By Tamara Hartzell
(author of Reimagining God)
“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 4:2-4)
Sadly, it has become quite obvious that the time has already come. Openly preferring the fables of man’s imagination to the doctrinal truth of God’s Word, today’s shifting Christianity is heaping to itself teachers to scratch its itching ears. People are choosing to be led in “a way that seemeth right unto a man” rather than in the way that is right unto God as set forth by God in the Word of God.
In Leonard Sweet’s 2009 book, So Beautiful: Divine Design for Life and the Church, which, sadly, is just as anti-truth, anti-God, anti-Christ as everything else that caters to today’s epidemic of itching ears, this “[r]enowned professor and theologian” —who has worked for “years as a mentor to pastors” and “is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences, state conventions, pastors’ schools, retreats” as well as “a consultant to many denominational leaders and agencies” —asks a question that effectively sums up the new way of thinking:
“What if we were to think connectness rather than correctness?”
In today’s emerging paradigm/faith, “relationship, not believing is central,” so connectness is naturally replacing correctness. The two go hand in hand. Since the correctness of the truth of God’s Word is a “stumbling block in the way” of today’s desired connectness, these connections are thus held together not by correct truth but by man’s “reimagined” “truth.” But, naturally, the latter is not seen as incorrect in today’s preferred “light” of darkness.
Even so, when connectness is instead of correctness, the connectness thus becomes incorrectness. Incorrectness is not truth but error. But of course the circle of Oneness that connects opposites also brings incorrectness and correctness together as one into a relationship that then becomes a new and “reimagined” “correctness.” This way those who prefer to “think connectness rather than correctness” can see the incorrectness of this connectness as “correctness” and not error, especially since this incorrectness is their new and “reimagined” “truth.” And lest anyone see this new “truth” as incorrect or as error, it is conveniently claimed that truth is to be conceived rather than believed. Nevertheless, error is only “truth” in man’s imagination where this new incorrect “truth” is conceived in the first place.
“But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:14-16)
“Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.” (2 Peter 3:17)
Leonard Sweet
Leonard Sweet states:
“The meaning of Christianity does not come from allegiance to complex theological doctrines but a passionate love for a way of living in the world that revolves around following Jesus, who taught that love is what makes life a success … Only love. The main theme in the preaching of Jesus was that life with the Father was all about love … that we do not worship a God who punishes us for evil and rewards us for good.…
“Propositionalists want you to fall in line. Relationalists want you to fall in love. Christians aren’t people who follow Christianity. Christians are people who follow and fall in love with Christ.…
“We were put here to ‘glorify God and enjoy him forever.’ In other words, we were not put here to ‘do the right thing’ but to be in a ‘right relationship’ with God. We were not put here to ‘keep commandments’ but to conceive beauty, truth, and goodness. We were not put here to ‘take a stand’ but to walk in the light for the greater glory of God. Biblical truth doesn’t feast on fact. It feasts on relationship and revelation, which is why eternal truth is better communicated by the fictions of parables and narratives than the facts of science and philosophy.” (Leonard Sweet; 2nd ellipsis dots in the original)
The Bible states:
“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, … Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” (Romans 1:21-23, 25)
“My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change: For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both?” (Proverbs 24:21-22)
Sadly, many are resisting God being God and resisting the Word of God being God’s Word of truth. People today simply do not want an “overlay of power,” “chain of command,” or “final authority.” Rather, they want the unencumbered freedom “to simply ‘be’ in relationship,” however they choose, of course.
Although unscriptural enough in itself, Sweet’s previous quote is only the tip of the iceberg of his false teachings. And even though it all once would have been obvious, everything is changing as more and more people purposely shift to darkness and incorrectness—i.e., as they purposely cover their eyes and ears to the light of God’s Word of absolute truth and correctness.
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee … And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.” (Hosea 4:6, 9)
“And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.” (Isaiah 13:11)
Other Articles by Tamara Hartzell
The Post-Transformation of a WORD-Less Faith
The Angel of Light’s “Plan” for World Peace
More Information:
Leonard Sweet—A More Magnificent Way of Seeing Christ? by Warren Smith
*Or*–and hear me out–you just mad because God calls us to love everyone, even those unlike us, and think critically about scripture, which is much harder than treating the Bible like a cheat sheet, reading it at a surface level and telling others how superior we are to them.