Every person attending a professed Christian church should interview the pastor or pastors of the church they attend. Rather than just showing up, sitting in the same seat, and listening for a bit. Smiling. Maybe shaking some hands. Talking about the kids, the grandkids, and where you spent your vacation.

Rinse. Repeat. Rinse. Repeat.

Yes, seriously. Take the time to have the pastor or pastors of the church you attend make the time for you to sit down, one-on-one, or as a couple with a pastor. And be prepared. Ask them directly what they believe.

If they take umbrage at this, I’d ask them why the attitude. Seriously. They should be open, willing vessels to tell you exactly what they believe, or don’t believe with regard to God’s Word.

Seriously.

If you haven’t done this, why not?

Do you just automatically show up and go through the same routine Sunday after Sunday, listening to the same / very similar 20-minute sermon, here are 3 main points, some pastors making sure each point begins with the same letter of the alphabet, some pitiful standup comedy tossed in [ there are genuinely funny people, pastors, as we’re made in God’s image — yes, I believe there will be laughing in heaven, humor. I believe that because we’re made in God’s image, and look in Psalms and see how and when God laughs, because He does — some people, pastors, have a wonderful sense of humor, and then some aren’t blessed with the gift of humor, and shouldn’t try being funny, because they don’t have inate humor in them. It can’t be forced or learned. It either is there or it isn’t], a story about their kids, wrapped up with a sculpted ending like they are giving an oral book report in high school, just as they learned a sermon should be in the seminary, theology school they attended.

Ask them what they believe.

Don’t be shy, hesitant, or think it isn’t your position. It is EXACTLY your position as one who sits and listens to what they say, which is said according to what they believe. Their words, their beliefs, their interpretation of doctrine become YOUR beliefs, YOUR interpretation of doctrine. Unless you go home and search the Scriptures, like a Berean, to see if what you heard was sound doctrine, true to God’s Word.

Pastors are sinners, flawed people just as I am, just as you are, just as Moses, David, the prophets, and the apostles were.

Don’t idolize or excuse someone because they are a pastor.

You know what I’ve done with every doctor I’ve seen since my first surgery back in 1999? I tell them politely, calmly, upon meeting them, within the first couple of minutes, I’m aware that 50% of doctors in practice graduated in the bottom half of their class. Yet they are still doctors. Same letters after their name as the doctors who graduated in the top 1% of their class.

Do you know, would you know, unless you asked?

I was putting my initials on over 20 pages of information about everything that could happen during and after surgery. I’m not going to ask questions? Doctors aren’t gods. They are just people. Body mechanics.

Know what the first surgeon did, after regaining his equilibrium as he’d never had a patient say that to him in his over 15 years of practice — he said, “Excuse me, I’ll be right back.”

And within about 2 minutes, he reappeared with documentation from the university he attended that he graduated #1 in his class.

He performed every back surgery I’ve ever had. I’ve had a number of them.

And he and I established a relationship as friends, or as much of a friendship as one can develop with a surgeon. But he has spent a lot of time inside my body while I was anesthetized, lying on a surgery table, sometimes for 8 hours at a time. A lot of time with me in his office. We laughed. We joked. He showed me a gag gift his daughters bought him that simulated someone farting, and he said he was taking it to the next meeting he had to attend. He told me right before my third surgery that it was going to pay for a Harley-Davidson motorcycle he wanted. To later tell me, his wife put an end to the motorcycle dream. Can’t have those skilled hands getting injured in a motorcycle accident, right? We talked about everything under the sun.

Everyone should find out where their doctors ranked in their graduation class.

Even more importantly — everyone attending a church should find out exactly what their pastor, or pastors, believe and do not believe within God’s Word.

Don’t take the “Not my pastor, he’s wonderful, it’s other pastors elsewhere” approach. Don’t allow a lack, a fear of being objective, and questioning regarding one of the most important aspects of your life take precedence over confronting directly — what does your pastor believe, or not believe, regarding the whole Word of God.

It doesn’t matter what level of degree he may have, or where he went to school. In fact, that is what works against him being totally faithful to the Scriptures. It is the seminaries, the Bible colleges, the theology schools that infect and dissect and debate and dissent rather than faithfully believing and teaching.

A master’s degree, a Ph.D., means nothing to God and to what is truly in the heart, the spirit of a man.

Presently, in America, there are pastors [see the percentages in the article below] who don’t believe in hell, the virgin birth, the resurrection of the LORD Jesus Christ, they don’t even believe Jesus was God come to earth, they might not believe in the Great Flood, the six day Creation, and much of what is contained in the Holy Bible.

But they do believe in pushing, preaching the false prosperity gospel, the false new thought gospel, the false progressive gospel, or having no problem with sexual deviancy, and on and on it goes.

We live in such times that every person needs to know what their pastor, or pastors, believe.

In my chief of sinners days, I saw the comedian George Carlin perform in person. His last joke of the night stuck with me.

“Somewhere in the world is the world’s worst doctor…and you have an appointment with him in the morning.”

Somewhere, in many churches presently, are heretical pastors, false teaching pastors, doing it because it’s just a job to them, one they can receive adoration from people for, appear a certain way, while being wolves in sheep’s clothing, or perhaps with good intentions, but they are weak in the Word. Weak in their beliefs. They deliver milk every Sunday instead of meat. They preach as if it’s 1825 instead of 2025. They refuse to take on the important matters.

And you’re going to be sitting in the same seat this coming Sunday listening to another sermon of theirs…

Read on…

Ken Pullen, Thursday, July 10th, 2025

Shepherds Without Scripture: What Do Today’s Pastors Really Believe?

July 09, 2025

By PNW Staff — Prophecy News Watch

Reprinted from Prophecy News Watch

When was the last time you asked your pastor what they actually believe?

Not about their favorite worship songs or denominational affiliation–but about the bedrock truths of the Christian faith. Do they believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God? Do they preach the reality of Hell? Are they convinced that Adam and Eve were real people and not just symbolic figures in a myth?

These are not fringe questions. They strike at the heart of the Gospel. And yet, startling new data shows that many clergy–those tasked with leading God’s people–are uncertain, conflicted, or in outright disagreement with Scripture on these core doctrines.

With leaders like this, is it any wonder that so many in the pews no longer know what they believe?

Theological Clarity–or Collapse?

Let’s begin with a foundational question: Did Adam and Eve actually exist as real, historical people?

Shockingly, only 25% of Catholic priests and Mainline Protestant pastors say they “definitely believe” Adam and Eve were real. Compare that with 80% of Evangelical pastors and 89% of black Protestant clergy.

In other words, three out of four leaders in some traditions reject or seriously question the literal Genesis account. That’s not theological diversity–that’s a spiritual crisis.

If Adam and Eve were not real, then what do we do with the Fall, original sin, and our need for redemption? These leaders aren’t just shaving off theological edges–they’re ripping up the foundation of the Gospel.

And this theological drift only deepens the more you look.

93% of Evangelical pastors affirm the reality of Hell. But that drops to 70% for Catholic priests, and an alarming 45% among Mainline Protestant leaders.

Belief in miraculous healing is strong among Evangelicals (84%) and Catholics (78%), but dips to just 47% for Mainline clergy.

When asked about God’s existence, 98% of Evangelical pastors and 89% of black Protestant leaders say they are completely certain. Catholic clergy clock in at 85%, but Mainline Protestants? Just 70% express full confidence, and 26% openly admit to doubts about God’s existence.

Let that sink in: One in four Mainline clergy doubt the existence of God. These aren’t fringe bloggers or deconstructing TikTok influencers. These are the men standing behind pulpits every week.

A Crisis of Biblical Authority

If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

Nowhere is the erosion of truth more evident than in what pastors believe about the Bible itself. According to the National Survey of Religious Leaders, across Christian clergy, there are two dominant views:

The Bible is inspired and without error, though some parts are symbolic.

The Bible is inspired, but contains historical and cultural errors that don’t apply today.

Among Evangelical and black Protestant pastors, the majority–70% and 67% respectively–affirmed the view: the Bible is inspired and free of error, though some parts are symbolic.

But that confidence collapses among other groups.

Among Catholic priests, only half affirm the inerrant Word of God. The other half believe the Bible contains culturally outdated or inaccurate material. Among Mainline Protestant clergy, a staggering 70% held that view–that Scripture is inspired but historically flawed.

Let’s not sugarcoat this: These pastors are not submitting to God’s Word; they’re sitting in judgment over it. They believe the Bible can inspire but not instruct. They quote Jesus, but question Paul. They cherry-pick verses and reinterpret commandments, all while claiming spiritual authority.

This isn’t merely a different “interpretive lens.” It’s theological rot. And it’s spreading through seminaries, pulpits, and youth ministries like wildfire.

A Syncretized, Sinking Church

If you think this is just a Mainline or Catholic problem, think again. A study from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University found that only 37% of Christian pastors across America hold a biblical worldview.

That means nearly two-thirds–62%–have adopted a hybrid belief system the researchers call Syncretism–a blend of Christianity, secular psychology, progressive politics, and pop spirituality.

Worse still, when the data is broken down by pastoral roles:

41% of senior pastors held a biblical worldview.

28% of associate pastors.

13% of teaching pastors.

Just 12% of youth and children’s pastors.

Let that last number sink in. The leaders shaping your children’s view of God are the least likely to believe the Bible is true.

What hope do our families have if we can’t trust those charged with discipling the next generation? These aren’t mild doctrinal disagreements. They are full-scale departures from the faith once delivered to the saints.

The researchers didn’t mince words: “Spiritual renewal is needed just as desperately in our pulpits as in the pews.”

What Must We Do?

Some differences among Christians are natural and even healthy–worship style, church governance, or views on non-salvation issues. But this? This is a full-scale collapse of biblical Christianity.

These aren’t harmless “different perspectives.” They are denials of truth. If your pastor doesn’t believe in a real Adam, a real Hell, or the real authority of Scripture–they are not preaching the Gospel.

Church, we must wake up. The sheep are being led by wolves in robes. Sound doctrine is not optional–it is essential. And in a world starving for truth, we cannot afford to remain silent while leaders distort it.

As Paul warned in 2 Timothy 4:3-4:

“For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves… and will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

That time isn’t coming. It’s here.

And it’s in the pulpit.

So ask the question–before it’s too late: Do you know what your pastor believes?