Emergents, some denominal churches, say that they want to get back to the early Church disciplines. However, they do not return to the Church in the Book of Acts, but the medieval Church of the Dark Ages, primarily from the Nicean Council forward (we will touch more on the origin of this later). The Emergent Church practices Eastern mysticism dressed up in Christendom, thus the name, “Eastern Christianity!”

First and foremost, there is an unusual value of darkness in the sanctuary. Conceptually, people who are of the Light sitting in the dark corporately to worship is wrong! Nothing is so disheartening than going from a bright, sun-shining morning to worship the Lord and walking into a pimped-out, dark sanctuary that feels more like a night club. Honestly, if we walked into someone’s home and they had all their windows blacked out, we would be concerned about their well-being.

Emergents put an emphasis on Spiritual Formation, which, traditionally, are the disciplines of fasting, prayer, study and deep contemplation of God’s Word. But Emergents have added stuff, such as:

• Visualization or guided imagery

• Medieval liturgical icons

• Medieval prayer stations (communion, water, rocks, incense, and candles)

• Labyrinth (walking a maze to the center and back out in meditative prayer)

• Often referring to the Holy Spirit as “Mother” or “Her” or the femininity of God 

Note: Remember the trinity of Nimrod and Semiramis describing their copycat version of the Holy Spirit as the deified illustrious and wise goddess, named Astarte?

And let’s not forget what Ms. Blavatsky quoted her demon buddy to say, “The Celestial Virgin which thus becomes the Mother of Gods and Devils at one and the same time; for she is the ever-loving beneficent Deity...but in antiquity and reality Lucifer or Luciferius is the name. Lucifer is divine and terrestrial Light, 'the Holy Ghost' and 'Satan' at one and the same time.”  

They have also introduced words such as creative worship – that doesn’t sound too bad, right? However, when the arts have been hijacked for the sake of art, departing from the original desire to glorify God, then artistic expression becomes a murk of lawless creativity, falling down, down, and down into the rabbit hole!

There is a Biblical principle not to craft the altar; it should be pristinely authentic without the graffiti of man imposed craft upon it. Furthermore, we are commanded not to make any graven imagery. The first of the Ten Commandments is to worship the Lord your God and no other gods. The second commandment is not to make any graven images. The second is not a repeat of the first, but a command not to craft, project or impose an image on God. When the Children of Israel made the golden calf, they said, “This is Elohim who brought us out of Egypt.” They knew very well that their man-made idol did not bring them out of Egypt, but they imposed an imagery of a golden calf on Elohim. 

In straightforward terms, God forbids this kind of pagan nonsense. Why? Doesn’t God enjoy our creative art forms on His refrigerator door? The reason why God instructed us in this way (in paraphrased terms) from Exodus 20:22-26 is, “Look fellas, I AM speaking directly to you from heaven, don’t bring any craft or imagery between you and Me - all that pagan mess you see all around you. Focus on Me, for I AM the One speaking to you from heaven!” We would do well not to be distracted or cause distraction in our worship of Him by other imagery!

See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from Him who warns us from heaven?   Heb 12:25