A Clarification: I Don’t Like New Calvinist Bullies
“New Calvinism and bullying go hand in hand. They are spiritual terrorists dressed in the demeanor of Mr. Rogers.”
“That’s who these people are. They are arrogant, drunk with visions of grandeur, and just plain mean.”
Apparently, it’s how God wired me. Even as a young boy, I refused to tolerate bullies. Twice in the eighth grade I planned missions against two bullies. After my initial strike, I had a turtle-like position that I would get into that would limit the damage from the retaliation—if they were able to respond. In both cases they were (much to my surprise), but the position worked well until teachers came to the rescue. Interestingly, after one broken nose (the binding of that history book was really sturdy) and another singing soprano, the bullying stopped. Then when I was 17, I worked for a friend who owned a lawn care service. Apparently, the owner of an apartment complex that we serviced refused to fire us and obtain a unionized lawn care service. We were approached by two real-life mobster types who demanded that we stop servicing the account. My friend told them in terms that can’t be repeated here to hang it on their beaks. We obtained firearms to protect ourselves and continued to service the account.
And as a Christian, I will not tolerate New Calvinist bullies. And I have a weapon far more powerful than in the days of ignorance: truth. So let me clarify why I had a post pulled down on another blog. I am not going to name names because the individual agreed to pull it down. He is one of the many crass, arrogant New Calvinist graduates that are steadily crawling out of Southern Theological Seminary and seeking to infiltrate a local church near you. In my business, and if it’s convenient, I will take the opportunity to address those who attack me personally with generalizations. In this case, I figured the congregation where he attends and teaches is not privy to what he really believes, and informed him that I would educate them with my “misrepresentations” and let them decide for themselves what the truth is if they are still able to think for themselves. Apparently they are, the post was pulled down shortly thereafter. Admittedly, I might have been provoked by the fact that a certain New Calvinist had also commented on the post. This particular man has sent me emails to inform me of his wishes that I would die.
New Calvinism and bullying go hand in hand. They are spiritual terrorists dressed in the demeanor of Mr. Rogers. I know a dear brother who is presently under bogus church discipline for asking too many questions. He was told that if he wasn’t going to “get on board with the grace movement,” they were going to show him the front door of the church. When he refused to leave, he was brought up on church discipline. Yes, this soft spoken, gentle, godly brother has been muzzled. Another prime example is the well documented bullying by CJ Mahaney who is presently being harbored by a New Calvinist hero among them (for excommunicating 256 members for unbiblical reasons). That’s who these people are. They are arrogant, drunk with visions of grandeur, and just plain mean.
But they might have a problem. The deeper I dig into New Calvinism, the more evidence emerges showing that it is the product of the Progressive Adventist movement. The core doctrine of that movement was the centrality of the objective gospel completely outside of us. As in the post that was pulled down, New Calvinists often say: “What’s wrong with a gospel that says that justification is based on a righteousness that came from outside of us? Dohse misunderstands the issue of justification.” But these vile liars know grade-A-well that the doctrine teaches that righteousness stays completely outside of us in sanctification as well. Christ is formed in spiritually dead believers through gospel contemplationism. Other forms of the “practical application” of this doctrine advocates a formula that enables us to “present the perfect obedience of Christ to the Father by faith.” It’s not our obedience according to the doctrine; since we “live by faith,” and all of OUR righteousness is “filthy rags” (present tense), we present the “active obedience of Christ” to the Father by faith. New Calvinists deliberately confuse and divert by using the terms interchangeably. In the post that was pulled down, the author argued from the standpoint of justification in order to divert from what the doctrine really teaches about sanctification by justification, or what amounts to sanctification by faith alone.
I hope my motives are primarily driven by a love for the truth. But the fact that I don’t like bullies is definitely part of what drives me against this doctrine. Never have, never will.
paul
Every Day Is Christmas For David Powlison
Going into the holidays one thinks the weapons of discernment can be set aside until the holidays pass. But no, everywhere one surfs, whether Facebook, or elsewhere, New Calvinists are busy putting their Gospel Contemplative twist on the Christmas season. In my case, just yesterday, another assault came as I innocently checked my email and read an article sent to me that was written by the Sultan of Nuance, David Powlison.
The article is full of the usual strange Powlison-speak. For instance, throughout the article, “Scripture,” “ministry,” and Jesus work with people, but any mention of other believers working with troubled people is conspicuously missing. What’s that all about? Who knows! For readers who have any discernment at all, his writings create way more questions than answers.
The article also contained a dominate element of New Calvinism: it’s all about the personhood of Jesus and an avoidance of objective biblical instruction like the Bubonic Plague. You see, Jesus is not a “cognitive concept we apply to life, He’s a person.” It’s not about what our king taught, it’s about His personhood which is very, very, very “deep stuff” according to Powlison. Ie., don’t try sanctification at home, you need Dr. Powlison to guide you through the very tricky business of applying gospel truth to every aspect of life. As I recently heard from another New Calvinist, “the depths of gospel truth will never be learned for all of eternity.” And since the whole Bible is about the gospel, well, you fill in the blank. Like Francis Chan says: “We are just clay vessels trying to explain this incredible treasure.”
Yes, that’s why we need the brilliant, incomparable Dr. Powlison. Throughout the article, he proclaims that the “person of Jesus” is the answer to all of the questions that he presents. While that is true, Powlison conveniently forgets to mention that answers also lay in what Jesus SAYS, not just who he is as a “person.” Apparently, that might temp people to “jump from the imperative directly into obedience.” My, my, we can’t have that—that’s a subjective gospel that was at the core of the Reformer’s contentions with Rome! Also known as the “first generation of biblical counseling.”
That’s why CCEF has a “research and development team.” At the 2011 TGC conference, he had a workshop to reveal all of the “latest developments” in biblical counseling. Where do these “developments” come from? He revealed that in an interview with the New Calvinist 9Marks blog. We must research all the teachings compiled throughout history to find stuff that the “church has forgotten” and lost over time because it was about Jesus as a person and that kind of stuff is easy to forget, like what He plainly says in Scripture. According to Powlison, even when CCEF’s research and development team rediscovers it, it must be reexamined in its “socio-historical context.” Like I said, don’t you dare try this stuff at home!
So many flat rocks laying upon the Earth with truth underneath, so little time. But do not fear, Dr. Powlison is busy everyday looking under those rocks, anxiously anticipating the next new gift he can share with needy, totally depraved Christians. That’s why every day is Christmas for David Powlison.
paul
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
5 comments