The Replacement of Christianity

Good morning. It is 901. You're tuned in to 97 .3 FM WLPV.

My name's Michael Grant and I'm the pastor of Morris Corner Church in Leverett. I'd like to talk this morning about the attempt to replace

Christianity. Christianity to some degree within American evangelicalism,

I think to a large degree, Christianity has been replaced and a lot of people haven't even realized it.

I'm just asking the listeners to consider what I have to say.

I think most people acknowledge that over the past 50 to 60 years, everything has changed.

So if you compare Christianity back then, 50 or 60 years ago, to Christianity right now, anyone who's old enough to remember back then, you know how different things are.

So what does that look like? How has Christianity been replaced? Well, instead of preaching today, what do we get?

Instead of preaching, we get self -help. In many of the churches, what you see, it's little more sometimes than a rock concert followed by a motivational speaker.

And worst of all, the gospel has been replaced with a positive only universalist type message that God loves everyone, no matter what.

Just listen to the popular preachers, Joyce Meyer, Andy Stanley, Stephen Furtick, or go back a generation to maybe

Robert Shuler or Norman Vincent Peale. I think that was his whole approach to ministry.

Positive only, the power of positive thinking. There's very little, if any, preaching against sin.

In fact, sometimes there's very little preaching even about the afterlife. And people are silent.

Sometimes they don't have much to say about heaven and total silence about hell.

In fact, the one time I did hear Joyce Meyer preach on hell, she said that Jesus died and went there.

So what has happened? Christianity has been replaced. Preachers have been swapped out for motivational speakers.

The hymns glorifying to God have been swapped out with songs that sound like it's about somebody's boyfriend or girlfriend.

So what has happened without the average Christian? Some people who are young, this is the only

Christianity they've ever known, so they don't even realize it. But what has happened with the average

Christian not even recognizing what's taken place? Motivational speakers have basically taken over Christianity.

And most of the big names, they're all doing the same thing. Self -help, feel -good messages, tickling ears, no conviction of the

Holy Spirit, preaching against sin, silence on hell. You can't tell me that's not happening.

So here's the real danger. Because people look to the famous guy, the megachurches, the authors, the

Christian leaders on TV. People look to them and they follow after them. And then they hear some guy preaching the

Bible and they think, well, what's his problem? Because they're so used to listening to Joel Osteen or something. So the guy preaching the

Bible seems extreme compared to Joyce Meyer or Joel Osteen. So that creates a problem.

But here's another big problem. It's the trickle -down effect. So what happens at the megachurches, whatever

Andy Stanley's doing, Stephen Furtick, Joyce Meyer. See, local pastors, sometimes they see this and how these famous people can just pack out a church.

And they decide, well, if I copy what they're doing, maybe my church will grow. And, you know, this is almost always harmful.

Sometimes it's obvious. It's harmful to the whole church. One local pastor I know, he tried this.

He got rid of the hymns. He got rid of the suit and tie. He started preaching in skinny jeans and sneakers.

And he saw the popular preachers who sold a lot of books and had compromised on the

LGBT issue. And so he decided he was going to do that and it ended with a church split.

And, of course, the worst thing is that he stopped preaching the gospel. So the gospel is removed and swapped out with, again, a motivational speech to make you feel good.

You know, making people feel good as they're on the road to hell, basically.

So when a local church pastor tries to copy some of the big guys, the megachurch guys, the guys on TV, it rarely works.

But even when it does work, quote unquote, it's detrimental to the sheep.

The people that are spirit -filled and know the Bible, you know, they're discouraged.

And sometimes they have to leave their church they've been at for years. So that's harmful for them.

But just towards people in general, it's detrimental even when it works and more people come through the door.

It's detrimental because the people are hearing a false message. They're hearing that God loves everyone unconditionally, which is simply not true.

And I'm going to prove that from the scripture. This idea that God loves everyone unconditionally, positive only, this comes out very clearly in much of the new

Christian contemporary music. Which, again, churches are throwing away the hymns, getting rid of the hymns, which are doctrinally sound.

They are rich in theology and they're replacing them with love songs written sometimes by false teachers and universalists.

So what we hear from these megachurches filters down to the local churches. And what we're hearing oftentimes is not preaching.

It's not preaching. Beth Moore once said that she never, she admitted this. She said, I never set out to preach.

She admitted she wanted to be a motivational speaker and now she's preaching in churches.

But is she really preaching? No, she is a motivational speaker, but that's what preaching has become.

That's what people think preaching is. So when they actually hear someone who's really preaching from the

Bible, again, they don't know what to do with that because that's not what they're used to. So this has a very negative effect within Christianity.

And again, whether it's Stephen Furtick, and listen, I'm not against you.

If you like some of these people, if you listen to some of these people, I'm not against you. I just hope you'll consider what

I'm saying. I'm for you. Okay, but if you listen to Joel Osteen and Andy Stanley, you know, you know, they're not preaching against sin.

You have to admit they're really not preaching the Bible. Again, no conviction of the

Holy Spirit. Whether it's positive only or it's self -help. With Andy Stanley, I would argue he's really attacking

Christianity. One message that comes through, though, is positivity.

All you need is love. That's kind of the message out there. The universalism type of message that God accepts everybody.

God loves everyone unconditionally. All you need is love, which really has more to do with John Lennon than it does with the biblical

Jesus. So just to recap, the new gospel, quote unquote, which is a false gospel, according to the messages that I'm hearing, is because of Jesus, if they mention

Jesus at all, but because of Jesus, you're already loved. You're already accepted.

The implication is, of course, you'll go to heaven as long as you're a good person.

That's the message out there. When you say that God loves everyone unconditionally, or Joyce Meyer in her book, where she just says to everybody,

God is not mad at you. Well, read John 3 .36 and tell me that God isn't angry.

His wrath abides upon those who do not believe. That's what the Apostle John writes.

So who are you going to believe, Joyce Meyer or the Apostle John? But again, if all you're hearing is

Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, Stephen Furtick, Andy Stanley, and then you read the Bible, yeah, the Bible can seem kind of extreme.

Because you're being lied to. Christianity has been replaced. What you're hearing from these big names, this is not

Christianity. This is a corruption of Christianity. And the people that would argue with me on this, they either don't read the

Bible, or they want to get along with everyone, so they just don't want to say anything negative about a famous preacher, because someone might get upset.

And that's why some of these preachers do it. They just don't want to offend anyone. Because they want maximum amount of people coming through the door.

Because more people through the door means more money in the offering plate, a bigger church, pads my ego.

But you know what? None of that should matter. That's all great if it happens. Except the ego part.

What should matter is, are people hearing the truth? Are people hearing the gospel?

So the new gospel is really a message that God loves everyone unconditionally.

And yet in the Bible, according to Jesus Christ himself, there is a condition. John 3 .16

says, So let's look at this section from John chapter 3.

Because it doesn't matter what some famous person says. It matters what the Bible says. John 3 .16

And that's where most people want to stop. Yes, we would say

God does love humanity. And yes, he did give his only son.

But for what? So that you can have your best life now? So that you can have a purpose driven life?

Is that why Jesus came? To make you healthy and wealthy? And just fulfill all your dreams?

Jesus came on a mission. God gave his son. For what purpose?

To die on a Roman cross. To die an excruciating death.

So that we might have our sins forgiven. That's the message of the

Bible. That's the message of the New Testament. Christ crucified and risen. So if a preacher is not preaching

Christ crucified and risen. They're not preaching the gospel. Which is the good news.

But before you understand the good news, you have to first understand the bad news. Why do I need to be saved? So if someone isn't preaching against sin, they're not preaching the gospel.

But does God love humanity? Yes. Did Jesus come to die for our sins?

Yes. But here's the thing. Not everyone is forgiven. Because if you look down at verse 36.

It talks again about how the wrath of God is already abiding on unbelievers.

Because as Paul puts it in Ephesians 2. That we were all born into this world dead in trespasses and sins.

You say, well this is really weighing me down. This is really negative. I don't really like this. Yeah, but once you understand this.

Then the gospel, the good news is so much sweeter. So while mankind was created good in the garden.

After the fall man became sinful. And in our natural condition. The Bible says, we are at enmity with God.

In other words, sinful man is the enemy of God. Doesn't James say exactly that?

And here's the thing. The death of Jesus did not change that. The death of Christ only saves some.

Not all. We could go through all the verses about hell. You think of Luke 16.

The rich man and Lazarus. Judas, he went to his own place. The scripture says. And Jesus said it would have been better for him if he had never been born.

Revelation chapter 20 talks about the second death. Where people are cast into the lake of fire.

So this is the bad news. Admittedly, this is all bad. But this is why

Jesus came. This is why there is a need for the good news.

And the gospel is good news. That in Christ Jesus we can be saved from this.

We can be saved from sin and its penalty. We can be sanctified being saved from sin and its power over us.

And one day we will be delivered ultimately from sin's very presence in glory.

Thanks be to God for that. And this is why we worship him. Because of his glorious grace displayed in the gospel.

This is what God has done for us. This is what Jesus has done for us. And the gift of salvation, it's free.

Salvation is a free gift. But it's not automatic.

It's not unconditional. So yeah, God so loved the world. True. That he gave his only begotten son.

True. But here's the condition. That whoever believes in him should not perish. Meaning those who do not believe do perish.

And believing, it's not just an intellectual assent in your mind that you believe there is this guy named

Jesus who lived a long time ago. It's a trust. You have to love him. Trust in Christ.

Love Christ. And Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. So what does it mean to believe?

Well, this is why you need to read the rest of the New Testament. Consider what Peter said on the day of Pentecost.

Acts chapter 2. He said, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.

And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And verse 40 says, and he says, with many other words, he testified, exhorting them, saying, be saved from this perverse generation.

I don't hear a lot of the famous preachers calling this generation perverse. And trust me, this generation is far more perverse than what

Peter was dealing with. So few, very few modern preachers, you know, the ones that are selling all the books at Barnes &

Noble. I went into Barnes & Noble the other day in the religion section, and it's a good thing they call it the religion section because it's not

Christian. But, you know, it's just a stack, you know, five feet tall of Joyce Meyer books.

Not a single John MacArthur book to be found. Not a single R .C. Sproul book to be found.

I didn't even see any Charles Stanley, but they had plenty of Joyce Meyer and Mike Todd.

Christianity is being replaced. This is a counterfeit. You know,

Joyce Meyer, I was listening to her one time, and she's talking about, she rarely opens the

Bible and reads the Bible. And when she does quote it, when these people do quote it, they take it out of context and twist it.

But she was talking about the word of God, and it was very clear. She was talking about her thoughts, her feelings.

It was the word of God in my heart. So what I feel like is true, that's the word of God.

And I thought, wow. Do people even realize what she's saying? But this is what

Peter's preaching, repentance. Look at the sermons in the Bible. This is all you have to do.

If you think, well, Pastor Grant, he's just, you know, going on and on. He's wrong, and trust me,

I've been told I'm wrong enough times. People can rarely, and I can be wrong, but I'm not wrong on this.

You just compare the sermons by the popular preachers today that are at Barnes &

Noble being sold in the religion section, supposedly Christian preachers. Compare their sermons to the sermons in the

Bible. Compare their sermons to Stephen's sermon, to Peter's sermon, to Jesus's sermon.

Even the Sermon on the Mount, that one sermon that all the liberal Christians love,

Jesus talks about hell. And I'm telling you, Christianity has been replaced.

So Peter tells them to repent. Do you realize in many Bible colleges and seminaries, they tell their students, when you go into ministry, if you want to build a successful church, a big church, do not use words like repent.

So what's the message then? If people are not being called to repent, it's a message of love, that God already loves you no matter what.

John 3, 17 says, For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

Amen. Jesus saves. This is the good news, but for the good news to make sense, we must first hear preaching about the bad news.

Because people, I'm telling you, people do not believe that they are all that bad.

What does the Bible say? Romans 3, 10 through 12, There is none righteous, no, not one.

Jesus told the rich young ruler, There is none good but God. Romans 3, 23,

All have sinned and have come short of the glory of God. And Romans 6, 23 says, The wages of sin is death.

And that's not just physical death. Because Jesus doesn't save us, newsflash, Jesus doesn't save us from physical death.

Since everyone dies. Jesus saves us from spiritual death, the second death in the lake of fire.

But you rarely hear that preached. Some people believe it, but they don't want to offend.

So they tickle ears, try to make people feel good. Others though, I really believe there's a lot of famous pastors that really are universalist.

They don't believe in hell. So John 3, 17, that's a verse that might get preached.

What about John 3, 18? Why is salvation necessary? Because Jesus says,

He who believes in him, speaking of himself, is not condemned. But he who does not believe in the

Son of God is condemned already. So in conclusion, this attempt to replace

Christianity, it's been largely successful. Which is why you need to get your beliefs from the

Bible. Do not get your Christianity from people on TV. Do not get your Christianity from the top selling authors.

Mike Todd and Joyce Meyer and Andy Stanley. Do not even get your ideas from Caleb. And again,

I'm not against you if you like the songs. But again, preaching has been replaced with motivational speaking.

Conviction of the Holy Spirit has been replaced with self -help and self -esteem. The doctrinally sound hymns which are glorifying to God have been replaced with vague love songs about Jesus.

Which could easily be about someone's boyfriend or girlfriend. And the overarching message is one of positive only.

You can't deny that's true. Compare that to pretty much all the evangelical churches 60 years ago.

My friends, the great replacement has happened. It's happened.

So I want to leave you with something positive. Be part of a good local

Bible -believing church. If you're part of one of these worldly churches, leave it. And go to a good church that teaches the whole counsel of God.

What an impact we could make if we did that. I want to close with 1 John 5.

It says, Thanks for listening.