The folly of masquerading ministers.

It is clear when you look at the state of many churches in these days that there is a liberalising agenda taking place. And this has to do with the idea of breaking the "shackles of religion" but as we will see that it not a great place to be. 

Let us take note of some important realities: 

Abandonment of God 

This is the first sign of a church which is turning in on itself-- think about what has happen in the last 10-20 years. All that has been allowed to take place in terms of redefining marriage; supporting the L.G.B.T  and the sexual revolution. The complete undoing of language to allow for nonsense words. All of this stems from one common reality and that is what the title suggests. In Ps.14 and 53 we are told of what a life looks like when one foolishly says there is no God.  vs 3 tells us that "they have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one." Do you see the point? When one lives his life out of this frame of thinking; it is deadly and deceptive. or one can say it is deadly deceptive. 

And this with several other passages come together to show the depravity of man in most explicit manner in the 3rd chapter of Roman; vs. 10-18. But this can be seen in light of the following statement:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.  For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse

 (Rom. 1: 18-20)

So we see at the heart of this "atheistic" system that has taken over-- we are dealing the suppression of the truth. That is to say, the truth of God's existence which has been demonstrated beyond all controversy.  And yet we see in the following word from one such liberal, the clear pattern for all: "I do not believe that God is a being, sitting above the clouds, pulling strings."  To put that in another form: he does not believe in a personal God who had freedom to do what ever He wills (Ps. 33:10-11). To such a person it is inconceivable that there be a God who rules sovereignly over his creation; both the redeemed and the unredeemed (Romans 9 and Eph. 1)

Paul expresses this ideal in a very thought provoking manner in these words:

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.  (Eph. 4:17-19)

 In other words, to deny or reject God existence is simply a sign that you are darkened in your understanding..." put another way: your mind has been corrupted by sin. And this leads one to abandon God. 

Rejection of the Authoritative Word 

There is a clear trajectory in this line of thinking: while they may not out rightly deny the authority of scripture and all it entail; but their lives and what they do deny ultimately leads to such a conclusion. The classic position would be that the authority of scriptures can be understand and traced to one source God Himself. But this position rejects it because they ultimately do not believe in a supernatural God nor a personal God. It is the folly that mentioned above; but it also can be summed up in reality of it being, as the writer of Ecclesiastes says: "all is vanity." (1:2) And let us note what one such man has to say on this issue in His very own words:

I do not believe that God is a being, sitting above the clouds, pulling strings. I do not believe that human beings are born evil and that only those who come to God through the blood of Jesus will be saved."

 Those are words of clarity; but let us follow the logic of this unbelieving argument as given by a "minister"  which is true in all such cases: If he does not believe in God as a being; then logically would we not conclude that he does not believe in a personal God who reveals his will in many ways including and most importantly, by His Holy Word. Yes-- that is the only way to see this whole matter. 

But then said person should not be functioning in a capacity which was given not by men but by the one whom he says does not exist. They deny each and every cardinal point of truth. And the Lord had something strong to say about such a hypocrite:  

And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honour your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)[— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”( Mark 9:-13)

Religious phonies are the worst kind of hypocrites in existence: they are acting the part of holy men under God; while they reject the core realities of said profession. And such men deserve the worse kind of condemnation out there; they are like those who were leading the Galatian astray from the truth. Paul says:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Gal. 1: 6-9)

 Accursed  (Greek: anathema). There we have it! Not only do such men come under the strictest kind of judgement (James 3:1); but they are put under the worst kind of sentencing possible twice (Gal. 1: 8;9). But the bottom line in this is clear such men will ultimately reject the Word of God because of their abandonment of God. 

 The pragmatic underpinning of liberalism

While it may be true that these men are very clever and smart; we need to be careful to fall for their ever so subtle tricks. There message may sound very up on the beat; very modern and promising. But underneath it all there is a deceit so grand that it can not be ignored. And that is the clear poison being introduced.  Long ago Pilate asked Jesus regarding his position on what he taught this question: "what is truth?" (Jn. 18) And that same danger has represented itself in a different mask. 

Here are two things that need to be clearly identified:

1.  Aversion to the truth. Think about it for a moment: when Christ brought the Jewish usurpers back to the Scriptures to test their claims; traditions; and even their lives. we clearly see this negative reaction many times; and it is something that must be done for the sake of both the truth and those who need it. For they need to be set free from all that has been binding them to sin include false teaching of every kind. The Paul even made it a mandate for us to test what we hear against that which is God-breathed. But Christ said this:

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. (John 17: 16-19)

Truth is a concrete thing and it is definitional of God very being. He is truth; and therefore, we can know truth. But because God is Triune each member is truth. (John 13-16); And because we united Christ and have the Spirit, we are therefore: in the truth and of the truth too. And that is what John 18 33-38.

2. Revision of moral absolutes. This could be the clearest evidence of what we have been considering-- these men are subjective pragmatics at best. They cannot and will not say a particular act is evil as they do not have a standard to appeal too.  One of these men has said in the past: "The ability to define and to separate good from evil can no longer be achieved with appeals to ancient codes like the Ten Commandments or even the Sermon on the Mount." And if this is the position of most; then what is left for them: there own subjectivity. The book of Isaiah has this to say:

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! (5:21)

 As a result of this abandonment of God and rejection of His word what we are seeing is that men are more than willing to act of their depravity; and call it holy. A complete reversal of what God has instilled in humanity at large. 

 

In conclusion: what we see is that such a man is not fit to be a pastor of any description as what he want to put forth is a violation of what the position is meant for. Paul says to Timothy: 

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also (2 Timothy 2: 1-2)

There it is! But what is he to teach (and yes-- it is only men who fill this role)? We read two chapters later:

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. (2 Tim. 4:1-2)

  

He is to preach the Word. That is clear as day: he is to preach the scriptures which God has given us. And only them.