Sermons of the Serpent, the free book by Jon-Michael Sherman

● Free book · 141 pages

Sermons of the Serpent.

By Jon-Michael Sherman

A pastoral defense against dark ideas. Thirty things people say in your lobby, the ism underneath each one, and what God really said.

  • The three lies in the garden, and how the serpent still speaks through people
  • Thirty sayings, each named for the ism it carries
  • A write-in page at the end of every chapter so you can answer it this week

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Inside the book

Learn to hear what the serpent is saying.

Every chapter is something people actually say, and the ism it carries. Once you can hear it, you hear it everywhere. The question under every chapter is where authority lies.

Part 1Epistemology

  1. 1“If God is real, then prove it”Conditionalism
  2. 2“What’s true to me is true to me”Relativism
  3. 3“Nobody can tell me what to do”Pluralism
  4. 4“There are many paths to God”Universalism
  5. 5“My group identity determines what is true”Identitarianism
  6. 6“I’m more loving than God”Deconstructionism

Part 2Grace and its ditches

  1. 7“My actions don’t have consequences”Licentiousness
  2. 8“I need to do these things to be right with God”Legalism
  3. 9“If it feels good, do it”Hedonism
  4. 10“If I don’t do this, God doesn’t love me”Cultism

Part 3Culture and the church

  1. 11“I have church hurt”Neo-Marxism
  2. 12“I don’t trust pastors”Disunity
  3. 13“We co-pastor”Hyper-feminism
  4. 14“There’s always a middle ground”Third wayism
  5. 15“Who’s really behind this…?”Conspiratorialism
  6. 16“I’m against every war”Pacifism
  7. 17“We don’t take hard stances here”Purposeful ambiguity
  8. 18“Share the gospel at all times; if necessary, use words”Social gospel

Part 4Church life and posture

  1. 19“We’ll do anything short of sin to grow the church”Hyper-pragmatism
  2. 20“Small churches are better than big churches”Micro-churchism
  3. 21“The church was better back when…”Nostalgism
  4. 22“I’m in it not to win it”Defeatism
  5. 23“What does it matter?”Nihilism
  6. 24“This money could be used for something else”Criticism
  7. 25“You can’t do that, Jesus”Congregationalism
  8. 26“Pastors shouldn’t be paid”Anarchism
  9. 27“If you really believed that, you wouldn’t do this”Cynicism

Part 5The heart

  1. 28“I’m amazing and everyone else sucks”Hubris
  2. 29“I would never do that”Exceptionalism
  3. 30“Kill yourself”Despair

ConclusionSurely Not I

  1. 31“Surely Not I”

Prefer to watch?

Every chapter is also a free video lesson.

Sermons of the Serpent is a free course: thirty sayings and the isms underneath them, in Jon-Michael’s own words. Watch it in order, or start with the saying you’re hearing most.

Watch the free course →Also free: The High Capacity Pastor →
Sermons of the Serpent, a free book

Free book · 141 pages

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