Skip to main content

Does It Make Sense?

Looking back over 2014, we have seen more situations where ministries and preachers have collapsed under the weight of unbiblical character.  In the wake of the collapse, many sages have appeared to gravely wag their heads and tut-tut over the fall of another Evangelical dynasty.  The analysts have gone into over-drive to tell us what went wrong and why it went wrong. 

The question that troubles my soul is why the analysis was not done before the collapse.  In that lies a sad story.  You see, in our Evangelical culture today, it is just not acceptable to criticize any ministry until it has finally collapsed in a devastating fashion.  There are a few brave souls who do, but they are treated like pariahs.  They are labelled uncharitable and told that they are judgmental.  How can you speak against a brother or sister in Christ?  But are they really? Or were they in fact the most gracious and loving of all?

Maybe an analogy is in order. . .  Is it more charitable to analyze the charred remains after the fire has burned the house down than it is to say "I smell smoke," while the house still stands?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Families' Fridays

From Focus on the Family 10 helpful tips for single parents Imagine this: you’re the sole parent for your children. You get them up, get them fed and send them to school. You do the housework, maybe you go to work yourself, you get home and you’re still the only adult there. There’s no one to relieve you. No one to pass the baton to while you take a shower or take a few minutes for yourself. You make dinner and gather the family around the table to eat. You play with them, read to them, give them baths, get them to bed and there’s no one there to sit with and process your day. There’s no one there to laugh with you or pray with you. Instead you keep working. You clean up the house again. You pack lunches for the next day. And you eventually crash into bed, knowing you’ll be doing the same thing tomorrow. For many, this is not an imagined scenario. When you parent alone – whether due to divorce, the loss of your spouse or having a spouse who works away from home for long periods of...

Death For a Believer

We picture death as coming to destroy; let us rather picture Christ as coming to save. We think of death as ending; let us rather think of life as beginning, and that more abundantly. We think of losing; let us think of gaining. We think of parting; let us think of meeting. We think of going away; let us think of arriving. And as the voice of death whispers,  "You must go from earth," Let us hear the voice of Christ saying, "You are but coming to me."   Norman Macleod

Let Me Introduce

It is almost a joke to imagine I am introducing John MacArthur Jr. to you.  In our circles of evangelicalism his is a well known name.  He has spoken at the national convention of our Fellowship of Evangelical Baptists on at least three different occasions.  However, the last of these was almost twenty years ago.  I believe that is because we have changed as a Fellowship and have strayed from the message that Dr. MacArthur preaches.  Dr. MacArthur has served his congregation since 1969.  That, in itself, should commend this man's message to us. As a pastor, I appreciate his commitment to the expository preaching of the Bible.  He has published an entire New Testament commentary set based upon his faithful preaching of the text.  I have never met this man personally, but I have appreciated him laying down a faithful path which younger men, like myself, have been able to follow. Grace to You