Greetings!
“I have undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus …. By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian.
Many people tell me that there is a different way to practice faith and I want to remain open to this, but I’m not there now.”
– Josh Harris
Statistics are telling us that Millennials are leaving “the faith” in droves!
I met Josh years ago
shortly after his book, “
I Kissed Dating Goodbye
,” was published. I considered him one of the brightest up and coming writers and teachers for the Millennial generation. His first book sold millions of copies, literally transforming the way the youth viewed “dating.” Including our family. We jumped on the “band-wagon” of courtship along with conservative Christian families worldwide. In fact, I became an advocate and teacher of the principles he prescribed in his book.
A few years back as I was working to have Josh join our network, I stumbled onto some very disturbing information. Josh no longer believed in the principles he laid out in his own book. I won’t go into the details but his recent posting confirmed my intuition that Josh was NOT an authentic indwelt Christian.
"I regret standing against marriage equality, for not affirming you and your place in the church, and for any ways that my writing and speaking contributed to a culture of exclusion and bigotry."
Even though I “back-peddled” on my invite
, my heart was saddened by his struggle. I realized,
here is another Christ-follower leaving “the faith
.” Back in the day, I had a vivid dream of Josh renouncing his faith in Jesus. This dream was so “real” I filed it away in my mind as a possible revelation from the Lord. All these years later the dream gets confirmed.
My perspective with Josh’s public renouncing of Christianity is much different than many of the “Christian commentators.” I see his announcement as honest and forthright. In fact, I am glad that he had this honest appraisal. If you have been a reader of our publications, as a writer, you know my passion to separate Christ-followers from authentic indwelt Christians.
Josh’s confession demands my respect.
Few Christ-followers arrive at such an honest place regarding their “faith.” Josh did. Christ-following almost always leads the “believer” to a place of self-indulged perceptions of Jesus and Christianity. This is what I call “self-made faith.” Now he can be introduced to true salvation by indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
You can’t renounce something you never had to start with.
Let’s pretend that someone like Josh died 2 years ago. At his funeral, most would have referenced him as “going on to a better place – Heaven.” They would have quoted “belief” statements written and preached by him through the decades. Loved ones would have displayed pictures of him with family, preaching from the pulpit and maybe had a few of his books laying on the table. The sad reality would have been, he would NOT have gone to this “better place.” All of those sentiments would have been a great reminder of how nice of a person he was, but as for the testimonies of authentic Christianity – they all would have been false. He would have been another “Christ-follower” who slipped through the cracks of
once believing.
I have conducted many funerals
that fit this scenario. Most pastors have. These are the toughest funerals. For a pastor like me, I am firm in believing that the testimony of the believer in the final hours is the evidence of authentic salvation.
"You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.”
(Mark 13:13)
Post-Truth emergent “believers” tend to
disregard the absolute words of Jesus when placed under pressure of social justice issues. All it takes is for one loved one to slip into the worldly practices of the things Jesus abhors. Or maybe, pressure from “followers” that might threaten one's popularity. And…sure enough, self-made faith kicks in. Whatever the case, it takes the Life of Christ from within to endure such hatred & pressure from the world. Jesus already made it clear that true believers would be hated because of Him. The second half of that verse reveals the evidence of authentic salvation – a verse that I rarely have heard preached. Most lock their salvation into existence through a statement of, “I believe.” I often wonder how this method of madness eternally preserved those Christ-followers who are already dead.
People tend to think their opinions & conclusions matter. They don’t. Can you imagine Jesus looking into YOUR eyes and saying,
“Get behind Me, Satan!”
Can you fathom being a stumbling block to Jesus? This is exactly what happened when Peter got caught up in man’s interests and opinions.
“But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's.’"
(Matthew 16:23)
The world is filled with so-called “believers”
who think they know what God means by what God says. No one knows the mind of God except for the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:11). Paul is revealing the great mystery of speaking by way of the indwelling mind and Life of the Spirit. Since the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God, He can reveal all Truth according to His Divine will & sovereignty. Any man or woman who defaults to their self-made faith (conclusions) is in need of the same kind of rebuke Peter received.
The good news is, as in the case of Peter, when God allows Satan to sift those who claim belief, the end result is authentic salvation (Luke 22:31). Or should be. Honestly speaking, those who decide to leave “the faith” are under a God-ordained sifting process. The purpose is obvious, to bring each to an honest appraisal – helping “followers” of Jesus and their erroneous beliefs to break under pressure, which could lead them to the indwelling Life OF Christ.
Christ-followers are no different
than Peter. Peter was constantly boasting regarding his beliefs in Jesus, but Jesus knew different. Jesus clearly knew that true and authentic beliefs become real after they are tested and sifted. Did Peter endure to the end? He did not. Not the first round. After he experienced brokenness and received the Holy Spirit, he then became known throughout church history as enduring to the end. Let’s pray that Josh has the same resolution!
Stephen Phinney
