Thus the importance of sound doctrine is diminished in a tacit effort to show “unity” around the “love of Jesus.” But it’s adherence to sound doctrine that precludes, for example, Benny Hinn being invited to speak at the Shepherds’ Conference. Driven by their growing music empires, crowds are entertained with Hollywood theatrics and light shows for Jesus that remove focus from the Word, but feed the emotional cravings of the post-modern, give-me-a-feel-good-experience mindset.Ĭonferences like the recent Passion Conference in Atlanta, which drew some 50,000 attendees, continue to muddy the increasingly murky evangelical waters by mixing presumed theologically-sound speakers with known, dangerous false teachers. The top touted conferences are sponsored by hotbeds of heresy like Bethel Church or Hillsong. Yet the personal enrichment of the charlatans means certain famine for many attendees who are desperately, eternally, in need of the authentic Gospel and to be fed the genuine “Bread of Life.” But the charlatans paraded before cheering, pumped-up crowds are being temporally well-rewarded with ego-strokes of fame and bulky bank deposits. Tens of thousands of adoring fans crowding the arena may be singing songs with Christian words and may be shouting “Jesus,” but “profession” of Jesus certainly does not mean “possession” of Jesus, nor apprehension of the faith He delivered. The world’s leading false teachers thrive in the hyped-up hoopla of the “Christian” conference. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” 2 Peter 2:1-3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. It does not require much discernment for the “abiding in my Word” believer (John 8:31) to recognize that when Beth Moore, or Christine Caine, or Brian Houston, or Bill Johnson, etc etc etc are featured as headliners for the next “must attend” conference, the “faith once for all delivered” (Jude 3) will not be contended for.
“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” James 3:1ĭire words, to be sure, but, altogether appropriate if one takes an unclouded view of the “face” of the church that is presented to the world today.īut outside those seeker-sensitive, niche-oriented, scratch-the-goat’s-itch arenas falsely labeled as churches, there’s another area where Christianity is being bartered for fame and profit, and the bride of Christ is being tarnished … the “Christian” conference.Ĭhristian conferences are all the rage, and, many of them – especially the high-profile, highly-marketed ones – intentionally feature known false teachers who, lacking the ability to rightly divide the Word of Truth for their hearers (2 Timothy 2:15), are yet quite capable of drawing a crowd. You want to fear for somebody on the day of judgment? You fear for a large number of evangelical pastors who have departed from the Word of God and are parading the Church in a dress, in a garb, that God never intended her to wear.”
Don’t fear for the prostitute or the murderer. “Let me tell you something … on the day of judgment, don’t worry about the atheists. In his own inimitable way, Washer gave us a word worth heeding. They have taken the simplicity of the bride of Christ, her magnificent beauty, her purity, her holiness and they have torn it from her … and they dress her up and parade her in front of carnal men that they will be attracted to, somehow, come back to God.” “That’s what countless pastors in America are doing today. (The G3 videos may be seen HERE.) He put it this way … Paul Washer, at the recent G3 Conference, expressed his chagrin for pastors who are prostituting the bride of Christ. And her worship has become a defiled, irreverent display of worldliness that is saturated with Christian-ese but void of the Gospel and absent the edifying presentation of the sound doctrine of the Word.
Her Christ-given, hyssop-purged robe of purity has been stripped from her to be replaced with a chic, sexy, alluring garb that appeals to the world. Her visible face is no longer adorned in golden braids of holiness. There is little argument that the post-modern persona of the “church” has been grotesquely deformed from what the first-century bride of Christ looked like. “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Acts 2:42
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