"Velvet Elvis" - Rob Bell

It's funny how the Church has always seemed to be waiting on "the next big thing" (as opposed to realizing the next big thing is.... oh... I don't know... Christ's eminent return?) As if we had no direction or mandate until we were seeker sensitive, "Purpose Driven", and now "Emerging" (oooooh!!!) Though this specific book has been around for a couple of years now, the author is being considered somewhat of our knight in shining armour, saving Christianity from itself I suppose. The Christian Culture tends to promote the idea of tolerating authors/ preachers/ evangelists error while embracing their truths (Seriously folks, is there any other explanation for Benny Hinn???) The same goes for popular new authors like Bell, Donald Miller and Brian McLaren to name just a few. When are we going to learn to appraise everything we are taught by holding it up to the light of God's final Word and to promptly dismiss false teachers?

The reviewer (from the link below) hits the nail square on the head with his assessment of today's typical Christian leadership (both Modern and Post-Modern)...."The driving question is “what will work?” rather than “what has God said?” Of course these pragmatic church leaders tend to pick things up at the ever more popular annual leadership confrences, and the spotlight moves from "He" to "We" and from "His" to "Our". Mankind and his efforts become deified and God becomes humanized in the modern and progressive chuches. See for yourself and read the symantics at the bottom of the opening page of Pastor Bell's Church's website Mar's Hill . This guy is not alone, all across America as I type church staffs busily huddle around either "works" or their cleverness (or the cleverness of the prototype church in the next state over) instead of a Bible. The popular cart before the horse observation amongst the Emergents is that Christians don't act like Jesus. We don't act like Jesus because we are'nt discipled and we don't "make Disciples".

Here is what I consider a balanced and rather thorough review of Rob Bell's popular book.