LTRP Note: As evangelical/Protestant churches fast continue to plunge into apostasy and as we head closer to that final hour, this article written by Roger Oakland is as much relevant today as it was when he wrote it a few years ago – perhaps even more so.
By Roger Oakland
The world is changing. So is the Christian evangelical church. There was a time— not that long ago—when the Bible was considered to be the Word of God by the majority of evangelical Christians. Now that we are well into the third millennium and the post-modern, post-Christian era, the term evangelical can mean almost anything. What has happened? Why is this happening and what is the future for mainstream Christianity?
For the past several years, I have been speaking around the world on current trends that are impacting Christianity. After these presentations, I am approached by Christians who come from many different church backgrounds. Many are expressing their concerns about what is happening in their churches, troubled by the new direction they see their church going. While they may not always be able to discern what is wrong, they know something is wrong and that it needs to be addressed.
Further, many have told me they have attempted to express their concerns with their pastors or church elders. In almost every case, they were told they had a choice to make—get with the new program or get out of the church.
This move towards a reinvented Christianity (one designed to “reach people”) seems to be here for the long haul. It is not just a passing fad. I am often asked by concerned brothers and sisters in Christ to provide an explanation in order to help them understand what they have encountered. They want to know why these changes are underway and what to expect in the future. As well, they want to know what, if anything can be done, to stem this tide. It is for this reason I am writing this commentary—to provide biblical insight regarding the Emerging Church and where it is heading in the future.
The Gospel According to the Scriptures
Throughout church history, various trends have come and gone. While culture changes from place to place, biblical Christianity has always been based upon the central message of the Bible which is the gospel of Jesus Christ and the message never changes.
This gospel message is about who Jesus Christ is, and what He has done. A child can understand the gospel message. This message proclaims that life here on planet earth is finite and that life after death is eternal. The good news is that we can be saved from our sins if we will repent and simply ask for forgiveness and follow Him.
How we respond to the gospel message during the time we have on earth determines where we spend eternity—heaven or hell. Jesus, the Creator of the universe, provided a way and the only way we can spend eternity with Him. It is a matter of making a personal decision whether or not we will accept the plan He has provided.
God’s adversary does not want mankind to understand the simple message. His plan is to deceive the world. If he can blind people from the gospel or convince them that they believe the gospel when indeed they do not, his plan has been successful. Throughout the ages, countless billions have been duped, either rejecting the truth, or believing that they had believed the truth when instead they had been deceived.
The Gospel According to Postmoderism
Times change! However, the gospel must remain the same no matter what else changes. We are now living in the postmodern era. In a sincere attempt to reach the postmodern generation with the gospel, it seems many Christians have become postmodern in their thinking.
Perhaps the term postmodern is new to you. Let’s examine what it means.
First, the modern era was characterized by a time of rational thinking based on factual observation. Many claim the modern era ended in the mid 1900s.
The postmodern mindset moves beyond the rational and the factual to the experiential and the mystical. In other words, in the past it was possible to know right from wrong and black from white. In the postmodern era all things are relative to the beholder. What may be right for you may be wrong for someone else. There is no such thing as absolute truth. The only thing that is absolute is that there is no absolute.
We now live in a time in history that is characterized as postmodern. Professors at universities teach students there is no right or wrong. All things are relative. The gospel message to the postmodern mindset is far too dogmatic and arrogant. They say it is necessary to find a more moderate gospel that can be accepted by the masses.
Many church leaders are now looking for ways to reach the postmodern generation. They believe they can find the appropriate methods to do so without changing the message. However, in their attempt to reach this postmodern generation, they have become postmodern themselves and have changed the message. As the gospel is fixed upon the Scriptures, the gospel cannot change, unless of course it becomes another gospel. I believe this is what is happening in the Emerging Church.
He Didn’t Come
Many have noticed that since the turn of the millennium, their churches have changed positions on Bible prophecy and the Second Coming of Jesus. Many have given up on the return of Jesus. From the ‘60s on there was an excitement about the imminent return of Jesus. The Jesus People were excited about Bible prophecy and could see signs that Jesus would descend from the heavens for His Bride at any moment.
The year 2000 was of particular importance. When Jesus didn’t show up, it seems many were apparently disappointed. “Perhaps Jesus has delayed His coming,” some have said. Others are even taking the position that He may not be coming at all, at least not in the manner we have been taught. They are now convinced that we need to be busy about “building His Kingdom” here on earth by “whatever human effort is required.”
The Gospel of the Kingdom
One of the main indicators that something has changed can be seen in the way the future is perceived. Rather than urgently proclaiming the gospel according to the Scriptures and believing the time to do so is short, the emphasis has now shifted. No longer are “signs of the times” significant. The battle cry is very different. A major emphasis among evangelicals is the idea that the world can be radically improved through social programs.
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True Discernment 
The “reinvented” gospel to “reach people” is a counterfeit gospel that does not deliver man from his sins, therefore does not offer a true pardon from the Most High. Without genuine repentance they shall likewise perish according to the words of Jesus.
I am surrounded by counterfeit gospels, my mother and father in law are Temple Mormons, my husband’s sister and her husband are Jehovah’s Witness’s, and four of her five grown children and their spouses are JW’s, my husband’s youngest brother and his wife are Temple Mormons, and his other sister used to be a Hare Chrishna,and the other brother who died 12 years ago was an unbeliever, he hated any mention of God no matter who spoke it.
It is sad that none of them will listen to the truth. One evening about a month ago my mother in law came to visit for a week, my husband was in camp working. And I said to her “do you know that mormonism and Christianity are not the same, and that mormons are not Christians”. She got mad and said “yes they are”, meaning she believed that mormons and Christians were the same. She even said she was a “better” christian than we were.
I often have a difficult time understanding why some people are so obstinate, and refuse even to discuss something that is a matter of spiritual life and death, and the eternal and finalness of following a false gospel.
I am ever so grateful to God that He led me to repentance and faith in Jesus, I am so very priviledged, and I will have eternity to thank Him and worship Him.
Deception
I had a dream on March 29, 2012 of a small group of people going door to door and preaching in the streets to peple.They were not to my knowledge Jehovah’s witnesses or Mormons. The thing I saw that was strange about these people doing the preaching was that their eyes were bigger than normal and they were totally black, they e had no whites. I knew in the dream that what they were preaching was deception and I can remember one particular instance in the dream where I saw them preaching to a couple and I tried to intervene but was too late as the couple had listened and accepted what they said as the truth. I watched the couple’s eyes go from normal eyes to the kind of eyes these people had. As I watched, it was like a shade was being drawn over their eyes. These same people came to my house and managed to get in because they somehow had obtained a key. I can’t think of how they had obtained a key, but they did. I remember my family and I quoted the word to them and did not listen to the deception that was coming out of their mouths. This is a crucial point here that we did not engage the enemy in a dialogue or resort to human reasoning as that is what Eve did in the garden which eventually led to her rebelling and being deceived by the serpent, we stuck to the Word. This was a good thing that we did not attempt to reason with them because their arguments were very convincing, but totally false. I remember firing a gun but I do not think I pointed it at them, but I do remember firing it. Then the Word of the Lord came to me, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”.(Eph 6:12 NIV)
No earthly weapon known to man will defeat them as this is a spiritual battle and it must be fought by spiritual means by donning the full armor of God as is described in Ephesians 6:13-18. Additionally, Revelations 12:11 comes to mind where it says the only way to over come the enemy is by the word of our testimony, the blood of the lamb, and we are not to love our lives even if it means our death. We finally got them to leave our house when they saw that they could not reason with us as we stuck to the Word of the Lord.
Foundations will be tested here as you need to be founded and grounded in the word because this is a spiritual battle that we are facing and the deception is going to be strong.
The “key” that allows them entrance is pride.
I have prayed on my knees, in my heart and on my face, for family, friends and even those that became a vicious enemy towards me and God’s Truth, for their eyes, ears and hearts to be freed from deception. And my prayers continue daily for the Power of the Holy to reveal to them they have been deceived. I too feel so blessed to have been protected by the Power of God’s Hand and Holy Spirit from the vile words and treatment even my family members have vomited towards me. “Forgive them for they know or do not know what they have done….”The blessed assurance we True Believers have is to remain on the Narrow Path. To renew our minds daily with God’s Word. We are to guard our hearts, ears, eyes and mind by the daily regeneration of the washing of the Word, Even so, Come Lord Jesus. This Bride is ready and I keep my lamp full of oil. The “oil” represents The Holy Spirit and God’s Word!!! Shalom and Maranatha.