Watcher’s Lamp has a very important post about the upcoming 2008 “Shift” conference at Willow Creek for young people. Bill Hybels is featuring apostate Brian McLaren as keynote speaker, a man who does not even believe in a literal hell nor the substitutionary atonement of Christ. Talk about causing little ones to stumble.
http://watcherslamp.blogspot.com/2007/10/willow-creeks-emergent-mystical-youth.html

Brian McLaren will indeed speak at Willow Creek on the 9th of April and at my son’s college (Point Loma Nazarene) on the 28th and 29th of March. He is making a very big impact on younger adults. Ask yourself this question? Is what he teaches a different gospel and is he a wolf in sheep’s clothing?

Pastor Mark Driscoll (of Mars Hill Church in Seattle) wrote about his former involvment in the Emergent Church movement of which Brian McLaren is prominent:
“In the mid-1990s I was part of what is now known as the Emerging Church and spent some time traveling the country to speak on the emerging church in the emerging culture on a team put together by Leadership Network called the Young Leader Network. But, I eventually had to distance myself from the Emergent stream of the network because friends like Brian McLaren and Doug Pagitt began pushing a theological agenda that greatly troubled me. Examples include referring to God as a chick, questioning God’s sovereignty over and knowledge of the future, denial of the substitutionary atonement at the cross, a low view of Scripture, and denial of hell which is one hell of a mistake.”

In ‘A Generous Orthodoxy’ (currently on sale in Parchments) McLaren writes:
“I must add, though, that I don’t believe making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion. It may be advisable in many (not all?) circumstances to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu, or Jewish contexts. (264)
On the same page, McLaren adds that he hopes “that Jesus will save Buddhism, Islam, and every religion, including the Christian religion” (264).

In an interview with Leif Hansen on the ‘Bleeding Purple Podcast’, Brian McLaren made this statement:
“[T]his is one of the huge problems with the traditional understanding of hell, because if the Cross is in line with Jesus’ teaching, then I won’t say the only and I certainly won’t say … or even the primary or a primary meaning of the Cross … is that the Kingdom of God doesn’t come like the kingdoms of this world by inflicting violence and coercing people. But that the kingdom of God comes thru suffering and willing voluntary sacrifice right? But in an ironic way the doctrine of hell basically says no, that’s not really true. At the end God gets his way thru coercion and violence and intimidation and uh domination just like every other kingdom does. The Cross isn’t the center then, the Cross is almost a distraction and false advertising for God.”

Does the term heretical come to mind? Jude 3

John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.