Render Unto Caesar but Jesus is Lord!

by | Nov 1, 2024 | Christianity, Culture, Politics, Theology, Worldview | 0 comments

The first confession of the early church was, “Jesus is Lord!” This first confession implied that since Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not. This was a political statement that cost many Christians their lives.

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What do we “render unto Caesar?”

The first confession of the early church was, “Jesus is Lord!” This first confession implied that since Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not. This was a political statement that cost many Christians their lives. The Romans wouldn’t have burned Christians at the stake or fed them to lions or beheaded them for saying, “Jesus loves you!”

The proper starting place for biblical understanding of governing authority is not Romans 13, as many pastors would have you believe. If one runs to Romans 13 as a standalone text, you’re left with an incomplete understanding of authority that leads to bad theology and unbiblical outcomes that cause harm.

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (Romans 13:1-2)

Actually, one must begin with Matthew 22:17-20:

“Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

This presupposes that some things DO NOT belong to Caesar (the state / government).

So, what things belong to Caesar as opposed to other authorities appointed by God?
Do your children belong to Caesar?
Does the Church belong to Caesar?
Does your body belong to Caesar?
Does your home belong to Caesar?
Does your food belong to Caesar?

During the COVID nonsense, many pastors and Christian leaders trotted out Romans 13 as their hard-and-fast “submit to the governing authorities” proof-text to coerce their fellow Christians to do what the government says (closing churches, social distancing, wearing masks, getting experimental shots, quarantining, etc.). Many manipulated others by saying that refusing to submit was “not loving thy neighbor.” Repent now, if you haven’t already.

This confusion about biblical authority extends beyond pandemic responses to the very heart of our civic duty. Having established what belongs to Caesar and what doesn’t, we face an even more pressing concern.

There is an important question Christians in America fail to grasp.
Will you cast your lot with life or death? Righteousness or sin?

Unfortunately, our choice on the ballot is not between Jesus or Satan. It’s more like Herod the Great or Cyrus the Great. The former murdered the firstborn throughout Bethlehem. The latter was a pagan king whom God used to shepherd God’s people back to Israel: “the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia…”(Ezra 1:1b)

A choice is set before every American Christian voter: a platform of life and order, or a platform of death and chaos.

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse…” (Deuteronomy 30:19a)

Not voting is equivalent to silence. If death is a choice on the ballot, then silence is evil when life is on the ballot as well. In fact, in America your vote belongs to Caesar… Render it!

Remember, God’s righteousness can be expressed through a single vote and can be accomplished through many votes.

A biblical case can be made that refusing to vote for the protection and promotion of human life violates the Sixth Commandment: “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). Implicit in the prohibition of unlawfully taking a human life is the protection and promotion of human life.

Brian Tallman wrote, “Because God is the God of life, and because we are His children and those who walk in the same way in which He walks (1 John 2:6), we are necessarily those who work for the preservation, protection, and promotion of life. This command, then, is profoundly rooted in the nature of God. As John Calvin writes:

“We are accordingly commanded, if we find anything of use to us in saving our neighbors’ lives, faithfully to employ it; if there is anything that makes for their peace, to see to it; if anything harmful, to ward it off; if they are in any danger, to lend a helping hand.””(1)

It’s also our responsibility to steward this blessing God has ordained for American Christians who are eligible to vote.

Just as the early church’s confession “Jesus is Lord!” was a costly political statement that sent Christians to the lions, today’s Christians face their own moment of costly conviction. This is our moment to proclaim with our votes what the early church proclaimed with their lives – Jesus is Lord!

Proclaiming “Jesus is Lord!” costs something.

Related Podcast:

Revolution of Man Podcast Ep. 10 Election Predictions, Render unto Caesar, Preaching on Politics w/ Tyler Durham (Spotify) (Apple)

Please share your insights by commenting below this post.

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Now more than ever, worldview training is essential. It is not a Christian elective. I launched the Forge Room Foundation in order to equip Christians to understand our cultural moment and respond with a biblical worldview perspective.

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Clueless Christianity and the Liberal Trap

by | Aug 23, 2024 | Christianity, Culture, Politics, The Church, Theology, Worldview

Clueless Christianity is weak and powerless. It cannot withstand the onslaught of darkness. Only through repentance and an unapologetic return to Biblical truth and faith can we withstand the coming storm. Pray that God raises up saints and sound doctrine against evil and falsehood in our time.
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The biggest problems for evangelicals are not that Satan and the world are against the church. Evangelicals’ biggest problems aren’t external – they’re internal. We’re clueless.

A clueless Christian is open to manipulation, false teaching, and heretical beliefs.

We must admit that most evangelical Christians struggle with Biblical literacy, self-centeredness, uncritical adoption of fads, ignorance of our cultural moment, questionable theology, and avoidance of confronting social issues scripturally. Add to this the recent American theology of “Christian escapism,” and you have a recipe for societal disaster. We wonder why our nation and the church are complete dumpster fires.

The Liberal Trap

Case in point, David French and other “liberal” Christians serve as water-boys for liberal elites (liberal Christianity is heresy, as I will point out later). French and his cohort (Russell Moore, Curtis Chang, Francis Collins, Tim Alberta, Andy Stanley, etc.) lean left and punch right. That is to say, they espouse leftist political and moral positions, wrap them in Christian language, then bash conservative Christians and admonish them to avoid politics altogether. Read their books. They are theological chaff under the pretense of sophistication.

They all superimpose a political framework on their theology, at the same time claiming they are trying to keep politics out of Christianity and the church by bashing conservative Christians through a straw man fallacy of the “right’s political idolatry.” They are so obsessed that when confronted for their folly, they shift tactics to ad hominem attacks, calling those who disagree or expose their falsehoods “Christian Nationalists.” I’d rather be called a “Christian Nationalist” (whatever that means) than actually be a “Christian Socialist.”

Remember, Curtis Chang told Christians the “shot” was a gospel issue and anyone who didn’t get it was breaking God’s command to love our neighbors (1). Chang and others who said that sinned against God’s church. I highly recommend they repent.

Herbert Marcuse must be rejoicing in Hell as these men and their followers impose a form of “Repressive Tolerance” wrapped in a Christian veneer on the church at large.

Note: Every Christian should read Herbert Marcuse’s “Repressive Tolerance” to understand our cultural moment and mood. We are living in the logic of Marcuse. Link below this post.

These men are not shepherds of God’s flock nor are they shepherds for sale. They are mere hirelings of modern Marcusian Liberal Christianity masquerading as pious pastors and thought leaders.

They wave banners revealing their true nature that read, “To Save Conservatism From Itself, I Am Voting for Harris” (David French actually wrote a New York Times piece by that title) leading undiscerning believers toward the outer darkness.

Meanwhile, a mobile abortion and vasectomy van is parked at the DNC national convention offering free abortion drugs to women and vasectomies to men (2). Yet, they can’t tell you what a woman is. Their signs use code-speak like “Reproductive Healthcare” which everyone knows means, kill the baby in the mother’s womb. “Healthcare” for the unborn means death.

What French and his ilk are promoting is not historical biblical Christianity, but another religion altogether.

J. Gresham Machen nailed it in 1923, in his book, “Christianity and Liberalism“:
“What the liberal theologian has retained after abandoning Christian doctrine is not Christianity at all, but an entirely different religion… Christianity is founded upon the Bible. Liberalism is founded upon the shifting emotions of sinful men.“

Clueless Christianity manifests in several ways:

Biblical Illiteracy Crisis

Problem: Our biblical ignorance lets wolves use out-of-context verses to peddle false doctrines.
Solution: Repent of your spiritual sloth, believe the Gospel, and study your Bible.

Self-Centered Worship

Problem: We demand entertainment instead of worship, therapy instead of repentance. We psychologize sin and apply therapy rather than repentance and believing the gospel.
Solution: Repent of your selfishness and trivializing sin. Find a church that preaches God’s Word unadulterated, not some watered-down rubbish.

Following Fads

Problem: Pastors chase pop-culture trends, and use big data and “best practices” to attract the lost.
Solution: Repent of your unbiblical techniques of “doing church.” (What the heck does “doing church” mean anyway? It’s theological nonsense). Get your ecclesiological (doctrine of the church) house in order. Study God’s design, purpose, and destiny for His Church. Remember, what you win people with is what you win people to.

Cultural Ignorance

Problem: Ignorance of our cultural moment leaves the church vulnerable to destructive undercurrents.
Solution: Repent of your apathy. Preach God’s Word as it intersects with the actual lives of your congregation, not as if in a vacuum.

Theological Confusion

Problem: Problematic positions on scripture’s authority, inerrancy, the Gospel’s sufficiency, sexual and ethnic identity, and politics have left many in the church confused.
Solution: Repent of your apostasy and heretical theology. Recover biblical categories, anthropology, and sociology.

Social Issue Avoidance

Problem: By avoiding critical moral issues, we allow bad ideas and policies to harm our neighbors.
Solution: Repent of your cowardice. Speak truth to error and against destructive ideologies, theories, and policies.

Christian Escapism

Finally, many believe that Jesus would never allow His Church to suffer trials and tribulations, despite 2,000 years of evidence to the contrary. Are modern Christians somehow exempt from God’s judgment on broader society or persecution?

Problem: This mindset is unbiblical and leaves us unprepared for the challenges of today. Furthermore, the escapist mentality can lead to apathy, inaction, pride, and a lack of care for future generations. “Get people saved and wait” is not Biblical.
Solution: Repent and focus on being faithful to Christ in every moment today so that when He returns, he will find you faithful. Remember, God called us to be faithful in every moment of our assigned station in this life as if Christ’s return could happen at any time.

In conclusion, Evangelicals are invariably 15 to 20 years behind the culture. In a foolish attempt at relevance, evangelicals jump on the cultural bandwagon just as everyone else is getting off. Meanwhile, many hirelings enrich themselves by peddling their books and programs, leading many sheep astray while shaming actual shepherds.

Clueless Christianity is weak and powerless. It cannot withstand the onslaught of darkness. Only through repentance and an unapologetic return to Biblical truth and faith can we withstand the coming storm. Pray that God raises up saints and sound doctrine against evil and falsehood in our time.

It’s time to repent and fight for truth or lose the nation God gave us and men died for.

I leave you with another quote from Machen to contemplate:
“The type of religion which rejoices in the pious sound of traditional phrases, regardless of their meanings, or shrinks from ‘controversial’ matters, will never stand amid the shocks of life. In the sphere of religion, as in other spheres, the things about which men are agreed are apt to be the things that are least worth holding; the really important things are the things about which men will fight.“

 

“So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.”
(Isaiah 59:19 KJV)

Citations, sources and links:

(1) https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/09/08/curtis-chang-former-pastor-vaccine-exemption-sot-ebof-vpx.cnn

(2) https://www.npr.org/2024/08/20/nx-s1-5081386/planned-parenthood-mobile-clinic-abortion-vasectomies-dnc

Herbert Marcuse “Repressive Tolerance” (1969) https://www.marcuse.org/herbert/publications/1960s/1965-repressive-tolerance-fulltext.html

David French: “To Save Conservatism From Itself, I Am Voting for Harris” (NYT 2024) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/11/opinion/harris-trump-conservatives-abortion.html

J. Gresham Machen “Christianity and Liberalism” (1923) https://www.amazon.com/Christianity-Liberalism-J-Gresham-Machen/dp/1642894915

Essay: “THE CHRISTIAN DUTY IN POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT” by Lance Cashion (2023)

Please share your insights by commenting below this post.

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Now more than ever, worldview training is essential. It is not a Christian elective. I launched the Forge Room Foundation in order to equip Christians to understand our cultural moment and respond with a biblical worldview perspective.

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The Rise and Triumph of Therapeutic Theology

by | May 17, 2024 | Christianity, Culture, God, Theology, Wisdom, Worldview | 3 comments

“Rather than conform thoughts, feelings, and actions to objective reality, man’s inner life itself becomes the sources of truth.”
– Ryan T. Anderson (President, Ethics and Public Policy Center)

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sModern man psychologizes everything. We’ve witnessed the rise and triumph of Therapeutic Theology.

Many preachers and theologians psychologize scripture today. As a result, the Word of God is no longer authoritative and the standard of truth. We now see our individual experiences and emotions as authoritative and the source of truth. In other words, what we feel must indicate what is true. Therefore, anything that threatens or disrupts our individual psychological wellbeing must be false and bad.

Carl Trueman puts it this way, “Any attempt to express disapproval is therefore a blow not simply against particular ways of behaving but against the right of that person to be whoever they wish to be.”

The Therapeutic Gospel is the new prosperity Gospel. People today don’t care as much about money as they do about feeling good, or at least feeling better. Anxiety and depression levels in America are at all-time highs. As such, people want to hear sermons that make them feel better. Many pastors are willing to shift away from a God-centered exposition of Scripture to a man-centered eisegesis.

Imposing my ideas on the Bible… making it mean what I want it to mean.

Eisegesis is interpretation whereby the reader imposes his own ideas and biases onto the biblical text rather than interpreting the intended meaning of the text. A growing number of pastors use a psychological lens to interpret scripture resulting in therapeutic remedies. Eisegesis allows one to make the Bible mean whatever he wants it to mean. It’s man-centered theology dressed up in biblical-sounding language.

I’ve seen brothers and sisters lulled into a spiritual daze through therapeutic preaching. The preacher weeps on cue and whispers soothing words about inner well-being. The sharp, two edged sword that is the Word of God is quietly set aside. A hypnotic anesthetic is administered from the pulpit, tickling the ears and silencing God’s Word.

Many Sunday morning sermons are therapy sessions centered around feelings and experiences. Rather than a clear call to repentance and faith, and submission to the Word of God, we are fed pablum. We hear how Jesus cares more about our feelings than our faith. The Word of God is preached in such a way as to assuage our sinful fears and make us feel better. After all, God wants us to feel good, right?

Wrong. When we feel the conviction, shame, and consequences of sin, it doesn’t feel good. Otherwise, no one would repent and believe the Gospel. That said, the Bible speaks to human emotions, psychology, and experiences. But, those are not primary… they are not even secondary matters. Truth is of first order.

The Father is the fountainhead of truth, not Freud. (see Hebrews 6:18)

Jesus Christ came into this world to bear witness to the truth. (see John 18:37)

The Church of the living God is the pillar and foundation of the truth. (see 1 Timothy 3:15)

Therapeutic Theology is not just another form of Christian theology, it’s a Christian heresy. Sitting under it is giving approval to it. Listen long enough, it will warp your theology and lead you away from truth… whether you or your pastor realizes it or not.

The solution to therapeutic theology is a return to biblical faith, good theology, sound doctrine, and expositional preaching. While pastors counsel and speak to emotions, they are first truth-tellers and shepherds (proclaiming, administering, and guarding the truth).

Keep the main things the main things.

“If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.” (1 Timothy 6:3-4)

“preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:2-5)

…

 Resources:

“Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self” by Carl Trueman

“Strange New World” by Carl Trueman

“The Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith after Freud” by Philip Rieff

“A Secular Age” by Charles Taylor

“Marks of a Healthy Church” by Mark Dever

Related Blog Post:

“Is Your Church Going Liberal?” by Lance Cashion

“Most Pastors Don’t Have A Biblical Worldview and It’s a Problem” – by Lance Cashion 

Please share your insights by commenting below this post.

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Now more than ever, worldview training is essential. It is not a Christian elective. I launched the Forge Room Foundation in order to equip Christians to understand our cultural moment and respond with a biblical worldview perspective.

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The Anti-Pastor

by | May 3, 2024 | Christianity, Culture, Leadership, Philosophy, The Church, Theology, Wisdom, Worldview

It appears the modern business-growth mindset and pragmatic philosophy tend to attract and cultivate what I can only describe as the “anti-pastor” personality. We must retrieve a biblical foundation for pastoral and elder leadership.

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From my perspective, the corporatization of the church as an institution and professionalization of the minister / pastor class as a career path feed worldly and fleshly desires for prestige and power.

This is not to say that ALL ministers end up in a bad place.

It appears the modern business-growth mindset and pragmatic philosophy tend to attract and cultivate what I can only describe as the “anti-pastor” personality. Basically, this mindset rewards men who do exactly the opposite of what the Bible describes as a pastor, elder, or deacon. Meanwhile, men who exhibit the true marks of a pastor, elder, etc. are not rewarded, or worse punished for their faithfulness. Maybe their congregations are small or they are seen as too rigid? You get the point.

This anti-pastor mindset results in the inability of some pastors to even comprehend the unbiblical nature of their behavior (driven by a set of beliefs) or their lack of theological convictions. This does not excuse sin or responsibility. But, it creates the conditions for bad thinking and self deception to occur. Furthermore, it becomes an environment of theological darkness where error can grow undetected.

In many ways, pastors are products of our culture. Unseen forces shape our thought life, passions, doctrine, theology, and practices. This is why scriptural critique is vital to the life of the pastor and the church. We all need it.

Os Guinness wrote, “The purpose of critique is restoration, not dismissal. The prophets’ messages were special calls to bring God’s people back to the original calling from which they had fallen away.“

Faithfulness begets faithfulness, just like dysfunction begets dysfunction. Faithfulness will never emerge from dysfunction. This is why true repentance is absolutely necessary in the life of the Christian.

I’m convinced as we teach biblical worldview to others, the foundation of repentance and faith must be established and taught as first principles. We must retrieve a biblical foundation for pastors and elders.

Below, I share the qualifications and the marks of a Pastor / Elder (Overseer), and a post about repentance.

…

Qualifications (Pastor, Elder, Overseers)

“An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” – Titus 1:6–9

“The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.” – 1 Tim 3:1-7

“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”” – 1 Peter 5:1-5

Blog Post: “Repentance” 

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Most Pastors Don’t Have A Biblical Worldview and It’s a Problem

by | Mar 22, 2024 | Christianity, God, Philosophy of Ministry, The Church, Theology, Worldview | 2 comments

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.”

Matthew 15:8-9

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If the Apostle Paul attended a Sunday service today would he recognize the American church as the Church he help found? Probably not.

George Barna and Arizona Christian University published an alarming study in 2022. Here is a direct quote from the American Worldview Inventory 2022:

“Among all Christian pastors in the United States, slightly more than one out of every three (37%) possesses a biblical worldview…

 

Among Senior Pastors, four out of 10 (41%) have a biblical worldview—the highest incidence among any of the five pastoral positions studied. Next highest was the 28% among Associate Pastors. Less than half as many Teaching Pastors (13%) and Children’s and Youth Pastors (12%) have a biblical worldview. The lowest level of biblical worldview was among Executive Pastors—only 4% have consistently biblical beliefs and behaviors.

 

Much like other Americans, the pastors who do not have a biblical worldview are unlikely to fully embrace a competing worldview (such as Secular Humanism, Marxism, or others). In fact, less than 1% of pastors embody a worldview other than Biblical Theism (i.e., the biblical worldview).

 

Instead, their prevailing worldview is best described as Syncretism, the blending of ideas and applications from a variety of holistic worldviews into a unique but inconsistent combination that represents their personal preferences. More than six out of 10 pastors (62%) have a predominantly syncretistic worldview.” (1)

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.” – Matthew 15:8-9

What price will our children and grandchildren pay for this drift? What must you speak up about today that if you don’t, you will regret tomorrow?

Eric Metaxas said, “It is far easier to ignore God’s call than to acknowledge it and rise to fulfill it, but it is more difficult and painful than anything to live with the results of ignoring God’s call. Let the reader understand…”

Diagnosing the Problem

As individuals and the church, we are prone to place blame and responsibility for our failures, problems and weaknesses outside ourselves. Just as we face significant challenges and threats from the outside, we fail to realize most problems and failures begin on the inside. On the same note, we are the solution (Christ being the ultimate solution). As faithful Christians, we must be sober-minded and honest about our weakness and sin. As the Church we should remove the log from our own eye before removing the speck from someone else’s.

“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God…” – 1 Peter 4:17a

As I survey the landscape of the American evangelical church, I am grieved and disgusted. The church is cowering in the fear of man. Preachers and theologians dress up their cowardice using a camouflage of thin theological justifications and proof-texts (albeit out-of-context). “Leave theology and interpretation of scripture to the experts!” is the cry from comfortable ivory towers far above the burning cities. This is gnosticism in new garb. The professional ministerial class is over-confident in their seminary degrees and under-informed about the realities of the world around them.

Church Inc. Business

A modern Tower of Babel has been constructed through empire-building and marketing of religious goods and services (entertainment and programs). This feeds Christian consumerism. It seems like many churches have been transformed into businesses.

Institutionalism, elitism, pragmatism, moralism, and pretension have overtaken the original mission of the church. The incremental secularization of the church combined with pragmatism and a focus on church growth over Kingdom growth have resulted in a consumer-focused mission over a Christ-focused one.

The clarion call of the modern American evangelical church is, “Let us make a brand for ourselves, create more parking, and more views on YouTube! Lest we become irrelevant!”

When a church behaves like a business, preachers and pastors are replaced by a specialized managerial class of administrators that embrace a business mindset over a biblical mindset. Many of these administrators and executive pastors have specialized administrative degrees from seminaries. The problem is that seminaries are poor at teaching business administration, it’s not their purpose. If you want to run a business, get an MBA from a University not a D.Min. (Doctor of Ministry) from a seminary.

The D.Min. was created in the 1970’s and marketed by seminaries to those seeking upward mobility but did not have time, commitment, or resources to obtain a Ph.D. David Wells wrote, “This is the old market mechanism at work. In the 1970’s many seminaries were hard pressed financially, and the D.Min. was a lucrative new product to sell. At the same time, many ministers were hard-pressed psychologically as they sensed the decline in their profession…” (2)

Should it surprise anyone that, “The lowest level of biblical worldview was among Executive Pastors—only 4% have consistently biblical beliefs and behaviors?” (3)

Professional administrators have replaced called and committed pastors as the business of Church Inc. has replaced the ministry and witness of the Church. As a result, the goal is to use marketing strategies to entice people to come to a church ‘worship experience.’ As such, many evangelical pulpits promote therapeutic moralistic deism over biblical faith. Think of a rock concert and a TED talk followed by a therapeutic message making sinners feel better about their sin and a God who winks at sin. Aaron Renn, says it’s a “curious blend of moral posturing and play-it-safe proclamations” which are becoming the dominant evangelical perspective today.

It seems like the modern evangelical worship service is built around entertainment and performance for the experience of attendees. It begs the question, exactly who is the worship experience for? What is the purpose of worship? Can we entertain the lost into the Kingdom? Perhaps we can get everyone emotionally riled up and feeling good or watching online? Is the tithe just a tip or a transaction in the eyes of most Christians? Consumers demand, “Entertain me, make me feel good, and in return I’ll throw some cash in the offering plate. But, keep the sermon short, I have a 1:00pm tee-time.”

The Reality

We’re a preference-driven society… Don’t like how the preacher looks? Leave! Don’t like the sermon? Leave! Don’t like the music? Leave! After all, there are thousands of worship experiences at your fingertips. Don’t forget we have an espresso bar serving hot Lattes in the back of the sanctuary for your worship enjoyment.

If “sightly more than one out of every three (37%) pastors possesses a biblical worldview” then, our churches will look like the world and use the tactics of the world to be accepted by the world.

Here’s an idea that Chuck Colson put forth, “It’s time for the church to be THE Church” and stop being like the world. This is going to require a multigenerational recovery of a biblical worldview among those who are called to ministry. That recovery must begin now.

“You may be able to articulate a biblical worldview but if your biblical worldview doesn’t arise from the deep and growing love of Jesus Christ and the love for others (particularly sinners – just like us) then, you may have a biblical worldview but it doesn’t have you?”

– Dr. Bill Brown, Ph.D. (Colson Center for Christian Worldview)

 

Footnotes:
(1) https://www.arizonachristian.edu/2022/05/12/shocking-lack-of-biblical-worldview-among-american-pastors/
(2) Wells, David F. “No Place for Truth or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology” (1993)
(3) https://www.arizonachristian.edu/2022/05/12/shocking-lack-of-biblical-worldview-among-american-pastors/

Please share your insights by commenting below this post.

Now more than ever, worldview training is essential. It is not a Christian elective. I launched the Forge Room Foundation in order to equip Christians to understand our cultural moment and respond with a biblical worldview perspective.

Learn more and give here…

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Video: Why the Church Abandoned the Culture with Michael Craven

by | Mar 8, 2024 | Apologetics, Christianity, Culture, Education, God, History, Interviews, Philosophy, The Church, Theology, Video, Webcasts, Worldview

Live Webinar and Q&A with Michael Craven 3/4/2024

The Christian faith has gone from being a public truth to a private experience. The role of the Church in the broader culture has waned over the past 100 years. As faith has receded from society, dark ideologies have set up residence in the cultural domains vacated by Christians. Little wonder our families, communities, institutions, and even churches are in decay. What would our churches, families, communities, and nation look like when Christians invade all of culture with the truth and light of Jesus Christ? Lance Cashion is joined by special guest, Michael Craven, Vice President of Equipping & Mobilization at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview.

Did Christians lose a ‘culture war’? Or did we abandon the cultural domains God commanded us to steward?
Where do we go from here?

You will have a better understanding of why the church is in its current state in America. You’ll also be equipped to help your local church recover its rightful role in society. You will be encouraged and hopeful for the future as you live boldly for Christ in this generation.

Please share your insights by commenting below this post.

Now more than ever, worldview training is essential. It is not a Christian elective. I launched the Forge Room Foundation in order to equip Christians to understand our cultural moment and respond with a biblical worldview perspective.

Learn more and give here…

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