Featured The false converts

Reading the book "The gospel assurance and warnings" by Paul David Washer. I am up to page 50 and so far he has been speaking quite a bit about the false converts. We all know that every church has false converts but I think the majority are in certain types of church's. No doubt the liberal United Methodist, American Baptists, United Church of Christ are loaded with false converts. These churches preach a "progressive Christianity" and I know from a chat I had with a pastor whom disliked my tracts that I mailed him because he did not believe in preaching on Sin, Hell, nor repentance. That man a false convert leading many astray. Also many false converts in the Charismatic Movement.

So what say you where are the false converts located? Also I forgot to mention the Bible Belt. So many did I chat with on the streets that thought they were Christians because they went to church.

 

What does this have to do with the topic???? Go chase a rabbit.

 

This is false!

 

It's sad to see the lack of interest in brother Paul Washers book and what he teaches in this thread which has turned into an attack on me. Come on let's get back to the original topic.

 

First thank you for responding to this thread and not joining some others who have also posted in attacking me and not even addressing the topic. I appreciate this and it shows maturity on your part. These would be the false converts. The weeds that grow along the wheat as you explained well by the scripture reference that you have brought up. Definitely people who attend church but have no relationship with Jesus. They attend out of tradition (many in the south do this) and many Catholics do this. In fact there are many that do this in many different types of churches.

We do not have the information to determine the true from the false converts. Instead, we are called to judge by the spiritual fruit produced and to act in accordance with the fruit that we see. We are fruit inspectors, not botanists. If a brother acts lost, then we treat him as lost. Perhaps he is saved and God is working in his life towards repentance and he’ll return (1 Cor. 5:5). If he appears to be a brother, then we welcome him as such. But we can’t say if he is truly saved. On the Day of Judgment many will say to Jesus, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?” But still comes those dreadful words “I never knew you.” I interpret that these people truly believe that they are saved. In truth, however, they lean on their own understanding, their own theology and their own works for salvation (see Matthew 7). They have a belief, but not a saving faith. This should strike a holy fear into the minds and consciences of every believer; for since we call on God as a Father who judges impartially according to our works, we should conduct ourselves with fear during our time here on this Earth (1 Peter 1:17-18). But this is not a works based salvation. We are called out by God (we are made holy) and therefore we are to be holy (1 Peter 1:14). Our works do not make us holy; they exist because God has made us holy. My conclusion is that we cannot truly discern the salvation of another person, but we can judge by the fruit one produces. [/QUOTE]

I agree. That passage in Matt is a common one that I use when open air preaching. You see I do not only use the Law when I open air as there are plenty of other passages in scripture to be used. We do not know who is lost, but we can judge by the fruit that we see. I do not disagree with what you have said. It is obvious that you also read/listen to Paul Washer.

Second, defining “false converts” as those who acknowledge the true gospel but appear to be false believers in that gospel, where do I believe most are located? This is a matter of speculation, brother, but I believe that most are located along side us. I think that perhaps there are fewer “false converts” in many Pentecostal churches than they are in evangelical Baptist churches. I've known several Pentecostals in whose presence I am humbled by their faith in Jesus Christ, although their doctrine is filled with error and inconsistency. I've also seen many theologically correct men who seek converts to their theology as a salesman or many other religions seek converts, but their lives do not exhibit faith. But this is speculation and opinion on my part. [/QUOTE]

So you do agree that many false converts are in traditional Baptist churches? You may have a point as I used to live in the south and do lots of street evangelism. I lost count of all the people that told me they were christians because they attended church. In fact at a certain Baptist Church I used to preach in the nursing home ministry and the leaders of the ministry did not want me to preach salvation messages because they ASSUMED that the people in the nursing home were all saved. I did not make that assumption because as a street evangelist I had witnessed many traditional baptists.

There is a difference between discerning between correct doctrine and error and between discerning a believer’s faith. There is also a difference between espousing correct theology/doctrine and being saved. It is interesting to me that God, having chosen what is foolish in the world (1 Cor. 1:27) has confounded the wise who view the gospel itself as foolishness (1 Cor. 1:18). Sometimes I find it worrisome that often we appear to be striving to make the gospel message conform to the wisdom of this world, and perhaps like the Greeks seeking wisdom we are sometimes confounded by the plain and simple word of the cross (1 Cor. 1:18-31). I do not mean this to be derogatory towards studying theology and standing on firm doctrine. But sometimes I think that we may emphasize our understandings as preeminent in the eyes of God as we seek to make converts to our own theological views rather than to Christ. But what I see much too often in evangelical Christian churches is what Michael Horton referred to as “Christless Christianity.” I can deal with people who hold false gospels, who believe false doctrines, and even those who straight out deny Christianity. But those “false converts,” those weeds among the wheat, they can destroy a church that fails to guard against false teachings or lets slip their grasp on sound doctrine.
And here is where we should, IMHO, concentrate our efforts. Not in seeking who those false converts are, but in making disciples of people. I think our focus should be on discipleship (here I mean the worship of believers in a local assembly and building up the saints) within our local churches and sharing the gospel of Jesus outside the local church.

Anyway, those are my two cents.....well, maybe two bucks but you can keep the change.[/QUOTE]

I do not disagree with what you have said in this paragraph.

 

You spread lies Greektim.

 

Then stop lying about me

 

Not true I made a reply to Jon C this morning.