Fake-ianity – Counterfeit Christianity For Modern Man

fake false counterfeit church practices

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”
[2Timothy 3:5]

Fake-ianity? What’s that?

Fake-ianity is imitation Christianity… Christianity without meat, superficial at its best, counterfeit at its worst. Another name for it is “churchianity”. How do we know if we are involved in fake-ianity. Well, there are some very obvious signs. For one thing, it involves fake fellowship, fake worship, fake discipleship, fake communion, fake evangelism and a fake gospel…

Fake fellowship:

Sitting in rows, staring at the back of people’s heads – people who are supposed to be your spiritual brothers and sisters – and only talking to any of these “brothers and sisters” for a brief fraction of the times that you meet, and rarely going to one another’s homes to spend any quality time together like you would with your family members. So much for being “the household of faith” [Galatians 6:10].

Fake worship:

Playing “Simon Says” with a paid professional master of ceremonies, and calling it “not forsaking the assembling of each other” [Hebrews 10:25]. It is amazing how many people think this is how God wants to be worshipped.

Fake discipleship:

Having one guy – who has been indoctrinated by a seminary – teach everybody else, in large “sterile” groups without ever letting anyone interact and get to know each other or their gifts, talents and shortcomings and without letting anyone question or correct the big shot – the “untouchable” guy up front.

“The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” [Jeremiah 5:31]

Fake communion:

Drinking a thimble full of grape juice and eating a crumb broken off of a cracker in some cavernous building that nobody lives in, instead of eating a real fellowship meal in one another’s homes where you might actually have an opportunity to get to know the people you’re going to be spending eternity with – the people your Savior said you’re supposed to lay your life down for [1John 3:16].

Fake evangelism:

Inviting people to fun “events” in your formal special-purpose buildings where your fearless leader tells everyone that Jesus loves them and “all ya gotta do is accept Him”. Forget about hell [Luke 12:5], repentance [Luke 13:5], and the fact that God hates the workers of iniquity [Psalm 5:5]. And forget about getting out of your comfort zone and actually sharing the gospel with people you meet out in the marketplace [Luke 14:23].

Fake gospel:

Telling spiritually dead sinners [Ephesians 2:1] that they have a free will to choose Christ when in fact God says their wicked sinful hearts are incapable of turning towards Him, until and unless He FIRST takes out their heart of stone and gives them a heart of flesh [Ezekiel 36:25-27]. The fake gospel declares that lost sinners are not as lost as God says they are. The fake gospel puts sinners in charge of their own salvation when in reality, Jesus is the author AND finisher of one’s faith [Hebrews 12:2] and the sinner is completely at the mercy of God [Titus 3:5] and without hope for all eternity unless God in His good pleasure decides to grant salvation [Acts 11:18] to the blind, deaf and dumb rebel.

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” [1Timothy 4:1]

Why settle for fake-ianity when you can have the real thing?

That’s right! Not only can you HAVE the real thing, if you are a true believer in Christ, you are COMMANDED to worship God in spirit and in truth [John 4:24].

True Fellowship:

Meeting in one another’s homes, praying for one another (not according to some formal prayer list that you forget about after you depart from one another), bearing one another’s burdens (helping each other out like family members).

True worship:

Obeying God even when it is difficult, not just when it is easy. True worship is rooted in obedience to God according to scripture and praising God and thanking God even outside of the four walls of a church building.

True discipleship:

Making it your OWN responsibility to continually learn more about scripture and constantly sharing what God teaches you with others, not depending on some paid professional to spoon feed you whatever he feels like talking to you about.

True communion:

Having a real meal during which you break bread and share the fruit of the vine in remembrance of what Christ did for His Bride at Calvary and in anticipation of the coming wedding feast of the Lamb [Revelation 19:9]. You should certainly expect the marriage supper in heaven will include a whole lot more than a cracker crumb and a thimble sized glass of grape juice. You can be sure that the marriage feast at Canaan [John 2:9] included more than that and the “last supper” included more than that.

True evangelism:

Personally sharing the gospel wherever God puts you, right where you are at for that matter, not leaving it to the professional evangelists. Warning everyone you can – about God’s coming judgment and wrath – and pointing them to the only remedy for sin and damnation, the only Savior and God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

True gospel:

Telling sinners they are lost and without hope and completely at the mercy of a God who hates sin AND sinners [Psalm 5:5-6, Psalm 11:5-6]. Letting them know that they are totally unfit for a place as holy and sinless as heaven until and unless the God of that heaven grants them salvation through the power of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of God’s word.

And who really does things the “true” way? Not many, but there is a remnant – the true church, the persecuted church, the underground church, those who are true sheep and who are capable of discerning true worship from false, true fellowship from false, and sheep who by God’s grace can tell the true shepherds from the hirelings:

“This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.” [John 10:6-14]

Lastly, there are a lot of seminary professors who need to read Matthew 23:15, examining themselves in the light of Scripture to see if it applies to themselves:

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.” [Matthew 23:15]

Christianity was never meant to be a career, but a way of life, for both fisherman and tax collector, tent maker and physician. Church was never meant to be a business nor a building, but rather a coming together of like-minded, blood-bought followers of Christ, seeking to worship Him “in spirit and in truth” in the humbleness and intimacy of their own homes, not in some sterile building that only serves to insulate people from each other. But just as the governments of the world seek to dumb-down their citizenry to better control them, we see the institutional church wants dumbed down congregants who can be coaxed every week into keeping the machinery oiled, caring very little for the needs of the sheep – being preoccupied with maintaining the status quo.

So why don’t people just abandon fake-ianity? Well they either aren’t really saved, and thus have no hunger and thirst for the genuine things of the Kingdom of God (and so counterfeit religion is just fine with them), or else they figure it just costs too much… they’ll have to get too far out of their comfort zone and stop being pew potatoes and start reaching out the the lost and to their brothers and sisters in Christ. Or in the case of church leaders, they’ll have to get a job where they have to deal with people who might actually not like real Christians who want to live, talk and act in God-glorifying ways.