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Deception in Our National Magazine
September 17, 2007
Greetings in the Name of Our LORD Jesus Christ,
A man named Earl Creps recently got a free commercial in “Today’s Pentecostal Evangel” (in an interview with TPE editor Ken Horn) for Creps’ book “Off-Road Disciplines.” I own this book and have read it from cover to cover. Please note that I did not buy it for the inspiration.
On the cover protector and just inside the book, if one looks carefully, one will spot that Creps’ book is a “Leadership Network” publication. And just a little further on, Creps receives a glowing forward from Dan Kimball, author of “The Emerging Church (Rick Warren wrote the forward to this book).” To Bible-believing Christians, it is very important to know about the Leadership Network and Dan Kimball. Here is a mentoring genealogy that includes both: Peter Drucker begat Bob Buford who begat the Leadership Network which begat Doug Pagitt who begat Dan Kimball and Brian McLaren and others. Here’s a little bit about each (my thanks to Roger Oakland and his book “Faith Undone” and many other sources for much of the information that follows; get a copy from Lighthouse Trails publishing today!):
- PETER DRUCKER—deceased business management guru; universalist (all roads lead to heaven) and eastern religion enthusiast, especially Buddhism.
- BOB BUFORD—former Texas cable TV company owner; founder of the Leadership Network; claimed he couldn’t tell where his thoughts and those of his mentor, Peter Drucker, ended.
- DOUG PAGITT—original member of the Leadership Network as hired by Bob Buford; quoted as saying, “(My) sermons are not primarily about my extracting truth from the Bible to apply to people’s lives…so much as they are stories that welcome our hopes and ideas and participation.”
- DAN KIMBALL—one chapter in his 2007 book [i]They Like Jesus but Not the Church[/i] is entitled “The Church Arrogantly Claims All Other Religions are Wrong.” Author’s note: Oh? How can “they” like Jesus if He first said all other religions are wrong?
- BRIAN McLAREN—named by ultra-liberal “Time” magazine as one of the most influential leaders of the emerging church movement.
So, I ask the editors of our national magazine, “What on Earth are you doing holding an interview with a man whose book is endorsed by the Universalist, eastern mysticism, emerging church promoting Leadership Network?” And further, if Mr. Creps is a Bible-believing Christian, why would another Universalist (who universally hate true Christianity since they believe the Bible when it says, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” [I Tim 2:5] And yet again, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” [John 14:6]) like Dan Kimball give him such a ringing endorsement? The answer: Earl Creps is one of them. And he just left his position as head of doctoral studies at our A/G Theological Seminary! Are there other plants from the Devil himself inside our seminary (I should mention that his former boss, the current President of AGTS, gave him another ringing endorsement on the back page of the protective book cover. Is Dr. Klaus a universalist and New Ager as well? If so, why is he holding such a key position in the A/G?)? And Creps is going to “plant a church” in Berkeley, California of all places. Isn’t that ripe? A New Ager needing and sporting a Christian veneer going to plant an Emerging church in the hot bed for American rebellion against God for the last fifty years!
Regarding the allowance for the above mentioned interview, I can only think of two possibilities: first, the editors of our national magazine are woefully ignorant, deceived or lacking in discernment regarding the Emerging Church movement, or 2) our editors agree with the universalist, eastern mysticism (Buddhism, Hinduism, etc) and mind-emptying meditation positions held by the Leadership Network and their friends (Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Robert Schuler, Joel Osteen and so on). If the former, we have a huge case of the “blind leading the blind.” [Matt 15:14] And we need to repent of that. If the latter, then we have a huge case of being led by “wolves in sheep’s clothing.” [Matt 7:15] And then our leadership needs to repent like the evil kings of Judah and Israel needed to repent. And we know how often that happened! May God have mercy on us and lead these men to reverse the biblical trend!
Imagine the amount of deception to a huge A/G audience created by this interview! And the irony of following immediately after a truly correct article about the importance of memorizing Scripture via Junior Bible Quiz! God please help us! Deliver us from our evil ways! We have yielded to the temptations of the Father of Lies. Our little, covetous, ambitious, power-hungry black hearts have done our leaders and us, their followers, in once again. As Nehemiah prayed, “Forgive my father’s house and my house LORD for we have sinned against you.” [paraphrase of Neh 1:6-7]
Jeremiah 23: 21-22 says, “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.” Then Jeremiah 25: 34 says, “Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.”
We need to repent members of the Assemblies of God! None of us are without sin. We have all polluted ourselves with the influences of Hollywood, our secular education institutions and sins of convenience (e.g., the Assemblies of God church deacon or pastor making his daughter get an abortion to avoid the shame of an unwed pregnancy). The Bible says great judgments are coming to this world. Signs are that God is giving us hints of what is to come. Will we wake up now or will we be killed in our spiritual sleep and be condemned to an eternity in Hell? God says, “Choose you this day whom you will serve…”
With Love for the God Who Has Spoken to Us Through His WORD,
Brother Mike
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