Hello Friends!
As a follow-up to our Daily Devotionals journey through
the epistles of Jude and the Apostle John, I assembled some additional thoughts
on the false teaching and apostasy that the Holy Spirit reveals throughout
these Divinely inspired books of God.
These important thoughts were derived from an article I originally
posted on my personal Encouraging Concepts blog (http://encouragingconcepts.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-deceived-church.html)
and thought I’d share them with you as they address many of the theological and
doctrinal issues we have discussed in past weeks...
The Deceived Church
We know from the Scriptures that Satan’s plan
is to deceive the whole world. His objective is to blind the minds of the unbelieving
and to recruit those who have
believed to become part of his agenda to set up an end-times delusion. This
is what I refer to as the co-opting of the Church…
Do you recall what Paul said would happen to
the early Christian church?
Take heed therefore unto
yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own
blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in
among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise,
speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them – Acts
20:28-30
A brief overview of church history reveals
Paul’s prophetic warning was fulfilled. He said it would happen and it
happened. Numerous church leaders emerged during the first to the third
centuries. The foundational principles of the Scriptures were ignored and many
followed the experiential teachings of men who claimed they had discovered new
and innovative methods to get in touch with God.
So, in other words, an emerging church growth
movement began to emerge or should we say diverge.
The reason for this is simple.
We know that God’s Word is light. When we
begin to replace the Word of God with enlightenment
by the words of man, we have a perfect formula for returning to darkness. The mystics (often referred to as the
“church fathers”) added ideas to Biblical Christianity that cannot be found
anywhere in the 66 books of the Bible text – a recipe for spiritual disaster!
Jude also warned about the coming apostasy in
the early church. He said certain men had crept in unawares because error was
not being corrected:
For
certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this
condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny
the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ – Jude
4
How tragic, then and now.
Now, let’s bring this scenario up to date in
our modern age. The latest wave of church growth methodology today is known as
the Emerging Church. By the way, many
of the ideas being promoted today originated when many present day church
leaders studied the methods that “emerged” in the first to third centuries after
Christ. These leaders say we need to reincorporate their ideas if we are going to have successful churches in this
Century.
But wait just a minute! If the “emerging
church” of the past was based on extra-biblical revelation and subjective
experiences that led to many false ideas and doctrines which state that Mary
was much more than what we read about her in the Bible, and that the presence
of Jesus can be conjured up from a wafer by a priest, shouldn’t we be somewhat
concerned? Do you recall that many of the reformers were tortured and killed
because they refused to accept these kinds of dangerous doctrines?
Rather than reviving the teachings of the
monks and early “church fathers,” I believe we as Bible-believing Christians
should pray that such pagan practices be exposed rather than embraced.
While proponents of the Emerging Church believe they are getting closer to God,
they are not paying attention to – or reading – the Word of God!
The last days will be characterized by
doctrines of demons who lead sincere Bible-believing Christians astray:
Now the
Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith,
giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons – 1
Timothy 4:1
The present day Emerging
Church/”Sinner-Sensitive” Movement has that very same potential.
The Emerging Church Movement presently
underway is riddled with teachings that contradict God’s Word. The supporters
of this movement may be sincere in their efforts to reinvent Christianity for the sake of reaching this generation by
making the “narrow way” a “wide way” as spoken of by Jesus Himself:
Enter
by the narrow gate; for wide is
the gate and broad is the way
that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and
there are few who find it – Matthew
7:13-14
But I believe it is time to cry out “apostasy” like Jeremiah did – whether or not it is popular… Time is
SHORT and many souls are in the balance!
While some of the teachings in the Emergent
Church Movement may seem rather harmless, a number of general trends reveal a
form of Christianity that is in defiance of the central message of the Old and
New Testament Scriptures. For example, Brian McLaren, a well known leader of
this movement, has gone on record saying that hell is not a place of judgment.
Instead, he believes that hell is nothing more than what Jesus “said” the Jews
would face after His departure from planet earth – His ascension to Heaven.
Needless to say, McLaren makes no effort to
hide the fact that he supports today’s “Palestine
Movement” in which stands against
Israel. The words of warning
from God Himself should immediately
come to our minds:
I will
bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you – Genesis 12:3
This unbiblical and anti-Semitic worldview is
becoming much more commonplace among “evangelical” churches these days and must
be exposed…
In closing:
We have been warned through the Word of God
not to engage in pagan practices – of any
kind…
Contemplative Prayer
This brief commentary does not allow the
space required to do this subject justice. However, if there was one item I
could warn you about and one item only, it would be the onslaught of a concept
known as contemplative prayer. This idea is promoted as a means to get
closer to God. Here is what Richard Foster – one of the leading proponents –
has to say about the practice of contemplative prayer:
“I also want
to give a word of precaution. In the silent contemplation of God we are
entering deeply into the spiritual realm, and there is such a thing as
supernatural guidance that is not divine guidance. While the Bible does not
give us a lot of information on the nature of the spiritual world, we do know…
there are various orders of spiritual beings, and some of them are definitely
not in cooperation with God and his way! …But for now I want to encourage you
to learn and practice prayers of protection… All dark and evil spirits must now
leave.” – Richard
Foster, Prayer: Finding the Heart’s
True Home (San Francisco, CA.: Harper, 1992, First Edition) p. 157
Are you shocked? If you are not, you
should be! It is a fact that Buddhists and Hindus practice this same
contemplative prayer methodology as a means of getting into an altered state of
consciousness – Transcendental Meditation
(TM). My question is simply this: Should Christians embrace the same methods
used by pagans to connect with God? The Bible is clear – No we should not! What
“god” will they get in touch with?
We must heed these words from the Prophet
Jeremiah to the people he was called to warn:
And the
Lord said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah
and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities
of their forefathers who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after
other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have
broken My covenant which I made with their fathers. Therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will
not be able to escape; and though they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them – Jeremiah 11:9-11
Do you see the desperate need for Jeremiah’s
message today? Being led away from God and His Word by seducing spirits and
doctrines of demons is a serious offense. It’s time to wake up Bible-believing
Christians – or suffer the dire consequences!
Closing Prayer: Lord
help us to lovingly reach out to the lost with the saving grace of Jesus
Christ, as we understand the times in which we are living today!
Praise the Lord!
May the Lord Jesus Christ continue to bless you with His perfect
love, mercy and grace!
Keep looking up and sharing the Gospel while
there is still time… Hallelujah and Maranatha – come quickly Lord Jesus!
Blessings!
Shane <><
