By Mary Fairchild
PASTOR JIM MOOBERRY TAPE SERIES “THE FAITHFUL WORD”
- THE NEGLECT
- THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CHURCH–“Human experience (mysticism) led you to the idols…”
- THE CHARISMATIC CHURCH–“..moves into a form of Gnosticism.”
- THE CONSUMER CHURCH–” “… is heading toward pragmatism (if it works then it is valid).”
- THE ECUMENICAL CHURCH–“Being one” denies the primacy of Scripture for human union.”
THE NEGLECT
The church age is like a field, which is going to grow by the “seed”—the Word of God. “Now the parable is this: The seed is the Word of God” (Luke 8:11).
The apostles were concerned with the neglect of study of the Word. “Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, ‘It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables” (Acts 6:3).
Church growth actually equals the Word of God “being kept spreading.” Samaria had “received the Word of God and that was what qualified them to be a church. “And the word of God increased; and the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were
obedient to the truth” (Acts 6:7).
“Now when the apostles which were in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John” (Acts 8:14). The ministry was to proclaim the Word of God. “And
when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister” (Acts 13:5).
“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word
of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe”(1Thessalonians 2:13). The Word of God is not human opinions. “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same
example of unbelief” (Hebrews 4:11).
Many have given their lives for the Word of God. “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held”(Revelation 6:9).
Jesus says that the only thing that matters and can give you life is the Spirit and He does His work through the Word. “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I
speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63).
Peter says that you owe your very existence to your new life. The very existence that comes in our life and makes us new born to the Word of God. That’s what does it, not anything else. When you share your testimony with someone you may be wetting their apatite… but when it comes right down to it they need to hear the Word of God because that’s what brings faith. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for
ever” (1 Peter 1:23).
Sanctification is the setting apart of our hearts day by day to God. The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in making you holy, more like Christ proceeds from the Word of God—that’s the truth that sets you free when you understand it. “Sanctify them through the truth: thy word is
truth” (John 17:17).
“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (1 Peter 1:3). We can do without
anything else, but we cannot do without the Word of God. When we begin to move away from the Word of God as our soul ministry, our soul hope, by the degree that we move away from it, it is the degree that the church gets weakened and eventually falls.
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CHURCH
The “psychological church” moves into a form of Gnosticism. Gnosticism is “hidden knowledge.” It was the basis for the mystery religions of paganism. In a sense, what secular psychology has said is that we have tapped into wisdom and understanding about the human soul and human nature. This is denial of the sufficiency of the Scripture for human wisdom. This movement began in the liberal seminaries and churches with classes on the psychology of religion—why people have faith and whether or not it was positive—because Freud had said it was all a big neuroses to have faith and believe in religion. In the 40s—60s it began to move into more evangelical realms. By the 80s it had gone mainstream and now it is the mainstream of evangelicalism today.
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:17-17).
The Word of God “is adequate.”
“Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar” (Proverbs 30:6).
In church history, anything that was called new was bad. In theology new has almost always been bad. Today, because we live in an evolutionary mindset where things are getting better… new and
better almost go together.
“Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolisht the wisdom of the world?” (1 Corinthians 1:20).
There is an opinion that is mutual. The world thinks that the wisdom of God is foolishness and God says the world’s wisdom is foolishness as far as he is concerned. To substitute human wisdom for
God’s Word seems to be of the uttermost ridiculousness, but has been made to sound as though is in fact what we’ve been waiting for, for centuries. Moody Bible Radio used to specialize in programs of worship and praise and Bible teaching and now they have much more counseling programs and call-in counseling programs than they have ever had in Bible teaching if you look at their schedule.
CHARISMATIC CHURCH
The “charismatic church” is a movement away form sola Scriptura into mysticism. Mysticism is the idea that truth can be found through experience. It is a denial of the authority of the Scripture for human experience. “I have discovered truth, I have labeled an experience truthfully by my own experience and intuition.”
This began in our century around the turn of the century in 1900 in Bethal, Kansas with the
beginning of the Pentecostal church. For decades it was considered a very occult-like sect by many although there were many dear Christians that were involved, but they were just mistaken in their understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit. It was pretty much limited to Assemblies of God and Pentecostal worship until 1960 in the Episcopal church in Van Ives, California where Dennis
and Rita Bennet used the rector of the Episcopal church there supposedly to get the second blessing and this experience. It moved then into the denominations and that’s sometimes called the second wave around Charismatic teachers. Where it spread out from just the Pentecostal Assembly of Gods and Church of Gods into the mainline denominations. It even spread into Catholicism. The third wave is the Vineyard movement and it has spread now into all evangelicalism. DENOMINATIONS REALLY HAVE NO BARRIERS ANYMORE. Our brothers and sisters who are in these movements may have the best of motives—but they’ve mad a mistake.
“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them”(Isiah 8:20).
If a teaching is brought forth that is not in accordance with the Word of God then it does not proceed from light, but from darkness. Not all of our experiences are from God. It doesn’t men we are not Christians, but we have to subject them to a very strict scrutiny by the Word of God to know their true character. We don’t want to know what you “feel” or what “you did,” but “THUS SAITH THE WORD OF GOD.”
“Now concerning the spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led” (1 Corinthians 12:1-2).
“Human experience (mysticism) led you to the idols…”
THE CONSUMER CHURCH
The “consumer church” is heading toward pragmatism (if it works then it is valid).
THIS IS THE DENIAL OF THE POWER OF SCRIPTURE FOR HUMAN METHODS.
In the 60s and 70s this raised its head with the Evangelical church—called the “church
growth movement.” IT WAS CHAMPIONED AT FULLER SEMINARY. Peter Wagner was one of
the early leaders, Lyle Schaller has written around 50 books in this movement. While they had some legitimate observations about patterns of growing churches they took a very sociological viewpoint approach and they ended up saying that they were certain things that you could do that would ensure that your church would grow. If your church wasn’t growing, something was wrong. This exploded to
a great degree in the late 80s because of the WILLOW CREEK COMMUNITY CHURCH idea
of the “seeker service.”
It is often a withdraw of just trusting the power of the Word of God to do what is supposed to do—bring people to Christ. ROBERT SCHULLER’S CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL has a waterfall inside it—the architect took Schuller’s theological concept “we need to put man back in the garden…. That is
the most amiable place for man to hear the Word of God and be impacted by it.” He took it very literally and created a garden aspect in that church… BUT THERE IS VERY LITTLE “WORD OF GOD” IN SCHULLER’S SERVICES.
“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it
shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it”(Isaiah 55:11).
THE ECUMENICAL CHURCH
“Being one” denies the primacy of Scripture for human union. Brethren are allowing important
central doctrines to not matter in their quest for union. But it is headed toward pantheism. If we are to be “one” organizationally on this earth then we are going to have to give up some of the distinctions of what the faith is and we ultimately go into what is called pantheism. This ecumenism movement gathered a lot of steam in the 40s-60s especially with the “World Council of Churches”(WCC). Back then, evangelicals stayed away from it like the plague. Their big push was for church union for the sake of impacting society. This is now in the evangelical church. In the “Evangelical and Catholic Accord,” evangelicals are coming together expressing their visible union for the sake of impacting our society.
Stopping all of the abortions and crime will not save our society—ONLY THE WORD OF GOD CAN SAVE US. Political action is not going to have that great of an impact—PREACH THE WORD OF GOD INSTEAD.
“And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, ‘Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good” (1 Kings 22:13).
Micaiah saw the Word of God as primary, never to be sacrificed.
Doctrine does divide. When something is true and something is false it can’t help but divide. We cannot sacrifice the Word of God for some glorious human union.
“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own
lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry” (2 Timothy 4:2-5).
This has happened over and over again in history and will have its greatest manifestation in the last days. Christians will put themselves in such a way, turn away, in such a position that they cannot even hear the Word of God… they don’t want to hear it.
WORKS CITED
Mooberry, Pastor Jim. “The Departure From the Scripture in the Evangelical Church Today.” The Faithful Word. Church Age