The danger of many heresies is that they appear to most people to be indiscernible from the truth. And the problem is accentuated by the fact that they are propagated by men with strong “religious” pedigrees – Who themselves often don’t discern the danger of what they are saying. 1Tim. 1:7 warns us of such men – “Desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.” Prominent men with multiple seminary degrees, or years of service in the church, or large platforms hold great sway among evangelicals in our country. In effect, the church in our time has often become more beholden to leaders that are more like celebrities than shepherds. By speaking or writing through various mediums these men offer bite-sized quips and clever cultural axioms with verbiage that spreads quickly and is adopted by countless Christians. In such an environment, conference speakers, seminary professors, pastors of large congregations, and authors with a broad readership base have an incredible amount of influence. But many times the phrases they utter and stances they take are either not well thought out, or they may be unbiblical altogether. Perhaps unassumingly, many of these men by making pithy and pragmatic statements actually throw their weight behind what amounts to heresy.
Oftentimes, these men who are actually the proponents of false teaching and erroneous doctrine might like to posit themselves as defenders of the truth. They are clearly self-deceived. 2Tim. 3:13 – “But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being [themselves] deceived.” Again this is nothing new, but can be seen in every century of the church. Men with every “qualification” who become renowned for either their scholarship, their positions of authority, or their broad appeal actually advance false teaching while portraying themselves as a protector of orthodoxy. This shouldn’t surprise us as even the wicked King Henry VIII was once infamously called the defender of the church. But allow me to illustrate this with another historical example.
There was a brilliant nineteenth-century theologian named Friedrich Schleiermacher who defined heresy as: “That which preserves the appearance of Christianity, and yet contradicts its essence.” That is quite an accurate statement! However, by reading that statement you might think that this man must be thoroughly doctrinally sound. And perhaps some of you might think, “I’d like to read more of what this guy had to say.” But here is my point – Because a reputed theologian makes one fine-sounding and pithy statement does not mean that he is sound, credible, or trustworthy. Despite the fact that he seems to be insightful, and to be a defender of orthodoxy, Schleiermacher would actually go on to develop a system of Bible interpretation that embraced mysticism and the prominent philosophical viewpoints of the “enlightenment” era. Although his work and writings were incredibly scholarly and have had great influence since that time, his doctrine on several key points was absolutely heretical. As such he has been called: The Father of Modern Liberal Theology. That his influence is still felt down to this day, is a testament to the consequences that bad ideas can have (whether well thought out or not) when they are coupled with a large platform.
The problem with a “celebrity” culture in the church is not so much that men rise to have large platforms (there are indeed some very sound individuals who have large ministries). But the problem is that the average Christian hasn’t the discipline to search the Scriptures carefully themselves to know what the truth really is. The problem is that Christians have become comfortable with allowing celebrities to determine what is important for them to know, and how they should think about those things. As Schleiermacher did before them, many of the celebrity theologians of our day are actually just combining Christian themes with modern philosophies, cultural ideals, and skewed agendas. And the church in our day is in grave danger if we don’t become much more acute in our ability to discern truth from error. O, don’t just blindly believe what some prominent leader says – Even if their words strike you as true at first, even if it strikes a chord with how you feel, and even if they seem to be defending the truth. Our allegiance must be to the Word of Christ first, and then thoughtfully and carefully we can test the various spirits and words of men in our world.
Comments