The James MacDonald White Paper: Repost from the Elephants Debt .com; Post 3 of 20
A fifth church has separated from the Harvest Bible Fellowship.
On the 10th of February 2013, James MacDonald and the leaders of HBC held a meeting for the staff and lay-leaders of the church. Among other issues that were discussed, MacDonald shared his thoughts regarding congregationalism as a form of church governance. You may recall that back in June of 2011, MacDonald posted an article on his blog entitled, “Congregationalism is from Satan.” This hyperbolic blog post was nothing other than his personal response to Winnetka Bible Church’s second vote declining Harvest’s offer to be absorbed into the Harvest Bible Fellowship. In his most recent comments on the subject, MacDonald informed the leaders that congregationalism was undermining Christian Barbosu’s ministry in Romania, leaving Harvest Metanoia on unstable footing. Even if one is willing to believe that congregationalism is partially responsible for the troubles in Romania, it would be grossly unfair to the situation on the ground to only cite Congregationalism for the troubles in Romania.
On the 11th of February, 2013, The Elephant’s Debt was contacted by an individual with strong ties to Harvest. According to this source, a member of Harvest Metanoia (Romania) had recently translated The Elephant’s Debt from English into Romanian; and was passing the site around within the local congregation. According to other sources that are active in the congregation, Metanoia’s Senior Pastor, Christian Barbosu, attempted to calm the growing storm by preaching a sermon on the topic of MacDonald’s character. According to these sources, the congregation was reportedly distressed over MacDonald’s admission of gambling and his excessive salary.
Compounding the problem was the fact that Metanoia had only two years prior discovered that their senior pastor, Christian Barbosu, was being compensated from the United States. What made this particularly troubling to the conservative, Eastern European congregation was that they had been sacrificially giving so that their pastor might have an average salary according to Romanian standards of living. They knew nothing of Barbosu’s support coming from the United States; and were greatly troubled by their pastor’s failure to inform them of this practice.
Since these revelations, Christian Barbosu has willingly resigned from the pastorate, and two former elders who had left the church in protest were brought back to lead the congregation. Since the change in leadership, Metanoia has severed ties with Harvest Bible Fellowship, maintaining their association with the Baptist denomination. For further details, you can visit their homepage, which can be translated here via Google translator.
Since the initial publication of this post, a reader informed us that Christian Barbosu replanted a church on the 26th of February, 2013, in Arad, Romania, the same city as Metanoia. Also, the Harvest Bible Fellowship web page indicates that the Arad, Romania HBC will be “launching” in 2013. It is not clear from either website the nature of the relationship between Barbosu’s new church and HBF.
So once again, MacDonald is leaving his congregation ill-informed and ill-equipped to ask meaningful questions about the affairs of Harvest Bible Chapel and the Fellowship that it leads.
[And from other sources….]
As some have speculated online and elsewhere, it appears that the fallout from the “Elephant Room 2” continues to rain down on James MacDonald, Harvest Bible Chapel and the evangelical world. Late yesterday, Harvest Bible Chapel of Prescott Arizona, one of the largest plants in the Harvest Fellowship, became the second church to publicly announce its withdrawal from the Harvest Bible Fellowship. According to the official statement issued by Pastor Skip Breyer and the Elder Board,
“[Over the last 11 months], we have repeatedly and privately expressed our concern with the leaders of Harvest Bible Fellowship. After many months of prayer and consideration, we have reached a point in time that we believe to continue our association with HBC Chicago would appear to be endorsing their decisions, which would cause confusion for the flock that is under our care. So it is with a heavy heart, out of what we see is our obedience to our responsibility to our Lord to care and shepherd His flock, that we must end our association with HBC Chicago.”
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The James MacDonald White Paper: “Why Not Name the 13 Accusations?” Post 2 of 20
In this video, Harvest elders claim transparency, but do not explain the 13 accusations brought against them by three other elders. They want the congregation to assume that none of the 13 accusations have merit just because they say so. This point doesn’t even scratch the surface of the treachery found in their words overall. Moreover, in the introduction, James MacDonald makes the claim that elder majority speaks with the authority that is directly from God. My friends, the only authority that speaks directly for God is His truth found in holy writ.
Pastor James MacDonald: I am so thankful to be a part of this church. This church is such a great blessing to me and our family and I just want to remind you that God has entrusted a spiritual authority to the local church and every local church has an authority under God. We believe that the Bible that the authority of the church is vested in the elders. And that when the elders speak collectively in agreement, they speak for God to our church. That’s about as serious as serious gets. Here are four of the elders in our church that have a message for us that we would do well to take heed to, so listen very carefully. These four men are speaking on behalf of the entire elder board of our church on every campus – listen now.
From Left to Right:
My name is Paul Inserra.
My name is Steve Houston
My name is Randy Williams
My name is Jamie Harrison
Paul Inserra: All but one member meeting is successfully behind us. We come to you today further fulfilling our pledge for greater transparency with a sad but necessary message from our entire elder board of our church. We need to communicate with you regarding the discipline of two former elders and their combined effort with other former elders, all outside Harvest working to discredit our elder board and destroy our pastor.
Jamie Harrison: Three elders who broke with the rest of our 30-member elder board in June have continued to spread discord through their false and unrelenting viewpoint. It was unanimously rejected by the elders over many months and with finality in our June meeting. They made their point, we rejected their opinions, but they refused to submit to elder consensus, choosing instead to sew discord and create division. This is a very, very serious sin, one that we are told in Proverbs 6 that our Lord hates.
Steve Houston: This week, the elders received a letter with 13 accusations against our pastor and his integrity, all of which the elders have already unanimously rejected multiple times, nothing new, just a continued refusal to accept the consensus of the elders of Harvest Bible Chapel.
If these men would express even a fraction of the constant and ongoing grace and humility that we see so frequently in our pastor, they could move beyond their bitterness to healing. Their current refusal to do so is defiling many people and that is great sin.
Randy Williams: Scott Phelps and Barry Slabaugh have been notified that they are under church discipline and no longer welcomed in our church until they repent. A copy of our board resolution regarding their conduct was given to them personally, and can be seen online under Elder Updates. Please pray for their repentance and victory over persistent spirit of superiority and self-righteousness.
Paul Inserra: Together these men continue to lead and seditiously promote an attack on the credibility of the church elders, our governance of church staff and the integrity of our pastor.
Jamie Harrison: Their goal is to discredit our pastor and to divide this church and we call upon the people of the Harvest family to make sure this does not happen. This problem is not new.
As Paul said in 2nd Timothy 4, “Alexander, the coppersmith, did me great harm. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware of him, yourself; for he strongly opposed our message.”
Steve Houston: Church matters are not to be tried in the court of public opinion. Publicizing viewpoints rejected by the elder majority, for any reason, is satanic to the core and must be dealt with very directly. Those who have no standing in a local church, but continue to assault it from outside with factious messages must be rejected according to the word of God. We warn the people of Harvest Bible Chapel to separate themselves from these false messengers. Don’t stand in the middle, don’t seek to mediate. Please avoid these former Harvest elders at all cost, lest you incur great detriment to your own soul.
Randy Williams: To be clear, the elders of Harvest Bible Chapel – 30 men – who meet frequently and closely with Pastor James and know first-hand his character and conduct, want you to hear that we the elders of Harvest Bible Chapel are completely satisfied with Pastor James’ growth and grace, including the way he responded to the three dissenting elders from January through June, and sought reconciliation with former elders as directed. Pastor James has gone out of his way repeatedly, to seek counsel, submit to consensus, and welcome and even solicit contrary opinion for the betterment of the church. The elders of Harvest stand behind his character and integrity without reservation or ongoing concern of any kind. Great pains have been taken to review and learn from these accusations. But there are no ongoing issues of any kind. We are satisfied and grateful to our pastor for his Christ-like behavior.
Steve Houston: We call upon the people of Harvest Baptist Chapel to support these actions of the elder board as biblical. Titus 3:10-11 says, “as for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self condemned.”
Also 1st Timothy 5:20 says, “as for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, [which, is, what we are doing] so that the rest may stand in fear.”
Randy Williams: Before honor, comes humility. In one week, we gather in one service to celebrate God’s amazing 25-year faithfulness to this church, but God is winning a mighty victory in and around us today. Nothing is covered, nothing is unresolved, nothing is ongoing – only this attack from the enemy. Let us examine ourselves, for unconfessed sin and seek to live in fear of the Lord, lest bitterness overtake us.
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The James MacDonald White Paper: “2 or 3 Elders in Christ’s Name”; Post 1 of 20
“I want to begin this twentyf-part white paper by encouraging the former elders of Harvest that have been persecuted by the New Calvinist weapon of choice, bogus “redemptive church discipline.” We will be looking at this issue very closely in this series. Take heart, you are the two or three gathered in Christ’s name. Let me explain.”
Pastor James MacDonald didn’t get up one morning and decide to become a spiritual tyrant. His life is now bearing the fruit of his ideology. I have chosen to clear my schedule and focus on his behavior as overseer of Harvest Bible Chapel. This is because his present behavior, the culmination of indoctrination, is a classic model of how New Calvinist ideology functions and the inevitable results that always follow.
In my six years of research on New Calvinism, three of those fulltime, I have never seen a more neatly arranged motif of New Calvinism’s inevitable despotism.
Harvest Bible Chapel is the same show that has been played out innumerable times throughout church history and on a daily basis in our day. The pattern of behavior that follows the exact same script is uncanny. It is an underground version of Calvin’s theocracy restrained by an open society. Be certain of this: illusions to modern juggernauts and human catapults speak of a heart-lust that can only want in this culture. It is a restless evil that must settle for character assassination in the stead of burning stakes, the gallows, and the guillotine.
Many still follow MacDonald, and will continue to follow him, and we will discuss why in this series. Our purpose is simple: future prevention, and learning how to be better Christians through antithesis. James MacDonald is an antithetical example of how we should not do ministry and think about others.
There is no hope for Harvest Bible Chapel. But if we are wise, we can learn from the autopsy. Once a ministry goes down this antinomian road, there is no return. Those at Harvest who have not yet soiled their garments must come out from among them. Those presently involved must let the dead bury their dead. On the other hand, the situation must be fully exploited for its educational value. For those presently involved, it is far from being a tragedy that will not bear abundant fruit.
Right now, I am reproducing media that has come out of Harvest that I think will eventually disappear; particularly, the infamous “5 Things….” sermon. I have reproduced the video (pretty decent quality) in a windows format, and the audio in wma, wav, and mp4. I am also in the process of having the sermon transcribed. At least one post will delve deeply into the lives and video produced by the four elders at Harvest. The post will be entitled “The factious Four.” If the Lord so allows, their treachery dressed in the demeanor of Mr. Rogers will be recorded on the internet for future posterity. Any follower of James MacDonald should be as infamous as he is. Maybe more so. These men certainly act like men of renown; therefore, I will do all I can to make their fruits widely known among God’s people for better or worse.
I want to begin this twenty-part white paper by encouraging the former elders of Harvest that have been persecuted by the New Calvinist weapon of choice, bogus “redemptive church discipline.” We will be looking at this issue very closely in this series. Take heart, you are the two or three gathered in Christ’s name. Let me explain.
In Matthew 18, we have the familiar process of going to the one who has offended you alone, then returning with one or two witnesses if necessary. If the offender will not listen, “tell it to the church.” NO ONE is excluded from that process, especially elders. But after the finality of the process, and seemingly for no reason at all except for a poorly structured narrative, Christ states this:
18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.
Why would Christ drop that in there out of nowhere? Why wouldn’t He speak of the congregation agreeing on the matter? And by the way, there is NO mention of elders in this passage anywhere. Why not? So what is this passage teaching? It is teaching that TRUTH is the authority, not the elders or the congregation. The “two or three” speak directly to the second step before it goes to the congregation. Surely, if the elders are paramount figures in this process, Christ would not have excluded a reference to them accordingly. Christ is saying that he stands with those who are in the truth regardless of what the congregation does. Those standing in the truth have Calvin’s “power of the keys,” not sinning, Reformed elders. They are to be rebuked publically by those standing in the truth.
And this is exactly where the former elders of Harvest find themselves. The sinning elders of Harvest are speaking continually of “elder consensus.” Where is such in Matthew 18? The binding of heaven is on the few, not the majority. They must know Christ stands with them, not James MacDonald. And those in that congregation will do themselves good by recognizing that as well.
We will learn much together for the sake of elders who find themselves in this situation hereafter. Lord willing, a suggested course of action will not give a majority of sinning elders undue authority.
Please pray for this project, and give thanks to those who love the truth; the embattled Harvest elders. Refer to them as elders, not former elders. Their love for the truth is their sterling qualification.
paul
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