This is where inclusionism is an issue for us as Christians – it doesn’t help people, it doesn’t create better more fruitful disciples, it cuts people off from what they need to move forward and be a life success.
We had a lady in our church who was clearly growing in the Lord. She was moving into a very fruitful life and seeing the promises of God manifest in her life. Then someone on social media sent her a link to some teaching on inclusionism and she watched the videos and found them really exciting. This is one of the problems with people – we have itching ears, we like things that sound new and intriguing. We tend to reject solid, established truth, we like to be cutting edge. “New” doctrines definitely appeal to our ego!
Now there is only a handful of things that if you do you will grow spiritually. One of the most important is going to church, another vital key to walking in abundance and life is tithing and giving, and another thing that every healthy Christian should be doing is reading their Bible. In addition, it helps us as well as helps the world to share the good news with others!
However, inclusionism leads invariably to people stepping back from these four key things:
- I cannot quite get the link straight in my mind, but I have found that whenever someone embraces inclusionism they step away from local church. I think it is due to a feeling superior than the local church, and superior to everyone else who believes you must believe the gospel. Also, if the will of God is forced on us and salvation is pushed on us without consent, I do wonder if deep down that makes it difficult to worship God – thinking that He forced salvation on us. Finally, why bother going to church if faith means nothing, and it is all grace. Why bother going to a place that is going to give you the Word, equip you and encourage you?
- Inclusionism is very much linked with a lack of giving. As soon as someone switches to inclusionism, their tithing stops, their giving goes down. Sowing less will lead to less harvest! It will lead to less success. But when people get into inclusionism, they will often say sowing and reaping is legalism, tithing is not for today, and they will attack those who teach otherwise.
- If faith is not important, then people stop reading their Bible. I have heard several inclusionism teachers even mock people for reading their Bible, and one prominent teacher say publicly “I never even read my Bible anymore”. That’s foolishness!
- Finally, if everyone is already saved, then why risk persecution and rejection by sharing your faith with them? You are missing out on winning people to the Lord and missing out on the joy and benefits of sharing what God has done for you.
So this lady drifted from church, stopped giving, stopped reading her Bible and stopped sharing her faith. It doesn’t take a prophet to work out what happened next – she backslid, she stopped living in victory, life’s problems started to overwhelm her and she ended up in a mess. We have helped her a lot, but we haven’t been able to get her to realize that it is her bad, unbiblical doctrines that are causing the problems.
Inclusionism is presented as a freedom, but it is not a freedom. It leads to a lack of discipline, a lack of generosity, a lack of serious Bible study, a lack of fellowship, a lack of wisdom. That’s not freedom, that’s bondage. And the fruit of it is a lack of success, a lack of joy, a lack of peace and a lack of victory.
This is my main concern with inclusionism. It leads to fruitless lives. There are no inclusionist ministers having healing services! There are no choices full of testimonies of God’s goodness and power. If you have embraced inclusionism, how is it working for you? It isn’t. It is that simple. The truth is what the Bible teaches:
I am not ashamed of the gospel, it is the power of God to all who believe (Romans 1.16)
If you embrace a doctrine that says we do not need faith, we do not need to believe, and you neglect believing, what will happen is you will disconnect yourself from the power of God. That means no miracles, no healings, no favour, no life changing prosperity, no increase, no peace, no joy. Without the power of God you cannot produce those things in your life. That is the harm of inclusionism.
Our next post will give you Seven Scriptures That Invalidate Inclusionism. It’s going to open your eyes!
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