The Liberal Side of Conservative

Hello, and thank you for listening to the Testing the Spirits podcast. The title of this episode is The Liberal Side of Conservative. So among evangelical churches, there are those who are very conservative, there are those who are not quite as conservative, and then there are those who are on the liberal end of the conservative spectrum.

I mean, they're not liberal in the sense that they're putting out the rainbow flag, although if a church goes woke, that kind of thing can happen a lot quicker than you think. So they're not liberal in that sense, they're just not all that conservative.

They're on the liberal side of conservative. So in this video, we're going to cover some of the things to look out for, some of the identifying marks when a church is on the liberal side of conservative.

You know, maybe they believe the right things, at least on paper, you're just not hearing it from the pulpit. Or their deficiency may be the way they apply God's Word, as in they don't always apply it.

Or they're reluctant to follow certain biblical teachings and applying Bible teachings because someone might get upset. Yeah, that's not a good sign. So the first mark of a church that may be on the liberal side of conservative, if a pastor preaches from Ephesians 5 or Colossians 3 and he comes to those verses that say, wives submit to your husbands, if he immediately goes into damage control mode, you know, he starts doing damage control and he's like waffling and he's like, you know, submit doesn't really mean submit.

Yeah, he's probably on the liberal side of conservative. Oftentimes pastors will jump back to Ephesians 5 .21, where it says submit to one another and he's like, see, husbands actually need to be submitting to their wives.

So you know, the women end up wearing the pants in the relationship. Well, that's not a very conservative thing. So that's one mark, very, very common. The next mark of being on the liberal side of conservative, if the pastor doesn't preach on anything controversial, where someone might be offended if he doesn't preach against LGBT, or if he rarely, if ever, brings up the subjects of hell or God's judgment, or things that are considered political hot topics like abortion or communism.

If he steers clear of controversy, or if he only talks about those things maybe once a year to keep his conservative cred, yeah, he's probably on the liberal side of conservative. You see, the Bible addresses everything under the sun, and we need to make application to fight today's battles.

So a faithful minister needs to be preaching the whole counsel of God, applying it to the modern day, and many, if not most, are just not willing to do that because someone might not like it. So there's things on this podcast, things I talk about, really they're the last thing I would ever want to discuss, but we have to talk about the things the church is facing now.

That's the bottom line. So if you don't do that, and you're not willing to run the risk of offending someone, yeah, you're probably on the liberal side of conservative. So the next mark of a church like this, if a church doesn't practice excommunication, yeah, you guessed it, they're on the liberal side of conservative.

So if someone is out there teaching heresy, if someone is committing adultery, and the leadership, you know, it's known, but they're not really doing anything about it, those people are not under church discipline, or they're just never going to be put out of the church.

People see that. You know, we're not talking about things that people do in private that, you know, nobody knows about. We're talking about open sin or heresy. If a church is unwilling to practice excommunication, yeah, they're on the liberal side of conservative.

And this is really one of the biggest problems the modern church faces, because by not practicing excommunication, it's like not having an immune system. This is a bad thing. You know, if you have cancer, you need to cut it out of the body.

If you let it sit, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. If you let it sit there, it'll spread, and you won't have to worry about being on the liberal end of conservative. You'll just go full liberal after a generation of that type of thing.

So the next thing to look out for, an indicator that a church is on the liberal side of conservative, is the subject of female pastors. And it's not even that a church has to have a female pastor. I mean, they're definitely liberal if that's the case.

But just being okay with female pastors, that is a liberal position. Once a church adopts that viewpoint, and there's some conservative churches, here's how they stay on the liberal side of conservative.

They say, well, she can't be the head pastor, but she can preach. Or, you know, they make some sort of, they carve out some sort of exception where, okay, she's not the lead pastor, but she is a pastor.

Or she's preaching, or something like that, that's on the liberal side of conservative, you know, at best. And really, once a church adopts that viewpoint, and they're no longer willing to follow the Apostle Paul's teachings, if you compromise on the feminist issue, you're probably going to end up compromising on the gay issue.

Case in point, all of the mainline denominations that are now ordaining homosexuals, they started by ordaining females. I mean, that was controversial back in the 1960s, 1970s. But the argument was, and the argument is still, you know, that back in Bible times, that was a different culture.

Times have changed. So, yeah, Paul didn't allow female pastors, but that was more of a cultural thing. So, times have changed, now it's okay. See, once you accept that premise, that times have changed, well, yeah, the culture has changed in many ways.

So, all of these things that were not okay back then, all of a sudden, today, in America, in the Western world, in 2023, it's not a big deal. So, if you adopt that premise that, well, it's just cultural, well, everything has changed.

So, you sort of have to allow for everything if you adopt or allow that argument. So, churches that do that are on the liberal side of conservative. They're probably just liberal, if that's the case. But the next thing to look out for, if a church's doctrinal statement is hard to find, that's a red flag.

If they're hiding what they believe, does that mean they are ashamed of what they believe? Yeah, usually, they don't want someone to find out because someone might get mad, right? It's kind of the same thing with a lot of this.

So, going back to what I said at the beginning, maybe on paper, the church has the right beliefs, but if you're not hearing it from the pulpit, what good is it? Or here's another thing. If you ask the pastor, you know, hey, where can I find the church's doctrinal statement?

If he immediately gets defensive or if he replies with something like, well, you know, we believe the Apostles' Creed, yeah, not a good sign. Even the Pope believes or says he believes in the Apostles' Creed.

They're probably on the liberal end of conservative. Next up is clothing. Now, I'm not looking to make a big thing about this. This is probably an area where our church isn't quite as conservative as some others.

I don't know of any church that has a dress code. So, if someone wants to attend, as long as it's within reason, right? I'm just happy that they're there. I'm not really worried about the way people dress.

However, I think the leadership should set an example. Women, the Bible does talk about this, right? Women should dress modestly. Men too, for that matter, but it's a bigger problem with women. There was one church I heard about where one of the ushers, it was a guy, he wore a Hooters t-shirt while ushering at his church.

I mean, obviously, you have to draw the line somewhere. But really, while there is no dress code, I think it's good to show reverence for God by wearing maybe what we call your Sunday best, keeping in mind that someone else's best might not look as good as yours.

So, we don't want to judge people when it comes to this issue. However, the Bible does speak to some of these things. I would direct this more towards the church leadership, since they set the tone. So, pastors and deacons and elders and their wives, it's good to dress appropriately based on biblical principles.

Let me just say this. If a preacher approaches the pulpit wearing skinny jeans and sneakers, yeah, I don't exactly have high expectations. You know, I remember when Rick Warren first got popular. He was known as the pastor who preached in shorts, sandals, and a Hawaiian shirt.

Yeah, not a fan. So, if someone wants to come to church dressed like that, hey, that's between them and God. But a pastor dressing like that, yeah. He wouldn't wear that to a funeral out of respect. So, why not show God that same respect?

Speaking of Rick Warren, this leads to the next thing, the next mark of a church being on the liberal side of conservative. If Rick Warren is one of your pastor's favorite authors, or he bases his approach to ministry on the book Purpose Driven Church, yeah, he might be on the liberal end of conservative, right?

If your pastor, you know, maybe someone got sucked into Rick Warren 15, 20 years ago, okay, I'd cut them a little slack. But to still hold on to Rick Warren and look to him in 2023, folks, we have a problem.

Rick Warren has compromised on nearly all the hot button issues of our time. He has even handed his church over to the government. And back in 2021, he allowed them to use Saddleback Church as a vaccination center.

So, he even said, you should take the jab. Christians need to take the vax. Why? Because the Bible says so. You know, the Bible says, love your neighbor. So, wear the mask, take the jab, and yeah, that's not what that verse means.

Now, if you did that, that's your personal choice. I have my opinions, but as a pastor, I'm not giving medical advice. But if you want personal advice, hey, email me and I'll tell you what I think. But when a pastor, point is, when a pastor is giving medical advice that just so happens to line up with the New World Order and his church is turned into a vaccination center for the government, bad news.

So, bottom line, if your pastor loves Rick Warren and you see Rick Warren books in his library, or you go to the church library and you're seeing the Shack and Joyce Meyer books, and then you ask your pastor and he doesn't see what the big problem is, probably on the liberal side of conservative.

Okay, one last thing. If your pastor quotes from or preaches from the MSG, like the message translation, which it's not even really a translation, but if your pastor quotes from or preaches from the MSG, yeah, definitely on the liberal side of conservative.

So, in conclusion, what's the takeaway? Am I just looking to point out things to kind of be critical? No, no, no, that's not my purpose. That's never my purpose. The reason I'm doing this is to encourage everyone to keep their eyes open.

We are all susceptible to the liberal drift. It just comes with living in this world. That's why the Apostle Paul says in Romans 12, he tells us not to be conformed to the world, but rather to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

We need to fight against the culture. Not fighting with individuals, necessarily. I'm saying we need to resist being conformed to this world. If you're not swimming against the current, you're going to be taken by it.

If you're not swimming against the tide, you're going to get swept away. So, do not be conformed to this world. Before we can fix a problem, we must first diagnose it. So, I encourage you to take the things I've said, compare them to the Bible.

Compare the preaching that you hear to the preaching in the Bible. Take what I say, test it. Test all things. Hold fast to that which is good. That's what this podcast is all about. So, test the spirits.

Thanks for listening. Until next time, may the Lord be with you. Have a great day.