Prophet-critics: the critique that becomes your god

Ben observes that the people who deconstruct often started as sharp prophet-critics of the church — naming real hypocrisy and political or economic distortions of Jesus — but then elevated their critique above Jesus himself and became disenfranchised with him for being misrepresented. The pattern: a talking point becomes your celebrity, you give thirty talks a year, make $800,000, and your living depends on it, so you can no longer teach the full counsel of Jesus. Sermon series and books become the trap.