Honestly, this probably shouldn't be that shocking. Furtick has invited T D Jakes, a known prosperity gospel preacher, to speak at his church and later blasted all those who thought that throwing Jakes under the tent of Christian brotherhood during the Elephant Room 2 thing was a bad idea with his "Hey Haters" YouTube video. So I'm not going to address that.
My concern is the number of people who see this stuff (at Elevation, Mars Hill, or a local church down the street - wherever we see highly questionable to outright sinful practices in the church) and say "Hey, who am I to judge a brother in Christ?" or worse, "Leave him alone! He's a fellow Christian and we shouldn't question his ministry practices."
That's not Biblical.
For now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler - not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you.
2 Corinthians 5:11-13, ESV
The church should be calling out pastors who are leading their flock the wrong way. The church alone is capable of saying "No, that is wrong - it is not orthodox Christianity, it is leading people astray, and we will not quietly watch a pastor lead people away from Christ." When something is as obviously wrong in a church as one of their foundational statements (may I say, statements of faith?) is about loyalty to someone other than Christ, it is not mean or unchristian to point out the error. It may be what someone needs to hear to get on a path following Christ instead of man.
No comments:
Post a Comment