Shadow Mountain Community Church has been covered a lot lately due to the health concerns with its pastor, David Jeremiah. This past Sunday, his brother, Jim Jeremiah preached and had a based preacher clip where he talked about Megan Basham’s Shepherds For Sale and the misuse of “love your neighbor.”
1 Timothy 3, verse 2, give us the requirements for elders and pastors, pastor-teachers. And one of the requirements is they’re apt to teach. In this book that came out called Shepherds for Sale, just came out at the end of July. And it’s a critical book talking about what’s going on in churches. And we’re not just talking weird, you know, off the beaten path. We’re talking about churches that have historically been committed to the teaching of the Word of God, who have somehow gotten caught up in culturizing the Bible. That doesn’t mean we don’t apply the Word of God to our culture. It’s that we don’t take the culture and translate the Word of God with it.
And so we hear all kinds of weird things. A lot of people hide behind, you know, a verse here and there, love thy neighbor. But it’s out of context and it doesn’t mean anything in the light of the teaching of Scripture. So pastors are committed and given the responsibility to teach. When Paul met with the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20, very important part of understanding the role of pastor-teachers in churches. Paul talks about his background and how he has worked with them. He says, you know, in verse 20, that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you, but have taught you publicly and from house to house. You know, Paul’s approach to small group. So house to house, I’m teaching the Word of God. Wherever I go, I’m teaching you because I have declared it to you publicly.
It’s important that that be declared in the role of the pastor. And then later on in verse 27, he says, for I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Then later in that same chapter, he says, be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock. Be on the alert. In other words, there’s going to be some things that come along that are going to try to take you away from what God’s word has to say and what the will of God is in your life. Be careful. And as pastors, it’s your responsibility. So thankful for our church and our pastor and the teaching that goes on.
And we have other churches around the country who do the same thing. But unfortunately, there are some who have seemingly decided that it’s more important that they draw a crowd than it is that they teach consistently the Word of God. And thus that book, Shepherds for Sale, really is a very insightful book.
Jim Jeremiah starts off by distinguishing Shepherds For Sale from Clownworld. It’s not a book about Kenneth Copeland, rather it’s about subversive influencers in Evangelicalism. The topic of these sordid pastors is brought up in light of the Apostle Paul’s instructions on the qualifications for pastors. Ultimately, Jeremiah talks about pastors trading truth for a crowd, to be liked. He concludes by calling the book insightful.
This is the latest high profile quasi-endorsement of Megan Basham’s book which is a high profile exposure of the corruption of Big Eva.
