that we "know God?" We can't even begin to know His creation, and yet we so casually claim, "Yeah, me and God are tight, Bro! God is my homie..."

While we cannot even begin to comprehend that tiny sliver of sky, no wider than the width of a dime, nevertheless, how terrifyingly true it is to say that He knows us?

A true experience of God would be absolutely terrifying. The Bible tells us that it is a fearful thing to come into contact with God. Not "terrifying" like a roller coaster ride at Six Flags... Terrifying as in "insane with fear that drives us to insane madness - screaming with primal terror that hardly any of us have ever really experienced." Yeah, that kind of fear.

And yet, the Bible describes God as being very tender, and caring about us. When he has all of this massive and beautiful creation, why does he care about preserving us and this one tiny speck of his creation that we have perverted and polluted? He could as easily just take the tip of his finger and smear us out of existence with no more effort than a painter dabs a bit of paint over a small smudge mark that he doesn't like.

...The point that I'm getting at in this article is just this: Why does God bother to save a wretch like me? When, even as a "Christian", I return evil for His goodness. When I spit in his face and scream "Crucify Him!", why does he regard me with compassion? When I blaspheme Him, and revile Him, and HATE Him, why does He love me? When I defy Him, and rebel against Him, and clentch my fist in His face and say "Away with you! I HATE YOU!",... Why does He look at me and say, "Father, forgive him, for he knows not what he does..."

Why does he do that?

Because He can! Because He is the only one who can!

You, who so casually talk about God's Glory... think about how glorious and wonderful a God is THAT!

If all of the splendor of the universe doesn't convince you of God's glory, then doesn't THAT?

In the end, God saves us because he CAN and because he WANTS TO. It has nothing to do with anything that you say, or do. It has a little bit to do with what you believe about Him (we call it Faith), but even that part He takes care of for you.

He saves you for His own purposes, and for his own name's sake. And because His glory is blasted to the farthest reaches of this huge universe by doing so, and for no other reason.

When I, on those rare occasions when God grants me a "vision", when I see myself for who I truly am inside, when I see the true worthlessness of my spiteful, hateful, evil nature, THAT is when I most clearly see the Glory of God. THAT is when I cry out in gratefulness - not for what I've done. Not even for what God has supernaturally enabled me to do. But just gratefulness that He is strong, and that He is able to "save to the uttermost them that come to Him by Jesus Christ."

The real subject matter there is "Jesus Christ." But I also like that bit about "to the uttermost." It means a lot to me that God can save to the uttermost. Because in my case, I have no doubt whatsoever that THAT is exactly what it will require.

When you really, truly, see how vast is the distance and difference between YOU and GOD, all talk of "Jesus is my buddy" ceases. All talk of "we can be like him" vanishes. The more you grasp or comprehend (what little you can) of that distance and difference between you and God, the more you truly understand what it means to call him your LORD.

God saves you because He can, and for absolutely no other reason. It's not because of any worth in you - the Bible tells us we are alltogether worthless and lacking in even the slightest bit of goodness of any kind. Jesus went so far as to call his own disciples EVIL. (Because it was TRUE). It's not because you are worth saving: you aren't. God saves you for one reason, and one reason only, because He is glorified all the more by simply choosing to do so.



Ever heard someone say, "That's mighty big of you."? Put that thought to the test. Try saying that to Jesus.

Can you even BEGIN to comprehend just how "big"?

Try keeping all this in mind when listening to Rob Bell pander to you about how worthy you are. How good you are. How much "potential" you have. How much glory is penned up in you waiting to get out.


See the difference now?