Many of our once-sound churches have been influenced by the worldly philosophy that “gain is godliness.”
We can all point to certain money-crazed preachers who teach on television and radio that financial increase is a sign of God’s blessing and that God wants all of His people to be rich. The Bible calls these people “men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness” (I Timothy 6:5) and adds “from such withdraw thyself.”
Yet this very philosophy has influenced numerous doctrinally-sound churches. Preachers and evangelists are pointing to financial gain as a sign of God’s blessing on them, and some are even laboring for this type of gain. We give great influence and prominence to the big colleges and churches, who have the big money.
If money, buildings, and crowds were an indicator of God's blessing, then we should all convert to Roman Catholicism right now.
A modernist false teaching which often accompanies the “house-church-only” heresy is that of pastorless churches. This teaching insists that churches should not have and/or do not need to have pastors. Pastors, according to this teaching, are an unnecessary hindrance to the church, both spiritually and financially.
Christians feel strangely compelled to make salvation a matter of our works instead of God's Grace. No matter how clear the Bible is on the subject, folks will often pluck out a verse here or there and build a works-salvation doctrine around it.
One particularly destructive modernist doctrine that has flourished over the past two decades is that of the “house church only” movement. These people adamantly teach that churches should only meet in the houses of Christians. Church buildings and common areas of worship are wasteful and worldly, they say, claiming that the early churches only met in peoples' homes.
