Dr. Randy WhiteNOTE: This article has received criticism both here and here

To both ministries, I reached out with a personal contact, giving my personal cell number, and expressing a desire to discuss the issues at hand.With Lighthouse Trails Research Project, I expressed my appreciation for their ministry (they are a good one) and offered to edit the article below, taking any suggestions they might have. The full response from Deborah Dombrowski was, “We don’t have anything to discuss with you about your article as we have already posted what we needed to say to our readers.” When I posted on the Lighthouse Trails Research Project Facebook post concerning this article (the post stated my continued willingness to discuss the article with them and to edit the article), my comment was quickly removed and I was blocked from posting on their page.With Moriel Ministries, I reached out via a blog post comment, which contained my personal phone number and an invitation to discuss their issue. The comment was not approved and no contact has been made on their part.I remain open to speaking with anyone (even you) who wants to discuss this article or any aspect of my theology. I think that discernment requires two things: First, a firm grounding in the Word and a desire to always search the Scriptures to make sure your assumptions are correct. But discernment also requires an openness to communicate. None of us will survive long in a world that shuts off dissenting voices, especially when those voices are eager to correctly understand the Word.I remain hopeful that Lighthouse Trails and Moriel will be open to a discussion on the matters at hand (which differ with each of these ministries).  If anyone would like to contact me, my email is randy@localhost/rwmold. Through email, I will gladly share my personal cell number and we can set aside time to visit about the important matters of discernment.Update #2: Several who have posted at the Lighthouse Trails Facebook post have been quickly blocked. The posts were calm and reasonable. Is this a discernment ministry that doesn’t allow comments except from those who agree with their position? I hope this is a temporary case of shortsightedness and not the sickness described in this article.Update #3: Lighthouse Trails has now removed the post entirely from their Facebook page. The article still remains on their blog, with no opportunity for comment.Now, the article in full, below– In the past few years, a new form of ministry has emerged called discernment ministry. Make no mistake, it has become a big business, providing the livelihood for many men and women who are making their living as the world’s theological police.

Discernment is sorely needed.

We are in an era in the church in which discernment is utterly lacking. The church has a generation or two of Christians who have had a steady diet of felt need sermons filled with life-application. These Christians have little to no understanding of the content of Scripture itself. Their “Bible studies” are really book studies, and their sermons are self-help pop-psychology that is not fundamentally different from what you find in the self-help section of any secular bookstore.I can only think of a few things that the church needs more today than discernment. But I am completely convinced that discernment ministry is not the way the church is going to gain this discernment.

Discernment ministry had a good beginning.

As the lack of discernment became more and more of a problem in the broader church culture and this lack of discernment began to be front-and-center in the pulpits across America, a few lonely voices began to speak up. When they did, others began to say, “You know, that’s right!” The discerning voice, for the most part, did not intend to create a national ministry of discernment. Rather, the lack of a sane voice brought prominence among the faithful to those who had the ability to articulate the problem.While this article is about the sickness in discernment ministry, I don’t know of any of these ministries that started out sick. They started almost accidently, filled a need, and voiced a concern. Along the way, however, this new industry has become as much a part of the problem as they have been of the solution.

Discernment ministry has become like 24/7 news - a feeding frenzy.

As a former news-junkie, I’ve often lamented the advent of 24/7 news. It has done more harm to journalism than any school of journalism (with all of their agendas) could have ever accomplished.  Today, 24/7 news has created a feeding frenzy around every speculation, hearsay, possible motive, or misspoken word. The men and women formerly called journalists have an audience waiting to hear something new, and the industry demands that our network get it out before your network. So, rather than well-researched facts, so-called journalists are spitting out every kind of agenda-based opinion, to the point that fake news has become “a thing.” Have you notice how many “breaking news alerts” you hear on the 24/7 news channels? Events that have been scheduled for weeks are “breaking news.” Why the hyperbole? It is because of the feeding frenzy.Discernment ministry has grown to this level as well. Those who have built their ministry around this work now have a constituency that they must feed. There is an expectation that the so-called discerners bring forth a new heretic of the week. After all, we already know about the other heretics, we’ve left their teaching, we are bored with them, and we’ve already posted the warnings on social media. But this is a new day, and discernment ministries have an empty blog and a silent podcast to fill.Listen carefully to this: anytime a ministry is built on pointing out everything bad in the world, it will spend its time searching for all things bad. This becomes a sickness in itself.

Discernment ministries have ignored the real heretics.

There are heretics in the world. A heretic denies the essential identity of Jesus Christ, rejects the inerrant nature of the Scriptures, or perverts the message of the saving Gospel. Catholicism (and other non-reformation churches) is filled with heresy. Mormonism and other cults are also heretical. The liberalism of much of the protestant world is heretical in its view of the person of Jesus Christ and the nature of Scripture.But these real heretics are largely ignored by discernment ministries. Rather, the focus is on Bible teachers who may have a different view than the norm on matters that make no real difference for the essentials. I’ve been called a heretic because I teach that the church is not under the New Covenant (which is clearly stated in Scripture as a promise for Israel). This is not a “normative” teaching in evangelicalism; therefore, I am a “heretic.” On issues like this, one must ask what difference does it make in terms of Christian living or the Gospel message? Can a person be a faithful Christian, loving and serving the Lord, yet hold to a future view of the New Covenant?All in all, the feeding frenzy has brought us into a world in which the word heresy is losing its meaning. This, in the end, is more dangerous than the differences of interpretation which some of these heresy hunters (as some have called them) are slobbering and shouting over. Far better that we point out differences of interpretation for exactly what they are. I’m not a charismatic, but some good believers have incorrectly interpreted Scripture to build a charismatic doctrine. They are not heretics, they are simply wrong. I’m not a Calvinist, but some good believers (even friends of mine) have built a doctrine (based on a false assumption) that requires a Calvinistic theology. They are not heretics, they are just wrong (and some of them are annoying…ha ha).

Discernment ministries are internally sick.

Anyone who has spent much time within the confines of these ministries has come to realize that there is an internal sickness which is shocking. There is so much jealousy and backbiting within these ministries that anyone who has been too close has been bitten or vomited upon. One ministry hates the other ministry. If you are caught having a conversation with the other ministry, you’ll receive a gossip-filled email rebuke. I’ve received these emails and phone calls repeatedly. “Don’t you know that so-and-so is…”  One even just said I should not associate with a man because he is an “awful fellow” and is “mean-spirited.”Just know that the making of discernment sausage is a very ugly experience. I hope these ministries will work on their own jealousies and anger issues and learn the grace and kindness of the gospel. I fear for many of these so-called discerners because they are at such a high stress level from being continually on a crusade and from tying themselves into unbelievable internal tension (and doing the same to their listeners) that they will die an early death from stress-related ailments.

Discernment Ministries Are Not What is Needed.

Remember when they used to teach that the best way to know a counterfeit bill was to study the real thing? Discernment ministries are pointing out counterfeits, but they are not giving the real thing that is needed to stem the tide.Bible study is the way to know the real thing. Individual, verse-by-verse, word-by-word study will highlight errors of theology and teaching better than any discernment ministry ever will.If you are in discernment ministry, try morphing your ministry into a Bible study ministry. Teach the Word. Help your followers know the content of Scripture and allow the Spirit to work on a daily and individual basis. Sadly, many in the discernment ministry cannot or have not led a Bible study, taught a passage, dealt with the struggles of interpretation, or studied the issues of a doctrine from the pages of Scripture. This must change or the entire discernment industry will move from internal sickness to being the source of further sickness within the church.If you regularly spend time listening to, reading, or watching a discernment blog or podcast, let me encourage you to move on. Spend that time in study of the Word. Your own ability to discern will soon skyrocket. You’ll be able to smell a skunk when it is near and will not be dependent upon someone else to explain it to you.Bible study ministries will point out issues of discernment and false teaching, but they will do so in the course of teaching the Word. The Bible teacher will often say, “This passage is teaching that , but Dr. Wigglejaw teaches that ___.”  But these will be passing comments, not the main entrée.

Be quick to say, “I was wrong.”

I think one hallmark of a good Bible teacher is the willingness to say, “I was wrong.” As we study the Word, it cuts away the error from our thinking. Bible teachers should be the first to admit when they’ve had some of this error cut away. This is why I so often close my studies with a prayer that says, “Father, if I’ve taught this wrong, please use Your Word or one of these fellow students to point it out to me, and may I be quick to make it right.”After all, my friend, it is the Word that matters, not my word on the Word.

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