Upon the request of pastor @adionne, in order to equip and warn both pastors and sheep, I have created this document: Concerning the Boastful Spirit: The Seduction of Christian Nationalism, Neo-Crusaderism, and Millenarian Political Activism
Please give it a read and feel free to share it with others.
Blessings in Christ,
This is useful work. Thank you, brothers.
Some of the critics of the postmillennial nationalist crusaders are weak on sexuality. I am thinking mainly of Brian Mattson (cited in the paper) and Alistair Roberts (cited because he did a lot ot work on the Tulius anon account. How would you all respond to the attack on the credibility/trustworthiness of some critics whose work we rely on and cite?
Simple: Donât rely on citing menâs work. Rely on Godâs Word.
If the works of men youâve cited (which I am not familiar with) are anchored in Scripture, the net result ought be that you come away able to appeal to the authority of Scripture. You shouldnât come away dependent on the men.
I stopped following along with the social media Christian Nationalism wars many months ago now, and have only kept up when it presents pastoral issues among my own congregation. The âmoving targetâ nature of the thing is pretty taxing to keep up with. Pastorally, the young men whom I find most enamored with the whole topic are the ones who just need to be admonished to stop reading so many books (Eccl. 12:12), learn to get and hold a job, and figure out how to take a wife. It turns out there isnât much productive labor associated with giving your life to millenarian theory-crafting.
I appreciate how Matt has condensed the chronology here, and made straightforward observations with simple biblical applications. When you boil this all down, it amounts to another reminder that thereâs nothing new under the sun. In every generation, men of meddlesome mind go beyond what is written. They leave behind the fact that life is short, hell is real, and Jesus Christ died to save sinners.
In just a little while, all the heads of the various Christian Nationalist camps will be dead and gone, and weâll be left once again as men with our Bibles, facing a world filled with sinners who need Jesus.
As with all men, we must chew the meat and spit out the bones. When I cite Mattson Iâm not endorsing everything he says, just pointing to what he has written on the topic at hand which I believe he is right and useful on. (Same goes for Martin Luther, Doug Wilson, Chris Gordon, etc.)
As Jason has said, our final authority is Scripture. We use menâs work to bring clarity, but where/if they go against Scripture, they are wrong.
Also, I donât know anyone in our circles who follows Mattson, let alone is being seduced or influenced by him in a dangerous way. If he was causing the trouble I would warn against him. But he isnât.
This all reminds me of Richard Spencer and the alt-right. They had their 15 seconds of fame in 2016 when they were useful for the leftist establishment.
Now I canât remember the last time I heard anyone mention their names.
Well of course you know very well, dear brother, that the enemy of our enemy is our friend. I canât quite understand why you asked?
More seriously, the point of The Grace of Shame is to demonstrate how bad on sex the rabbis and Sanhedrin are today. Look at the ESV, PCA, ACBC, CBMW, and so onâŚ
Likely quite a while before prophets of fads die, they fizzle and (âall the young dudes, carry the newsâ) move on.
BTW, Iâm quite serious in linking to Mott the Hoople. Follow it up with The Whoâs âTeenage Wasteland.â Young men are forevermore fixated on cliques and cool, and itâs THOSE things we must learn to recognize, forsake, and condemn. The sin of style. Across the decades, the only thing that changes are the costumesâthe threads and words.
The hip thing at Gordon-Conwell when David, Nathan, Mark, Paul, Gary, and I were there was theonomy. A friend was John Jefferson Davisâs teaching assistant and its prophet. The year before seminary, working at First Pres out in Boulder, itâs prophet was Rich Bledsoe, and he dispensed it like it was a dangerous secret handshake.
Then Davisâs TA got his MDiv and converted to Roman Catholicism (his name is Scott Hahn) and that was the next big thing w/Gordon-Conwell grads. Many of my peers converted, including Marcus Grodi of WETN fame. Then Rich Bledsoe out in Boulder went the PCA route and jumped on the Peter Leithart F-V bandwagon, where he remains. Love,
Except Spencer did not bear the title âpastor.â
I am confident God will confound these men and their names will rot (Prov. 10.7), but I worry for the sheep who are following after them (2 Cor. 11.3).
Agreed. That is important. And because of that, they must be refuted. But I can guarantee there are bigger pastoral issues in the lives of the sheep that you referenced. Millenarianism is a symptom, not the cause.
Please donât misunderstand: Iâm not arguing with addressing the hirelings as you have. That is good and necessary. But even when theyâre forgotten, and they will soon be forgotten, we will still have the pastoral issues in these men with us (if they choose to remain that long).
I donât know you Ben (Iâm fairly confident weâve met). But this comment strikes me as a âlet him without sin cast the first stoneâ sort of dismissal. Am I reading you wrong?
If weâre waiting for the perfect analysis from the perfect pastor with a perfect record of perfectly defending everything perfectly, weâll be waiting a long time before we address anything.
A better question to ask is, is this analysis accurate? And if it is, letâs focus on that.
Yes. This is true. Rev. 2:4.
Iâm telling you all, the cause is a lust for cool, hip, and jive. After you listen to âAll the Young Dudes,â listen to this other by Mott the Hoople:
Hymn for the Dudes
God ainât jive
For I can see his love
As it runs alive
And one by one
Through fields of rusted wire
The war has just begun
Ohhhhh
Cross over shame like the wise dove
Who cares not for fame, just for shy love
And rejoice for the king ainât lost his throne, oh no
Heâs still here, you are not alone
Correct your heads
For thereâs a new song rising
High above the waves
Go write your time
Go sing it on the streets
Go tell the world, but you go brave
Oh my
Sweet instant Christian, you are such a sly clown
Too many questions, no replies now
And rejoice for the king ainât lost his throne, oh no
Heâs still here, you are not alone
I got an idea
Go tell the superstar
All his hairs are turning grey
Star-spangled fear
As all the people disappear
The limelight fades away
'Cos if you think you are a star
For so long theyâll come from near and far
But youâll forget just who you are (yes you will)
You-aint-the-naz
Youâre just a buzz
Some kinda temporary
Cross over shame
Like the wise dove
Who cares not for fame
Just for shy love
Ohhhhh
My sweet instant Christian, you are such a sly clown
Too many questions, no replies now
And rejoice for the king ainât lost his throne. oh no
Heâs still here, and you are not alone
You are not alone
Aaron,
The sole reason for posting the question was that I hear this response from friends, acquaintances and church members often. Itâs not a particularly logically strong response, but itâs out there. I asked the question to put it on the board. Please read into my asking it no more than that.
I can appreciate that.
In that case, Iâd respond something along the lines ofâŚ
âThis author might say it more concisely than me, but this summarises what I see as well. And you know my character better than either of us know the character of these CN men or this CN critic. So hear my warnings rather than dismissing them as the words of a cynic who just doesnât get it. Iâm concerned about what will happen to your soul if you choose the listen to those who are far away rather than the shepherds entrusted with watching over your soul.â
You need to write a pastoral theology: Shepherding from Classic Rock.
Spent part of sermon prep a couple weeks ago listening to Whoâs Next. Not sure how it helped the sermon, but I enjoyed it.
Wasnât looking for it, but found this little gem while reading Baxterâs âCounsel for young Christiansâ:
Was not the Papist, St. Dominic, who stirred up the bloody persecution against the Christians in France and Savoyâresulting in the murder of many thousandsâa very zealous man? Are not the butchers of the Inquisition zealous? Were not those who authored the third canon of the General Council at the Lateran (under Pope Innocent III)âwho decreed that the Pope should depose rulers and give away their dominions if they did not exterminate the âhereticsââalso full of zeal? Were not the Papist conspirators behind the Gunpowder Plot zealous men? Has not misguided zeal in recent times led many to rebel against their lawful governors, to persecute the Church, and to deprive Godâs people of their faithful pastors, showing no compassion for their souls?
Did not Christ foretell such zeal? âThe time is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering a service to Godâ (John 16:2). Therefore Paul says, âIt is good to be zealously affected always in a good thingâ (Galatians 4:18)âshowing us that zeal is indeed good, but only when guided by sound judgment.
Your first question should always be: Am I in the right way? And your second: Am I making good progress in it?
It is grievous to see what abominable deeds have been committed in every age under the influence of misguided zeal. And what shame imprudent zealots bring upon their faithâwhen, in their rashness, they make themselves look foolish before the world and cause unbelievers to mock the very name of religion. Thus the ungodly are hardened in their unbelief and perish more securely. How many well-meaning people are provoked by rash affections to do things they will later be ashamed of and deeply regret?