FedByRavens
Puritan Board Freshman
A Pastor friend of mine has been exhibiting a few alarming trends. One of which is an insistence that the health of his Christian walk is not dependent on the Ordinary Means of Grace.(Bible reading, Prayer, Fellowship, Sacrament) Today at a men's bible study he kept speaking of our responsibility as Christians to produce obedience and good works. To the degree that I started feeling uncomfortable. I'm a firm believer of God's regenerating power but the way he was expressing himself it sounded so absent of the power of God. There was no emphasis on the Lordship of Christ or the power of the Spirit. He was basically telling the group that he just pulls himself up by his proverbial bootstraps with the occasional "God enables you" terminology stapled on the end. He even went so far as to say, " If I went the rest of my life without cracking open the Bible I would be perfectly fine." He says that at this point in his life most of the edification/devotion he is experiencing is coming from a few novels that he is reading involving people who have survived dire circumstances. He has been saying all kinds of unsettling things from behind the pulpit." It's not about bible reading and prayer. We have the ability to grow and be obedient." What should I say to him?