The Two Types of Preaching

I am becoming more and more convinced that there are only two types of preaching that take place in American Christianity today.

In the first, the preacher says to his audience that people should be flames of fire for God. "Fire should be hot," he says, and he outlines several goals someone should pursue to become hot. And so the people follow the steps he describes to have heat. "Fire should be bright," he says, and so the people follow the steps he describes for shining brightly. "Fire should burn with an orange flame," he says, and so the people follow the steps he describes for possessing this hue in their lives, going as far as to wear clothes that make them look like giant pumpkins if needed. But yet they remain as they did before, with their fire nothing more than a paper-mache costume wrapped around their souls.

In the second, the preacher says to his audience that people should be flames of fire for God. He admonishes people to examine their lives to see if they qualify. He tells them to look for the heat, the light, and the color they should possess if they are truly alight. And if they lack, he says, then they must repent and turn to Christ that they might become torches quickly. And for those who are already flames of fire for God, he teaches them how they can burn with more fervor, beam more radiantly, and go from being mildly orange to white-hot.