Why Al Qaeda Supports the Emergent Church?

This is a really sad/hilarious piece of writting that was sent to me the other day - so I couldn't resist posting it. I don't know whether to laugh or cry or cry with laughter....
By Frank Pastore www.townhall.com http://tinyurl.com/2vrnbs
July 22, 2007
The greatest threat to world peace is radical Islam. If not for the United States, millions more would be suffering under the tyranny of sharia law all over the world. Our Muslim enemies know post-Christian Europe has already lost the will to fight. Africa, Asia, and South America seem to be already lost. Russia, China, and India would rather trade than fight...for now. And the United Nations continues to be irrelevant.Only the United States, and more specifically, only the conservative, evangelical Christians of America are who stand between radical Islam and their quest for global domination.If the world is to be saved from Muslim conquest, it will be America who does it. And if America is to be saved, only conservatism can do it. And if conservatism is to be saved, it will be those Bible-believing patriots who do it–those conservative, evangelical Christians who are the bedrock of the American way of life.Why? Because only Christianity has the intellectual and spiritual horsepower to defeat radical Islam and prevent the world from returning to the darkness of the 7th century. After all, the story of the birth and growth of Western Civilization is pretty much the story of the birth and growth of Christianity. The divide between East and West today, fundamentally, is the divide between Islam and Christianity. Christians and Muslims know this, it's the secularists who don't get it–or at least won't admit it.That's why anything that helps to further separate the West from its Biblical roots ultimately weakens the resolve of the West to fight. Anything that helps the ACLU to further de-Christianize America, to further silence the Christian voice like the current hate-crimes legislation or the fairness doctrine, and to further weaken the Church and devalue the Bible as the religious left has done for decades, are things that empower our enemies and weaken our allies.A post-Christian, post-modern, secular-socialist America will be no match for a radical Islam fueled by petro-dollars and threatening the use of nuclear weapons.But an America where the church is strong, resolute, and courageous? That's a different thing altogether.Which is why al Qaeda supports the emergent church.The emergent church is an ally in the war against radical Islam–al Qaeda's ally. Not in the sense they are supplying bullets and bombs to Osama, of course, but in the sense they are weakening our conviction to fight.If those in the emergent "we're-a-missional-not-an-institutional" church had their way, American church buildings would be just like European church buildings - empty. And the church, the people themselves, would be so intellectually, morally, emotionally, and spiritually lost, confused and uncertain, that they would be incapable of doing hardly anything more than inviting their Muslim oppressors in for a cappuccino and a good conversation about the sociology of knowledge, the absurdity of propositional truth, and the misplaced certitude of the Muslim metanarrative. All the while, no doubt, nodding in agreement that America probably deserved to die and mumbling something about carbon footprints.The term "emergent church" refers to a loose association of people who share common values and attitudes toward, well, everything. It's Christianity for postmoderns who don't like truth, knowledge, science, authority, doctrine, institutions, or religion. They claim absolute or objective truth is unknowable, that the only "truth" that can be known is rooted in communities of shared subjective experience–the infamous "it's my truth" of relativism. And if nothing is objectively true, if no text has a meaning independent of the reader, then the truth claims in the Bible are no more authoritative than the funny papers. Hence, there's no emphasis on core beliefs, essential doctrines, statements of faith or the institutions built to defend and propagate them–especially the institutional church and its Bible colleges and seminaries. Bottom line, it's feelings over thoughts, the heart over the head, experience over truth, deeds over creeds, narratives over propositions, the corporate over the individualistic, being inclusive rather than exclusive, with none of that offensive "in versus out" language, such as those who are "saved" and those who are "not saved," or even the most divisive of all referents–"Christian" and "non-Christian."The emergent church and its allies on the religious left are to Christianity what termites are to wood. They devour it from the inside out, little bit by little bit, and you don't notice it until it's too late–unless you look for the droppings.They're leaving lots of droppings if you only have eyes to see.The emergent church has rejected the "linear" and "modern" categories of true/false, good/evil, and right/wrong, and they recoil at the notion of applying these terms to Christianity or any other faith tradition–even radical Islam. To believe Christianity is true, good, and right is divisive, offensive, and well, rude and anti-conversational. It's time to call these people out from the shadows and expose them to the light of public scrutiny. Their unwillingness to distinguish truth from error, right from wrong, and good from evil leave them intellectually immobilized to resist the encroachment of false teaching and heresy, and even incapable of knowing the good guys from the bad guys in the war for the free world. The whole point of terrorism is to destroy the will of the enemy to fight.Whose side are they on, anyway?What Yogi Berra said about baseball is true of this war against radical Islam: "Half this game is 90% mental. "Yogi knew this. Osama knows this. I wonder if the "emergents" do?
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Creativity and Angst

It never ceases to amaze me how the prophetic angst that can so much be part on my personality inspires creativity. At the moment I am feeling really good about so many things, which is great I am happier and more content with where God has placed me than i have been for years..... But at the same time my creative levels are at an all time low.
It's soemthing i have seen so many times in artist, musicians and the like - they sort their lives out (get of drugs, find religeon, self fulfilment) and there 'product' becomes crap - they loose a creative spark. that is how I feel at the moment, content and happy but also 'safe'. I am not praying for God to mess my life around, but I don want him to reignite the fire...

360 degree leader

Just picked up a new book by John C Maxwell, If like me you have always enjoyed his thinking but find yourslef in the situation that says, "well that's great but I am not the leader," then this is for you. It's about developing influence from anywhere in the organization. In fact as I reflect on what he has written and soem personal experience I am starting to think that maybe standing at the top of an organisation is not the best place to provide influence.
I particuarly found the sections of leadership myth's helpful and encouraging:
Myth #1 The Position Myth: "I can't lead if I am not at the top."
Myth #2 The Destination Myth: "When I get to the top, then I'll learn to lead."
Myth #3 The Influence Myth: "If I were on top, then people would follow me."
Myth #4 The Inexperience Myth: "When I get to the top, I'll be in control."
Myth #5 The Freedom Myth: "When I get to the top, I'll no longer be limited."
Myth #6 The Potential Myth: "I can't reach my potential if I'm not the top leader."
Myth #7 The All-or-Nothing Myth: "If I can't get to the top, then I won't try to lead."

Spiritual Long Sightedness

When I was 13 I had a year of my life where is seemed to get constant headaches, it meant it was hard to concentrate but more than that I also seemed to be looking into the distance, after many doctors visits they decided i had a problem with my eyes. Two days later I turned up at school with my new national health glasses - the prescription was odd though because I didn't need them for board work - I could see that fine but for things up close that was another story. The further away something was the easier it was to focus, things up close though seemed blurry.... While I no longer wear glasses, I have managed to cope without them I still have problems associated with it, like I don't like people standing too close, I often look as though I am staring into space. But the real irony is how that same condition haunts me to today not in terms of my eye sight but rather my 'spiritual eye' sight.

I struggle to see God at work around me, but can see him clearly working 'at a distance' or in others, and in other situations, it's like I have a pair of binoculars that I permanently look into. And it causes me to wander, to be restless, because i am always looking elsewhere....

I have a wonderful supervisor who has recognised this in me and asked to pray for me about it. So two weeks ago she prayed that the Spirit of wandering would be lifted....

As she prayed I could see an image of me sitting on a window seat (I love window seats!!!) I was looking through the glass at the world outside and it was an amazing site - very cool, behind me everything was dark because the light from outside seemed to drown out the light on the inside. As she prayed I saw someone close the curtains in front of me - which kind of sucked, but as they did I realised that behind me everything was light, there was a party going on and lots of cool things happening. All the time while I was staring out looking for something but unable to get to it because of the glass I had failed to realise everything I needed and wanted was under my nose. The physical problem of being able to focus on things close to me was also a spiritual one. I believe that God has done something in me and I feel a lot more complete, I still like staring out of windows, and I still believe I can see God at work in others, but I can also see God at work in me - close to me - around me, it is a cool feeling.