Paul's Passing Thoughts

For some time, this blog has been harassed by a New Covenant theologian from Costa Rica. He has not only harassed me which I am accustomed to anyway, but he has also harassed my readers with endless circular arguments that are typical of New Calvinists. He has also showed hostility towards those who disagree with him which is also part of the New Calvinist mode of operation.

This post is sort of an apology as well to my readers. I am a layman and not much of an IT guy, so between working/writing/husbanding/fathering and not knowing all the ends and outs of web stuff—it took me awhile to figure out how to blacklist him from the site. I know, moderating mode is easy, but that’s also TIME that I don’t have. We will see if my new tweaking of the blog settings will work.

However, this all brings back to mind how hostile, condescending, and elitist New Calvinists are in general. This comes from two sources: One; New Calvinists think they are completing the original Reformation. In their minds, literally, today’s gospel narrative in the “ongoing redemptive drama” is the same as it was during the great Reformation. They are Luther’s children and I will give you three wild guesses as to who we are. Secondly; they resent the fact that evangelicals have supposedly led myriads into hell because of the separation of justification and sanctification; specifically, some of their own relatives. When they talk about “justification by faith,” let me give you a heads-up fellow evangelical—they are talking about sanctification also: “The same gospel that saves us also sanctifies us.” What do you think they are saying when they say that? Please, words mean things—start listening to them and stop assuming you know what they are saying!

Look, this mentality came directly from the Australian Forum. Everything is either Rome or the Reformers—the subjective gospel or the objective gospel.  Listen to the contemporary NC crowd carefully and you will hear them say it all the time. Piper said it while commenting on Goldsworthy’s lecture at Southern seminary. On the one hand, they’re Reformers that will go down in church history, on the other, Roman Catholicism is behind every bush. It’s visions of grandeur on steroids.

This mentality is driving the hostile takeover of many ministries, ie, Coral Ridge as one example, and rampant elder abuse of parishioners. Parishioners in New Calvinist churches may rape pillage and steel, but don’t you dare question doctrine. In one particular case in a well-known NC church , a parishioner sent a letter to an excommunicated individual (same church) who questioned doctrine; the parishioner stated that she knew why he was targeted, and that she was not only a member in good standing, but living with her boyfriend out of wedlock under the full knowledge of the elders. I saw the letter. After all, we are all totally depraved anyway, right?

This mentality can be seen among their leaders on a national level. The wagons have been circled around CJ Mahaney for the exact aforementioned abuse I am talking about. It is my understanding from people who follow that venue that the website SGM Survivors . Com has been up for four years while John MacArthur, Al Mohler, and others clamor to hold events with him. His heavy handed squashing of detractors is irrelevant; “He has the gospel right.” Not that it mattered that much as I had only been there three times in about four years, and that at the behest of others, the Pyro blog blacklisted me for pointing out that Piper often flip-flops between justification and sanctification in his messages without any transitions. Frank Turk, a Pyro contributor, rebuked me for daring to “slander” Piper and said “to know Piper is to grasp Piper.” He also aped the often used you can’t criticize a NC unless you have read everything they have written routine. Of course, that would exclude any criticism of Piper because he has written about 600 books—all concerning the eternal depths of joy and proofs that God is a happy God which is supposedly a primary theme of Scripture as opposed to discussion about His holiness. The author of the blog, the insufferable Phil Johnson, bemoaned the fact that women had the audacity to criticize a teacher of “Piper’s stature” rather than being in the kitchen barefoot and pregnant.

I was in a Christian bookstore the other day and it occurred to me that other people telling Spirit filled Christians what God is saying to them is big business. The New Calvinists are making big bucks selling the idea that they are the new Reformers here to finish what Luther started (by the way, Luther’s contention with Rome was on a moral issue, [indulgences] not salvation by grace alone). And you’re either with them, or you are with the Romans. Character doesn’t matter, if CJ draws a crowd, CJ is too big to fail. Follow the money.

Enough is enough—Christians need to take the church back from New Calvinism. And by the way, Christ said, “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” So, sometimes I wonder about this whole “Reformation” motif  to begin with. Had Rome temporarily prevailed against God’s church? Don’t know, but I can tell you that I don’t believe it because a bunch of men say it’s true. And the “new” Reformation? Well, that’s definitely a stretch.

paul