What Happened When My Favorite Bible Teacher Said Something I Didn't Like

My favorite Bible teacher said something recently that made me pop an earbud out and press pause.

How dare he. I mean, here we were swimming along through the book he’s currently teaching, and all of the sudden he decides to voice his political opinion, which just so happens not to coincide with my own.

This man is highly educated. He’s been my favorite Bible teacher from way back when I’d catch his broadcast in college. And I’m old, so he’s more old. Older than I am. And far, far wiser.

But that thing he said . . . What was I going to do with that? How could I still trust his wisdom and perspective, his knowledge of Greek and Hebrew, and his experience as a follower of Christ over decades of his life? We weren’t going to see eye-to-eye on this one pretty important point.

Gratefully, I’m older and wiser now, too. There’s a lot of room for spiritual growth in my life yet, but I’m midway through an American life expectancy and I’m beginning to see where God has done some pretty impressive work, in spite of my undersized efforts. In the past, I’ve walked away from people and communities who aren’t “like-minded” (read: we think the same about everything theological, ideological, and pedagogical), believing that they had nothing for me and I was squandering my superiority on them. I’m not going to spit-shine and polish that last sentence to make myself seem less terrible than I really have been. I really was that terrible.

But this time when my Bible teacher guy said that thing that made me stop the podcast to argue with him out loud in my kitchen where he would never hear me anyway, I realized pretty quickly that I had been given a gift. My tendency has been to identify teachers and leaders who confirm my own biases and take up my cross to follow them. That’s ended not just once in disaster.

This time, my heart was softer. This time, I could smile and acknowledge that we were just going to have to agree to disagree. This time, I was actually grateful that we didn’t agree because in that one statement my eyes were thrust back upon Jesus and not on the guy saying the thing.

And the next day, I pulled that podcast up again and pushed play. As I’ve said here on repeat, it really is just all about Jesus, and Jesus didn’t come for my political opinions.

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Words of Hope When a Pandemic Hits

Because, you know, pandemics hit us so often and we all know exactly how to respond.

Wow. What is there left to say?

I was thinking today about how best to serve my readers this week and in the weeks ahead, and I realized that there are posts I’ve written in the past that could be a comfort to you right now, too. There are so many voices out there commenting on the COVID-19 crisis, and who needs yet another? I mean, really—what is there left to say?

But I don’t want to leave you without hope. There is always hope. Knowing that we have a savior who loves us so, here are some words of hope in times of crisis:

If I Did Not Have the Hope of Heaven, I Could Not Go On One More Day

I Know It’s Difficult to Swallow When Times Are Tough, But God is Always Good

When You Need to Be Reminded of the Gospel

Lost and Found Printable Graphics for You

Parents, Why is It So Difficult to Give Grace to Ourselves?

100 Scripture Verses to Memorize—An Essential List

The last article is one I wrote for Key Life this week, so I’ll point you to their website. It’s for those of you who find yourself suddenly homeschooling, and it offers hope for the struggles that go right alongside children being at home all day long.

Don't Want to Homeschool Your Kids? Here’s the Remedy

I’ll leave you with a few pictures from my phone that could spark a little joy today:

Cookie Dough Balls with healing properties (just kidding)

Spring Daffs, Columbia, CA

My grandbaby. I mean, c’mon.

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What James MacDonald Forgot

Can we stand yet another post on the James MacDonald debacle?

I first watched a video of James MacDonald teaching back in 2010. He was a mighty fine speaker: eloquent, passionate, and well-prepared. He had charisma and humor, to boot. He loved the Word of God.

He seemed so much like so many other charming and well-spoken pastors with big names and bigger platforms, thanks to publishers driven to capitalize on their books and social media outlets that stand in as a worldwide pulpit. Less like shepherds, more like celebrities.

Power trips and the root of it all, pride, are the tip of the iceberg according to insiders. Honestly, I wish the festering pimple would just pop so we could have it all out and be done with it, swabbing the whole mess with a gigantic cotton ball soaked in alcohol.

Or the gospel.

Because, see, that’s what’s been missing for a long, long time. Back when he began, back when I heard him speak, back when he was running an organization that touched the lives of thousands all over the world, I can believe that the gospel was the goal. But as the personality and the ego begins to serve one person—James MacDonald— the gospel becomes painfully absent from the mission. Oh, it might take the forefront in word, but in heart, it becomes, shall we say, nonattendant.

The gospel that reminds us of Whose we are and what He did for us. The gospel that reminds us that God is more than enough, that Jesus paid it all and declared “It is finished”, and that what He did was more important than what we do. The gospel that reminds us that we don’t have to go anywhere else to look for our value, worth, acceptance, or fulfillment. 

That’s what James MacDonald forgot, and I am just like him. Because I, too, leave the gospel behind daily in my quest to feel accepted. I have to remind myself of the finished work of Christ on my behalf daily, hourly. I have to bask in the love of a God who cannot ever fail to love me. 

So really, we’re not so different, James and I. Perhaps now that he’s left with a deep, hemorrhaging, gaping, festering wound, he’ll remember why he loved Jesus in the first place. It may mean isolation and a profound loss of relationships and at the very least, the complete collapse of that pathetic little empire he built apart from the gospel. But that would be the greatest thing James could ever do in his life. Return to Jesus and be filled up with Jesus’ value and worth and significance. It’s all about Jesus. 

Because empires built on anything less than the gospel aren’t worth the tiny men who’ve slaved tirelessly to erect them. In the end, what they had put up as a prop for their own inadequacies fails them miserably, and they become slaves to the very things they might have used to point people to Jesus instead of themselves. 

The gospel. That’s what James forgot.

By the way, if this article sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because you read my post called What Doug Phillips Forgot or heard our podcast episode called What Josh Duggar Forgot. James MacDonald shares a lot of company, unfortunately. Us, too.

If you happen to be one of those Christian leaders who find yourself increasingly all about yourself, find a place to start here: In Light of Fallen Men: How Christian Leaders Can Avoid the Abyss.

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