The Cult of Liberalism (And Why Liberals Won't Leave The Church)

The following is a quote from the late Dr. Walter Martin’s classic sermon titled "The Cult of Liberalism" which is available here.

"There is a progression that takes place in liberal theology: It begins with a corrupt bibliology, a corrupt view of the nature and the inspiration of Scripture. They have a corrupt theology because once you are picking and choosing from the Bible what you want, your theology has to suffer from it, because your human reason is corrupt…every major theological seminary that has turned from orthodox Christianity began with disbelief of Biblical doctrine. There wasn’t a single exception.

This corrupt Bibliology then lead them to the next step. Their theology began to be touched by it, their view of the Cross, the Virgin Birth were both immediately questioned; then came the miracles of Christ…And finally they had emptied the Gospel of all its content; they were simply using the outward shell so that they go on collecting money from the people and the churches; because they knew that if the people in the pew knew that they were apostate, they’d throw them out. So the strategy was hang on to the trust funds; hang on to the money we’ve got; hang on the properties we control, and we will gradually educate the laymen into this new approach to theology.

And then finally we will take control of everything. The gradual process of feeding you theological poison until you become immunized enough so that you don’t know what’s happening to you. And when you wake up to what’s happening to you, it’s too late they’ve got everything. That is not a baseless charge, I stand prepared to prove that the Cult of Liberal Theology in the United States has deliberately and consistently followed this methodology to entrap, control and dominate the denominations and the churches of the United States and our educational institutions."

I strongly encourage you to listen to that entire sermon as it was presented on an old 2010 episode of Fighting For The Faith with Chris Rosebrough.

Martin was talking about the threat from within as it existed in his day, and yet, it is so applicable to the types of things we're hearing and seeing today in our churches.

He also makes the case for why we need to remain firm and steadfast in our convictions and confessions of faith regardless of the day and age and unique circumstances we find ourselves in.

In addition, he also points out how the threat from within is not going to go away any time soon, and he specifically explains why Liberals won't leave the church even when challenged.

As Jim Pierce, writing for Steadfast Lutherans, noted back in 2010...

I think Dr. Martin is correct. The theological liberals found in any orthodox denomination do not want to leave the denomination because they would have to start over. They would have to purchase properties, set up new retirement funds and trust funds, and build a new bureaucracy. But the most difficult task for these wolves is finding a fresh audience in the world. Who in the world would buy into what these false teachers have to say?

My experience is that most non-Christians will have little to nothing to do with religious liberals, since they are of the same cloth. Why would a repentant sinner, who because of the work of the Holy Spirit through His Word now sees he is sick in need of the divine physician Jesus Christ and repents, turn to the theological liberals who tell him there is no absolute truth, the Bible is not the Word of God, and Jesus is at best a historical figure who died over 2000 years ago and is certainly not God and did not rise from the dead? Only someone who remains unrepentant would accept such nonsense, but the unrepentant sinner who has never known God isn’t fooled, since he doesn’t need such a vacuous “faith”. He knows he is only trading one wreck for another; therefore, there is no need to leave the wreck he is comfortable with.

The theological liberal not only wants the infrastructure of the orthodox denomination, but they want the ready made audience, too. Putting on sheep’s clothing has always been the path of least resistance for these wolves and that is exactly the path they will take. Indeed, the Holy Scriptures tell us,

Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 1 John 2:18-20

"They went out from us" tells us that the anti-christs John refers to were properly taught the truth of God’s Word, but then walked away from that truth and taught lies. Haven’t we recently seen this with the acceptance of unrepentant homosexuality in the former Lutheran and Christian synod, the "Evangelical Lutheran Church in America"?

The enemies of the cross of Christ are right now marching in my own synod, the "Lutheran Church Missouri Synod" (LCMS). Already I have heard saber rattling over issues such as women’s ordination and the inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures. Is it any wonder? The current leadership of the LCMS has been enamored by the words of heretics like Leonard Sweet, who embraces the heresy of panentheism, and with the words of other church growth and Emergent Church gurus. LCMS congregations and even an entire district (The Southeast District) openly promote damnable practices taken from eastern mysticism such as "Centering Prayer" and other unscriptural meditation practices. If these theological liberals are allowed to continue their practices without disciplinary action taken against them, then the LCMS will likely follow the ELCA into apostasy and we won’t be recognizable as being in the Church of our Lord Jesus; let alone as our "grandfather’s church".

Now is the time for conservative (orthodox) clergy and laity alike to stand up and stand firm in God’s Holy Word against the wolves amongst us who will continue to try to take over our churches.

Precisely.

In a Lutheran Layman's terms, I pray that God would help us to stand for this truth today with both confidence and courage, to drink deeply of His sweet grace, to preach Christ crucified for the sins of all mankind without diluting it in any way, nor to allow the Gospel of Salvation to ever again to be cast aside in favor of something which is powerless to reach into the abyss of our sin and death with forgiveness and life.

[NOTE: As you know, I am a newly converted Confessional Lutheran who recently escaped American Evangelicalism. That being said, please contact me ASAP if you believe that any of my "old beliefs" seem to have crept their way into any of the material you see published here, and especially if any of the content is not consistent with Lutheran doctrine -- in other words, if it's not consistent with God's Word -- so that I can correct those errors immediately and not lead any of His little ones astray. Thank you in advance for your time and help. Grace and peace to you and yours!]

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