No, I'm not against EVERYBODY.

Since I regularly blow the alarm about the "downgrade controversy" of our day and time, and openly lament the clown-car that American Fundygelismatism has become, I've been called (not surprisingly) "critical", and "negative" and all the other names that usually go hand-in-hand with those.  And I've been asked occasionally, "Don't you like anybody?  In other words, they want to know if there is anyone that I can't find fault with.

Well, I don't agree with anyone 100%, including myself from a few years ago.  That goes with out saying, but I just wanted to make that clear.  But there are several men that I greatly admire and whose ministries I endorse.  I disagree with some of them on (1) the mode and meaning of baptism, with others on (2) appropriate Church music, and with virtually all of the ones that have national ministries, I disagree concerning (3) which Bible translation should be used.  I don't consider those things to be so minor that they don't matter.  But they are not enough to make me against a man for being wrong about them.  In these cases, I either speak of them favorably, or not at all.

On the other hand, there are men that I do agree with on those three things I just named, that are so legalistic they are painful to listen to, and they beat the sheep into submission, haven't a clue as to how the gospel relates to the believer and practical sanctification, twist the Scriptures regularly, and sometimes they even tolerate or repeat downright ridiculous teachings and even the sort of heresies that were being spewed out from the pulpit in Hammond over the last several years. Many times they have confused the faith once delivered to the saints with a laundry list of silly cultural taboos.  I have a hard time giving them a hardy endorsement, even if they do baptize by immersion, use conservative music, and preach from an AV. 

Frankly, I've come to regard a proper distinction between law and gospel to be the ultimate issue over which to make or break fellowship.  I can't formally identify with everyone that understands it, but I can love him, call him brother, and thank God for his ministry.  But I cannot stomach watching a man who professes to be (or used to be) orthodox in his theology getting in an ecclesiastical bed with a notorious word/faith or modalist heretic.  That is a crime against the flock of God, and no amount of nice talk is going to change it.  To do that is an outright denial of the gospel, because it is endorsing a false prophet who preaches a false gospel and worships a false god.

The men with whom I agree the most, that I know personally are not well-known, or even known at all outside of their own associations.  We agree nearly 100% of the time, and what we disagree on is of no real consequence.  The point of this post is not to name my friends.  They know who they are.

But there are some nationally known men with whom I disagree so little (as far as I know, not having spoken with them personally) that I'm fairly certain we would have to talk a long time before we found a place to disagree, and neither of us would care much about it when we found it.  I could be their friend, probably in some limited way (some more than others), and they could be mine, based on common beliefs.

So while I'm not known by many or by them, they are known by many, and by me, and that gives me a point of reference to work from. The nationally-well-known, even outside of their own following guys that I applaud and admire, that can be heard on the radio almost anywhere in the country are R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur and Alister Begg.

Somewhat less visible, but almost as well-known for other reasons are Albert Mohler Jr., Mark Dever, Voddie Baucham, Steven Lawson, Todd Friel, Phil Johnson, Carl Trueman, Todd Wilken, Michael Horton, Ken Jones, Kim Riddlebarger and Rod Rosenbladt. 

I surely have more in common with the Baptists (Mohler, Dever, Begg, Baucham, Johnson, Lawson, Jones) than the others.  Chris Rosebrough is doing a great service to the body of Christ with his apologetic work, Pirate Christian Radio, and Fighting for the Faith, and the Museum of Idolary.  Todd Wilken's Issues Etc. program is very informative and the guests are usually intriguing and/or delightful.  A frequent guest on that program, Dr. John Warwick Montgomery, is so impressive to me that I think I would pee in my pants if I found myself having to argue with him.

I'm sure there are more that could belong on the lists - even with the first three.  Somebody may ask, "What about Tony Evans?" or "What about David Jeremiah?"  What I hear, I think I like.  But I don't hear either of them enough to say that they influence me at all.  The others do.

I'm only stating this to make it clear, and say in public, for the record, that I believe there are many good men, above and beyond my own "circle of cronies", even beyond my denominational confession, that have my deep respect and appreciation, and to give some examples of the type of men that I believe are faithful and commendable.  What little I have accomplished for Christ and His Kingdom is pitiful in comparison to the impact these men are having for Christ and His Kingdom.

Having said that, tossing out the name Jeezuz, while serving up a rat's nest of self-improvement advice and works-righteousness, and pop psychology and group therapy is NOT a faithful, gospel preaching, Christ-centered, Bible-preaching ministry.  And that, I will continue to denounce.

Already Gone, and 10 Reasons Why

I'm working on a couple of ideas for new posts of my own, but to keep this thing going one more week (I'm sure both my readers are checking in every hour or so just to see if I've finally posted again yet), I'll pass on something worthwhile, better than I could have written, by somebody that I knew nothing about before today, and still know next to nothing about other than the fact that he wrote an excellent piece entitled, Top 10 Reasons Our Kids Leave Church.  If you find out he's the spawn of the Dragon or something (I doubt it), I'm giving you my caveat in advance.  Surely we can find something wrong with him if we start looking for it.  

Already Gone, Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it, written by Britt Beemer, Todd Hillard and Ken Ham opened my eyes to the fact that a mass exodus is taking place from supposedly Bible-teaching, Gospel-preaching Churches (Not just my own!  How about that.).  I have never thought that they answer they propose (spending more time teaching creationism) was the solution, but the statistical proofs that kids are leaving, and Sunday School, as we've been doing it is part of the problem, were undeniable. 

Mike Horton's Christless Christianity seemed to me to be getting closer to the real problem.  It wasn't that young people were rejecting the Bible because they had the wrong concept of Noah's Ark, but that they had the wrong concept of Christianity as just another ethical system, and one not all that carefully practiced by those that allegedly believed it.  

Thanks go to my daughter Amy for turning me on to this tremendous blog post that encapsulates what I believe to be the real problem.  As usual, the remedy would have to be more of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.