Richard Rohr: A Different Jesus and a Different Gospel 🚩 (updated repost)

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meridith black

on

April 28, 2023

“He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” Titus 1:9

5 minutes of Richard Rohr, discussing his book, “Universal Christ.”

“The whole Enneagram diagram is called ‘the face of God.’ If you could look out at reality with nine pairs of eyes and honor all of them, you would look at reality through the eyes of God.” 🚩
Richard Rohr, “The Enneagram (part 1)” May 26, 2014; Rohr’s Daily Meditations

Ladies, if you know of someone who is immersed in the Enneagram, there is a strong possibility that he or she has heard of Richard Rohr. Rohr is a popular Enneagram proponent, whose viewpoints regarding both Jesus and the biblical Gospel raise blatant red flags! 🚩 This post is not about Mr. Rohr, but instead brings to light some serious claims he has made…which need to be examined. (Acts 17:11; 1 Jn 4:1)

A self-professed Panentheist, Richard Rohr advocates the following unbiblical viewpoints regarding Jesus and the Biblical Gospel…

Rohr claims that Jesus and the Christ are two different/separate beings.🚩

Scripture says 🔍Acts 17:2-3; John 20:28; Acts 2:36; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 2 John 1:7.
Rohr teaches that Jesus did not exist before the virgin birth.🚩

Scripture says🔍John 1; John 8:59-59; Jude 1:5.
Rohr advocates that You and I are Christ. Rohr reports that we are actually the Christ. He teaches that sin blinds us to this purposed reality, and that we just need to be conscious of this. Per New Age beliefs, this is dependent upon a works-based path of spiritual maturity; The concepts being taught by Richard Rohr mimic Brahman more than Christianity.🚩

Scripture says 🔍Matthew 24; Isaiah 45:5; Romans 8; Eph 2.
Rohr denies the necessity of Jesus’s atonement for sin. Rohr instead blames sin for what results when we are “unconscious.”🚩

Scripture says 🔍Romans 3:23, 5:8; Acts 4:12; 1 Cor 15.
Rohr declares that God doesn’t have a name.🚩

Scripture says🔍 Exodus 3:14, 6:3.
Rohr claims the Christian perspective of God is “pagan.” He accuses Christians of making God into a Zeus-like character…all the while “forcing Jesus up on the throne.” (Source)

Scripture says 🔍Isaiah 44:9–10; John 1:14; Hebrews 1:1–2
Rohr instructs that the “True Self” is the Divine Self or the part of us that has NEVER been separated from God. This lends itself to what the New Age calls Christ Consciousness. Richard Rohr uses the phrases, “The Cosmic Christ” or “The Universal Christ” instead.🚩

Scripture says 🔍Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:1; Isaiah 59:2.
Rohr refers to the Trinity as a verb…not a noun. In other words, the Holy Spirit is the concept of consciousness and love lived out in relationships…this happens only in community (here).

Scripture says 🔍2 Corinthians 13:14; Matthew 28:19; John 10:30
Rohr claims that physical world is also the body of Christ. He asserts that he is not pantheistic, but prefers Panentheism.🚩

Scripture says 🔍Nehemiah 9:6; Gen. 1:1-30; Colossians 2:8-10
Rohr referred to God a “he, she, or it” in this interview.

Scripture says 🔍 John 10:30; Matthew 6:9-13
“Salvation is a social notion” not for the individual alone. (Source) This is affirms by his other statements that “the Trinity is a verb.”
Love is viewed as consciousness, and sin is described as “unconsciousness.”

The claims above are not only contrary to the biblical Gospel but also present a false view of Jesus’s identity. Jesus was not a created being, born with the purpose of showing us the way to enlightenment. Jesus is the 2nd Person of the Trinity. The Son of God! He is Lord! This is extremely important to understand! To say otherwise is heartbreaking, not to mention incredibly dangerous!

60 minutes…Rohr’s own words

During a 2017 interview conducted by Progressive Pastor Brandon Robertson, Friar Rohr proclaims his view that Jesus is a product of creation. Here is a direct quote:

“We can’t deny that God has already revealed in Franciscan spirituality the first Incarnation is creation…the Big Bang. In fact, that’s the feminine Incarnation…the embodiment. The second Incarnation is two thousand years ago, but all got interested in was the second Incarnation: Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus. You know, I love Jesus, but you’ve got to realize – Jesus came out of creation.”
Richard Rohr, Interview with Brandon Robertson; 2017 (42:12-42:29)

Beginning around the 44:00 minute mark, Rohr literally jokes that “the sin that took place between Tigris and the Euphrates by one man and one woman [which] got God all upset,” is “not a believable enough storyline.” At the 45-minute point in the interview Rohr expands upon this theme of a “storyline” by saying that what the Christian church is not grabbing the “psyche,” and that if what we call Good News really is Good News, that “it’s got to grab the soul.”

Friar Rohr would rather focus upon temperaments, consciousness, and Gurdjieff’s Law of 3 (what began the Enneagram around 1900) rather than following or adhering to God’s Word. Friends, please watch this interview for yourselves and correct me if I am interpreting his message incorrectly. The predominant theme Rohr appears to be sharing in this interview is that the Bible isn’t pertinent unless it moves someone emotionally. And the way to be saved is by being in community, not by submitting our lives to risen Jesus.

What is especially heartbreaking about Mr. Rohr’s influence is that he often quotes scripture in one breath, all the while demeaning Christians for trusting in it (the Bible) in the next. Per Rohr’s statements from 41:00 to 55:00 minutes, when we live our lives according to the Scriptures, we become “heady” people without loving lives. Yes…when we act in our own strength, our actions can be harmful! But by no means do we blame the Bible for our not adhering to its teaching!

53 minutes with Richard Rohr and Brandon Roberston

According to former New Age teacher now Christian, Steven Bancarz, we also need to watch for Fallacies of Equivocation when reading Richard Rohr’s book, “The Universal Christ.” What is a Fallacy of Equivocation? According to Answers in Genesis, these deceptive practices involve shifting “from one meaning of a word to another within an argument.” For example, a Fallacy of Equivocation utilized by Rohr would be defining Christ as the physical light of the world (i.e. found in rocks, etc). This is also termed a “Bait and Switch tactic.” Twisting scripture as to advance a false gospel happens more often than we realize… Which is why we should always be testing what we hear and read alongside God’s Word. (1 John 4:2; 1 Cor 11)

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims *another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a *different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
2 Corinthians 11:3-4

To reiterate, this post is not about Richard Rohr as a person…but is instead highlighting his published viewpoints on the Christian Gospel. Viewpoints which need to be tested and challenged Biblically. It’s my prayer that these evidences would promote increased prayer for the Church, not to mention more interest in who might be disciplining many brothers and sisters in Christ. The Bible encourages us to test every spirit (1 John 4:1), cling to the True Gospel of Jesus (Galatians 1; Col 2:8), and to demolish every argument that sets itself against the knowledge of Christ (2 Cor 10:5). Friends, let’s pray for Richard Rohr as well as for our churches. Let’s keep digging into God’s Word and walking-out reliance upon Jesus in Gospel-focused community.

His,

Meridith