Fake Christians and Churchianity
Fake Christians? Churchianity? Is there such things? I assure you there is. One only need look at the state of Christianity today and see that this is true. Apostate denominations, cults, false doctrine, compromising churches, and individuals that honor God with their lips, but not with their hearts. (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8)
In actuality this should not come as a surprise. As Christ himself stated,
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)
The apostate denominations/churches are usually pretty conspicuous to true believers. Such churches do not hide their distinctives (anything from denial of the Trinity to deconstruction of the Bible, the Word of God, and salvation based on works) which sets them apart.
Cults, on the other hand, are usually secretive and will not be forth coming as to all of their true beliefs. Indoctrination will possibly be a little at a time, so as not to shock the system.
Both of the above mentioned will claim to be Christian. However, many people are capable of seeing through the same. Even the secular world makes a distinction.
What I would like to focus on are churches and individuals that claim the title Evangelical Christian. Many churches, especially in the Bible Belt of the U.S., will state this proudly. In fact if you examine many of their statements of faith or church covenants, it will appear as so. However, do they practice what they preach? Let’s look at an example from 1 Corinthians Chapter 5:
“5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! 2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3 For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. 10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.
12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? 13 But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”
This episode is concerning a problem Paul was having with the Corinthian church. It seems they had been turning a blind eye to an open and blatant sin and tolerating the same within its ranks. Paul admonishes them to deal with this situation in what would probably be considered extreme or harsh today.
But…
just because it seems harsh to us, does that mean we skip over this part of the Bible and relegate it to an historical sense? Do we gloss over it because we feel it isn’t feasible or practical? Or maybe we think it is none of our business. After all, such a thing is between that individual and God. I won’t have to answer for it, they will. Or, if we start doing that people will leave the church… and take their tithe with them.
Well, I would have to say,” Are we going to pick and choose what parts of the Bible we believe and don’t believe? What scriptures we will obey and the ones we will not?” Paul also said in 2 Timothy 3:16:
16 “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”
There are some who will try and use the Old Testament and make statements such as, “Well we no longer stone people for being witches or adultery, do we?” This is completely off point. An example some people may possibly use is the woman caught in the act of adultery who is brought before Jesus in John chapter 8:
“8 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you;”
It is usually here where they stop. The only problem is there is more to verse 11, Jesus said,
…“Go and sin no more.”
Jesus has revealed to us the truth of the Old Testament. He says in Matthew chapter 5:
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
My whole point in regards to this is too many of our churches are allowing sin to be flaunted about within its midst. There is no longer a sense of church discipline, of which Paul was advising the Corinthians to engage in. It is not love to allow one to continue in such a state. When discipline is exercised it must be with love in our hearts for the restoration of that individual. If it is done out of malice, vengefulness, or a spirit of condemnation then it becomes warped.
Next, I would like to bring it down to the individual. I will address two types of people. The first is the poor deluded person who is a victim of a “false conversion”, and the second is the “Churchian”. The distinction here being, the Churchian is a regular church attender. But otherwise both are the same.
The false conversion and the Churchian will fit into one of the two bad soils (stony ground, thorny ground) in the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:
3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
The false conversion victim, at some point in their life, will have probably said or recited a “Sinners Prayer”, after being prompted or pressured by someone. Or possibly moved by an "emotional experience". This is all in contrast to a legitimate working of the Holy Spirit. If a person comes to a saving knowledge and faith of Jesus Christ, it will manifest in their life. One cannot come to meet the all-powerful God and not be changed.
As per the above parable, an individual will have one of four reactions to the Gospel. Either they will be antagonistic or have no regard at all (seed by the wayside). Or they will receive it immediately with extreme gladness only to fall by the wayside after persecution or tribulation of some sort (seed on the stony ground). Possibly, they may endure for a while until the cares of this world chokes them out (seed on the thorny ground). Then there is the good seed which produces much fruit and is indicative of the true believer. Jesus explains this same parable later on down in the scripture. (Matthew 13:18-23)
Many may scarcely ever, or possibly never, step foot back into a church. A big problem however, is that a lot of these people after having been told they were saved will have the idea that they hold a ticket into Heaven because they… “said a prayer.” If they don’t hold this attitude they may possibly regress into thinking “I’m a good person, God will let me into Heaven.” It is heartbreaking thinking there are people dying right now with this kind of understanding.
The Churchian will attend services on a regular basis. Only thing is, their faith will be a front. They will not be true believers. Their Christian walk will begin, and end at the church building door, hence Churchianity. While at the church they will put on a show and will become outstanding actors, even speaking “Christianese”. However, their faith is not borne out in their life and they will not bear fruits of the Holy Spirit as pointed out in Galatians 5:22-24:
22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Contrary to bearing fruit of the Holy Spirit, they will display acts of the flesh, Galatians 5:19-21:
19 “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
The Churchian will attempt to hide this part of their life from the church, and indeed may succeed. But as has been stated earlier, many churches will merely turn a blind eye to such activities if it is, indeed, discovered. The Churchian hurts the testimony of the Body of Christ in his lawless actions. There, no doubt, will be vicious unbelievers who will take such licentiousness and use it against the Church of Christ Jesus. Not to mention the potential convert who sees one of this persuasion exercising his “liberty”. (Galatians 5:13)
The Churchian will include the “False prophets, a wolf in sheep’s clothing”, Matthew 7:15-16:
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?”
This shows that Churchian’s are not limited to the congregation but can, and does include the leadership. People crave money and power and the church is an abundant source.
To those who are Churchian’s reading this, I have one piece of scripture I would like to present you with:
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”(Matthew 7:21-23)
I believe this is pretty much self explanatory.
There appears to be a prevailing, low view of sin today. This is extremely troublesome to others and me. An attitude of "don't sweat it because we are going to sin anyway". Granted, as long as we are upon this earth we will continue to sin. But this is not a free pass for us to use,
“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:13)
The saints of Christ are called to a life of holiness not carnality.
“But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16)
The Christian, absolutely, will fall into sin. However, the unregenerate will dive in time after time without the least bit of conviction. We have many, outside and inside the Church, who demonstrate this kind of behavior and will maintain they are still a believer.
The Cross, aside from the redemptive work it achieved, gave us a demonstration of what God thinks of our sin. It was as if God were saying to us, "You see..., this is how I feel about you ignoring and demeaning me by disregarding my Law and trampling my Glory under your feet!" His entire wrath, of which we are deserving of, poured out onto the perfect sinless lamb of Jesus. And yet there are those who will call themselves by His name, while taking pleasure in the very same things he was crucified for.
Anytime we sin we exalt our will, over God's will. We glorify ourselves, and make ourselves our own god. It robs and scorns God's Glory. We should be heartbroken anytime we do this... not indifferent to it.
As I bring this to a close. I want all who read it to know that this has been written not in a spirit of bitterness nor of contention, but by compulsion and a conviction. I’ve written this in prayer, with a spirit of love and concern for the Church and the Savior that I love.
In actuality this should not come as a surprise. As Christ himself stated,
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)
The apostate denominations/churches are usually pretty conspicuous to true believers. Such churches do not hide their distinctives (anything from denial of the Trinity to deconstruction of the Bible, the Word of God, and salvation based on works) which sets them apart.
Cults, on the other hand, are usually secretive and will not be forth coming as to all of their true beliefs. Indoctrination will possibly be a little at a time, so as not to shock the system.
Both of the above mentioned will claim to be Christian. However, many people are capable of seeing through the same. Even the secular world makes a distinction.
What I would like to focus on are churches and individuals that claim the title Evangelical Christian. Many churches, especially in the Bible Belt of the U.S., will state this proudly. In fact if you examine many of their statements of faith or church covenants, it will appear as so. However, do they practice what they preach? Let’s look at an example from 1 Corinthians Chapter 5:
“5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! 2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3 For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. 10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.
12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? 13 But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”
This episode is concerning a problem Paul was having with the Corinthian church. It seems they had been turning a blind eye to an open and blatant sin and tolerating the same within its ranks. Paul admonishes them to deal with this situation in what would probably be considered extreme or harsh today.
But…
just because it seems harsh to us, does that mean we skip over this part of the Bible and relegate it to an historical sense? Do we gloss over it because we feel it isn’t feasible or practical? Or maybe we think it is none of our business. After all, such a thing is between that individual and God. I won’t have to answer for it, they will. Or, if we start doing that people will leave the church… and take their tithe with them.
Well, I would have to say,” Are we going to pick and choose what parts of the Bible we believe and don’t believe? What scriptures we will obey and the ones we will not?” Paul also said in 2 Timothy 3:16:
16 “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”
There are some who will try and use the Old Testament and make statements such as, “Well we no longer stone people for being witches or adultery, do we?” This is completely off point. An example some people may possibly use is the woman caught in the act of adultery who is brought before Jesus in John chapter 8:
“8 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you;”
It is usually here where they stop. The only problem is there is more to verse 11, Jesus said,
…“Go and sin no more.”
Jesus has revealed to us the truth of the Old Testament. He says in Matthew chapter 5:
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
My whole point in regards to this is too many of our churches are allowing sin to be flaunted about within its midst. There is no longer a sense of church discipline, of which Paul was advising the Corinthians to engage in. It is not love to allow one to continue in such a state. When discipline is exercised it must be with love in our hearts for the restoration of that individual. If it is done out of malice, vengefulness, or a spirit of condemnation then it becomes warped.
Next, I would like to bring it down to the individual. I will address two types of people. The first is the poor deluded person who is a victim of a “false conversion”, and the second is the “Churchian”. The distinction here being, the Churchian is a regular church attender. But otherwise both are the same.
The false conversion and the Churchian will fit into one of the two bad soils (stony ground, thorny ground) in the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:
3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
The false conversion victim, at some point in their life, will have probably said or recited a “Sinners Prayer”, after being prompted or pressured by someone. Or possibly moved by an "emotional experience". This is all in contrast to a legitimate working of the Holy Spirit. If a person comes to a saving knowledge and faith of Jesus Christ, it will manifest in their life. One cannot come to meet the all-powerful God and not be changed.
As per the above parable, an individual will have one of four reactions to the Gospel. Either they will be antagonistic or have no regard at all (seed by the wayside). Or they will receive it immediately with extreme gladness only to fall by the wayside after persecution or tribulation of some sort (seed on the stony ground). Possibly, they may endure for a while until the cares of this world chokes them out (seed on the thorny ground). Then there is the good seed which produces much fruit and is indicative of the true believer. Jesus explains this same parable later on down in the scripture. (Matthew 13:18-23)
Many may scarcely ever, or possibly never, step foot back into a church. A big problem however, is that a lot of these people after having been told they were saved will have the idea that they hold a ticket into Heaven because they… “said a prayer.” If they don’t hold this attitude they may possibly regress into thinking “I’m a good person, God will let me into Heaven.” It is heartbreaking thinking there are people dying right now with this kind of understanding.
The Churchian will attend services on a regular basis. Only thing is, their faith will be a front. They will not be true believers. Their Christian walk will begin, and end at the church building door, hence Churchianity. While at the church they will put on a show and will become outstanding actors, even speaking “Christianese”. However, their faith is not borne out in their life and they will not bear fruits of the Holy Spirit as pointed out in Galatians 5:22-24:
22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Contrary to bearing fruit of the Holy Spirit, they will display acts of the flesh, Galatians 5:19-21:
19 “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
The Churchian will attempt to hide this part of their life from the church, and indeed may succeed. But as has been stated earlier, many churches will merely turn a blind eye to such activities if it is, indeed, discovered. The Churchian hurts the testimony of the Body of Christ in his lawless actions. There, no doubt, will be vicious unbelievers who will take such licentiousness and use it against the Church of Christ Jesus. Not to mention the potential convert who sees one of this persuasion exercising his “liberty”. (Galatians 5:13)
The Churchian will include the “False prophets, a wolf in sheep’s clothing”, Matthew 7:15-16:
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?”
This shows that Churchian’s are not limited to the congregation but can, and does include the leadership. People crave money and power and the church is an abundant source.
To those who are Churchian’s reading this, I have one piece of scripture I would like to present you with:
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”(Matthew 7:21-23)
I believe this is pretty much self explanatory.
There appears to be a prevailing, low view of sin today. This is extremely troublesome to others and me. An attitude of "don't sweat it because we are going to sin anyway". Granted, as long as we are upon this earth we will continue to sin. But this is not a free pass for us to use,
“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:13)
The saints of Christ are called to a life of holiness not carnality.
“But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16)
The Christian, absolutely, will fall into sin. However, the unregenerate will dive in time after time without the least bit of conviction. We have many, outside and inside the Church, who demonstrate this kind of behavior and will maintain they are still a believer.
The Cross, aside from the redemptive work it achieved, gave us a demonstration of what God thinks of our sin. It was as if God were saying to us, "You see..., this is how I feel about you ignoring and demeaning me by disregarding my Law and trampling my Glory under your feet!" His entire wrath, of which we are deserving of, poured out onto the perfect sinless lamb of Jesus. And yet there are those who will call themselves by His name, while taking pleasure in the very same things he was crucified for.
Anytime we sin we exalt our will, over God's will. We glorify ourselves, and make ourselves our own god. It robs and scorns God's Glory. We should be heartbroken anytime we do this... not indifferent to it.
As I bring this to a close. I want all who read it to know that this has been written not in a spirit of bitterness nor of contention, but by compulsion and a conviction. I’ve written this in prayer, with a spirit of love and concern for the Church and the Savior that I love.