What happens to a church that rejects the authority of Scripture? If it doesn’t repent and turn back to the God of the Bible, it might slide into the dark abyss where a suddenly well-known Texas church already abides. As the longtime home church of U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico, that church has been in the news a great deal.
A New York Times feature article began, “On a recent Sunday morning at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas, Jim Rigby asked his congregation to share what came to mind when he mentioned the Apostle Paul, the major Christian figure to whom 13 books in the Bible are attributed. They cheerfully complied: ‘Villain!’ ‘Homophobic!’ ‘He’s a jerk.’”
In the past, Presbyterians firmly believed in the authority of the Bible, emphasizing salvation by grace through faith. There are various Presbyterian denominations, some of which still hold to Biblical standards. But the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States, PCUSA, has been on the liberal side of all its recent schisms. In these denominational splits, the press emphasized differences over issues like the ordination of homosexuals. But the real issue has been the authority of Scripture.
St. Andrew’s in Austin is a PCUSA church. Its pastor says Bible stories should be understood as “mythological, not historical.” At Easter a few years ago, he posted on social media, “I don’t believe Christianity is the only way, or even the best way for many people.” No wonder his parishioners don’t like Paul.
The pastor derisively refers to “the magical blood of Jesus.” He says he doesn’t believe in miracles — not even the Lord’s resurrection. In a sermon transcript posted to the church website, he called God’s justice “a tantrum. … If God wants to hurt me and hurts Jesus instead, I still have a guy with an anger problem.” He equates the “recognition of evil” with “hate.” And he openly mocks the idea that Jesus died for our sins.
At heart, the pastor seems to be a political activist. At a pro-Palestinian rally, he called for “true jihad.” In a sermon, he said, “What… right-wing churches have always said is, ‘if you don’t judge other people, God’s going to judge you.’ Now, either Jesus is lying or Donald Trump is lying, and you have to decide.” Have you ever heard anyone say that Christians must judge or be judged? I haven’t either. He then twisted his thought even more by implying that conservative churches got this bizarre idea from President Trump. But how is that possible? Donald Trump is 80. Conservative churches have been around for 2,000 years. How could we “have always said” something we got from an 80-year-old?
We’ve barely scratched the surface of these illogical, anti-Christian teachings. I haven’t quoted from the recently released hidden-camera recordings. But even without that, you get the idea. St. Andrew’s in Austin stands as a warning to all churches.
In Revelation 2:5, Jesus said to the church at Ephesus, “Repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place — unless you repent.” In Revelation 3:16, Jesus warned the lukewarm Laodicean church, “I will vomit you out of My mouth.” These are warnings to churches. Yet neither of those churches denied Jesus as unequivocally as St. Andrew’s. At some point, “church” becomes an inaccurate description. If you don’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus or in His redemptive work on the cross, in what way are you a church?
It begins with the Bible Buffet: “I’ll take this part of Scripture, and I’ll throw out that other part — eat the sweet and spit out the meat.” At first, a church might keep John 3:16 but reject Romans 1:26-27. Soon enough, it turns on John 3:16 and rejects it also. By that time, sadly, it has already been vomited out of His mouth — becoming nothing more than a place for political activists to gather beneath a veneer of religious ritual.
