Brian McLaren Excuses Public Doctrinal Deception

Just 4 (yes, that's only four) days ago I wrote this to begin a post called "Rob Bell Lied":

"Surprised? One of the things I have insisted on is the dishonesty inherent in the very idea of the Emergent."

This is yet another reason to be convinced that Emergent leaders are not Christians at all. They sell their books, conferences, etc. under the guise of being biblical. Paul said, "...neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God."

Well, just this morning I happened on an story by Brian McLaren in which he wrote about a fictional pastor. This pastor has led a life of public deception. He has hidden his actual doctrines concerning hell and the atonement so that his colleagues and congregation would not hold him to account. The story is written in the first person (huuummmm) and is about what makes this fictional liar come out of the closet.

McLaren takes up the subjects of universalism, inclusivism, and exclusivism. The first is the false doctrine that all people will be saved from hell and sin by the atonement. The second, inclusivism, is another false doctrine that many will be saved even though they have not accepted Christ and His teachings, even if they have never heard the gospel. The last one, exclusivism is the biblical doctrine that only those that hear and heed the gospel will be saved.

McLaren's fibbing preacher said, "His (C. S. Lewis) words 'led by God's secret influence' always reminded me of Paul's Words in Romans 8-'Those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God'-and that always kept the inclusivist back door secretly open for me, even though most of my colleagues and nearly all of my parishioners considered me an orthodox exclusivist." (Emphasis added.)

Did you catch that? He kept his ideas about the atonement and hell a secret purposely misleading his "colleagues" and "parishioners." (Lying from the pulpit.) Read the article and you will find this is not an isolated quote. The hero has purposely lied and has now admitted it. Furthermore, he admitted the depth of his deceit when he said, "In my theological circles, universalism is one small step removed from atheism." And by the end of the story he puts his approval on universalism.

Toward the end of the story, McLaren's preacher said that his daughter had become or might become a universalist and that is okay with him. And furthermore, if she was to be excommunicated from their church for this heresy, he would go with her. He wrote, "If Jess isn't welcome at PCC, I don't want to be welcome either."

So there you have it. Brian McLaren has created a heart ripping story to make us think that dishonesty in the pulpit is actually heroic.

Cute, huh?

In Christ,
Phil Perkins.

WHY I AM NOT MISSIONAL Part One

Following is an article I wrote to my church concerning a preacher that came through and seemed to be Emergent:

Last week, we had a fill-in preacher at our church. He lectured us on being “missional” and defined the term as having to do with the mission of the church.

Here are two questions we should ask ourselves as a church body:

First, where did this new term come from? Since we all know that the earthly mission of the Church is to spread the gospel, why the new moniker for such an old idea? Well, to quote the heretic Brian McLaren, “The term, as I understand it, attempts to find a generous third way beyond the conservative and liberal versions of Christianity so dominant in the Western World.” (McLaren, Brian; A Gernerous Orthodoxy; Zondervan; page 115, emphasis added.) McLaren is referring to the biblical view that the mission of the Church is to evangelize the world and the liberal view that the mission of the Church is to seek left wing social outcomes.

He goes on to explain, “The conservative version is preoccupied with the ‘personal Savior’ gospel…” (ibid.)

Thanks to Mr. McLaren for saving us from the Savior. Thanks to him we now know better than to preoccupy ourselves with Christ and His work on our behalf. I really had no idea how generous it is to withhold the gospel and salvation from eternal hell. How stingy we are going door to door with the gospel, doing VBS, and all such horrible things! What scandal!

Second, should we allow new ideas into our pulpit? “Missional” as used by last week’s speaker is simple human charity—fixing roofs and cars for those in need.* This is a good thing. It’s just not the mission of the church.

While some feel a need to be up to date, God calls us to be throwbacks. According to Jude we are to fight for the faith once delivered to the saints. Our computers, cars, and lifestyles may change, but the laws of nature do not change, math does not change, and Jesus’ blood is still powerful and He is still risen.

And THAT is our message and our sole earthly mission.

Phil Perkins.


*NOTE: This is not McLaren’s definition of “missional.” His definition is very foggy. He vacillates between orthodox language and heretical language. And when he uses orthodox language he uses it heretically. If one is unaware of this trickery, one can read just portions of his book, A Generous Orthodoxy, and find him orthodox or heretical depending on which portion of which page one reads. At any rate the end of chapter five has a rather revealing quote: “More important to me than the hell question, then, is the mission question.” (Emphasis his.) So whatever “missional” means it has little or nothing to do with salvation and the gospel.

Phil McLaren Interview

I promised a transcript of the Phil McLaren interview with KURL Radio here in Billings. The interviewer is Bill Schuyler, host of “Super Jammin Hot Hits ‘n’ Hymns in the AM with Schuyler.” As previously noted we do not know when the actual interview will be aired.

Here is that interview:

Bill: Dr. Phil McLaren. Thank you so much for being here.

Phil: Thanks for having me, Bill. And you can just call me Phil.

Bill: Thanks. How was the flight in?

Phil: Good. The weather was warm and the crowds at the airports and on the plane were upbeat. Lots of college kids going home from school for the summer.

Bill: Nice small talk. Now let’s get right into one of the subjects that the listeners are just dying to hear about. Just how close are you to your brother, Brian?

Phil: Half-brother. Theologically or personally?

Bill: Both.

Phil: Well, raised in the same household puts you really close. We were both born early on. I really didn’t know Brian until a week after he was born. I was at summer camp. So right up front we had some catching up to do. He was really messy and sometimes he even smelled bad. And he didn’t really get any better in that department for a very long time. In fact, he seemed to regress at four after only modest gains in neatness during his first three years.

Bill: Did this alarm your parents?

Phil: Yeah. Mom, especially. I remember she didn’t say anything directly to him. She just hinted and then grumbled a little. Finally, one Sunday afternoon, when Brian was seven, she really got on him about it. Pointedly. I don’t remember what she said exactly, but I remember what he said.

Bill: Yeah, what?

Phil: He looked straight up at her and said that just this once he would stoop to offer an opinion on such a sensitive subject. He said that in his mind if someone in the family thought that their sort of behavior was better than someone else’s, they were being a little arrogant, really.

Bill: Wow! Brian was postmodern at seven, huh?

Phil: Well, I never thought of it that way, but now that you mention it, I think I might see it. You might be right.

Bill: So what did your mother do?

Phil: Slapped him a good one.

Bill: I take it she was not Emergent.

Phil: Plymouth Brethren.

Bill: You mean Plymouth Sistren?

Phil: Only in the TNIV, I suppose.

Bill: So, Dr., are you Fully Emergent?

Phil: Oh boy! Am I ever? The fact is, I can’t think of one doctrine.

Bill: You mean you can’t remember one right now that you believe.

Phil: No, I just can’t remember one at all. You know it’s been so long since I even thought about doctrines or spoke with anyone about one. This is really embarrassing.

Bill: How about the Doctrine of God? Do you believe in God?

Phil: Well, that depends on just what you believe “believe“ means. If by “believe” you mean “I think this might be true, but it really makes no difference to me one way or the other and I’m sure not going to change my life for it,” or if you mean “this is just my guess for today,” then, yes. I believe right down to my socks! In fact, I am a firm believer.........in that sense. If, however, you mean that I actually think something and that those that don’t think the same thing as I do are mistaken, then, no. That would be arrogant, hypocritical and way too left-brain for me. I believe that would be wrong. I really believe that.

Bill: Wow! That’s deep.

Phil: Thanks. I know.

Bill: Speaking of deep, thoughtful things just when did you get your doctorate and what is your field of study?

Phil: Thanks for the question. I got my doctorate in Emergent studies from Fuller Seminary.

Bill: Okay. Help me understand this. You wrote your dissertation on Emergent studies. Was it on a particular doctrine in the Emergent?

Phil: (Laughing) No, Silly. We have no doctrines in the Emergent. (More laughter) Where have you been? The only thing we really believe is that those who believe things are really arrogant and hypocritical. We’re right on this, you know. I believe that with my whole heart. In a very humble way, of course.

Bill: So you wrote a dissertation on nothing?

Phil: No, Bill. Not nothing. It was on the fact that we believe nothing. It sounds like a subtle difference, but the devil is in the details, you know.

Bill: Huh?

Phil: Yes. It’s even deeper than that. You see it is not so much that we know nothing. It is in the deep, profound way in which we have ceased to know things that make ours such an intelligent movement.

Bill: Okay, you’re way over my head there. Tell the listeners about your church in Southern California. What is the facility like and how do you worship? Is there a prayer labyrinth? Incense?

Phil: Well, Bill, here’s one place where I have to disagree with my half-brother. Real Emergents don’t want any formal religious trappings--even architectural. We are in a house church. Not that it’s a little church or anything. It’s a double-wide with a deck in the back and a prayer labyrinth that goes past both bathrooms. Three services on Sunday, two on Two-Fer-Tuesday, and then there’s Saturday afternoon.

Bill: Wow! That’s really authentic of you.

Phil: Yeah. On the last Two-Fer-Tuesday we got into a deep discussion on just how much the church has been affected by the effort to market religion to our particular culture. Anyway, back to the worship, the 70‘s style dark brown paneling adds to the vintage Christianity feel. If Paul had a double wide instead of a tent, it would have been that one.

Bill: Any zoning problems?

Phil: No. Not until the fire. The old paneling and Rayon curtains don’t mix with incense and children’s church, you know.

Bill: I can imagine. I suppose you got rid of the incense, huh?

Phil: No. We’d never do that. Think vintage, man. We added the sprinklers

Bill: That must have cost a bundle.

Phil: Not really. We just get two of us to go through the trailer and sprinkle water like the Catholics.

Bill: Neat! Did the congregation take to the new worship form easily?

Phil: It started out as a preventative. We sprinkled all the rugs, curtains, and paneling just a bit before service to prevent another rub with the FD. Then one Tuesday evening service, we were running a tad late, and a few folks were in early. It seemed only natural.

Bill: Wow! The leading! So, tell us about your facility. Rumor has it you added a new feature for folks after they exit the prayer labyrinth.

Phil: Yeah. That was another natural thing. The labyrinth ends at the back deck and it seems in the confusion brought on by stumbling through incense smoke in a dark maze, some congregants would stumble out onto the deck and into an old hot tube sunken into the surface of the deck. We had a number of ideas put out at business meeting and nothing seemed to work. Finally, Brother Finnegan mentioned that he had a wrong shipment dropped at the Long John Silvers where he works. It turned out that a truck of mayonnaise was left instead of tarter sauce. Well, after some quick fiberglass patch work on the hot tub and a high lift jack for one corner of the deck, we had our brand new Mayonnaise Meditation Pit.

Bill: Really?

Phil: Yeah. It was kind of like being in one of those sensory deprivation tanks, you know, where you float in body temperature salt water. Nothing to feel but you and your thoughts…………..and the next guy out of the prayer labyrinth if you don’t watch out. (Both laughing) Seriously, we thought of it as quite a worship innovation.

Bill: I’m sure. Still using mayo?

Phil: Well, there were some problems. Right off, the pump motor that swirls the water all around made an awful noise moving the mayo. Sister Schuller just about killed herself getting out of there when it finally blew up. It sounded like a twelve gauge went off and that was it for the pump. Slipped in the mayo on the wood deck and got twenty-one stitches in her chin when she hit the edge of the deck on her way down and over onto the dirt. Mayo, dirt, and Penelope Schuller madder than a hornet. It was like a visitation from an unholy trinity. Then there were the flies. And after a week or two you couldn’t even smell the incense. You can imagine the mixture of new fiberglass and old mayo. We switched to extra virgin olive oil and added rubber traction mats. After enough people get in and out a few times, it turns a gray-white color. And then you can think of it as old mayo that doesn‘t smell bad. Who defines condiments anyway?

Bill: We still have some time for this last subject. Tell the listeners about the newly discovered Gospel of Bob.

Phil: Well I got the idea for the New Gospel of Bob in the olive oil. Bob, you know. Think about that for a moment. Just another natural thing.

Bill: You mean you didn’t actually find it?

Phil: Hey, it’s Southern Cal and we’re postmodern. I placed a call to Dan Rather’s producer and she set me up with a way to find it.

Bill: Well, that’s our time for today. When can we expect you back, Dr.?

Phil: We're having a huge conference this fall in Billings.

Bill: Wow! At the Metra Arena?

Phil: Casa Village. It’s the trailer park on Twenty-fourth.

Bill: Thanks for being here, Dr.

Phil: Thanks for having me. And you can call me Phil, Bill.