I
am deeply disillusioned with the majority of the professing church (those who
call themselves Christians by name) of the West. Much of it relates to the
rampant and often uncontested heresy (a word I do not use loosely) that so
easily finds its way in through subtlety. Heresy is a rejection of the main historical
doctrines of the Bible in the Church; doctrines that if removed have a ripple
effect to diminish or make its very premise devoid. No heresy, then, can be
Christian, but becomes something else entirely. It can range as diversely as
removing the need of the atonement by removing sin, to worshipping an esoteric
"Christ consciousness" that resides within every person. Yet, these
errors are not difficult to discern if one only reads the Bible and allows that
book to interpret itself, rather than imposing our own ideas on the text. In
other words, while the Bible was written in particular cultures, its principles
and truth are entirely transcultural. Our cultural understanding of love, for
example, “an intense feeling of deep
affection”, is very different from God’s unconditional love which incorporates commitment,
judgement, suffering, and other elements that we may not immediately consider
to be loving acts. The Bible is a book that speaks for itself and interprets
itself. Superimpositions are, therefore, falsifiable and demonstrably so from
that book in a very plain way. That, however, hits at the root of the problem
in the West.
Biblical
literacy is at a ridiculously low level here. The church has largely become a
free for all where every religious system and personal inclination has found
its focal point emphasized rather than that of Christ, of whom resides the very
purpose of the church. Do you fancy homosexuality? Omit or eisegete the
passages that condemn it. Do you want an emotion driven spirituality that
capitalizes on mystical experiences? Don’t read your Bible. You won’t find
mysticism there. How about a God whose only aim is to please you? Same deal. As I have been studying different
religious systems and church trends, I have found many heart-wrenching errors. Some
of the heresies that I have personally encountered include: the Contemplative
Movement, Spiritual Formation Movement, the pagan cult of Romanism (Roman Catholicism),
Wide Ecumenism, the Emergent Church, Prosperity Gospel, Christian “Spirituality”
(New Age), New Monasticism, Monasticism, Asceticism, Social Gospel, Antinomianism,
the New Apostolic Reformation, Toronto Blessing, many offshoots of Azusa
Street, the gateway drug of Egalitarianism, Incarnational Ministry, Missional
Theology, Dominionism and its worldly kingdom-now theology, the Triune Dance
and its accompanying missiology, Gnosticism,
the Eucharistic Christ and the New Evangelization, Mary as Co-Redemptrix with Christ, Jesus Seminar, Process Theology, Existentialism, Universalism,
anti-intellectualism, Experientialism, "Christened" homosexuality,
syncretisms and over-"contextualized" indiginization, privatized
Christianity, mysticism, Open Theism, Red Letter Christians, and the list goes
on and on. The greatest source of my disillusionment comes from the fact that,
dare I say, most professing Christians in the West walk around like their heads
have been chopped off, as if our minds and biblical discernment are merely
tools of the enemy to cause “disunity” and discord. Yet the latter is not a
biblical idea at all, but one that, when held, indicates a lack of substance,
maturity, and quite demonstrably, truth.
Here
is a notion that is still a mystery to me: How can one who confesses to love
God hate truth? Can I love my wife if I care to know nothing about her? Would what
I love then be my wife or something else? It surely cannot be my wife but
either myself (hearing merely my preconceived notions echoed back at me or worse) or
some other illusory thing entirely. The same is true of God. Everyone,
therefore, who abhors truth and knowledge of God, as revealed in Scripture,
does, in fact, hate God, just as if I hated or ignored the truth of my wife.
These are not two way relationships but one way (with oneself). Commitment to
heresy can only be a result of hatred of the one true God, ignorance, or both. If
your beliefs were listed, which are you? Talk to me if you need help or just
have questions, for, as Jesus said, “there will be more joy in heaven over one
sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no
repentance” (Luke 15:6-8) God is the source of truth, and that truth is
contained in His Word. John 15:10 says, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall
abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in
his love.” “Walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his
commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and cleave unto him (Deuteronomy
13:4). Let His Word be your medium and your judge.
It
is not that my disillusionment is caused by disdain, but rather, an unrelenting
sense of desire to see spiritual renewal: a reinstatement of the Reformation,
if you will. What was the centrepiece of the Reformation? It was the Bible of
course! It was to create biblical literacy and to put Bibles into the hands of
common people. The irony of our current situation is that people have easy
access to Bibles, yet, at its core, the problem is the same. People are
searching inward for a hidden esoteric truth and superimposing their
experiences there over the truth of the Bible. The Bible is viewed often as a smorgasbord
for one to pick and choose what they want to believe. However, despite the
appearance of tolerance in many of the listed movements, there is often a
common disdain for biblical truth, as it exposes heresy for what it is. As
Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and
spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart.” It is with this standard that the falsity and trueness of
professing Christians will be judged.
As
Christians, while it may be necessary to jump ship at times to another church,
it is important to not neglect and leave those sinking ships to face their
otherwise impending oblivion. If we see something pulling the Church away from
reconciliation, then it is our responsibility to expose that error in truth and
love. If, however, that church persists in its heresy, and there is little or
no hope for the truth there, especially if one may lose one’s self in the
heresy, then it is likely advisable to move to a Christian church and to start
viewing the former as a mission field. Eternity is incomparable to the
temporal, and so are its consequences. Silence, therefore, in the face of
heresy is the most hateful thing one Christian can do to another person.
Peter,
the leader of the 12 disciples, echoes Jesus’ words about current and present corruption
in the Christian Church. They had very harsh words for those who promoted and
partook in heresies, some of which has been listed above. 2 Peter 2 is a loving
warning from a mature and knowledgeable man in the Scriptures who loves the church and the lost. In closing, notice the gravity of his words. They should prompt some
serious reflection.
2
Peter 2:
"False prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.
Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, 13 suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.
17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: 'The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.'"
