Paul's Passing Thoughts

“On the one hand, Tchividjian claims to be the epitome of compassion, while on the other hand, he partakes in partnerships with those willing to verbalize the idea that some Christians should be thrown in a wood chipper for disagreeing with Driscoll’s vision of ministry. It doesn’t add up—Tchividjian is a hypocrite. Obviously, even a child knows that there is something seriously wrong with anybody who would even think of that idea to make a point. How can Tchividjian help children if he doesn’t even know what a child knows?”   

Organizations that serve as mediators between parishioners and the institutional church are unprecedented in church history until now. For over 500 years, the Protestant religious machine has sold “grace” and Luther’s Theology of the Cross well. Whether Calvinist or Arminian, both function according to an exaggerated concept of justification. This, and nothing else, is what enabled the likes of the infamous Jack Hyles cartel to rape, pillage, and steal unfettered for over thirty years. Their crimes against humanity included pedophilia, statutory rape, and even suspicion of murder. Victims were silenced through character assassination (Hyles publically, and falsely accused one man of being a homosexual), Hyles’ mindless followers, and the forgive as you have been forgiven card. Even Hyles, the Arminianac, often touted the total depravity of the saints by making an excuse for one of his ministry leaders: he likes little boys and that’s just the way it is.

The saints finally wised up. When Hyles’ heir apparent, Jack Shaap, tried to conduct business as usual, a discernment group took matters into their own hands. Because the waters were not muddied with churchianity speak, First Baptist Church of Hammand was forced to take the high road by immediately firing Shaap and granting full disclosure to the FBI. Shaap got twelve years in prison, and First Baptist Church of Hammond is now an abuse-free zone—at least the in-your-face variety. The Bible states that elders are to be rebuked publicly so others will fear. IFB pastors now fear, and the results speak for themselves.

The situation is much different in Reformed circles where churchianity’s gospel speak muddies the waters. It’s the Jack Hyles We are All Just Sinners Saved by Grace Show all over again. Lest the saints take matters into their own hands like the organization Do Right Hyles Anderson, Reformed institutions support “mediation” organizations such as Peacemaker Ministries and the appropriately named “G.R.A.C.E.” The latter is headed by the persona of a former “tough prosecutor” embodied in Boz Tchividjian. He is all the rage in Reformed circles and fawned over by victim advocates.

The Results? Nether organization, again, supported by the institutional Reformed church, has yielded results like the lay organization Do Right Hyles Anderson. These organizations literally talk the issue to death via grace speak. The Bible explicitly speaks of prevention through fear and consequences as at least one important element of achieving an abuse-free zone in the church, but this is nowhere on Tchividjian’s radar screen. To the contrary, it is the same old song and dance in regard to us all being in the same boat with pedophiles:

Surely it is for such a time as this that the Church has been empowered to boldly and bravely embody the Good News to accusers and accused alike, and to forsake our own comfort and position to love the hurting with an illogical extravagance (http://netgrace.org/a-public-statement-concerning-sexual-abuse-in-the-church-of-jesus-christ/ [Posted on July 17, 2013 by Multi-Authors]).

I have written extensively in regard to why Reformed theology is antithetical to any ability to prevent or help victims of spiritual abuse, and will not take the time here to rehearse it, but this statement captures the age old Reformed idea that repentance (mortification) leads to an overall manifestation of the same gospel that saved us (vivification). If everyone involved in the situation would just repent and recognize that we are all sinners saved by grace, the gospel would be exalted and the victims would all be sitting around the campfire with the perpetrators singing Kumbaya. And supposedly, to the glory of God. Missing is the concept of justice and its part in healing and prevention, a word that this ministry has not been able to find in any G.R.A.C.E literature while the Bible speaks of “justice” directly 140 times, not including indirect references.

G.R.A.C.E’s performance in the ABWE scandal was like mud sliding up a hill while giving ABWE credibility as an organization dealing with a problem that they tried to sweep under the rug for more than ten years. The victims did an outstanding job of keeping the scandal alive against incredible odds until the G.R.A.C.E experts said, We will take it from here. Now the issue is barely spoken of in evangelical circles, if at all. The victims, known as the Missionary Kids, were directly responsible for getting a medical license taken away from one of the perpetrators. G.R.A.C.E’s only other open “investigation” is Bob Jones University. Their only closed “investigation” is New Tribes in 2010 via a “report,” but two arrests were made prior to G.R.A.C.E’s involvement and one afterward that had nothing to do with the report. The arrest was made due to a tip from an internet user. New Tribe was sued by a victim in 2011.

So what is my theory? My theory is that G.R.A.C.E is supported by the institutional church for the purpose of appearances in order to keep donations flowing into said organizations. G.R.A.C.E is representation for religious organizations endowed with ideology that breeds spiritual abuse. And in fact, G.R.A.C.E’s Chrsitocentric ideology has been a facilitator of abuse from the beginning of the Reformation. The idea that man should be concerned with justice was a joke to the Reformers and an affront to their doctrine of total depravity and realm manifestations of Christ’s obedience. G.R.A.C.E is like a realtor who represents the seller and the buyer both.

I say all of that leading up to the primary point I want to make about G.R.A.C.E and other Reformed organizations of the same stripe: their partnerships make the above case. Unbelievably, GRACE lists the “ministry” of Mark Driscoll’s Mars Hill as an official partnership. While their website posits the idea of compassion with pictures of children that emulate a strong aurora of innocence, they are willing to associate with a ministry that states the following:

If only G.R.A.C.E were willing to share that same disdain for pedophiles rather than detractors of their Christocentric gospel. Both Justin Holcomb and Duncan Rankin sit on G.R.A.C.E’s board of directors. Holcomb is an elder at Driscoll’s Mars Hill church and the director of Driscoll’s Resurgence website. On the one hand, Tchividjian claims to be the epitome of compassion, while on the other hand, he partakes in partnerships with those willing to verbalize the idea that some Christians should be thrown in a wood chipper for disagreeing with Driscoll’s vision of ministry. It doesn’t add up—Tchividjian is a hypocrite. Obviously, even a child knows that there is something seriously wrong with anybody who would even think of that idea to make a point. How can Tchividjian help children if he doesn’t even know what a child knows?

Furthermore, after Tchividjian has fustigated those who defend SGM and CJ Mahaney (references: http://netgrace.org/where-are-the-voices-the-continued-culture-of-silence-and-protection-in-american-evangelicalism/ ;  http://www.zhoag.com/2013/05/25/boz-tchividjian-on-sgm/ ; http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/05/24/why-we-have-been-silent-about-the-sgm-lawsuit/), one finds out that Duncan Rankin is a professional executive assistant to one of CJ Mahaney’s staunchest supporters, Ligon Duncan.

This all points back to the Reformation’s kinship to Rome where salvation is only found in the institutional church. Today’s popes are the likes of James MacDonald, another close associate of Driscoll’s, who lives in a 1.9 million dollar house and insisted on his salary being raised from $250,000 to $350,000 in one year. Salvation can only be found on Mark Driscoll’s Reformed bus, and if you don’t sit down and shut up, they will throw you off that bus and run you over with it. It’s a banged-up bus with nasty stains on the seats, but it is the only bus going to heaven.

And it is Boz Tchividjian’s job to protect that bus by gracing the victims into obscurity.

paul