Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. - James 3: 1 (ESV)
I am starting to be convinced that we simply do not care anymore about the Word of God and what it teaches us when it comes to pastoral responsibility. That we use the Bible to prop up our own desires instead of hearing what sayeth the Lord. It is with profound sadness that once again these pages must deal with the saga of Mark Driscoll. I should have known better when I read his resignation, which sounded more like he wanted everyone to know he was not disqualified from ministry, than anything remotely resembling sincerity. I should have known he was going to pop back up I just didn't think it would be in less than a week. You see, Driscoll was supposed to speak at the Gateway Conference this week but he had been pulled from the lineup. He showed up anyway and in what appeared to be a scripted moment, Pastor Robert Morris abused his pulpit to stand up and chastise those who speak the truth in favor of a man who has been exposed as a liar and a thief.
Now I expect this from Morris, who preaches that if you do not give him the first 10% of your money then God will curse the remaining 90%. Before you pay your bills. Before you pay the rent. Before you make sure your family has food and clothing. Pay him first or he promises God will curse all of your money. Simply speaking, Robert Morris is a money whore. God has warned us about him:
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. - 2Peter 2: 1-3 (KJV)
Through covetousness, with feigned words, Robert Morris makes merchandise of the sheep of the Lord. Period. This is not something that is up for debate. Here is a clip from one of his cursed money sermons. If you watch this and think he is preaching God's Word then you simply do not know or understand your Bible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP0uFa4tj58
So it was no surprise that Robert Morris would defend Mark Driscoll. What is sad and surprising is the rush of many, including many pastors, to pretend that Driscoll is the true victim here. Forget the 7000 sheep that have left Mars Hill Church. Forget the thousands of mutilated sheep he left in his wake. No instead some are thinking that Morris' butchering of Galatians 6 nailed it:
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. - Galatians 6: 1 (ESV)
I hate to be the bearer of sound hermeneutics but this verse does not support the notion that Mark Driscoll should be restored to a preaching ministry. Not even close. There are two problems with that line of thinking. First of all, this verse is dealing with restoring a brother who has sinned to their place in the family of God. Not restoring a pastor to a pulpit. No one is suggesting that Mark Driscoll should not be restored IN HIS WALK. That is the key point. This argument we keep hearing about throwing stones and burying our wounded is a false argument. It is a strawman argument designed to take our eyes off of the real problem. Even his most ardent critics have called for prayer for him and his family. Some of the people who he hurt the most have expressed the most grace by saying very nice things about Mark. They have said that they love him. They want him to be right with God - not necessarily right behind a pulpit.
Perhaps the larger argument however is that there can be no restoration without repentance and there can be no repentance without confession. Here me very clearly. Mark Driscoll has not confessed, nor repented. He has said the word repent, as an afterthought, but he has yet to address the most serious offenses he committed. Instead he has dodged them and hid behind the compromised board that he handpicked when he fired his old board for trying to hold him accountable. What people like Robert Morris need to do is stop lying. Stop pretending most of the accusations are false. They are not. Stop pretending they are just "what you read on the Internet." They are public record. All of you who claim a Christian leadership position need to recognize what you are defending. Let us start here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfTmgPhmlto
This is the first serious charge that is completely public record and completely unaddressed by Driscoll. I did not make the video, so forgive the caricature, but the substance is what came out of Mark Driscoll's own mouth, about his own sheep, from the pulpit. That is right, this is from a sermon! Instead of preaching the Gospel, he uses the holy desk to chuckle and brag about the pile of dead sheep he was leaving behind the Mars Hill bus. This is not merely unacceptable - it is despicable. To this day, Mark Driscoll has never addressed these words. Making broad generalizations about being arrogant in the past is not an apology nor a confession. These were real people he ran over. I encourage you to read some of their stories here:
These are the victims beloved. The second major sin we have to deal with is the fact that Driscoll stole $200,000 of tithe money to hire a marketing firm to cheat the NY Times best seller list. Once again, this is not in dispute. Driscoll initially denied knowing about what the company did until the news obtained a copy of the contract with Driscoll's signature on it. Then he did apologize. Just not for stealing the money:
"My understanding of the ResultSource marketing strategy was to maximize book sales, so that we could reach more people with the message and help grow our church. In retrospect, I no longer see it that way. Instead, I now see it as manipulating a book sales reporting system, which is wrong. I am sorry that I used this strategy and will never use it again. I have also asked my publisher to not use the '#1 New York Times bestseller' status in future publications, and am working to remove this from past publications as well." - Mark Driscoll
So he still tried to deflect knowledge of what he was doing and tries to sound magnanimous by saying he will not call himself a NY Times best seller when he knows he wasn't to begin with! What was missing though? What about the money? Well, his handpicked board gave him a pass on it saying that he was allowed to spend the tithe money as such. Imagine standing before Jesus and trying to explain that. Seriously. Think about it. I am tired of hearing the silly argument that the rulings of an incompetent and compromised board supersedes Scripture and common sense. Imagine if he had never been caught. Are you seriously suggesting that it would be OK to spend $200,000 of tithe money to cheat the NY Times? No beloved. Not at all.
I chose the key verse because it seems sometimes we forget that those who serve in teaching and preaching will be held to higher standard. That we have to be careful with what we stand up and defend and use the Bible to do so. I expect nothing less from Robert Morris. Anyone who has so little fear of the Lord that he would threaten the sheep of God with disaster in their families if they don't pay him, will think nothing of abusing Galatians 6:1. Realize that these two items discussed alone disqualify Mark Driscoll from ministry. Just read 1Timothy 3. I didn't say it! God did! We remember Him don't we? I thought it was supposed to be about Him.
Rev. Anthony.
