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Max Lucado And Churches of Christ

Wayne S. Walker


Max Lucado is a preacher with the former Oak Hills Church of Christ in San Antonio, TX. He is a prolific and popular author, whose more than fifty books for children and adults have sold 33 million copies. The fact is that some of Lucado's books have good material. However, over the last few years, he has moved further and further away from the simple truth of God's word. Reports, first circulated as rumors which eventually proved to be true, were that he no longer believed or taught that baptism is essential for salvation. The congregation where he preaches, which now allows instrumental music in some services, has officially changed its name from "Oak Hills Church of Christ" to just "Oak Hills Church."


An article several years ago entitled "Beloved author upsets some church members" on the Religion page in the Today section of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sat., Mar. 13, 2004, discusses some of these controversies. Taken from the Associated Press, the article begins, "To millions of readers, he's a writer whose personal anecdotes help connect ordinary Christians to God. To thousands at his church, he's an honest, humble preacher. But to some within the Churches of Christ, Max Lucado is an errant theologian whose positions on baptism and instrumental music in worship have strayed too far from the faith's literalist following of New Testament teachings."


Lucado is quoted as saying, "I really gave up on trying to answer to or even please everybody else. I don't think we're called to do that." However, the issues involved really are not a matter of trying to please everybody or even anybody else, from a purely human standpoint. The real question is, are we striving to please Christ? "For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10). It should be obvious that Lucado has decided that he is going to please himself or his reading public rather than Jesus Christ.


The article notes, "While Lucado views baptism as important, he suggests it's not essential for redemption." The New Testament says that redemption involves the forgiveness, or remission of sins (Ephesians 1:7). In response to a question asked by his audience on Pentecost about what they needed to do, the inspired apostle Peter told them, "Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). Peter said that they were to be baptized for, meaning in order to, the remission of sins. So Lucado's view that baptism is not essential for redemption is in direct contradiction to what Peter said.


The article also notes, "In Lucado's view, his church reflects a societal shift. Since the name change, average attendance has jumped to about 4,500, up from 3,300, he said." This idea of the church's reflecting a societal shift sounds more like changing Christ's message to fit society rather than calling upon society to change that it might fit Christ's message. Did not Paul say, "...If anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8)? And what does the attendance increase prove? I would imagine that during the 120 years while Noah built the ark, the crowds among his detractors probably grew, but that did not mean that they were right and he was wrong.


Another Lucado quote is, "It seems just like we're in kind of a postdenominational society that those differences are not as important to people as they used to be. Now, the big issue isn't so much Methodist or Baptist, but Jesus or Buddha." What he says about denominational differences is certainly true, but it implies that he considers the Lord's church to be just another denomination. The scriptural pattern is that the gospel is God's power to salvation (Romans 1:16). It appears that Lucado has decided to follow the "mega-church" example of watering down the gospel message by blurring the distinction between God's truth and human error in order to appeal mass audiences.


The article correctly notes, "Churches of Christ are autonomous congregations with no central headquarters," but then in a caption to a picture of Lucado contradicts that by saying, "The author holds views about baptism and instrumental music during church services that are at odds with some in the Churches of Christ denomination." It is unfortunately true that some "Churches of Christ" are no longer truly autonomous but have formed quasi-denominational ties by their inter-congregational support of orphan homes, colleges, and sponsoring church arrangements. However, faithful churches of Christ are not a denomination nor any part of one. They are simply trying to be completely independent congregations who follow the teachings of Christ as revealed in His New Testament.


In 2 Peter 2:1, Peter warned that false teachers would secretly bring in destructive heresies. That happened in the early church. It is happening today. Even the history of the church in our nation shows this. L. L. Pinkerton and others introduced instrumental music into the worship of the church in 1859. In the 1920's R. H. Boll began promoting premillennialism among churches of Christ. In the 1950's "highly educated" preachers like Roy Key led some away into modernism. In the 1960's Pat Boone defected to Pentecostalism. In the 1970's and 1980's Carl Ketcherside and Leroy Garrett were making inroads among faithful brethren with their push for "unity" which resulted in what many have called the "grace-fellowship heresy." Going into the 1990's, Kip McKean built on the foundation of Chuck Lucas to originate the "Discipling movement." And now, Max Lucado and Rubel Shelley are among "change agents" who would turn the Lord's church into another “non-denominational” denomination.


Unfortunately, no matter how outlandish the doctrines that these men have taught appear to be when compared to what the scriptures actually teach, there has always seemed to be a ready supply of people to follow them. In contrast to these human schemes, every true gospel preacher should have as his aim to come not "with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God" but to be "determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:1-2). And the aim of all true Christians should be that our "faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God" (1 Corinthians 2:5).

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