Watering Down God's Word

Ministry has become so watered down that ministers are preaching to fill seats instead of preaching the truth according to God's Word.

— Florida Made (@RichardMIATL) May 4, 2016

One of my FB friends (who's an independent minister) made a statement that I'm going to paraphrase: When you're an independent minister, you have the freedom to preach the uncompromising truth according to God's word.You're not accountable to a ministry board so they can't ask you to water down your sermons in order to attract a bigger crowd. Ministry is a business, and a pastor's responsibility is to draw a crowd because the larger the congregation, the more money a pastor makes and the board looks favorably on that. Because some pastors are focused on numbers, they will preach watered-down messages because they don't want to offend their flock. Any pastor can preach about how to get blessed, but it takes a strong pastor to tell it like it is, even if his church membership may suffer. There are some people who appreciate no-nonsense preaching; those are the ones who are serious about growing in Christ. They've heard enough fluff preaching, so they want something real. There are those who prefer preachers to tell them what they want to hear. Those church members don't want to hear no-nonsense truth; they want to hoop & holler their way to hell. They care nothing about growing in Christ.