The American Church is a Whorehouse: Tullian Tchividjian Shows Us That

   I have many things on my heart as I have thought about writing what I’m about to share, so before I go any further, I’d like to ask that you don’t shoot the messenger and instead consider what I am sharing, then weigh in with your thoughts.

Yesterday the very sad, but not really all that surprising, news broke about the grandson of Billy Graham.  In case you’re not aware Tullian Tchividjian admitted to adultery, after he was confronted by some in his church, and he resigned as the pastor of the church.  Note that he didn’t actually do the honorable thing and just resign when he knew he was doing these things, he had to be confronted by those in his church.  I actually think it’s a little miracle the leadership even did that.    The public statement that he released also revealed that his wife had also committed adultery.

I have to say that I remember when Tchividjian first came on the scene as the new pastor of the church because I found it sad that the grandson of Billy Graham was given the pastorate instead of someone who was apart of Coral Ridge at the time.  I remember thinking, “Here we go again, another Christian celebrity with the Graham name.”  I heard him being interviewed all over Christian media and I never understood why.  Why was he so great?  Because he’s related to the famed evangelist?  So what, big deal.

In case anyone hasn’t noticed, the Graham family doesn’t have the most stellar record of righteousness.  There’s been divorce among the children, adultery and even departure from the faith.  Even Anne Graham Lotz has written about her time away from the church because of her husband and her being thrown out of the church.

So, seeing another famous relative of the famed evangelist fall from “grace” as they all say, isn’t all that surprising and in fact, it’s to be expected.

I’m someone who didn’t have a Christian heritage growing up and I used to feel envious of those who were “blessed” to be raised in the church.  I no longer feel envious because most of what we see in this culture of Christian celebrity is nothing but hypocrisy.

The church in America has prostituted herself out for fame, money and personality.  To be even more blunt, the church in America is a whorehouse.  Now maybe that offends a few people and maybe you don’t agree with me, but that’s what I see.  There isn’t a day when there isn’t some news about a pastor “falling from grace” or someone involved in ministry of some type that isn’t caught busted in some “moral failure”.  Those “moral failures” are often sexual in nature, but not always, sometimes it involves money.  Other times it involves abuse of power and personality.

If we want actual revival in America, then it’s time to buck tradition and shut down the whorehouse.  Instead of hiring pastors with famous last names and televising our church services, how about the church actually repent and listen to what the scriptures tell us to do.

I was at church recently and the pastor was giving his sermon and kept watching the clock and saying, “I have more to say but I know we’re running out of time.”  My thought was, “Go ahead and keep on preaching, buck tradition and just preach on.”  Plus the interesting thing was that this pastor was talking about revival.  However, he was so concerned that the people in the church would get angry because “he went over time” that he quenched the Spirit of God and stopped his message early.

Imagine what would happen if pastors actually obeyed the Spirit of God instead of holding to their traditional boring church service and program.  Imagine what would happen if  churches stopped with their marketing and branding practices and hiring men with business administration degrees and instead there were men raised up from within the body of believers and given the chance to preach the Word of God.

Imagine what would happen if the church actually bent her knee and prayed and repented, instead of being all concerned about the latest church fad and Christian celebrity.

If the church wants revival then the church is going to have to buck tradition and kick it out the door.  If the church wants to stop being a whorehouse than the church needs to throw out the moneychangers and those involved in the fundraising and marketing of the church.

The church also needs to clean house and kick out every single person involved in sexual sin.  Those addicted to pornography, involved in fornication, and not willing to repent, need to be thrown out.

I, for one, am sick and tired of watching the body of Christ be beaten up in the media because of leaders like Tullian Tchividjian who blatantly sin and bring shame, disgrace and dishonor to the name of Christ.  He knew exactly what he was doing and didn’t care. He did it anyway.  And he apparently didn’t learn anything from his grandfather.

So, when is it going to stop?  How many Christian celebrity leaders do we have to watch destroy and malign the church?  How many times do I have to see this happen?

If the church wants revival, then the REAL church needs to bend the knee, repent and live holy and blameless lives.  Maybe if we got rid of Christian celebrities and the marketing of Christianity, we’d see that. Until then, I believe the Lord weeps for his blemished bride who is a whore.  I believe He weeps because the American church has set up men to be worshipped and adored, rather than focused on Jesus, the Bridegroom, who is to be worshipped and adored.