Dr. MacArthur's article on Deliverance is an expanded version of this article and very insightful.
Why? Because they serve another Master.
It’s sad anyone believes a man can be saved without being a Christian. Then again, nothing really surprises me. We know “narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Most people live and die without ever understanding the way of salvation, even people on church roles.
I understand his point and I agree. I will read the larger article. This excerpt read somewhat like a rant. Truly an important rant however.
You can turn on your television and watch TBN. Everybody that comes on is embraced as a Christian, even though it’s just…just filled with false teachers and people who obviously haven’t been delivered…
Really? He knows who’s a Christian and who’s not! When did God give him that power to determine who’s saved!!
Would you please post the follow up article? I would like to read the next one. Thanks!
While I agree with most everything MacArthur says, I would ask, what is the solution?
A doctrinal checklist that we have to sign off on before we can have fellowship? Who writes the list? How many issues are on it? 10? 100? 1,000? Who decides how many have to be checked “correctly” before one is accepted?
Or should evangelicals have their own “Inquisition”?
I remember a couple years after entering the ministry, I was in a restaurant eating breakfast studying my Bible. I thought a group next to me were believers by their talk, and sure enough, as they were leaving one came up to me. He began asking me questions: Did I believe in Jesus? His death, burial, resurrection? Ascension? Bodily return?
And so he went on through about 20 matters. He definitely was in an inquisition mode. He was stern. I was being interrogated. It troubled me.
Finally, when I had properly answered all of his questions correctly enough to satisfy him that I truly was a believer, he shouted, “Praise the Lord!”, gave a big smile and gave me a big hug.
That experience deeply troubled me, and for years I’ve used it as an example - of how we are NOT to have fellowship when we meet other believers.
I believe that when one says they are a Christian, we initially take them at their word, and seek to fellowship in the Lord. In time, we will find if they are truly believers. Then we can decide on our level of fellowship with them.
Another issue is that true believers in Christ do not all share the same doctrines - we all know this. What do we do here? At what point do we accept doctrinal differences, and at what point to we make it an issue of fellowship?
Paul said he preached “Jesus Christ and Him crucified...”, strongly implying that that was the foundation and focus of his ministry. Jesus Christ, His Person, and His work. The essentials of salvation.
What our dear brother has not addressed, at least in what I’ve read so far, is a solution to the problem. How do we join in fellowship with other true believers while in no way further dividing the already incredibly splintered body of Christ?
This is the elephant in the room. It is one thing to describe the problem.
And wholly another to provide a solution.
If so led, and if I have time, I may offer my thoughts on a solution at a later time.......
19 If they were all one member, where would the body be? 20 But now there are many members, but one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
“The gospel is more often attacked on TBN than it is on NBC.”
I agree. That station is horrible. Non stop prosperity “gospel” round the clock. They have their moments with playing old movies but the rest is like watching infomercials.
“Iain Murray again writes, “When churches have recovered from apostasy, historically, such as at the time of the Reformation and the eighteenth century evangelical revival…it has always been…by a return to such discriminating preaching and practice.” What he means is when there’s ever a recovery from a time of apostasy, it has come when preaching has become discriminating.
What does it mean to discriminate? If you say you discriminate, what does it mean? If you say…you hear people say, be a discriminating buyer, what does that mean? It means that you can choose the best out of the lot, right? You know how to discriminate. It means to discern. The only hope for the church is discriminating, discerning preaching. I don’t think there’s any organizational answer. I don’t think we need more meetings, more seminars. We need preachers who will stand up and preach discriminating messages.
And Murray says, “Given the great decline in the English-speaking churches of the twentieth century, the chief need again was the reassertion of the meaning of being a Christian.” Wow! The chief hope for the church is discriminating preaching primarily directed at the issue of who is a Christian.”
Exactly. Today’s “church” is full of undiscernment and indiscriminate thought and belief. That’s why Western culture is in the mess it’s in today.
While I believe it’s possible for born-again Christians and pro-life Catholics to work together somewhat, evangelicals have allowed Catholics to represent them far too often. There are the “conservative Catholics” on the Supreme Court, as well as Rick Santorum, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, etc. It’s not like these politicians have an ability to attact Catholics in general. The only ones who vote for them are Catholics who would vote Republican anyway. So why is Bible-believing Christianity represented by almost noone but Catholics today? It seems to be because even conservative Catholics still don’t hold to the Bible as their highest authority.