Many of us have probably heard someone said, "Christians are in the world but not of the world". This was quite true many years ago. But at the present end-time hour the Church is so much in the world it is no longer true to say that. In my opinion, it is more correct to say, "True Christians are in the Church but not of the Church"! If you are of a Local Church of any Christian denomination, chances are, you have inherited some of the New Age theology without actually knowing it. You have jumped in the bandwagon of unbiblical Christianity influenced by the prevailing New Age movemnet. The present New Age movement is at work in every area of our life - both in the secular world and in the religious world.
Contending for the Christian Faith
Jude wrote to Christians, "Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3, NKJV).
With respect to what Jude said, there are two desperate needs for the Church to fulfill if Christians are to contend earnestly for the faith:
1. The need to return to Biblical Christianity
There is a desperate need for the Church to return to Biblical Christianity. True Biblical Christianity is not a set of rules or a list of moral requirement that one must live up to in order to get to heaven. Unbiblical Christianity may be seen in the way we share the gospel to unbelievers. Many of us act like policemen when we "arrest" the attention of unbelievers to listen us in our evangelical effort. To attempt to force sinners under threat of hell to act like saints, when they really have neither the heart nor the power to do so, can only produce hypocrites. And that is the reason why there are many hypocrites in the Church. Only God can give a sinner a new heart; only the Holy Spirit can convict the world of of sin, and of righteiousness, and of judgment (John 16:8).
Biblical Christianity was never intended to be a follow-the-leader-blindly cult. It is the personal responsibility and privilege of each individual Christian to be immersed in the Word of God, to study it diligently, to meditate upon it, and to live by it. It was never God's intent that professional Pastors, professional Evangelists, professional theologians or professional Bible teachers would be the sole proprietors of Biblical truth. Professionalism was unheard of in the early Church. But that each Chrisitan would know for himself what he believes and why he believes it on the basis of his personal study of the Word of God.
There are many people who call Jesus their Savior but do not yet understand that He saves them not only from hell but also from self. Unfortunately, this biblical salvation seems to appeal to very few people who call themselves Christians, becaus of the New Age teaching of selfism - self-acceptance, self-esteem, self-image, self-talk, self-love and self-confidence.
Jesus said, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23, NKJV, emphasis added).
The phrase "deny himself" simply means say no to self. The cross is an instrument of death similar to an electric chair and therefore the phrase "take up his cross daily" means "go and die daily". In other words, we come to Jesus to die daily - with Him. That was why Paul said, "Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him" (Romans 6:8).
Paul also said, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal 2:20).
2. The need to allow Biblical Correction
Correction is one of the most conspicuously absent yet essential ingredients needed in the Church today. Pastors and leaders usually seek to avoid correction by hiding behind a misapplication of Christ's words, "Judge not, that you be not judged" (Matt. 7:1). This "do not judge" mentality is inherited from the deceptive New Age philosophy (Please refer to my earlier Posting "The Foundation of Biblical Christianty"). The fact is, we are to judge a person's fruit and doctrine (Matt. 7:15, 16; 1 Cor. 14:29; Rev. 2:2).
It seems there is an understanding between professional ministers to uphold unity at all cost. But they preach "unity" based not upon the truth of God's Word but upon the agreement not to disagree with one another. There is much talk of love, as though it somehow rules out correction. Yet the Bible teaches that love speaks the truth (Eph. 4:15). Real love corrects those who are loved:
"Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty" (Job 5:17).
"For whom the Lord loves He chastens" (Heb. 12:6).
Solomon said, "Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. Harsh discipline is for him who forsakes the way, and he who hates correction will die" (Prov. 9:8; 15:10).
Jesus Himself declared, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten" (Rev. 3:19).
From Genesis to Revelation, a major theme of the Bible is correction. This is because God loves us and desires to lead us from death and judgment into the eternal and abundant life available in Christ Jesus. Referring to the Old Testament narrative accounts of the history of Israel, Paul said, "They were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Cor. 10:11).
John the Baptist preached repentance and correction, and so did Christ. Much of what Jesus said was in the nature of reproof aimed directly at the religious leaders. He did not hesitate to call them "hypocrites" (Matt. 23). "whitewashed tombs" (Matt 23:27) and "blind leaders" (matt. 15:14). Jesus even called His own disciples "foolish ones and slow of heart" (Luke 24:25).
Much of the New Testament was written to correct error that had already crept into the Church in the first century. The epistles of Paul, Peter, James, John and Jude embody the major corrective doctrines of the Church, which of course are still valid today. Leaders in the early Church were expected to be involved in an ongoing corrective ministry. Unfortunately, many of today's most popular professional ministers seem astonishingly unwilling either to judge the teachings of other professional mininsters or to accpt any correction themselves.
Major deceptions in the Church of Jesus Christ
Let us consider some major deceptions in the Church of Jesus Christ:
1. Delusion of Positive approach
One of the most seductive and popular fads from the secular world ever to be dressed in Christian terminology and to be widely accepted in the Church as Bible truth is the belief that positive is necessaritly good and negative is conversely bad.
Paul's teaching has been used by many Christians to equate positive with true and to equate negative with untrue:
"Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things" (Phil. 4:8, emphasis added).
Somehow, "positive" is not only erroneously equated with true, but it is also seen as the equivalent of noble, just, pure, lovely, good report, virtue and praiseworthey. It is not difficulty to realize that rather that being noble it would in some cases be very un-noble or dishonest to be "positive". Moreover, we could hardly call a judge just who failed to convict and sentence a criminal because he desired to be "positive". Some people take a very "positive" view of free sex, but that can hardly be called pure. Nor could we say that anything else mentioned in the above verse is equivalent of "positive"!
To many deceived Christians what is meant by "positive" is simply favorable or pleasing, and whatever is unpleasant is called "negative". This relativistic and self-oriented attitude reflects today's secular mentality and is destructive of morals and spiritual values. What actually matter is not whether something is "positive" but whether something is true or false, biblical or not biblical. Applying such terms to biblical truth is an insult to God whose Word is filled with "negative" corrections and warnings of judgment.
In actual fact, Paul was encouraging the Christians in Philippi to occupy their thoughts with that which has value and virtue which will strengthen their moral character.
2. On a pedestal of infallibility
Some professional ministers have placed themselves on a pedestal of infallibility by confusing gullible Christians with their wrong interpretation of what the psalmist said:
"He (God) permitted no one to do them wrong; yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes, saying, 'Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm'"(Psalm 105:14, 15, NKJV).
To question anything these professional ministers say or do is considered to be "touching" the "anointed of the Lord" which was forbidden in the Old Testament.
In Old Testament Israel, the prophets priest, and kings were "anointed" to these offices by having poured upon them the special anointing oil, after which they were known as "the anointed of the Lord". All three of these functions and offices (prophet, priest and king) were to find their ultimate fulfillment in Christ - meaning "the Anointed One" in Greek.
In the New Testament, Christ's followers are identified with Him so closely that they, as members of His body, the Church, carry on in His name these three offices of prophet, priest, and king. Every Christian is an "anointed one" because Christ, the Anointed One, has come to live in us and we are one in Him, If these professional ministers are the anointed ones so are all Christians; if they are infallible so are all of us! Therefore it is not correct to say that we should not question the teaching of any professional teacher or pastor. Notice also that the word "touch" means "to slay or kill" the Lord's anointed king (1 Samuel 24:6; 1 Samuel 26:9).
3. The question of Biblical faith
The word "faith" by itself has little meaning becauce we have to appropriate our faith in something or someone. The Bible teaches that as Christians we must have "faith in God" and not in anything else. The Bible assures that we are "saved through faith (in God)" (Eph. 2:8) and that the just shall "live by faith (in God)" (Romans 1:17).
The writer of Hebrews reminds us that "without faith (in God) it is impossible to please Him (God)" (Hebrews 11:6).
Jesus said, "Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. (V. 24) Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them" (Mark 11:22 - 24, NKJV, emphasis added).
Notice that Jesus prefaced His statement with: "Have faith in God". It is very important because if you leave it out, your faith can move mountains just by believing what you are praying for will happen. In other words, faith becomes a power or a force which enables those who possess it to gain what they desire simply through a prayer of positive confession as in verse 24. If what we pray for comes to pass because we believe it would, then God in actual fact has played no real part in the answer to our prayer, but we have produced the result by the power of our own belief! The object of faith becomes faith istself and attention is devoted to getting faith in faith instead of having faith in God. The is the most common presumptuous error which is the very opposite of having faith in God.
Rather than being a power that we direct, faith is confidence in God and in what He will do. The key element of faith is, knowing the will of God.
4. The question of Power
Many Christians, including renowned Bible teachers, are confused regarding where power comes from - from God (Jesus) Himself or from His word?
The writer of Hebrews said, "... who (Jesus) being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ..." (Hebrews 1:3, NKJV, emphasis added).
Notice that God is holding all things "by the word of His power" and not "by the power of His word" as many Christians assumed. Many say there is power in speaking the words and they say that was how God spoke the words in each act of creation. For example, when God said, "Let there be light" and there was light (Gen. 1:3).
But many failed to understand that light was created not because words were spoken, but because it was God who spoke the words. Anyone, other than God, could repeat the same words any number of times and nothing would be created. The power is in God, not in words. By putting the emphasis upon words, it follows that man would be able to emulate God's mighty acts.
As long as we seek faith as a power that we can use to secure blessings for ourselves or other, we are denying the true faith that is in God.
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