Professing Christians Who Will Give You Hell, Or Send You There If They Could.

Have you ever met a group of professing Christians who believe they have come to know some special Biblical truth which, if you don’t agree with it, and follow along with them in their special group, makes you an inferior Christian, or perhaps even someone who is going to hell but does not realize it? Now that’s really a long winding question if there ever was one, but think about it seriously anyway. Have you never met some people who try to convince you that they are now believing a higher truth or some special doctrine which everybody else has been neglecting, and for which God will severely deal with all those who don’t believe? Come on now, these folk can be easily identified by their enormous enthusiasm for their special truth claims. They will bombard you with their tracts, booklets, and other literature, and invite you to their special Bible Study groups. They can usually quote numerous “proof texts” to support their special truths, and if your own personal relationship with the Lord is shaky, you might find yourself so impressed by them that you begin to doubt whether you know enough of the “deep things” of the Bible to get you to heaven. These folk are usually very superficial in their understanding of the gospel which is the most fundamental, though simultaneously the most lofty and significant truth of the Bible. These professing Christians, however, tend to be so obsessed with their esoteric knowledge that they can become ridiculously zealous and argumentative. Your spirit might be sometimes telling you that something is not right about the teachings of these folk, but you don’t know how to debate them because they seem to know parts of the Bible that you don’t have a clue about. Am I touching a nerve now? Is what I am saying beginning to paint a familiar picture? Well, let me tell you right now: Do not let these folk steal your joy in Christ. Most times they are sadly misdirected and need help from brothers and sisters more Biblically knowledgeable than themselves. Pray for them, and be kind and courteous, as Christians should be, but if you find yourself getting confused and your joy in the Lord being adversely affected, you might want to avoid them sometimes. Any teaching that is not an explication of the gospel, or that runs counter to it in some way, is a teaching you should avoid like the plague, even if it sounds deep and different, unusual, or intellectually stimulating.

 

Paul was an expert in the Old Testament – He knew tough books such as Ezekiel and Daniel better than any of us, but yet he said that he “desired to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1Corinthians 2:2). Why do you think he said that? It’s because the entire Bible is an explication of the magnificent news of the cross – without the holy sinless life of Jesus, his death on the cross, and his resurrection with power, we are all goners. It is incomprehensible that although Jesus declares himself to be “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6), many professed Christians get involved in competitive denominational wars in which it becomes obvious that they are walking in the flesh and not at all exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). These denominational warriors can be so obnoxious in their demeanor that when you see them coming you want to duck and go in the opposite direction, not necessarily because you are unable to contend for the truth, but because discussion with such people often tends to be argumentative and steeped in sarcasm and rhetoric. You wonder whether such people really love you and want you to go to heaven, or whether they merely want to win a heated debate, prove you wrong, and inflate their egos. The sad thing is that these doctrinal fanatics often suffer from a persecution complex deluding themselves that they are truth contenders suffering for Christ. Truth contenders my foot! (Pardon my Christian version of an expletive). Persons avoid these “self-created victims” because they might start their talk with you with a phony pleasantness that soon escalates into verbal aggression when you don’t agree with them. 

 

It is so unfortunate that these denominational contenders seldom have the “guts” to approach a Buddhist, Hindu, Moslem, or atheist to present the sacrificial and redemptive love of Christ, but they will bludgeon someone already a Christian with their “special truth”.  A somewhat milder version of these denominational fanatics are those who would “kill you softly” on matters of what you eat and drink, jewelry, days of worship, etc. Often these are very nice Christian folk, but who only read their own religious literature and theology and fail to recognize that there are stalwart Christians who sincerely disagree with them and have sound Biblically exegetical and theological validation of their doctrinal positions. It is always good Christian practice to go deeper in Biblical truth, but it needs to be simultaneously recognized that no one, or no denomination, has a monopoly on truth. Our love relationship with Christ supersedes any Church or denominational affiliation. It is our relationship with Him that elevates the passion for the spread of the good news of the gospel, and to live with authentic love for the brethren. On the other hand, the passion for so-called distinctive truth often facilitates a blind denominational partisanship primarily interested in extolling its supposed supremacy over everybody else. It is certainly no wonder that an external and superficial brand of Christianity that involves conformity to supposedly higher standards characterizes certain sectors of the Church community while there is a scarcity of the transformative attributes of the character of Christ among their adherents. It is still the truth that it is by this that all men will know if we are disciples of Christ – “if we have love for one another” (John 13:35). It is a trillion times more important to know the difference between the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of faith and to live in this wisdom, than to be a dietary expert competent in decrying the inadequacies of pork as opposed to scaled fish or vegetarianism. Vegetarianism is a wonderfully healthful way of living, but if you think it makes you a more spiritual Christian than anybody else, then you are nuts (pardon my Christian expletive again). Try figuring out why Paul says that a vegetarian is a weak Christian (Romans 14:2) while not depreciating vegetarianism itself.

 

The bottom line is to keep studying the Bible deeply and living for Christ continuously. In doing so, let no one steal your joy in Christ because he or she contends they have truth that everyone else is sinfully rejecting, but which they, a select remnant, is upholding. Let me make it very clear that if you genuinely have Jesus Christ, then you have the perfect truth, even though you are imperfect. And no one, or no Church for that matter, can send you to hell. If you have Jesus, then live for him – walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh (Romans 8:1). Let your marriage be to Christ and not to the law (Romans 7:1-4). “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). You have eternal and abundant life and you are on your way to heaven. Divorce your denomination and marry Jesus if you must do one or the other because it’s the latter who alone saves and not the former. So now, if you are a Baptist, then go greet a Presbyterian brother or sister in Jesus name, and learn from each other. Don’t kill a brother because he worships on Sunday and eats pork while you worship on Saturday and eat “flour meat” (gluten). As for me, I like neither pork nor gluten, but a juicy lobster might get me going. Come on, live for Jesus and go tell somebody about him today. Amen. Soon coming post – “Pulpit Horrors”