Is there nothing too heretical for the purpose driven church?

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Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. -- Matthew 23:15 (ESV)

There is this terrific line from the original Jurassic Park movie when Jeff Goldblum's character says, "you were so busy asking if you could, you never bothered to ask if you should." With each passing stage of crazy, the purpose driven church movement seems to embody this disconnect. It directly ties into the key verse taken from the seven woes Jesus pronounced over the false teachers of His day. We should never take these lightly beloved as the term "woe" means judgment. Jesus is passing judgment upon the Pharisees when He pronounces these over them. This particular judgment is quite prescient of the times we are living in today and the false teachers of the church that have been wrongly trained in the purpose driven church model. You see, the Pharisees had zeal. They were motivated and probably convinced themselves that what they were doing was all for the Lord. They would travel across the land and sea to win a single convert but they never bothered to ask themselves if they should. If what they were converting them to was truly of God. Jesus makes a very bold statement here that misplaced zeal will only lead people to eternal damnation. Making people twice the son of hell. Why twice? Because there is nothing harder to convert than someone who has already been convinced they are converted. In Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life he offers up an absurd nine word sinner's prayer and then literally says in the book -- "if you said that prayer -- welcome to the family of God!" Joel Osteen routinely preaches for a half hour devoid of scripture and barely mentioning Jesus. No mention of the cross and the need to repent and then looks in the camera to lead people in an equally vacuous sinner's prayer. The same thing happens in churches across this country every single Sunday. Salvation has been dumbed down to the point that people are being told they are saved when they cannot be. We know they cannot be because the Bible tells us that only the true Gospel has the power of god unto the salvation of man.

One of the other facets of the purpose driven church model is to embrace the NAR obsession with blending the church with contemporary culture. The church seems absolutely giddy whenever the world stares in its direction. We saw this when they went head over heels for the heretical Bible Miniseries that refused to take any doctrinal stand on creation, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and even the exclusivity of Christ. They followed that up with embracing the AD Miniseries, which was worse. They even bought the church kits for teaching this series that was not true to Scripture at all. Zeal? Sure. Correct doctrine? Not so much. Churches across the nation also hold movie nights to show movies such as War Room, which is co-produced by heretic Beth Moore and plays with subtle yet dangerous theology. Now the latest heresy-fest is upon us in the movie The Shack. Let me say up front that I personally know people who were moved by The Shack. People who feel The Shack helped them in some way spiritually. It matters not beloved. What matters is that the book and movie pretend to be something they are not. The problem is that Christians flock to it and thus lend their credibility to it. Look, perhaps you can see the heresy and separate it out but the people who know you are a Christian may not be able to and who are you leading them to? Are you gathering or scattering?

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. -- Matthew 12: 30 (ESV)

So how bad is The Shack? Discernment ministers get accused all the time of making too big a deal of sound doctrine and certainly we do not wish to engage in spiritual hairsplitting. But it seems that the Seeker Friendly Industrial Complex employs the same zeal philosophy that the Pharisees did. Often we hear the refrain, "how far would you go for the cause of Christ?" Of course what they forget is once you compromise the Gospel it is no longer the cause of Christ. The purpose driven models of church growth are designed to grow the individual church into a thriving business but not to grow the kingdom. So there is this constant search for anything we can compromise to relate to the world. Several years ago when the book was released there was an analysis that identified the thirteen worst heresies found in the Shack. Think about these when you imagine your unsaved loved ones going to see this movie. Think about it in light of the Scripture that teaches us that people can believe in vain and place their faith in a false gospel and a false christ. These 13 areas of heresy are:

* God the Father was crucified with Jesus

* God is limited by His love and thus cannot practice justice

* Universalism -- The Shack teaches that everyone goes to heaven with or without repentance

* Hierarchical structures whether in church or government are evil

* God will never judge people for their sins

* The Godhead is not hierarchical; just a circle of unity

* God submits to human wishes and choices

* Justice will never take place because of love

* There is no such thing as hell or eternal judgment

* Jesus walks with all people in their different journeys; it doesn't matter how you get to Him

* Jesus is constantly being transformed along with us

* There is no need for faith or reconciliation because everyone goes to heaven

* The Bible is not true because it reduces God to paper

Now admittedly, there is a lot of bleed over in between these. The list can probably be streamlined down to 8-10 major heresies but how much is too much? Why in the world any Christian would pay a dime to see this and promote it is simply beyond me. When we eliminate the doctrine of hell and embrace universalism, then we negate the need for a Savior. Do we understand this today or not? Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior first or else He is most assuredly NOT my friend. But what do these heresies have in common? They are what is essentially being taught in seeker-friendly; purpose driven churches each and every week. Sure the preacher will probably not admit it but when you preach a false gospel that never discusses sin and the need to repent you are in fact reinforcing universalism. When you trump up emotional experiences over Scripture you have indeed reduced the Bible to mere paper. What did Andy Stanley do this past year that was any different? He referred to the Bible as just a collection of ancient writings. Absolute heresy! This is not the Gospel beloved. This is the plan of attack from Satan. Yet throughout churches each Sunday you are probably 100 times more likely to hear a sermon about the love of God then you are to hear about His judgment or His wrath. Joseph Prince once preached that the flood was not an act of wrath but rather love! Notice also the all paths lead to heaven, another common false teaching that is the foundation for the push for a one world religion. Jesus is constantly being transformed? No! He is the same yesterday, today and forever. This is just another attempt to bring God down to our level. This is the "I am a Friend of God Theology." A mega-church pastor preached a sermon last year entitled, "Jesus, Our Wingman." No, no, a thousand times no. He is not your wingman, buddy or pal. What He most certainly will be is your judge and we all better hope that He is our Lord on that day.

Well preacher, aren't you making too big a deal of this? I do not think so beloved. This movie is still a month away from opening and they have already prepared the church kits! Outreach Ministries Inc., which is one of the top resources for churches, has developed an entire curriculum for churches to teach and preach the heresies of The Shack! This church kit, which retails for a mere $59.95 includes clips from the movie to show in your sanctuary, customizable sermons so you do not need to seek the Holy Spirit, study and leaders guides, a campaign planning guide because this is a five-week campaign and not a one-time event, PowerPoint templates, web and social media graphics, and sample invitation tools. Sure sounds like they are taking it seriously! For another $22.95 your church can also order the small group study kit and study guide. Just consider this rousing endorsement:

"Perhaps the most profound description of who God is, how He works, and what faith and life is about, ever put into a film. Deeply moving and inspiring." -- Joel Houston -- Hillsong United

Just in case there was any doubt remaining that Hillsong is not a cesspool of false teaching and utter heresy. What was so inspiring Joel? The elimination of hell or the belief that no one needs to repent? In case you think this is contained to just Outreach Inc.; guess again. It was recently announced that CRU (formerly Campus Crusades for Christ) will be providing free tickets to Christian college students for this movie and encouraging them to bring unsaved friends. They even provided nine discussion questions for their victims, I mean students:

* What is the main emotion you felt after watching?

* What surprised you the most?

* What scene in The Shack had the most impact on you and why?

* Is there a loss or hurt in your life that has left you in pain?

* How did this pain or event affect your attitude towards God? In what ways has this drawn you closer to God or had you question His love for you or His presence in your life?

* In what ways do you need to forgive yourself and others?

* Did the message of The Shack change your perspective on events in your life?

* Who would you bring to The Shack and why?

* After seeing the Shack do you have a new perspective on God even when He may seem invisible? Did seeing the Shack build your faith?

Riveting. Did you catch what was missing though? Jesus. His Gospel. What emotions did you feel? Is this a group therapy session? Notice though what changes your perspective on the hurts in your life. Is it Jesus and His love, grace and mercy? Nope. It is The Shack. That's right; The Shack is now your Messiah delivering you from those painful moments that hold all of us back. Herein lies some of the disconnect beloved. The Shack is being presented as something that can help with the worst and darkest moments we have faced in our lives. A noble sounding purpose but entirely carnal and entirely of this earth. Jesus came for so much more than that. Just like His disciples wanted to be delivered from Rome, many of us want to be delivered from what happened to us when we were 8 years old, or fifteen, or the mistakes in our twenties. These are all directly related of course to the one thing no one wants to talk about anymore, sin. Jesus came to deliver us from sin. Once we are saved and thus are in the process of being sanctified we have a different view of not only the sins committed against us but those we have committed as well. So not only do we receive His grace for eternal life and His forgiveness for all we have done but we now are thus more able to forgive those who have hurt us in our past as well. With Jesus and the Gospel you get it all! With The Shack, you only get the carnal side of it. You never get to YOUR sins and what you need forgiveness for. Dear Lord, that something as trivial and heretical as this movie and book would change our perspective on life, is frightening! Once again, think of your unsaved loved ones seeing this and being asked these vacuous, silly questions. Think about them visiting your church and watching clips from this movie instead of actually hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ which we know is the only thing that can save them! Are we serious? Perhaps this quote from Outreach Inc. defines the utter cluelessness involved with this venture:

"Our decision to create resources for churches to use alongside The Shack movie, just like all decisions we make, was filtered through this desire to see an ever increasing number of people place their faith and trust in Jesus as Lord." -- Outreach Inc.

And the 60 bucks don't hurt either. Once again however we see a misplaced zeal that would make the Pharisees proud. So busy asking if they could that they never bother asking if they should. This "all for Jesus" is actually just an excuse. It is the same excuse pastors use all the time when they know they are compromising the Gospel in order to draw people into their churches and fill their pews. Easter egg hunts and trunk or treats? Doing it all for Jesus! Removing all crosses from the sanctuary as to not offend the "unchurched" -- hey doing it all for Jesus! Unsaved musicians, smoke machines, disco lighting and hollow meaningless sermons about significance in this life? Just doing it all for Jesus. Except they are not doing it all for Jesus. Without the uncompromised Gospel it is a false jesus that they are selling. Crossing the land and the sea to make a single convert but only to make him twice the son of hell that you are.

The Shack is a dangerous book that presents a false god. I have heard two specious arguments in its defense. The first is this doing it all for Jesus argument. That the Shack is designed to start the conversation. We heard this same lame argument for watching the Bible and AD miniseries'. What a horrible way to start a conversation. Do you often start a conversation with a lie? Do you want to start a conversation about God with your unsaved family members and pretend their sin does not matter? That God is not coming to judge? Of course God is love but the ultimate symbol of love is the cross. The second argument is that the movie is somehow "better" than the book. That the more egregious heresies did not make it to the screen version. To which I respond -- who cares? First of all if you lead people to the movie you are also leading them to the book. Secondly, does it matter to you if the rat poison you are eating is 10% poison or 15%? Of course not because it is going to kill you either way.

Perhaps the strongest argument against needing The Shack is the Gospel. Throughout history only one thing has saved the people of this earth for eternal life and that is the Gospel. It is the exact same message that saved the sixth century serf and the 15^th century philosopher. It is the same that saved the factory worker in 1892 and the computer technician in 2004. It transcends time and culture. It has no limits and no boundaries. It does not need to be made more sugary. It does not need to be made more relevant. It does not need a church kit, PowerPoint slides, or discussion questions. It does not need to ask how you feel. Just preach it pastor! You do not need to face your giants. You do not need to go into the war room. You do not need to visit The Shack. God has given you all you need. It is called the Gospel. He promises if you preach it, His Spirit will draw people to the cross. Maybe not a mega-church amounts of people because the path that leads to destruction is broad for a reason. But at least you will not need a microwaved cheap knock off of salvation to sell to goats you know full well are not really converted. Get out of the Shack beloved and get back to the Gospel.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- February 15, 2017

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.