Vol. 39, No. 1      January 2008

    Today, both the popular literature available on Christian conversion and justification, as well as the more scholarly (theological) literature, more often than not, address the subject of false conversion. Much of what was written in the past about this subject was prompted by a context of genuine revival when, at the same time, false conversions appeared to be taking place as regularly as true conversions.

    However, in both the past and present, the vast majority of pastors and evangelists have had little to say about false conversion from the pulpit. Perhaps one reason for this is it is often difficult to distinguish between true and false conversion, and we want to avoid confusing people. But the fact is, there are similarities in the conversion experiences of Christians and those who are adherents of other religious faiths.

    Why do we need to talk about the problem of false conversion? A major reason is because, for over a decade now, it has been said that American church pews are the largest mission field in the world. As we can observe from the seven letters to seven churches in Asia in Revelation 2-3, there are churches and there are what appear to be churches. Just as is the case in Revelation 2-3, what we tend to view and define as a church often differs from the Lord’s perspective.

    One of the earliest treatments on a problem related to false conversion, that of preaching and trusting in an imitation or synthetic gospel, was Walter Chantry’s Today’s Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic? (Banner of Truth Trust, 1970). Chantry’s emphasis is similar to that of Gary Gilley today in the latter’s This Little Church Went to Market: The Church In the Age of Entertainment (Evangelical Press, 2005), and Gilley’s This Little Church Stayed Home: A Faithful Church in Deceptive Times (Evangelical Press, 2006). Both authors argue the gospel often proclaimed today differs significantly from that preached by Paul and others in the New Testament. Chantry was not so much concerned with the emphasis or approach, but with the content at the heart of today’s gospel message. Gilley disagrees, arguing the method and the content are directly related. Both writers imply that acceptance of a false gospel leads to false conversions.

    The fact is, even under the faithful proclamation of the gospel, false conversions routinely take place. One of the most popular books on this subject is Kent Philpott’s Are You Really Born Again? Understanding True and False Conversion (Evan-gelical Press, 1998, 2005), now in a second, revised edition. Donald S. Whitney addresses the subject from a more positive perspective in How Can I Be Sure I’m a Christian? What the Bible Says About Assurance of Salvation (NavPress, 1994). But in Whitney’s book the focus is on helping genuine Christians to gain assurance of their salvation, rather than the problem of false conversion. A similar work on assurance is Tullian Tchividjian’s Do I Know God? Finding Certainty in Life’s Most Important Relationship (Multnomah, 2007).

    The biblical texts most often related to false conversion include Jesus’ Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:1-23, and its parallels in Mark 4:19 and Luke 8:4-8; and Jesus’ warning in Matthew 7:21-23 about obedience. Theologians have often mentioned there is little explicit teaching in the New Testament on the specific nature of conversion. For example, in the prologue of John’s Gospel (John 1:1-18), we read in verses 12-13:

But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God (RSV).

But John does not explain how a person believes in or “receives” Jesus. Jesus simply says we cannot be “born again” in our own strength, or by our own doing (see Eph. 2:8-9). In talking to Nicodemus, He said we must be born “from above” or “born again” (John 3:3). The phrase Jesus most often used when He invited people, as we say, to “believe” in Him, was simply, “Follow me” (21x in the NIV, beginning with Matt. 4:19; 8:22; 9:9; 10:38; 16:24; 19:21).

    Today we tend to base our assurance of conversion, the authenticity of conversion, and even the genuineness of our personal relationship with Christ on our feelings and/or emotions. The biblical writers, particularly Paul, go out of their way to make it clear that we do not walk with Christ by sight, but by faith (2 Cor. 5:7; cf. the book of Ecclesiastes). For most Christians, even Christians who see themselves as being spiritually mature, sensory experiences, perceptions, and feelings are held as much more primary and “real” than faith alone. This is why Gary Bates’ book, Alien Intrusion (Master Books, 2005), is so important, as was John Keel’s similar earlier work, Operation Trojan Horse (IllumniNet Press, 1996). Despite two thousand years of spiritual warfare, most Christians remain naive and easily deceived by Satan’s tactics, all the while believing their beliefs and religious experiences are of God and biblically-based. It was the attractiveness of false teaching in the early church that caused the church father Irenaeus to write:

Error, indeed, is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it is carefully decked out in an attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the inexperienced (ridiculous as the expression may seem) more true than truth itself. -Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.2.

Even worse, heresy is such that even the experienced, those who have been in the church for many years, can be deceived, holding tightly to what they feel sure is God’s truth.