By Jim Miller
Gray, Maine
The Apostle Paul preached the whole counsel of God while he was at Ephesus (and wherever he went), and every gospel preacher today should be doing the same, that is if he wants to be pleasing to God. The sad truth of the matter today is that the type of preaching that Paul did is very seldom seen in our pulpits or Bible classes at all.
For far too long there has been a trend toward neutrality in preaching. Sound Gospel preachers know the truth and will not fall into the old popularity trap, he knows if he takes a stand and preaches on the truth "right down the line" he will lose his popularity, his friends, his meetings, and he may have to move, this has become standard operating procedure among many churches today. Yet, so many preachers today will not deal with issues and popular sins for fear of losing their position. They stay as far away as they can from such subjects as fellowship with false teachers saying for the sake of unity we must let them be heard. Some or most will not preach on the destruction caused by social drinking; dancing; gambling; lascivious dress; worldliness; the "social gospel"; materialism; church discipline etc. Too many people today not just preachers are caught up in the "positive thinking" philosophy in preaching and teaching.
Too many congregations today are open to all kinds of error because these things are not being dealt with from the pulpit or in Bible classes. Jesus clearly taught a man cannot be neutral in service to him: "He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad" (Matt. 12:30).
The neutral preacher or teacher is plainly in error whether he wants to admit it or not. We the church face problems that can only be met by placing men in our pulpits and classes who love and respect the truth of Gods word and who have the attitude toward preaching and teaching as the apostle Paul had (see Acts 20:20,26-27; Gal. 2:5 and Phil. 1:17). The need for men who will preach the truth and urge the principles of truth regardless of the consequences is sorely needed today – men like Paul and Stephen. the need for men whose preaching and teaching of the gospel is not connected to their purse or popularity who will arouse convictions in the hearts of men and lead them by the truth of Gods word.
Men of God who know and stand on the word also know that down through the ages sound men of the Gospel have never been men of neutrality – Noah (2 Pet. 2:5); Jeremiah (Jer. 1-9-10); John the Baptist (Lk. 1:17; Matt. 3:1-3; 14:3-4), and the apostle Paul (Gal. 2:5; Phil. 1:17) are just a few.
The trend toward compromising the truth in the church today is rampant. Congregations want to be fed from the trough of what we call "softism." They want to hear a positive, ambiguous messages that do not deal with sin as it is in reality, all glossed over so that it doesn't bring about any kind of conviction. The preaching and teaching the majority of congregations want today will not emphasize nor underscore the characteristics that separate the church from denominationalism or the world. They cry out no preaching on who they can or can not be in fellowship with. The turn a blind eye at plain scripture like Eph 5:10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. Eph 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. or the teachings of John in 2Jn 1:9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 2Jn 1:10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 2Jn 1:11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. Preachers and teachers who willingly ignore and fail to preach on these biblical subjects and seek peace and unity with those who teach falsely are compromising the truth of God.
Such men as these who ignore plain scriptural teaching and have been allowed to go unchecked for far to long. These men are like the manna that was kept over night by the Jews after they were brought out of Egypt Exo 16:19 And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Exo 16:20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: ……… So it is with what is going on today. Churches are allowing fellowship with men that they should be standing against according to Gods own word. They are again using the unity excuse without understand what true unity is. Please folks do your due diligence put such men away from you, mark them and have nothing more to do with their heresy. You can not fellowship error and remain a child of God.
