On Giving Your Testimony, part 1

One tradition that has developed especially in conservative Baptist circles, is that of Testimony Night. It's customary on that occassion for folks who are not normally preachers or teachers, or even pulic speakers, to rise and "give their testimony." The theory is that as we come together to share "what Christ has done for me" then this re-telling of our individual conversion story serves as a vehicle for spreading the Gospel. Meaning, when people hear our testimony, and how Jesus came and set us free, they themselves will be induced to be converted to faith in Christ.

Before we begin to analyze this practice of "testifying" in the light of the Scripture, let me say at the outset that I absolutely love hearing the stories of how people came to saving faith. I find it terribly thrilling and encouraging. In fact, my favorite Christian radio program ever is one that we heard routinely when we lived in Idaho, but sadly have not been able to find again since. It was called "Unshackled," and the concept was to create radio theater, complete with actors and sound effects, to dramatize real-life conversion stories.

I find that each conversion story from a genuine believer is like a fingerprint that says, "God has been here." Conversion stories (done rightly, as we'll discuss below) are like snowflakes. At one time, they are uniquely individual, and yet they share enough in common that they are all unified in kind. Each snowflake differs from snowflake, but they're all easily recognizable as snowflakes. There are common elements that demand we group them together.

What gets me thinking about Testimony Night specifically these days is the sad, nay, frankly depressing, story of Ergun Caner, the former President of Liberty University, a Southern Baptist seminary that has enjoyed something like celebrity status since its founding by the late Moral Majority honcho, Dr. Jerry Falwell. I will not go into details of the story here, but any internet search will make these available to you instantly.

Basically, the incontrovertible evidence is that Ergun Caner invented a fictional former life for himself, for the apparent purpose of making his own conversion story seem more robustly dramatic. This is reminiscent of the case of Mike Warnke back in the 80's. Warnke made a name for himself, and raked in quite a load of cash along the way, by also inventing a conversion story. Warnke spun a tale that had him completely immersed in the shadowy, enigmatic world of secret Satanic occultism and witchcraft. His mythology was eventually uncovered, and the name of Mike Warnke is now only invoked as the modern model of the Hyper-Inflated Testimony. When somebody invents an outlandish "back story" for the purpose of duly impressing folks on Testimony Night, they're doing what Warnke did. And now, they're doing what Ergun Caner has done. Warnke falsely claimed to be Satanist. Caner has claimed (but only after the events of 9/11, note well) that he came to America as a teenager, having been fully trained as a muslim Jihadist, and prepared to prosecute acts of terror on American soil. All of which is patently false. He came to America at the age of 3, and though his non-custodial father did his best to raise Ergun and his brothers as muslims, the evidence is that they actually lived pretty normal, boring American lives in Ohio.

Why would a man do this, invent this sort of story? I think the answer is pretty easy. Within the Christian world, an exciting conversion story can take you places, if that's what you want. It can sell books, and get you invited to speak at conferences all over the place. It can even get you employed as the President of a seminary, in spite of the fact that you may demonstrate merely the most tenuous grasp on Bible doctrine.

But we do this. We, Christians, who enjoy Testimony Night and find conversion stories rightly thrilling and inspiring. We set this environment in place. We make it possible, and even easy, for a charlatan to come up with a piece of pulse-pounding fiction and get fame and fortune for his trouble.

Now, having said all of that, I repeat: I love hearing conversion stories!

But here is where we have gone wrong. We have lost sight of the true miracle it is, when God turns the heart of any sinner to repent of their sins and trust in Him. That's become commonplace and frankly boring to us. And the reason for that, demands a whole 'nother post; but, it hinges on the Evangelical obsession with the lie of Decisional Regeneration. We have dumbed down the Gospel so much, and found so many ways to manipulate and steer our listeners, that getting people to make a decision for Jesus is no miracle at all. Deciding for Christ is no longer a case of a rebellious, poisonous God-hating heart being miraculously raised to new life: it's about convincing this rebel that he can have Jesus (or, really, all the benefits of Jesus) without inconvenient things like genuine repentance getting in the way; and, having raised his hand during the Revival Meeting, may walk out of said meeting completely unchanged, and yet completely assured of a glorious eternal life in heaven.

"Getting saved" has become an anti-climactic event in many Evangelical circles, therefore. So we look for something more, something that still has the power to thrill and entertain us. Satanic High Priest, you say? Wow! That's great! Childhood victim of Ritual Satanic Abuse? Marvelous! Mafia enforcer? Cool! Former Presidential cabinet member, privvy to the inner workings of government? Nice. Islamic radical bent on destroying America! Well, praise God!

We see this sort of thing on a smaller scale in our own, local Testimony Nights. Hopefully no one's making things up, of course, but still, you find many Christians who are convinced their testimony is too boring to share with anyone. They were pretty normal before Jesus saved them. Or, they were even a goody-two-shoes. How lame!

We have come to despise the miracle of being Born Again through the sovereign grace of God in Christ.

A Taxonomy of Idolatry

Zephaniah, chapter 1, lists several species of idolatry.

1. In 1:4 we have outright idolatry, the worship of false gods. Included here is specifically Baal. The worship of Baal was the ultimate in "seeker sensitive" worship. Everything the uninformed visitor might hope for: lots of wine, lots of grilled food, and, lest we forget, orgies.

We evangelicals don't set up statues and ritually fornicate in front of them. But that doesn't mean we are not idolators all the same.

Our churches are filled with folks who got their ideas about God from bumper stickers, and TV shows like "Touched By An Angel." (You don't believe in Providence? The Irish angel who always preached the false gospel at the end of the program was played by an actress named Roma! C'mon!!)

We haven't got carved images, but we have false images nonetheless, set up on their little stands in our brains. The most radical, threatening thing that could happen in some churches would be to have a guy stand up and actually read what the Bible says about the character and nature of God. Something like this would be a good start:

Psalms 5:5 "You hate all workers of iniquity."

What? Does that say what I think it said? Um, yes it does.

But I thought God hates sin and loves the sinner! An angel told me! Last Thursday at 7 PM.

What is called God in many, if not most, evangelical churches is a made-up notion, a fiction, a nice, sugary fairy story.

2. Then we have another species of idolatry, synchretism. Synchretism is the buffet-style approach to religion, where to take a little from here and a little from there.

In Zephaniah 1:5, this is seen in those who, "worship and swear oaths by the Lord, but who also swear by Milcom."

We see this today in people who pick-and-choose which portions of the Bible they want to believe. Like buffet samplers. This here looks yummy, but this other stuff looks a bit questionable, so I'll leave it and move on. Oh, and don't get the yellow stuff whatever you do!

We see it in those who love Jesus, but don't want all the smart people they know to think that they are neanderthals, or snaggle-toothed snake-handling fundies, and so they also accept the pronouncements of the modern high-priests of Scientism, who assert based on nothing but faith that evolution is true and good.

3. Then we have another form of idolatry. In verse 6, it is Apostacy, or the "falling away" from the true faith.

"Those who have turned back from following the Lord." Etc, etc.

Of course, in the Southern Baptist world, we have no apostates. We only have sad instances of our failure to disciple genuine converts. (Please read the last two sentences aloud, with the heaviest possible inflection of sarcasm you can muster.)

Yes, we do believe that once you are saved, you cannot then be lost and going to hell again. However, salvation is not a Get Out of Hell Free Card that you can carry around with you in your back pocket, then whip it out in an emergency. It is a state that you live in, and are transformed in.

Ours in the SBC do in fact fall away. And they fall away at alarmingly high rates...I mean, rates over 90%. But when they fall away, when they apostasize from the faith, they are not losing something they once had: they are proving that they never had it. They were never saved to begin with.

4. The last species of Idolatry in Zephaniah 1 is Indifference or Apathy.

In 1:6, we hear of those who "have not sought the Lord, or inquired of Him."

They knew the true God...they just didn't care very much. And why not?

Because they were basically comfortable without Him. They weren't starving, they had clothes and houses and farms, they weren't under attack from foreign armies. Things were okay.

After a while, if your life doesn't completely far apart, even though you've never studied your Bible, or prayed very much, it's easy to get lulled into this sense that [speak with a whisper here] that stuff really doesn't matter a lot.

This is maybe the worst idolatry there is, where you know the truth and just couldn't care less. This is the lukewarmness that Jesus promises to spew from His mouth.

Don't let this be you. And if it is, repent of your gross idolatry and seek the Lord with your whole heart.

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On the title of the post, What is Taxonomy?

Unballing my Fist

Doug Wilson nails it.....again.....in this article about how Christians are supposed to handle the little differences in scruples that we always seem to develop over issues that are not terribly important.

Pastor Wilson is so darn right about stuff all the time, it makes this ugly, prideful place inside of me want to punch a hole in something.

Bible Before CNN

Think back to the recent earthquake in Haiti. Do you remember the story of the 10 Baptists from Idaho who were arrested on charges of attempted kidnapping? They have all since been freed, with all charges against them dropped.

It seems that the news accounts that we were treated to in real-time as the story progressed were somewhat....ummm.....inaccurate? biased? calculated to make the Christians look like monsters? Take your pick, but they're all appropriate.

Here is the story from the Baptist Press, an interview with one of the folks who was involved.

The reason I'm posting this is because a couple days after their initial arrest, I was having lunch with a few local pastors, and one of them loudly proclaimed his disgust with the Baptist brethren involved. They obviously had no idea what they were doing. They were insensitive to local laws and customs. They were ignorant neophytes who had no business down there.

I was frankly shocked by this reaction. I said something to him like this (surely not a direct quote, but a summary,) "I think we need to wait a little bit. All we know is what the mainstream media is saying, and it's foolish to trust a single thing you hear from them. I mean, what kind of shape do you think the government is in down there in Haiti right now? I wouldn't be shocked to hear that the real reason they got arrested is because they ran out of money with which to bribe the official at the border, or something like that."

This pastor I was talking to is a prominent Southern Baptist pastor. I just couldn't believe he was so willing to swallow what the media was telling him.

Turns out, guess what? The Baptists were doing just fine, making friends with government officials on both sides of the Haiti/Dominican Republic border, and actually leading some to Christ, until a team from the United Nations showed up. Read the article. It's long but enlightening.

And you might consider finding a church to attend where folks believe the Bible before CNN.

Mad, Sad, and Convicted

This isn't anything you and I haven't already noticed (and been disgusted by) but at least someone nationally is starting to say it. The Muslim religion has become a protected class in the eyes of the Federal gummint. Where are all the loonies from groups like People for the American Way, protesting the fact that Islam is clearly on-track to become a government-endorsed, "established" religion in the USA? Being plagued with foolish and idiotic leadership is one of the most lamentable ways that God pours out judgment on a nation. We have met the enemy and he is....every ivy-league moron that holds power in America.

Also, here's a good (and brief) article from RC Sproul Jr and Ligonier Ministries, about how to deal with the phenomenon of Christians converting to Roman Catholicism.

Then, there's this short article here, spinning off of one foreign missionary's surprising experience of great laziness on the mission field by other American missionaries. I had never heard of anything like this before. It'll get your blood boiling...until the trap springs and your own foot is caught like mine was.

Hey Look! More Stairs!

I have been informed that a Presbyterian Church (USA) in our region is planning a special sort of service this morning.



One of the children of the congregation, a 10 year old girl, will be leading the entire service, including the performance of all the liturgy and preaching the "sermon." When asked what her sermon was going to be about, she responded, "Hugs." About the time you think that Christianity has become as irrelevant and trivial as it possibly could (and voluntarily so, by its own devices) we find more stairs leading downward.



Okay, I want to make it clear that I know this little girl and her family. They are all very likeable, very decent people. You would enjoy being around them.



So please don't hear me saying something overly personal about them in this.



I just want to point out that this incident, if it indeed happens (and I see no reason why it won't,) really shows the depths to which the PC(USA) has sunk. It's not that the little girl is a bad girl: as little girls go, she's quite nice actually. But she has no business in a pulpit, no business leading the corporate worship of God's people, no business preaching.



The sad thing is that the people at this church are ALL really nice folks. You'd enjoy their company.



But if they read or hear of this post, I will likely be a villain and a bad guy for pointing out that this is outrageous evidence that they have all "lost the plot," Biblically speaking. Just because a group of genuinely nice people get together and agree to do something in church, that doesn't make it right.



My issue here is not with who the little girl is, or who her family is: I happen to like all of them, and have been on friendly terms with them. My issue is with a church agreeing that being led in worship by a 10 year old could be a good thing, in any universe. However cute and adorable her talk about hugs will be, this will be true: the Gospel of Jesus Christ will not be preached there. God will not be glorified in it. The Word of God will be denigrated in it.



And all the nice folks will rave and gush about how adorable it was. Not one of them will have any twinge of Scriptural conscience nagging at them, to the effect that maybe something wrong is happening here. Maybe the corporate worship of the Lord Almighty ought to be about something a little more profound. Those thoughts will pass through no one's mind this morning in that place.



That's the tragedy.

SBC Superstar Caught in Huge Lies

Ergun Caner is the president of Liberty Universty, the school Jerry Falwell founded. That much we know to be factual.

For months now, rumors have flown on the 'net that Caner is not what he claims to be.

Here is some documented evidence that Caner has shamefully lied about his background/conversion story, for the apparent purpose of inflating himself within the Southern Baptist Convention.

It's no happy thing to post this stuff, but it is important for people to see that most Christians think this sort of thing is reprehensible. We want it out in the open, and we hope Dr. Caner will quickly repent and step down from his position. To date, his strategy has been to act like nothing has happened, and to let his friends and supporters demonize everyone who sees a problem with his blatant lies. That needs to change.