[fortheDeclaration]

Bump for read.

Three works that need to be read together are War against the Saints by Jessie Evan Roberts,

New Age Versions by Gail Riplinger and Spirit Wars by Peter Jones.

War against the Saints deals with how the Demons operate (passive vs active thinking, images vs words etc), New Age Versions deals with the attack on the words of scripture (King James Bible) and Spirit Wars, on the attack on the Canon itself.

A threefold cord is not quickly broken (Ecc.4:12)

[k omalley]

Also, Funk can spare the average unenlightened believer in the pew his witches brew of nihilism. Does he honestly think his "theology" is life giving? Other than Spong's and the newly approved bishop Robinson's cohorts of the ECUSA, Christians would abandon such a "faith" like rats abandoning a sinking ship.

[George W. Bush]

It took me a while but I slogged through it.

A very fine and serious article that warns of the direction of moderist apostate or gnostic scholars in Christian academic circles. A worthy footnote would be to tie all this together with the modernist bibles.

For instance, the paraphrase 'The Message' is generally considered to have the most gnostic readings in it. And given the gnostic outlook of many of these leading scholars, it is almost inconceivable that their views are not influencing the work of modern bible translations.

At any rate, I'm pinging OP. I thought that he could make some good use of this material.

[k omalley]

My Modern Theology professor was really in to Heidegger and Strauss. He even had "DASEIN" on his license plate. He didn't belive in the Resurrection or any of Christ's miracles because they were scientifically impossible.

He relayed a strange story to the class. He was in an airport in Europe and a stranger of Indian ethnicity came up to him and told him he was following the wrong path, that he needed to turn his heart to Jesus Christ, our savior. This episode puzzled our professor and went right over his head. The meaning was not lost on the class, however.

[dangus]

Jim Robinson is a gnostic heretic?

Jimmy, you are gonna pull this thread, no? Say it ain't so!

*only kidding.*

[Pahuanui]

In a parallel universe, scholars now speak of the Americanization of Buddhism. "It is something of an article of faith in US Buddhist circles that Americans are improving the traditions-by making [Buddhism] more democratic, more practical, more socially engaged, more [feminized].

I have heard this claim innumerable times over the past 15 years or so, and have never once seen any evidence to support its validity whatsoever.

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[Wallace T.]

These theologians represent the thinking of the dying mainline Protestant denominations. The Episcopal Church, USA, the United Methodist Church, the Disciples of Christ, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Reformed Church in America, and the United Church of Christ are noteworthy for two things: apostate theology and declining membership. Less than one quarter of those raised in these denominations stay with them in adulthood. Conservatives defect to the evangelical churches or (especially with Episcopalians) to Catholicism.

To add insult to injury, the liberal establishment ignores the mainline churches and their ecumenical spokesman, the National Council of Churches. Liberal politicians and journalists respect the ability to influence people and deliver votes. The mainline churches are unable to accomplish this. Even when denominational leadership achieves a liberal goal, such as ordaining a practicing homosexual as bishop, all they accomplish is a further dilution of numbers and even a possible schism. The net effect of the ordination of Bishop Robinson will probably be a severe decline in the effectiveness of the Episcopal Church, USA.

With the median age of these denominations in the high 50s, it is easy to see that the downward spiral of the mainline churches will continue. So let the Jesus Seminar and the process and liberation theologians carry on. They are merely the funeral dirge of mainline Protestantism.