The Truth is I'm Critical and Proud of it!

You're so critical!  You have no grace or love.  Do these statements sound familiar?  They do to me.  I've been on the receiving end of these lines quite a few times.  Usually, these statements arise from an individual who has elevated a celebrity pastor/author/teacher to the point of infallibility.  They resent anyone who might force them to look at this "Christian" celebrity in an honest light.  As long as the celebrity gets their theology right 75% of the time then who am I to judge that individual?

This is flawed thinking and I'll use a real life example to explain why.  I went to college to get my Diploma of Nursing quite a few years ago now.  In my college program, I was taught to use critical thinking skills.  Each time I assessed a patient, I had to make sure that I didn't overlook any of their symptoms.  It was my job to make sure that I was giving the physician all the important health data about the patient.  Now, what if I'd only given the doctor 75% of the correct health data about the patient?  What if I'd overlooked 25% of the patient's symptoms?  This would be a grave error.  It is possible that the patient could have died.  My competency as a nurse is dependent on my ability to be critical and to judge my patient's symptoms.

As Christians we should be competent in our ability to divide between truth and error.  We should be able to decide if something is false or even heresy.  God's standard of Truth - His Holy and Inspired Word - should be our sword to cut a line between truth and error.  Therefore, it should offend you when you hear your favourite "Christian" pastor/author/teacher do any of the following:

1. Describe pornographic divinations and attribute them to the Holy Spirit.
2. Participate in lectio divina.
3. Be open to the gap theory and/or theistic evolution.
4. Quote Catholic mystics in their books.
5. Twist Scripture in any way, shape, or form to make it about them.

If you choose to overlook these errors (I just named a few) then you are helping these celebrity "Christians" murder the truth.  Does that sound harsh?  Well if I offered you a drink that had 75% water and 25% arsenic and you drank it then I would be committing murder.  I'm sure that I would be held accountable for the crime of murder.  Do you think a jury would be merciful to me?  No!  These celebrities need to be held accountable for their blatant crimes against God's Holy and Inspired Word.  To ignore or support their error is beyond my understanding as a Christian.  It is to accept and propagate their poison.

2 Timothy 2:14 - 17a  "Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers.  Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase more ungodliness.  And their message will spread like cancer..."  (taken from the MacArthur Study Bible NKJV)