The Church’s Hidden Cancer

[David]

This is a warning to the true Church: The enemy is inside. If we are honest with ourselves we will admit that we live in a dangerous time for the Church. We face persecution from the outside, but perhaps even more so we face corruption from within. Jude put a spotlight on this truth long ago, “For there are certain men crept in unawares… ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:4). These are not atheistic men or the enemies of Christ. They call themselves “Christian,” they sit in our churches, they preach from our pulpits, they write our books, they stream their messages all across the internet and yet they pervert the truth and poison the flock of Christ.

The Bible warned us this would happen. Jesus talked about wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15). Paul said, “Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:30). Peter said false teachers would secretly bring in destructive heresies (2 Peter 2:1–2). This is no theory, it’s happening right now. Apostasy always begins in the house of the believer.

Look around you. We have people in forums, and in pulpits today that no longer preach repentance but only comfort. They preach a grace that becomes a get out of jail free card for sin. They mock holiness as legalism. They denigrate the authority of Scripture while exalting feelings, culture, or “new revelations” from God. They preach a Jesus that saves but doesn’t rule, a gospel without a cross, a faith that never requires obedience. Paul described them to a tee: “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him” (Titus 1:16).

God will judge all apostasy. Just as Israel was destroyed in the wilderness for unbelief (Numbers 14), just as fallen angels who rebelled are chained up for judgment (2 Peter 2: 4), just as Sodom and Gomorrah suffered the vengeance of eternal fire (Jude 1:7), so too will every man and woman who corrupt God’s truth be destroyed by His wrath.

The Church can not afford to be naïve. Not every smiling man in a pulpit is a shepherd. Not every popular teacher or writer is faithful. It is time to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3). That means we test every spirit (1 John 4: 1), we hold fast to the Scriptures as our final authority (2 Timothy 3:16–17), and we separate ourselves from those who pervert the gospel of Christ no matter how articulate and persuasive they may sound.

We must recover a spirit of reverence, obedience, and boldness. This is no time for wishy-washy Christianity. Satan’s oldest trick is to always mix enough truth with lies to fool the undiscerning. If we are not faithful to guard the truth, we will sit by helplessly and watch the Church become hollow, worldly, and powerless.

The time to wake up is now. The truth is in Sola Scriptura. The time to fight for truth is now. Are you ready to stand, even if it costs you?