I have heard preachers say that they have the gift of preaching, when in reality they just have the gift of gab plus an assertive personality.

I do not know why some people enter the preaching profession. I just know that plenty who have done so shouldn’t have. Indeed, the Apostle James gives this warning in James 3:1: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will face stricter judgment.”

To illustrate my main point, I want to tell you about two American preachers who handled a particular problem in opposite ways.

The first is Craig Groeschel, founder and lead pastor of Life Church. When the Covid pandemic struck in year 2020, Groeschel was personally caught up in it when he attended a conference in Europe. As he was traveling back to the USA, he learned that another person at the conference had tested positive for Covid. So, upon arriving home, Groeschel immediately quarantined himself.

When it came to sermons for Life Church, Groeschel either recorded a sermon from his home, or he allowed someone else to give sermons.

As the top leader of Life Church, Groeschel decided against putting the Lord his God to the test both in his own life and in the lives of everyone connected to Life Church. With the agreement of his staff, Groeschel suspended all in-person services at all Life Church locations, switching all worship services to online services.

I do not know how many Life Church campuses existed in year 2020, but 45 exist as of August 2023. So, you could say that more than a few people were affected by the switch.

Yet, Life Church continued to fulfill its purpose. Members and regular attenders continued to gather in small groups in members’ homes, thus fulfilling the instructions of Hebrews 10:24-25: “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

In short, the leaders of Life Church did not need to have their egos stroked by having campuses filled with people.

While Craig Groeschel took the approach that Jesus took, another pastor took the opposite approach.

John F. MacArthur, Jr. is the current lead pastor of the mega-church Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California.

When the 2020 Covid pandemic hit the the USA, MacArthur denied the pandemic’s existence:

Investigative reporter Julie Roys is a contributing editor to Christianity Today magazine, and she is to religious scandals what investigative reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were to the Watergate scandal. In her 01 September 2020 news report, Roys writes, “Meanwhile, MacArthur told his congregation on Sunday, ‘There is no pandemic,’ but instead called news of the pandemic a ‘deception’ by ‘the arch-deceiver Satan himself.'”

MacArthur denied the pandemic’s seriousness to the point that he defied an attempt by government officials to protect members of his church from the spread of Covid.

Julie Roys describes what happened:

Roys quotes MacArthur telling his congregation, “We’re not meeting because we want to be rebellious. We’re meeting because our Lord has commanded us to come together and worship him.”

If you are like me, then your response to MacArthur’s statement is . . .

I apologize for the language used in that movie scene, but it is succinct.

MacArthur had the same option that Groeschel had. MacArthur livestreams his sermons. So, he could have had livestream only during the peak of the Covid pandemic, which is what my own church did. Members of MacArthur’s church could have gathered together in small groups in members’ homes, which is also what members of my own church did.

No, Hebrews 10:24-25 does not mandate that believers in Messiah Jesus sit in front of a preacher every Sunday morning and listen to him bloviate, which is what MacArthur claims.

It doesn’t matter how much of an education that MacArthur has or how much experience that he has as a preacher. Nowhere does the Bible say that one must turn off critical thinking when listening to a preacher or reading that preacher’s words. Nowhere does the Bible say that a preacher is always correct.

In MacArthur’s case, he wasn’t correct. In her 23 October 2020 news report, Julie Roys writes, “Grace has been locked in an ongoing legal battle with county officials about holding indoor services since July. For the past several months, MacArthur has claimed that no one at Grace has gotten sick with COVID-19. However, two people who attended the Shepherd’s Conference at Grace in early March were diagnosed with COVID-19 shortly afterwards and died.”

Roys updates her report with this: “UPDATE 2: According to the LA Department of Public Health, Grace Community Church now has four confirmed cases of COVID-19.”

Then there is this:

Yes, preachers can be toxic, causing their churches to be toxic. MacArthur’s brand of toxicity has spread to members of his staff, with one of them openly denying the existence of climate change.

So, are there any solutions to toxic preachers and their churches?

Well, I can think of a few things that may help when one encounters them.

First, it helps to live in a nation where there is separation of church and state. Historically, a marriage of church and state has resulted in people being physically harmed in the name of Jesus. When you know that the state won’t punish you for defying a preacher’s demands, you can ignore the preacher’s demands without fear of the government. Thus, it is legally safe for you to disagree with toxic preachers and their churches.

Second, it helps to remember what the New Testament says about salvation. As revealed in John 3:16, Romans 10:8-13 and 1 John 5:13, one’s salvation is independent of what preacher that one listens to and what church that one is a member of. Thus, it is spiritually safe for you to disagree with toxic preachers and their churches.

Third, it helps to escape from church bubbles. You can be susceptible to toxic teachings if you get all of your spiritual food from one particular church or one particular denomination. No preacher, church or denomination is the final authority on how to correctly interpret the Bible. Thus, it is beneficial to acquire counsel and knowledge from multiple valid sources outside of a particular church or denomination. As Proverbs 11:14 says, “Where there is no guidance, a nation falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”

Fourth, I find it helpful to have friends and acquaintances who belong to churches and denominations outside of my own denomination or church tradition. Having them means that I don’t depend exclusively on a particular church or denomination for spiritual support. The larger that one’s support group is, the less likely that one will succumb to abuse from a particular preacher, church or denomination.

Abusers don’t want their victims to have support from anyone other than the abusers. People trapped in abusive relationships tend to remain in those abusive relationships because they lack a strong-enough support group that isn’t controlled by the abusers.

Yes, preachers and churches can be abusers despite what they say about their spiritual health. That is why it is good to not always trust preachers. They are fallible, and they can be manipulative. The number of people who cling to a preacher’s every word is no indication of the validity of that preacher’s teachings.

If a preacher gaslights you by saying something that contradicts what your own eyes see, what your own ears hear or what has been demonstrated to be fact through solid scientific or historical evidence, then run for the nearest exit. Your physical health as well as your spiritual health may depend on you doing so.

Disclosure: I am an eye witness to how Craig Groeschel responded to the Covid pandemic. I am also an eye witness to him telling people to seek other churches if they are not satisfied with his.