Is Shane Claiborne a Christian-Muslim?

 By Ken Silva

The Emergence Of The Mystic Non-Gospel Of Non-Conversion As Everyone’s God’s People

Consider the following from Tony Campolo, who’s one of those Red Letter Christians along with other apostates like Living Spiritual Teacher and Emerging Church guru Brian McLaren, progressive theologian Tony Jones, the heretical “theologian in residence” at the gathering place of his equally heretical universalist pastor Doug Pagitt—who together comprise the unholy trinity of the sinfully ecumenical Emergent Church. Campolo is mentor for another RLC, Shane Claiborne of the New Monasticism, and as I pointed out in Mysticism’s Gospel Of Goodness And Shane Claiborne Campolo would opine and then query the below in one of his books:

a theology of mysticism provides some hope for common ground between Christianity and Islam. Both religions have within their histories examples of ecstatic union with God, which seem at odds with their own spiritual traditions but have much in common with each other.

I do not know what to make of the Muslim mystics, especially those who have come to be known as the Sufis. What do they experience in their mystical experience? Could they have encountered the same God we do in our Christian mysticism?[1]

Notice the double-speak as first Campolo tells us Islam and Christianity both have “examples of ecstatic union with God”; then he muses, “Could they have encountered the same God we do in our Christian mysticism?” Campolo certainly hopes so; this would help him win friends and influence people within Islam, and would by-pass that nasty exclusive message of Scripture e.g. — Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him (Romans 8:9). Yeah, that’s just gonna get in the way of this whole Muslim-Christian thing; so we’ll ignore it because we feel that faithful Muslims, who’re doing “good” in the area of global social reform, must be following God in the way of Jesus.

Ah, I know, even if they don’t personally happen to know it; yeah, that’ll work, salvation by osmosis. Hey in this case, no siree Buddha, we don’t need that old Gospel of repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ Name.

If someone looks good to us—in other words—hates the evil empire and does good deeds like us, then they’re in; pretty slick, eh. In fact, in that Claiborne article I mentioned above I brought to your attention that, what I’ve just outlined above, is the mystic non-gospel. I showed you by quoting one of Claiborne’s heroes; that would be the late apostate Mother Teresa, who actually took her name out of her respect for so-called “Christian” mystic Teresa of Avila. From my personal copy of her book, following the words of the universalist Mother Teresa, “We never try to convert those who receive [aid from her organization] to Christianity but in our work we bear witness to the love of God’s presence.” The “witness to the love of God’s presence” is mystic-speak, and not trying “to convert” people is simply more man-centered music in tune with those who have itching ears. She goes on to say:

Whether you are a Hindu, a Moslem or a Christian, how you live your life is the proof that you are fully his or not. We must not condemn or judge or pass words that will hurt people. Maybe a person has never heard of Christianity. We do not know what way God is appearing to that soul and what way God is drawing that soul, and therefore who are we to condemn anybody? It matters to the individual what church he belongs to.

If that individual thinks and believes that this is the only way to God for her or him, this is the way God comes into their life — his life. If he does not know any other way and if he has no doubt so that he does not need to search then this is his way to salvation. This is the way God comes into his life.[2]

No doubt people in other religions will love hearing that; but it is dead wrong, and if we truly love God and our fellow man then we will tell them the truth from God’s Word. We’ll do it as lovingly, patiently, and gently, as possible because the Christian has been given the minstry of reconciliation so:

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
(2 Corinthians 5:16-21)

But Campolo and Claiborne aren’t interested in that; I think you see why such as these aligned themselves with those who eschew sola Scriptura. Yeah, unfortunately the Bible just keeps getting in the way of their lovefest with Islam so as Campolo says:

We don’t have to give up trying to convert each other. What we have to do is show respect to one another. And to speak to each other with a sense that even if people don’t convert, they are God’s people,… (Online source)

Ok, we say hi to Humpty Dumpty again; right Tony, we can keep “trying to convert”…um, “God’s people” and…ah, “even if people don’t convert, they are God’s people.” I see it now; after lying awake as I sleep in the light tonight, I can then start my evening tomorrow morning by taking a shower with cool, dry, hot water. Gothcha boys. And as I close this, for now, in the article I just quoted above Claiborne confesses:

When a devout Muslim brother asked Tony and I to have this cross-generational dialogue about interreligious cooperation for an interfaith publication, we jumped on it. (Online source, emphasis mine)

My question is: If Shane Claiborne has a devout Muslim “brother,” does this now make Claiborne himself a Christian-Muslim? I mean, apparently he’s in the process of approaching this in the opposite direction from those alleged hybrid Muslim-Christians, who’re practicing Muslims that supposedly “love Jesus.” So could it be that, in Shane Claiborne, we’re witnessing a new breed hybrid of Christian-Muslims practicing Christianity but who also love Muhmmad? Stay tuned…

________________________________________________________________________________
Endnotes:

[1] Tony Campolo, Speaking My Mind: The Radical Evangelical Prophet Tackles the Tough Issues Christians Are Afraid to Face [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2004], 149, 150, emphasis mine.

[2] Kathryn Spink, Mother Teresa, Life in the Spirit: Reflections, Meditations and Prayers [New York: HarperCollins, 1983], 81, 82, emphasis mine.

(HT: Apprising Ministries)

"Hipster Christianity" - Don't Be Fooled - Just Another Emerging Deception

From the Lighthouse Trails Research Blog

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. I Timothy 4:1
 
LTRP Note: In September, it came to our attention that both secular and Christian media, in particularly Wall Street Journal, the New Yorker, and Christianity Today, were publicizing a book written by Brett McCracken. According to McCracken, his book, Hipster Christianity”  ”goes deep into the questions of what it means to be cool and what it means to be Christian.” But McCracken’s “hipster Christianity” is nothing more than emerging spirituality looked at through different colored sunglasses. Lighthouse Trails will be posting a number of articles and reviews on this “new” kind of Christianity in time, but we wish to issue this warning today as many may be fooled into thinking that this is a “cool” way to look at biblical Christianity. It’s not. And it has nothing to do with the way one dresses or which “cool” sunglasses or reading glasses he or she is wearing. It’s about spiritual deception, which often looks “good,” (especially to those who don’t know what God’s Word says) but in actuality is lethal.

For those wondering if McCracken, managing editor of Biola University’s magazine and regular writer for the emergent Relevant magazine, considers himself a “hipster,” the answer he gives in the introduction of his book is “yes.” He has found resonance with a lot of emerging leaders such as Shane Claiborne, whom McCracken says is  ”perhaps one of the most important Christian hipsters around” (p. 99). Other contemplative/emerging advocates whom McCracken includes in his emerging, hipster “Christianity” are Mark Driscoll, Jay Baaker, Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz), Lauren Winner, and Rob Bell.

McCracken asks the question, where can you find “Christian hipsters” and answers it accurately by saying Christian colleges and Christian college towns (p. 106), now hotbeds for apostasy. Of course, he includes the contemplative promoting Biola in his list of “cool” colleges. McCracken delves into the political arena and explains how “cool” young Christians helped to bring Obama into office (pp. 158-160).

McCracken says this “hip” Christianity identifies with panentheistic New Age mystic Pierre  Teilhard de Chardin and says “Christian hipsters love thinking and acting Catholic…. They love the Pope, liturgy, incense, lectio divina…” (p. 98).

While popular emerging church leaders have tried to say that the emerging church is dead (see: Some Say the Emerging Church is Dead – the Truth Behind the Story) (and now hipster is better), nothing has changed. It’s the same ol’ panentheistic deception that Satan presented to Eve in the Garden when he asked her to question God and tempted her in desire to be God.

The Bible says that in the days before Christ returns, there will be great deception. The devil is running like mad, to and fro, trying to confuse, deceive, and manipulate Christians into turning away from the one and only true Gospel message. After all, if Christians preach the true Gospel, people will get saved and spend eternity with the Lord. Hipster Christianity is just the enemy’s latest effort to stop the Gospel from being proclaimed.

Don’t be fooled, Hipster Christianity isn’t “cool” at all – it is lukewarm spirituality, and from such we should steer clear of.

Now these comments from Roger Oakland of Understand the Times:

The following Christianity Todayarticle presents the facts as they are and shows the absolute absurdity that is impacting Christianity all over the world. In an effort to reach the postmodern generation with a message there is a Christ, the church that once was Bible-based has become antichrist.

What is even more absurd is the fact there are still leaders who people look up to as great Christian teachers, pastors, or evangelists, who refuse to take a stand and warn the sheep that the wolves are devouring the flock. Rather than protect the sheep they are driving them to be slaughtered. They compromise the truth of God’s word with the ”lie” and further confuse those who try to remain on board with Jesus.

The Emerging Church should change their term “Christ followers” to what is really happening. They are not following Jesus Christ. They have forsaken Jesus Christ and are following church growth gurus who are following Satan.

Christianity Today’s article “Hipster Christianity”:

Welcome to the world of hipster Christianity. The latest incarnation of a decades-long collision of “cool” and “Christianity,” hipster Christianity is in large part a rebellion against the very subculture that birthed it. It’s a rebellion against old-school evangelicalism and its fuddy-duddy legalism, apathy about the arts, and pitiful lack of concern for social justice.

They prefer to call themselves “Christ-followers” rather than “Christians.” They cringe at the thought of an altar call, and the prospect of passing out tracts gives them nightmares.

In order to remain relevant in this new landscape, many evangelical pastors and church leaders are following the lead of the hipster trendsetters, making sure their churches can check off all the important items on the hipster checklist:

• Get the church involved in social justice and creation care.

• Show clips from R-rated Coen Brothers films (e.g., No Country for Old Men, Fargo) during services.

• Sponsor church outings to microbreweries.

• Put a worship pastor onstage decked in clothes from American Apparel.

• Be okay with cussing.

• Print bulletins only on recycled cardstock.

• Use Helvetica fonts as much as possible
• Leverage technologies like Twitter.

Christian hipster. As the ’90s gave way to the 2000s, young evangelicals reared in the ostentatious Jesus subculture began to rebel. They sought a more intellectual faith, one that didn’t reject outright the culture, ideas, and art of the secular world.

They looked up to young Christian authors and pastors like Shane Claiborne, Rob Bell, and Donald Miller, read Relevant magazine, adored indie-folk musician Sufjan Stevens, and were fascinated by ancient church liturgies and prayers. They began to dress and act like secular hipsters: drinking beer, getting tattoos, riding fixed-gear bikes, and eating raw and organic foods. They took interest in a broader range of issues (the environment, HIV/AIDS, globalization) than their parents’ generation, and voted for Barack Obama.

What makes a church a “hipster church”? Does it have a one-word name that is either a Greek word or something evocative of creation? Does the pastor frequently use words like kingdom, authenticity, and justice, and drop names like N. T. Wright in sermons? Does the church advertise a gluten-free option for Communion? If the answer is yes to all of those questions, chances are that it’s a hipster church.

One thing we can fairly say of hipster Christianity is that it frequently strives for shock value. During his sermon, Driscoll-looking like a metrosexual jock in an Ed Hardy-esque tight T-shirt, cross necklace, and faux-hawk-talked about how wives should be “visually generous” with their husbands (e.g., they should keep the lights on when undressing and during sex). I never thought I’d hear a preacher talk about these things from the pulpit. And that’s exactly the point.

Hipster Christianity’s attention to shock value manifests in others ways. Some churches hold their services in bars and nightclubs-Mosaic in L.A. meets in the Mayan nightclub, and North Brooklyn Vineyard in New York meets at a place called the Trash Bar. Other churches focus more on the shock value of sermons, delving into touchy subjects such as homosexuality, child abuse, sex trafficking, HIV/AIDS, and so on, sometimes with an f-bomb or two thrown in for good measure. 

Click here to continue reading the Christianity Today article.

The Apostasy of Mother Teresa, Shane Claiborne, Tony Campola, and the Emerging Church

By Justin Edwards

The following article by Ken Silva is an excellent summation of where the road of contemplative spirituality and mysticism can lead an individual - universalism. Ken provides examples from Mother Teresa, Shane Claiborne, and Tony Campola (with mention of Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, and Brian McLaren) illustrating their ultimate belief that all roads lead to heaven and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is moot and non-essential (even useless).

If you are a born again Christian attending an Emergent Church or realize your church is heading into that direction, then I implore you to flee this apostasy and return to sound teaching from the Word of God. The teachings from these men and the Catholic church do not lead people to the cross of Jesus Christ, they lead them away to an eternal hell.

If you read nothing else in this article, please read the words of Mother Teresa (highlighted in red). It becomes clear that she did not uphold the Gospel of Christ, and if she took this belief to her grave, she is eternally separated from the love of God. It goes to show that good works cannot save you; it is only by the grace of God alone through faith alone in the biblical Jesus Christ alone that you may be saved.

It is a tragedy if she died with this belief; it is a greater tragedy that millions are following in her footsteps.

MYSTICISM’S GOSPEL OF GOODNESS AND SHANE CLAIBORNE

By Ken Silva pastor-teacher

“I did not send these prophets, But they ran. I did not speak to them, But they prophesied. But if they had stood in My council, Then they would have announced My words to My people, And would have turned them back from their evil way, And from the evil of their deeds.” (Jeremiah 23:21-22, NASB)

 Sincere; But Sincerely Wrong

Anyone familiar with Emerging Church icon Shane Claiborne knows that he was quite taken with the late apostate Mother Teresa, who actually took her name out of her respect for so-called “Christian” mystic Teresa of Avila. Below are the words of Mother Teresa from my personal copy of her book Life in the Spirit: Reflections, Meditations and Prayers.

And therein you will be able to see the resulting deception gleaned from her years of practicing Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM); a gospel of goodness with its resulting denial of the exclusive claims of the genuine Gospel of Jesus Christ:

We never try to convert those who receive [aid from her organization] to Christianity but in our work we bear witness to the love of God’s presence and if Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, or agnostics become for this better men — simply better — we will be satisfied. Growing up in love they will be nearer to God and find him in his goodness. Every human being comes from the hand of God and we all know what is the love of God for us. My religion is everything to me but for every individual, according to the grace God had given that soul. God has his own ways and means to work in the hearts of men and we do not know how close they are to him but by their actions we will always know whether they are at his disposal or not.

Whether you are a Hindu, a Moslem or a Christian, how you live your life is the proof that you are fully his or not. We must not condemn or judge or pass words that will hurt people. Maybe a person has never heard of Christianity. We do not know what way God is appearing to that soul and what way God is drawing that soul, and therefore who are we to condemn anybody? It matters to the individual what church he belongs to. If that individual thinks and believes that this is the only way to God for her or him, this is the way God comes into their life — his life. If he does not know any other way and if he has no doubt so that he does not need to search then this is his way to salvation. This is the way God comes into his life. (81, 82, emphasis mine)

Now as loving as this might appear on the surface, it’s very definitely not the Gospel that was preached by Christ and His Apostles. No need to be born again; no making disciples of Christ, and no teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. However, the above fantasy is completely consistent with the delusion received by those who practice the Contemplative/Centering Prayer (CCP) of the spurious CSM aka Spiritual Formation espoused by ordained Southern Baptist minister Dallas Willard and his spiritual twin Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster.

With this backdrop Apprising Ministries now shows you that this past Tuesday The Simple Way tweeted:

Update: On Evangelicals and Interfaith Cooperation http://goo.gl/fb/NYde (Online source)

If you don’t know, The Simple Way (TSW) is “a community of faith” to which Claiborne himself belongs. It’s also quite telling that under Recommended Books “On Ecclesiology (theology of Church)” are A Generous Orthodoxy and A New Kind of Christian by the heretical Brian McLaren, who’s now also a Living Spiritual Teacher alongside such as Deepak Chopra, the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Eckhart Tolle, and Marianne Williamson; as well as a leading guru in the the neo-liberal cult of the sinfully ecumenical Emerging Church aka Emergent Church—that’s now morphed into Emergence Christianity.

Shane Claiborne is also one of the Red Letter Christians alongside the likes of his mentor Tony Campolo, Roman Catholic mystic Richard Rohr, and Brian McLaren. Now the above tweet takes us to On Evangelicals and Interfaith Cooperation at the TSW website where they tell us: “A few years ago, Shane interviewed Tony Campolo for an article in Cross Currents Magazine. We think it’s still relevant.” Since I discussed that 2005 interview in Emergent Evangelical Prophet Tony Campolo, back in February of 2006, this immediately caught my attention because it means Claiborne’s view is unchanged.

So because TSW and Claiborne have just brought the subject back up by linking it at their faith community website, and in light of their recommendation of the warped and toxic theology of EC guru Brian McLaren, I am once again going to highlight a couple of things from that Claiborne’s interview with Campolo. In Brian McLaren Invites You On His Quest To Destroy Christianity I pointed out that with his new book A New Kind of Christianity (ANKoC) McLaren has laid out his reimagined i.e. new form of Progessive Christianity aka liberal theology, which so many in the EC actually adhere to as well.

Like Mystics Ala Mother Teresa, Like Shane Claiborne And Tony Campolo

It’s also an incontestable fact that the following view of the false religion of Islam that Shane Claiborne and his mentor Tony Campolo portray below—completely consistent with Teresa—is the result of their own practice of CCP. First here’s Campolo from his book Speaking My Mind:

a theology of mysticism provides some hope for common ground between Christianity and Islam. Both religions have within their histories examples of ecstatic union with God, which seem at odds with their own spiritual traditions but have much in common with each other. I do not know what to make of the Muslim mystics, especially those who have come to be known as the Sufis. What do they experience in their mystical experience? Could they have encountered the same God we do in our Christian mysticism? (149,150, emphasis mine)

Actually Tony yes, they do encounter the mystic mush god with you; but it most definitely is not the God of the Bible. The following section below comes from the interview mentioned above, which TSW has just linked now at their own website. The section contains a very interesting exchange between Claiborne and Campolo about a third of the way down the page:

SC: Both Muslims and Christians are very evangelical in the sense of desiring others to come to faith in their God. When we talk about inter-religious cooperation, does that mean that we need to stop trying to convert each other?

TC: We don’t have to give up trying to convert each other. What we have to do is show respect to one another. And to speak to each other with a sense that even if people don’t convert, they are God’s people, God loves them, and we do not make the judgment of who is going to heaven and who is going to hell.

I think that what we all have to do is leave judgment up to God. The Muslim community is very evangelistic, however what Muslims will not do is condemn Jews and Christians to Hell if in fact they do not accept Islam.

SC: That seems like a healthy distinction—between converting and condemning. One of the barriers seems to be the assumption that we have the truth and folks who experience things differently will all go to Hell. How do we unashamedly maintain a healthy desire for others to experience the love of God as we have experienced it without condemning others who experience God differently… (Online source, bold mine)

Resisting the urge here to wrestle with the serpent I’ll just say that, as far as it concerns Islam and hell, Campolo is quite mistaken so I simply refer you to the Quran itself:

And, by thy Lord, verily We shall assemble them and the devils, then We shall bring them, crouching, around hell. Then We shall pluck out from every sect whichever of them was most stubborn in rebellion to the Beneficent. And surely We are Best Aware of those most worthy to be burned therein. (Surah 19:68-70, emphasis mine)

Of course what Campolo and his disciple Claiborne are talking about is not the genuine Gospel of Jesus Christ; but it is a primary online source giving you a glimpse at the gospel of goodness that these men personally believe. And this false teaching is completely consistent with the universalism one sees as they study mysticism as I have for years now. However, even if Campolo did happen to be correct when he dreams “even if people don’t convert, they are God’s people,” then this question comes emerging: Then why should they ever need to convert in the first place?

Why should we even waste our time and money, not to mention risking our lives in Islamic controlled countries, to try and convert “God’s people”…ah, into…um, “God’s people” I guess? McLaren’s  already on record saying hell is false advertising for God, and we also know that the other two thirds of the Emergent trinity heretical EC pastor Doug Pagitt and his equally heretical “theologian in residence” Tony Jones, both deny the doctrine of original sin along with guru McLaren so in their bankrupt Emergence theology there’s nothing to be save from anyway.

In other words, conversion has now been redefined to mean joining them in their social gospel of goodness, which they usually express something along the lines of living the way of God in Jesus and being co-creators with Him in order to make God’s dreams for the world come to pass. But it’s well past time now to finally awaken from your slumber and realize that if this reimagined Emergence Christianity, where all of mankind is already the family of God, is true then there really is no Gospel left to preach. And so I wonder; just who might have come up with that little idea?

No, this is more than enough reason for me to tell people to stay away from this “missional” Emerging/ent/ence Church. And remember, Emerging Church spokesman Dan Kimball has revealed to us that  Emergent Wolves Enter Your Sheep Pens Through Youth Groups. The truth is that the time has arrived when we must reject these Emergent dreamers and their quasi-Christian universalism with its warped and toxic neo-liberal repainted social gospel ala Walter Rauschenbusch. And when all said and done, in the end, Claiborne is really just a Rob Bell with dreadlocks.

See also:

MEET MENTORS AND METHODOLOGY OF BRIAN MCLAREN
FOR BRIAN MCLAREN AND MARCUS BORG BEING “BORN AGAIN” IS REACHING “ENLIGHTENMENT”?
TONY JONES, THE EMERGING CHURCH AND PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY
DOUG PAGITT AND ARROGANCE OF LIBERAL/PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIANS
EMERGING CHURCH AND PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
THE EMERGING CHURCH AND EMERGENT LIBERALISM 2.0
KEN SILVA ON MISSION AMERICA WITH LINDA HARVEY DISCUSSING “EMERGENT” APOSTASY