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A Time to Stand for Truth

  [Leadership]
10/13/2009
By Snell, Tim

 

   
 
Christ's Church of the Valley
The Center for Church Renewal
Appleton, WI.
www.renewthechurch.org

If there has ever been a time for Godly leaders to rise up and give a clear call to follow the Lord, I believe that time is today.  Today, more than ever before, the truth is under attack and the church must be vigilant.  Postmoderism advocates reducing truth to nothing but a point of view.  Relativism goes a step further and throws the idea of truth away completely.  “Your truth is your truth, and my truth is my truth” they say, but “please don’t rock the boat.”  This has become the prevailing philosophy of many and “tolerance” is the doctrinal measuring stick that holds it together.  Sadly, today these philosophies are even creeping into the church.  The line between truth and falsehood is often being blurred and Biblical truth set aside.

The Lord Himself has given us the charge to “preach the Word…in season and out of season.”  Immediately following the Holy Spirit speaks about a time when sound Biblical teaching will be discarded:

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.   2 Timothy 4:3-4

Jude faced a similar situation in his day as teachers from right within the church introduced false teachings.

Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.  Jude 1:3


Once such example of this is the growing embrace of what is often called the “Common Ground” teaching (also called C5, “The Insider’s Movement,” and “Jesus in the Quran” depending on the group doing the teaching).  This teaching advocates that we should not seek to convert Muslims to Christianity, but rather help them find Jesus “inside of Islam.”  Here, the church is functionally reduced to a non-important “religious identity” which can be discarded, Jesus is no longer referenced as the “Son of God,” and the Quran is still a book to look to for enlightenment and guidance.   Furthermore these “messianic Muslims” are told it is fine to believe Mohammad was a prophet (even though he denied the divinity, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus), are encouraged to pray to Allah within the context of the teaching of the Quran, and told it is find to say the Shahada (the Muslim profession of faith).

Such teachings should alarm any of us who are followers of the Lord Jesus!  What is next?  Can you imagine church leaders advocating we let all people discover Jesus in the context of each of their own false religions?  Where would it stop?  “Mormon followers of Jesus who follow Jesus through the book of Mormon,” or “Hindu followers of Jesus who continue to worship idols” or maybe even “Wiccan followers of Jesus who continue in witchcraft?” 

I’m reminded of the verse in 2 Kings 17:33 where the God condemns the blending of authentic faith with false religions:

They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.  2 Kings 17:33


Recently, the largest church in our area hosted one of these conferences.  A group called “Jesus in the Quran” were brought in and taught the Common Ground teaching to scores of young people looking at long term and short term mission work.  You have to understand, this isn't just any church.  This is a pillar church in our community.  It is highly respected.  It's Pastor is on the board of the National Association of Evangelicals.  What this church brings into our area has a tremendous effect on the body of Christ at large.

Yes, it would be easy to roll over.  It would be easy to close our eyes and do nothing.   Nobody wants the conflict.  I understand.

But God has called leaders to lead!  We are called to shepherd the flock and guard them against the wolves which will lead them astray.  And if we are going to be responsive to our Lord, to His headship of His church, then standing for the truth is what we must do.

Perhaps many of you have been unaware of the Common Ground teaching before.  Now would be a great time to get familiar with it.  This teaching is growing and is being embraced by significant groups such as The Navigators.  This isn't just one church...and it won't go away unless Godly leaders stand up and make their voice heard.

I have been able to go through and listen to the entire audio of the conference which was hosted locally.  It was worse than I feared.  At the end of it I wept for the darkness the body of Christ had been exposed to, all under the guise of being something “godly and good.”  To make matters worse, the day following, the Pastor who hosted the conference stood in front of his church and described the teaching given at the conference as “Just absolutely excellent.”

To help you get an idea of the depth of the falsehood being presented, I have included a summary of the teaching presented at the conference locally along with quotes directly from those doing the presenting.  You will also find a list of questions which may be helpful as you talk to those leaders advocating or hosting such teaching.  

Leaders, let's stand up!  Jesus will not give His glory to another, nor will He abandon headship of His church… but the truth must be contended for as Jude tells us.  We simply cannot stand aside when significant falsehood is introduced. 

My prayer is that God will be glorified and the Bride purified as we stand strong, side by side, defending the truth of the gospel for which Jesus gave His very life.  May God bless you as you follow Him and guard the flock of God!

In Christ's Love,
Pastor Tim

 

 


A Summary of the Teaching at
the "Common Ground" (C5) Conference
held at Christ the Rock Community Church
on
August 21-22, 2009
 
by Tim Snell

      • Muslims don't need to become Christians (or even leave Islam), nor should we ask them to. They can remain Muslims and simply "discover Jesus" in Islam. We should not convert Muslims. God wants people to "remain" in their current religious context.

         
        • "Our goal in the morning, we lay out a foundation for the Kingdom of God. We become really clear about what we are doing when we are trying to talk about our faith or sharing our faith: that it's the message of the Kingdom of God, that we're not interested in any Muslim converting to Christianity..."    (Listen here.)

           
        • "So for us Jesus is the only way. Now, that may or may not mean you have to change your religious identity."     (Listen here.)

           
        • Telling of a 16 year old who was accepting Jesus under the "Common Ground" (C5) Strategy:

          • When he met Christians, they told him to leave Islam. But he didn't want to. He met the speaker of this conference. This man (the speaker) "He [God] made you Muslim. Why were you born in a Muslim family?"     (Listen here.)

            "I said, 'It seems to me like what you should be doing now that you know Christ is remaining where you are.' I said, 'You know what, we have enough Christians in our church. We don't need you, but your family does.'"     (Listen here.)

            "And that's what he did. He went home. He's the youngest of four brothers. He went home and basically what he did; an example, basically he went home; this is what we teach them to do; He goes home, and he tells his father, he says 'Yeah, something's happened to me in my life and now I really understand what you've been trying to teach me since I was a little kid. ... You know how you've been reading the Quran... And I've been reading it and studying it and I've discovered the message of who Jesus really is. And I've heard all the (arguments) because that's what the Quran tells me to do. And I'm a good Muslim. ... Thank you Dad.' ... That's what they are trained to say; they're not ashamed of that."     (Listen here.)

             
        • From Another Story

          • But she could never go back home, because she was already an outcast, already on the fringe of her community, and we didn't understand the principles we are teaching you here. It was that big 'convert' understanding, and she would have ripped up. And how could we ask that of her?"     (Listen here.)

             
          • "Then I'll say to her ... I said, 'You know what? I never want you to come over here [to Christianity] and I hope you'll never ask me to come over here [to be a Muslim]. But together we can study the holy books and find the secret of that straight path into the Kingdom."     (Listen here.)

             
        • From Yet Another Story

          • "And my friend (someone's name) loved the part about the Messiah but she couldn't agree with all this other stuff. It was from "the Bible is corrupt" point of view." [a reference to the perspective of the Muslim and why she couldn't agree with the statement of faith because she believed the Bible was corrupt.]     (Listen here.)

             
          • So when the speaker at the conference gets a hold of her, she reiterates that she won't ask her to be a Christian, ever. "So I went into it ... unlike the other lady's message, I said, 'I'm never going to ask you to come over to my circle [of Christianity]. Never."     (Listen here.)

             
  • The Kingdom of God is redefined. The Kingdom of God is not uniquely Christian (or even covenantal as in God's fulfillment of his covenant with the Jews), but equally draws from various faiths:  Christian, Muslim, etc. The C5 strategy, in light of this theology, could potentially be adapted for other faith groups as well, such as Mormons. (A similar diagram can be found on the "Jesus in the Quran" website at http://www.jesusinthequran.org/?cat=11).
    • "God is radically at work amongst both the Christians and the Muslims drawing them together in His kingdom."     (Listen here.)

       
    • A diagram drawn by the presenter (to the right), p 24 of the workbook

       
    • Describing what they say to a Muslim who says they really are committed to following Allah (but has not accepted Christ)... "So I'll say, 'You've already started on that straight path. You've already stepped into the Kingdom.'"     (Listen here.)
    • "This is the Kingdom of God, right here, right in this room. We have a Jewish follower of Jesus sitting with a Muslim follower of Jesus, and a Christian follower of Jesus."     (Listen here.)
       
    • Muslims who have "discovered Jesus within Islam," since they are encouraged to remain Muslim, can continue to hold to the Muslim profession of faith, the Shahada, which says that there is no God but Allah and Mohammad is God's prophet. (This in spite of the fact that Mohammed's "revelation" of Jesus included the denial of His divinity, death, burial and resurrection.)

       
      • "'Was Mohammad a messenger that pointed our people toward Jesus?' And we say, 'Yes.' And they all said, 'Yeah, we can say that. We can stand up anywhere before God and say that that was the first person that pointed us toward Jesus.' ... And so they felt like, 'Yeah, we think we can stand up and say the Shahada in public before God.'"     (Listen here.)

         
    • Christians should be careful in presenting Jesus as the "Son of God" as this would be offensive to Muslims.

       
      • "We were in the furniture store and we were talking to this guy who was Jordanian and there were actually seven Muslims working in that store, and he just – boom: 'Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?' And I said, 'No.' ... He said, 'Well what do you believe?' I said, "Well here's what I believe who Jesus is. Jesus is the Word of God, He is the mercy of God, and He is the beloved, not ..., but beloved of God, the soul of God, the spirit of God.' And the guy says, 'Wow!' He said, 'Are you Muslim?' And I said, 'No, I'm Christian, but this is what our book says, that's what He is."     (Listen here.)

         
    • The Quran is a book which these believers should continue to look to, along with the Bible, in order to "discover this Jesus."

       
      • "Now this afternoon we are going to look into and spend some time with the Quran and see what it really says, and how the Quran lays out a straight path for a Muslim to walk on."     (Listen here.)

         
    • Mohammed may be, in fact, a true prophet of God (some think he is and some think he isn't) and it is up to each conference participant to decide. Participants at the conference were encouraged to prayerfully consider if, in fact, Mohammad was a true prophet after all.

       
    • The speaker presenting his view: "And the final little piece of it would go, 'Was Mohammad a messenger of God?' I'll leave that to you to determine. Something you should wrestle with, think about, ponder. Think about, thoughout the Bible, how many different people God used, of different backgrounds, different – sometimes unsuspecting – cultures and positions. I mean God spoke through all kinds of different people throughout the Bible. And so I'll let you guys figure out what you think about that."     (Listen here.)

       
    • But the workbook left little doubt where they wanted the students to go. Here is how the workbook asked and answered the question of how to see Mohammad – no other written qualification was given:

      • "So...was Mohammad a messenger of God?

         
      • 'My own judgment is that I see Mohammad as an authentic prophet of God, even though like other prophets after the time of our Lord, neither morally perfect nor doctrinally infallible.' --Richard Henry Drummond, Islam for the Western Mind: Understanding Muhammad and the Koran (2005)" p. 45 of the workbook.

         
    • At the very least participants were encouraged to view Mohammad positively. Mohammad was always portrayed positively, even from a spiritual perspective in the conference. There was no consideration of whether he might be, in fact, a false prophet.

      • "But when we talk about Mohammad, we need to be able, as Peter tells us, to have in our hearts things that actually honor him."     (Listen here.)

         
      • "I've heard a number of quotes from Christians who just dishonor Mohammad. And scripture, honestly, doesn't give us space to do that."    (Listen here.)

         

Questions to Ask Leaders Who Advocate or Practice "Common Ground" Teaching

Questions about Belief:
  1. "Common Ground" / "Jesus in the Quran" teaches we should encourage Muslims not to convert to Christianity, but "follow Jesus" within the context of Islam? Do you believe this teaching is okay?
  2. Do you believe God is drawing Christians and Muslims equally into the Kingdom of God, as is presented by those who hold to this teaching?
  3. Since this perspective is promoted by those within Common Ground movement, do you believe it is okay for "messianic Muslims" to look to Mohammad as a true prophet/messenger from God even though he denies Christ's divinity, death, burial and resurrection?
  4. Do you believe it is okay for "messianic Muslims" to continue to pray to Allah as he is revealed in the Quran?
  5. Common Ground and Jesus in the Quran teach that it is fine for Muslim followers of Jesus to say the Shahada which states, "There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is his prophet." Do you believe this is okay?
Questions about Practice:
  1. Does our church hold to or practice ANY of the teaching of "Common Ground" or "Jesus in the Quran?"
  2. Why did our church host a conference promoting these teachings?
  3. What is our church's current relationship to those who promote and practice these teachings? Have we had any past relationship? If so, for how long? Do we have any ongoing or future relationship (such as mission's trips where this teaching will be used, or these groups will be involved?)
  4. Which leaders from our church were at the conference? Did any leader stand up and object to this teaching at the conference?
  5. Why has our church praised this teaching?
  6. (If anyone besides leaders received this training...) Why were young people training for short term missions [or the appropriate group who received the training] exposed to this teaching?
  7. Will you as a leader publicly repudiate this teaching to our church body?
  8. Will you as a leader repudiate this teaching to all those who attended the conference through a letter or some other means?
  9. Will our church cut off all ties with those who practice and advocate this teaching? If so, when?

 
  
 

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