The Liberal Church (Jude 4)

“For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4).

God describes His church as “the pillar and support of the truth” (I Ti. 3:15).  When someone is a part of a true church, they will exclaim with Jacob, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Gen. 28:17).  A tsunami of excitement captures their hearts all week as they anticipate being in the presence of the Lord amidst the praises of His people.  You should sense the eyes of the Lord looking upon you and hear the voice of the Lord speaking to your heart when you attend your church on the Lord’s Day.  The sweet psalmist of Israel declares, “O God, Thou art awesome from Thy sanctuary. The God of Israel Himself gives strength and power to the people. Blessed be God!” (Ps. 68:35).

Nonetheless, God is not present in all churches, even those claiming to be Christian!  Paul cautioned the church about those being raised up in the body who would be “speaking perverse things” (Acts 20:30).  In J. Gresham Machen’s book titled Christianity and Liberalism, he affirms that liberalism is not Christianity just as Baal worship is not Christianity.  Dr. Machen equates liberalism with the Israelites erecting the Asherah pole – there was not merely a theological difference between the worship of YAHWEH and the worship of Baal, but a fundamental divide as wide as the mouth of hell.

The core beliefs of the true church and the liberal church are radically different.  The liberal church’s catechism may be summarized by any one of the following ideological principles:

• The Bible contains the word of God, but all Scripture is not necessarily inspired by God (II Ti. 3:16)
• The Old Testament makes for interesting reading, but is not really relevant to us today (Mt. 5:17-19)
• The Bible will help us live well, but since we are a priesthood of believers, we can interpret it the way we want (II Pe. 1:20f.)
• Miracles are interesting children’s stories, but they did not really occur (Mk. 6:32-44; Lk. 11:9-32)
• The devil is more the concept of evil than an actual being (Lk. 22:31; Jn. 8:44)
• The God of the Old Testament was a God of wrath, so He is not the God of the New Testament, who is a God of love (Mal. 3:6; Js. 1:17; Heb. 13:8)
• God loves everybody (Mal. 1:3; Ro. 9:13)
• God is good and powerful, but even He cannot control nature (Mt. 8:23-27)
• People should be kind, honest and helpful, but no one needs to be “born again” to go to heaven (Jn. 3:3; I Pe. 1:23)
• Though Christians have opinions, they are not supposed to judge anyone (Jn. 7:24; 18:23; I Cor. 5:5)
• God does not expect anyone to be perfect (Mt. 5:48)
• The Bible does not require Christians to tell other people about Jesus because we live in a pluralistic society and some people could be offended (Mt. 10:27; I Pe. 2:9)
• No one can know God’s will for themselves or for anyone else (I Thess. 4:3, 7)
• All people go to heaven when they die, not to hell (Mt. 7:13f.; 25:41, 46)
• Church membership is open to anyone wanting to join, not just Christians (Acts 2:47)
• Jesus was a good man, but He was not God (Jn. 10:30-38)
• Jesus was an effective teacher, but He is our friend, not the Lord of our lives (Acts 2:36; Phil. 2:11)
• Jesus is one of the ways to get to heaven, but not the exclusive way (Jn. 14:6)
• Jesus’ spirit was resurrected from the tomb, not His body (Lk. 24:1-7, 36-43)

The licentious church is teaching many of these fundamental departures from the way of God.  They are employing the pulpits and teaching stations of the less biblical church to debauch true churchmen.  These Jezebel teachers are social engineers seeking to bring their church in conformity with the world rather than calling their church and the world to be conformed to the image of Christ.

The indictment the Lord Christ brought against the church in Thyatira is the same charge He brings against the profligate church in this age (Rev. 2:18-29).  Tolerance is the hound of hell and the goddess before whom the unbiblical church bows.  Sadly, the laissez-faire church is following the ways of man instead of the Lord’s word and is tolerating historic intolerables.

Toleration of biblical intolerables is a satanic movement designed to eliminate God’s absolute truth.  The disadvantages of tolerating intolerables are legion:

• Disables the jurisdiction of proven authorities (such as parents)
• Assures loss of community and accountability
• Advances uncontrolled lifestyles
• Ability becomes the criteria for action rather than appropriateness
• Increases artificial confidences in fallen reason
• Radical individualism supplants community
• Aids and abets historically recognized wickedness
• Silences moral gatekeepers
• Accentuates the value of one’s feelings and experiences over one’s mind
• Increases individual and corporate stresses including loneliness, fatigue and fear
• Tombstones true progress by licensing secularists, materialists, hedonists and consumerists
• Massacres by assassination a civilized civilization

Do not forfeit your society or your church to the daughters of Satan.  You must not allow public opinion to become the god/Baal before whom your church bows.  The poison of church lenience must be antidoted with the inspired, inerrant and infallible word of the holy and righteous Christ (II Ti. 3:16f.).  

Your spiritual forefathers bled for truths that now are being neglected, abandoned, manipulated or renounced by liberal churches that position themselves as broadminded; whereas they are broadminded to all concepts except authentic biblical righteousness. You cannot afford to compromise on the essentials of Christianity.