2016 – Page 81 – Warren Throckmorton

David Barton Tells Listeners Virginia Law Kept Slave Owners from Emancipating Slaves; Admits it Happened in New Edition of The Jefferson Lies

Yesterday, David Barton said again that Virginia law did not allow slave owners to free their slaves. He usually tries to make that case in relationship to Thomas Jefferson, but yesterday on his Wallbuilders’ program, he said George Mason could not free his slaves because of Virginia law.
At about 37 seconds into this clip from the program, Barton says Mason didn’t free his slaves “because in Virginia it was illegal for guys like him to release their own slaves.” Listen:

I have debunked this repeatedly (here, here, here, here, here) but it is worth pointing out that Barton tries to have it both ways in the new edition of his book, The Jefferson Lies. He says Michael Coulter and I are wrong about Virginia law but then he indirectly acknowledges we are correct by citing the case of Virginia plantation owner Robert Carter who began a process of manumitting his 452 slaves in 1791. In the second edition of The Jefferson Lies, Barton invokes Robert Carter’s act to free his slaves.

Perhaps the case of Robert Carter best demonstrates the overall complexity of the Virginia emancipation process. Carter, whose wealth was considerable and who had as many as 500 slaves, emancipated them all in 1791. Yet, due to the difficulties of his executor process, and the intricacies of Virginia slave laws, sixty years later in 1852 (and long after Carter’s death), his heirs were still working to free his slaves as per his original directive. When it came to emancipation, Virginia law was definitely convoluted and restrictive.
Barton, David (2015-12-22). The Jefferson Lies: Exposing the Myths You’ve Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson (Kindle Locations 588-592). WND Books. Kindle Edition.

In the new edition, he attacks me for being wrong about Virginia slave laws, but in another place he acknowledges that Virginia law allowed manumission. When discussing Virginian plantation owner Robert Carter, Barton acknowledged that Carter started the process of emancipation for his slaves in 1791. Some slaves were freed immediately, minor slaves were freed gradually as they attained adult status. Yesterday, however, he said Virginia prohibited “guys like” Mason from freeing his slaves.
Simply put, Barton originally claimed Virginia law did not allow Jefferson to free his slaves. He has said before and said again yesterday that Virginia law did not allow “guys like” George Mason to free his slaves. Mason lived until 1791 which was nine years after Virginia’s 1782 law allowing private manumissions. It might have been a hardship for Mason to do so but Virginia law did not make it illegal.
We demonstrated in Getting Jefferson Right that not only did Virginia law allow it for a period of time, some slave owners who were contemporaries of Jefferson and Mason did indeed free some or all of their slaves. Barton even refers to one of our illustrations of a slave owner, Robert Carter III, who used the 1782 law to free his slaves legally but he still can’t admit that he misled his readers and yesterday his listeners.

Marco Rubio Announces Religious Liberty Advisory Board

At least Rubio has better taste than Ted Cruz in historians.
World magazine has the list of Rubio’s religious liberty advisory board members. Seriously, Thomas Kidd’s presence in this group makes me feel better about Rubio.

Carlos Campo—president, Ashland University

Vincent Bacote—associate professor of theology and director of the center for applied Christian ethics, Wheaton College

Kyle Duncan—former general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and lead counsel for the Green family in the Hobby Lobby case

Tom Farr—director of the Religious Freedom Project at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and associate professor of the practice of religion and world affairs, Georgetown University

Kelly Fiedorek—legal counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom

Wayne Grudem—research professor of theology and biblical studies, Phoenix Seminary

Chad Hatfield—chancellor, St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary

Thomas Kidd—distinguished professor of history and associate director, Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University

Daniel Mark—Villanova University and commissioner, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

Michael McConnell—Richard and Frances Mallery professor and director of the Constitutional Law Center, Stanford University Law School

Doug Napier—senior counsel and executive vice president, Alliance Defending Freedom

Samuel Rodriguez—president, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference

Meir Soloveichik—rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel and director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, Yeshiva University

Rick Warren—founding pastor, Saddleback Church

Thomas White—president and professor of theology, Cedarville University

Institutional affiliations for identification purposes only

Source: Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign

Mars Hill Church's Demise Referred to as "Some Internal Things" in Mark Driscoll's Intro at Zion 2016

Earlier tonight (1/5/16), Mark Driscoll spoke at the Zion 2016 conference at Jimmy Evans Trinity Fellowship Church. He was introduced by Jimmy Witcher, a pastor at the church who is slated to become Senior Pastor at Evans’ Church, possibly tomorrow night at the conference.
In any case, those who have followed Driscoll’s career will be impressed with Witcher’s ability to spin the past 14 months in this intro.

Transcript: Jimmy Witcher, Trinity Fellowship – January 5, 2016 – Zion 2016 Conference, Amarillo, TX

Well tonight is a very special night. We’re very excited to have Pastor Mark Driscoll here with us.

And, and many of you may have tracked with Pastor Mark over the last several years. You know he is an amazing pastor to the Body of Christ. And I had a chance to meet Pastor Mark at a Gateway pastor’s conference just a little over a year ago, it was in October a little over a year ago, about 14 months ago, and, it was right at the end of his run at Mars Hill. In fact, he had actually just resigned as Senior Pastor at Mars Hill, a church that he had planted and started, and grown to over 15,000 people, uh, attending each and every weekend. And not, not just an ability to grow a church, but he was really impacting the nation. And was doing a tremendous job, and through some internal things that were going on there, it became necessary for him to resign.

And you know, many of us go through hard times in our life, but not all of us have to do it very publicly. And Pastor Mark had to go through a very difficult, kind of almost a public trial, uh, with the media on his front lawn, helicopters flying overhead, his every move being discussed in blogs and on social media. And you know, as often is the case, you know, with the media, and I know they, they sometimes try, uh, but they get about a third of the information right, you know. And so he and his family were living in this, in this difficult time of making this decision, and he had resigned.

And it was literally just within days, probably a couple of weeks later that I got to meet him at a pastor’s conference. And Pastor Mark had known it was time for him to step down, and he knew that God was calling him to move on and go into another season, but he knew that he needed to get some things “in his quiver,” if you will. He needed to, to learn some things, and develop some characteristics, and some things in himself that he hadn’t had before. And one of the things that he knew he needed, is he needed some spiritual fathers. He needed folks that would come in and speak fatherhood to him.

And I — just quite by chance — happened to be sitting right next to him at the conference. And Pastor Jimmy, our beloved Pastor Jimmy Evans was the speaker that night. And Pastor Jimmy and Mark, I don’t-maybe not, just barely shook hands, I know they hadn’t spent any time together. And Pastor Jimmy got up and delivered a powerful Prophetic Word to Pastor Mark. And the Prophetic Word was this,

“You’ve been a brother to many. And you have led many as a brother, but the next season that you’re gonna move into, is you’re gonna transition from a brother to a father. And the next season is going to be greater than the latter season.”

And it was an amazing Prophetic Word. And you guys know Pastor Jimmy, he doesn’t just “dole out” prophetic words without knowing that it’s coming from God.

And so at that moment, Pastor Mark began to grow and develop, and he has developed an incredible relationship with Pastor Jimmy, and Pastor Jimmy now, is acting in, in a way, as one of many, not the sole, but a spiritual father for Pastor Mark, as he’s walking in to this next season of his life that we’re so excited to be a part of. And I’ve just been, been following them through Pastor Jimmy, and been so excited for the few times I’ve gotten to meet Pastor Mark. He’s an amazing man of God. And this is what I, I love about God. Our God is a redemptive God, is he not? He’s a redeeming, redemptive God. And he takes, you know, and I love Chuck Pierce’s word that he had, right, he’s going to take everything from our past, and he’s going to bring it forward into our future. That’s what happening in 2016.

And I believe that for, for Pastor Mark. This is a year of him transitioning, and the things of the past coming forward and multiplication in the things of the future. And this is what I love. Pastor Mark is not here because he was the Senior Pastor, he’s not here because of who he was, he’s here because of who his is. And so here’s what I want us to do, would you guys please welcome Pastor Mark as our friend and our brother.

It has been fascinating to see Driscoll move from the Gospel Coalition tribe season to the New Apostolic Reformation tribe season.
So pull up a chair, according to Evans, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Consult Wenatchee the Hatchet for six narratives of Driscoll’s resignation. Witcher mixes and matches bits and pieces in his intro. One would never know that Mars Hill Church doesn’t meet anymore.

Gospel for Asia Loses More Support

Debbie Roy is a blogger who not only supported Gospel for Asia financially but also used her blog to promote the group.
No longer.
Yesterday, she revealed that she has stopped supporting the group and even repented that she had done so in the past.
A portion of her remorseful post:

I have only lately learned of these matters and I am so very sorry for any amount of money you may have lost on account of my endorsements. It is always a heart wrenching thing when a Christian organization which has had so much respect in the past, goes off the straight and narrow. Just today I have watched a few videos which confirm my decision, and I have repented of my support for GFA. You, of course, are free to do as you please, but I must be honest with you all. I do believe that God looks at our hearts, and before Him no donation is ever wasted. But we must choose wisely who handles the money God gives us to use for Him.

Go read the rest at Sistersreachout.com.
It is worth pointing out that the GFA web page which features bloggers for GFA is now empty. No links to blogs can be found.
I was made aware of this blog by another former donor who I will write about in a future.

Thomas Nelson Contract: Mark Driscoll’s Real Marriage Advance Was $400,000

Cash — Image courtesy of sheelamohan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Wenatchee the Hatchet has a copy of the 2011 agreement between Mark and Grace Driscoll’s LLC (On Mission, LLC) and Thomas Nelson to publish Real Marriage. Dusting off my Mars Hill sources, I conclude it is legit. In it, we learn:

-The Driscolls received an advance of $400,000.

-The book had a working title of “A New Marriage with the Same Spouse.”

-The contract calls for the Driscolls to pay for corrections. I wonder if they did since corrections due to citation errors had to be made.

-Mars Hill could have gotten thousands of books through Driscoll at an 80% discount. Instead, Mars Hill’s contract with Result Source called for the church to purchase 11,000 copies at an adjusted retail price so the numbers would count toward the New York Times best seller list. According to this contract, those royalties went to the Driscolls via On Mission.

It is hard to escape the conclusion that being the pastor of a church willing to develop a marketing campaign for your book (see that also at WtH) which includes a preaching series (with research done by consultants) and full support from a marketing team (paid for by tithes) is a really sure way to become wealthy.

This reminds me of the qualms expressed by the Communications Team at Mars Hill Church in 2011 before the executive elders committed church money to the Real Marriage campaign.

Mark Driscoll isn’t the only one who found financial gain in megachurch service. David Jeremiah does something like this once a year.