Do Us All a Favor and Bulldoze the Bible College

We're going through the Book of Ezekiel right now and a theme emerges again and again throughout the book that judgment starts at the sanctuary and moves out from there. This pattern of God's judgment starting with those responsible to religiously govern is seen elsewhere in the Bible. The idea is simply that if the religious community is corrupted with false religion and practice it is the fault of those who were to teach them otherwise. Instead, these religious leaders are swayed by the cultural folk religious winds and waves of doctrine and so end up affirming the people in their falsehoods and evils, which, in their own eyes, seem true and good. Likewise, the religious community, which is now darkness instead of light, was to be a mediating light for the world around it, so that God was patient toward the world and did not destroy it. Once the light is removed, there is no mediation between God and the pagan, and thus, patience comes to an end and the world is judged. This domino effect is seen in most of the prophetic books (e.g., Isaiah, Ezekiel, etc.).

So how would one stop this judgment in our own culture? We must identify the center. Who has taken upon themselves the crown of religious authority in our religious culture. Our first thought might be the church itself. Certainly, this is true to some extent. These local churches are proclaiming a message of the Enlightenment that is equivalent to churches in Latin American culture affirming to the people that they need to pray to the saints and Mary in the same way that culture used to pray to various deities in their pagan religions or churches in Africa end up affirming the syncretism between the Christian message and voodoo or tribal animism.

However, it is not merely the local church that came up with these ideas. They are often first and foremost nurtured in the cradle of the Western Bible college or seminary. Certainly, the mainline churches fell a long time ago when their seminaries and colleges were completely consumed by the Enlightenment cult. The same takeover has been occurring for years in what many considered more orthodox institutions. In my last year at Moody Bible Institute, the R.A.'s were informed that Moody would be employing a system of affirmative action where people of color would be considered over anyone who was white in an effort to bring about equity. Twenty-five years later, Moody is a hub of the social gospel and social justice that must assume a contrary message to the justice and gospel of Christ, something that even Walter Rauschenbusch affirmed and argued that orthodox Christianity could not be the foundation for the social gospel because of its contrary theological presuppositions and goals.

Southeastern Baptist Seminary, Bethel, etc. are all currently in the process of siding with those who adopt this syncretism of the Enlightenment high places (lookup the downgrade controversy at Southern Seminary on Youtube).

It seems to me that much of the problem is that we have outsourced the authority of Western Christianity to the seminary, and it has become the center of the problem. What is the solution? Well, if I were to have all my dreams come true, the study that goes on in the modern seminary and Bible college would be moved to the local churches and the Bible colleges and seminaries would be abolished.

You might then say that the problem will just be moved to the local church, and this may be true, but I want to also say that I think that when Christians are disobedient in the structure of their ministries it merely becomes an eventual instrument of the devil to distort Christianity. It's like the woman on Facebook refuting the teachings of elders and then exercising authoritative discipline over them by condemning them in some way and even socially excommunicating them in some way. She is already disobedient. She now is the perfect instrument of the devil to use and so she often is used to speak against orthodox Christianity and support the syncretism of our modern high places, i.e., syncretized folk religion.

In the same way, God set up no seminary or Bible college or any parachurch organization for that matter as something that He would guide into truth apart from the local church in submission to a group of qualified elders. Christ gave gifts to the local church and Bible or seminary professor wasn't one of them. Hence, if the church continues to be disobedient in setting up unbiblical organizations as authoritative institutions that give the church its instruction, those organizations set themselves up as perfect instruments to be used by the devil to support his distorted message.

But judgment does not happen right away, so many will respond to such a statement with plenty of statements regarding the beneficial education they received from Bible college or seminary. Indeed, a piece of fruit is still fresh for some time when pulled from the tree, but after some time, it eventually will rot because no life source is connected to it.

So what would I suggest? Immediately, defund all seminaries and Bible colleges that are not extensions of a particular local church and under its authority and fund churches so that they can financially support a plurality of elders who are qualified to train other elders with the same academic rigor in which one would train pastors at a seminary. I would do the same for all parachurch organizations (e.g., TGC, missions organizations, etc.). It's time to realize that judgment has come upon our seminaries and Bible colleges because God is starting at the center. They are being given over to deception because they did not love the truth in its biblical purity and were not obedient to submit to God's institutions in the first place. God gave them no authority to be the teachers of the church, but they took it, and with it, therefore, they took the responsibility and the first judgment of the culture that comes with it.

Let those who wish to pursue professorships in universities, but let them have no sway over the training of pastors. But, alas, it is likely too late. Judgment has come to the center and moves out now to the local church then to the larger Christian community and finally to the world. Perhaps, the hour is just too late to have done anything about this. Perhaps, what was viewed as the church's expansion in the West will actually be the source of its demise. I continue to pray otherwise.