Why I Post the Things I Post

In late 2011 I went to church one Thursday for our weekly young adults meeting.  Someone I knew was there already and watching a sermon on a computer.  At this point my theological education was still in its infancy.  I had done my Old Testament Surveys, Systematic Theology I and II, a preaching class, hermeneutics, and a couple of other non-Bible classes.  Even then, watching just about 5-10 minutes of the sermon I could tell something was off.  

The pastor could not stop talking about himself.  The Bible verses he was yanking out of their contexts didn’t really even support the points he was trying to make.  

It was a life-changing moment in a very real sense.  I realized then, as an aspiring preacher and teacher in Christ’s church, that the local pastor’s voice is not the only voice that most Christians are going to hear.  Social media and podcasts have made it easy for any gifted communicator to build a large audience.  Some of those preachers are Biblically faithful preachers of the gospel, some are not. 

A few months later I took Systematic Theology III, which had a primary focus on the church.  As part of that class I began examining what was happening in the broader church world.  Specifically, for my major paper I looked at the Charismatic movement.  

In Acts 17 we’re told that as Paul saw all the idols in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him.  While I don’t know exactly what that was like for Paul, I think I experienced something similar as I started surveying the global church.  

I saw all kinds of nonsense taking place in Charismatic circles, and not only taking place but being attributed to the Holy Spirit of God.

I saw theological liberals denying the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, picking and choosing which parts of the Bible they want to keep based on nothing more than their own feelings about what is true.

I saw the seeker-sensitive megachurch movement engaging in all sorts of gimmicks to get people to attend church, where the pastors then deliver Christless sermons full of practical advice for life improvement.

Missing from all these movements, which combined together contain the majority of professing Christians in the world today, was Christ and him crucified.  Missing from all of these movements was a clear articulation of the gospel - that all people were born dead in trespasses and sins, that God being holy and just cannot simply overlook our sins, that God being holy and just has righteous wrath towards sin and sinners, but that God being rich in mercy and because of his great love sent his Son Jesus to live a perfect life on our behalf, suffer God’s wrath in our place on the cross, and rise three days later proving that sin and death are defeated and guaranteeing our own resurrection to eternal life, provided we obey Christ’s command to repent and believe the gospel. 

Seeing all of this, continuing to see all of this, I cannot stay silent.  

I’ve ruffled a lot of feathers over the last few years with the things I’ve posted on social media and the blog posts I’ve written.  I’ve been called judgmental, arrogant, divisive and worse.  

It seems that some people think I look for fault in every famous Christian and attack every one I disagree with over any minor point of theology.  That’s not the case at all.  I could go down the list of all my favorite theologians and pastors and tell you where I differ with them on secondary and tertiary issues.  I disagree with my Presbyterian and Lutheran friends over infant baptism.  I disagree with John MacArthur’s eschatology (end times theology). I disagree with Matt Chandler and David Platt’s belief in the continued existence of the sign gifts of the Spirit.  I think Wayne Grudem’s teaching on fallible prophecy has done great harm to the global church. Yet all of these men are rock solid on the truth of God’s word and the proclamation of the gospel.

Many other popular preachers, teachers, and authors either preach a distorted gospel, like the prosperity gospel adding temporal health and wealth to the gospel or the seeker-sensitive prosperity-lite promising better marriages, better kids, better sex, and better careers.  Some, like Bill Johnson who I mentioned yesterday, are actually heretical in their teachings on the person and work of Christ. 

None of this is surprising.  Jesus warned about false teachers.  Paul warned about false teachers.  John warned about false teachers. Peter warned about false teachers. Jude warned about false teachers.

Almost all of the New Testament after the Gospels and Acts was written to correct false teaching or wrong practices in the early church.  What’s baffling to me is that the very issues that the New Testament letters were written to correct are the same issues that concern me today!  2000 years and we still haven’t learned what God in his goodness had written down for us.

My heart is for the church.  My heart is to warn people to flee from false teaching and false teachers.  And here’s the truth - I don’t go looking for false teaching.  I’m not a “heresy hunter”.  Day after day after day I see my Facebook timeline and Twitter feed full of quotes from and links to some of the most dangerous false teachers on the planet today.  I’m not hunting it; I can’t escape it.

I’ve used my social media accounts to fight back, in a sense.  Why would I stay silent when I see error?  Why should I let the false teachers use social media to build their audiences while I sit back and post nothing but happy, positive, encouraging thoughts?  I can’t. I won’t.  

This is personal.  People I know and love, people whose souls I care for, are being led astray by wolves masquerading as pastors of Christ's sheep.  

I cannot stay silent.  I will not stay silent.  

I do acknowledge that perhaps in my zeal to combat error I haven't made it clear enough why I'm so zealous.  In trying to point out the counterfeit gospels I may not have not done a good enough job of articulating the true gospel.  I started this blog in an attempt to develop thoughts beyond 140 character tweets or short Facebook posts.  I can't say that I haven't had time to write over the last few months, but I haven't had the mental energy as the last few months were challenging on a number of fronts.  Numerous times I sat down to write something and just couldn't get the words from my brain to the keyboard.  

I want everyone to know that I'm always open for conversation about the things I post.  If you think I'm wrong, let's talk about it.  If you think I'm being unnecessarily offensive, let's talk about it.  I only ask that you come prepared to talk about what God has actually said in His written word, so the discussion will be based on God's truth and not our personal feelings.  

  

Why You Should Stop Singing Bethel Redding and Hillsong Songs in Your Church

At 34 years old, I’ve lived roughly half my life with the Internet and half without.  I’m old enough to remember a time when pornography wasn’t a mouse click away.  20 years ago Playboy was the most well-known name in porn.  I remember people joking about having Playboy or other pornographic magazines so they could read the articles.  It was absurd, of course.  No one who possessed a Playboy magazine was interested in reading the articles.

But can you imagine parents buying a Playboy magazine, cutting out all the pictures of naked women or any references to anything sexual and then giving their child a Playboy to read the articles?  No.  There are thousands of other books, magazines, or newspapers that a child could read.  Giving a child a Playboy, even with the nudity removed, would be exposing that child to something harmful to his or her soul while giving an endorsement that the magazine was okay.  

What do the preceding two paragraphs have to do with the title of this post, you ask?  My answer: singing the music of Bethel Redding or Hillsong in your church is akin to giving your child a Playboy magazine with the nudity removed.  

How?  Let me explain.

Bethel Redding is a cult.  By any definition of a cult, Bethel Redding qualifies.  Bill Johnson, lead pastor of Bethel Redding, teaches that Jesus was not God when he performed miracles, teaches that Jesus was born again, and teaches that anyone who interprets Paul’s thorn in the flesh as a sickness or illness is guilty of preaching a different gospel.  It is, in fact, Bill Johnson who is preaching a different Jesus and a different gospel.  That is not a charge I make recklessly.  It is also not a charge I make alone.    

Tony Miano has recently started a blog to catalogue some of the false teaching that is coming out of Bethel Redding.  You can read and see more here if you’d like to.

Bethel Redding is dangerous, and thousands of people from around the world are traveling to Bethel to be a part of what is taking place there.  

Hillsong is a little more difficult to pin down, but I believe Hillsong should also be classified as a cult.  Discernment with Hillsong is a little more difficult than with Bethel Redding because the leaders of Hillsong don’t really teach anything doctrinal.  Every time I listen to a sermon by Brian Houston, Carl Lentz, Christine Caine, or anyone else associated with Hillsong, the phrase that comes to mind is “empty words.”  A lot of words are being spoken, but they are empty words, devoid of any real Biblical truth.  

You will not hear anyone from Hillsong confront people with the reality of their sinfulness.  You will not hear anyone from Hillsong call people to repentance and belief in the gospel, the very message that Jesus preached.  

Hillsong absolutely teaches a form of the prosperity gospel.  The Hillsong teaching is that Jesus will make every aspect of your temporal, earthly life better, if only you’ll let him.  

If you read the words of Jesus and the Apostles recorded in the New Testament, if you read the earliest writings of the church fathers, and then listen to or read what Bill Johnson and the leadership of Bethel Redding are teaching, and listen to or read what Brian Houston and other leaders of Hillsong are teaching, it should be obvious that Bethel Redding and Hillsong are both in their own ways teaching an entirely different religion than the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

And here’s the thing, both Bethel Redding, through their music team Jesus Culture, and Hillsong have intentionally used their music teams to build their global empires.  It is through their music that most people are first exposed to Bethel Redding and Hillsong. 

When we sing their songs in our churches, and give credit to Bethel or Hillsong for the song, we are giving our people a silent though full endorsement of those churches and their teachings.  Though the songs themselves may be theologically sound, we are exposing our people to spiritual poison, and telling them to drink it down.  

Once we’ve given that endorsement, how do you think our people are going to respond when a Bill Johnson video or article shows up on their social media feeds?  How do you think they’re going to respond when Hillsong or Jesus Culture come to your town for a money-making concert worship experience? 

When I bring up these thoughts in conversation I’m often met with resistance.  I hear things like, “Chew the meat and spit out the bones,” or, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” Those cliches don’t mesh with the Biblical teaching.  

The Biblical teaching is to avoid such men as Bill Johnson and Brian Houston (2 Timothy 3:5).  The Biblical teaching is that an elder (pastor) in a church must both teach sound doctrine and rebuke those who contradict it, to silence them (Titus 1:9-11).  

People will often say we just need to trust our people to exercise discernment.  In a sense that’s true.  Spiritual maturity is like physical maturity, we raise a person from newborn to maturity and trust them to make the right decisions.  In any church there are going to be mature, theologically sound saints, and there are going to be baby saints who don’t yet have a grasp of sound doctrine.  Do you want to tell your new believers that Bethel Redding and Hillsong are okay, and then have them believe Bill Johnson when he teaches that Jesus was not God when he performed miracles?  Do you want to tell them that Bethel Redding and Hillsong are okay, and then have that believer thinking it’s their own fault or their own lack of faith when they find out they have cancer and healing doesn’t come?

No.  

Pastors are called to shepherd their sheep, which involves feeding their sheep the nutrition they need and protecting them from danger.  Singing songs by Bethel Redding and Hillsong in your church is opening your sheep pen to the wolves and offering them a buffet.  You’re essentially handing your children a pornographic magazine with the pornographic images removed, and trusting that he or she will grow up to recognize pornography as something evil and soul-destroying.

Would Jesus Call People to Repentance in the Aftermath of Tragedy?

Tony Miano is no stranger to controversy, receiving insults and death threats, and even arrest for the heinous crimes of calling sin what God calls sin and proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. Contrary to what is often alleged by Tony's critics, his gospel is not a gospel of hate. His gospel is the same gospel that Jesus and the Apostles preached. Tony preaches that all have sinned, and that all who repent and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins will be forgiven and have eternal life.  

It's not surprising that people who do not profess Christ find this message offensive. What is sad is that so many who profess to be Christians find this message offensive. In observing Tony's Twitter interactions and watching some of his street preaching interactions, you see that some of his most vocal critics are professing Christians who are embarrassed by his proclamation of the Biblical gospel. It's maddening to see people make bold assertions about the nature and ministry of Christ that are easily contradicted by the gospel accounts of Jesus' life and ministry.

Recently, Tony sent out a tweet in response to the news of the Nepal earthquake. You can read that tweet below, along with an example of a response by a professing Christian.

Now, let's be honest about what Tony did and did not say in the original tweet. He did not say he was glad the earthquake happened.  He did not say he was happy that buildings were destroyed.  He did not say that he was happy that people of other religions were dead.  

The event happened, and Tony said what any genuine Christian should desire, that people turn from false religions and trust in Christ.  You cannot call yourself a Christian and not desire that.  Jesus came not to merely demonstrate love, but to seek and to save the lost. Paul's burden for the lost people of Israel was so great that he said he would become accursed if it meant the salvation of Israel (Romans 9:1-3). The Jesus who is okay with people practicing false religion or remaining in their sins is a false Jesus of demonic origin.  

But was it right for Tony to use the occasion of a tragedy to call people to repentance and belief in the gospel? Are the people saying that Jesus wouldn't do so correct? Would Jesus call people to repent in the aftermath of a tragedy?

Actually there's no question to answer. Jesus did exactly that in Luke 13:1-5.  Those who say that Jesus wouldn't demonstrate an ignorance of the true Jesus.

Read Luke 13:1-5 below.

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” 

Jesus is asked about one, and then brings up another, event in which people lost their lives.  One was an act of evil, the other a tragic accident.  We don't know exactly when these events occurred or how far removed from the events Jesus was when he made these statements, but we can safely assume that everyone in the audience knew about the events, or would soon know if the slaying of the Galileans had taken place immediately before Jesus' teaching.  

Jesus' message was repent, or you too shall perish.  Jesus used the occasion of tragedy to confront people with their own sinfulness and need for forgiveness.  

The passage is immediately preceded by Luke 12:57-59.

And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”

In context, Jesus' message could not be clearer. You are on your way to face the judge for the debt of your sin, and you better settle your account before you get there or the debt will never be paid.  

Tragedy and evil remind us that we don't know when our appearance before the judge is going to come.  This isn't emotional manipulation or trying to capitalize on tragedy.  This is reality.

We are all going to die, and none of us knows when that will come.  Tragedy reminds us we could lose our lives at any moment.  Jesus himself set the example of using tragedy to remind people of the need for repentance and faith.  

Anyone who dies in their sins will suffer God's wrath for eternity.  The only way to be spared God's wrath is to repent of sin and trust Jesus, who bore God's wrath for His people on the cross in a once for all sacrifice.  

So tragedy reminds us of our own mortality and should be a reminder to Christians of the urgency of our task.  Thousands of people in Nepal woke up a few days ago with no idea that hours later they would stand before the God who made them and be judged for their sins.  Christians must urgently fulfill the Great Commission, taking the gospel to all peoples so that all who believe will not perish but have eternal life.

If you call yourself a Christian and you are ashamed of the gospel being proclaimed, you need to examine yourself to see if you are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). You cannot claim Christ while being ashamed of Christ's gospel.  You need to read the gospels and the rest of the New Testament in their entirety rather than cherry picking a few out of context verses and make sure that the Jesus you believe in is the true Jesus.

There is never a wrong time to share the gospel.  Tragedy may strike at any moment.  It is appointed for man once to die and after that comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27). As Christians, we have the message of the only possible salvation from that the judgment.  Instead of criticizing people like Tony Miano who are doing everything they can to proclaim that message to those still dead in their trespasses and sins, we should be convicted of our own apathy towards the lost and join him in proclaiming the gospel of God's glorious grace.

**Update**

I preached a sermon on Luke 13:1-5 a few years ago.  You may watch that sermon here.

Final Thoughts on the Brand: New Series

Andy Stanley concluded the Brand: New series this Sunday.  This will be my final post on the series, and probably my last post concerning Stanley for a while.  I was made aware of what he was teaching in the series when I came across an article from one of the Christian news sites.  It sounded like he was preparing to make a major announcement, and I thought would be his support of gay Christianity.  I am thankful he did not cross that bridge this month.

Stanley's big question for the series was, "What does love require of me?" He believes that for the Christian the entirety of the Old Testament and New is summed up in this question.  He even went so far as to say that both Testaments are simply commentary on how to answer that question.  Unfortunately that puts Stanley in the awkward position of disagreeing with both Jesus and Paul on the purpose of the Scriptures.  In Luke 24, where the passage the name of this blog is taken from is found, Jesus twice says that the Scriptures were given to reveal him as the Messiah, the Savior, who would suffer, die, and rise again to save people from their sins.  In 2 Timothy 3:14-16 Paul instructs Timothy to continue in what he has learned, "the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."  Asking ourselves what love requires of us in every situation is a good question to ask, very good in fact, but the purpose and application of the Scriptures goes well beyond that question.  They are given to us first of all that we would know that Jesus is the promised Messiah of Israel, and after that, to instruct us on how to live as His people.  

He even went so far as to say that the early Christians didn't need a Bible or Bible study even though, as I've already pointed out, the historical evidence, not to mention Biblical record, shows that the early church most certainly did gather together around the Old Testament Scriptures and the teaching of the Apostles, who would later write their teaching in what would become the New Testament.  The very first thing Luke says about the very first church is that they were devoted to the Apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42).

Stanley's idea is that if Christians study the Bible unbelievers won't want to join us, but if we love people won't be able to resist us.  Once again, Stanley puts himself at odds with Jesus when he says this.  In John 15:18-19 Jesus said to his disciples, and by extension all believers, "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." As loving as the early church was, and as much as the church grew, it was hated by the pagan world.  All of the Apostles met violent deaths, according to tradition. Early Christians were denied work, imprisoned, fed to lions, crucified, beheaded, burned at the stake, and used as human torches in Nero's garden.  The pagan world hated the church, and still does, because the unbelieving world hates our King.  People don't reject Christianity because of the church, they reject Christ because they are "...filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,  slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them" (Romans 1:29-32). That is the condition of all humanity until God's elect are made alive together with Christ by grace through faith.

He concluded the series by exploring four terms he claims Jesus redefined that the church has gotten wrong.

Structure - the church is a body and not a kingdom

There wasn't much to disagree with here, except that Stanley perhaps wasn't strong enough in his insistence that every believer must be engaged in a local church body.  He presented it as not ideal, where the New Testament presents it as not an option. What was ironic was his attack on consumer Christianity, while he and North Point have spearheaded the consumer Christianity movement over the last 20 years.  He very much follows the model of finding out what the people want and giving it to them.  

Authority - authority is for the benefit of the led and not the leader

Again, this statement is correct.  His conclusion, though, remains in contradiction with Jesus's words in John 15. Stanley thinks that if Christian employers would lead this way unbelievers would want to work for us, but we don't see that happening in the real world even now.  By all accounts Chick-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby are exemplary employers, yet they're hated by many unbelievers who are hostile to God.

Then, after spending the whole series talking about the church, and telling the ladies to come and listen in week 5 of the series, he suddenly shifted from the church to marriage.  He did not endorse female leadership in the church, but presented a standard egalitarian argument from Ephesians 5:21-22. So it appears that for all his criticism of the church being controlled by sacred men, he still believes that the church should be led by men.  

Spirituality - spirituality is measured by how well one loves, not by how much he knows

The problem here is that Stanley tries to put these two against each other as if they're mutually exclusive. The New Testament model is know, then do.  The disciples followed Jesus and learned long before he sent them out.  We don't know what to do if we don't know what to do.  The Bible, and the Bible alone, instructs us on what true love for our neighbor looks like.  

For example, the world tells us to love them by affirming their behavior.  The Bible says love them by telling them that behavior will kill them.  The world says love me by allowing me to continue in my sin. The Bible says you cannot be in Christ and continue in sin.  We must know what the Bible says, or we are going to end up loving our neighbors in a way that is actually hate.  Hatred, because it leaves them condemned under the terrifying wrath of God while we tell them everything is okay.  

In all Stanley's talk about love in this series, it has always been about action. Demonstrating love by serving your neighbor.  There is also a command for Christians is to speak the truth in love, which means sometimes telling people things they don't want to hear because we love them.  This command in Ephesians 3 comes in the context of the church growing to maturity so that it will not be tossed to and fro by false doctrine.  Yes, part of Christian maturity, or spirituality, is growing in a knowledge of the truth.  Part of spirituality and loving our neighbors is speaking the truth when someone is believing the wrong things.  

Earlier in the same sermon Stanley talked about the church as a body.  Different parts of the body have different functions, an argument Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 12. Some Christians have gifts of teaching and discernment, gifts that are given for the edification of the body.  While people who possess those gifts are not excused from serving their neighbors in other ways that are needed, the primary way possessors of those gifts will serve the church, the primary way they will love their neighbors, is teaching sound doctrine and protecting the church from false doctrine.  Those gifts are just as valid as the gifts of mercy, compassion, and service.  In Stanley’s mind though, those people are haters for calling out false doctrine and need to be shaken off.  Funny, isn't it, that Stanley talks about loving neighbors while showing utter contempt for those who dare to compare what he is teaching to the written word of God.

Holiness - holiness in the Jesus movement is about being a part of, rather than setting oneself apart from

The overall message of this section was on target.  As Christians we’re not to simply huddle together as Christians and have nothing to do with the unbelievers.  We are to engage with them.  Yet, and this is where I think Stanley was incredibly sloppy, we are called to be holy and set apart in the midst of that engagement.  We don’t live like the world even as we engage with the world.  We live according to the commands of Jesus our King.  Jesus engaged with sinners, but he didn’t join them in their sin.  There’s a very important distinction that needs to be made.

It was interesting that Stanley brought up the Great Commission and the necessity of going and making disciples, but failed to mention that part of that same commission is teaching disciples to obey all that Jesus commanded.  That means that we need to obey the New Testament imperatives, all of them, that Stanley thinks are only examples of how to love our neighbors.  Jesus didn’t say to only love our neighbors through acts of service and kindness.  

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I really get the sense that Stanley believes the Bible itself will keep people from coming to Jesus.  I could be wrong, but it just seems that he's embarrassed by much of what the Bible says, and wants to present a Jesus and a faith that is more palatable to unbelievers than the Jesus and the message found in Scripture.  

Jesus' half-brother Jude wrote though, "Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ" (Jude 3-4).  There is one faith, and it has been delivered.  We're not permitted to change the message to make it more acceptable.  Jesus called sin sin, we must do so.  Jesus talked about future judgment and the fires of Hell, we must do so.  Jesus taught sound doctrine and warned against those who would teach falsely, we must do so.  

Jesus was the perfect embodiment of love, he poured himself out for the good of others, and in the end the people who willingly received his gifts demanded his crucifixion, spit on him, beat him, and mocked him when he claimed to be God and called them to repentance.  The world will love us as long we only do good deeds.  The minute we proclaim Jesus as King, confront people with their sinfulness, and call them to repentance and faith they will hate us, unless God in his mercy grants them repentance.  We cannot make the gospel more attractive to unregenerate sinners, only the Holy Spirit can awaken people to new life, give them eyes to see and ears to hear.  Our responsibility is only faithfulness to our King in all things, including the proclamation of the message he has given us.

The message is that all people are born dead in trespasses and sins.  We are born hating God and in rebellion against him.  But God, being rich in mercy, and because of his great love, sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to live a life without sin.  Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected.  He is coming back to judge the world in righteousness.  All those who by God's grace through faith repent and believe in Jesus Christ will be forgiven of their sins, and on the last day resurrected to eternal life.    

Andy Stanley's Dishonest, Deceptive, and Dangerous Teaching

This past Sunday I stayed up late to watch North Point’s Sunday morning service online, and once again, I found Andy Stanley’s sermon to be so shockingly bad that I feel compelled to write about it.  I remain convinced that this particular sermon series is going to have long lasting effects on American evangelicalism.  Stanley is not just a local church pastor, or even just the leader of a network of churches.  He is an influencer of the influencers in American Evangelicalism.  I am certain that we are going to see the content of this sermon series being repeated by other pastors around the country in the months ahead.

Stanley’s contention is that the early church got off to a great start, but throughout the history of the church there has been a tendency to return to what he is calling the Temple Model, which is characterized by sacred places, sacred texts, sacred men, and sincere followers.  It is absolutely true that the visible church has been corrupted time and again through the history of the church.  The church has an enemy, and that enemy will attack the church from without, through persecution and pressure to conform to the world, and within, through false doctrine.  What’s fascinating is that as you look back over the history of the church, what you see is that the greater the persecution against the church, the purer the church tends to be.  The freer the church is, false doctrine and corruption abound.  

The church in America has been the most free church in the history of the world.  It’s not surprising that we’ve splintered into thousands of denominations, and have spun off countless theological cults.  The Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the signs and wonders cults all originated in America.  There has been a backlash against this in recent years, but the problem is that people tend to correctly identify the problems and then offer unbiblical solutions.  The opposite error of an error is also an error.

With Stanley’s current sermon series, he has identified the wrong problems and is offering wrong solutions.  Some of those problems will be discussed below.

The Temple Model

The first problem is that Stanley has built his entire sermon series around combating something that he made up.  The Temple Model is not spoken of in Scripture.  In the history of the church, as far as I know, no one has ever identified the Temple Model as a threat or a corrupting influence on the church.  

It is particularly troubling that Stanley has repeatedly lumped the Jewish Temple system in with other pagan religions, as if there’s no difference.  I am certain that Stanley knows that God instituted the priestly system of Israel (sacred men), commanded Moses to build the Tabernacle and later allowed Solomon to build the Temple (sacred place), and instructed Moses to write down the Law and have it read to the people regularly (sacred text).  The people were commanded to obey all that God had instituted, which had they done so would have made them sincere followers.  The history of Israel is that for nearly 1000 years they disregarded almost everything God told them, and then after returning from exile the Pharisees developed over time and added to the Law, creating their own religious system in place of the instructions God had given them.  

So it is an egregious error for Stanley to present the Jewish religious system as something bad, or no different than Greek and Roman mythology and temples.  Hebrews tells us that the Tabernacle/Temple, priests, and sacrificial system were earthly copies and shadows of Heavenly things (Hebrews 8:5).  Jesus was the fulfillment of all those things.

What Jesus and the Apostles warned against was not a return to the Temple Model, but the leaven of the Pharisees.  Stanley said Sunday, “Paul said that a little bit of the Temple Model can ruin the whole thing.”  That’s false.  Entirely untrue.  Paul said nothing remotely like that. He did say a little leaven leavens the whole lump in Galatians 5:9, but the leaven he was referring to was not the Temple model, it was justification by keeping the Law as the Judaizers in Galatia were teaching. 

Where the Bible talks about sacred places, sacred texts, sacred men, and sincere followers, provided they are being obedient to what God has commanded, these things are always viewed in a very positive light.  

I don’t know why Stanley has chosen to present things this way.  I don’t know his heart motivations.  From where I’m sitting, it looks like he’s a man with an agenda, and that his agenda is not in line with God’s revealed will.

Church History

I’ve already written one post showing what the earliest non-Apostolic church fathers wrote to and about the early church.  Simply put, Stanley’s claims that the early church didn’t study the Bible are patently false.  He is not telling the truth, and he doesn’t even have to go outside the New Testament to know that the New Testament writings are important.  Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:15-16 that Paul’s writings are Scripture and believers should draw their doctrine from them. 

Writing around the year 150, long before Constantine and Nicea, Justin Martyr described what happened on Sunday gatherings of Christians: the public reading of Scripture, an exhortation by the pastor to the congregation to obey what they had heard read, taking communion together, and the collection of money which the pastor distributed to those who had need.  People gathered in a sacred place, read from a sacred text, listened to a sermon by a sacred man, and the sincere followers took communion together.  

Almost everything Stanley has said about the early church in this series is directly contradicted by the writings of the church fathers.  

NT Imperatives

My jaw literally dropped Sunday night when Stanley said that the New Testament imperatives were not rules for Christians to follow, but examples of how to love our neighbors.  In all my studies I have never come across one scholar or teacher who has taught this.  Not one.  I reached out to Dan Philips on Twitter Monday and asked if he had ever heard anyone teach that, and he said no.  I even did a Google search to see if I could find someone else who has taught this and found nothing.  As best as I can tell, this is something new in the 2000 year history of the church.  Stanley is on an island with this one, and that is not a good place for a pastor to be.

The Nature of Sin

What troubled me most Sunday was Stanley’s claim that Christian sin has nothing to do with God, but only concern for other people.  This borders on blasphemy.  In Stanley’s eyes, lying isn’t wrong because it’s sin against God, it’s wrong because it hurts another person.  He flat out said, “The reason you don’t (shouldn’t) lie has nothing to do with God.”  Sexual sin, he said, isn’t wrong because it’s sin against God, it’s wrong because it harms another person.  There is an element of truth in those statements; our sins do hurt other people.  But for a Christian pastor to suggest that our sin doesn’t offend God but only hurts other people is astounding.  When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband what did he say?  “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4a).  David basically forced himself on a married woman then had her husband murdered, and he said he sinned against God and God alone.  

Read what the author of Hebrews said about sin among professing Christians in Hebrews 10:23-31:

²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. 

²⁶ For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. ²⁸ Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” ³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

We were made in the image of God.  Every sin is a cosmic act of treason.  It has everything to do with God.  Unbelievers will suffer the eternal, terrible wrath of God because of their sin against him.  For believers, Jesus suffered God’s wrath on the cross in our place.  For Stanley to then say that what Jesus suffered to atone for has nothing to do with God is absolutely untrue, and incredibly dangerous.  

I said last week that Stanley appears to be embracing theological liberalism, and this line of thinking is classic liberalism.   

Stanley's concluding point of the sermon Sunday was that the Jesus model is centered on the you beside you.  No.  The Jesus modeled is centered on Jesus.  He is the author and perfector of our faith.  He is the one who can save us from our sins.  Our keeping of the Law, and loving our neighbors is Law, cannot save us.  

It is looking more and more likely that Stanley is set to depart from orthodoxy and embrace an aberrant theology.  I continue to pray for his sake and the sake of the thousands he influences that this doesn’t happen.    

  

Three Things the Top 25 Christian Books Sold in 2014 Reveal About American Christianity

Earlier this week the list of the top 25 books sold in Christian bookstores in 2014 was released.  Among the 25 books on the list there is exactly one that I would remotely consider Christian.  Ironically enough, that one is authored by a man, Thom Rainer, who makes his living selling the other 24.  Some of the books are harmless enough, perhaps even helpful, but not really Christian.  I would put books like The Five Love Languages and Boundaries into this category.  While written by Christians and supposedly based on Biblical principles, they’re not really Christian books in the sense that they don’t have any real connection to the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

Unfortunately, and unfortunately not surprising, many of the books are beyond problematic.  Five of the books are some form of Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, a woman who claims she’s writing the very words of Jesus.  Only, it turns out there are factual errors, and her Jesus doesn’t really sound anything at all like the Jesus of Scripture.  Sarah Young is a false prophet.  Joel Osteen and T.D. Jakes teach Word-of-Faith theology, a theological system that diverges from orthodox Christianity on virtually every point.  Heaven is for Real is not true.  Heaven is for real, but the Bible tells us so, and tells us that no one can go and come back.  Paul saw Heaven and he wasn’t permitted to tell about it.  He certainly didn’t write a book to profit off of the experience.  

I could go on, but frankly looking at the list just hurts my heart.  I get accused of being arrogant, divisive, unloving, judgmental, and Pharisaical quite frequently online.  I do listen when the accusations are made, but I don’t think the accusations are correct.  I grieve for the church in America.  I really do.  The things I say, the articles I share, and now write, are all from a place of genuine grief over the state of the church in my home country.  

What does the list of 2014 Christian bestsellers reveal about American Christianity?  Here are three things I see.

1.) Most professing Christians in America have no discernment at all.  American Christians, generally speaking, cannot distinguish truth from error.  The top 25 list is full of verifiable false prophets and false teachers.  No one seems to recognize this or even care.  The sad reality is that many professing Christians are actually taught not to care.  Their pastors not only fail to teach and rebuke sound doctrine, although that is a Biblical requirement for a man to hold the office of pastor (Titus 1:9), they actually tell people not to engage in theological study and questioning whether or not what is being taught is true.  Jesus had a word for men like this though: hirelings (John 10:7-18).  

Question to ask yourself: Does my pastor teach sound doctrine?  Or, does my pastor tell me doctrine and theology don’t matter?  If it’s the latter, run for your life!  Seriously.  Nothing less than your soul is at stake.

2.) Most professing Christians in America practice a faith that is completely divorced from historic Christianity.  A few years ago some researches coined the phrase Moralistic Therapeutic Deism to describe the religion that is practiced in America under the name of Christianity.  The basic premise is that professing Christians in America believe that there is a God, that he wants them to do good things, and he exists to make their lives better.  The list of 25 best sellers is full of books that fall into this category.  You probably won’t find much, if any, talk about Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected for the forgiveness of sins, the reality of Hell, or God’s judgment on unrepentant sinners in any of the 25 books.  Mostly you’ll find how to live a more enjoyable life right now.  

Question to ask yourself: Does my pastor preach Christ crucified and resurrected for the forgiveness of sins, or does he preach my best life now?  If it’s the latter, run for your life!  Seriously.  Nothing less than your soul is at stake.

3.) Most professing Christians in America are not Christians.  I know this is awfully judgmental of me, but I am convinced it is true.  Research has shown that professing Christians can’t articulate the basics of the Christian faith and usually believe things to be true that are outright contradictions of Scripture.  This is why my heart breaks.  This is why I’m constantly trying to point out the problems in American Christianity.  I am convinced that the vast majority of professing Christians in America are going to stand before Jesus on the Day of Judgment and hear, “I never knew you; depart from me.”  

Questions to ask yourself:

If someone asked me what it means to be a Christian, could I tell them with confidence that I am delivering the same message delivered by Jesus and the Apostles?  If the answer is no, how can I claim to believe what I cannot explain?

Do I believe that people are basically good, or that they are born under the curse of sin with no good in them unless they are given new life by Christ?  If you believe the former you don’t believe what the Bible teaches.

Do I believe that it is possible to get to Heaven by being a good person?  If you believe this you don’t believe what the Bible teaches.

Do I believe that saying a sinner’s prayer and being baptized means I go to Heaven no matter what? If you believe this you don’t believe what the Bible teaches.

Do I believe that the outcome of a Christian life is a life relatively free of problems and full of personal fulfillment?  If you believe this you don’t believe what the Bible teaches.      

Do I believe in the God of the Bible or the false god of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism? Do I know the difference?

Friends, I’ve mentioned several times in this article that nothing less than your soul is at stake.  That is the truth.  Religion is not a game; we are talking today about the difference between eternal life in glory with God or eternal death in Hell separated from God.  Do you know where you stand with God right now?

The message of the Bible is actually quite simple.  All people born from Adam and Eve onward are born under the curse of sin.  We are born physically alive but spiritually dead.  Because of the curse of sin we rebel against the good, loving, and holy God who made us in his image every chance we get.  The Bible repeatedly says there is none who does good, that all have gone astray.  God is loving and merciful, but he is also just and holy.  His holy righteousness demands a penalty for sin.  That penalty is death, physically in this life and eternally in Hell.

Because God is loving and merciful He sent His eternally existent Son, Jesus, to live on the earth as a man and die a sacrificial death in order to redeem a people from the curse for Himself.  Jesus lived without sin all the days of His life.  God poured out His wrath on His own Son, allowing His creation to put His Son to death on a Roman cross.  Three days later, to prove that Jesus didn’t deserve to die and that His sacrifice had been accepted, God raised Jesus from the dead.  He lives to this day at the right hand of God the Father and will live forevermore.  

Jesus’ message was simple.  Repent and believe the gospel.  Repentance and belief means believing Jesus’ message and forsaking your sin and all else to worship Jesus as Lord.  There is no amount of good that you can do to erase your debt of sin.  The forgiveness of your sins comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  When you come to true faith in Jesus, all of your sins are washed away and Jesus' righteousness is credited to you so that you can stand before God holy and blameless.  While your good works can’t save you, the evidence of genuine faith is the doing of the good works commanded in Scripture.

Do you have genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you ever repented of your sin and trusted in Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins?  Does your life look like the life of a believer in Jesus as described by Jesus and the Apostles in the New Testament?  If not, please don’t delay.  Believe, and have eternal life today.