The following is an excerpt from our latest book A Tale Of Two Churches: Understanding The Division & Opposition In Today’s Church now available in Hope For Life Resources.
Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
– James 4:4One compromise here, another there and soon enough the so-called Christian and the man in the world look the same. – A.W. Tozer
What Causes World-Conformity?
How does a person or church come to embrace World-Approved Christianity—especially if they were relatively biblical at some point? We know that compromise and deception are at the heart of it, but how, exactly, does that beguilement happen? And how do they become so deeply deceived, even operating out of a wholly inverted reality?
The following list contains ten factors that will absolutely result in deception and world-conformity. The more these traits apply to an individual or group, the more they will be separated from the truth—and the more they will live in error. Even worse, this will happen all while being convinced that they are living according to what is right, loving, and pleasing to God (cp. Gal 1:13-14). While these characteristics can apply to any individual or church, the main focus here is on church leaders.
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. – Matthew 7:15-16
10 Traits That Lead To World-Approved Christianity
1. Subjective-Dependent | They may rely on Scripture to some degree—at least at the beginning—but they heavily depend on subjectivity and subjective sources, such as: the world’s wisdom; New Age ideas; humanistic psychology/counseling; mystical practices; feelings and experiences; biased sources; what is trendy (e.g., music; appearances) and popular in the world (e.g., social justice). Hand-in-hand with that, they do all this while lacking dependency on objectivity and objective sources, particularly the written Word of God.
2. Low View of God’s Word | They often give lip-service to the Word; however, functionally speaking, they do not highly esteem God’s Word. What is more, many are very adversarial to those who have a high view of Scripture.
3. Lack of Discernment | They might, at best, say that discerning truth from error is important. However, they do not, in reality, ardently practice this themselves—at least how Scripture describes this supreme need (Heb 5:14; Acts 17:11; 1 Thess 5:21-22). Nor do they openly and highly encourage others to do so. And, as church leaders, they woefully fall short of actively teaching people how to biblically discern, not to mention fully equip them in this vital area of life.
4. Faulty Foundation | Under the surface—which may outwardly appear to be biblical, and may possess some truth—they have several weaknesses (e.g., discernment; subjective-dependent; mixing in the leaven of the world’s wisdom), and some erroneous teachings (e.g., counterfeit justice). Therefore, as time goes on—and when enough pressure is placed on this faulty foundation—it crumbles and is exposed (cp. Lk 6:46-49). As a result, they increasingly and perhaps openly embrace traits of the World-Approved Church.
5. Ashamed Of God’s Word | They might, at some point, declare that they are in the Biblical Church, but they say this quietly, reluctantly, or somewhat apologetically. If they do say something about this, they often go out of their way to take shots at true, biblical Christians. Why? Likely to make sure those in the world do not think they are one of those crazy extremists (e.g., “Christian Nationalists”).
6. Pragmatic | They hold to some level of pragmatism (e.g., seeking whatever works, generally over what is biblical; cp. Prov 14:12). Therefore, their beliefs often shift with what is popular, or what they think will work best. As a result, they will increasingly embrace the spirit of the age. For more, see: Seven Deadly Errors That Are Destroying (and Refining) The Church
7. Self-Proclaimed Voice of Reason | They like to present themselves as a voice of reason—and to be above the “extremism” of the Biblical Church. As a result, they will often promote a middle road, or a “third way.” And they do that while denouncing and even attacking biblical Christians and their beliefs. This is especially true when it comes to political matters—and on areas where the world is clearly at odds with the Word.
8. Passive and Fearful | They are passive, timid, lazy—or all three. Therefore, they do not really speak out much, if at all. Nor do they make strong stands against sin, error, and the compromises with and conformity to the world. As a result, they enable/empower the destruction of the Church (which often includes their own church), society as a whole, and countless individuals therein. The “fear of man” is also a significant fear-factor here (Prov 29:25).
9. Subtle Subversions | They might, for example, say they are for the Biblical Church—and that they are against the World-Approved Church—and there is often truth in that. However, they also promote books, leaders, and certain ideas that are in the WAC (e.g., social justice; mysticism; New Ageism), as well as other erroneous ideas (e.g., the Enneagram; humanism; humanistic psychology).
10. The Wrong Battles | They never really confront the sin and errors of the world (or of other false teachings). However, when they do take a stand on something, it is usually against biblical Christians.
In addition to all this, there have always been people who claim Christ, however, they love the world—and this eventually causes them to stumble (cp. Mk 4:19; 1 Tim 1:18-20; 6:20-21).
There are many today who may also try to follow Jesus, but they are lured and ensnared by the things of this world—largely because they too, to whatever degree, love the world, and the things of this world (cp. 1 Jn 2:15-17; Mk 4:19).
One example of this are those who are tend to be trend-followers, such as with music, clothing, entertainment, books, and what is trendy appearance-wise. A more specific and prime example of loving the world is the person of Demas, who not only forsook Jesus and biblical Christianity, but also his dear Christian friend:
Be diligent to come to me quickly; for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica – 2 Timothy 4:9-10
THINKING IT THROUGH
- Which of these troubling traits do you see the most today, especially in some popular people who claim Christ?
- To what degree does anything here apply to you?
- Which of these these red flags are you aware of in your church, or in a loved one’s church?
- When it comes to popular Christian influencers—especially well-known authors and their books—which of the above traits do you detect in them?
- What are some specific signs that a person might love the world, and the things of this world?
Taken from Mark’s book A Tale Of Two Churches: Understanding The Division & Opposition In Today’s Church
Hope For Life Biblical Counseling & Equipping is a non-profit ministry based in the Central Valley of California. We have always been fully committed to providing biblical counseling at no cost to anyone in need, along with classes, books, and other equipping resources for the local community and the worldwide body of Christ as a whole.
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