Responding To Critical Comments… | Ep. 4

Fight For Truth

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Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to the channel where we bring you Christian commentary about the things that matter.

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As ever, please know this video isn't a sinful attack, but rather a Biblical critique. And now that we've got all the disclaimers out of the way, let's get into episode 4 of Answering Critical Comments.

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This is of course where we read and answer comments that are angry, critical, or who otherwise disagree with our approach here on the channel.

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As per usual, the identities of the people involved will be hidden, but their words will not be edited.

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The first comment comes from our recent video on Elevation Church and a sermon preached there specifically by guest pastor

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Robert Maddew. Go ahead and watch that video, link in the description. Essentially, in that video,

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Robert Maddew makes up a Bible story and adds all sorts of humorous and entertaining details to keep the audience engaged in his teaching.

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The only problem is that he strays so far from the actual Word of God, the actual account of Scripture, that it ceases to be helpful and becomes more of a stand -up comedy routine than a

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Biblical sermon. Here was one of the complaints from the comment section of that video. Quote, Now I know the temptation will be to dismiss this argument out of hand, but we can't do that, because this argument is far more popular than you may realize.

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The seeker -sensitive movement in the Church is a movement which is trying desperately to make Church entertaining and enjoyable for unsaved people or people who usually hate

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Church. And the central argument from this movement is very similar to the one made in the comment. The idea is essentially that people like Steven Furtick or Robert Maddew or Mike Todd or Joel Osteen and many other popular pastors are using humor and entertainment to bring people into the

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Church and give them the Gospel. And people who support this say, how could you possibly be against getting the

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Gospel to people? You're so heavenly -minded that you're no earthly good. You care so much about your precious theology that you don't care about getting people saved.

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And this is of course untrue. This is a caricature of what the discerning Christian movement actually believes.

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The fallacy of this argument is basically that if we are bringing people the basic Gospel message, then it really doesn't matter how we do it.

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If we're getting people in Church, then it doesn't matter how we get them there. And this is of course not biblical at all.

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In Matthew 28, Jesus gives us our marching orders in the Great Commission as Christians in the

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Church. In Matthew 28, verse 19, he says this, quote, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, end quote.

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Now did Jesus say, go make disciples and after that, make sure you're super funny and entertaining as well? No. He says you ought to make disciples in the

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Church and teach them to do everything he commanded. The emphasis is on solid biblical teaching and caring for the souls of your congregation, not on entertainment or fun and games or any other

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Church -growth strategy cooked up by the modern seeker -sensitive movement. So yes, if your Church is giving sermons that are basically just motivational speeches every

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Sunday with a few Bible verses thrown in there, that's a problem, because they're commanded to thoroughly teach you, not to thoroughly entertain you.

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Hebrews 12, 28 says, quote, Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our

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God is a consuming fire, end quote. So not only does it matter that you worship, it matters how you worship.

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Our God is a consuming fire, and there ought to be a reverence with which we approach him. So again, there's a problem when churches are turning worship into a concert and a sermon into a

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TED Talk. We are not called to follow the world's playbook, but God's. Yes, God can and sometimes does use seeker -sensitive churches to save people, but that doesn't prove that what they're doing is biblical or good.

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It just proves that God is mighty enough to save people in spite of their error. In church, we are commanded to be biblical, not simply to be practical.

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And that's why the Book of Romans, for one example, is a deep and complex book. It can be hard to understand.

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It doesn't have any pictures. It's not a pop -up book. There are no love triangles between vampires and werewolves in there.

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But that's okay, because it's alright to just reverently study the book. It's not as if everything has to be designed for your entertainment.

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Look, we could spend all day on this topic, so we need to move on to the next comment. This one says the following,

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Our job is not to judge or condemn anybody, but to gently and intelligently share the truth, like our

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Lord did. All Colin does is point and accuse. The Devil is having a field day with this issue right now.

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And instead of berating the Devil, all Colin is doing is just adding fuel to the fires of hatred.

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Please, let's pray for him and make intercession for him to the Father that he comes to know the true love of the

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Lord in his life. First off, there's a pretty blatant contradiction here. If pointing and accusing someone of false teaching is wrong and sinful, then why is this person pointing and accusing at me for pointing and accusing at others?

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The argument refutes itself. But more than this, the assertion being made in the comment is that calling out false teaching is adding fuel to the fires of hatred.

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Again, this is plainly false. Was the Apostle Paul fueling the fires of hatred when he called out false teaching in pretty much every letter he wrote?

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Was Jesus fueling the fires of hatred when he criticized the Pharisees for their false teaching and putting human tradition above God's Word?

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Of course not. Romans 16 -17 commands us to mark and avoid false teachers who teach unsound and unbiblical doctrine.

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Therefore, to accurately and lovingly call out false teaching is not something that is prohibited in Scripture.

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Rather, it is something that is commanded in Scripture. But after this, the commenter says that the devil is very pleased.

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He's happy with channels like this one who call out false teaching. Why? Well, because he wants more fighting and more division.

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And of course, that's all we do here. And obviously, that's not true. But this is a very important point to talk about because it's a popular argument used against the discernment movement.

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The truth is, though, the devil is not helped when we call out false teaching. He's actually thwarted when we call out false teaching.

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Let me explain. In 2 Corinthians, Paul was dealing with a situation involving false apostles.

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In 2 Corinthians 11 -13, for instance, he responds saying this, For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

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And no wonder! For even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise, then, if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.

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Their end will correspond to their deeds. So Satan and his servants will disguise themselves as true teachers.

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Every false teacher, in other words, will appear as a true teacher in some respect. So whenever you call out false teaching, there will always be people who get upset at you for being a big meanie head.

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Why? Well, because in their eyes, you're causing a problem with someone who isn't false in the first place.

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And you look like a jerk who likes to cause problems with people. But this is not the way we should be looking at it.

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We know that Satan will come to us with false teaching disguised as true teaching. And therefore, we need to be discerning.

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We need to be trained in discernment. In other words, we need to know how to tell the difference. So this commenter has it backwards.

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Satan is not pleased when we call out unbiblical lies because he is the source of unbiblical lies.

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We must realize that. And if we do, we will see less comments like the one we just read. So I hope you enjoyed that video.

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And please know this. I do not offer any of this correction from a high and mighty position. I am nothing but a wretched sinner saved by the grace of Jesus Christ.

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So let's pray for false teachers, that they would stop their unsound doctrine, and by God's grace, that they would turn to the truth of God's Word.

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Thank you so much for watching that video. Please give us a like and subscribe so that you don't miss any content. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our

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Rumble channel as well, just in case YouTube ever takes us down. The link is in the description. And before you go, take a look at this list here.

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These are the people who make all of the free content you see on this channel possible with their monthly support. Today's highlighted channel supporter is

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PamCM. If you also want to help and become part of the solution today, hit the link in the description.

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Every little bit keeps us independent and helps us immensely here on the channel. So I hope you'll consider joining the

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Truth Army today. And until next time, fight for truth, never surrender, and keep your eyes open.