A Review of Trends of the Last Hundred Years:
Note: these trends are not really the source of the problem. The source is because the church is, in general, law-less, meaning they do not recognize the Law of God as their mandate. Also, they don’t recognize that they are meant to be grafted in branches, joining the natural branches of Israel, not Israel joining them. It’s similar to the state of Israel when they were freed from the bondage of Egypt…and before they received the Law at Sinai. There the Gentiles took the form of the ‘mixed multitudes’ that received freedom along with Israel. This entire multitude were ‘free’ but this is not the state they were meant to remain in. They were meant to willingly exchange one form of ‘bond-servant’ for another, not remain wandering in ‘freedom’. This the church has by and large, never done.
1. Lack of Biblical Knowledge and Discernment: Satan deceives believers into thinking the study of God’s Word, in order to seek His truth and expose our sins, is no longer as relevant or not appropriate for seekers. In an effort to make Bible studies appeal to a modern and post-modern mindset, a main focus of study has become identifying personal opinions of the meaning of Bible passages, or of studying religious books of personal opinion, instead of carefully searching out God’s will in every matter.
Busy-ness in family life and a greater focus on leisure activities have also contributed to lack of Bible study. The Bible teaches us to study God’s Word to learn His will, to be sure to obey what He teaches us, and to teach others (Joshua 1:8, Ezra 7:10, Psalm 119:15, 2 Timothy 2:14-15).
2. Women in office: (maybe not the way you’ve thought of it before) Satan deceives women, first in society in general, and then in the church, into thinking they are not equal to men, and that they have to rise up and set themselves in positions of authourity with and over men in order to become equal. In the church, women seek headship over men, usurping the equal-but-different role God gave them (Genesis 2). Paul refers to these ordained earthly roles in 1 Corinthians 11 and 1 Timothy 2. In general, men are more reason-oriented, and women are more feelings and emotions oriented. Most modern churches now have strong feminine leadership influence, which has helped prepare the way of experience based faith.
3. Charismatic ‘revival’: Satan deceives believers into thinking they need to have an emotional experience to ‘prove’ they are saved; also, that if they didn’t have this experience, they are missing out on the fullness of God’s intent for them. A life of simple obedience is no longer considered complete. Believers who are uncomfortable with this are told they have set limitations on God, and are counseled to let go of inhibitions in order to attain this experience and enhance their ‘spiritual formation’.
The Biblical idea of worship as encompassing a lifestyle and mindset of obedience to God, has been redefined to mean a time period of singing, dancing, praying and spiritual manifestations as ‘the Spirit leads’. Most modern believers lack a sound Biblical basis to examine and test these spiritual experiences. The Bible teaches that it is faith (trust) in God and His Salvation (Yeshua) that saves us (Genesis 15:6, Psalm 78:22,32, Mark 16:16, John 3:18). The Bible also teaches that true faith requires us to turn from our own way (repentance) to God’s way (Ezekiel 18:31-32, Revelation 3:2-3) and live a life of purity (James 1:22, 2:26, 1 John 3:3-6) according to God’s commandments.
4. Kingdom Now theology: This false teaching, also called Dominionism or Reconstructionism, is a loose blend of Reformed/Calvinist (even hyper-Calvinist) doctrines with charismatic overtones, and has broad and remarkable influence in the modern church.
The three foundational beliefs are:
- Satan usurped Adam and Eve’s authourity to rule the world;
- having replaced Israel and having appropriated Israel’s covenantal rights, the church is viewed as God’s instrument to take back control as she evangelizes the whole earth;
- Christ will not return until the church has gained dominion over the world by establishing right human relations.
In contrast, the Bible teaches that:
- it is not man, but Christ who will establish his Kingdom on earth, after man’s efforts have failed (Isaiah 2, Micah 4:6-7, 2 Thess 2:3-4).
- the visible reign and earthly Kingdom of Christ will come when he returns in glory (Isaiah 11, Mark 13:24-27, Rev 1:7).
- God will never forget Israel and His covenant with her (Jeremiah 31:35-37, Isaiah 49:7-8, Hosea 2:17-19, Zechariah 4:9).
5. Ecumenism: Churches of every denomination and sect struggle with the same declining attendance and lack of a sense of relevance of religion to personal life. Satan deceives church leaders into believing a sense of unity is more important for the church to survive than a continued separation over doctrinal differences. A similarity of charismatic spiritual experiences among denominations and sects, through forms of contemplative prayer, and a secular mandate of tolerance for all difference have aided this movement.
6. Freemasonry: Freemasonry is a secretive cult that promotes a New World Order with a united religion, common market and single universal government, with one leader, which the Bible describes as a false 'anointed one' (false christ). The influence of freemasonry within the church, religious (rabbinic) Judaism and secular culture is far-reaching.
7. Co-Creators: Genesis 1:26-27, which states that man is made in God’s image, is redefined to mean that since God is Creator, man is co-creator with God. This is a basic tenet of New Age belief but is being welcomed in churches. A focus on human creativity is especially emphasized in worship or prayer experience. Emergent theologian Rob Bell goes so far as to state in his DVD ‘Open’ that the ‘creation poem’ teaches that God purposely left creation unfinished, ‘and invites people to take part in the ongoing creation of the world.’ In the fullness of this new age/ancient teaching, all creation together is viewed as “God”, or all creation is IN God.
8. Emergent church: This movement is characterized by an often subtle but distinctly subversive attitude towards authourity, particularly that of church, Scripture or parents, as well as irreverence towards God. Worship and preaching style is often designed to shock or offend the status quo in crass or base ways. Sexuality is frequently emphasized. Those who hold to Scripture authourity and simple faith are mocked or shown disrespect, though this is often done in subtle ways. Emergent theology is frequently linked with beliefs of new age and dominionism.
9. Contemplative prayer: Though the Bible teaches that Scripture is the “norming norm,” many Christians give precedence to other supposed forms of revelation, and particularly promptings, leadings or “the still, small voice”. They do this without knowing or seeming to care about testing the spirits. Most people who embrace contemplative prayer turn to these ‘voices’ or experiences as the supreme form of revelation from ‘God’. Ultimately this is an issue of authority, with too many Christians willing to trust their own or an authority they perceive as ‘God’s’ (but rooted within themselves) over the Bible’s. This is an experience-based form of prayer and is not found anywhere in Scripture. However, it is widespread, with forms of the same prayer style found in every major religion on earth, each pray-er finding their own translation of ‘God’ within this prayer form. It’s also called ‘ancient-modern’ or ‘centering’ prayer.
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