What Is The Most Pervasive False Doctrine In The Body Of Christ Today?

What is the most pervasive false doctrine in the body of Christ today?

In particular, we're looking at Western evangelical Christianity, and in particular Christianity within the United States. So in Christianity, in the United States, we've seen two trends that have shaped the theological field of discussion and debate.

The two trends are this, one, the rise of Calvinist mega churches across the country. We've seen numerous Calvinist mega churches grow and multiple. From Tim Keller, who recently passed away to Andy Stanley, to John MacArthur, Mark Driscoll, Craig Groeschel, Matt Chandler, David Platt, Bill Hybels, and so on. You think of people like Francis Chan. He's sort of an outlier. He's not really firmly ideologically Calvinist, but more instinctually. So first of all, the rise of Calvinist mega churches affected our theology.

Secondly, and just as much was the rise of non denominational churches. Most of these non denominational churches are functionally Baptist in theology. I think the reason they've taken off so much and sort of supplanted other denominations is because they have remained biblically conservative in their theology, when many other denominations have strayed liberal in their theology.

When churches stray from the Bible, they shut down. Plain and simple, that's what we've seen with the decline of mainline protestant churches. The rapid decline of mainline protestant denominations was succinctly matched by their total embrace of gay marriage, gender ideology, and critical race theory based social justice.

Now, there is a lot to like with both Calvinist and Baptist churches and theology. They've remained close to conservative biblical theology. They've emphasized personal salvation. They've emphasized the need to share the gospel with others (missional). They've clarified a gospel message around penal substitutionary atonement that makes it starkly clear that salvation is based on the finished work of Christ on the cross. There is a lot of good in all of it.

If we were looking at church theology in general in the west, and what is the biggest red flag, the answer would almost certainly be gay marriage, and the massive swing of the church toward promoting homosexuality. The swing has been truly seismic and devastatingly destructive. It's the most astonishing shift for the church in two thousand years.

So you could say the most pervasive false doctrine in all of Christianity right now is gay marriage, the promotion of total inclusion. Hundreds of churches have simply decided, 'we will deny what the Bible says about marriage.'

But what about evangelical Christianity, the vein of Christianity that holds most firmly to the word of God? What is the most pervasive false doctrine in evangelicalism?

I believe the most pervasive false doctrine within biblical Christianity is the doctrine of "once saved, always saved."

This doctrine comes from the fifth point of the Calvinist TULIP acronym which is titled the "perseverance of the saints." And it asserts the idea that is it impossible for a born again Christian to fall away and lose their salvation.

The doctrine also finds a home in Baptist churches, which teach as a point of theology, salvation cannot be lost. Many Baptist (non-denominational) churches would reject the first four points of Calvinism, but they would still agree on the last point and teach that a believer cannot lose their salvation.

It's a very surprising thing when you think about it. I'm sure many reading of us were taught this doctrine in their churches. But the doctrine is fairly rare outside of Calvinism and Baptist churches. It's a view that asserts a believer can't do things mentioned in scripture like renouncing Christ or denying Christ, or practicing willful active sin. Or that if a believer does those things, it has no impact on their salvation.

If we go back to the early church, we see that the early church fathers agree that a believer can backslide. It was a basic teaching of the early church, to hold fast to Christ, to remain with Christ, and to reject sin, and to die for Christ if necessary, before ever denying Him.

As Irenaeus wrote, "But to the righteous and holy, and those who have kept his commandments and have remained in his love…he will by his grace give life incorrupt, and will clothe them with eternal glory" -Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book I, Chapter 10:1.

But it was a difficult issue to deal with. How does a believer know they are safe in Christ's arms? For the Catholic church, they dealt with this issue by instituting confession. The believer would confess their sins to the Priest. The Priest would then give forgiveness along with penance. This would be practiced monthly, even weekly, or daily if necessary.

So for Catholics, it became a question of salvation security, what kind of sin is deadly to my salvation? So sins were divided up into two categories, mortal sins and venal sins.