Newsmax recently produced a list of the top one hundred American Christian leaders who it thinks have made an impact on Christians in 2015. The list is very eclectic and we’re sure that it has the potential to foster a lot of debate. Some will ask why a person was listed in the top ten while another was way down on the scale. You can read it HERE.
We are given a glimpse into Newsmax’s rationale. It notes that while the internet “rules”, books are also more influential than ever. Hence, authors like Mark and Grace Driscoll “who reach spouses in troubled marriages who might never have encountered Christian evangelism” make the list.
What makes this list is also the overt influence of entertainment and sport stars, and TV producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey for their film efforts. Cardinal Raymond Burke gets a mention because of his “spirited resistance” to a pope who “seems poised to launch a reassessment of traditional Catholic moral teaching.”
The Newsmax list isn’t meant to be an authoritative guideline for Christian seekers. It merely attempts to identify which leaders are exerting influence on Christians. This is both revealing and troublesome. The diversity in the teachings found in the top ten demonstrates how divided Christianity is over many issues.
For example, Burnett and Downey tend to embrace some New Age thoughts. There are vast differences between Franklin Graham’s and Joel Osteen’s messages. One admonishes the Christian to take up the cross while the other encourages living the best materialistic life now. Not only are their gospel messages vastly different, they differ in what the Bible teaches regarding the content of sin. Yet they all appear in the top ten.
How does someone like John MacArthur who passionately defends the inerrancy of Scripture and servitude to the Lord land at 82? He placed below Creflo Dollar and his prosperity gospel! If this is based on popularity then it’s another indictment on the state of health of many Christians.
Before the Apostle Paul died he counseled Timothy:
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. 2Tim 4:1-8
How many Christian leaders are following that admonition? And how many Christians are searching for teachers who are doing that? Are you?
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