Theologian Jonathan Lamb has spoken out against theologies that encourage Christians to believe they will never face trials and make God out to be nothing more than a “celestial Father Christmas”.

The International Director of Langham Preaching told evangelicals at this year’s Keswick Convention to be on their guard against human-centred spiritualities that are concerned with self-fulfilment and self-realisation.

“This can influence Christian attitudes too,” he warned.

“Christians have been known to teach that some who faces hardships or trials must be outside of God’s blessing. Surely true faith overcomes the hurdles and means we are riding high on a success-orientated spirituality?”

He argued that the New Testament taught the opposite and showed weakness to be an essential part of the Gospel.

Paul, he said, realised that the work of God was revealed through the weakness of Jesus and the foolishness of the cross, and that the Gospel was able to reach non-believers because of the weakness of the messenger.

Rather than being evidence of Paul’s lack of spirituality or ability to lead, suffering was a “badge of his discipleship”, Lamb said.

Similarly, he said Christians should expect suffering and trials, but also seek to see the value of hardships.

“If you are a Christian, united to Jesus Christ, there is no avoiding this weakness. We should suspect all models of the Christian life that try to avoid it.”

He continued: “One of the reasons why we have difficulty in understanding the idea of ‘valuable trials’ is because we have what might be called a Santa Claus theology where we imagine God is a celestial Father Christmas, characterised by indulgent benevolence.”

He argued that the difficulties revealed by Paul in 2 Corinthians showed the opposite to be true.

He said: “Throughout the letter, we find that God takes us through these afflictions in order to bring us to a recognition of our own helplessness, to bring out self-confidence to an end, and to teach us an exclusive trust in God. In desperate times we learn to hold Him fast.”