The Emergent Church Alert!

By: Angela Lee Price

There are so many new aberrant and heretical movements popping up within Christianity that, truly, it is hard to keep up with them all. And, it appears, sadly, that there are far too few pastors within the Black Church willing to speak boldly and consistently about them in an attempt to defend the faith.

There are a couple of brave souls defending the faith. On the national scene, Pastor John Cherry of From The Heart Church speaks boldly and consistently about the dangers of the prosperity message. Locally, my pastor, Dr. Kevin Cosby of St. Stephen Church speaks consistently about the “Joy Boy” preachers, as he calls the purveyors of the prosperity message, and he’s even dedicated an entire month-long sermon series entitled Beware the Counterfeiters to warning Christians about false teachers. He kicked butt and “named names!” That’s it, on the pastoral level, to my knowledge.

Although I am not a licensed minister, I am a radio announcer, communicator, writer and researcher who has dedicated almost nine years to diligently studying material from the online discernment community. I launched Jesus Saves Newsletter in September 2005 out of love for the people around me. I desperately want them to see what the Lord is showing me about apostasy in the last days.

The Emerging Church movement is sweeping the nation, appealing to young Christians with its “unplugged” MTV-like, dimmed-lights approach to introspective Christianity. David and Deborah Dombrowski of Lighthouse Trails Research Project, Al and Jean Dager of Media Spotlight, and Roger Oakland of Understand the Times have all written about the players, background, tenets and concerns of the Emerging, or “Emergent” as some refer to it, Church movement.

The following is a fact sheet from Understand the Times International that summarizes some of the major characteristics of the Emerging Church Movement and the direction it is headed. Brian McLaren is the prominent promoter and leader of the Emerging Church Movement. On his website, Roger Oakland states, “Every sincere Bible believing Christian needs to be aware of what is happening and what role the Emerging Church Movement plays in the last days apostasy that the Bible foretells.”

Facts to know about current trends happening in the name of Christ that are undermining the authority of scripture and leading towards the Emerging Church:

Scripture is no longer the ultimate authority for many well known leaders of the new evangelicalism.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is being replaced by humanistic methods that promote church growth and a social gospel.

There is more and more emphasis on “what’s in it for me” in the “here and now”, and less and less concern regarding the warnings of scripture regarding the imminent return of Jesus and a coming judgment ahead for planet earth.

More and more Christian leaders are looking for the Kingdom of God to be established here on earth by human effort and deny that Jesus Christ will rule and reign in a literal millennial period that is to come.

Many bridges are being established that lead in the direction of unity with the Roman Catholic Church.

An experiential mystical form of Christianity is being promoted to attract and reach the postmodern generation called the “Emerging Church.”

We are being told that Christianity needs to be re-invented in order to provide meaning for this generation.

Christianity is being dumbed-down as the Word of God comes under attack and images and sensual experiences are being promoted as the key to experiencing God.

In order to re-invent Christianity we are told we need to go back to the past and find out what kinds of experiences were successful to attract people to Christianity. These experiences include icons, candles, incense, liturgy and the sacraments, particularly the sacrament of the Eucharist.

Many church leaders are beginning to consider that the Reformation went too far. They are reexamining the claims of the “Church fathers” that communion is more than a symbol and for remembrance and that Jesus actually becomes present in the communion wafer.

There is a growing trend towards an ecumenical unity for the cause of world peace that claims there are many ways to God and that Jesus Christ is not the only way.

Please visit the following websites for additional information on the Emerging Church Movement and write me with your findings after your research is complete. I would like to know whether you agree or disagree with the online assessments of the Emerging Church Movement:

Lighthouse Trails Research Project
Media Spotlight
Understand the Times
Eastern Regional Watch
Discernment Ministries, Inc.
Herescope

Related articles by Angela Lee Price:
Noel Jones: Word of Faith Theology is Crippling the Black Church, May post

• Church Growth: Is Bigger Always Better?, April Archives
• Radio Responses to 50 Most influential Christians in America, March Archives
• The 50 Most Influential Christians In America, February Archives
• Are You Letting Yourself Down?, February Archives
• Prophetic Or Pathetic, February Archives
• Follow the Yellow Brick Road...to Heaven?, January Archives

  Remember, it is not Buddha, Confuscious, Muhammad, nor New Age that saves. Jesus saves!

Black Think Tank Co-Founder, Dr. Julia Hare To Speak In Louisville

Black Think Tank Founder, Dr. Julia Hare (left) to deliever keynote address at Wesley House Circle of Caring Dinner on April 20th. Wave TV 3 News Anchor & Personality Dawne Gee (right) to be honored for creating hope and opportunity in the community.

By: Dr. Renee Campbell Mapp

Wesley House is a 103-year-old social services agency located in the Butchertown/Phoenix Hill neighborhoods of Metro Louisville. This agency that many say is “a best kept secret” provides childcare, youth and family services, financial literacy classes, computer education, and a gently used clothing store called the Wesley Wearhouse.

Wesley House is having its annual Circle of Caring Dinner on April 20th, and is proud to announce that Dr. Julia Hare will be providing the keynote address. Dr. Hare is one of the most sought-after speakers on college campuses, and she dazzles and energizes her audiences with her bold talk of community, marriage and love.

The Wesley House Circle of Caring Dinner is one of Wesley House’s major fund raising events and honors someone in the community that has created hope and opportunity. Past honorees have been Ed Hamilton, Rev. Dr. Kevin Cosby, Denny Crum, Margaret Grissom, and Jim Seagrest.

Wesley House is proud to announce that this year’s honoree will be WAVE TV 3 News Anchor Dawne Gee. Angela Lee Price of Jesus Saves Ministries and WLOU Radio will be the mistress of ceremonies.

The Circle of Caring Dinner will be held on April 20th at the Humana Building, 25th floor, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Tickets are $100.00 per person. For additional information call 502-583-8317.

(Dr. Renee Campbell Mapp is President & C.E.O. of Wesley House Community Services. Click on the link in the title to read Dr. Hare's bio and listen to video and audio excerpts of interviews.)

Ready Or Not, Here He Comes! Are You Sure You're Ready?

By: Michael Lee

My brother, Michael Lee at the Dome of the Rock and Western Wailing Wall, Jerusalem, Israel, August, 2000.


Scripture: Rev 6:12-17 (GNV):

“And I saw the Lamb break open the sixth seal. There was a violent earthquake, and the sun became black like coarse black cloth, and the moon turned completely red like blood. The stars fell down to the earth, like unripe figs falling from the tree when a strong wind shakes it. The sky disappeared like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the rulers and the military chiefs, the rich and the powerful, and all other people, slave and free, hid themselves in caves and under rocks on the mountains. They called out to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the eyes of the one who sits on the throne and from the anger of the Lamb! The terrible day of their anger is here, and who can stand up against it?"

When I was a child, all of the kids in the neighborhood spent many summer days and evenings playing games. The girls would play jump rope, hop scotch, jacks, and sing those songs like "Oh, Mary Mack, all dressed in black...." I have two sisters, so I had to listen to all those songs that drove me nuts.

The boys would play basketball on tire rims or plastic crates, pitch up tackle football, and when we were a little older, we would play concrete tackle in the middle of 20th street in west Louisville. When we all would get together to play, the boys and the girls, we would play games like Softball, Tag, Frozen Catcher, and Red Light.

There was no game I liked more than "Hide and Go Seek." Whoever was “it” would have to put their face up against a tree, close their eyes, and count to 100 or what ever number everyone agreed upon. That person had to go and find everybody, and when he or she saw somebody they would shout, “I see you, Michael hiding behind that bush. You are going be it!” And the person who was found would run back as fast as he or she could to touch base before the person who was “it” got there.

The New Testament is very clear about the fact that Jesus is coming back. He’s coming back for two reasons, to get his Church and bring wrath and Judgment. The Bible says, "No man knows the day or the hour, not the angels, not the Son, but the Father only." Are you ready?

Noah preached for decades the same message. It’s going to rain. For decades, he built a ship on dry land. He had one message. It’s going to rain. Jesus says that it was just like any other ordinary day. People were eating and drinking and getting married and being given in marriage. They didn’t have a clue that God had had enough! Then the rains came suddenly and washed everyone who was not in the arc away.

When Jesus came the first time, he came as a humble servant. Revelation 5:9 says He was killed, and by his sacrificial death, he bought for God people from every tribe, language, nation and race. But when He comes again, He’s coming in great wrath, anger and judgment.

The scene depicted in Revelation chapter 6 tells of a time of great trouble. All the man made institutions are turned up side down. Natural disasters and great calamity were the order of the day. The turmoil will be such that all of the Kings of the earth, rulers and military chiefs, the rich and the powerful and all other people slave and free will try to hide themselves from God in caves and under rocks on the mountains. But you can never win a game of "Hide and Go Seek" when the one who is “IT” is the One with all seeing eyes! Are you sure you're ready?

Michael will be preaching his initial sermon on April 23rd at 4:00 p.m. at Joshua Tabernacle Baptist Church, 426 South 15th Street, Louisville, Kentucky.

(An abbreviation of a message delivered on March 19, 2006 to Joshua Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky. Michael Lee is an ordained deacon at Joshua Tabernacle Baptist Church, a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, and brother of Angela Lee Price.)

The Covenant with Black America

By: Angela Lee Price

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." --Frederick Douglass, "West India Emancipation" Speech, August 4, 1857

My advanced copy of The Covenant with Black America arrived at my door this month delayed but not denied. At first glance, I am happy to say, as I have said on my radio show already, that the 254-page book is more awesome than I could have imagined.

Why a covenant with Black America? Tavis Smiley says in the introduction, "Our interest with this document was to create a national plan of action to address the primary concerns of African Americans today....This Covenant is not revolutionary but evolutionary in the sense that it will be another catalyst in our struggle to make Black America better. I believe that when we make Black America better, we make all of America better."

A better Black America, I'm with that. A roadmap complete with facts, experts, strategies and solutions, I'm with that. A game plan for the 2006 and 2008 elections is vital if Black America is to be better.

Below are the ten issues (covenants), discussed at the State of the Black Union 2006, that are addressed in detail in the book:

1. Securing the Right to Healthcare and Well-Being.
2. Establishing A System of Public Education In Which All Children Achieve At High Levels and Reach Their Full Potential.
3. Correcting the System of Unequal Justice.
4. Fostering Accountable Community-Centered Policing.
5. Ensuring Broad Access to Affordable Neighborhoods That Connect to Opportunity.
6. Claiming Our Democracy.
7. Strengthening Our Rural Roots.
8. Accessing Good Jobs, Wealth, and Economic Prosperity.
9. Assuring Environmental Justice for All.
10. Closing the Racial Divide.

I pray that you will consider purchasing this book. The words of Malcolm X summarizes my sentiments, "You can stand for something or fall for anything."

Be blessed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Race For Africa: The Recolonization of Africa

By: Angela Lee Price

The article above entitled Race for Africa was written by an evangelist to Africa. He and his wife have been traveling there for 17 years. It details the race for recolonization of Africa currently underway, and speaks specifically of Rick Warren's efforts to create a "Purpose Driven" African continent.

The Lighthouse Trails Research Project link provides a wealth of information on the Purpose Driven, Emerging Church, and New Age Movements.