Pastor Issues Scary Warning Of Rising ‘Consumer’ Worship

Pastor Alistair Begg of Cleveland’s Parkside Church told a crowd at the annual Sing! Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, that modern churchgoers often arrive not with a sense of reverence for Christ, but a consumerist mindset.

Begg called for a return to “serious engagement with the Bible,” according to The Christian Post. “Traditionally, the pulpit was central and visually dominant, not as an expression of the preacher’s authority, but as a reminder of the authority of Scripture,” Begg told the audience, describing the awe he felt as a child when the church “beadle” carried the Bible to his church’s pulpit prior to the service.

“Plexiglass, bar stools — why? Well, you’ve got to please the consumers,” Begg continue. “It’s a noble prospect, but there’s an unfortunate symbolism to it.” (LEARN MORE: Christians Called To Shine ‘Light’ On ‘Dark Institutions’)

Biblical Illiteracy

“Instead of coming into worship with the express understanding that all of this begins with God in His glory, people come with coffee in hand, saying, ‘Let’s see if he’s got something good for us today,’” Begg added. “Expositional preaching gives way to inspirational talks, which gives way to therapeutical endeavors. I’m not sure that America understands just how deep the problem is, in relationship to biblical illiteracy. You cannot continue to make your journey through life without your Bible, not as a talisman, not as something just to be revered in a corner, but without the Bible as our daily source of knowledge and encounter with God.”

“There is a correlation between a collapse in our understanding of God and the expressions that are represented in the pulpit,” he emphasized. “You see, the task of the pastor in coming to the scriptures is not simply to provide information about what the Bible says with a few pointers to take home, fill in the blanks kind of stuff. That’s not the primary objective in the unfolding of Scripture. The desire, the longing of the pastor and the preacher and the people is that we might have a divine encounter with the living God through His Word, that we might meet God, that we might hear from God. … We don’t need to hear what Alistair knows about this or that. We need to hear from God.”

“Congregational worship is not just a get-together. It begins with God, not with myself in my need,” he noted. (LEARN MORE: Biden Ignores Christian Massacres For 3rd Year In A Row)

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