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One man that I personally knew was a pastor for many years. He was highly respected by his fellow pastors. Then one day he started teaching New Age beliefs. He is not alone. Other men are in the ministry who do not really believe what they teach. I am also personally aware of a pastor of a large church in Berkley, California, who does not believe that Jesus is God, was virgin born, or died for our sins. Yet, he is called a minister and a Christian. History reveals a pattern of many solid Bible believing Christian churches and schools - college, university or seminary - which now reject the Bible as being the very words of God. They now teach that God either did not write it, or it becomes God's Word as you discover meaning in it, or scripture only contains His Words in some parts of the Bible. Most of these schools do not believe that Jesus is God. For many of these churches and institutions, it appears the longer they are in existence the farther away from truth they drift. How do they drift? It starts with the educators and leaders of the school. The evil one is at work. This impacts what is taught in Christian schools, in the pulpits, Sunday schools, and in Bible studies. Not Spiritual or Gifted. Many who do not have a personal relationship with God enter the ministry because they like people or they enjoy the independence and status of being a pastor. Unfortunately, they do not have the Holy Spirit to help them understand scripture. So we end up with many, many different interpretations. Differences in application are okay.
There are also Christian ministers and teachers who do not have the spiritual gifts of teaching and/or knowledge. Some teachers of scripture have tremendous spiritual depth because they struggle and study constantly. Teaching and studying are not the same. Some men and women are great speakers and teachers, but their words are not truth. They are powerful speakers, but the Holy Spirit is not helping them. We must remember that even a non-Christian can be a great speaker. But they are not gifted nor called by God to teach or preach. What they teach may contain errors. Some who teach are willing to allow patterns of sin to remain in their lives. This blunts the ministry of the Holy Spirit in their lives (Eph. 4:30; 1 Thess. 5:19) and hinders their understanding and teaching of scripture. A news article a few years ago stated that a major group of Christian churches held a pastor's conference at a very large hotel. The news article went on to report that the hotel experienced a tremendous increase in the viewing of sexually explicit movies during the conference by these pastors. Teachers, pastors and Christian leaders are called to a higher standard (1 Peter. 5:3). The Holy Spirit cannot effectively give such men an understanding of the Word if they habitually allow sin into their lives. They cannot be constantly Spirit filled (Eph. 5:17-18). Those who have been given the spiritual gift of teaching must constantly use it (2 Tim. 1:6). I knew a pastor who regularly taught the Word for an entire year and during that time he did not study the Bible before he preached. The folks in his church knew something was wrong with his preaching, but they did not know why. The organization and spiritual depth of his preaching was missing. The mark of a man or a woman who is spiritually growing is fresh insights and spiritual depth. The mark of one who is not spiritually growing is repetition and the hearing of the "old and true." One who is growing has new passions and new understanding to share. He or she will be learning more scripture and connecting Old and New Testament truth together. A well that does not receive new water soon drys up and has only dirt to offer. Untaught & Unstable. Recently I heard a well known pastor claim that Jesus was "rich," "lived in a big house," and "John 19 says that Jesus wore designer clothes." Then he added, "Now that is what the Bible says." What does the Bible say?
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