Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations - "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," which all concern things which perish with the using - according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:18-23)
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1-5)
In Colossians chapter two, God the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul gives us a timeless warning about the evil tyranny of man-made doctrines in the church. How does that warning apply to Christians today? What dangers must we guard against in our time? As we survey the landscape we find that two movements in today's Evangelical church are at the top of the list. We examined one of them, the Purpose-Driven Church movement, on our last program.
Today we shall examine the Emergent Church movement. Once again, we see the danger signs as we compare the roots and the fruits of this movement with the problem indicators that Paul gives us in Colossians two.
During this program we shall also share with you a godly pastor's personal confrontation with the leaders of a denomination that is buying into the Emergent philosophy.