Imagine for a moment that you are fishing at the edge of a pond. You’ve been standing there all day, every day for months, continually casting your line, lashing the waters to foam. Thousands of worms have sacrificed their lives in the process. But for all your efforts, the only thing that has happened is that on one day, one fish jumped out of the water and spit in your direction. Pretty discouraging fishing.

There is a very simple reason that I don’t preach the false-grace gospel: I believe the entire New Testament, not just select verses that fit my theology.

For example, I don’t just believe Ephesians 2:8-9:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

I cannot count the number of times over the past 50 years that I’ve heard it taught that the seven churches of Asia—of which we read in Revelation 1-3—symbolically represent seven church ages. It is purely a theory, and I will show in this short article why it is a theory that is full of holes.

The New Testament owned by every Christian warns, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment” (Jas. 3:1). Yet some false-grace “teachers” are now telling us that we will never be judged! They claim that we don’t have to worry about standing before Jesus. “Why would Jesus ever judge us?” they ask, since He paid the price for all our sins, past, present and future? Besides, haven’t you ever read Jesus’ words in John 5:24, which say, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life’?”

Yes, it’s true! There’s no place in the New Testament where anyone is told to “trust in Jesus’ finished work on the cross.” That is a modern “Christian” cliché. If you continue reading, you will soon understand why, at best, it is very poor advice, and at worst, it is heresy.

There is a spiritual phenomenon that has almost been lost, but that was quite common in historic revivals. It was sometimes referred to as “coming under conviction”—a time when unregenerate people became unusually burdened regarding their sinful state. So much so that they became utterly distraught, sometimes for days on end. In their misery, some couldn’t sleep.

In their continued quest to convince discontented Amish folks not to defect from Amish ranks, authors Weaver and Zimmerman appeal at the close of the first chapter of Why be Plain? to the New Testament’s admonitions for Christians to submit to spiritual leaders. From the Amish perspective, that means Amish bishops and ministers. The authors write:

One question that the authors of Why be Plain? tackle in the first chapter is one that probably every Old Order Amish person has pondered: Is keeping the ordnung really required to gain entrance into heaven—as is claimed by Amish leaders? The answer must be yes or no. In their fictitious conversation at the beginning of Chapter 1, cousins Dan and Steve conclude that the answer is no. Therefore, there is no reason, they decide, not to own a car or smart phone.

I recently was given a copy of Why be Plain? by some dear ex-Amish friends who told me that it was mailed to them by their still-Amish relatives. The Old Order Amish authors, Larry S. Weaver and Terry B. Zimmerman, are clearly concerned that Old Order Amish people, and especially Amish youth, are being deceived regarding Amish faith and lifestyle, resulting in their abandoning both to join more liberal churches, or worse, embrace “the world.” The fact that they’ve written a book to address their concern reveals that the problem they are addressing is widespread and likely increasing.

Dear reader: Below is an expansion of Jesus’ Parable of the Treasure in the Field and the Introduction to a short book I wrote some years ago titled, Forever Rich: Seven Spiritual Secrets to Ultimate Financial Fulfillment. If you enjoy the Introduction, the eight chapters that follow it can be read for free here: https://www.davidservant.com/books/forever-rich-book/.  I hope you enjoy them all! — David