You know a new trend in churches is taking place when CNN and the New York Times start reporting on inclusive churches. In many ways, this is not a new trend but evidence of heresy and apostasy that goes go all the way back to the first century. The so-called “new trend” is one more warning to believers to check out the theological foundations of a church before joining it.

In this day and age, it is possible to be a minister of the gospel and not even believe in God. One of the guests on my radio program directed my attention to a Presbyterian minister in Oregon who says he doesn’t believe in God. He doesn’t require his members of believe in God either. He encourages them to “bring their own god” to church with them. What made me shake my head was his statement in a recent article that he was offended by people who have said to him that he is “not truly a Christian.” We used to believe that a Christian at the very least had to believe in God and Jesus Christ. Apparently that is not the case in this church.

The New York Times reported on a church where the pastor wears “vestments adorned with the symbols of nearly a dozen religions.” On his portable bookshelf he set the Qur’an next to the Hebrew Bible as well as two volumes of the “Humanist Manifesto” and the Sioux wisdom of “Black Elk Speaks.” On his makeshift altar are candles, stones, bells, and flowers.

Another church has decided to reach out to the LGBT community. The pastor and the church ended its policy of banning LGBT members who are unwilling to take a vow of celibacy. The pastor explained that: “Our pastoral practice of demanding life-long celibacy, by which we meant that for the rest of your life you would not engage your sexual orientation in any way, was causing obvious harm and has not led to human flourishing.”

Unfortunately, this is not a new trend. There are merely examples of what Paul warned Timothy about. “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions” (1 Tim. 4:3).