By God’s eye-opening grace it has become clear to His
servant that Satan is at work in the American church today.
One of the devil’s methods for finding himself a pew inside
the House of God was revealed to me as I passed into the sanctuary the other
Sunday; the usher handed me the days’ bulletin, and inside was a single page ‘guide’
on how to serve your church. When I sat down and read it, I was instantly floored, horrified by its contents. While others in the congregation seemed pleased
to read it, reading nothing untoward into it, I was directed by God’s divine
perception to see the truth lurking between the seemingly innocent words.
So now I am called by God to expose this method, this device
used by Satan, and written by a self-proclaimed Christian who describes himself
as ‘ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture’ at a seminary.
Our ancient foe has settled
comfortably into the American church, and this is one of the ways he has done
it. Once we have exposed his device, we will be able to recognize it when we
see it, and then, protected by the Shield of Faith, we will not be taken in by
his deceptions.
The letter opens by stating that we are the light of the
world and that when this light is brought together through the ‘church’ it
gains intensity, so that its focus becomes a laser beam. Then it says ‘So, what’s
wrong?’
Helpfully, it answers its own question, with a surprisingly
candid statement: ‘Most churches are anything but energy-filled. Hell seems to
not only be standing its ground, but gaining territory.' At this point the
letter could go on to provide useful ways we could combat this tragedy. But
instead of prompting believers to pray and denounce corruption and falsehoods
in the church, the venerated ‘ranked adjunctive professor of theology’ goes on
to tell us that we should not think about these things, that we should pretend
they don’t exist. Here are his words, accompanied by a laser-focused translation
into its real meaning:
·
‘Let’s bracket off all these things churches are
doing wrong today.’ (Don’t expose sin; it just makes our business look bad)
·
‘Let’s put aside the scandals, the splits and
the outdated strategies.’ (Because these things are just how the world works
today)
·
Let’s not worry for a moment about any disappointments
you may have with leadership.’ (Those in church authority have paid their way
there, and can do whatever they like, so stop whining if they are failing to
teach you Christ crucified)
·
Let’s talk instead about what any individual
person, in any particular church, can do to help their church reach its full
redemptive potential. In other words, let’s go after the lowest-hanging
solution-oriented fruit.
Okay, let’s translate this last, offensive statement.
Our adjunctive professor clearly doesn’t want the body
questioning the head, which is straight up unbiblical (Acts 17:11, Titus 2:15, 1
John 4). Instead, he cribs Robert Kennedy— ‘ask not what your church can do for
you, but what you can do for your church.’ Herein lies a major theme today.
Our pastors and radio pastors are constantly promoting the
importance of your local church; their intimation clearly being that you cannot
be a Christian unless you support your local church. Let’s get something clear:
THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH WANTING TO GET SOMETHING OUT OF GOING TO CHURCH.
You go to church to (1)
worship God with other believers, and (2) to arm yourself with the Word of God,
so that you can be a proper Christian the rest of the week. The fundamental
problem is that our pastors and teachers are not arming us with the
Word, because they are too busy stripping down tenets of our faith and watering
down scripture to make it more palatable for wider masses.
And this part, getting the wider masses, making our faith
more appealing to more people, is what the professor means when he writes ‘help
the church reach its full redemptive potential.’ He’s not talking about
teaching and learning redemption, but about getting more people into the pews
(or to be more precise, to get more money into the offering plates).
But that’s not enough for the professor. He decides to refer
to the congregation of a church as ‘the lowest-hanging fruit’. Nice. Mock us
while failing to arm us with the Word.
That term ‘solution-oriented’ is one of those new-age self-help
expressions that mean precisely nothing at all. It’s designed to sound
intelligent, to make you think that the writer knows his business and that you
should therefore blindly follow his advice. Such slimy tactics are exposed in
the eye-opening parody/expose
The (Psycho) Path to Success.
As if that’s not
enough, the professor concludes his prologue with this humdinger:
‘Isn’t that what all
of us will answer for at the end of our lives anyway? Not what others did, but
what we did?’
Did you catch his tactic there? Do you see what he is
inferring? The professor tells us to ignore the scandals in the
church, pretend there is no corruption, because it doesn’t matter to you, for
you will have to answer for what you did.
As intelligent as the professor may be, he doesn’t appear to
realize that he has just undercut his entire manifesto. The bible tells us
that, yes, we will have to answer for what we did, but that includes failing to
do good and denounce evil wherever we see it (1 John 5:16, Matthew 18:15-18, James
4:17 also known as Sin of Omission).
If we see corruption in the church, it is our sacred duty to
expose it, to bring it to light, which is what I am doing here. In advising us
to ignore it, the professor is setting himself
up for judgment by Almighty God.
He goes on to provide a baker’s dozen of ways to help your
local church. He is careful to use self-improvement expressions and to
emphasize positive thoughts and words as the true power behind your life—again,
like we’re eating great tips out of the palm of a life-coach or super hip guru.
‘Be generous with your financial resources’ he advises. I give from a grateful
heart, but not everything I give goes to the ‘church’. I like to know where my
tithes are going, to the poor and the needy, the sick and unchurched. I get the sneaking suspicion that the money I put in the church offering plate is funding my
pastor’s next vacation cruise.
He admonishes us to ‘give an umbrella of grace to your
pastor . . . be one of their floaties.’ I’m sorry, but a deacon, a church
leader, is biblically held to a higher standard, and therefore must work to
live up to the biblical standard as he is called (1 Timothy 3 is very clear on
what is required of these pastors, and leaves no room for indulgences of the
flesh).
He tells us to send our pastors positive encouraging emails.
Okay, maybe I’ll do that once. It just seems a smidgen backwards, the sheep
feeding the shepherd, but whatever.
Like a good student of the Word/Faith movement, he suggests
we gossip about our church with our neighbors, in a positive way (this should be
easy, since we are ignoring the negative actions in our church). He resorts
once again to fancy uplifting but ultimately nonsense new-age phraseology: ‘Unleash
positive public relations in your neighborhood and community.’ Yeah! Now I’m
totally psyched. After all, the bible is all up about gossiping . . . er, wait,
is it the other way around?
His next line of advice is really just more of the same: ‘Work
hard on having a positive attitude of a cup half-full instead of a cup
half-empty.’ Hmm, nothing about the Holy Spirit yet, or on thinking of the
things of heaven . . . but half-full cups are good, in a shallow meaningless
modern sort of way.
For his next suggestion our professor tells us to handle
disagreements biblically, citing the same verse he used before for another tip
(I’m beginning to suspect it’s the only verse he knows). Handling friction
biblically is sound advice, but instead of sticking to scripture, he can’t help
but throw in yet another empty maxim: ‘In general, just practice the habit of
agreeing to disagree agreeably.’ This is exactly the sort of useless advice
filling the pages of self-help books, and spilling out of giant speakers at life
coaching seminars.
For his 12th tip, the professor encourages us to
welcome all manner of sinners to church. Those with tattoos and piercings and practicing
lifestyle choices contrary to scripture are to be welcomed in—and so they
should be. After all, churches are filled with sinners. All have sinned and
fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
But once again he can’t leave it at that. He goes on to say
that we should ‘welcome everyone’s differences and scandals with the greater
scandal of grace. Not affirmation, necessarily, but always with acceptance, so
that they can experience that grace for themselves. It’s the Jesus way.’
Okay,
Jesus forgave sins, and then accepted the repented believer. Jesus never overlooked
un-repented sin. He exposed it for what it is—sin. Sin must first be exposed as such, or repentance and salvation will not follow.
For his final trick, the professor finally offers up
righteous advice: pray.
But then he goes on to tell an old tale about how women
praying in church basements were the anchor of the church, and by extension the
kingdom of God. Once more the professor here is completely disregarding the cross,
salvation, repentance, the importance of leaning not on our own understanding
but on the Word of God (Proverbs 3:5), and the vital truth that the church is
the body of Christ, and that Jesus is its head.
Why no mention of Jesus, professor? Why so much stress on
the importance of the church, but not on the Rock on which it is based? Why not
a single mention of the Holy Spirit and His central role in the life of the
church?
My fellow believers, there is much more to the Christian life
than pretty little sayings and inspirational adages. Every believer is called
to a spiritual life. A life filled with the Holy Spirit, with the testimony and
power to serve God. It is a bold life of compassion and love, one devoted
utterly to the will of our heavenly Father. The bible makes very clear what is
sin, and how we are to identify and expose it as such. Billions of eternal
souls hang in the balance. They won't be saved with pretty sayings and empty adages.
If you are serious about your faith, about serving
God, then you need much more than a baker’s dozen of tips—you need the Word of
God, which is ‘living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart’ (Hebrews 4:12).
It is according to that verse, by God’s revelatory grace,
that I was able to discern the intents of the professor’s heart, and thereby
expose them.
Real faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God
(Romans 10:17). No pretty expression, no motivational self-improvement seminar can
save you—only Jesus saves. You know Him by studying Him, in the Old Testament
and in the New.
I have searched the professor’s blog and found it just as
wanting in the presence of the Holy Spirit as this letter (which is one of his
posts). Either my pastor copied it from the blog or was sent it in a pastor
newsletter. If you received it in your church bulletin, beware. He and others like him would have us believe that heaven is only 7 Steps away. There is no mention of the desperate need of Jesus Christ in every life, or of the power and grace of the Holy Spirit.
‘Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits,
whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the
world’ (1 John 4:1-6).
Now you are armed with the discerning Word of God. Use it
wisely! God bless!
