Christian Deconstructionism

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness2 is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 ESV)

In the above text that I’m sure you’re familiar with, the apostle Paul speaks of the “day of the Lord,” which most conservative Bible scholars take to mean the final seven years of human history on this planet prior to the physical return of Jesus to set up His Millennial Kingdom. Paul was trying to comfort the Thessalonian believers because a rumor had been circulating that the day of the Lord had already started. If so, then the Thessalonians were rightly concerned that they had entered the final “week” or seven years of human history and somehow missed going to meet the Lord in the air prior to the Tribulation of seven years. It seems clear that Paul had previously taught those believers that they would miss the final seven years (1 Thessalonians 5:2-5). However, they had become somewhat confused because of deception that marked the day, either through a spoken word, a spirit, or a letter they had received.

The day of the Lord of course, is not merely one specific day. It is a period of time that leads up to the physical return of Jesus to this planet. During that seven year period, His wrath is poured out onto an unbelieving world. Ultimately, whether folks believe the Bible teaches a pretrib, midtrib, prewrath, posttrib or no Rapture at all, the reality here is that we can see that the Thessalonian believers were confused and beginning to think they had arrived to the Tribulation. Paul is setting them straight be reminding them of several things. He notes that the day of the Lord will not begin until a rebellion comes first. The NKJV uses the phrase falling away. This is normally taken to mean that people will walk away from a faith they previously professed to have in Jesus. Paul also indicates that the man of lawlessness (or Antichrist), will be revealed. By being revealed, he will seen for who he actually is, not what he initially projects to the world. He is the “son of destruction” who will go into the newly built Jewish Temple – likely the Holiest of All – and sit on the mercy seat (the Ark of the Covenant), and proclaim himself to be God to the entire world.

That is the incident that reveals his true nature and it occurs at the midpoint of the coming Tribulation. Antichrist will be Satanically inspired to defy the Living God. Once he accomplishes peace in the Middle East, allowing the Temple to be rebuilt, he wastes no time in going inside and desecrating it. In essence, it will be a replay of what Antiochus IV Epiphanes did to the Jewish temple standing in 168BC. At that time, he also killed many Jews, including priests, then went into the Temple and sacrificed a pig on the altar. This of course, desecrated the Jewish temple, making it no longer suitable for worship.

Having laid that foundation for readers, I want to focus on the meaning of rebellion or falling away. Paul stated that the Tribulation cannot start until there first comes a massive falling away by people who had previously professed their allegiance to Jesus. This falling away is tantamount to rebelling against God, literally turning their backs on Him and walking away. People who have consistently said that they are/were Christian, will come to a point where they will utterly reject that entire idea.

There are actually two groups of people within this rebellious/falling away group. Most of the time, people focus on the more obvious group; that group of people who simply stop practicing Christianity for whatever reason. They walk away from any sense of what they used to practice when they claimed to be Christian. It usually starts with them stating they don’t know what they believe anymore.

They often end up doing an about face, eventually turning completely from God toward atheism (or paganism). They spend the rest of their lives in smug arrogance looking down on those who have not yet seen the light where Christianity is concerned. They come to believe there is no God and that beyond the grave, lies nothing.

However, there is another group within this same group that is not often discussed though it is a growing concern, especially within today’s evangelical circles. This particular group won’t necessarily physically walk away from Christianity. They don’t often leave their pulpits, stop writing their books or cease to go on the speaking circuit. They continue being pastors and Christian leaders within the visible Church, however, they will turn their backs on God in their hearts with their newly adopted beliefs that does not align with traditional Christianity. This is referred to as deconstructing their faith. It seems to be all the rage within Christendom today.

Folks, as I’m sure you’re aware, this has been going on for some time and is simply increasing in numbers. I know of many people who have “come out” to announce that they are no longer practicing Christians. You probably know of these people as well. In a growing number of cases, many are coming out as gay, lesbian or transgender. Often, these people do leave Christianity. However, there are many more (seemingly), who are not necessarily leaving their pulpits or positions of leadership within the visible Church, though their disposition toward God and Christianity has changed, as seen in their evolving doctrinal viewpoints.

GotQuestions dot org[1] notes that “Deconstruction” is the heading most recently applied to the process of questioning, doubting, and ultimately rejecting aspects of Christian faith.“[1] Rather than walking away from Christianity, many of these folks start openly doubting aspects of what they have always held to be true, while remaining in their positions of authority. It’s all done with an air of compassion, honesty and questioning so as not to trigger a mass rejection of their newfound doubting.

The results of deconstructionism are often seen when a person questions what they’ve always believed, especially in the area of sexual morality. In today’s world, the most common moral question that is being addressed concerns LGBTQ issues. Pastor Michael Grant did a short video on this recently that I would recommend.[2] In it, he notes the process used by many leaders within Christendom to re-evaluate their beliefs and to eventually redirect the thinking of their congregations so to bring them along with them.

Grant notes, for instance, a pastor of a large evangelical church begins to question the subject of homosexuality and begins to promote the notion that Christians need to become more tolerant of those within the gay community. One such church in Grant’s area did just this very thing. Why? As it turns out, the pastor’s son came to him and admitted to being gay. The pastor, not wanting to ostracize his son, became tolerant (“loving”) and began to push this tolerance from the pulpit. As Grant also notes, he went from pushing tolerance to pushing the full embrace of homosexuality.

This is what many well known leaders within the evangelical movement have been doing. It’s selective compassion though. Let’s look at this pragmatically from another perspective. Would that same pastor, who found out that his son was a serial thief, adulterer or alcoholic and came to him admitting it, become tolerant of that son’s behavior and teach his congregants that they should do the same? Would that pastor argue that his son was “born that way” and loving compassion should be extended to him?

The underlying belief where homosexuality (or transgenderism), is concerned is that those folks cannot help themselves because they were allegedly born that way. IF they’re born that way, how can they be responsible? In essence, if they are born that way, then the argument goes that God made them that way.

The truth? That line of thinking is fully blasphemous. God did not make them that way anymore than He made any of us sinners. We all have our own particular sins that we tend to hide or overlook, but are often drawn to because of our sin nature and the fact that we are sinners. Whether it’s lust, jealously, homosexuality, stealing, alcoholism, drug addiction, or some other sin, it’s never God’s fault. It’s our fault. We know the Bible teaches that God made people male and female and Jesus Himself emphasized this when He said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Matthew 19:3-6). In that statement, He was agreeing that there are only two genders and that marriage is between one man and one woman, not two men or two women. He didn’t have to state, “I believe…” in front of it. It’s clear what He knew to be truth. How far global society has fallen from God’s plan in marriage.

No pastor (or Christian parent), if his son come to him and admitted that he robbed banks for a living or was a practicing alcoholic or drug addict, should ever capitulate to that son and become more tolerant of his behavior. This is lunacy, yet it is too often done in the area of sexual sin, specifically anything that falls under the LGBTQ banner. No one wants to offend those folks because the accusations of hate and bigotry come fast and furiously.

Unfortunately, what is increasingly occurring within today’s Christendom is just that, a growing tolerance of sins God hates. We have too many within Evangelical circles who are making all sorts of excuses about what God specifically calls sinful. As someone who is a member of a Southern Baptist Church (and ordained within that denomination), I’m saddened to realize the number of leaders within the SBC who want to downplay the sin of homosexuality, yet they would never downplay any other non-sexual sin. Some are even trying to turn Romans 1 on its head and derive a reverse meaning from it, believing and teaching that Paul was referring not to simple homosexuality between two people, but serial adultery. The lengths people will go to change God’s meaning to suit themselves is astounding.

The leaders doing this are involved in a form of deconstructionism. They are questioning what they’ve always believed and have arrived to the point where they make excuses for those caught up in sexual sins of homosexuality/lesbianism and/or transgenderism. Because of their questioning, their beliefs are “evolving.” This is a big part of the falling away/rebellion that is now occurring within the visible Church.

While the beliefs of these leaders change (under the guise of compassion and love), they actually end up rejecting what God has revealed as truth. Yet, they don’t actually leave formal Christianity. They continue preaching, teaching and writing books, often using Marxist techniques to get folks to come along with them in their error. This is becoming a huge part of the falling away or rebellion that Paul highlighted to the Thessalonian believers. In fact, it would not surprise me to learn that this second group of people who turn their backs on God and His truth while remaining in positions of Christian leadership, are far larger than those who reject God altogether in favor of atheism or forms of paganism.

A number of years ago, I met several men who had been actively involved in the pastoral ministry, but then left it completely and Christianity. I wrote about them at the time and the reason I did was because of their newfound “freedom” in their new positions of atheism. While at one time, they had spent years in the pastorate, they ultimately left and are now comfortably at the point of denying the truth of the Bible and God Himself. They have rejected and continue to actively reject God in favor of their newly embraced atheism. God has turned them over to themselves (Romans 1).

However, the more dangerous portion of that falling away group is by far, those who are well known leaders within Christendom because of their books, their winsome personalities, leadership skills and their sermons. The average person  enjoys hearing them speak from their pulpits. These leaders, as I’ve stated before, are often very good to excellent at nuancing things within God’s Word to the point of changing God’s intended meaning to support their newly drawn conclusions. Their sermons are drenched in compassion and empathy, doing their best to guide people away from God’s truth and into error.

I believe this group of people within the falling away/rebellion group will grow to the point of outnumbering those who walk away toward atheism. Those who remain in the pulpits as Christian leaders are far more dangerous than those who simply walk away from God to atheism. At least this latter group is not actively trying to convert Christians away from God but are content in their newfound freedom to deny Him. They are content to allow Christians to continue in their superstitious beliefs. The other group that remains in their pulpits, continues writing books and speaking, does much greater damage to the Body of Christ because they continue teaching based very loosely on Scripture, though denying its truth and efficacy, through their virtue signaling and callous rebranding of truth within God’s Word.

It would not surprise me to see more leaders in churches and Christian institutions deconstructing their beliefs as time goes on, though not outwardly walking away from the faith (even though their hearts will be far from God’s truth). They will stay put in their congregations or positions of authority and teach their nuanced (and erroneous) beliefs so that people who follow them will become very much like them in their leaving God and His truth, while remaining in the visible Church.

As Christians we certainly need to be compassionate toward the lost and even toward those who are in the process of deconstructing themselves. However, true compassion never leads us to compromise or adopting an attitude of tolerance to something that God calls an abomination (regardless of the sin itself).

Difficult days are here for all of us. It’s becoming harder to find a solid church with a pastor that teaches actual biblical truth. Too many seem more interested in compromising with the world and tolerating the very things that God hates. Of course, we should never hate the sinner, but we should hate what sin does to them as it can do to us.

God has made Himself very clear in His Word. Leave it to those who are guided by self-assured arrogance to whittle away at it in order to arrive to opposite conclusions. This is deconstructionism and it is seriously infecting the visible Church as Paul warned that it would some 2,000 years ago.

Unfortunately, we are there now.

[1] https://www.gotquestions.org/deconstruction.html

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BE6az_0MzY

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Source: https://studygrowknowblog.com/2025/03/25/christian-deconstructionism/