We Pastors Have Strayed From Sound Doctrine
Two years after leaving graduate school, I came to the realization that I really didn’t believe in hell anymore. I was too smart to believe in hell. Three years sitting under the gentle but consistent pressure of doctrinally questionable professors quietly eroded my convictions on this key teaching. Like so many church leaders I’ve met over the years, I bought into the lie that I could serve the God of the Bible but not believe in the entire Bible.
During a long retreat at a local monastery I performed an exhaustive word study of the phrase “false doctrine” in the New Testament. When I was finished, the Holy Spirit did a number on me. I felt convicted, as I should have. I felt awful, as I should have. I came to the conclusion that I was a liar, as I should have. I dropped to my knees in tears. I repented before God of my duplicity.
I rushed home and called together my leadership team, repented and asked for their forgiveness as well. That Sunday I stood before my congregation and wept, asking for their forgiveness. It was a turning point in my calling before God.
Over and over again, we are warned that church leaders must hold to the deep truths of the faith. Hell is one of those deep truths, albeit unpopular. Over and over again, we are warned not to be drawn away by unsound doctrine. With pain in his voice that came from years of heading off church train wrecks, Paul pleaded in his final words to Timothy to preach the word, every last bit of it, regardless of how unpopular it became.
I’m pretty sure that exhortation still stands.
As a senior pastor, why do or why don’t you preach about hell to your church?
