After listening to a Bible teacher’s message on the radio one morning, I felt compelled to write an open letter to Bible teachers and preachers in general. The position of a pastor or a Bible teacher is a high calling, worthy of due respect. But I find pablum and misdirection aggravating.
The preacher who prompted my reaction is supposedly one of the better ones, too, though I won’t call him out by name. He is typical of far too many.
What follows is meant for Bible believing, Christ honoring Bible teachers and preachers everywhere, whether they’re on the radio or in your church. It might ruffle some feathers for anybody who cares at all. But I suspect that’s very few because most listeners are content to accept whatever sounds authoritative.
********************
Dear Sir,
I heard your message this morning. You were preaching from a passage in the Old Testament, weren’t you? At least that’s where we started. But you jumped around so much. Were you trying to impress me with your vast knowledge of the Scriptures?
Look, I agree with you that the Bible is its own best interpreter. But you took so many side trips that I forgot what your main point was supposed to be. There was one, wasn’t there?
What really bugged me is that, on one of those side trips, you said something that’s completely idiotic, and I couldn’t get it out of my head.
I’ve been to Bible college too, and even though that was many years ago, I’ve kept learning in the years since. However, it doesn’t take a Bible college education to know that what you said on that side trip was flat out wrong. It was misleading at best.
On top of that, throughout your message you taught things that were directed at Israel, not the Body of Christ. You do know there’s a difference between Israel and the Church, don’t you?
It’s not like I could discuss any of this with you. You’re up there, teaching and preaching to the masses, and there’s no way to hold you accountable. If I talk to you in person or write you a letter, I’m just some discontented fool, aren’t I?
Here’s the real rub. As I said in the beginning, we started out with what I assume was meant to be your key Bible passage. But I don’t know what you were trying to say. Do you?
You’re supposed to be shedding light on God’s word, not making it complicated. The sign of a good teacher is that he can make the complex simple. There are a lot more simple things in the Bible than we think.
Instead, you leave me and others in your audience with the impression that we couldn’t possibly know the Scriptures without you. Isn’t that attitude of authoritative superiority one of the key reasons Protestants left the Catholic church in the Reformation era?
After hearing your message this morning, I felt like I needed to take a shower. When you were through, I prayed for God to cleanse me from error and confusion.
This may make you angry–at least it should–but I thought Satan was the author of confusion. Just who are you working for anyway?
Cordially,
John Wesley Smith