Saturday 14 July 2012

Which Are The Dangerous Churches?

Which is the more dangerous church of the two - the mixed church or the apostate church?  Obviously the first because with the apostate church you know exactly what you are dealing with, but with mixed churches you do not always know what they believe.  One minister preaches a clear Gospel yet his neighbour tells nothing but man-made stories, reads well-constructed essays or delivers application-free Bible studies.  One man believes it is wrong to baptise the children of unbelieving church members, but his colleague in the same denomination will baptise anything that passes mirror test.  You what the mirror test is, don't you?  You place a mirror underneath the nostrils of a baby and if mist appears on the mirror, you baptise it.

The mixed church gives the impression that it holds to Biblical faith and religion, and makes no bones about it; but when you assess what is being taught, you discover something quite different.  You will find theological compromise and unfaithfulness to the Gospel; virtually no standards for church membership; accept people who show no interest whatever in the Gospel or in spiritual things; and on and on the list could go.

Churches that are theologically and spiritually mixed will find willing defenders within its orthodox ministers and elders.  To them the Gospel of salvation is at best secondary to the church itself.  They glory in the fact that their church is a "broad church" that accepts unbelievers into membership and also into the eldership, including the ministry.

Denominational people see the church as being confined to their "own kind," hence the resentment when a member leaves their church and goes elsewhere.  They need their churches to be thoroughly mixed in membership because they know they could not depend on Christian members giving well enough to keep the doors open.

The greatest challenge to the true church of Christ on earth are those churches that defend the right of unbelievers, some of whom are notoriously godless, being given the right of full church membership and their infants being given the full privileges of church membership.

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