Has Doubt Inspired Heresy?
At the
urging of my daughter, I watched a Netflix film entitled Come Sunday, and I think I’m heartbroken. This movie is the
true-life portrayal of Bishop Carlton Pearson, who decided there is no hell. During
a documentary about the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Pearson believed God spoke to
him, and because God is love and Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, everyone
goes to heaven.[1]
A few days later,
I read an article about an applauded author I recognized from my son’s teen
years. Joshua Harris impacted teens and singles in the late 1990s and early
2000s with his books I Kissed Dating
Goodbye and Boy Meets Girl –
Say Hello to Courtship. Harris, the former pastor of Covenant Life
Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, just divorced his wife and announced he’s not
a Christian anymore, at least not by evangelical standards. Fox News reported,
“In an Instagram post, he also apologized for his previously held views,
including "bigotry" to the LGBTQ community.”[2]
This
morning, I reread an article I had saved from last August about Andy Stanley,
the son of Pastor Charles Stanley. Andy has been preaching that Christians need
to “unhitch” from the Old Testament.[3] The
article accused him of heresy, and I would agree.
But what’s
going on? It’s crazy to think three solid Biblical Christians could be so corrupted
with the enemy’s lies. Pearson turned from Truth to universal reconciliation. No hell and everyone going to heaven
sounds so good. We desperately want to believe it, especially when we lose a
loved one who never received Jesus. But Scripture says otherwise, and in
reality, this is doctrines of demons.[4] If
universal reconciliation were true, our Bible would not make a distinction
between believers and unbelievers, between children of light and children of
darkness. John 15:6[5]
would be irrelevant, as would Matthew 7:23[6] and
many others.
Stanley, on
the other hand, says he believes the New Testament, but feels the Old Testament
is irrelevant even though Jesus said, the Scriptures “…are they which testify
of Me.” Jesus, the theme of the whole Bible, is progressively revealed therein.
God knew our sinful, finite minds could not handle His full revelation all at
once. Some still can’t handle it.
Harris just
lost faith in the One True and Living God – maybe because God’s Word conflicted
with Harris’s desires.
While these
reasons for leaving the Truth of God are different, they all have one source – DOUBT.
Each man doubted
what he knew of God and that God’s Word meant what it said. Thus, heresy was born. However, it wasn’t
one day they believed Truth, and the next day, they didn’t. Doubt
was gradual like ocean waves pounding against a cliff. As time passes, the raging
water erodes the base. Eventually, the overhead rocks fall, similar to the
bluff in Encinitas, California, that recently collapsed killing three.
According to the report I read, the bluff was a mixture of rock and sand.[7]
It seemed solid, but when the sand eroded the rock crumbled.
Satan is working
overtime to corrupt Christians, especially those with influence. Christians who
look strong in the Word, yet somehow their foundation isn’t quite solid Rock.
Nevertheless, God is allowing this shaking. But why?
To refine
the church? To reveal the hearts of those who truly believe His Word and are
willing to follow it, and those who are not? I don’t know.
What I do
know is doubt
is deadly. If we allow doubt to fester, it will take over and color
everything – every thought, word, and deed. Doubt’s ONLY cure is true and wholehearted repentance. Once God has
cleansed us from unrighteousness[8],
we must use His armor by believing His Word, girding our loins with Truth.[9]
Still, Satan does not let up, so this is where we must take our thoughts – our doubts
– captive, and make them obey Christ.[10]
Sadly, Pearson,
Harris, Stanley, and countless others have chosen a different Gospel, another
Jesus,[11]
and a form of godliness.[12]
Their doubt-inspired
heresy continues to gain momentum
because congregations have itching ears.[13] And these false teachings will fuel the end-time “falling away.”[14]
[4] I
Timothy 4:1
[5] “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast
out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the
fire, and they are burned.”
[6] “And then I will declare to them, 'I never
knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'”
[8] I
John 1:9
[9]
Ephesians 6:10-18
[10]
II Corinthians 10:3-5
[11]
II Corinthians 11:4; Galatians 1:6-9
[12]
II Timothy 3:5
[13]
II Timothy 4:1-5
[14]
II Thessalonians 2:3
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