False teaching in the church

Yesterday, for the first time, both Joyce and I were quite disturbed and troubled by blatantly unscriptural teaching that we heard in our church. Not all the teaching was unscriptural, but enough of it was to cause us to have a long discussion about our future here, and what our responsibility is to others who hear and do not understand (we know at least a couple of new believers) because they don't know what God's Word actually says about these matters.

Firstly, there was the much vaunted tithing message, which contained a couple of real gems this time. One, apparently, coming to church on Sundays is very important because in the olden days a failure to join the assembly (in Israel, presumably) was punishable by death....hmmm, not sure that is in the Bible? Ok, maybe I've missed that particular portion (though I don't think so), so I'll give the benefit of the doubt. But, wait, there's more. Apparently, the reason that God always remembers His covenant with David is....wait for it....because of how much wealth and money David would give to ' the House of God"!!!! How's that for manipulation????? I couldn't believe my ears when I heard that - I even wondered whether we're all reading the same Bible???!

So, that set the scene. I was at the AV desk, so I had a glimpse of the sermon notes beforehand (because I need to get the necessary scripture verses onto presentation slides for the sermon) and I was already thinking "Oh, boy". Well, I needn't have worried.

Where shall I start? The teaching about how the church is about to be raised up to 'control' the entire planet, to realign the nations to set things right on the earth and how there are a billion Spirit-filled believers (how did you count them?) on earth today and there will be many many more soon, in direct contrast to the Word which teaches that there will be a mass falling away in the end times? That it appears that the church is to be restoring the kingdom of God, in direct opposition to the Word which says that the kingdom will restored to earth when Jesus returns and that He will be the one to set things right on earth! This smacks of a current trend within charismatic circles that basically seems to discount the second coming of Jesus and teaches instead that the church will be assuming the pre-eminent position on earth. Yes, I know - incredible, in light of all the scripture passages that teach the second coming of Christ and nothing at all about the church taking over the world.

Then it moved onto a typical prosperity gospel teaching with lotsa of scripture taken out of context, twisted around and massaged. It appears that Joseph had favour on his life......the favour on his life was the coat of many colours that his father, Jacob, made for him. Because of favour on his life, Joseph had dreams. And, therefore, because of the favour on his life his brothers hated him. And because of favour on his life, Joseph was put in charge of Potiphar's house and was prosperous in all that he did.

Er....what about the second part of it, you know....that he spent several years after that in prison? Also, Joseph's coat was not 'favour'. Jacob, in his old age, showed preferential treatment among his children which no parent should ever do, especially since Jacob's children came from different mothers. Joseph really appears to gave been spoilt quite a bit and somewhat of a teenage braggart. God humbled him in slavery and prison and taught him to depend entirely on Him. But, I guess, that part of it doesn't gel with the prosperity message, does it?

Next gem, when the plagues were striking Egypt, the land of Goshen remained peaceful and prosperous. Yes, God did not allow any of the plagues to touch Goshen, where the Israelites lived but - hello!! They were SLAVES!! Not too prosperous, I think! Why did God take Israel out of there into the desert if they were peaceful and prosperous??? Knock, knock - anybody home??

Then, of course, there was the 'povery mindset'. Apparently, if you don't believe in the tenets of the prosperity teaching (that God wants us all to have riches pouring out of our ears cos the gold and silver are His), then you have a 'poverty mindset'. Sheesh. What about being content with what one has?? You know, like the Bible says - to be content with having our needs met??

Right at the end, though, the fact of Joseph having been in prison was added in, but the focus was his release from prison and the fact that he shaved to appear before Pharaoah- whaa?? Apparently, preparing ourselves to appear before kings and rulers according to their rules and customs is very important. Why? Not sure, still haven't figured that bit out.

All in all, it was pretty troubling. Not only that the whole premise of the teachings we heard appeared to be based on a unscriptural positions, but also that it is almost certain that the majority of the congregation had no issues with it, either because they do not know what the Word says, or they prefer to defer to the pastor's teaching.

Well, this is as far as I can remember. I'm truly devastated. Never thought I would be in a church where the leadership espouse false teachings....which contradict some of the most fundamental aspects of the Bible and our faith. I guess the quick and easy would be to move on. I ain't moving without knowing where God i leading, so I'll stay put for now.

May God have mercy on us all.

I sometimes wish I didn't, but I am unfortunately following current christian affairs - have been for a while now. It is quite frightening what is out there and the outlook for our children as Christians is frankly quite scary. I'm not talking about opposition/persecution from outside. I'm talking about people rising up from within the church and teaching stuff that is either slightly skewed, dodgy, iffy, fishy, stinky, perverted, wildly unbiblical or purely heretical - there's lots of it, bro. It's not a new thing, of course. Within the lifetime of some of the apostles (certainly John), they had to combat gnostic heresies arising in the church, so we're not 'unique'. However, what I do find across the spectrum in the body of Christ is the following:

1) A desire for entertainment. This applies mostly to presentation, but often to content as well. Everything has to be a show....then people call it 'awesome' (how I hate the use of that adjective), 'fantastic', 'blessed', etc.

2) A desire to adapt the gospel, and the Word, to the culture, rather than the other way round.

3) A distinct and frighteningly high level of biblical illiteracy. This may not be so true in places like India (speaking from my own experience from past years) but appears to be the case in most of the church in the West. One reason for this can be traced back to point (1). However it is, it has resulted in an absence of Bereans who search the scriptures, test the spirits,etc. People don't know what the Bible says, so anything goes.

4) As a consequence of (3) there is a very vague and primitive understanding of who God is, who we are, why we are Christians, why the Bible is the Word of God, etc. Josh McDowell recently wrote that he was appalled when he asked the question" Why is the Bible true" in a conference of pastors, nobody could answer properly. Finally one young pastor stood up and said "Because I believe it is true". Again, this may not be the case in India but is most applicable in the western church.

5) A preoccupation with material/tangible/monetary 'success'. People will ignore unbiblical doctrines, immoral behaviour, etc if a person shows 'results', usually defined by growth in membership, extension of 'ministry (ie organisational extension), and consequent financial growth. This is most evident in the - in my opinion - unhealthy preoccupation with secular business practices and adoption of secular management and corporate techniques into the church. One church I used to be part of previously used to hold special prayer for all the business 'leaders' in the church. Strangely, there was no such special prayer for those who held down a job - somehow, we were inferior because we didn't have 'influence in the marketplace', you know - just lowly employees. Can't be valuable to the kingdom, eh?

Somehow, those who succeed in the business world are often held up as ideals to emulate - why?? In my opinion, because of the tangible and material evidence of their 'successes'. 'Success' (in measurable terms, as defined in the business world) is now virtually a doctrine in the modern church - again, I don't particularly agree. Nobody knows how people make their money. One business person (back in India), referring to integrity in taxes, told me 'sometimes you have to do certain things'. He was specifically referring to fudging of his sales tax numbers - christian guy. Many business operations and practices are often cold, cruel, inconsiderate, deceptive and sometimes simply illegal - all because the number one objective is to make money. Now, we transplant business practices into the church. If these practices are directed towards making money, how in the world are christian leaders presuming that we can use these to edify and build up God's people??

Anyway, Jesus was very categorical in Matt 24:24. So was Paul. They both warned the body of Christ to watch out for false teachers and prophets. Today, many people in the body of Christ welcome in all manner of weird teaching and practices that do not have biblical origins. We have changed the gospel from an atoning, reconciling act of God to a self-improvement methodology meant to affirm man's ego.

Hmmm, looks like Julia Gillard starts out with a pretty serious case of foot-in-mouth disease.
Well, was she or was she not one of the brains behind Rudd?

More of the same, methinks, with a nastier streak.

I see that the internet filter is still on the cards.

More of the same.