My old rugby league coach used to call an act of inexplicable stupidity on the sporting field a "brain explosion". I think he would have to ratchet that phrase up several notches to describe the recent "rant" by Ed Young Jr. against Calvinism. This may well be dumber than anything I have ever heard Jesse Duplantis say. "Not possible" I hear you say? Your skepticism is entirely understandable but wrong nonetheless . . .
Calvinism is clearly in the firing line right now. But why would any Arminian need an enemy when you have someone as unqualified and incompetent as Ed Young fighting for your cause?
In all fairness to "Pastor Ed", when your schedule is packed with providing fashion tips for pastors, producing bad rap music for sensitive seekers, scouring the world for superficial novelties to amuse undiscerning church goers, and polishing your private jet; it is entirely understandable why he cannot find the time to make an appointment with a Bible. And having such "creative flair" would certainly seem to eliminate the need for such an old book.
But it is hard to hide your stupidity when you get something wrong on so many levels. This is full of so many errors, straw men, delusions of grandeur, and false accusations I just don't know where to begin. Reformed theology is about digging wells in Africa? Phariseticalism? Calvinists have built in election detectors? Calvinism is sexy and cool? Has RC Sproul been getting around in skinny jeans? Well at least Ed can speak with a great deal of authority about "deformed ecclesiology" as he is certainly an expert in that field. I do have James White's phone number - why don't you give him a call Ed so you can straighten him out on all that Hebrew and Greek stuff you know so much about?
Nonetheless there is one question that does intrigue me concerning this whole Ed Young brain explosion on steroids. As the Calvinist debate takes front and center stage in the Southern Baptist Convention and since Ed Young Jr. is a part of that convention - will he be disciplined by the SBC for using the pulpit for lying and slandering? Just wondering . . .
PS In a desperate attempt to defend the ridiculous claims he made, Ed Young Jr. has just submitted what he calls "Exhibit A"
Today we pick up from where we left off last week on our expository journey through the Epistle of Jude. Verse 8 of Jude's Epistle gives four characteristics of apostates that infiltrate the church. Last week we looked at the third of these, which is that they "reject authority", they are people who want to live outside the realm of accountability and submission. Today we will look at the fourth characteristic in verse 8 which is that these false teachers "blaspheme the glorious ones". This is a part of my verse by verse exposition through the Epistle of Jude for our church plant in Denmark - Kristuskirken.
1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: 2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. 3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. 8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. (Jude 1-8)
The fourth characteristic of apostates that Jude lists in verse 8 is that they "blaspheme the glorious ones". They have contempt and carelessness for anything that warrants fear or reverence. These are people who shoot from the hip in their speech about "spiritual warfare", Satan, and God Himself. They continually play with fire without any regard for the impending peril they open themselves and their followers up to. John Macarthur had this to say:
The Greek is doxasfrom which we get doxology, it's a word that means glory. They blaspheme glories. And it could refer to the glories of God, it could refer to the glories of Christ. It could refer to the glories of divine truth. But I'll tell you this, the word "blaspheme" is clear enough in its intention to be identified with anything that is holy, or sacred. To blaspheme is to basically curse what is sacred. They're irreverent. I get sometimes squeamish when I hear certain so-called clerics or biblical scholars talk about Jesus in a blasphemous fashion. I literally feel sick when I see Jesus misrepresented in some stupid fashion in a ridiculous movie which takes away His glory. These people who claim to represent Christ and claim to be the scholars of the New Testament who are going to help us find the real Jesus, are really blasphemers. Certainly the angels did that. They blasphemed the glories of heaven. Certainly Sodom and Gomorrah did that, they blasphemed the very holy angels. Certainly Israel did that, they blasphemed God when they made that idol and worshiped it. Very serious.
Jesse Duplantis is one of the worst examples of this sort of behavior.
The teaching in this video is so stupid and blasphemous of God's character and nature that it does not even warrant a response. I'll include just one more short clip because it serves as another great example of this idiotic biblically incompetent behavior:
Jesse, you are going to find out how wrong you are! The Apostle Peter described this behavior when he said:
then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction (2 Peter 2:9-12)
Here is one more clear example of this. Aside from the very obvious reason why Joyce Meyer should not be calling HERself a Bible teacher, there are other alarm bells we should be hearing. Even though Jude points out in verse 9:
But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you." (Jude 9)
Joyce seems to think that she can take these matters into her own hands.
If Michael the archangel refused to take a shot at Satan, but rather appealed to God and His authority, how much more should we. We'll talk more about this intriguing encounter between Michael and the Devil next week!
The previous post in this series highlighted the farcical state of professing Christianity in Denmark. When high profile Pentecostal leader, Lars Due Christensen, evicted me from a Christian conference - for sharing the Gospel with people - it was just one example of the dreadful biblical illiteracy that plagues church leadership throughout Denmark - whichever denominational stripe they may be. Not only that, it was a blatant demonstration of the overt hostility to the biblical Gospel by those who profess to be the shepherds.
The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.
"Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.
"For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. (Ezekiel 34:1-16)
True shepherds do two things; they feed sheep and they protect them from wolves - not feed sheep to wolves! With this in mind and the reality that many church goers in Denmark were entranced by the "kookiness and spookiness" of the Word Faith prosperity preachers (at least the remainder of those who were not either liberal, emergent, or purpose driven), I called upon my dear friend Justin Peters to see if he was traveling anywhere near Europe in the coming months. As providence would have it Justin was going to be doing seminars in England and had space in his schedule to fly over to us in the summer of 2008 and teach his "A Call For Discernment Seminar". Consistent with the cowardly practices of Danish church leaders it was apparent that there had been somewhat of a stealth campaign with "strong encouragement" for people not to attend Justin's seminar. As usual, it seems that an open discussion with Tilbage Til Bibelen (our evangelism ministry) was not an option. Nonetheless, Justin graciously came and ministered to us. If you haven't seen his seminar, it is jaw dropping! Justin is not a bitter individual, but he does offer an even handed, yet devastating, biblical critique of the preachers who seem to monopolize airtime in religious broadcasting. Here is an overview of Justin's seminar:
Thou shalt not criticize is not the eleventh commandment. It is a manipulative technique used by false teachers to protect them from scrutiny. God's Word has survived millennia of scrutiny, but these Word Faith charlatans cannot survive any!
Coming Friday - Frikirkenet (which is a Danish word that means "a network of church leaders united by their common ignorance of plain biblical teaching").
