OPINION (Charisma) – People often complain about angry preachers. I don’t like them either, and I agree that if a person mixes a sermon with hateful language (or if he believes God has called him to picket other churches), he’s in the wrong profession. Yet today we’ve jumped to the opposite extreme. Now we are afraid to confront sin. We can’t preach about materialism because we might offend rich people in the audience—as well as the poor people who buy Lotto tickets every week. We can’t preach about fornication because there are people in the church who are living together. We can’t preach about domestic violence because there are deacons who sometimes hit their wives. We can’t preach about homosexuality because our culture says it’s hateful to call that a sin.
And the list goes on. In fact, some preachers are avoiding the word sin altogether because it’s too negative. And we all know that the latest polls show people want a positive message. This temptation to dilute the gospel has produced a new recipe for a trendy sermon. We start with some great motivational speaking (Your past does not define your future!), add a few quarts of cheap grace (Don’t focus on your sin!), pour in some prosperity gospel (Run to this altar and grab your financial breakthrough!), flavor it with some trendy pop psychology (Its all about you!) and voila!—you end up with a goopy mess of pabulum that not even a baby Christian could survive on. READ MORE
