Not Preaching the Bible

 I have heard many people tell me over the past few years how difficult it is to find a church where the Bible is preached. I find this hard to believe. If the preacher does not preach the Bible, what else can he preach. There are self help messages and group therapy talks divorced from Bible texts or the Bible is barely referenced. I have heard it for myself on occasion. If the preacher does not preach the Bible, he is not a preacher at all. He is speech maker. A motivational speaker. Just a talker. 

The Bible is filled with truth to fit different seasons in life. Some truths are hard. They cut deep when read, heard, and studied. These hard hitting truths can thin the crowd down. Many church attenders prefer to have their ear tickled with feel good messages. The Bible does not always make us feel good. God uses the hard truths to convict of sin and lead people to repentance. This has never been a popular message in any age. Many a prophet ended their ministry in prison or under a guillotine. 

I am not saying that people do not need to be comforted and encouraged. There is a lot of that in churches. There seems to be a willful action among some preachers to avoid hard truths and topics that might offend people. It is like eating desert for every meal without nutritional food supplemented as well. It is not healthy. As persecution ramps up in America, we will see the results of desert preaching in lieu of the meat and potatoes of solid food. 

I am betting those who have heard and feasted on the solid food of the whole counsel of God's Word will stand stronger and longer than those who heard another feel good talk. Make no mistake about it. Persecution is coming to America and in some instances already here. The adversity the American church is about to endure will cull out the pretenders. Those strong in the faith will survive because they have built their lives on God's word. When the suffering starts among the saints, we will see how many throng to houses of worship. We will see how many pastors stand firm in the adversity and resist the pressure to bow down in submission to a totalitarian government. 

We need Bible believing preachers and Bible believing preaching pastors who will unapologetically feed their flock all of scripture. The ones who will not cherry pick their favorite passages, but will faithfully declare all the Bible. The message of salvation, prophetic end times passages, holiness, repentance of sin, sanctification, judgment, heaven, hell, faith, prayer, evangelism, missions, family matters and so much more. It takes guts to look people in the eye and declare, "Thus says the Lord," followed by truth. 

This is not a day for mealy mouthed pulpiters. Nor is it a day for velvet mouthed orators to speak. It is not a time for man pleasers to offer messages for men's applause and approval. It is a time for humble, God called, Holy Spirit empowered, fearless, courageous prophets to declare the word of the Lord to a wayward, foolish, rebellious and defiant generation. May God raise them for the task before us.