I know my warnings of Joel Osteen's teaching must trouble some of my dear friends. But his doctrinal omissions can confuse, even deceive, the sheep. We live in a time when the integrity of the Bible faces great challenges—from liberal theologians, from the new emerging church teachers, and from psychologically oriented purveyors of happiness and self-fulfillment. But where are the warners?
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| Who will warn them? |
Too few of today’s shepherds are warning the sheep. Given the aforementioned attack on sound doctrine, I do not understand why. It makes me wonder if “political correctness” (concern about offending people) has so penetrated the church, we have become fearful of appearing confrontational. I wasn't shocked when Joel Osteen wouldn't say that Mormons are not Christians, but when Franklin Graham, appearing on CNN, avoided answering the question, I was a little surprised.
While I understood that Graham wisely chose not to feed the Media's appetite for sensational soundbites, the question remains: who will speak the truth? It appears “truth has stumbled in the streets and is nowhere to be found” (Is. 59:14). Paul said, "For 3 years I never stopped warning you that men will distort the truth" (Acts 20:30). John said, “Do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit, but test them to see if they are from God; there are many false prophets” (1 Jn 4:1). When did you last hear a sermon warning you of false doctrine or teachers?
Greg,
ReplyDeleteThe existence of Hell as a real place, the identity of Christ as God-come-in-the flesh, the adequacy of God to care for His saints in the midst of their greatest stresses, these and many more truths that are included in the "faith once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3) are now being called into question by American Christendom.
What used to be unthinkable for a Christian to actually entertain even for a moment has now become trendy. One compromise in foundational theology has led to another until now, like the proverbial "frog in the kettle," we are starting to experience a slow death.
The voices of the prophets in the Old Testament testified to God's people when they erred and pointed them the way to correct their error. Much of what they said fell on deaf ears, and judgment followed. Though we are in the "Age of Grace" God's holy character has not changed; neither have His requirements for our faithfulness to live our lives pleasing to Him. With the Holy Spirit taking up residence within our heart we have much less of an excuse before God for our "itching ears" than did Old Testament Israel, and perhaps we can expect much more severe corrective measures to bring us back to the right paths.
It is all too easy to seek after the "power of His resurrection" and miscalculate that there needs to be a death first. This is America's most "inconvenient truth."
Stan
Thank you so much for your comments. And you are correct. As in the days of Noah, who was the only one to heed God's warning, few are listening or paying attention. As I said in an earlier blog, they will wake up one day and find that the enemy has not only set up camp, he's built himself a permanent dwelling in the church!!
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