Yesterday, The Master’s University released this statement to faculty.
October 19, 2018
Press Release
The Master’s University and Seminary
***************
Since 1986, The Master’s University and Seminary has been a beacon of Christian education preparing men and women for gospel ministry and professions around the world. Over the last three decades, TMUS has trained and sent out over 8,500 graduates to proclaim the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These graduates have established other global training centers which have resulted in another 5,500 graduates trained for ministry and deployed around the world. For 33 years God has blessed this institution through the leadership and efforts of our President, Dr. John MacArthur.
Today, the President and Board of Directors determined that over the coming months, The Master’s University and Seminary will enter a period of transition. In May 2020, Dr. John MacArthur will continue his involvement in the institution by becoming Chancellor of The Master’s University. At the Seminary, he will continue in his role as President. During this transition period, the future relationship of the two schools will be clearly identified. Moving into the future, TMU and TMS remain firmly committed to the authority of Scripture, the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the mission of training men and women for kingdom work.
The Board of Directors is extremely grateful for the leadership that Dr. John MacArthur has provided for this institution over the past 33 years and is eager for his influence to continue impacting both organizations after this transition is finalized. We understand that this announcement may prompt questions, and it is our intention to address those questions in forthcoming communications as this process unfolds.
There will be staff meetings at both TMU and TMS in the coming week week that will answer any questions the staff or students may have related to this announcement.
Thank you for your continued prayers and partnership with the ministry of TMUS.
For the Master,
The Board of Directors
For reasons I don’t understand, TMU’s board refers to Rev. MacArthur as “Dr” even though MacArthur doesn’t have an earned doctorate and as far as I know doesn’t have an honorary doctorate from TMU.
Using “Dr” when only having an honorary degree isn’t considered acceptable in most academic institutions I have surveyed (see link for more information).
K.P. Yohannan has taken on a fancy new name in his role as head of Believers’ Eastern Church. The K.P. formerly known as Metropolitan will now be known as Moran Mor Athanasius Yohan Metropolitan. The reason for the change is described on the church Facebook page:
I wonder if they kept the same secret handshake and hand kissing ceremony.
Mor in Syriac is a title of Lordship or sainthood. Various eastern churches use Mor and/or Moran in titles of religious leaders and Believers’ Church has followed the pattern.
Whatever he is called, he will still have to face a class action RICO suit in federal court and perhaps more over the next year or so as various cases and investigations progress in the U.S. and perhaps in Canada.
On November 12, Bishop Noel Jones, pastor of City of Refuge Church in Los Angeles and gospel singers Yolanda Adams and Hezekiah Walker will support the Unification Church as the church brings the “Only Begotten Daughter of God” to the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island for an evangelistic rally titled “Peace Starts with Me.”
Hak Ja Han Moon, the widow of Unification Church founder the late Sun Myung Moon, is called “True Mother” by the Unification faithful (Mr. Moon is True Father). True Parents are considered to be God’s chosen vessels to bring peace to the world and succeed in that mission where Jesus failed. The Unification Church hopes to use the Nassau event (and a similar one held in 2017) to enter the American religious mainstream and gain converts for their movement. Surprisingly, they have been getting help from several high profile Christians.
In a 2017 Madison Square Garden event by the same title, Trump evangelical advisor Paula White-Cain spoke along with gospel singers Adams and Walker. Pastor T.L. Barrett of the Life Center Church of God in Christ triumphantly introduced Hak Ja Moon as “our True Mother.”
Who is True Mother?
In essence, Unification theology compensates for what Sun Myung Moon considered to be the failure of Adam and Eve, and then Jesus to accomplish God’s mission on earth. Moon (True Father) and his wife (True Mother) are the fulfillment of that plan and will successfully bring heaven on earth (known as Cheon Il Guk). The Unification Church hopes to unify all religions around Moon’s Divine Principle and establish world peace. According to them, Christians are misguided about Jesus.
In a March 2018 speech, the same Hak Ja Moon who will be exalted in Nassau said that blasphemy against her will not find salvation.
The Messiah; all of humanity yearns for the Messiah and the advent of the Messiah should at least take place at the national level. Unfortunately, 2,000 years ago, even though Heaven worked to prepare the people of Israel, they failed in their responsibility and Jesus could not stand on a national level and emerge as the True Parent. Hence, [Jesus] prophesied that he would come again. Therefore, with regards to Heaven’s providence, when looking at the 2,000 year history of Christianity, what is more important than the Second Advent of the Messiah, is the advent of the Only Begotten Daughter who comes from Heaven’s lineage with no relations to Satan, just as Jesus did 2,000 years ago. Unless the Only Begotten Daughter is born, the returning Messiah cannot advance to the position of True Parent.
In the gospel of Matthew, it is written that people can be forgiven for slandering the Messiah. However, whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven. Do you remember this passage? This means that with regard to the history of the providence of restoration through indemnity, we are in the Last Days. Whoever blasphemes against the Only Begotten Daughter, True Mother shall find no salvation. You must understand this. We are in the Last Days. Do you understand?
In the July 2018 issue of True Peace Magazine, Hak Ja Moon describes her view of Jesus’ mission.
Was Jesus welcomed? Jesus Christ was not born to be crucified. He came to realize God’s dream and humanity’s wish for all human beings to become sons or daughters of God. He came to guide and lead people to become God’s children. Where did the theory that states that believers can only receive salvation through the crucifixion and blood of the cross, come from? They did not understand Jesus’ true nature. Human beings have institutionalized salvation through priests and bishops, resulting in many problems during the past two thousand years. However, the Protestantism did not express understanding of Jesus’ true nature. Protestants did not know why Heaven’s providence led to sending the Messiah. Jesus died on the cross and said he would return. He would return to host the marriage supper of the Lamb.
After waiting for two thousand years, was Christianity prepared to welcome Jesus? This is the issue. Fallen humanity cannot directly return to God. That is why fallen humanity needs the Messiah. The Messiah is humanity’s True Parents who can resurrect, revive and guide humanity to become God’s children once again. Heaven’s providence must reach its conclusion; therefore, the providence has advanced even with endless waiting and numerous difficulties. Thus, for the fulfillment of the providence, Heaven has prepared a foundation for True Parents to be born. The central figures are the True Parents and I am God’s only daughter, the True Mother.
While waiting for the returning Lord in his Second Coming, Christianity’s mission was to find and raise God’s only daughter. That they still do not understand the providence is phenomenal. I can no longer delay the providence. Six years ago, I proclaimed a new era by announcing that I am God’s only daughter, for whom Heaven has been searching and the returning Messiah has been waiting. (p. 15)
Death on the cross was not the original plan according to Hak Ja. But since he did die, a Messiah is needed now, and that Messiah has come in the form of True Parents. With True Father gone to the spirit world, the mission of Christianity isn’t salvation through the cross but to find and raise God’s only daughter. God’s daughter is humanity’s True Mother who is here now to usher in God’s kingdom of peace.
In Unification scripture, Hak Ja is referred to as God’s Only Begotten Daughter. She is also referred to, along with her husband, as the only hope for mankind. Notice that the second passage from Chambumo Gyeong is from “True Mother.”
In 2012, almost two months after the death of her husband, Hak Ja ridiculed “old-fashioned Christians” who waited for the return of Jesus. She chided them for not recognizing that “The Lord (her husband Sun Myung Moon) came and went” while they lived. She said Christians waited two thousand years “for nothing.” She added that she planned to create a book which will make them throw away their Bibles. As quoted in the November 2012 issue of Today’s World, Hak Ja said on October 27, 2012:
That is why I am doing so many things now. It is all for you and your future generations. How could you possibly deal with the Christians of today? Not knowing that the Lord has come again, those old-fashioned Christians hang on to their worn-out Bibles and offer prayers and devotions asking the Lord to come on the clouds. If they come to understand the providence, how much will they repent and lament? “The Lord came and went while I was still alive!” How devastated would they be by that thought? This fact would dumbfound them more than the fact that they waited two thousand years for nothing. I will create a book that will make them throw away their Bibles, a book that will make them feel that Father is eternally alive.
This book is the Cheon Il Guk Holy Scriptures and was completed in 2015. The video clip above contains readings from it. Given these concepts, it is surprising and disturbing that high profile Christians would enthusiastically support the Nassau rally.
True Mother is Coming!
The rally is central to church plans for mainstreaming their views. In a September sermon a Unification church service in New Jersey, Family Federation Vice President Demian Dunkley created enthusiasm for the Nassau visit by chanting repeatedly that “True Mother is coming.” He also spelled out the importance of the Nassau rally for the movement by telling the crowd that the 2017 Madison Square Garden meeting and other prior meetings around the world led by Hak Ja Moon had helped convince world leaders that Unificationists could be trusted not to be “some crazy cult.” In light of those successes, Nassau will be even more important.
So what do you think Nassau is going to do? Do you understand how important it is? It’s protection for our world wide movement. It’s an investment for our world wide movement. It’s the elder son’s [United States is considered an elder son nation to Korea which is the promised land] responsibility to welcome True Mother on behalf of America and raise her up publicly, not at a private party.
There is precedent for this use of public events within the Unification Church. On March 23 2004, the church arranged an event in the Dirksen Senate Office building which church leaders later portrayed to insiders as the crowning of Moon and his wife as the “King and Queen of Peace.” At that time, Moon declared himself Messiah and humanity’s savior at a ceremony attended by several U.S. lawmakers and international representatives.
Have Jones, Adams, and Walker Converted to Unificationism?
I attempted to contact Noel Jones, Yolanda Adams, and Hezekiah Walker through their websites. Noel Jones operations manager got back to me to clarify my questions but I have yet to get any answers from any of them about their support for the event. They are obviously scheduled to be there but I would like to understand their rationale for evangelizing another religion, unless of course, they have converted, which they should disclose.
To be sure, Christianity and Unificationism are two different religions. In Christianity, Jesus is Savior and only Lord. In Unificationism, he didn’t achieve his mission and God’s only begotten daughter is here to establish peace on earth.
Although I wouldn’t attend if it was simply an ecumenical expression of a desire for peace, it isn’t just that. Let’s be clear that the church is hoping that this event and the Christian cover given to it will help them become more mainstream and help them grow their movement.
Recently Christian motivational author Christine Caine settled a lawsuit with Christian author Carey Scott over material taken from Scott’s book and used in Caine’s book Unashamed. Caine has remained silent in the face of multiple requests for an explanation or apology regarding the plagiarism of Scott’s book. After I wrote about the situation and asked for a comment, she recently blocked me on Twitter.
Now it appears that Caine has harvested from another author. Earlier this evening I saw a tweet mentioning Caine with a quote that looked familiar to me. Here is the tweet:
This year, Caine’s publisher Zondervan produced a book of devotionals where they credited Caine for the quote in a chapter titled, “Buried or Planted?”
It’s easy to feel like we’ve been buried, but what’s interesting is the only difference between being buried and being planted is the expectancy of what’s going to happen next.
When you put a seed in the ground you don’t say, “I’m burying this seed,” you say, “I am planting this seed,” because you know it’s coming back.
We all face difficulties but you have the seed of almighty God on the inside. He breathed His life into you. When you go through disappointments, you’re in tough times… you might feel like you’d been buried, but the fact is, you’ve simply been planted.
Then in a 2011, he pruned the verbiage in his book, It’s Your Time.
When you go through disappointments and you’re in tough times, you may feel like you’ve been buried, but the fact is, you’ve simply been planted. That means you’re coming back!
Coincidence?
Now that Caine has blocked me and apparently isn’t going to respond to requests, I doubt I will find out from her if this is an amazing coincidence. The quotes are quite similar and it doesn’t seem right for Caine to get credit for reframing being buried as being planted. Perhaps Osteen got it from someone else, but it looks like he harvested that quote before Caine.
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Judging by reaction to recent plagiarism cases, I don’t think plagiarism matters much to most Christians.
Of late, professor Aaron New has brought forward multiple clear examples of plagiarism involving Tim Clinton and the American Association of Christian Counseling. I have published most of them on this blog. The response has been interest from the Christian Post but other than that, a resounding yawn. The AACC’s response has been to blame interns and employees and buy software to find plagiarism before they publish it. Tim Clinton’s other organization, James Dobson’s Family Talk has removed articles with plagiarized material but without comment or apology.
Two days ago, Publisher’s Weeklyfirst reported a settlement between Christine Caine and Carey Scott in a plagiarism case. Caine took some of Scott’s work and used it in a recent book. While Caine’s publisher settled with Scott, Caine has remained silent, without comment or apology. She hasn’t explained how Scott’s material ended up verbatim in her book and promotional material (see my post where I demonstrate Caine’s copying). Outside of a few familiar voices on social media, there is little pressure on Caine to explain herself or take responsibility for her actions. Her publisher has not responded to multiple requests for comment. Silence is the strategy.
Yesterday, World magazine’s Mindy Belz examined the tepid apology offered by author Anne Voskamp for plagiarism on Twitter. The apology for one instance of plagiarism (now deleted) was buried in a blog post in such way that it could easily be missed. She hasn’t had much else to say about it. But why should she, very few people seem to care.
And let’s not forget Mark Driscoll who was responsible for citation errors in several books. In 2013, Janet Mefferd first accused Driscoll of borrowing concepts from Peter Jones without appropriate citation. From there, I discovered additional problems in several of his books. Although Driscoll didn’t acknowledge wrongdoing, one of Driscoll’s publishers quietly correctedmost of the problems over the course of a year. Today, Driscoll is back with a new book from Charisma publishing.
What is the Solution?
For her article, Belz spoke with publishing industry insiders. She reported that one answer was better plagiarism detection software. My answer is to hold authors to a high standard. They should do their own work. Fewer books would be published but given the repetitive nature of many books published by Christian publishers, that would be a good thing.
I suspect that part of the reason plagiarism is a mild sin among Christian writers and publishers is that enforcing the rules would require Christian authors to write their own material. Thus, ghostwriters and researchers would be out of work. Pretend experts and Christian celebrities would have to develop actual skills and find something novel and interesting to say without the help of paid experts and researchers.
As illustrated by the above situations, publishers aren’t regularly accountable to the public, nor do they require authors to be accountable. Scott had to go to court to get justice. She couldn’t count on Caine and her Christian publisher to do the right thing. Now that the situation is public, Caine isn’t talking. Although I don’t know what is in mind, her silence gives the appearance that she hopes her popularity will get her through this rough patch.
What has surprised me is that lack of response from Christians on social media to these cases. Only a very few members of the American Association of Christian Counselors have called for AACC leaders to be accountable. Very few evangelicals have directly appealed to Clinton, Caine, or Voskamp to take responsibility for their actions. Given the social media reaction, I suspect Christian publishers are content to ride out the few emails and calls they are getting in advance of the next book release. If many Christian consumers cared, they would go to the social media accounts of these authors and ask for answers.
As the Caine case demonstrates, plagiarism is actionable. However, in Christian circles it doesn’t appear to matter as much as it does elsewhere. Plagiarism leads to job loss or sanctions in the news room (e.g., here, here, here) and academia (e.g., here, here). When I contacted the Colson Center about Tim Clinton’s near verbatim use of a Chuck Colson op-ed in one of his articles, their response was to say nothing and let it go.
In academia, we will continue to enforce high standards of plagiarism. However, it is jarring to realize that our students will enter a world where plagiarism matters less when they work in media organizations which promote Christianity than in places which do not identify as Christian.
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