Morning Coffee with Gomarus

Ron Foster, a former member and leader in the emergent Mosaic church where Erwin McManus is “distinguished futurist and cultural architect,” gives a scathing review of McManus sermon entitled “Is God in Your Future?” at Christian Worldview Network.

Ron begins:

“I recently had a chance to hear Erwin McManus’s sermon entitled “Is God in Your Future?” While not every reader has had the opportunity to hear the sermon, I still think you will benefit from reading this critique due to the dangerous nature of Erwin’s message. The thesis of his message is that we can be creators of our own glorious future with God. We need to escape from all these fatalistic or legalistic religions where we blindly believe everything is controlled and determined ahead of time by God. We need to free ourselves from the rules that are restraining our creative energy. Then we can rise up in freedom and create the future we have always dreamed of. God Himself has got our backs in this whole liberating and revolutionary process, giving us power and esteem to do all this.”

Ron concludes his review with this:

“Erwin is a talented and passionate communicator. His messages are inspiring and enthusiastic, and they always call the listener to action. But Erwin’s message is unbiblical. Alistair Begg said in a recent Podcast:

There’s a way to preach the Bible unbiblically…You can use the Bible as the springboard for all kinds of ideas, can’t you? Look around in here and find something that fits your fancy and then launch a rocket off it. People say, ‘That was amazing, wasn’t it? Remarkable what he got out of that.’ Well of course it is because he put it in before he got it out.” [13]

This quote couldn’t be more apropos. First, Erwin announced to his congregation, “You can create a glorious future for yourself with the help of God.” But in order to defend his man-centered proposition, he had to demolish its chief opponent, Reformed theology, a.k.a. Calvinism. Calvinism is a threat to Erwin’s teachings because it acknowledges God’s sovereign place at the center of all things and emphasizes scriptural authority over experiential authority. He first attacked Calvinism with a sucker punch, pointing out some historical and contemporary bad examples, ones who called themselves Calvinists but abuse the doctrines of grace. Second, he equated Calvinism and the biblical doctrine of election with Israel when they were disobedient to God’s commands. And finally, he conducted this domino activity that was very moving but falls flat on its face when examined more closely. In it, he puts forth his view that election is random and unfair, and that anyone who believes it should seriously reconsider, or at least redefine it for themselves to be more inclusive and man-centered.

I strongly submit that Erwin McManus’s interpretation of scripture must not be embraced as truth. This sermon, “Is God in Your Future?” is not a biblical sermon. Rather, it is a bitter taste of Erwin’s own personal crusade against biblical theology and the sovereignty of God.”

It is worth reading the whole review.