False Teachers and their Golden Calves

Caveat:

Last week I began to put everything I believe about false teaching into a small little blog. That proved impossible. So today I've decided to refocus and put a call out to my church family and anyone who wants to talk about what I present and challenge. Let's ask questions and try to bring a uniformed and coherency to our thoughts concerning false teaching.

Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, "this is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt." Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord."

Exodus 32:3-5

I start with this old testament story because I think it is a great example for the basis for what a Christian should deem as false. The first time I came across this story was probably in a children's Sunday school setting. The moral of the story back then seemed to be "don't worship idols like TV or sports heroes." Now I'm a little upset that the main point of this story was not proclaimed and driven as deep into me. What I read in Exodus 32 is a very clear message that correct Theology is vitally important. Jesus says in John 4 that "the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth... God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." Theology is that truth side of worship. The Israelites didn't believe they were giving credit to another God in Exodus 32. The problem was their mode of worship and their Theology. They believed falsely of their God. How did they come to these false beliefs of God? There must have been false teaching present. Some Egyptian idea of God had joined itself to the true knowledge of God passed down through Jacob's sons. We call this Synergism. The result is a golden calf. A perversion of the Truth. Moses then instructs the tribe of Levi to kill three thousand men responsible for this offense against God. Talk about Theological purification. I don't mean that to be funny.

Today our churches are filled with many different theological ideas. Men lean on other things than the Bible for their theological code. As a result many have set up theological golden calves. They have a view of God that is faulty and perhaps a half truth mixed with a lie. Our Lord has allowed many of these calves to stand unchallenged. I would like to remind the reader of the church in Ephesus whom Paul addresses directly and indirectly in the New Testament. Paul himself set in place the eldership in Ephesus. For nearly three years he discipled and labored to have the church founded in Biblical Truth and Faith in Christ. Finally Paul addresses his elders in Acts 20 before his departure. Paul prophetically tells them to their faces that from among them will come wolves. 

Imagine the pastor of your church is handing over the church to you and a handful of other elders and says, "By the way some of you guys will turn out to be false teachers. Basically some of you men are enemies of God who like Satan want a measure of glory for themselves. You'll make up your own teachings and proclaim them so that people will leave sound Christian beliefs and follow you because you are more eloquent and your message makes men feel good about themselves and their own works." Ouch.

When facing Acts 20, my mind is blown. Paul elevates the gospel above the elder. He has made these men elders so that means that they meet the qualifications of church leaders in 1st Timothy and Titus. Yet he knows that some of them are not truly saved. He cannot be sure who, but the Spirit has told him that some of the men standing before him are like wolves in sheep's clothing. This must have been heartbreaking for the Apostle Paul. Since God did not deemed it necessary to sovereignly weed out the false teachers before they began teaching falsely, we can only guess that He must have meant this to be a Deuteronomy 13 situation. God values the testing of our faith. God wants the real followers of Christ to know who the false converts are. 

Yesterday I was talking to my brother Jack on the phone. We were talking about Persecution the church in America. I think it is obvious that a lot of our problems in our American churches will be solved when persecution comes. Our golden calves (false ideas about God) and our modes of worshiping God (how we glorify God through our lives) will be melted away. At that point the true worshippers of God will be evident. Those who's unseparated [theology and life] is a daily blessing to the church and a glory to God.

 

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron...

1st Timothy 4:1,2

"Fascinating and Frightening"

Scroll down and watch video first.

...God has a Sovereign sense of humor. The anchor doesn't even realize her story gets away from her. Voddie blind-sides the anchorwoman with his antifeminist comments. CNN must not come across conservative Christians as sharp and as committed to Biblical Truth as Voddie Baucham very often. Thank you Ted Turner for helping to get out the Truth. That was refreshing.

Points of contention (in case you aren't familiar with the opposing view points)

1. Scripture is superior to our own cultures. Preconceived ideas about God and his Word often lead us away from Truth. This is what it means to approach God humbly. It is to say to Him who saved your soul, "I do not know the truth. I need your Word to form and cleanse my mind."

2. Authors' exclusive intent. Don't play "Fast and Loose with the Text"--meaning don't just cut a scripture out of its context to paste it to fit your argument. Allow the context of a text to dictate how you view the social climate of our Day. It seems that everyone always wants the Bible to back up their argument, but when they actually come to the Word of God honestly, they can see plainly that God is in opposition to most of the things they espouse and tell other that God too approves. This is devastating. 

3. A Woman's role. Wow I'm not even going to touch that one. I much to immature and unlearned and single to have anything worthwhile to say. My apologies. 

Love Wins

I have a friend with a bumper sticker. It says Love Wins. This statement was made and canonized by a brilliant communicator named Rob Bell.

Rob Bell is the Pastor of Mars Hill in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He and his associates have been attacked, sometimes mercilessly, for their doctrinal statements, their fellowship with non-christian faiths, and refusal to condemn open sin within the four walls of their church. This banner that flies above Mars Hill (Love Wins) is used as a way to deflect incoming criticism. It really is a work of genius. To stick your head high in a war of words and choose to "Love" instead of returning fire, creates a congregation of persecuted and unified people.

Locally, Mars Hill's greatest enemy is the megachurch Resurrection Life. The Resurrection Life consensus seems to be: Mars Hill's stole Res Life members. These former Res Lifers have abandoned their faith to follow after a man and his strange teachings. When these feelings were voiced, sadly real rifts grew between families and within families. 

On the great world wide web, Christian watchdog sites like apprising ministries have their readers constantly up to date on the latest heresy uttered from Rob Bell's mouth. It seems that every public venue that Mr. Bell speaks at must have a listening ear feeding the bloggers everywhere juicy tidbits. Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill in Seattle, Washington, gave probably one of the best overall critiques of the Emergent Movement in America at the 2007 Convergent Conference.

And to all these words spoken against Rob Bell and his work, a simple white on black bumper sticker responds. Love Wins. Is that true? At the risk of being one more voice yelling crucify, let me ask two questions that need to be asked about this Love Wins statement. 1) What is their definition of Love? 2) Will their definition of love truly win over the yelling of nay sayers?

1. The Rob Bell version of Love is a silent love. It would rather not confront and ask the hard questions that only a true loving friend would ask. Iron sharpens iron. Is there no friction involved in sharpening? Real love would rather sacrifice the peace of the friendship so that a greater good can be accomplished; freedom from bondage to sin.

2. The Apostle Paul made a stop in Athens on one of his missionary trips. The book of Acts says he was brought before the Stoic philosophers that sat upon Mars Hill and heard and discussed new teachings and ideas. When Paul was given the floor, he brought a message void of the Cross. Void of Christ. It was a Rabbinic teaching much like the philosophizing of Rob Bell. As a result, no church is established in Athens. (The Irony is almost unreal). Paul's failure at Mars Hill so depresses him that by the time he comes to Corinth, he has "decided to know nothing except Christ, and him Crucified." This "love" that Rob Bell champions will not win over the nay sayers. Because it is not just silent, impotent. It is not love at all. The nay sayers, whether Christian or not, see only words and ideas. They like those at Athens are unimpressed and unchanged.

...I sent a text the other day. It read, "At Mars Hill Paul failed, but Love Wins."