“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37-38)

Focused On Man

It is impossible to square those words from Christ Jesus the Lord with the watered down sinner-sensitive approach to the Gospel of Jesus Christ practiced in the new evangelical Ecumenical Church of Deceit today. In the Foreword of William Webster’s excellent book The Matthew 16 Controversy Dr. Tom Nettles, professor of historical theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, gives us the correct perspective on the whole issue of de-emphasizing (read: blotting out) proper doctrine in favor of all bodies of professing Christians being co-belligerents. While speaking specifically about Roman Catholics and Protestants working together in issues affecting religion Dr. Nettles still hits the mark when he writes:

Recent years have seen an increase in serious attempts at achieving some reapprochement between Roman Catholics and Protestants…the current rapid breakdown in public morality has served as a fast-setting concrete poured into the cracks that still remain in the [Roman] Catholic/Protestant relationship… As Pat Robertson has written: “We have a moral imperative to join together in our efforts to oppose the killing of the unborn, the hostility toward and the censorship of the Christian message, and the wholesale assault on the traditional family…

The moral imperative of the case makes the reasoning for call for coming together appear compelling… [However i]gnoring differences, even temporarily, does nothing for the cause of truth in the long run and, in fact, gradually erodes the very moral foundation necessary for cultural righteousness. Pushing aside important differences makes the church more energetic about a moralism focused on man than true piety focused on God. This in turn creates a pragmatism, and eventually a relativism, that will destroy the love of truth and with it the sense of oughtness that gives perseverance to righteous action (9,10).

The Church Must Stand For Jesus

And that is exactly the issue I address in this missive because time has now proven Dr. Nettles correct in that the seeker sensitive methods employed by the Ecumenical Church Of Deceit have only served to create seekers centered of self. We will turn to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 7 and verse 5 below. Here we will see an example of how God reacts to those who fall victim to lukewarm compromise, which is what Dr. Nettles and others, have been trying for years to get the Church in America to see. The Lord is not interested in us acting as spiritual Rodney Kings and pleading: “Can’t we all just get along?”

No, Christ wants His Church to stand for the Truth; to stand against this evil world-system, which has been erected by the Devil with such a blatant lack of respect for anything decent. And because I also labor in the local public high school I can testify that so many of these young people today simply have no respect for anything–period! From my days as head football coach at that same school, I know firsthand this is a sad reflection of their parent’s world-views as well. But we must recapture our stand for truth as it was Christ Jesus of Nazareth Who said – “I Am the Truth.” So think for a moment; when we stand up for the Truth, just Who exactly are we standing up for? Christ Jesus of Nazareth Himself.

Men and women, you must come to understand that when we as the Body of Christ don’t stand for the Truth–the Lord–then we get all wishy-washy with hypocrisy until finally we end up pushing aside so-called “differences” for the supposed sake of “love.” And as soon as that happens–as Dr. Nettles has just told us–it “makes the church more energetic about a moralism focused on man than true [holiness] focused on God. This in turn creates a pragmatism.” Can you see now,this is exactly what we see as a result of the modern Church Growth Movement which gave birth to the Ecumenical Church of Deceit in the first place.

The Grandfather Of Sinner-Centered Megachurches

Maybe it’s becoming clearer to you now why those of us in the discernment camp of our Lord’s Church have been pounding relentlessly on those false teachings about the nature of man as espoused by people like Robert Schuller. Without question Schuller is the grandfather of this putrid spiritual mess, who once wrote in his infamous Self-Esteem: The New Reformation: “classical theology has erred in its insistence that theology be ‘God-centered’ and not ‘man-centered.’” Um, this sounds to me, a whole lot like “a moralism focused on man” rather “than true piety focused on God.” And Dr. Nettles is correct when he says this “in turn creates a pragmatism.” O and did it ever!

Now enter the Purpose Driven sinner-centered megachurches where you can be “entertained” while you allegedly find Jesus as your “Savior.” But as Tozer said about this kind of flesh-pleasing “entertainment” back in 1955:

For centuries the Church stood solidly against every form of worldly entertainment, recognizing it for what it was, a device for wasting time, a refuge from the disturbing voice of conscience, a scheme to divert attention from moral accountability (The Root of the Righteous, pp. 32,33).

Paying Lip-Service To God

However, the discerning Christian will notice the careful avoidance of words like repentance and the title “Lord” for Christ in the seeker friendly churches. Instead Jesus is mostly portrayed as the sinner’s “friend” in the Purpose Driven Church, the Emergent Church, and the Word Faith Church–the pragmatic and seeker sensitive churches which comprise the Ecumenical Church of Deceit. Where in place of denial of self you find a heavier emphasis on your purpose, your mystical buzz, and what God can do for you–for your abundant life. This new Christianity undoubtedly “is focused on man” and his own doctrines that have quickly become traditions. Until what you actually end up with is not really Christianity at all; but rather another religion, one that talks as if it loves our Lord when in reality it ends up rejecting “true [holiness] focused on God.”

And this is also exactly the type of religion Satan’s prized possession, the long apostate Church of Rome, already recreated and this is exactly why the Devil is rapidly herding this new evangelical flock in his Ecumenical Church of Deceit right back home to Rome. But this type of man-centered religion is exactly what we are about to see Jesus of Nazareth roundly reject as we get ready to close this piece with our text in Mark chapter 7:

So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ‘unclean’ hands?” He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!” (vv.5-9)

Now here is Hebrews 13:8 from The New American Bible for Catholics – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And you know, I have checked this verse in the Textus Receptus, the Nestle-Aland text, as well as in many translations of the Bible, and it always says the exact same thing. So there really can be no mistake here because it is all quite self-explanatory. If Jesus said things like this to men who were perverting God’s Word then so they could observe their own traditions, then He feels the exact same way about those who do so today. So this is what our Lord says to the new evangelicalism in the Ecumenical Church of Deceit and to her Mother in Rome: “You worship Me in vain; because your teachings are but the flawed philosophies of men.”

Return To Being Christ’s Watchmen

Men and women, God does not change. No, it is fickle mankind who constantly changes. And you must come to understand that the modern Church Growth Movement went horribly astray teaching man-centered seeker sensitive methods that do not make converts to Christ, but rather they only create self-centered seekers after what God can do for them. However, as the true Church of Jesus Christ heeds His clarion call to return to being His watchmen and to boldly standing for the Truth once again then we can also take great comfort in the absolute truth that:

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever…Hallelujah; and he who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the Church…