The Wake-up Herald
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. Romans 13:11-14
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Robert McCurry, Editor & Publisher
May 1, 2012
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Why We Are Where We Are
Part 20
False conversions 'suicide' for churches
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) – Thousands, if not millions, of church members sitting in America’s pews aren’t really born-again Christians, a Washington, D.C., pastor said April 10 to a pastors’ conference in Louisville, Ky.
Mark Dever, senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in the nation’s capital, warned on the opening day of the 2012 Together for the Gospel Conference that “false conversions” are “the suicide of the local church.”
Dever was one of four religious leaders – with Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; C.J. Mahaney, president Sovereign Grace Ministries in Gaithersburg, Md.; and Ligon Duncan, senior minister at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Miss. – to convene the first Together for the Gospel event in 2006 to combat what they viewed as false teaching in many churches today. A statement of unifying doctrines includes male headship in the church and home and the need for church discipline of wayward members in local congregations.
This year’s conference, the fourth, was expected to draw 8,000 pastors and ministers April 10-12 to The Kentucky International Convention Center and KFC Yum! Center, with messages uploaded daily on the website t4g.org.
Dever described “members of the church who live worldly, carnal lives” as a “serious problem” in American Christianity.
“The problem I am pointing to is not just that of the occasional hypocrite lost in their own unrepentant sin,” Dever said. “I’m talking about systems which seem to produce false converts so much that it’s not just one man … but whole congregations that like Israel of old are typified and characterized not by holiness but by worldliness.”
Dever said that is a problem for church members who are “deceived about their own state before the Lord.”
“It’s just not right for a congregation to leave men or women made in the image of God with the impression that they are reconciled to God when the truth is, other than some decision recorded in 1973, there is no evidence whatsoever that they are reconciled to God,” he said. “That is not a loving thing to do for them.”
It is also a problem, Dever said, for the churches they attend, especially if they do so in large numbers.
“Congregations are to be composed of born-again, repenting sinners,” Dever said. “When a congregation is made up of many people whose lives more resemble the works of the flesh than the fruit of the Spirit, the experience of following Christ together, of love and encouragement and spurring on and mutual advocation and accountability, all of this is eroded and cooled and diminished. The church becomes more like the world.”
That, he said, harms the church’s witness.
“The church’s witness to the nations is subverted,” Dever said. “We become so much like the world they have no questions they want to ask us. It appears that we have no hope that is any better than theirs.… When the world is in the church, then the church begins to disappear from the world.”
Worst of all, Dever said, “God’s name is defamed.”
“Our churches are to reflect the character of God so that He will be brought glory among the nations,” Dever said. “That’s His plan. We work against Him when we build churches that camouflage His character, that seem to hide it rather than display it. False conversions obscure God’s plan.”
Dever said pastors unwittingly contribute to false conversions with watered-down teachings aimed at drawing a bigger crowd.
“Avoiding the doctrine of hell is one step away from denying it altogether,” Dever cited as one example. “When you begin to teach regularly and clearly that there is a judgment, then there is an appropriate care and humility that begins to characterize your congregation’s life together.”
Dever said it’s also important for preachers to point to the dangers of self-deception, citing II Corinthians 13:5: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.”
Dever said a lot of preachers are tempted to overlook unregenerate membership because they believe everyone is a sinner and don’t want to come across as being judgmental or uncharitable. But Dever, who preaches hour-long sermons on Sunday mornings, said there is a lot to be gained by having a congregation where all members are serious about following Christ.
Dever said whimsically that if pastors want to ensure their successor fails after they leave a church, they should accept as many members as possible who show no evidence of being born again.
“False teachers create false converts,” he said. “And false converts -- guess what they do? They hire false teachers.”
By Bob Allen, managing editor of Associated Baptist Press, Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Wake-up, Pastors! Wake-up, Christians!
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The Wake-Up Herald is published by Robert McCurry. The publication is designed to exalt the true God of the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ, and inform, inspire, and challenge its readers regarding biblical truth and real-life issues. The contents are the sole responsibility of Robert McCurry and do not represent or speak for or on behalf of any other person or group. There is no subscription charge. The publication is a ministry of faith dependent on the contributions of its readers. Contributions are not tax-deductible. Send all correspondence to: Robert McCurry,605 Moore Rd, Newnan, GA 30263 or herbap@aol.com Remove? Send reply with “remove” in Subject line