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1996 a significant book called “The Coming Evangelical Crisis,” was
published. It was written by a number of well-known Christian authors;
among them were Kent Hughes, John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, Michael Horton,
and Albert Mohler. The book is a wake-up call about the condition of
Christian churches. Its impact is like a fire alarm. The authors warn
that churches are slipping from the foundation that Jesus and the apostles
had laid. They warn that the teaching of the Bible is being minimized
in order to please people, increase church attendance, and obtain larger
followings. The goal for some is no longer the honor of God and the spiritual
education of those who are in Jesus Christ. As a result, those who seek
to know God and to follow Him are being taught simplistic, basic, sugar-coated
spiritual truths devoid of meat and substance. As a result of weak preaching
and teaching of the Bible - the book of truth - doctrinal error is rapidly
increasing. The alarm rang loudly and clearly throughout the book and
it still resounds today. The Issue. In addition to the desire to
increase church attendance, R. Kent Hughes captures another reason this
situation is occurring when he says,
Over the years, I have encountered ministers, some of whom were fellow students, who have despaired of studying and of preaching. Less and less of their time is devoted to prayer and preparation. Some spend no more than two or three hours in preparation for Sunday. One such pastor makes a habit of preparing his sermon on Saturday night while watching television! Such preaching inevitably makes spare use of Scripture and becomes a series of stories linked around a devotional thought. (Armstrong, John. The Coming Evangelical Crisis, Moody. 1996, p. 91)
Maybe the worst case I have heard about was from a pastor who stated
that he had completed his preparation for his next four sermons in one
afternoon. Such shallow preparation results in shallow preaching devoid
of any serious explanation of a biblical passage. How can Christians
understand the entire Bible when it is not faithfully taught from cover-to-cover,
resulting in doctrine being ignored? The result is summarized by Michael
Horton,
What becomes plain is that, when we downplay theology . . . before long we lose the content of Scripture. And not long after our loss of biblical content follows the loss of authority of Scripture altogether. In practice, it becomes a helpful resource for practical daily living, whose doctrines and historical details may or may not [effect] . . . one’s thought and life . . . (Armstrong. Ibid, p. 258-259) Failure of the Leaders. Michael Horton’s
comments capture the concern of the fourteen authors. Many seminary
students, pastors and teachers are not interested in laying a serious
biblical foundation for Christians; as a result, sermons, Bible studies,
small groups, and Sunday Schools avoid doctrine and the systematic teaching
of the scriptures. Leaders are failing to teach the followers of Jesus
Christ that they need to know the Bible in-depth. As a result,
. . . most Christians today simply do not seem to have a great interest in reading the Bible . . . What is the most significant expected gain from Bible study? Only 9.3 percent answered that it “helps me to be more knowledgeable about my faith,” while instructions for life won 58 percent, and 32.1 percent answered that it “helps discern God’s speaking to me within.” Obviously this says more about the pragmatic and subjective orientation of popular culture than anything else . . . (Armstrong. Ibid, p. 259) Did you notice that a knowledge of their faith, the Bible, or of God
was not their top choice? One must know the Bible if one wants to know
and understand God. Pursuit of the knowledge of God is a life long journey.
Did those who responded to the survey want to know God? The authors of “The
Coming Evangelical Crisis” warned that the lack of a desire to
know the Bible, which leads to a knowledge of God, would result in a
weak or non-existent church in the years ahead. This has already happened
in countless churches in Europe. Many churches are already dead - they
are closed.
I have often told the story about a pastor friend who admitted
that doctrine was boring and told his congregation that it was boring.
Do you think that his congregation was encouraged to dig deeply into
the Bible in search of treasures about God? R. C. Sproul captured
the issue well when he said, “To say that theology is boring is
really to say that God is boring.”
Near the end of the book, Michael Horton states,
. . . Apostasy begins harmlessly enough. First, we are told that we do not need creeds, confessions, and catechisms . . . The result is that the Scriptures go before long. Next, we are asked to tone down on our doctrinal distinctives and emphasize that which unites all religious people of goodwill. The result is the rejection of the gospel. Finally, we are told, “All we need is Jesus,” and we are left with a moral crusader. (Armstrong. Ibid, p. 260)
That is all that is left. If the essence of all that is taught from
our pulpits and in Bible studies is that God is only love, then we have
missed God. God is more than love and sugar sweetness. He is also holy,
just, kind, sovereign, all-powerful, all-knowing, infinite, longsuffering,
and full of mercy and grace. He will also send those who reject Jesus
Christ to an eternal punishment. It is a mistake to teach that God is
a loving, soft teddy bear who would not harm anyone, or to teach that
He is a cosmic ogre who wants to punish everyone. Both thoughts are untrue.
God is a divine person! A study of doctrine will reveal who He really
is.
Second Alarm. The first alarm was sounded,
in part, because 40% of the followers of Jesus Christ no longer believed
that the Bible was without error, and 33% of seminary students in seven
major evangelical seminaries did not consider theology to be important
(Armstrong, Ibid. p. 258). Unfortunately, the situation did not improve.
The alarm sounded again in 2002 in an article by Holly
Peters of BIOLA University when she wrote,
Garry DeWeese - philosophy professor at Talbot School of Theology and former pastor [stated,] “There are seminary students who admit they have never read the entire Bible . . . A few years ago, that would have been shocking.”
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| A Call: Teach The Bible | |||||||
