NOTES ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ELOQUENCE AND REVERENCE: HUMAN INVENTION VS. DIVINE PRESENCE IN AMERICAN PREACHING – (WITH VIDEO)

I.  THE THEOLOGY

SCRIPTURE. “And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom [using clever rhetoric], but [they were delivered] in demonstration of the [Holy] Spirit [operating through me] and of [His] power [stirring the minds of the listeners and persuading them], so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom and rhetoric of men, but on the power of God.” – 1 CORINTHIANS 2:4-5, AMP

KEY TERMS:

• “SPIRIT.” ‘Pneuma’ [πνεύματος]: “‘A current, breath or wind [of life];’ superhuman vivacity; true rationality or intelligence; the presence of the immaterial Being; imp. a oneness with the Divine; the vital principle by which the mind and body are animated; the power by which a human being feels, thinks, wills, decides; that which impacts the soul of man;  a simple essence, devoid of all or at least all grosser matter.”

• “POWER.” ‘Dunamis’ [δυνάμεως]: “‘Divine force, miraculous power;’ supernatural ability or abundant might for the working of miracles; violent strength from the Godhead; moral potency and excellence of soul; extraordinary authority [or, ‘hallowed unction or anointing’]; the faculty of doing or performing anything; the faculty of moving or of producing a change in something; ability or strength.”

QUOTATION. “‘But unction [the anointing] is.’ Here we are given the evidence of the workings of an undefinable agency in the preacher, which results directly from the ‘Presence of this Power from On High,’ deep, conscious, life-giving and carrying, giving power and point to the preached Word. It is the Element in a sermon which arouses, stirs, convicts and moves the souls of sinners and saints.” ― E.M. BOUNDS,The Complete Collection of E. M. Bounds on Prayer, 2000 (original from 1907-1931); edited

COMMENTARY. “‘And my speech, and my preaching.’ As he determined, so he acted. As the subject matter of his ministry was not any of the liberal arts and sciences, or the philosophy and dry morality of the Gentiles, but Salvation by a Crucified Christ! So his style, his diction, his language used in preaching.

‘Was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom.’ With technical words, words of art, contrived by human wisdom to captivate the affections; and with bare probable arguments only, a show of reason to persuade the mind to an assent, when nothing solid and substantial is advanced, only a run of words artfully put together, without any strength of argument in them; a method used by the false teachers, and which the Apostle here strikes at, and tacitly condemns.

‘But in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power.’ Partly by making use of solid proofs out of the writings of the Old Testament, indited by the Spirit of God, and which amounted to a demonstration of the Truths he delivered; and partly by signs, and wonders, and miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, those extraordinary instances of Divine Power, which greatly confirmed the Doctrines he preached: and besides all these, the Spirit of God wonderfully assisted him in his work, both as to words and matter; directing him, what to say, and in what form, in words, not which human wisdom taught, but which the Holy Ghost taught; and accompanying his ministry with His Power, to the conversion, comfort, edification, and salvation of many.” – JOHN GILL, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, 9 vols., 1746-1763; edited

II.  THE TEACHING

I intend to argue here that by and large, the American Church, most especially the Pentecostal and Charismatic wings of the Christian pastors and churchgoers, have increasingly resorted to nothing more than what I derisively call, “Parlor Tricks” to persuade congregations to keep butts in the pews for financial gain over spiritual gain!

This, beloved, in the place of genuine discipleship and Canonical instruction in sound doctrine toward salvation and the resistance of evil.

WORSHIP AS ENTERTAINMENT. For my first blow against these pernicious trends in American Christianity I turn to the – wait for it – Calvinists! While their Reform Eschatology is nearly moribund, they have been forthright in bringing critical, principled exposure to the destructive practices of Evangelicals so rampant in the Church today.

Specifically, I bring our attention to the distinguished CARL R. TRUEMAN, who has taught on the faculties of the Universities of Nottingham and Aberdeen before moving to the United States in 2001 to teach at Westminster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. In 2017-18 he was the William E. Simon Visiting Fellow in Religion and Public Life in the James Madison Program at Princeton University.  Since 2018, he has served as a professor at Grove City College. He is also a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a contributing editor at First Things. Trueman’s latest book is the bestselling The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self. He is ordained in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

I again BULLET POINT his main ideas to get us started; from his essay, “Turning Worship into a Clown Show,” World (WNG), August 9, 2023; edited.

• SADDLEBACK CHURCH. “The recent parting of ways between the Southern Baptist Convention and Saddleback Church [founded by RICK WARREN in 1980 in Lakewood, CA] focused on the status of women with regard to pastoral leadership and ministry, but a recent video clip of the Southern California church’s senior pastors, ANDY AND STACIE WOOD, suggests that the problem is much deeper than the presenting issue. Leading worship while dressed as characters from the Toy Story franchise suggests  theological problems that go way beyond debates about the nature of Paul’s teaching on eldership”

• SEEKER SENSITIVITY. “At the heart of the Saddleback project is the idea of ‘seeker sensitivity,’ of making the church a relaxed and comfortable place for outsiders. The underlying motivation is no doubt a good one. We do not want churches to be unfriendly and unpleasant places. If God is a hospitable God, one who loves the widow, the orphan, and the sojourner, then the people who bear His name today, as in the days of the desert wanderings, should be so too. And yet there are a number of very real dangers here, of which the short video clip is emblematic.”

• CHILDRENS’ CHURCH. “First, we live in a ‘Childish Age,’ where Immaturity is lionized, whether it be the spoilt-brat behavior of some celebrity or the cheap tantrums of Joe Public on Twitter. True, Jesus commands His disciples to have the faith of children, but there is a big difference between serious childlikeness and silly childishness. Leading worship as a pair of giggling cartoon characters can only be described—and that with charity—as the latter.”

• COMEDY HOUR. “Second, the Church is not called to mimic the world. Far from it. There is only one description in the New Testament of how an outsider should react when he blunders by accident into a church service. It is in 1 Corinthians 14:24–25. Paul tells us that such a person will be convicted and fall on his face, knowing that God is there. Presumably, this is because he finds himself in the presence of a Holy God and is overwhelmed by his own sense of unworthiness. ‘Turning worship into a comedy skit’ seems unlikely to produce the same result. In fact, far from being sensitive to the needs of any seeker, it sends a clear signal that the Gospel is unworthy of attention by any serious-minded person, believer or unbeliever.”

• BLASPHEMOUS TRIVIALIZATION. “Flowing from this second point is the third, and most serious issue. Such trivialization of worship rests ultimately upon a trivialization of God Himself. It is a function of the same culture where sports stars refer to the Lord as ‘the Big Man Upstairs,’ as if God was just one of their drinking buddies, and where Republican members of Congress joke about foregoing sex with their fiancé in order to make it to a prayer meeting on time.”

TRUEMAN’S CONCLUSION. “It is, in other words, just one more example of a world that does not take the Holiness and Transcendence of God seriously. The only people likely to be falling on their faces in such a worship service are those Christians who take God seriously and cannot believe that adults who claim to be leading God’s people into His Holy Presence would behave that way … ‘Our God, our New Testament God, is a Consuming Fire and to be approached with awe and reverence,’ as the book of Hebrews teaches. And those incapable of acting in accordance with that have no place in the pastoral ministry. And the SBC is certainly not poorer for their departure.”

We turn now to the impact of this uniquely American obsession with Entertainment to its impact on our Preachers.

PASTORS AS SHOWMEN. This time I cull from another Reformed minister, DR. C. MATTHEW MCMAHON, holder of every theological degree known to man! He likewise offers equally blistering critique of our Puerile American Shepherds in his essay, “The Uselessness of Church Entertainers – The Second Act” (A Puritan Mind, ret. July 25, 2024; edited).

• THE PROMISE. “Jeremiah 3:14-15, ‘Return, O backsliding children, says the LORD; for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.’”

• THE REALITY. “Then comes another category of a church speaker that is even worse than the generic type. That is, the ‘Church Entertainer.’ An Entertainer is a person whose job is to entertain others. These people step up into the place of dread, the Pulpit of the Living God, and they entertain the congregation, instead of expounding the Word of God.”

• PASTORAL POSERS. “God says in Jeremiah that he would send shepherds according to his heart who would feed his people with knowledge and understanding. In this illustration of the visiting family to the local church, this fellow ‘showed himself to have neither knowledge, nor understanding of his office or task.’ Interestingly enough, if you walked up to him and asked him if he thought he was doing anything wrong, he would tell you with a resounding tone, ‘of course not.’ He would have thought he was doing the congregation a service in God’s sight, when in fact he was undoing much.”

• STORY TIME. “First, in our factual illustration, in the church bulletin, there was a printed text that the sermon was supposed to be about. In 2 of the previous 3 sermons, ‘he never got to the text except to read it.The remainder of his time was storytelling about his old job, his grandfather, a flat tire, or some other nonsense.”

• CHRISTIANITY LIGHT. “Second, at no time did he focus on any text, or explain the text, or ‘apply the text’ [to real life]!’ His ‘sermonettes’ were astoundingly devoid of exegesis and hermeneutics, as well as any connection to homiletics. In the 18 minutes, or 23 minutes, etc., of his previous speeches, the congregation learned a whole lot about him, his family, his father, his grandfather, etc., and nothing, ‘explicitly nothing,’ about God or Jesus Christ.” 

• NO ARMOR. “Third, sermons bring people closer to Heaven or closer to Hell. ‘Non-sermons bring people closer to Hell,’ and make them devoid of gaining any spiritual insight for the coming onslaught of the Enemy for the upcoming week. Worship ought to energize Christians. It should prepare them in some way and in some manner with some formed and molded Truth to their circumstance for the week ahead. Non-sermons devoid of Biblical Truth, or not saturated in the Word of God, are like taking a butter knife into a medieval battle to swordfight against Goliath-like adversaries. Entertainers are totally useless in this way to the people of God.”

• SATAN’S HIRELINGS. Finally, ‘Church Entertainers are Satan’s Pawns to distract true Christians from worshipping God as God requires.’ Not only are they Satan’s Pawns, but I believe they are also used as a test to the session and presbytery. 2 Cor. 2:11 says, ‘Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.’ If presbyteries ordain such Church Entertainers, and sessions allow such men to come week after week to speak to their people: One of Four Things is Occurring Here.”

• FOUR KILLSHOTS. “1) The presbytery and session are actively ‘trying to water down the teaching of the word of God’ in the church, and are Kinsman to the Devil and his devices against Christ’s Church. They are opposed to Christ and the intentions of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit to the people of God. Or, 2) The presbytery and session are ‘ignorant of Satan’s distracting devices,’ and ought to be deposed from their office until they are educated and made aware of Satan’s devices. (There is much to be said here, but this short article is not the place to exegetically explain the characteristics of a true minister of the Word.). We need zealous, educated elders for God’s glory! Or, 3) The presbytery and session have an ‘overpowering fear of men’ and so allow the fellow to pass through their ranks and ordination, as well as come week after week to fill their pulpit. They would much rather coast through on the status quo than stand up and object to distraction. This third point seeps into the fourth, 4) that the presbytery and session do not care enough, and are not zealous enough for true Biblical Reformation to, ‘overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place’ (Deut. 12:3).

• WHAT NOW? “What shall we do then? In a word, ‘Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into His harvest’ (Matthew 9:38). ‘Pray God sends true preachers to His Church,’ and pray that the elders in those churches are wise enough to know the difference between true shepherds and false ones so that they will protect the people of God from those who would distract the congregation from true worship.”

DK’S TAKE. So here is where I differ with our honorable guest lecturers: ‘They still believe that America and her Church can be revived. I do not.’ For the Following Reasons presented in the Conclusion of this Commentary.

III.  LAST THOUGHTS

You have heard me say that I don’t see any hint of a real desire for Revival in the American Church today – despite eight years of the aberration of Christian Nationalism in virtually every Church across the land. Or, perhaps because of it!

So let me end my Polemic with the reasoned argument by DR. CHUCK LAWLESS, Dean of Doctoral Studies and Vice-President of Spiritual Formation and Ministry Centers at Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, NC, where he also serves as Professor of Evangelism and Missions. Dr. Lawless was awarded an MDiv and a PhD in Evangelism/Church Growth from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, where he also served as professor and dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism. He is author of several books, including Discipled Warriors, Putting on the Armor, Mentor, Nobodies for Jesus, and Spiritual Warfare in the Storyline of Scripture (co-authored).

SEVEN REASONS FOR NO CHURCH REVIVAL. Dr. Lawless presented these factors in his prescient essay, “Why the North American Church is Unlikely to Experience Revival” (Chuck Lawless, Dec. 7, 2018; edited).

1. We’re not really desperate for God. We may use that kind of “desperation” terminology, but the words don’t always reflect our heart. It’s been some time since I’ve seen a congregation that pleads for God’s presence.

2. We tend to speak about the sin of others rather than deal with our own sin. We preach strongly against sins that we sometimes tolerate under our own roof. Few people are so broken over personal sin that they can only cry out to God.

3. We find happiness in our stuff. Sure, we know it’s all fleeting, but we treat it as if it weren’t. The more stuff we have, the “happier” we feel and the less we need God – and we often have much more stuff than people around the world do.

4. We know little of the Word of God and often less about church history. We don’t know enough about the stories of God’s miraculous intervention and powerful displays to long to see the same. Our general lack of knowledge equates to a corresponding lack of burden.

5. We have too few persevering, patient, persistent prayer warriors. Our praying is usually reactionary; that is, we pray only when we must. Not many of us lie on our faces pleading with God to fall on us with His power.

6. We can grow churches without the power of God. That growth may not be the result of non-believers gloriously transformed by the grace of God, but it still results in increased numbers. And, churches that show any record of growth seldom begin praying for revival.

7. We’re probably not ready to pay the cost of revival. When God falls on us in His power, the result must be a brokenness that leads to repentance   from sin and weeping over lostness. It means calling the Church to Holiness and dealing appropriately with members who choose to live in Rebellion. Revival often wounds first before it heals – and I’m simply not convinced the North American church is ready for that.

CODA. Though Dr. Lawless (ironically named) proposed this in 2018, six years ago and before the muscular Rise of Trump’s Maga Nationalism Church, he is dead on, beloved. ‘Con acento sobre la palabra, “muerto.’”

Beloved, we are about to reelect the Biblical Antichrist to what will become a nearly unfettered Seat of Power following the interposition of Agenda 47 and Project 2025 starting on Day One of his presidency. DONALD JOHN TRUMP, who just declared this at his rally:

“Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore.’ Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you Christians. ‘I’m [not] a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again, we’ll have it fixed so good you’re not going to have to vote.’” – SAM CORBISHLEY,  Metro, July 27, 3:08 pm; edited

Thus again, our Final Task is to: (1) Shore up our own spiritual houses; (2) Reach out to those who are hungry to hear the Truth of the Gospel – ‘The Only Commission’ that have ever received, my friends, despite an Americanized Gospel that is a Pernicious Lie.

Selah.

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/Y3uCfA76o50