by Mike Ratliff
But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. (Romans 2:5 ESV)
In my research on the Hegelian Dialectic and Diaprax it was amazing how many and how often some very well known “Christian” leaders kept coming up. I watched part of an interview done with Billy Graham several years ago in which he gave the reasons for his moving from “evangelism” as the primary focus of his ministry to that of Social Justice, world hunger, et cetera. He called it “his fourth conversion.” The result of that “conversion” was the creation of the Lausanne Movement. If you prayerfully watched this video of one of the conversations of the 12 Cities / 12 Conversations tour, which was held at Saddleback Valley Baptist Church in California this year then I hope you noticed the same thing that I and many of my friends have as well. What is the focus? Is it reaching the world with the Gospel? No, instead of that, we have a discussion on how to “contextualize” the gospel to better meet changing demographics and do a better job to bring about social justice across the world. There was something else, but it is a bit technical.
Martin Luther King, Jr. is quoted as saying, “truth is not found in the thesis nor the antithesis, but in the synthesis of the two.” What does that mean? The thesis is what one knows or believes to be true. The antithesis is what is opposed to that. If we have a church full of believers worshipping God and evangelizing the community what is their thesis? It is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is that the truth is what God says it is and they are obeying it. What is the antithesis of this? It is the position of the unbelievers all around them who do not believe the gospel, et cetera. To achieve synthesis of the two you have to bring the two sides together into a relationship to create a new position based upon many cycles of compromise. This is the process called the Diaprax. This is what the Seeker Sensitive Church model does by creating church for the unchurched. It brings in unbelievers and mixes them with believers. It forces them into small groups together to force them to change together. This creates the new synthesis, which is now no longer Christian. The Didactic adherence to the Gospel and God’s truth as the truth is dropped and compromised away in order to achieve synthesis. The new entity is no longer a “biblical church,” and continues to undergo this synthesis process in order to reach the final evolutionary stage of “perfection.”
This is what has happened to the visible church across the world in our time. It has not taken very long. What the proponents of this evil system fail to understand, because they are not of God, what they have synthesized is not the real church, but the visible church made up of professing Christians in name only. There is still the invisible or genuine Church, which God is still growing, maintaining, and protecting. These are the ones who are truly righteous and live by faith.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17 ESV)
The genuine Christian does not dump the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ for any reason including relational issues. The genuine Christian, the righteous, live in such a way that their lives are marked by this trust, this faith. They are faithful because they are new creations in Christ. They abide in Christ and He in them (John 15). These are the ones who leave the churches that are taken over by the Seeker Sensitive Paradigm, refusing to be synthesized or processed.
On the other hand, there are two groups of people for whom the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against. These two groups are obvious non-Christians and professing Christians such as those I described above who are the product of some synthesis process that has made them believe they are Christians when all they are is religious.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:18-25 ESV)
As I have said many times before, unbelief is an amazing thing to witness. It does not matter how deep you go in God’s Word to show these people the truth nor how illogical their beliefs are when compared with God’s truth, it does not matter, they will not believe. Why? God has given them up or given them over to what they desired more than His truth or than in knowing Him. We witness this in theologians from seminaries with untold numbers of letters after their names showing how many degrees in theology they have, talk about how important it is to restructure churches in the United States because there are fewer Caucasians than non-Caucasians who are professing Christians now. What? What ever happened to preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and making disciples from all nations? That is what we are supposed to be doing isn’t it?
I hear from someone nearly every day now. It used to be every week or so. Before that, it was every few months or so, but now it is nearly every day that I hear from some dear Christian brother or sister who has lost their church because it has been consumed in apostasy and so have all the other churches in their area. What do they do? I had one friend rhetorically ask today if the next step is house churches. I think that may be where we end up. God’s Will be done.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Good informative post Mike. House churches…..I think the saints are there, because they sure aren’t in any of the ‘churches’. Some I know meet in schools where the stage is and they have chairs. Others are doing ‘Skype’ on the internet. For the most part, none we know are in the local churches in towns. They have come out.
Thanks Paul and Luann, there seems to be a lot more of that seemingly everyday…
Mike, great post. I had to leave my old church last year as it was going seeker sensitive, last month the congregation tried removing the pastor and it was something out of a Frank Perretti novel. The pastor strutted up onto the stage and gave a false prophecy about the leaders of the dissent and the vote to oust him never happened. I was supposed to give a presentation on the dangers of the willow creek association, but the pastor and his cronies disrupted the meeting so badly that I never got a chance. What scares me the most is to see old friends under the spell of a false teacher. It’s like they’ve lost their minds. Mike, may God bless you in your work, the visible church is falling into deception left and right, but praise be to God He always has His seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to baal. I thank God for your steadfastness brother!!
Al, I did not like it one bit that I went through two “takeovers,” but Ken Silva told me that God would eventually take what I had witnessed and teach me how to help others who were having it done to them. That was in 2006 when I left our old church. Ugly scene. In any case, what you described is how it goes. It is a takeover. You and those who are separated are considered evil and must be cast out. You are hindering the process . Sigh, well consider this my brother, judgment is coming. In the meantime we must pray and do what we can to help our brethren find their way out of the deception. It is hard for some to leave the deception of “relationship theology” because it is so addictive to some. Well, God preserves those who are His. Be blessed in the Lord my brother. Thanks for the encouragement. Ask God for wisdom, discernment and for a role in His Kingdom for it is coming in fulfillment very soon.
Come soon Lord Jesus!
In Christ
Mike Ratliff
Again, another amen Mike. Thank you! You have clearly described what we have experienced in the churches we have personally had to leave – and explained the “technical” terms of just what it is, that is spreading like a cancerous growth across the nations, our christian leaders, and our local churches.
On a lighter note, it would make a fascinating movie script – if it wasn’t so tragic!
Mike, that was very good description of Diaprax….I keep struggling with how to communicate this to people I know who would be interested, but probably will not watch that video….. I read these “stories” from people who comment and I want to say, “been there, done that and nobody even gave me a t-shirt” HA! : } NOT to make light of all this….the Lord has SO ABUNDANTLY blessed us even tho’ it was so painful standing against this stuff in our own fellowship. I am always encouraged when I read comments like Paul and Luann and even you on the number of people who contact you…….it really is an amazing time…..The Lord Jesus Christ is calling forth his own, his beloved…..never failing in leading them through the wilderness!!! As Al said, “He always has his ten thousand who have not bowed the knee to baal.” GLORY!!!
When watching that video, it really was so sad to see how utterly deceived they all were. So so sad. They kept enthusiatically saying that they must find out what it is that is making the churches grow that have thrown out the american way of doing things!Hmmmmm!They were saying they must converse with them to understand how to rely on God more. Hmmmmmm! Mrs Warren kept saying how she wanted to learn from, by spending time with those in poverty, about reliance on God. What ! No no no! Rely on God yourself then!Give him all your wealth, tell him he can do what he likes with it.I am so thankful that God has kept us over the last few years with just enough, and at the times that we needed something extra – bing! – he provides a way, ( or he doesn’t and we discover we didn’t actually need it anyway). I have a problem with money, I really needed God to take it all off me, I can’t be trusted.You know the more I go on, I see that if you are right with God he really won’t let you have all the material things etc that will swallow you up and cause you to rely on them. I only just noticed the quote you have on here the other day by GD Watson, but it sums it up entirely. In that ‘conversation’ on the video, it was as if Dr Horton was speaking in a different language entirely. I don’t think that any of them could actually hear.
I can’t see the real church being able to stay within the ‘organised’ church much longer without compromise. I see it in christians I know now, who are feeling the discomfort, but not yet fully convinced that they wouldn’t be ‘forsaking the gathering’ , ( unity before truth). I am not going to gather, just for the sake of it. And really, how can I gather with others believers if there are none around! God has sustained me through some real pain and strife over the last few years. He is all I need, and he keeps telling me it.
I know I keep saying it, but actually your site Mike, has been a big part of Gods provision. I pray for you and your family and all those here who comment and are going through the same things. I know that leaving deception behind and moving more into real personal dependency on him is all good, good, good : )
This one hits way too close to home.
Al’s comment: “What scares me the most is to see old friends under the spell of a false teacher. It’s like they’ve lost their minds.”
Wow! I have witnessed this myself since leaving my old church. Those that have stayed have been a source of constant prayer and bewilderment. It has also been very hurtful, and I am the one who feels like I have lost my mind at times. I never would’ve dreamed that those still there would have put up with what is going on. It scares me. It hurts me. It saddens me. I am fearful for them and their children. But, all of that is in the hands of a very capable God, Who has all this in His plan and His timing.
And what you said Mike, is also true: “…Judgment is coming”. Sooner than most think.
Amen to “come soon Lord Jesus”!!!!
Mike, great post.
The quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. is classic. This kind of quote may not be found in most of the so-called pastor’s mouths but in thier actions. They mix truth with the practice of error and create a mixture that is called ‘christian’ or ‘doing church’. Just drive around each of our towns and look at the ‘church’ signs with the stick on letters, what are they always ‘preaching’? Almost always it is open, positive and nice thoughts to the community, like ” Have a great summer.”, social outreach, like ” families with inmates”, movies and popcorn night, fun in the ‘son’ events, water pistol fights etc and it is nauseating. I really believe that the highest majority of America’s so-called churches are fellowships of people that walk in blindness due to the fact they love their service and services, ‘positive’ entertainment more than they love Christ. They want to belong to something more than they want to die to themselves. Their little club and the activities that keep them busy for ‘god’ is really all they want. When almost any degree of real truth is spoken, they turn from it back to the pleasure side of thier scorched minds because that is the only real reason they are in ‘church’.
I have found that simply fellowshipping with only those you KNOW in Christ (rather than corporations like the above types) and evangelizing the rest with the Gospel of Christ is the best way to serve Him alone rather than being weighted with fixing the ‘church’ from the inside.
I treat it like the Separatist on the Mayflower rather than those who tried to change the ‘Church’ from the inside.
After all Mike, those so-called ‘churches’ have the letters to the ‘churches’ and they don’t obey them or the Holy Spirit that is contained in the writing of them. Why would they hear it from me?
One on one they tend to listen more, get two of them together, your out. Why? They have a friendship to loose and after all they have been taught it is all about ‘relationships’ and being ‘plugged in’.
Thanks Sandra. From a line in one of the Bourne movies (I forget which), “You couldn’t make this up.”
Thanks and Amen Stella!
Fiona, very good pickup my sister. Yes, that is what I saw too.
God uses ordinary people in extraordinary ways. When you see the ministry with all the glitz and the pastor with all the education, I promise you that God will not use that in the fight for the kingdom when the going gets tough like he will those praying saints that no one knows about who are just ordinary people that there is no way anyone can discern that there is a reason that God would use them the way He does. I think this blog falls into that category. I pray that it does in any case. If we just stick to the truth of God’s Word, never waiver from it, do not elevate man or relationships over God’s truth and simply pursue Him and do what He told us to do then He will use us.
Yes, R.W. and company have found a way to counterfeit it, but is it eternal? Nope and they know that. That is why they are not fulfilled and are still struggling for formulas and answers. We know what the answer is as you so succinctly shared Fiona.
To God be the Glory!
In Christ Alone
Mike Ratliff
Amen Berean Gal!
Well said Brent! There are absolutely not Scripture verses to support staying in an apostatizing church to fix it from the inside. Not one! There are plenty telling us to run from them though. It is very telling who obeys those who doesn’t.
Good series of posts Mike! This is something that God is definitely warning us of the last days before Jesus returns. I’m not sure if any other bretherns have seen this before, but my earliest memory of someone mentioning Mark Driscoll is a claim by one person who is a big fan of him and contextualization that “postmodernism is not our enemy. It is neutral. People are postmodern anyway and you can’t reverse the trend – get used to it folks, and the only way we as the church could move forward we have to speak their language and express the gospel through their worldview”. Yes this is what a Mark Driscoll’s cheerleader has said.
And then you start connecting the dots, usually people who like Driscoll don’t see Rick Warren or Bill Hybels as unbiblical. (To be fair, they don’t tolerate the Word of Faith teachings from like Kenneth Copeland) And then you notice most of the pop teachers of evangelicalism like Randy Alcorn or Lee Strobel refuse to denounce Warren’s errant theology, and you start see things are really bad.
Joel, you have connected the dots brother. Or, should I say, the Holy Spirit has helped you connect the dots. It is both a good and troubling thing to see things plainly. It is like coming out of fog and realizing you have been traveling along a curving road on the side of mountain on ice. In any case, what we must do is get our focus back where it belongs and that is on Christ and God’s Word. We have to have an eternal focus (Colossians 3:1-4) and we have to be living sacrifices being transformed through God’s plan of mind renewal (Romans 12:1-2). If we do that then God will show us the truth about these things. He will also show us that Driscoll et al are spiritually blind and cannot see the truth. They have been deceived and been given over to their idols. Scary, but rejoice for you have been granted to see the truth and here you are just like the rest of us looking at these so-called Christian leaders marveling at their unbelief. I suppose it is similar to the Jewish leaders in the 1st Century. They just couldn’t see it because they wouldn’t see it. So are these people blind.
In Christ
Mike Ratliff
Mike,
Beautiful article and amen! You really explained it all so clearly. Your paragraph after the Romans 1:16 verse about the genuine Christian sums it up. The genuine Christian has a first love—Jesus Christ. He is our FIRST love, not just God that we happen to love and believe in. We obey His word and acknowledge His ways because that matters to Him… and we love Him first.
Fiona:
Thank you for praying for us. We all need to pray for each other. God has also kept me close to Him in some painful times this last year as it was dawning on us that we were going to have to leave our church. He is faithful and will continue to keep us. I think about Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father interceding for us in heaven. That gives me comfort.
Berean Gal:
I can relate to your feeling you have lost your mind at times. God is faithful to show us the opposite is true; that we have not lost our minds, but they are being renewed by His word. I’ve been called a rebel, a special case, and a contrarian…all by the women in my old bible study for simply wanting to investigate a certain teaching by a certain bible study teacher instead of simply accepting it without question. But, God comforts us in all of this.
Bless you Mike. I am grateful for the teaching gift God has given to you for His glory to share with us…His children that are so precious to Him.
Thank you Diane!
Mike,
Thanks so much for the simple explanation of Diaprax. I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, but this has helped me to understand. I’m where so many others here are. The church we had been members of for 17 years is now pastored by a “hireling”. Sadly, we ended up following our onetime “music and youth pastor” to a church which is clearly Emergent/seeker-sensitive. Our son is totally taught up in this church, and it has driven a wedge between us (he and I). My husband is unwilling to move. He still likes and trusts this “pastor”, and so many of the churches in this “Bible Belt” town are heading in the same direction. I pray that God will raise up a work that glorifies Him..maybe a house church. Thank you for continuing to stand up for God’s truth!
Joanne, what you shared has sadly become much more prevalent than ever before. However, rejoice that God has shown you what is going on. Pray for those still in darkness and seek the Lord for what He wants for you to do. Stand firm my sister and thank you for the encouragement.