There are many things a person could imagine when they hear the words “Christianity” and “church.” At times I even hesitate calling myself a Christian because of the various ways Christianity has been defined, as well as because of the many public scandals that have been connected to ministers in the church.
Nevertheless, I still consider it the greatest privilege in the world to be considered a Christ-follower who also happens to be the overseeing bishop of a local church and network of churches.
At the same time, it must also be made clear that not all who call themselves Christians will enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 7:21-23) and not every church is of God (for example, in Revelation 2:9 Jesus calls one segment in the church of Smyrna a “synagogue of Satan”). If you happen to be attending a church that fits the description in this article of a counterfeit church, run from it as fast as you can!
The following are some signs a church is a counterfeit and not biblical:
The church doesn’t honor the scriptures above all else for faith, practice and doctrine
Unfortunately most Protestant denominations have rejected the high view of scripture as espoused in 2 Timothy 3:16 where it says “all scripture is inspired of God.” Instead, these denominations take the position that the Bible was primarily culturally inspired and, thus, only some of the words of scripture remain true for us to follow in today’s world regarding faith and practice.
These folk teach the Bible has nothing whatsoever to say about true science. For them, Adam and Eve, Noah’s ark, and every miracle in the Bible are merely metaphors that teach a moral story; for them, these supernatural events didn’t really take place, not even the resurrection of Christ!
One translation that used liberal scholars (the Revised Standard Version) even says in 2 Timothy 3:16 that “all scripture that is inspired of God is profitable” which leaves open the strong possibility that some passages in the Bible are of God and some are the result of human convention. Thus the Bible is “demythologized” and stripped of all supernatural elements, collapsing it down to only good literature with some divine sparks strewn within.
Some Evangelical liberals may still believe in the biblical miracles but reject much of the relevancy of scripture because they believe it was God’s word for another culture and another time. They believe the Bible must be reinterpreted today to accommodate the contemporary context regarding homosexuality, male headship in the home, modern understandings of family, and evolution and science. These liberal believers who take away the relevancy of the word of God violate the principle found in Revelation 22:19 because they are taking away from the integrity and power of the Bible.
The church doesn’t honor Jesus as God the Son who rose from the dead
On Easter Sunday 2011 I was listening to a sermon while driving to church. The preacher said during his message that he is a fully committed Christian even though he doesn’t believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
Why that man is even in ministry is a mystery to me because, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:14, “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.” The whole point of the resurrection is that Jesus rose Himself (John 2:19-21) which demonstrates that as God the Son He is both Lord and God. (Colossians 2:12 and Romans 10:9 teach that God raised Jesus from the dead; John 2:19-21 teaches that Jesus raised Himself from the dead).
According to John 5:23 we ought to honor the Son even as we honor the Father. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Mormons, and the Church of Christ Scientist teach that Jesus is only a created being and is not equal with God. This violates what John the Apostle said about Jesus in John 1:1 and 5:18. Churches that espouse doctrines that make Jesus less than God are synagogues of Satan and not worthy to be called Christian churches.
The church allows for same-sex marriages and espouses gay theology
The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America now ordains practicing homosexuals as bishops. This is as bad as ordaining a practicing adulterer or fornicator because, biblically speaking, the church should only recognize legitimate sexual relations in marriage between one man and one woman as per Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 19:4-6. The sexually immoral (all sex outside of biblical marriage between one man and one woman) and adulterers God will judge according to Leviticus 18:22, 29 and Hebrews 13:4. Thus, any church that legitimizes gay marriage, or sex outside the bounds of biblical marriage, is no longer a true church. They may be nice people who do good works for their communities but they have no biblical right to be called Christian.
According to 1 Corinthians 5:11 Christians shouldn’t even associate with those who call themselves Christians yet live sexually immoral lives. How much more should we stay away from churches that legitimize these errant behaviors in the name of Christ!
The church’s ecumenism is so extreme they preach of many ways into the kingdom of heaven besides Christianity
These churches have a Universalist bent, preaching that all good people will go to heaven and that there are many ways to God. They believe that as long as you pray to a god, whether it be Muslim, Buddhist, etc., you will be saved if you sought this god sincerely and did good works for fellow humans.
This violates the clear teaching of Jesus in John 14:6 that there is only one way to get to the Father and that is through Jesus. The apostles preached the same thing in Acts 4:12. They said Jesus is the only name under heaven by which we can be saved. In 1 Timothy 2:15 Paul taught there is only one God and one mediator between God and man: the man Jesus Christ. This has been the historic position of the church for two millennia. Those who preach that the road is broad and all sincere religious people will be able to enter heaven violate the Old Testament teachings that we should not have any gods before the one true God (Exodus 20:3, the first of the Ten Commandments); that God doesn’t share His glory with any other (Isaiah 42:8); and that He ended His revelation concerning Himself when He spoke in finality through His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2).
This means that the Book of Mormon, The Quran, and any other book that came after the New Testament apostolic writings are not of God and not to be viewed as divine scripture. Those leaders and churches who add to the word of God with new heretical revelations that deviate from this divine canonical fount will eventually be cursed (Revelation 22:18 and Proverbs 30:6).
The leaders of the church use Christianity as a platform to promote liberal social activism and Marxist ideology
There are some so-called activist churches in which you will rarely if ever hear the gospel message of salvation preached, but will only hear left-wing political rants having to do with equality, social justice, and politics.
While I respect the right of all leaders to preach politics from the pulpit, the main call of the church is to make disciples of Christ by establishing people in the faith and maturing them so they can become Christ-like (Romans 8:29-30).
When I was helping to lead the fight against same-sex marriage recently in New York State, the New York Times wanted to hear me preach before the vote by the New York State Senate (which eventually legalized same-sex marriage). But they weren’t interested in coming when I told them I was not devoting a whole sermon to the issue but would only speak on the topic for about 10 minutes urging people to attend our pro-traditional marriage rally. I told the Times that our pulpit is used primarily to preach the gospel, not to deal with social and political issues; I do that primarily when I am out of the Sunday pulpit.
There are many important social and political issues we are constantly grappling with. If we are not careful, our pulpits will only be sounding boards to promote our own political and social agendas and we will lose hungry people who attend church to be grounded in the scriptures (which, if preached properly, will result in biblical positions regarding the sanctity of life and biblical marriage anyway).
I have especially noticed that many liberal churches that espouse liberation theology use Christianity to promote class warfare and push for the Marxist view of social justice, which involves the redistribution of wealth and egalitarianism (for example, the primary message of Occupy Wall Street).
The church worships God as Mother and Father, and refers to God as She and He
I have been in some settings in which hymns referred to God as “Mother” and referred to God as both “She” and “He.” This is not taught in scripture. I am neither a sexist nor a misogynist, but the Bible refers to God as “Father” and not as “Mother.” This is good enough for me to use as my model and frame of reference when I pray. (Read how Jesus prayed in John 17 and how He taught us to pray in Luke 11:2-4).
Any church that calls God “Mom” shows its deviation from scripture due to cultural pressure, which most likely means they cave in to culture regarding other major social issues having to do with sexual identity, the lordship of Christ, salvation through Christ alone, and even the inspiration of scripture (which they are compromising in regards to how they address God). A church like this is either already a counterfeit or on the road to becoming one.
In summary, we need to have great discernment which comes from consistent study of the Bible; the study of church history and important creeds, confessions and councils; and fellowship with peers who form a hermeneutical community that gives us accountability regarding doctrine, faith and practice. These will give church leaders biblical boundaries which enable us to remain the authentic Body of Christ, resulting in protecting us from devolving into the “synagogue of Satan.”
No comments:
Post a Comment