Category: Warren Throckmorton

Fellow Patheos blogger Fred Clark (Slacktivist) is worried for Messiah College prof John Fea and me. He says:

But I’m worried for both of them. Specifically, I’m worried because this is an election year and that means that the ever-shifting goalposts of the white evangelical tribal gatekeepers may well shift between now and November. Depending on the outcome of the upcoming Republican presidential primary races, the bounds of theological acceptability could shift in such a way that both of these fine professors may end up on the outside looking in.

I like Fred and appreciate his blog so his post deserves attention and I encourage you to read it. I appreciate his kind words and positive assessment of my work here.
He’s worried because Ted Cruz is doing well in the polls. Cruz is supported in no small way by David Barton. Barton appears to be Cruz’s evangelical endorsement broker and runs one of Cruz’s Super PACs. Both John and I have written in honest terms about Barton’s revisions of American history as well as his problems with more current events (e.g., Barton’s claim that Obama’s administration has not prosecuted child porn).
Fred thinks we may be in some jeopardy since we both teach at conservative Christian schools. I sincerely appreciate his concern. In a day when Wheaton College is moving against a tenured professor for her religious beliefs, I guess it looks like anything can happen.

Fea thinks he is ok, and I suspect he is right. I feel pretty confident that I am in good shape as well. I am not a stranger to efforts to silence me by pressuring my employer, it has happened on more than one occasion before, coming from both the far right and the left. Grove City College’s leadership has leaned on academic freedom as a value and I keep on writing. While I take nothing for granted, I have appreciated GCC’s stance on these matters through the years.
Leaving aside our employers, I think Clark sees something real when he discusses “the ever-shifting goalposts of the white evangelical tribal gatekeepers.” A Cruz win would shift the party dramatically toward the Christian dominionist view of the world. Although I consider myself generally conservative, many in the far right consider me to be a moderate. I honestly think Ronald Reagan would be considered a moderate in today’s GOP.
Having said that, I think John and I are fine. I have already gone on record as saying Cruz isn’t a good choice for the GOP. I will say that even if he turns out to be the GOP’s choice.
And besides, if something does happen and I have to start another life, Clark says I have potential to make a switch:

Throckmorton can be a tenacious pitbull when he sniffs out a story. Check out his ongoing series examining financial irregularities at the mission agency Gospel for Asia — it’s an impressive, dogged pursuit of answers to important questions. In another life, Throckmorton would have made a fearsome investigative journalist.

I could start by investigating why Ted Cruz appeared at an event coordinated by his Super PAC, especially when the event seemed designed to collect and schedule candidate endorsements.
 

In mid-December, Christianity Today‘s Bob Smietana provided a feature length expose of cult-like practices and teachings of The Gathering and Wayne Jolley, the spiritual leader of the movement. Christian music producer Ed Cash, probably best known for being co-writer of How Great is Our God, figured prominently in the expose as one of Wayne Jolley’s insiders. On December 30, Cash posted a letter on his website saying that he had left The Gathering.
Reaction from family members of those still in The Gathering was hopeful. Those not in the Gathering hoped that Cash would help people leave the movement and restore relationships broken because of orders from Wayne Jolley and observed by Cash.
Since then Cash has not commented on his stance toward those he helped recruit into The Gathering. Currently, he is at the Young Life conference in FL. For some family members, the relationship between Young Life and Cash has been a source of discouragement. In fact, Young Life’s leadership issued a statement that Ed Cash would not have an “up front” role at the conference. Since Cash has led worship in the past, this lower profile would at least be a recognition that some business with The Gathering is unfinished. The full statement is at the end of the post.
However, earlier this evening, Ed Cash participated in a worship set/concert at Young Life. See the short video below. Ed Cash is playing the Legos.

When @edcashstudio became the first musician in history to solo on a bag of Legos for 8 bars and make it work. #YL75 pic.twitter.com/uw5ipyV4WF

— Ryan Ahlwardt (@ryansongs) January 7, 2016

Ryan also tweeted a shout out to Cash and the others who participated.

@crowdermusic @louiegiglio and @EdCashStudio were outstanding tonight at @YL75celebration! #YL75

— Ryan Ahlwardt (@ryansongs) January 7, 2016

This seems to violate at least the spirit of the commitment from Young Life leaders.
In the mean time, family members who contacted me this evening are still wondering if Ed Cash is making any attempts to reconcile with families who lost children and other family to the Gathering.
A former member of The Gathering, Scott Hethcox, told me: “I am praying for healing and restoration for Ed and Scott Cash and their families. I also pray the statement from the Cash brothers about leaving the Gathering is truly genuine. I will be more assured it is genuine when I hear that Ed Cash has reconciled with people who were hurt by The Gathering.”
In response to concerns from some Young Life supporters who have family members in The Gathering, Young Life leaders issued the following statement to Young Life regional staff:

The Cashes will be at the conference as participants but not in any upfront leadership or “upfront” role. Since the publication of the Christianity Today article, we have been in dialogue with Scott and Ed both about their response as well as their role at the conference. It is certainly our desire to respond appropriately to this difficult situation, and I believe we have done so. As you may be aware, the Cashes have left The Gathering and severed ties with Wayne Jolley.
We are deeply disturbed by the article’s content, and we continue to affirm that Young Life has absolutely no relationship with Wayne Jolley or with The Gathering. Because we do have a relationship with the Cash family, we will continue to walk with Scott and Ed during this time, hoping and praying for God to accomplish His purposes in them…for healing and restoration and redemption. It is in that spirit that we welcome them to attend the conference.
We are grieved by the ways those in the Young Life family have been impacted by involvement with The Gathering, and we will continue to pray for and seek ways to foster healing for all involved.

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.

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

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.