The picture of Evangelicalism in America today is blurry and confusing. It gets more so with each passing week. That really bothers me. As the essentials of Christianity get whittled away at, moral relativism makes more inroads into the church.

When one has a discussion with somebody that one doesn't know very well, and they identify themselves as an evangelical Christian, one really doesn't know what that might mean anymore. To me, when someone used to say they were an evangelical Christian, it meant that they believed in salvation by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, the vicarious atonement for our sins by Jesus Christ when He gave His life for us on the Cross, His bodily resurrection, His deity and in the triune nature of God.

Theses essentials help to properly answer the questions; 1) Who is your God? and 2) How does God save you? There are lots of emergent church pastors out there right now who are continuing to hack away at justification for example. How we are saved by God through faith in His Son is foundational to the Christian faith. If you are in a church that is teaching that salvation by grace alone, through faith in Jesus Christ alone is an outdated concept, or a cruel notion, or a misunderstood concept which does not allow for salvation for those of other faiths, then you are most likely in a false church. If that's offensive to you, I suggest that you check out the Bible on your own. That means by yourself. Just you and God. Don't ask someone who "knows more than you" to explain it for you. Spend a considerable amount of time alone with the Word and the one who inspired the word.

Things have just gone awry in what in years past has been called the evangelical Christian community. When some evangelicals have embraced elements of mysticism, something is really wrong. There are now churches offering "Christian Yoga" classes. Huh? What is that? Some "Evangelical" churches are setting up "prayer stations" in their churches, and before anyone asks, "What's wrong with that?" let me tell you, they have icons in them. There is a battle going on within the Evangelical Movement over what theology is. Should Evangelicalism be more inclusive of other beliefs systems in order to maybe, eventually win them over to Christ, or should it be a group with more pure Biblical theology?

It boils down to this, are we going to engage the world with seeker friendly, worldly ways, or are we going to give the world the true Gospel of the Bible. It's disappointing to realize that that question, and the appropriate and what I feel obvious latter choice can and is easily avoided with Scripture twisting. "All things are lawful for me," or "I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." etc..

I think though, that the biggest problem with the prosperity (health/wealth) movement, the emerging church, and all of those "Evangelical" churches that embrace a sort of universalism, is that they have swept the doctrine of repentance aside. John the Baptist told people to repent of their sins. Jesus told people to repent of their sins, and He talked more about Hell than he did about love. That doesn't diminish His message of love for mankind, but it does say a tremendous amount about our need for repentance, and where that must appear in our hearts on the road to salvation.
Words like; sin, repentance and justification don't really fit with a softer, wrathless, warm and universal version Christianity. Sure, it's a lot easier to just tell folks that their messy lives are okay, and even if they don't repent, God will love them anyway. He does in fact, but He is just, and He doesn't love their sin. You can't ignore that.

Bringing people into the church by any means at the cost of true doctrine just gets you a doctrinally messed up church. "But those churches have large followings, they must be doing something right," you might be saying. Since when has the size of a church validated its love for Christ?