Before I start I am not picking on one specific denomination, but all denominations. We are so caught up in proving our doctrine is right that we’ve forgotten the most important thing and that’s preaching the gospel. Ray Comfort once cited a survey that revealed that 75% of people who attend a local church on a regular basis do not understand the gospel. If these people who claim to be Christians do not understand the most important and fundamental doctrine in Christianity? How then can they be saved? We are called as a church to preach the gospel and make disciples.
Mark 16:15 KJV-And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
You may be saying to yourself this verse says to go into the world and preach the gospel, not at church. Well I’ve got news for you. The world has wandered into the church. Some of who go to church faithfully. So how dare we assume that everyone in our pews knows the gospel and neglect to preach it. We ignore important topical teachings on the gospel, about sin, judgement, repentance and holiness in favor of expository teaching. For those of you who don’t know what expository teaching is it is choosing a passage of scripture, sometimes a chapter, sometimes a whole book of the bible and teaching it verse by verse, chapter by chapter. Now this is not a knock on preachers who use this method its all fine and good. But if you don’t teach topically on subject’s like the gospel, sin, judgement, repentance and holiness? You will be doing your congregation a great disservice and you will not be providing them with much needed meat. Its because the modern church has gotten away from these topical teachings that many have fallen away. I would go one step further and say that departure from these topics has caused the great falling away that we are witnessing in the church today and what is being described in the word of God.
1 Timothy 4:1 KJV-Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
I have a pretty good idea of why this is happening in the church. Its because preachers either consciously or subconsciously don’t want to offend anyone and cause people to leave. This a great sin because now we have become messengers to a flock with itching ears.
2 Timothy 4:3 KJV-For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
It is important to be well-versed in Scripture because it will help you discern false teachers that this verse talks about, teachers who do not preach sound Doctrine. One red flag is a teacher who always preaches flattering messages and never a hard message. Another red flag is a teacher who preaches a false prosperity gospel saying we should be healthy, wealthy and wise. Lets look at two scriptures that contradict that. The first is the example of the apostle Paul who was sick and shipwrecked regularly
2 Corinthians 12:7-9 KJV-And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. [8] For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. [9] And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Another example of how we should not expect to be wealthy is an example from Jesus. Not that we should not have a home but if we are to truly follow Jesus we should not be overly concerned about these things.
Luke 9:58 KJV-And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Up until now I have examined the teaching style of the modern church. But now I will examine probably something more important than anything we can say from the pulpit and that’s the example we give to the flock and to the world.
There are many examples of bad examples in the modern church. This because of the departure from holiness to pleasing the world. From celebrity pastors partying with worldly celebrities. To not taking stances on key bible doctrine such as abortion and homosexuality. Even most unbelievers know what the bible stands for on these subjects so why are these celebrity pastors lying to the masses? The reason is because they are not true pastors, but agents of Satan. They bring reproach on the true church of Christ and they lead unstable people astray.
2 Peter 2:14 NKJV-having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.
This is another attribute of a false pastor is that they commit sexual immorality. Notice how this passage says having eyes full of adultery? Many of these fake pastors fall to adultery. I’m sure you could name a couple off the top of your head.
Another disturbing movement among the modern church is something called the new apostolic reformation or NAR for short. What these churches seek to do is to include Catholics and Muslims into the body if Christ for the sake of unity and not anything biblically sound. This is heresy a departure from the faith.
Some of the big churches that are apart of the NAR movement or endorse fake NAR pastors are Hillsong, Bethel, elevation worship and Calvary chapel. If you do enough internet or you tube searches you will find a connection with all of these so called churches to the NAR.
So what do we do to protect ourselves from the deception of what is the modern church? Here are some things you can do that have worked for me.
First we have to read at least one chapter in the new testament every day. This takes only a few minutes and will give you solid knowledge of new testament doctrine. Before you know it you will have worked your way from Matthew to Revelation.
The next thing you must do is pray. This how we can be led by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit aids in protection from deception.
The next thing you can do is listen to godly and biblically sound teachers. I will recommend five. From yesteryear I recommend Charles Speurgon, Derek Prince and David Wilkerson. And from today I recommend Ray Comfort and John Macarthur. All these are biblically sound teachers. I’m sure there are others but probably not many for there are more false teachers than good teachers.
End note: I was inspired to write this post because of a testimony of someone on facebook who wrote a post talking about hypocrisy in the evangelical church and that the gospel had become complex to him. To the point where he is questioning his faith. This modern church obviously didn’t do its job to teach the gospel to this young man leaving him lost. This makes me angry because there are many like this young man left disalussioned by Christianity because of the modern church.
May this teaching guide you and bless your walk with God. To see a biblically based presentation of the gospel go to choosegodnow.wordpress.com
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