Men's Roundup and Donald Miller

I just finished reading Donald Miller's book "Blue Like Jazz" in order to know and understand the man D.M., at least know and understand in part. Mr. Miller is to be the key note speaker at CBNW (Christian Brotherhood North West) Men's Roundup this September at Camp Tadmor, just outside of Lebanon Oregon. Traditionally Men's Roundup has been a conservative baptist gathering. In the past they have had speakers such as John MaCarthur, Dr. Earl Radmacher, Bill Glass, Dr. Howard Hendricks, Charles Swindoll and many more. The overriding themes of the events in the past have been centrally focused on the word of God, with the intent of training men up in the way they should go in order that God might be glorified. This years event is going to be a considerable deviation from the theme and purpose of Men's Roundups of the past, that is if the "Reverend"(not) Donald Miller is representative of his book Blue Like Jazz. This particular post on my blog is produced with the intent that those who are attending this years Men's Roundup might be informed with regards to the teaching and character that is represented in Mr. Miller's writing. To be fair, B.L.J. is the only book that I have read of Mr. Miller's up to this point, I have researched and read other of his books only in part.
I am going to be relatively brief in my commentary with Regards to Mr. Miller's book and I am going to use few if any quotations from his book in hopes that you will go out and purchase or borrow a copy of his book to read on your own. If you are going to Men's Roundup this fall or would just like to know exactly who it is that you are going to see and accept teaching from I would strongly recommend that you read some of Mr. Miller's books. If you are concerned about lining the pockets of Mr. Miller then I suggest that, if you can not borrow the book from someone, you go to your local used book store and pick up a inexpensive copy. Please read and discern on your own in order that you might have your skills sharpened in recognizing deceptive teaching and you will have the information first hand.
After having read "Blue Like Jazz" I had rather mixed emotions towards the book, that of pleasure in the sincerity of the author and yet sorrow in the fact that what this brother in Christ has written is simply a radical deviation from the truth of God's word. In one word Mr. Miller's book is syncretistic;

Syncretism:
from Wikipedia; Syncretism consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contradictory beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term may refer to attempts to merge and analogize several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, and thus assert an underlying unity.

From Chapter 1, pg. 1 B.L.J.

'I once listened to a Indian on television say that God was in the wind and water, and I wondered at how beautiful that was because it meant you could swim in Him or have Him brush your face in a breeze.'

from Wikipedia; Pantheism (Greek: πάν ( 'pan' ) = all and θεός ( 'theos' ) = God) literally means "God is All" and "All is God". It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent abstract God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. More detailed definitions tend to emphasize the idea that natural law, existence, and the universe (the sum total of all that is, was, and shall be) is represented or personified in the theological principle of an abstract 'god'.

While it is true that God does appear to man in a number of forms in the Bible,

Moses and the burning bush Ex. 3,

In his all consuming glory Ex. 33:22,

To Elisha out of the breeze came a small still voice 1 Kings 19:11-13,

And God's exact representation of His nature Immanuel, God with us Christ Heb. 1:1-4

God is not these things, He is a being, three in one, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.
Chapter 1 Page 1 referring to belief of pantheism is the leading paragraph in the book and it truly sets the tone and theme for the entire book. Mr. Miller basically is saying that God is in everything. He is not saying God is present or that He is all seeing but that He is in everything. There is a difference between the books underlying theme that communicates this worldly philosophy and the theme that the Word of God communicates, the theme of a omnipresent God, God all knowing and God all seeing.

Along with the pantheistic nature of Mr. Millers writings the most disturbing element of all is his avoidance of the word of God at almost every point. The few times I saw any reference to scripture was misquotation and eisegesis. It is almost as if Mr. Miller has a phobia towards the word, at least in the accurate exposition of it. I find it a common practice of many false teachers that in order to produce a point they resort to eisegesis, they pull scripture completely out of context or they search paraphrases or watered down versions in order to find scripture that matches up with what they say. Mr. Miller is not exempt from this practice and the few times he does refer to the word it is with this practice!

Chptr 17, pg 201 B.L.J.

'I read a book a long time ago about Mother Teresa. Somebody in the book asked her how she loved so many people? She said "she loved people because they are Jesus, each one of them is Jesus (pantheism)," and this is true because it says so in the Bible.'

Now Mr. Miller never bothers to give any reference to where it says this in the Bible and so I am not certain as to the quotations origin, but if I were to guess I would say it comes from Mt. 25: 40 where it speaks of the saints feeding, clothing and comforting the least of his brethren, now of course it could have come from the beatitudes as well or some other passage that does not immediately come to mind, but Mt. 25 is still my best guess.
The problem is that Christ is not speaking of the poor in general, as in the unsaved poor. Simply put the unsaved are not his brethren, poor, rich or otherwise they are simply the unsaved. Now this is not saying that we should not send aid, comfort or care to the unsaved, rather I am trying to put on display Mr. Miller's methods of teaching.
The point that I am trying to get to is that it is common in B.L.J. for Mr. Miller to avoid any bible at all, when he does quote the Bible his quotations are off the cuff, with no reference or substantiation, kind of ambiguous. Perhaps that is why emergent guru Brian McLaren digs on B.L.J. so much. Brian McLaren is of the mind that ambiguity is good and that the Word of God is ambiguous, it seems that Mr. Miller holds to this belief as well.
Along with the teaching of pantheism, and the seemingly intentional avoidance of scripture, there are other things, a fascination with the profane in people and life in general, pure and simple hedonism and the glorification of a liberal life style. When I say liberal I do not mean in the political sense of the word, what I mean is the justification of living sinfully at the expense of grace.
Also, Mr. Miller seems to have a disrespect, if not a hatred, of the body of Christ as a whole. It seems that he finds opportunity to criticize it at every point that he possibly can. He often compares the actions and attitudes of the unsaved to the actions and attitudes of members of the body of Christ. Perhaps it is out of pure ignorance that he does this, as do many of those who claim to be Christians. What he does not take into account is that those that are of the true body of Christ are not defined by the religious organization or physical body that they belong to. Christ has chosen to come into the heart of the true believer and reside within them. These are the true body, the invisible church, the true church. Only those in whom Christ has chosen to reside, and Christ himself, know who the true church is. In other words it is a heart issue not a public issue, you can not identify the true Christian by the building he or she worships in. This being said, without this knowledge of the true invisible church of God, Mr. Miller slanders the church out of ignorance, I give him the benefit of the doubt here in hopes that the slander is without intent.

In conclusion, what can be said? I do not make this statement lightly, but in end times the Bible says that there will be those that are false teachers that will enter into the church. Mr. Miller, while confessing Christ as his savior, maligns the body of Christ and adheres to worldly philosophy and syncretism as methods to convey his personal and experiential view of what a Christian should be, keeping in mind that, in the mind of the emergent teacher, what a Christian should be is rather ambiguous. So, even Mr. Miller can not define the word Christian, he can only relate to you the story of his experience!
In his writings Mr. Miller does not attempt to be apologetic in his method, he does not hold to the word of God and many times he contradicts or simply twists it to fit his own system of beliefs in order to get his points across. All that he writes about is his own subjective experience, subjective to his opinions and feelings. He does not subject or filter his beliefs through the word of God. While it is true that the things he communicates and relates sounds good, it is always tempered with the fact that it is apart from the word of God, and in this fact I would have to communicate a strong warning of caution, do not get sucked into this, filter what you hear through the word of God. Study and show that you are approved by God, able to handle the word of truth, to cut it straight, be able to discern what is light and darkness, truth and lie. In short, this year at men's roundup you will not hear the word of God, you will hear the word of Donald Miller!;

In the following passages emphasis mine in the highlighted portions of scripture!

2 Tim 4:1-4

I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

The New King James Version. 1982 (2 Ti 4:1-4). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

You need to heed this stearn warning;

Col. 2:8-10

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Col 2:8-10). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

1 Tim 4:1-10;

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 10 For to this end we toil and strive,2 because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (1 Ti 4:1-10). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

I will let you be the one that determines of what spirit that Donald Miller teaches, but I would make you a few challenges;

1. Find out what the teaching is that you will be receiving at Men's Roundup this year. If you feel so lead, question the leadership of men's roundup as to why such extreme deviation from the pure expositional teaching of the word of God. Do not sell yourself short in this area. We as men of God should crave the word of God, it is what empowers and gives us strength. Donald Miller does not present or represent the word of God. Through the word of God our faith will grow. So, let us avoid fables and wives tails, let the only story that you follow be that of the pure un adulterated word. TELL THE LEADERSHIP AT MEN'S ROUNDUP YOU WANT THE PURE UNADULTERATED WORD OF GOD!!!;

2 Peter 1:16-2:3

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory,  “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

False Prophets and Teachers
2 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (2 Pe 1:16-2:3). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

2. Go out and get a copy of B.L.J. or perhaps one of Donald Miller's other writings and learn for yourself by what spirit he teaches;

1 John 4:1-6

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (1 Jn 4:1-6). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

As I have stated before, I would hope that if you have read this blog that you would go out and test Mr. Miller's works for yourself and find out if what I say is accurate, in other words do not be lazy and just take my word for it, test it yourself.

God Bless and God Speed

Robert
Romans 12:1,2