Which is Better? Heathen or Heretic?

Why waste time going to the wrong church?

By Ken Raggio

What is it like in Hell?

One of my old pastors used to tell about a recurring dream he had. He dreamed that he was looking into Hell itself. Running through the flames was a man who was looking for somebody. He reached down into the flames and pulled a man up. He looked into his face until he could identify him. Then he threw him back into the flames. Then he would pull up another and another, in a futile search. The dream was always a desperate search for someone. When he awoke, the preacher asked the Lord, "What is the meaning of this dream?" The Lord said, "You are looking at a man who is trying to find the preacher who lied to him about his soul!"

Looking for the Preacher who lied to them about the gospel

I have often found myself wondering which is better -- not going to church at all, or going to a church whose message is grossly misleading. Anyone who loves the Bible would probably argue that some Bible teaching is better than no Bible teaching. On that assumption, going to any kind of church would arguably be better than going to no church at all. I am forced to agree -- with much exception.

I have stood in many different pulpits.

Having begun in the ministry in 1964, and having ministered in hundreds of churches of at least a dozen denominations, (including Assemblies of God, Southern Baptist, Freewill Baptist, Church of God, Church of God of Prophecy, Foursquare Gospel, Pentecostal Holiness, United Pentecostal, Nazarene, Methodist, Church of God in Christ, and numerous non-denominational congregations) I believe that I am capable of being fairly objective in what I say.

Everybody can’t possibly be right.

If truth means anything at all, then error also means something. Certainly everyone errs to some degree. But to err in a life-or-death matter is intolerable.

The real culprit is a thing called "easy believism".

Easy believism is the deception or delusion that mere mental belief in the person of Jesus Christ will save your soul. Nothing could be more unscriptural. Jesus profoundly established the doctrines of repentance and the new birth as absolute essentials to enter the Kingdom of God. He clearly defined the new birth: water birth (by baptism), and Spirit birth (by receiving the Holy Ghost).

They say you can get saved any old way

Amazingly, the VAST majority of fundamentalists today declare their converts "saved" without ever having baptized them. Baptism is viewed as an option -- only a "witness" to others -- contrary to Jesus’ own teaching. Multitudes are said to have been converted in large public meetings when nothing more than a sinner’s prayer was prayed. Isn’t it misleading to announce to an audience that so-and-so has just gotten saved, and that his/her name is now written in heaven -- before a person is either baptized or filled with the Spirit (before being born of the water and the Spirit)?

Is this really an important matter?

Ask yourself how you will feel on judgment day if you find that you are being sent to hell because you never obeyed Jesus’ command to be born of the water and of the Spirit. No matter that you sat in church all you life, or gave in the offering, or sang in the choir. You must be born again.

If a church will mislead you year after year, and could cause you or your loved ones to be deceived into believing they are saved when they may not be, how is that better than being an unchurched heathen? Lost is lost!

Unchurched heathen are easier to convert than religious people who have been taught heresy

My experience in the ministry has shown me that people who have grown up with less religion are generally more apt to take the Bible at face value and make whatever changes it calls for, while the religious person is difficult to change. Instead, he builds defenses with traditions he has been trained to believe.

Do you want a car, or car parts? Big difference!

If you want to buy a car, don’t go to an auto parts store. Go where you can get the whole thing fully assembled. 

Why attend a church that only preaches PARTS of the Gospel? Find the one that preaches more Bible than all the rest! Attend it faithfully.

Hint: find an Apostolic church.

SEE ALSO: DON'T LET THE LIGHTS GO OUT

SEE ALSO: HOLINESS: A PLACE APART FROM FORBIDDEN THINGS

SEE ALSO: EVERYBODY NEEDS A BACKBONE

---