False Professors

Dusman at Triablogue wrote an amazing article about church members who profess to be Christian, but are not.

Ask yourself if you are faithful in the following areas of the heart. Don't be surprised if you find yourself in one or more of these descriptions.

1. Immorality - pornography and adultery run rampant in evangelical churches. Christian men will desire to kill this sin and put it to death. False professors will covertly look for ways to continually hide it...
2. Impurity - pop evangelicalism is generally devoid of people with chaste and pure behaviors and motives.
3. Sensuality - pop evangelicalism, Christian Contemporary Music, and modern emergent "preaching" is rife with limelight guys and sultry chicks in tight garb, wiggly hips, complete with sassy, red-hot lyrics and lowbrow messages.
4. Idolatry - many pop-evangelicals have traded the biblical Jesus for a functional savior that only gives them temporal hope and joy. This functional savior can only last so long and when their creeping unbelief shatters that idol, a major paradigm shift takes place and they either outright leave their former profession in the dust or they jump from the frying pan into the fire by trading in their kit-car Jesus for another idol.
5. Sorcery - horoscope hunters and rock-rubbing pop-evangelicals and emergents are cool with mixing New Age mysticism, medieval monastic mysticism, and other sorcery with their "custom-fit" Christ.
6. Enmity - false professors always show a general hostility towards the true Christ of Scripture, His message, and His people (Rom. 8:7-8).
7. Strife - the false professor enjoys creating contention by pointing the finger at everyone else's sin as a means to show that they possess superior sanctification (Matt. 7:3-4).
8. Jealousy - some false professors are not happy with your natural display the fruits of the Spirit, and they want the gifts without submitting to the Giver of the gifts.
9. Outbursts of Anger - this is a chief characteristic of many false professors, as they have not the deep God-given desire nor the ability to control their anger when their idols are assaulted or their egos are exposed by the light of Christ.
10. Disputes - they enjoy a good fight for the sake of a good fight; whether its intellectual, verbal, or physical.
11. Dissensions - the false professor is a contentious quarreler. They love the fight and if you think they don't then just try to lovingly confront them with their divisive behavior and watch the sparks fly upward!
12. Factions - one of the characteristics of some false professors is that they are theological nitpickers who use very minor theological differences between believers as a reason for avoiding biblical accountability and discipleship.
13. Envy - since they really can't have Christian love, joy, peace, patience, . . . . self-control, et. al. because they don't have the spiritual equipment needed to produce these fruits, then they don't want *you* to have them either.
14. Drunkenness - because they lack self-control, some false professors show that lack by abusing alcohol and recreational/prescription drugs or they use their prescription drugs as an excuse to avoid being sober-minded.
15. Carousing . . . and things like these - the life of the false professor is characterized by a libertine lifestyle.

Go here to read the whole article.