Once again, Church by the Glades puts on a performance. This past Sunday, the worship service opened with a Disney medley that included Tarzan, Moana, and The Lion King.

Certainly, this church … “church” … if you even want to call it that, has done much worse. I’ve covered them more times than I care to recall. But to say the least, they’ve put on some pretty sick performances, including covers of some of the grossest celebrities out there, like Beyonce.

We’ve criticized them. We’ve mocked them. We’ve lamented over them. But we’ve never really explored the deeper issue here. The more important question isn’t why David Hughes continues to do this despite the criticism. It’s, “Why do so many people want this?”

Why do so many thousands of people show up on Sunday morning to be fed this garbage, week after week? They aren’t a captive audience. It isn’t like Florida is short on churches.

They choose to continue bringing their families to this church. They choose to continue to financially support it. The entire spectacle survives because there is a market for it—it’s a religious corporate enterprise that’s found an audience who will pay them for their product.

The uncomfortable question is why isn’t Christ enough?

Why isn’t the unadulterated Word of God enough to satisfy what their hearts and minds crave?

Why do these people need theatrical performances of Stormtroopers, Beyonce, mummies and zombies, dead bodies, Sister Sledge, Lady Gaga, and devilish renditions of the Addams Family?

A truly regenerate person should have no other desire than to seek the words of life. It reminds me of the words of Simon Peter when Jesus asked the twelve if they wanted to leave after the other disciples turned away and left:

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life…”

My entire point rests on 2 Timothy 4:3–4 where Paul told Timothy that “the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

That’s exactly what’s going on, not just at Church by the Glades—the most obvious example—but at churches all around the world. The problem isn’t just that there are churches with false teachers. There are… plenty. And that is a huge problem. But the bigger issue is that there are people who desire and seek out these kinds of teachers. And these teachers flourish because there are people who want the snake oil they’re selling.

The “church” supplies the product and the audience rewards them for selling it.

On the other hand, Christ’s true sheep hear His voice (John 10:27) and Christians long for the spiritual milk of Scripture (1 Peter 2:2). Psalm 119 is replete with language about delighting in God’s Word.

The Bible describes the audience at churches like Church by the Glades as goats, not sheep.

Scripture describes the spiritual appetite of the sheep as a strong desire for Christ and His word, but the goat must continually be bribed with entertainment and feel-good affirmations to stay.

Church by the Glades knows this all too well. The church is a family-owned and operated enterprise. The lead pastor, David Hughes, as well as his sons, his wife, and his family, are all employees and successors of the corporate enterprise. And they’ve found a model that keeps the payments rolling in.

Naturally, their model produces professional branding, constant innovation and reinvention, celebrity worship, entertainment value, and, of course, emotional stimulation. The church even describes itself as a “hyper-creative and a fully-charged church where no perfect people are allowed.” And because their model is built around giving consumers something to consume, they must continue to give their consumers something new.

So their productions continue to become more bizarre, more outlandish, and less reverent and Christ-like.

The same philosophy affects their preaching—when preaching even happens. The vast majority of the worship service revolves around the highly choreographed music productions. But eventually, Hughes or one of his family members enters the stage to “preach.”

Many churches have tried the model of attracting people with the worship service but then giving them something somewhat solid during the sermon.

That doesn’t work.

People who are attracted to worldly entertainment are not turned on by biblical preaching.

And Hughes and Co. understand this.

So their preaching is watered down, designed to affirm the sinner in the pews, and to make them feel good about themselves. It is designed to give the same emotional stimulation they received during the worship.

The gospel is made palatable, hard doctrines are minimized, sin is turned into “brokenness,” repentance is turned into self-improvement, and God’s judgment and wrath are avoided completely. And the cross is just a prop presented to the goats as a means of affirmation rather than God’s wrath being satisfied, as it was poured out on the Sinless One in place of sinners.

But the pure word of God is divisive. It convicts, it exposes our sin, and it tells the people sitting in the pews that, actually, you’re not a good person. The true gospel demands repentance. It tells the sexually immoral and the greedy and the unbelieving, self-righteous sinners that they are condemned before a Holy God and are in danger of eternal judgment.

And it tells them of the good news of Christ for those who repent and turn to Him in faith.

No goats want to hear that. No reprobate wants to hear that they are bad people. They want to be made to feel like they can continue to smoke their weed, sleep around, look at their porn, cuss and take the Lord’s name in vain, and that God will not judge them for it.

And the Disney medley is just fresh seasoning on the spoiled food that deadens their consciences.

Yet once the crowd in organizations like this becomes necessary to sustain the lifestyles of the leadership, there is a powerful incentive not to offend the audience. The church boasts a large staff, high-paying salaries, branding, production costs, infrastructure, and expansion into new markets.

And when you tell the people lining your wallets that they are dead in their sin and must turn from their evil deeds and turn to Christ, the flow of lucre dries up. And David Hughes and Co. can no longer pay for their mansion, their expensive yachts, their luxury vacations, and their designer clothes, and post it all on social media.

Again, it’s not just that the pastor is a false teacher who has deceived an otherwise faithful congregation into following him like a cult leader. He has. But the reality is that these people desire the product he produces.

Just like any other cult, following someone like David Hughes is in and of itself the judgment of God on that person.

Since the beginning, God has tested His people to see if they truly follow Him (Deuteronomy 13:1–3). He allows false prophets to flourish, knowing that those who are truly His will not be deceived. Jesus Himself reiterates this in Matthew 24:24—suggesting that it isn’t even possible for the elect to be led astray in such a way.

The circus exists because there’s an audience willing to pay for it. An audience that wants enough Jesus to affirm them, but not enough Jesus to destroy their idols.

And that’s the saddest part. Not the Disney medley itself, but the fact that so many people believe they are right with God. But the moment they pass, they’re going to realize that David Hughes and many others just like him just paved them a street of gold straight to the gates of Hell.