More on the Heretics
Or, False Teachers Part 2.
This week I have been thinking about doing a series called; Jesus is not Compatible.
However, we have a VERY busy time coming up at work and I may not get a lunch break so I do not know how much I will be able to write. So, I wanted to throw out a question to you all (you better respond, or else…)
Here is the background story.
On Twitter I asked the question, “why do I enjoy reading and debating heresy?” I really do. One reason is the way I have been personally burned by heretics in the past, and another is my love for apologetics. I don’t get into it like my friends, but I do enjoy thinking about and defending Christianity.
Truth be told, I enjoy talking theology.
Sometimes I may get over-zealous in my theological conversations. I get excited and want the conversations to end only when Jesus comes back (much to the dismay of my wife who ends up listening to our discussions several hours after they probably should have ended). Part of talking about this stuff is debating what is heresy and what is not.
Plus, there are so many good targets.
If you think about, Mormons are not the wackiest heresy out there. There are some cults that have lead to far worse (Heaven’s Gate, anyone?) and some that are so subtle they don’t make a lot of news (Bob Jones from Morning Star convincing women to stand naked before the Lord). And then there is my new favorite, even though it is actually old, called The Word of Faith movement which is lead by people like Joel Osteen and Crefflo Dollar, or was it dolla? Maybe it was Fiddy Cent. Whatever.
Anyway, back to my Twitter question.
A man who tweets under the name “Jeremyobryan” responded; “Does it yield any fruit?”
Dang Jeremy, good question.
So, answer for yourselves while I contemplate this in my head.
Does reading or debating heresy yield any fruit?
-Don-
Jesus Made Me a Nerd.
I don’t mean “Never Ending Radical Dude” either.
Guys and girls, I love books. I love studying. I love reading. TV pales in comparison to a good book. I read fiction, non-fiction, magazines, web-sites, book reviews and cereal boxes.
I was not always this way.
My sister was the reader growing up. She would read TONS of books. She would go to the library and take out (not an exaggeration) ten books at a time, read them over the month, and get ten more. I would get books too, with pictures.
I remember the first time I read an entire book on my own, cover to cover. It took my two weeks and it was for a school reading program. It torturous. I wasn’t the one who was tortured, it was my mom. I would come up to her and ask “what does this word mean?” “How do you pronounce this word?” and on and on.
In Jr. High I was forced to read books. In High School I had to read more books. I could not believe a teacher would expect me to read 25 pages a night!
After I graduated, I read maybe two books over two years, and they were both about Kung Fu.
I stopped reading. I wanted nothing to do with it. Not out of spite or anger, just out of ignorance. I then moved to the SW Ohio area a few days before I turned 20. I spent a lot of time doing illegal things with computers and very little time doing things with books. For heavy reading, I would often pick up a Guitar World and pick through that for a few days.
Then the bug bit me.
I went to a book store (I don’t know why) and started looking at books. I discovered Dean Koontz’s Strange Highways. Great book, dumb ending. Then I discovered James Paterson. And Tom Clancy (Clancy was boring in my opinion, but I could choke down a book or two) and many more. Reading was fun! I really liked it.
After a month of this, I came to know Jesus.
Most of the books I read seemed to be boring now. I sold a bunch of back to a local store (20 or 25 books netted me $8, woo-hoo!) I was reading the Bible and found narratives which blew away most of the books I had read. Then I was introduced to some good non-fiction books (How to Read The Bible for All its Worth, Every Young Man’s Battle, Wild at Heart) and realized I could read those too.
Then came the commentary.
I moved into an apartment with my friend Scott who introduced me to the Bible commentary. These neat little books often outline a book of the Bible and teach you some of the finer nuances of the language and culture and splash in some hermeneutics help.
I was on cloud nine.
I went back to school. The best part was they gave me books to read for every class (by gave, I mean I paid for them). I was now into doctrine, theology, surveys, criticisms, and so much more.
My biggest fear from graduating was not getting books to read on a regular basis.
Thankfully, for Christmas and my graduation I was given gift cards to many book stores so I could stock up. While I have only read only 7 books since Christmas, I am still way into it. I actually have one book on the way (its for a review, but I am still interested), one that I am almost finished with now (The Vision and The Vow by Peter Grieg) two Ravi books, and I am going to start reading Death by Love along with my sister and some other church leaders. Oh, and I have a work of fiction by Ted Decker I got a few months ago I am waiting to read soon.
I also have a Bible with built in commentary and articles.
I picked up the ESV Study Bible which has 2 million words in it giving commentary and theology. There is something about reading (especially when it deals with Christ, the Bible, and theology) that really excites me. I am thankful that Jesus created me with a love for books.
On that note, what are you reading right now?
Leave me a heads up in the comments.
-Don-
The Gospel of Southwest Ohio
We are a unique bunch. But is it a good unique?
I want to preface this article by saying that I in no way tend to tear down, rip, or trash the churches in Southwest Ohio. I actually came to know Christ in one, and I know their heart is good. But I think some things just need to be said. And most of it is about the Christians themselves. On an additional note, I am not discussing the theology of these churches at this time. Sort of.
Southwest Ohio has an interesting church culture. It may have similarities to your geographic location, but trust me, it is special. Let me walk you through the history of our current church culture and then explain to you some of the things I feel that need to change for the sake of the Gospel of Christ.
In the 80’s
There was a church plant beginning around 1983. This church would be launched by Steve Sjogren and grow to be over 6000 people thanks to kindness outreaches and servant evangelism. This church planted (or had a hand in planting) around 21-26 churches. (see vineyardcincinnati.com for more.) Much of what this church has done has shaped the culture of the local area in terms of both churches and the view of the Gospel.
Then came the 90’s
In 1995, the dream of Crossroads Community Church began. Currently they boast several thousand weekly (I could not find actual statistics, check out http://www.crossroads.net/ for more) and have had an expanding impact on the local culture. They have planted a satellite campus and made many aware of the social justice movement.
This is what we have.
I have attended both churches (although I have only been to Crossroads a handful of times) and I have seen both unique and similar things. For example, both offer free coffee, but Crossroads also has a soda machine. They both have excellent music programs, but Vineyard Community Church has a far greater emphasis on music.
And here come the clones.
Many churches want to be on of the two “big-daddy” churches in the area. Most of the churches focus on what the big guys have done, pick one piece out of it, and make it their vision. The odd part is, a lot of these churches are not even planted from either VCC or Crossroads. Allow me to illustrate. Here are the tag lines of many start-ups in our area:
- “A real church for real people” is used by at least five local churches planted after 2005, all of them mainline denominations. The term was used by Crossroads earlier on.
- “Small things done with great love will change the world” was used by the Vineyard and is now used by at least 15 churches started after 2002 in Cincinnati.
- “We serve great coffee” is used by over 25 churches in the Cincinnati area.
- “A place you can bring your friends” is common for churches in our area.
- “The movie theater church” is used by 11 churches after 2002.
Churches in our area struggle with identity. While attending college, there was a heavy emphasis on raising leaders for “contemporary” churches. Our professors often cited something one of the two churches listed above were doing to be contemporary.
Jesus should be the focus of your church.
Many churches want the best programming and the most creature comforts. Instead of being what God wants us to be, we have become what our professors and culture want us to be. We have decided to adopt a model of what appears to be working for others.
listen up church planters:
If you are faithful to what Christ has called your church to do and to be, He will build it for you. This will mean you are not going to be the most contemporary kid on the block. As a pastor, you will not be the next Dave Workman (or whoever you are trying to be). Your local church might end up serving the poorest of the poor, or the richest of the rich. Some churches might serve truck drivers while others serve bikers. One church might serve all of these people, while another serves everyone else.
Be prepared for the cultural shift, because it already happened.
We already have many churches attracting a culture of “real people who like coffee, music, small groups, and servant evangelism.” What I have learned over the last couple of months is not everyone is the same. If you ask your congregants what they are looking for in their local church, you will find a different answer (albeit some similarities) from every person.
Ask Jesus what He wants for His local church and you will get the right answer.
The right answer is not going to be the same for everybody. When I ask Christ about Gravity Church, He gives me an answer that involves living this crazy, sold out existence which makes no sense to the common intellect. He is calling us to a humble, gentle place from which to minister to those who do not know Him and call Him Lord. It is also from a passionate place seeking to confront hell strait on without blinking. He calls Gravity to be in love with Him and His Word. He calls us to not make excuses and to repent so we can live a full existence only He can provide. He calls us to drop our crosses and pick up His.
That is what He has called us to do.
It might not look like VCC, Crossroads, Lifepoint, Northstar, Four Corners, Bethany Baptist, or Compass Community Church. It won’t look like your house church, community group, or church plant.
But it’s not supposed to.
-Don-
Who Are Your False Teachers?
Last Sunday I talked about false teachers, who are yours?
First, you will need to identify them.
If false teachers wore a sign on their back, less people would follow them. Unfortunately, they often disguise themselves so people do not know they are false teachers. Others actually do not even know they are teaching false doctrine or theology. So, what signs can we look for? I will start my list with the obvious signs (this list is not comprehensive, feel free to add to it in the comments):
- They deny Jesus as Lord and refuse to worship Him.
- They refuse to teach Jesus as the only way to God.
- They do not hold Scripture in an authoritative position.
- They argue from culture or zeitgeist (the spirit of the age) as opposed to from Scripture and Truth. A good example of this is changing the gender of God and standing up for homosexual marriage and abortion as this is now part of the normative.
- They have a low view of prayer.
- They focus on blessings and ignore trials and sacrifice.
- They often want financial support and promise you a blessing for donations.
- They proof text Scripture using verses and passages out of context to support their views.
- They claim to be deity.
- They claim to be a direct “mouthpiece” of God and claim their prophecies and words are of the same authority or higher than scripture.
- They have a low view of doctrine despite verses like Titus 1:9, Titus 2:1, and 1 Timothy 1:3.
- They claim postmodern sayings as truth ie, “God is different for everybody” or, “there are many paths to God.”
- They use Old Testament sounding words and prophecies to attempt to prove a point that contradicts other scripture.
- They are involved heavily in politics.
- They are heavily into legalisms not even touched on in the Bible (ie, the manner of dress for Church, or the functions of communion as only being properly administered one particular way).
- They are subtly divisive. This means they try to cut people off from other parts of the Body of Christ by imposing their own rules. Some examples include trash talking all other churches non-stop, or making fun of the ecclesiological structures of Bible-believing, God fearing churches, and preaching in a superior manner (“our way is the only true or correct way.”)
- Their open handed doctrine is too open. For example, they are OK with certain sexual acts before marriage or permit illegal drug use. (note: this may seem obvious, but you would be surprised at how subtle this can be. I have been apart of churches who have leaders that allow these activities. And we wonder why people think Christians are hypocrites. –don )
- They only adhere to one or two authors outside of the Bible for teaching and learning. Or, they only rely on authors from within their own church/denomination/cult for teaching and learning.
- They lack humility or show false humility. This can manifest itself if the teacher refuses to take correction from godly, wise elders.
- They are the only leader in the church and have no authority over them.
The following list are more subtle signs you may not notice at first. I have found teachers who show these signs to be more effective at leading people down the wrong path:
Like I stated, these lists are far from comprehensive. Add your own identifiers to the comments and I will add them to these lists.
What do you do if you find out your teacher is wonky?
First and foremost, pray. Ask God for clarity, humility, courage, and help. Then approach them humbly and with the Scriptures they are violating. If the teacher hears you, repents, and there is a change in his heart, then rejoice. If not, try and bring two or three others into the conversation. If there is still no change in the leaders message, leave. Make sure other friends and godly people understand why you left and encourage them to do the same. You do not need to make a lot of noise in your departure, but you should try and “rescue” as many people from false teachers as possible.
Give me your thoughts in the comments below. Please do not be afraid to name false teachers only if you site examples of false teaching (ie, Joseph Smith is a false teacher because he presented another gospel and violated 2 Corinthians 11:4).
-Don-
