From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part 2 of a series. Read part 1.

Today's wrong emphasis in much of so-called Christian apologetics elevates man's fallen intellect, demotes God's Word and Spirit, and discourages many saints.

How are we to answer counterfeit revelation in our time? How are we to deal with it when it enters our minds, our homes, or the church? A very serious problem in the church in our time has a very direct bearing on the answer.

Today's Wrong-Headed Thinking on Apologetics

Today the great emphasis on apologetics in many segments of the Evangelical church focuses on being ready to give an answer to false belief systems. Leading Christian apologists assert an alleged need for the Christian to become expert on the thinking and teaching of the cults, on evolutionary thinking, on atheism, and so on.

They say, in effect, that Christians must become experts on false teachings to be able to refute them. In order to refute Roman Catholicism, you must become an expert on the false teachings of Roman Catholicism. In order to become a good apologist who can refute Mormonism, you must become an expert on the false teachings of Mormonism; and so on.

Many men today put themselves forward as experts in these areas, and they have developed what they call apologetics ministries. They go from place to place debating Roman Catholics, Mormons, evolutionists, and the representatives of other false belief systems. Through advance publicity they often draw large audiences to an event that has all the trappings of a latter-day gladiatorial contest.

Coupled with this phenomenon is another line of thinking: Man today has become a superior intellect who requires superior answers. The old answers won't suffice.

Dear friends, this is a serious fallacy. I have actually heard men from some of the leading Evangelical apologetics ministries tell their audiences that the Bible is no longer enough. I have actually heard some of these men tell their Christian audiences that the Gospel is no longer enough. You must present all sorts of extra-Biblical evidences. You must present a wide range of extra-Biblical arguments. You must be able to refute all of the opposition's arguments.

You Do Not Need to Become an Expert on Falsehood

What effect does this kind of thinking have on the average Christian? A Christian can easily begin to think that these spokesmen for apologetics ministries are right - that the Bible is not enough, that the Gospel is not enough, the the Spirit of God is not powerful enough, that all sorts of extra-Biblical arguments and gimmicks are necessary to "win the day."

And so the average Christian begins to think in one of two ways. One the one hand the Christian thinks, "I must become an expert on this or that false belief system so that I can refute it." And so that is how he spends all his time. Or on the other hand the Christian thinks, "I don't have the time or the ability to do all of that, and so I cannot possibly be ready to give an effective defense of the faith." And so, when confronted with falsehood, he keeps quiet.

Dear friends, this is a tragedy for the church. Both of these lines of thinking are untrue. You do not need to become an expert on all the intricate details of false religions and cults in order to know, and to demonstrate, that they are absolutely wrong. You do not need to become an expert on false religions and cults in order to know that they lead souls to Hell and not to Heaven.

You do not need to have your nose buried in the records of the Vatican councils in order to answer the false teachings of Roman Catholicism. You do not need to study the Book of Mormon in order to answer the lies of Mormonism. You do not need to become an expert on Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Islam, Scientology, the Unification Church, Seventh-Day Adventism, Christian Science, the Watchtower Society, the New Apostolic Movement, or the latest perversions of the doctrine of justification by faith alone, in order to be able to give an answer to these things.

I know people who spend so much of their time learning about counterfeit revelations of various kinds, and learning man-made apologetic methods, that they have lost their grasp of God's genuine revelation and its tremendous power, and how God tells us to declare it.

The Four Vital Facts of Biblical Apologetics

That is a grave danger. The Christian needs to be in the Word of God. You need to base your stand upon the Word of God. You need to view all things through the lens of Divine Revelation. You have no reason to fear that you will be unable to answer this or that point of some counterfeit revelation. The Christian must understand four vital facts.

First, the Christian must understand that it is the Word of God - not the mere word of man - that is alive, powerful, incisive, and produces results.

For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:12-13).

Second, you must understand that your vital need is not so much to understand the confused, self-contradictory things that false religions and cults say about themselves, but what the Word of God says about them. According to the Word of God they are all under the same condemnation, and all for the same reason.

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:20-31).

Third, you must understand that God the Holy Spirit, the Author of this great supernatural Book, lives within you.

[D]o you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Fourth, you must understand that your apologetic must be rooted and grounded in the written Word of God because God will not permit His Word to return to Him without effect. It will unfailingly accomplish the purpose for which He has sent it.

For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void [empty or without effect], but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

God has only made this promise concerning His Word - not man's.

Next: Why Today's Epidemic of Spiritual Counterfeits?

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