The New Heresy

I have noticed an alarming trend in the Church over the past few years. This issue has actually always been with the Church, but it really seems to be rearing its ugly head a lot lately. This trend is to find the teacher or preacher who has the most egregious errors of theology, in our minds, and bash them as much as possible. We find it our duty to either drag them through the mud publicly, even making documentaries about it, or we go on social media and spend our valuable time “correcting” them or making sure everyone knows how wrong they are.

My friends, this MUST come to an end.

We are in the last days, and UNITY is NECESSARY now more than ever! A Bride divided against herself cannot stand! We are called to more than this by Jesus Himself:

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
John 13:34-35

Do you realize that when you take part in these things, you are declaring that you yourself are theologically perfect? You are saying that you literally know all there is about the Word, therefore you have the right to theologically attack these people. I mean, I figure you MUST be perfect because you sure do cast a lot of stones.

Last I checked, no one was theologically perfect except Jesus. No, not even Paul was theologically perfect. Just because we have his letters in the Bible does not mean that everything he did and said outside of those letters was correct.

CORRECTNESS is not the goal! It never has been! The HEART of the Father is, and EVERY human is going to bumble their way there. Paul said:

It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.
Philippians 1:15-18

BUT WHAT DOES IT MATTER?

These pastors you love to hate on have done more for bringing people into the kingdom than most of you could ever hope to do. So what if some of their theology might be a bit off?! They are preaching the gospel, and people are hearing it! For that, we should rejoice!

I am not talking here about pastors who have done literal, direct, and provable harm. I am talking about pastors who preach prosperity more than you like or Kingdom power more than you would like or cessationism more than you would like or post-tribulation more than you would like.

My friends, those are all debatable issues, and yes, I believe that believing some of those things keeps us out of the fullness of the Kingdom, but I URGE you to PLEASE understand that ALL of us are on our own journeys to the Heart of the Father! EVERY preacher out there is IMPERFECT and has some kind of false teaching in their repertoire. EVERY SINGLE ONE, and we lay people even MORE.

I am asking you to humble yourselves. See these pastors as people who are a journey of learning and growth, and if they know Jesus, they WILL learn and grow! I ask you to look to your own selves and your own spheres of influence and see what YOU can do to LOVE people into the Kingdom instead of constantly finding ways to bash these people who are doing their very best to live out the purpose for which they believe God has called them. My friends, you are driving people away with your self-righteousness instead of shepherding them in with love!

Being a pastor is one of the most difficult jobs in the world. According to soulshepherding.org, an organization that serves pastors and helps them “thrive with Jesus,” here is a list of statistics about pastors:

• 75% of pastors report being “extremely stressed” or “highly stressed”
• 90% work between 55 to 75 hours per week
• 90% feel fatigued and worn out every week
• 70% say they’re grossly underpaid (My note: This is a direct result of being afraid of prosperity in the Church)
• 40% report a serious conflict with a parishioner at least once a month
• 78% were forced to resign from their church (63% at least twice) most commonly because of church conflict
• 80% will not be in ministry ten years later and only a fraction make it a lifelong career. On average, seminary trained pastors last only five years in church ministry
• 100% of 1,050 Reformed and Evangelical pastors had a colleague who had left the ministry because of burnout, church conflict, or moral failure
• 91% have experienced some form of burnout in ministry, and 18% say they are “fried to a crisp right now”
• 70% of pastors say they have lower self-esteem now than when they entered ministry
• 70% constantly fight depression
• 50% feel so discouraged that they would leave their ministry if they could, but can’t find another job
• 80% believe their pastoral ministry has negatively affected their families and 33% said it was an outright hazard
• 80% of ministry spouses feel left out and unappreciated in their church
• 77% feel they do not have a good marriage
• 41% display anger problems in marriage (reported by the spouse) (My note: This is a common reaction among people who are abused. This statistic tells me that these pastors are getting abuse from their congregations, and they take it out in the only safe place they have: home. Unfortunately, this starts a terrible cycle that people who are watching from the outside only judge.)
• 38% are divorced or divorcing
• 50% admit to using pornography and 37% report inappropriate sexual behavior with someone in the church (My note: Did you know that these issues, as grievous and terrible as they are, are simply a form of addiction? No these kinds of pastors should NOT be in the pulpit. This is what I mean by actual harm. However, do you ever stop to think about how they got to that point in the first place? That question does not equate to giving them a pass. That question humanizes them and helps us know better how to be the Heart of the Father toward them.)
• 65% feel their family is in a glass house
• 53% of pastors do not feel that seminary or Bible college prepared them adequately
• 70% do not have someone they consider a close friend (My note: This one breaks my heart.)
• 50% do not meet regularly with an accountability person or group (My note: Because who can they meet with? To meet with someone in this capacity, you must trust them with discretion and integrity. The people in the congregation gossip so much, whatever the pastor needed to be accountable for would spread through the church like wild fire. Prove me wrong. How do I know? Well, what is this whole article about in the first place? You are all splashing about every piece of dirt you can about any pastor you can. You tell me why pastors don’t think they can trust the people of their church to be good accountability partners.
• 72% only study the Bible when preparing for sermons or lessons (My note: This is a direct result of legalism and/or viewing Christianity as a religion, which it most absolutely is NOT. No one wants to read a list of rules all the time that tells them how wrong they are. What a drag.)
• 21% spend less than 15 minutes a day in prayer – the average is 39 minutes per day (My note: This is a misleading stat. Define prayer. Of course, who wants to talk to a God who is constantly in judgment mode? That’s not Who God Is, but that’s what He’s been made to be, so of course prayer is no fun in that case.)
• 16% are “very satisfied” with their prayer life, 47% are “somewhat satisfied,” and 37% are either “somewhat dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” (spending more time in quiet prayer or listening to God versus making requests was correlated with higher satisfaction)
• 44% of pastors do not take a regular day off
• 31% do not exercise at all, while 37% exercise at least three or four days a week as recommended (My note: Of course, this makes sense because they have poor boundaries. People in ministry tend to have poor boundaries because they know they are there to serve others, so they put themselves out there so much they wear themselves out. Would congregations be willing to stop demanding so much out of their pastors or would they, more than likely, judge their pastors for putting up healthy boundaries? How do you think a pastor would answer that question?)
• 90% say they have not received adequate training to meet the demands of ministry
• 85% have never taken a Sabbatical

YES, MANY of these apply to all the big, fancy pastors and preachers too! They have been through more than you can even guess! And all you can do is point out how bad their theology is.

I am urging you, friends, it is time to LOVE. It is time to STOP the bickering and theological attacks! The cancel culture of the Church needs to end. We are called to UNITY:

And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach UNITY in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-13 (emphasis mine)

I am calling you to maturity, my friends. I am calling you to unity and love because:

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head. From Him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting ligament (you are the supporting ligaments!!), grows and builds itself up IN LOVE through the work of each individual part.
Ephesians 4:14-16 (parenthesis and emphasis mine)

Do you see?! When we LOVE, the TRUTH will be revealed because we have grown into unity and maturity!

Blessings, power, and love
April