Turning the Screws: A Friendly Warning to the Church

For over a year now, I have had a stirring within. I have heard things being said about the wonderful grace of God that seem to be freeing, but clearly contradict the clear message in the Scriptures.

On the other hand, there are legalistic teachings which focus on judgement and deny what Jesus did for us by emphasizing what we must do to measure up to lofty spiritual standards.

As someone who loves and teaches the gospel, I have found myself checking to make sure I am grounded in the truth (after all, that’s the title of this blog) and not getting off into error.

While in prayer about this recently, I saw a picture of a screw slowly turning to the left. Eventually the screw became so loose that it fell out.

I believe the screw represents truth. It is my opinion that there is a plan of the enemy to twist the truth of God’s word. It might start off as a minor twist; not too far off so it might not be recognizable. But then more subtle twists follow until we have a screw fall out.

One of the examples of this is the idea that all are saved and have the Holy Spirit regardless of whether they believe or not. Therefore they should believe it to experience it, not to be saved. What the Bible actually teaches is that we are saved when we believe.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13).

There are many other Scriptures that address this and the purpose of this post is not to be exhaustive in my list of verses. But they basically say those who believe will be saved. But a popular doctrine being proclaimed is, “you are saved, so believe it.” There is a big difference between those two statements. This is just one example of how the screws are being turned to the left. Here are a couple more examples:

Some people are saying that we cannot trust the Old Testament since none of the writers had a complete picture of God. While I agree that we should definitely interpret the OT through Jesus and not vice versa, that doesn’t mean the OT is inaccurate or should be disregarded.

If this influence is to grow, it will eventually seek to do away with the whole Bible. I have already seen this in action. There are teachers and teachings that are saying everyone is already in union with God and that there will be not even be a final judgement. They are saying hell is just the way some interpret the presence of God, rather than an actual spiritual place.

Now I don’t want to major on hell and judgment as this would be to turn the screws too far to the right and over tighten them.  I aim to tell people the good news about Jesus like the early church did. Legalism is still a major issue in the church. But I don’t understand how you can honestly read the Bible and come to the conclusion that everyone is okay. God is life and love and His judgment is against that which rejects and hinders life and love. If people have given themselves to such things and have rejected God, then there is no other source they can go to. The end will not be good for them.

For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. (Eph. 5:5)

I personally think that the reason many are embracing such teachings is that there has been a love deficit in the church and her message. Out of reaction to harshness and an emphasis on sin and punishment, some bounce into the other extreme where all mention of such things is considered “legalism and religion”. The pure truth of God’s freeing and forgiving grace is being twisted by the hands of men.

So what can we do to avoid deception? I am not claiming to have all the “right” answers in this battle for truth, but here are some practical things to keep in mind when it comes to keeping in the way of life

1. Keep Your Eyes of Jesus

This might sound simple, but I guarantee that anyone who strays from the truth is not beholding Jesus in some area since Jesus IS the truth. So why are we being distracted from keeping our eyes on Jesus?

In order for an idea to be sustained, it must be backed with a movement. I think the reason many false doctrines or warped interpretations of Scripture can spread in the church is because there are teachers who promote them. It then becomes easy for people to run with what they are preaching.

2. Stay in the Word

Beware of teachings that always reference what another teacher or a church father has said, rather than what the Bible itself has to say. It might seem to be too obvious that what is being said should line up with Scripture, but I have seen many instances where things are accepted without running them through the Word. Then, when you bring up Scriptures with the people who have swallowed these teachings, they use what they have heard as a frame of reference for judging the Scriptures, rather than the other way around.

3. Have People in Your Life Who Can Correct You

As someone who has been involved in the church for years, I have seen many believers, some of whom were leaders, stay in deception because nobody could speak into their lives. I have seen a powerful move of God end because of this. Sure, they had people who they were “accountable” to, but the input people gave them was controlled by them in terms of how it was received. They basically discarded the things they did not agree with. The justification is that, since they are leaders or anointed or whatever, that God would have told them first if there was anything wrong.

This sounds spiritual at first, but goes against the concept of us being in a body. The thing about deception is that you do not know about it. If you did, it would not be called deception; you would just be acting stubborn towards the truth. So we need people in our lives, who we can trust enough to let them speak something into our life that we are unaware of. The Holy Spirit will then confirm whether what they are saying is true as you are willing to yield to it. We need not only the Holy Spirit, but each other.

To end, the issue of finding balance in all of this might seem complicated. However, it is the simplicity of relationship with Jesus that is the answer to this complication. He warns us not to turn to the right or to the left, but to keep our eyes fixed on Him. This implies that there are two different directions of error we can go in. I believe in this situation, the two wrong directions are the way of legalism and the way of lawlessness. Maybe you disagree with me; that’s fine. May He lead us into all truth.

Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil (Prov. 4:27).