Dependent upon what the pastor is accused of doing, if the deed is sufficiently egregious, doesn't the pastor also bear some of the responsibility for this potential religious abandonment?
What this pastor was doing from the pulpit was attempting to frighten critics into silence.
Pastor Jason Cooley admonished in the sermon that one ought to largely remain silent regarding a pastor's errors or mistakes.
He likened this form of criticism and analysis to a form of backbiting or secret whispering spoken of unfavorably in Scripture.
Often a pastor's sermons consist in large part of what others have done wrong even if the names are changed.
Therefore, what is so wrong with the average Christian, as part of their own ministry, exposing errors on the part of pastors so that all throughout Christendom might be better protected against them when spiritually assaulted by similar doctrine and pastoral malfeasance elsewhere?
Scripture warns about spreading secrets and talking about that which one ought not or which there is no verifiable proof.
However, a sermon is a public oration.
As such a discourse, it is open to reflection by and cogitation upon by those that hear it. The role of the pastor is to protect the flock.
Then shouldn't it be the role of studied voices from within the flock to protect the flock from the pastor even if that protection consists of little more than assurance that more than one mind is formulating these kinds of concerns?
By Frederick Meekins