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By Michael Tao
"There come a falling away first..." (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
Recently I listened to a message on tape, given by Pastor Ng, and was about apostasy and cultism. In this tape, thirty some apostasies and cultic sects are identified. It was a great encouragement to me to see Roman Catholicism was called "the great whore", because it is exactly what RC has been. It was a good message. However I would like to recommend an entry to this list, which describes predominantly the spiritual condition of today's Chinese and Western churches, which is liberalism.
Liberalism has the synonyms of new-evangelicalism, modernism, and neutralism; however it is not God's will to have any of these in his church.
• The chief problem of a liberal, or a new-evangelical church is not so much what it preaches, but what it does not preach. A liberal church can preach the scriptural gospel, but it does not teach "all the counsel of God"(Acts 20:27). Its preaching avoids the negative aspects of biblical Christianity, for examples, the doctrine of sin, of hell, repentance, wrath of God, God's chastisement, fear of God, obedience to the authorities, the duties of a Christian/member, corporal punishment of the disobedient children, submissiveness of the wife, women not to teach men in the church, and this list can go on for awhile. In short, anything that can cause any "unpleasant" feelings should be watered down or avoided, so that no one will be offended, and no heart will be disturbed- and life as usual for everyone in the church.
• A liberal church preaches largely the positive aspects of the Bible, and portrays God as a loving and graceful character, and the justice attribute of God is largely ignored. The Christians' life is painted with joy and peace, and the persecution a faithful Christian faces is not mentioned(2 Timothy 3:12). This is a direct disobedience to the Great Commission, which instructs the churches to teach to observe whatsoever all things Christ has commanded us. It is not for a church to preach selectively, so that the congregation can feel good about themselves. It is God that gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6-7), to compromise in the doctrine, is not God's way to build New Testament churches.
Uncompromising preaching reveals sin, the Holy Spirit convicts, the love of God constrains, the fear of God warns, and we can see although our Heaven Father loves us, yet he hates sin. We are then compelled by our conscience to make a decision: should I continue in my sin, or should I forsake it? True joy and peace comes after one's repentance. One should feel bad-really bad, when he rejects the power of God in his pastor's preaching. When a pastor weakens his messages, sinners will be content with their sin, and the mission of that church dies. Again, the chief error of a liberal church is not so much what it preaches, but what it does not preach.
• Capturing this knowledge of half-truth, a liberal church is not equipped to discern good and evil; church members fall into sin; and are at the mercy of "every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14)". A pastor should not assume that his sheep have sound spiritual discernment. A Congregation need to be grounded with sound biblical doctrines, and how to behave in different life circumstances. Sins need to be identified, and do not leave the interpretation to the congregation. Is abortion a sin? Is playing Majong a sin? Is buying lottery a sin? Is listening to the pop music a sin? Is dancing a sin? Is watching "Bay watch" a sin? Is marrying (even dating) a non-Christian a sin? Is not attending church a sin, is not reading the Bible a sin? Is not witnessing a sin? These all need to be taught as God's Word reveals.
Isaiah 28: 10 says,"For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little." Pastor is the one who is responsible to bring these precepts to his congregation. Holy Spirit attends God's Word, that means the Holy Spirit bears witness, proves, and confirms to (the spirit of) the believers that the message is from God (provided it is true to the Bible), and can start a good work in one's heart. The Holy Spirit does not replace the role of a pastor. No one can walk close with God by staying at home, and not sitting under the sound preaching.
• In a liberal church, leaders tend to remain strangely quiet in face of false teachings.
The pastor in a liberal church, puts his public image before God. He would like to be seen as soft spoken, well-educated, tender, meek, objective, politically correct, non-offensive, in other word "a really nice guy".
If there is a vicious dog in your neighborhood; which attacks people, would you not care enough to advise your children to stay away from that very house? Would you not describe exactly where the dog can be, what the house looks like, what kind of dog it is, and take all measures to ensure your children's safety? Now we have a roaring lion that devours (1 Peter 5:8) and a hell that swallows! But liberal pastors are withholding his God-ordained capacity in giving out warnings in this wicked and adulterous generation.
Does a preacher interfere with freedom of religion if he preaches against false religions? After the pure gospel has been presented, and the necessary warnings made, people can certainly exercise their free will to make a decision, this is the true freedom of religion. To tell a prisoner who is locked up in a dark cell, that he can choose to stand up or to sit down, I will not say he has freedom. The true freedom to this man, is to free him from his bondage and darkness!
Paul had no problem in warning against the heresies, describing what they were, he even named the names of the disobedient. Paul's intention was not to please men, but to obey God. Lukewarm preaching cannot produce a congregation that is zealous for the Lord. You preach lukewarm, you have a lukewarm church.
• A liberal church solely emphasizes soul-winning, yet takes a soft and weak stand towards sin.
Today, church growth is such an issue, but the evidence of church growth is not a matter of numbers. One time King David numbered his people wrongfully, because he did it out of his pride (2 Samuel 24).
The second question is: what do you want your church to grow into? Ephesians 4:12 tells us the function of a church is, "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ". Christian churches are to perfect the saints, to feed the flock, and to bring them into spiritual maturity. God has given the increase, and now he commands that his increase should be brought into maturity. A local church should have the capacity to achieve its spiritual maturity, saints need not be sent away to be trained by other men, or organizations or movements. Do not lose sight of "perfecting saints" because of "soul winning", and if you want to have the new converts stay and serve in your church, help them to lay the foundation.
• A liberal church does not practice personal and ecclesiastical (church) separation.
Personal separation is separating from sinners, which are the unsaved and the disobedient brothers and sisters in Christ. Our primary responsibility towards the unsaved, is to witness to them. As to the brothers and sisters in the church that disobey God, our responsibility is to warn them according to the Scripture. There ought not to be any form of co-operation, or association until repentance is evident. However a Christian should not divorce the his/her unsaved spouse (1 Corinthians 7:12-16 ). Christ sat with sinners, not to befriend with them, but to tell them the Kingdom of God. Mingling with the world, Christians will be tempted by the world, and stumble (1 Corinthians 1:33).
Church separation is the church as an entity, separates from the ungodly organizations and wicked systems. Today, liberal churches have great sympathy, and cooperation with World Counsel of Churches (WCC), Roman Catholics, ecumenical movement, charismatics, psychospirituality, humanism, feminism, evolution, environmentalism, communism, worldly entertainment, New Age movement, Promise Keepers' movement, and homosexuality. This kind of unity is carried out, may due to pride; sometimes ignorance.
The whole Christianity is basically moving towards all sorts of uncleanness. The political, religious, and financial unity will bring in the one world government, then the beast will come and be the King of this government, and the leader of the world religious system (Revelation 13). This is basically the purpose of the ecumenical movement. Organizations and people who are within, may or may not know that they are fulfilling the prophecy. Roman Catholics is the greatest force in promoting the ecumenical movement.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is an international ecumenical union of more than 300 denominations representing more than 400 million professing Christians(1993). The goal of the World Council was plainly stated at its convening Assembly in August 1948. Former General Secretary of the WCC, W.A. Visser 't Hooft, verbalized the sentiments of the ecumenists gathered for that historic occasion: "Our name indicates our weakness and our shame before God, for there can be and there is finally only one Church of Christ on earth. Our plurality is a deep anomaly. But our name indicates also that we are aware of that situation, that we do not accept it passively, THAT WE WOULD MOVE FORWARD TOWARDS THE MANIFESTATION OF THE ONE HOLY CHURCH" (The Genesis and Formation of the World Council of Churches, p. 66).
This supposed "one holy church", this longed for world church, is a figment of a heretical imagination. The Bible does not tell us that there should be a world church. Quite the opposite. The Bible repeatedly warns that Christendom will become increasingly apostate as the coming of Christ draws near, and the true churches are commanded to remain separate from this wickedness. God is not fulfilling the Great Commission through a church, singular, but through churchES, plural.(1993).
Also, in a speech before the World Council of Churches central committee, General Secretary Konrad Raiser said," called for far-reaching reform of international church structures to bring the Roman Catholic Church closer to other Christian churches"(Ecumenical News International). The speech was given in Geneva, at the WCC headquarters, September 14, 1995. Raiser called for new "model" for the ecumenical movement. During a press conference following the speech, Raiser said that "any such model which would not facilitate the integration or full participation of the Roman Catholic Church would have failed its purpose."
• A liberal church allows women to be pastors, deacons, leaders, and allows women to teach men. This is against the Bible, 1 Timothy 2:11-12 says, "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence".
A main reason for feminism, is men are not doing their jobs, they are too weak, too lazy, too busy, or too fearful to step forward, so women are filling in. Similar situation happened in the Bible and in church history, God could not find a right man to use, so he used Deborah (Judges 4:4,5) to accompany Captain Barak to go to battle. When God gave the gift of prophecy to women, this does not mean that she should be leading men. In Acts 21:8-14, the four daughters of Philip, were prophetesses, but they did not prophesy to Paul, God used a male prophet from out of town, to do the job. God does not allow women to teach men, elderly women can teach younger women (Titus 2:3,4), or children.
• A liberal church knows nothing about church discipline, when God gives churches the instruction and authority to keep his churches pure, yet a liberal church expects God to deal with sinners among them. Church discipline is God's way to resolve conflicts in his houses, and to improve relationships.
• A liberal church emphasizes scholarship and intellectualism, it praises liberal theologians and seminaries. Here are a few references in North America : Billy Graham, Robert Schuller, James Dobson, Chuck Colson, Fuller Seminary, Wheaton College and others. The Chinese churches are not immune to this fault.
• A liberal church does not take the Bible as the absolute authority - not by their actions. People interpret the Bible privately to justify their desires. People are flocking to hear personal testimonies, stories, adventures; yet they show little interest in studying in order to "rightly divide the Word of Truth". People are curious to know about what happens to others, yet unwilling to make changes in their own life. Without direction from God's Word, people do not care, or do not know how to seek the will of God.
• A liberal church emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit, but ignores that it is the duty of the believers to strive against sin (Matthew 11:12, 16:24, Hebrews 12:4, 2 Timothy 2:21, Romans 12:1-2, 13:14, 1 Corinthians 9:27, 15:58, 1 Peter 2:11-12).
• A liberal church adds the "social gospel" to the biblical gospel. It emphasizes participation in politics and social and moral issues. The social involvement of a liberal church is highly priorized, it promotes social reform, law change, legislation, civil rights. A liberal church does not separate the function of church and state. Social reform and moral awakening are the results of men's genuine repentance toward God; and the cart must not be put before the horse. The only duty of a New Testament church is to fulfil The Great Commission, a church can easily be entangled with political or social movements, thus their resources being consumed and their visions being distracted. However a church should not withdraw its help to the needy in its community. As an individual, Christians can participate in social, and political activities; when there is no conflict with the principles in the Bible.
• A liberal church tolerates errors, its attitude towards errors are soft, hesitant, tolerant, flexible, non-controversial, non-offensive, non-dogmatic. A liberal church will not take a militant position against anything. It is politically correct, but not biblically righteous.
Liberal, or new-evangelical churches can be filled up with people that feel very comfortable, but are spiritually fragile. The Laodicean church (Revelation 3) is not a JW or Mormon church, it is a Christian church, but lacks zeal for the Lord. A liberal church is also characterized by its neutrality or lukewarmness. Lukewarm water is a result of the neutralization of hot water with cold water, and liberalism comes from compromising truth with worldliness.
Today's Christian churches, Chinese or Western ones, wherever they are, are usually infiltrated by liberalism or new-evangelicalism, a copy of the old Laodicean church. Their deviation from truth may be different in degrees, although the gospel is still preached in some of them. It is true that not every one of them supports Roman Catholicism and homosexuality, however, their compromise, tolerance of errors, reluctance to preach the whole counsel of God are usually the same.
We can pat ourselves on the shoulders and compliment each other, but the fact is that Chinese Christian churches are not doing well. Ezekiel 33 tells us about the watchman who hears the trumpet yet fails to warn his people, the blood of the innocent will be required from the hand of the watchman. The pastors, and church leaders are God's watchmen, they are to read the Bible, to know God's will, and to warn their people.
Liberal, or new-evangelical churches are not limited to certain denominations, it is the fruit of the denomination or church that we should be aware of.
Knowing the errors of his denomination, a pastor should leave it and start God's church. A church can exist independent of a denomination, of a head office and of a building. In starting a church, the financial support can be raised from other independent like-minded churches. The giving of the church is used to support the pastor and the expenses. In an independent church, the pastor is a member and also the leader, and the church is the government. The pastor is answerable to the church, and not to the head office or deacon board. This was actually the church model in the first century.
Independent churches, Chinese and Western ones, in general are taking a far more biblical stand in separating from the world. In North America, some Chinese independent churches can have a few hundred members, but a congregation of only a few families can support a pastor. a few of these is sending workers back to China to train up home-church leaders, and these home churches also operate in the first century manner- independent from each other.
I was baptized in the largest baptist church in Hong Kong, which belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention. SBC used to be the most conservative, God fearing denomination, very strong in spirit, very large in number, and very wealthy. Now that SBC openly ordains women clergy into the ministry, supports the Billy Graham Crusade, sympathizes the homosexuals, questions the Bible, and we can be sure for a fact that it will continue to follow the downward spiral. If I am in Hong Kong, my only option is to resign my SBC church membership, and to join an bible-believing church, which stands firm on the Word of God. It is because sooner or later, these unclean things within the SBC will come to my face. This is not a time to exercise patience, it is a time to obey God to separate from the uncleanness (2 Corinthians 6:17, Proverbs 4:14-15, ). I know how much God hates evil doers, I must stay away from them (Psalms 1:1-2), least I will be destroyed (Proverbs 13:20).
Independent churches will likely be the only possible way for church worship in the future. At that time, public worship will be prohibited, and whosoever refuses to worship the image of the beast will be killed (Revelation 13:15). It is likel that true Christian churches will go underground, meeting in secret, thus independent in its operation.
Today, Christians that know the errors in their church or denomination, may want to stay inside that organization with the intention to correct it, however the Bible teaches otherwise, and history proves that this never works. Men can repent, but not an organization. The Bible teaches to "come out from among them, and be ye separate" (2 Corinthians 6:17). In history, Martin Luther fled Roman Catholicism to start the reform; Charles Spurgeon resigned from the Baptist Union (after long and hard battling to correct it), when its theology became corrupt. Many know that Spurgeon was a godly man, but fewer know that he was an independent Baptist preacher!
