Recently, I read a Facebook post by a southern California pastor stating that the “emerging church” was no longer a problem for him or his church. He also stated that the “emerging church” was just another passing fad that had come and then disappeared never to be heard of again. His church was going to focus on what was positive and insinuated that “hyper discernment ministries” were scaring his sheep into believing they were living in the last days and that apostasy was rampant.

The comments by this pastor are not uncommon. In fact, there are few shepherds today who are warning the sheep in their flocks of the dangers that lurk not only outside the fold but also within their own fold that they are called to protect. A good shepherd must keep watch over his flock as there are many wolves lurking around seeking whom they may devour. Ignoring these dangers does not make the problems go away. Sheep can easily be misled by false unbiblical teachings that act as a grain of arsenic in a milk shake. The milk shake may look and taste good, but the grain of arsenic will be enough to kill someone.

When a pastor makes the claim that the emerging church is history, this shows that he is either uninformed or that he is willingly ignorant. Sad to say, it can be both, and he may not even know it. The emerging church has many stealth methods to find its way under the radar, including when emerging church leaders rename it time and again. Satan is a master deceiver and knows what he is doing. In the early stages of the emergent church takeover, the methods may have been somewhat more obvious, at least to those with God-given discernment.

Now that the vast majority of churches have been inoculated with the poison, fewer and fewer sheep have any discernment, and worse yet their shepherd/pastors have fallen asleep. They are still looking for ways to replace the older generation who “smelled a rat” and left. Now these pastors are looking for ways to fill the pews with novel ideas that appeal to the flesh.

This commentary will touch on one area that will prove that the emerging church has not been buried and is still alive and “well” in many churches. One of the most effective ways for contemplative mysticism along with other eastern mystical beliefs to creep in is through books that are recommended for the women of the church to read in the “Ladies Ministry.” Many of these books, like Jesus Calling by Sarah Young or One Thousand Gifts by Ann VosKamp, are read and studied in place of the Bible.

In fact, in many churches, such books do replace the Bible. Rather than teach verse by verse though a book of the Bible, the leader of the women’s study teaches page by page through a book that is very appealing to the flesh and provides additional revelation to the Bible. When a discerning woman in the study goes to the pastor and expresses her concerns, she is often chided for being divisive, or her concerns are totally overlooked.

One of the problems is this: often the pastor’s wife is the leader of the women’s study. He may even recognize that his own wife is off track but doesn’t want to rock the boat. Or he may not realize what’s going on at all. Whatever the case, recognizing the danger of what is happening and taking action is not in his portfolio. Soon, the women have their husbands read the books they are reading and then they too become inoculated with unbiblical ideas. And many times, it’s actually the pastor who is reading the books and sharing their content with his congregation and his family. Before long, the church that was once right on is right off.

In the future I will give further examples of how emergent apostasy is spreading like wildfire around the world. The only way to slow this delusion down is to shine the light of God’s Word on Satan’s plan. However, therein lies the problem. Human pride will never be corrected by the truth unless leaders will humble themselves. Unfortunately, most who have chosen the path they are on have no intention to change. Even when they are chided with love, they hurl back nasty names rather than repent.