Wednesday, June 10, 2009

*A New Religion Masquerading As Christianity, Part 1*

by Marsha West

Recently the Barna Research Group released a study on the religious
practices of liberals and Christians.

According to the report:

“The research…discovered that liberals are more likely than
conservatives to develop their own set of religious beliefs rather than
adopt those proposed by a church or other entity. A greater percentage
of liberals also indicated they are very open to accepting different
moral views than those they presently possess.” [1]

Liberal “Christians” abhor “fundamentalist” Christianity so they cast it
aside and adopt their own set of religious beliefs and values. Times
have changed, after all, so they feel it’s incumbent upon them to bring
Christianity out of the Dark Ages into our postmodern world.
Christianity must shed its traditional, orthodox beliefs to blend in
with the popular culture.

Their motto is, “If you destroy orthodoxy, they will come.”

Before I came to know Christ in a saving way I was a liberal
“Christian.” (That was before the liberals coined the term “progressive
Christian.”) As all liberals do, I molded Christianity into my
worldview. Problem was I kept running into a road block—the Bible. I
rarely read the Bible but when I did I’d invariably stumble on a passage
that contradicted what, at the time, was “true for me.” I admit it
troubled me but I chose to ignore what I’d read and remained steadfast
in my mission to form Christianity into my way of thinking, come hell or
high water.

As a radical feminist I was unapologetically pro-choice and loved to
spout off about a woman’s right to “choose” to have an abortion. Then
one day I got into a discussion with a Christian friend who supported
the pro-life position. In our discussions I proudly parroted all the
pro-abortion talking points. What did this Christian do? She calmly and
lovingly shredded my dogmatic assertions with the “sword of the Spirit,”
the Word of God! Although it was hard to argue with the clear teaching
of Scripture I stubbornly persisted in my beliefs.

When I finally took my friend’s suggestion to read the passages that
teach how human beings are formed I realized my feminist talking points
were weak at best and surely didn’t hold water with God. Up until then I
had the temerity to say things like, “I don’t agree with what the Church
teaches on abortion.” What I was really saying was that I disagreed with
our Creator!

The clear teaching of Scripture holds that human life begins at the
moment of conception. More importantly, the Bible says God made humanity
in His image. This should not be taken lightly.

Many who call themselves Christians do not hold to the authority of
Scripture. Moreover, they do not understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
These “Christians” live their lives devoid of God’s guidance and wisdom
which we glean from His Word. My point is that most pro-aborts are
unfamiliar with what God says about life. Hence, they make decisions
based not on the Bible, but on feelings and emotions – and what’s
politically correct!

In a recent sermon on the importance of the Bible, Pastor Stan Way made
the following observation:

“The Word of God is living and active, it’s not lifeless on a page.
God’s Word is profoundly different from any other voice we hear. His
Word is a profound demonstration of power.”

Through God’s creative Word the universe emerged from nothing! Pastor
Stan explained that everything is held together by the sustained thought
of Jesus Christ. “If He turned away, everything would disappear.”

To put it another way, Christ is the sustainer of all things. He creates
life and sustains life. As I said, the Bible teaches that human life
begins when sperm and egg collide. The physical size of the new life is
of little consequence. Clearly it is a miniscule human being! Modern
science agrees. An unborn child is a person!

What should matter to those of us who were lucky enough to make it out
of the womb is that a microscopic embryo is a viable human person. Even
professional basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, a giant in stature, was
once a microscopic embryo!

This indisputable fact has fallen on the deaf ears of hard core
pro-aborts. (President Obama, are you listening?) Mere mortals who
meddle with the preborn will pay a high price for their folly!
The unregenerate heart, says Pastor Way, “has no regard for God’s Word
and is in rebellion against God’s Word and God’s promises.” The
unregenerate heart cannot know God. That’s because human beings are born
with a sin nature that alienates us from God. Sinful creatures are
unable to attain God’s righteousness apart from regeneration.
Regeneration occurs when a person is born again. In other words, when
someone comes to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as his or her Savior,
he or she is newly regenerate. (Rom 5:8-10) The regenerate Christian is
Spirit led and seeks to live a godly and holy life as outlined in the
Bible.

Those who truly know God know His Son, Jesus Christ:

“He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered
and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in
heaven” (Mat 16:15-17).

Peter’s response to Jesus’ question could only have come from a
regenerate heart.

Returning to my pro-life friend, she was the first Christian who
challenged me to seek the truth, not in feminist propaganda, but in the
Bible. She had my back against the wall, so to speak, and she knew it.
As a professing Christian I had to make a “choice” between my firmly
held feminist views or the clear teaching of Scripture. My faith was
being tested. To put it another way, God gave me a gentle head-slap! No,
really. It was like He was saying, “If you want to know the truth,
listen to my voice!” (God speaks to us in the Holy Scriptures.)

After I did some scientific research on when human life begins, some
serious soul searching, Bible study, plus a good deal of prayer, I chose
God. From reading the Bible I came to believe:

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”
(2 Tim. 3:16).

“Truth is not relative,” says Mike Ratliff in his article, Can You
Handle the Truth? “It is absolute. Of course, when I speak of truth this
way I am referring to God’s truth, not man-made truth. What a wonderful
thing it is that God gave His people His revealed truth in a form that
the regenerate can read or hear and understand. Our Lord Jesus Christ
tells us in John 18:36-38 that the purpose of His incarnation was to
bear witness to the truth and that everyone who is of the truth listens
to His voice.”

When I learned the truth I had no choice but to abandon my pro-abortion
position and adopt the biblical position on life.

“I will praise thee,” said the psalmist, “for I am fearfully and
wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth
right well” (Psalm 139:14).

Support for abortion is new in the Church, by the way. The early church
fathers condemned abortion and infanticide. For example:

“The Didache, an early manual of Christian teaching speaks against
abortion and infanticide. Justin Martyr in his First Apology condemns
infanticide.” [2]

The issue of abortion is only one example of liberals being, as Barna
reported, “more likely than conservatives to develop their own set of
religious beliefs rather than adopt those proposed by a church or other
entity.”

All I can say is “I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now
I see!”

Sadly, many “Christians” don’t know what the scriptures teach on a
number of topics because they haven’t taken time to study it. Yet
they’re the first ones to voice their disagreement with any Bible
teaching that doesn’t condone their lifestyle choices!

Then there are “Christians” who read the Bible but elect to outright
reject that it is the Word of God and should be taken literally. When
you insist that they give valid reasons why they don’t accept that
Scripture is totally true and trustworthy, their arguments do not hold
water. One excuse they give is that the Bible isn’t relevant in today’s
world. Not relevant? How can this be when the Bible tells us who God is
and what His desires and plans for humanity are?

Scripture is not only relevant for today, but forevermore!

Some of these scoffers are pseudo Christians. Unregenerate! Since they
don’t believe all of Scripture is the inspired Word of God they pick and
choose the things they want to believe and simply reject what doesn’t
fit in with their postmodern worldview. When you reject the Bible’s
authority it’s a whole lot easier to sin with impunity!

Let me offer an example of what I’m talking about. A few months ago a
so-called Christian I know moved in with her boyfriend. How does she
justify her blatant sin? She loves the guy and plans to marry him
someday. Well let’s hope! What is stunning is that this professing
Christian and her lover unashamedly show up for Sunday service together!
Moreover, her new beau is not the first man she’s lived with. For over a
year she lived with fiancé #1 until that relationship soured. Now she’s
playing house with fiancé #2, once again putting the cart before the horse.

Even though this young woman says she’s a Bible believing Christian,
she’s blatantly breaking God’s commands (and His heart) by living with a
man who is not her husband.

She’s not alone. In our permissive society, where anything goes, a large
number of professing Christians indulge in sexual immorality and pretend
there’s nothing wrong with it!

But there is something wrong with it. The Bible says sex outside the
bonds of marriage is sin.

These people ignore the fact that God hates sin! Moreover, the Almighty
punishes sin.

The good news is that the Bible offers hope:

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is
not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will
forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

However,

“If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his
word has no place in our lives” (1 John 1:8-10). Strong words from the
Apostle John.

John was part of Christ’s inner circle. For 3 years he listened to
Jesus’ teaching and absorbed every word He said. John wrote letters to
the early Christians, who were struggling with sin, to remind them what
Jesus taught on immorality and impurity. He also gave them pointers on
how to live the victorious Christian life.

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And
if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous:
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also
for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him,
if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2:1-3).

John wrote to urge believers not to go back to their old ways. He so
wanted them not to fall into apostasy. His letters are found in the New
Testament. True Christians would do well to heed the Apostle’s words.

Copyright by Marsha West, 2009. All rights reserved.

Footnotes:

[1] Survey Shows How Liberals and Conservatives Differ on Matters of
Faith – Barna Group Survey
http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/13-culture/258-survey-shows...

[2] What Are We For? By Rev. Robert Lynn
http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=11547&print=1

Related Link:

Revealing The Rise of a Counterfeit Christianity - The Great Pretenders!
http://www3.telus.net/thegoodnews/pseudo.htm