THE SECRET SINS OF THE ODMs--Part I

ODMing THE ODMs?
Online discernment ministries (ODMs) are indispensable because the brick and mortar churches refuse to carry out the biblical command to warn the flock of wolves and informally (but forcefully) forbid anyone in their midst to do so, as well. Frustrated but resolute, these Christians do what they can to research and expose religious figures involved in deception. One look at my blogroll here at Al Tosap will attest to the fact that I make constant use of them to keep myself informed. The men and women who do this sort of thing are precious soldiers of Christ. We ought to appreciate them. We ought to support them.

They support us.

However, over the last two years, I've come to see that we in the ODM arena aren't without spiritual peril. Nor do I, for a moment, believe that everyone in the ODM community is actually regenerate. I'd like your patience as I list and explain four sins rampant in the ODM world that are hidden, but deadly.

AN OFFLINE EXAMPLE
Now, I'm sure that some of you three who read that last paragraph are thinking something like, "Phil sure is off the deep end. He's calling ODMers unsaved." Well, not really. Only that there's no assurance that all are saved and plenty of evidence from Scripture that within any group of Christians are some wolves. (C'mon, now. If you're an ODMer or if you read ODMs, you major in this stuff.)

I'm sure that many of you are aware of the sad story of Ravi Zacharias. For years I listened to RZ every Sunday evening at 7PM. He was a great Christian apologist. Today he's gone. He's pushing the mysticism against which he once defended the faith. (1) I remind you of this sad, sad saga because it still hurts and because it shows us that...

...anyone can be a wolf.

ETHICS ETHICS ETHICS
Calling others to intellectual honesty with regard to the Bible is an awesome calling, but some ODMs are ethically loosy-goosy in their own right. Plagiarism and sloppy Bible handling are too common. One example of ODMers not doing their Scriptural homework is the wishy-washy way Matthew 18 is treated. The Matthew 18 protocol is misapplied or selectively applied. A ploy of the Emergents is to call into question the reproof of an ODM on the basis that Matthew 18 requires the reprover to first confront anyone named as a false teacher privately before going public with criticism. Matthew 18 doesn't teach this, but I've more than once seen ODMers respond in kind, demanding that the Emergent apologize for their challenge of the ODM on the same basis.

No matter how the ODMer understands Matthew 18, he ought never require of the Emergent what he doesn't also practice. Not only is this sloppy handling of the Word of Truth, but it's ethically duplicitous. "But," you might say, "didn't the Emergent start to use the protocol selectively for his own advantage, too, since he registered his complaint publicly?" Yes, you're right. Ungodly folks do ungodly and dishonest things. We ought not. Winning points in an argument isn't all there is in life. Obeying and loving God is. Let's win our enemies without a word, if need be. Righteous purposes aren't served by sinful means. We lose credibility when we lie and rightly so.

Plagiarism shouldn't be an issue in our circles. It's theft of the work and ideas of another without proper attribution or payment. I'm not the only one to whom this has happened, but I know my own story and it's a shocker.

I had been corresponding with a writer on one the really huge ODMs. He's a guy who really puts everything into his work. I won't name him because I don't want to do the cause of Christ harm. He read some of my stuff on an old blog that's still up, but hasn't been updated for a year now. We even collaborated on one article. The last article I posted there said this:

Not long ago, I wrote an article accusing the Emergent of being full of pot heads. I admitted I had no evidence other than the way they acted, talked, and thought (if you can call what they do in their heads "thought"). It was a really spooky thing to do, making an accusation like that without any real evidence other than the sense I got from their manners. So I made sure to make it clear that I was working on a strong impression, not evidence.

BUT........just about two days ago, I was gathering information for a friend. He wanted to know what the Emergent was. So I told him that I would get some Emergent websites listed for him and some sites that were anti-Emergent so he could know just what it is I am talking about all the time infiltrating the church. Among the Emergent sites I listed was theooze.com. When I went over there to cut and paste the url onto the email to my friend, I found this article by Gordon Duncan. He was complaining about what ought to be done with all the potheads he knew, including a lot in the "church."

Yes, totally by chance I found an obscure, off-the-front-page web article confirming a long held suspicion. It was a one-in-a-thousand chance that I got there. Yet, within a couple days the same story (in different words) citing the same web article I found was on my friend's web site. The chances of this being a coincidence were astronomical, especially since he'd been reading my site at the time. When I asked for a simple acknowledgement for doing the leg work to uncover quite a coup against the Emergents my friend no longer was my friend.

He was just hot.

Could this have been an honest mistake brought about by accident? Yes. But if that was so, why not be gracious? Why the hostility? I'll let you decide.


TIES THAT BLIND--He ain't guilty. He's my brother.
The great thing that ODMing does is to name false teachers and calling the body to refuse them. But if those calling for separation from falsehood won't separate themselves...we HAVE A PROBLEM.

ODMing is lonely for many of us and without reward. Often the only real moral support we get is from friends we meet on the web. And losing a friend hurts. You know that, don't you? The kind of isolation this sort of soldiering brings makes that hurt even harder. But there comes a time...

More than once I've confronted over the phone or in email an ODMer with news that someone he is supporting has strayed. Almost every time, I get arguments that can only be explained by purposeful ignorance. We can't expect folks to listen when we ask for a purity from them that we won't practice ourselves.

Not long ago Tim Challies voiced approval for an audio version of the New Testament portion of the TNIV. For those of you who may not know, the TNIV is a gender-altered Bible version. Gender-altered versions are versions which are purposely altered to make certain groups happy. They do so by changing masculine references to neuter or feminine. Those who like this practice of changing what God said call it being gender neutral. (Which begs for the question, "Just what is so neutral about erasing one gender and inserting another?") Challies is promoted by Phil Johnson on Team Pyro. As many of you know this crew is wildly popular, so the isolation excuse certainly doesn't apply. There IS no excuse for this.

The audio is called The Bible Experience. Challies said this about it:

I did not listen to the entire series of CDs (there are nineteen of them for the New Testament) but the portions I did listen to, primarily from the gospels, were really quite well done. This product is certainly different, but I can see nothing inherently wrong with it! (2)

Despite the obvious approval Challies gave the piece, when I and others asked him why he puffed a sinful attempt to change what God has said in Scripture, he said this in the comment thread:

I didn’t say that I would recommend using this for devotional or church purposes. (2)


What? Yes, he said that. If you think I'm lying go back through the provided links. He says one thing and then says he didn't say it. Does he think we're stupid? He must. Personally I didn't fall for it. Did you?

I told you that story in order to tell you another story. And I'll tell you that story in order to help you understand just how pervasive this sort of friends-covering-up-for-friends is in SOME (the SOME part is important here) Christian and ODM websites.

Here's the second story--I'll be brief: When I saw that Team Pyro was shilling for Challies, I warned Phil Johnson, Frank Turk, and company of the sinful things Challies was doing. Instead of thanking me and checking it out to make sure I wasn't lying, they immediately gave me the you're-too-stupid-to-live treatment. I was called a fundie, told I don't know the languages--a wrong assumption on their part stated as fact (that's called lying)--and told I was rude. Yet, all I asked is why it's okay to purposely change what God has said and report it as true. I asked it over and over again. I was told I was stupid. I was told they couldn't answer until they got an example. (Yeah, they said that.) I was told I was rude. I was told I should shut up about it. I just was told everything but an answer to a very simple question.

Let me tell you just how hard these guys squirmed to defend their friend. I cited the passage from Deut. 18 in which we are told that a prophet who says God said something He didn't should die. In answer, Frank Turk said, "Deu 18 is talking about false prophecy -- not about (for example) translating the Bible from Hebrew to English, or into any language." In other words, changing what God said is okay as long as you're not a prophet. In fact I asked him if that's what he meant and he wouldn't answer. (3)

Of course not. He was caught just like Johnson was caught. He couldn't answer the question without admitting he was making things up as fast as he could just to win an argument. Johnson couldn't answer the first question without admitting his friend was sinning.

And we surely can't have THAT now, can we?

Here's the point of those two stories: One of the great sins in the ODM world is a simple lack of purity. It's true that Team Pyro and the Challies site aren't ODMs per se, but Pyro is among those sites who call themselves Christian and who correct others and call those others to purity.

Yet, they remain impure and hope you don't notice. This sort of blind-eye-turning doesn't pay. Where is Challies now? Still sliding. He's now toying with new age stuff. (4)

Oh...and yeah...he's still on Phil Johnson's blogroll, too.

In Christ,
Phil Perkins.
(1)http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/index.php?p=1341&more=1&c=1
(2)http://www.challies.com/archives/churchmerch/churchmerch-the-2.php
(3)http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2007/02/sectarianism-and-separation.html
(4)http://surphside.blogspot.com/search?q=Challies

COMING IN PART II OF THE SECRET SINS OF THE ODMs
STARTING WITH THE HOUSE OF GOD.
There is a sin of sins currently in the ODM community and it isn't being addressed.

DROPPING NAMES AND CLAIMING A BROTHERHOOD THAT ISN'T THERE.
Some ODMers use the names of Reformation fathers and famous preachers who wouldn't have anything to do with them because of the sin in their lives. That's lying.

THE CHALLENGE AHEAD OF US.
Now what?