an approaching storm?

Jesus’ repeated attempts to warn His disciples that He would soon die, His clear reference to a betrayer among them, His heaviness when He went to Gethsemane, the kiss of Judas followed by Jesus’ arrest, the fleeing of the disciples – these things layer on top of each other in the concluding chapters of Mark, reminding one of thunder rumbles before a storm. From the black cloud that looms on the horizon wispy strands of evil have already broken away and are shadowing the sun.

The disciples all fled before this approaching darkness. Despite Jesus’ repeated attempts to prepare them, they never got it. The evil caught them completely off guard. In their vulnerable state they lost all good sense and every bit of stored-up resolve as they were overpowered by the darkness.

I write this in the middle of feeling something similar. Oh, not anything as cataclysmic as the death of Jesus. But still I sense darkness approaching and beginning to encroach.

For starters, the homosexual lobby is now trying to get its claws into the curriculum and hiring practices of Christian schools – according to this article in LifeSiteNews.com. This after homosexual activists Murray and Peter Coren have already been given “unprecedented say” in developing pro-homosexual curriculum for B.C. public schools as part of a settlement in a human rights lawsuit against the Liberal government in 2006. And in recent developments, the Catholic Civil Rights League’s attempts to ensure that all 60 B.C. school boards will acknowledge parents’ rights to remove kids from classes, on the grounds of conflicts with religious or family values, has yielded only three such assurances (as of January 8/07).

On the theological front, E. keeps sending me articles about the Emergent Church. Wikipedia has an excellent (in my opinion) explanation of the movement. Last night he sent me the link to the Wikipedia definition of the common Emergent buzz-phrase “Missional Christianity.” What troubles me is that, judging from this definition, reaching out to non-Christians has become all about that, just reaching out but with no substantial gospel. E.g.

“The practical out-working of emergent missional living does not coincide with the emphases on propositional evangelism, teaching and holiness found in historic Christianity.”

The article goes on to describe missional Christianity as inclusive vs. exclusive, refusing to create an us-them mentality:

“Within this tolerant atmosphere missional believers seek to enhance the lives of all post moderns regardless of their belief systems or lifestyle.”

I guess I need to delve into exactly what is meant by the exclusion of “propositional evangelism.” But if it means that propositions like we’re all sinners, our sins condemn us to separation from God and eternal death, Jesus paid the penalty for our sin by His death on the cross, believing in Jesus offers a restored relationship with God, Hell is real etc. are left out, then what does this new evangelism evangelize to? What propositions does this “missional” Christianity include?

It’s hard to pin those down because of the variety of emergent hybrids and their widespread eschewing of doctrinal statements of faith. Can one take from the article, perhaps, that developing those propositions is, and always will be, a work-in-progress when it states: “‘missional’ focuses on the church ... contextualizing methods, morality and message to fit the indigenous culture”? Not forgetting, of course that this “contextualizing” is happening within an indigenous (North American) culture that’s allergic to absolutes of any kind.

These two trends – homosexuality* from without and apostasy from within – feel, to me, like gathering clouds on the horizon of our church and nation. What to do about it?

One can be vocal, I guess – blog about it a lot, join message boards, write letters to the editor etc. I definitely think there is a place for evangelical Christians to make their voices heard in the marketplace of ideas. But I prefer, before all that, to follow Jesus’ instructions to Peter James and John just before He left them to pray privately in Gethsemane: “Stay here and watch.... Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation.” Because I believe there are battles that need to be waged in the heavenlies, in myself, and in the world with the earthly weapons that do the most good: prayer and fasting -- and before I pull out my 'sword' or pen or any other defense. Too often, though, I’m exactly like those disciples: “Jesus – you’re back already!? What time is it? What's happening? Sorry, I must have fallen asleep again.”

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*Exodus International
Living Waters