This post was inspired as I was lamenting the influence of contemplative spirituality in churches. I intended to share some thoughts about it on Instagram, but my thoughts kept building and I refused to be restriced by a character limit this time.
It hurts to see churches falling prey to false teachings such as those of Christian mysticism. Through the practices of "spiritual formation", Living Spiritual Teacher Richard Foster and Dallas Willard infiltrated evangelical Christianity with disciplines they claim were lost by the Church. In actuality, practices such as lectio divina are rooted in Catholic monasticism and can be adapted by other faiths, including the New Age movement. Seeking extrabiblical and ecumenical wisdom through unbiblical disciplines such as centering prayer (2 Corinthians 3:18, Titus 3:5; Deuteronomy 29:29, 2 Peter 1:3-8, 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Joshua 1:8, 1 Corinthians 14:15, Philippians 4:6, John 16:23-24; John 14:6, Hosea 4:6, Psalm 19:7-14) bears similarity to first century Gnosticism. This pursuit was reborn in the postliberal theology of the Emergent Church - now repackaged as Progressive Christianity. Richard Foster has been endorsed by Eugene Peterson, author of The Message, and is a fellow Living Spiritual Teacher with Richard Rohr, whom Rob Bell has endorsed. Rohr is a major influence in Progressive Christianity.
Progressive Christianity
A common reaction to the public renouncements of faith is that the renouncers were never saved in the first place. While I'm hesitant to judge anyone's salvation before their time has expired and they no longer have a chance to return to the Lord, I also believe God is sovereign in salvation; His grace is effectual and His calling irrevocable (John 6:37, Romans 11:29). The Contemporary English Version words it this way: "God doesn't take back the gifts he has given or disown the people he has chosen." Not only is God's calling irrevocable, but it is for His purpose and pleasure (Romans 8:28, Philippians 2:13, Ephesians 1:5, 11-12; cf. Proverbs 16:9, 19:21).
There is confusion about the role of works in regards to salvation. What sets Christianity apart from man-made religions that use works in attempts to reach a god or gods is that the one true God reached us through the work of Jesus (Luke 19:10). We are justified by faith alone in His perfect works in life and on the cross (Romans 1:16-17; cf. Habakkuk 2:4). Due to our sinful nature, we cannot measure up to God's perfect holiness even with our best works (Isaiah 64:6). If our works cannot earn us our salvation - since Jesus had to earn it for us - neither can our works keep our salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9). Our works are not done out of duty as a requirement for salvation, but out of gratitude in response to the salvation we have received. As Kevin DeYoung wrote in The Ten Commandments: What They Mean, Why They Matter, and Why We Should Obey Them, "salvation is not the reward for obedience; salvation is the reason for obedience" (2018, p. 25). In other words, we are saved for good works and not by them (2 Timothy 1:9, 3:17, Titus 1:16, 2:13-14, 3:8, 14, Ephesians 2:8-10, Romans 6:20-23, 7:4-6, 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, Colossians 1:10, Hebrews 13:20-21, 2 Corinthians 9:8). One purpose of our good deeds is for others to give glory to God (Matthew 5:16). Another is that King Jesus is coming back and we have work to do before His kingdom comes (Matthew 6:33).
Progressive Christianity's influence is what caused me to release "Shoulda Been Me". A major contributing factor to the public renouncements of faith by deconstructionists is the image of an angry God who requires His holy wrath against sin to be appeased. This idea of God as a moral monster is so vehemently opposed that it no longer matters that God lovingly came down to us as a man in order to take His own punishment in our place (Micah 7:18, Philippians 2:5-11, John 1:1, 10-14). This repudiation of the truth of penal substitutionary atonement (PSA) is the most serious and severe departure from biblical faith in our day.
I would argue that Progressive Christianity is perhaps the biggest threat to the salvation of souls right now - though I am concerned about the other threats as well. Atheism is not the most significant threat to the Church. An atheist will elevate his intellectual argumentation over a Christian's testimony, but when God transforms a person, He transforms their understanding. In a wonderful display of God choosing foolish things to shame the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27), atheism has not and will not kill God. Also, other religions and cults do not threaten the Church as severely. Christianity is unlike all other faiths, which are works-based, for only Christ could live the perfect life we can't. If we believe we need to do any one thing to earn our way into Heaven, then we must live flawlessly (Galatians 5:1-3). It doesn't take long before we clearly see that we cannot. What most threatens the Great Commission of the Church is the wolves found inside. As in warfare, infiltration tactics are more effective than frontal assault.
False teachings inside the Church abound in various forms, such as the Word of Faith movement, the New Apostolic Reformation, or even Unitarianism. When weighing all these "wolves", we can separate their false beliefs into two groups: those that misunderstand or misrepresent parts of what the Bible teaches and those that directly oppose the historic tenets of the Christian faith. Progressive Christianity is revealing itself to have the latter.
I can't help but wonder: if Christianity is meant to keep progressing, how do we know when we've progressed enough? What are we progressing to? Rather than seeking something new that constantly changes, we need to get back to the basic orthodox doctrines of early Christianity. Since the fall of the Roman Empire, the Church has changed societies with the good news of Jesus Christ. When the Bride mingled with the world, however, the results were often disastrous.
Deconstruction
This leads me to the deconstruction movement. Some will say it is a healthy evaluation of your beliefs in order to shed the bad ones and preserve the good. However, that comes with examining yourself and testing everything against God's Word - not the other way around (2 Corinthians 13:5, Acts 17:11, 1 John 4:1). There's no need to borrow from Jacques Derrida's philosophy of fluidity in textual meaning, which he translated into "deconstruction" from Martin Heidegger's concept of "destruktion". Don't let anybody convince you that "there have been Deconstructions throughout history that have lead [sic] to healthy faith" and that even Christ Jesus Himself deconstructed. Whatever happened to discernment? Unfortunately, deconstruction often results in just that - destruction and the deserting of Christianity altogether. One may sincerely seek objective biblical truth, but as Alisa Childers has written, "[T]he way the word is most often used in the deconstruction movement has little to do with objective truth, and everything to do with tearing down whatever doctrine someone believes is morally wrong." So, the evaluation of the morality of these doctrines is not based on any objective or biblical standards. Instead of simply accepting what God says in His Word, this process allows deconstructionists to subjectively deem what is good or bad based on their individual sense of justice.
I wish this movement was just a fad; it certainly seems like one. Those who "deconstruct" feel an urge to publicly denounce the faith they once professed to hold after having their views shaped by cultural values. We've seen this from musicians such as Michael Gungor, Marty Sampson, Jon Steingard, Audrey Assad, Kevin Max and Phanatik to megachurch pastors such as Dave Gass and Joshua Harris to others such as Abraham Piper and Paul Maxwell. One common denominator in the announcements I've read is that they weren't satisfied with the answers they received to their questions, but that doesn't mean there aren't any or that they're false. Just as in contemplative spirituality, feelings are elevated over truth. Any inconsistencies that are found are due to misinterpretations. The only thing worse than apostatizing from Christianity is apostatizing from a misrepresentation of Christianity. They claim to now be truly free; "very much alive", "so happy now, so at peace", and "so full of joy for the first time", even as they fight back tears. Running from God feels like freedom in the beginning, but it always ends in misery - whether in this life or the next.
The Falling Away
There have been various views throughout Church history concerning the great apostasy, or "falling away", described in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4. Although the public denouncements seem like a trend, this passage does appear to be perfectly describing the deconstruction movement today. This movement overlaps with the "exvangelical" movement of former professing evangelicals who become atheists, agnostics, or followers of other faiths. If they do remain followers of Christ, they follow a Christ of their own making - usually the Christ of Progressive Christianity. Don't be deceived. The Universal - or cosmic - Christ of Richard Rohr is not the biblical Christ.
The end times apostasy will be the largest falling away in the Church's history from God and the true faith (1 Timothy 4:1, Hebrews 3:12, Luke 8:13, Acts 5:37, Revelation 13:14, 1 John 2:22). It will be so bad that the Lord Jesus asked if He will really find faith on the earth when He comes (Luke 18:8). The word "apostasia" means a revolt. It is used in the sense of a rebellion of a king's subjects or a defection of soldiers. Although the defector is normally considered a traitor by his original side, I like to employ the term for the act of turning away from the god of this world and joining the army of God (2 Corinthians 4:4, Galatians 4:8-9). Those who deconstruct give up their purported allegiance to Christ. Whether deconstruction is the "great apostasy" or not, it is nonetheless an apostasy.
Eternal Security
A common reaction to the public renouncements of faith is that the renouncers were never saved in the first place. While I'm hesitant to judge anyone's salvation before their time has expired and they no longer have a chance to return to the Lord, I also believe God is sovereign in salvation; His grace is effectual and His calling irrevocable (John 6:37, Romans 11:29). The Contemporary English Version words it this way: "God doesn't take back the gifts he has given or disown the people he has chosen." Not only is God's calling irrevocable, but it is for His purpose and pleasure (Romans 8:28, Philippians 2:13, Ephesians 1:5, 11-12; cf. Proverbs 16:9, 19:21).
As John wrote in 1 John 2:19, there is a distinction between those who appear outwardly to be Christians and those of the invisible Church who are truly united to Christ through the free gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8, 1 Peter 1:5, 2 Peter 1:1, Philippians 1:29, Acts 3:16, Hebrews 12:2; cf. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7). The Word of God describes Him establishing different things, including faith (Psalm 103:19, 112:8, Proverbs 16:9, 19:21, Deuteronomy 28:9, 1 Chronicles 29:18, 2 Chronicles 9:8; 2 Corinthians 1:21, Romans 16:25, 1 Thessalonians 3:13, 2 Thessalonians 3:3, 1 Peter 5:10, 2 Peter 1:3, Ephesians 3:16-19, Colossians 2:6-7, Jude 1:3, Hebrews 13:9). Therefore, biblically, those who "lose" their salvation really didn't have it in the first place. Those who seem to "fall away" without turning back to the Lord later were deceived, thus not of the elect (Matthew 24:24, John 10:28-29). In fact, just as faith is a gift from God, so is the desire to serve Him, for no one naturally seeks Him (Philippians 2:13, Romans 1:16-20, 3:10-18, 7:18, Psalm 5:9, 14:2-3, 37:4, Isaiah 59:7-8, John 6:44).
Faith and Works
There is confusion about the role of works in regards to salvation. What sets Christianity apart from man-made religions that use works in attempts to reach a god or gods is that the one true God reached us through the work of Jesus (Luke 19:10). We are justified by faith alone in His perfect works in life and on the cross (Romans 1:16-17; cf. Habakkuk 2:4). Due to our sinful nature, we cannot measure up to God's perfect holiness even with our best works (Isaiah 64:6). If our works cannot earn us our salvation - since Jesus had to earn it for us - neither can our works keep our salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9). Our works are not done out of duty as a requirement for salvation, but out of gratitude in response to the salvation we have received. As Kevin DeYoung wrote in The Ten Commandments: What They Mean, Why They Matter, and Why We Should Obey Them, "salvation is not the reward for obedience; salvation is the reason for obedience" (2018, p. 25). In other words, we are saved for good works and not by them (2 Timothy 1:9, 3:17, Titus 1:16, 2:13-14, 3:8, 14, Ephesians 2:8-10, Romans 6:20-23, 7:4-6, 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, Colossians 1:10, Hebrews 13:20-21, 2 Corinthians 9:8). One purpose of our good deeds is for others to give glory to God (Matthew 5:16). Another is that King Jesus is coming back and we have work to do before His kingdom comes (Matthew 6:33).
Just as God didn't choose Israel based on anything inherent in them (Deuteronomy 7:7), God chose us before we were able to choose Him (John 15:16, Ephesians 1:4). God saved Israel out of Egypt before He gave them the Mosaic Law. They did not behave in order to be saved, but were saved first and then told how to behave. Although the Israelites were required to keep the Law, the Law itself didn't give them salvation, but showed their need for it (Hebrews 10:4, 10, 18, Romans 3:19-22, 2 Corinthians 3:6). This order of salvation is the same with Jesus. If "a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ" (Galatians 2:16; cf. Romans 3:27-4:8), then why would he be justified by any other works? In fact, those under the works of the law are under the curse (Galatians 3:10-14, cf. Romans 6:14). A gospel of works other than the finished work of Christ is a backwards gospel (John 19:30; cf. Acts 4:12). God's new covenant with us through Jesus is not based on our ability to obey, but on His perfect obedience to the Law of God in our place (Philippians 3:3, 7-12). His sacrifice was sufficient to pay the penalty for our sin. That is what saves us.
Our salvation does not depend on us, but on God, who is the author of it through Jesus (Hebrews 2:10, 12:2) and whose grace saves us and keeps us (Titus 3:5, Romans 11:5-6, 2 Corinthians 12:9, 1 Corinthians 15:10). We don't have to prove ourselves to be accepted; none of us can earn to be chosen (Romans 9:11, 16). By taking away one's salvation, God would break His promise (John 3:16, 1 John 5:13, Hebrews 8:12, 2 Corinthians 1:20). The question we should be asking is not whether one can lose their salvation, but whether one who does not bear fruit has really been made new (John 3:3, 15:8, 2 Corinthians 3:18, 5:17). The biblical Greek word for "repentance" is "metanoia" and means a change of mind. When God transforms a soul, He changes its fundamental core.
Hebrews 10:26-27
A popular passage used in the argument for loss of salvation is Hebrews 10:26-27. Rather than warning about losing one's salvation, which is assured as being secure elsewhere (John 6:47, Romans 8:31-39, 1 Peter 1:3-5, Hebrews 10:22), this passage warns about false converts. They appear to be saved among God's adopted family, but lack true saving faith like Judas. These verses come directly after Paul's encouragement to hold fast to our hope, since the One who promised it is faithful, and to stir up good works (Hebrews 10:23-24). Those whom God elects won't sin habitually (1 John 1:10, 3:8-9, 2 Peter 1:10). Of course, no one is able to be perfectly sinless as God is (Leviticus 19:2, 1 Peter 1:13-17, 1 John 1:8) - otherwise we wouldn't need Christ - but the Christian will seek to reflect God's holy nature to others (Philippians 3:12-14). In Leviticus 19, God lays out how the Israelites could live holy. We live in obedience to the truth with love (1 Peter 1:22). It is Christ's sanctification and cleansing through His blood, not our works, that makes us "without spot, wrinkle, or blemish" (Ephesians 5:25-27, 2 Peter 3:14, cf. Revelation 7:14, 19:8).
Hebrews 10:26 only mentions those who receive the knowledge of the truth and not those who receive new hearts (Ezekiel 11:19, 2 Corinthians 5:17). There is a difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge. The Christian's life is the ultimate example of actions speaking louder than words. This passage is about one who professes faith and yet ultimately chooses willful sinning and worldly things over Christ (Matthew 13:20-22). It does not say the Christian's salvation no longer remains, but that Christ's sacrifice for sins no longer remains, since the apostate rejects it. I'm sure Arminians and Calvinists can both agree that Christ's sacrifice does not apply to those who spurn it. There is no atonement, even in the Law, for intentional and unrepented sin.
Matthew 12:43-45
Another passage used to support the idea of losing salvation is Matthew 12:43-45. Rather than being about salvation, this passage is about "this wicked generation" that denies salvation by grace through faith and attempts to be clean from wickedness through its own effort. In the context of the latter half of Matthew 12, Jesus is explaining how He could not be casting out demons by Beelzebub - a claim that unpardonably blasphemes the Spirit of God. He then compares the "brood of vipers" to bad trees being known by their bad fruits before some of them ask for a sign after His miracles were just attributed to Satan! The point is that we are all empty without the Spirit and our own efforts at being righteous never work and only get worse. We are evil to the core and remain open to demonic influence without the regeneration of the Spirit.
The Crux of the Matter
This issue boils down to the character of God. Is God able to preserve His elect and not break His promise of eternal life (Psalm 145:20, Romans 10:9-13, 1 John 5:13; John 3:16, Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30, 2 Timothy 1:12)? Will Jesus forsake His chosen sheep (John 14:16-18, Matthew 28:20, Hebrews 13:5)? Jesus Himself said that He would not lose "all [the Father] has given Me" (John 6:39) because "no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father" (John 6:65-66) and "no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand" (John 10:26-30). Our faith is granted to us just as Pilate's power was granted to him (John 19:11), but faith can also be denied just as Pharaoh's hardened heart was kept hardened (Romans 9:17-18). Salvation is by His power and not ours (Psalm 145:20, Titus 3:5, Jude 24-25). If it were up to us sinners, none of us would be able to keep our salvation! We are born dead in sin and unable to meet His perfect standard of holiness, so God makes us alive through Christ (Ephesians 2:1-7; cf. Romans 6:9-14, 1 Peter 1:3-5). It is not prideful to take Him at His Word. He will complete what He began in His sheep and not fail (Philippians 1:6, Hebrews 12:2). If the Father chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), then He won't let anything thwart His plan. God converts whom He chooses, continues to work in those He converts, and completes what He commences.
This doesn't mean that those who are saved do nothing, but rather that they work out what God works in them. When God tells us through His Word to "work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12-13), He is talking about completing the salvation we have already received by the process of sanctification with reverent fear as in 2 Corinthians 7:15 (cf. Psalm 2:11, Ecclesiastes 12:13). Paul explains this process in the next chapter of Philippians as the act of pressing toward the goal (3:12-14). Peter expresses the same idea when he writes about adding to the faith we've obtained with diligence to make our call and election sure (2 Peter 1:1, 5-7, 10-11; cf. 2 Corinthians 13:5, 1 John 3:19).
If you are truly saved and God desires that all would be saved (1 Timothy 2:4, 2 Peter 3:9; cf. Luke 15:5-6, 32), then do you think God would allow you to lose your salvation? In addition, if you are truly saved, would you take your salvation lightly? If a Christian can lose salvation, it follows that God destroys His new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), revokes His redemption with the blood of Christ and His guarantee with the seal of the Holy Spirit for His glory (1 Peter 1:18-19, Romans 3:23-26; Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:20, 2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5), and reneges on His Word of justification and glorification and His promise of eternal life (Romans 5:1-5, 8:30; John 3:16). If a Christian can lose salvation, then God is a liar (Titus 1:2). Thus, deconstruction doesn't lead to loss of salvation because the Christian will return to the Lord or because he never knew the Lord in the first place (Matthew 7:21-23). God's will is sovereign over man's will.
Shoulda Been Me
Progressive Christianity's influence is what caused me to release "Shoulda Been Me". A major contributing factor to the public renouncements of faith by deconstructionists is the image of an angry God who requires His holy wrath against sin to be appeased. This idea of God as a moral monster is so vehemently opposed that it no longer matters that God lovingly came down to us as a man in order to take His own punishment in our place (Micah 7:18, Philippians 2:5-11, John 1:1, 10-14). This repudiation of the truth of penal substitutionary atonement (PSA) is the most serious and severe departure from biblical faith in our day.
A misunderstanding of God's love coupled with a mischaracterization of His wrath sounds like something the Antichrist will capitalize on. God's love is not a passive indifference to sin and a fuzzy feeling, but an action of salvation (1 John 4:9-10). God's wrath is not an uncontrollable tantrum and egotistical, but a holy response to evil (Habakkuk 1:13). Our sin incurs our holy God's just wrath and is not merely a hindrance to a prosperous and healthy life. God removes His wrath from those who fear Him and understand their need for the righteousness of Jesus to give them peace with Him (Psalm 85:3, 9-10). Today, God's forgiveness is preached without the means to its end: the righteous wrath of God which Jesus took on our behalf.
It should've been us paying for our sins, but we needed a perfect substitute in our place (Leviticus 4:27-28, 17:11, Hebrews 9:22, 1 Peter 1:18-19). God's Word lays out the world's redemptive history which culminated in the perfect life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection of Jesus (Ephesians 1:9-10, 3:11). Israel's sacrificial system pointed to a perfect substitute whose death would redeem people from the penalty of sin and bring them back to God because of His fulfillment of the Law (Ephesians 1:7). When we are made new in Christ, our identities change from being objects of God's wrath to His adopted children (2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:1-3, Romans 9:22-26, 2 Timothy 2:2-20-22). The children of wrath become the children of God when they trust that Christ bore God's wrath against sin for them to whom it was due (John 3:36, Romans 2:5-6, 5:9). Christ had to suffer the judgment we deserve in order for us to be reconciled to God - there was no other way (Luke 22:42-44). Christianity doesn't make sense without Christ's full payment on our behalf, just as the physical resurrection of Jesus doesn't make sense without a literal death of the first humans. In preaching forgiveness without God's wrath against sin, the good news loses the reason that makes it good in the first place. Unfortunately, as we see with fallen pastors, this misinterpretation of God's love leads one's personal love to grow cold (Matthew 24:10-12).
Conclusion
A lack of biblical literacy and discernment have been damaging to the Great Commission of making disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). Praise God that He has chosen to save a group of people from all nations and nobody is able to prevail against it (Revelation 7:9, Matthew 16:18)! As people embrace "moralistic therapeutic deism" or being "spiritual" more and more, it is reassuring to know that God has preserved a remnant for Him throughout each generation. However, this doesn't negate our responsibility to know and share the truth of the gospel.
We are quick to condemn or "cancel" pastors and churches accused of sexual abuse. We have even gone so far as attempting to erase their existence as in damnatio memoriae. Yet, we continue to allow the abuse of the Word while failing to realize the latter is used as a means to the former. Please don't get me wrong; clergy abuse is a serious problem and not just in Catholicism. It's just a shame that we don't care about what a preacher says as much as what they do when what we believe affects how we live (Titus 1:1, 16). If we want to solve the problem of abuse in our churches, we must start by addressing false theology being used to justify the abuse. Of course, sexual abuse by clergy is an extreme example, but the point is that false theology can result in false doctrine and unbiblical practices.
God's Word commands us to be discerning (1 John 4:1, Hebrews 5:14, Philippians 1:9-10, John 7:24, 1 Thessalonians 5:21, Matthew 10:16, 1 Corinthians 12:10, Colossians 1:28, 2:8, 1 Timothy 6:3-5, Proverbs 2:1-5). We are given directives to defend the faith and to keep the gospel pure (Jude 1:3, 2 Timothy 1:13-14, 2:2, 15-19, 25, 3:16-17, 4:2-5, Galatians 5:9). Are you lining everything you read or hear up with Scripture as the noble Bereans did (Acts 17:11)? Do you know who it is your pastor is quoting?
