Paul warned us that as we moved into the very last days that there would be more false prophets, more wolves in sheep's clothing and more FALSE Gospels given...which is really no Gospel at all.
Sadly you don't need to look far at the churches all around us to see this playing out in real time. We all know Lutherans among us who deny that hell is a destination for anyone, no matter what your have done while in the body on earth. We know of Catholics who believe that good works and Mass attendance will satisfy your requirement of being good enough to get to heaven. We know of Catholics who believe you can pray to dead people to have your prayers answered. And if the dead people don't answer then you can pray to Jesus' mother to see if she will intercede for your salvation.
We can go on and on about the places who call themselves "churches" but have nothing to do with the actual Gospel that Christ is the key component of.
Yesterday our pastor told us of a prime example of wolves preaching lies but still claiming to be part of the church. So I looked up Middle Church and this is what I found on their website.
You are welcome here at Middle Church, just as you are as you come through the door. You were awesomely and wonderfully made, in God’s image; God's love is manifest in you! Because we know there is more than one path to God, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, atheists, and Christians of all stripes make their way to our sanctuary to experience how #LoveTransforms. Every ethnicity and race, millennials and boomers, trans and gay, singles and families, all call Middle home.
The diversity of our congregation and staff looks like a New York City subway but it feels like a home full of love. Middle Church is where therapy meets Broadway; where art and dance meet a gospel revival; where old time religion gets a new twist. We are Bach, Beatles, and Beethoven; we are jazz, hip-hop, and spirituals. We are inspired by Howard Thurman, Ruby Sales, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Martin Luther King. We are on-your-feet worship and take-it-to-the-streets activism. We feed the hungry and work for a living wage; we fight for LGBTQ equality and march for racial/ethnic justice.
We believe in the power of Love. Period. Through Love, we are each created in God’s image and filled with the Divine Spark. No matter whom we love, no matter how we look, no matter where we are on our journey, God’s imprint is in every person of every race/ethnicity, every gender, and every sexual orientation. We believe God speaks many languages and is calling us on many paths to peace—Shalom. We believe that Love put on flesh—brown, poor, Jewish baby flesh—and came to live among us. We believe God lives among us still; we are the living body of Christ. We are the hands, feet, and heartbeat of God. We believe the Spirit of God calls us to freedom, and we are not free until all of us are free.
Middle Collegiate Church is a multicultural, multi-ethnic, inter-generational movement of Spirit and justice, powered by Revolutionary Love, with room for all. Following in the Way of Jesus’ radical love, and inspired by the prophets, Middle Church is called by God to do a bold new thing on the earth. We aim to heal the soul and the world by dismantling racist, classist, sexist, and homophobic systems of oppression.
Here; Welcome Home | Middle Church
That's how THEY AIM TO HEAL THE SOUL???
We are guessing that if you attended this church you could go years and years without ever hearing a sermon on sin, repentance or brokenness. They have been deceived. They believe that doing social justice projects and loving everyone just as they are is going to be their ticket to heaven. They have ignored the Gospel message fulfilled by Jesus and delivered by Paul and the other apostles.
In their twisted gospel, designed to appeal to all itchy ears, you can do anything you want, believe anything you want just so long as you do it in love then everything will go well for you for all of eternity!
This is a lie from the pit of hell. Loving all people will not get your filthy soul into eternity.
"Many will say to me on that day, 'But Lord, Lord! Didn't we love everyone and march for justice for everyone and give free sandwiches to everyone?', and I will say to them, depart from me! I don't know you. And they will be cast into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (This is a paraphrase that I made up based off an actual verse)
1 Corinthians 6
9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
But Paul! What if we loved the sexually immoral, the idolaters, the adulterers and the men who have sex with other men? If LOVE WINS then we all win! We will love the adulterers SOO much that they will get into heaven and so will we!!