Recently, I read Greg Johnson’s Still Time to Care (2021) for an NGA paper. Two things struck me:
- Johnson is incredibly deceptive with words (of course this is also the case with all his sermons, talks, and speeches); and
- The Grace of Shame (2017) is an invaluable resource for fighting against homosexuality/Side B. Every issue presented by Johnson is answered by GoS. Of course, Johnson must be aware of this but doesn’t care…
@mdperkins’ works are also very helpful, and he has shown Johnson’s mishandling of Richard Lovelace. Johnson mishandles others as well (see below).
Johnson and Revoice have been covered extensively on Warhorn. Well worth reading them old to new.
I’m posting about Johnson here to spur others on to read and share The Grace of Shame. I also want a little more of an ROI after reading his terrible book… I will give a couple quotes from it showing the heinous nature of Johnson’s heresy and deception.
Johnson’s premise is that the ex-gay movement (Exodus Intl) has already tried to cure homosexuality but failed miserably. We can’t cure gays, so instead we must learn to care for them. Here he quotes Calvin trying to prove homosexuality is incurable:
This deeply rooted sin is what theologians have variously called concupiscence, the sinful nature and its motions, indwelling sin, or internal corruption. The Protestant reformer John Calvin explained the relative permanence of indwelling sin in his discussion of Romans 6. “So long as you live, sin must needs be in your members,” he wrote. It must be. There is no cure. He continued, “At least let it be deprived of mastery." – Johnson STTC 136
Now here is the full Calvin quote (from his Institutes 3.3.13)
“Let not sin…reign in your mortal body to obey its lusts” (Rom. 6:12). He does not say: “Let it not be,” but “Let it not reign.” So long as you live, sin must needs be in your members. At least let it be deprived of mastery. Let not what it bids be done. Those who claim that inordinate desire is no sin commonly quote James’ saying by way of objection: “Desire after it has conceived, gives birth to sin” (James 1:15). But this can be refuted without trouble. For unless we understand that he is speaking solely concerning evil works or actual sins, not even evil intention will be considered sin. But from the fact that he calls shameful acts and evil deeds the “offspring of inordinate desire” and applies the name “sin” to them, it straightway follows that inordinately desiring is an evil thing and damnable before God. – Institutes 3.3.13
Does Johnson agree with Calvin or, more importantly, James that inordinate desire is damnable sin? No, he doesn’t:
“There is no cure for corrupted nature in this life. We remain inescapably children of Adam. There is only a charge to fight our corrupted nature’s temptations to sin.” – Johnson STTC 136
We are not to fight our sin, but our “nature’s temptations to sin,” meaning, we are not to mortify our inordinate desires, instead we are only to not give in to them. Don’t fight the sin in your members, just fight the temptation to sin. This is unbiblical: Col 3:5-6, Eph 4:20-24, 2 Cor 7:1, James 1:14-15 – see also Misconceptions About Desire and Temptation (James 1:14-15) – Purely Presbyterian.
In this same section he cherrypicks Charles Hodge, John Murray, and the Westminster Confession (quotes 6.5 as if ch 13 doesn’t exist).
Here’s one more quote from his terrible book. This one just about summarizes the whole issue. Read it out loud to hear exactly what he believes:
Alongside shame, the soul-crushing reality of loneliness is the largest challenge faced by many gay people. It’s a challenge that often becomes even more troubling after Christian conversion. As a celibate forty-eight-year-old virgin who’s never so much as held hands [he said this verbatim on the floor of GA 2019, in fact much of the book is the same rhetoric he has said elsewhere], I know loneliness well. I know what it’s like to sit alone at home on Christmas Day because I have no family of my own. Even before the fall, God said it was not good to be alone. Loneliness is brutal… Imagine what it’s like for the teenager who realizes she’s gay. The thought of being alone for an entire lifetime can be crippling. Think of the older woman in your church as it dawns slowly on her over the years that she will probably never marry. Think of all the pain, sorrow, and despair that might fill her heart at such a loss. And then take the couple in your church in their midforties who have tried for fifteen years to conceive a child, only to realize that every promise ends in failure and every new hope becomes a dead end. Think of how hard it is for them to watch the baptism of a child or a Christmas program or to pass by the nursery at church. Think of how hard it is for them to come to church on Mother’s Day. Think of the heartache they experience when they attempt genuinely to be happy every time another couple announces they’re expecting a baby. Enter into the pain of realizing God is denying you something for which your body was made. Now take all of that pain and all of that sorrow, heartache, and loss–both of that couple with infertility and that older woman in your church who will never marry. Combine all that pain. Then front-load all of it–all at once–onto a sixteen-year-old girl in your youth group. That is her reality. Weep with her. Make sure she is not alone in that. – Johnson STTC 224
This is just the tippy-top of the iceberg. Johnson is completely unlike the apostle Paul. His words bear no resemblance to the words of Scripture. He never ever talks about repentance, mortification, or sanctification in any plain Biblical or reformed way.
Heresies have a double effect: destruction and purification of the Church. Perhaps seeing these quotes will spur more people on to read and share The Grace of Shame which offers real hope to sinners.