CHRISTIANITY VERSUS CHURCHIANITY
PART 2 – Discerning the Truth

By Pastor William R. Cunningham
August 10, 2003

INTRODUCTION

The Christian community is under attack.  The Christian community is under attack by those who claim to be followers of Christ.  The Christian church has been tainted with false teachings that come to deceive the body and render it ineffective in ministry.  Thousands of people have been deceived by the lies of Churchianity and they make valid the revelation that the Bible gives us.

Do you realize that many sermons and preaching today has little to do with Christianity?  For example, I heard a minister on the television say, “The pastor is the Holy Hookup.  He is the one that will deliver your stuff.”  It is unthinkable that someone calling himself a preacher would make such a claim.  This exalts man.  The Bible specifically warns us about putting our trust in man.

Psalm 118:8 (NKJV) It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in man.

Psalm 146:3 (NKJV) ³Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.

Besides, the only Holy Ghost hookup that we need is the Holy Ghost.  We don’t need man to receive the things of God.  Another minister spoke derogatorily against those who would criticize the prosperity preachers.  He made the point that those who speak against the prosperity preachers are poor.  His point was that the prosperity of the prosperity preachers is proof that God is with them.  However, such is not the case from a biblical perspective.  For example, God was with Jesus but Jesus was not rich.  God was also with Paul, Peter, John, James, Elisha, Elijah, Samuel, and others and yet they were not rich.

There are many false teachings in the church today and the people are deceived more and more.  However, this is consistent with the narrow and broad way that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7:13-14. 

Matthew 7:13-14 (NKJV) “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Who will find the truth?  Only a few will find the truth, i.e., the confined way.  The success of the prosperity preachers only shows that the broad way is where most people are traveling not realizing that their destination is destruction.  One could see how possible it is for an anti-Christ to come and deceive countless “Christians.”  Many are already deceived.  I should add that this deception is due to the fact that most Christians do not study the Bible.

In this lesson we are going to look at the claims of both Christianity and Churchianity and contrast the two.  This will hopefully give you a clearer picture of what true Christianity is and what the false teachings of Churchianity are.  Hopefully this will guide you to the truth. 

The purpose of this series of teachings is to expose both true Christianity and the false doctrines of Churchianity that are so prevalent in churches today.  It is my prayer that you would recognize the false teachings of Churchianity and be free from its deception.  Now this series of studies are not intended to investigate other religions, but we may discuss some of their doctrines in contrast with Christianity.

MORE CONTRASTS

Churchianity is more of a religious institution than it is a ministry.  Churches of Churchianity are run like a business.  You will notice that it is the top guy (or gal) that is the honorable one.  The focus is not on Jesus but on the head of the particular Churchian church.  Even if Jesus is brought into view, it is only for what he can do for you.  Churchians are concerned about self not others and that is one of the most prominent contrasts between Christianity and Churchianity.

DISCERNMENT

I am going to contrast certain topics in Christianity with Churchianity.  However, before we can actually get into this, we need to understand the process by which we will make the contrast.  We are going to have to discern the truth regarding what we hear, see, or otherwise are presented with.  We need to be able to determine if what we are told is consistent with the biblical teaching or if it is merely a doctrine or dogma of man.

How can we determine the validity of a teaching given by a preacher?  Jesus gives us the answer, which is described below.

Recognizing the Fruit

Consider what Jesus Christ said regarding knowing the truth about a particular teaching (or the person promoting a teaching).

Matthew 7:15-20 (NKJV) “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

The fruit is identified as that which grows from or is produced by the host (tree, vine, person, doctrine, etc.).  For example, the fruit of a human being would be a child.  The fruit of a minister would be changed lives, edification of the hearers, etc.  The fruit of a local church would be edification of its “members”, edification of the surrounding neighborhood, etc.  The fruit could be anything and one object could have many fruit depending on the context.  For example, an apple tree produces apples, but it also produces perhaps shade, leaves (food for insects or whoever would eat or use them), and in general it produces food.  The fruit of Pursuing the truth ministries can be summarized by one word after evaluating the history of this ministry.  The fruit of Pursuing the Truth Ministries is liberty!  People become free from religious bondage when they are encouraged and see that they can know the truth.  As they learn the truth according to the Scriptures then they become free from the bondage of man’s religion and any other thing that would bind them and hinder them from serving the Lord. However, in another context, the fruit of this ministry is a more intimate relationship with God.

Let’s get back to Matthew 7:15-20.  Now at first glance applying that scripture might seem easy to do.  You would look at the tree and then look at the fruit and then determine if the fruit is bad or good.  However, this is not a simple process at all because it assumes that you know what the good fruit is.  If you don’t know what the good fruit is then you have no way of making a decision about the tree, since Jesus said a good tree produces good fruit. 

For example, suppose you were asked to go to the grocery store and purchase quiche for a desert that will be prepared.  You are asked to get the most fresh quiche.  You say to yourself, “I know what a quiche is” and go your way.  However, when you get to the grocery store and look at the quiche you realize that you don’t know which ones are good and which ones are not.  How do you select the freshest quiche?  What does a fresh quiche look like compared to a not-so fresh quiche.  So in order to know which quiche is not desirable, i.e., bad then you need to know what good quiche looks like.  The same applies to the teachings that you hear from ministers.  In order to know which teachings are bad or unbiblical, you need to know what the good teachings are, i.e., the truth.

So how can we examine the fruit to determine if the tree is good or bad?  In our case, how can we examine and discern the teachings of a minister if we don’t know what the good teaching, i.e., the truth really is?  The answer is that you cannot.

Know the Truth

So the first thing that we need in order to be able to judge whether a teaching is good or bad is to know the truth.  How do we know the truth?  Consider what Jesus said.

John 8:31-32 (NKJV) Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

We must abide in the word of Jesus in order to know the truth.  This means that we must study the Bible since we were not alive when Jesus first taught the things that are recorded in the Bible.  The Bible then is the written record of the teachings of Jesus Christ and ultimately and conclusively the Word of God to us.  So the first thing that a Christian must do is to know what the Bible says and therefore know the Truth about things pertaining to God that he has revealed to us.

Consider also the following scripture.

Acts 17:10-12 (NKJV) Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.

Notice the diligence of the Bereans.  They heard the gospel and yet they still confirmed it by studying the scriptures personally.  After determining that what they were told was true, they accepted it and believed.  Notice also the following scripture.

2 Timothy 2:15 (NKJV) Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Note that the KJV uses the word “Study” instead of “Be diligent.”  They mean the same thing.  See also 1 Thessalonians 5:21 and 1 John 4:1.  See also Proverbs 14:15; Jeremiah 5:31, 29:8-9; Matthew 24:4-5 and 2 Peter 2:1-3, which is quoted below from the New Century Version (I like the way this is worded).

2 Peter 2:1-3 (NCV) There used to be false prophets among God’s people, just as you will have some false teachers in your group. They will secretly teach things that are wrong—teachings that will cause people to be lost. They will even refuse to accept the Master, Jesus, who bought their freedom. So they will bring quick ruin on themselves. Many will follow their evil ways and say evil things about the way of truth. Those false teachers only want your money, so they will use you by telling you lies. Their judgment spoken against them long ago is still coming, and their ruin is certain.

The point here is to be a critical listener so that you are not deceived by the false teachings of ministers.  Know what the Bible says so that you would know the truth and not fall for a lie.  Besides, you wouldn’t want to govern your life by something that man made up.  You want to govern your life by the word of God (See Matthew 4:4).

A Suggested Process

Now once we know the truth about any particular topic then we can discern whether or not something that we are currently being exposed to is true or not.  If you hear a teaching that is contrary to what the Bible teaches as a whole then you can conclude that such a teaching is false and should be avoided.  You surely do not want to govern your life after such teachings.  So how do you determine if a teaching is false or not.  Consider the following suggested process.

1. Hear the teaching, i.e., pay attention to the presentation of the teaching or statement.
2. Try your best to understand what is being taught.  Know the principle of the teaching or whether it is just another rule to follow.  This may involve objective dialog with the proponent of the teaching.
3. Identify any consequences of the teaching.  In other words, how would it affect other principles if it where true.  For example, the Gnostics believe that matter is evil and spirit is good.  So one could conclude that the flesh is bad or evil, but the spirit is good.  This sounds OK at first glance.  However, what would the truth of this statement mean?  Right away it conflicts with the humanity of Jesus Christ.  If matter was evil the Jesus would have had to be evil or there would be another doctrine developed to explain Jesus’ body, which this has been done in bizarre ways.  Another thing this false teaching implies is that all that God created is evil since all is a form of matter in one way or another.
4. Compare the teaching to what you know the Bible says.  If it is consistent with the Bible then you can agree, though this wouldn’t be the end.  You would still do more study and have more discussions just to confirm yourself.

Basically you are just comparing the teachings that have been presented with the Word of God.  This requires wisdom, understanding, and knowledge of the principles revealed in the Bible.

Interpretive Perversion

Following the process is not guarantee that you will correctly assess the truthfulness of a given teaching and therefore of the particular minister.  The word of God is true, but the interpretation of such might not be.  In other words, I could learn to interpret the Bible using the inductive approach that is discussed in the “Developing a Personal Bible Study” study or I could learn to interpret it through an implanted presupposition, which moves away from the principles of deductive study.

I have noticed that ministers will many times corrupt the discernment process by introducing an agent of their own for Scriptural interpretation.  In other words, they feed you their way of interpreting the Bible via deception.  In such cases, a given scripture is interpreted in light of a given presupposition and not in accordance with the historical grammatical method of textual interpretation.  You could simply say that they give you the process by which to interpret the Scriptures, which is a perverted way that would allow you to come to the same conclusion as they.

Let me give you an illustration.  Let’s say that the discernment process is represented by a black box.  Information goes into the black box, which includes Scriptures, historical data, cultural information, etc.  What comes out of the black box is the most reasonable interpretation.  Now in proper interpretation of the Bible, which uses the grammatical historical method of interpretation, you should get a reasonable understanding of the given Scripture from all of the information that you have gathered.  However, if I would replace that black box with my own then I could cause you to get the same conclusions that have.  Thus the process is the same but the black box, i.e., the discernment protocol or method has been tainted.

This simply means that it is just as important to know how to study the Bible as it is to actually study it.  Be sure that you are evaluating a teaching on the basis of truth from the Scriptural perspective and not from a denominational or a particular movement (Word of faith movement for example).  Once we have an objective method for interpreting the Scriptures and we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the truths of the Bible to us then we can rightly discern what the Bible teaches and therefore what God says.

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