Protestant Popes: Cult of Personality

        We have a tendency to fall in love with a particular teacher or two and follow them much too closely. We come to trust them and just take their word for things when we ought to investigate further. Dynamic personalities get our attention.  Of course as we study Scripture we want to see what others have thought. But we often end up uncritically following them. We are to take everything back to Scripture to see if it is true as Paul commended the Bereans in Acts 17. Evangelicals are known for being gullible. This is not how it should be. We get offered more fullness or a better experience and we are all ears and our minds get shut down. We follow study after study, podcast and sermons and books by the same individuals and before long we get offended whenever anyone questions something about them no matter how significant, or insignificant, the question is.  
 
            I know many recovering from following these celebrity protestant popes. I know of pastors frustrated when they bring up a simple question and are met with, but so and so said it, it must be true. It is easy for me to read some of my favorite authors and say that sounded good, I need to look into that more and then not have the time to look into it more. It is not wrong to have some favorites, listen to others who have had faithful ministries, listen to a variety of voices and avoid an echo chamber, but do so with your antennae up.
 
Protestants are not supposed to have Popes. Much has been made of celebrity Christians. Some start out well and perhaps pressure from publishers, money, prestige and other attractions start to lead them down a bad path. Their opinion becomes very powerful to the watching Christians. Just because a famous person says a pastor is a heretic does not mean he is. Just because a famous person says someone is orthodox does not mean that he is. You can consider their opinion, but we should not just assume it is true.
 
May we be watchful and vigilant to what we are listening too. One of my favorite pastors once said “All of our heroes have clay feet.” They all make mistakes. This can be difficult. It is hard when a favorite teacher who we learned much from stumbles badly. We however, do not need to make the same mistakes that they do. May we openly ask questions of our Bible studies, may we know the missionaries we support are sound and orthodox. May we not blindly follow authoritarian or dynamic teachers and may our churches not become enthralled too much with any one individual. May we be committed to the local church and to the Scriptures, not to big name personalities. This is nothing new. Corinth struggled with this to (1 Cor 1:10f).
 
May conversations like these become less frequent… After preaching someone comes up and says “but pastor Dr. Mr. so and so famous on the radio says the opposite of what you said.” “I listen to him a lot, he is my favorite.” The pastor responds “Mr. parishioner did you hear the passage we read? Did you hear the exegesis of that?” he responds a bit irritated “Yes, but this other Mr. Big shot speaks at all the big conferences said the opposite as well.” “O.k. sir,” the preacher says patiently “did you hear the passage and the explanation of it? You realize that this is in keeping with the synod of Dort, WCF, Belgic confession, LBC 1689, Heidlberg catechism, 39 articles and other creeds and confessions of the church throughout history as well right?” “Never heard of them” says the parishioner confused, “but Mrs. Famous who preached last week at Mr. Celebrities church said…and who are you” he says angrily “to contradict these Bible teachers?” The preacher leaves frustrated that the man did not hear the sermon and does not understand that what the pastor said is what historic Christianity has always said and the man is angry because his favorite teachers were contradicted. May we return to the creeds and confessions of the church and away from protestant popes. They may be celebrities, but they are not popes and dare I say some of them are not very good for your soul.
 
Here are some questions to help us as we listen to teachers from a Sinclair Ferguson (makes my top ten list of favorites) sermon on Colossians. 1) Who is being exalted? Who is the one that is made big? 2) What is the teacher not saying? This can be a bit harder, but perhaps you have also heard many sermons where everything the pastor said was true, but he never talked about Christ and what he was saying could not be found in the passage that was supposedly being preached. All true things without the one true thing is error. 3) What is the effect of the teaching? Is the teacher puffed up and not the body of Christ built up? 4) Does it enslave me to the person teaching? 5) Does it focus on man-made rules rather than the glory and honor of Jesus? 
 
No, I propose the historic creeds and confessions are a much better foundation than a charismatic celebrity, weather famous or the one in your pulpit. The celebrity will die, the confessions live on. Of course there are no paper popes either. Having something written down that can be evaluated that says this is what we believe Scripture teaches eliminates ambiguity and provides something to be accountable to. The historic creeds and Protestant confessions have stood the test of time. If the Bible teacher you look up to doesn’t point you to Christ, maybe you shouldn’t look up to them anymore.    
 

Author

Jay Wipf