A well known British former atheist, now born-again Christian, gave an interview on television recently and in answer to a question, he described today’s atheists as, “self-satisfied, arrogant, intolerant, completely resistant to any kind of outside argument and contemptuous of it.” A casual glance in the numerous Internet forums proves him to be 100% accurate with his description – especially when the discussions turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible and Christians. On the other hand, I cannot get away from the thought that these characteristics apply not only to atheists.
From my experience, the same characteristics apply to religious people as well – including church-goers who do/will not believe the Bible to be God’s Word and Final Authority – plus practising Christians who substitute the literal, plain-sense meanings of Scripture in favor of some other interpretive method. The manifestations of these characteristics can often be expressed differently between the two groups, with angry resistance applying to the first, and passive resistance applying to the second. Nevertheless, these are the characteristics that have shown up in opposition to me since I chose to become a Holy Spirit-led, Jesus Christ-centered, Bible-based born-again Christian back in 1985.
From what I can discern, it matters little if one rejects the Bible as God’s Word and Final Authority or if one rejects the literal, plain-sense interpretations in favor of some other method. Why? Because both are bordering on atheism in my opinion. The dictionary tells us that an atheist is someone who does not believe in the existence of God. But if we start playing “god” with the Bible, what makes us any different than an atheist? If we reject certain Scriptures because we don’t understand them or don’t like them, what makes us any different? New Testament James 2:19 shows us that even the demons believe in God – but they tremble in fear of Him.
Believing in God really is not the issue. The issue each Christian must ask themselves is, “do I believe God?” If I do, I will not tamper with the Bible, water it down, or spiritualize and allegorize it so as I can by-pass that which I don’t understand or like in the way of literal, plain-sense meanings. On the contrary, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, I will submit to it, embrace it, live it out, exalt it and proclaim it. And as I continue to do so, God Almighty (in His time) will progressively deliver me from self-satisfaction, arrogance, intolerance, resistance and contempt for TRUTH.
Churches throughout the western world love to place a great emphasis on relationship building and unity. However, most of it is bogus. It is only the appearance of such. Genuine relationship building and unity is founded on TRUTH as one whole, not on half-truths or partial truths. Jesus has told us that we will, “live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” Matthew 4:4 cf. Deuteronomy 8:3. No wonder that the institutionalized church is dead – it committed suicide through starvation the day it decided to disbelieve the word of the Lord Jesus. To consistently deny or reject any one part of Scripture is to fail to understand that TRUTH is whole, just as a loaf of bread is whole.
It matters not how it looks, but even if one slice of bread is removed from the loaf, then all appearances that it is still a whole loaf are illusionary. That’s how it is with TRUTH. Because TRUTH is rejected in those institutions, all appearances of sound relationships and unity are just as illusionary. That is the reason many Christians are deceived. They’ve embraced the partial, believing they have the whole. And I have found that lots of Christians will not have it any other way. When testing time comes (as it most surely will for all who claim Jesus as Lord) not “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” is received, but on the contrary, only that which is palatable.
In my association with churches and sitting under leaders & teachers, I’ve been amazed by the doctrinal viewpoints held, versus those rejected. And in all cases, when it gets right down to it, it has been men, traditions, denominations and “special” groups that have gotten the glory – not God. When God fails to get all glory, deception very soon takes root and it is not long before it rules – even if in some cases, ever so subtly. If I liken those doctrines held to, as slices of bread taken from the loaf, then that’s all they are – slices! One can call it a loaf (whole) but they’re still only slices, no matter what I say to the contrary. We cannot play games with TRUTH.
One’s attitude towards all biblical Scripture is one’s attitude towards God. It has been said that we do not believe God more than we believe His Scriptures, nor do we obey God more than we obey His Scriptures. How can we? The church also comprises of multitudes of people who believe that love is the unifying factor, much more so than doctrine (TRUTH). They say doctrine divides. False doctrine divides. So it should. Doctrines that teach people they belong to “the one true church” divide. Doctrines that teach men & women as equals in Church Leadership, divide. Doctrines that teach Sinless Perfection, divide. Doctrines that teach church leaders as being the human face of Jesus Christ, divide. They are doctrines from hell.
True doctrine divides too. It sorts out the religious from the real. It sorts out the pretender for biblical faith from the contender for biblical faith. It sorts out the professor of Jesus from the possessor of Jesus. So yes, doctrine divides and that is a good thing. Jesus has told us that He did not come to bring peace, but a sword. He came to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, saying also, that our enemies will be in our own household etc. Matthew 10:34-36. That’s why non-compromising biblical believers have enemies in the institutionalized church! That is why the self-satisfied and arrogant are intolerant and completely resistant to any kind of “outside argument and contemptuous of it.”
Standing for TRUTH in the church is much harder than standing for the same in the world, I have found. It is one thing to be told I have no love by “unbelievers” but quite something else to be told this by so-called fellow believers. Some “unbelievers” can be quick to insult, abuse and quote, “judge not least you be judged….” but believers (much more covertly) will quote 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. However, in every case where they’ve quoted this passage to me, there has been a complete lack of acknowledgement from them towards 1 Corinthians 13:6, “love does not rejoice in iniquity (in this case, Scriptural compromise, rejection or disobedience), but love rejoices in the truth.” It’s as though that verse doesn’t exist for them!
There can be no true love for others without at first true love for God. There can be no true love for God without at first true love for His word. True love will always obey TRUTH, teach TRUTH, and be on the alert for anything that seeks to devalue & destroy TRUTH. Otherwise, it’s not true love regardless of who says what about it. We are living in the perilous times spoken of in 2 Timothy 3:1-9. This passage of Scripture describes the very worst of human behavior. Now, if it were speaking of unbelievers alone, we may have little cause for alarm. But that is not the case. The apostle Paul is referring also to religious people in the church, “having a form of godliness but denying it’s power.”
Added to this, nowhere in that passage is there any suggestion that these church people are ignorant of God’s power. They know exactly what they are doing and that is why they can be classed as self-satisfied, arrogant, intolerant, etc. All Christians would be wise to heed God’s warnings about this. What starts out at the beginning as seemingly harmless when denying the Bible as God’s Word and Final Authority – or – substituting literal, plain-sense meanings for some other method of interpreting the Scriptures, will, through the principle of gradualism, be turned into complete denial of TRUTH and full-on apostasy. Once this happens, there will be no turning back from it.
Large sectors of Christendom have embraced a teaching that says in these last days, before Jesus’ returns, the church will experience one mighty, world-wide revival, whereby multitudes will turn to Jesus. Yet Jesus Himself twice warns us, as does the bulk of the New Testament, that we can expect nothing but apostasy in the last days, as bad as what it was in the days of Noah and Lot Matthew 24:37 -38; Luke 17:28-30. We can deny that all together, or, we can reinterpret it by pulling other Scriptures out of context and make it say something else, or, we can spiritualize and allegorize and make it say something else again. But it will change nothing!
So, as Christians, who are we going to believe? Who are we going to obey? We only have two choices – God or religious man. Most people will make the choice to believe and obey religious man. They always have and always will. That is why in the end times there will be one almighty rising up of the false church – the Whore of Babylon, as it is so aptly symbolized in Revelation 17. “….Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:17-18. “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have the Son of God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.” 2 John 9.