Dialogue is important. It’s healthy to discuss issues, express convictions, and voice opinions prayerfully. However, when dialogue leads to continually questioning biblical truth it becomes problematic. The reason for this is there are certain teachings that are so central to Christian faith and practice that there’s no need to debate them. In fact, we shouldn’t debate them according to scripture.
The biblical expression for those who keep debating sound biblical doctrine is “morbid questioning.” This phrase appears in the New Testament as a sign of false teaching infiltrating the church (1 Tim. 6:4; 2 Tim. 2:23). There are several passages, but 1 Timothy 1:3-11 illustrates this point well. These verses provide a list of “strange teachings” that directly oppose sound biblical doctrine concerning a right relationship with God.
The list in 1 Timothy 1 includes lawlessness, rebelliousness, ungodliness, sinners (e.g. justification of willful and habitual sin), the unholy and profane, killing of fathers or mothers (e.g. hatred and rejection of authorities), murderers (e.g. hatred of our brothers/sisters), sexually immoral, practicing homosexuals, kidnappers (e.g. the basis of the slave trade), liars (e.g. those who intentionally deceive) and perjurers (e.g. those who distort the truth).
What I have experienced among people who want to “dialogue” is it usually means they want to spend time specifically debating the things 1 Timothy 1:3-11 says not to debate, or even question for that matter. You don’t have to spend much time in certain online “discussion groups” to find ordained pastors debating these very issues. Essentially, it’s an endeavor that undermines scriptural authority. This should concern us, especially when it’s allowed to continue without accountability.
The church needs to lovingly stand firm on these biblical issues. We should absolutely refuse to allow cultural shifts and human reasoning to sway us in our doctrinal positions. Sound biblical doctrine is not up for debate; it never has been and it never will be for those who are sincere about following Jesus.
“Love” is the very thing we keep hearing will be gained through this ongoing dialogue. The irony is 1 Timothy 1:5-6 teaches that “love” is what we lose when we compromise sound doctrine. In fact, minimalizing the effects of sin is the most unloving thing we could ever do. According to 1 Timothy 1, minimalizing sin reduces one’s ability to grasp the fact that God is our only source of hope and deliverance.
The following is a true story that gives us a glimpse into the far-reaching consequences of the ongoing debate of sound doctrine and biblical truth.
A True Story
In January 2016 Crossroads Tabernacle in Fort Worth, TX began praying for prodigals to return to faith in Christ. Much to their surprise, within a few weeks of focusing specifically on prodigals, a young man walked into the church that hadn’t been seen in years. Unfortunately, he was in very bad shape. He was mentally unstable, drug addicted, HIV positive, and desperately lost.
The good news is that in a very short time God rescued this young man, delivered him from his sin and shame, set him free from his addictions, restored him to his right mind, and healed his body. Today, he is pursuing a call to full-time ministry. Pastor Corey Jones and the people of Crossroads Tabernacle celebrate the miracle that God has performed in this young man’s life.
In October 2016 at The Awakening: A National Prayer Conference, Pastor Corey shared his church’s burden for prodigals and invited others to come forward and pray for their lost loved ones. More than 800 came forward out of the over 1,000 in attendance. Over the next three days, people wrote the names of their lost loved ones on a canvass portrait representing prodigal children that had abandoned the Christian faith.
Since the conference, the prodigal portrait has had numerous names added by people all over the nation. Beyond the sadness of the many names covering the portrait, an even more painful truth is that a large percentage of these prodigals are pastor’s kids. We’ve discovered that we are literally fighting for the sons and daughters of countless pastors, evangelists, and leaders in the Church of the Nazarene and beyond. While this reality is sad enough, the consequences are even more profound.
Most of these prodigals aren’t simply struggling with their faith; they’ve completely abandoned it. In the last few years, Pastor Corey has kept a written record of these pastors and their lost children so he could pray more specifically. Of the pastors who have openly shared, the majority goes on to explain the nature of their kid’s choices after walking away from their faith. Specifically, large percentages of these prodigals currently profess to be atheists and/or practicing homosexuals, and the list continues to grow.
You can imagine the heartache of these pastors. Many have shared that they feel demoralized, defeated, and are contemplating leaving ministry altogether. One pastor indicated that every time he preaches he feels the taunts of the enemy harassing him and telling him that the gospel he preaches has no power to save even his own kids. Most of these ministers have no idea that this same attack is affecting so many other pastors and their families.
It’s actually even more disturbing. Another aspect of this battle is that a large percentage of these pastor’s kids had a call on their life to full-time ministry before turning away. In fact, when the data is compiled we’ve discovered that many of them attended one of our Nazarene universities to prepare for ministry. One pastor shared that his son, who went to a Nazarene school to be a pastor and is now an atheist, won’t allow him to mention Jesus’ name in his home.
This is not an attempt to place blame on anyone; it’s simply an effort to demonstrate that this isn’t a random obscure occurrence. Rather, it is more systemic and systematic than we realize, revealing a calculated scheme of the enemy against the church.
Why share this so publicly? Several reasons: (1) To let pastors know they’re not alone in the battle; (2) To call the church to pray for a revival that reaches the hearts of prodigals and restores them to faith; (3) To identify the schemes of Satan to destroy a generation; (4) To call for accountability for the “strange teachings” in our pulpits and universities; (5) To offer hope to all who are praying for their children to return to faith in Christ.
Over the past few years numerous prodigals, who had once abandoned the faith, have been restored to a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ! There are also a growing number of people who walked away from the faith and identified as homosexual, who are now testifying to experiencing complete deliverance through an encounter with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
In Isaiah 49 there is a promise that many of us are claiming as we pray for prodigals. We invite you to join us in this battle: “Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives be rescued from the fierce? But this is what the LORD says: ‘Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save’” (Isaiah 49:24-25).
We are contending against a culture of “morbid questioning” and the Lord is contending with us! Strange teachings are causing our children to turn away from the faith and be taken captive by idle talk and continual debate (1 Timothy 1). We live in an age that believes nothing is settled and truth is relative. Nonetheless, we rejoice in the midst of this unbelieving generation over the fact that God is still calling prodigals home.
(Sources: Pastor Corey Jones of Crossroads Tabernacle, used with permission; 1WordSword Blog, adapted with permission)
This post was written by Rev Brian L Powell. You can find his blog here: brianlpowell.com
The biblical expression for those who keep debating sound biblical doctrine is “morbid questioning.” This phrase appears in the New Testament as a sign of false teaching infiltrating the church (1 Tim. 6:4; 2 Tim. 2:23). There are several passages, but 1 Timothy 1:3-11 illustrates this point well. These verses provide a list of “strange teachings” that directly oppose sound biblical doctrine concerning a right relationship with God.
The list in 1 Timothy 1 includes lawlessness, rebelliousness, ungodliness, sinners (e.g. justification of willful and habitual sin), the unholy and profane, killing of fathers or mothers (e.g. hatred and rejection of authorities), murderers (e.g. hatred of our brothers/sisters), sexually immoral, practicing homosexuals, kidnappers (e.g. the basis of the slave trade), liars (e.g. those who intentionally deceive) and perjurers (e.g. those who distort the truth).
What I have experienced among people who want to “dialogue” is it usually means they want to spend time specifically debating the things 1 Timothy 1:3-11 says not to debate, or even question for that matter. You don’t have to spend much time in certain online “discussion groups” to find ordained pastors debating these very issues. Essentially, it’s an endeavor that undermines scriptural authority. This should concern us, especially when it’s allowed to continue without accountability.
The church needs to lovingly stand firm on these biblical issues. We should absolutely refuse to allow cultural shifts and human reasoning to sway us in our doctrinal positions. Sound biblical doctrine is not up for debate; it never has been and it never will be for those who are sincere about following Jesus.
“Love” is the very thing we keep hearing will be gained through this ongoing dialogue. The irony is 1 Timothy 1:5-6 teaches that “love” is what we lose when we compromise sound doctrine. In fact, minimalizing the effects of sin is the most unloving thing we could ever do. According to 1 Timothy 1, minimalizing sin reduces one’s ability to grasp the fact that God is our only source of hope and deliverance.
The following is a true story that gives us a glimpse into the far-reaching consequences of the ongoing debate of sound doctrine and biblical truth.
A True Story
In January 2016 Crossroads Tabernacle in Fort Worth, TX began praying for prodigals to return to faith in Christ. Much to their surprise, within a few weeks of focusing specifically on prodigals, a young man walked into the church that hadn’t been seen in years. Unfortunately, he was in very bad shape. He was mentally unstable, drug addicted, HIV positive, and desperately lost.
The good news is that in a very short time God rescued this young man, delivered him from his sin and shame, set him free from his addictions, restored him to his right mind, and healed his body. Today, he is pursuing a call to full-time ministry. Pastor Corey Jones and the people of Crossroads Tabernacle celebrate the miracle that God has performed in this young man’s life.
In October 2016 at The Awakening: A National Prayer Conference, Pastor Corey shared his church’s burden for prodigals and invited others to come forward and pray for their lost loved ones. More than 800 came forward out of the over 1,000 in attendance. Over the next three days, people wrote the names of their lost loved ones on a canvass portrait representing prodigal children that had abandoned the Christian faith.
Since the conference, the prodigal portrait has had numerous names added by people all over the nation. Beyond the sadness of the many names covering the portrait, an even more painful truth is that a large percentage of these prodigals are pastor’s kids. We’ve discovered that we are literally fighting for the sons and daughters of countless pastors, evangelists, and leaders in the Church of the Nazarene and beyond. While this reality is sad enough, the consequences are even more profound.
Most of these prodigals aren’t simply struggling with their faith; they’ve completely abandoned it. In the last few years, Pastor Corey has kept a written record of these pastors and their lost children so he could pray more specifically. Of the pastors who have openly shared, the majority goes on to explain the nature of their kid’s choices after walking away from their faith. Specifically, large percentages of these prodigals currently profess to be atheists and/or practicing homosexuals, and the list continues to grow.
You can imagine the heartache of these pastors. Many have shared that they feel demoralized, defeated, and are contemplating leaving ministry altogether. One pastor indicated that every time he preaches he feels the taunts of the enemy harassing him and telling him that the gospel he preaches has no power to save even his own kids. Most of these ministers have no idea that this same attack is affecting so many other pastors and their families.
It’s actually even more disturbing. Another aspect of this battle is that a large percentage of these pastor’s kids had a call on their life to full-time ministry before turning away. In fact, when the data is compiled we’ve discovered that many of them attended one of our Nazarene universities to prepare for ministry. One pastor shared that his son, who went to a Nazarene school to be a pastor and is now an atheist, won’t allow him to mention Jesus’ name in his home.
This is not an attempt to place blame on anyone; it’s simply an effort to demonstrate that this isn’t a random obscure occurrence. Rather, it is more systemic and systematic than we realize, revealing a calculated scheme of the enemy against the church.
Why share this so publicly? Several reasons: (1) To let pastors know they’re not alone in the battle; (2) To call the church to pray for a revival that reaches the hearts of prodigals and restores them to faith; (3) To identify the schemes of Satan to destroy a generation; (4) To call for accountability for the “strange teachings” in our pulpits and universities; (5) To offer hope to all who are praying for their children to return to faith in Christ.
Over the past few years numerous prodigals, who had once abandoned the faith, have been restored to a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ! There are also a growing number of people who walked away from the faith and identified as homosexual, who are now testifying to experiencing complete deliverance through an encounter with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
In Isaiah 49 there is a promise that many of us are claiming as we pray for prodigals. We invite you to join us in this battle: “Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives be rescued from the fierce? But this is what the LORD says: ‘Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save’” (Isaiah 49:24-25).
We are contending against a culture of “morbid questioning” and the Lord is contending with us! Strange teachings are causing our children to turn away from the faith and be taken captive by idle talk and continual debate (1 Timothy 1). We live in an age that believes nothing is settled and truth is relative. Nonetheless, we rejoice in the midst of this unbelieving generation over the fact that God is still calling prodigals home.
(Sources: Pastor Corey Jones of Crossroads Tabernacle, used with permission; 1WordSword Blog, adapted with permission)
This post was written by Rev Brian L Powell. You can find his blog here: brianlpowell.com
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