What's Happening to Our Nation and Churches?

Here are two posts I made recently that are resonating with Christians in the Evangelical/Reformed World. I wanted to share it here for further reach. Above is a video I made in light of my posts below. May God use it for His glory. 

*The references I make to "negative world" are important to understand, and come from this article.: 

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2022/02/the-three-worlds-of-evangelicalism

Here is a brief explanation from the article: "Within the story of American secularization, there have been three distinct stages:

• Positive World (Pre-1994): Society at large retains a mostly positive view of Christianity. To be known as a good, churchgoing man remains part of being an upstanding citizen. Publicly being a Christian is a status-enhancer. Christian moral norms are the basic moral norms of society and violating them can bring negative consequences.
• Neutral World (1994–2014): Society takes a neutral stance toward Christianity. Christianity no longer has privileged status but is not disfavored. Being publicly known as a Christian has neither a positive nor a negative impact on one’s social status. Christianity is a valid option within a pluralistic public square. Christian moral norms retain some residual effect.
• Negative World (2014–Present): Society has come to have a negative view of Christianity. Being known as a Christian is a social negative, particularly in the elite domains of ­society. Christian morality is expressly repudiated and seen as a threat to the public good and the new public moral order. Subscribing to Christian moral views or violating the secular moral order brings negative consequences."

THREAD: Here's why people hate Wolfe. Many of us (under 35-40) entered into Calvinistic/Reformed thinking through popularizers on YouTube, etc., like James White. I remember in 2008 learning the "5 points" but struggling on Limited Atonement, until a helpful article by White.

 

A lot of people, I think, got sucked into a particular stream, whether it's James White's A&O ministry, and its small constellation of friends. White and others make a lot of dogmatic statements, and to those knew to all this, who are we to question? We have no traction yet. 

 

Add to it our nation and churches are going belly up, and you finally find some footing with some of these guys. You embrace the sovereignty of God in salvation. True, some stop there, go on and on for decades about the 5 points and think it's the sum total of Reformed Thought. 

 

Or some meandered their way to Banner of Truth, maybe even find a confessional church to worship in/at (but let's be honest, many of even some prominent "based baptists" on Twitter, etc., aren't really at Confessional churches), and their horizons are broadened a bit. But... 

 

Everyone has an angle, everyone is trying to make money, gain popularity and control the narrative on what is or isn't Reformed. That especially happens even in Reformed/Presbyterian old, stodgy Confessional churches. @presbycast/@RScottClark types can abound in some circles. 

 

As we entered negative world, as @aaron_renn's article puts it, the poo hit the fan hard, and keeps hitting the fan to this day, and all the fissures are and divides are splitting open, wider and wider. Whatever recovery of doctrine/thought/worldview we had was insufficient. 

 

I remember nodding in perfect agreement with men like Carl Trueman a decade ago or more, when they basically said we love the Reformed, except their political theology/ideology, etc. We've learned from that, overcome those blind spots. All while the USA was imploding politically! 

 

have a Bachelor's degree from Sproul's Bible college and learned outside of the theonomic, presuppositional bubble. Then I went to GPTS where that was very prevalent a decade ago, though I think that's changing. But I also learned to appreciate certain strands of theonomy. 

 

As a pastor, I have some at my church who are wrestling with covenant baptism, and I have to push back on someone like White who apparently says things like John Calvin invented infant/Covenant baptism. Paul Washer has said infant baptism was the golden calf of the reformation. 

 

You look at Ligonier conferences, and everyone is singing Koombaya, Baptists and Presbyterians at least. Michael Horton is there along with Al Mohler or Ligon Duncan, etc. "What's the big deal" is the trickle down effect to the person on the pew, who doesn't go beyond Ligonier. 

 

What they won't hear about, usually, is that Ligonier will quietly dismiss certain people that go beyond their polls of acceptability, at least for a few years. Al Mohler, for example, is no longer a teaching fellow, but that stuff is never broadcast, but.... 

 

 

It is footnoted at the bottom of an article now some 8 years old:

Few see this, so there's always suspicions but never real confirmations, only obfuscations.

But enough of us have seen these games and the political posturing up close, & its bad effects.

Welcoming Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr. and Dr. Derek W.H. Thomas as Our Newest Teaching FellowsDr. R.C. Sproul founded Ligonier Ministries in 1971 as a teaching fellowship designed to flood the culture with knowledgeable and articulate Christians. Since thttps://www.ligonier.org/posts/welcoming-albert-mohler-derek-thomas-newest-teaching-fellows

 

I really don't know if Sproul would be quite the ally we think he would be in 2023. He died in 2017. He'd do better I believe than most everyone else with prominence, but I don't think he'd be the rock star we quite hoped for. His legacy was built in positive and neutral world. 

 

But to get back to the point of why folks hate @PerfInjust for posts like the one he made about James White. People get strong emotional attachments, especially to charismatic, dogmatic voices who truly helped you when you came to faith, or at least came to Calvinistic conviction 

 

Many never swim outside of their narrow stream they were brought into, and James White, and a whole hose of others, themselves likely came into these things in a narrow stream, truncated view, etc., and started making some dogmatic assertions for decades that went unchallenged. 

 

You don't know what you don't know, & I think it is plain that Reformed resourcement is a moving target; I don't fully trust any sinner to not put their spin or bias on it. As Wolfe and others have said, you need to "do the reading" for yourself. But check the translation/edits! 

 

If you read or listen to the popular books and podcasts, they can be helpful, but they are downstream, and through more lenses of interpretation, biases, etc. I have found good theonomists, and good C2K, and gladly admit I am ignorant of the depths of both. I must read more. 

 

But I don't get bent out of shape when Wolfe or others push back hard against this or that, call this or that garbage, etc. they've got skin in the game, and frankly, it is hard to deny that Wolfe, etc., are recovering and articulating much of what the Reformers held. 

 

So if James White, R.C. Sproul, etc., is your hero, popularizer, read outside that stream, realize no one person has the monopoly on all truth/learning, & that we've been so far gone in the 20/21st century, White, etc., couldn't have put all the pieces back together themselves. 

 

And yes, we must throw Doug Wilson and others into this as well. With all of these men and movements and groups, we need to not throw the baby out with the bathwater. For some of them, they may speak very dogmatically and simply be wrong or off a bit. There's battles to fight. 

 

The best heroes are dead heroes, and ones that you are fairly sure you've not just been reading a bunch of hagiography about. Because they can't disappoint you any longer, and you should see they had their own faults in life as well. There are no impeccable men to admire. 

 

This isn't to say you won't, with wide and careful study, narrow in or close on particular convictions. I am a Reformed Presbyterian, still learning, but believe strongly in covenant baptism, recognize paedo-communion is an absolute aberration, but also am fond of Wilson's works. 

 

I call myself optimistic amill when someone forces me to "declare" what I am, have appreciation for theonomist types and C2K types, but also know the best on both sides could argue their positions better than I could for them, and both sides have dolts. 

 

The problem is when people have been blindly zealous and dolts for over a decade, and I've seen some of them on Facebook for more than a decade, share the same basic 5 pointer-isms that are shibolleths with little power to do us good at this stage in the decay. Wolfe is hated by 

 

PerfInjust A lot of people like this, because it's been easy and comfortable to feel, and likely be, more sound and learned in doctrine and the church than 97% of Christians in our brain-dead and apostatizing nation. But go back 150 years or so, and even as I a pastor would be middle class. 

 

Lack of study or honing in on one or two men or ministries, and giving blind allegiance to them, is sin. Doing that for decades leads to hating men who know and teach better than your heroes, who border on idols. This could be true for some "Wolfe-ites" that form in years ahead. 

 

So in short, can you stomach someone calling your heroes and theological movements of the 20th century "garbage", even if not all of it is equally garbage? Or does that so upset you that you just jump in with calling Wolfe, well, a wolf in sheep's clothing? That's the test. 

 

PerfInjust It really shouldn't be a hard test. But for so many it is, especially with the rules of speaking niceties and pleasantries and disagreeing as gently and agreeably and disguisedly as possible. How about we just study, learn, pray, and plow ahead in service to the Lord? /end 

 

One last note, I never had the antipathy to natural law so many presup/theonomic types have/had, but some are moderate on those points and seem solid enough overall to me. Others are wrong and obnoxious. I'm not big on Van Til overall or the "how do you know that" mantra. 

 

 

THREAD: Will our living, Reformed heroes fully betray us?

Yesterday's post has gotten a lot of response, so I thought I'd say some more.

Some are choosing to double and triple down in support of their old Reformed heroes from the last few decades, as said heroes double down. 

Many have been molded into a narrow stream of thought, but believe it is rich fullness because it has the label "Calvinist" or "Reformed" slapped onto it, and their own churches aren't confessional, or are confessional in name only, and lack the full, richness as well. 

 

I am still thankful for ministries like James White, Doug Wilson, R.C. Sproul/Ligonier, etc. Even John MacArthur's or John Piper's were both influential on me early, and brought many Christians into a better pipeline/thinking. But not without its own baggage in negative world. 

 

I never really was much involved with G3, as that arose really after I was licensed/ordained as a confessional Reformed Presbyterian. In the very early days, I was a junkie for Wretched Radio/TV with Todd Friel. But I haven't watched that in over a decade, and see its goofiness. 

 

But Wretched did used to show a lot of clips of other ministries that I was unaware of. I still remember waking up early to watch Sproul on NRBTV, his classical apologetics series, etc. Good, blissful times of learning. I told my father, an Elder in our church, I found support. 

 

Meaning, in the wilderness & madness of the Christian world, the Reformed/Calvinistic churches were faithful, an oasis, that believed in the sovereign grace of God, cared for its people, and wouldn't betray you but would support you and minister to you. That honeymoon was brief. 

 

I went to Covenant College, the College of the PCA, in 2009. When I say I "attended" I mean I lasted all of about 10 days. It was horrible. From the exuberant tuition (over $30,000/year I believe), to the low-class RA's lusting to incoming freshman about hot female students, to.. 

 

our dorms flooding & my roommate having nothing whatsoever to do with Calvinstic/Reformed faith, but was there because his coach found him a place to play basketball. Nothing personal against him, I can't even remember his name, but he was just a black man looking to play ball. 

 

I was looking for something like a Bible College, to be fair, & Covenant College wasn't that, but it hardly seemed Christian. Just a bunch of wealthy PCA kids who lived near Lookout Mountain, but had long lost any heart for the Lord and the faith. There were exceptions of course. 

 

The icebreaker for me, after getting the flu from our flooded dorm, was my first day of psychology class, and the professor says his male friend was a hero for marrying a woman and only occasionally cheating on her with other men! I spoke up, and after class a student thanked me. 

 

I'm not misremembering this by the way, if you go to the old BaylyBlog website, back in 2009 or 2010 or so, I first explained these things on there. Even there, as I recall, and elsewhere, I was told no Christian college could remain faithful today and fund itself/survive. 

 

I was told looking for a faithful, Christian college was a pipe dream, almost sinful, and what I should do is find a faithful Reformed Church and go to a secular college, etc., that only really in seminaries would you find faithfulness. Boy, they were wrong about that too! 

 

Before Covenant College, I had interest in pastoral ministry, but because I believed the Reformed world and thus the church was in "good hands", I went to Covenant College to major I believe in Journalism, or English, or something like that. I wanted to be a writer, teacher, etc. 

 

I was going to minor in theology and was told I could transfer credits to Covenant Seminary. So, I was undecided, but after having the smoke blown away and seeing the hypocrisy in high places in the Reformed world, the Lord used that to convict me to pursue pastoral ministry. 

 

So I, like many others in many different denominations/Christian colleges & seminaries, etc., have seen things that are atrocious going back decades, and how so much is built upon a lie and deception. The PCA and even the most conservative men in there initially ignored Revoice. 

 

So then I went to Reformation Bible College, Sproul's College, in 2011, transferred 2 years of credits in, finished up in 2 years, married my wonderful wife Jocelyn, and we've had 7 kids in 10 years of marriage. Best oasis and period of my life were those few years in Florida. 

 

But there too, sadly, a lot of the grandeur & glory was blown away, even from what I alone saw, and then what my wife revealed to me, having worshiped at St. Andrew's for many years, her father being on staff, etc., I was more disheartened. (It wasn't Covenant College level bad). 

 

I was actually initially told by some in high places at RBC, Ligonier/St. Andrew's, etc., not to go to GPTS, even though I distinctly recall GPTS being one of the first blurbs of support for RBC when it was forming in 2011. I am told the tune has changed at RBC, but it's funny... 

 

How divided these groups really are, when you get a little bit on the inside, and people talk to you, thinking you are just young and impressionable, which I was, and won't notice the duplicity, etc. I was told those who graduate from GPTS can't get jobs pastoring/preaching. 

 

I did have 1 professor strongly encourage me to go, & I am glad he did. Funny enough, he is a professor at GPTS now, when he was at RBC. The schools have a stronger relationship now, in truth, though it was made to appear that way all along. Hire & fire "business" is prevalent. 

 

Fast forward a bit, I am back in NC, serving at the PCA church I grow up in. We go to presbytery, and all the effeminate Elders (most of them) are not sure what to do with practicing homosexuals who, let's say, came from a PCUSA church and just have a "blind spot" on this issue. 

 

I as a Ruling Elder am the first & one of the only ones to speak up against this, along with my father, also an RE, and our pastor at the time, maybe 1 or 2 others at a table of 20+ Elders. We are patted on our heads as country folk who don't know the challenges of city ministry. 

 

Then when these presbytery men found out I had written against pastors preaching in skinny jeans, they revoked my approval to come under care, said I was binding the conscience, etc. Even when I told prominent conservative men in the PCA, they had sympathy for me, but no help. 

 

I believed the PCA was toast, really back in 2009 at Covenant College, but that conviction was fully realized (good eschatology joke somewhere here) by 2015 or so and what I was seeing in presbytery, and frankly at the local PCA church I served as an RE in. Compromise & cowardice.

 

I realized, even then, I would have to sear my conscience, become a PCA/NAPARC company man, blind my eyes to the duplicity, compromise, etc., to maybe get in good with the right people and land a comfortable job, in a church likely with people who don't really want to be fed. 

 

That wasn't going to happen, by God's grace, I had resolved that. I had a young family, little money, and what support I had at my local PCA church I grew up in had dried up as well, where I served as an RE. SO my family along with a few others went to a much better PCA church. 

 

That church is facing rocky times now, and was even when I first came there, as they, too, hated that I would seek licensure in another, micro-denomination, while attending their PCA and interning there. The pastor, a godly man, had me come with him to their presbytery meeting... 

 

This was when Howard Brown, one of the few black ministers in Central Carolina Presbytery, hosted the meeting & preached a white guilt sermon, I think from Rev. 5 or 6, and said "Why is the PCA so white?" And all the white ministers, RTS-Charlotte bigshots, etc., Amen'ed it all. 

 

My pastor apologized to me and said this was the worst meeting he had ever been to. He was formerly in the SBC and became Reformed/Presbyterian, and seeing how bad the SBC is, anything better was like the golden land for him. I think many others have felt similarly. 

 

But even the RE's wanted the name brand "glory" of PCA, argued that could bring in more people to the church, etc. It's all a sick system, and if you cross it, especially publicly, some sort of heresy charges or character charges will absolutely be leveled against you at local.. 

 

and presbytery levels. Possibly even publicly, even though you are never allowed to publicly notice and state the garbage.

So to the point -- Will our legacy Reformed heroes & ministries, still living and active, totally betray us, as the denominations and local churches have? 

Some of these ministries, thankfully, have spoken "outside the box" and crab barrel to give a hint of exposure to the issues. James White's ministry has done that. I thought he handled the Mohler/Phil Johnson blow up well on one of his dividing lines, one of the few I've watched. 

 

But now that we are in negative world, and things we didn't see, or didn't make a big stink about, that now are absolutely crucial and should have been addressed while still in neutral world, are biting us in the butt. So we have to look at our heroes of neutral world, and judge. 

 

We have to say thank you, but there are things you missed, and you've built up your ministry, reputation with many people, etc., and now that you are receiving criticism from some of your own, will you, too, betray us, and bite and devour us for seeing the speck in your eye? 

 

When I look at how @PerfInjust or White Boy Summer, etc., has been viciously attacked and misrepresented, even if some things in WBS I, too, initially didn't like, and still would differ on, I had no legacy and built up ministry that required me to see the speck long in my eye. 

 

I may well have had a blind spot, or speck/error needing correcting, and to see more clearly the glory of nations, God's purpose for them, the need to maintain them as part of what is naturally good and good for the sake of the kingdom of God, grace restoring nature, etc. But... 

 

For me to grant as much wasn't costly. I hadn't spoken against those things for decades, and amassed a following based on incomplete or misinformation or some things that were at least slightly off. I never bought into presupp or the worst forms of theonomic #datpostmill cringe. 

 

So when a better game came to town, a more biblical, Reformed resourcement, argued carefully & something I was familiar with from personal studies & college and seminary education, which few had because even in so-called "Calvinistic/Reformed" institutions they don't teach it... 

 

I could receive it with arms wide open, but also not uncritically, because I really don't have the same sort of skin in the game. I do in the sense that all these things reach the people in the pews I myself pastor, and so I have to work through these things, but many pastors... 

 

Instead of "doing the reading" just parrot these things that are popular, and whatever retains or draws in and rides the wave of the latest viewpoint, to get them in their churches. I have to say it, but it sure seems @ostrachan does this on a large scale, with a seminary, etc. 

 

 So to wrap this up, our Reformed heroes have choices to make, to either be faithful to God's Word and adjust to both conform to what is reasonable, natural, and biblical when they've been long in error, even if only slightly but causing damage in negative world, or defend their.. 

 

...errors instead of humbling themselves, being grateful for greater clarity, and moving forward in righteousness accordingly. I guarantee you, if someone did that sincerely, who had real prominence, he wouldn't lose his platform, his ministry, but God would triple it hastily. 

 

It would signal to me real reformation and revival, if we want to put it like that, was coming, because prominent, godly men with massive ministries displayed publicly humility, rather than public pride that makes them not think straight and rebuke the good teachers & Christians. 

 

I think increasingly God is opening the eyes of those in the pew to all this hypocrisy. Some are still holding on to their old heroes, even as their heroes compromise further the truth out of pride, blindness, or whatever the case may be. But God is turning things over. 

 

We need to pray for our leaders, but if they show themselves incorrigible and slanderous, and increasingly willing to shoot down even their former supporters, we need to move on, even to some extent with our efforts in our prayers. Time and energy is short. Labor faithfully. 

 

The charade will not be able to continue much longer, as the faithful keep pushing and holding others to account, and being willing to be corrected and held to account as well. There will be more splintering, but God must cut down the postwar consensus and Big/Mid Eva to dust... 

 

to raise up something more faithful, vibrant, battle hardened and battle ready for negative world.

To get to woke world, our churches had to be utterly leavened with unrighteous leaven as well. It was foolish of me to think somehow that leaven hadn't come to the Reformed. 

 

We must remember that King David and Solomon did great wickedness, despite much good and reform. Today, we must own that we had no thorough-going reformers, heroes of the faith. Even the best left some high places for the wicked that were not taken away.... 

 

Realizing that, admitting that, is half the battle. The other half is acting in faith, seeking to tear down those high places, or better if you are not a King/ruler in our nation or Pastor/Elder in our church, to urge those leaders to be thorough Reformers, or vote with your feet 

 

Run for office, in church or state, yourself if you are a godly man. More crucially, and of first calling and importance, get married, have children, raise them for the Lord. If you've messed up here, reform your own life there, and quite fighting battles online! Do your duty. 

 

But in closing, we need to have the policy of No More Heroes. No heroes. No King but Christ. That's not an anti-political statement. Many things that are wicked must be torn down, chopped down with an ax even, inside & outside the church, & much must be built simultaneously. /end