Question:  Dear Greg,

            Is it true that only a few “called out ones” are being called now to be a light to this dark world and/or to preach the gospel?

            Please answer this question today as I am attending a Bible study tonight that is teaching that all mankind is not being called at this time.

            Thank you,

            Joanne

Answer:  Dear Joanne,

            This argument—that “only a few called out ones” are being called now to be lights to this dark world and/or to preach the gospel is a sales pitch used by small movements that are trying to promote their distinctiveness to the potential convert.  The idea is this: “we are the only true church, there aren’t many of us, and there is a good reason—God said it would be that way.”

            Following that exaggerated truth claim comes a number of “proof texts” pulled out of their context from all over the Bible, so as the proofs are presented the pages of the Bible will be flying almost as fast as the sales pitch about the one and only true church.

            People fall for unbiblical teaching like this because:

1.      They do not know their Bible well and cannot discern when someone is torturing the Scripture (Script-torture).  They are impressed by someone who flips to scriptures all over the Bible, “lines them up”, and supposedly “proves” something.  But, using that method one can make the Bible say absolutely anything—and that’s the point.  Such folks usually come to the Bible to use it and abuse it with a conclusion they are going to prove in the Bible come hell or high water. Then, they twist the Bible into seeming to be a partner in their fatally flawed thinking, rather than coming to the Bible to find the truth that God has for them 

2.      People love to be told that they are special and unique, or at least that they will become that way if they simply fall into line with the unbiblical teachings of the small group that promotes these ideas.

            Fact is—Christianity has been around for almost 2000 years.  When someone or some group claims to be the “one and only”, they are at best ignorant of the history of Christianity, or at worst blaspheming what God has been doing in the lives of Christian men and women for almost 2000 years.  One of the major core beliefs of the Christian church is that there is one universal body of Christ—a group of believers that is a church without walls, without physical corporation.  Thus, there is no one incorporated church that owns God—but God has children in many denominations as well as those who are not members of any denomination.  This does not mean that everyone is a Christian, it simply means that no one group has an exclusive franchise to market God here on earth.

            But I suspect if you go to this Bible study and hear that “only a very few” are called now, that exclusivism won’t be the only heretical idea you will hear—or that you will hear in time.  Get ready to hear an attack on other core doctrines that all Christians have believed.  You may well hear attacks on such beliefs and doctrines as the Trinity, the deity of Jesus Christ and salvation by grace through faith.  Even though lip service might be given to the word “grace”, at the end of the day cultic groups will teach that salvation is a partnership between God and humans.  They will say that part of it is God’s grace, part of it is our obedience, and part of it is the character we build—and this teaching is completely unbiblical!

            Hope this helps with your question.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht