A local mega-church pastor has announced on his website that tomorrow, his preaching text will be Isaiah 43. He encourages people to read it ahead of time.

That’s good.

What isn’t good is the basis of my “prophecy” for tomorrow. I predict that said pastor will lift the text from Isaiah 43—which is about the Jewish people, Israel—and make it fit a Church context. This is done all the time, especially in evangelical churches. I contend that it is one of the most harmful aspects of the Church today, because listeners can’t get the proper context and meaning of a given passage.

This is a more subtle form of Replacement Theology (“The Church has replaced Israel”), and while I do not believe the pastor I’ve mentioned practices Replacement Theology per se, he is still promoting a faulty teaching. He won’t mind, though, because his church’s members will be happy to hear a good dose of God’s good promises to…them.