A Personal Encounter with Liberal Christianity – Part 2

by Chris Long | Jun 29, 2023 | Christian Thought, My blog | 0 comments

Who do You Fear: God or Man?

After leaving the problem of progressive and liberal Christianity with some elder members of this church, I left the issue behind. Frankly, I wasn’t confident that it was my role to carry this banner for church members who lived 150 miles away from me, attended a church of which I was not a member, and being a part of a denomination that I was not involved with. But the issue refused to leave my conscience. I thought about it often over the next three years.

It’s easy to rationalize, this problem of cultural tendencies and biblical truth, into co-existing, distantly related cousins, who can blend together to create an ideal, peacefully existing unit. Our feelings tell us this is what we should do. Why not? It just makes everything easier and respects the feelings, wants, and needs of others.

Before we do this, I mean walk the path of the world, we need to decide two things:

First, that we are going to read the Bible

Second that we are going to believe what it says

If we determine these two points are valid then we cannot walk the path the world asks us, or demands us, to walk. They are not compatible. If we embrace these two points, then the world is going to take offense of us and they will not like us. This, according to the Bible, should cause us to rejoice!

Homework: Read Matthew 5:11-12 and James 1:2-3.

Once, when I was preparing to send 1,000 Christmas cards that boldly proclaimed the saving grace and love of Jesus Christ to our company client list, my wife asked me if I thought I would lose some clients over it. My reply: “I hope so!” If no one is taken aback by the boldness we rightfully have in Jesus Christ, then we are not being bold enough. I don’t mean to run around intentionally insulting people. You don’t need to do that. Your faith and your love for Jesus will take care of that. That is if you let your light shine in the darkness.

Homework: Read Luke 6:26

This is what I found when I returned to that church three years later. The pastor told the only two children in the congregation that day, they were visiting by the way, that deep down inside they were “good people.” He basically planted the seeds that said they didn’t need a savior; that their goodness was good enough. Too picky, you say? I disagree. Our words and our doctrine hold power and have eternal consequences. The Bible says teachers of the word of God will be held accountable and judged with greater strictness. What he said to those kids was very bad doctrine and my wife and I were both glad our children were not present.

Homework: Read James 3:1 and James 3:2-12, and Mark 10:18

It was during the actual sermon when the fireworks of hell really exploded. The pastor said, and I do not quote this, “Have you ever had someone ask you how long you’ve been saved? I hate it when people ask that. It makes us look proud, like we are above someone else. I always answer, ‘No. I’m not there yet, but I’m working on it.’”

Let that sink in for a minute…

When he said this my wife and I nearly jumped out of our pews, and honestly, I think we were the only ones in the room who noticed. The pastor had gone from not wanting to touch on the areas where cultural and biblical worldviews collide, in fear of insulting someone, to refusing to proclaim, and even denying the reality of his own salvation and the power of our risen Christ, because he is afraid to sound too arrogant and proud. This is the fear of men and a complete lack of the fear of God.

Pastor, you’re not working on it! The arrogance you protect yourself from by denying what Jesus has done for you is actually arrogance for self. Here is some homework for you.

Homework: Ephesians 2:8-9

And here are some verses I will not save for homework, because you all need to read them right now. You are SAVED! You are saved by the work of Jesus Christ, and you are to be joyful in it. Never, ever, be ashamed.

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

Romans 10:13

 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Romans 10:9

that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

We are to never be ashamed of our salvation in Jesus Christ. On the contrary, we are to stand boldly in it. You can back that up, and everything I’ve said in this article, by the word of God.

Homework: Jeremiah 9:23-24, Psalm 34:2, 1 Corinthians 1:30

And you, fellow believer, have a responsibility. You are responsible for reading the Bible, every day, and knowing what is in it. You need to be able to determine if what you are being told is biblical truth or not, or else this world will have its way with you. You also need to know what God’s will is for your life, and the only place you will find that information is by spending time in the Bible, alone, with God.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

chrislong.swr@gmail.com

Read the Bible online at:

https://www.biblegateway.com/

A Personal Encounter with Liberal Christianity – Part 1

by Chris Long | Jun 29, 2023 | Christian Thought, My blog | 0 comments

To be forthcoming, this writing is about a pastor in the church. I won’t mention his name, but my conscience won’t allow me to stay silent any longer. I fear for the members of that church. I feel they do not see the watered down, works focused, fear of man preaching this so-called pastor of God is feeding them. I have a vested interest in these fellow brothers and sisters, not only because are we connected in Christ, but because I know them all personally; they attend the church I grew up in.

My first run in with this pastor was in 2020, when I provided worship for the church via Zoom during the Covid pandemic. I was booked to play four Sundays. On the third Sunday, knowing there was a doctrinal problem lurking in the shadows, I stated during Spirit led prayer in the middle of the song, “Lord, let our little boys be little boys and our little girls be little girls.”

The pastor called me that day and told me I could not continue serving (there was one Sunday left), because I was being “too political”. I asked him how he would draw the line between “political” and biblical truth. This is when the pastor revealed to me his fear of man and his lack of fear for God.

He told me he did not believe the Bible was inerrant or infallible, claiming the Bible had to be interpreted through the lens of modern culture, since it was written in the middle eastern culture over 2,000 years ago. He also defended gay marriage in the walls of the church and under the banner of our holy God. Through the struggles of a pastor friend who was gay, he came to realize there is nothing wrong with homosexuality in the eyes of God. He added the Bible is being misinterpreted whenever it mentions this issue in both the New and the Old Testament. I then asked him about abortion. He stated, and I will quote this, “Chris, you tell me when life begins in the womb.”

The pastor went on to tell me he would not preach these “political” issues from his pulpit because he didn’t want to offend anyone. He was worried if he mentioned these things some people would not come back to the church or reach out to him for counsel in their time of need.

Let me point out, in the book of Matthew, Jesus states, “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” (Mt 11:6, NKJV). In Matthew 13:57 and Matthew 15:12, it is stated that the people and the Pharisees were “offended” by Him. You see, pastor, Jesus is offensive to this world. A stumbling block. He always was and He always will be. Unless of course that is either mistranslated or out of context with our anti-offensive culture.

Let me also point out that sin is offensive to our perfect and holy God, therefore, it will be offensive to the world when we talk about it for what it is. It is SIN and is offensive to God.

I had a conversation about this issue with four members of this church. I didn’t feel it was my place to lead a coup in the church, so I left it with those four people to decide how to proceed with this new revelation that their new pastor did not believe the words of the Bible and held extremely liberal and anti-biblical stances on every cultural and political issue we managed to discuss.

Then, on June 10, 2023, my wife and I attended a service at this church, and what we heard was shocking. Come back next week for the end of this tale.