Influential Evangelicals: The Enemies List

https://www.newsmax.com/BestLists/evangelicals-influential-america-list/2017/11/15/id/826258/

Most in Confessional circles will be less than pleased by the majority of the names placed on this list. Many are outright heretics and others, despite their abundant popularity are a source of frustration with regard to the testimony and goals of both the Evangelical and Confessional Protestant Churches.  

And yet, apart from the most obvious and egregious frauds and charlatans, I have often found myself surprised at how much support Confessionalists are willing to give to these folks. I recall many years ago arriving at seminary and being completely floored when I learned that not a few of the students were enthusiastic supporters of Jerry Falwell... that would be senior. Junior was a virtual unknown then. They didn't like his Arminian Dispensationalism... whether Falwell was a 'true' Arminian or not is another topic... and weren't always thrilled with his style. But overall, they thought he was a good man and certainly an ally who was helping to promote the Kingdom of God.

I was appalled. Even then I considered Falwell a false teacher and a promoter of evil. And back then I was still a Reformed stalwart. True I had out of conviction and in disgust left the military but I had hardly worked through all the issues or completely abandoned my conservative political leanings.

I was (and remain) hostile to Falwell's Dispensationalism but what really put me off was his conflation of American patriotism with Christianity. I knew this to be wrong and was stunned to discover that virtually all my fellow students disagreed with me.

I also remember being surprised (and not a little put off) that some of them were big fans of D James Kennedy, a person I always considered to be huckster car salesman type at best.

Well over twenty years later this 'Newsmax' list indicates that things have gone from bad to worse. I would hope most folks would be upset by the names on this list. If you profess to be a Bible believing Christian these are the names the culture associates with our beliefs.

Woe and lamentation!

And yet merely being upset doesn't even begin to express what this list represents. Such a response is insufficient.

Actually we can be quite thankful to Newsmax for putting this list together. I contend they have provided us an excellent run down of (to borrow from Nixon) what we could rightly call: The Enemies List

The New Testament isn't too concerned with which wicked Caesar is on the throne or who reigns in Persia. There were barbarian invasions, at times quite vicious and we might even say there were the equivalent of modern terrorists... the Zealots were but a Jewish example. I'm not for a moment suggesting we should ignore the world and the context in which we live but the New Testament is not concerned with controlling or influencing the political spectrum.

No, the New Testament is concerned with False Teachers, wolves in sheep's clothing, people who pervert the Gospel and present an alternate view of the Kingdom of God. These people served their bellies, thought godliness was gain, in terms of both money and power. These people worshipped syncretistic philosophy and enjoyed their legalistic lording over the flock. They placed themselves and their factions above Scripture. Many also taught false views of faith, eschatology and ecclesiology. Some of Paul's greatest enemies were Judaizers who sought to retain all or some of the Mosaic Law. Many were guilty of Gnostic tendencies but even more tended toward a Judeo-Gnosticism which fused Old Testament Jewish misunderstandings with Hellenistic philosophy. This Judeo-Hellenism is the primary false teaching represented in the New Testament.

These same teachings plague the Church today, though admittedly they often appear in different forms. The same errors reassert themselves all throughout the history of the Church and in terms of culture and history, many have all but won the day. The Reformation corrected some of these errors but by no means all of them. And, for all its good the Magisterial Reformation revived and refashioned some of these errors creating new problems which continue to plague us in the 21^st century .

This list represents the fruits and failures of the Reformation. Ostensibly servants of Christ, the vast majority of names on this list are instead the great villains of our day. In terms of the Church, in terms of spiritual reality, these are the Osama bin Laden's we must contend with.

These leaders are in reality God's judgment on the false Evangelical Church. There's plenty of Old Testament precedent to that statement and it's a model and narrative affirmed by the New Testament. We are to expect it.

There are a few exceptions I will grant and yet there's a reason these names are on the list. I would not place John Piper, John MacArthur or the recently dead RC Sproul in the same category as Osteen, Meyer and Pat Robertson. And yet these men are also part of the corrupt Evangelical machine and they would not be entirely hostile to the teachings of men like Franklin Graham or Dave Ramsey... men who have repeatedly demonstrated they have not grasped the Scripture. Even these 'good men' have been corrupted by the God Inc. mindset of American Evangelicalism, its money and its status. While I would not condemn them in the way I would condemn such blatant charlatans such as Palin and Huckabee, they are not people that I would endorse or respect.

Many names on the list are a shame and disgrace to the cause of Christ, supporters of evil, many of them are out-and-out thieves, liars, deceitful false teachers with blood on their hands and responsible for the damnation of souls.

There are a few other names on the list that don't deserve such a harsh rejection, a handful of them might be Christians, but again... just because they're better than some of the villains on the list does not mean they are in good standing or worthy of respect.

Some will view this brief piece as unduly harsh, even outrageous.  It is outrageous. In fact I write this piece because I am outraged by what this list represents. No one can look at this list or the state of the American Church and not be affected.

Such a sweeping condemnation is unwarranted my critics will insist. Many will go through the list and easily pick out a dozen, a score or more names that they would consider to be 'okay' or even worthy of respect.

I could go through the list name by name but I have neither the time nor inclination to do so. And the reality is, people are complicated. There is much to admire and respect when it comes to certain figures and yet at the same time they can also be quite corrupt and stand for some very bad things. Someone like John MacArthur immediately comes to mind. Generally speaking one does not earn accolades in this world when you stand for the truth. Someone like Russell Moore makes the list and yet he's come under massive fire for his stands and is despised by many. I certainly would have condemned his statements in the past but he seems to have undergone some change... in a positive direction. Lately I find myself appreciating (with reservation) not a few of his statements.

And yet the fact that he's a lobbyist for the Southern Baptist Convention... I would respect him far more if he left that position.

His name continues to be associated with Albert Mohler... who surprisingly did not make the list. Mohler's thought is riddled with unbiblical error and if he had made the list, I believe his name would certainly belong there. I hope Moore continues to move away from those positions but in the end it will mean his name and his influence will certainly fade.

Do you know what the underlying force is on this whole list, something that really undergirds almost every single name?

Money.

I'm sorry to report that's what American Evangelicalism is all about. Money and power. Even a lost person like Frank Schaeffer (the son of Francis) realised that years ago. While I cannot agree with the direction he's gone or many of his opinions, his criticism of Evangelicalism is pretty withering. He's the one who referred to it (rightly) as God Inc.

That's really what this list is all about.

There are the exceptions. Alvin Plantinga is not a money grubber even though he's done well for himself winning a rather lucrative and prestigious prize. But the remarkable thing is that almost all the people on this list have one thing in common...

They're filthy rich.

One is immediately reminded of Micah 3.9-12... written in the context of covenant infidelity. Its analogue is found not in a pluralistic modern society like America but in the context of the covenant people. In our era, this is the Church, the New Covenant Israel. Today (as it was then) there are degrees of defection. The Northern Kingdom barely qualified as being 'in covenant' anymore. The Southern Remnant was also in a bad way but had a little more going for it. It still possessed the seed so to speak. Micah addresses both kingdoms.

⁹ Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.

¹⁰ They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

¹¹ The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us.

¹² Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.

Corruption, avarice, bloodshed and heresy... they're still with us and are represented by the names on the list. The degree of error and guilt varies. I did not quote the beginning of chapter 3 but it's about judgment coming on the false teachers and leaders who devour God's people and lead them astray, who comfort them in their sin and error. Earlier portions of the prophecy deal with idolatry. Part of their judgment is that God takes away His Word. They were surrounded by prophets and they certainly had the Old Covenant Scriptures... but His Word was taken away. It was everywhere, but nowhere.

Oh yes, when compared to the wealthiest tiers and classes, the oligarchical powers that dominate our society, the wealth of Evangelical leadership pales in comparison. And some of them would argue they are not wealthy in the least. A lot of them think making hundreds of thousands a year is reasonable and very middle class.

No one on the list is ailing or experiencing hardship. There's a reason for this and it strikes at the heart of what American Christianity is and why it has deviated so far from the path of the New Testament. It has rejected Christ. They talk about Him, but they don't know Him and they certainly refuse to hear His Word.

As I've said before the modern Evangelical and Protestant Churches in the West have degenerated to the point of being more or less equal with where Rome was before the Reformation. Just as before the Reformation the faithful Church was found in the realm of dissident non-conformity... the same ought to be true today.

Where does this leave us? If the Church is dominated by false teachers, what does that mean? Where do we go from here? How did this happen?

These are the questions I'm wrestling with. The answers are there but they're not the sort of answers that will land one on a list of influential evangelicals.