Recently, author and former megachurch pastor Joshua Harris announced that he had left his wife and the Christian faith. The announcement came in a most 2019 way: via Instagram with a picture of himself brooding over a scenic lake (your typical Pondering Pond photo). Most known for his breakout book I Kissed Dating Goodbye, it was all too easy for a plethora of articles to emerge under the heading "Joshua Harris Kisses Christianity Goodbye."
Mere days later, Harris was posting pictures of himself at a gay pride event. Some have dared to speculate that Harris's next big announcement will be to come out of the closet. Gossip aside, it's clear that Harris does not intend his departure from the faith to be a quiet, contemplative step back. He will capitalize on his own name and the bankability of a star-pastor going rogue, having said he plans to start a podcast about his "journey." Harris is not a Christian, and he's proud of it.
Regarding Harris's apostasy, Toby Logsdon, pastor of New Beginnings Church in Lynnwood, WA, said the following: "Amazing, isn't it? That anyone could walk away from the Christian faith and feel liberated rather than absolutely terrified. But were it not for God's grace sustaining our faith and preserving our place in Christ, we would deny Christ as surely and as readily as Peter did."
With any story of apostasy, we would do well to remember the Spirit's instruction in Philippians 2:12-13, where the Apostle Paul wrote, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."
Harris is not the first high-profile name to leave the faith, and he won't be the last—as we are being reminded even today. Yet another megachurch star has taken to Instagram to announce he's no longer a Christian. You may not know the name Marty Sampson, but you know his songs. Marty has been a worship leader with Hillsong and has written or co-written dozens of hits. His praise albums have sold millions of copies, and his worship choruses have tens of millions of views on YouTube.
In a single paragraph on his Instagram (martysamps), Marty said the following:
Time for some real talk... I'm genuinely losing my faith.. and it doesn't bother me... like, what bothers me now is nothing... I am so happy now, so at peace with the world.. it's crazy / this is a soapbox moment so here I go xx how many preachers fall? Many. No one talks about it. How many miracles happen. Not many. No one talks about it. Why is the Bible full of contradictions? No one talks about it. How can God be love yet send 4 billion people to a place, all coz they don't believe? No one talks about it. Christians can be the most judgemental people on the planet - they can also be some of the most beautiful and loving people... but it's not for me. I am not in any more. I want genuine truth. Not the “I just believe it” kind of truth. Science keeps piercing the truth of every religion. Lots of things help people change their lives, not just one version of God. Got so much more to say, but for me, I keeping it real. Unfollow if you want, I've never been about living my life for others. All I know is what's true to me right now, and Christianity just seems to me like another religion at this point... I could go on, but I won't. Love and forgive absolutely. Be kind absolutely. Be generous and do good to others absolutely. Some things are good no matter what you believe. Let the rain fall, the sun will come up tomorrow.It looks like it was written with the grammar and reason of an adolescent who begrudgingly went to youth group because his parents made him. But Marty Sampson is 40 years old, a husband, a father, and a church leader. As with Harris, Marty is "so at peace" with his decision. I would be, too, if the Christianity I had was the flimsy cardboard box Marty had been living in at Hillsong.
Marty says, "How many preachers fall? Many. No one talks about it." Um, where has he been all summer? For the last two weeks, news of Joshua Harris has consumed evangelical social media. A couple weeks before that, narcissist Mark Driscoll came in on the raft he's reassembled from the shipwreck of his ministry to make fun of his former beliefs. A month before that, word had spread that Harvest Bible Chapel founder James MacDonald allegedly sought a hitman to murder someone. Shall I go on?
Marty says, "How many miracles happen? Not many. No one talks about it." Consider where this is coming from—Hillsong is a charismatic megachurch that started in the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal denomination. They believe tongue-spieling, prophecy-revealing, spirit-feeling, body-reeling, super-healing miracles are going on all the time. Marty has seen through the ruse of charismaticism and recognized this stuff is totally fake. But instead of questioning the Hillsong bubble he was living in, he's blaming all of Christendom.
Marty says, "Why is the Bible full of contradictions? No one talks about it." How much has Marty actually tried to find answers for these things? The Bible has not a single contradiction. If at any point we think the Bible contradicts itself, that's our problem, not God's. For two thousand years, the church has not lacked teachers able to respond to such criticisms. One of my first WWUTT videos was dispelling the myth that there are contradictions between the four gospels. To say "No one talks about it" is absurdly ignorant.
Marty says, "How can God be love yet send 4 billion people to [hell], all coz they don't believe? No one talks about it." Hell is what everyone deserves because all have sinned against God. "But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). There are many teachers who talk about the stuff Marty says no one talks about. Now, it may be true that "no one talks about" hell at Hillsong because it's an uncomfortable doctrine that will keep people from buying CD's. Sales will truly drop if they go from singing about happy-go-lucky Jesus to the Jesus who will strike down the nations (see Revelation 19:11-16).
Marty says, "I want genuine truth. Not the 'I just believe it' kind of truth."That may be a picture of what Marty encountered at Hillsong. Maybe he tried to ask questions about these things, but the depth of the answers he got was "I just believe it." We as Christians are instructed to grow in the knowledge of God through the Bible. The Apostle Paul told the Colossians to be "bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God" (Colossians 1:10). In Christ we find "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3), and we are to "put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator" (Col. 3:10).
Hillsong is not the place to find knowledge. One of their own pastors, Carl Lentz, was asked by Oprah, "Do you believe that only Christians can be in relationship with God?" Lentz replied, "No. I believe that when Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life,' the way I read that, he's the road-marker." What on earth does that mean? No wonder Marty has had trouble finding "genuine truth." Jesus said, "Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice" (John 18:37). If genuine truth is what Marty wants, he must turn to Jesus and away from Hillsong.
Marty says, "Science keeps piercing the truth of every religion," which is just his way of saying, "I'm a natural-minded man who can't discern spiritual things" (see 1 Corinthians 2:14). Marty says, "Lots of things help people change their lives, not just one version of God." This is the fruit of Lentz's reply to Oprah. Jesus is not a life-improvement plan. He's the only way to God, the forgiveness of sins, and the resurrection from the dead!
If this is Marty Sampson's farewell letter to Christianity, then all he reveals here is that he was never a Christian in the first place. We read in 1 John 2:19, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us."
There are many who scoff at the idea that a former believer didn't really believe in the first place. But just take Marty at his own words. It is evident that he has never understood what Christianity is. When you go to his music, you find glimpses of the truth, but it's truth Marty is now saying was never truly meaningful.
In his song Elohim, he wrote, "I stand upon the solid rock of faith in Christ," and "I know my hope shall last." Apparently that was a lie. In the song One Thing, Marty wrote, "One thing I desire, one thing I seek, to gaze upon your beauty." The bridge goes, "I will seek your face, call upon your name, Jesus, all I want is you." But Marty is no longer seeking Christ and is not calling on His name. It cannot be that Jesus was all he wanted.
The chorus of the song goes, "Lord your name is higher than the heavens, Lord your name is higher than all created things." That's certainly true, but it wasn't for Marty. How could a person believe with all his heart in the greatest truth that could ever be known, and then turn around and call it a lie? Such a thing would be impossible. The truth of God cannot be denied by those who have truly beheld its power. Marty did not have faith—he had a passing opinion. He never truly believed the name of Jesus is the name above all names. If he did, he'd be falling on his face in fear of his unbelief, not comfortably musing, "I am so happy now, so at peace with the world."
Marty says, "I've never been about living my life for others." Now, what Marty means is that the opinions of others regarding his newly minted apostasy are not going to change his mind. But unfortunately, this is, like Joshua Harris's confession, a statement of pride. That's exactly who Marty is living for—he is living for himself. He's always been about living for himself. He's never been about the work of God, even if there were times it looked like he was.
His closing words are equally sad and ironic: "Let the rain fall, the sun will come up tomorrow." When the Apostle Paul rebuked some of the Corinthians for not believing in the resurrection of Jesus, he said, "If the dead are not raised, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die'" (1 Corinthians 15:32). Without hope in the resurrection of Christ, we have no hope at all. Marty is conceding to the purposeless of life apart from Jesus, whether or not Marty is aware that's what he just confessed.
Our hearts should break when we hear of stories like Joshua Harris and Marty Sampson. They no doubt have family members whose hearts are also breaking. The day of judgment will be most dreadful for the one who heard the truth, even shared the truth, and yet did not believe it themselves. That is a frightening thing to consider. May none of us ever be too proud, but may we submit to our Father in heaven with fear and trembling. Pray for one another, that we may stand strong in a time of trial. "Keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints" (Ephesians 6:18).
We worship a good God, and without His grace none of us would be saved. Draw near to Him, cling all the more to Christ, who has sealed us with His Holy Spirit for the day of redemption. Philippians 1:6 says, "I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."