Tomorrow, the future of our American Republic is at stake and it’s up to Christian voters to save it.
At least that’s what some evangelical leaders are telling us.
Pastor Jack Graham—a member of President Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board—warned his flock on Sunday that “the foundations are cracking” and “freedoms are being taken away.”
Graham also lamented that “tyrannical” politicians are “silencing and shutting down the churches.” And he stated that he believes what’s happening both in the U.S. and abroad is “apocalyptic in nature. Read the book of Revelation.”
Similarly, Robert Jeffress—one of Trump’s most vocal supporters—told Fox and Friends that our vote determines the spiritual and moral future of America: “By our vote, we choose our leaders. Our leaders choose the policies we live under. And those policies determine the moral and spiritual direction of our country.”
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Given the dire straits the U.S. is facing, many have asked me why I’m not similarly addressing the election. Do I not recognize the critical condition our country is in? Do I not care if Christians turn out en masse to vote? Am I unconcerned about Tuesday’s results?
None of those things are true.
I have already voted and believe it’s the duty of every Christian to do the same. I also think America is facing an alarming moral crisis—perhaps even graver than Graham and Jeffress believe.
However, where I differ with Jeffress, Graham, and many evangelicals is my belief about the primary cause of our crisis—and hence, the solution to that crisis.
As I tweeted last month, I am less concerned about winning the White House than I am about purifying the church. Politics is downstream of culture. And culture is shaped by the health (or sickness) of the church. I pray for this country. But I pray most passionately for Christ’s Bride.
This is why I invest the majority of my efforts serving as a watchdog on the church, rather than as a watchdog on the government.
I am not against Christians being politically active. I encourage political involvement and have spent my share of time at pro-life marches and political rallies.
But my political concerns are secondary to my concern for the health and welfare of the church. That’s because I don’t believe for a second that our political policies “determine the moral and spiritual direction of the country.”[pullquote]I am less concerned about winning the White House than I am about purifying the church. Politics is downstream of culture. And culture is shaped by the health (or sickness) of the church.[/pullquote]
As the late Chuck Colson noted in Against the Night, the government is powerless to reform moral virtue once virtue has been squandered.
“(W)hile government has a worthy task to perform, and depends for its success on citizens of character, it can do little to create them,” Colson wrote. “By upholding a standard of justice and enforcing the rule of law, the state does provide a limited form of moral education. . . . But humanity’s deepest motivations, its strongest virtues and blackest vices, escape the control of government. Any government.”
This is why God instituted the family and the church. These are the only institutions capable of transforming the human heart and molding the character of individuals. Yet for at least the past 40 years, evangelicals seem to have lost this perspective.
In 1985, author and evangelist Tim LaHaye—then chairman of the now-defunct American Coalition for Traditional Values—stated this false view of salvation-by-the-state with shocking clarity.
Speaking to Christianity Today, LaHaye lamented, for example, permissive laws allowing the widespread distribution of pornography. He then claimed that “the only way to have a genuine spiritual revival is to have legislative reform.”
This is completely backwards! The only way to have lasting legislative reform is for the people of this country to experience genuine spiritual revival![pullquote]This is completely backwards! The only way to have lasting legislative reform is for the people of this country to experience genuine spiritual revival![/pullquote]
The reason there’s a demand for pornography, for example, is not because of bad legislation, but because of the depravity of our own hearts. As James 1 says, we sin because we are “dragged away by our own evil desire.”
Government may restrain evil, but it cannot reform this country. That is the job of the church.
Yet, what have evangelicals done for the past 40 years? We have expended millions of dollars and man-hours trying to change legislation, creating a plethora of Christian lobbying and political action groups.
We have scores of groups with multi-million dollar budgets, acting as watchdogs over the secular state. And there’s not anything necessarily wrong with that. The church should seek to impact politicians to legislate well.
However, during this same time, the church—what God created to be a “city on a hill”—has declined precipitously. And we’ve done next to nothing.
Other than The Roys Report, MinistryWatch, Trinity Foundation, a handful of bloggers, and occasionally the Christian media, there’s next to no one serving as a watchdog over the church.
Interestingly, we seem more interested in reforming the behavior of pagans, than our own selves. But as my mother often commented to me, “You can’t clean a fish before you catch it.”
You also can’t clean fish when the church itself is unclean. And sadly, the evangelical church is a complete mess. Just look at the scandals of the last couple of years. How can a church that’s rife with financial misconduct, sexual abuse, and mob-like abuses of power possibly reform society?
We have become a parody of ourselves.
The son of Jerry Falwell, Sr.—the founder of the Moral Majority—now stands accused of abusing power, money, and alcohol—and committing a kind of sexual immorality “that even pagans do not tolerate.” (1 Cor. 5:1)[pullquote]The evangelical church is a complete mess. . . . How can a church that’s rife with financial misconduct, sexual abuse, and mob-like abuses of power possibly reform society?[/pullquote]
Equally sad, the evangelical board that’s supposedly advising our president is a complete joke.
One of the founders and “informal advisor to the president” is Johnnie Moore, the man who advised James MacDonald on how to manipulate the media regarding MacDonald’s godless suit against me and the authors of The Elephant’s Debt. Moore also laughed along when MacDonald joked about putting child porn on a Christian media executive’s computer. And when MacDonald said he’d call off his plan to plant porn, Moore remarked, “I’ve got a few other people, though, if you need to do that.”
Another one of the founders of the Evangelical Advisory Board is a purveyor of a false, prosperity gospel—Paula White. This thrice-married false teacher is not someone who should spiritually advise the president or anyone else.
Yet just last week, Christianity Today gave White space on its platform to instruct Christians on why they should vote for Trump. And just a year ago, leading evangelicals endorsed Paula White’s book. Not surprisingly, these endorsers included many outspoken Trump supporters and/or members of the Evangelical Advisory Council: Jack Graham, Robert Jeffress, Johnnie Moore, Franklin Graham, and Greg Laurie.
It seems evangelicals have not transformed politics. Instead, our desire for political power has transformed us, causing us to support teachers who lead people astray, ostensibly for their own enrichment.
So, what should Christians do?
As I said before, every Christian should vote. But I don’t think voting is as clear-cut as many would have us believe.
Jeffress said on Sunday that “when you vote, you’re casting a vote for righteousness or for unrighteousness.” But the truth is, voting this year is complicated.
I agree that the policies of the Republican Party align more with biblical values than the Democrat Party. But I can hardly stomach the way some Republicans—and specifically, evangelicals supporting Republicans—have behaved. And I am most concerned about what evangelical political involvement has done to the church.
I have wrestled with these issues and voted my conscience, and I encourage other believers to do the same. But let’s dispense with this idea that Tuesday’s election determines the future of this country.
Yes, the election is important. But if we believe the Bible, we believe the state of the church impacts culture far more than the person occupying the White House. And the church desperately needs our attention.
So, let’s invest at least as much energy and resources in reforming the church as we do in electing a president. And let’s humble ourselves and admit that the problem isn’t just the culture or politicians; it’s us. And unless we change, there’s no hope that America will change.
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61 Responses
Mostly I agree with you, but also those who discuss doing both-redeeming the Bride as well as reforming laws, because when something is made legal, it happens more with effects for both babies but also all others involved.
Having said that as that is the most important thing, I was surprised you didn’t list WORLD; it does far more than report on problems in the church but it doesn’t ignore Church sins either.
But a minor issue. Overall you are right on track.
Julie, you really hit it on the nose. Christians in political office can and do influence laws, and most of all He wants a pure, spotless Bride. He wants us ready to do His work for whatever comes next… without stain of sin. Are we entering a time like Acts, as some think?
You only mention a few public watchmen, but don’t forget all those watchmen God quietly calls to pray for the government, the President, the Church, its leaders and our cities and neighborhoods.
Thank you Julie for this wisdom. I can’t say amen enough. What you didn’t mention are all the young people watching this… the evangelical church and it’s numerous degradations and ignoring those while chasing after less important things. These so called leaders don’t seem to have any idea or care about the negative impact that’s going to have. God have mercy. My heart breaks at that callous disregard of discipling the youth, all for some measly 30 pieces of “power”…
I appreciate this article, and I’m thankful that the Lord has allowed me to see and read something that should ring true in the heart of the believer – especially myself.
Your comments are insightful and true. Very good piece Julie.
Are Evangelical Leaders Using Trump?
Anil Philip 18 October, 2020
The split between the liberal and conservative factions of Evangelical Christianity is now well-known. The secular media covers it with glee; even Reuters front paged it [1] and the Atlantic claims Trump is using Evangelicals 2[].
Since Trump came to office he has enacted a mostly conservative policy. This has enraged the liberal factions but delighted the conservatives. As a result the liberal factions of evangelicalism have allied with secular liberals to support his impeachment and now, removal through the elections – should he lose. The conservatives are anxious that the causes they are passionate about and are biblically aligned should not be abandoned.
Are evangelical leaders really concerned about Trump (and his family’s) spiritual walk with the Lord?
Both factions are more concerned with his policies and personality than with his spiritual condition. It is almost as if they have turned into political leaders themselves.
Liberal Evangelicals despise Trump for his policies on Obamacare, Illegal Immigration, Environmentalism, his personality, past affairs and untruthfulness (when it concerns himself). They consider him to be a heathen.
They forget that all of us have sins in our past. Trump is not committing his infidelities now. They are in his past. He is a self-admitted Christian. They are not God to decide whether or not to admit him into Jesus’ Kingdom.
Conservative Evangelicals love his policies and ignore his personality and other traits. They have written articles and books seeing him as a God-appointed heathen King like Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus and Darius [5,6,7]. They forget that we are in the New Testament church. Trump is a self-admitted Christian [3,4]. They had a responsibility to pastor his soul, not his administration. Has there been any attempt to disciple the “new born Christian”?
In 4 years, what has been the fruit. Does Trump read the life of Jesus in the Bible for himself and pray regularly? Does he have family prayers with his wife Melania and son Barron? Given he is silent on this topic, I suspect the answer is, No.
The photo-ops with conservative evangelicals in the Oval Office praying for Trump seems like a political image intended to convey Support, Unity, Strength. But it also comes across as self-serving of them.
It is almost as if they are attracted to the power rather than speaking truth to it – especially when it is uncomfortable. Paula White, Robert Jeffress, Brian Houston, Franklin Graham, Pat Robertson, Michael Brown and others[8].
Even if Trump’s faith isn’t sincere they should have walked with him towards a genuine and living faith. They could have encouraged Melania and Barron to have family prayers every night where Trump reads a passage from the gospels and they each pray in turn. Perhaps even sing a worship song together. Seeking God as a family.
Within Christianity, the real elites are those who have the microphone. The rest of us, our voices are not heard.
Pastors and Christian leaders, both local and national, call for repentance of the nation, but it seems to apply to others and not themselves. In the Old Testament, God rebukes the spiritual leaders for their unrighteousness. God is again shaking everything that can be shaken.
“Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost.” (Ezekiel 34:1-10)
“For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction—because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty. But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the LORD Almighty.” (Malachi 2)
“And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven’.” (Hebrews 12:26)
It should concern us that Trump is untruthful, especially with regards to Covid-19 [9]. It should bother us that he never admits wrong nor apologizes nor asks God for forgiveness. Review the September 29 debate when we cringed to watch Trump behave rudely and embarrass us supporters [10].
This is not Christ-like. We are to be imitators of Christ.
“Love is not rude” (1 Corinthians 13).
“Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”. (Matthew 11:29)
Yet, there is no rebuke from any of the pastors and leaders close to him. They refused to scold him into behaving decently but instead sought to blame both participants equally [11].
Please note that I am not suggesting they get involved in his policy actions – that would be wrong. That would subvert our constitution and democracy by making the religious leaders kingmakers, so to speak. They would use scripture to manipulate the president into their agenda.
The danger is, I fear that Trump will get disillusioned with Evangelical Christians once he realizes they’re using him and then he will fall away from Christianity and he may end up doing what the cynics had unfairly predicted about his motives.
I fear there will be a backlash after the November 2020 US presidential elections – and not just in the USA alone. Why?
Given the polls, unless God wills otherwise and does a miracle, it is possible that Trump will lose and conservative evangelical Christians have staked their all on him.
When Biden comes to power his administration will target conservative evangelical Christians as being of the “enemy”. It will be either active hostility or indifference to the concerns and needs of Christians.
Internationally, this will translate into more persecution of Christians because those governments will believe they are immune to sanctions from the Biden White House.
If you don’t believe me, just look at history:
1) In Japan, in the 16th Century, a Christian young man, Amakusa Shiro, led a rebellion (Shimabara Rebellion) which was crushed brutally and tens of thousands of Christians slaughtered. Apart from small numbers of hidden believers, Christianity was wiped out from Japan for about 250 years.
2) Even in Jesus’ time, there were rebel leaders and in AD 70, was brutally crushed by the future Roman emperor Titus. He burnt the temple, razed it to the ground, destroyed Jerusalem
and an estimated 1 million Jews were killed. The nation of Israel was demolished and the Jews dispersed throughout the world. This was the destruction prophesied by Jesus in Matthew 23.
3) There were successful Crusades and Christians “won” for a few decades – but in the end, Christianity was almost wiped out from the lands of its birth – especially from Turkey which had several of the early churches in the New Testament like Galatians, Ephesians. Now, Turkey is 99.8% muslim [12].
References:
[1] Reuters: Christianity Today’s split with Trump highlights deeper issue in white evangelical America
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-religion/christianity-todays-split-with-trump-highlights-deeper-issue-in-white-evangelical-america-idUSKBN1YX09N
[2] The Atlantic: claims Trump’s faith isn’t genuine. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-secretly-mocks-his-christian-supporters/616522/
[3] The faith of Donald Trump https://uscatholic.org/articles/201701/the-faith-of-donald-trump/
[4] God and the Don https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/politics/state/donald-trump-religion/
[5] Two Men from Babylon: Nebuchadnezzar, Trump, and the Lord of History https://www.amazon.com/Two-Men-Babylon-Nebuchadnezzar-History/dp/1713529009
[6] Is Donald Trump Like Cyrus From the Bible? https://www.christianpost.com/news/is-donald-trump-like-cyrus-from-the-bible.html
[7] Looking to the bible to justify allegiance to a flawed leader http://www.sfltimes.com/opinion/looking-to-the-bible-to-justify-allegiance-to-a-flawed-leader
[8] ‘I hope it’s true’: Trump responds to claim he was chosen by God https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-god-appointed-christian-interview
[9] Trump Consistently Bends Reality, Sells His Narrative In Interviews For Woodward Book https://www.npr.org/2020/09/09/911138032/woodward-book-says-trump-chose-to-downplay-deadliness-of-virus-to-avoid-panic
[10] ‘How did America reach this level of political decline?’: Foreign observers shake heads at debate https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-09-30/foreign-observers-note-chaos-rancor-trump-biden-presidential-debate
[11] Michael Brown: Presidential debate was snapshot of America https://onenewsnow.com/perspectives/michael-brown/2020/09/30/michael-brown-presidential-debate-was-snapshot-of-america
[12] Cia Factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tu.html
Good and thoughtful article, Anil.
One consideration— It may be not a matter of “when” Biden comes to power, but “if”… as evidence seems to point to rising voter fraud issues.
Second consideration—you hit it on the nose that the fight for power allures both the liberal and conservative, and the real matter at hand is to pray for Trump (and even Biden) to know Christ in a deeper, more intimate way. May he emerge a humbler man. Amen.
I’m a little disappointed in how you overstate some things about the church. The James MacDonalds, Jerry Falwell, Jrs. and Paula Whites are hardly the church; to say or imply that they are representative simply isn’t true. These, and others like them, need to be reported on, but the vast majority of ministers are nothing like these egregious examples, and it’s a bit insulting to be grouped with them in statements like “the evangelical church is a complete mess.”
Second, “there’s next to no one serving as a watchdog over the church” aside from this site and a few others. Aside from the self-congratulatory air of pride, there are thousands of pastors and elders nationwide whose job it is to “keep watch” over the church. Some do a better job than others, but in the aggregate they do far more than you or anyone else. You, or any other ministry “watchdog,” will never supplant the shepherds who work diligently to protect their flock from wolves.
One general comment: The spiritual health of all the disciples of Jesus Christ in this nation is paramount, just as you have stated. In my opinion, we have a lot of maturing to do because we still seem to be blown about by every wind of doctrine. For that we will need to do more of the basics of making disciples. Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, and that includes the wisdom to make sound informed choices about civic responsibility and, yes, for whom to vote.
David,
Thank you for your comments. I agree that the majority of pastors in the U.S. are nothing like James MacDonald or Paula White. However, about 50 percent of churchgoers in the U.S. reportedly attend the largest 10% of churches. And I would contend that megachurches (in general; there are always outliers) are where money, power, and corporate values have most profoundly corrupted the church.
To your second point… That’s valid. I probably should have said “independent watchdogs.” But absolutely, every good shepherd out there guards his sheep. And yes, the plethora of good pastors out there have far more impact than I, or any watchdog group, will ever have.
That being said, I have been profoundly disappointed in the ability of the church to police itself. For example, the Christian and Missionary Alliance’s failure to hold Ravi Zacharias accountable and conduct a rigorous investigation once allegations against Zacharias surfaced.
To your last comment… Amen! The only real hope for the church is for disciples to grow in health and maturity. That is my prayer.
David, I understand where you are coming from and I will respectfully say this. I was in the exact same place as you awhile back but I don’t agree with your assumption that the pastors and elders nationwide are the watchdog. In fact, the further one goes, the more one realizes that the foundational issue that has led to all of this is the fact that the elders, deacons and other ministry leaders don’t meet the qualifications for the biblical offices they hold. I used to think “hey, no one meets the qualifications listed in 1 Tim 3”. But, that was wrong of me to say that. What I was really saying was, “I don’t meet the qualifications, and the elders and deacons I know don’t meet them”.
But I have met some real elders since that time, and they do express biblical oversight over their respective churches. But of the 10-15 churches I know fairly well because I’ve served on Christian Ministry Boards where I get to meet a lot of people and get to know them and their churches over time…It’s astounding how almost all churches “elect” or “appoint” or “vote” on elders based on their skill set…or based on something that has nothing to do with 1 Tim 3. We need a banker because that financing is going to be complicated, or we need a fundraiser, or a mom, or a strategy person, or or or…
But the moment someone who doesn’t meet the qualifications for eldership as outlined in 1 Tim 3, Titus 1, 1 Peter 5 etc…and accepts the position as an unqualified person…They move from unqualified lay person to disqualified elder. And if that process repeats itself? Which it almost always does, you end up with a bunch of disqualified men at board meetings trying to figure out how to grow the church and improve finances…And suddenly, churches or schools or ministries that were so deeply different (in a wonderful way because they followed Christ) still have all of the “words” around it, but spiritually discerning folks can see that the leaders aren’t qualified to be elders.
In the end, only God can develop men to become (and remain) qualified elders. But I know this for sure, those who think that it’s fine to have a group of elders on your board who aren’t qualified (aka disqualified?). To your point, it has led to the need for Julie and a few others to come forward and bring the public rebuke that Driscoll’s church and MacDonald’s church and Willow covered up (under threat of murder in some cases) for years if not decades. And if you think the small churches are all fine? Spme are, but from where I’m sitting, many of them went belly up because the mega churches put them out of business so many of them have tried to morph into the very thing we are talking about here. Read what 1 Tim 3 says.
The word MUST is in there…
And when you see people who meet those qualifications work together, it’s an amazing thing that happens. God moves the organization forward. The “leader” God is looking for isn’t the silver tongued charismatic brilliant person…he’s looking for people like Moses who demonstrated what true leadership was when he said,
“12Moses said to the LORD, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”
It’s not corporate at all…It’s waiting for the Lord. HE is the strategy. HE may not want the finances to get better…HE may want the doors to close. HE may want what a group of unqualified men and women wouldn’t be able to understand or hear. And to have them there making decisions with those who can hear that, and who seek a unity in their walks with the Lord? Those are the ones God directs us to choose as elders.
I am in a smaller church right now that has the EXACT same problem that the larger churches have. Underneath the “problems” though which are easy and manageable if one just obeys…is a group of people who are running the church and haven’t the slightest notion of what that means.
John
All very well said. You could have included or might wish to comment on an aspect of todays preaching that focuses one one spiritual truth and in the process ignores others. While evangelism is important, what has sidelined Biblical truth is the embracing of worldly values just to get the unconverted inside the church doors and thereby leaves the converted without the in depth teaching on the topic of discipleship that is so badly needed…the saints are thereby starved. I know its a touchy subject but the argument for setting aside the hymns was because there is a style of music that society wants and if only we will change the music, then they will come.
Once we feed people a weak and carnal diet of music just to get them in the front door, then we have to keep feeding them more of the same to keep them. The reality is that the progressives have won, keep embracing the current trends and there will come a time when there won’t be a difference between anyone except that one will attend church.
The content of the old hymns placed heavy reinforcement of key elements of the Christian life much as did Pilgrims Progress of years ago. Yes, the ministry association is responsible for the moral decline because they refuse to preach about living a righteous holy life, not just comment on it once in a while.
My heart aches over what has happened within the church over the last six to eight decades. The infrastructure of the American church is crumbling and within the ministerial association not many will put the trumpet to their mouths to sound an alarm because of a fear that people will leave and if that takes place they will appear to be failures.
I realize very few will read this as I always seem to write these manifestos a week after they are relevant. In many ways, I think God is speaking to me in this comment and perhaps few others. In any case, for the one or two who read through these here it goes:
I believe it was Charles Spurgeon who had a book (or was it a chapter) entitled: “Let It Begin With Me”
With so many fallen pastors, leaders, friends and family members, it is irresistible at times to point at “them” and blame the full collapse of the evangelical church on “them”. The fact is, God is taking time to purify His Church in ways I would have never expected. The best pastors I have known in my lifetime have either died over the last five years, retired, or have been removed from their positions for a variety of reasons–some unseemly, some not. But it is eye opening to realize that all of the churches I have attended for 30 years were infected with the same sin of pride that courses through this mess. I’ve served on Christian Boards where the strategy, and capital campaigns, and goals, were given 4 or more hours at each Board meeting we had, while our prayers for Aunt Ethel’s knee and the job loss of a friend of someone else took a mere 15 minutes.
As God begins to allow us to turn around and look at what has happened, it is quite a heavy weight He has placed on you. I know that because, I feel the “heaviness” of what is happening in the church and the millions (billions?) of lives that have been affected by it, and I don’t spend my life as God’s servant going when He leads me to the next terribly fall.
More than anything, my story is probably more about me not wanting to believe that things were as bad as I had suspected they were when I left Harvest in 2012. On the surface, things were (and are) incalculably bad. BUT, God is at work and He is indeed purifying His Church as only He can do, WHEN He decides to do it.
I have had dose after dose after dose of the evangelical church machinery (aka the end times church ?) feeding me air conditioning, 7-11 Music (Seven Words sung 11 times–lol that’s John MacArthur I think), beautiful people, perfect lighting, humor, action, and then biblical truth and then top it off with another visit to 7-11 with our eyes closed and heads bowed.
After Harvest, I went to an EV Free church where you could feel the urgency of “growth” and “multi-site” and “increasing the budget” and “please be sure to come to the congregational meeting tonight” etc. After that, we went to a small church in Libertyville where they had just lost their pastor (who became a missionary to France) and had a pulpit rotation consisting of 4 elders–all of whom were really good. But 2-3 months in you could feel a sense of urgency from the lead elder that they have this really really really really really great guy coming from a mega church in California with a strategy and vision and blah blah blah blah blah. He preached on a Psalm and I’m sure he is probably a Christian, but there was no way to know it from the sermon he preached that day. As a note, one of the gentlemen who had been in that church’s rotation and had been a member (and leader) for 3-4 years was so sensitive to the Lord in his approach to teaching and caring of the church and then his exposition of the Word was so clear and careful to bring illumination, understanding, conviction, and praise. And I mean like the whole time the guy preached. People who know him, say he is like that all the time. But I guess they wanted refrigerator posties and the occasional bad joke and a bunch of 7-11. When I wrote one of my notoriously long emails to their elder board asking why the church hadn’t considered a person who it seemed God was placing a 4000 Watt light bulb on, they replied that they were only interviewing candidates who had their MDiv. I later found out, this guy (32-33 years old was 9 months away from finishing one…but I digress). A month after the California guy was voted in (after their elder board told all of us he was terrible) he preached on the following passage in Acts 4. I have always loved this passage and if I slow down enough to really take in what was happening, this was a taste of what heaven will be like. It’s an amazing passage…
“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement),sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”
He said these verses made it clear that the early disciples were getting complacent and the rest of the sermon was on “10 Steps to Avoid Complacency”. Maybe it was three steps…whatever!
I know I’m rambling, but my point is this: God is making it impossible for so many of us who have seen all of the carnage in the Church to be comfortable anywhere except close to Him (which is not longer as building/charismatic pastor/music driven as it once was). The fact is, my situation is exactly as it has been since I became a believer 40 years ago now..(at age 17). When my heart moves away from Him, it fills itself with something or someone else. For a long time, I filled it with Harvest “stuff”. Some of it good, some not. But the minute MacDonald, Falwell, Hybels, Driscoll, Zacharias or anyone else’s sin or another church scandal becomes the focus of my heart, it is there that I am in the most danger I think. These men ALL need to be called out and I can’t tell you how thank I am for you (and others who have come out of horrid situations) to be courageous enough to do what you do.
I need to realize that God calls me to humbly respond to the public rebuke (in obedience to 1 Tim 5) that is being brought to these church leaders as a result of their hardness of heart.
But I know that God is calling me to respond to His work of purification in His Church by realizing that He has called us (you in this case, sorry) to make this public. Why? So that we may stand in fear…
“Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality. Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.(No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.) The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.”
My response to what the Lord is doing in your ministry needs to principally be to love and help those who have been hurt but making sure that I first humble myself before the Lord and realize that my own sinful heart is capable of defying the Lord even in leadership positions…Wait, ESPECIALLY in leadership positions where I walk away from Him. We are repeatedly warned:
“Wherefore let those who think they stand, take heed lest they fall.”
This was the verse I held so close as I left Harvest (in 2012) and it’s the verse I need to stay close to as I hear of another ministry, or church or institution that has fallen.
Sadly, those who should have been publicly rebuking the men and women who remain in their sins, remain amazingly silent. They were all on the circuit, speaking every week at another place…and now, crickets. Silence. The “church leaders who should have been obeying God’s Word all along, didn’t and haven’t and won’t. I know their MDivs would all allow them to quote the chapter and verse of the autonomy of the local church blah blah where they weaponize Scripture in order to protect their own sin and their own culpability but Piper, MacArthur, Chandler, Dever, The Gospel Coalition (who stayed silent on so much that they should close) were public leaders and were national (if not global) leaders of “evangelicalism” and served in more than an “autonomous local church” role. Sadly, their failure and their protection of the men at the core of the collapse all said nothing. Piper was Driscoll’s friend and sent him untold numbers of private communications but the church overall was told nothing…except through Wartburg Watch etc. Men like Piper need to ask themselves if not you, then who? He would say their elders held the role I am asking him to fill. And I reply back, “OK, but 3 years into the crisis should be a decent indication that they aren’t willing, able or qualified to obey God’s Word at this level of leadership.” And yet Scripture says, public rebuke.
In any case, God allowed all of the secrets and the silence for a season and allowed sinful men to continue in the largest pulpits in the United States–some for decades. And…He allowed those around them who knew the grotesque plague in the hearts of some of them to stay silent in order to protect the man-made edifices they had built through air conditioning, 7-11, funny stories, making sin seem cool, and sounding and looking a lot more like the world as each week and year went by. And God allowed it…until now.
Isaiah 41:14-15
John Byrne
Julie,
Amen!!! I so resonate with this, and I believe Scripture does as well. Because of this “Hearts first, policies second” principle, I would place Christian responsibility to vote as a distant second to prayer, holy living, and striving to impact lives around us with grace and truth.
God bless you Julie. Your heart is right on track and the thoughts you’ve shared are piercing. We have a religious infrastructure that is in bad shape and we have men in the ministry who are unwilling to admit publicly that they have made bad decisions, let alone take the necessary steps to return to the old ways. We have a luke warm church culture, programs, doctrinal positions and persona that have replaced the loving of God with our whole heart. To put it bluntly we’ve idolized the pastoral staff to the point where even Deacon boards cannot offer one word of correction to stop the slide into humanism and the exaltation of the flesh. America’s biggest problem is one of repentance and it must begin in the House of God
You have been such an important voice and I thank God you are called to focus on the purity of the church. As you make clear there are problems with some of the church leadership and some who are heavily involved in politics. Even Christians who are called to focus on politics or work in politics or some other secular field should not compromise with such corruption. I think you are generally correct that the moral health of a culture comes from the spiritual health of the church but I think there is also room for affecting the moral health of culture through the moral health of a government and its laws. Proverbs 29:2.