Acts 2 by Preachers of Today

A Liberal’s View of Acts 2
By Jerry Brewer, A man I greatly respect and admire.

The great tragedy of our time is that many so-called Gospel preachers have capitulated to sin in the lives of their hearers. Can you imagine what Peter’s sermon would have sounded like on Pentecost if he had imbibed the doctrines of some teachers at Abilene, Pepperdine, Oklahoma Christian, or David Lipscomb? Luke’s account might have gone something like this:

Men and brethren, there is some validity to your belief that some of us may be drunk. And though we have diversity of opinion on this matter, we can continue to be brethren because I believe we can find strength in that diversity and in our love for each other. Indeed, most of us have been drunk at one time or another, or at least done other things that were just as indiscreet. But I can not condemn any of my colleagues, nor would I presume to judge any of you for thinking we are drunk because we have different interpretations of this event and there’s certainly room for diversity among all of us.

However, though we may have different interpretations of this event that is not the case today and I can still call you “brother.” What you have witnessed is a great revival of Holy Spirit renewal that some ancient scribe researched and wrote about in a scholarly work that the rabbis often attribute to Joel. Now listen, all you Jewish brothers! Have I got some news for you! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God by the love he showed in recent years by feeding the hungry, washing feet, and generally being nice, as most of you are aware, him, being approved of God, even though some may have made some mistakes in judgment about him, was crucified on the cross. But that is in the past. We all make mistakes and when that happened we were not in a covenant relationship with Jesus any way. But now the great news is that the Holy Spirit has come to tell you God loves you and wants you to feel good about yourselves and your intimate personal relationship with him.

Now when they heard this, they felt good about themselves, cried out, and said to Peter and the others, Men and brethren, glory hallelujah! Tell us what else to do. Then Peter said unto them, Do?! Do?! There’s not one whit you can or need to do. Jesus did it all. We are just telling you the good news. Just ask Jesus to come into your hearts, be nice to each other, love each other, tell the Romans, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and Herod that you love them, and make sure your kids have plenty of food, fun, and fellowship. Get involved in a blood drive in your communities, and let the Holy Spirit direct you to parking places. And with many other words did he testify and exhort saying, “Form Family Ministries, Youth Ministries, Outreach Ministries, and Children’s Ministries. Send your kids to camp, let Youth Minister take them to Six Standards Over Jerusalem, and busy yourselves with lots of programs. Then they that gladly received his word really felt good about their own lives, and had their self-esteem raised, and about 3,000 formed a Church Family that day. And they continued to shout and clap their hands, and formed an acappella singing group that could make sounds just like the harps and lyres of the Romans. And they accepted all into the Church Family and called all men “brothers” who called God “Father,” recognized Jesus as Lord, and dwelt under the umbrella of grace.

While that is a satirical look at what passes for Gospel preaching today, the fact remains that preaching the Gospel is deadly serious. It has to do with eternity and we who are dying must preach to dying men. This idea that Gospel preaching is some sort of spiritual 1960s hippie love-fest which tolerates sin in the lives of others, so long as we ourselves do not inhale it, is a damnable heresy that will send both those who promote it and those who believe it to hell.