False Teachers and Prophets, Part 8
Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective
In part seven of this series, we highlighted the error of anti-trinitarianism; those who do not believe that God is 3 in 1, equal in Personhood though separate beings. We pointed out that the “Oneness” doctrine believes that there is one God, who appears in different modes (also known as modalism); God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, but never do these Persons exist at the same time.
In this article, let’s look at a couple op areas that crept into the church or Christendom; the issue of abortion and the watering down of the Gospel.
In Genesis 9, God told Noah that anyone who sheds the blood of another (to death), his own blood would be spilled (to death) because ultimately, striking another person in murder is tantamount to striking out at God since human beings were created in His image, unlike the animals or plants or even spiritual beings. Human beings are the only ones created in the image of God. While this does NOT mean we are “gods,” it DOES mean that we are higher than the animals, the plants and all spiritual beings (angels).
A friend of mine sent me a link to an article posted on the Christian Post’s website titled, “We are pro-life evangelicals for Biden.” Clearly, there is a problem immediately if these folks are in fact, 1) pro-life and 2) evangelicals.
Signers include Richard Foster, Billy Graham’s granddaughter, Ronald J. Sider, president emeritus of Evangelicals for Social Action, Richard J. Mouw, former president of Fuller Theological Seminary, and many others who assert that while they disagree with Joe Biden’s philosophy regarding abortion, they state “that a biblically shaped commitment to the sanctity of human life compels us to a consistent ethic of life that affirms the sanctity of human life from beginning to end.” This is a smoke screen that they believe allows them to vote for Biden, while still trying to maintain their “sanctity of life” position. That type of “reasoning” doesn’t wash.
The article goes onto explain how these “evangelicals” ultimately arrive to the point where they can support a candidate for this nation’s highest office while that same candidate goes against the very fabric of being pro-life. Like many in that camp, it’s all hocus pocus, reimagining the meaning of words in order to justify a position that is dangerously opposed to the truth of God’s Word.
In the case of these “pro-life evangelicals” who have come out against Donald J. Trump and for Joe Biden, it really doesn’t matter what they say because it’s all noise. It’s all in an effort to make their untenable positions against Trump tenable. Trump is anti-abortion. Biden is pro-abortion.
While the Left states that there are many aspects of being “pro-life” they believe government has failed at, these reasons have nothing to do with Donald J. Trump. They have to do with two things; 1) the bureaucracy of most governments, and 2) the views of these “evangelicals” that lean heavily toward socialism. Joe Biden has proved himself to be a moderate to extreme Leftist. His running mate Harris, is even more left-leaning. These people want socialism that ultimately leads to communism.
Not only is this the antithesis of the United States Constitution, but to push for socialistic policies is actually advocating sedition/treason against the Constitution, especially since they took an oath of office to support that Constitution. True support of the Constitution would have nothing to do with socialism, yet more and more people are running for office (or are already IN office) who want more than anything to pull the US down. They have lied by taking their oath. They are lying now because they oppose the Constitution.
If you had a pastor who promised to uphold your church’s statement of beliefs, but then began to move the church away from those particular views and beliefs, members would have something to say about it and in most cases, the church membership might even call an emergency meeting to vote to remove that particular pastor. This same thing is done in the political realm through recalls and voting.
People who call themselves pro-life and evangelical but are willing to vote for a candidate who is pro-abortion are deliberately ignorant of God’s Word. They are actively working against the truth of Scripture that has been clearly revealed by God. They try to twist God’s Word any way they want to justify their position. In the end, they fail miserably and critical thinking people see them for who they are and learn to avoid them.
Shifting slightly from the political arena to the religious one, do we have Christian leaders who are advocating positions that go against God and His Word? We already know that we do as we’ve pointed out in this series.
Much of it stems from a desire to please people; to receive accolades from the public. This happens most when certain ministries become so huge that the money flows in. To continue the stream of income, it becomes important to not offend people because offended people stop giving their money and take it somewhere else.
Ultimately this is seen in how these Christian leaders handle God’s Word. Too often, they end up watering down the Gospel, which they believe makes things much more palatable for the average person. These Christian leaders hold things back by sugar-coating words so that more people hear the message.
Left on its downward spiral, eventually what is preached is a paucity of truth, more resembling great speeches given by coaches to their teams at halftime. That’s great if it’s a sporting event but when it comes to the life and death decision of what to do with Jesus, far more is needed. Too many though are willing to reduce the Gospel to some form of simplistic rhetoric that has no real power to change anyone.
Unfortunately, Greg Laurie seems to be one of these leaders. He’s been touted as the next “Billy Graham,” but in reality, Bill Graham patterned much of his approach to presenting the Gospel using methods created by Charles Finney. Jesus never did that. In fact, time and time again, Jesus told people what they could not really comprehend and did not necessarily want to hear. Re-read the third chapter of the Gospel of John and pay careful attention to the discussion that Jesus has with Nicodemus. It must have been a bit brutal for Nicodemus to hear what Jesus was saying and it is also clear that he was unable to process some of what he heard. Nonetheless, Jesus did not soft-soap it. He didn’t try to dumb or water it down to please Nicodemus who may have had itching ears. Jesus presented the Gospel in its truth and in its entirety and let the chips fall where they fell.
Phil Johnson (associated with MacArthur’s “Grace to You”) says this about Greg Laurie: “Greg Laurie’s current associations are representative of his theological drift, and that his “doctrinal boundaries are so hazy that there’s hardly any variety of popular religion or spiritual chicanery that he won’t align himself with, as long as it calls itself ‘Christian,’ and gains a large following.” [1]
Proof of Laurie’s moving away from solid biblical truth is the fact that he was involved in The Gathering (2016), which was essentially an interfaith assembly designed to unite all believers regardless of denominational affiliation. The problem though is that there are many denominations I’ll have nothing to do with because of the lack of unity on some of the more basic truths of Christianity. We must choose wisely and we can only do so when we know and understand God’s Word.
The Gathering is filled with many popular names that are accepted in mainstream evangelical circles. Most of these compromised celebrities will speak a little bit of truth mixed with error. They are the bridge between true Christianity and blatantly false Christianity. They are the seducers, who deceive even the elect if that were possible (Matthew 24:24). They are the ones that many sincere but undiscerning followers of Christ will be drawn away by because their books and materials are promoted in their churches.
Many popular names like former Southern Baptist President, Ronnie Floyd, Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of Billy Graham, former ERLC president, Richard Land, the wildly popular Benham Brothers, NAR Apostle Samuel Rodriguez, Word of Faith pastor of Gateway Church, Robert Morris, and other compromisers such as Jack Graham, James Robison, Kay Arthur and Priscilla Shirer….and Greg Laurie. [2]
Of those named above, I honestly cannot fellowship with any of them. While that may sound arrogant, I assure you it is not because Christians are called to be separate from the world and when Christian leaders are acting like those in the world and doing everything they can to court the world, it is our obligation to separate ourselves from them. This is not to be done in hate (of the person), but in total disagreement over the doctrinal positions that many of these people take.
So why does someone like Greg Laurie associate with people who hold to doctrines that are unbiblical?
There are two possibilities here. Either Greg Laurie is so undiscerning that he has no idea that this event is filled with false teachers, Gospel-compromisers, and self-promoting charlatans or he is well aware of their works and sees nothing wrong with them. [3]
In this day and age, it is of the utmost importance that Christians understand what they believe and why. It is also equally important to distance ourselves from people who teach things that are opposed to the plain meaning of Scripture. It seems that way too many leaders within Christendom are doing all they can not to expose error, but to hide their own error by making people think they are gracious in their teaching to attract people to them.
We have an obligation and it is to avoid error and mark those (to avoid), who teach it. If the Bible is not routinely and daily studied, we will never get to this point.
[1] https://pulpitandpen.org/2016/09/01/greg-lauries-continuing-slide-into-apostasy/
[2] Ibid
{3] Ibid
Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective
Source: https://studygrowknowblog.com/2020/12/10/false-teachers-and-prophets-part-8/
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