By: Jeremy BerryI sat beside my mother, who was barely holding on, for over an hour. All of the machines that were keeping her alive were beeping and chiming so loud that my desire to distract myself from the current situation via MTV was rather hampered. I had already tried speaking to mom, but she was unresponsive – until it was time to leave. The nurses, the doctors, and even my father and his wife all made it clear that it was time to say goodbye. For years now I had watch lung cancer eat away at her body. Her pain and suffering would not die with her, but rather would be transferred to her children as an inheritance of sorts. Though for some reason, which is hindsight was an ignorance held by children, I never thought I’d have to say goodbye. I waited for the cure. I waited for the doctors to be wrong. None of that came, hope was gone because death was here. As we were leaving that room my mother, using all her energy, reached out and said one last thing to me – “I love you.” It was the grace of God to be able to hear that one last time. I can hear it again if I listen hard enough. The experience that culminated that night was painful. It was horrible. It was terrifying as a child who felt very, very alone. Given the pain I witnessed and the tears I saw from a woman who knew she’d have to leave her 12 and 14-year-old children, you would imagine that the habit of smoking would have been far from my mind and lips. But, like an inheritance, it too was passed down. It was not a year later that my lunch money would regularly be used to buy the same poison that ultimately slowly killed Kim Berry.
I often have thought, “what was I thinking?” Why did I start a habit that I know leads to death? We could chalk up the answer to simple childhood ignorance or that youthful feeling of invincibility, and though that could be part of it, I think the answer is quite a bit bigger than that. I think we get a hint in Genesis with the fall. With the death of Adam, came an inheritance that gives our heart that yearning to sin and to offend God. Maybe I should be clearer because I am not saying that smoking is inherently sinful. I personally believe it’s an issue of conscience, but this is neither about that nor is it even about smoking. It’s about a fatal attraction that humans cannot resist – that fatal attraction that has seduced many in the past and continues to do so in the present.
I know studying church history seems like a bore to many. How do a bunch of dead men benefit us? There IS the old adage with which most of us likely agree – “Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.” If you do study history, what you will find are men who knew history well, yet they fell into the same trap. The same trap that is found back in Genesis 3. It is one thing to know history – it is another to be wise enough to discern which parts of it matter. And like many before us, we fail in wisdom. It is not because we do not know history – it’s far worse. It is because we do not know scripture. We know the stories. We know what certain verses in the Bible (though our rendition may not be exactly how we find it in print). Isn’t it odd that with so many Christians in the world, many past perversions of the gospel still find a resurgence? How is it that men and women, who grew up in the church, can be swindled and fooled by the same lies that eternally damned many before them. Many in the past couldn’t read. They didn’t printed bibles and they did not have the money to afford a bound book…but what excuse do we have? For us, who have the ability to read, and who own 5 bibles per home on average…we just don’t care. It is that apathy that makes us the perfect prey for the serpent. However, that is not the core of the issue because there are many men who are well-versed in scripture that still fall prey to heresy! What shall we say about them? That is really where I think the allure of heresy gets interesting.
Despite knowing scripture there is a sin-attraction inherited through Adam. We inhale the same poison Adam did when he heard the lie of the serpent, “Did God really say that? You can be like God.” The two-pronged lie that seeped into the ears and heart of Adam from the serpents forked tongue, is identical to every heresy that has been uttered under heaven from hell. Interestingly enough, just like a child who watches the habits and the pain and losses of their mother and learns nothing, so too many Christians dance with the devil, entertaining the song of the serpent with ideas that should have been far from our mind and lips. You’d think we would have learned. It is not that we are stupid – it is a reason for the fatal attraction.
I have a deep interest in why people find particular features attractive. Why do men and women look at muscle and fat in particular shapes and find it “attractive?” Some psychologists say that it has to do with symmetry, others say it has to do with what our parents looked like. Either way, those who study the issue look for trends. The same question runs through my mind when it comes to the attraction of ideas. In the realm of heresy, I do think there are trends of what sins we are attracted to, and I think scripture lays out what those trends are. All heresies, in some way or form, subtract from God and/or add to man. Let’s take a look at the first part of the serpent’s lie in Genesis 3. Notice that the first area that the heresy attacks is God’s Word; “That’s not really what He said.” If you can bring into question the very Word of God, then what lurks behind the doubt is a tiger crouching, waiting to devour. By questioning God’s word, the serpent was able to fool Adam and Eve with the second half. But in order to get them to trust in themselves, God had to be distrusted and demoted. Challenging the Word is always the heresy’s first step.
The sweetness of heresy is not simply in the downgrading of God. What makes it sweeter is the exaltation of self. Hence why the serpent goes straight to the heart of the matter with Adam, “You can be like God.” The desire to exalt ourselves is the hook that draws us. The exaltation of man is what ultimately follows the degradation of our Creator.
Ancient heresies are easy to spot, right? Take Arianism, which demotes Jesus and claims he is not fully divine but simply a created being. The only real advocates of this brand of heresy are the Mormons, which hopefully you know are not Christian at all. Only if heresy was so easy to spot. What we really have is the repackaged poison from heretics of old, but they are not so obvious. Let’s take Andy Stanley, the son of the great Charles Stanley, who makes the claim very openly that we need to “unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament.” In several sermons Mr. Stanley tells this to his congregation:
“We are not accountable to the 10 commandments…we are done with that. God has done something new. God would say to them, and He would say to you, thou shall not obey the 10 commandments because those aren’t your commandments. Yours are better…When a person becomes a Christian, they unhitched them from the entire thing, the whole worldview, that God loves Jews better or more than he likes other people, that you’re to build walls and hunker down and you wait for God to protect …”
Church, meet Marcion. This is an old heresy called Marcionism, a heresy which sought to detach the Old Testament because they claimed that the character of God has changed. Notice he quotes Jesus…but Jesus never told anyone they shall not obey the 10 commandments. So why is it framed in such a way? Why would someone want to challenge or remove the moral law of God? What is the purpose? It should be no surprise that without demoting God and His Word, he cannot exalt man and our lifestyles that scripture prohibits. It should not surprise anyone that since this theological move, Andy Stanley has moved his church to be LGBTQ affirming.
This is just an example, though we could fill up on articles of pastors, leaders, “evangelists” who deceive and teach heresies from the early church. But we cannot be like the 12-year-old who sits straining to be entertained and does not want to be distracted or confronted by death. Other examples of heresies in the Church today include Pelagianism, a doctrine that denies man’s natural sinful nature, dominates in most detonations/churches (declared a heresy in 418 A.D.), Universalism, a doctrine that denies God’s wrath and justice (declared a heresy in 431 A.D.), the “little god heresy” of Joyce Myer, the prosperity gospel of Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, and Benny Hinn (which has reshaped itself into a less cheesy version in Hillsong and Bethel).
My deep concern is that some of the most influential churches in the world are heretical. Some of the most influential churches in your life, or in the life of loved ones, are dangerous. But as Peter stated in 2 Peter, “They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them – bringing swift destruction on themselves” (v. 1). Some are sly and secret and do wonders with word play. This is Bill Johnson, lead pastor of Bethel church, not even trying to quote scripture but notice the trend of heresy:
“One of the biggest areas of confusion in the church concerns the sovereignty of God. We know that God is all powerful, we know that He is in charge of everything. But with that, we make a mistake in thinking that He is in control of everything. There is a difference in being in charge and being in control. If God is in complete control what then that means we can change nothing…God does not desire that. He is not an ego maniac. My question is who did He leave in charge?”
I bet you cannot guess who has been elevated to be in charge. It is all about us! We see a demotion of God followed by an elevation of man. The first step always followed by the second step, leading us to damnation. Now, you may think I am being mean or jealous. This is usually the charge against those who speak up against heresy. If you think I am being mean, what do you call 2 Peter 2:17-21?
17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” 20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
Peter lays out exactly what these heretics do and why it is so attractive to the masses. The lie appeals “to the lustful desires of the flesh”. They are not concerned with promoting holiness, or worshiping God. They want to appeal to your desire for prosperity, for liberty to sin, for power. That’s why it’s so attractive. Peter also explains why it is so fatal, “It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.” God will not be mocked. His name will be kept Holy (Sorry Andy, 2nd commandment still applies). Scripture makes it very clear to all who listen, though the promise of heresy is attractive, it is far more fatal.