Why I can no longer call myself Evangelical

It is sad to me that these days the word "Evangelical" has been hijacked by those who are anything but.

Princeton defines "Evangelical" as relating to or being a Christian church believing in personal conversion and the inerrancy of the Bible especially the 4 Gospels "Evangelical Christianity"; "an ultraconservative Evangelical message"

Other places define it as any Christian who holds historically orthodox or conservative theological views. In common usage, the term applies to western Christians outside the Roman Catholic Church. Also as Christians who believe in the authority of the Bible and the need of forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

Except, if you look at those using the term "Evangelical" today, it is used by those who do NOT believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, who do NOT take the Word of God as literal and as the definitive WORD of God, but believe that the Bible is open to liberal "interpretation" – as in, "God didn't really mean it when it says _____" or "The Bible was written by man and translated by man so therefore it is a book full of error". They do not want to hear the words "sin", "repentance", "in need of forgiveness", "sinner" or the granddaddy of them all . . . "Hell". They want a "cushy" Christianity. One that fits with their lifestyles and makes them feel good. They don't want to be made to feel uncomfortable. All they're really doing then is suffocating in their sin instead of being freed from it by the Grace of God and they don't even know it, nor do they want to.

How about those so called "Evangelicals" who call for the withdrawal of support from Israel, claiming that Israel is the "occupier" and that the land doesn't rightly belong to them, regardless of what is promised by God in the Bible to His chosen? In Deuteronomy 7:6 it says, "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession." Jeremiah 30:3 states, "For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it." And Paul asks in Romans 11:1-2(a) "I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew..."

Since when did Israel UN-become God's chosen? Since when did God withdraw His favor from Israel? The Bible clearly statest hat He hasn't! If God can withdraw His favor from His CHOSEN people, then what good are His promises throughout the rest of the Bible? God is unchanging. He is the same today as He was yesterday and as He will be tomorrow. God would no more turn His back on His chosen people with whom His promises rest as He would turn His back on those who have cried out to Him, "Abba, Father...help me...I need You!".

There are "Evangelicals" who support abortion. The murder of an innocent life. Do you know that it has been scientifically proven that the heartbeat of a baby in the womb starts 18 days after conception? Would you say that something with a heartbeat is alive? Has life? Is life? I'd say the answer is a resounding "YES". The Bible says in Jeremiah 1:5(a), "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…" God created the life that grows inside of a woman in her womb. Life begins at conception. God said it was so. If God said it, then so it is. No wiggle room. No alternative interpretation.

There are "Evangelicals" who are tolerant of other religions and believe that "there is more than one path to God". Ummmm, no. In John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me". If that is not true then Jesus is a liar and everything He taught and everything we know about Him and know Him to be is suspect to being a lie and is false.

How can I call myself an "Evangelical" anymore? The term "Evangelical" is no longer applicable to those who live the definitions of it that I listed above.

I like what one of my friends has down as their "Religious Views" in Facebook. Simply put, they have nothing more there than "John 14:6".

That is what I am. Instead of an "Evangelical" Christian, I am a John 14:6 Christian.