Too many who would not qualify to serve as deacons or elders in the church by any biblical standard nevertheless hold positions of leadership and influence in the Evangelical Movement. That is evident from wave after wave of moral scandals that have rocked the movement for the past forty years. It is also reflected in the flamboyant superficiality that is the hallmark of most televised religion. The testimony of the true church is being drowned out by the voices of ostensibly evangelical people who are preaching themselves rather than Christ Jesus as Lord.

What denominational label would best describe the following person’s religious beliefs?

He claims to be a committed, born-again Christian but isn’t sure that Jesus is truly God incarnate. He isn’t convinced that God has infallible knowledge of (much less sovereign control over) the future. He doesn’t believe the Bible is truth without any mixture of error. He doesn’t believe what the Bible says about how the universe was created. He doesn’t believe people must acknowledge Christ as Lord and Savior—or even know anything about him—in order to have God’s favor. He doesn’t believe Satan is literally real. He doesn’t believe God is full of wrath against sin. And he certainly doesn’t believe in eternal punishment. In fact, he doesn’t particularly care for words like sin, atonement, repentance, expiation, or propitiation. He dismisses such terminology as useless religious jargon that fails to communicate anything to normal people. But in reality, what he despises most of all about those words is the underlying doctrine of substitutionary atonement, which he also doesn’t believe in. He is convinced that God will forgive without demanding any payment for guilt.

Furthermore, while he isn’t certain Jesus is “perfect,” this person does believe human nature is fundamentally good. He believes God accepts the worship of all religions. He believes acts of benevolence can make up for our moral failings. He believes science has disproved parts of the Bible. At the same time, however, he believes biology does not determine a person’s gender; that is determined solely by how the person feels.

He also believes it is wrong to regard anyone’s sexual orientation as sinful. In fact, while he is loath to call any act of personal wrongdoing “sin” or “evil,” he does believe—with all his heart—that people of European descent have inherited collective guilt because their ancestors enslaved or oppressed other ethnic groups. He doesn’t regard Adam as a historical person or the Genesis flood as true, so he sees humanity as an assortment of rival races. He further believes each race is either privileged or oppressed, and skin color is what determines the difference. He will go on to tell you that several other factors, including gender, sexual orientation, disability, body weight, and worldview can further marginalize an already-oppressed individual (or conversely, amplify the empowerment of an already-privileged person). He believes justice demands the leveling of all such socio-economic imbalances, and the chief end of religion is the pursuit of that goal.

In other words, he totally believes in Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality. He is therefore “woke,” culturally savvy, politically liberal, and (by his own assessment) deeply spiritual.

How would you classify such a worldview?

The Erosion of the Evangelical

He calls himself an “evangelical.” And leading voices in the current Evangelical Movement are happy to welcome him into their number without any serious or sustained challenge to his belief system, even though every one of his most strongly held opinions is a direct denial of one or more vital points of historic evangelical conviction.

The profile I have just described is by no means unusual. Recent surveys¹ reveal that a large percentage of people who self-identify as “evangelical” do not understand even the most basic principles of gospel truth. In a recent poll of self-styled evangelicals, 52 percent said they reject the concept of absolute truth; 61 percent do not read the Bible daily; 75 percent believe people are basically good; 48 percent believe salvation can be earned by good works; 44 percent believe the Bible does not condemn abortion; 43 percent believe Jesus may have sinned; 78 percent believe Jesus is the first being created by God; 46 percent believe the Holy Spirit is a force rather than a Person; 40 percent believe lying is morally acceptable in certain circumstances; 34 percent accept same-sex marriage as consist with biblical teaching; 26 percent reject Scripture as God’s Word; and 50 percent say church attendance is not necessary.

Most of those views are categorically incompatible with saving faith. In other words, many who self-identify as evangelicals are not believers at all.

No matter. The media consider them evangelicals. Evangelical churches grant them membership. In some cases, evangelical presses publish and promote their writings, and evangelical conferences feature them as keynote speakers.

Consequently, evangelical has come to mean anything and everything. And that’s why, as it is used today, the word hardly means anything at all.

The root of the expression is the Greek term for “gospel”—euangelion. That word and its cognates are used some 130 times in the New Testament, reflecting the apostolic commitment to the centrality of the gospel message and the importance of understanding it and preaching it correctly. “Evangelicals” are gospel people. The term is loaded with profound biblical and theological significance, and God’s people must not stand by passively while it is evacuated of all meaningful import. Sadly, however, what most people today think of as “evangelicalism” bears little resemblance to the rich heritage of historic evangelicalism.

How could this happen? Only by a catastrophic failure of leadership.

The biblical instructions for church leaders could not be more clear: “Preach the word … in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort” (2 Tim 4:2). That’s the task, even when people with itching ears demand to be affirmed, amused, pacified, or entertained in various ways. Paul tells Timothy to preach God’s Word “with great patience and instruction”—meaning he should faithfully continue teaching sound, biblical doctrine, even when people seem unable to endure it because their ears are itching for something different. The apostle tells another protégé, Titus, “Speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you” (Titus 2:15).

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