Truth Matters

It seems that Doug Pagitt, one of the more vocal and recognizable preachers of the non-gospel of the emergent confusion has finally come out and taken the position that the gospel he preaches and believes is a different gospel than that which John MacAruthur preaches and believes.

This is an important development for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that many orthodox believers within the Christian blogosphere have gone on record charging that the emergent message is in fact another gospel. John MacArthur's position on the gospel is crystal clear since he is a prolific writer and has been a pastor for more than 30 years whereas most of the "pastors" of the emergent confusion are relatively new on the scene. Coupled with their predilection for obfuscation, word games and engaging in shameless logical fallacies their "new kid on the block" novelty tends to mask their true beliefs behind a veneer of false humility.

At the root of the emergent confusion is their rejection of Biblical authority and their inability or refusal to believe the truth, preferring instead to believe a lie. According to scripture this is the state of the natural man - to deny the Spirit of truth and suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They prefer things to be subjective and fuzzy and would rather avoid all that "divisive" doctrine stuff. They embrace mystery and decry the arrogance of those who dare to claim that "by His Spirit and revealed Word man can know the truth of God".

On the subject of the aversion to truth Spurgeon well said:

Lastly, we speak to some of you who know nothing about the Spirit of truth, nor about the truth itself. It may be that some of you are saying, "We care not much which of you are right, we are happily indifferent to it." Ah! but, poor sinner, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it was that spake the truth, thou wouldst not say, "I care not for it;" if thou didst know how essential the truth is to thy salvation, thou wouldst not talk so; if thou didst know that the truth of God is—that thou art a worthless sinner, but if thou believest, then God from all eternity, apart from all thy merits, loved thee, and bought thee with the Redeemer's blood, and justified thee in the forum of heaven, and will by-and-bye justify thee in the forum of thy conscience through the Holy Ghost by faith; if thou didst know that there is a heaven for thee beyond the chance of a failure, a crown for thee, the lustre of which can never be dimmed;—then thou wouldst say, "Indeed the truth is precious to my soul!" Why, my ungodly hearers, these men of error want to take away the truth, which alone can save you, the only gospel that can deliver you from hell; they deny the great truths of free-grace, those fundamental doctrines which alone can snatch a sinner from hell; and even though you do not feel interest in them now, I still would say, you ought to desire to see them promoted. May God give you to know the truth in your hearts! May the Spirit "guide you into all truth!" For if you do not know the truth here, recollect there will be a sorrowful learning of it in the dark chambers of the pit, where the only light shall be the flames of hell! May you here know the truth! And the truth shall make you free: and if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed, for he says, "I am the way, the truth, the life." Believe on Jesus thou chief of sinners; trust his love and mercy, and thou art saved, for God the Spirit giveth faith and eternal life.