Isnt Salvation Enough? – Paul Washer’s Secret

The marks of false ‘christian’ teaching and teachers Part 8 – Deconstruction

This mark relates particularly to the Emergent Church which has to be one of the major scurges on Christendom. Deconstruction is when you take the obvious meaning of a word, sentence or a passage of scripture, tear it apart and then reconstruct it so that by the end of it, you have made it mean something totally different.

If you have hair and would like to go bald within the next few minutes by pulling it out in frustration, listen to the following interview that Doug Pagitt had with Todd Friel at Way of the Master Radio and you will hear a classic example of deconstruction.

Part 1

Part 2

Because of the subtlety of the Emergent Church and its ‘good’ social work, it is a form of godliness (2 Tim 3:5).

Listen to Brian McLaren in these two clips preaching the social gospel.

Notice how he deconstructs the word ‘repent’ and reconstructs it to simply mean ‘rethink everything’. No mention of turning from sin.

Hmmm, last time I read my bible, Jesus’ primary purpose for coming to this earth was to save us from our sins (Matthew 1:21 , 1 Tim 1:15), save us from his wrath (Romans 1:18) and to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).

You will notice that the emphasis has more of a horizontal element than a vertical element i.e. its about us getting on with one another and not primarily about us having a right relationship with God. Basically, a better world to go to hell from.

Now do we feed the poor, look after the homeless and help those who are in need? Of course we do. Jesus commanded this in Matthew 25:31-46. But that is NOT the gospel of Jesus Christ. We do these things IN RESPONSE to the gospel. There are many people who carry out very good charitable work but they do not have their sins forgiven and as a result, will die in their sins.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, NOT OF WORKS, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9)

If you go to the Emergent Village website, this is what they believe and I quote:

We believe in God, beauty, future, and hope – but you won’t find a traditional statement of faith here. We don’t have a problem with faith, but with statements (read more here). Whereas statements of faith and doctrine have a tendency to stifle friendships, we hope to further conversation and action around the things of God.

Furthering conversation is of no value if it is not centered around absolute truth and the emergent church believes more in post-modernism and relativism than doctrinal truth which can only be found in scripture.

You can read more about the Emergent Church here

If you know some basic rules of bible interpretation, you will not be deceived by those who want to deconstruct scripture.

Remember to pray for these teachers

To be continued…

Related posts:

The marks of false ‘christian’ teaching and teachers Part 1 – A Form of godliness

The marks of false ‘christian’ teaching and teachers Part 2 – Scripture Twisting

The marks of false ‘christian’ teaching and teachers Part 3 – The abuse of biblical numerlogy

The marks of false ‘christian’ teaching and teachers Part 4 – Man Centered Theology

The marks of false ‘christian’ teaching and teachers Part 5 – The Prosperity Gospel

The marks of false ‘christian’ teaching and teachers (Interlude) – My reason for doing this

The marks of false ‘christian’ teaching and teachers Part 6 – Denial that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven

The marks of false ‘christian’ teaching and teachers Part 7 – Signs and Wonders

The marks of false ‘christian’ teaching and teachers Part 9 – Giving False Hope

The marks of false ‘christian’ teaching and teachers Part 10 – The misuse of old testament scriptures

The marks of false ‘christian’ teaching and teachers Part 11 – The Gospel of Inclusion

The marks of false ‘christian’ teaching and teachers  – The Conclusion