False Conversions, The Elephant in the Church

So the elephant still sits in the pews across this country. No one wants to talk about it. No one wants to realize the danger of it all. The seeker friendly, purpose driven model grows the church horizontally, not vertically. People ask me sometimes why my discernment ministry focuses so much on these poor theologies. The answer is false conversions. The reality is that I would guess 70% of churches today are implementing some version of Warren's teachings. We are raising up a generation of "pastor-ceo's" who are trained to use carnal metrics to try and measure spiritual success. Number of "salvations" is an actual reported statistic. A "salvation" is based upon someone coming up for altar call. That is why the sinner's prayer is dumbed down to a two sentence quickie. This is the single most important decision a person can ever make in this lifetime. More important than getting married, switching careers, or moving to another country. This is the single most profound event in someone's life. To truly realize your sinful state and the holiness of God. Yet we have managed to turn it into an assembly line and a ledger entry -- 10 salvations today -- whoo-hoo! Never mind that nine of them had no regeneration. Never mind that nine of them are still going to hell. You think nine is too many? How many is an acceptable number?

The purpose driven and seeker friendly models do not care because next week there are a new batch of people to call up for altar call. There are new "salvations" to count. Here is a Bible and some literature; quickly sign up for baptism class so we can get you into membership and you can discover your purpose! Don't believe me? Let's go back to the words of Warren himself:

Help them get connected in your church. Let them know about some of the significant assimilation ministries in your church -- your membership class, your small groups or your Celebrate Recovery ministry (which I hope you have!). You might do this on your website and simply share the link in your letter or you might have some of this basic info in your letter.

Assimilation ministries? You just can't make this stuff up. And for the defenders, please realize that this is not an attack upon the person of Rick Warren, or Osteen, or Prince -- just their teaching and they are just the obvious ones. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that in the Purpose Driven Life, Warren says that doctrinal views won't matter on Judgment Day. For someone whose doctrine is all muddied up with humanistic thinking and carnality, it is no surprise at all. Of course, God has a different view on the importance of doctrine:

Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. -- 1Timothy 4: 16 (NIV)

Only two things Paul warns Timothy to watch closely. His life and his doctrine. THAT is how important what we believe is. We are to persevere in our doctrine. Because if we believe on the wrong gospel, then we run the risk of being falsely converted. If we think God exists to provide us with earthly prosperity then we may have believed upon the wrong gospel. If we believe this is our best life now and that God wants to supernaturally bless everyone, then we may have believed on the wrong gospel. If we believe that it is more important for a church to be relevant to a dying culture, or provide significance instead of the Good News of Jesus Christ, then we may have believed on the wrong gospel. This is not a game beloved. Playing church may feel good now but when we stand before Christ"

Reverend Anthony Wade -- June 3, 2013

Next Page  1  |  2  |  3