Letter to the Editor: How Can I Find a Good Bible-Believing Church?

So my question is, do you guys have
a list or forum for your readers to connect with each
other in similar geographical areas? That way if someone
has found a biblically sound church, he or she could
share, or the readers could get together and fellowship
with each other…

Thank you for your time and I am very appreciative to
all the work you guys do to get the word out there
regarding various false doctrines/teachers. I have
learned a lot from your site. _________, Arizona

OUR RESPONSE

I’m sorry, but we don’t have such a forum or network.
We have, in the past, tried to do these things, but they
didn’t work out and required too much manpower for us to
moderate. There are definitely other believers, many
others, from whom we have heard over the past decade who
are experiencing what you are. In fact, almost every day
we hear from believers who are struggling to find
biblical churches in their communities. We usually
recommend they make phone calls to potential churches
and ask a few concise questions such as:

“Do you have a Spiritual Formation program at
your church?” or “Has your church
implemented aspects of the Purpose Driven Movement
anytime in the past 10 years?.”

Since thousands of churches would answer yes to both
or at least one of these questions, they are worthwhile
to ask, and it would certainly narrow down the scope of
one’s search. Here are a few other questions that could
be asked:

1. Is the pastor using The Message
“Bible” in his sermons and studies? Because
this paraphrase is very often used by pastors and
teachers who promote contemplative spirituality or
emerging spirituality (as the language in The
Message helps support these false teachings), it is
another indicator that a church is going in the wrong
direction.

2. Is the church affiliated in any way with
the Willow Creek Association? Oftentimes, a
church has not implemented the Purpose Driven Movement
but is, rather, hooked up with Willow Creek. This is as
problematic as Purpose Driven. See our article titled,
“No Repentance from Willow Creek – Only a Mystical
Paradigm Shift.”

3. Ask a potential church if it would mind
mailing you a few recent Sunday programs. When
you get them, look for some of the key terms used within
the contemplative/emerging camp: missional, servant
leader, soul-care, spiritual formation, transformation,
transitioning, silence, organic, authentic, reinvent,
spiritual disciplines,

Christ follower (the term Christian isn’t
typically liked too well by contemplatives and emergents),
and Christian formation (or Christian spirituality), a
term often meaning the same as Spiritual Formation).
Just using these terms alone doesn’t suddenly make a
church contemplative or emerging, but it does show
that at least one person in leadership at that church is
reading books of that persuasion, and eventually that
persons(s) influence will affect that church adversely.

In addition to these questions, be sure and visit a
church’s website as there you may be able to find the
answers to these questions without making the phone
call. When on a website, see if there is more talk about
“culture” and relevancy than about the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. You can check out the doctrinal and mission
statements but be on guard – a church can have a
solid-sounding doctrinal statement and be actually going
in an entirely different direction. Listen to our CD
Beware the Bridgers for some information on
that. And by the way, remember who some of the more
popular ”bridgers” are, closing the gap between “rightly
dividing the Word” and spiritual deception in millions
of people’s lives: Beth Moore, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels,
John Piper, etc. – those who claim to be orthodox
biblical Christians but who promote contemplative
spirituality and emerging figures.

Also, once your search for a new church has narrowed
down to a few churches, a weekday visit to those
churches’ bookstores would be important. Look for books
by Richard Foster, Gary Thomas, Henri Nouwen, Brennan
Manning, and other authors discussed and critiqued on
the LT website. Chris Lawson from Spiritual Research
Network has an extensive

“Master List” of authors who fall within the
contemplative, emerging, hyper-charismatic, River, New
Age, “Christian” homosexual etc. camps. It’s an
excellent resource.

When all this has been done to find a Bible-believing
church, if there are any in your community that have
passed the contemplative/emerging/Purpose Driven test,
maybe it’s safe to take your family for a Sunday visit.
Are many of the people walking in carrying Bibles?
Seeker-friendly and church-growth churches discourage
that because it might “offend” unbelievers (or as they
say unchurched) coming to church. Does the pastor at
some point in his sermon talk about the Cross (the
atonement) and salvation (and mention of hell)? Another
subject that many churches avoid because of the
“offensiveness” of that message. Better to offer an
espresso drink and a little rock n roll music during the
service and a psychology-based, feel good message that
appeals to the carnal senses (sensual)  rather than
build up the spiritual man.

Once you have found a church that seems to be sound,
you should not stop being discerning. That must be
ongoing. That might seem like a  ”paranoid” or overly
concerned attitude to have, but if we remember the many
verses in Scripture that talk about spiritual deception
(right from the Garden of Eden all the way to the Book
of Revelation), we will realize it is the responsibility
of the Christian to be discerning and watchful.  And the
Bible frequently talks about the latter days before
Christ’s return where deception will run more rampant
than ever before. Roger Oakland gives a list of signs to
look for to see if a church is becoming or has become
contemplative/emerging. As you begin to attend a new
church, this list may be helpful to you and your family:

Scripture is no longer the ultimate authority as
the basis for the Christian faith.

The centrality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is
being replaced by humanistic methods promoting
church growth and a social gospel.

More and more emphasis is being placed on
building the kingdom of God now and less and less on
the warnings of Scripture about the imminent return
of Jesus Christ and a coming judgment in the future.

The teaching that Jesus Christ will rule and
reign in a literal millennial period is considered
unbiblical and heretical.

The teaching that the church has taken the place
of Israel and Israel has no prophetic significance
is often embraced.

The teaching that the Book of Revelation does not
refer to the future, but instead has been already
fulfilled in the past.

An experiential mystical form of Christianity
begins to be promoted as a method to reach the
postmodern generation.

Ideas are promoted teaching that Christianity
needs to be re­invented in order to provide meaning
for this generation. 

The pastor may implement an idea called
“ancient-future” or “vintage Christianity” claiming
that in order to take the church forward, we need to
go back in church history and find out what
experiences were effective to get people to embrace
Christianity.

While the authority of the Word of God is
undermined, images and sensual experiences are
promoted as the key to experiencing and knowing God.

These experiences include icons, candles,
incense, liturgy, labyrinths, prayer stations,
contemplative prayer, experiencing the sacraments,
particularly the sacrament of the Eucharist.

There seems to be a strong emphasis on ecumenism
indicating that a bridge is being established that
leads in the direction of unity with the Roman
Catholic Church.

Some evangelical Protestant leaders are saying
that the Reformation went too far. They are
reexamining the claims of the “church fathers”
saying that communion is more than a symbol and that
Jesus actually becomes present in the wafer at
communion.

There will be a growing trend towards an
ecumenical unity for the cause of world peace
claiming the validity of other religions and that
there are many ways to God.

Members of churches who question or resist the
new changes that the pastor is implementing are
reprimanded and usually asked to leave.

Roger has these signs listed in his booklet, How
to Know When the Emerging Church Shows Signs of Emerging
into Your Church.1
May God bless you in your search. It may seem
like an insurmountable task, but we know there are still
good churches out there because we often hear from
pastors who are staying the course and are aware of the
times in which we live. May God lead you to find one of
these churches.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the
world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which
man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost
teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural [carnal] man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. But he that
is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is
judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the
Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind
of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:12-16)