"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. -- Matthew 18:15 (ESV)
Another day, another attack upon discernment ministries. We must understand that the seeker friendly industrial complex, fueled by the purpose driven cult of personality churches must protect their brand at all costs. One of their tricks is to compromise respected Gospel preachers such as Francis Chan to steal their credibility. Chan may enter into it thinking he will affect them but in the end leaven spreads like cancer. Soon Chan is not just saying he loves Mike Bickle but he is writing threatening articles to any who would dare question false teachers. Since the backlash to Chan's fall has hit we have seen a wave of articles such as the one above designed to marginalize those that would insist on pure doctrine and biblical foundations. Let us reason together once more beloved as we sift through more attacks on sound doctrine in favor of protecting wolves at all costs.
"There seems to be an overwhelming fascination in evangelicalism with what is wrong. What do I mean by that? It seems that we are more than happy not just to report, but to share, like and comment whenever we see any Christian leader fail in any type of way. The Christian media is often happy to promote these attention-grabbing pieces. Like feeding fresh bloody fish to a group of swarming sharks, the frenzy ensues as web links are made and a new viral news article is born at the great expense of the character of a Christian leader as well as the testimony of Christ. Perhaps you think I am being too critical, but we should think about what we are doing. There is a lost world looking on as we quickly share articles that accuse brothers and sisters of things that are not, in many cases, provable facts. And, more importantly, we never pray or fast for these individuals, we simply feed on their demise for our daily entertainment." -- Greg Gordon
This premise is not only factually inaccurate but wildly ridiculous. Christian media refuses to deal with the issues of discernment and it is left to independent people to write the truth about what is false in the pulpit so that people are not led away from Christ. The key point in his opening is not that people weigh in on failure but that we keep seeing failure in the pulpit. This is like when Ted Haggard was caught in a 20 year relationship with a male prostitute while doing crystal meth and a local pastor opened his sermon that week with "don't judge." Seriously? That is a mockery of Scripture. There are no swimming sharks and feeding frenzies. There is just the wolf that has been exposed as such and we ought to be about the business of tending to the sheep and not defending the wolves. We do not fast for wolves. We do not pray for wolves. We mark them and take the shepherd's rod to them to protect the sheep. This is not for entertainment Mr. Gordon. I do not think you are being too critical. You are not being critical enough and your criticism is misguided.
"But it gets worse. Many modern Christian news outlets find their sources with independent renegade bloggers who start blogs in order to criticize and find fault with others, especially a ministry or pastor that has hurt them somehow in the past. The internet is used for many constructive, beneficial things, but sadly, it is also used for many hurtful activities, one of them being to tear down the character of an individual or organization. This could be expected among unbelievers. We think of national tabloids such as the National Enquirer where they look to find the most outlandish accusations or photos and make jest at people's lives. Yet, within the Church are we to do the same practices? Unfortunately, there are a host of Christian bloggers who are engaging in these activities and, worse yet, mainstream Christian internet news have embraced them as the most credible sources of information for the next failure of a Christian leader or organization." -- Greg Gordon
This piece does get worse. The Internet is also used by people like you trying to protect the seeker-friendly industrial complex at the expense of good brothers and sisters in Christ who insist on biblical standards for church leadership. So these discerning ministries take what someone like Francis Chan SAID and combine it with pictures of him SAYING it, and then apply the BIBLE to it. That is why a good many of them are considered more credible than mainstream church news sites which routinely run articles about releasing angels or sneaky squid spirits. Then you compare the one with proof and the bible to the National Enquirer, right.
"These bloggers consider themselves judge, jury and executioner at the same time. In almost every case where they helped to bring about the demise of a Christian leader, their appetite is never filled, and they continually ask for more punishment, retribution and supposed justice on the individuals. Essentially it is never enough, because some of the main motives behind their accusations are things like self-promotion, unforgiveness or seeking popularity and acclaim. Once their articles are published, and they receive the attention of thousands of Christians praising them in their work to destroy the character of a leader, they are propelled into a never-ending pursuit, enjoying all the attention they have received." -- Greg Gordon
