Submergent Anabaptists
In a new Menno Weekly article called Author Connects Anabaptist and Emergent Movements, Brian McLaren says the following:
“There are increasing numbers of Muslim followers of Jesus and Hindu followers of Jesus, and they do not want to be identified with the Christian religion,” McLaren said.
The distinction is clear when he considers early Anabaptists.
“By refusing to be baptized as infants, they were, in a way, opting out of being affiliated with the Christian religion even if it meant they would be misunderstood and killed and persecuted,” McLaren said. “It was a sign of radical identification as followers of Jesus.”
What sort of twisted truth is this? A born again believer in Jesus that wants to remain Buddhist or Hindu? One might ask Mr. McLaren which Bible he is reading that backs up this theory. As far as the early Anabaptists were concerned, they wanted to be affiliated with true Christianity, thereby rejecting their affiliation with the false religion of Roman Catholicism.
The article also talks about a new Anabaptist movement called Submergent:
“A group of Anabaptists and Emergent leaders have formed a network called Submergent to share ideas. Congregations in several U.S. cities, as well as Perth, Australia, are calling themselves Submerged Communities.”
According to the Submergent website (http://www.submergent.org/), “the name “submergent” reflects the essence of two movements–one that is 500 years old and one that is only just emerging.”
Ancient and new? Would this have anything to do with ancient future heresies? If Brian McLaren and the emerging church have anything to do with this, it most likely does.
Brian McLaren’s “Everything Must Change Tour” will conclude his 11-city tour at Goshen College, May 9-10.
Dear Mennonites, please put your armour on and be on the look out for that which is ’submergent’ and ‘changing,’ and remember that the Bible says in Malachi 3 - “For I am the LORD, I change not”.
Recommended ROM reading:
Lessen focus on eternity, McLaren says at Willow Creek student ministries conference
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=27867&ref=BPNews-RSSFeed0418
