Rewriting Scripture to Support Error

I am familiar with a very small church which engages in what I would label as spiritual abuse of its members. I had a friend who was involved in a prior church plant with the pastor of this church warn me, “I have no doubt he loves the Lord but, do anything he doesn’t like, and watch out!” That warning has proven prophetic on more than one occasion, and once again the fruit of his abuse has appeared, resulting in some solid families leaving recently in search of a more biblically healthy church.

In this church, what usually occurs a week or so after something like this (people leaving) happens is that the next sermon or two departs from whatever course of study had been taking place to instead drive home some truth about authority, submission, or false confessors of Christ. This latest incident is no different, which has resulted in at least one sermon on the topic of the parable of the soils and the distinguishing of true Christians from false ones.

What I would like to examine is the way in which this “pastor” (and the rest of the congregation there as well, since they will not stand up, hold this guy accountable, and proclaim what is actually true and right) has taken the word of God in this instance and twisted it to fit his purpose of condemning those who have refused to be exposed any longer to his ridiculous unbiblical notions of what he perceives to be grounds for church discipline (as well as the completely unscriptural manner in which he exercises it). I have no desire here to get into any details of the situations themselves, just to take what was said in a recent sermon and compare that to Scripture.

Regarding the parable of the sower spoken by Christ, one of the first questions asked in this particular sermon was, “What does the text say?”

The text was Mark 4, and regarding what happens to the seed sown on the rocky ground, here is what the text was portrayed as saying:

“When the affliction and the trial and the persecution and the discipline comes…because of the Word of God, they run away.”

Keep in mind that in this parable, Jesus is describing four different types of soil. And only one of those soils is descriptive of true believers, the rocky soil not being that one true soil which grows true and saving faith. So, what this preacher has done when he places those people who have recently left his church into the category of those who received the Word on rocky soil, he is making a declaration as to their salvation.

Here is what the text actually says in Mark 4:16-17 concerning the seed which fell on the rocky ground:

And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

Do you see any differences in what the text says compared to what this person has declared it to say?

I see two significant departures from the text.

1. Church discipline has been inserted along with tribulation and persecution.
2. The end result has been changed from they fall away to they run away.

The reason for this, quite simply, is that this person is trying to characterize those who have recently left (who are no longer under the control of his thumb) as being false professors of faith in Christ because they refused to stay and be subjected to what was going on there. Correct me if I’m wrong, but there is a huge difference between recanting the name of Christ (falling away) and leaving one church for another (be it for valid reasons or not).

The sad reality is that this type of thing is probably not uncommon, and actually has the potential to flourish when the church is not structured according to biblical models. I recall a pastor years ago (he is no longer in the ministry), when people began to see the error of his ways and his departure from the Bible, and they left to search for other churches, he would quote from 1 John 2:19 and declare that, because they left they were never really Christians to begin with, as proven by their refusing to stay.

May we never allow our personal opinions and hurts and vendettas to get in the way of what the word of God actually says. May the church always be ever mindful of and declare only that truth which flows from God’s words, and not from our imaginations.