Evangelical or Heretic?

An article written by a so-called "gay evangelical" was highlighted by a couple of conservative Evangelical British leaders on their podcast, "Pod of the Gaps". The article was posted in the U.K.s the leading Christian magazine, Premier Christianity.

In the article, the argument was made that repentance is NOT a salvation issue. In other words, what you believe is all that matters and not whether you have turned from sin and are living a life of repentance.

The article is entitled, "Why Sex Outside of Marriage is Not a Salvation Issue" - LINK

I'm imagining how encouraged fornicators and/or adulterers were when they saw this article! Being written by a professing "gay evangelical", I would think practicing homosexuals would likewise applaud.

To be fair to Premier Christianity, this article was/is an "Opinion" piece and so the magazine will somehow claim they aren't 'endorsing' the argument(s) the author is making. But the fact that they published it and affirmed the author's identity as a "gay evangelical" is disturbing. 

I want to say this clearly not only is the author NOT an Evangelical; she is a heretic, a false teacher. I don't use the word 'heretic' lightly. But when someone claiming to be a Christian teacher is teaching something that will result in people NOT being saved, that person by definition is a heretic.

Evangelicalism as a movement has ALWAYS taught that when a person puts their faith in Christ, they are turning away from their sin. They are dying to sin. Belief and repentance are two sides of the same coin. One does not happen without the other. 

Evangelicals believe that the Bible is God's Word. And what is teaches is truth. In other words, Evangelicals BELIEVE what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (to 

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The author of the aforementioned article does NOT BELIEVE what Paul wrote. She believes that sexually immoral people who profess faith in Christ will inherit the Kingdom. Paul says they will not.

Additionally, the author has been an activist in the UK against any attempts to help same-sex-attracted individuals overcome their unnatural desires. Again, the Apostle Paul writes "such were some of you" (v. 11). 

Paul knew that the power of the Gospel, the transformative reality of the New Birth, that changed people from what they WERE to what God called us to BE. That is what Evangelicals have always believed. And this all begins with REPENTANCE. 

Any and all sexual activity outside of Biblical marriage between one (biological) man and one (biological) woman constitutes sexual immorality - that means sex before marriage (fornication), sex outside of one's marriage (adultery), and any and all homosexual sex as there is no such thing as gay Christian marriage.

These are things that Evangelicals have ALWAYS believed. 

I understand that many have attempted to redefine what an Evangelical is in recent years - from the authority of the Bible to the exclusivity of Christ as the only source of salvation. And more recently the attempt to redefine the Bible's universal condemnation of homosexuality.

We have addressed many of these issues in this blog.

An infection known as the doctrine of "Hyper-Grace", is also assumed in the article above. I won't get into that issue here but this false teaching, which will ultimately result in the damnation of many, is very much at the center of those arguing that how Christians live their lives sexually makes no difference. I wrote an article on the topic of "Hyper-Grace" entitled ""Hyper-Grace" vs. the ENTIRE New Testament" (LINK)

I predict that the term "Evangelical" will ultimately need to be discarded. I currently can only use the term by self-identifying as a "Conservative Evangelical". I have jokingly said that I now identify as a "Fundamentalist" which in all honestly isn't far from the truth.

Repentance is NOT an option for the Christian. It is the starting point of the Christian life. (Mark 1:15, Acts 2:38, Acts 26:18). And Paul writes all throughout his Epistles that sin has no place in the life of a believer. In other words, the Christian life is an ongoing life of repentance. This doesn't mean a life of sinless perfection, but it does mean that with the power of the Holy Spirit, we will live a life of obedience to God's Word, a life that is pleasing to God, a life of holiness.

For such a time as this...

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