We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum. A.W. Tozer
Therefore let God-inspired Scripture decide between us; and on whichever side be found doctrines in harmony with the word of God, in favor of that side will be cast the vote of truth. --Basil of Caesarea
Once you learn to discern, there's no going back. You will begin to spot the lie everywhere it appears.

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service. 1 Timothy 1:12

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The United Church of Christ - A Love Affair With the World

From LifeNews.com (10/2/09) is the following:
A coalition of mainline Protestant church clergy have authored a letter to members of Congress asking them to make certain health care bills they are considering contain taxpayer funding for abortions. … The letter calls abortion a “morally justifiable decision.” … The denominations endorsing the letter include the American Baptist Churches, Church of the Brethren, Evangelical Lutheran Churches in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church, and others.

 How can anyone claiming the name of Christ believe abortion is a “morally justifiable decision?” By whose moral standards - the worlds? Certainly not God’s because God says murder is a serious sin!

Well, of this line up I have already pointed out the apostasy of ELCA, and the PCUSA, but this time I think I’ll focus on the apostate United Church of Christ denomination.

The UCC is one of the most liberal of the denominations. All one has to do is look at Jeremiah Wright as an example of the pastors in this church; he preaches Black Liberation Theology, which is very cultic in its own right. But look at some concrete examples of the UCC’s apostasy.

One of my favorites is the UCC’s New Century Hymnal, issued in 1995. They didn’t like the old, theologically-correct hymns because they weren’t politically-correct enough. So some changes just had to be made. As reported in a 6/15/96 AP story in the Cedar Rapids, IA, Gazette, there were some really disgusting changes, such as Faith of Our Fathers became Faith of the Martyrs (removed that patriarchal tone). In Silent Night we can’t have “Son of God” because that is sexist. (But wasn’t Jesus a male?)

“Even the ‘right hand of God’ is sometimes changed to the ‘mighty’ or ‘strong’ hand of God - lest left-handed people be offended. … And ‘Just As I Am,’ minus a reference to ‘poor, wretched, blind.’”

A pernicious change is to America the Beautiful. How dare we have a song praising the United States - it hurts the self-esteem of those living in other countries in the Americas. No longer will UCC sing “O Beautiful, for spacious skies” because it is more politically-correct to sing “How Beautiful, our spacious skies” as they sing of all the Americas. Do you remember the last stanza of the original? “O beautiful for patriot dreams that sees beyond the years; thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears! America! America! God shed his grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.” Well, in the New Century Hymnal the final stanza is thus: “How beautiful, two continents, and islands in the sea, that dream of peace, non-violence, all people living free. Americas! Americas! God grant that we may be, a hemisphere where people here all live in harmony.” I think I’m feeling ill.

Anyway, the UCC has permitted the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals since 1972, and as of a Gazette article in 2000, “more than 150 openly gay and lesbian clergy have been ordained in the UCC.” The article also pointed out that the UCC leaves the decision to officiate at a same-sex “marriage” up to the local pastor. By 2005, however, the UCC openly endorsed and encouraged same-sex “marriage” as being a matter of “Equal Marriage Rights For All” (the title of a resolution adopted at the 25th General Synod), and called upon members to work against laws which ban same-sex “marriage.”

The UCC has for decades now condoned and promoted homosexual behavior, contrary to the plain teaching of Scripture which condemns it in no uncertain terms. As a denomination they teach what is commonly known as the “social gospel” - a socialistic abomination - rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They promote political-correctness to the point of marginalizing the differences between male and female. They promote the society-destroying idea of same-sex “marriage,” and they teach abortion as being “morally justifiable.”

The United Church of Christ is an apostate denomination. They seek to be friends with the world, and we all know that, “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” If you are a true Christian and a member of the UCC, my question is - WHY?

5 comments:

Marie said...

I joined a UCC church in 2001 because I liked the name - United, Church, of - who? Christ.

I liked Christ, so I thought a denomination with a name like that had to be Christ-centered. (Bear in mind I was brought up Catholic and came to the Lord in Campus Crusade, so I assumed all Protestant churches were, by definition, Christ-centered and evangelical.)

Not so. The UCC had nothing - NADA - to do with Christ. I couldn't even find any references to Him on their official website, although my pastor made passing comments about Him in his "sermons" (really pep talks on social justice).

When we left in 2005, I burned my membership certificate while singing the Newsboys' "I Am Free" under my breath.

Didn't know I had it in me, did ya?

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Good for You!

UCC deacon said...

Re, "The UCC is one of the most liberal of the denominations."

Correction: The UCC is the most liberal denomination.

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

I stand corrected!

Anonymous said...

Marie, I echo your sentiments. After going to a UCC church near my house for over 5 years, and becoming a member, I just found out that virtually NOBODY believes in Jesus as God. I look at a gigantic cross during service and realize this actually means nothing to most of the lay membership. Yes, I realized the Church was liberal, meaning (what I thought) everybody reads a different understanding to the Bible. In truth, this group has absolutely no required core beliefs, including no required believe in the Holy Trinity. Therefore, it is really confounding why go through the ceremonial things like Christmas, Easter, Holy Communion, the Holy Bible, etc. Yeah, I feel really betrayed and even though I received no membership certificate to burn, I will do it symbolically with the flush of a toilet.