Does compromise plus enabling equal heresy?
I truly believe that all three are actively at work in today's postmodern Christian church culture. In years past, those churches that obviously compromised the truth of the Bible and true Gospel (regarding sin, pride of self, ignoring and/or allowing unrepentant rebellion against God and His Word, and the re-making of Jesus Christ in their own image) were typically labeled as the "liberal" wing of Christianity.
However, compromise, enabling and heresy (CEH, for short) is creeping into Evangelical church circles at an increasingly alarming rate. Those of us (called the elect in God's Word) who see this are attempting to sound the alarm bells to warn those who may be caught up in such movements to return back to the Bible and what Jesus said was needed to inherit the kingdom of God - namely - our need to repent of sin, follow the Law (Jesus said, "if you love me, keep my commandments) and the Prophets, and the true gospel which points us towards righteousness and holiness.
Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Mar 13:22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if [it were] possible, even the elect.
The "elect" are the truly saved in Jesus Christ. Notice that Jesus himself acknowledges that the "false Christs and false prophets" [s]hall deceive the very elect. But notice what Jesus said just before those words - "if [it were] possible!! This means that it isn't going to happen! There will always be a remnant of the faithful who will not be deceived by powerful "signs and wonders" that will deceive those not genuinely born again in Christ.
Human nature (especially the nature of the unsaved) is likely to deem such terminology as elitist, bragging, or much worse. What they are missing is the fact that it is the humbling of the heart, confession of sin, repentance of all our sin, asking for mercy and grace at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ that enables us to be His (Jesus Christ's). There is no pride allowed in such an act. We know from whence we came (sinners, desperately in need of the Savior) and that if it weren't for Christ's sacrificial, substitutionary death on the cross, WE WOULD ALSO BE LOST FOR ALL ETERNITY. We can't boast in anything - but the cross of Christ.
Gal 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Look at Paul's instruction for the elect:
Col 3:12 ¶ Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Col 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also [do] ye.
Col 3:14 And above all these things [put on] charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Col 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Col 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, [do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Also, look at Jude's admonition to seek out the lost and if necessary, pull them out of the fire:
Jud 1:23 And others save with fear, pulling [them] out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
How are we to balance all of this?
Some choose to use compromise so as not to offend anyone.
Others, choose to utilize a certain level of enabling - so as to appear loving, kind, tolerant, and non-judgmental.
Still others, go all the way towards heresy - willingly or unwittingly - and may THINK they are saved but because of following false doctrine, are not.
Here are some links that discuss various forms of CEH:
Culture Watch: The Bitter Fruit of Apostasy
GCMWatch: Never Congratulate Rebellion and Sin
SAFE - Students Against False Equality: Equality Riders Respond With Arrogance at School's Hospitality
There are MANY more that I need to locate and post. Also, if you have links you would like to include (there are several on abortion I need to locate) please post them in the comment section.
Ultimately, the primary reason that the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Word, the Bible is rejected by those who are CINOS (Christian in name only) is discussed in this post:
Immorality - One of the Main Reasons People Reject God
After reading that post, go over and read Carlotta's blogpost entitled What Exactly is Gay Bashing? Read the comments, too. Quite eye-opening.
Carlotta points out the fact that hyper-tolerance towards homosexual activism has created an intolerant vacuum - designed to silence Bible believing Christians. She also demonstrates that there is much more at stake in the same-sex marriage issue due to such a fact:
Gay bashing is a very important term, because if gay marriages are approved permanently, then it may come to the courts to decide that “gay bashing” is illegal and therefore punishable. If it’s okay for gays to be married, then it certainly has to be okay period! Which is why it’s so important for many of us to take the stand for marriage between men and women. It seems to be coming to that point with people being fired from jobs, suspended from schools, and etc for people merely expressing disagreement with the gay sexual orientation.
This agrees with what I had read in the book "The Homosexual Agenda - Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today."
It's not only about "gay marriage," people. If these activists get their way - your Christian religious rights WILL BE TAKEN AWAY. Once legitimization of sodomites happens through the acceptance of such unions as "marriage," then the persecution of those who adhere to God's Word on the subject will reach an all time high. Mark my words!
There are Christians who (unfortunately) don't understand the dire consequences of this issue. Proposition 8 MUST PASS IN CALIFORNIA! VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 8!!!
Excerpt from "The Homosexual Agenda":
The Price for Taking a Stand
The reality is that radical homosexual activists and their allies are looking for any opportunity to attack and silence any church that takes a biblical stand with regard to homosexual behavior, regardless of denomination.
[T]he heat is only going to get higher and and temptation to compromise the gospel in face of persecution is going to become more attractive. However, if the church fails to stand strong in the face of attack, then its very reason to exist (evangelization to spread the gospel) is compromised.
This book was published in 2003. We can already see how prophetic those paragraphs are because we are seeing such things happening right before our very eyes!
In the comment section at Carlotta's blog, here is a portion of one of her responses to a homosexual man named "Ted":
But fortunately I don’t have to depend upon my own thinking to decide whether or not homosexuality is wrong - a sin. You are relying upon YOUR own thinking to come to your conclusions. The only way your conclusions can make sense is if the bible is completely rejected, because otherwise, we have a very powerful, reliable source as a guidebook for the human being. The Lord knows we wouldn’t have thought of this ourselves!
As far as our civil rights are concerned, the bible talks about the moral code being written upon our hearts, given to us by God. That’s how we have the laws on murder, stealing, etc, and etc. God gave those to us! There are things that fit and things that don’t and it doesn’t take a genious to figure out that homosexuality is NOT natural! Every human being on earth has one mother and one father. That’s natural!
So you can cry the blues about us taking away your civil rights but it’s actually America leaning away from the moral code written and given to us by God Himself. We are heading for certain societal destruction if we ignore this code.
That I assure you!
Hebrews 10:16-18
“This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds. “Then he adds:
“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.
Carlotta shared a verse from Hebrews that shows THE ONLY WAY OUT from our sins and lawless acts; be they homosexual, heterosexual, or the breaking of any of the other laws God has given man in the Bible. God's laws are HIS LAWS! No man's opinion trumps the truth of this!!
Now, the title of this post includes the word "enabling." I want to share a story about this from chapter ten of "The Homosexual Agenda" book:
A new missionary was walking the streets of Colombia one day, a nation ravaged by organized crime and rampant drug use, accompanied by a Christian native of the country. As he walked the streets of the country, child after child would come up to the missionary and beg him for money. Even though he had limited funds, it was his inclination to give whatever he could to these poor and destitute children. However, his Christian companion quickly admonished him that giving into the demands of the children would cause the children more harm than good.
"You see," his companion said, "these children are trapped by the mafia at an early age to go begging in the streets. The crime syndicate breaks their fingers and other horrible things are done to them. But if you give in and just hand them the money, they will just take the money to the mafia and all it will do is perpetuate the problem. You may have thought that you helped the child, but all you did was treat a symptom, the cause of the problem will go on and on, and future generations of children will fall into the same trap."
*This story was told to Craig Osten by an employee of Food for the Hungry, and internationsl relief ministry.
This story also serves as an analogy when it comes to our response to those trapped in homosexual behavior.
Many Christian ministries that are devoted to helping men and women out of sinful sexual activity attempt to "speak the truth in love." This does not mean that they should be telling those who are actively violating God's standards for marriage and sexual activity that what they are doing is "OK" in God's eyes. Yet, this is what some Christians are doing when they compromise and enable fellow Christians who desire to continue with sinful behavior.
Book excerpt:
It is vital for members of the Body of Christ to understand the homosexual agenda and how it threatens many personal and religious freedoms. If we sit back and surrender, giving those involved in homosexual behavior everything they think they want, we are just like the missionary in Colombia who thought he was solving a problem but instead making it worse.
Jesus told us, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his own soul?"
What is that worth??
These dear people lost and trapped in sinful behavior and relationships will never be able to hear and respond to Christ's redemptive love for them!!
What's more, our ability to raise our own children and grandchildren to know and live the uncensored Christian life and faith is at risk as well. Parental rights are also an essential part of religious freedom: the ability to raise and guide one's own children and grandchildren according to one's God-given, Bible following, Christian beliefs.
Excerpt:
We cannot allow [a false understanding] of love to trump truth." In our hope of being accepted, we have often backed away from the spiritual battle for the hearts and souls of men. Rather than confront the culture, we have often chosen to conform to it. Instead of promoting self-fulfillment in our churches, we must get back to modeling self-sacrifice. Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for us, and like him, we must be humble servants and not haughty judges. We need to point the individual traped in homosexual behavior to the true cross, not a revised, meaningless gospel that requires no sacrifice, no repentance, and provides no real lasting deliverance from sin and its pain and sorrow.
We must be willing to be salt and light in our culture, no matter what the price.
This is what is known as the agape love of Christ.
I realize that the homosexual men and women who come to this blog and post comments don't understand that true Christian love expressed for them is a love where we want to see them redeemed from a lifestyle of certain, ultimate despair.
There are SO MANY who have been released from the bondage of homosexual behavior and identity and redeemed through faith in Jesus Christ! Several of these dear people have posted comments here and have shared their testimonies!
Deliverance is real - when one is repentant and redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ which was shed on that cross at Calvary over 2,000 years ago!
My prayer is that those involved in compromising churches (on this issue as well as many other non-biblical movements); enabling churches that refuse to call sin what it is - rebellion and separation from Holy God; and heretical churches that ultimately lead to apostasy and rejection of Christ, will be spiritually awakened by the Truth.
Each of us will spend eternity in one of two places. Choose God's Kingdom!
Mat 7:13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
Mat 7:14 "Because[fn1] narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Mat 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
Mat 7:16 "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
Mat 7:17 "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
Mat 7:18 "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
Mat 7:19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Mat 7:20 "Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Mat 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Mat 7:22 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
Mat 7:23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
Mat 7:24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
Mat 7:25 "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
Mat 7:26 "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
Mat 7:27 "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."
Mat 7:28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching,
Mat 7:29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Reference source: The Homosexual Agenda by Alan Sears and Craig Osten
HT's: Christocentric, GCMWatch, Culture Watch, SAFE, Coral Ridge.org
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Update: There is an absolutely excellent and thorough post over at Neil's Eternity Matters blog called, Endless Errors From Soulforce