LOVE LOVES THE TRUTH
By Ken Silva pastor-teacher on Dec 22, 2011 in AM Missives, Current Issues, Features
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36)
Peace, Love, Tolerance—Evangelical Fantasies
The Church of Jesus Christ certainly seems to have lost its way in this increasingly pagan nation as it follows scheming dreamers e.g. like Rick Warren and Rob Bell, rooted in the semi-pelagian (at best) Church Growth Movement originally vomited out of Fuller Theological.
Left here by our Lord to be the salt and light of the world, yet the increasingly worldly evangelical community continues to grow ever more bland and is apparently looking for an even bigger bowl in which to hide under for safety.
To listen to many teachers in the contemporary and apostate Ecumenical Church of Deceit today you could easily come away with the idea that the Christian message has now somehow been changed into a quasi-universal salvation that is inclusive of all “faith traditions.” Years ago in his excellent exhortation Spirit of the Age Dr. Walter Martin stated this age will be characterized by universalism. And this warped age of a phony tolerance has its root in the visible church creating an idol out of its faulty understanding of love of the Lord.
It’s been well-said elsewhere that every heresy begins with a misunderstanding of the character of God. Whenever one attribute of God’s divine nature is over-emphasized at the expense of others you are asking for trouble. A good example would be those who’ve turned God’s grace into an idol; for example, those who withhold the Gospel from those unrepentantly having sexual relations with others of the same sex, i.e. homosexuality. Someone like Bob Rhodes, a pastor at Trinity UMC in Grand Island, NE.
Who tweeted yesterday:
Sadly, such as these don’t get it; oftentimes in this generation when we confront someone with the Word of God it hardens their hearts (cf. Isaiah 6:8-10). This all started with this below tweet by Tripp Fuller:
Rhodes is an alumnus of the spiritual blackhole known as Claremont School of Theology, which Fuller also attends. I have history with him so I tweeted:
I also wanted Rhodes to see it so left this comment on his Being More Christian: Loving the LGBT Community, which is the source of his earlier mocking remark:
The point is: As Christians, slaves of Christ (doulos in Greek)e don’t get to make up our own beliefs. Compromisers like Bob Rhodes are lying to the LGBT community—containing precious for whom Christ died—and leaving them locked away in the chains and darkness of their own personal prison cell of sin.
We really do need to ditch this emerging attractional evangelicalism and take an honest look at the Founder of the Christian faith, Jesus of Nazareth—perfect love in human flesh—Who didn’t just blindly tolerate people living just any ol’ way they want to as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else; not without at least trying to tell them the truth.
The fact is, they are hurting God, and themselves, not to live according to His perfect Law. And when people refused to listen, Jesus spoke louder — “You children of the devil; you brood of vipers; woe to you teachers of the Law and Pharisees; you hypocrites; you blind guides who are white-washed tombs full of dead men’s bones!”
You see, the religious leaders of our Lord’s day just didn’t get together one day and say:
Hey Caiaphas; c’mere! You know that Jesus of Nazareth? Yeah that’s right; He’s that sweet tolerant Fellow with the glowing complexion and the halo over His head. You know, the One Who is friends with all of us and has that dove on His shoulder.
Well, I’ve been thinkin’of an idea. Now, since Jesus has never even so much as criticized us publicly—or for that matter— has ever given us the slightest impression that He disagrees with us; hey, why don’t we see to it that He gets crucified!
The absolute truth is that the message of Jesus Christ runs counter to what the world, and now sadly much of evangelicalism, expects God to be like. A good analogy is that He calls you out of the world to walk the opposite way the rest of the people are going. Remember now, Romans 12:18 says — If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
As I have pointed out before, just by the way the sentence is written, you know it will not always be possible to avoid offending someone. It goes with the territory of the Christian life; and Jesus has already told us it would! Now there is a choice that has appeared before us today with crystalline clarity in the Christian community—now matter what flavor you might consider yourself.
We can listen to weak-kneed people-pleasers, such as those I mentioned earlier; or, we can listen to our Lord and Master Jesus Christ:
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. (John 15:18-20)
But know this; today I’m here to tell you in the Lord that you just cannot have it both ways.
See also:
JAMES MACDONALD, YOU DO REALIZE THIS IS ABOUT THE GOSPEL, RIGHT
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