God's Hammer

The cult leader of a mock “Christian” church, Doug Wilson, has been featured in a new exposé at Vice. You can read it here. Some of what is uncovered might be new to readers of God’s Hammer, although everyone by now should be familiar with Wilson’s critical departures from the historic Christian faith, even justification by belief alone. Admittedly, sites like mine exposing the theological perversions of Wilson are pretty limited in their scope. However, for those who have spent time at some of the other sites linked on my sidebar, some of the more tawdry practices of Wilson’s “Kirk” (as he and his fellow cultist call their church), have been covered in graphic detail over at the Foedero Schism. But even there Wilson’s exposure was relegated to a relatively narrow readership. So, it’s encouraging to see that the more scandalous, if not salacious, aspects of Wilson’s cult have finally spilled over to the secular press and deservedly so.

And, for those silly enough to claim Wilson has repented of his Federal Vision heresy and that I’m a nasty guy for continuing to attack the boob, please save yourself the time and don’t comment. As I’ve pointed out elsewhere, Wilson has never repented of anything and was just concerned that the label –“Federal Vision” — was preventing Reformed suckers from sending their wide-eyed cherubs to Wilson’s cult academy, New Saint Andrews College. But, don’t take my word for it, see Scott Clark’s Heidelblog where he writes:

In the “No Mas” post he qualifies how he [Wilson] wants to affirm the Federal Vision but this is what he has always done. He has always suggested that almost no one outside the FV movement really understands its complexities. This, of course, is what the Remonstrants said too. The confessional Reformed Churches, e.g., the URCNA, the OPC, the PCA, the RCUS and others spent considerable time reading and analyzing the Federal Visionists. They have produced surveys and drawn conclusions that are publicly available . . . .

Of course, this was always nothing but a rhetorical trick. The intended effect of the headline was to create the impression in the minds of the uninformed that his theology has substantially changed even as he affirms, in the body of the post, that it has not. He still affirms a conditional, temporary baptismal union with Christ that confers upon the baptized a temporary election, a temporary justification, a temporary adoption, and a temporary union with Christ. He still affirms that those who do not sufficiently cooperate will lose those temporary benefits. As he confesses, apostasy remains a “terrifying reality for many baptized Christians.” For Wilson and the rest of the Federal Visionists, it is not enough to acknowledge the greatness of our sin and misery, to trust in Christ alone for our complete salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and seek to live under his gracious reign out of gratitude by daily seeking to put to death the old man and to be made alive in the new. The point of the Federal Vision theology, as with the Remonstrants, was to turn the covenant of grace into a covenant of works and to put the believer back under the law for his salvation.

https://heidelblog.net/2019/07/has-doug-wilson-really-changed-his-mind-about-the-federal-vision/

I am convinced the PCA’s imminent demise and surrender to the progressives on the left is a result of God’s judgment against a denomination that refused to defend the true Gospel when it was under attack by Federal Visionsits on the right. Any denomination that refuses to discipline Federal Visionists like Peter Leithart, Steve Wilkins, and Jeff Meyers, as the PCA has, deserves to be lead by men identifying themselves with oxymoronic labels like “Gay Christian.”

Here are two more recent examples of the PCA’s worldly embrace:

The PCA’s Very Slippery Slope – Progressivism, Theological Liberalism, & the Gay Pastor

BHPC Fall Conference 2020, Session 5 Rev Patrick Hines

Doug Douma, author of The Presbytieran Philosopher: The Authorized Biography of Gordan H. Clark, put together a little selection of folks explaining why they’re “Clarkians” or, more accuartely, Scripturalists . . . including yours truly. You can read the post on Doug’s blog, “A Place for Thoughts.“

In 2008 Dr. John Robbins asked me to write a companion to his excellent, Can the Orthodox Presbyterian Church Be Saved. John went home to be with his Lord in August of that year. I don’t recall whether we had any conversations about what I came up with to fulfill his request, but in 2009 the Trinity Foundation published my little book regarding the future of the Presbyterian Church in America. At the time of publication many still held out hope that PCA could indeed be saved. However, the future of the PCA was sealed a couple of years later with the trials of leading Federal Vision shills Peter Leithart (Pacific Northwest Presbytery) and Jeffrey Meyers (Missouri Presbytery). Both these men were cleared of the serious charge of heresy . . . despite the PCA’s 2007 report condemning the Federal Vision as “contrary to the Westminster Standards” on a number of counts to include the doctrine of justification by belief alone.

While the writing was already on the wall in big red letters, it wasn’t until the General Assembly of the PCA upheld the lower courts decisions before even the most stubborn should have realized the fight for the PCA was over. If a church is unwilling to defend the purity and simplicity of the Gospel against counterfeit challengers like the Federal Vision, then it’s not much of a stretch to suspect they will tolerate a myriad of lesser departures from the faith, which is exactly what has happened to the PCA.

When I got the first proofs of my little book the original cover was of a woman’s praying hands. I suspect Dr. Robbins son in-law and new president of the Trinity Foundation, Tom Juodaitis, was one of those people who still held out hope for the PCA. I didn’t share that opinion and I asked Tom if he could find a cover more in line with the book’s main thesis. I asked if he could find a nice picture of a burnt out husk of church. I’m so glad he did. Today the PCA is a safe haven for Federal Visionists and continues its slide into complete apostasy. One recent example is that an openly homosexual Teaching Elder, Greg Johnson, one of the leaders in the so-called “Revoice” LBGTQ moment in the PCA (yes, there is an LBGTQ movement in the PCA), was cleared of all charges by the Missouri Presbytery (the same bankrupt Presbytery that cleared Federal Visonist Jeffrey Meyers who remains in the PCA as a pastor in “good standing“).

Earlier this year PCA pastor, Dewey Roberts, while a little late to the party, saw the writing on the wall and said farewell to the PCA which he served for 43 years. Roberts was one of the men fighting the Federal Vision and is the author of Historic Christianity and the Federal Vision: A Theological Analysis and Practical Evaluation (currently out of print). The PCA’s acceptance of openly homosexual Greg Johnson was the last of many straws that caused him to separate from a denomination which has long since lost its way. Roberts wrote:

There are people who say they are going to stay in the PCA and fight to reclaim it. Well, here is my advice. If you want to stay in the PCA and fight, make sure that you do not become a faithful reprover or zealous reformer. If you do, your presbytery and denomination will not like it. You will be persecuted. You might find your knees cut off from underneath you, figuratively speaking. The fact that homosexuality is such an issue in the PCA is an indication that the spirit of the world has already entered into this denomination. The spirit of the world does not like to be reproved and reformed. The PCA will let you stay and vote as long as you can accept the downward spiral without sounding too much of an alarm. But… the PCA does not want you to be a faithful reprover and zealous reformer.

Admittedly, there are still faithful pastors ministering under the radar in the PCA. Let’s call them stragglers. One of the most notable is Patrick Hines, pastor of Bridwell Heights Presbyterian Church in Kingsport, TN. A couple of days ago I listened to his podcast, Doug Wilson Chesterton & Tolkien where he demolishes one of Doug Wilson’s favorite strawmen; the assertion that we are not saved by our “doctrinal works.” Wilson has bamboozled quite a few churchmen with this misleading line of argument and uses it to defend his belief that Roman Catholics like G. K. Chesterton and J. R. R. Tolkien are residing in glory despite their rejection of the Gospel. Hines also has a number of other podcasts where he dismantles any notion that Doug Wilson is anything other than a Christ denying heretic of the first order . . . (and even through we all knew that, it’s still helpful to listen to how Hines dismantles Wilson and I wish the clueless James White — who defends Wilson — would listen to them). Hines also has a slew of excellent podcasts on the pro-homosexual “Revoice” movement in the PCA. All highly recommend.

Finally, if anyone is interested in a free copy of Can the Presbyterian Church in American Be Saved? you can find my email address in the “About” section of this blog and I’ll be happy to send you a copy provided you’re in the U.S. and as long as my cache of books holds out. Also, don’t expect it quickly. I’m not Amazon.

Those familiar with the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail will remember the scene where Eric Idle is collecting plague consumed dead bodies on a cart while crying out like some old-time peanut vendor or carnival barker; “Bring out your dead!” Hearing the call a man appears carrying an elderly man on his shoulder who protests; “I’m not dead yet. I’m feeling better.” That’s the image I have when I see Federal Visionists like faux “pastor” Doug Wilson reemerge trying to reinvent himself as something other than what he is — a rank Christ-denying, Gospel-destroying first-class heretic, and charlatan.

Some will remember only a couple of years ago when Wilson claimed (falsely, of course) that he was no longer Federal Vision. Thankfully, many observers of Wilson noted that this so-called “mea culpa” and professed rejection of the Federal Vision was just another craftily constructed ruse designed to deceive the gullible and undiscerning. To others, mainly me, it was clear from the language in his original post that the Federal Vision label had perhaps caused more than a few Reformed parents to decide not to send their little Johnnys to Wilson’s New Saint Andrews College. Like most Reformed and Presbyterian elders, I’m sure Mr. and Mrs. Pew-On have no idea why the Federal Vision is a bad thing, but it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to little Johnny’s eternal soul … and their wallets.

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This is from a booklet produced by the Chamber of Commerce in 1962:

I saw this quote posted on a Facebook Clark page and decided to post it here only because it’s such a strong point that virtually no one ever makes.  How easy are we impressed by the so-called “good works” of others that it completely blinds us to the soul-destroying lies they teach and believe. 

The trees that are cut down and thrown into the fire in verse 19 are the men Jesus commands to depart from him in verse 23. They are the men who have done spectacular works in the name of Jesus on Earth. This implies, please note, that the fruit by which we are to know them is not primarily their works, perhaps not their works at all, but their doctrine, their teaching. We have become so accustomed to thinking of fruit as behavior that we have missed Jesus’ point in his warning against false prophets: They are recognized by their doctrine. What they teach is their fruit. That is why John gives us a doctrinal test in 2 John 1:7, 9-11.

See John’s full discussion of Matthew 7:15-20 go here.