Pastor Rick Cole apologizes for being right

I tune in semi-regularly to the Eric Hogue Show on 710 AM which broadcasts to the greater Sacramento area. Yesterday Eric introduced a story that had appeared in the Sacramento Bee on an event that took place last Sunday in Capital Christian Center, a large Pentecostal church just off of Hwy 50. Evidently the church had put out a press release saying they intended to apologize to anyone who had been hurt or offended by the church over the years. I think that is a good idea because the church is made up of people who are not perfect and do not always “walk in the spirit” and mistakes do happen. So what’s so unusual about this apology? It turns out Pastor Cole was apologizing for being right and sticking to the letter of the law.

The first case mentioned involved a boy, Ben Sharpe, attending the church-run school. Evidently he got a haircut prior to the eighth grade graduation in 1995 that did not conform with the rules of the school and was banned from participating in the ceremony because he violated school policy.

"The letter of the law was applied instead of the spirit of it," said Cole during his sermon. "The letter of the law kills, while the spirit gives life."

This really intrigued me and I couldn’t believe my ears as Pastor Cole told how he apologized for doing the right thing and following the established rules. Eric Hogue chimed in that it was indeed amazing and he was against being legalistic. Having listened many times before, I know Hogue is rather fond of grace, speaks constantly of living in graceland and being a ragamuffin. There’s nothing wrong with that but he takes it a step further and promotes sloppy Christianity, scornfully speaking about legalism and how it has no place in Christianity. Sadly, he mocks God, who is holy, just and given us His laws for a reason that He wants us to obey them. I will cover this in more detail in a future post.

The second case was mentioned involved the school again and how Christina Silvas had a daughter attending, but needed some more money to keep her there and started working as a stripper. This situation is not as clear cut as the first but reflected a moral failure on the part of the mother and the church asked her to remove her daughter from the school. The church had two choices: pay for the girl’s tuition so that Christina didn’t have to strip or ask the girl to leave and relieve the financial burden that was contributing to the mother’s moral failure. I don’t know the exact particulars of the case, just what is publicly on record, but what did the church do wrong? Why should the church leadership stand up and apologize for their action?

The cynical part of me sees this as a way to generate publicity and grow the church. Maybe, maybe not. If these two cases are typical of what Pastor Rick Cole and the leadership at Capital Christian Center are apologizing for, God help them because they have lost their discernment and are on the path like the Levitical priests of old.

(Ezekiel 44:5-14)

“And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary.

And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations, in that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations. And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.

Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel. And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity.

Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them. Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity.

And they shall not come near unto me, to do the office of a priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, in the most holy place: but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed. But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.