Steve Cooley is the associate pastor of Bethlehem Bible Church. He is a retired Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy, and graduate of the Master's Seminary. He is a regular on “No Compromise Radio” with Mike Abendroth, and is known as “The Tuesday Guy.” Steve joins me this month for a somewhat informal discussion about the Social Gospel.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:17:11 — 35.4MB)
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Outline of the Discussion
Given the somewhat less formal nature of this discussion, there is no discussion outline for this episode.
Scriptures Referenced
- Romans 10:14-17
- Matthew 25:35-36
- Ephesians 4:12-16
- Genesis 1-4
- Matthew 7
4 thoughts on “Steve Cooley: The Social Gospel”
I just discovered your show- saved the link and plan to listen regularly. Thank you for the show with Steve Cooley but I have an issue I would like to present to you with regard to Tim Keller; you were almost right about him and I feel the need to share my testimony. I apologize in advance for the lengthy post but I could not get the email form to work.
My family decided to support a new satellite church that was being launched by our church and supported by other local PCA churches and we started attending the meetings and eventually the new church once they were in a building. I was troubled from the beginning by much of what I heard in the meetings and eventually the sermons, too. This pastor and his wife read, listened to and very heavily promoted Tim Keller- they called him their hero and mentor, telling us that it was Keller’s books that revealed “real Christianity” to them. I decided to look into this guy and 150+ hours later I was horrified. I could not have been prepared for what I found; he cleverly presents himself as a Bible believing, conservative Christian but all the while he is slowly, methodically undermining scripture, salvation, the church and the truth. He is by and far the most dangerous type of wolf, as he is determined to infiltrate the true church and change the way we think, so as to advance an unbiblical agenda, hence the tireless effort to appear “orthodox”. After all, you can’t infiltrate if you get the boot!
I grieved and prayed for months- though I was convinced of what I was feeling I could not reconcile why I was the only person that seemed to be troubled? why does this guy have so many professing Christians buying his books? why are so many well respected Christian leaders partnering with him in many ways? why is the other satellite church in my same small, rural S.C. town also enamored with Keller? Why was the guest speaker at my teenager’s youth retreat quoting Keller? This guy is everywhere! Where is the discernment? How will I ever get anyone to see through his clever veil? Is this discernment on my part or just the critical spirit?
I felt I should not discuss my concerns with anyone, as this could start the much dreaded “church chatter” that I despise so I continued to attend, took notes and prayed. But I was beginning to lose sleep as I prayed and wrestled…I knew what I had to do but I lacked the courage. The idea of this attack on the truth infuriated me but I still needed to ask someone that I trusted about this “missional” mayhem- as confident as I was, it was as if I still sought some type of “second opinion” or confirmation that I was not unfairly criticizing this new pastor and his great family who just wanted to reach the lost. I was feeling like the bad guy and I had not yet opened my mouth! The grief and insomnia was exhausting and I longed to know what another true, Bible believer thought about:
“Building a church for non-Christians and the poor”
“Being a church about what we are for, not what we are against”
“Presenting the gospel in an attractive way that never offends through contextualization”
“Jesus, the social revolutionary who is calling us to perform social justice”
“Developing networking skills to get as many people as possible into the church”
“Catering every aspect of worship to the unbeliever”
“Accepting people of any and all lifestyle preferences into the church- no judging and no condemnation”
“A re-definition of sin that virtually eliminates God’s law”
“Soul winning just “increases the tribe” and we are called to make the world a better place”
The more I researched and exposed myself to Keller’s sermons and books I began to realize that the pastor’s sermons were literal excerpts from Keller’s books and were completely opposite of scripture; after a Sunday morning sermon titled “Sin” where the pastor denounced the biblical definition of sin and gave us Keller’s “better” definition (from chapter 3 of The Prodigal God titled “Redefining Sin”) I decided it was time to go! I met with the pastor and his wife and pleaded with them to take Keller’s teachings to scripture. My legitimate concerns were immediately dismissed and I was given a rundown of Keller’s impressive credentials. We left the church immediately and have had no further contact with the new church plant, though I continue to pray for them.
Steve repeatedly referred to Keller as a great intellect and seemed to believe that he is a solid Christian that is a little off on a few things- I was deeply troubled by this assessment, as the Bible would clearly define him as a fool and a false teacher. I cannot overstate the danger of what I witnessed in this church and how clever and methodical Keller is with his deception. There were solid Christians in this church who were slowly being pulled away from biblical truth and had no idea that it was happening!
There are many warnings and verses in scripture that apply here but the one that stood out to me over all during my research was Jude 1:4 -“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The key word here is “unawares”.
Check out the links below and contact me via email if you want more of my research findings- I really don’t think you know just how serious the situation is with Keller.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLbSRAkUIDo- Keller makes his case that the church is for unbelievers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrB0GpfyHEw video- Keller refers to a simple Gospel presentation as a “magic bullet” that doesn’t work anymore.
http://gospelmasquerade.com/tim-kellers-environmental-gospel/ former member of Keller’s church is warning about his false gospel
http://sermons2.redeemer.com/sermons/blessed-are-poor outrageous social justice sermon at Redeemer NYC- hard to believe this is actually a Sunday morning sermon
Tori,
Thanks so much for your comment. Keller has long troubled me, and I’m always concerned when Christians quote him favorably, even when the quote is right. There are many solid Bible teachers & preachers that can be quoted without extending an inference of legitimacy to error as is done with Keller.
Steve did refer to Keller as a great intellect, but I did not infer from his comments that he believed Keller was “solid, but off on a few things.” To the contrary, I recall Steve saying that Keller was more dangerous than Rick Warren, as Keller has more orthodoxy in his teaching, and that the orthodoxy mixed in with the poison makes it more palatable.
I absolutely do not believe Keller is solid. I did not want to go on a complete rabbit trail, but I did refer to his poetic understanding of Gen 1 and 2, redefinition of sin, and recommended a book (I think. If I failed on that, “Engaging Keller” is a must read). In no way would I recommend reading him and as evidence I would cite this: I have never, ever quoted Keller in a sermon–and I would not.
That said, I very much appreciate the detail you’ve provided. Well said.
And yes, I did say Keller was more dangerous–because he is more respected in Calvinist circles.
Agreed, gentlemen- your concern regarding Keller was clear. The problem is this: I’m not looking for people who share “concerns” about Keller, I’m looking for people who are issuing dire warnings (the sky is falling) about Keller. There are many sheep veering onto his wide path.
The book Engaging Keller is one such example of Christians “sharing their concerns” rather than yanking sheep out of his jaws. I appreciated Andrew Middleton’s take on the book: http://www.fpchurch.org.uk/2014/07/timothy-keller-and-the-new-calvinists/
And for the record, regarding Keller’s superior intellect- Steve said he “could never debate Keller”..any student of scripture could tear Keller to shreds with an open Bible. I have been working with Dr ES Williams (UK) to expose the real danger Keller poses to the Body and I recently wrote an article on Keller’s dangerous views regarding homosexuality which is still in the editing phase but I would be glad to send you a copy of the rough draft; I simply opened my Bible and compared what Keller taught to scripture- they are not even close.
I’m asking you to spend some time (that you probably don’t have) really looking into this guy so that when you speak of him it will be in “mark and avoid” language rather than “concerned”.