Celebrity Pastors and Modern Preachers

Celebrity pastors and modern preachers pander to the masses, peddling God's Word for their own benefit (2 Corinthians 2:17).

Titus 1:10 warns us against false teachers: 'For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.'

 The truth is that many (but not all) modern pastors love the world, love being adored, love praise and the attainment of things; they do not love the sheep. They have been given flocks to shepherd. They are failing their flocks.

Love of the sheep is displayed through obedience of Christ's teachings, through the teaching of scripture and the sharing of Christ (Colossians 1:10). Ask yourself at the end of church service: 'Did my pastor's message increase my understanding of God and His Word?'

They teach through platitudes and modern (non-biblical) quotations, pictures and downloaded sermons approved by the World Council of Churches, instead of being led by the Holy Spirit.

You never even hear of the Holy Spirit anymore.

TIP: You can tell if your pastor is not teaching in line with the Spirit's guidance when he teaches a month or months long program, rigorously sticking to his prescribed message and allowing no room for divine inspiration. He has an agenda, not a message. Jeremiah 10:23 tells us that it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. And yet, modern pastors are choosing their own steps, and by extension they are choosing our steps for us, when we listen without to them without allowing God to open our hearts to the truth.

They put too much of themselves into the lesson (performance), and not enough of God. Their cheesy teachings are designed to appeal to the largest possible all-inclusive group, at the expense of biblical integrity.

The truth is that people who are offended at God's Word are in the wrong, and need to be told so, or they will never be led to repentance. If they don't repent, they will not be forgiven; if they are not forgiven, they will not enter into paradise. Pastors do people no favor by sugar-coating or watering down gospel truths. When he does this, the only person your butterfly pastor is serving is himself, by trying to be friends with the world and not offend anyone.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is offensive, to those who are dying without its truths (1 Corinthians 1:18)!

Today we are no longer led by the morally upright, by shepherds who fear and obey God. Today our teachers are morally bankrupt celebrities, popular facebookers, and megachurch gurus who spout 'progressive' 'all-inclusive' and 'New Thought' philosophies in place of sound biblical teachings and godly living, which means obedience to God's commands.

Unfortunately it seems there is no room for God's will in the modern church.
  
Don't take my word for it. Search the scriptures, for in them you have knowledge and wisdom and power:

• Psalm 10:3-4
• Psalm 39
• Psalm 111:10
• Proverbs 16
• 1 Thessalonians 1:3
• 1 Corinthians 4:4
• Acts 18:21  

So what is a Christian to do? Perhaps you should search for a bible-teaching church. (The very fact that this term exists is a sad commentary.) Perhaps you should listen to old time teachers on line.

The only advice I can give you without reservation and with absolute Christian conviction is to search the scriptures. Spend time in the Word and in prayer, seeking God's guidance, for the help of man is useless (Psalm 60:11). Be cheerful, rejoice, for God is on the throne, and His thoughts for you are thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).