Our attitude toward error will be determined by our attitude towards the truth. We either love and obey the truth or follow error. In many pulpits, statements like “If we have to err on one side or the other, err on the side of trusting in the power of Christ to deal with the problem of sin and welcome people.” is being said. Allow me to shed a little bit of light regarding what is meant by this statement. The idea that some preachers are trying to teach is this idea that it doesn’t matter what we do. It doesn’t matter what we practice or anything. As long as we believe in Jesus, then everything else will sort itself out. Friends, I am not sure if I can honestly put it into words the seriousness of how dangerous this teaching is. We cannot compromise the truth for the sake of our earthly relationships. The fact of the matter is the preachers who are teaching this nonsense that is coming about through this “grace unity movement” is not fooling anyone but themselves. Can you imagine Jesus saying such a thing? I would like one passage where Jesus says “do not worry about the issues or what we do, just believe Me alone”. What about the apostles?
There is no way to harmonize the truth with error. Justification cannot come about through error! Forgiveness of sins does not come about through the sinner’s prayer. Our sins are not forgiven by “inviting Jesus into our hearts”. When people say that they have been baptized because they are saved, then they were never saved to begin with! Allow me to give you another instance of why our attitude towards error is important. When you have local churches of Christ, along with their “preachers” teaching that we should just accept other forms of baptism, this is false! What gives us the right to begin accepting denominational baptisms as the “one baptism” of Ephesians 4:5?
Unity is good and it is desirable. In fact, I would encourage you to view it as a command. The apostle Paul begged the church at Corinth to be unified. But there is one thing worse than division in the body of Christ and that is unity in apostasy! Fanning Yater Tant once wrote, “I had a thousand times rather see the church divide, and a remnant of the faithful be saved, than see the whole church united in apostasy.”
by Lee Elkins
