Recently the?Christian world was shocked?at yet another leader who stated that he is no longer a Christian! Paul Maxwell was former professor at Moody Bible Institute and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and authored books and contributed articles to?Desiring God. Last year Jon Steingard from the band?Hawk Nelson, Joshua Harris author of?I Kissed Dating Goodbye?and Hillsong worship musician Marty Sampson, all claimed that they were either losing their faith, or had lost their faith.
Why is this happening and with the intensity it is?
One alumnus said –?I was just waiting for something like this to happen again!
Another seminarian said –?Aren’t we living in the last days before Christ returns.…?
A professor said –?that’s the problem with all scholastic learning and not staying with God’s Word!
In an Interview with Rev Dr Charles Stanley, the interviewer reiterated two life principles from Stanley’s?30 Life Principles in Living a Life of Obedience:
First,?adversity is a bridge to a deeper relationship with God,?and second,?God’s Word is an immovable anchor in times of storm.
Didn’t these people know that? If so,?why are they shaken?or?have left the faith? Was their faith rooted in Christ or was it purely cerebral (in the head)?
I cannot answer this question. All I can say is that they must have had some relationship with God and he may have entered their lives but they did not have an on-going, growing faith that was deeply anchored in the Word and sustained by the Holy Spirit. As they trained their minds to think logically, scientifically and scholastically which is not wrong, they became very knowledgeable, but their lives may not have been transformational and there was no corresponding heart-warming, life-flowing relationship with the living Christ?
Was their popularity so enthralling and captivating that they thrived on this alone for their sustenance rather than their daily communion with God and his Word?
Were they journeying alone and thus had no true accountability with other brothers and sisters who could otherwise have spoken into their lives when they saw warning signals?
These are some questions we may never be able to answer but we need to ask ourselves these questions for our own well-being. Maxwell seemed angry with social media and “believed that the internet has done a lot of damage regarding relationships (connection) with people….”. I don’t know what this meant and I am not sure how this has anything to do with faith in Jesus Christ. I will not speculate further. He seems confused, disoriented and isolated. May God be merciful to him.
Let’s hold on to Christ and His Word.?God and His Word are?unchanging,?immoveable,?rock-like in times of adversity.?He is the Truth. His Word is true.?He alone is our?Anchor?who gives us this unshakeable faith to keep our boat tethered in the midst of the storms of life! Always be grateful to the Rock of our Salvation –?Jesus Christ our living hope!
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)
Who is like the Lord, our God, strong to save, faithful in love, our debt is paid and the victory won, the Lord is my Salvation. (Keith & Kristyn Getty)
