Out With The New And In With The Old

We must return to the fundamental doctrines of the inerrancy of Holy Scripture and the penal atonement of Jesus Christ if we are to have real evangelism of the lost. Jesus Christ came to save us from our sins and not in our sins. There must be an emphasis on personal integrity and holiness according to the Word of God. Sadly, "modern evangelism" denigrates the Holy Scriptures and what actually occurred at Calvary. In his weekly devotional "Forget None of His Benefits," Rev. Al Baker summarizes the downgrading of evangelism:
"The revival on the Isle of Lewis, off the coast of Scotland , from 1949 until 1952 was a remarkable outpouring of the Holy Spirit, bringing conversion to many in all the various towns of that secluded island. God wonderfully used the preaching of Duncan Campbell to break the hearts of these moral, church-going people. Though they almost all attended church and though the men, saved and unsaved alike, led their families in morning and evening devotional times, many were not yet in Christ. God worked powerfully to change them. At the same time Billy Graham was preaching in Los Angeles and the new evangelicalism came from it, replacing the old fundamentalism which was perceived as negative, separatist, and anti-intellectual. Carl F.H. Henry, Harold J. Ockenga, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Bill Bright, and Francis Schaeffer were also major players in the movement. Though these men disagreed on secondary issues liked Calvinism and Arminianism, church polity, mode of baptism, and eschatology they all agreed on two major doctrines- the inerrancy of Scripture and the vicarious, penal atonement of Christ.


Times have changed drastically since then. David Wells, in his latest book, The Courage to be Protestant, has noted that evangelicalism is fragmented, divided into three camps. The first is the traditional evangelical who still believes in inerrancy and penal atonement. He is driven by theological considerations above everything else. However two new strands of evangelicals have arisen in recent years. The first is the church growth, seeker friendly movement. Bill Hybels is the major architect of the movement and it is pragmatically driven. As long as something works, gets results, then use it. There is little concern for tradition or theological considerations in the seeker friendly movement. The second, however, is much more cutting edge, and I suggest much more dangerous. It is the emerging church movement which is very sensitive to the post-modern mind. Since post-modernism denies any final, absolute truth the emerging church folks are prone to get their theology from their community instead of Scripture. For example, some have said, 'Who are we to be so bold as to think we know the mind of God on such issues as women’s ordination, abortion, or gay rights.'"

It is a time to return to our Protestant roots and refuse to compromise with everything that claims to be "Christian." The "seeker sensitive movement" and the "emerging church movement" are in opposition to the true Gospel. They are heretics and we should so inform those within our influence of the truth. Our aim should not be unity at any price but unity in truth. While we may disagree on many non essentials, we cannot agree with those that deny Scripture its rightful place or fail to acknowledge the power of the atonement provided through the blood of Jesus Christ.