A friend sent me a link to a powerful sermon, Ten Indictments by Paul Washer. It’s an unusual sermon. It’s nearly two hours long. It was preached nearly 6 years ago.
An indictment is a formal charge or accusation of a serious crime or a thing that serves to illustrate that a system or situation is bad and deserves to be condemned. Washer is indicting or charging the church, particularly the “evangelical” church with ten offenses.
- Ignorance of scripture.
- Ignorance of God.
- Ignorance of the nature of man.
- Ignorance of the doctrine of regeneration.
- Ignorant invitation.
- Ignorance of the nature of the church.
- Ignorance and a lack of loving and compassionate church discipline.
- Ignorance on holiness.
- Ignorant substitution of psychology and sociology for the scriptures.
- Ignorance of being undisciplined.
He doesn’t always base his analysis on “ignorance” but that’s where it is. What he is really saying is that we have “forgotten” or “don’t know” what it takes to follow Jesus. He’s saying we are dying from lack of knowledge. We have substituted our way for His way.
He preached his sermon 6 years ago and it received a good deal of attention. There just hasn’t been much change. He comes from a very “old line” or “conservative” perspective, but his indictments have a haunting feel of truthful relevance.
It seems right in the waning days of 2014, before we resolve our lives for 2015, to look closely at where we are as followers, individually and in groups. I plan to do that over the next few days. I hope you will follow along.
Be blessed.
Nick
Very good!! Thanks for posting or rather sharing!!
I so agree!!