Try and imagine this: John Jay, the first Supreme Court Chief Justice, is walking up Broadway a block from Columbus Circle and finds himself in front of the newly renovated headquarters for the American Bible Society, the same 190-year-old organization he was elected president of in 1821.

On the front window pane of the sophisticated-looking modern structure is a large color poster of the back of a woman wearing a tight-fitting red velvet camisole with bra straps. She has a tattoo stretching the length between her shoulders that reads “Hot & Sexy” and sports darting red flames. Tied around her neck backwards so its pendant drapes down over the tattoo is an expensive-looking gold Cross necklace studded with diamonds.

Signage next to the woman’s image informs that she is part of a collection of photographs currently on display inside the Bible Society’s Museum of Biblical Art. The exhibit, running from June 15 to August 20, is said to be provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and is aimed at depicting “instances of religious affiliation on view in the workplace; pious sentiments of public display; testaments of faith worn by believers; and shrine in homes and yards.”

By simply checking your purse at the front desk, you can gain a free museum admission to see the other works by photographer Larry Racioppo, who, according to a big sign at the front of the exhibit, “has elegantly and artfully photographed Christian imagery” in New York City that has struck him as “he has marveled at the genuine and pious devotion” behind it.

Printed on the front cover of a free glossy brochure given out, labeled “Family Guide to the Exhibition,” is a color photograph of a house in Brooklyn (18^th between 5^th and 6^th ) completely tricked out in Halloween decorations of ghosts, goblins, Frankenstein, a witch, etc. In the middle of all of it is a shrine for the Virgin Mary that has white fabric cobwebs encircling a large framed painting of the Madonna. A stuffed ghost made from a white bed sheet hangs directly above her head.

Another photograph shows a guy with a sharp-pointed black goatee holding open his Army camouflage jacket to reveal a T-shirt emblazoned with a familiar Catholic Jesus icon and the words, “Jesus is my Homeboy.”

Numerous photographs of street graffiti include a large cement wall mural with the words, “Bad Boys Go to Heaven Too,” and another building mural with an image of two baby angels in a sexual embrace, kissing, and the words, “in memory of Keith D. Rock Dezo shorty Gary Tadow PoPo Baby Homicide.”

Yet another photograph shows the front cab of a semi-truck that has an air-brushed painting of a frock-wearing monk who is holding up his gloved left hand that has a blood-dripping wound in the middle.

To think that the mission statement for the Bible Society, whose previous officers have also included John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes and Benjamin Harrison, reads, “To make the Bible available to every person in a language and format each can understand and afford, so that all people may experience its life-changing message.”

A history timeline on the Bible Society’s website informs, “Another distinguished American, Francis Scott Key, author of the poem ‘The Star Spangled Banner,’ was associated with the American Bible Society from 1818 until his death in 1843. . . Abraham Lincoln was a staunch supporter.”

Just think of any of these revered men from our country’s formidable biblical past unsuspectingly passing by the Bible Society window on a Sunday afternoon stroll to Central Park and catching glimpse of the “Hot & Sexy” woman in her velvet bra.

The other week I came across a news story on a Christian website about how the Bible Society is now showing signs of embracing what’s being called the “Emerging Church Movement.”

ECM is aimed at amalgamating all Bible-oriented denominations, cults, movements, doctrinal systems, etc., to fit a “Christian worldview” that will be perfectly suited to seamlessly meld into the Antichrist’s upcoming “One World Religion.”

In last month’s issue of the “Prophetic Observer,” a newsletter produced by Southwest Radio Church (Bethany, Okla.), author Jerry Guiltner writes this in his cover story, “Is the Emerging Church Submerging the True Church?”:

“As we look at what is happening in churches today, it seems there are several movements that may well merge and become the apostate church of the tribulation. Those that potentially could come together and be led by the false prophet are the church growth movement, the Catholic Church, and a new rising star in the church change culture. It is the ‘emerging church movement.’ ”

A background definition of ECM on wikipedia.org explains, “Modern Protestant theologians have sought to examine the individual narratives of the Bible and from them extract a set of underlying truths or ‘meta-narratives.’ By using methods borrowed from scientific reductionism, it was hoped that a grand truth or worldview would be obtained. In practice, however, the modernist approach led to additional schism within the Church (cf. liberal Christianity, Christian fundamentalism). “Postmodern church expression, on the other hand, encourages followers to deconstruct each element of their faith experience and reassemble the pieces according to his or her own unique journey of deconstruction.”

Among the elements wikipedia says are emphasized in these “Emerging Church groups”:

* Highly creative approaches to worship and spiritual reflection. This can involve everything from the use of contemporary music and films to liturgy, as well as more ancient customs, with a goal of making the church more attractive to the unchurched.

* A flexible approach to theology wherein individual differences in belief and morality are accepted within reason.

* A holistic view of the role of the church in society. This can mean anything from greater emphasis on fellowship in the structure of the group to a higher degree of emphasis on social action, community building, or Christian outreach.

* A desire to re-analyze the Bible within varying concepts with the goal of revealing a multiplicity of valid perspectives rather than a single valid interpretation.

ECM, which according to its own website (emergingchurch.org) has particular appeal to those born between 1981 and 2000, has many heavy-hitter proponents in the evangelical world, including mega-pastor Rick Warren, author of the mega-bestseller, “The Purpose-Driven Life.”

Warren uses his website, Pastors.com, to tout Brian McLaren, influential pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church near Washington, D.C., as “a key figure in the ‘emerging church.’ ”

Specifically, he writes, “Interdependence, though imbedded in nature, is foreign to the Western individualism. . . That’s why McLaren’s ‘new kind of Christian’ often uses words like ‘journey’ and ‘conversation’ to describe Christian life beyond the postmodern divide. Conversation implies Christians can learn a lot by interacting with—and listening to—the world, especially non-Christians. ‘Their questions are an essential facet of our discipleship,’ McLaren says. ‘They change us.’ ”

McLaren, whose book, “A Generous Orthodoxy,” has been called the “manifesto of the ECM,” has another popular semi-fictional novel, “A New Kind of Christian,” in which he writes in its introduction, “I realize, as I read and reread the Bible, that many passages don’t fit any of the theological systems I have inherited or adapted. Sure, they can be squeezed in, but after a while my theology looks like a high school class trip’s luggage—shoestrings hanging out here, zippers splitting apart there. . .I meet people along the way who model for me, each in a different way, what a new kind of Christian might look like. They differ in many ways, but they generally agree that the old show is over, the modern jig is up, and it’s time for something radically new. . . if we have a new world, we will need a new church. We won’t need a new religion per se, but a new framework for our theology. Not a new Spirit, but a new spirituality.”

According to Guiltner’s article, McLaren “refuses to answer the question as to whether there will be anyone in hell. He refers to these questions—evangelical hang-ups for the doctrinally moribund—as ‘weapons of mass destruction.’ ”

In another quote documented by Guiltner, McLaren says “. . . the traditional view of hell makes God look like a torturer. My purpose is to get conversation going about the old view and problems with it so that we can together move forward in reconsidering, and maybe there is a better understanding of what Jesus meant and what the scriptures mean when they’ve talked about issues like judgment, justice, hell. . .”

Reaffirming this same mentality, satanic comrade Warren writes on his website, “The whole reformation starts with a new look at the worldwide Church, a global community of millions of local churches around the world. That means God is going to use ordinary people like us to change the world. I’m convinced of it, and I’m going to give the rest of my life to seeing it happen.”

Get ready, is all I can think. The times they are a-changin!