“The broader evangelical world defends those who are not fit for ministry knowingly, excusing away the fact that they can’t meet the basic requirements of the pastorate. Time and again, they defend such men rather than stand with the Scripture’s assessment, which finds them utterly lacking.”
(Grayson Gilbert – Patheos) I wrote a post not too long ago that caused a firestorm of controversy on social media, calling on Christians to look at the life of Ravi Zacharias as a profound warning. In it, my basic plea to people was that they consider their own ways before the Lord—that they see if there were patterns of besetting sin that would not only disqualify pastors from the pastorate, but even if the everyday layman was plagued with sins, which the apostle Paul would say that such a practice of these things would bar them from inheriting the Kingdom of God….
The reason I say this caused a firestorm was that many believed I weighed in prematurely on the matter. Yet there were a great number of comments which led me to believe that many were outraged over me “touching the Lord’s anointed.” The reason I say this is that even though an investigative report has come out and Ravi Zacharias International Ministries has penned an open letter, the comments remain much the same today as they were then.
I stand by every word of that post, as I did then, believing that it is of the utmost importance that professing Christians not only take such things seriously in their own lives, but hold pastors and prominent figures within parachurch organizations to account with regard to Scripture’s own statements on these matters. In the Evangelical world, this is often an unpopular sentiment, much to the open shame of the church. We truly do need to contend with what it means for a minister to remain above reproach, lest we give reason for the unbelieving world to blaspheme. I say all of this, not as a “I told you so,” but as a means to offer up yet another plea to my fellow evangelicals, largely because I still don’t believe many take the warnings of Scripture all that seriously.
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