Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" --Jeremiah 6:16

 

26 February, 2007   comments: (0) Audio Clips   Escape That Local Church with Poor Teaching The only way to leave a church faster than some American evangelicals, would be to attend one that is equipped with an "ejection pew"; as soon as the pastor offends you, just reach under the seat and pull the lever for a fast escape. But the truth is, there are churches that you should leave, churches that you must leave; you are obligated to leave them. In this post we'll touch on the subject of "how to know - when to go". You've probably heard that joke about the stranded guy who was rescued from a desert island in which there were three huts of his own making. He pointed out one of them as his house, the other was his church. But when his rescuer asked what the 3rd building was, he answered "Oh, that's my old church":-) Yes, there is a danger in leaving over little things, or in getting nitpicky, or becoming a connoisseur in which no church satisfies your theological or philosophical requirements. I have one such friend, in which there is not one church in the universe that has everything he demands; that fact has made him (and his family) really unhappy campers over the years. I agree, that there are extremes like this to be avoided. Perhaps distracted by the real problem of American church-hopping, recently Centuri0n ran a Pyro post addressing how it's important to stick it out at a church that falls short in it's teaching. Somewhat similarly, in a recent GTY radio program Phil Johnson asked John MacArthur if the doctrine of election was an issue important enough to leave a church over. In my opinion, and although I usually agree with those guys, I think in this case their advice encompasses churches that are often worth leaving. I don't think people ought to stick around at a church where they are preaching cotton candy sermons with a few bible verses sprinkled in every week. These churches aren't necessarily teaching heresy, or a false Gospel; they are just really shallow. I'll give you an example of the most numerous type of church that I think is worth leaving over. Here's what the lead pastor of a popular church wrote on his blog last week: One of the things I hear from time to time is, "Hey [Pastor], I wish at times we could go deeper." Let me translate this for you - what this person is usually saying is, "Hey [Pastor], I wish at times you could confuse the heck out of me so that there is no application point...that way I can walk away feeling smarter & also not feeling a need to actually apply anything." This pastor's priority is creative seeker-sensitivity every Sunday, so the actual Christians never get anything deeper than what the average seeker can handle. Since everything has to have an "application point" that means Christians rarely get to hear about important theological things that don't seem to relate to daily life; truths like the Trinity. If you go to that church for the next 20 years, you'll likely hear about 5% of the bible; only the parts that relate to evangelism and the parts that seem highly practical. But still, this church is not guilty of heresy, and preaches the true Gospel. Yet my advice is: "Eject!" If there is another church in the area that teaches the whole counsel of God; that's where you belong. There are of course, the more extreme cases that AW Pink talked about: If any [pastor] usurps that office [established by Christ Himself], and under cloak thereof do teach or enjoin things contrary to what Christ has instituted, then no obedience unto them is required by this command. But it is just at this point that most difficulty is experienced today. For many years past large numbers of professing Christians have been demanding that the religious leaders should speak unto them "smooth things", yea, prophesy unto them "deceits", declining to listen unto what condemned their carnal and worldly lives and refusing to heed the holy requirements of God. In consequence, He has suffered their descendants to reap the evil sowings of their fathers, by largely withholding "pastors after His own heart", and allowing thousands of unregenerate men to occupy the modern pulpit. Instead of "obeying" and "submitting" to them, God requires His people to turn away from and have nothing to do with them. --AW Pink, Exposition of Hebrews Continuing with that thought, this 5 minute audio clip from the White Horse Inn comes on the heals of their year-long series based on the book of Romans. They have some advice about when to leave a church. CLICK HERE TO PLAY NOW . . . or to download this MP3 file for later: right click the link and then "save target as"   More Old Truth Audio Files: 04/25/08 - The False Peace of Truth-Compromised 03/20/08 - The Arrogance of Abandoning Church History 02/25/08 - Judging Fruit By Biblical Standards 01/30/08 - The History of Praise Songs: Simple from Semple 11/06/07 - Audio Archive: How God Converts The Human Soul 07/19/07 - Theology Q&A's: Does Prayer Change God's Mind? 06/03/07 - Addressing Our Culture w/Reformed Christianity 05/28/07 - Don't Make The Church Mars Hill, Go There Instead 05/07/07 - Old Truths versus The Quest For 'Something New' 04/27/07 - Lost and Found: The Fear of The Lord Detailed Listing of All Audio Files   Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.623   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism