I recently preached three sermons on counterfeit Christianity (Counterfeit Christianity What Is It?, Counterfeit Christianity It’s Results, Counterfeit Christianity It’s Antidote). In that series I said that we usually think of a counterfeit as being something purposely designed to deceive. Even more devious than those who counterfeit clothes, perfumes and money are those guilty of counterfeiting in the spiritual realm.
The tragedy connected with this kind of counterfeiting is that many times those involved are victims rather than agents! We already know that Satan is the master counterfeiter of all time. He seizes vulnerable people, deceives them, and victimizes them by counterfeiting spiritual realities.
Here’s what Paul says about Satan’s deception and that of those who follow him.
2 Corinthians 11:12-15 ESV And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
The Apostle John exposed the essence of counterfeit Christianity.
1 John 2:15-16 NIV Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.
The counterfeit spiritual realities are;
Romans 8:7-8 NIV The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
1 Timothy 6:10 NIV For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 NIV This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord
The counterfeiters are those who deny hat Jesus is the God-man, born of a virgin, who was crucified for our sins and rose the third day to overcome death. Those who deny these basic truths about Jesus Christ have a counterfeit religion.
The antidotes to counterfeit Christianity are the Word of God, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the return of Jesus (read the manuscripts or listen to the sermons by accessing links at the beginning of this post).
Your local bank tellers know when a counterfeit bill comes their way because they’ve memorized the details of a real dollar. In the same way, believers with sound biblical knowledge will recognize and discard an anti-Christ message or attitude when it reaches their ears.
The tragedy connected with this kind of counterfeiting is that many times those involved are victims rather than agents! We already know that Satan is the master counterfeiter of all time. He seizes vulnerable people, deceives them, and victimizes them by counterfeiting spiritual realities.
Here’s what Paul says about Satan’s deception and that of those who follow him.
2 Corinthians 11:12-15 ESV And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
The Apostle John exposed the essence of counterfeit Christianity.
1 John 2:15-16 NIV Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.
The counterfeit spiritual realities are;
- First the lust of the flesh.” the desire to have things. The “flesh” refers to the depraved human nature that governs a person’s will, reason, and emotions. That's why it's impossible for an unbeliever to please God, no matter how hard they try.
Romans 8:7-8 NIV The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
- Then there’s the lust of the eyes”, which can express itself in an extreme desire for material things like, fine clothes, a new car, a larger home, or the power to control everything that you see. The danger there is that you can get caught up in things that are not the will of God for you.
1 Timothy 6:10 NIV For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
- Then the final thing the "pride of life" or an arrogant, proud dependence on your own achievements, intelligence, resources, or wealth
Jeremiah 9:23-24 NIV This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord
The counterfeiters are those who deny hat Jesus is the God-man, born of a virgin, who was crucified for our sins and rose the third day to overcome death. Those who deny these basic truths about Jesus Christ have a counterfeit religion.
The antidotes to counterfeit Christianity are the Word of God, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the return of Jesus (read the manuscripts or listen to the sermons by accessing links at the beginning of this post).
Your local bank tellers know when a counterfeit bill comes their way because they’ve memorized the details of a real dollar. In the same way, believers with sound biblical knowledge will recognize and discard an anti-Christ message or attitude when it reaches their ears.
5 Counterfeit Truths of Progressive Christianity
by Alisa Childers
Editor's Note: Five counterfeit truths prevalent in Christianity today are presented in a post written by Alisa Childers. a popular speaker at apologetics and Christian worldview conferences. Alisa has been published at The Gospel Coalition, Crosswalk, and The Christian Post among other Christian publications. (I edited the post to shorten it but made no edits to any of the original text. Full scripture texts added by me).
There are all kinds of false ideas about God floating around that seem right at first. And if we don’t know the real thing, we might even feel satisfied with their half-truths and misrepresentations. One of these false ideas is the modern trend of progressive Christianity. Christianpost.com gives a warning against the misguided values of "progressive Christianity" saying,
"The counterfeit gospel is under the guise of Progressive Christianity. Yet, if you hold this doctrine up to the light it will be missing the watermarked face of God. This doctrine is worthless and void of truth and robs the soul of true joy in Christ, do not be deceived. Some of the core ideas spread by this relatively new sect are fragmenting through the body of Christ like shrapnel. We must guard our hearts and minds with the armor of God and strike back with the sword of Truth."
1st Counterfeit Truth of Progressive Christianity: You Are Perfect Just as You Are
In progressive Christianity, the doctrine of original sin is abandoned and replaced with “original blessing” or “original goodness.” Historically, Christians have believed that humans have a sinful nature that was passed down from Adam and Eve after they rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden. The Bible teaches that sin separates us from God
Isaiah 59:2 NIV But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
Ephesians 2:11-12 NIV Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
Ephesians 4:17-19 NIV Put simply, we need a Savior. However, in progressive Christianity, it isn’t our sin that separates us from God, but our own self-imposed shame. Of Adam and Eve, progressive author Brian McLaren writes, “They lose their fearlessness in relation to God.” So, rather than viewing their sin as what separated humans from a holy God, McLaren refers to their experience in Eden as a “classic coming of age story.”
According to this counterfeit truth, you don’t need to deny yourself and repent. You just need to realize that you were never separated from God in the first place. You are perfect just as you are.
2nd Counterfeit Truth of Progressive Christianity: Jesus Didn’t Need to Die on the Cross
If sin doesn’t separate us from God, why then did Jesus die on the cross? According to progressive Christianity, Jesus didn’t die as a blood sacrifice offered to God for the sins of the world. He died to show us how to forgive our enemies by allowing himself to be crucified by an angry mob. One progressive author puts it this way: “Who originated the Cross? If God did, then we worship a cosmic abuser, who in Divine Wisdom created a means to torture human beings in the most painful and abhorrent manner.”
The Bible is chock-full of different metaphors and motifs to help us understand what Jesus accomplished on the cross. There are themes of Jesus taking our punishment, paying our debt, reconciling us to God whereas we once were enemies. There is language of being adopted into God’s family, following Jesus’ example of forgiveness, and being cleansed from our sin. Scripture speaks of Jesus defeating the power of sin, death, and hell through his death and resurrection. There is almost no end to the beauty of what Jesus accomplished when he went to the cross!
However, in progressive Christianity, the view historically known as penal substitutionary atonement, which has to do with Jesus being punished in our place—as our substitute—is perceived to be an abusive doctrine that implicates the character of God. The logic goes like this: If God the Father requires the blood of Jesus His Son, doesn’t that make him something like a divine child abuser?
According to this counterfeit truth, Jesus didn’t need to die on the cross to save us from sin, but submitted to it out of love.3rd Counterfeit Truth of Progressive Christianity: The Resurrection Doesn’t Have to Be Historical to Be Meaningful
Although not all progressive Christians outright deny the resurrection of Jesus, it is common to de-emphasize the historicity of Jesus’ miracles and focus on the meaning behind the stories.
Historically, Christians have believed that the resurrection of Jesus was an actual historical event. Even the apostle Paul wrote that if the resurrection didn’t happen, Christianity as an entire belief system would be false.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But this is not so important in progressive Christianity. As Felten and Procter-Murphy write, “Today, the metaphor of resurrection stands for many Christians as a symbol of the call to new life, as an appeal to practice resurrection here and now.”
4th Counterfeit Truth of Progressive Christianity: God Isn’t That Concerned about Who We Sleep With
One of the hallmarks of progressive Christianity is a rejection of biblical sexuality, and an affirmation of same-sex marriage and premarital sex. Historically, Christians have believed that God’s design for sex is between one man and one woman within the covenant of marriage. Jesus himself affirms the purpose of sex and marriage:
Matthew 19:4-6 NIV “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’ ? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
Jesus also condemned “sexual immorality,” which was understood by his Jewish listeners to be any sexual activity outside of marriage.
Matthew 19:8-9 NIV Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
But by redefining the word “holiness” to mean “the union we experience with one another and with God,” Bolz-Weber is able to declare sex outside of marriage as not just acceptable, but holy.
According to this counterfeit truth, human sexuality is based on what makes someone feel happy and fulfilled, rather than on God’s holiness and purpose for sex.
5th Counterfeit Truth of Progressive Christianity: The Bible is an Ancient Travel Journal
For progressive Christians, the Bible is a wonderful work of literature that reflects what people believed about God in their times and places. It gives us an inspired and faithful account of how ancient Israel interacted with God, and how Jesus’ disciples and apostles understood the Jesus story.
Historically, Christians have believed that the Bible is inspired by God and authoritative for our lives. When the biblical authors wrote things like “God says” or “It is written” or “Thus says the Lord,” they were actually speaking for God, not just communicating their best understandings of him. Because of this, we believe the Bible is God’s Word and should be obeyed. But in progressive Christianity, the authority for our beliefs, behaviors, and practices shifts from the Bible to our own thoughts, feelings, and preferences.
According to this counterfeit truth, the Bible is viewed more like a book of suggestions and possibilities than an authoritative standard for truth.
Follow the Real Jesus
Learning to spot these ideas will ensure that you are following the real Jesus and believing the real gospel—not a counterfeit version of Christianity that will inevitably end up looking a lot like what you see in the mirror. After all, a god made in your own image is not the God of the Bible, and it’s not a god that can save you..
3rd Counterfeit Truth of Progressive Christianity: The Resurrection Doesn’t Have to Be Historical to Be Meaningful
Although not all progressive Christians outright deny the resurrection of Jesus, it is common to de-emphasize the historicity of Jesus’ miracles and focus on the meaning behind the stories.
Historically, Christians have believed that the resurrection of Jesus was an actual historical event. Even the apostle Paul wrote that if the resurrection didn’t happen, Christianity as an entire belief system would be false.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But this is not so important in progressive Christianity. As Felten and Procter-Murphy write, “Today, the metaphor of resurrection stands for many Christians as a symbol of the call to new life, as an appeal to practice resurrection here and now.”
4th Counterfeit Truth of Progressive Christianity: God Isn’t That Concerned about Who We Sleep With
One of the hallmarks of progressive Christianity is a rejection of biblical sexuality, and an affirmation of same-sex marriage and premarital sex. Historically, Christians have believed that God’s design for sex is between one man and one woman within the covenant of marriage. Jesus himself affirms the purpose of sex and marriage:
Matthew 19:4-6 NIV “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’ ? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
Jesus also condemned “sexual immorality,” which was understood by his Jewish listeners to be any sexual activity outside of marriage.
Matthew 19:8-9 NIV Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
But by redefining the word “holiness” to mean “the union we experience with one another and with God,” Bolz-Weber is able to declare sex outside of marriage as not just acceptable, but holy.
According to this counterfeit truth, human sexuality is based on what makes someone feel happy and fulfilled, rather than on God’s holiness and purpose for sex.
5th Counterfeit Truth of Progressive Christianity: The Bible is an Ancient Travel Journal
For progressive Christians, the Bible is a wonderful work of literature that reflects what people believed about God in their times and places. It gives us an inspired and faithful account of how ancient Israel interacted with God, and how Jesus’ disciples and apostles understood the Jesus story.
Historically, Christians have believed that the Bible is inspired by God and authoritative for our lives. When the biblical authors wrote things like “God says” or “It is written” or “Thus says the Lord,” they were actually speaking for God, not just communicating their best understandings of him. Because of this, we believe the Bible is God’s Word and should be obeyed. But in progressive Christianity, the authority for our beliefs, behaviors, and practices shifts from the Bible to our own thoughts, feelings, and preferences.
According to this counterfeit truth, the Bible is viewed more like a book of suggestions and possibilities than an authoritative standard for truth.
Follow the Real Jesus
Learning to spot these ideas will ensure that you are following the real Jesus and believing the real gospel—not a counterfeit version of Christianity that will inevitably end up looking a lot like what you see in the mirror. After all, a god made in your own image is not the God of the Bible, and it’s not a god that can save you..
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