Pastors don’t have a right to demand that they not be criticized. Wise pastors welcome criticism because they realize that they need the accountability. A pastor who demands that people in the congregation not disagree with Him has a lot of insecurity.

Every Christian is called to be a priest and minister. Ministry isn’t about a job or a title or a salary or a pulpit. To outsource your Christianity to a pastor is to ignore Christ’s desire to personally direct you as your Shepherd.

To say that it’s bad to criticize church is to overlook Paul’s words, “having a form of godliness, but denying the power, from such turn away.” To tell people not to criticize church is to encourage them to blindly follow religious spirits.

To say that Christians shouldn’t point out the flaws in institutional church is to ignore the words of the Old Testament prophets. To say that the Protestant Reformation was good, but that Christians today shouldn’t criticize church is hypocritical.

God wants to speak to all Christians. We all need to listen to His Spirit and read the Bible, not just listen to sermons.

Jesus can’t be your Savior if there’s nothing you need to be saved from. It’s easy to say that Jesus lives in your heart, but your lifestyle lets people know whether He’s really in residence within you.

Fairh is revelatory. It’s a gift of the Spirit. “By faith Moses seeing Him who is invisible fled Egypt.” Without faith and revelation shinning in our heart we don’t truly understand the Gospel facts. Although the two men on the road to Emmaus knew the facts of the resurrection and had the presence of the living Jesus, they lacked revelation so Jesus felt like a stranger to them until revelation burst forth in their heart. Then they were filled with awareness of and excitement about the risen Jesus. Flesh and blood and facts alone can’t give us revelation and faith. They come from the Father. “God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our heart to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”