It’ was good to know I’m getting new readers on the site. And I can usually tell when new readers show up because they generally say pretty much the same knee jerk things.

Let me rephrase that. The new mind-numbed pimp defending readers usually say the same thing in pretty much the same knee-jerk manner.

Here’s an e-mail I got from Jeff H. I won’t give his full name because I didn’t ask him for permission to post his…um…gracious e-mail. And I really don’t want to embarrass him by showing the world his complete lack of consistency. But I do want to make sure you folks get a good idea of what’s out there.

Melvin,
I sure hope you don’t claim to be born again.

I can’t quite imagine Jesus hosting such a filthy website, God have mercy on your judgmental soul.

Most people who belly ache like you don’t have much themselves but at least have some dignity about it.

As much time as you spend with your blasphemous website why don’t you study scripture about people like yourself.
Jeff H

Please notice Jeffy’s approach. The first thing he does is condemn the contents of the website. He pronounces it filthy (he can’t imagine Jesus hosting such a filthy website). He calls the website blasphemous. Finally, he implies that I am like some of the wicked folks in the Bible (I think).

One of his biggest difficulties seems to be the idea that I am exercising judgment about the things the pimps and pimpettes say and do. I thought that was rather interesting since about two thirds of his comments are nothing but judgments, or condemnations of me.

I did notice, though, that Jeff H didn’t support any of what he said from Scripture. At best, he made the usual “We need to love like Jesus loves” kind of a statement – and then proceeded to violate his own statement.

I don’t hate this guy. I don’t even dislike him. Heck, he is at least willing to send me an e-mail telling me he disagrees with me. John K. Jenkins and his limp-wristed deacons won’t even do that.

However, I do feel sorry for the bloke. He is prime pimp fodder (definition #2) and has likely given a small fortune to the likes of Hagin, Copeland, and others. I can also be pretty sure his idea of the Christian life is going to church on Sundays and locking himself in his room spouting ecstatic speech the rest of the week. That’s what I suspect based on his e-mail.

It’s unlikely this guy will ever come into the fullness of being in a relationship with Jesus Christ. It’s unlikely he will understand the relationship between being a Christian and being light and salt to the rest of the world.

Of course, God can act with sovereignty on Jeff’s heart and mind and completely change the bloke. But until that happens, I suspect he is going to be spending his time being religious, being blind to his own failure to live up to his own standards (any body read Romans 2:1-2?) and being supremely condemning of those who don’t meet his (not the Bible’s) standard of holiness.

Jeff, if you’re reading this, please give us an idea of what makes the site filthy and judgmental. Also, what do you mean by “most people like you”? Please give us a little substance to your accusations.

Pulpit Pimps | 48 Comments »

Okay, okay! I give up. After being locked in a room with some really loud and passionate Arminians for over four days (I might or might not have a job when I get back to work tomorrow), I have decided to become an Arminian. I now see the truth of what they say. I now see and understand the force of their arguments. And just so you arminians out there can capture the minds of the rest of us Calvinists, I’m going to share with you the tactics the Arminians used on me.

I almost feel guilty about unleashing these devastating tactics on the Calvinists out there going to work, going to school, and generally minding their own business. But if I am to be true to the truth and the force of Arminianism, I must, I simply must arm the rest of you with this fool-proof set of tactics for destroying the Calvinist’s heretical argument.

I hope you all enjoyed the fool proof tactics for utterly destroying Calvinism. Next week, I will show you a fool proof method for staying eternally young. And the week after that, I will provide you with the plans for a perpetual motion machine. For free.

(It’s so much fun messing with Arminians. It’s like watching a dog chase its own tail. A tip of the hat to Steve Hoyle for spotting this for me. )

Christian Living | 23 Comments »

Many of you know the section of Scripture that talks about all things working together for good to those who love the Lord. Usually, some over-enthusiastic Christian will throw it in the face of a person who has just suffered a tremendous loss, say the loss of a child or the person finding out he or she has just been diagnosed with a very painful and always fatal illness.

The discussion usually goes something like this:

“Melvin, I just found out that I have cancer of the [fill in the blank] and it’s likely terminal,” says Christian Friend.

“Oh wow,” says Melvin, not quite sure of what else to say. “But you know all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose! You should be GLAD God has chosen you!”

At this point Christian Friend either recognizes the complete lack of compassion and wisdom in Melvin and quietly backs away, or takes out his baseball bat and put Melvin out of his misery; out of Christian Friend’s misery since Melvin is obviously too much of a senseless grunt to be in any misery at all…ever.

However, the fact this verse can be terribly misused doesn’t make the section any less true. All things DO work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose.

Case in point – about a year ago, the church I thought I was destined to settle into for the long haul exploded, figuratively speaking. The dunderheaded deacons got an insurrection going and, with a series of meetings and phone campaigns split the church right down the middle and got rid of the pastor, the pastor who was working diligently to move the church into a Reformed theology and government.

Eric didn’t tell the congregation that if they didn’t tithe, they’re stealing from God. He didn’t try to get people excited with his sermons. But despite that, or maybe because of it, quite often I left service feeling as though I had had my spiritual behind kicked up between my shoulder blades. He consistently challenged us to conform our lives to Scripture.

I say all of that to point out that it was the place I needed to be. Then it exploded.

What good could possibly have come out of that? Hillcrest dispatched a man who was dragging them to the truth. A place that was at least learning to pursue God in holiness and in truth was destroyed, likely returned to traditional Black Baptist goings on – especially when you consider the fact that the duplicitous deacons are still top dogs there and, I do believe, still calling the shots. So what good could possibly have come out of that?

Reformation Alive Baptist Church came out of it.

As the name implies, we are a Reformed Baptist church. We use, as a guide, the London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689). Emphasis is on living the Gospel. We are being instructed over and over again that doctrine, good or bad, determines how you live. We are being encouraged to walk by faith and to trust completely God’s word. We are being exposed to, and trained in all the great doctrines that define the Reformed church.

But get a load of this. A couple of weeks ago, Eric asked if I would be interested in teaching the new members class. The class includes such things as taking them through the New Hampshire Confession of Faith (1833), a smattering of Church history to include the Reformation, Reformed Baptists, and standard heresies in the church (and why they are heresies). I will likely have them read the London Confession as well. I mean, gosh, there’s no point in dummifying them is there?

But it gets better. Pastor has to teach some evening classes at Washington Bible College during the next couple of months. He also asked if I would feel comfortable facilitating a class on Romans on Thursday evening.

So let’s see. I left Calvary Chapel because they were racing toward Pentecostalism, I was just warming a pew, and the leadership is rabidly opposed to a reformed view of things. In fact, the pastor accused me of “stumbling a brother” when the brother asked me about God’s sovereignty. I was totally useless there.

Hillcrest exploded, decimating the Body at that location. For many weeks, I was simply afloat, giving myself time to figure out what to do and where to go.

And now, should God will it, Reformation Alive has come into existence. And it appears to be a place where I can be of service to the Body – not just in teaching, but in relationships and in sharing what little wisdom I may have to share.

All things do work for the good of those who love the Lord. We just have to figure out when to tell people and when to keep our mouths shut.

Pulpit Pimps | 17 Comments »

Robert, a rather regular contributor to this site’s comments section didn’t quite agree with my assessment of The Shack. Below is his review from his site Go Share Your Faith.

Here is the text of his review:

Yes, I tried to read “The Shack” but I have to confess, I couldn’t get through the whole thing…it was too disturbing.

Before I ever opened the book I had read reviews by Al Mohler, John MacArthur, John Piper, and Tim Challies and didn’t have any desire to read it but I was challenged by a Christian to read the book myself, (as I’d have more credibility to comment on it if I did)

As I said…I tried…oh I tried. Suffice it to say that there were a lot more negative elements in it than what I had read in the reviews of Dr. Mohler, MacArthur, Piper, and Tim Challies’…(they had only dealt with the “high points” for the most part.)

Reading this book a complete waste of time, the tone was sickening. God the Father, Jesus, and the HS are portrayed in the most disrespectful way, I’m very surprised that any Christian would find it anything but revolting. It really seemed like it was written by an Atheist; not someone who is a Christian. The not-so-subtle-mockery of Orthodox Christian beliefs are things that I’ve seen in Stephen King novels.

The reviews that I had read were “spot on” and not taken out of context in the least, in fact, I’d say that they were being very charitable with the book; giving it the benefit of the doubt in many places. The review by Challies can be found HERE And the audio review my Dr. Mohler can be found HERE.

And while I understand that it is fiction; it’s put across in a “matter of fact” way as “explaining spiritual things” and Christians are looking to this book to “shore up their understanding” of God. There are several quotes in the inside cover of the book that say exactly that. Just like the Davinci code; it’s fiction that people accept as fact.

Quote:

“An exceptional piece of writing the ushers you directly into the heart and nature of god in the midst of agonizing human suffering. This amazing story will challenge you to consider the person and the plan of God in more expansive terms than you may have ever dreamed.”
David Gregory

“The Shack will change the way you think about God forever”
Cathy Lee Gifford

Clearly; this book is being taken more seriously than just a piece of fiction; people are looking to it for their theology.

And what a horrible theology it is. Here are a few highlights:

1. God cannot take away pain (pg 92)
2. If God doesn’t have an object of love, then SHE is not capable of loving at all. (pg 102)
3. God was on the cross and died with Jesus (pg 103)
4. God doesn’t punish sin; sin is its own punishment. It’s God’s joy to cure it. (pg 120)

Aside from the heinous theological errors, there is a blasphemous tone to the book.

1. Jesus decides to “see if the bowl of sauce” for dinner would bounce”
2. Jesus created everything and is amazed at how impressive they are
3. God listens to secular music and is especially fond of Bruce Cochran

What it teaches is not only heresy but it’s in poor taste and offensive to me as one who loves God and how He has revealed Himself in His word.

As far as having credibility by actually reading the book? The fact is that I didn’t have to buy it and slog through it to have credibility to comment on it…the excerpts and reviews I read were sufficient to demonstrate what the book was about and they were accurate. I don’t have to chew my way through a huge steamy dog pile to see if there might be a peanut butter cup buried underneath.

So I ask the following question:

As Christians shouldn’t we be defending the word of God and denouncing heresy like “the Shack” and not defending it?

Pulpit Pimps | 15 Comments »

I ride the Metrorail (the subway in and around the District of Columbia) every day. And despite the belief some of you hold, I have friends. Everywhere on the Metro I have seen people reading The Shack. Several of my friends, and even Rolf, my brother said “you have to read it”. About two months ago I put it on my reading list – number five out of forty-three books. Last week, I started reading it. I finished it a couple of days ago.

As a preface, I haven’t read any reviews on the book. I haven’t seen anything on the web about it. I purposely avoided getting other people’s takes on the book, its subject, and the handling of the subject. And while I came in with my own ideas about the subject, I did make an honest effort to let the piece speak for itself. In writing this review, I have also tried to avoid including any spoilers. I do believe I have succeeded.

The book is well written. One of the comments about the book is that it is the “potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his.” That, in my view, is a mighty big boast for a book to make. And in order for that to be a good thing, the book would have to have the net effect of moving us more solidly to an orthodox position on God and salvation.

I don’t think it did that across the board. Or at least it was ambiguous in a couple of really important places.

The book is well written. The characters are believable. I found myself not objecting to the fact that God’s persona in the book reminded me more of the Oracle in “The Matrix” than it did of God. Jesus came across as a wood carving good ol’ boy. But that’s okay too. If nothing else, the writer was really successful at demonstrating Jesus’ humanity, his full humanity.

The character of the Holy Spirit, named Sarayu, was, in my opinion, the writer’s best work. She was…different. She came and went as she pleased. She prepared the soil in the garden, she seemed to be moving even when Mack knew, or at least was pretty sure she was standing still. She didn’t walk as much as being perceived in one place and then another.

Mr. Young hit all the parts of Christianity I harp on in this blog. Using Jesus as the spokesman, he made it clear that Christianity is not about a bunch of rules. It’s not simply about going to church on Sunday; that church is not an end in itself. He point out, rightly I believe, that being Christ-like is about relations; relations by people washed in the blood of Christ and working toward relationships with a new heart, one of flesh rather than stone; one willing to be hurt rather than surrounded by hardened steel. And it’s about being willing and able to forgive.

Mr. Young did an outstanding job of making us feel the pain of the main character’s loss of his daughter. He also did a good job of demonstrating forgiveness on the part of Mack, the main character. All in all, the story was outstanding. Though I have to admit I was still suspicious of God being perceived as a woman.

The one complaint I have in the entire tale is quite singular. It revolves around this paragraph:

Those who love me come from every system that exists. They were Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims, Democrats, Republicans and many who don’t vote or are not part of any Sunday morning or religious institutions. I have followers who were murderers and many who were self-righteous. Some are bankers and bookies, Americans and Iraqis, Jews and Palestinians. U gave bi desire to make them Christian, but I do want to join them in their transformation into sons and daughters of my Papa, into my brothers and sisters, into my Beloved.
Page 182, middle of the page

Mack follows this with a question:

Does that mean that all roads will lead to you?

Jesus answers:

”Not at all. Most roads don’t lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you.

Overall, viewing the book as an illustration rather than a theological statement, I enjoyed the book. I just wish Mr. Young hadn’t inserted that and a couple of other somewhat ambiguous sections.

Oh, and he does appear to be Arminian. But that’s fine. As a gracious Monergist, I can live with it and see the beauty and the depth of Mr. Young’s work.

Christian Living | 29 Comments »