There has been a lot of talk in the blogosphere about James MacDonald inviting T.D. Jakes to round 2 of The Elephant Room, to be held on January 25, 2012. Controversy has centered around the widespread belief that Jakes does not hold to an orthodox understanding of the Trinity. Rather, some claim, he is a modalist, a person who believes that Father, Son and Holy Spirit do not refer to distinct persons, but to different modes of existence of the same person. This is no minor point of theology. These minor distinctions in trinitarian theology, a word here, a letter there, represent colossal differences, eternal differences--the difference between heaven and hell (and I say this without a bit of hyperbole). To say it as plainly as I know how, modalism is a damnable heresy; if you believe it in place of the biblical understanding of the Trinity, you are not a Christian. Period.

Hence all of the talk. By way of context, we need to remember that The Elephant Room is a meeting by Christians and for Christians, and even more, by Christian leaders and for Christian leaders. Inherent in inviting T.D. Jakes is the understanding that he is a Christian. Which presents a problem because inherent in modalism is the understanding that such a person is not a Christian.

What all this means is that the controversy largely depends on whether or not Jakes is a modalist. Is he?

I do not know, exactly. What is clear is that whatever Jakes believes about the Trinity, he has shown a continual reluctance to affirm a standard, time-proven creedal statement of trinitarian orthodoxy and that he has often used the language of modalism. This gives us valid cause for concern. This has not happened just once, but repeatedly and over many years. He has been given many opportunities to subscribe to an orthodox understanding of the Trinity and to this point he has not done so. He has not been asked to subscribe to a passing statement created by modern-day theologians, but a statement that Christians have held to for over 1,600 years. Nathan Busentiz documents some of the history of Jakes’ refusal to do so in this blog post (scroll down to point #3). He clearly offers enough evidence that we do well to question what Jakes truly believes and to be suspicious that he willfully holds to heretical theology.

It is important to note that MacDonald has come out and said that he does not believe that Jakes is a modalist. I am not going to comment on his statement except to say that I agree with Carl Trueman’s critiques (even keeping in mind MacDonald’s subsequent clarifications).

Last week I spoke to Bob Kellemen about the difficult subject of spiritual abuse. We worked toward a definition of the term and looked also at what shouldn’t rightly be classified as abuse. I had more questions and Bob was kind enough to answer them (and, in my opinion, to answer well). Here’s the rest of our discussion. I hope this helps people who are suffering spiritual abuse or who are wondering if that is what’s going on at their local church.

TC: How are we to react to genuine spiritual abuse? Is this a time to begin a web site to expose abuse? Is this the time to leave a church?

BK: I want to address that question in a two-fold way: how do we respond to spiritual abuse internally--in our own hearts, and how do we respond to spiritual abuse "externally"--in our relationship to the person hurting us, in relationship to the church, and in relationship to the wider Christian community. 

Internally, I always encourage the person who is experiencing spiritual abuse to step back and seek the help of a trusted, objective third party. We discussed in our first post the fact that the term "spiritual abuse" can be misused or misapplied so we don't have to respond to loving confrontation from a spiritual authority. As a counselor, I try to raise this possibility to the person in a loving, kind, supportive way. The last thing they need is to sense that the "victim is being victimized." Still, it's vital to have someone help you to assess what is actually occurring. 

Let's assume that the outside assessment concurs (that sounds more clinical than it is in real life): spiritual abuse is occurring. I then encourage the person who is experiencing spiritual abuse to avoid two extremes. One extreme is denial and minimizing. In God's Healing for Life's Losses: How to Find Hope When You're Hurting, I build a biblical case for candor and lament--honesty with self and with God about life's losses. It is a very painful loss to have someone you trust as a shepherd use that shepherding role to harm rather than to help. 

I'm writing today from West Boylston, Massachusetts (I've never managed to spell Massachusetts without using spell checker), at the site of the Psalm 119 Conference. Yesterday I spoke on desiring discernment and a few minutes ago on how to be discerning without being a complete jerk (a.k.a. speaking truth in love). It's been great to connect with some people in this neck of the woods, though such Christian fellowship requires overlooking the fact that the folk around here are Red Sox fans. 

The plane I flew in yesterday was small enough that it had an open cockpit and we could see the crew going about their business. As I watched them do what they do to get us from Toronto to Providence, I was struck by one very simple fact of life--we all want to live, or at least, we all want not to die. Obvious, I know, but significant. I sometimes think of this as well as I hurtle down the highway at 60 or 70 miles per hour, surrounded by hundreds of other drivers doing the same thing. We all stay in our lanes, we all drive straight, we all brake at the right times and we all keep alert. It would just take one or two people to completely alter all of that--one or two people who just stopped caring whether they lived or died.

The same is true in the air. When we fly, we just assume that the pilots at the front of the plane care about life as much as we do, that they have as strong a desire as we do not to die. The alternative is almost unthinkable.

In the last couple of years, as I’ve read blogs and other web sites, I have often come across the term “spiritual abuse.” It is a term that seems to be gaining a little bit of traction with whole blogs dedicated to it. It describes a clear reality—that where there is spiritual authority in a sinful world, there will at times be abuse of that authority. However, I am also concerned that the term may be used too widely if we do not define it carefully. After all, leaders have to lead and at times leaders have to lead in ways that may not be popular. I’m sure there are times that any leadership, and especially corrective leadership, can feel like abuse.

I wanted to learn more about this topic so turned to Bob Kellemen, Executive Director of the Biblical Counseling Coalition. We had a bit of a dialog that I hope you find helpful.

TC: The term "spiritual abuse" is one I've encountered quite often on the Internet in recent days.

BK: As have I, Tim. In fact, in response I crafted a four-part blog mini-series at RPM Ministries (www.rpmministries.org) that I called Spiritual Leadership and Humble Relationships (Part 1: http://bit.ly/oZqqu0Part 2: http://bit.ly/owP2rB , Part 3: http://bit.ly/qZS2yZ, and Part 4: http://bit.ly/pYUfYZ). All the talk in the Christian blogosphere about "spiritually abusive pastors" and "pastors who bully" started me pondering, "How does the Apostle Paul respond to those who disagree with him and criticize him?"

TC: Certainly spiritual abuse is a legitimate concern for Christians; there is a long history of abusive leadership within the church and Christians are right to label this and to react against it.

BK: I agree, Tim--church history, ancient and current, demonstrates the legitimacy of the concern about abusive leadership. Even more important, and I'm sure you agree, there are strong biblical reasons to be concerned about spiritual abuse. Jeremiah pronounces "woe" upon shepherds who do not care for or tend God's flock and who cause God's people to live in fear (Jeremiah 23:1-4). Jesus pronounces "seven woes" upon the teachers of the law and the Pharisees for their spiritually abusive leadership (Matthew 23:1-39). In Matthew 20:20-28, Jesus warns his disciples against proud, arrogant, self-centered leadership that reflects more of the world's "lording it over" than of the Lord's servant leadership. Peter learned this lesson well, as he exhorts elders to be shepherds of the flock, to eagerly serve, not lording it over, but being examples (1 Peter 5:1-6).

I'm pretty sure I can still remember the day my friend John fell in love. A young woman named Danielle showed up at our church and John was utterly captivated. Over time he worked up the nerve to ask her out and for a while they dated, seeing if there was that spark between them--that spark that cannot easily be described or defined, but that somehow binds two hearts together. But before too long it was clear that things just weren't working out. John and I had many tough conversations, as he did with his other friends, and the consistent counsel was, "John, it's time to let go." We knew of his love for Danielle, and his desire to be with her, but it seemed that it just wasn't meant to be. Out of love and out of respect for them both we all suggested that he release his heart's hold on her.

Two days ago I had the great honor of marrying John and Danielle. This was the first wedding I've ever officiated and it was truly one of the experiences of a lifetime to be able to stand before their friends and family, the people who love them and have prayed for them for so long, and to be able to proclaim them man and wife.

John is a dear friend and one who has taught me so much. He has taught me how to love kids better--how to relate to children about serious topics; John had an amazing ministry to the children of our church. He has taught me about the importance of prayer and the importance of praying together as friends. And through his pursuit of a bride he has modelled something else, something that has blessed me deeply.

For their wedding text I preached the first few verses of Revelation 21, that great future vision of a New Jerusalem coming down from heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. That city--not a city of streets and buildings, but a city of people--is presented to Jesus Christ as his bride.

A few days ago I shared some wisdom from my friend Tim Kerr who told me how he organizes his prayer life. Obviously the most important part of a prayer life is just praying—I’m sure it’s very easy to get hung up on questions of procedure while forgetting to actually just pray—but I am also very eager to learn how other people collect and organize all of the things they may need to pray for in a day or in a week. After all, each of us has many things we could pray for on any given day. How do we pray for the right things? How do we pray for the best things? How do we ensure that we are consistently praying for all the people and all the things we ought to pray for? Experience shows that if I do not maintain some kind of a system, I will naturally gravitate toward praying for the things that are most urgent to me while neglecting many other good things I ought to pray.

I recently asked this question of Brian Croft. His answer was quite simple, but still useful.

Within the first hour I am up, I read God’s Word and spend time praying those truths I read for my own soul, my wife and children.  It is in the form of praise and thanksgiving, confession of sin, requests for our lives.  I pray the gospel to myself at this time and prepare to have it on my mind throughout my day.  Then, I pray for my tasks as a pastor, praying for faithfulness in shepherding God’s people and the handling of God’s Word.

I pray throughout the day for God to open my heart and mind to His Word as I study to prepare to preach.

Summer is now just a memory. Already the days are cooler and the nights are longer. This change in the seasons always ushers in one of my favorite family traditions--spending our fall and winter evenings reading books together. Just about every evening we gather in the living room in that time between dinner and bedtime, and for 30 or 40 minutes the family sits while I read to them. A few days ago we began a journey through another book and I began to reminisce on all the places we've been and all the things we've seen in the years we've been doing this. We've traveled this world and others, and we’ve journeyed through the ages.

With just one favorite author we got lost in the Barrens, we saw what it's like to have owls in the family (though the last 10 pages disappeared so we didn't ever figure out how it ended) and learned about a dog who just refused to believe that he was a dog. With another great author we watched winter finally leave a magical land, followed the journey of a horse and his boy, went along on a sea voyage and followed a prince as he claimed his rightful crown. Like so many others, we watched a funny little man save his life by finding a magical ring and then take a back seat while his nephew saved the world by destroying it. We saw a silly mouse take a journey that ended rather abruptly and met a spider who, for the sake of a pig, wove messages into her web. We spent many weeks with a little girl who took a journey from the big woods of Wisconsin to the vast prairies while her future husband, though still a little boy, grew up in New York. 

We spent a bit of time with a red-haired girl from Prince Edward Island and went to a distant desert island with a lightning-fast black stallion. And then there was that brief and funny trip to the edge of The Dark Sea of Darkness.

And that's not all. We traveled to Holland to watch a dog named Scout take on the Germans and also found ourselves in a hideout in the swamp. We followed another Dutchman while he snuck into enemy territory to deliver Bibles to desperate Christians. And we are in Holland even now as the Germans invade, separating parents from children and making soldiers out of boys.

And I know there are more, more stories and more characters and more times and places, some that I’ve forgotten and some that we started and decided were not quite right or were not quite yet.

Best of all, we've been able to do all of this together as a family, without ever leaving our living room.

Wednesday evening brought us a storm unlike any I've ever seen. For 30 or 40 minutes we sat under a tornado watch--almost unheard of around here--with near-constant lighting, countless thousands of flashes of it, bringing staccato bursts of light to the night. The sky flashed like it does at the grand finale of a fireworks show, sparks to the left, to the right, directly overhead, each one bigger than the last. Huge forks reached for the ground, first to the west, then right over our house. I watched all of this through a gap, a window in the trees that tower over our home.

All the while thunder rolled in the background, a deep, continuous bass punctuated by sudden cracks and peals, some so loud and sudden, coming without warning, that my heart would pound in my chest (and I'm not easily startled!). I could feel the thunder more than I could hear it. It was there, it was present, almost in physical form. My hand on the door frame could feel its rumble as it gently shook the house and occasionally jolted it. Sirens began to wail as emergency workers went about their business.

In one moment I saw a bolt of lightning begin in the eastern sky and streak toward the west. It faded and jumped back, flickering like a snake's tongue. As it disappeared, a long, low roll of thunder followed it back, from west to east, tracing the path of the lightning, answering it. 

The wind was strangely calm around our home. The leaves trembled with the rain and moved with the thunder, but there was barely a gust of wind. Great sheets of rain poured down all the while, forming puddles in the grass and torrents in the streets. The storm smelled of whatever it is that storms smell of. Is it ozone? Is it dry ground becoming wet? Whatever it is, it is a distinct smell--the smell of summer evenings.

Every day, 7 days per week, Rasmussen Reports releases the results of a poll that measures what percentage of the American people approve of the way their president is performing his role. Here is a brief excerpt from yesterday’s press release: “The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 19% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-five percent (45%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -26.” 

At the moment, President Obama is not doing well; his rating is lower than it has ever been and continues what has been a long, steady decline from the +28 and +30 that followed his inauguration. A measure of -26 means that the number of people who strongly disapprove of the job he is doing is 26% greater than the number of people who strongly approve of it. As the report points out, these numbers are beginning to approach the levels that George W. Bush experienced near the end of his second term. Things are not looking too good in the White House.

You will not be surprised to hear that there is some controversy over whether these reports really mean a whole lot. Some suggest that they display a conservative bias and are therefore not as accurate as they ought to be. But what is clear is that the polls do show general trends as reflected in this graphic:

I found myself thinking about this yesterday, wondering what it would be like to have someone measuring my popularity on a day-to-day basis. It cannot be fun. I do not envy the president.

I am convinced that one of the greatest but most subtle spiritual dangers Christians face is pragmatism. I have written about this in the past, usually in the context of statements such as, "Never criticize any method that God is blessing," something Rick Warren wrote in The Purpose Driven Church. Over the past few days I have seen pragmatism rearing its ugly head in the ongoing discussions about C.J. Mahaney and the difficulties he finds himself in.

In this article I want to define pragmatism and show how and why it draws us. From there I hope to show how it has impacted the discussion about Mahaney and Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM) and to show the danger this may present. I expect that this will be the last thing I write on this situation; I have posted this article only because I believe the events before us have brought the church an important opportunity to face a growing challenge.

A Pragmatism Primer

Pragmatism is a school of philosophy that arose in the United States in the late nineteenth century. It is rooted in the teachings of men like John Stuart Mill who exerted a formative influence on philosophers John Dewey, who subsequently applied pragmatism to education, and William James who applied it to religion. These men believed that the way to determine truth was to examine practical results. In its essence, pragmatism holds that truth is determined by consequences. Whether something is right or wrong, good or bad, depends primarily on its results.