Division Making Reveals the Condition of Our Hearts - When Identifying Heretics Becomes Idolatry

    I am always curious as to what the condition of the church in America is today. How healthy is the church? An unhealthy church will result in an unhealthy society. Could we be in an unhealthy state in this country from the church being unhealthy? I think there are some connections.
   If I were an unbeliever or someone who hasn't yet put my trust in Jesus Christ as my Savior from sin, I would not be impressed with the group of people who call themselves 'Christians'. I have to say that the Biblical description of what a Christian is, and what I see in the modern day church are way different. You probably are wondering what I am talking about. Let me explain.
  When Jesus spent the last three years of His life on earth training men in discipleship, one of the main things He taught on was the fruit of what a Christian looks like. He taught us to love one another. He said that the mark of those who are true believers would be their love for one another. He explained that the greatest way a person can show love for another is by laying his or her life down for another. That involves dying to ourselves and making others successful in God. It involves ministering and serving each other. It involves living for others instead of ourselves. It takes the power of God living in us to help us overcome sin and selfishness. Our love for God is revealed in the way we love one another. We are to treat each other with dignity and respect, even when we disagree.
   I'm not saying we shouldn't stand up for the truth when the truth is in danger. We need to. But I think what is wrong is that we hold on to the truth in such a way that we end up hating each other and wounding our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let me further explain.
   When I was a young believer in Christ, I started to see some ugly things in the body of Christ. Media was limited to TV, mail, or the radio. Because I was searching for every tract company I could find, somehow I got on some mailing list of a newspaper looking mail that would come to me on a regular basis. It was written by Fundamental, Independent, Separated Baptists, and it was full of viciousness toward those who did not hold their views. If you were not in their group, and if your name was well known as a pastor or Bible teacher, you were considered by them as a false teacher. I didn't see any kind of ministry or edification for the body of Christ in this newspaper thing.
   Fast forward to the last five years or so. I thought by now the body of Christ had figured out that hating people and causing divisions was not the way to go, but I was wrong. I have been on Facebook for at least 5 years by now, and I still see this trend there today. Not only is there a large emphasis on false teachers but, depending upon who you are and what you believe is theologically correct, you will find all kinds of false teachers and prophets that are being identified every day by some theologically correct Christian out there. It's coming to the point where everybody and their brother is a heretic. Some of the declarations of these heretics that makes them a heretic in someone's opinion is simply a difference in the way they interpret the Bible. Another is the maturity level of someone. For example, if a professing Christian is popular and well known, and if they use bad language at times, there are considered a heretic. Of course, the person shouldn't use bad language, but that doesn't make someone a heretic. Another one I saw tonight was as I recommended a book written by David Wilkerson, someone commented saying he was a heretic. One of the reasons she gave was because he gave prophetical words that didn't come to pass. This person who made this accusation doesn't understand the nature of the gift of prophecy in the New Testament and how it is different than the way the prophets used prophecy in the Old Testament. So that makes David Wilkerson a heretic. Because he used a gift in faith and either it wasn't used properly or it wasn't interpreted properly by the onlookers. Either way, that doesn't make a person a heretic. A heretic is one who has denied the faith. Paul addressed this but didn't spend a whole lot of time on it like Christians do today.
   Here is what I think the problem is; I think we are basically, what Paul calls 'Carnal Christians'. We as a body of believers in Jesus Christ have somewhat of a good knowledge of the Scriptures, but we haven't died to ourselves yet. Many times we are playing God. We pass judgments on people that we have no right to do. Here is the crux of it all; We still love ourselves. We are full of pride. We love to hate. We love to slander. We love to rip people apart. Let's face it, we are not representing Christ. We are betraying Him with our hate for one another. We have well known Bible teachers who are eliminating large groups of Christians by calling them false converts, just because they don't believe in the doctrines they believe in. We have today Calvinists who hate Arminians. We have Fundamentalists who hate Charismatics. We have Pelagians who hate Reformed believers. The list goes on.
    I like what Paul Washer said one time. He made mention of some Pentecostals and referred to them as brothers, then made the assertion that yes, they are brothers. I have heard someone else say something like this recently as well about those who were in another denomination. We really can disagree on non-essentials. I can still love people who believe that we can lose our salvation, or those who believe and hold to infant baptism. I have seen wonderful believers who believe that the way of baptism is pedobaptism. I don't agree with the doctrine at all, but for me to spend time arguing with these people and calling them names is totally unproductive. Plus, God's word tells us not to do that.
   I am so tired of seeing name calling on the Internet. No wonder people are hostile to listening to our message. The Gospel message is hard enough to listen to, but if people have experienced the wrath of these Christians who are so hateful to those they disagree with, no wonder they are repulsed by the word 'Gospel'. No one is going to see God when we are backbiting and resort to name calling. There is a book available with a title that asks a good question. It's called, 'Why Do Christians Shoot Their Wounded?' That's a good question because we do it all the time. What is wrong with us? Where is God's love in this? What kind of a battle do we think we are fighting anyway?

   The weapons of our warfare are not carnal! They are spiritual. We are not going to win any wars by name calling or manipulation. The devil is laughing at us because we are using the weapons he is giving us. They tie in with the pride in our hearts. Pride goes before destruction and God will resist us when we are prideful. Listen to what the Bible says:
  "Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned." Titus 3: 1-10 ESV
   Do you see it? Salvation is so great. God is so powerful, merciful, and amazing. Why aren't we in awe of God, but rather in awe of the things that are wrong with others in the body of Christ? If we have truly experienced salvation, and we are ministering the Gospel to people, why is there so much hate for others in our hearts? And don't call it 'warning the flock' because that is not what it is. It is an excuse for reacting in the flesh, but doing it under the guise of 'serving God' and 'love'.
   I'm sorry if I come off irritated, but, in reality I am irritated. If I read another post on a Christian being called a heretic, I think I'm going to croak. Can't somebody stop this? The well known Bible teachers aren't much help either, for many of them seem to be leading the body of Christ into this. 
   Can we get back to the love of God for once? Can we stop picking on people who don't agree with us doctrinally? Can we carefully and skillfully expose those who really are false teachers and leave it be once that is done? Can we get back to the point where we can grow spiritually once again? Can the church ever be healthy again? Can we repent of our pride and superiority and our rejection of others? Can the church once again be the place of ministry that is was intended to be, or will it continue to be a place where it needs ministry?
      

False Teacher, False Prophets, and False Converts

  The reason I am writing this blog is because this issue has taken top priority in the church. The Bible tells us to expose the works of darkness, the schemes of the devil, and we have to do that, but we have to do that carefully, or we will be playing along with the devil's game.
   I have read so many Facebook posts on false teachers and false prophets. While I think we need to expose false teaching in the church, could it be that we have gone way overboard in our activity in trying to hunt down every false teacher that exists? Wouldn't it be better for us to teach truth and correct doctrine along with teaching others how to be discerning?
   Don't get me wrong, I believe in exposing things that are wrong, especially when they are in the church. I am especially concerned where there is false doctrine which seems to blend in with everything else we believe in, as taught at our churches (see my post beneath this one).
 I think that probably 75% of what I see on Facebook in my Christian circles has to do with exposing false teachers. Maybe more. I see people wanting to make blog pages on false teachers. I see groups with names like 'Heresy Hunter' or with descriptions like 'We shred wolves to pieces'.
   Do you think that God really wants us to go hunting for false teachers, and if so, should we shred them to pieces? Do we see Paul or Jesus doing this? Paul named those who were causing problems this way, but their names were only mentioned occasionally.
   Do you think it is ok to destroy someone if they really are a false teacher? Does this give us permission to hate someone and smear his or her name on the Internet? Could it be, that we really enjoy doing this because of indwelling sin in our own hearts? We are to be marked by the love of God, as well as love for the Truth.
 I have exposed a few false teachers and will continue to do so, as I think their teaching could harm the church. One of them is Rob Bell, and the other is Amy Grant. I will explain further what I mean.
   One day, I ran into 4 young adults who tried to convince me that evangelism was wrong. Two of them were professing Christians. They told me that when I give out a tract to someone, it means I put a check mark in the box. I guess the goal was supposed to be to get a lot of check marks? They recommended that I read a book written by Rob Bell, which led me on a search for Rob Bell and 'Velvet Elvis'. I was amazed that so many reasons they told me that evangelism was wrong, were in Rob's book. They got their information right out of 'Velvet Elvis'! Even the thing about giving out a tract and putting a check mark in the box was in the book, only instead of a check mark in the box, Rob Bell used the illustration of putting another notch in your belt. I studied more about Rob Bell and what he believed in (or didn't believe in) and found that he hates evangelism and claims that Jesus hates evangelism as well. I never saw anything about the Gospel or his relationship with the Lord in his writings or video. It doesn't appear that he understands the Gospel, and sadly, what he has seen done by 'evangelists' has a lot to be desired.
   Amy Grant is a different kind of false teacher, and I put her in this category because people, for whatever reason, look to her as a spiritual authority and a Godly influence.
  Amy started her career as a young woman around 18, I believe, and was recognized by a man who was in the Christian music industry. Her career blossomed overnight. She complained about a fear she had that she was gaining a reputation of being a 'female Billy Graham', so, she makes it clear that she can 'kiss, flirt, and date' guys. She also made mention of how people would ask her deep theological questions to which she had no idea what the answer was to the question.
  OK, we can give her some slack. She is young and has a lot of growing to do. But life continues for her, and so does her lack of Biblical principles when it comes to relationships with men and her concept of marriage. She was married to a man who professed to love God, and appeared to be a good husband and father to her children. But she wanted out of the marriage, as she was seeing another man. One of the quotes I found on marriage that she stated was one that said something along this line: 'God created marriage so that each person can enjoy their spouse to the fullest......If you are not happy in your marriage, I say, 'get out'. She believes the false doctrine that God wants us happy.
   Again, the reason this is so concerning is that people have a high regard for Amy Grant. She took a break from being in the lime-light for 10 years, and when she was coming back on the scene, the radio DJs were very excited to have her back. Again, I had the feeling that they were equating her talent with her commitment to God. Her teaching (through her valued quotes) is dangerous. If people adopt that kind of belief system, they will think it is ok to be immoral. Why, if I am not happy in my marriage, Amy Grant recommends to get out of it. Whether we want to accept this or not, there is some authority behind what she says, just because of her position.
   I will expose these kinds of teachings, but while I believe in exposing them, I am not going to hate Rob Bell or Amy Grant. I will not go around telling people about them except that their teaching is wrong and how it doesn't line up with what the Scriptures say. I'm not going to resort to name calling or ripping them up. I am also not going to say that they aren't saved, although I will say that I don't see any Christian fruit coming from their lives.
If we take these people and rip them up, aren't we doing what the devil wants us to do? It's one thing to explain to people what they are teaching as wrong, but it is another thing to put a high priority on destroying the person. We can destroy the doctrine, while not destroying the person. Plus, we enter into slander when we do that. I know Christians justify doing this because false teachers are a special case. Well, we don't find it in the Bible, and we shouldn't do it either.
   Yes, I know Jesus was blunt with the Scribes and Pharisees. He was able to see deep, deep into their hearts, and bring out what was in them. Jesus was trying to show people what His Father was like. The Scribes and Pharisees were getting in the way and were dishonoring His Father while trying to promote their own agenda. God was trying to reach us with His Gospel message and saving power, but the Pharisees interrupted that. But, some of the Pharisees did get it.
   We need to protect the church against false teachers. We need to use all means to do this with. But, when we resort to slander and name calling, hating, causing harm, etc., we need to be careful because we could easily overstep the boundary. Could it be Satan's ploy to get us to believe that false converts never get saved? Could it be a lie of the enemy that leads us to believe that false teachers will never come to Christ? The way we handle this issue could make the difference in eternity for some.

Infection In The Church?

  I am writing the blog today, because I have a strong concern for the church in America to become healthy once again, and I am seeing something go on that appears to be unnoticed by most of us, yet, it is there and if not dealt with, will cause the church to become weak and not develop properly.
  The Bible tells us to not be ignorant of the devil's tactics. First of all, we need to learn the truths in God's word for ourselves, then we can, more easily, separate the truths from the lies.
  I'm involved in large Christian circles made up of people all over the world. In my opinion, it seems like at least 75% of what I hear from other Christians as they communicate over the internet, is about false teachers. I am not going to go into too much detail here about this topic, but will cover it on another blog later. Christians seem to be onto this 'false teacher', 'false prophet', and 'false convert' hunt today. More and more names come up every day on this, indicating that so and so is a false teacher. So and so is a false prophet, etc. While we need to expose false teachings, and those who clearly teach false doctrine, this seems to have taken more priority than preaching the Gospel!
   I said all that simply to say that, while the church seems to notice who the false teachers are, there is a category that seems to have been totally overlooked.
  It is subtle. That person who made the post I am reading certainly can't be implying that we are saved by keeping the Commandments, could he? I can't tell you how many questionable posts and blogs I have seen lately, and I'm sure some of them are just miscommunication. But I have done research now and found that there is a sect in Christianity, that does teach that a person is saved by faith in Christ and by keeping the Commandments.
   You are probably thinking, as I was, that certainly isn't true. Nobody that I personally know, who knows the Lord believes that part of our salvation depends upon our keeping the Commandments. We have been well taught that we are saved by grace, through faith, nothing of ourselves because it is a gift of God. Everyone knows that, right? Wrong.
  You see, the Bible tells us we are saved by God's grace as provided in the Cross of Jesus Christ. Our good works do not atone for our sins. We also must repent in order to respond to God. We turn away from living for ourselves and our sinful desires, and trust in Jesus because of what He did on the Cross for us.
  Repentance involves turning away from our sins and turning toward God. The belief system that concerns me tells us that repentance means to 'stop sinning'.
  Also, this strange belief system being embraced by many believes that original sin is a lie. Original sin is the sin that is in all of our hearts because of Adam's fall. This belief system says that Adam was responsible for his sin, and his sin does not get passed onto his descendants. It also teaches that people are able to keep the Commandments. As one of them recently said, Jesus wouldn't give us a Commandment if we weren't able to keep it. "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
John 14:20-22 ESV 

  So far, I have found 4 different things they believe in that are contrary to Scripture. 1. Doctrine of Original Sin  2. Doctrine of man  3. Doctrine of Salvation 4. Doctrine of Sin (Definition of sin). 

   These people are the ones, for the most part, that are giving evangelism a bad name. They are the ones who are yelling at people to repent. They are the ones who come down hard on people. Also, they never, ever talk or tell people about God's love, only His judgment to come. Plus, when they tell people to 'repent' they explain that as 'stop sinning'.

   A couple of months ago, I was working on some blogs based on the concept, 'Jesus Friend of Sinners'. I studied this topic and wrote about it. But while on Facebook, I saw a post that had to do with the song from 'Casting Crowns' It was a video done by an open air preacher criticizing the song, and showing its errors. It was interesting to watch the video, for whenever this preacher was giving his critique, people in the audience were making nasty comments about Casting Crowns. 'I turn the radio off when they come on' says one man. These people really do believe that they are without sin. They remind me of the Pharisee in Luke 18 who was thankful to God because he wasn't like others. According to this teaching, Jesus was not a friend of sinners, but only to those who were His disciples.

   I think we need to be on the lookout for this kind of teaching. The main way we can guard ourselves from becoming deceived is by learning and knowing the truth. The truth is the only thing that can keep us from being deceived. 

   Good works and commandment keeping are the results of a work done in the heart by God. We don't do good works in order to receive God's favor, but if we don't understand the doctrine of Original Sin, or if we are ignorant of our indwelling sin, we will be deceived. We will have logs in our own eyes, and not be able to see our sins as they truly are. Neither will we be able to help other people come out of their sins and repent. We will be like the Rich Young Ruler who came to Jesus asking Him how one inherits the kingdom of God. Jesus told him that he knew the commandments, to which the Rich Young Ruler replied that he had kept them. Then Jesus said something startling. He told the Rich Young Ruler that he lacked one thing, and told him to sell everything he had so he could give his money to the poor. 

     The Rich Young Man went away very sad. He kept the commandments. Why would he be sad? Because he missed the Great commandment which says to 'love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength' and 'love your neighbor as yourself'. The Rich Young Ruler was challenged to love his neighbor, and wasn't ready to meet the demands of the challenge. So, what was the Rich Young Ruler Missing? It was a 4 letter word called, 'love'.

  

I didn't think it would matter if you knew or didn't know the name of this belief system, but in case you are curious or want to do your own research, the name of this belief system is:

Pelagian