Thought for Today

Christian leaders. Do we adhere to the Scriptures or not? Sadly, in an increasing number of cases the answer to that question is, “No.” As we saw in the previous post, when Christian spiritual leaders depart from Scripture, it is a sign of God’s judgment.

What are some of the most common false gospels? Although labeled as “Christian,” what lies are being espoused? What we find is that false teachings run the gamut from “liberal-left” to supposedly “conservative-right.”

The political left is rife with false gospels, false religions, false churches. In all cases Christ is no longer the only way of salvation. Not only that, there is typically no need for “salvation” per se. All religions lead to some form of God, or more typically Goddess. From the so-called Emergent Church to “religious progressives” the biblical description of Jesus is denied.

In recent times, much of that traces to the Jesus Seminar of a few decades ago. They had predetermined that Jesus never claimed to be God and therefore any Scripture that stated Jesus is God was by definition, false. Their teachings were prominent at the seminary level, particularly in the Episcopal church and the Lutheran ELCA.

The Bible was abandoned in favor of cultural teachings and mores. In the last few decades we’ve seen many denominations succumb, from the Episcopal Church, to the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA), to mainline Methodists, to name a few. In fact, for a time at the main ELCA seminary in Chicago, one feminist group was touting how we worship God through our genitals. If one holds that the Bible is God’s enduring Word, one can forget about ever being ordained in those denominations: one MUST adhere to cultural morays and norms. One must deny the biblical Christ.

As we saw in a previous post, the Lord’s Prayer has often been rewritten in feminist or goddess forms. Progressive authors have written books of prayers suitable for their corresponding spirituality. None of it is biblical. All of it leads to eternal hell.

As for Jesus, He is little more than an itinerant teacher, often portrayed as an illiterate radical, killed for daring to oppose Rome’s political system and the Jewish religious leaders. Dying on the cross for our sins? Nope. Rising from the dead? Definitely not. Once again, these teachings lead one to eternal hell.

2 Timothy 3:1–5 (ESV) applies: “But understand this, that yin the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

Verse 5 is the key. They have a form of godliness—in other words they are very religious—but their spirituality has no eternal power or authority. Are Christians to let these individuals influence them? No. It was through their influence that entire denominations eventually collapsed. Why? They taught what people wanted to hear, that sin was ok, that there was no need of repentance.

So much for the religious Left. But, as we will see in the next post, in eternal terms, the religious Right is no better.