Through the centuries Satan has tried to infiltrate Christian churches with false doctrines and phony preachers. Paul warned Timothy about leaders who would teach what people want to hear and not the scripture and gospel they need to hear. I have witnessed several false movements just in my lifetime so far. If we just train our minds to think positively, with or without a relationship with God through Christ is one. The prosperity “gospel” is another. But I believe two of the most recent ones I have encountered are the most dangerous and destructive to followers.
The first is that when we accept Jesus Christ we are not only forgiven for past and present sins, we are also forgiven for FUTURE sins. If that were true, God would be giving us permission to continue in sin without guilt or consequences. Jesus didn’t tell the woman caught in adultery that her sins are forgiven, just don’t get caught next time. He said, “Go and sin no more.” To receive the gift of salvation, we must repent. Repentance is not just feeling sorry for what we have done, repentance is turning away from sin and turning toward God.
The second dangerous doctrine today is self love. This is what one sister in Christ calls “cotton candy Christianity”. It only teaches scripture that makes you feel good about yourself. There is much joy in living the Christian life, but there are times when a certain passage of scripture or the promptings of God’s Holy Spirit have made me very uncomfortable. In every case, I was turned away from temptation to sin and turned back toward God’s will in my life. We don’t get to choose only those verses we agree with. Jesus is the Word personified. We can’t accept Jesus without accepting the entire Bible as the inspired Word of God.