The Trend Among the Young Preachers
by Connie Adams
A
preacher in a congregation not too far away has been preaching in such, a
manner as to elicit criticism from some in the congregation who live the old
paths and who remember when gospel preachers spoke "as the oracles of God."
When one brother approached one of the elders about the matter, the elder
passed it off by saying that such is the trend now all over the brotherhood
among the young preachers. Any trend among the preachers, young or old, to
"preach any other gospel" than that delivered by the Lord, is a trend in the
wrong direction. The anathema of heaven rests upon any man or angel who
proclaims any doctrine contrary to the New Testament. We are "not to be wise
above that which is written." "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in
the doctrine of Christ, hath not God"
(Gal. 1:6-9; 1 Cor. 4:6; 2 John 9.)
Unsound
preaching produces an unsound faith. James said, "My brethren, be not many
of you teachers, knowing that we shall receive greater judgment"
(Jas. 3:1.)
These
passages make it abundantly clear that preaching is to be taken seriously,
and its value determined by the faith once delivered to the saints.
One thing
this particular preacher has been preaching is that the church ought to
build a kitchen. His argument is that we put a rest room in the building and
nobody objects, but if we put a refrigerator in it, then some people object.
Others have argued that a kitchen is just as right as a water fountain. The
first thing wrong with this is, the effort is made to justify the church
building a kitchen on the basis that something else is just as wrong, if it
is wrong. Now if putting kitchens in buildings is parallel to rest rooms and
water fountains, that still would not argue that any of them would be right.
In the second place, I doubt seriously that anybody with normal mentality
really thinks the rest room or the water fountain is parallel to a kitchen
provided in the building. Rest rooms and drinking fountains are
accommodations for an assembly in the same sense that seats, lights, heat in
the winter, air conditioning or fans are in the summer. They are not
provided for the purpose of entertainment and everybody knows that who has
enough sense to come in out of the rain. And everybody knows that kitchens,
banquet halls, recreation rooms and such like are provided for the purpose
of amusement or entertainment. Now if entertainment is a divinely ordained
part of the mission of the church, then I say let congregations build and
equip such things. But until someone can set forth the book, chapter and
verse which shows that such is the mission of the church, then I am going to
oppose it. But to show the absurdity of the matter, whoever read in some
bulletin where a congregation was having a "water drinking at the church
drinking fountain at 7:30 on Friday night?" Or where there would be a
"fellowship" at the church rest room on Monday night? It looks like anybody
could recognize the difference between facilities provided for the
accommodation of an assembly and that which is provided solely for
entertainment, or social purposes.
Another
trend among preachers, both young and old, is to use church bulletins for
the purpose of publicizing the functions of colleges. Scarcely a week passes
without certain bulletins in this area carrying reports of the various
functions of Freed-Hardeman college, including efforts to raise money for
it. And remember this is the school whose president, assistant to the
president, and publicity director all think that majority vote in
congregations without elders is the acceptable thing. The idea seems to be
that if the preachers will scratch the college's back, then the college will
further the "usefulness" of the preacher. Gone from the hearts of many, is
the idea that the school serves as an adjunct to the home. In the minds of
many, it is church-related, "our" school, to be advertised by the church and
financed by it.
Another
trend among preachers, young and old, is toward preaching little sermonettes
with moral overtones and very little scripture thrown in. It used to be
considered a mark of distinction for a gospel preacher to liberally
punctuate his lessons with citing passages from the inspired record, or with
expounding upon a particular passage in light of its context. Now, the style
has become to read a verse, make a pretext of it, make about three points
and maybe read a poem, appeal to emotions and pass this off as gospel l
preaching. Beware of any trend in preaching contrary to the will of Christ.
-
Truth Magazine, August
1961
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