I am a Christian apologist who defends the faith against false prophets. Christian apologetics (Ancient Greek: ἀπολογία, “verbal defense, speech in defense”) is a branch of Christian theology that defends Christianity.
This is why people do not believe in God.
On July 11, 2024, teaching pastor Dan Liam preached a sermon at New Spring Church. New Spring is a megachurch that has 13 campuses across South Carolina. The academic accomplishments of Liam that would accredit him to be a teaching pastor have not been published.
The sermon on this Sunday was on worry, titled Restlessness. In his opening he did present a genuine concern of his own worry regarding his son going off to college. This was followed by a silly concern that his 20-year-old daughter met a wonderful man that she desired to marry. He shared, from a church theatrical stage and not from a pulpit as is the custom of megachurches, how this young man is everything a father would desire for his child, though he worried. “Everything that I’m looking for but it’s got me worried because he’s exactly the kind of kid who is going to ask for time with me to have that conversation with me.” This is not a worry, but a joy. This is such a shallow understanding of worry with a parishioner sitting before him has prostate cancer?
Good news isn’t a worry. Life after divorce is a sincere worry.
Liam introduced his sermon saying, “He diagnoses why you worry. He describes the weight you feel every single day that he’s inviting to carry for you and he also prescribes a path forward.”
His sermon on our ability to discard worry in our lives was based on the gospel message printed in Matthew 6:25-31. Liam shared that he reads this passage each morning before his devotions (I question if this is even true and not a dramatic sermon statement) confessing that this will eliminate our worry and anxiety. The prescription to eliminate worry, according to Liam, is to simply look at birds and smell flowers. The pastor’s message is a shallow message that I have heard for seven decades; which is, since God watches over you there is no need to worry.
Liam’s message: if we sit in a garden and look at the birds, as he does each morning even before he begins his daily devotions, we know as God feeds the birds we will be cared for, so we need not be troubled. The preacher shared this thought, “Jesus encourages us to look at the birds. Literally, go take up bird watching. Jesus has led me to this passage and I have taken it very literally. I am trying harder not to let my head and heart to spin out of control, but to slow down and look at the birds.” Bird watching can help us slow down, though it will not eliminate nervousness as the megachurch pastor concludes at the end of his sermon proclaiming, “When you put him first guess what happens, worries go away.”
Liam rambled during this segment of his sermon, enthusiastically describing how God provides all the necessities that a bird requires to sustain a joyful life. The counseling pastor then offered this as reassurance that tranquility will be a part of our lives because as “He does it for the birds. He’ll do it for you.”
Next, he went on to say “Now, smell the flowers.” As with watching birds frolic, if we smell a flower, any flower each morning as he does, we have no concerns, as he confesses this will eliminate fruitless thoughts from our minds.
Liam’s theology is simplistic and ought of touch with reality. People do worry and will continue to worry even while gazing at birds and smelling followers. Perhaps these encounters will provide comfort, though worry will still persist. How can an individual stop worrying about an emotional intrusion into his life?
It is childish to think that a literal interpretation of Matthew six, as he postulates, is a prescription to end worry rather than nothing more than a comforting and reassuring message.
Beyond bird watching and smelling flowers and reading the Bible, Liam offered no other avenues to sooth one’s emotional trauma. For instance, he never discussed the reassuring presence of a friend. Further, the authenticity of his message was diluted with showmanship and an abundance of meaningless stories.
This is why people don’t believe. It would have been more affordable to provide a message acknowledging the reality of worry with the understanding Jesus can offer comfort, though Jesus is unable to alleviate all of our worries; rather than a simplistic message of watching birds and smelling flowers, will, in Pastor Dan Liam closing words, “When you put him first guess what happens, worries go away.”
Dan Liam’s sermon is biblically immature.
Dan Liam’s sermon is psychology misguided.