Destroying Bible-Believing Churches, Part 2B: Local Subversive Infiltration

Destroying Bible-Believing Churches, Part 2B: Local Subversive Infiltration
Friday, July 2, 2021 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Apostasy / Postmodernism / The church / Thought for Today

How does Cupitt suggest people go about destroying Bible believing churches? In the previous entry we looked at the reasons why Cupitt wants such “outmoded” churches destroyed. In the next two entries we’ll examine his battle plans and tactics.

Cupitt proposes a two-pronged attack on churches that have the audacity to still believe that the Bible is God’s literal Word. The first prong is somewhat of a direct assault, and the second, indirect.

The church is to be directly attacked through subversive lies and deception. The initial goal is to sow doubt and confusion, to misdirect, and while doing so never provide any clear answers, but to evade. Ideally, as time progresses, that leads others to reject what they once held to be true, as they begin to have their own doubts and questions, as they unknowingly embrace the new implanted ideas.

Deception is key. Of interest “are those strategies for survival, and indeed for Christian renewal, which involve deliberate deception. The basic argument for deception is that we will only be able to overcome and outwit the orthodox if we practise (sic) a conscious deception more cunning than the many forms of unconscious self-deception practised by them” (page 106). Unconscious self-deception relates to those who consider themselves orthodox but whose vapid preaching gives no indication of it. Cupitt’s concern is that mere self-deception does not bring about the desired change away from the outmoded “orthodoxy”.

He asserts, “The deceiver uses the traditional language of faith in order in the long run to argue people out of a traditional understanding of faith. He tries to change people’s thinking without their realizing it” (page 107). In addition, “The religious teacher must use language manipulatively, rhetorically and deceitfully in order to bring about that change” (page 111).

Even more frightening, “If the church is to have a future at all we must belong to her, and we must take diabolical liberties with her language, bending it into hitherto-unheard-of shapes. We must be Zen” (page 112). What is he saying? The church can only be “saved” if diabolical—meaning demonic—methods are used to subvert and transform it. In short, one must ally with Satan, the father of lies, and seek to turn the church into what is biblically speaking, a demonic lie. We see Satan using that tactic from the very beginning, Genesis 3:1, 4–5.

Cupitt’s book was first published in 1989. Sadly, we’ve seen his strategies enacted with considerable success over the last 30 or so years. The Emergent church followed his plan with great success. I am thinking especially of the writings of Brian McLaren, who admitted being playful and subversive in some of his earlier books, of deliberately refusing to answer any questions directly. It was only in later writings where he revealed his true beliefs—beliefs that are diametrically opposed to the true Gospel, beliefs that fit very nicely into a false earth-centered one-world religion. I think also of numerous other Emergent/Progressive church authors who seemed to start out as one thing but have proved to be something else entirely.

For a dedicated postmodernist, there is no absolute truth. If truth does not exist, neither do lies. Biblically, of course, absolute truth does exist, and that truth has not changed. Salvation is found through Jesus Christ alone, by faith alone. God is very direct about what happens to those who do practice lies and deception. Revelation 21:8: “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (NAU). The reality is that living according to the “Cupitt plan” lands one in hell for all eternity. In a more immediate sense, one also thinks of the false teachers that crept in unawares that the book of Jude addresses,

Those of us who seek to proclaim the true Gospel, “the faith once handed down,” must stand firm against deceivers, and the spiritual forces at work behind them. Ephesians 6:12: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (NAU).

We’ve now dealt with Cupitt’s frontal assault. But there’s another side to his attack, a flanking maneuver that has made great inroads throughout much of the church.

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