Christianity Falsely Represented

Many, if not all of us, have encountered those so-called evangelists and missionaries knocking on our door and trying to sell us on their religion. And for many, this is the only encounter they may have had with someone professing to be Christian.

This was the case for the well-known Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias. When he was a boy, Jehovah’s Witness missionaries came and taught he and his siblings for a year and a half. Then they hit a hitch in their theology, and thus rejected it all. In his autobiography Walking From East to West, Zacharias says, “At that stage, I told myself, ‘I don’t much care for this. I’m done with Christianity.’ I didn’t know that it wasn’t Christianity that I was rejecting, but I had no idea how to distinguish one sect from another.”

Listen.

Zacharias was right in rejecting the teachings of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. But, as he now knows, he was wrong in rejecting Christianity altogether because of their teachings. He makes a great point here, that he didn’t know the difference between the sects.

There are many false teachers out there, claiming to be Christian, but teaching lies. Some of these belong to cults such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). Others belong to movements such as the Word of Faith movement, and teach a Prosperity Gospel instead of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Do NOT reject Christianity because someone has misrepresented it!

First of all, these false teachers are misrepresenting Christianity. You may rightly reject their teachings, but Christianity does not resemble them. Do not be deceived into thinking that because someone claims Christ and teaches a lie that all Christians believe that or are like that.

Secondly, I understand that many of you have had bad experiences in the church. I myself am one of them. But this is no grounds to reject the God of the Bible and his good news to us. The gospel remains true, and God remains unchanging, whether people shame his name or not, and whether people teach false doctrine or not.

God is still God, and he is still speaking to this world. And we might even hear his awesome voice if only we could get over the garbage heap that is falsely being called Christianity and around the jargon of those tougue-waggers. To get to the core is to really hear from God.

If you are unsure of what someone is telling you, open the Bible and find out if it is true. If someone professes Christ but misuses, distorts, changes or outright rejects the Bible, they are not Christian. Do not reject Christianity on account of them, for they are not Christians in the first place.

Don’t forget that just as there are false teachers, missionaries and evangelists, there are also true, God-sent ones, who are grounded in the Truth. And the Word of God remains true forever. So keep seeking after the one true God. You will find him in the pages of Scripture.