If we take Scripture out of context, and
practice proof texting to make the Bible say what we want it to say, we may end
up inflicting more harm than good. Many mega-church preachers and
televangelists often feel the need to sugar coat the gospel in order to make it
more appealing to their audience and bring in more tithes and church members.
Unfortunately, they often distort the word of God so severely that they end up
missing out on the blessing God intended.
One such preacher, whose sermon was posted on YouTube, was trying to comfort his audience during the presentation
of the gospel by telling them that it was oaky to ‘stumble’ and that they
didn’t have to be strong one hundred percent of the time. The preacher applied
a therapeutic gospel presentation, and recalled Jesus’ suffering in the garden
of Gethsemane, followed by his suffering on the cross. His entire presentation
highlights perseverance, and the promise
of better days ahead. The actual presentation of the gospel only took up a
couple a minutes at the very end of his sermon.
I may be able to credit him, and say
that this was just an average sermon about trusting God, and persevering
through tough times and he simply tried to add the gospel on at the very end.
However, as genuine as his intent might have been, I believe that he distorted
the gospel, and left the audience without the information they needed. The
pastor left out such pertinent details as the life of Christ, the significance
of Christ’s atoning work on the cross and what salvation is. More significantly,
the pastor stated that some of our common sins (for example, losing your temper
or yelling at your kids) were okay, and that God understands. The pastor
entirely neglected the concept of repentance, turning from our sins and living
a new and restored life for Christ.
Beyond the extremely poor, inaccurate
and misleading presentation of the gospel, I also noticed several biblical
statements that were taken out of context (such as his reference to ‘our
resurrection’ as our dreams being fulfilled), exaggeration of biblical facts
(such as Jesus supposedly sweating ‘great drops of blood’ in the garden) and a
general disrespect for the word of God (by twisting the word of God into
paraphrases that served his own purpose). I would be surprised to find a
presentation of the gospel that could be considered more counterfeit than this
one.
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