Recently, I was contacted by a friend and colleague who also has a discernment ministry. He was surveying other discernment ministries in order to come up with a list of the top ten subtle ways the body of Christ is presently being led astray. As I was busy speaking at a conference at the time I received his e-mail, I wrote him back and told him I would get back to him in a few days.

While flying back to my home after the conference, I took out my computer and responded to my friend’s request. The topics I had presented at the conference were still fresh in my mind. Following are the first ten trends I have personally encountered. While I am certain there are many more, the following ten trends provide a good overview of what is taking place in the church today:

·       Ecumenical unity at any cost yet completely void of any connection to the message that Jesus died on the Cross.

·       The church-growth movement, which is focused on a market-driven seeker-friendly Christianity emphasizing a megachurch mentality.

·       A Christianity focused on following men, their methods, and their movements.

·       A Jesuit agenda promoted by publishers and pastors proclaiming the teachings and ideas of Roman Catholic church fathers and Roman Catholic mystics.

·       The rejection of biblical creation and the acceptance of theistic evolution and progressive creation.

·       The acceptance of New Age ancient Babylonian practices such as yoga and contemplative prayer as a means of “getting closer to Jesus.”

·       A false Christianity that substitutes the gospel according to the Scriptures with a social gospel.

·       The “Purpose-driven P.E.A.C.E. Plan” that prepares the church for a global one-world religion.

·       An experience-based “Christianity” that seeks after signs and wonders and rejects the biblical warnings of a Last Days spiritual deception found in the Bible.

·       The compromising of the church in order to become “postmodern” and “progressive” in an attempt to reach the postmodern generation.  

It was not my objective to place these various trends in their order of importance. The fact is, each one is occurring, and the vast majority of professing Christians are not even aware these trends are happening or even that there is a problem. Perhaps in the future, these ten points would make good chapter headings for a small book that would deal with each topic in more detail.

For now, let me say I believe biblical Christianity is under attack like it has never been before. We are not only on a “slippery slope”—Christianity is ready to fall off the cliff. As Jesus asked in Luke 18:18: When the son of man cometh, will he find faith?

Current events indicate the pathway to apostasy is leading exactly in the direction foretold by the Scriptures.