The Philosophy of the Reformation and Its Historical Impact, by John Immel – Part 1
Taken from John Immel’s first session at the 2012 Conference on Gospel Discernment and Spiritual Tyranny
Published with permission
~ Edited by Andy Young
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Click here to read Part 3
Click here to read Part 4
I was listening to the radio and a song by one of our modern philosophers came on.
Steven Tyler, lead singer, Aerosmith
“There’s something wrong with the world today.
I don’t know what it is.
Something is wrong with our eyes.
We’re seeing things in a different way.
And God knows it ain’t His.
It sure ain’t no surprise.”
This is from a song by Aerosmith, “Living on the Edge.” The song’s refrain says over and over that we can’t help from falling.
It is true: there is something world with the world today. But I contend that it is not inevitable that we fall.
Throughout my life I have been involved in various flavors of Christianity, and I continually found myself running up against the same interaction over and over and over. And, of course, for the longest time the easy criticism was, “It’s you. You’re the problem.” There are a lot of doctrines within Christianity that affirm that – yeah, it’s probably you. If there is a problem, you are probably the problem.
But then I began to realize that the same problem exists whether I’m involved in the social dynamic or not.
How is that possible? How is it possible that I can go from denomination to denomination to denomination – from Word of Faith to Charismatic to Baptist to Methodist – and it didn’t matter?
After much thinking I arrived at what I believe is the root of all failed human actions.
The Gospel According to John Immel, chapter 3:1-3
- All people act logically from their assumptions.
- It does not matter how inconsistent the ideas or insane the rationale. They will act until that logic is fulfilled.
- Therefore, when you see masses of people taking the same destructive actions, if you find the assumptions, you will find the cause.
The words “logic” or “logically” in this context refers to the consistent progression of a given set of ideas. That does not mean the ideas are logical in the sense that it is accurate thinking. I am talking about how Idea “A” through Idea “Z” go together to create an entire perspective. What I realized was that when the same people take the same action, they will produce the same outcome.
Let me break this down by section.
Verse 1 says: assumptions + logic = action.
Verse 2 says: faulty logic or erroneous rationalizations = ideas that flow from one to the next to the next.
Verse 3 concludes: mass action + destructive outcomes = common premise.
Something is wrong with the world today, but I submit that the error is imbedded in common faulty root assumptions. When I surveyed history and I saw men taking the exact same steps, coming to the exact same conclusions generation after generation, millennia after millennia, I realized they all held similar root assumption about man and about life.
Typically, when I start talking like this is people say something like: “Well, people just need Jesus.” What they mean to say is that ideas are irrelevant unless the mystical solution of “Jesus” is applied to the problem. But that can’t be right because other people might say: “Well, people just need Buddha,” and still others might say, “Well, if Islam ruled the world, all the problems would go away.”
And here is why “people just need Jesus,” is no answer to the world’s problems: bromides are not solutions. Bromides never address the forces driving the problem.
The problem with faith is people tend to take their own faith very personally and very seriously . . . and very uncritically. They tend to assume that faith equals a license to subjectivity; that they are entitled to believe whatever they happen to believe just because they believe it.
So the challenge that I have forever run up against is that when I start talking about digging into the roots of our assumptions, the reaction is, “You know what? That’s complicated. That requires me to think. And I don’t really care to do that too terribly much.”
I am sympathetic on many levels to that frustration. We would like to say to ourselves, “The declaration of God’s love is so simple. Why on earth does this have to be complicated?” I understand that frustration. It seems that if something is so simple, the process of believing should be left to that simplicity. But here is the challenge – I contend that theological bumper stickers are not simple because thinking is at no point simple.
Let us use the following metaphor to try to illustrate this complexity. Throwing a ball seems like a very rudimentary process. You let it go. It goes from point “A” to point “B”. Yet no matter how many times you throw a ball from point A to point B, it consistently drops to the earth. Now consider the question, why does the ball always hit the ground? Some very smart people put together the physics of throwing a ball.
D = (Vo ˟ sinθ ˟ t) + (½A ˟ t2) + h
where:
D = distance
Vo = initial velocity
θ = initial arc angle
t = time
A = acceleration
h = initial height
Since I am no math wizard, I could not begin to explain to you the details of this equation. But that’s okay. I don’t have to. What I want you to understand is that a child throwing a football on the beach is engaging in the above formula. This formula details the level of complexity that is involved in throwing a ball from point “A” to point “B” even though a child can perform the action.
Now back to the issue at hand: thinking about what we believe and why.
Thinking is hard because thinking is also complex. It is just as complex as, if not more so, than throwing a ball because thinking is the mechanics of human action. This is where we get our energy to act in life. From the time when we are old enough to recognize our own consciousness to start motivating ourselves through life, the thing that dominates us every waking moment of our lives are the thoughts that we specifically put into action.
Here is the beauty of my metaphor – ideas are just as calculable as the mechanics in throwing the ball.
People want simplicity but it is in the details that we find the root problems. You may read articles on discernment blogs discussing the issue of “New Calvinism” or a resurgence of Calvinism and Reformed theology. Most people will conclude that denouncing the doctrines of those movements is grand conspiracy. The real solution is if a few “misled” souls would just get on the right path then all will be well with the church.
But the reality is conspiracy as an explanation does not satisfy the discussion of New Calvinism any more than liberation theology describes why America is treading down the path of Marxism, or why Marxism has dominated the whole of the western world, or why Islam is on the rise throughout the globe.
People prefer conspiracies. “Christians” would rather hear people say it is the Illuminati or the Bilderbergers or some dastardly mastermind twirling his mustache in a hideaway, spending lots of money to compel people to do things and take mass action. People prefer conspiracy and world masterminds because that is easy. Conspiracies are easy. Thinking is hard.
I contend that the issue driving the world towards the edge is ideas, and ideas are hard. Ideas demand that individuals invest a stunning amount of personal discipline. You must bring your “A” game every minute of every day to be about ideas.
Consider once again the metaphor of throwing a ball. There is a specific problem with that metaphor. It is the issue of gravity. When you throw a ball, of course, the ball at the end of its trajectory hits the ground. It is the existence of gravity within that equation which leads people to believe that the ball must hit the ground every time it is thrown. Because of that gravity, my metaphor tends to break down because in the grand scheme of ideas, I am overtly saying that we can control what we think. If we can understand the progression and the mechanics of our thinking, then we can arrive at a different outcome. But historically, the inevitability of the “gravity” of human action is the observation that man tends down the path of his own self-destruction over and over and over. It is this very observation which has been used as a case in point to say that man is in effect “depraved.”
So how do I remedy the weakness of my metaphor? How do I integrate the immutability of “gravity” with the power of choice and the ability of man to set his own course?
The answer is, change the beginning assumption.
The formula for throwing a ball assumes that you are in an environment affected by gravity. The formula for throwing a ball assumes that your desired outcome is to propel the ball from point “A” to point “B.” Yet with the right amount of velocity, acceleration, and arc, it would be possible to put a ball into orbit or escape gravity altogether. Therein lies the consistency with the metaphor.
I contend that when you challenge the assumptions that have dominated the whole of the western world, you can arrive at a new set of assumptions, and those assumptions can defy the “gravity” that has driven men down to self-destruction.
So now let’s discuss Calvinism, New Calvinism, and Reformation theology. The question is: why within this emergent movement do we see such consistent actions, such consistent outcomes, such consistent stories of oppression and domination and coercion? Why, from one congregation to the next, do you see the exact same outcomes?
To answer these questions, we must first find the assumptions, and that means we are going to have to take on ideas. It takes enormous effort to fully evaluate the content of ideas. This is the process of education and expertise. One must be specifically aware of one’s own thoughts. This is intentional consciousness. From the time, you are old enough to say, “I want a cookie,” to the day you read, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” and every day after and in between, when you crack open a book and you read an equation and you determine to understand what the variables within that equation mean . . . all of these are examples of intentional consciousness.
It takes enormous discipline to order one’s thinking, to evaluate the progression from “A” to “Z.” It takes enormous effort to arrive at real logic, or non-contradictory thinking. Real reason is the determination to understand the over-arching mechanics of your own individual consciousness. By order I mean non-contradictory logic. It is what happens when you can follow the progression of thought from “A” to “B” to “C” to “D,” and you do not find any inconsistencies in that progression. Such a process takes enormous self-definition, that is, an absolute trust in one’s own rational faculties. And this requires self-esteem.
Bookmark the concept self-esteem.
My root assumption is that man is rationally competent. This assumption defies almost all historic Christian doctrine. Now the term “self-esteem” in American culture has been so utterly corrupted that I hesitate to use it, but it still captures what I’m after; an identification of the effectiveness of self. But you cannot get to self-esteem by someone holding your hand, patting you on the back, and telling you that you are okay. You can only get to self-esteem by doing the work, overcoming challenges, and succeeding.
The definition of human consciousness and self-esteem comes from the ability to successfully prevail over challenges. By contrast “New Calvinism” or Reformed theology is designed to undermine this ability at the root. It is designed to undermine man at his most fundamental level. It is designed to eradicate his specific ethical egoistic self. Most people don’t understand that every argument you encounter in Calvinist doctrinal debate, whether it is the distinction between sanctification and justification, or whether it is your moral right to keep the substance of what you have, are all moral arguments designed to de-legitimize your self-esteem. The doctrines fueling the argument are designed to condemn you at your root: to prevent you from having the right to your own self and your moral responsibility for the sum and substance of your own life.
What I am describing is the study of philosophy. In the western world since Immanuel Kant, philosophy has been utterly corrupted, and thus most people have a negative impression of philosophy. And Christians are particularly fond of flipping the page over to Paul’s consternation with what he called “vain philosophies” in order to de-legitimize discussing ideas. But regardless of how you feel, since philosophies exist, you need figure out how to deal with “vain philosophies.” So despite Paul’s anxiety over “vain” philosophies, it follows that understanding good philosophies is important.
Here’s the reality: the ideas we encounter are no accident, and the outcomes are not happenstance. The source of all world evil can be found in evil ideas, or evil philosophies. The outcomes of those ideas have been displayed over and over and over, so we know they are evil. Christians are then confronted with this reality: if the world remains evil then the solutions we have been offering do not work. So one more sermon, one more frothing-at-the-mouth preacher, one more guy pounding his ESV will not fix the problem.
Instead we must have the courage to think, or maybe better said: rethink. Unless people are willing to turn on their minds and challenge their deepest-held beliefs, finding the solution is impossible. Nothing will change. It won’t matter how much we dissect sanctification and justification or the centrality of the cross. It won’t matter how many scriptures we stack up in service to pet doctrines. It won’t matter how much we rail against misplaced church government (Is it presbytery? Is it democracy? Is it papacy? et al). That has already been done over and over and over, council after council, synod after synod, inter-Nicene fight after inter-Nicene fight. For the first time in history, men must rethink the historical fight from its roots.
Mystic despots have always ruled over the masses with portents and disasters for those who dared to live life beyond the mediocre. Tyrants can only succeed when men refuse to think. Autocrats rely on being able to compel outcomes because no one opposes their arguments. This is the challenge that I have as a man who is passionate about thinking: to inspire people to engage in understanding and scrutinizing the complex ideas that drive tyranny.
So here’s my challenge: do not be seduced into believing that righteousness is retreat from the world. Do not be seduced into believing that spirituality is defined by weakness and that timid caution for fear of committing potential error is a reason to be quiet. Do not be intimidated by vague, hazy threats of failure. Do not let yourself believe that faith is a license to irrationality. Do not mistake the simple nature of God’s love as a justification for simple-mindedness. Do not deceive yourself with the polite notion that you are above the fray, that your right to believe is sufficient to the cause of righteousness. There is no more stunning conceit. Do not pretend that your unwillingness to argue is the validation of truth.
Know this: virtue in a vacuum is like the proverbial sound in the forest – irrelevant without a witness. Character is no private deed. To retreat is nothing more than a man closing his eyes and shutting his mouth to injustice. Virtues are not estimates to be wafted gently against evil. Virtues are not to be withheld from view in the name of grace. Virtues are not to be politely swallowed in humble realization that we are all just sinners anyway. Love is not a moral blank check against the endless tide of indulgent action. Love is not blind to the cause and effect of reality. Love is not indifference to plunder and injustice and servitude.
The time is now, you men of private virtue, to emerge from your fortress of solitude and demonstrate that you are worthy of a life that bears your name. The time is now, you men of private virtue, to answer Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and all the nihilists that insist we are living on the edge and we cannot help but fall. It is time for you men of private virtue to take up the cause of human existence and think.
~ John Immel
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Click here to read Part 4
Guest Writer John Immel: An Open Letter to Infidels
In light of last night’s terror attack in Nice, France, I think we all need to be reminded once again of just who exactly we’re dealing with.
Originally Posted June 21, 2016
By John Immel; edited by Paul M. Dohse, TANC Publishing.
“No society can hope to survive collective psychosis. No nation can endure when the political powers seek to compel the people to join a break with reality. Western civilization cannot survive with this ongoing campaign of collective treason against the central premise of Enlightenment ideas: A is A. Without this foundation rational man, civilized man, is doomed.”
Dear Infidel, there is no such thing as Islamic “Extremism.”
Full stop.
Dear Infidel, remove every –ism from the proper noun and that will bring clarity to what is affecting the whole world.
Full stop.
Dear Infidel, there is no such thing as a “Moderate” Muslim.
Full stop.
Dear Infidel, the Quran divides the world between three classes of people—the faithful, apostates, and infidels. This existential divide might be marginally benign but for this fact: The faithful have a singular standing order—do heinous things to the apostates and the infidels. So for all practical purposes, in the world according to Islam, everything is metaphysically divided between the faithful and their 100% commitment to the edicts, commands, and dictates of Allah as bestowed upon the world by the Prophet Mohamed–May peace be upon Him–and everyone else.
How do I know this is true? Oh . . . because I can read. And if there is any confusion about what I read, I am willing to let the experts on the Quran speak for themselves and if I am tempted to dismiss their judgment for my own, I can temper my credulity by observing the historical themes played out generation after generation after generation after generation.
More on this historical observation in a minute . . .
Of course committing these words to print puts me in societal crosshairs. No one is allowed to be so direct about Islam and anyone who is this direct must be an intolerant, bigoted, racist, homophobic, angry white male who doesn’t like women and puppies and wants all old people to die eating cat food, because he will take away their social security. Only Donald Trump class bigots dare point out the reality of Islamic supremacy and its Jihad against Western culture in general and America in particular.
Dear Infidel, let’s think about this accusation . . . that those who understand Islam as stated above are little more than fearful little haters. Let us think about who is painting infidels, like myself, with the disqualifying brush of intolerance.
Western cultural intelligentsia, entertainment moguls, political pundits, heads of news agencies and government representatives have all decided that Islamic Clerics and Muslim Dr’s of theology, Imams, and mullahs can’t possibly know what the Quran says and are epistemologically incapable of understanding the Hadith. And therefore anyone committing an act of “terrorism” must, without equivocation, caveat or addendum; MUST be perverting a great religion.
So let’s watch how the smartest people in the room put this worldview into action. If a Jihadist, slaughters 49 gays in a Florida night club, calls 911 while committing his act of war and declares his commitment to ISIS, the motive cannot possibly be that he was a Muslim committed to the enforcement of Sharia law, but rather his violence is the byproduct of Republicans refusing to abolish the Second Amendment, or his violence is because “assault rifles” exist, or because American culture is a culture of “toxic masculinity,” or because he is “radicalized” by exposure to the “internet” or because America is mean and this poor young man just couldn’t take the meanness anymore, or he was (whispering) a closet homosexual who struggled to come out of the closet because America is homophobic.
Of course, the anti-American bigotry laced throughout these rationalizations is perfectly fine, perfectly reasonable, perfectly acceptable forms of political dissent and social commentary.
America (and white privileged Americans) are the villains and everyone else including the Jihadist dujour are the victims. And the only correct political action is to abolish the Second Amendment, prosecute Americans for “hate” crimes because Muslims are “offended,” lecture free people that they have no business expecting liberty, conduct endless warrantless searches on Americans traveling by airplane, immediately establish Sharia courts within the United States and—in the name of peace and compassion—throw our borders wide open to Muslim “immigrants” because anyone who knows anything knows that there is NO direct relationship between Islam, Muslims, Jihad, and the scattered few aberrations of Work Place Violence in Fort Hood and San Bernardino and the World Trade Center.
Oh no, no, no. Shame, shame, shame (stroking my index finger like Catholic School Nun) Islam is a great religion. It is a religion of peace. How dare you think otherwise?
This might be a quaint trip into political posturing if it weren’t for the fact that the leadership of the whole Western world, from Germany to France to Belgium to Great Britton seems to have arrived at the same fundamental conclusion. The whole western world has decided that Muslim leaders, renowned throughout the globe for their doctrinal mastery, are really just a few scattered crazy men that have “perverted” a “great religion.”
Never mind that in 630 AD Mohamed—May peace be upon Him—inspired Bedouin tribes to roar out of the backwater Arabian dessert with a singular goal—world domination in the name of Allah. Never mind that the whole of Islam has continued to act on this objective from the 7th century to the present day. Never mind that 95% of all modern military conflicts have Muslims on (at least) one side. Never mind that it is only because the Sunni and the Shia can’t stop slaughtering each other (because they can’t agree on who is the greater tribe of apostates) long enough for Islam to conquer the world. Never mind that the top Islamic minds, in every century since the 7th have repeatedly reaffirmed the declarations of war against the infidels over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and . . .
Never mind the obvious. The Western intelligentsia, with their superior grasp of reality, their pure hearts and broad minds and inclusive souls . . . oh no . . . they will not be duped by “extremists.” They know better—their understanding of the Religion of Peace is far better than the ayatollahs, mullahs and Imams issuing fatwas. They understand religious freedom better than the whole world.
So who are the crazy people in this scenario?
Dear Infidel, answer this question: Who is educating the West on the “Religion of Peace?”
Can you name one Billy Graham equivalent Muslim evangelist explaining the vagaries of Quranic doctrine? Where is the cavalcade of “moderate” Muslim’s instructing America on the Hadith’s central doctrines of benevolence?
Anyone have a name?
If Moderate Muslims are the dominant force within Islam’s 2 billion followers why don’t those names fly off your tongue like their Christian counterparts: Falwell and Swaggart and Molher and Copeland and Dever?
How come the names that do fly off your tongue—Bin Laden, Zarqawi, Khamenei, Badie—advocate anything but “moderation”?
So now let’s answer the question. Who is educating America on the “Religion of Peace?” The answer: A Who’s Who of pop culture personalities, politicians, and corporate media talking heads.
For example; Ben Affleck, who makes pretty good movies, regularly doubles as a Muslim apologist on sundry talk show panels. John Kasich insists on defending “moderate” Muslims as if his Catholic catechism gives him unique insights to the Hadith. And Paul Ryan who seems to get his boxers in a twist anytime anyone suggests there might be a problem with Muslim immigration. Or tune into pretty much any cable news program and you will be treated to an anchorette, smiling brightly into the camera, denigrating anyone who dares suggest that Islam had anything to do with the San Bernardino shooters or the Orlando Jihadist. Such intolerance, such Islamaphobia, she will insist is the height of bigotry.
Isn’t it curious that I’m impolitic for pointing out that our current theological educators should more properly be seen (and not heard) on an episode of Entertainment Tonight?
What are their credentials as Islamic spokesmen?
Because Ben Affleck produces and stars in the movie Argo, a film about the Iranian hostage crisis during Jimmy Carter’s presidency, he is an Islamic theologian? He knows a few “moderate” Muslims?
What to say about John Kasich? He is the (current) governor of Ohio and (was) a presidential candidate. So these are sufficient credentials to quote the Quran, Surah and Ayat?
Really?
Uh . . . remember, Dear Infidel, that this is the same man, who in a Presidential debate manufactured a conversation with Saint Peter to justify his Presidential policy to seize your private property in the name of “godly” compassion. I defy anyone to find a “biblical” reference to discussions with Saint Peter at the Pearly gates. And the reason I defy you to find it is because John Kasich made it up! So if John Kasich can manufacture Christian doctrines out of whole cloth what do you think he actually knows about Islam?
Paul Ryan, the current speaker of the House, often lectures the American people on the need for open immigration policy and refuses to heed the warnings of the FBI and CIA director in sworn congressional testimony that the flood of ISIS Jihadists coming across the US borders are at a historic high point. Paul Ryan has apparently forgotten that he is a representative of American citizens NOT foreign nationals. (As an aside I suggest that we encourage Speaker Ryan to go find another occupation—greeter at Wal-Mart or maybe an employee of CAIR or a field reporter for Al Jazeera—by supporting whoever challenges him in the upcoming election.)
And let’s not leave out the ubiquitous cable news anchorette sitting, shaved legs crossed at
the knee, cleavage imprinted behind her blouse, hair flowing free, defending Islam with her mega-watt smile. Never forget, as she blathers on sagely about religious freedom and the plight of Syrian refugees, that if she were seen, dressed as she is on TV, on the streets of Iran, Saudi Arabia or ANY other country where Sharia law is enforced she would be killed to wash her Western whore dishonor from her family name: burned alive or stoned, or beheaded or have her face whipped for her immodesty. Somehow American news anchorettes and college educated coeds seem to be the only ones who don’t know the open secret that the Islamic world knows: Under Sharia law a woman’s opinion is irrelevant.
(The definition of absurdity is American women, whose political and religious freedoms are the byproduct of Enlightenment thought, pontificating sagely about the benevolence of Islamic doctrine. But I digress.)
Dear Infidel here is the point: We are taking Islamic theology lessons from people who have no clue what they are talking about and at their request, in a fit of catastrophic delusion, defiantly rejecting the outward, overt, unhidden words of theological professionals. We are pretending that people who have (very likely) never touched a Quran—let alone read its words—insist they have a keener insight to Muslim doctrine than those who have dedicated their lives to its study. Men who have graduated from the world’s top Islamic universities, men who choose to abandon enormous wealth to live in huts and hovels and caves and blow themselves up to wage war in the name of Allah.
Arrogance is its own despicable vice but arrogance and delusion are the seedbed of disaster. No society can hope to survive collective psychosis. No nation can endure when the political powers seek to compel the people to join a break with reality. Western civilization cannot survive with this ongoing campaign of collective treason against the central premise of Enlightenment ideas: A is A. Without this foundation rational man, civilized man, is doomed.
Here is a novel idea. How about if we accept the word of Islamic professionals? How about if we take their declarations seriously? How about if rational men quit trying to put words in the mouth of mystics and quit making excuses for savages? How about if we judge reality and see exactly what Islam says of itself. How about if we identify the A of Islam.
What do the professionals say the Quran and the Hadith teaches?
Simply this: Mohamed—May peace be upon Him—declared war on the whole world in the name of Allah. Chapter after chapter after chapter in the Quran affirms the objective. And, big shock, every generation of Muslims since the 7th century has worked towards that end. The whole of Islamic history is a story of conquest, war, destruction, slavery, and oppression. The history of Islam is a singular effort to wipe out the Jewish people and the enemies of Allah in the name of his prophet Mohamed—May peace be upon Him—with not so much as a blush of shame or guilt or repentance by any Muslim intellectual leader that matters.
But John even the Islamic theological big dogs say that Islam is a “Religion of Peace?” So if the big dogs say this then, shouldn’t we believe them?
Of course, you should believe them. It is true. Islam is a religion of peace. The logic is simple: the world will be at peace when it is subjected to Allah and His Sharia law as the undisputed law of the world.
The Islamic definition of Peace is they win.
Full stop.
Dear Infidel, are you willing to give up the First Amendment? The Second Amendment?
Oh wait; yeah, stupid me. American’s are obviously willing to abandon the constitution since they sit idly by while politicians and judges and law enforcement make it a mockery. After all, it was written by evil rich white men. Who would dare stand up for such a thing? Of course, people don’t give a #$#% about liberty and freedom; so of course, they will give up their rights to life and the pursuit of individual happiness for “peace” and “security.” Of course Americans will give it up because white people better never “offend” a living soul.
Uh . . . hum, what will Americans actually fight for . . .?
Twiddling my thumbs thinking . . .
Are you willing to give up bacon?
Now that thought has most of you ready to pick up your “assault” rifle.
But John, what about all the “moderate” Muslims?
Dear Infidel, you do realize that the Quran also requires the faithful to deceive the infidel, right? They are theologically mandated to do the following: lie to you. Again, just take the theological experts at their word and it makes understanding reality much simpler.
Here is the dirty little secret that isn’t a secret. There is no such thing as a “moderate” Muslim.
Dear Infidel, think a minute. On what specific issue are these mythical Muslims “moderating?”
Come on, this “moderation” should leap off your tongue. They are not “moderating” whether they eat pepperoni or bacon or have a pet dog. They are not “moderating” whether they keep Ramadan or face Mecca when they answer the call to prayer. They are not “moderating” whether they can wear a hijab and a micro bikini at the same time. They are not “moderating” whether to impose Sharia Law in every nation on earth. They are not moderating on whether Mohamed—May peace be upon him—was just a “good man” or the Prophet of Allah. They are not “moderating” which tribe—the Sunni or the Shia—is the rightful heir to the Caliphate. They are not “moderating” on the Islamic equivalence between New Calvinism of the Wade Burleson kind vs the New Calvinism of the Al Mohler kind.
They are “moderating” on the means and methods of Jihad against the western infidel. They are moderating on whether they will Kill us or not.
Hey, here is a news flash. Muslims don’t get applause for refraining from killing me. That is a baseline standard. That is the threshold of civilized men. Not killing those who hold other ideas, not killing those who reject Islamic theology, is an expectation NOT a #%$&^ favor.
But make no mistake the “moderate” Muslims that currently forgo chopping off your head to advance the Caliphate, are not moderating on establishing the Caliphate. They are still working to establish Sharia law but they use our political system to overthrow our government and impose Islamic law.* The fact that they use lawyers and ad hominem attacks instead of bullets and beheadings doesn’t change the final goal. They are still working towards Mohamed’s stated end: World domination in the name of Allah. And any Muslim not deemed dedicated to this end—deemed by those who have the guns and perpetrate the greatest savagery—are, in Islamic parlance, apostates. So every Muslim who takes full advantage of Western democratic freedoms is not participating in an alternate, “enlightened” expression of Islam. All they have done is chosen to ignore Islamic orthodoxy precisely because our culture affords them a freedom they would never have in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Iran and a list of other countries where Sharia is enforced.
This is an almost impossible distinction for Americans to grasp because we treat religion like a vast smorgasbord that we can graze over at our leisure. If we don’t like what the preacher says we start another church instead of burning him at the stake. As Americans we like it when someone compromises on principles so it sounds reasonable to hear a hard-line “religious nut” equivocate on theological absolutes. The Western world in general and America in particular has not had a religious war in generations precisely because our philosophical foundations make religion an action of individual conscience: we are free to pick and choose what we want to believe and how we want to practice those beliefs.
But there is no individual conscience in Islam because any act of “moderation” is a death sentence. There is only one God—Allah. There is only one Islam. There is only one Prophet Mohamed—May Peace be upon Him. There is only one law: Sharia. Every Muslim that says otherwise is a hypocrite and all hypocrites are apostates. And the apostate’s end is the same as the infidel: heinous death adjudicated by a Sharia court.
Full stop.
I will say it again because it bears repeating: no matter how much wailing and gnashing of teeth you hear from CAIR; no matter how many times they bluff and bully and shout you down in public; no matter how many times they call you a bigot, there is no such thing as a “moderate” Muslim.
Dear Infidel, you must understand this fundamental fact. There is no way to have Sharia and the American Constitution side by side. Your political leaders absolutely know this which is why there is such a concerted effort to undermine the American constitution. But more fundamentally the constitution recognizes that man lives for himself. Islam demands that the whole of humanity lives for Allah. The choice you face Dear Infidel is simple: Sharia or objective law, Islamic theocracy or secular liberty, tyranny or the pursuit of individual happiness.
Twiddling my thumbs again pondering closing comments . . .
Well, I’ve come to this conclusion. I don’t think Americans want liberty and freedom any longer. Most of you, Dear Infidels, are more concerned over a threat to bacon than our President’s “common sense changes” to the Second Amendment.
Tell you what, Dear Infidel, I’ll help ease your transition into Sharia. You should probably start practicing your Allahu Akbars. Women, you should immediately get fitted for a burka—a long black bag that makes New Calvinist modesty look positively indecent. And Dear Infidel, when you say the name Mohamed remember to add—May peace be upon Him.
_______________________________________
*Editor’s Note: In fact, according to several polls, while a vast majority of Muslims living in the U.S. decry “extremists,” the same vast majority endorses Sharia law.
Guest Writer John Immel: An Open Letter to Infidels
By John Immel; edited by Paul M. Dohse, TANC Publishing.
“No society can hope to survive collective psychosis. No nation can endure when the political powers seek to compel the people to join a break with reality. Western civilization cannot survive with this ongoing campaign of collective treason against the central premise of Enlightenment ideas: A is A. Without this foundation rational man, civilized man, is doomed.”
Dear Infidel, there is no such thing as Islamic “Extremism.”
Full stop.
Dear Infidel, remove every –ism from the proper noun and that will bring clarity to what is affecting the whole world.
Full stop.
Dear Infidel, there is no such thing as a “Moderate” Muslim.
Full stop.
Dear Infidel, the Quran divides the world between three classes of people—the faithful, apostates, and infidels. This existential divide might be marginally benign but for this fact: The faithful have a singular standing order—do heinous things to the apostates and the infidels. So for all practical purposes, in the world according to Islam, everything is metaphysically divided between the faithful and their 100% commitment to the edicts, commands, and dictates of Allah as bestowed upon the world by the Prophet Mohamed–May peace be upon Him–and everyone else.
How do I know this is true? Oh . . . because I can read. And if there is any confusion about what I read, I am willing to let the experts on the Quran speak for themselves and if I am tempted to dismiss their judgment for my own, I can temper my credulity by observing the historical themes played out generation after generation after generation after generation.
More on this historical observation in a minute . . .
Of course committing these words to print puts me in societal crosshairs. No one is allowed to be so direct about Islam and anyone who is this direct must be an intolerant, bigoted, racist, homophobic, angry white male who doesn’t like women and puppies and wants all old people to die eating cat food, because he will take away their social security. Only Donald Trump class bigots dare point out the reality of Islamic supremacy and its Jihad against Western culture in general and America in particular.
Dear Infidel, let’s think about this accusation . . . that those who understand Islam as stated above are little more than fearful little haters. Let us think about who is painting infidels, like myself, with the disqualifying brush of intolerance.
Western cultural intelligentsia, entertainment moguls, political pundits, heads of news agencies and government representatives have all decided that Islamic Clerics and Muslim Dr’s of theology, Imams, and mullahs can’t possibly know what the Quran says and are epistemologically incapable of understanding the Hadith. And therefore anyone committing an act of “terrorism” must, without equivocation, caveat or addendum; MUST be perverting a great religion.
So let’s watch how the smartest people in the room put this worldview into action. If a Jihadist, slaughters 49 gays in a Florida night club, calls 911 while committing his act of war and declares his commitment to ISIS, the motive cannot possibly be that he was a Muslim committed to the enforcement of Sharia law, but rather his violence is the byproduct of Republicans refusing to abolish the Second Amendment, or his violence is because “assault rifles” exist, or because American culture is a culture of “toxic masculinity,” or because he is “radicalized” by exposure to the “internet” or because America is mean and this poor young man just couldn’t take the meanness anymore, or he was (whispering) a closet homosexual who struggled to come out of the closet because America is homophobic.
Of course, the anti-American bigotry laced throughout these rationalizations is perfectly fine, perfectly reasonable, perfectly acceptable forms of political dissent and social commentary.
America (and white privileged Americans) are the villains and everyone else including the Jihadist dujour are the victims. And the only correct political action is to abolish the Second Amendment, prosecute Americans for “hate” crimes because Muslims are “offended,” lecture free people that they have no business expecting liberty, conduct endless warrantless searches on Americans traveling by airplane, immediately establish Sharia courts within the United States and—in the name of peace and compassion—throw our borders wide open to Muslim “immigrants” because anyone who knows anything knows that there is NO direct relationship between Islam, Muslims, Jihad, and the scattered few aberrations of Work Place Violence in Fort Hood and San Bernardino and the World Trade Center.
Oh no, no, no. Shame, shame, shame (stroking my index finger like Catholic School Nun) Islam is a great religion. It is a religion of peace. How dare you think otherwise?
This might be a quaint trip into political posturing if it weren’t for the fact that the leadership of the whole Western world, from Germany to France to Belgium to Great Britton seems to have arrived at the same fundamental conclusion. The whole western world has decided that Muslim leaders, renowned throughout the globe for their doctrinal mastery, are really just a few scattered crazy men that have “perverted” a “great religion.”
Never mind that in 630 AD Mohamed—May peace be upon Him—inspired Bedouin tribes to roar out of the backwater Arabian dessert with a singular goal—world domination in the name of Allah. Never mind that the whole of Islam has continued to act on this objective from the 7th century to the present day. Never mind that 95% of all modern military conflicts have Muslims on (at least) one side. Never mind that it is only because the Sunni and the Shia can’t stop slaughtering each other (because they can’t agree on who is the greater tribe of apostates) long enough for Islam to conquer the world. Never mind that the top Islamic minds, in every century since the 7th have repeatedly reaffirmed the declarations of war against the infidels over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and . . .
Never mind the obvious. The Western intelligentsia, with their superior grasp of reality, their pure hearts and broad minds and inclusive souls . . . oh no . . . they will not be duped by “extremists.” They know better—their understanding of the Religion of Peace is far better than the ayatollahs, mullahs and Imams issuing fatwas. They understand religious freedom better than the whole world.
So who are the crazy people in this scenario?
Dear Infidel, answer this question: Who is educating the West on the “Religion of Peace?”
Can you name one Billy Graham equivalent Muslim evangelist explaining the vagaries of Quranic doctrine? Where is the cavalcade of “moderate” Muslim’s instructing America on the Hadith’s central doctrines of benevolence?
Anyone have a name?
If Moderate Muslims are the dominant force within Islam’s 2 billion followers why don’t those names fly off your tongue like their Christian counterparts: Falwell and Swaggart and Molher and Copeland and Dever?
How come the names that do fly off your tongue—Bin Laden, Zarqawi, Khamenei, Badie—advocate anything but “moderation”?
So now let’s answer the question. Who is educating America on the “Religion of Peace?” The answer: A Who’s Who of pop culture personalities, politicians, and corporate media talking heads.
For example; Ben Affleck, who makes pretty good movies, regularly doubles as a Muslim apologist on sundry talk show panels. John Kasich insists on defending “moderate” Muslims as if his Catholic catechism gives him unique insights to the Hadith. And Paul Ryan who seems to get his boxers in a twist anytime anyone suggests there might be a problem with Muslim immigration. Or tune into pretty much any cable news program and you will be treated to an anchorette, smiling brightly into the camera, denigrating anyone who dares suggest that Islam had anything to do with the San Bernardino shooters or the Orlando Jihadist. Such intolerance, such Islamaphobia, she will insist is the height of bigotry.
Isn’t it curious that I’m impolitic for pointing out that our current theological educators should more properly be seen (and not heard) on an episode of Entertainment Tonight?
What are their credentials as Islamic spokesmen?
Because Ben Affleck produces and stars in the movie Argo, a film about the Iranian hostage crisis during Jimmy Carter’s presidency, he is an Islamic theologian? He knows a few “moderate” Muslims?
What to say about John Kasich? He is the (current) governor of Ohio and (was) a presidential candidate. So these are sufficient credentials to quote the Quran, Surah and Ayat?
Really?
Uh . . . remember, Dear Infidel, that this is the same man, who in a Presidential debate manufactured a conversation with Saint Peter to justify his Presidential policy to seize your private property in the name of “godly” compassion. I defy anyone to find a “biblical” reference to discussions with Saint Peter at the Pearly gates. And the reason I defy you to find it is because John Kasich made it up! So if John Kasich can manufacture Christian doctrines out of whole cloth what do you think he actually knows about Islam?
Paul Ryan, the current speaker of the House, often lectures the American people on the need for open immigration policy and refuses to heed the warnings of the FBI and CIA director in sworn congressional testimony that the flood of ISIS Jihadists coming across the US borders are at a historic high point. Paul Ryan has apparently forgotten that he is a representative of American citizens NOT foreign nationals. (As an aside I suggest that we encourage Speaker Ryan to go find another occupation—greeter at Wal-Mart or maybe an employee of CAIR or a field reporter for Al Jazeera—by supporting whoever challenges him in the upcoming election.)
And let’s not leave out the ubiquitous cable news anchorette sitting, shaved legs crossed at the knee, cleavage imprinted behind her blouse, hair flowing free, defending Islam with her mega-watt smile. Never forget, as she blathers on sagely about religious freedom and the plight of Syrian refugees, that if she were seen, dressed as she is on TV, on the streets of Iran, Saudi Arabia or ANY other country where Sharia law is enforced she would be killed to wash her Western whore dishonor from her family name: burned alive or stoned, or beheaded or have her face whipped for her immodesty. Somehow American news anchorettes and college educated coeds seem to be the only ones who don’t know the open secret that the Islamic world knows: Under Sharia law a woman’s opinion is irrelevant.
(The definition of absurdity is American women, whose political and religious freedoms are the byproduct of Enlightenment thought, pontificating sagely about the benevolence of Islamic doctrine. But I digress.)
Dear Infidel here is the point: We are taking Islamic theology lessons from people who have no clue what they are talking about and at their request, in a fit of catastrophic delusion, defiantly rejecting the outward, overt, unhidden words of theological professionals. We are pretending that people who have (very likely) never touched a Quran—let alone read its words—insist they have a keener insight to Muslim doctrine than those who have dedicated their lives to its study. Men who have graduated from the world’s top Islamic universities, men who choose to abandon enormous wealth to live in huts and hovels and caves and blow themselves up to wage war in the name of Allah.
Arrogance is its own despicable vice but arrogance and delusion are the seedbed of disaster. No society can hope to survive collective psychosis. No nation can endure when the political powers seek to compel the people to join a break with reality. Western civilization cannot survive with this ongoing campaign of collective treason against the central premise of Enlightenment ideas: A is A. Without this foundation rational man, civilized man, is doomed.
Here is a novel idea. How about if we accept the word of Islamic professionals? How about if we take their declarations seriously? How about if rational men quit trying to put words in the mouth of mystics and quit making excuses for savages? How about if we judge reality and see exactly what Islam says of itself. How about if we identify the A of Islam.
What do the professionals say the Quran and the Hadith teaches?
Simply this: Mohamed—May peace be upon Him—declared war on the whole world in the name of Allah. Chapter after chapter after chapter in the Quran affirms the objective. And, big shock, every generation of Muslims since the 7th century has worked towards that end. The whole of Islamic history is a story of conquest, war, destruction, slavery, and oppression. The history of Islam is a singular effort to wipe out the Jewish people and the enemies of Allah in the name of his prophet Mohamed—May peace be upon Him—with not so much as a blush of shame or guilt or repentance by any Muslim intellectual leader that matters.
But John even the Islamic theological big dogs say that Islam is a “Religion of Peace?” So if the big dogs say this then, shouldn’t we believe them?
Of course, you should believe them. It is true. Islam is a religion of peace. The logic is simple: the world will be at peace when it is subjected to Allah and His Sharia law as the undisputed law of the world.
The Islamic definition of Peace is they win.
Full stop.
Dear Infidel, are you willing to give up the First Amendment? The Second Amendment?
Oh wait; yeah, stupid me. American’s are obviously willing to abandon the constitution since they sit idly by while politicians and judges and law enforcement make it a mockery. After all, it was written by evil rich white men. Who would dare stand up for such a thing? Of course, people don’t give a #$#% about liberty and freedom; so of course, they will give up their rights to life and the pursuit of individual happiness for “peace” and “security.” Of course Americans will give it up because white people better never “offend” a living soul.
Uh . . . hum, what will Americans actually fight for . . .?
Twiddling my thumbs thinking . . .
Are you willing to give up bacon?
Now that thought has most of you ready to pick up your “assault” rifle.
But John, what about all the “moderate” Muslims?
Dear Infidel, you do realize that the Quran also requires the faithful to deceive the infidel, right? They are theologically mandated to do the following: lie to you. Again, just take the theological experts at their word and it makes understanding reality much simpler.
Here is the dirty little secret that isn’t a secret. There is no such thing as a “moderate” Muslim.
Dear Infidel, think a minute. On what specific issue are these mythical Muslims “moderating?”
Come on, this “moderation” should leap off your tongue. They are not “moderating” whether they eat pepperoni or bacon or have a pet dog. They are not “moderating” whether they keep Ramadan or face Mecca when they answer the call to prayer. They are not “moderating” whether they can wear a hijab and a micro bikini at the same time. They are not “moderating” whether to impose Sharia Law in every nation on earth. They are not moderating on whether Mohamed—May peace be upon him—was just a “good man” or the Prophet of Allah. They are not “moderating” which tribe—the Sunni or the Shia—is the rightful heir to the Caliphate. They are not “moderating” on the Islamic equivalence between New Calvinism of the Wade Burleson kind vs the New Calvinism of the Al Mohler kind.
They are “moderating” on the means and methods of Jihad against the western infidel. They are moderating on whether they will Kill us or not.
Hey, here is a news flash. Muslims don’t get applause for refraining from killing me. That is a baseline standard. That is the threshold of civilized men. Not killing those who hold other ideas, not killing those who reject Islamic theology, is an expectation NOT a #%$&^ favor.
But make no mistake the “moderate” Muslims that currently forgo chopping off your head to advance the Caliphate, are not moderating on establishing the Caliphate. They are still working to establish Sharia law but they use our political system to overthrow our government and impose Islamic law.* The fact that they use lawyers and ad hominem attacks instead of bullets and beheadings doesn’t change the final goal. They are still working towards Mohamed’s stated end: World domination in the name of Allah. And any Muslim not deemed dedicated to this end—deemed by those who have the guns and perpetrate the greatest savagery—are, in Islamic parlance, apostates. So every Muslim who takes full advantage of Western democratic freedoms is not participating in an alternate, “enlightened” expression of Islam. All they have done is chosen to ignore Islamic orthodoxy precisely because our culture affords them a freedom they would never have in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Iran and a list of other countries where Sharia is enforced.
This is an almost impossible distinction for Americans to grasp because we treat religion like a vast smorgasbord that we can graze over at our leisure. If we don’t like what the preacher says we start another church instead of burning him at the stake. As Americans we like it when someone compromises on principles so it sounds reasonable to hear a hard-line “religious nut” equivocate on theological absolutes. The Western world in general and America in particular has not had a religious war in generations precisely because our philosophical foundations make religion an action of individual conscience: we are free to pick and choose what we want to believe and how we want to practice those beliefs.
But there is no individual conscience in Islam because any act of “moderation” is a death sentence. There is only one God—Allah. There is only one Islam. There is only one Prophet Mohamed—May Peace be upon Him. There is only one law: Sharia. Every Muslim that says otherwise is a hypocrite and all hypocrites are apostates. And the apostate’s end is the same as the infidel: heinous death adjudicated by a Sharia court.
Full stop.
I will say it again because it bears repeating: no matter how much wailing and gnashing of teeth you hear from CAIR; no matter how many times they bluff and bully and shout you down in public; no matter how many times they call you a bigot, there is no such thing as a “moderate” Muslim.
Dear Infidel, you must understand this fundamental fact. There is no way to have Sharia and the American Constitution side by side. Your political leaders absolutely know this which is why there is such a concerted effort to undermine the American constitution. But more fundamentally the constitution recognizes that man lives for himself. Islam demands that the whole of humanity lives for Allah. The choice you face Dear Infidel is simple: Sharia or objective law, Islamic theocracy or secular liberty, tyranny or the pursuit of individual happiness.
Twiddling my thumbs again pondering closing comments . . .
Well, I’ve come to this conclusion. I don’t think Americans want liberty and freedom any longer. Most of you, Dear Infidels, are more concerned over a threat to bacon than our President’s “common sense changes” to the Second Amendment.
Tell you what, Dear Infidel, I’ll help ease your transition into Sharia. You should probably start practicing your Allahu Akbars. Women, you should immediately get fitted for a burka—a long black bag that makes New Calvinist modesty look positively indecent. And Dear Infidel, when you say the name Mohamed remember to add—May peace be upon Him.
_______________________________________
*Editor’s Note: In fact, according to several polls, while a vast majority of Muslims living in the U.S. decry “extremists,” the same vast majority endorses Sharia law.
The “Cross Story” and Sanctified Rape in the Church
Originally published January 31, 2013
“Be sure of it: this is how Calvinists think; this is their worldview.”
“Don’t misunderstand: the problem of ‘victim mentality’ is not even on the radar screen—they have removed the word “victim” from their metaphysical dictionary.”
“Justice necessarily implies victim. Victim necessarily implies worth. All three are conspirators with the glory story.”
Martin Luther had more on his mind than silly Popes when he nailed his 95 Theses to the front door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany. That protest launched the Reformation, but six months later Luther presented the systematic theology of the Reformation to the Augustinian Order in Heidelberg. Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation laid the foundation, and John Calvin later articulated and applied its basic principles to the full spectrum of life in his Institutes of the Christian Religion.
The Cross Story and the Glory Story
Luther’s cross story, or theology of the cross is the crux of the Heidelberg Disputation and introduced in the first sentence of the Calvin Institutes:
Our wisdom, insofar as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.
That’s Luther’s theology of the cross: a deeper and deeper knowledge of our putrid humanity as set against God’s holiness. And NOTHING in-between. All of creation, all events, and all reality contribute to deeper knowledge of one of these two, and then both as a deeper knowledge of each gives more understanding to the other; knowledge of both, and the experience of both. Hence, every blessing, including our good works which are done by the Holy Spirit to begin with, lends more understanding of God’s glory. Every evil event, sin, and tragedy lends deeper understanding in regard to our total depravity and worthlessness. But of course your mother is dying of cancer; I am amazed that God would give anyone as many years as He has given her. Who are we to think we deserve even one year of life? And what a wonderful opportunity for her to suffer the way Jesus suffered for us!
This is the cross story. See the illustration below. This is a contemporary depiction from that camp—this is their assessment:
Anything else at all that gives any credit to humanity—Christian or non-Christian is the “glory story.” That would be our glory specifically, and not Christ’s. To the degree that humanity is considered, the glory of Christ is “ECLIPSED.” This is the theses of a book written by John MacArthur associate Rick Holland: Uneclipsing The Son. Everything is perceived as speaking through one of these two perspectives. ANYTHING coming from what is perceived as the “glory story” is summarily dismissed. Be sure of it: this is how Calvinists think. This is their worldview.
In one of the former Resolved Conferences sponsored by John MacArthur and Holland, in one of his messages, Holland extols a letter written to Puritan Christopher Love by his wife as he awaited execution. Holland forgot to mention to those listening that Love was executed for espionage against the English government while letting the audience assume he was executed for loftier spiritual-like reasons. The following is excerpts from the letter:
O that the Lord would keep thee from having one troubled thought for thy relations. I desire freely to give thee up into thy Father’s hands, and not only look upon it as a crown of glory for thee to die for Christ, but as an honor to me that I should have a husband to leave for Christ…. I dare not speak to thee, nor have a thought within my own heart of my own unspeakable loss, but wholly keep my eye fixed upon thy inexpressible and inconceivable gain. Thou leavest but a sinful, mortal wife to be everlastingly married to the Lord of glory…. Thou dost but leave earth for heaven and changest a prison for a palace. And if natural affections should begin to arise, I hope that the spirit of grace that is within thee will quell them, knowing that all things here below are but dung and dross in comparison of those things that are above. I know thou keepest thine eye fixed on the hope of glory, which makes thy feet trample on the loss of earth.
Justice? That implies that humanity has some sort of value. That implies that life itself has some sort of value. That implies that humanity should be protected through threat of punishment. That’s the glory story. Therefore, Calvin stated the following:
Those who, as in the presence of God, inquire seriously into the true standard of righteousness, will certainly find that all the works of men, if estimated by their own worth, are nothing but vileness and pollution, that what is commonly deemed justice is with God mere iniquity; what is deemed integrity is pollution; what is deemed glory is ignominy (CI 3.12.4).
Death by Biblical Counseling
The church must face up to a sobering reality in our day. The vast majority of biblical counseling that goes on in our day is based on this construct—you will be counseled from the perspective of the cross story, and anything that smacks of the glory story will be snubbed. You are not a victim. There is no such thing as a victim. Christ was the only true victim in all of history. Don’t misunderstand: the problem of “victim mentality” is not even on the radar screen—they have removed the word “victim” from their metaphysical dictionary. “Victim” is part of the glory story; Christ as the only victim is the cross story. I am not a victim. That’s impossible because my sin nailed Christ to the cross. Thank you oh Lord that I was raped. Thank you for this opportunity to suffer for you. Thank you for the strength to forgive the one who raped me in the same way you forgave me. What a wonderful opportunity to show forth your gospel!
Hence, when the leaders of a Reformed church came to inform parents that a young man in that church had molested their toddler, this was the opening statement:
Today, we have before us an opportunity to forgive.
The parents were then counseled to not contact the authorities. Those who do are often brought up on church discipline. Justice necessarily implies victim. Victim necessarily implies worth. All three are conspirators with the glory story. And be not deceived: this is the logic that drives Reformed organizations that are supposed to be mediators in the church; specifically, Peacemaker Ministries and G.R.A.C.E. A major player in the Biblical Counseling Movement is Paul David Tripp. In 2006, he wrote a book that articulates the horizontal application of Luther’s theology of the cross: “How people Change.” Of course, the title is a lie; if he really believed people change, that would be the glory story. Notice also that it is, “How People Change” and not, “How Christians Change.” That’s because this bunch see no difference in the transforming power of the new birth and ordinary Christ-rejecting people.
In the book, Tripp, like all who propagate Luther’s theology of the cross, posits the Bible as a “big picture” narrative of our redemptive life. The Bible is a mere tool for one thing only: leading us more and more into the cross story and away from the glory story. This is accomplished by using the Bible to enter into the cross narrative and thereby seeing our preordained part in the “big picture” narrative of redemptive history. Though Tripp is not forthright about it in the book, this is known as the Redemptive Historical Hermeneutic. By seeing our life through the cross story, we are empowered to live life for God’s glory. This is done by seeing ALL circumstances in life (Heat) as preordained in order to show our sinfulness (Thorns) and God’s goodness (Fruit) for the purposes of having a deeper understanding of both resulting in spiritual wellbeing. In other words, all of life’s circumstances are designed to give us a deeper understanding of the cross story: God’s holiness, and our sinfulness. I have taken his primary visual illustration from the book and drawn lines to the cross story illustration to demonstrate the relationship (click on image to enlarge):
Understanding this lends insight to Tripp citations on the Peacekeepers Ministries website:
Paul Trip wrote a great post over at The Gospel Coalition blog all about the need for pastors to pursue a culture of forgiveness in their ministry. Pastors (and anyone serving Christ) have a choice:
“You can choose for disappointment to become distance, for affection to become dislike, and for a ministry partnership to morph into a search for an escape. You can taste the sad harvest of relational détente that so many church staffs live in, or you can plant better seeds and celebrate a much better harvest. The harvest of forgiveness, rooted in God’s forgiveness of you, is the kind of ministry relationship everyone wants.”
Then he describes three ways forgiveness can shape your ministry. I’ve listed them, but you can read how he explains them in detail.
“1. Forgiveness stimulates appreciation and affection.
2. Forgiveness produces patience.
3. Forgiveness is the fertile soil in which unity in relationships grows.”
He closes with this exhortation:
“So we learn to make war, but no longer with one another. Together we battle the one Enemy who is after us and our ministries. As we do this, we all become thankful that grace has freed us from the war with one another that we used to be so good at making.”
And concerning another author, they also stated:
Last week, Steve Cornell at The Gospel Coalition blog posted some really great insight into the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. They also offered up some excellent and biblically sound steps in dealing with a situation where an offending party is hesitant to reconcile.
Here he summarizes a key distinction:
“It’s possible to forgive someone without offering immediate reconciliation. It’s possible for forgiveness to occur in the context of one’s relationship with God apart from contact with her offender. But reconciliation is focused on restoring broken relationships. And where trust is deeply broken, restoration is a process—sometimes, a lengthy one”…. His ten guidelines for those hesitant to reconcile are rooted in scripture and, I think, incredibly helpful.
1. Be honest about your motives.
2. Be humble in your attitude.
3. Be prayerful about the one who hurt you.
4. Be willing to admit ways you might have contributed to the problem.
5. Be honest with the offender.
6. Be objective about your hesitancy.
7. Be clear about the guidelines for restoration.
8. Be alert to Satan’s schemes.
9. Be mindful of God’s control.
10. Be realistic about the process.
Notice the overall blurring of distinction between the offended and offender with the subject of forgiveness.
The Cross-centered Anti-justice Pandemic is No longer Exclusively a Reformed Thing
Apart from Calvinism, the redemptive historical cross-centered approach is crossing denominational lines en masse. We at TANC see doctrines that were born of Luther’s theology of the cross in non-Reformed circles constantly; specifically, heart theology (deep repentance), exclusive interpretation of the Scriptures through a redemptive prism, Gospel Sanctification, and John Piper’s Christian hedonism. And we also see the same results. It is not beyond the pale for a pastor who has raped a parishioner to be the one counseling the victim sinner. You know, the “sinner saved by grace.”
God is a God of justice, and throughout the Scriptures He demands that we be people of justice. He demands that we come to the defense of the victim. I close with fitting words from church historian John Immel:
And this is the challenge. This is the challenge that I have as a man who is passionate about thinking: to inspire people to engage in complex ideas that drive tyranny. So here’s my challenge to those who are listening.
Do not be seduced into believing that righteousness is retreat from the world.
Do not be seduced into believing that spirituality is defined by weakness and that timid caution for fear of committing potential error is a reason to be quiet.
Do not be intimidated by vague, hazy threats of failure.
Do not let yourself believe that faith is a license to irrationality. I’m going to say that again to you. This is good. Do not let yourself believe that faith is a license to irrationality.
Do not mistake the simple nature of God’s love for a justification for simple-mindedness.
Do not deceive yourself with the polite notion that you are above the fray, that your right to believe is sufficient to the cause of righteousness. There is no more stunning conceit.
Do not pretend that your unwillingness to argue is the validation of truth.
Know this: Virtue in a vacuum is like the proverbial sound in the forest–irrelevant without a witness. Character is no private deed. To retreat is nothing more than a man closing his eyes and shutting his mouth to injustice.
Virtues are not estimates to be lofted gently against evil.
Virtues are not to be withheld from view in the name of grace.
Virtues are not to be politely swallowed in humble realization that we are all just sinners anyway.
Love is not a moral blank check against the endless tide of indulgent action.
Love is not blind to the cause and effect of reality.
Love is not indifference to plunder and injustice and servitude.
The time is now, you men of private virtue, to emerge from your fortress of solitude and demonstrate that you are worthy of a life that bears your name. The time is now, you men of private virtue, to answer Mick Jagger and all the nihilists that insist we are living on the edge and we cannot help but fall. It is time for you men of private virtue to take up the cause of human existence and think.
~TANC 2012 Conference on Gospel Discernment and Spiritual Tyranny: John Immel; session 1, “Assumptions + Logic = Action.”
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Paul's Passing Thoughts 
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