This past Sunday I had the opportunity to attend the largest and most popular church in our area. It is a church that attracts a lot of people with its emotionally evocative “experiences” (the word they use instead of service, not me being facetious). I know people who attend this church. I care deeply about people who attend this church. I care about Truth and desire that all of my friends participate in a church that promotes, preaches, and espouses truth. Most especially in their handling of Scripture. It is most often that those who are led astray are following a message that rubs against truth without actually being true. Deception is often sneaky, brought about by the cunning work of one who masquerades as an angel of light. So I want to be discerning, testing the spirits, holding what I hear up to scripture and ensuring that I am not being led away by a wolf in sheep’s clothing. If you are looking for some scriptural references that support the idea of growing in discernment and exposing false teachings, below is a list of a few places in the Word that you can look up at your leisure:
2 Cor. 11:1-13
2 Peter 2
Eph. 5:11
Romans 16:17-19
2 Tim. 4:3-4
1 John 4:1
Col. 2:8
Gal. 1:6-9
Matt. 7:21-23
1 Thess. 5:21
This is not an exhaustive list, but its a place to start. And it is with the intention of exposing lies that I am writing today; because I do not want people I care about to be misled by faulty teaching. I hold too high a view of scripture and too great a love for God’s word to remain silent in the face of lies that are being peddled in God’s name. It is not loving to remain silent where telling the truth, though painful, could snatch some from the fire.
“Discernment is not a matter of simply knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is a matter of knowing the difference between right and almost right.” (C.H. Spurgeon)
There is no way to be saved by being almost right about God. There is no salvation for the almost saved. There is no hope in the almost truth. And yet, it is in this “almost” place where many people live their faith lives. I would argue that these are the most difficult people to show the real Truth to, because they think they already have it. Often not realising that they have invested in a counterfeit version. (I always feel like I need to insert a little bit here to identify that there can be true believers who are attending “almost” churches. But they rarely settle there for the long haul. I am inserting this here because I don’t want to discredit the true believers, but I do also hope that we are all honest enough with ourselves to not place ourselves in this category without doing some real and deep searching of God’s word and our hearts to ensure that we are testing ourselves and working out the truth of our salvation with fear and trembling.) It is with a desire to be discerning and to share truth that I am presenting the following to you all. I am referencing the message from this past Sunday and will provide the passages used, quotes from the pastor, and the errors I found so that I can ensure I am not taking anything out of context. You will also find the link to the service I attended at the bottom of this post so that you can do your own research and analysis. It is not my intention to church bash, but rather to highlight the ways in which scripture is being mishandled so that corrections can be made.
The good parts: this church is extremely welcoming. Everyone we encountered had a smile on their face and was enthusiastic about helping us navigate the building and find seats. There was a lot of information provided on ways to connect, and even a number we could text so that we could be reached out to in a timely manner. Their announcements included a lot of information about their upcoming conference and the other programs people could involve themselves in. This is not a church that is sitting on its laurels, but is seeking to be a real presence in the community. Those are good goals to have. The music style was appealing and the worship time was energetic. I can see why young families, especially, are drawn to this church.
Ultimately, I cannot and will not give this church a totally bad review. It was not wholly bad, and the people there are not bad people. They are, in my experience, caring and friendly. So kudos to them for that. We all know that this is an area in which many churches struggle.
The area of greatest concern for me was the content of their worship, both song and message. While I can appreciate their enthusiasm, I cannot get on board with what they sung and what they presented from God’s word. The second song was calling the Spirit down: “Come down, Spirit when you move, you make my heart pound when you fill the room. You’re here and I know you’re moving, I’m here and I know you will fill me.” I’m not going to lie, it was a catchy song. But there is a problem with these lyrics. For those who are saved and being sanctified, the Holy Spirit is already indwelling. Always. There is never a need to “call Him down” or ask Him to fill us. From the moment we are saved, He is filling and transforming and sanctifying us as He leads us to greater faithfulness to God and increased Christ-likeness. This kind of singing encourages a wrong view of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians says “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;” (6:19) and from this we can see that, for the believer, the Holy Spirit is already dwelling within us. That He is already at work in us as a gift from God. There is never a need to call Him closer or “down” from some mysterious location. He is closer than that already. I was also leery of a song that pulled in the “bind and loose” terminology favoured by many NAR and charismatic churches which is very problematic in that it is used out of context to promote practices not endorsed in Scripture.
Overall, the musical portion of the service was designed to evoke an emotional response in preparation for the message. And while that is not necessarily a problem, it requires those who are attending to be extremely discerning in their minds as emotions cannot be trusted to lead us to truth every time; in fact, it is much more likely that our feelings will lead us to error. If the entirety of a church service is praise and worship, in that all parts of a service are to bring glory and honour to God, we need to make sure we are not disengaging our minds from our worship and falling into the feelings trap. We need to make sure we are holding truth at the center of all our songs and sermons because God himself has declared that He is Truth.
The most concerning to me was the misuse of scripture during the actual message.
I was not encouraged by the dark lighting that made it difficult to follow along, as it was nearly too dark to even read my bible. And I was also surprised that there was no encouragement from the pulpit for the members of the congregation to follow along in their own bibles. It seemed to be a matter of course that the Pastor alone was to present and interpret the passages used. This is dangerous because there is no one to hold him accountable if no one takes the time to look up the verses being used and the context they are in to ensure there is true consistency with God’s word.
The first portion of scripture referenced was Genesis 1:28, where God calls mankind to work. To multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Contextually, this passage was not presented in a wholly wrong way, but I was concerned with this idea of “partnership” with God which was presented. It implies that God requires or needs us in order to fulfill his plans and purposes. Which isn’t true. God has the power to accomplish His will regardless of us. Isaiah 46:10 tells us that God will accomplish all that He purposes; no mention of man’s involvement. He does not need us for anything at all. Rather, as we live faithfully, God allows us to be part of the work that He is accomplishing. Yes, we are told that He has set apart for us good works to do. But His ultimate goals and purposes are achieved regardless of us. Rather than being necessary tools that God cannot function without, we are blessed by being included in the good work that He is accomplishing in spite of our many failures and sins. There is a lot of danger in telling ourselves and others that God needs us. God needs nothing at all (Acts 17:25). He is complete in His Triune being.
The sermon then went to Matthew 16:13-19 where we began to look at Peter. This is the passage where Peter identifies Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior. It is important to note, here, that Jesus expressly tells Peter that God is the One who has revealed this to him. This is not something Peter came up with on his own, rather it was knowledge given to him by God. That is an important note, because this portion of scripture, where Peter is told he will be an administrator of the church, is now pulled into Acts where Peter preached before 3000 were saved. And more day by day. The problem here is that we are jumping between passages without establishing context. Peter was told that God would build His church on the Truth of Christ, and that Peter would be given keys of administration and delegation. The context here is not that God needs Peter to build his church, but rather that he will use Peter in establishing the parameters and functions of the church. There are many commentaries that note the correlation between “keys of the kingdom” and the understood role of those who administered with those keys. This was not about miracles or working wonders, but separating out the practices as the church transitioned from a Jewish pattern to a new covenantal one. And I am trouble by the direction the message went from here. To a place where a lot of weight was placed on the person of Peter. It was stated that, without Peter, the early church would not have grown. That Peter, himself, was the key to the institution of the church. This is nothing more than speculation and eisegesis. This is putting into the text something that human pride wants to be there: without the work of specific people, God’s work would not be accomplished. God needs our work in order to accomplish His. This is false. This is a lie. God does not need us. He graciously uses our fallen selves. But His work can be accomplished without us. I, Tania, am not a vital lynch pin. I am a vessel. But I am not the only vessel.
The pastor of this church specifically says that the church is birthed through Peter’s gospel message. This completely ignores the work of the Holy Spirit. The reality that the 3000 were saved because of the work of the Holy Spirit. Peter was not working to birth the church. He was not labouring under the impression that the church would not exist without him. He was working to be faithful. To tell the Truth and to be faithful to God. All the glory and honour and acclaim that comes out of the birth and growth of the early church belongs only to God.
More concerning, this line of preaching doesn’t end with this unbiblical thought, but goes further. Jumping again to John 1:40-42, we were told that Peter would not have even met or followed Jesus if Andrew hadn’t gone to tell Peter about Jesus. From there, the message went on to tell us that if Andrew hadn’t told Peter about Jesus, than Peter would never have become the “father of the church,” and that the church today would not exist. This is bordering on, if not outright, heresy. The church does not exist because of the work of any single man. And even if Peter had never met or followed Jesus, the church would still exist. God will not ever be thwarted in His purpose by the work or failings of any human being. We do not owe the existence of the church to Andrew, for telling Peter about Jesus; or to Peter for identifying Jesus as Messiah and faithfully preaching to a crowd; or to any other apostle or pastor who followed. The only One who deserves honour and credit for the existence of the Church is God. Without Him none of the figures we read about in Scripture or history would even exist. And to misplace any salvation story, crediting a human with the saving of souls, is to ignore everything we know to be true of God and His work throughout history. His- story.
This sermon closed out by telling the congregants that we are crucial to the salvation of the people around us; that we are responsible and bear the weight. An anecdotal story of a man who went to school with a Christian pastor’s son, then got into drugs and lived a debauched life before being saved in prison, and then encountered the same pastor’s son after his release, rightly blamed this man for not telling him about Jesus in his youth. As if he could know, with certainty, that he would have accepted the gospel message in high school and avoided the life of sin he lived before his salvation. As if the pastor’s son was responsible for his bad choices. And then we were told that we bear the same weight of responsibility; we are responsible if we fail to tell someone about Jesus and they go on to sin and harm themselves or others. As if the work of salvation belongs to us.
I fully acknowledge that living faithfully before God requires me to be always prepared to give an answer for the hope that I have. I fully accept that God calls to me be consistently faithful in all areas of my life. And I fully accept that this, at times, will require me to vocally share the message of salvation with people around me. But I draw a firm line. Because as soon as I start seeing myself as the ONLY way any one person can be saved, I have usurped God in my own life and heart. As soon as I put more weight on my work than on God’s, I have made myself a god and an idol. I am now worshipping at the altar of my own good works rather than using my work to bring glory and honour to the God who rightly deserves such praise.
I found the whole message extremely troubling and deeply deceitful. I walked out of the church with a heart heavy for the people I care about who call this church home and its messages good. This is not a church that highly values and honours the Word of God. It sees fit to misuse and twist it to suit its own ends. It takes the Good News and distorts it’s power by placing the weight on fallible human people. Even more troubling, many miss the errors because the lies are couched in emotionally and visually appealing music and lights. The environment easily draws the sinful heart and disengages the mind so that many are dull to the actual words. Their ears are tickled and they leave content to have felt something of the manufactured “spiritual high.” Stripped, however, of the trappings and entertainment factor, the message of this pastor falls far from the Truth and lands in the midst of likely-sounding lies.
My prayer and petition for the people who attend here is that you would get in the Word; pick up your bibles and examine closely the claims that are being made. Hold it all up to the inerrancy of Scripture and be honest in your critiques. Ask God, through the Holy Spirit, to reveal to you the Truths of His word. Be willing to face the hard parts and open to the possibility that you might need to either address the leadership or seek a new church family. Be pursuers of Truth and not chasers of feelings. Follow the exhortation to love God with your mind as much as your heart.
Link to the sermon:
faith from the stove 