But somebody sent me this news article, it cracked me up.
Somebody sent me this news article that was about these pastors who turned atheists, but they keep preaching.
And it's these Southern Baptists, and they didn't want to give their name, but this was an ABC news article that somebody sent, it was a big news article.
And it's these Southern Baptist preachers, and basically they've decided that they don't believe in God anymore, and they don't believe in the Bible anymore.
But, because the economy is bad, they don't want to change jobs, so they're just going to continue preaching and continue pastoring the church.
You know, that's just kind of a weird article, but there was one thing in it that jumped out at me, and I want to read you this quote from this interview,
where they're interviewing these guys about the fact that basically, they started out, they said, you know, they thought it was all real, but then the problem is, you know,
they started studying it, and they started reading atheist materials, it just made a lot of sense to them, and now they're just atheists, they believe that there is no God.
And they actually believe that the Bible is just a fairy tale, and that's what they're saying.
Now, obviously, these guys were never saved in the first place, and by the way, we run into Southern Baptists every day that aren't saved, so that shouldn't really shock you,
because a lot of these Southern Baptists, I've run into Southern Baptists who are saved, but a lot of Southern Baptists I've run into who were teaching like a Lordship salvation, Lordship salvation,
you know, I've run into independent Baptists that aren't saved, you know, not everybody who's a Baptist is necessarily just automatically saved, right?
Just because you go to this church doesn't make you automatically saved, you better believe that salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ alone, not a worthless, sinning man, Shavuos.
And that's what makes you saved because of your faith in Christ Jesus, not the church that you attend or don't attend.
But this guy, listen, you gotta hear this, because this explained a lot, when I read this, I said, "Oh, now I get it."
Here's from the article, he and Jack, I'm quoting the article, he and Jack said that when speaking to parishioners, this is after they became atheists,
but hey, the economy is tough, I gotta keep preaching, and here's what they said, "I have a seminary degree, it's the best job I can get."
It says this, he and Jack said that when speaking to parishioners, they tried to stick to the sections of the Bible that they still believed in,
the parts about being a good person, both said that they would like to leave their jobs, though they can't afford to.
"I want to get out of the position as quickly as I can because I try to be a person of integrity and character," Adam said,
"with the economy the way it is, with my lack of marketable skills, other than a seminary education, it's got me in a tough spot."
So, notice what he said. He doesn't really believe in the Bible, right?
He even says, "I'm an atheist. I don't believe that God even exists."
So what parts of the Bible does he focus on? Just the practical part, right?
Just the relevant part. Just the part that's going to help us here today, right?
He says, "I'm just going to focus on the part about being a good person because, you know, that's the part that we can all agree on."
Well, you know what? I like to focus on the part that we can't all agree on.
Because if we all agree anyway, then why even show up to church just to have somebody tell you what you already agree with?
No, you come to church to learn something new.
You come to church to get a glimpse from God's Word of that which is eternal, not to just talk about the temporal.
Not to just only, "Well, I'm just going to focus on the parts that I still believe in."
Well, you know what? I still believe in all of it, so I'm going to focus on the miracles of the Bible.
I'm going to focus on God parting the Red Sea.
I'm going to focus on Jesus Christ raising up a dead body from the dead.
Hey, I'm going to focus on the part that's spiritual.
I'm not just going to focus only on the here and now, the temporal of love your neighbor,
love one another, do good to people, get along with your wife, get along with your kids.
And that's what a lot of churches today focus on only.
And it just makes me wonder, are they an atheist too?
Do they only believe in the here and now because that's all they want to talk about?
No, let's talk about heaven. Let's talk about hell.
Let's talk about the resurrection, the bodily of Jesus Christ,
and not just a social gospel about being good to your neighbor.
Hey, that's not all that we need, that's part of the message, but that's not the whole message today.