Why Are There So Many False Converts?

Is your heart burdened for the many professing Christians who have never experienced the second birth? Do you have compassion for people who honor Jesus with their lips, but their hearts are far from him? These false converts are tragic victims of a subtle yet potentially fatal deception that has eternal consequences. Unless they are confronted with the truth, they may never know they have been deceived. If they never hear the truth, they may, one day, hear the most terrifying words anyone could ever hear when Jesus says: "I never knew you; depart from Me" (Mat. 7:23).

Much of the blame must fall on pastors who know they can gain a larger following by removing the offense of the Gospel. By compromising the Gospel, they know they can make it more appealing and more inclusive. By broadening the narrow way, they can build bigger churches. This watered-down version of the Gospel is gaining popularity within evangelical circles and must be exposed and confronted with the truth of God's Word.

The devil loves to see false converts being deceived in the name of Christ. He continues to raise up false teachers who teach false gospels, about false christs, for the purpose of producing false Christians, who live with a false hope. Those who compromise the Gospel are helping Satan plant his tares among the wheat (Mat. 13:39-40).

The apostle Paul warned us that the same serpent who deceived Eve by his craftiness, will also influence his willing partners to preach another Jesus and another gospel (2 Cor. 11:3-4). Satan hates the Gospel and the Word of God because it sets his captives free from the bondage of religious deception.
Rather than calling sinners to repent and believe the Gospel, church leaders are asking unbelievers to repeat a prayer, sign a card, raise their hand, come forward, or "accept" (rather than trust) Jesus as their Savior. None of these modern traditions have any biblical foundation. Not only do they dishonor the Savior, but they often mislead souls into a false hope of salvation. We must warn those who are misleading people that they must not go beyond what is written (1 Cor. 4:6). No one has the right to lower God's entrance requirements into His Kingdom. Unless we evangelize God's way, we run the serious risk of creating false converts who will live with a false hope. 
Biblical evangelism requires making disciples, not decisions. This involves teaching people to observe all that Christ commanded (Mat. 28:18-20). His first command was to "repent and believe the Gospel" (Mark 1:15).

Repentance is a change in mind that is granted by God and leads to a knowledge of the truth (2 Tim. 2:25). Remember, Jesus did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). Those who respond to the Gospel with repentance and faith will be delivered from the kingdom of darkness into the glorious light of God’s kingdom (Col. 1:13).
Have you noticed that modern evangelism puts too much emphasis on God's love while rarely mentioning His holiness and righteous justice? This is a stark contrast to first-century evangelism. In the book of Acts, which is a history book of the first-century church, the word "love" is never even mentioned. If we are to evangelize God's way, we must inform people that the foundation of God's throne is righteousness and justice (Psalm 97:2).

Divine justice must be satisfied, which means God cannot let sin go unpunished. As a demonstration of God's love, mercy, and grace towards sinners, He sent His only Son to die as a substitute to satisfy divine justice (Rom. 5:8). In this way, He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:26). The Lord Jesus Christ, God’s eternal Son, was conceived in the womb of a virgin and lived in perfect obedience to God’s Law. He was crucified as the perfect sacrifice for sinners. The one and only Savior bore man’s sins, suffered God’s wrath, died in man’s place, and was raised on the third day to show divine justice was satisfied. God "made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). What a glorious Gospel we have to proclaim!
Every Christian is encouraged to fight the good fight of faith (1 Tim. 6:12).

We must keep the Gospel from being corrupted and contaminated by foolish men who are chasing after their own agendas. What hope does the next generation have if we do not contend earnestly for the truth? We must contend for the purity and exclusivity of the Gospel for the glory of Christ, the sanctity of His Church, and the salvation of sinners.