Remember the church that brought you the God Sex abomination? Their four-week sermon series this past summer had such sermon titles as:
July 08 – Seven Minutes in Heaven [**Sex Party**]
July 15 – Stripped Bare
July 22 – Leather, Whips, and Whipped Cream.
July 29 – What Happens in Vegas Doesn’t Stay in Vegas
Well, they’re back once again to prove that the very idea of sacredness, reverence and holiness is still non-existent in their social club. This Sunday pastor David Trotter will be teaching about the disciples.
But for those in his “church” that would be bored to tears (I mean really, teaching from the Bible is so archaic) fear not, because pastor Trotter has decided to spice it up a bit. Judging by the picture on his blog advertising the upcoming teaching, it is sure to be a hoot:
I mean who wouldn’t want to learn about the disciples when you superimpose the heads of Bart Simpson, Drew Carrey, Mr. T, Jim Carrey and Dr. Phil on their cartoon bodies?
I (still) urge you pastor Trotter, please consider what you are doing. Quit trying to gain the approval of men. I truly fear for you. Please consider that the very God and His things that you show so little respect for is the very God who holds your life in His hands. The very One who has power to destroy both body and soul in hell. Please repent of this and return to the teaching of the Bible without all this adolescent silliness. God will not be mocked. Your very soul hangs in the balance. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God that you treat so flippantly and irreverently.
Christ Alone Wyoming 
Actually Mr. T is playing the part of Thaddaeus – not Jesus. And, actually the felt board and characters are from our mother church within the RCA. If you’d like to watch the message, check out http://www.revolutionfamily.com on Monday.
You may find it interesting to note that we are a church within the Reformed Church in America (www.rca.org) denomination. It is a great honor to be part of this wonderful denomination where we have the opportunity to model a passion to reach those who don’t know Jesus.
BTW, I’m honored that read my blog regularly. Have a great weekend.
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Your funny…and misinformed. God Bless
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There were 12 apostles, right? And it appears that there are 12 characters…what makes you assume that Mr. T is Jesus? Because he’s wearing white?
Please get over it and do something that’s going to bring people to Jesus instead of waisting your time trying to point out splinters in peoples’ eyes (of course, judging by what you’ve just said here…you’re not even looking close enough to see if it really is a splinter or if maybe someone’s eyes are just hazel).
Who are you to judge? The keys of the kingdom were handed to the apostles…I’m pretty sure if Mr. T wasn’t there, neither were you. Your job is to love people. To be Jesus to people. To bring unity to the Church…NOT tear it down. For those of us who take what scripture says seriously, and are doing all we can to follow the command that Christ has given us to spread His message; people like you, who continually sit in the judgment seat, are simply irritating and frustrating. Sorry if I’m a little too blunt. I blame it on the fact that I’m from the East Coast and we speak our minds. But really, I’m just sick of reading things that are based in ignorant assumptions and self-righteousness when Jesus called us to a lifestyle of humility and love.
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The Mr T character is surely deceptive if it’s not supposed to be Jesus in this pic. It stands out from all the others and I bet if you showed ten people, nine would be led to believe it was supposed to be Jesus (especially when you consider Judas left the flock). But if David Trotter says it is Thaddaeus, then I must take him at his word and will adjust the post.
However, it does not change the fact that there is such an irreverence for the things of the Lord… regardless of what denomination you are a part of. A name is only a name. That crazy guy Fred Phelps from the Westboro Baptist Church that pickets all the soldier funerals is a Baptist. But I think you’d agree that means nothing, and he’s off his rocker.
Well, not Leanne, though. She can not make that same assumption because apparently her Bible is missing the fifth chapter of 1 Corinthians, so she can’t say anything about him…or me for that matter. Because that would be a “judgment.”
If people spent more time studying their Bibles instead of just regurgitating little snippets they hear, maybe they’d see that tolerance of blasphemy, crudeness and false doctrine under the banner of “Judge Not” is actually not Biblical. How are we to beware of false teaching and false teachers if we aren’t allowed to judge. Do you lock your car doors when two rough looking men walk by your car at night? Well, you just judged.
When “anything goes” because we don’t have a true Biblical understanding of judging, then our churches get filled with error, deception and apostasy which damns countless souls to hell. And since when did correct discernment turn into judgment? If we weren’t allowed to discern, then why so many warnings from Jesus about being careful of false teachers and their doctrines? I think the answer is whenever you do it, it’s discernment, whenever someone else does it, it’s judgment.
Finally, can anyone (instead of diverting the issue to whether or not calling a spade a spade is judgment) give me a sound Biblical reason to depict (mock) the disciples in the manner that they were in the above picture? Seriously. They gave their life for Christ and the Church.
David, I give the floor back to you. (And BTW, I made some changes to the post for correction. I do apologize for being one of the nine out of ten to presume the one in the middle, in white, with both hands slightly raised, that visually stood out from the rest was supposed to be Jesus. I hope you do accept my apology).
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If you’ll check the faces, you’ll notice that each actor has the same name as the disciple they represent. But, of course, since you’re probably reading your Bible all the time – you probably aren’t too familiar with these actors. I understand.
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Yeah, nothing like marrying ungodly, world-loving heathens with the 12 (OK, 11) who followed our Lord on this earth, and who took His gospels to the uttermost parts of the earth. This is a most dispicable demonstration of intermingling with the world, especially when one of those people is a host of a show called “American IDOL,” another is a cartoon character on a show where the one Christian character (and the local preacher) is routinely mocked, made fun of, and portrayed as a backwards nitwit. This is shameful, it is worldly, it is abominable, and I do not understand how “pastor” Trotter thinks that Jesus Christ would look upon this and approve such a practice.
And “pastor” Trotter, is it really such a bad thing to not know who some of those vile characters are? Or would you just rather continue loving the world, knowing that “friendship with the world is enmity against God,” James 4:4. Or, “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him,” 1st John 2:15. I would rather know God and His Christ than all these ungodly lovers of themselves. In fact, many of these heathens delight in NOT knowing God.
Of course, what would one expect from a “pastor” who is “enjoying” books by people like TD Jakes and Bill Clinton (Bill Clinton?????)
And Leanne, “unity” in the church doesn’t amount to a hill of beans if a church is “united” in heresy. The Metropolitan Community Church is “united”, the American Episcopal church is “united”. There are many churches with a strong sense of “unity” that will stand before God and be judged unrighteous and sent to everlasting destruction. Read the first few chapters in Revelation. The church at Ephesus was “united”. The church at Laodicea was “united”. The church at Sardis was “united”. What did Jesus say about those churches who had such “unity”?
Listen to these words of the apostle Paul in Romans 16:17-19–“Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple…I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.” Does this sound like a man who just wants us all to get along, and be “unified” in heresy? Absolutely not! And it is people like you, Leanne, who are keeping people in their sins by sugar coating everything, and making people feel all warm and fuzzy about their sins!
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“Of course, what would one expect from a “pastor” who is “enjoying” books by people like TD Jakes and Bill Clinton (Bill Clinton?????)”
It’s interesting how you’ve misquoted me TWICE in your comments already. Actually I didn’t say I was “enjoying” either of these books.
If you read the Bible as well as you read my blog, it’s no wonder that you’re coming to the conclusions you are…lol.
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OK, you said, “In the last couple of weeks, I’ve picked up 4 new books that I am (or was) excited about reading.” To the reader, this makes it sound like these are books you are looking forward to reading, or that you have . If not, then you need to be clearer with what you write.
So, what was the other time I misquoted you?
I do need to say this: my use of quotation marks around the word ‘pastor’ when referring to you was inappropriate, and I do apologize for that. But I will not apologize for anything else I wrote, and I will defend it with Scripture. I would like to see you defend your practice of associating the closest followers of Christ with images of blasphemers and idolaters. And do use more than a cutesy little snark and an “lol”.
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I guess this puts a whole new spin on the use of the word “reformed”. I suspect it really means “relevant”. I am surprised that a “reformed” church needs to resort to this type of communication.
I am sure there is some sort of logic on why these worldly heads were selected other than the first letter of their names. I am curious why Christian leaders could not be found instead and used as substitutes if he was looking for current relevance. I guess now though if that were done we would have T. D. Jakes instead of Mr. T and then that would have to be explained – at least how Jakes would be considered “reformed” – in a Washer, Piper, MacArthur, Sproul…oops don’t mean to be giving you names to replace the ones you already have.
All said, I am sure the message will be relevant, entertaining and folks will leave with a warm feeling anxiously awaiting to see what disciple Bart Simpson will teach us. I am not sure how exegetical that message will be, but since this “pastor” has referred to the blogger spending his time reading the Bible – as I guess a joke (lol) – our “pastor” must have one of those new relevant (emergent) translations that already refers to Bart Simpson.
I guess next month it will be clowns.
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Derek said, “I guess this puts a whole new spin on the use of the word “reformed”. I suspect it really means “relevant”. I am surprised that a “reformed” church needs to resort to this type of communication.”
Amen, brother! I’m sure some of the great Reformers like Edwards, Bunyan, Luther, etc., would have a great deal more to say than we do. And a lot harsher as well. In fact, I can only imagine what Spurgeon would have had to say about such rubbish. He would have reduced this guy to a tears by the time he was done.
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Hello everyone. Sorry I’ve been unavailable to comment for a few days. Thanks for all your input.
I kinda got the feeling pastor Trotter was confusing other commenters for me, I hope that was not the case.
Anyhow, I too noticed the remark about me reading the Bible came across as mocking. I am not too proud to admit I don’t recognize 1/2 those celebrity heads on the Apostles. I don’t nearly read the Scriptures as much as I would like, but I can without a doubt say that I read it more than I watch TV. I wonder if pastor Trotter can testify to the same thing.
Now don’t go misjudging what I’m saying. I’m not saying that this is the mark of anything other than to ask what is more important in your life?
And what about the members of Trotter’s church Revolution? Do the majority of them spend more hours in a week watching television or “studying” the Scriptures?
I don’t know because I am not in Trotter’s living room and the living rooms of his congregation. I guess that’s why Jesus told us to examine the “fruit.”
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I think the biggest problem with this flannel graph thing is that John Leguizamo was chosen over Johnny Depp or John Travolta. Those guys are far more popular.
I really can’t believe there were two disciples named James and this church managed to miss James Dean. I mean come on!
Trotter, if you want to be relevant to the culture, please do your research.
Also, thanks for this thread. It is entertaining. I love people complaining that the church just ain’t what it used to be, all the while engaging in theological discourse in the most traditional of ways… on internet message boards.
Do you honestly believe that anyone here is reaching anyone? These message boards don’t create dialogue. It’s a bunch of people hurling insults at others. So that was my insult. Man this is so easy.
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by the way, i watched the sermon video. maybe not my style, but it was a good way to remember the 12 apostles and their stories.
so kudos to you pastor Trotter.
my favorite part… peter cutting off that soldier’s ear. very dramatic.
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