LTRP Note: The links in the following article provide further information on each topic listed.
By Roger Oakland
While I am certain there are many more, the following ten trends provide a good overview of what is taking place in the church today:
Ecumenical unity at any cost, yet completely void of any connection to the message that Jesus died on the Cross.
The church-growth movement, which is focused on a market-driven seeker-friendly Christianity emphasizing a megachurch mentality.
A Christianity focused on following men, their methods, and their movements.
A Jesuit agenda promoted by publishers and pastors proclaiming the teachings and ideas of Roman Catholic church fathers and Roman Catholic mystics.
The rejection of biblical creation and the acceptance of theistic evolution and progressive creation.
The acceptance of New Age ancient Babylonian practices such as yoga and contemplative prayer as a means of “getting closer to Jesus.”
A false Christianity that substitutes the Gospel according to the Scriptures with a social gospel.
The “Purpose-driven P.E.A.C.E. Plan” that prepares the church for a global one-world religion.
An experience-based “Christianity” that seeks after signs and wonders and rejects the biblical warnings of a Last Days spiritual deception found in the Bible.
The New Age belief that man is a “co-creator” and that every person has divinity within him.
It is not my objective to place these various trends in their order of importance. The fact is, each one is occurring, and the vast majority of professing Christians are not even aware these trends are happening or even that there is a problem.
Biblical Christianity is under attack like it has never been before. We are not only on a “slippery slope”—Christianity is ready to fall off the cliff. As Jesus asked in Luke 18:8: “[W]hen the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”
Current events indicate the pathway to apostasy is leading exactly in the direction foretold by the Scriptures.
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Roger Oakland is the founder and director of Understand the Times, International. He has also founded numerous Bryce Homes for needy widows and children in several countries. You may visit his website at http://www.understandthetimes.org. For an indepth study of the above areas listed, read Roger Oakland’s book, The Good Shepherd Calls.
(painting from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission)
I’m glad this website points out so many Protestant Christian organizations as well as those who claim they are not a denomination (but really they are). I’m glad someone is standing up for truth. I had a former friend point out to me that the “whore of Babylon.” has many daughters. Rev
Are you praying when you say “OMG!”?
I have only scanned your site. I will need to find time to read & listen to more. But it occurs to me we have similar understanding hopeful Holy Spirit inspired.
Your proverb quote caught my eye. I am contemplating leaving my church of 20+yrs because they seem to be hiding from the evil running ramped through our society and are not the least bit interested in pushing against it. I hope I’m not being rebellious as I truly love our Lord Jesus & His bride.
The first conflict accrued a couple of years ago when my pastor preached predestination and the TULIP doctrine.
My husband who is elder & I exchanged lots of scripture against such doctrine. We seemed to agree to disagree. I decided to not push the issue as long as Pastor doesn’t continue to hammer predestination and he hasn’t. I see the effect of his belief infiltrating other areas of his administration but tried not to considerate it in order not to cause conflict.
Just before Easter I woke up to the reasons for mandated vaccinations and asked for prayer on Easter morning for a demonstration I was going to the next day. Our morning service has an opportunity to share Praises and prayer request. Easter Sunday was no different than any other Sunday morning except we were honoring Savior resurrection. Boy did I get beat up because my request was political.
So my question is who should come against the sin of this ungodly generation but the Church? So I have gone under ground you might say in joining other Christians getting the word out to people unaware. What I have found is other Christian who see an opportunity to give the gospel to a rapidly dying populous. Woke up this morning to think I have unknowingly joined the Greater Church and this has awakened a need to find a real church that I can attend. Am I being deceived??
My latest attempt to discuss why the church needs to be refocused was met with that I have lost my Joy and that I’m fear mongering and was given Ecclesiastes 3. And the default scripture to considerate all Joy.
Oh my God!! We the church can watch the destruction of the unbelieving and not warn them. Oh I get it they were predestined.
If you have gotten this far, Thank You!! My goal is to hear the Truth on this matter. I want to be corrected if my understand is wrong. I don’t want to cause conflict that my leaving this church will cause. So maybe the Proverb is to be used in my case. Just go hide from the pending destruction and sit in the pew and have a good time while I can.
T. I. Miller said, “Unity within the church walls is more important than truth.”
I saw this firsthand back in the ’90s when a bachelorette party was being planned at my then-church. When I got the invite in the mail and saw the line “Prudes are not welcome”, I knew that something was seriously amiss.
I called the pastor’s wife (she was always involved in all such things and helped to plan them) to share my concerns. She said that church unity was at stake! IOW, don’t rock the boat — just go with the flow. I asked her, what about purity? And what kind of unity does a church have without it?
At that point she said she would have to consult with her husband, the pastor. Later she called me back to say the party had been cancelled, BUT from then on I was a marked woman. Those other women resented my “interference” with their fun.
BTW, it occurred to me that God’s Word says that prudence is a valuable thing, i.e., “The prudent man foresees the evil and hides himself, but the simple man goes right on and is punished for it.” (Proverbs)
How like the world to disparage prudence with the word “prude”. But why would a church adopt the world’s definition of words and abandon their Biblical meaning?
This article contains info on the history of self-centered/New Age teaching I haven’t seen elsewhere. Maybe you want to show it to warren smith as well?
https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/08/02/commentary-self-centered/
Almost stayed clear of all of it, mayby because I haven’t played church much. Praise Jesus for the internet.
If something sounds wrong, I can just check out the criticism, and pray over it.
It’s amazing what pops up in my feed. It has even killed off my belief in evolution and cosmology. Now I know where all the constants in physics came from!
Who suspected that seminaries, pastors and elders would be actively leading the charge into apostasy?
They focus entirely on the churches vision which is the pastors vision.
Then they take the position that whoever is against the pastors vision is also against Jesus.
Unity within the church walls is more important than truth.
Lastly they ignore their God given commission to be the watchers on the wall the sheep dogs fighting off the wolves.
They are the most uniformed Christians on the planet when it comes to this present apostasy movement.
The love the seat of honor.