Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints

3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. 4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.  Jude 1:3-4 (NASB) 

When I first started this ministry it was for the intent to address two threats that were very invasive back at that time (2006-2010) in the visible church. My method of doing that was to tell the truth of what certain so-called Christian leaders were doing in either the Seeker Sensitive/Church Growth movement or the Emergent movement. Both of these aberrant movements were presenting a deviant gospel and neither of them were focused on what our Lord Jesus Christ commanded the Church to be about….

The focus was backward. Both of these movements began with what people wanted and attempted to build their ministries around that. As I said, I first countered what they were saying and teaching with the truth from God’s Word. At the same time I posted more on discipleship during that period than discernment. After all, if God’s people know the Lord and follow Him and have their minds and hearts where He wants them to be will they follow a false leader?

Even so, when I would publish those discernment posts the backlash from them would be quite strong. As I look back on it now it is almost amusing. Those who I deeply offended by exposing what they were doing and saying and comparing that with what genuine Christian leaders should be doing and saying would respond by attempting to discredit me by simply calling me unspeakable names or insinuating that I’m not even a Christian for doing what I do. When that didn’t work they went after the actual process of “contending for the faith,” loudly proclaiming that we are not commanded in scripture to do this. Through the sustaining grace of God and the prayers of some wonderful Christian brothers and sisters in Christ I found that I could bear the insults and critiques. Let’s look at a passage in scripture that is highly relevant to this.

3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. 4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.Jude 1:3-4 (NASB)  View article →