PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE
NIGHTSHADE VS. GOOD GREEN GRASS GUARDING THE DOCTRINAL DIET OF GOD’S FLOCK
Matt Proctor In 2002, I was a 32-year-old preaching professor at OCC. I was always looking for good pulpit examples to share with my students, and that year, I pointed them to a young preacher named Rob Bell.
A Dynamic Biblical Communicator
In 1999, Rob Bell planted a church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and for the first year, he preached through Leviticus— verse by verse. Why? “Because it’s so visual,” said Bell. “Instead of describing an abstract concept like substitutionary atonement, Leviticus gives instructions on how to slit the throat of a lamb. The blood spattering on your cloak lends vivid imagery to the penalty for sin. The sacrificial system becomes one giant visual aid to explain Jesus.” Rob also chose this book because “unchurched people often perceive the Bible as obsolete. If that crowd could discover God speaking to them through Old Testament law, it would radically change their perception.” So Bell acted out Leviticus in his sermons. He built altars on stage, had “priests” wearing ephods, brought in a live goat for the Day of Atonement, and showed that the whole book pointed to Jesus. Many preachers are afraid arcane Old Testament laws would bore their people. (They avoid Leviticus because they’re afraid of an exodus!) But during that year through Leviticus, Bell’s church grew to over 2,000. “Wow!” I thought. “Here’s a guy who believes in the power of God’s Word!” I attended a Conference on Preaching where Bell spoke and had my preaching students listen to his Leviticus 16 sermon. The world needs strong biblical communicators, and in Rob Bell, it seemed we had one more.
A Troubling Turn in Doctrinal Direction
But when I read his 2005 book Velvet Elvis, I was troubled. He seemed to question the doctrine of the virgin birth. Then in his 2011 book Love Wins, Rob Bell openly questioned the doctrine of hell. I was deeply saddened, and I took his sermons out of my preaching class. Despite loving calls to return to biblical truth, Rob Bell kept walking further away. He resigned from his Michigan church, and in a book entitled What Is the Bible?, he argued that: • The Bible is simply a human book, not the unique Word of God. “The Bible is not a book written by God. It’s a book written by people about God.”
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TO INSPIRE
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The Old Testament laws were human inventions. “God didn’t set up the sacrificial system. People did.” • The cross of Christ was not God’s work to save humanity from wrath. “God didn’t need to kill someone to be ‘happy’ with humanity. What kind of God would that be? Awful.” Rob Bell remains one of the most intelligent, funny, and eloquent communicators I’ve ever heard, and thousands still listen to him. But the man a newspaper once called “the next Billy Graham” has, to put it plainly, “departed from the truth” (2 Tim 2:18).
A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Christianity has always faced opposition. (Nativity sets should probably include King Herod and soldiers marching toward Bethlehem.) Physical attacks from antagonists and philosophical attacks from atheists are easy to spot. They are wolves in wolves’ clothing. More dangerous are the wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matt 7:15). False teachers like Rob Bell can be winsome, compelling, and even morally admirable people. They call themselves Christians, know their Bible well, and sound authentically spiritual, but they “secretly introduce destructive heresies” (2 Peter 2:1). False teaching comes in many forms. Some forms contradict God’s Word, such as Bell’s “progressive Christianity.” Other false teaching distorts God’s Word, such as the “health and wealth” gospel or a legalism of salvation by works. Some false teaching alters God’s Word, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, while some adds to it, like the Mormons. Whatever form it takes, the devil constantly slips into sheep’s clothing to tamper with truth. False teaching was not just a first-century problem. It’s still dangerous today.
