“It’s not merely that Steven Lawson failed, and failed miserably—it’s that we, the Church, possess an almost comically unquenchable thirst for heroes. We crave Christian celebrities with the desperation of teenage girls clamoring for knights in shining armor while playing dress-up with their mom’s wedding gown.”
(The Dissenter) Steven J. Lawson, a name synonymous with doctrinal precision, rock-solid Reformed theology, and more respect in the conference circuit than most people can imagine, has fallen. The man many considered an indomitable force of gospel preaching has become the latest headline in a growing list of scandals that illuminate modern evangelicalism’s unhealthy relationship with celebrity culture.
The details are as tragic as they are disappointing, an esteemed 73-year-old pastor entangled in a five-year romantic relationship with a woman in her twenties—a student from The Master’s University, no less, where sound theology is supposed to be part of the curriculum.
CRN has compiled a list of false teachers and several other professing Christians we’ve warned you about over the years. The list also contains those we must keep an eye on plus movements, organizations and “frauds, phonies and money-grubbing religious quacks” to mark and avoid as per Romans 16:17-18