Machen Chapter 3

    This week’s reading brought up so much more about the theme that really made me think hard about the issue that is liberalism within the Christian church and community. A quote from the book that caught my attention and is relevant to thoughts that I often have about liberalism and prosperity teaching says, “According to the Bible, man is a sinner under the just condemnation of God; according to modern liberalism, there is really no such thing as sin. At the very root of liberalism, liberal movement is the loss of the consciousness of sin” (Pg. 55). First off, this could not be truer. Is there a guarantee that all people who have more liberalistic ideals within the Christian church have completely lost this idea? No, but it is an issue that plagues many who follow this way of thinking and beliefs.

    Looking at the false/prosperity teachers (if you choose to group them together, which I would to a certain degree) they preach all about the health and wealth in the life of a Christian. If you believe in God, then he will make everything magical for you. There is little to no recognition of our sinful nature that separates us from the one and only true God for eternity and only through Jesus can we have a relationship with God the Father. Within that, many of these teachers also imply or simply say that if we are good, then we will go to heaven. That is an abomination and completely misleads someone. It takes away all the truth behind the power of the wrath and justice of God. They do not actually go away, but these preachers act like they do not exist. Rather, God’s wrath will be shining down on them one day, unless they repent and turn to Jesus in the way that we are called too. It will only be if it is God’s will and through the Holy Spirit that they turn to Christ. We must pray for them that they do just that.

    As Christians, we should not want these false teachers to go to hell. Rather, we should be praying to God to deliver them from their sins. We should be hoping that their wrongdoings will be brought to light and they will turn from them. I know for me personally, I use to ignore my wrongdoings, but I wanted the God stuff that was talked about in the Bible. But now, as I have grown in wisdom (despite having much growth ahead of me) I see the fault in that way of thinking. Instead, I must look to Christ and ask him to save me. I can not do any of this on my own. If I think that, then I will rot in hell for eternity. No Christian should want that for anyone on this earth. That is why the calling to spread the Gospel to the world should be an urgency for us all. Yet, all of us, me included, fail in that area. We must do a better job at shedding light on the issue with the teaching of liberalistic ideas within the church and show these people the light of the true Gospel.