SPIRITUAL DEPRAVITY DRESSED UP IN CHRISTIAN LANGUAGE (PART III)

“When the Church Abandons Scripture, Every Absurdity Becomes a Revelation”

By Akin Ojumu

In the first two installments of this commentary, we examined the distinction between genuine saving faith and mere religious profession. We considered the three essential elements of saving faith: notitia, assensus, and fiducia.

We also examined the extraordinary public announcement involving the self-styled Prophet Israel T. Ford, his wife Lydia Ford, and Minister Shakayla Talley Ford, whom the prophet and his wife introduced as his second wife.

What makes that episode especially disturbing is not merely the public acknowledgment of the polygynous arrangement. It is the elaborate religious vocabulary used to portray the arrangement as an expression of divine approval.

God was honored. Divine guidance was celebrated. Spiritual growth was proclaimed. Blessings and increase were announced. The arrangement was presented as a model of what God wants to establish in the earth. Those involved described themselves as blazing a trail. And the congregation cheered and gave the trouple a rousing ovation.

Apparently, a prophet taking a second wife is now something to be celebrated and marketed as a spiritual breakthrough.

But the problem is far bigger than Israel Ford and his marital arrangement.

The real problem is a version of Christianity in which personal desires have become divine revelations, religious celebrities have become unquestionable authorities, and the written Word of God has been relegated to a supporting role.

CHRISTIANITY HAS BECOME A LANGUAGE GAME

There is something profoundly troubling about the modern Church’s fascination with religious expressions. People appear to believe that attaching Christian vocabulary to an idea automatically makes that idea Christian.

A person says something absurd. Add “The Lord revealed it to me.” Suddenly, it becomes a revelation.

A preacher makes an outrageous claim. Add “The Holy Spirit instructed me.” Suddenly, it becomes a divine assignment.

A religious celebrity promotes a questionable practice. Add “God is doing a new thing.” Suddenly, anyone who asks for biblical justification is accused of resisting the move of God.

This is how the Christian faith becomes a language game.

The content no longer matters. The biblical evidence becomes secondary. The determining factor is whether the speaker knows how to wrap the message in the familiar expressions of Church culture.

And the modern Church has produced an astonishing number of people who have mastered this skill.

They speak Christianese with remarkable fluency. They know how to manipulate religious emotions. They know how to invoke divine authority. They know how to manufacture spiritual excitement. They know how to turn a congregation into an applauding audience.

But when you subject their assertions to the scrutiny of Scripture, you discover that the substance is often entirely absent. They have mastered the vocabulary of Christianity while abandoning the theology of Christianity.

The result is a religious culture in which people become more concerned about the excitement of the message than the truth of the message.

A sermon is considered powerful because it provokes applause. A prophet is considered anointed because he makes extraordinary claims. A general overseer is considered spiritually superior because he describes supernatural experiences that ordinary believers supposedly cannot access.

And a questionable practice becomes acceptable because someone has attached the phrase “the will of God” to it.

FROM POLYGYNY TO SUPERNATURAL THEATER

Israel Ford’s marital arrangement is only one illustration of the wider disorder afflicting vast sections of contemporary Christianity.

If it is not a prophet publicly defending polygyny as the will of God, it is a general overseer claiming to have sat down and enjoyed tea with God in his living room.

If it is not a preacher claiming extraordinary private encounters with heavenly beings, it is a supposed apostle boasting of supernatural assignments and conversations for which no biblical foundation is supplied.

If it is not a religious celebrity claiming to possess spiritual mantles, graces, and anointings that can be distributed to his followers, it is another preacher presenting his personal experiences as authoritative revelations binding upon the Church.

If it is not the promise of supernatural dominion, it is the marketing of spiritual elevation, prophetic breakthroughs, and divine access.

Different performers. Different costumes. Different platforms. Different audiences. The same underlying theological disease.

The displacement of biblical revelation by human imagination.

And once that displacement occurs, there is virtually no limit to what can be passed off as Christianity. The religious imagination becomes the final authority.

Every personal desire can become a prophetic instruction. Every ambition can become a kingdom assignment. Every experience can become a supernatural encounter. Every questionable behavior can become a manifestation of grace.

And every absurdity can become a deeper revelation that ordinary believers are supposedly too spiritually immature to understand.

The Bible is no longer allowed to judge the preacher. The preacher appoints himself the judge of the Bible.

THE DANGER OF SPIRITUAL CELEBRITY CULTURE

One of the most destructive developments in contemporary Church culture is the elevation of religious leaders to positions where their followers consider them almost incapable of error.

The man of God becomes the final authority. 

His words become sacred. His interpretations become unquestionable. His personal experiences become normative. His preferences become divine commandments. 

And his followers are conditioned to believe that challenging his assertions amounts to challenging God Himself.

This is not Christianity. It is religious authoritarianism dressed in Christian clothing.

The Apostles of Jesus Christ did not teach believers to surrender their discernment to charismatic personalities.

Quite the opposite.

The Bereans were commended because they examined the Scriptures to determine whether the things preached to them were true.

Acts 17:11

“Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”

Think about that.

These people examined the teaching of the Apostle Paul against the Scriptures. 

The Apostle Paul! 

A genuine, personally commissioned Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Yet their examination of his message was described as noble.

How much more should contemporary Christians examine the extraordinary claims of self-appointed apostles and prophets?

If the authentic Apostles were not above scriptural examination, what makes a modern general overseer immune from biblical scrutiny?

No religious title can elevate a man above the authority of Scripture. No supernatural testimony can amend the Gospel. No private revelation can establish a new doctrine that contradicts the teaching of Christ and His Apostles.

And no congregation is obligated to accept a preacher’s claims merely because he insists that God told him something.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SINNING CHRISTIAN AND A RELIGIOUS IMPOSTOR

At this point, an important distinction must be made.

The Christian life is not a life of sinless perfection. Genuine believers can fall into serious sin.

They can make mistakes. They can misinterpret Scripture. They can become entangled in practices that are inconsistent with their profession of faith.

The existence of sin in a Christian’s life does not automatically establish that the person was never converted.

But the New Testament also refuses to separate genuine saving faith from repentance and sanctification.

1 John 2:3–4

“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

John is not teaching salvation by meritorious obedience. He is teaching that a genuine relationship with Christ produces a transformed attitude toward God’s commandments.

The difference between a struggling Christian and a religious impostor is not that one sins and the other does not.

Both may sin. The difference is that genuine faith does not make peace with sin as though rebellion against God were a spiritual achievement.

The regenerated believer is called to repent of sin. The religious impostor may instead discover ingenious ways to justify sin, celebrate it, and persuade others that God approves of it.

One submits personal desires to Scripture. The other submits Scripture to personal desires.

One acknowledges that God’s Word has authority over his conduct. The other uses God’s name to legitimize whatever conduct he wishes to defend.

One seeks forgiveness when confronted with sin. The other seeks a Bible verse to make the sin appear righteous.

WHEN THE LOVE OF TRUTH DISAPPEARS

There is a sobering warning in the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians.

2 Thessalonians 2:9–12

“The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

The immediate context concerns the coming of the lawless one and the deception associated with his appearance.

But the passage contains a solemn warning about the spiritual consequences of rejecting the truth.

Notice the language Paul employs.

“They refused to love the truth.”

That is the central issue.

Not merely ignorance of the truth. Not simply misunderstanding a difficult passage.

But the refusal to love the truth.

They reject the truth because it is inconvenient. They have a preference for deception because deception accommodates personal desires.

And that is the danger confronting Churches in which members have been conditioned to accept whatever their spiritual celebrities proclaim.

The problem is not always that people have never encountered the relevant biblical texts. Sometimes the problem is that they have no desire to submit to those texts.

The Scriptures are available. The commandments are written. The apostolic teaching is clear enough to be examined. But people would rather defend their religious heroes than submit their beliefs to the authority of God’s Word.

They do not want the truth to govern their convictions. They want their convictions to govern the truth.

And that is how theological absurdities become institutionalized. That is how error becomes tradition. That is how spiritual manipulation becomes acceptable. That is how a congregation can be persuaded to applaud an arrangement simply because a prophet declares that God approves of it.

THE CHURCH DOES NOT NEED MORE REVELATIONS. IT NEEDS TO RETURN TO SCRIPTURE.

What contemporary Christianity desperately needs is not another generation of spectacular religious celebrities.

We do not need more self-appointed apostles claiming extraordinary authority. We do not need more prophets marketing their private experiences as divine revelations. We do not need more general overseers presenting themselves as indispensable intermediaries between God and His people. And we certainly do not need preachers searching the Bible for creative ways to justify their personal desires.

The Church needs to return to the Word of God.

2 Timothy 3:16–17

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Notice what Paul says Scripture is profitable for.

Teaching. Reproof. Correction. Training in righteousness.

Scripture does not exist merely to provide inspirational quotations for sermons. It is not a religious decoration intended to give credibility to a preacher’s personal opinions.

It is the God-breathed standard by which Christian doctrine and conduct must be examined. And its authority does not diminish because a charismatic leader disagrees with what it teaches.

Israel T. Ford does not need to blaze a new trail for the Church. The Church already has a path. It is the path laid down by the Lord Jesus Christ and His chosen Apostles.

The Church does not need a new marital revelation. It needs fidelity to the revelation already given.

It does not need prophets discovering ingenious ways to justify their preferred domestic arrangements. It needs ministers who tremble at the Word of God.

It does not need religious celebrities who can turn every controversial decision into a testimony of divine favor. It needs pastors who understand the difference between what Scripture describes, what Scripture regulates, and what Scripture commands.

And above all, the Church needs men and women whose confidence rests not in their religious accomplishments, ministerial titles, prophetic reputations, or extraordinary experiences, but in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work alone.

ONE DAY, ALL THE MICROPHONES WILL BE SWITCHED OFF

Let us return to where we began this series.

Notitia. Assensus. Fiducia.

Knowing the Gospel is necessary. Believing that the Gospel is true is necessary. But saving faith involves personally trusting and relying upon Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

And the Christ who saves sinners also transforms those whom He saves.

The evidence of spiritual life is not the possession of a religious title. It is not the ability to speak fluent Christianese. It is not the size of a congregation. It is not the amount of applause a preacher receives. It is not the number of supernatural encounters a person claims to have experienced. And it is certainly not the ability to convince an audience that one’s personal preferences are revelations from Heaven.

The fundamental question is whether your faith rests upon Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture and whether your profession bears the fruit of genuine repentance and obedience.

Because one day, all the titles will disappear. All the applause will stop. All the microphones will be switched off. All the religious performances will come to an end. 

And every person will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ.

On that day, nobody will be justified because he called himself a prophet. Nobody will enter the Kingdom because she was recognized as a pastor. Nobody will be saved because he founded a Church.

Nobody will obtain eternal life because he preached powerful sermons, claimed supernatural experiences, or persuaded thousands of followers that he was specially anointed.

There will be no salvation in ministerial accomplishments. No salvation in religious vocabulary. No salvation in spiritual titles. No salvation in prophetic revelations. No salvation in ecclesiastical influence.

SALVATION IS FOUND IN JESUS CHRIST ALONE.

And this is why the warning of Matthew 7:21–23 should cause every professing Christian to examine himself.

For the most terrifying words anyone could ever hear are not the accusations of critics, the rejection of Church members, or the condemnation of religious opponents.

They are the words of Christ Himself:

“I NEVER KNEW YOU; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WORKERS OF LAWLESSNESS.”

They who have ears to hear, let them hear!