Why Churches Are Departing From the Biblical Truth Once Delivered

Why are more and more churches departing from the faith once delivered and leaving the truth of God’s Word behind?

Pragmatism

Why are more and more churches caving into society and leaving the truth of God’s Word behind? Part of the reason is that they figure if it works most of the time for most of the people, then it must be right or true. That’s called pragmatism and it means churches are caving into the pressures of society and trying to avoid subjects such as same-sex marriage, homosexuality, adultery, fornication, pornography and the battle for holiness, not happiness. They stress happiness at the expense of stressing holiness, which is what God desires most in us. They seek to fill the parking lot and not fill heaven; they strive to fill the pews and not the Lamb’s Book of Life. They are seeker sensitive, but the problem is, the people will come for the wrong reasons; to feel good about themselves rather than admit they’re a sinner in desperate need of the Savior.

No Offense

When you start listing the fruits of the flesh and God’s desire to bear fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5), someone’s going to be offended. It cannot be helped. The truth sets you free or it makes you really mad. If pastors teach and preach that the sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9), they’re going to be accused of being narrow minded or homophobic, but it’s what is found the Word of God. We can’t water down what should be the full-strength Word of God. We are not judging those outside of the church; God will (Rom 12:17-19), but we are teaching that God will judge the unrighteous, meaning all who have rejected Jesus Christ. We don’t judge them, but we do tell them God will, so unless they repent, they will all perish.

Entertain Me

The word “amusement” is interesting. It means to not (“a”) think (“muse”), so when people come to church just for the entertainment, they’re simply amusing themselves. They won’t think about their need to confess their sins daily, to repent of ongoing sin, or to share the gospel as commanded by Christ. They just came to a concert, more than a worship service. If they worship at all, it’s the singers and musicians and not God. Precious little time is actually given to the preaching of the Word, which is the whole purpose of bringing the church together in the first place. They are there to get and not to give. It’s what they can get out of it instead of what they can put into it. It’s even better if they have surround sound, padded pews, air-conditioning, and drinks and snacks in the lobby, but is this really a church…or a social club? Dr. Voddie Baucham said “We gathered people because we liked the same kind of music or we were in the same social class. We had those things as our foundation instead of having the Gospel as our foundation.” And he adds, “The message of the Gospel is an offensive message in a lost and dying world. But we assumed the Gospel. Then, after we assumed the Gospel, we forgot the Gospel and we left the Gospel behind.”

Sinister Ministers

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matt 7:15).

We are told to beware of false teachers as there are many wolves in sheep’s clothing and Satan’s ministers can appear as angels of light (2 Cor 11:4). Since Satan has his own ministers, this must mean he has his own denominations, and if you look at recent history, many of the major denominations have fallen away from the truth by teaching half-truths, which is really teaching a whole lie. Often they seek their people to send them “seeds of faith” or offerings so that God will bless them in miraculous ways, but they’re only trying to devour the flock, fleecing them of their possessions (mainly money, but sometimes real estate, cars, homes, etc.). Jesus warned the flock to “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matt 7:15).

Falling Away

The Apostle Paul also foresaw that many would depart from the faith delivered by Jesus Christ and passed on through the Apostles. We expect the world to get worse before Jesus’ return but we must expect that “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions” (Jude 1:18). What we don’t expect, but should, is churches that teach and preach or allow sexual immorality, so even in churches now, they are “following their own ungodly passions” (Jude 1:18) and not following the teaching about God’s judgment on the sexually immoral (Rev 21:8). Any pastor that marries same-sex couples is not in the church Jesus’ built. Satan has his own sinister ministers, and thus, Satan has his own churches too so beware!

Conclusion

One church I know requires members to tithe to have the right to vote on church boards and we know that legalism is deadly poison to the church because it stresses works and not faith alone in Christ alone (Eph 2:8-9). Wherever pastors have expository preaching from Scripture you will find the best churches and most sound doctrine. I pray you have put your trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If that has not happened yet, my friend, you are in real danger of hell fire. And I mean, in immediate danger. You’re one breath, one heartbeat…one accident away from eternity when it will be too late to repent. Today is the best day to believe (2 Cor 6:2) since tomorrow is no guarantee. If Jesus Christ came today, here is your fate (Matt 7:21-23). This is why I plead with you as you read this, repent today…and I mean right now. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you do not, you will face God’s judgment after death guaranteed (Heb 9:27) or at Jesus Christ’s appearance (Rev 20:12-15), which could happen at any moment.

Here is some related reading for you: How Can Christians Recognize Apostasy?

Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^® (ESV^®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible: English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Tagged as: Apostasy, Apostate Churches, Church, End Times, Falling Away, last days