Contending for the Faith
Beloved, you must have a category for people who sound like Christians but are not. While there are many ways to fit into this category (the one who accepted Jesus into his heart but bears no fruit of repentance, the moral people who religiously attend services but are not born again, etc.), I want to focus on Christian cults for now.
The disorienting thing about Christian cults is that they use our language, our phrases, the name of our Lord, and even our Scriptures to promote a radically different God and gospel. Which one of us would disagree with "Jesus is the Christ" for example? or "Jesus is our Lord"? or "salvation is by grace"? But when we discover that the cults are in fact using the same words with a completely different dictionary, we must be prepared to vigorously deny the meaning behind such statements. By definition, Christian cults claim to be Christians and use Christian terms while denying essential Christian doctrine.
One cannot say that Jesus is Lord but deny that Jesus is fully God (as Mormon and Jehovah's Witness theology does) and be a Christian. A true Christian cannot say that salvation is by grace yet also insist on good works to get you into heaven as Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholics and Seventh Day Adventists who tow the line of their respective religions do.
Century after century, old heresies packaged in new garments, masquerade as Christianity and succeed at not only confusing people about what constitutes genuine Christianity but also succeed in completely deceiving their adherents. Still others are further hardened and repulsed from ever receiving the life-changing grace of the gospel. God only knows how many people have been turned away from Christianity by a false gospel that uses our terms without any of their meaning or power.
Alarmingly, insisting that the cults are not Christians is increasingly frowned upon within the broader Christian movement today. There is a trend within evangelicalism to embrace many of these groups as fellow Christians. Notoriously, Dallas Jenkins, producer of the popular The Chosen series said of particular Latter Day Saints friends that they "absolutely love the same Jesus that I do." If Jenkins was a member of the LDS church, this would not cause a stir. But since Jenkins identifies himself as "a conservative evangelical Christian," it is rightfully jarring. When confronted about this, Jenkins only doubled-down. Mormon theology teaches that Jesus earned his way to a divine status rather than always existing as God. For this alone, Mormons cannot be considered Christian since their theology denies the Christ of the Bible.
On the scholarly level, Craig L. Blomberg, who is now in his fourth decade teaching at Denver Seminary wrote in How Wide The Divide (co-written with Mormon scholar Stephen E. Robinson, published in 1998), "We find on the topic of Scripture, more agreement between us than we had expected to find. Both of us professors agree that all Scripture is inspired. . . We hold the same understanding of inerrancy. We agree that the present biblical text is the Word of God within the common parameters of the Chicago Statement of Inerrancy."
This book was co-written by an evangelical and a Mormon to discuss their respective positions on controversial topics. Surprisingly, the historic evangelical position on Scripture is not upheld at all. Christianity claims that the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments alone are to be considered Scripture inspired by God. Mormons, however, hold to three additional books as canonical Scripture: The Book of Mormon, The Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrines and Covenants. Evangelicals have rightly repudiated the Mormon claim that their books are equally authoritative Scripture, revealed and inspired by God. But when a prominent theologian at a conservative Christian seminary says that both evangelicals and Mormons hold to the same doctrine of inerrancy and inspiration, the truth of Scripture is obscured if not completely obliterated for many. The cults are gaining sway over many who identify strongly with the orthodox faith of Christianity, passed down from generation to generation.
Jude took up his pen to warn the church about this more insidious and less obvious attack: the denial of God's grace and the denial of Christ our Lord from within.
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (Jude 1:3–4).
The false teaching Jude was compelled to warn of in the church was not coming from the "heathen" of the world, but was creeping in and had already infiltrated the church "unnoticed." It perverted God's grace and denied Christ just as we see today. The doctrine of Christ is worth defending. The doctrine of Scripture is essential to uphold. The teaching of salvation by grace alone through faith alone is critical to maintain. And all of these battles continue to rage within the church. It is neither loving nor kind to anyone listening to blur the lines between the authentic Christian faith and those who use our words while vacating them of Biblical meaning and significance. We want those who are perishing to come to the life-giving message of the historic Christian faith.
In my limited experience, the lion's share of Christian discussion about evil focuses on obvious issues of immorality happening outside of the church: flagrant debauchery, sexual immorality, and so on. But how many newsletters, sermons, podcasts, or social media posts that you give your ear to are warning you about an imposter Christianity already within the walls of the church and unnoticed? So much attention is given to the obvious issues while destruction is at work behind the scenes.
The greatest threat to the church is always internal not external. The Roman cross could not extinguish the brightly burning flame of Christianity. The scimitar of Islam cannot sever the church from Christ's love. The sensuality of our "liberated" culture cannot overcome the true freedom we have in Christ. But when the church stops contending for the faith, who will?
You may feel ill-equipped to defend "the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." My answer to that is two-fold: If you are a genuine Christian, you already know much more of the grace and power of God than you may realize. You know the true gospel. You know salvation is by faith and not works. You know that Jesus is fully God and fully man, worthy of all worship. My other answer is that, as a genuine Christian, you are continually growing in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ already.
A positive byproduct of the cults' presence is that they force us to better study and know our Scriptures for ourselves so that we can contend earnestly for authentic Christianity. I would gladly take one woman-at-the-well who understands what it means that Jesus is the Christ over synagogues full of those who deny him. I would gladly take one person who truly believes John 1:1 — that Jesus is God, co-equal, co-eternal, co-existent with the Father, than a host of scholars who "deny our only Master and Lord." The one who picks up that book and believes God is a mighty tool in the hand of the Redeemer.
