-------------------------
Rev. Wade doesn't cite a single Scripture other than his introductory references. He doesn't care to edify the reader in any way. His only purpose is to take pot-shots at the NAR.
He is a theological arsonist, bent on demonization and destruction.
---------------
He is a theological arsonist, bent on demonization and destruction.
---------------
And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. - Luke 24:19-21 (ESV)
So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" - Acts 1:6 (ESV)
The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) are primary proponents for Christian dominionism. This is the false and heretical belief that we need to conquer seven cultural mountains in order to facilitate the second coming of Christ. (Rev. Wade has leveled this charge at the NAR numerous times in his writings. Yet he has never demonstrated that the NAR is particularly dominionist, nor has be provided a reference for it. We searched for ourselves and have been unable to ascertain this.
The key factor in dominionism, not demonstrated by Rev. Wade to be true, is the idea that the Church is to take over society and implement a theocracy in preparation for Jesus' coming. This is not the same thing as desiring to see the kingdom of God manifest in the various institutions of society.
We have read NAR writings concerning a desire to be influencers for the sake of the Gospel, but nothing we have read indicates a desire to "Christianize" the processes of society.)
We need to take dominion, so to speak. This comes from a butchering of a verse in Genesis made by people who worship this country before God. I am not suggesting consciously, as the devil is rarely that obvious. They come up with reasonable sounding arguments but they are never rooted in scripture because scripture disagrees. Jesus disagrees. The primary evidence of this is found in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ when He walked this earth. In His day, the nation of Israel was under the thumb of Roman oppression. They suffered true persecution, not the faux persecution that the NAR sells as victim mentality to the apostate church today. (Persecution comes in degrees, sir.)
The followers of Jesus all thought He was going to deliver them from the oppression of Rome but He came to deliver the world from the oppression of sin. Do not miss this key point. The Roman empire is but a footnote in God's history. What is far more important is the eternal reality of those who may suffer temporally. The key verses today display the desires of those who followed Jesus. The first set of verses is from the Road to Emmaus scriptures, on the third day after the crucifixion. The men walking with Jesus, unbeknownst to them, revealed what their hopes had been. They hoped that Jesus would redeem Israel from Roman oppression. Even after the crucifixion this is what is foremost in their minds! The second key verse is from the opening chapter of Acts while Jesus spends 40 days with His disciples. Even then, after three plus years of telling them about the kingdom. After teaching them about eternity, they still are focused on their physical deliverance from Rome rather than what Jesus had just bought for them on the cross. Soon they would receive the Holy Spirit who would lead them into all truth and they would embark on changing the world. (Whoops. The disciples were to change the world? How is this different than what the NAR wants to do? Rev. Wade needs to explain.)
I say this as a backdrop for reviewing the latest article from Dr. Michael Brown opining about the intersection of politics and the Gospel, linked above. Over the past decade we have watched the fall of Dr. Brown from respected theologian to a near 100% dedicated political animal. He always tries to sound like he is playing both sides of the fence but if you read the scope of his work over the past five years it was obvious he was an apologist for the former president. That aside, he is the primary gatekeeper for the NAR dominionism he often pretends doesn't exist. He excuses false teacher after false teacher and as we will see today, he also is constantly making excuses for the church being involved in politics despite Jesus never doing the same. (Jesus frequently engaged the political powers of the day, including matters of law. What on earth is Rev. Wade talking about?
I say this as a backdrop for reviewing the latest article from Dr. Michael Brown opining about the intersection of politics and the Gospel, linked above. Over the past decade we have watched the fall of Dr. Brown from respected theologian to a near 100% dedicated political animal. He always tries to sound like he is playing both sides of the fence but if you read the scope of his work over the past five years it was obvious he was an apologist for the former president. That aside, he is the primary gatekeeper for the NAR dominionism he often pretends doesn't exist. He excuses false teacher after false teacher and as we will see today, he also is constantly making excuses for the church being involved in politics despite Jesus never doing the same. (Jesus frequently engaged the political powers of the day, including matters of law. What on earth is Rev. Wade talking about?
Mt. 15:1-3 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!” 3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?
Mt. 16:1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.
Mt. 19:3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
Lk. 6:2-5 Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
Jesus spent a lot of time dealing with the legal authorities of the day, correcting them, condemning them, and explaining to the Gospel. The fact that Rev. Wade doesn't understand this is alarming.)
So let us reason once more:
"Three years ago, I conducted a poll on Facebook asking, "Should pastors and Christian leaders just preach the gospel, or should they also comment on relevant social and political issues?" Three years later to the day, I posted the same poll on Twitter. How did the results compare?
Obviously, there is nothing scientific about these polls. They simply indicate how my Facebook and Twitter communities feel about the question. As for these two social media communities, although they have much in common, in many ways they disparate in their viewpoints and beliefs. How did the results compare? In 2018 on Facebook, out of roughly 1,900, 84% said "Gospel & culture" with only 16% saying "Gospel only." In 2021 on Twitter, out of 889 responses, 79.2% said "Gospel and culture too" with only 20.8% saying, "Gospel only."
The overall differences were fairly minor, especially given the fact that many Christians are still suffering burnout from the 2020 elections while many others have felt the need to draw back from both politics and the culture wars, taking time to refocus spiritually and get their heads clear." - Dr. Michael Brown
Wow. So let me see if I have this straight. You teach your followers that NAR dominionism is the right path for the church and then poll them to see if they believe in NAR dominionism? (Engaging the culture is not dominionism.)
"Three years ago, I conducted a poll on Facebook asking, "Should pastors and Christian leaders just preach the gospel, or should they also comment on relevant social and political issues?" Three years later to the day, I posted the same poll on Twitter. How did the results compare?
Obviously, there is nothing scientific about these polls. They simply indicate how my Facebook and Twitter communities feel about the question. As for these two social media communities, although they have much in common, in many ways they disparate in their viewpoints and beliefs. How did the results compare? In 2018 on Facebook, out of roughly 1,900, 84% said "Gospel & culture" with only 16% saying "Gospel only." In 2021 on Twitter, out of 889 responses, 79.2% said "Gospel and culture too" with only 20.8% saying, "Gospel only."
The overall differences were fairly minor, especially given the fact that many Christians are still suffering burnout from the 2020 elections while many others have felt the need to draw back from both politics and the culture wars, taking time to refocus spiritually and get their heads clear." - Dr. Michael Brown
Wow. So let me see if I have this straight. You teach your followers that NAR dominionism is the right path for the church and then poll them to see if they believe in NAR dominionism? (Engaging the culture is not dominionism.)
Exactly what answer were you expecting? This would be like Peter telling Jesus that he polled the disciples and they all believe He should really focus on delivering them from Rome! (No it's not. Rev. Wade previously stumbled into the truth when he wrote, they would embark on changing the world. Perhaps the distinction is eluding us, but Rev. Wade is supposed to be a teacher. What exactly is the difference between changing the world and dominionism? We are confident we know the answer, but we are not confident Rev. Wade does.)
In the immortal words of Dwayne Johnson - it doesn't matter what you think! Every second you waste on this world is one less you could have spent on the actual Gospel. (Hmm. One can waste time on the world without being a dominionist: 1Jn. 2:15:
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.)
Jesus did not suffer on the cross for the politics of this world. (Who has said this?)
His kingdom is not of this world. This world is passing away. We are pilgrims and sojourners through this world. Our citizenship is in heaven and despite what the NAR believes, God does not authorize dual citizenship. (What NAR person has advocated dual citizenship? It's statements like these that gall us. Rev Wade comes in with guns a-blazing, shooting wildly at anything that remotely looks like NAR. He documents none of his claims, but is absolutely certain there are bogeymen hiding everywhere.)
How do we know? Read the first commandment!
"And in my opinion (along with the opinion of others), many Christian leaders became way too politicized during the years of the Trump presidency, virtually wrapping the gospel in the American flag and conflating patriotism with the kingdom of God. Still, almost 8 out of 10 respondents said that pastors and Christian leaders should not just "preach the gospel." They should also comment on relevant social and political issues. That's because the gospel intersects with every area of life, from our sexuality to our marriages, from our homes to our workplaces, from our educational institutions to our entertainment, and from the streets of our cities to the halls of our government." - Dr. Michael Brown
Again, your respondents are irrelevant. The fact that any Christian thinks that "just preaching the Gospel" is wrong, (A summary denial, offered without explanation or documentation.)
tells you all you need to know about the church today. As for the intersection, this is where Brown and the NAR constantly go off the rails. The bible does indeed intersect at these various points in our lives. It does speak to how we should represent Christ in the workplace. It does define our sexuality and marriages. It does even speak to education and entertainment in our lives. (Hmm, after another summary denial, Rev. Wade immediately concedes and agrees with Dr. Brown...)
Politics however deals with the corporate good, not the individual beliefs. (No, politics does not deal with any kind of good. Political processes are constructed based on power. The Constitution, for example, defines government power. There is nothing in it that empowers government to act for the "corporate good." Therefore, politics is concerned only with the acquisition and exercise of power.)
For example, we may feel convicted if we watch profane movies as entertainment because we know we are supposed to be holy as He is holy. The intersection is between the bible and our lives. To extrapolate this out politically means telling everyone else that they too should feel convicted even though the things of God are utter foolishness to those who are perishing. The cold hard fact is that dominionism is so embraced because we get to tell others what horrible sinners they are and thus avoid having to look in the mirror. (This makes no sense. Dominionism identifies sin but the Gospel does not? Dominionism is uniquely and specifically hypocritical? Has Rev. Wade never read Mt. 7:3:
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
It seems clear that Jesus was identifying a common attitude in the world. To restrict this to dominionism is ignorant. And of course the accusation is undocumented, typical for Rev. Wade.)
The other interesting sleight of hand being played here is between the word bible and Gospel. Dominionism is in the business of telling the world to behave as the bible outlines. (This may be the only example of a sensible statement we have ever seen from Rev. Wade. He actually made a point with insight and clarity. Remarkable.
This means we have some substance upon which a discussion may ensue. In this particular case, Rev. Wade believes that our faith does not intersect with cultural rot. He's welcome to this opinion, though we tend to disagree. One cannot share the Gospel without addressing the nature of evil.)
The lost do not need to hear the bible as a set of legislative priorities. (No one has proposed this.)
They need to hear the Gospel. (False choice. Both can be done.)
It may sound like a nuanced argument but it really is not. (We have no fear that Rev. Wade will present a nuanced argument. He rarely offers arguments at all.)
The lost need to hear about the Savior. Yes they need to hear about sin and repentance but that is not Brown's argument here. His argument is we need to legislate repentance, which will never work. (Where does Dr. Brown argue this?)
"It was in that spirit that Jesus rebuked the hypocritical religious leaders of His day, men who were scrupulous in keeping the tiniest religious obligations but had lost sight of the more important issues in God's sight. He said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You tithe mint and dill and cumin, but have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone" (Matt. 23:23).
This doesn't mean that pastors should spend most of their time discussing critical race theory (pro or con) or preach about the border wall more than they preach about the cross." - Dr. Michael Brown
I would really like to hear what percentage of pulpit time is acceptable to Brown for pastors to preach about the border wall. Seriously. (Rev. Wade's commentary descends into irrelevancy.)
"It was in that spirit that Jesus rebuked the hypocritical religious leaders of His day, men who were scrupulous in keeping the tiniest religious obligations but had lost sight of the more important issues in God's sight. He said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You tithe mint and dill and cumin, but have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone" (Matt. 23:23).
This doesn't mean that pastors should spend most of their time discussing critical race theory (pro or con) or preach about the border wall more than they preach about the cross." - Dr. Michael Brown
I would really like to hear what percentage of pulpit time is acceptable to Brown for pastors to preach about the border wall. Seriously. (Rev. Wade's commentary descends into irrelevancy.)
Do you honestly think that Jesus died on the cross so we could all hear John Hagee's insane ramblings about our border with Mexico? So what is the magic formula? Is it 65% the cross and 35% about the virtues of giving tax breaks to the rich? Let's even say that it is 90-10. So nine times out of ten people will hear about the cross, the blood and have a chance for the spirit to convict them of their sins. That's great but it sure must suck for those who came during the week you preached about the righteousness of capitalism or the differences between hard infrastructure and human infrastructure. Are we getting the point? People who come to church need to hear only one thing and that is the Gospel. The things lost to the Pharisees were hardly political. They were about the spirit of the law. About how we treat one another.
"But it does mean that the gospel intersects with culture. In fact, if it doesn't intersect with culture, it's not the gospel, since the gospel is all about the Lord laying claim to the totality of our lives. And that means that, wherever we go as children of God, we are called to conduct ourselves in accordance with God's principles. (This doesn't mean forcing others to conform to those principles. It means they are principles we live by.) Put another way, how can the command to love the Lord with all our hearts, souls and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves not intersect with culture? That would be like saying that rain can fall from the sky without intersecting with the air." - Dr. Michael Brown
Quite another sleight of hand Brown is trying to pull off here. Of course we are to intersect our lives with those around us but that is not intersecting with culture. The verse tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves but nothing about forcing them to believe and behave as we might. (Again and again Rev. Wade makes pronouncements absent documentation. Dr. Brown never wrote any of these things. Rev. Wade pulls them out of thin air, and runs with them to ridiculous ends.)
"But it does mean that the gospel intersects with culture. In fact, if it doesn't intersect with culture, it's not the gospel, since the gospel is all about the Lord laying claim to the totality of our lives. And that means that, wherever we go as children of God, we are called to conduct ourselves in accordance with God's principles. (This doesn't mean forcing others to conform to those principles. It means they are principles we live by.) Put another way, how can the command to love the Lord with all our hearts, souls and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves not intersect with culture? That would be like saying that rain can fall from the sky without intersecting with the air." - Dr. Michael Brown
Quite another sleight of hand Brown is trying to pull off here. Of course we are to intersect our lives with those around us but that is not intersecting with culture. The verse tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves but nothing about forcing them to believe and behave as we might. (Again and again Rev. Wade makes pronouncements absent documentation. Dr. Brown never wrote any of these things. Rev. Wade pulls them out of thin air, and runs with them to ridiculous ends.)
As followers of Christ, His teachings should infiltrate the totality of our lives. Jesus did not then give us instructions to go and correct the education system and install mandatory school prayer. He did not command us to go into all the world and conquer Hollywood so that all movies would be made by the Kendrick brothers. He instructed us to go into the world with the Gospel message. The message that Jesus can save them from this world and their sins.
"In keeping with these thoughts, some of the comments posted in response to my poll included:
When a pastor is preparing sermons for his congregation, he should not avoid any issues, controversial or not. We preach the whole word. That is not however the nature or business of politics. (Bare denial. Why, Rev. Wade? What Bible principle is your assertion based on?)
"In keeping with these thoughts, some of the comments posted in response to my poll included:
- "We preach the whole Word. Where that includes controversial current issues, we don't avoid them."
- "Politics is downstream from culture, which is downstream from worldview (an ethic-philosophy-theology). So this means that the gospel has implications across the board. The preacher's target is the human heart or soul, and by extension, whatever else that heart seeks after..."
- "They have the absolute right and responsibility to do both."
- "Gospel and culture. The prophetic passages won't make sense without them.
- "The gospel is more than our individual salvations. Therefore, relevant issues must be preached or you get exactly what we are seeing all around us. Pandemonium."
- "It would be impossible to preach the gospel and not comment on social issues. Matthew 5 is all about social issues."
When a pastor is preparing sermons for his congregation, he should not avoid any issues, controversial or not. We preach the whole word. That is not however the nature or business of politics. (Bare denial. Why, Rev. Wade? What Bible principle is your assertion based on?)
Dr. Brown spent four years telling us how great Donald Trump was. Did that serve the cause of Christ? Did it save one soul or push away untold numbers? (Another false correlation.)
It is interesting how poorly taught the followers of Dr. Brown are. (Irony alert.)
The "target" of the preacher is not the human heart, which is wickedly deceitful above all else. (Um, then what is the target for a preacher? Rev. Wade doesn't bother to tell us.)
It is certainly not what that deceitful heart seeks after. His job is to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not the petty politics of man. Not the cause du jour. From there it is up to God through the Holy Spirit to draw whom He might to His glorious salvation. Narrow is the way and few are those who find it. Those "individual salvations" are the entire point of the Gospel. Period full stop. The pandemonium you see all around you is due to the depravity of man and the failure of the church to do as it is commanded in scripture. (So the gospel does address the pandemonium all around us? What? How is that different than what Dr. Brown has been saying?)
Matthew 5, or the Sermon on the Mount, is Jesus teaching us how we ought to live. They are not social teachings for how to reform society. Perhaps no comment is more telling than the last one Brown chose to cite. The church today is taught that it is their job to "call out" sinners. It most certainly is not. Yes we preach against sin and for the need to repent but that is in the individual context of salvation and not this legislative push to codify our beliefs and force them upon people. (Sigh. Rev. Wade's signature technique is on full display here. He makes a denial, doesn't explain it, then extrapolates it into a commentary that has no connection to what was previously said. This kind of rhetorical chaos gets tiring after awhile.
So we will cease commentary in the face of the withering barrage of nonsense. We can stand it no more.)
It is not surprising that this follower has boiled down his faith to stopping unsaved people from abortions and being gay. That is all he is taught and that is what is reinforced through the NAR. It also prevents the person from looking at themselves. The world is steeped in sin because it does not know Christ. The church is steeped in sin because it thinks it is Christ. It is not our job to convict the world of sin. It is our job to tell them about the Savior of the entire world who came to deliver them from that sin. With eternity on the line, why on earth would we want to preach the politics of this world?
"So yes, it is important for pastors and Christian leaders to preach a gospel that intersects with culture, a gospel that gives the congregants guidelines for navigating their way through today's many moral minefields. It's important that we preach a gospel that addresses both immorality and injustice, both righteousness and reconciliation. These are all great gospel themes. The key is that we keep our priorities straight, putting the cross before the flag, exalting Jesus and not presidential candidates, putting evangelism first and activism second, emphasizing prayer more than politics and putting more effort into discipleship than voter drives. Unfortunately, we tend to swing from one extreme to another, either embracing an escapist, pie-in-the-sky mentality, or turning political involvement and community activism into forms of sacred worship. Can we get things right in 2021 and moving forward? For the sake of our nation, I certainly hope so." - Dr. Michael Brown
Dr. Brown like so many others believes he can navigate this terrain but he cannot. The 2020 election proved that. You may start off wanting to prioritize the cross over the flag but slowly but surely you will blend them both until you cannot tell one from the other. Notice here at the end Brown gives up the game. This is not about advancing the kingdom. This is not about the prioritization of the Gospel. This is about the "sake of the nation." This is why God does not allow dual citizenship. Dr. Brown worships and idolizes America. So does the NAR influenced apostate church today. We will not get things right in 2021 or beyond because what he views as right is most certainly wrong. In 2022 Brown will support any Republican candidate that breathes. He will do so because that is what the NAR tells him he must do in order to be a good Christian. Never mind that they are just as morally bankrupt as their opponents. Never mind that they almost never deliver on the promises they made, especially to the church. In 2024, Brown will support Trump if he runs again of whoever runs in his place. He will say that it is the most important election of our lifetime. Just like 2020 and 2016. Just like 2012 when the NAR told you to vote for the Mormon. False prophets will again embrace whoever the GOP candidate is as they alienate at least 50% of the church in pursuit of their politics. No one will get saved because of it and many will turn away. Then sometime in 2025, Dr. Michael Brown will take pen to paper to wax philosophically about how you just cannot separate the intersection of culture and faith. Yes, you can beloved but you have to want to.
"So yes, it is important for pastors and Christian leaders to preach a gospel that intersects with culture, a gospel that gives the congregants guidelines for navigating their way through today's many moral minefields. It's important that we preach a gospel that addresses both immorality and injustice, both righteousness and reconciliation. These are all great gospel themes. The key is that we keep our priorities straight, putting the cross before the flag, exalting Jesus and not presidential candidates, putting evangelism first and activism second, emphasizing prayer more than politics and putting more effort into discipleship than voter drives. Unfortunately, we tend to swing from one extreme to another, either embracing an escapist, pie-in-the-sky mentality, or turning political involvement and community activism into forms of sacred worship. Can we get things right in 2021 and moving forward? For the sake of our nation, I certainly hope so." - Dr. Michael Brown
Dr. Brown like so many others believes he can navigate this terrain but he cannot. The 2020 election proved that. You may start off wanting to prioritize the cross over the flag but slowly but surely you will blend them both until you cannot tell one from the other. Notice here at the end Brown gives up the game. This is not about advancing the kingdom. This is not about the prioritization of the Gospel. This is about the "sake of the nation." This is why God does not allow dual citizenship. Dr. Brown worships and idolizes America. So does the NAR influenced apostate church today. We will not get things right in 2021 or beyond because what he views as right is most certainly wrong. In 2022 Brown will support any Republican candidate that breathes. He will do so because that is what the NAR tells him he must do in order to be a good Christian. Never mind that they are just as morally bankrupt as their opponents. Never mind that they almost never deliver on the promises they made, especially to the church. In 2024, Brown will support Trump if he runs again of whoever runs in his place. He will say that it is the most important election of our lifetime. Just like 2020 and 2016. Just like 2012 when the NAR told you to vote for the Mormon. False prophets will again embrace whoever the GOP candidate is as they alienate at least 50% of the church in pursuit of their politics. No one will get saved because of it and many will turn away. Then sometime in 2025, Dr. Michael Brown will take pen to paper to wax philosophically about how you just cannot separate the intersection of culture and faith. Yes, you can beloved but you have to want to.
No comments:
Post a Comment