Thank you for reviewing for me the fads that have hit in the last 20 years. I am thankful that the Lord has kept me from getting involved in most of them. Another fad that came along during this is Basic Life Principles. This hit a huge populus in the 70’s and early 80’s. It was in a seminar where I first began to question how scripture was being used. Your article solidifies even more what the Lord has shown. I did attend Shepherd’s Conference in 94-96 and it was there that everything really came together. In our town Wenatchee, WA many churches have done The Purpose Driven series. Thankfully, we have found a church which is still preaching the Word. Thanks Again. Keep it up!! LynnO

Because the vast majority of the sales were the result of coercion (of a sort), I don’t think the total book sales numbers can be compared with the sales of other books (where each purchase was entirely the unforced choice of the purchaser).

* Happily, our church did not end up embracing the PDL ministry model.

Keep the good articles coming.

Great series on a very serious issue within the evangelical movement. I heard Pastor MacArthur teaching on how to spot a false teacher. In one of his points, he said, that at the heart of all false teaching is the goal to make money. Well, I believe it is safe to say all of these fads has certainly resulted in some serious money.

However, I think the biggest thing for me is that most of the authors for these trends would say that scripture is sufficient. If scripture is sufficient, and (I believe it is) why do they need anything other than preaching the word of God? The answer is pretty clear, they do not rely on God, but on man which is the biggest downfall of Armenian and Pelagian, and Semi-Pelagian theology.

We do not need another fad:We need faithful and committed expositors of the Holy inspired, God breathed scriptures with the message that we are saved by grace, through faith, in Christ alone and not the next fad!

Sidelight: How does a guy get his blog considered for blogroll? See blog above for interested candidate.

I believe the answer seems somewhat simple but is non-the-less accurate. The church today is filled with nominal Christians or non Christians who have little if any real understanding as to what it means to be a child of God. Years ago the theologian Francis Shafer coined the term—personal peace and affluence. The basis of his argument was, as a culture we desire to have what we want, when we want it and as much or it as we can get. Along with that, we desire to be unobstructed in our quest in the illusion that personal peace is a result of material wealth and not having to be accountable to anyone.

This pervasive attitude has infected the church with an unbelievable gusto. As “believers” we apply this narcissistic approach to our relationship with God and with each other. We attempt to come to God, not to worship but to be worshipped. We desire to have others to think highly of us and stroke our egos. We build relationships based on a corporate structure, where those who appear to be spiritual are regarded as the elite, while those who barely have enough to eat are secretly regarded as the “untouchables”. They are allowed to come into the sanctuary—as long as they don’t sit too close, and are fed from the benevolence fund. Class envy runs amok.

This attitude of “me first” never satisfies and yet it is often seldom addressed and as a result God refuses to bless our hedonistic self-centeredness. I believe this same attitude has left the church with vapid, anemic parishioners (and pastors) who wander about in an aimless pursuit of something. This something is an intimate relationship with God. Just as the perpetual dieter is looking for that one program that will allow them to eat the calorie count of a third-world nation and not gain weight, so the church is filled with folks who want Godliness without having to die to self . We look for that one program that will get us there with the minimum expenditure of effort. Yet we expend great effort trying to come to God on our own terms not understanding that He will have none of it. He wants worshippers who worship Him and not themselves.

Our felt needs are symptomatic of self-glorification. We as a church bought into the lies that embrace the world. We line our churches with the mirrors of self and walk the smoky aisles of illusionary godliness. We, like the churches in Revelation, do not perceive our own perilous condition. We have substituted the creature (us) for the Creator.