The United Methodist Church:
Basic Truths in Our Evaluation
(Part 6)
We have intimated that there are a number of doctrinal, organizational, and societal negatives that must be judged wrong and sinful by the Scriptural standard. But why would we use the Bible to make our evaluation? Because of the following points:
- The Bible is the inspired word of God and must judge all things. The apostle Paul said, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Although spoken about the Old Testament Scriptures, the same would be true of the New Testament. All Scripture comes from God (2 Peter 1:20-21) and the writings of the apostles actually constitute “the Lord’s commandment” (1 Corinthians 14:37). “The standard of sound words” that Paul wrote must be “retained” as our norm of right and wrong (2 Timothy 1:13; cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:13).
- The words of men will pass away but only the words of Christ will last forever (1 Peter 1:23-25). Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). Although the words of men will become outdated and be rejected by the Lord, God’s words are eternal and must be accepted as right and true. Anything that conflicts with the Lord’s authoritative words must be rejected by the one who takes Christ’s words seriously.
- Although liberal theologians and churchmen in the Methodist Church may reject the full authority of the Scriptures, those words will one day judge us. Our Lord declared, “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him on the last day” (John 12:48). The words of God are perfect in every way: “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psalm 19:7-8).The one who loves God will necessarily love His words.
- While the word of God is absolutely trustworthy, the traditions of men often mislead and drag a person away from the Lord and His will. Jesus often warned the Pharisees of His day of the danger that human traditions or “traditions of the elders” posed to the spiritual life. He declared, “In vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Mark 7: 7b). He went on to charge, “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men” (v. 8). He said that they “invalidated” the “word of God by your traditions which you have handed down” (v. 13). Paul also warned that “tradition of men” will lead us away from Christ (Colossians 2:8). Therefore, we must always ask whether what we believe and practice comes from human tradition—or from the infallible Word of God!
If we sincerely held to the infallible and authoritative Word of God, many of the disputes of Methodism and aberrations of Methodist belief and practice would be rejected.
An Extreme Example of Methodist Unbelief and Heresy
Several years ago there was a pastor at the large 9,000 member United Methodist Church in town. (Reportedly, it was the third largest congregation of this denomination in the country.) Although I’ve never owned a TV, I was aware that this pastor had a program each Sunday. He had also written a number of popular books. One time I even visited the church. Further, I was able to examine many of this pastor’s past sermons and books, then evaluate them according to the Word of God.
This was an up-close study of what the Methodist Church of today will tolerate—or even endorse. We must remember that the ministers/pastors of the various Methodist congregations are appointed by the Bishop, thus what I am about to say of this TV preacher is a reflection on the Bishop over him—and the membership that tolerated him. These are some of the doctrines that this famous pastor believes—or the truths that he denies:
- That Jesus is not the only way to heaven
- That Jesus was mistaken in life, unclear of God’s mission, and unconcerned whether people place their faith in Him
- That Jesus didn’t die an atoning death for our sins that had redemptive value
- That Jesus wasn’t bodily raised from the dead
- That Jesus didn’t ascend to God in heaven
- That Jesus isn’t coming back in power and glory
- That Jesus will not exercise judgment on unbelievers and those in sin
- That apparently the Bible is wrong about heaven
- That there isn’t a place called hell
- That universalism (all people will be saved) is correct
- That the Bible is incorrect about the fall of man in the beginning
- That Satan doesn’t exist
- That God is holy and has righteous wrath on those in sin
- That there are miracles in the Bible
- That Biblical creation isn’t true, whereas evolution is true
- That one must be born again as Scripture declares is wrong
- That divorce is permissible with remarriage
- That one may kill (abort) her baby
- That there are mistakes in the Bible and it is not authoritative for living
All of these false teachings of this pastor are thoroughly documented in our book, Beware of False Teachers (pages 9-42). We have listed these false doctrines here to show that the United Methodist Church does tolerate and even endorse many of these views. In short, this denomination has discarded the truth and has embraced countless heresies. We do not suggest here that every single Methodist professor, theologian, bishop, minister, or common member would accept all of these false doctrines. But the fact that the church does accept them of this preacher is significant. It is also significant that every United Methodist seminary has succumbed to liberal thinking and unbelief, sometimes blatant.
Please check out other articles in this series: