Profaning the gospel for the sake of 'contextualization'

Wanting to be relevant, the church has become sick beyond repair! That is, repair driven by the church itself.

Pastors, wanting to 'contextualize' the gospel have turned to profanity ('swear words') in their sermons. These contextualizers, or relevantizers, simply do not believe that the gospel is "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." (Rom 1:16)

Phil Johnson writes about these types:

"See, I think this whole approach to ministry reflects a fatal lack of confidence in the power of the gospel itself. If we really believed the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, why would we think it necessary to dress the message in such shabby rags?"

Preachers such as these simply bring disrepute to the gospel of Jesus Christ and show what they truly put their trust in for the salvation of their hearers!

John Piper and the Rick Warren invitation

It is amazing, no, sickening, how so many Christians can turn on one another based on one single piece of evidence. These people are as fickle as sports lovers.

John Piper invited Rick Warren, who has proven himself to be a bit of a chameleon when it comes to religion. He literally is all things to all people. When he is with Muslims or Jews he keeps his Christianity very private. He changes his message depending on who he is with.

I do not agree with John Piper for inviting Warren to the national Desiring God conference for 2010. However, does that mean I must now lump Piper with the rest of the heretics like these intrepid finger pointers do? I do not think that Warren is a true heretic either! He is terribly misguided and does not stand up for the gospel clearly in all situations, but that does not make him a heretic. It makes him weak!

Emerging bloopers

Rob Bell, from the emergsoever crowd, made a basic neophyte New Testament Greek blooper by ascribing a "technical" but temporary nature to the Greek aorist tense. Of course, he is mistaken here, like in so many other cases.

Read more about the Rob "Belloopers" here.

The preeminence of Santa

I have finally reached my 500th post! So, this is a milestone for me! I definitely am not like some of the other guys out there that blog every single day. And, I am not talking about people that write little ditty lines! I am talking about people that blog significant posts everyday! I just don't know where they get the time. One person like this is Tim Challies. Check him out!

But now, back to my post!

"15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross."
(Col 1.15-20)

For those who do not live in caves on Mars, I am sure that most, if not all, of us have noticed images and trinkets of all things Christmas almost everywhere. I believe it is quite understandable that these 'things' that supposedly represent Christmas are made up mostly of Santas, Christmas trees and other symbols of modern day Christmas.

When you go shopping you will hear, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, or some other singer belting out some Christmas song, just so that shop owners could keep you in the Christmas 'mood.' Don't get me wrong, I love these songs, especially when I hear a good rendering of 'Oh, Holy Night,' such as that by David Phelps!

Christmas has become a time of spending and being extravagant. Some people make collections of Santa Clauses, or baubles, or whatever. And for those that are not Christians it is understandable. That is what Christmas is to them!

So, for these people Santa, or at least the idea of Santa, is preeminent.

My problem is with those that are Christians, who go so nuts during Christmas, they have many Santas all over the house, many that can play silly irritating tunes when a button is pushed. Further, they have Christmas trees and other Christmas paraphernalia all over. Yet, if you want to find anything at all that they are actually Christian, it would be hard to find. Maybe something small, tiny, or even minute may be found.

The celebration of Christmas, in fact, has nothing to do with Santa and Christmas trees or Christmas lights. Commercially it might. However, for Christians, Santa should have no meaning. The Santa symbol is merely there to create artificial joy!

The central issue of Christmas is Christ, only Christ and nothing but Christ.

"9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.10 And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people.11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"(Lk 2.9-14)

The Christmas story is not about Santa and gifts. It is about God, stepping into the plane of human existence, taking on the shape of a man, to reveal to us the truth about ourselves and about God. It is the story of one of the most momentous occasions ever to happen on earth.

Christ came to earth with the purpose of dying for His people. By making Santa and gifts and lights more important than Christ we tarnish the memory of the God-man that walked the earth, who died, rose from the dead and returned to the Father. We, in effect, minimise the importance of the coming of Christ to earth. By making Santa more important than Christ Himself, in typical human rebellion, we tell God that His greatest gift is just not good enough!

With your house full of Santa and Christmas trinkets, you want to shout at me that you are a Christian and that Christ is important to you! Yet, your santaphernalia prove you wrong! In the second most important Christian season of the year, all you have to show is Santa! Where is Christ in your world?

The fullness of deity dwells in Christ. Why be so taken with Santa, who is a figment of man's imagination? All thing were created by Christ. "[A]ll things were created through him and for him." "He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent." Why do we allow a common image of a man to become so preeminent in our lives during this time? Above all things, Christ should have preeminence!

We simply cannot do all things to the glory of God, when He does not get all the glory! If Santa is the preeminent one in your house right now, it is time to rectify the situation. Glorify Christ!

Santa should not have the preeminence. Christ alone should have preeminence in your life as a Christian.

Let's make Christmas about Christ! Start today!

Here are two videos by John Piper on Christmas.

Jesus bore witness to the truth!

For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. (Jn. 18.37)

With the evanjellycal church in the state its in, it is difficult to imagine how the church still exists.

Many, if not most, of the evanjellycal church think that Jesus came to make them rich, to give them goose bumps, give them a good time and that The Shack is a great book for evanjellycal christians (lowercase 'c' intended) to read.

For these people truth is not all that important, as long as you are nice to people and tolerate them. To them, what we believe is not that important. It is what we do, they say!

However, the truth is so important to God, that He sent Jesus to bear witness to the - gasp - truth!

When Jesus said that He would not leave us alone to our own devices, what did He say about sending the Holy Spirit? He called the Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth!

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. (Jn. 14.16-17)

But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. (Jn. 15.26)

13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (Jn. 16.13-14)

If you want to find out what is important to a person, just listen to what He prays for. This is true about Jesus too! Even while praying Jesus highlighted the importance of the truth of His Word.

17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. (Jn 17.17-20)

If the truth of the God's Word is so important to Jesus, how is it that so many evanjellycals simply ignore it? It is God's truth that sanctifies us, not our own truth!

It is the great human disaster that drives people to assess their own truth as greater than God's, and then still to claim that it is God's truth all along! It is sin that drives them to it! If we ignore God's truth and do not deem it as important as God deems it, we're living in sin and need to repent. It simply means that we are then completely out of step with God!

If we hold our own ideas and 'truths' as more important than God's truth then we are idolaters!

Idolaters will not inherit the kingdom of God!

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,
20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Gal. 5.16-24)

My dictionary of words

The w-dictionary has moved and is now called the wictionary!

A slip of the tongue!

I was listening to a sermon last year at a prominent charismatic church in the city where I live.

In the sermon the pastor said the following:

"After all, God took a chance on us! Isn't it true? Jesus died for you and me and expressed His love with NO guarantee of a positive response from us. He didn't know what we would do! And many, many people reject His love. [He] still loved them."

Because I respect the pastor in this case, I wrote a letter to him querying him on the statement, "He didn't know what we would do!" In his reply to my letter, he said:

"Thank you for raising your concern with me. I am positive that it must have been a slip of the tongue – I would like to affirm that I definitely believe in God’s foreknowledge. I share your concern to uphold the truth and endeavour to do so at all times."

This got me thinking about the so-called "slip of the tongue."

Preachers should take utmost care not to say things that they do not mean. A "slip of the tongue" could have dire consequences!

Basically, a "slip of the tongue," such as this, can be caused by many things, I guess. However, I want to look at three possible causes:

1. Lack of Theological Depth
"Slips" such as these most often happen to those who do not have the proper theological grounding or understanding. I agree that "slips" occur more frequently than we would like to admit. Yet, "slips" more frequently occur with subjects that we are not very proficient at.

Once we have mastered a subject, it becomes that much more difficult to experience lapses of thought regarding those subjects. On the other hand, these lapses may point to the fact that one hasn't reached a thorough understanding of the subject at hand.

Preachers should hardly ever experience such lapses, since they are supposed to be thoroughly grounded in the Word of God and they should have a strong understanding of theological constructs in the Bible! The problem with many charismatic preachers today is that they hardly ever have a solid theological foundation!

Quoting a couple of verses merely means that one has a good memory. Having a solid theological understanding of those verses; now that is what should be aimed at! Many of these preachamatics (charismatic preachers) are very good at quoting verses while preaching. Yet, very few of them actually have a Biblical understanding of the verses they quote.

I remember, way back in the mid-80s, when I was still into the Word-of-Faith heresy, I attended a conference at which Kenneth Copeland was speaking. One of the verses in his sermon was Amos 4:6, "'I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me,' declares the LORD." Copeland used this verse to preach about how God would bless us if only we believed. We would be so blessed that we would even have clean teeth! Funny, this verse does not say that at all. In fact, God was chastising the Isrealites at the time by keeping food from them, and as a result their teeth were clean from not having anything to eat!

But, I digress!

One of the big problems among preachamatics, is that they are not interested in reading and studying theology. As a result, they continue with their own brand of suspect theology.

Of course, a good place to start reading good theology, is with the prince of theologians himself, John Calvin. His Institutes of the Christian Religion is available free online. He has also written many commentaries which can also be found free online.

The problem with such a lack of theological depth, which cannot be denied, especially at this church where I heard this sermon, is that they sell the books and teaching videos/tapes of known heretics. They sell stuff by men such as T.D. Jakes (more on Jakes here) and Tommy Tenney who do not teach the Trinitarian God of the Bible! They further sell goods by many Word-of-Faith teachers such as Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Joyce Meyers, Fred Price, Charles Capps and Benny Hinn.

2. Topical Preaching
Another problem that can lead to a "slip of the tongue" is this incessant need in the modern church for topical preaching. I am not saying that topical preaching is bad all the time. The problem I have with churches where they only hear topical preaching is that they hardly ever get the whole counsel of God. Most topical preachers jump from verse to verse and as a result never show their people how the Scriptures fit together!

Another issue with topical preaching is that preachers using this method of preaching almost invariably think that they know the topic at hand well enough to preach off the cuff! Can you see the problem? This is exactly where the "slip of the tongue" comes in!

The best solution for this is to start preaching expository sermons (preaching through a book of the Bible). Not that expository preaching is the be-all and end-all! This can be messed up too! Yet, this method of preaching demands more from the preacher. More study and more concentration! The preacher will then have to do proper hermeneutics on the book he is preaching through in order to teach the passage in question accurately.

But, I guess, that will be too much work for our preachamatics!

3. Insufficient Sermon Notes
Finally, as has been suggested before, most of these preachamatics are topical sermon preachers. Since, as has also been suggested under point 2, these preachers are mostly into topical sermons, they have this over-confident attitude that they know the topic at hand very well, and as a result they have very short, to no sermon notes that they preach from.

It makes me wonder how they can preach the whole counsel of God at all!

They claim to flow with the Spirit! If they claim to be flowing with the Spirit, why do they have these "slips of the tongue?" Or, perhaps the Spirit has given them new revelation that should be added to the Bible? But, this is not what they claim! At least not the new revelation part!

The problem with many of these preachamatics is that they do claim to be led by the Spirit and so they have become so arrogant, and they treat the content of the very Word of God so flippantly, that they do not bother with preaching the whole counsel of God at all.

They would rather claim to be led by the Spirit and preach all kinds of nonsense (a "slip of the tongue"), than honour God by preaching His Word and only His Word.

If they really honoured God in their preaching, they would do everything in their power to ensure that they preach only the Word of God. That would mean spending hours before God in prayer and sermon preparation, studying the Word of God to ensure that the passage at hand is interpreted correctly. However, I guess hermeneutics is a lost art among the preachamatics! Further, proper notes will be taken to the pulpit to ensure that such a "slip of the tongue" does not occur.

In conclusion, many of these charismatic churches that claim to be led by the Spirit of God allow the merchandise of heretics (such as those mentioned under point 1) to be sold in their bookstores. Why is the Spirit not telling them to get rid of the wolves in sheep's clothing from their midst? Is it perhaps, as I maintain, that they are not so-called led by the Spirit as much as they claim to be?

On this topic, of divining the leading of the Lord, it may be good to go over to the PyroManiacs to read the post by Dan Phillips called "Misreading God." Perhaps the preachamatics will say that Dan Phillips is wrong, because the spirit told them so!

Worship at a price

I saw a poster yesterday advertising a worship experience with someone called Ross Parsley. At this worship event that is happening this coming Friday, there will also be several "well-known" South African worship leaders. What really bothered me about this poster is that there is a price tag linked to this worship experience. There is an entry fee of R30 (South African money).

 

Do I have to pay to worship God? Admittedly, this is a youth event, so I will not be there anyhow. I find it strange that God nowhere put a price tag on worship in the Bible. At least, not a price that we have to pay out of our pockets. Christ paid the ultimate price so that we could approach God with boldness.

 

We need to worship God in spirit and in truth. It doesn't say that we need to worship Him in spirit and in truth and with money in hand!

 

What seems so clear to me is that this is not necessarily a youth event for worship as much as it is for worshitainment. Thus, I suppose a fee for such worshitainment would be fine. Yet, to coax people into coming by adding a tag of worship to the event, I believe, is misleading! Then, to advertise it as a worship experience makes it very clear that God is not the main focus here, but rather the individual and his modern religious idol, experience! It seems to me these days that what is called worship in the modern church is more worship of self than worship of God! The search for an experience of God has become the ultimate search and God Himself has been sidelined!

 

Truth about God is no longer important in modern worship, rather than the experience we have of 'god' which is not the Almighty God, Creator of the universe, but rather the self. In his book, Love God with all your mind, the Christian philosopher J.P. Moreland writes that one of the reasons Christians are not experiencing spiritual maturity is that they are the victims of what he calls the "Empty-Self Syndrome." In my humble opinion, this is a syndrome that is revealing itself more and more in the church these days. Especially when we see things like worshitainment! The fact is we are entertaining ourselves to death by putting more importance on style and rhythms than Biblical substance.

 

The modern church has a disease called self-infatuation where personal fulfillment becomes the goal of life. It has little to live for beyond personal pleasure. In short, it has become a religious version of the world! Simply put, it is religious narcissism. Searching for this constant experience is infantile and shows a deep lack of maturity.

 

The central truths of Christianity are being brushed aside for experiences and what I would call pop-sermons that last long but says desperately little. Again, if this worshitainment and pop-sermons leave us with a good experience, then we are happy. No matter that experiences come and experiences go, and that objective truth cannot be found in an experience in and of itself, this narcissism is deeply entrenched in the psyche of the modern church.

 

It is time for a re-Reformation! Time to return to the Scriptures. Not with pop-ideas already envisioned, but with proper exegesis of the Scriptures, which I find so sadly lacking in the modern church today!

 

Just thinking...