“You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”  (Matthew 15:7-9)

Pious Words And Deeds Have Never Fooled God

Sadly, by the way we live today—and the ease in which a rapidly increasing number of serpentine deceptions are slithering into the mainstream evangelical camp—we are demonstrating that there’s far too much of our opening text within the visible Christian church today. Take for example the sinful ecumenicism of the Emerging Church aka the Emergent Church and its poisonous Emergence Christianity.

This Trojan Horse unloaded highly subjective Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) ala Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster and his spiritual twin Dallas Willard into mainstream evangelicalism, inciting full-on rebellion against Sola Scriptura. You can see how far CSM has spread e.g. in the Apprising Ministries piece Tim Keller Recommended Peter Scazzero Spreading Spurious Centering Prayer.

Using our text from the Bible above we can see that it is indeed possible to worship God in vain, and to end up with man-made doctrine; no matter how sincere—or well-intentioned—someone might be. And especially so, if we’re not careful to follow the Divine command of 1 Thessalonians 5:21 to — test everything. Notice, not some things; no, we are to test everything.

And so it now becomes obvious why it’s so important to know your Bible today; as a matter of fact, it’s absolutely critical for finite, corrupt, degenerate, sinful mankind not to trust in his flawed reasoning—himself. Listen carefully to Jeremiah 17:9 — The heart [of mankind] is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I like the way the King James Version reads — the heart is desperately wicked.

We need some objective standard of measurement—the Bible—to examine whether ideas, or rules, have come from God, man, or Satan. Otherwise, people are forever lost upon the Sea of Relativity; a ship without anchor—drifting from one conflicting opinion to another—with no real way to decide anything on a given issue, since no one person’s opinion can be considered any more right than anyone else’s.

Haven’t you ever watched a political debate, or a talk show, and observe them as they just go ’round and ’round and ’round—ad infinitum, ad nauseum? I realize that we’d all like to think we’re right; that we’re all God’s children, that God is unfair not to let people whom we consider good into His Heaven apart from the blood of Christ; and that all religions will somehow eventually lead to God.

But the Bible—His infallible, eternal, and inerrant Word—says it isn’t so. And the LORD God Almighty—by definition—is perfect and right. If we happen to think in a way that is contrary to His revealed Word, then we are…just…wrong. It really is as simple as that. There simply isn’t any Humpty Dumpty language of Alice in Wonderland; and further, you don’t have the option of holding your breath until you get your way.

Sorry about that; all you sallow seeker sensitive preachers with your Robert Schullerisms and postmodern purveyors of Bellesque mystery polluting the church today, the absolute truth is that we live in the world God created, and He makes the rules. We who are Christians—being bought with a price—-are to honor God by representing the Lord Jesus Christ, the living Word of God, without one iota of compromise.

So many difficult issues face us and the world is looking for answers “in all the wrong places,” as the popular Country song goes. However, can we afford to just sleep on when they need the absolute truths found only in the written Word of God? Beloved, it is up to us to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world; but if we don’t believe there is such a thing as absolute truths—then how can we?

Who would commit themselves to something they are not sure of; now do you see why the church today is so pathetically weak? God had His original Apostles seal their testimonies in their own blood; you just can’t get any more committed than that, yet how committed are we? Is it really such a surprise that Satan and his forces of evil minions are now mounting such a mighty attack on the Bible?

Just look at what’s happening as the visible Christian church loosens its own grasp on the Holy Scriptures…

See also:

OPRAH WINFREY, JOEL OSTEEN & CHRISTIAN POST

STEVEN FURTICK, JAMES MACDONALD, AND JOEL OSTEEN

TIM KELLER RECOMMENDED PETER SCAZZERO SPREADING SPURIOUS CENTERING PRAYER