It’s really unfortunate, tragic even, that he has such a popular and multi-faceted ministry. If people only knew what I know about him. But sheeple… errr… people simply lack the discernment they really need to understand what I know. If only they had my wisdom, ability to analyze, concern for the Church, passion for orthodoxy, and humility, but clearly the Lord did not bless them to the extent he has me. Of course, I am unworthy, very unworthy to be sure, but undeniably gifted, clearly more than most, and if more people listened to me, the Church would be so much better off. I could help them identify the wolves and the goats, the speckled and spotted sheep that really belong in that other flock, and the sheep with those weird tufts of hair sprouting out of their ears. Someone really ought to do something about them. If only they would listen to me, they would understand he ought not to be popular.
He’s only popular because people lack my discernment, and because he tickles their ears. If I preached what people wanted to hear, I could have a big platform too. He’s not even a good speaker. He structures his sermons all wrong. And his demeanor is positively undignified; no one can argue otherwise, at least, if they listened to me they wouldn’t. Anyone who has that many people in his church and sells that many books must be a compromiser. I know he is, because a pastor I know and a seminary professor and my really confident friend on Facegram who I’ve never met but who seems to know a lot about theology agrees. He’s bad news, and there’s no doubt about it. If he wasn’t a false teacher, sincere and charitable saints wouldn’t say bad things about him.
Oh, I know he pretends to be orthodox and preach hard lessons. They all do that. But I see through it. Behind a thin veneer of historic, ordinary, confessional orthodoxy, he’s really a slippery infralapsarian. It’s not so much what he says. It’s that he doesn’t say it in the way he should. The way I do, for example, though of course the way I express it isn’t the only way truth can be stated. Certainly not. There are plenty of synonyms you might use, just so long as I agree that they really are synonymous, because a lot of synonyms are not, you know.
For he knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy. (Mark 15:10)
False teachers frequently do have large churches, financially successful ministries, and the esteem of ignorant people. They do wrap themselves in a facade of orthodoxy while denying its essence and implications. They can and should be identified, corrected, and then denounced by the faithful Church.
But I wonder how often preachers are identified as no-good, horrible, very bad men because of the arrogance and envy of their critics. I wonder how often I have been guilty of doing so. Maybe it never happens, but evidence seems to suggest otherwise. I can’t judge anyone’s heart, and I dare not trust my own. But God knows the truth, and if our criticism is rooted in envy, then it is slander and sin. May God grant us the wisdom to see it and the courage to repent of it. --JME
