Part 5 of 5: More Compassionate Than God? Apeitheo and the Crisis of the Modern Pulpit. continuing from "The P.O.P.E. in the Pulpit: Confronting the Crisis of Christian Unbelief"
- Thomas Power
- Mar 28
- 18 min read
"Christians don’t know the Bible," Pastor Loran Livingston warned in April 2024. "And when you don’t know the Bible, you will have an opinion. You will not know truth, but you will have an opinion. And when people are ignorant of Holy Scripture and the ways of God, they become sensitive to sinners and sympathetic to sin." He continued, noting that when leaders don't know the Word, they follow their sinful instincts: "You will sympathize with those who appear to be marginalized and misunderstood."
We hear the excuses: "Don’t you know how hard it is to grow a church today?" But we must ask: what exactly are we building? Are we constructing social halls for "truth-dancing," or are we building biblical assemblies? A true church is a body that exhorts, corrects, admonishes, and encourages true restoration. This is a process set forth in the bible. This is the roadmap to repentance, which makes "straight the way of the Lord," into our hearts. It is the ministry of reconciliation, reconciling the soul once again to the Father in Jesus Christ our Lord.
I am certain you didn't answer the high calling of Jesus Christ just to preside over a glorified social club or a neighborhood charity. You aren't meant to be a Chairman of the Board or a Master of Ceremonies for a civic organization; you are called to the Father’s business. The truth only heals when it is professed clearly, unapologetically, and without the lampshade.
I. The Concept of “Christian Unbelief”
The United States, symbolized by the Bald Eagle, faces a crisis where the greatest enemy is found within. The most significant threat is not the imposing might of the "Red Dragon" of China, nor the "Great Bear" of Russia. Rather, it is an enemy more intimate and subtle: a profound internal disagreement on how we ought to be governed. Driven by "woke" ideologies, a significant number of our own citizens now sympathize with a "New World Order," favoring totalitarianism over democracy and collectivism over the freedom of capital. We know capitalism is not perfect, lacking, as it often does, the Christian morality required to temper greed and the worship of Mammon. Be that as it may, it is the foundation of our Republic.
Amidst this internal decay, we see the rise of competing worldviews. While some may recognize the same cultural rot we do, their solutions are fundamentally incompatible with the United States Constitution and our foundational tenets. Because they seek to govern through a system at odds with our free Republic, their growing foothold represents a clear agenda of takeover that must be met with vigilance.
How does this tie into the church? This battle has spilled over the sanctuary walls, manifesting as a battle over truth and belief. The "silent majority" was once a force that steadied the world, preventing a "slouching toward Gomorrah." Today, however, the church is being pressured to exit the arena of ideas—the very arena where Biblical truth provides the only lasting solutions for our nation.
Unfortunately, the same compromise we see in politics is mirrored in the church as unbelief. By diluting the Word with cultural relativism and emotional appeals, we have produced generations of Christians sitting under teaching compromised by P.O.P.E. (Pastoral Obfuscation of Proper Exegesis). When the church loses its nerve to speak the truth, it loses its power to transform the world.
"Christians don’t know the Bible," Pastor Loran Livingston warned in April 2024. "And when you don’t know the Bible, you will have an opinion. You will not know truth, but you will have an opinion. And when people are ignorant of Holy Scripture and the ways of God, they become sensitive to sinners and sympathetic to sin." He continued, noting that when leaders don't know the Word, they follow sinful instincts: "You will sympathize with those who appear to be marginalized and misunderstood."
This illustrates the dangerous delusion that a professed Christian can be more compassionate than God. It is a subtle form of arrogance that trades divine holiness for human sentiment.
Be careful, Pastor. Do not be one of those who invites the wrath of God which is revealed against those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18). By "holding the truth" to yourself to keep the pews full, you are effectively suppressing it. Church leaders, we are called to the oppose the world: we are called to profess, not to suppress, the truth. We must be godly and righteous men who profess the truth in righteousness.
Pastor, please heed the warning: if you continue this slide, Romans 1:28 suggests a terrifying end. That is the risk of being given over to a reprobate mind. This will have be another article. But if there comes a day where the idea of becoming reprobate in the eyes of God does not send chills down your spine, then it is clear there is an urgent need to ask the Lord to restore the fear of God to your pulpit. You have the opportunity to be part of the greatest revival the church has ever seen, don't stand in the way, and don't miss out on it.
Turn, Pastor, please turn, O leader. Turn back to the truth. Quench not the Holy Spirit’s fire; instead, let it be loosed upon the congregation God has entrusted to your care.
The reason why there is so much lack of the knowledge of scripture, is likely complex in its mechanics, but the root cause is a word found 16 times in the received text, that is Apeitheo (ἀπειθέω) in the Greek, we might say (ap-i-theh'-o). Not to be confused with the English “apathetic,” the meaning in Thayer’s Greek Lexicon of Strong’s 544:
ἀπειθέω, -ῶ; imperfect ἠπείθουν; 1 aorist ἠπείθησα; to be ἀπειθής (which see); not to allow oneself to be persuaded; not to comply with;
a. to refuse or withhold belief (in Christ, in the gospel; opposed to πιστεύω): τῷ υἱῷ, John 3:36; τῷ λόγῳ, 1 Peter 2:8; 1 Peter 3:1; absolutely of those who reject the gospel, [R. V. to be disobedient; cf. b.]: Acts 14:2; Acts 17:5 [Rec.]; Acts 19:9; Romans 15:31; 1 Peter 2:7 (T Tr WH ἀπιστοῦσιν).
Interestingly enough is the first appearance of the word in the New Testament is found in John 3:36.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that "believeth not" G544 the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. If you remember the "-eth " suffix conveys a continuing or ongoing action. So you see that the 1611 Holy Bible is not beloved solely for its linguistic flare alone, it has a clear advantage to convey sustained spiritual truths such as the concept of abiding in Christ.
This is one of the most important salvation assurance verses in the bible. The phrase here, “he that believeth not” is contrasted by the phrase, “he that believeth”. The 1611 Holy Bible has the advantage in English over the translations, due to the durative nuance of the suffix “-eth”, which mirrors the same continuing action of the present participle in the Greek pisteuōn (the one believing/continually believing) and present
participle apeithōn (the one not believing/continually not believing/continually refusing). So, there needs to be a belief in Christ Jesus, but a continual belief. The caution here needs to be pointed out, that many of the divergent translations from the critical text make it appear that it is just a one-time belief. “Whoever believes in him”, even if it were just for one emotionally charged moment, shall have eternal life. Rather than the Christian who believes, and despite occasional doubts and crisis of faith, continues to believe (an overcomer). Only the Lord knows their heart, we can only discern by fruits of continual belief, like one who runs a race. The runner might trip and fall, drop the baton in the relay, but he gets up because he believes he can win or at least he believes he can finish and he continues on to his high calling of God. I think of the man in the bible, “I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” Jesus healed that man’s son, casting out the deaf and dumb spirit (Mark chapter 9). In short, the unbelief that will keep someone out of heaven is the apeitheo, that is willful and continual unbelief. Professed believers demonstrate either their belief or their willful unbelief, depending on how they approach the word of God. Jesus said, Luke 6:46:
And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
We just learned that to have a willful unbelief is an unwillingness to comply. Jesus is saying right here that if a professed believer is unwilling to comply with and does not allow themselves to be persuaded do the things the Lord Jesus says, the logical conclusion that this person, is an unbeliever. Believers comply, and when they don’t, believers are convicted by the Holy Ghost and they repent, then they are restored, and finally comply with their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The church has drifted away from the simple and effective hermeneutic used by the Church Fathers—men who, in some cases, studied directly under the Apostles and laid the foundations of our faith.
There are those who argue that these ancient ways do not account for the complexities of modern culture. They claim we need a more "fluid" hermeneutic—one that allows us to apply the Bible differently than those who came before us. I certainly recognize that our culture has changed; however, God has not changed. We are still called to be a "peculiar people," existing in the world while remaining resolutely not of it. The degree to which we can live out our faith without being absorbed by the world defines the battlefield of our era. To the extent we become "of the world," we are surrendering holy ground.
It is precisely here that we witness the mastery of Pastoral Obfuscation of Proper Exegesis (P.O.P.E.). This "fluidity" is often just a mask for cowardice. By treating the Scriptures as a flexible document that must bend to the whims of the current age, leaders use P.O.P.E. to dismantle the boundaries the Apostles built. They trade the solid rock of Historical Hermeneutics for a sliding scale of cultural relevance, all to ensure the world feels at home in the sanctuary.
We don’t have much time to spend on the vicissitudes of the hermeneutic we ought to be using, allow me to summarize, and at least give you an idea of what we ought to be doing when we interpret a bible that we believe in. The emphasis here is that we believe the bible is inerrant, so we harmonize the seemingly strange divergent verses with the plain truth. I believe if one disagrees with this, then they really ought not call themselves a bible-believing Christian. As I will demonstrate, I whole-heartedly believe that it would be truly disingenuous, if not fraudulent, to call oneself a bible-believer while presiding over this festering erosion of faith, a putrid decay whose stench surely reaches the nostrils of the Almighty.
Mark 10:15 (KJV): "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein".
The Analogy of Faith (Analogia Fidei) or the principle of Scripture Interpreting Scripture. The fundamental premise is that God is a clear communicator. This leads to two practical rules for a reader:
• The Perspicuity (Clarity) of Scripture: While some parts are "hard to understand," the essential message is accessible to the average reader.
• The Priority of the Clear: If a passage is ambiguous or poetic (like a vision in Revelation), it must be interpreted in light of a passage that is didactic and straightforward (like a command in Romans).
• The Rule of Faith (Regula Fidei) Used heavily by the early Church Fathers, this strategy argues that no interpretation of a specific text can be valid if it contradicts the essential "summary" of the gospel passed down by the apostles (the Creeds).
• The Rule: You never build a "Main" doctrine out of an "Obscure" text. You only build main doctrines out of plain texts. Therefore, the Plain Text is the Main Text for establishing your worldview.
• Key Takeaway: In this model, the "Main Text" acts as the anchor. If a boat (a difficult verse) is drifting, you pull it back toward the anchor (the clear verse), rather than letting the boat pull the anchor out of the ground.
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The shift away from the "Plain Text" hermeneutic is often described by conservative theologians as a "descending staircase." When the clear sense of Scripture is no longer the final authority, the interpreter becomes the authority over the text.
Here is a summary of that "slippery slope" toward skepticism and unbelief.
When an interpreter abandons the Plain Text as their primary anchor, they initiate an erosion of faith and a decaying belief by elevating human reason or cultural sentiment above divine authority. This is the ultimate expression of Pastoral Obfuscation of Proper Exegesis (P.O.P.E.). It begins by treating clear historical or moral passages as mere allegories or metaphors, but it doesn't stop there.
Through the lens of P.O.P.E., pastors have learned to "explain away" the absolute statements and direct commands of Jesus Christ. If a command is too culturally "expensive" or threatens the comfort of the donor class, it is repositioned as a suggestion, a cultural relic, or an "hyperbolic" ideal that no longer applies. As Pastor Loran Livingston warned, this allows the leader to "sympathize with those who appear marginalized" while actually betraying the very Truth that could set them free.
Once the text’s objective, binding power is compromised, the supernatural—including the miracles and the Resurrection—is discarded as a myth that no longer fits a modern worldview. This process reduces the Word of God to a humanistic document; a mirror that merely reflects our own opinions back to us rather than a
two-edged sword that challenges them. Under the guise of "pastoral care," P.O.P.E. replaces the Sovereignty of Scripture with the sovereignty of the self.
Further it makes the pastor the potter and the Word of God the clay. We are supposed to be the clay. molded by His loving Holy hands.
Isaiah 64:8:
"But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand."
The End Point: Total Hermeneutical Autonomy
The "erosion of belief" ends in a place where the Bible is no longer a mirror reflecting God’s truth to man, but a mirror where man only sees his own ideas reflected back. Without the "Anchor of the Plain Text," the faith eventually drifts into:
1. Moral Relativism: Since the commands aren't "plain," they aren't binding.
2. Universalism: Since the "exclusive" claims of Christ are "difficult," they are harmonized away into "general love."
3. Atheism/Agnosticism: If the Book cannot be trusted to mean what it says, many eventually conclude it cannot be trusted at all.
1 Corinthians 1:10. This verse reads:
"Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment".
Alas, we see that the pastors use their education and their self-appointed pseudo-papal authority to overturn and subvert clear scripture; professing themselves to be wise, they are thereby shown to be fools. It is plain to see that once a pastor is trained to use the modern methods of interpreting the bible, he sets himself on a slippery path to unbelief. Additionally, the mnemonic P.O.P.E. has an obvious dual meaning, in that the more a pastor employs these new hermeneutic rules, the more he makes himself Pseudo-Pope, that is, in place of Pope. It is convenient for the pastor that he is now the sole keeper of truth in his church. It is no longer the word of God (Jesus), who leads it is pastoral interpretation of the word. “P.O.P.E. turns the pulpit into a throne of compromise, where the Bible becomes a menu rather than a mandate, subtly pick what pleases the palate, skip the bitter herbs of conviction.”
It is no wonder why we have so many denominations now, even while the Apostle Paul taught that there ought not be any divisions among us. The righteous division in the church is rightly dividing the word. We know Jesus is “The Word”, and he brings a sword, and divides believers from the unbelievers. So then when someone calls the word of God divisive, I say, “amen.” However, we the believers should not be divided. Whenever true believers are shown to be divided, either one is not following Christ, or one may not even be a believer in Christ. There really are only two possibilities here.
The focus of this ministry entrusted to me is marriage and in particular the doctrine of marriage for life. My belief in marriage for life has two steadfast and immovable supporters from the word of God. When we approach the word of God like a child, like Jesus recommends, it is clear to see that marriage is for a lifetime. Furthermore, we see that society at large once reflected the convictions of Jesus and Paul; there was a time when divorce was a rarity even among the heathen, and within the church, it was virtually nonexistent.
We saw marriages survive two World Wars, even with the infidelity that comes along with separating couples. So, no one can say this is impossible. It is like abstinence in birth control. We know abstinence is the only 100% effective method of birth control, and indeed it works every time it is tried. Yet the devil comes along and sells us on the compromise. You see, it is the illusion of choice that creeps in. The devil told Eve, “Ye shall not surely die.” When leadership presents a choice where God has given a command, they invite the same fall we saw in Eden. Why temp women with choices, that they ought not have?
We have to go back to, there is no choice. There is no choice to kill your baby, there is no choice to leave your husband, there is no choice to have sex before marriage. Are you running a church here, where the truth is proclaimed, and the occasional fall from grace is handled in a biblical manner? Where the sin is dealt with, and the sinner is restored in repentance?
The way sin is handled in the church today only encourages more sin. Even the most basic principles of psychology teach us that people do what they are rewarded to do. If churches continue rewarding sin, they reduce themselves to no more than a social club, supporting all the bad decisions folks make, and skip all the steps of reconciliation, and whitewash it with some fiat grace, calling it a day.
Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
To the leader who feels caught between the pews and the Word: I urge you to return to the 'perfect law of liberty.' I feel led to prescribe a daily reading of Psalm 119 for an entire month. See how the Psalmist finds delight and life in the very precepts we often try to explain away. Let us stop trying to be wiser than our Maker. Deal with sin by sticking to what He has told us to do. His justice is perfect, and His path is the only one that leads to true life for the flock.
Another area of obfuscation is the reality of sexual immorality among adult congregants. While we rightly counsel our teenagers to remain pure, there is a deafening silence regarding the 'divorce culture' adults who are sexually active outside of marriage. Whether it is fornication between singles or the even more grievous sin of adultery, the church has largely adopted a 'don’t ask, don’t tell' policy. We have allowed the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit to be eclipsed by the serpent’s ancient whisper: 'Ye shall not surely die.'
It is imperative that we stop trying to be 'wiser' than the Word. Paul’s warning to the Corinthian church was not a suggestion; it was a matter of eternal inheritance: 'Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers... shall inherit the kingdom of God' (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). When we ignore these behaviors to avoid 'awkwardness' or to keep the budget balanced, we are being complicit in a deception that risks the very souls we are called to protect.
Paul’s command—'Be not deceived'—serves as a timeless warning because he knew the human heart's tendency toward self-justification. We aren't being naïve; we simply find it easier to pass the buck.
While the responsibility begins with parents, the pastor must equip the home with the tools to handle these heavy subjects. We must call for self-control from the pulpit so that it can be practiced in the pews.
Unfortunately, the modern church has outsourced its most vital responsibilities. We have given the feeding of the poor to the State, replacing the loving hands of the Body with secular humanism. We have left 'the sex talk' to the gym teacher or the school nurse, and marriage counseling to departments that often prioritize feel-good psychology over the life-saving truth of 1 Corinthians 6.
By P.O.P.E.-dancing through these difficult verses, we don't actually help people; we unwittingly fuel the very crises we decry. When we frame unrepentant sin merely as 'struggles' to avoid losing families to the 'friendlier' church down the street, we aren't being loving—we are leaving our sheep defenseless against the very consequences we claim to hate.
When we frame unrepentant sin merely as 'struggles' to avoid losing families to the 'friendlier' church down the street, we aren't being loving—we are leaving our sheep defenseless against the very consequences we claim to hate. This reveals the harsh truth we face in the body of Christ today: a glaring lack of accountability. We have traded the fear of God for the fear of a bad Google review.
But as the prophet Samuel warned Saul, rebellion disguised as religiosity is still rebellion. If the pastor thinks his compassion is greater than God’s, he is not building a church; he is building a monument on shifting sand, a social club, not a congregation of true disciples.
But there is a remedy. Purity can be restored—not through bigger budgets, but through biblical discipline.
Holiness isn’t optional—it’s the immune system of God’s people. There may be the equivalent of a micro-biome in a church. Where you have a certain level of sin in the camp, that isn’t on the Apostle Paul’s list of sins unto death. I am not sure you can ever really call any sin “good bacteria”, but perhaps it serves a purpose, to keep us seeking God. In order to keep us humble to know that we do need God’s forgiveness.
However, when there is serious sin the camp, such as the Apostle Paul warns about; sins that have specific warnings of eternal consequence attached, then the micro-biome of the church cannot afford to have this linger. It only duplicates and manifests into a greater sickness in the church body. 1 Corinthians 6:
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
These are the sins we must zoom in on and we must be diligent. Many of these are causing so much trouble in the church, it is distracting the church from important kingdom endeavors. Let us get ahold of ourselves church and show some self-control, which is one of the more important fruits of the Spirit. Paul says, “purge the evil from among you. (1 Cor 5:13)” This isn’t punishment, we must keep the wolf outside the gate. There are sins that lead to a clinical sickness, not your average bacteria.
When church leadership confronts sin, whether it is adultery, fornication, drunkenness or abusers, the church is saying, “we value God’s holiness more than comfort.” We will see sinners repent, being restored to the faith, or otherwise, some will leave. Either way, the church stays pure. We want the church micro-biome to stay healthy, free of clinical sickness, displaying the love that a church cares about pointing its congregation to the straight gate.
Purity Over Population
A small, faithful remnant meeting in a rented hall outshines a megachurch spiritually bankrupt from compromise. If you are a megachurch, perhaps the Truth cuts you down from three services to two. You might have to trust God, trim the budget, and—heaven forbid—start clipping some coupons. God never measured success by square footage or attendance stats; He measures by obedience. David’s mighty men were four hundred; Gideon’s army was three hundred. Purity trumps population every time.
Jesus left no ambiguity: "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (John 14:15). These words are not legalism—they are the only currency that holds value in God’s economy. Real love for God and neighbor demands that we stop laundering sin through pastoral loopholes. Allowing sin to linger only makes repentance more agonizing and the church’s task more difficult as the years pass. The truly loving action is to deal with it quickly and biblically, with a heart toward reconciliation.
Removing the Stumbling Blocks
We must move our assemblies away from institutionalized unbelief (apeitheo) and toward a sanctuary where believers actually feel safe. A man should be able to bring his family to church without worrying that a leader will whisper to his wife that she has a "biblical right" to leave him. He shouldn't have to fear his daughter falling into fornication because she sees the "mature" adults doing the same with a wink and a nod.
When a congregation sees "Pastor Rogers" on his third marriage, it gives "Schmitty" in the fifth row the green light to trade his wife in for someone else's. These aren't just "personal choices"; they are stumbling blocks. If we clear the path of these compromises, how much more will the church thrive? How much more clearly will we display the love of Christ when we stop pretending that disobedience is just another "season of life"?
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So, where do we go from here? The remedy is not found in better marketing or more social programs. It is found in an unapologetic return to the Word.
• To the Pastor: I urge you to stop playing 'pseudo-pope' over the text. Lay down your linguistic indulgences and preach the commands of Christ as they are written.
• To the Congregation: Stop mistaking attendance for allegiance. Find a church that fears God more than foreclosure. Tithe to the Truth, not to tolerance.
I feel led to prescribe a daily reading of Psalm 119 for an entire month for every leader reading this. See how the Psalmist finds delight and life in the very precepts we often try to explain away. Let us stop trying to be wiser than our Maker. It is far better to stand in a dark building with the Truth than to dance in a brightly lit one with a lie. If Christ is King, His Word must govern the Kingdom.
What’s coming in this 5-part series:
The P.O.P.E. in the Pulpit: Confronting the Crisis of Christian Unbelief ✅
Part 5: Christian unbelief, hermeneutics, and the purity call. ✅
