If you are a Christian that stays in touch with News, especially that which impacts the Church, Paul Maxwell’s Instagram will be Old News to you by now. Though I had never heard of him until last week, he has been in Contemporary Media Headlines for awhile now. Apparently, he has been in the forefront of Today’s Evangelical Movement as an Author for Desiring God, and of the Book, “The Trauma of Doctrine“.
Though this Profile Statement may be dated from the Desiring God Website, – Paul Maxwell is a Ph.D. student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and philosophy professor at Moody Bible Institute – it does give you an idea of how important an individual he is! On Jon Harris’ “Conversations that Matter” Podcast earlier this week (posted above), he tearfully confesses his Departure from the Faith and resulting Happiness. Jon also offers some very insightful commentary.
Also, SermonAudio has sent out to its Listener Base an email announcing this (see on your left), as well as noting several others recent Apostasies. I find this email to be Very Revealing. I’m sure most of you have been to SA and listened to Sermons over the years, so you are familiar with how big their Newsletters are. If you aren’t, they have a Membership of over 118,000, which is made up primarily of Churches and/or those wanting to post Sermons from their Ministry. Here is a statement from their website – “Since 2000, millions of people in every country around the world have come to SermonAudio to learn more about God and His Word through our collection of over 1.9 million sermons (and counting).” The fact that “everyone” that wants to download a sermon from SA has to sign up for this Newsletter Email shows the impact this News can have.
Consider the other two individuals mentioned in the SA Email, Josh Harris and Marty Sampson. As a Father of teen girls during Harris’ rise to stardom with his book “I Kissed Dating Goodbye”, he was someone I knew about. We had the book, and though I did not read it, my daughter reiterated to me its content. We embraced much of it and felt it a better alternative to our Culture’s approach to Dating and Marriage. So what are we to make of a young Christian Man, who advocated for Purity and a Biblical approach to Courtship, divorces his wife, resigns as a pastor, and then renounces the faith? Can you sense the troubling nature of that Irony?
Again, I am not familiar with Marty Sampson and not a Fan of Hillsong, but who can deny their influence upon Contemporary Worship Music? The fact that they are one of the largest evangelical Christian churches in the world with a presence on each continent testifies how impactful they have been. Then, to find out that one of their Song Writers confesses “I’m genuinely losing my faith, and it doesn’t bother me”? This isn’t just a Leader, but one commissioned with writing music they claim to worship God with! That, in and of itself should alarm us, never mind being intertwined with Millions of its participants each week!!!
So what are we, as confessing Christian’s, to make of all this? Now I realize that the Church will always have those whose faith is spurious, and as time goes on will fall away. But we’re not just talking about Church Visitors or Members. These are Prominent Leaders; Seminary Professors; Pastors; Teachers; those involved in leading, mentoring, and shepherding! This is one of the reasons why Paul told Timothy “Do not lay hands upon (i.e., being separated for ministry) anyone too quickly”. But consider the Fallout and Collateral Damage. How many of their Students, Readers, and Church Members were impacted by their Demise? How many followed their Apostasy? If they did not “Abandon the Faith”, ended up with Troubled Lives, Marriages, or Families? The Toll is far greater than any of us can possibly know!
In closing, consider the requirements God has provided us in Paul’s Letters to Timothy and Titus. As well as avoiding a premature ordaining of a Man (and I believe they were all young when they were set aside), his emphasis is on Character; not Knowledge or Giftedness. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not discounting these. Without adequate understanding of Doctrine and the ability to utilize it in the lives of God’s People, then we ought not to “Lay Hands” on these either! We just seem to discount the weight that is put on proven, and godly, “Character Attributes”. If that were the case, would these Men ever have been put in roles of Prominence? Only God knows. But what we do know, He has provided their lives as Examples to learn from!
My first thought is 1 John 2:19
“They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be evident that they all are not of us.”
My second thought is confusion.
When I read the quotes from the SA Newsletter that state “I’m ready to connect again” and “ready not to be angry anymore” I can’t help but think “wait a second, are we talking about the same Christianity here?” A lack of connection with other people (not to mention Christ) as well as what seems like a constant state of hate, doesn’t sound like actual, biblical Christianity. It simply isn’t. (John 13:35, John 14:24, Matt 5:22) So I’m sorry to say it, but it doesn’t seem like you were in the right church, listening to the right gospel, my friend. You were being fed “Cheap Grace” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer), singing songs that were filled with “Meism” (Darrell Harrison).
It is sad to see those who we might have listened to or read “fall away”. But our hope is not in man.
Our hope is in the One who said “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” John 10: 27-28
Exactly! I was going to use that 1 John quote and forgot. Thanks for including it! Great Comments and all Spot On!