THE OVERWHELMING ODDS ARE THAT YOUR PASTOR IS KEEPING THE TRUTH FROM YOU INSTEAD OF PREACHING ABOUT IT
by John Muncy
(**Warning!** Don’t Read This Post Unless You Are Willing… To Face A Horrible Fact About The Majority Of Churches! I share these words with no malice, but with a genuine broken heart Please read it, not as a prideful put down, but as a humble cry for revival in our pulpits!)
Recent research confirms what I have been warning about for years. The majority of the pulpits of American Churches have unfaithful watchmen who won’t fully do their job as God’s spokesmen. (If you are not one of these preachers, or if you don’t have one of these preachers in your pulpit, you are rare indeed.) I’m thankful for the many faithful men of God that serve the Lord and their people with an authentic heart of love for the truth, and the willingness to stanchly proclaim the truth in love. I want to make it very clear that this is not a put down towards preachers, but a clear trumpet blast to wake-up and become alarmed at what we are seeing!
Carolyn and I were riding together a couple of nights ago, listening to a preacher on our local Christian station. This man, who is now gone to be with the Lord, was so powerful and straight with his message. He did not mix words, but laid out the truth, without fear or compromise. When he was finished, I turn to Carolyn and asked, “Now why can’t we find more men of God like that today? Why are pastors so afraid to tell the truth, even when they know it is in the Bible?”
It is so troublesome to me to watch, in over four decades of rubbing shoulders with pastors all across this country, a developing trend among our church leaders to minimize the message at the expense of having a “successful” church. I say this with a broken heart; I fear for the direction our ministers are taking our churches.
George Barna is the foremost researcher of modern Christianity in the country. He recently spoke about a two-year research project studying why modern-day pastors and churches are so silent regarding political issues. The result of his research only confirms what I have been trying to tell people for years. (It is available in a book entitled, “U-Turn: Restoring America to the Strength of its Roots”)
According to Barna’s two-year investigation, about 90% of pastors believe that the Bible speaks to key issues of our day, and yet, disappointedly, less than 10% say that they, as pastors, speak about them from the pulpit.
That 90% of America’s pastors are not addressing any of the most important issues affecting Christian people’s political or societal lives should cause alarms to go off – but that is not going to happen – BECAUSE THE CHURCHES APPEARS TO LOVE IT THAT WAY…
Jeremiah 5:31 “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and MY PEOPLE LOVE TO HAVE IT SO…”
This is very alarming to me as an evangelist. I have visited churches from one end of our nation to the other, working with both conservative and liberal views, but I can never remember a time like this. When we see our pastors, the leaders, the shepherds of God’s little flock, ignoring the issues that face them day by day, I can’t seem to understand why this is not being openly rebuked and challenged!
Did you get that? 90% of America’s pastors say they KNOW that the Bible speaks to all of these issues, but they are deliberately determined NOT to teach Biblical principles in answer to them! That is an amazing admission! It would be one thing if the pastors would claim that none of these issues have any relevance with the Word of God, but these men are admitting that it does, but they continue to deliberately choose NOT to teach the Scriptural principles from their pulpits!
Does this alarm you? Does this bother you? Understand, we are not talking about IGNORANT pastors who don’t know about these things – we are talking about DISOBEDIENT pastors – who refuse to speak up! They choose to remain silent!
But, according to Barna, the report found that when these pastors were asked how to know if their church was “successful”, Barna found five factors that the vast majority of the pastor turned to:
1) Attendance – how many go on Sunday morning
2) Giving – how much money is coming in
3) Number of programs – how busy they are
4) Number of staff – how many associates serves you
5) Square footage of the facilities – how big is your building
What does all this reveal?? It reveals that the majority of pastors are more concerned about being “successful” than they are being TRUTHFUL. They believe if they tell their congregations the truth, their churches will not be as “successful”! This is how hell is lying to preachers! And it’s working! But where are these men getting these ideas, because they are NOT found in the Bible?
Like it or not, our pastors are trying to “keep up with the Jones’s”! They look around and see all the megachurches on TV, they watch these “big-time” preachers with their “big-time” crowds, making “big-time” money, living in “big-time” houses, driving “big time” cars and having a “big-time” name and their knees buckle under the temptation to follow the latest fad that has taken the church by storm.
ASK ALMOST ANY PASTOR if he has read anything recently on church growth and he’ll look at you like you’re insane, “Well, sure I have – several books!” Ask that same pastor if he has read anything recently on prayer, holiness or revival and he’ll look at you like you’re insane, “Why would I want to read about that?”
I’ve been to hundreds of the pastor’s meetings, the luncheons, the conferences, the conventions, and they’re all the same. I just stand around and listen to these guys talk “preacher talk”…they’re all comparing notes with each other, with the same questions time after time: “How many are you running now?”, or “How big is your sanctuary?”, or “What’s your budget for this year?”, or “How many do you have on your staff now?”
Most of these men are mesmerized by the likes of Joel Osteen, Rick Warren or Bill Hybels – these men are the “heroes” of today’s pulpiteers, or should I say, “puppeteers”. I’M AFRAID WE’VE EXCHANGED PROPHETS FOR PUPPETS IN MOST OF OUR PULPITS!
(I know, some of you are mad because I just named names, but please, keep reading…)
What we have today are men who have exchanged truth for “what works”. The best they can do is the only way they’ve been trained – just mimic the tactics and strategies of other “successful church growth experts” and you too can have a “successful church”. And what one thing is identical in the Osteen, Warren, and Hybels approach? The pastors avoid controversy like the plague!!
Remember, they are taught that one must realize that the goal is NOT being faithful to Biblical principles; the goal is building a “successful” church. Ladies and Gentlemen; the “success bug” has bitten these guys and they can’t stop now.
It is time for Christians to acknowledge that these ministers are not PASTORS of God’s flock; they are CEOs OF A BUSINESS ADVENTURE. They are not BIBLE TEACHERS; they are PERFORMERS. They are not SHEPHERDS, who would lay down their lives; they are HIRELINGS, who run from conflicts!
It is also time for Christians to be honest with themselves: do they want a pastor who desires to be faithful to the scriptures, or do they want a pastor who is simply trying to be “successful?”
BE HONEST, BECAUSE EVERY CHURCH DESERVES ITS PASTOR!
George Barna’s research blows the “ignorance” excuse out of the water. Again, it is not ignorance; it is deliberate disobedience. He goes on to say, “Now all of those things [the five points of success listed above] are good measures, except for one tiny fact: Jesus didn’t die for any of them.” Wow! Somebody better pay attention!
How different the church is today! It looks very little like the original! The preachers don’t look the same either. When John the Baptist preached, he didn’t need to give out “free camel rides” to get a crowd – he preached REPENTANCE – and it got his head cut off. Was that a successful minister by today’s standards? NO! But Jesus thought he was successful! (Matthew 11:11, Luke 7:28)
When the Apostle Paul listed his ministerial pedigree and credentials in 2 Corinthians 11, it looks nothing like our “big time” preachers today! Here is what Paul’s looked like:
*Stripes above measure
*In prisons frequently
*In deaths often
*Beaten with rods
*Stoned
*Perils
*Weariness
*Painfulness
*Hunger and thirst
*Cold and nakedness
I don’t see attendance, offerings, programs, staff, or square footage in that list at all; do you? Maybe Paul lived by a different standard then today’s hotshot preachers!
When Paul wrote his own epitaph, it read, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” (II Timothy 4:7). He didn’t say, “I had a large congregation, we had big offerings, we had a lot of programs, I had a large staff, and we had large facilities.”
In the world of “Pimping Preachers” and “Life Coaches in the Pulpits”, men in the ministry like John the Baptist and the Apostle Paul must be labeled as a dismal failure! I wonder how many church pulpit committees would even consider the pastoral résumé such as what the Apostle Paul wrote above?
Like it or not, I’m convinced that America’s problems are directly due to the deliberate disobedience of America’s pastors – and the willingness of the Christians in the pews who tolerate the disobedience of their pastors, who are more concerned over their tax-exempt status than they are at proclaiming the truth! God help us!
19 comments
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December 4, 2014 at 4:55 pm
Sola Scriptura
Excellent stuff!! I found another great blog full of sound doctrine and waging war against the false prophets and prosperity liars of this age.
http://followingjesuschrist3.com/
December 14, 2014 at 12:23 pm
D . V. Aguiar
Excellent and to the point. Today’s preachers are hirelings who are being led by the father of lies. GD allows for this so that His church actually becomes stronger because those being led by the Holy Spirit are taught discernment.
December 15, 2014 at 7:18 am
ajc
I don’t know who you are. I came to this site from Jeremiah Jameson’s site. Yes, a lot of pastors in today’s churches are off. I don’t think they are disobedient, I think they are just wolves in sheep’s clothing. You know people by their fruit – period. Are you upset because these pastors are not pushing a political agenda in their church? Most, if not all of the churches I have attended push politics and I don’t see how any believer would be for that. It is always the politics of the republican party. Truthfully, are you a republican? If so, then of course I get your deal. Nothing new. Of the above mentioned pedigree and credentials from 2 Cor. 11 – how many can you claim? I understand how offensive and fake so many of the churches are now and their pastors. That is why I don’t go to church and probably never will. You might consider taking your eyes off the other pastors and maybe giving up the office of pastor and just be a Christian . Think of the good you could do if the time you spent going to pastor conferences was spent preaching the kingdom on the street corners and ministering to the poor. I’m not being rude but it might be time for you to make a decision to give up the fake church and just follow Christ. Politics didn’t save the Jewish people and it will not save us. ajc
December 15, 2014 at 8:30 am
denton
I’m not sure how to respond to your post… some parts are very straightforward and important, but on some aspects, I am not sure…
I don’t go to church and have no desire to be around what passes as Christian.
My wife (who is not Christian, but He is working on her) was invited to go to a rally for black rights/ a Brown/ Garner type protest at a black church in a small town yesterday. It was well attended with white liberal/ academic types and a large black congregation drawn from other black churches in the larger surrounding area. Even the president of the NAACP was there.
And the sermon that the preacher gave there really rubbed my wife the wrong way. He said that sin was the root cause of our national problems and that we should repent. Everyone left the church feeling uplifted. Hugging one another, that kind of thing.
And I have to agree with her that that sermon was useless at best. You say that our country has profound problems and pastors should address these issues with the idea of repentance like John the Baptist would say… But really, saying “repent” seems like a cop out. The pastor’s saying ‘repent’ was “what worked” because it was a way for nothing to ever change in our world.
But then again, maybe saying, ‘repent’ is the only empowering thing left to us as citizens. Because we don’t have any power left to us at all in the wider scheme of things, in the outside world. Does voting work? No. Do our political parties serve any good to anyone? No. Do our churches serve God and people? No. Does repenting fix the economy? No. Did that rally at the church fix anything for black people? No.
So, one could argue that saying “repent” to people who are being oppressed (white or black or whoever) is just a means of perpetuating the evil status quo via “blaming the victim”. If someone is getting raped, do we just say to the victim to ‘repent’, and that will stop the rapist from raping? In many ways this reminds me of Oprah’s “the secret” where if you have bad things happening in our lives, it’s your own fault for being ‘negative’.
Does God care about what happens down here or not? I would like to see pastors more engaged in the world. More knowledgeable. Do they tell people that we are near the end-times? It’s just disappointing.
December 15, 2014 at 11:13 am
ANGELA CROCKER
Denton I am confused and it doesn’t take much Are you the blogger Someone just sent me the sweetest letter Is it you, the blogger AJC
December 15, 2014 at 11:25 am
Kim
i have read some of John Muncy’s posts and I do not think he is saying that pastors needs to push political agendas. But pastors need to address the sin of homosexual behavior and abortion in a biblical perspective.
I know of people who have left churches because they are too liberal and do not address moral sin and churches that think the republican part is somehow the answer. Neither works. We do not allow “politicking” in our church even though the teaching is conservative.
Some pastors are called to shepherd a congregation and some to open-air preaching. I would not presume to determine one’s calling.
December 15, 2014 at 11:29 am
ajc
Denton Everything you say is true I have thought it myself I once told someone that if I was black in America, I would not be a flag waver If my mom and dad had gone through what some American moms and dads went through just because of their color, I would hate this country I think basically, it is what the bible says – men’s hearts are evil The poor suffer, women suffer, blacks suffer even the meek suffer Pastors are no different than anybody else Some worse We live in a bad world, that is why Christ came To save us from the world I don’t get the emphasis on the repent thing either Christ came to bring the kingdom of Heaven to us ajc
December 15, 2014 at 11:40 am
Kim
I too believe that sin is the root problem, but I think it applies to all nations and all peoples. There are some ministries like “The Call” who call on the nation to repent…they are pretty much ineffective. The NAR is unbiblical by their assignment of new-fangled apostles and portals…etc.
We do need to reach out to individuals with the use of the spiritual gift God has given us upon being born again. This gift is meant to edify the church, other believers. I know many have left the institutional church (and wear it like a badge) and the problems are many, but I still believe we are to assemble, take the Lord’s Supper, pray for each, study the Word and serve each other. I am amazed at many who serve behind the scenes in our church with love and giving according to their gift. They seem to be last but on that Day, they will be praised by our Lord.
December 15, 2014 at 11:50 am
ajc
Kim I don’t know if he is a republican who is annoyed because the churches he visits don’t do enough to push republican politics. Only he knows but from my experience, that seems to be pretty common. Do you think telling a homosexual that he is a sinner from the pulpit is going to change him. A person who is confused. Who is screwed up about his sexual orientation and probably doesn’t even know why he thinks that way or has an emotional dependency on the same sex. Yeah, we can’t allow wanton sin in the church. There is so much sin (some of it sexual) in the church even among heterosexuals. No, I don’t presume either. But kim, you can pastor people anywhere. If I was in a system as it was described, I think I would just realize there was something wrong and get out of that false system. If I had to hold on to that system so that I could still be a pastor, then so be it. We know there is a false system out there. So many have pulled out of it. It is none of my business what his political affiliation is but I just know from experience who wants to bring politics into the church. That is the only reason I asked if he was a republican. I’m sick of self righteousness and blindness. Look who Christ sat and ate with.
December 15, 2014 at 11:54 am
ajc
Kim you know how to have less abortions Take in an unwed mother who is scared and feels desperate Those who callously murder their children will answer to God They are obviously in trouble spiritually
December 15, 2014 at 12:08 pm
ajc
Democrats aren’t liberal Republicans aren’t conservative They are just democrats or republicans period Those are simply catch words that are false I am going to try and not comment on this or any other site again All it amounts to is sport Very real good is actually done from this type of commenting We do need to point out deception for those who are caught but after that ……….. ajc
December 15, 2014 at 12:37 pm
ajc
John I believe that you share this with a broken heart I just want to apologize before I quit commenting I think many people are aware of the situation in the churches and that is why we quit going Maybe the new testament prepared us for this At some point you may have to pull out ajc
December 15, 2014 at 12:45 pm
ajc
Kim you ever read Amos They weren’t judged for abortions or homosexuality The were judged for dishonesty, indifference to the poor, injustice and ritualism Yeah the other two are bad but why are they the only two sins named with the political religious sect because they are the only two sins they don’t commit What about divorce etc. ajc
December 15, 2014 at 3:04 pm
Kim
I have read Amos before and scanned it again.
I do not think we need to browbeat homosexuals but we need to speak the truth if necessary. The church is avoiding the subject or is twising scripture. Moral sin in the Ot has not differed from what we read in the NT. The moral laws have not changed.
I think the article was fairly general and was saying that the church is watering down the message and not speaking the truth if it means that people will be offended stopping church growth.
December 15, 2014 at 3:41 pm
ajc
Kim Of course we need to speak the truth. My only concern is that it is always the same two sins brought up by the political Christian people. A lot of the pastors who use these two sins as a rallying cry to unite their church members have committed worse sins such as adultery and divorce. Is there any point in naming names (Hagee). I personally don’t care except to feel sorry for their spouses. God takes care of the sin. Not even King David got away with his sin. He died at 70 and lost four sons. I can usually tell when a person is mixing politics (always republican politics) with Christianity. To down play it and pretend otherwise is just not honest. I have seen this mixture in the last four churches I attended. Republican literature set up in the lobby before elections. It’s just the way it is. There are a lot of sins that can be spoken against but it always the same two. How unthinking and blind people are. Why don’t they rally against divorce, greed (hoarding money) etc., because those are the sins they practice. Always the same two overworked sins. ajc
December 15, 2014 at 4:01 pm
ajc
Kim The church is not watering down the message – They are not teaching the message. I don’t wear the fact that I don’t go to church like a badge. I was sad and kept trying to find one. Finally, gave up. Got tired of the hour long mood music before service that was mistakenly called worship etc. I think a lot of people who are in a confusing life style know it and some want out but then there are a lot of people who sin and actually (and I am talking about pastors) cover it up, white wash it or the worst of all say that God told them to do it (leave their wives). How many pastors have left their wives for much younger women and are still in the pulpit teaching what?????? I know there are other sins but this type is the most visible. While it is easy to see their mansions, jets and cars, it is of course difficult to see their bank accounts and off shore accts. All I’m saying is let’s not be blind. I personally don’t care as the bible has warned us. ajc I’d be more concerned about how we treat the poor.
December 26, 2014 at 4:41 pm
Stasia
Kim,
Please pray for me that I would know when to speak and when to remain silent when witnessing to a very close family member who used to be a nothing but the Bible Christian but has turned their back on that. I am afraid of alienating them. I am afraid of creating a rift. I am afraid of saying the wrong things or having no decent response for new age blended “christianity”. The gospel sounds too simple to combat sophisticated ideas. Having to read the Bible as a straightforward book is too boring of an approach. There must be some secret, special information somewhere in Christianity to give you added powers… and so on. Simple gospel is just naive from their perspective. Please pray with me that God would give me wisdom, that He would soften their heart, and guard me from these ideas.
December 26, 2014 at 8:23 pm
Kim
What a wonderful heart and love you have for your family member. It is distressing when one turns away from the truth.
Do not be afraid to simply speak the simple truths of God’s Word. Also remember that God will give you the words to say. Also let the Holy Spirit do the work and the convicting.
There is no secret formula to give anyone secret powers.
Just remember the essentials of the Gospel….
Christ died on the cross to pay for the sin all men. He died in our place because the wages of sin is death. His resurrection proves life everlasting for those who believe in Him. And this gift is salvation is free.
And to combat blended faiths Jesus said that He is the only way to the Father. He is the only way to salvation. There is no other name no other path.
I will pray with you.
January 4, 2015 at 1:15 pm
Sola Scriptura
Excellent post. I write about many of the same things. Please check it out.
http://followingjesuschrist3.com/