Wednesday, December 10, 2008

How do Churches Become Liberal?

I suppose that everyone recognizes that there are liberal churches and there are conservative churches.  Most liberal churches have arisen out of more conservative churches.  i.e.  Most churches have begun as conservative churches then over time became more and more liberal.

Today I look around at the shallow, noisy conglomerations that many call churches and wonder how in the world people are deceived into believing that these are what Jesus founded.  They generally operate using Jesus' name, but are not anywhere close to anything described in the New Testament.  How do people go from one day believing the Bible to be the Word of God and the next day just jump into a Rock concert while calling this “noisy gong and clanging cymbals” mentality  worship? (See I Corinthians 13:1)

Answer… generally they don't!  Based on Jesus' parable of the Sower we learn that it is a more gradual “choking out” of respect for the Word of God.  Most of all, Satan fears your comprehension.  He would prefer that you just not understand (Matthew 13:19) so he can snatch it away.  When that fails, the devil tries to offend you away from respect for scripture before you can become long term and stable (Matthew 13:20-21).