Biblically-Anemic Preaching: The Devastating Consequences of a Watered-Down Message

by John MacArthur

Those who are familiar with my ministry know that I am committed to expository preaching. It is my unshakable conviction that the proclamation of God’s Word should always be the heart and the focus of the church’s ministry (2 Timothy 4:2). And proper biblical preaching should be systematic, expositional, theological, and God-centered.

Such preaching is in short supply these days. There are plenty of gifted communicators in the modern evangelical movement, but today’s sermons tend to be short, shallow, topical homilies that massage people’s egos and focus on fairly insipid subjects like human relationships, "successful" living, emotional issues, and other practical but worldly—and not definitively biblical—themes. These messages are lightweight and without substance, cheap and synthetic, leaving little more than an ephemeral impression on the minds of the hearers.

Some time ago I hosted a discussion at the Expositors’ Institute, an annual small-group colloquium on preaching held at our church. In preparation for that seminar, I took a yellow legal pad and a pen and began listing the negative effects of the superficial brand of preaching that is so rife in modern evangelicalism.

I initially thought I might be able to identify about ten, but in the end I had jotted down a list of sixty-one devastating consequences. I’ve distilled them to fifteen by combining and eliminating all but the most crucial ones. I offer them as a warning against superficial, marginally biblical preaching—both to those who stand behind the pulpit and to those who sit in the pew.

1. It usurps the authority of God over the soul. Whether a preacher boldly proclaims the Word of God or not is ultimately a question of authority. Who has the right to speak to the church? The preacher or God? Whenever anything is substituted for the preaching of the Word, God’s authority is usurped. What a prideful thing to do! In fact, it is hard to conceive of anything more insolent that could be done by a man who is called by God to preach.

2. It removes the lordship of Christ from His church. Who is the Head of the church? Is Christ really the dominant teaching authority in the church? If so, then why are there so many churches where His Word is not being faithfully proclaimed? When we look at contemporary ministry, we see programs and methods that are the fruit of human invention, the offspring of opinion polls and neighborhood surveys, and other pragmatic artifices. Church-growth experts have in essence wrested control of the church’s agenda from her true Head, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Puritan forefathers resisted the imposition of government-imposed liturgies for precisely this reason: They saw it as a direct attack on the headship of Christ over His own church. Modern preachers who neglect the Word of God have yielded the ground those men fought and sometimes died for. When Jesus Christ is exalted among His people, His power is manifest in the church. When the church is commandeered by compromisers who want to appease the culture, the gospel is minimized, true power is lost, artificial energy must be manufactured, and superficiality takes the place of truth.

Spurgeon Thursday - The Prince of Preachers on Apostasy

In 1887, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the famous English Baptist minister, “the Prince of Preachers,” had a big problem. He was the leader of the largest single Baptist congregation in the world, the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, which could hold 6,000 people, but that didn’t solve his problem. He and his local church were part of the Baptist Union in Britain. 

This larger organization, which had many congregations affiliated with it, had been quietly infiltrated by religious liberals. Many pastors in it longer believed the Bible was fully infallible and inerrant in its original manuscripts. They were advocates of higher criticism and the theory of evolution. A number didn’t believe Jesus’ blood atonement was necessary for salvation. They denied that Adam and Eve’s sins lead to the downfall of the human race spiritually and cut off this present evil world civilization from God. Some believed in universal salvation. They even called justification by faith immoral. 

He decidedly to publicly challenge the religious liberals in his own church organization through articles in his church newspaper, The Sword and Trowel. Soon afterwards, and very reluctantly, he decided to leave his old larger church organization. This became known as the famous “Down-Grade” controversy, because it was one of the earliest big theological battles between religious liberals and conservative Christians.source  Here follows many of Spurgeon's quotes on apostasy; 

Spurgeon Thursday - The Reason for the Reformation

We are one year from the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation and with ecumenical-mania going on, a modern day counter reformation, one can only wonder if this will be the last anniversary of the Protestant Reformation to be celebrated.

Reunification with the Roman church is a movement that is quietly gaining steam. The biblically unqualified leader of a Lutheran denomination has declared:

"Though we have not yet arrived, we have claimed that we are, in fact, on the way to unity... This 'Declaration on the Way' helps us to realize more fully our unity in Christ with our Catholic partners, but it also serves to embolden our commitment to unity with all Christians

Charles Haddon Spurgeon probably wouldn't agree with Mrs. Eaton, and by "probably wouldn't agree" I actually mean "raging with the very fires of hell in disagreement" 

Charles was a loving man of God who was blessed with an incorrigible sense of humor, but the institution of the Roman Catholic Church and its papist heresies tested his patience, and when he spoke, he let his passion be known: 

It is the bounden duty of every Christian to pray against Antichrist, and as to what Antichrist is no sane man ought to raise a question. If it be not the popery in the Church of Rome there is nothing in the world that can be called by that name. If there were to be issued a hue and cry for Antichrist, we should certainly take up this church on suspicion, and it would certainly not be let loose again, for it so exactly answers the description. 

Emergent Monday: What Is The NAR?

24 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 25 Behold, I have told you in advance. (Matthew 24:24-25)

I didn't want to write about the New Apostolic Reformation, I just wanted to expose the false prophesy of Rick Joyner who, had he actually received a prophesy from God about the Carolina Panthers it would have been "Broncos by 14". But lately I've been seeing the NAR almost everywhere in the blogosphere and in media. As many Christian bloggers can tell you, sometimes you just have to write something on a particular subject. While not wanting to wax Pentecostal, I believe that the Holy Spirit occasionally wants a subject to be broadcast and I've noticed that when I feel His push to write about a subject I often see that several other Bloggers will write about the same subject too.

For those that have never heard of the New Apostolic Reformation, you're in luck, I'm going to be writing a bit about them, for a while at least. The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is a title invented by C. Peter Wagner to describe a group of people that seeks to establish their own form of Christendom. The conspiracy theorist would call their vision the "New World Order", and you know something? They would (for once) be right:

False Teacher Of the Year 2015

As the snow falls and the days grow shorter, it's time to recognize those special false teachers that help make the days grow darker spiritually. This year's award is coming out much later than usual, but that's because there's been so much competition for the prestigious Golden Goat award. Our first winner was back in 2013 was John Shore, leader of the Not All There Like That "Christians" who worship Rob Bell and Dan Savage over the God of Israel. Last years winner was Steven McSwain is a self-professed "Christian Atheist", a title that he oddly bears with pride. These two fellows have worked tirelessly to justify their unbelief in such a manner that the undiscerning thinks that they're being fed the Word of God, but instead are being lead through the wide gate to destruction. And that's what being a Golden Goat recipient is all about.

If the nominating committee were to hand out the prized Golden Goat award based solely on atheism in the pulpit we probably couldn't stamp out the gold foil embossed false idols fast enough to keep up with demand. For example Gretta Vosper would be presented with one every time she addresses the congregation in Canada's own West Hill United Church of Self. Or closer to home John Schuck, a man who earns the title of Psalm 14 Fool, instructs the lost to make up their own bible. He would have to add a whole new wing to the Southminster Presbyterian Goat Pen to store his Golden Goats if mere atheism were the sole qualifier.

He Who Now Restrains

I was reading Glenn Chatfield's roundup in The Watchman's Bagpipes and something struck me. It was the article about the Bible not condemning soldiers or war and I was reflecting on my decades of service in the military. The military has always been a refuge for the Godly. Some of the most Godly men I know were senior ranking NCOs and many men I know went into the military not really caring one way or another and came out dedicated men of God. 

As an NCO I spent a huge amount of time training young troops because that's what an NCO does; prepare his future replacements. NCOs are immortal in some respect because I trained young troops using knowledge that was passed to me by old NCOs and those young troops are now training their subordinates using knowledge I passed on to them. The faithful were always easiest to train because they understood subordination to a higher authority. They had restraint because they understood what a higher authority is, and they understood the need to respect that authority. Kids who were raised in a "progressive" environment had trouble with the concepts of rank, respect, authority, subordination, submission, experience, and 'shut up and listen to your betters' (a very valuable skill to have in the military).

And that's when it struck me, this thought hit my brain and exploded, so I'm throwing this out to the world and if I'm wrong please please please please correct me (Pastor Paratus - I'll be in for the early tomorrow just in case) So here goes: 

Emergent Monday - Spurgeon is Broccoli, Osteen is Cheetos.

It's Too Easy Bein' Cheesey 

1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able (1 Corinthians 3:1-2)

Paul could not have said "...I gave you Cheetos to munch on, not broccoli..." even thought he's talking kid food vs real food, Paul was talking to people that could handle the basic elements of the Gospel, but they weren't strong enough to take the deeper mysteries of the Gospel of Jesus Christ such as those spelled out in Ephesians 3. The followers of the prosperity gospel don't even measure up to this category. If solid food is the deeper mysteries of the gospel and milk is the basic elements of sin and salvation, then anything less is empty calories.

Sadly the largest "church" in America can't even handle milk, they get snack food. They're fed morsels of crunchy goodness that feel filling but are made of empty calories and have almost no nutritional value at all. They're getting fed Cheetos and being told it's steak. They're most definitely not alone, but in this example I'm talking about the 43,500 starving souls of Lakewood Church and their goatherd Joel Osteen plus the millions that follow on TV, radio, and internet. Joel likes God a lot, as well he should, because mentioning God on occasion insures Joel a steady influx of cash. But Jesus? Not so much. 

Here's what I mean by Cheetos. Look for quotes on sin by Joel Osteen, the vast majority of what you'll find go along the lines of "There's worse sins than homosexuality, like pride." but beyond that all you get is Cheetos:

False Teacher Of The Year - 2014

You can tell it's September by the seasonal changes, the days grow shorter and cooler, the leaves start to change color, television promises a whole new season of the same old junk, and everything from ice cream to coffee is now pumpkin flavored. We send our kids off to school hoping and praying that they are going to get a good education, and for the most part they will. Teachers for the large part are caring, hard working people who really want each and every student to succeed but then there's the others, the ones parents have a right to fear, the teachers that show up with a personal agenda and will teach what they think is right, curriculum be damned. 

At one point in my college career I came to the realization that I am paying these people with my tuition, and I chose to hold them to the highest possible standards. Things came to a head when I had a history professor tell me that there were no bombers used in World War I. Wrong. I called him out on it and his defensive bluster finally boiled down to: how dare you, a mere student, question me "I WROTE A BOOK!" my response was "So did Hitler, what's your point?" (My final act of academic combat was when this teacher admitted he was a communist (big shock) I insured that my term paper to finish out the semester was "Russian Venona Papers Prove McCarthy Was Right")

The point is that you want your children to get the very best education possible because you love them, in the same way you want your fellow saints to get the very best spiritual guidance and education possible because you love them too, then you may have to roll up your sleeves to find a good teacher. You know to steer clear of cults and legalism and look for a church that teaches the Word of God pure and simple. And the most terrifying obstacle to salvation is the False Teacher, the person who sounds so knowledgeable and trustworthy but is straying from God's word in such a way that the goats are looking forward to following him into hell. These people are very good at what they do, so good that you can barely hear the serpent hissing in the background ""Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" (Genesis 3:1)

The Great Falling Away

Just some thoughts on what we see going on around us:

Many are now saying that God has been kicked out of schools and public life. My thought: who is powerful enough to kick God out of anything? Let them try:

1 Thus says the Lord, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? 2 “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. (Isaiah 66:1-2)

Many complain that our children cannot pray in school, that's nonsense, you can pray anywhere, you just can't make a show of it. Yes, we are to pray without stop (1 Thessalonians 5:17) but what did Jesus tell us about praying?

5 When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:5-6)

And many say that the church is dying. I'm sure they're thinking of the false teachers and the fact that church attendance is down. Could dropping attendance be due to the false teachers turning people off with their foolisness? Then again - dying? Really? I know that is impossible too:

"I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. (Matthew 16:18)

This Old Hymn

I was up late last night, my mind awash with the sadness of it all; churches once Godly and dedicated to preach the Gospel of Jesus now falling into apostasy one by one, faster and faster. As I mentioned here the one church I expected to survive to the end has fallen into Satan's trap and is little more than a gay affirming social club with a dusty bible stored in the back room. False bibles, tomes of heresy, piling up to bury the unwary: The Message, The Queen James, The New World Translation, The Passion, it's too much to believe. I truly believe it was the Holy Spirit that reminded me over and over last night that yes, this was foretold and there's only one thing we can do, and we Christian bloggers must take it to the web:

The End Of The Presbyterian Church?

Every baseball fan knows the phrase "Three strikes and you're out", and the Presbyterian Church USA General Assembly has just struck out. Big. 

This year the Presbyterian Church USA General Assembly met in Detroit MI to hold their biennial meeting. They discuss hundreds of items and many times God is guiding their decisions. I'm not so sure this year. This year the PCUSA voted to allow its clergy to perform same-sex faux marriages. The church leadership has changed the language in the church's Book of Order to replace references to "a man and a woman" with the politically correct "two persons".

Defending this position, Seattle ruling elder Nathan Sobers said "The Gospel is about fairness." (Sobers is married to his male partner of 27 years.) Actually the Gospel is about a lot of things: sin, redemption, love , forgiveness, and very importantly the kingdom of God and reaching for the kingdom of God. Matthew 6:10, Luke 9:1-2, Luke 8:1, Mark 1:14-15, Matthew 4:23, Matthew 9:35, Matthew 24:14, Matthew 19:16, Matthew 19:23-24, Luke 13:28. Matthew 13:19, Mark 10:15, Matthew 6:33, Matthew 13:38, Luke 1:30-33 all teach about the Kingdom of God. Yes, fairness is in the Gospel but probably not the re-defined fairness that the LGBT community demands of God. Instead of defining fairness as letting people sin because they like to sin and a loving god would allow them to sin because it would be "fair", God's promise of fairness reads a bit more like this:

For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality. (Colossians 3:25)

Surprised That Atheists Perform CCM? Not Me

As reported by Elisabeth Prata, the Christian flavored metal band As I Lay Dying has outted themselves as atheists. Surprised? Think about it: How many Christian music artists have hired hitmen to kill their wives? My guess is a number somewhere between "none" and "not any", but that's just a guess. 

Of course being a Christian performer doesn't prevent us from sinning, the Holy Spirit helps us from committing sin (Galatians 5:22) but the title of Christian does nothing... except sell records to goats. And yes, people who believe that As I Lay Dying was a Christian Metal band have been duped utterly and completely. You can point the finger of blame at promoters and record companies who have no problem taking your money, you can blame As I Lay Dying front man Tim Lambesis for your misconception that the band is Christian, because at one point he did say he was a Christian. But in the end you only have your self to blame.

"You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? (Matthew 7:16)

Secular Icon Too Religious for San Diego

The Easter bunny, a secular creation designed to minimize, humiliate, and secularize Christianity's most important holiday, has been deemed by San Diego as too religious a symbol to be inflicted upon the sensibilities of the devout evangelical atheists of San Diego County. The Easter Bunny is now referred to as the Spring Bunny, and Easter Eggs are now referred to as Spring Eggs, or just eggs by the San Diego Country parks department. 

Think about it: a secular idol is considered too religious for atheists and has to be further secularized.

Jeremiah - A Blast From The Past

God called Jeremiah to be His prophet in about 626 BC, about one year after Josiah, king of Judah, had turned Judah away from idolatry and toward God. However so thirsty for false idols was Judah that quickly after Josiah's death they immediately returned to worshiping the idols of foreign countries and returned to child sacrifice.

Jeremiah's ministry was one of preaching against false prophets causing him to become persecuted. He laments the difficulty of speaking God's word and is full of regret that being a prophet of the one true God has caused him to be a laughingstock and a target for physical persecution. He was beaten, put in stocks, and thrown down a well, all for preaching the word of God.

The Pope To Teach The World Idolatry

Pope Francis intends to consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on October 13, 2013. I'm not sure if anyone told the Pope but the world is not his to consecrate. "Consecration" is used in the Catholic Church as the setting apart for the service of God of both persons and objects. Now God did make the world (and the universe it's in) for his own purpose, how glad God must be to see that Pope Elliot Carver Francis agrees with him.

Unfortunately Pope Francis is not consecrating the world to God, he's consecrating the world to the carved image of a dead woman.

The Mess of The Message: Psalm 1

As I've mentioned before, the Message is a complete mess. I can only do a post on the Message every now and then because frankly, heresy and blasphemy turn me off. It takes me a while to recover and return my center to Jesus where I can feel clean again.

The Message is not a bible translation, the author didn't translate a single word from one language to another. It's not a bible version, a bible version seeks to stay true to the word of God. The Message is a seeker sensitive satire of the Bible. The Message of The Message is not the word of God but the word of Eugene Peterson. 

It appears to me that Eugene Peterson didn't like all that religious talk about God and sin, and repentance, and replaced it all with a feel good, happy clappy seeker sensitive mashup of nonsense, new age psychobabble, and outdated "hip" jargon in an effort to stay relevant to people lead easily astray. Thanks to a post at Do Not Be Surprised I return to the fray as Psalm 1 is a beautiful example of how horribly heretical The Message truly is. 

Pope as Bond Villain

Not The Pope

Whoo hoo! We got a new pope, and the whole world goes crazy. My church got a new pastor a while ago and the world didn't say a thing, not even mentioning the huge difference between Pastor Brimstone and  pope Francis,  (which is the fact that Pastor Brimstone has read the bible and follows it) Pope Francis looks a lot like one of my favorite Bond Villains  Elliot Carver. (Ok, he's not a great Bond villain but Tomorrow Never Dies had my favorite Bond girl, Michelle Yoeh). But what is the pope?

Simply stated the pope is the Roman catholic bishop of Rome whose office decided that Rome wasn't big enough. The term Pope comes from the Greek πάππας which means "Father" which is a familiar form of address  that is specifically forbidden by Jesus Christ Himself as recorded in Matthew 23:9 

Word Faith Movement - Mormon Lite?

At one time I actually thought that the Word-Faith movement was a simple money making scam, nothing more: con a few simpletons out of a tithe that should be going to a biblically centered church, convince them that the bible says they'll get their money back with interest, and hint that Jesus wants them in a new Mercedes (available at low low prices from Pastor Cashbox's brother-in-law at Midtown Mercedes Isuzu just off the Gehenna exit of I266) you know, that kind of scam. I heard TBN was a Word-Faith based broadcaster and I thought "Well duh! They're TV!" (making a living on the periphery of the entertainment business doesn't leave one with a generous attitude about said entertainment business) I figured not too many people can get fooled by this cash generating ponzi scheme, and there's not a lot one can do about it because, in the words of Cpt. Tom Pickett from the movie Last Man Standing:

"...because that is the nature of things a certain amount of corruption is inevitable."

A little research shows that the leadership of the Word-Faith movement goes well beyond scamming a lot of sheep out of their hard earned tithe, they're damning those sheep to hell and enjoying every bit of the ride.

The Mess of The Message: Gibberish Passing as Prose

As I've mentioned before, I'm not a fan of The Message Bible perVersion, nor am I a fan of it's author Eugene Peterson. I like the real Bible, and I love the real Bible's author, God. But to me it appears that the Bible, the real Bible, isn't interesting enough for Mr. Peterson, so he had to make up his own. 

Unfortunately for the  whole world this abomination was published and distributed exactly like it is a real version of the Bible, rather than what it truly is: one man's satirical rewording of God's inspired word. 

From what little I've read of Peterson's revision of the Book of Revelations he didn't even leave that book alone, maybe it's because he no longer has enough faith left to take heed to the warning in  Revelation 22:18-19, every word inspired by the Holy Spirit is fair game for his creative (read: heretical) pen.

Take 1 Timothy 2:11-12 for example

¹¹ A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. ¹² But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.

Emergent Monday: Pastor Oprah, Superstar

During her appearance on her April 23 2012 LifeClass Tour Oprah Winfrey professed twice to be a Christian during her introduction, which the media decided was proof enough that she was indeed a Christian. "My favorite Bible verse – because I am Christian – is Acts... something..." The Black Christian News Network suggested that Miss Winfrey was a "secret follower" of Jesus Christ and that those that doubt their word are modern day Pharisees. 

Allow me to school the Black Christian News Network for a moment. Attention BCNN: This isn't North Korea. Here in America where the only people being persecuted for freedom of speech is conservatives being persecuted by liberals for not aping their twisted versions of the truth by being called racists regardless of the content of the discussion. (Note to readers: If someone calls you a racist, you just won the argument) Allow me to remind you of what the Old Testament says about "secret followers" of Jesus: Psalm 34:2, and what the New Testament says about "secret followers" of Jesus: 1 Corinthians 1:31. If the Black Christian News Network actually took a look at Oprah they'd find that she's a "secret follower" of someone else.