New Calvinists
New Calvinism is a movement that has become a dominant force in the USA and its influence has swept into churches in other countries around the world. New Calvinism is led by some of the biggest names in the American evangelical scene, and claims to be behind a resurgence of the reformed teachings of Calvinism. Thus, at its core it is corrupt from the outset but it adds to its abuse of scripture by promoting a postmodern view of scripture, ecumenism, mysticism, worldliness and a social gospel. (‘Old’ Calvinists generally condemn the ‘New’ Calvinists for these reasons, despite the fact that they adhere to the TULIP construct. See Calvinism .)
The movement is not unified with a head and structure, but rather a coalition of ministries that have embraced a set of ideas that sees them broadly in agreement with one another (ideas which are largely no different from those current in the New Spirituality but with the common factor that the leaders all come from a Calvinist background and all still claim to hold to Calvinist dogma).
Time magazine in 2009 listed “10 ideas changing the World Right Now” and placed New Calvinism third on their list.
Key individuals in the movement include Timothy Keller, John Piper, D.A. Carson, Albert Mohler, Wayne Grudem and – until their departures from their churches and ministries in 2010s – Mark Driscoll, C. J. Mahaney and Joshua Harris. (Driscoll and Mahaney both resigned amidst controversy and Harris rejected Christianity altogether. Though still both shrouded in controversy, Driscoll and Mahaney re-entered ministry after a couple of years absence and pioneered new churches.)
Timothy Keller
Timothy Keller was the senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, with a membership of 5000. He died in 2023, however, his influence remains large. Through its church planting program Redeemer now has a network of 150 associated churches. Keller was a best-selling author – The Reason for God (2008) reached the top 10 on the New York Times list – and popular conference speaker. Newsweek anointed him in 2008 as “The C. S. Lewis of the 21st Century”. He was a keynote speaker at the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelisation held in Cape Town in 2010. He together with D.A. Carson established “The Gospel Coalition” in 2007. The vision of the Coalition is to renew and reform evangelical thought and practice (according to their take on Calvinist principles), both in the USA and worldwide. Essentially, the Coalition seeks to motivate pastors and theologians to subscribe to a policy of social activism (while accepting its brand of reformed theology).
Social Gospel – Keller promoted a social gospel not the true gospel. In The Reason for God, Keller writes:
“Christianity is not only about getting one’s individual sins forgiven so we can go to heaven. That is an important means of God’s salvation, but not the final end or purpose of it. The purpose of Jesus’ coming is to put the whole world right, to renew and restore the creation, not to escape it. It is not just to bring personal forgiveness and peace, but also justice and shalom to the world… The work of the Spirit of God is not only to save souls but also to care and cultivate the face of the earth, the material world… In short, the Christian life means not only building up the Christian community through encouraging people to faith in Christ, but building up the human community through deeds of justice and service.” (pp. 223-225)
In 2006 at an ‘Entrepreneur’s Forum’ sponsored by Redeemer Church, Keller said:
“Conservative churches say ‘this world is not our home—it’s gonna burn up eventually and what really matters is saving souls… so evangelism and discipleship and saving souls are what is important’. And we (that is, Redeemer Presbyterian Church) try to say that it’s the other way around almost. That the purpose of salvation is to renew creation. That this world is a good in itself…”
Keller’s book Generous Justice (2010) advances social activism. In it, Keller quotes Gustavo Gutierrez, a (Catholic) Dominican priest, author of A Theology of Liberation (1971), and regarded as the father of Liberation Theology. Keller defines what he means by justice and equates it with helping the poor. He argues that:
“…if it is true that justice and mercy to the poor are the inevitable signs of justifying faith, then the church has a corporate duty to the poor … A life poured out in doing justice for the poor is the inevitable sign of any real, true gospel faith” (pp. 135, 189)
Those who promote a social gospel, must discredit the true gospel, and Keller is true to form. Keller dislikes “born again” Christians regarding them as “fanatics”. He writes:
“… the biggest deterrent to Christianity for the average person is the shadow of fanaticism … Many non-believers have friends or relatives who have become “born again” and seem to have gone off the deep end. They soon begin to express loudly their disapproval of various groups and sectors of our society – especially movies and television, the Democratic Party, homosexuals, evolutionists… When arguing for the truth of their faith they often appear intolerant and self-righteous. This is what many people would call fanaticism.” (The Reason for God pp. 56-57)
See Social Gospel
(Almost) A Universalist – In August 2011, he was invited by the Veritas Forum, a gathering of university academics and students in the USA, to deal with issues raised in his book, The Reason for God. He was interviewed by NBC journalist Martin Bashir (http://youtu.be/_YkeKhA8BUw). In the interview, Keller effectively rescinded the true gospel of Jesus Christ by pointing to the possibility that people of all religions will enter heaven:
Bashir: I’m talking about the millions of Muslims, Sikhs and Jews who have heard about Jesus. Where does your thesis leave them?
Keller: If Jesus is who he says he is, then, long term, they don’t have God. If on the other hand… all I can always say about this is, God gives me, even as a minister with the Scripture, information on a need-to-know basis … If right now, a person doesn’t have him, he or she needs to get him. If they die, and they don’t have Jesus Christ, I don’t know … I certainly know that God is wiser than me, more merciful than me, and I do know that, when I finally find out how God is dealing with every individual soul, I won’t have any questions about it …
Pushed by Bashir on what happens to people of other religions –
Keller: People in other religions, unless they find Christ, I don’t know any other way; but I also get information on a need-to-know basis, so if there’s some trapdoor, or something like that, I haven’t been told about it.
Keller’s view delegitimizes the Bible as authoritative, and effectively destroys the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Bible, according to Keller, is insufficient to tell us the complete truth (and thereby it must be deceptive!), and he is begging the question as to what truth lies beyond the Bible. If Keller is right – that a “trapdoor” exists permitting everyone eventually into heaven – then the following scriptures are wrong (and pages more could be included):
John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.
1 John 5:10-12
Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Hebrews 9:27
… man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgement …
See Universalism
Theistic Evolutionist – Keller believed in Theistic Evolution i.e. that evolution has been ‘proved’ true by ‘science’ and therefore God must have used evolution as his means of creation. In The Reason for God, Keller claims support for theistic evolution from the Catholic Church: “For example, the Catholic Church, the largest church in the world, has made official pronouncements supporting evolution as being compatible with Christian belief.” (page 87). Belief in evolution undermines the authority of the Bible, turning it into merely a book of myths to be guided by rather than the book of truth to be obeyed.
See Creation v. Evolution I and Creation v. Evolution II
Ecumenism – Note that Keller refers above to the Catholic Church as “Christian”. Keller’s definition of Christianity included all Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians who affirm the traditional creeds of the Faith, such as the Apostles Creed. He writes:
“What is Christianity? For our purposes, I’ll define Christianity as the body of believers who assent to these great ecumenical creeds… I am making a case in this book for the truth of Christianity in general – not for one particular strand of it.” (The Reason for God pp. 116-117).
Keller promoted Catholicism further by extensively quoting a Catholic author. He writes that he could show the way of God’s grace “in a hundred famous spiritual biographies, such as those of St Paul, Augustine, Martin Luther, John Wesley… But my favourite example of the trauma of grace is the one depicted by Flannery O’Connor in her short story Revelation.” (The Reason for God p. 237) The New World Encyclopedia describes O’Connor as a life-long Roman Catholic, whose writing was deeply committed to sacramentalism i.e. the Catholic sacraments are inherently efficacious and necessary for salvation: “She wrote ironic, subtly allegorical fiction about deceptively backward Southern characters, usually fundamentalist Protestants, who undergo transformations of character that, in O’Connor’s view, brought them closer to the Catholic mind…”
Keller also quotes Catholic celebrities Malcolm Muggeridge, G.K. Chesterton and J.R. Tolkien in support of his theological and philosophical arguments.
See Ecumenism
Mysticism – As to be expected, Keller’s embrace of the Catholic Church as ‘Christian’ has led to his promotion of Catholic mystical practices. In 2009 Keller’s church ran a workshop on the “The Way of the Monk” in which “Centering Prayer, an age-old practice of authentic Christian meditation” and “silence, solitude, and contemplative practice” were taught.
In his 2014 book Prayer, Keller expressly distanced himself from contemplative prayer techniques and yet in a footnote (fn300) says that the “centering prayer” movement gets it wrong because its leaders have attempted to dumb down the true mystical system found in The Cloud of Unknowing (which is a favoured book on mystical practices by the contemplative prayer movement written anonymously in the 14th century).
Here http://www.thespiritlife.net/about/49-paradigm/paradigm-publications/3076-a-simple-way-to-pray-revised-by-tim-keller you will find a teaching summary by Keller on how to pray which outlines his take on Lectio Divina and Contemplation. It is evidence that, despite his denial in his book Prayer that he is an advocate for contemplative prayer, this teaching summary indicates otherwise.
Keller has in fact been promoting key persons in contemplative prayer for a long time. In his 1998 lecture entitled, “Meditation – what it is” in a series on “Gospel Spirituality” – still available Here https://gospelinlife.com/downloads/gospel-spirituality-mcm/ – Keller identifies “two streams that are filled with good, helpful material on meditation—the Catholic stream and the Quaker stream.” He refers to the Roman Catholic mystics, mentioning Ignatius Loyola, St Francis de Sales, St John of the Cross and St Teresa of Avila: “The best things that have been written are by Catholics during the Counter Reformation. Great stuff!’” And Keller endorsed Quaker Richard Foster’s book Celebration of Discipline saying “the book is great”.
See Catholic Mystics Richard Foster Contemplative Prayer
John Piper
John Piper was the senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis (a Calvinist megachurch) from 1980-2013. He is a key figure in the New Calvinists and a board member of The Gospel Coalition. A charismatic personality and a powerful and eloquent preacher, he has been extremely influential among young evangelical Christians (for reasons you will see below).
Piper is best known for his bestselling book, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (1986). In it, Piper presents his ‘new’ philosophy based upon the hedonist principle that the pursuit of pleasure is the most important thing in life. The twist is that God becomes a source of that happiness. Piper explains:
“All those years I had been trying to suppress my tremendous longing for happiness, so I could honestly praise God out of some “higher” less selfish motive. But now it started to dawn on me that this persistent, and undeniable yearning for happiness, was not to be suppressed, but to be glutted – on God.” (p. 21)
This idea is not based upon the Bible, but rather Piper admits in Desiring God that he found its source in the Catholic philosopher Blaise Pascal who declared: “All men seek happiness. This is without exception.” An idea affirmed to Piper by C.S. Lewis of whom Piper writes: “I had never in my whole life heard any Christian, let alone a Christian of Lewis’ stature, say that all of us not only seek (as Pascal said) but also ought to seek our own happiness.” (p. 20) Piper admits Lewis’s writings had a profound impact upon him. (C. S. Lewis was a false teacher whose belief system was a mix of philosophy, mythology, paganism, Theosophy, Taoism, Catholicism and High Anglicanism. His popular children’s series books, Narnia, is steeped in occultism and pagan rituals/symbols. C.S. Lewis wrote, “… I believe, Christ … fulfilled both paganism and Judaism” (Reflections on the Psalms). See C. S. Lewis )
Piper also credits another source of his life’s philosophy to the Westminster Confession of Faith (a statement of beliefs framed by Calvinists in England in 1646 which remains influential in present-day Reformed churches):
“You might turn the world on its head by changing one word in your creed. The old tradition says, ‘The chief end of man is to glorify God AND enjoy him forever’ [a principal statement in the Westminster Confession of Faith].… The overriding concern of this book is that in all of life God be glorified the way he himself has appointed. To that end this book aims to persuade you that ‘The chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying him forever’.”
Piper effectively makes this idea to be a commandment that supersedes the Bible’s express commands of what is “the chief end of man”. Contrary to Piper, the Bible states that the chief end of man is to love God and obey His commands without any reference to an internal motivation for happiness:
Matthew 22:37-39
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.'”
John 14:15, 21
“If you love me , you will obey what I command…Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.”
1 John 5:3
This is love for God: to obey his commands.
Ecclesiastes 12:13
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man.
Happiness may or may not be a by-product of love for and our obedience to God. Jesus was not happy about having to go to the cross (he pleaded with his Father three times to find another way and was in such anguish that he sweat what appeared as drops of blood. Nevertheless, “…for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) And Jesus enjoins us in Matthew 16:24-25 “…If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Therefore, there is a reward that awaits those who love God and obey Him, that fills them with expectant joy; though their obedience might not bring them happiness in this world as they face trouble, scorn, rejection and persecution – by this world because of the very Word of truth they hold fast to. We pursue God in order to know him … period. It is not with the motivation of trying to achieve a state of happiness. The Christian walk indeed can often be acquainted with sorrow (c.f. Jesus Himself is described in Isaiah 53:3 as “a man of sorrows”). Any price we pay here, however, pales into absolute insignificance with the surpassing greatness of knowing God now, and the glory yet to come. (c.f. Acts 14:22 “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God”.)
Salvation – A careful reading of Desiring God shows that Piper has modified the biblical doctrine of salvation. Piper raises the question:
“Could it be that today the most straightforward biblical command for conversion is not “Believe in the Lord,” but, “Delight yourself in the Lord”? And might not many slumbering hearts be stabbed broad awake by the words “Unless a man be born again into a Christian Hedonist he cannot see the kingdom of God”?”
(Desiring God, p.55)
So he asserts that salvation is dependent on one first becoming a “Christian Hedonist”! But there is absolutely no biblical basis for claiming that a hedonistic pre-conversion plays any role in salvation. Piper is clearly doing much more than explaining the scriptures; he is adding to scriptures, thereby twisting the meaning and corrupting the truth. (This idea is a variation of the erroneous Calvinist doctrine that a person must be ‘born again’ before they can be saved.)
Hedonism – The very fact that Piper calls himself a Christian Hedonist and champions the cause of (his version of) hedonism, marks him as a false teacher. True Christianity has always stood apart and opposed to hedonism. The heart of hedonism is pure selfishness; the satisfaction of worldly pleasure, passion and lust. The Bible warns:
1 John 2:15-17
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does — comes not from the Father but from the world.”
Titus 2:11-12
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,
The focus of Piper’s address at the inaugural Passion Conference in 1997 (founded by Louie Giglio as an annual gatherings of young adults between the ages of 18–25, which has been hugely popular) was Christian Hedonism. Preaching to a large audience of young people, he declared:
“So my call to you now, in the name of God Almighty, is that you might make it your eternal vocation to pursue your pleasure with all the might that God mightily inspires within you.”
As would well be expected, the idea that it is God’s will for you to pursue personal pleasure with “all your might” – albeit adding God into the equation- is a very appealing (but ultimately destructive) idea to young minds!
Piper’s theology based upon human philosophy is a beguiling trap door that leads to spiritual death. The pursuit of a Christian believer is not to follow after pleasure, but to follow Christ, denying ourselves and taking up our cross (Matthew 16:25). A life of godly rectitude is one of self-sacrificing servitude.
2 Peter 2:18 warns of false teachers such as Piper who “… mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.“
Nature of God – Since Piper theorises that the overarching principle that defines human existence is the pursuit of happiness, Piper imposes his theory-of-everything on the very nature of God:
“So now we must ask what does make God happy? … If we could discover what one thing God pursues in everything he does, we would know what delights him most. … My own conclusion is that God’s glory is uppermost in his own affections. … He loves His glory infinitely. … God would be unrighteous (just as we would) if He valued anything more than what is supremely valuable. But He Himself is supremely valuable. If He did not take infinite delight in the worth of His own glory, He would be unrighteous. … Within the triune Godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), God has been uppermost in His own affections for all eternity. … God loves to behold His glory reflected in His works. …People do not like to hear that God is uppermost in His own affections.”
(Desiring God)
This is nothing but rank heresy. Piper steps away from the Bible’s explanation of the nature of God and redefines it according to his own philosophy. He reduces God to one simple cause – abject selfishness. No wonder he admits “People do not like to hear that God is uppermost in His own affections”. It reduces God to the stature of a self-centred toddler. The Bible tells us that “God is (agape) love” (1John 4:8, 16) – agape love only and always finds its expression in selfless giving to others, and expressly not in fulfilling selfish desire for one’s own pleasure. The Bible always uses the Greek word agape for love in relation to God. Agape specifically means self-sacrificing love not selfish love. The Greek word for selfish love is eros – and it is never used in the Bible. Piper knows this and in Desiring God he erroneously conflates the two – “conceptually both resolve into one kind of love at the root” – attributing the eros he defines as pertaining to God as “holy, divine eros”. Thus again he twists the meaning of the scriptures to fit his own philosophical opinion.
Contemplative Prayer – Piper endorses it with apparent qualification, that is, only as to its teaching’s source. He says:
“So there is a spiritual seeing, or what we would call contemplation. This is where, when you read your Bible, you pause and you see in and through the words to the reality with your heart, and you apprehend spiritual reality. And this gives rise to a kind of praying that is spiritual and authentic and personal and warm and strong … I’m very ticked at seminary classes that think you have to mainly go to the mystical Catholic tradition in order to find this kind of depth and this kind of personal connection with the living God that is both rational and supra-rational and very mystical in its communion. You don’t have to embrace bad theology, namely Roman Catholic historic bad theology, in order to find amazing representatives of those who’ve known God at this level, contemplated God spiritually in the heart at this level, and have given rise to that kind of contemplation in wonderful praying.”
(https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-do-you-think-about-contemplative-prayer)
Therefore, Piper promotes contemplative prayer, just not the Catholic version. And despite Piper’s rejection of “mystical Catholic tradition” he expressly quotes a Catholic mystic!- Bernard of Clairvaux – in Desiring God, whom Piper regards as one of the “most God-besotted people in the world” (p128).
Albert Mohler
Dr Albert Mohler is the President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a board member of The Gospel Coalition. He is one of the biggest names in the New Calvinist camp and is absolutely committed to the doctrines of Calvin. He regards himself as a five-point Calvinist and a champion of Reformed theology. In 2003, Time magazine called him the “reigning intellectual of the evangelical movement in the U.S.”.
In a discussion with other Gospel Coalition council members, Kevin De Young and Ligon Duncan, Mohler said that no “convictional” or “thinking” evangelical who wants to follow in the footsteps of the apostles will come to any other conclusion than Reformed/Calvinist doctrine is the truth:
“Where else are they going to go? If you’re a theological minded, deeply convictional young evangelical, if you’re committed to the gospel and want to see the nations rejoice in the name of Christ, if you want to see gospel built and structured committed churches, your theology is just going end up basically being Reformed, basically something like this new Calvinism, or you’re going to have to invent some label for what is basically going to be the same thing, there just are not options out there, and that’s something that frustrates some people, but when I’m asked about the New Calvinism—where else are they going to go, who else is going to answer the questions, where else are they going to find the resources they going to need and where else are they going to connect. This is a generation that understands, they want to say the same thing that Paul said, they want to stand with the apostles, they want to stand with old dead people, and they know that they are going to have to, if they are going to preach and teach the truth.”
In this regard, his insistence that Calvinism is to be elevated above a non-Calvinist position has caused quite a controversy in the Baptist church. At present, the vast majority of Baptists (in the U.S.) would not count themselves Calvinists. Recently, a number of Baptist leaders issued a statement repudiating Calvinist theology.[1] And a debate rages over whether historically the Southern Baptists trace their roots to a Calvinist or non-Calvinist perspective.[2] Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, has gone so far as to say that Calvinism represents a Trojan horse leading to compromise on Biblical truth, and that Baptists who adopt Calvinistic theology and practice ought to consider leaving and joining the Presbyterian denomination.[3]
And, contrary to Mohler’s claim, a “convictional” or “thinking” evangelical who investigates:
- the life of Calvin
- the source of Calvin’s philosophy
- the way that Calvinists read all scripture through the lens of Calvinist dogma (rather than interpreting scripture solely by scripture)
- how Calvinists’ key Biblical passages can be explained and understood without recourse to Calvinist dogma (and thus interpret them very differently)
will come to the conclusion that Reformed/Calvinist doctrine is not the truth.
(See, for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5d3f61EmHw)
Ecumenism and the Social Gospel
Mohler partners with false Christians for the sake of social concerns. By doing so, he endorses ecumenism and a social gospel, raising social issues above spiritual truth:
- Mohler signed the Manhattan Declaration thereby giving credibility to the idea that persons identifying themselves as Catholic, Orthodox and Evangelical were united in core beliefs by the document referring to the co-signers collectively, using expressions such as “believers”, “Christians”, “our Christian faith” and “the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”.
2. Mohler addressed Mormons as “friends” when he spoke at Brigham Young University. One newspaper reported about his address:
“Mohler said Mormons and evangelicals “share love for the family, love for marriage, love for the gift of children, love of liberty and love of human society. We do so out of love and respect for each other and out of the gift of a growing and genuine friendship. It has been my great privilege to know friendship and share conversation with leaders of the LDS Church…””[4]
Mohler’s reference to “love and respect” is the key concept in post-modernism. In Mohler’s application, he is giving credibility to ecumenism i.e. that all ‘Christian’ denominations – including Mormons – are on the same team, which reveals again why he signed the Manhattan Declaration.
While we are to love everyone we are not to ‘respect’ anyone’s false beliefs. Rather, we are to expose all falsehood which stands opposed to the truth.
The Biblical position is not to partner on any grounds with false Christians (i.e. Catholics and Mormons) for the very fact that it gives credibility to their false gospel:
“Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.”
2 John 7-11
See Summary of Mormon and Jehovah Witnesses Beliefs
3. Mohler has employed academic staff who actively endorse the Marxist Ideology of Critical Race Theory* and Intersectionality**. These ideas force the imposition of human philosophy, about the source of social problems and the required changes in order to address them, upon the interpretation of the Bible thereby corrupting truth. It specifically changes the gospel of Jesus Christ into a social gospel.
(See Critical Race Theory, Southern Baptist Convention, and a Marxist “Solution” That Will Not Work https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=32684 and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIlnLU-vt_g for an expose on Mohler and Critical Race Theory written and presented by E.S. Williams an ‘Old’ Calvinist who speaks and writes against the New Calvinists.)
(* “Critical Race Theory” (CRT) originated out of Marxist ideology. It effectively is a ploy to first affect change in certain aspects of Western culture with the intention that it would create a domino effect furthering other social changes and ultimately the economic and political take-over of Marxism. UCLA defines CRT:
“CRT recognizes that racism is engrained in the fabric and system of the American society. The individual racist need not exist to note that institutional racism is pervasive in the dominant culture. This is the analytical lens that CRT uses in examining existing power structures. CRT identifies that these power structures are based on white privilege and white supremacy, which perpetuates the marginalization of people of color.”
In other words, racism is inherent amongst white persons and the social structures and laws that they have erected are automatically oppressive of non-whites. It deceptively identifies a class struggle – according to Marxist belief – between the oppressors (whites) and the oppressed (non-whites). At the heart of Marxism is atheism, and CRT – while on the surface appealing to Christians who want to care for the poor and oppressed – is anti-Christian, anti-Bible and anti-God. CRT seeks to subvert the Biblically shaped norms, structures and laws that became the foundation to Western civilization (replacing the atheism of the pagan Roman Empire). CRT advocates necessarily promote a Social Gospel thereby striking down the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
**As to Intersectionality UCLA adds:
“Intersectionality within CRT points to the multidimensionality of oppressions and recognizes that race alone cannot account for disempowerment. “Intersectionality means the examination of race, sex, class, national origin, and sexual orientation, and how their combination plays out in various settings.”)
4. Mohler promoted Rod Dreher’s best-seller book The Benedict Option. In an interview with Dreher, Mohler stated that the:
“…book is very important. I want to commend it to every thinking Christian. We ought to read this book…”[5]
In the book Dreher argues that the Western World is in a state of collapse and, just as Benedict (480-547) – a Catholic ‘saint’ and founder of the Benedictine order – developed Monasticism under similar circumstances during the collapse of the Roman Empire, the present-day ‘Christian’ church should learn from and follow after Benedict’s example.
Benedict borrowed heavily from John Cassian (360-435) who in turn was influenced by the Desert Fathers. The essence of Cassian’s and therefore Benedict’s spirituality is a lifestyle of asceticism and mysticism, and adherence to the three stages of Purgation (self-imposed harsh discipline and self-inflicted mortification i.e. physical harm), Illumination (via silence and contemplative prayer) and Union (ultimately achieving oneness with ‘God’ though a person’s own effort and sacrifice).
See Catholic Mystics
Dreher was raised a Methodist, became a Catholic as an adult and then switched to the Orthodox Church. In his book, Dreher promotes the Orthodox practices of liturgy, sacramental worship and contemplative prayer.
Spiritual Formation/Disciplines and Contemplative Prayer
Mohler has written against Eastern style meditative practices saying that the objective of emptying the mind is unbiblical.[6]
Nevertheless, his Seminary expressly moved to adopt Spiritual Formation into its teaching programs and appointed Donald Whitney as professor for Biblical Spirituality.
Whitney is the author of Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. In the foreword to the book J.I. Packer writes:
“Ever since Richard Foster rang the bell with his Celebration of Discipline (1978), discussing the various spiritual disciplines has become a staple element of conservative Christian in-talk in North America. This is a happy thing. The doctrine of the disciplines … is really a restatement and extension of classical Protestant teaching on the means of grace …”
See Richard Foster
As highlighted by Packer, Whitney borrowed the substance of his ideas from Foster, and (in the first edition) Whitney referenced Foster, and also Dallas Willard, who is another key advocate for the spiritual disciplines (See Dallas Willard ).
Following Foster and Willard’s understanding of the use and purpose of the spiritual disciplines, Whitney endorsed the disciplines as the vehicle to grow in Christlikeness and to experience God:
“What we are to do is discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness, practicing the God-given Spiritual Disciplines as a means of receiving His grace and growing in Christlikeness.
…the Spiritual Disciplines … are sufficient for knowing and experiencing God, and for growing in Christlikeness…
… the following personal Spiritual Disciplines are commended in Scripture: Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, service, stewardship. fasting, silence and solitude, journaling, and learning. Is this an exhaustive list? No, I wouldn’t presume to maintain that. A survey of other literature on the subject would reveal additional candidates for consideration as biblical Spiritual Disciplines to be practiced by individual Christians.
…when we engage in any of the …Disciplines …we can anticipate experiencing God.”
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
To regard the Spiritual Disciplines in this manner, is to follow in the very footsteps of the Catholic mystics – as did Foster and Willard. Whitney implicitly imposes the mystics’ methodology upon scripture as the means by which to experience God and become Christ-like. Whitney premises his whole book upon his erroneous explanation of 1 Timothy 4:7 “…discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness” whereby discipline is interpreted by him to mean the Spiritual Disciplines. You cannot go only to the Bible and discover that the Spiritual Disciplines are the means to experience God and become like Him. This is entirely extra-biblical and sourced from Foster and Willard who in turn learned it from the Catholic mystics.
In a subsequent revision of the book, Whitney tried to distance himself from Foster, Willard and “the mystical approach to spirituality” by removing “some sources and statements that might be misconstrued or implied to support connections to mysticism”.[7] If Whitney did indeed want to disclaim the mystical side to the Spiritual Disciplines he would necessarily have had to recant his book altogether. The very heart and intent of the Spiritual Disciplines/Formation is mysticism i.e. defined practices to experience union with God. And, he cannot adopt Foster’s vision while ignoring Foster’s central and foremost practice i.e. contemplative prayer. Indeed he doesn’t. He still promotes “silence”:
“… internal dialogues with self and with God (is) … called “outward silence.” Other times silence is maintained not only outwardly but also inwardly so that God’s voice might be heard more clearly.”
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
Although not referring to the practice of contemplative prayer, anyone seeking more information on the ‘inward silence’ Whitney recommends, so that “God’s voice might be heard more clearly”, will find themselves knocking on its door. Inward silence in the context of the Spiritual Disciplines is the stilling or emptying of the mind, achieved through the method of contemplative prayer.
It is naïve or disingenuous for Mohler, therefore, to reject Eastern-style meditation practices while the seminary he presides over expressly teaches Spiritual Formation/Disciplines.
(See Spiritual Formation )
Homosexuality
Mohler has written some 200 articles on homosexuality over the last three decades. His view on homosexuality has taken a dramatic turn in recent times. He once took the conventional Biblically understood view that homosexuality was a lifestyle choice and a sin to be repented of when a person became a Christian. That is, no one is born a homosexual, anymore than a person is born an adulterer, a thief, a drunkard or a murderer. (Incidentally, this has been confirmed by science. Despite millions of dollars being spent on research in the past, no ‘homosexual gene’ was ever found.) We are all born sinners and the particular type of sin(s) that we fall into is through personal circumstances and choice.
The sin of homosexuality is singled out in the Bible as being particularly grievous. God judged the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in a unique way because of this sexual perversion (see Genesis 18:20-21, 19:4-5, 2 Peter 2:6-8 and Jude 6-7). And Romans 1 describes the descent into depravity when a nation rejects the knowledge of God finally resulting in both men and women being inflamed with same-sex lust thereby exchanging natural relations for unnatural. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 lists homosexuality along with other sins, as those that the Corinthian believers had repented and turned away from:
“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
A homosexual who is genuinely converted will renounce their sinful lifestyle and same-sex attraction; putting to death, by faith and the power of the Holy Spirit, ungodly passion and desire:
Galatians 5:24
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”
Titus 2:11-12
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age…”
Colossians 3:5-7
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry . Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.”
Mohler now regards same-sex attraction to be innate i.e. something that is impossible to change, even when a person becomes a ‘Christian’; despite absolutely no Biblical justification for believing so and no clear scientific evidence. (There are many testimonies of homosexuals/lesbians who have become Christians, repented of their sin, changed their sexual orientation, and married someone from the opposite sex and formed a family as defined by God.) He says the nature of homosexuality has been misrepresented by the church and that it has engaged in homophobia. He endorses and promotes Sam Allberry, an Anglican priest, who is a leading advocate for the acceptance of same-sex attracted persons within the church, without them needing to change their sexual orientation. Thus, while Mohler still regards homosexuality as a sin, astonishingly, he now views same-sex attraction, i.e. worldly passion or lust, as not (despite what Jesus says about errant sexual lust being sinful in Matthew 5:28), and that it is possible and normal for a ‘Christian’ to be same-sex attracted. In this way, he is giving credibility to the LGBT agenda and moved towards the acceptance of homosexuality within the church, which he had once strictly stood opposed to. Thus, Mohler is imposing worldly philosophy upon Biblical interpretation and this alone marks him as a false teacher.
(See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUOa_8RkpJ4 for an expose on Mohler and homosexuality written and presented by E.S. Williams an ‘Old’ Calvinist who speaks and writes against the New Calvinists.)
[1] https://ncbchurch.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/A-Statement-of-Traditional-Southern-Baptist-Soteriology-SBC-Today.pdf
[2] https://www.christianpost.com/news/southern-baptist-calvinist-misunderstood-richard-land.html
[3] https://baptistnews.com/article/chapel-speaker-terms-calvinism-trojan-horse/#.Xii4W2gzaUk
[4] http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865588850/At-BYU-Baptist-says-Mormons-and-evangelicals-may-go-to-jail-together.html?pg=all
[5] https://albertmohler.com/2017/02/13/benedict-option-conversation-rod-dreher/
[6] https://albertmohler.com/2008/11/20/the-empty-promise-of-meditation/
[7] https://news.sbts.edu/2014/09/11/whitney-revises-bestselling-spiritual-disciplines-for-the-christian-life/