THE NEW LIBERALISM "As God is, so are we" the preacher declares, reaching the high point of his sermon, his forehead glistening with sweat, pausing mid-speech one arm raised for effect, voice quivering. He insists the very large and, by appearances, very affluent congregation repeat the maxim several times. It echoes around the building - "as God is, so are we". The preacher has spoken now for over thirty minutes and we are yet to open our bibles. At last, the biblical rationale comes. The streets of heaven are paved with gold we learn, an oblique reference to the heavenly city described in Revelation. "As God is, so are we" the preacher continues, smiling broadly. God has lots of gold, so to should we. God is never sick, nor should we be. "As God is, so are we" - it goes on for much longer, but I have heard enough. There are some really good things about Australia having it’s own Christian television channel on Optus vision and one is that there are twenty-nine other channels to choose from. Several weeks later I tried again, this time encountering a national figure who was one of the driving forces behind the formation last year of the coalition of independent Churches humbly titled the Australian Christian Churches, a term that makes me wonder as an Anglican what sort of Church they consider us to be (Hindu, Buddhist ???). One would not dare ask where they put the Roman Catholics or Eastern Orthodox. The Pastor gives his message and then comes the selling point. This time it is a tape set simply called ‘Money’. There are three topics; Why you need more money, How you can get more money, and How to have wealth without loving money. In between the voice-over exhorting buyers to "order now" we hear snippets of the message within - "If you think you don’t need more money, then I say you have a poor outlook on life" is one pearl of wisdom. And what about this exegetical gem - "Why else would the Lord say ‘Let the poor say I am rich, if not to break the cycle of poverty?’". Seminarians and theologians have long been familiar with the Marxist inspired Liberation Theology - here at last is the  Western Capitalist version, arrived at by using an individualistic hermeneutic borne out of a white, upper to middle class suburban Sitz im Leben.    There have always been, at every stage in the long history of the Christian Church, men and women who have pursued their own agenda’s rather than that of the Bible (God’s), or who have simply been poor preachers and exponents of the revealed Word - God knows I have heard a few in my short time. But this is not some aberrant fringe group with fifty or so spellbound followers who have mortgaged their homes. This is very much now the mainstream face of the Christian Church in Australia. This is middle class suburbia, a large and enthusiastic congregation, and two prominent, nationally known and recognized Pastors. These are Christian leaders of our nation misusing the Bible in a way that any Sunday School educated believer ought to recognize - openly appealing to the Western consumers love of money and greed for material possessions in the name of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And they are certainly not alone. One can hear sermons very much like this one on any Sunday in any number of Churches across Australia, just as one could simply glance over the best-seller list at any Christian bookstore to find the same sort of thing in print. Sure, the Bible is referred to and (somewhat ironically) constantly upheld as infallible and inspired by most such preachers and teachers - but it is not explained, expounded, and applied on its own terms. Rarely even is a passage read and preached on. Instead we have excerpts and proof-texts that, out of context, seem to support the preachers starting proposition. But even more concerning is the underlying philosophy that has replaced the Bible in such popular preaching and teaching. No longer is it a sound grasp of salvation history that drives preaching from today’s pulpits in the fastest growing Churches, but self-help, motivational, and positive thinking techniques drawn from the secular world that take prominence. No longer is it conviction of our sin and need for the salvation won for us by a suffering savior that wins souls for the Kingdom of God. Instead, it is promises of fantastic wealth, undying happiness, and perfect health that put people in pews and tithes and offerings in the collection bowl. Put simply, the Bible has been all but muscled out of mainstream preaching in today’s Church’s by the philosophy that undergirds Western Capitalism. If you can’t get rich quick yourself - let God do it for you. He paves his streets with gold after all - as he is, so are we etc. etc.. The supreme irony in all of this is that, whilst fundamentalists and evangelicals of all kinds have consistently decried the infiltration of ‘worldliness’ among the mainline Churches, secular values have in fact penetrated the very heart and core of these, the most fundamentalist of all Churches, in a way that has never been the case in Liberal congregations - to the frightening extent that neither the Pastors and leaders nor their congregations can see the glaring naivete and theological flaws in a claim like "as God is, so are we" nor the exegetical silliness committed by interpreting "let the poor say I am rich" in monetary terms. The loss of biblical theology is, in these contexts, covered over by the glowing testimonies, exalted worship, professional musicians, and engaging speakers. The word of God has quietly slipped out the door, to be replaced by a new and far more insidious Liberalism, a baptized version of secular materialism dressed up with a few biblical quotations and references. The supreme tragedy is that neither the Pastors and leaders, nor their congregations, can see it, their vision seemingly distorted by the numbers streaming in through the door.   This is not to say that there is no place for engaging with the culture we live in and using it as a medium to preach the Gospel. Paul did so at Athens, when he appealed to the 'Altar to the unknown God’ as a point of contact on which to anchor his Gospel message. The difference is, Paul never bowed down and worshipped at that altar. We constantly hear of the "fast growing Charismatic and Pentecostal Churches" but if this is what brings in the masses, I say let them have the crowds - I for one would much  rather voluntarily wither away slowly in a ‘declining’ denomination, honorably and with my integrity intact, on the vine of Biblical truth.