Truth is ancient; it's grey hairs may make it venerable;
it comes from Him who is the ancient of days. --Thomas Watson

 

10 April, 2007   comments: (0) Changed Message   The Pulpit's Decline    Quoting James White . . . The authority that was once invested in the pulpit as the place where God's will was made known (not only for individuals but for the nation as a whole) wasted away in the collective conscience of most Western societies as more and more authority was transferred to secular sources and the individual. What this has meant for the preaching ministry cannot be underestimated. Not only does the world view the pulpit with suspicion, or even humor, but the church has very much lost a sense of the holy and the authoritative in the pulpit as well. As the church's confidence in the reality of God's voice being with His people through His Word has been shaken by the attacks from the realm of science (Darwinism, psychology, destructive literary and historical criticism), so too has the pulpit diminished in its place in the life of the church as a whole. Those who fill the pulpit are hired and fired with sufficient regularity so as to preclude the congregation from viewing the ministry as anything more than a temporary service anyway. This only adds to the problem. At the same time, the view of the source of the minister's authoritative proclamation, the Bible as the Word of God, has suffered a precipitous decline in the large portion of academia, including places of religious education and instruction. Many who stand behind the pulpit question the inspiration and consistency of the Bible, and, no matter what kind of spin you put on it, once you are uncertain about the Bible, you will not inspire confidence on the part of your hearers. As one of my church history professors said in seminary, "What is a mist in the pulpit is a fog in the pew." A lack of deep-seated conviction and confidence in the pastor's heart will result in even less conviction and confidence in the hearts of the congregation. Many a minister has been crippled in his proclamation by succumbing to the, "Many good men have disagreed about these things, therefore..." syndrome. Surely, the wider the spectrum of teachings that are expressed in the culture the more difficult it is for God's voice to be heard with clarity (such is the nature of God's judgment upon a land), and this diminishment in confidence in whether the Bible is sufficient for our needs has greatly impacted the rise in pulpit crimes. Something has to rush into the vacuum created by the loss of the Word of God as the central aspect of preaching. From:  Pulpit Crimes   Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/.id.2.pid.645   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism