A woman once wrote me to say she thought Christianity was fine, but personally she was “into Zen.” She liked to listen to Christian radio while she was driving because the music “smoothed out her karma.” Occasionally, however, she would tune in one of the Bible-teaching ministries. In her opinion, all the preachers she heard were too narrow-minded toward other religions, so she was writing several radio ministers to encourage them to be more broad-minded.

“God doesn’t care what you believe, as long as you’re sincere,” she wrote, echoing an opinion I have heard many times. “All religions lead ultimately to the same reality. It doesn’t matter which road you take to get there, as long as you follow your chosen road faithfully. Don’t be critical of the alternative roads other people choose.”

To those who accept the Bible as God’s Word, the folly of that thinking should be immediately evident. If the consequences of what we believe mean the difference between right and wrong, God’s pleasure and His punishment, life and death, then we must make sure that what we’re believing is based on clear thinking. Put another way, we need to exercise discernment.

To be sure, discernment is about as fashionable to today’s culture as absolute truth and humility. Making clear distinctions and judgments contradicts the relativistic values of modern culture. Pluralism and diversity have been enshrined as higher virtues than truth. We’re not supposed to draw any definitive lines or declare any absolutes. That is regarded as backward, outmoded, discourteous. And while this attitude toward biblical discernment is expected from the secular world, it is sadly being embraced by an increasing segment of evangelical Christianity.

As a result, evangelicalism is beginning to lose its distinctiveness—often choosing tolerance over truth. Not that most evangelicals would accept Islam, Hinduism, or other overtly non-Christian religions. But many seem to think it doesn’t really matter what you believe, as long as you label it Christianity. With the exception of a few cults that blatantly renounce the Trinity, almost everything taught in the name of Christ is accepted by evangelicals—from Roman Catholicism (which denies that sinners are justified solely by faith) to the extreme charismatic Word Faith movement (which both corrupts the doctrine of Christ and makes temporal health and wealth the focus of salvation).

In the name of unity, such matters of doctrine are expressly not supposed to be contested. We are encouraged to insist on nothing more than a simple affirmation of faith in Jesus. Beyond that, the specific content of faith is supposed to be a matter of individual preference.

Of course, this general attitude of acceptance is not new; the church has waged an ongoing struggle over the issue of doctrinal discernment at least since the beginning of the twentieth century. This very same appeal for broad-mindedness in religious standards and beliefs has always been at the heart of the agenda of theological liberalism; indeed, it is precisely what the term liberal originally meant. What is new about today’s appeals for tolerance is that they come from within the evangelical camp.

Nothing is more desperately needed in the church right now than a new movement to reemphasize the need for biblical discernment. Without such a movement, the true church is in serious trouble. If the current hunger for ecumenical compromise, pragmatic sanctification, and numerical success continues to gain a foothold within evangelicalism, it will result in an unmitigated spiritual disaster.

This book, then, is a plea for discernment. It is a reminder that God’s truth is a precious commodity that must be handled care-fully—not diluted with whimsical beliefs or bound up in human traditions. When churches, or individual Christians, lose their resolve to discern between sound doctrine and error, between good and evil, between truth and lies, they open themselves up to every kind of error. But those who apply biblical discernment consistently, in every area of life, are sure to walk in the wisdom of the Lord (Prov 2:1-6).

In contrast, today’s Christians soothe themselves with the opinion that few things are really black and white. Doctrinal issues, moral questions, and Christian principles are all cast in hues of gray. Every person is encouraged to do what is right in his own eyes—exactly what God forbade (cf. Deut 12:8; Judg 17:6; 21:25).

The church will never manifest its power in society until we regain a passionate love for truth and a corollary hatred for error. True Christians cannot condone or disregard anti-Christian influences in their midst and expect to enjoy God’s blessing. “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Rom 13:11-12). Thus, “it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (Phil 1:9-11).

John MacArthur

“Eureka!”

In an age of open-mindedness, many believers accept too much with too little discernment, resulting in great confusion and compromise. But God’s Word makes it clear that not everything that glitters is gold. False teaching is at every turn, and the temptation to embrace it is great. As God’s people we are called to sift through the overwhelming number of traditions and trends and use the truth of Scripture to determine which are the true treasures—and which are “fool’s gold.”

General Editor John MacArthur and the contributors of this uncompromising book define the principles of biblical discernment and use them to address several contemporary Christian issues. They provide straightforward, biblical critiques of some popular but unfortunate Christian trends, such as watered-down preaching and doctrinally questionable best-selling books. Dr. MacArthur ends with a practical plan for cultivating discernment in the Christian life.

It is the duty of every Christian—not just pastors and elders—to follow the biblical command to cling to what is good and to reject what is not. This book will equip you with a foundation for biblical discernment that will enable you to make careful distinctions in your thinking about truth.

Above Material Copyright © 2005 The Shepherds' Fellowship