Fact: a post-modern pastor is a contradiction in terms. 

The two cannot exist at the same time, because both the relativist and “the way, the Truth and the life” (John 14:6) are mutually exclusive.

These are two polarised positions. They cannot coexist.

To double down on my point here:

There is a cognitive dissonance between the two that cannot be reconciled honestly, or without doing an immense amount of mental gymnastics, violence to scripture, and damage to the church.

“For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive…” Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 2:3-5.

“So, we speak, not to please man,” he declared, “but to please God who tests our hearts.”

“For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness.” 

Put simply, the post-modern pastor is a people pleaser, not a Cura Animarum (cure of souls).

‘Churches,’ which indirectly teach you that “God worships the ground you walk on,” are not Christocentric churches. They’re toxic, self-help groups pushing self-centredness, not Christlikeness.

With both pattern and impact in mind, pastors who preach the relativist “ethic of niceness,” as though it were the Gospel, are best described as being impostors, not pastors.

They’re not worshipping in Spirit and in Truth or serving themselves and leading others to do the same. 

They’re violating vocation by serving a theology of glory, not the theology of the cross.

They’re “going along to get along” with the subjectivist spirit of the age.

Ezekiel 34 speaks a clear warning to those who gorge themselves on the backs of other people’s suffering, ignore that suffering, and then call it “serving the Lord” or a “beautiful thing.”

Ezekiel delivers God’s warning to two distinct groups:

The shepherds of Israel are only interested in feeding themselves. Then the sheep, who are only interested in being the first to feed.

Each controls the trough by stomping all over the rest to satisfy their own appetites.

These types of ‘Christian leaders’ are not interested in addressing right or wrong, or answering feelings with facts. 

For them, feelings are facts, and facts are footnotes at best.

It’s sage advice to be wary of any church leader (or leaders) who isn’t interested in right or wrong, is okay with gaslighting dissent, is a law unto himself, and upholds the poisonous subjectivist standard of the spirit of the age.

These are the types of leaders who live as though Jesus was, is and will be a people pleaser, and they falsely teach everyone to be the same. 

When Jesus said, “blessed are the peacemakers,” not once does the context imply, or the original language confirm, His meaning to be “blessed are the people pleasers.”

Relativists in the pulpits are a danger to those sitting in the pews, as I argued in a recent Daily Declaration piece about Kirralie Smith’s long battle against legislated lies and their negative impact on faith, family, and freedom. 

The post-modern paradigm deserves to be slammed for the slimy, snake-like progeny this philosophy procreates.

Laws built solely to serve the self-interests of relativists are bad laws.

We see this time and time again through the inevitable selective application of “You do what’s best for you.” In other words, doing what’s right in our own eyes.

What often comes out of this is “rules for thee, but not for me.”

“You do what’s best for you,” when applied to a child or young adult, for example, is paraded as liberation.

Yet, if that child’s parents apply the same relativist morality and “do what’s best for themselves,” they’re morality is considered abuse.

Subjectivism as a moral structure is not applied equally.

This is why moral relativism is toxic. As an ethical structure, it’s unreliable, inconsistent, and ultimately untenable. 

There is no firm foundation.

This is because:

• “You do you” fails the coherence test.
• “I support you no matter what” fails the consistency test.
• “Feelings are facts” fails the evidence test.
• “Do whatever you want, as long as it does not harm” fails the ontological test.

In the end, the obsession with relativism creates a playground for manipulators, all kinds of malcontents with self-centred agendas.

This attracts bad actors who see subjectivism as a gold mine for personal profit and who view people as nothing more than prey.

Beware of the person who is all charm and charisma, little else.

As C.S. Lewis argued, subjectivism is poison.

So wrote the late great, Roger Scruton: “Anyone who says that there are no truths, or that all truth is ‘merely relative,’ is asking you not to believe him. So don’t!”

A “church” preaching love without mentioning God’s holiness in the same sentence or context isn’t a “church” serious about preaching the Gospel.

It’s a narcissistic self-help group, and its leaders are nothing more than salesmen selling whitewashed tombs.