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Pilgrim said:

...in our own recent history, we have seen the demise of once conservative denominations due to their failure to discipline heretics and thwart heretical teaching, e.g,. PCUSA, PCA, and the CRC.

In our day we are seeing less discipline of those who teach strange doctines even in the conservative churches because of the influence of post-modern thinking. PM thinking believes everyone can have their own view or opinion - ie. there is not right or wrong. This is breading a new liberalism in the church of today.

Back in 1923 J. Gresham Machen (founder of the OPC) publicly identified the marks of the liberalism of that time. Machen said that liberalism is chiefly characterized by "it's attach upon the fundamentals of the Christian faith." These fundamentals include the Biblical doctrine of God, and the Biblical doctrine of man. He also wrote that in the sphere of religion, in particular, the present time is a time of conflict; the great redemptive religion which has always been known as Chrisianity is battling against a totally diverse type of religious belief, which is only the more destructive of the Christian faith because it makes use of traditional Christian terminology. This modern non-redemptive religion is called "modernism" or "liberalism." These words were written in the previous century.

Paul Elliott writes in his new book The Marks of Neo-Liberalism: "The OPC's neo-liberalism today shares the core characteristics of the PCUSA's old liberalism in the 1920s and 1930s. The OPC is repeating the mistakes of history. Satan has not corrupted the OPC with precisely the same forms of error that he employed three generations ago. The church would perhaps be on its guard for that. Today the error is expressed in different words and with contemporary points of emphasis. But it has the same destructive force, and confronting it requires the same spiritual alertness and resolve."

The history of the church tells us that a church's descent toward full apostasy usually begins subtly and gains momemtum gradually. The downgrade always has a beginning, it always has root causes, and it almost always reaches a point of crisis where true believers in Christ must face a test of loyalties.


Wes

Last edited by Wes; Wed Nov 09, 2005 7:46 PM.