Jim Hollingsworth

jimhollingsworth@frontier.com

June 20, 2023

EMEMIES WITHIN THE CHURCH

There is a new documentary out, Enemies Within The Church, which documents the decline of evangelical Christianity and the rise of liberalism within the church.  Every Christian who is concerned about liberty needs to watch this film and share it with your friends.

The film makes the point that the modern church has neglected any teaching about the law.  Truly, the Ten Commandments were given to Israel, but they are important to the Christian church as well.

Although no one was ever saved by keeping the law, the Ten Commandments were important to the founders of America. The men who founded America knew their Bibles well.  They knew the importance of the Ten Commandments, not only in God’s relationship with Israel, but as a foundation of law in any community.  This evident fact was so important that in time the Ten Commandments became the basis of criminal law in every state of the Union.

While the law is important, the idea of keeping the law leading to salvation is contrary to the Christian narrative.  The early evangelists preached the importance of repentance.  Their message was repent and believe the gospel. 

Repentance is a change in thinking, and before anyone can believe the truth about what Christ did on the cross of Calvary, they have to change their thinking.  Our salvation depends on believing in what Jesus did in bearing our sins on the cross. 

Love is an important part of the message of the film.  The world would have us believe that love is the only message of importance.  They, therefore, insist that we love them enough that we will accept their deviant lifestyle; that we accept their sin.

But the Bible has a contrasting message.  We are told not to love as the world loves.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.  If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15)

Love is rarely found in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, but it is found often in the writings of the apostle, John, and throughout the New Testament.  It begins with God’s love for the world and demonstrating that love by giving His son to die for our sins.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

God loved us and He gave us His son.  We are to demonstrate that same love to one another.

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13:35)

It is love that distinguishes the Christian from others.  The film laments the fact that many in the church have emphasized love to the exclusion of other very important teaching.

After John 3:16 we are told some other things that explain what is happening in our world today.  First, Jesus did not come to condemn, but to save. (John 3:17) Then the one who believes is not condemned but the one who does not believe has already been condemned. (John 3:18)

The development ends with this verse which describes our present age and what is happening in the church.  “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19) Evil has entered the church and masqueraded as truth.  Many have fallen into sin because of it.

Love is an important teaching of the New Testament.  In fact, the apostle Paul spends most of First Corinthians Chapter 13 talking about the importance of love, translated as “charity” in the King James Bible.  The Bible teaches the importance of love all through the rest of the New Testament.

The message of the film is an important one.  Marxism in all its forms has made a strong entrance into the organized church.  Many parents have sent their kids off to seminary or Bible school, only to have them come home and deny God.

This movement called “liberalism” began at the beginning of the Twentieth Century.  Church groups that stood squarely on foundational principles gradually became more liberal.  Some even denied that the Bible was true.  As noted in the film, some believed that the Old Testament were just a collection of myths.

There are important changes that have taken place over the past twenty-five years.  This has been helped along by some decisions by a more liberal Supreme Court.  One example is the Bible’s position on homosexuality. 

Some have claimed that homosexuals (gay men) are just born that way and there is nothing they can do about it.  In actual fact people grow up with all sorts of native sins, homosexuality being just one of them.  One man in the film, who was molested as a young man and grew up believing he was gay, came to Christ and ultimately got away from the gay lifestyle.  He later married and raised a family.  The Bible teaching is clear, yet the modern church has made excuses for gays.  Some churches have even ordained gay pastors as well as women, which is contrary to sound biblical teaching.

The transgender issue has brought most of this to a head.  Committed Christians began to realize that all this is wrong.  It gradually became clear that there are some who would subvert the basic science of biology, claiming that there are multiple genders.

Facts, are stubborn things.  And the fact is that God only created two sexes, male and female (Genesis 1:27), and that is evident in every cell of our bodies.  Doctors can mutilate a person’s body, but they can never change the sex of an individual.

June has been called “pride month”.  We are supposed to support gays and transgender people.  But this is a great evil.  The church must take a principled stand against this evil.  While these conditions are very attractive to certain people the end result is the destruction of the church.

Churches need to have clear doctrinal statements and work to ensure that they do not deviate from the teaching of the Bible.  Now some who have stood for truth have lost their jobs or their positions.  These were following the clear teachings of the Bible.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:58)

 The first disciples knew the truth and what God required of them.

Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:29)

Some churches have preached that the Christian should not have anything to say about the government, yet a careful study of the Old Testament indicates that the prophets spent a lot of effort condemning the established authority.

We need to be careful that we do not accept a watered-down message so that we can accept the gay or LGBTQ+ lifestyle.  It is time for the church to stand for truth without wavering.

Jim Hollingsworth holds a master’s degree in Biblical Studies from Pensacola Christian College.  He has written five books.

Climate Change: A Convenient Truth

Cortez: A Biography

The Ancient Culture of the Aztec Empire

Abortion Compassion

Book of Romans: Commentary

A sixth book: Commentary on the book of Galatians is with the publisher.