Christianity Without Truth: Part II

Ecumenicism: Unity without truth

What is the Christian Church's greatest responsibility in the world? To preach the true gospel of Jesus Christ. If the church fails to do that, then anything else it does becomes vain and meaningless.

How vital is the gospel? According to the apostle Paul, this vital: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: The righteous shall live by faith." (Romans 1:16-17)

The gospel reveals God's free gift of salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ to all who are willing to accept it. It's a gift that can't be earned, bought or inherited. Rather, it can only be received by true faith in Christ's death on Calvary's cross for our sins and His resurrection from the dead.

Sadly, much of Christendom, circa 2013, has forgotten what its main mission in the world is. For some denominations, it's become feeding and caring for the poor. For others, it's become promoting gay marriage, joining hands with the anti-war movement or environmentalism. And still for others, it's building ecumenical bridges to world religions such as Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism.

There's a direct correlation between the explosion of moral depravity and violence throughout the world today and the declining influence of Christianity. Christianity is nearly extinct in the eastern world and is dying in the western world because the church has failed to "contend for the faith" (Jude 1:3) and keep that faith relevant to a hostile world.

Keep in mind that much of the eastern world that is now dominated by Islam was once dominated by Christianity. But when the church stopped contending for the faith, Islam swept in and began forcing Christianity out.

Certainly, we can weep for the misery and persecution that those few Christians who are left are enduring in the eastern world. But had Christianity continued to contend for faith many centuries ago, there would be no Islam in the world today. Because truth only prevails when the church is strong. And the church is only strong when its faith is strong.

Tragically, it was Christ Himself who warned that the church would wither and die in the last days preceding His return. Here's what He said: "At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people." (Matthew 24:10-11)

Who are the false prophets that Christ warned about? They are the false Christian ministers, pastors and church leaders who substitute the true gospel for a hollow ecumenical counterfeit that can't save anyone.

To those who preach counterfeit gospels, Paul issued this stern warning: "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!" (Galatians 1:8-9)

Sadly, there'll be a lot of professing Christians on Judgement Day who are going to be eternally condemned.