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Okay, I'll confess. I got hooked on American Idol. For those unfamiliar with this television series, it is a singing contest with the contestants continuing from week to week only if American viewers vote that they continue. Some of those kids can really sing, some just can't. As you might imagine, they have some time to kill between songs and do various things to keep the show entertaining. On a recent show, they announced that they would be bringing in a psychic to "advise" the contestants. Now, a couple of the better contestants had honed their considerable skills growing up in their respective churches. On previous shows, these churches were visited. They were high-energy, emotional, thriving churches. Having been raised in church, I was curious as to how these two girls would react to this psychic. I needn't have wondered. Sadly, these girls hung on every word that the psychic uttered, drinking in the advice being offered and participating fully. It was disappointing but not unexpected on my part. These girls probably had no inkling of God's view of this psychic reading. Being raised in church, why didn't they?
As we have pointed out several times in our newsletters, 75-80% of all cult members come from our Christian churches. Of course, cults are extremely diligent about actively recruiting new members by relentless outreach, of which door-to-door witnessing is a great part. Says Dan Harting of Families Against Cults, "The Mormon Church is fielding about 55,000 fulltime missionaries and the JW's spent over 1 billion hours going door to door last year. If you figure a 40 hour week and a 50 week year, it takes 2,000 hours for a full-time missionary. This would mean the JW's fielded over 500,000 full time missionaries. All of North America sent out about 35,000 Christian missionaries."
What's their appeal? Well, they offer companionship to the lonely, a sense of belonging to the disenfranchised, assistance to the needy, answers to the confused, assurance to the doubtful, comfort to the grieving, and acceptance to the rejected. Its easy to understand how the cults are able to snatch up unsuspecting people. When they find people who'll listen to them, they will relentlessly pursue them until they succumb to their enticements. So, I suppose, then, that 75-80% of those that are succumbing to their enticements come from Christian churches. How are these victims so easily bamboozled? How can they fall for such false teaching? Have they not been sufficiently taught Christian doctrine? Why can't they recognize the false doctrines of the cults? Why can they not discern false teaching when they hear it? You'd be surprised how many Christians believe that Mormonism, Christian Science, and Jehovah's Witnesses are just denominations of Christianity. Ask around your church. See what kind of responses you get. Why do we not take seriously those that are competing for the souls of our people?
When teaching the witnessing course which was designed by us, we cover many topics. One class is devoted to intellectual objections to Christianity and how we might address these objections. One rather common attack on Christianity is that it follows a flawed book written by flawed men. The position of the person raising the objection is that there is no proof that the Bible is the Word of God. In class, I begin the discussion of this objection by asking those Christians taking the class to tell me any arguments they can think of that would tend to prove the divine inspiration of the Bible. Without fail, 90% of the class cannot think of even one proof of the Bible's inspiration. Most have been Christians for many years. Should not something like this be elementary? Have you ever heard teaching on the proofs of Biblical inspiration?
Christian apologetics is that branch of theology which deals with the defense of Christianity. The word, apologetics, comes from the Greek word, apologia, and is translated "answer" in 1Peter 3:15 (...be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you…). A study in apologetics will teach one why we believe what we believe, why Christianity is the only correct religion, how we can defend Christianity against attacks on its validity, and how we can present Christianity in a way that will make it attractive and reasonable to the lost. Yet, apologetics is rarely taught in our churches. Many have never even heard the word used in church. Why is it not taught? Do we not think it necessary to defend Christianity? Do we not believe it is important that Christianity be presented as the only way to God? Are we not interested in making Christianity attractive and legitimate to the world? Much to my chagrin, the conclusion which I am reaching is that the answer to all of these questions is "Yes". I have long been of the opinion that the reason we don't teach, let alone stress, apologetics in our churches is because we just aren't that serious about reaching the lost. We'll take the few that visit but we are not up for aggressive outreach. A church uninterested in reaching the lost has little need of learning how to make a logical presentation of the gospel. We are comfortable. Has the salt lost its savor? As Chuck Colson of Prison Fellowship Ministries recently wrote in Jubilee Magazine, "The Church is supposed to be salt and light in society. But it is failing to make a difference because it has turned inward, to its comfortable sanctuaries and upbeat music. Meanwhile, our culture crumbles around us." Many have turned away from Christianity because we couldn't answer their questions. We can't answer their questions because we don't know the answer.
There are other areas that demand attention. We are poorly equipped to effectively address the problem of homosexuality, pornography, drugs, abortion, witchcraft, atheism, and agnosticism. This is what I've been told by Pastors. We can't deal with it and we still aren't trying to learn how. (Yet, some church leaders criticize ministries that are dealing with these things.) Thirty million Americans believe in reincarnation. I've talked to Christians who believe in reincarnation. Some Christians don't know the difference between reincarnation and the resurrection. I've seen church leadership reject requests to teach on the cults, declaring that it is a waste of time. So, when a cultist comes to our door, he is able to twist our understanding of doctrine in knots like a pretzel within 30 seconds.
Even if it was a waste of time to discuss other religions, is it a waste of time to know what we believe? Is Christian doctrine no longer important? Do we know the important doctrines taught in scripture? A recent figure I came across indicates that 35% of Christians never read the Bible and 47% read only while sitting in church. When asked about whether there is absolute truth, 53% of Christians did not believe there was an absolute truth. When asked how one can enter Heaven, 30% of Christians believe that one enters Heaven by being good. According to Barna Research Group, 33% of Christians believe the Bible has errors, 33% believe Jesus was a sinner, and 50% believe that Satan is not a real being. These figures are the result of polling the most conservative denominations. Isn't it about time we got our own faith tied down? Just knowing why we believe what we believe will go a long way in keeping members of our congregations from been bamboozled by the next cultist that knocks on their door. It might even enable them to rescue that cultist.
I speak from experience. I've been in church all my life. Growing up, I, too, had never heard the word, apologetics. I never heard about even one cult. I thought Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses were Christians. Islam, what in the world is Islam? Don't they serve the same God as I do? I was never taught anything about witnessing. I couldn't have answered serious questions about biblical doctrines. I didn't really care about the lost. I had no heart for them. I was way too focused on myself and what I liked. I was also way too focused on my own failings (which is a natural result of legalism). I played with a Quija board and I read my horoscope. Like the two American Idol contestants, I had no clue what I was doing.
I've heard churches boast about being the biggest in town, the prettiest in town, and the coolest in town. I've heard many churches boast about how good their music is, that they have tremendous musical talent. I've heard churches boast of the great cooks that attend their church. I've heard churches boast about their many diverse programs or their softball team or basketball team. I've heard churches boast that they are the friendliest church in town.
Just once, I'd like to hear of a church that is striving to be the smartest church in town.
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