And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men? 1 Corinthians 3:1–4, NASB
A very important person in my Christian walk died this week. My dear brother in the Lord Ken Silva died on Sunday, 28 September. God used Ken in a huge way in directing my paths in 2004–2005 into how to do the right research into the Purpose Driven paradigm that was about to consume the local church where I served as a deacon and Bible teacher. It was through that research I also was drawn into several online debates on the old Slice of Laodicea website that was being run by Ingrid Schlueter with the help of Jim Bublitz and Ken. The debates were fierce and I learned a great deal about the “emergent church” along with those “christian liberals” in it as they accused us of being the Pharisees and much worse. Along with this I was also studying C.H. Spurgeon, Martin Luther, A.W. Pink, R.C. Sproul, and many others while making many new friends in the Reformation Theology online community. It was from that experience that I learned about Christian discernment and how important it is and how God demands that all of us exercise it for the health and well-being of the Body of Christ.
It was from this that this discernment ministry grew. Of course, in the beginning I focused mostly on the Purpose Driven paradigm and Rick Warren, but over time I also looked at past so-called Christian leaders such as Charles Finney. I remember the first time I wrote about Finney I had one fellow who had been my friend and posting comments for sometime get very angry with me for saying that Charles Finney was a heretic. Our relationship went down hill from there.
Let us, honestly, compare 1 Corinthians 3:10–15 with the life and ministries of Warren and Finney and others that we have called out as heretics or false prophets. Are these two men examples of those who built upon the foundation of Christ with wood, hay, and stubble, and would, in the end, see all their works be consumed in the fire of judgment, suffering eternal loss, but themselves being saved, “but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15) or something else? To get our answer we must put this passage into context.