PRINCIPLE 16 |
Some people who appear to be believers are not. These individuals are, in the words of Paul, "false brothers" (2 Corinthians 11:26; Galatians 2:4). And some of them may become, in the words of Peter, "false teachers" (2 Peter 2:1). Do true believers know who the false believers are?
Jesus said that the kingdom would have "weeds among the wheat" (Matthew 13:24-30). In this parable the weeds are probably bearded darnel (also known as Ray-grass, cheat, or zirwan), which appears nearly identical to wheat until the heads of grain mature near harvest time. It is interesting that the owner advised his servants not to try to separate the weeds from the wheat, but to let the harvesters do that later (verses 29-30). The parable seems to imply that, until the wheat "formed heads" (verse 26), the servants had not noticed the weeds.
Similarly, the apostle John refers to many antichrists among the believers (1 John 2:18-19). It was their leaving that showed that they did not belong among the believers, which again implies that the true believers did not necessarily know who the false believers were.
And we have the example of Judas, who was one of the disciples and shared in their ministry. The disciples had not detected that Judas was a false believer; Jesus had to identify him (John 13:21-28; Acts 1:16-17, 25).
So the answer to the above question is – not necessarily. While it is true that false teachers and false prophets can be recognized by their fruit (Matthew 7:15-20), that does not mean that every false believer can be recognized. For those who take a place of leadership (teachers and "prophets"), we can properly judge their status by their teachings and their deeds. But for those quiet individuals who associate with us at church, we cannot see their hearts like God can, and thus we cannot determine accurately who is a genuine believer and who is not.
Does the false believer know he is not a true believer? Some of them may know that they are not – these are the intentional infiltrators (Galatians 2:4). But many others may not even know themselves that they are not true believers. They may have gone through a false conversion and think that they are in God's family. It may be that the people Jesus has to send away, described in Matthew 7:21-23, are self-deceived – what a sad condition.
Remember that Jesus warned his disciples that such factors as "joy," "the worries of this life," and "the deceitfulness of wealth" can hinder the ministry of the Word (Matthew 13:20-22). Today we would categorize these factors as psychological factors.
In a true spiritual conversion, the person receives Jesus as his savior and is born again. In a psychological conversion the person goes through the motions of receiving Jesus (that is, he does something which we often associate with receiving Christ, such as praying a certain prayer, going forward at an evangelistic meeting, etc.) but is not really saved. (It is not our intent to say that psychological factors are the only factors at work; certainly strong spiritual factors are also at work. But in this chapter we focus on the psychological factors. )
Admitting that psychological conversions do take place within Christianity may not be easy for many Christians. It is relatively easy for Christians to draw upon psychological explanations when they set out to analyze conversions to other religions and cults. But we must recognize the fact that an individual does not set aside his psychological needs and fears just because he is considering Christ. We dare not oversimplify the matter by assuming that all conversions to other religions and cults are psychological, while all conversions to Christ are spiritual. Indeed, it may be that many more "conversions" to Christ are psychological than we would ever guess!
Psychological conversions pose three dangers. First, the most obvious danger is that a psychological conversion gives the individual a false sense of hope. Since he has not truly repented nor received Jesus as his savior from sin, he is still lost. He is unforgiven, outside God's family, and headed for eternal punishment.
Second, the person who goes through a mere psychological conversion does not have the Holy Spirit residing within him to help him with his daily problems. In other words, even though he may have "accepted" Jesus in order to get help with a certain problem, he is less likely to conquer that problem than if he had truly accepted Jesus as his savior from sin and thus had the Holy Spirit's direction and strength to cope with all his daily difficulties.
The third danger with such a psychological conversion is that it hinders future evangelism. Such a person is not truly saved, yet he remembers "accepting" Jesus. Later, someone might go to him and talk with him about sin and Jesus and then tell him that he needs to accept Christ as his savior. To this he is likely to reply, "I've already done that, and it didn't help much."
Below we discuss three common causes of psychological conversions: pressure, confusion over the results of sin, and misleading presentations of the gospel.
There is an old saying which includes the line, "You can fool all of the people some of the time." Because of our organismic needs (see chapter 6), fears, and desires (see chapter 7) we are all vulnerable to psychological manipulation. Of course, the con artist purposely manipulates others, but our concern here is with the evangelist who unknowingly pressures another person into a psychological conversion.
The evangelist may be a zealous preacher, an eager camp counselor, or even a loving parent. None of these people wants to create a false conversion, but it happens anyhow, partly because interpersonal dynamics are so complex, so subtle, and so powerful. We all affect others in ways of which we are not aware. When these ever-present interpersonal dynamics become so strong that a person makes a "decision" to accept Jesus because of the psychological dynamics rather than because of the conviction of the Holy Spirit, he has been unintentionally conned into thinking he is saved.
Certainly there are many genuine, spiritual conversions to Christ. Perhaps even a large majority of conversions to Christ are genuine. But we must be alert to the possibility of false conversions and do everything we can to avoid psychological manipulation. One of our most crucial tasks is to begin to recognize the ways in which we unconsciously manipulate others.
Suppose, for example, that a teenager has been rejected by his parents and peers. His real underlying motivation (his need for acceptance) is unconscious, but it is still strong enough to make him "accept" Jesus if that is what he must do in order to find someone to be his friend. In this case he is not recognizing that he has a sin problem. He is not accepting Jesus as his savior from sin, but is "accepting" Jesus as his guarantee of having as friends those who are presenting the gospel to him. He is not really saved, but his new friends probably think he is, and perhaps he does too.
No one is more subject to psychological pressure than a young child. Whenever we discuss the gospel with a child, we must be sensitive to the tremendous pressures we are putting on him. We are not talking here about blatant forms of manipulation, such as offering prizes. We are talking about much more subtle forms of pressure. If we are his parents, simply telling him we want him to trust Jesus may automatically apply a great deal of pressure if the young child has (as most do) a strong desire to please his parents. Even telling him that we have trusted in Jesus can exert a strong influence on him because of his identification with his parents and his desire to be like them.
Any adult can have a similar influence on children; the problem is not limited to parents. Whatever our relationship is to the child, we need to be aware of how easily we as adults can manipulate him without even trying to. Whether the setting is a home, a camp, or a church meeting, beware of all forms of manipulation, from the blatant practice of offering a brand new Bible to everyone who comes forward to accept Jesus, to more subtle practices such as telling a child, "If you accept Jesus you will make my very happy," or asking for all the children who want to accept Jesus to raise their hands (knowing that most children will peek to see what the other kids are doing, and many will "join the crowd").
Group pressure may be even stronger than individual pressure. Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that only teens are subject to the pressures of the group, but this is not the case. Children and adults are just as vulnerable to group influence. No one wants others to think that he is the odd one in the crowd.
But some may argue: "Look at the results!" After all, these subtle pressures appear to get the job done. However, we will be satisfied with this kind of results only when we forget what our job in evangelism is. Remember that our job in evangelism is not to produce converts. That is God's work. Our responsibility is to make the gospel message as clear as possible (Colossians 4:3-4), and in order to do so we must avoid all forms of pressure. These pressures appear to get results, but that is all. If we really understand the difference between a psychological conversion and a spiritual conversion, we will see the danger of mere appearances.
I am arguing that we are not to do so [employ psychological techniques] if we really believe in the work of the Holy Spirit. We are to present the truth, trusting to the Holy Spirit to apply it. (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Conversions Psychological and Spiritual, Inter-Varsity Press, 1959, page 39)
As a general rule we should talk with the person individually and get plenty of feedback from him in his own words. We should ask the Lord to help us to be sensitive to both the spiritual and the psychological dynamics that are occurring. Unfortunately, even the clearest explanation of the gospel may in some cases be clouded by strong psychological dynamics. These dynamics may be strong enough to cause the person to decide and act, while bypassing his understanding of the gospel. Of course, it is impossible to remove all interpersonal dynamics. Yet, it is certainly possible to become more and more sensitive to these dynamics and attempt to avoid these pressures.
If we want a person to understand sin and sin's consequences, we should focus our discussion on sin itself and its immediate spiritual consequence rather than on the daily problems the person is having. Often the secondary, psychological and sociological results of sin are confused with the primary, spiritual results. These two different types of results of sin are differentiated in the chart below.
| Spiritual cause and effect | Psychological cause and effect | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sin (the root cause) |
causes  |
Separation from God (the direct spiritual consequence or judgment for sin) |
causes |
Ignorance, negative childhood conditioning, worldly values, evil society, etc. (the indirect psychological and sociological consequences) |
causes |
Poor self-image, sickness, purposelessness, hatred, emptiness, guilt feelings, depression, divorce, murder, etc. |
Jesus taught something about the Holy Spirit which is a great help at this point. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of "guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment" (John 16:8). Note that sin and righteousness and judgment relate to the left side of the above chart. This is where the Holy Spirit's conviction is focused, so this is where our discussion with the sinner should be focused.
Suppose you know a person who is an alcoholic. You might be tempted to tell him that Jesus is the answer to his alcoholism. Of course, it is true that when a person becomes a Christian, he has the Holy Spirit within him to help him overcome all of his old patterns of living, including alcoholism. However, it is also true that the person may not connect his alcoholism with the underlying problem of sin. He may not see his alcoholism as a manifestation of sin, but merely as a weakness, or an inherited tendency. In other words, it is very easy for a person to want help for his problems, but never to deal with the underlying cause of those problems. In such a case, Jesus is not seen as "the savior who died for my sins," but merely as the "savior" from a specific problem – not much different than the help he can get from Alcoholics Anonymous.
Help is available from a wide variety of sources for all sorts of problems. If a person's marriage is in trouble, he can get help from a good marriage clinic. If gambling is ruining his life, group therapy might be able to help. If poor self image or depression is the problem, friends or a good book or a trained counselor may help him achieve a better outlook on life.
Now suppose we talk with a person who has one of these problems, discuss his problem, then tell him that Jesus is the answer. We tell him he should accept Jesus as his savior and his problem will be solved. In such a case he may "accept" Jesus, but for the wrong reason. He is viewing Jesus on the same level he would view the counselor, clinic, or therapy group. He may even see Jesus as some sort of mystical helper, but he probably does not see him as the holy Son of God who died to take the punishment for his sin. In fact, this person can go through the entire process or identifying and admitting his problem, and asking Jesus for help, yet he may never deal with his real spiritual problem, sin. Such a decision is a psychological decision, not a spiritual decision.
When specific life problems come into the discussion, we should try to help the person see the cause-effect relationships. He must come to grips with his underlying sin problem before he can see Jesus as his savior in the biblical sense.
Whenever we focus a person's attention on a specific problem, we draw his attention away from the full gospel message. By focusing attention on a specific problem we are much more likely to present an incomplete gospel. On the other hand, when we use a specific problem to help the individual understand his underlying sin problem, we have begun to present the gospel properly.
As we saw earlier (in chapter 8), Paul summarized the gospel in the brief statement
Christ died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3)
And Peter summarized the gospel in the brief statement
Christ died for your sins, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God (1 Peter 3:18a)
It is clear from both of these statements that the matter of sin is basic to the gospel. If there is no sin problem, Christ's death would be unnecessary, for that is why he died.
Remember that the message as it was given in biblical times started with "repent …". See, for example, the summaries of both John the Baptist's message in Matthew 3:1-2, and Jesus' message in Matthew 4:17, as well as the reply of Peter to the crowd's inquiry in Acts 2:37-38. And the first words of the prodigal son when he came to the father were "I have sinned" (Luke 15:21). No wonder the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the world focuses on conviction of sin and judgment (John 16:7-11).
But when we present the gospel to people we are often tempted to skip sin and repentance and include only the "positive" aspect of faith in Christ. The danger is that, while we may understand that faith in Christ is actually faith in Christ who died for our sins and that we must repent of those sins, the person listening to us may connect "faith in Christ" merely with some renewed appreciation for Christ, or some positive commitment to Christ's teachings.
And the same problem exists when, in our presentations of the gospel, we emphasize such bland religious phrases as "starting anew," the "journey of faith," or "following the Lord." Again, in our minds we may understand each of these phrases as including an awareness of sin and repentance from that sin. But in the listener's mind he may equate these phrases with merely trying to follow Jesus' example or trying in his own strength to live right, to turn over a new leaf. In other words, he may not really grasp his sin problem. He may thus "accept Christ" and end up being another mere psychological convert.