By Ken Silva pastor-teacher on Jan 16, 2009 in AM Missives, Current Issues

No, it’s not a new rock band; um, athough he does like to teach people to party in God on his “Drunken Glory Tours”:

John Crowder and Benjamin Dunn travel the world on a continual Love Feast known as the Drunken Glory Tour. This collaborative “party ministry” is setting thousands free around the globe as we boast in nothing but the finished works of Jesus Christ, bringing an intoxicating, new wine message of glad tidings! (Online source)

At the website Sons of Thunder we find out that John Crowder and his wife Lily:

have a passion to spread the exhuberant love and joy of the supernatural gospel of Jesus Christ. They are prophetic healing revivalists based out of Griffin, GA. They are founders of Sons of Thunder Ministries and Publications, speaking at conferences, events and evangelistic campaigns across North America and around the world… (Online source)

We’re also told that “John and Lily long to release a creative new movement of ecstatic believers, who are enthralled by the finished works of Christ and who demonstrate miraculous lifestyles.” And then it also appears the Crowders have some ”godly” desires along the very same lines as Shane Claiborne of the new monasticism and Rob Bell of the Emerging Church rebellion against Sola Scriputra:

[John and Lily's] heart is to see the Kingdom of God invade every sector of society… Sons of Thunder plants children’s homes for orphans,… [and wish to] see the Glory of God in the land of the living. He primarily carries a mandate to engage the church in deeper realms of intimacy with Christ,… (Online source)

Ok, the Crowders are doing good deeds, so, they must be of God, right? Wrong. And wouldn’t you know under his recommended links; cuckoo birds of the same feather fester together, John Crowder is a prophetic pal to Todd Bentley of the Lakeland counterfeit revival:

Todd Bentley of Fresh Fire Ministries carries a powerful healing anointing. He is a friend and we have traveled extensively with Todd, seeing the Lord do amazing things through his ministry. (Online source)

You know, Emergent Church theologian Tony Jones once told me while we talked on the phone that he didn’t see any reason which would cause him to break fellowship with anyone who says they ”love Jesus.” Well then, I guess we’ll be looking for Jones to join with these fools in their next drunken heresy-fest.

And for more on Crowder you can venture into his own Sons of Thunder Pub. But sadly, this is the coming future of an evangelicalism, which has cut loose Sola Scriptura, in favor of the very kind of Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism practiced and advanced by John Crowder and the New Mystics.

May God have mercy upon us…

By Ken Silva pastor-teacher on Nov 29, 2008 in AM Missives, Current Issues, Doug Pagitt, Emergent Church, Features, Rob Bell, Southern Baptist Convention, Tony Jones, Youth Ministry

Recently in Emergent Church Theologian Tony Jones and his Unrepentant Homosexual Christians here at Apprising Ministries we covered the story of the coming out of a very influential leader and theologian in the Emerging Church who declared his belief that unrepentant practicing homosexuals can be Christians. And even though I vigorously disagree with him I do commend Tony Jones for caring enough, and being man enough, to clearly state what he believes on this issue.

Well, in this clip below from Way of the Master Radio Todd Friel discusses the hermeneutics used by Rob Bell, essentially the Elvis of the Emergent rebellion against Sola Scriptura, and predicts it won’t be long before the answer will be yes to the question asked here at AM: Will Rob Bell Now Follow Tony Jones Out of the Closet? Earlier we showed you in Saddleback Church Pastors Using Rob Bell Teachings that Bell has indeed gained a strong foothold within youth groups of mainstream evangelical churches like Saddleback.

Men and women, don’t you think it’s well past time conservative Christians begin to demand that Rob Bell state, publicly and clearly, where he stands on this criticial issue? And do you not have a right to be told what your kids are being taught about homosexuality from one of the most popular names in the visible church? Perhaps the time is now to begin writing Mars Hill Bible Church to ask its teaching pastor Rob Bell where exactly it is he stands as to whether an unrepentant practicing homosexual can become a Christian.

I also know that if I was one who believed God fully accepted me as a Christ-follower in my homosexual lifestyle it would sure mean an awful lot to have men like Bell and his friend Doug Pagitt, who is also Tony Jones’ pastor, to go on the record in support. So, will Rob and Doug now also finally follow suit and stand up and be counted; or instead, will their seemingly caring posture be just that, a posture…

By Ken Silva pastor-teacher on Dec 6, 2008 in AM Missives, Current Issues, Emergent Church, Features, New Spirituality, Rob Bell, Youth Ministry

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. (1 Timothy 4:1)

Drinking Deadly Deception From The Poisoned Well Of Murky Mysticism

One Sunday morning recently Rob Bell, an icon in the postliberal cult of the Emergent Church and teaching pastor at Mars Hill Bible Church, taught his Christian congregation:

As one who’s been studying Comparative Religion and non-Christian cults for over twenty years what I find fascinating is the striking spiritual similarity to something we actually find in the classic textbook The Kingdom of the Cults (KoC) by Dr. Walter Martin. Within Martin shares the “Seven Principles” of the theology of Spiritism. And interestingly enough the first two of which are also found in the theology of those who practice CSM along with Bell e.g. Tony Campolo and so-called “non-exclusive” and Progressive Christian Dr. Marcus Borg:

I.  The Fatherhood of God
II. The Brotherhood of Man (274)

You may recall in Rob Bell On The Emerging Issue of Homosexuality: Mum’s the Word I reminded readers that in the March 6, 2005 edition of the Detroit Free Press David Crumm, who is a fan of Rob Bell, discussed Bell’s musings about the love of God:

Homosexuality? Bell tells gay people the same thing he tells everyone who walks through the door. It’s a powerfully affirming line that he repeated in his sermon on Sunday: “God loves you exactly as you are. Period.”

Now let me explain to you how this would logically follow for Bell et al. You see, in the spirit world of CSM feelings-oriented fantasy, if you practice it enough you will finally receive your “revelation” [i.e. enlightenment/transformation] that we are all in a universal Fatherhood of God with its Brotherhood of Man. This mystic myth of repainted Gnosticism further holds that there’s really no need for creed or repentance from sin because as you finally discover your true/authentic self you come to understand that the God of Love actually accepts you just as.

Remember, Rob Bell has emphatically stated: “God loves you exactly as you are. Period.” And with that declaration perhaps one of the seducing spirits speaking to Rob in his transcendental meditation of CCP was really just singing a hymn to him. Did you know that these exact same false ideas about God, which Rob Bell has been receiving through his experience with these so-called “Enlightened Ones” and their doctrines of demons spread through transcendental meditation, are also found in cults like Spiritism?

You see, this is what is being overlooked today concerning this reimagined so-called “Christian” mysticism. As Dr. Martin once pointed out, in reference to our opening verse above, demons are very real and they do have teachings. And keep in mind here that in this spurious CSM we are attempting to receive messages outside of Scripture in “the silence” of the spiritual world. So should it really come as any great surprise when in KoC Martin then shows us the following:

The Spiritualistic Hymnal indicates changes made on well-known hymns and we have listed one to demonstrate their theological position in so doing:

Just as I am, without one plea,
But that, O God, Thou madest me,
And that my life is found in Thee
O God of Love, I come, I come.
Just as I am, nor poor, nor blind,
Nor bound by chains in soul or mind;
For all of Thee within I find
O God of Love, I come, I come.
Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Tho’ dogmas I may ne’er believe,
Nor heights of holiness achieve
O God of Love, I come, I come. (275)

You know, that sure does look an awful lot like the “everyone is already forgiven but they just don’t know it”message of Rob Bell and his pal Emerging Church pastor and quasi-universalist Doug Pagitt. After all in his first book Velvet Elvis Bell did speculate:

So this reality, this forgiveness, this reconciliation, is true for everybody. Paul insisted that when Jesus died on the cross, he wasreconciling “all things, in heaven and on earth, to God”. All things, everwhere. This reality then isn’t something that we make true about ourselves by doing something. It is already true. Our choice is to live in this new reality or cling to a reality of our own making. (146, emphasis mine)

And if, as in the Spiritist hymn above, “this reality” from the “God of Love” really is already “true for everybody” then there would be no need for “dogmas I may ne’er believe” nor any “heights of holiness” to achieve. But in any event, this kind of spiritually has exactly no place in evangelical Christianity, period; and this mystic myth most assuredly does not belong in your church’s youth ministry.

By Ken Silva pastor-teacher on Dec 4, 2008 in AM Missives, Current Issues, Emergent Church, Features, Rob Bell, Youth Ministry

He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. (Titus 1:9)

It Is The Job Of The Pastor To Clearly Articulate Sound Doctrine For His Flock

As near as I can tell, sadly, there really doesn’t seem to have been much interest in the following disclosure by Emerging Church theologian Tony Jones, who despite our differences I do respect for going on the record publicly, when he confesses:

And yet, all the time I could feel myself drifting toward acceptance that gay persons are fully human persons and should be afforded all of the cultural and ecclesial benefits that I am.  (”Aha!” my critics will laugh derisively, “I knew he and his ilk were on a continuous leftward slide!”)

In any case, I now believe that GLBTQ can live lives in accord with biblical Christianity (at least as much as any of us can!) and that their monogamy can and should be sanctioned and blessed by church and state. (Online source, bold theirs)

To his credit Tony Jones is speaking candidly and clearly on his position and the time has arrived for others in the very popular Emergent Church, which is affecting scores of younger people even within conservative mainstream evangelical churches, to also be man enough to go on the record with their views concerning a critical issue around which the very real possibility of hate crime laws revolve. And this is precisely why I asked the question: Will Rob Bell Now Follow Tony Jones Out Of The Closet?

You see, I happen to care a great deal for young people and I am greatly grieved that this postliberal cult of the Emerging Church is allowed to hold court in a rapidly growing circle of mainstream evangelical youth groups thus crippling their faith. In Emergent Wolves Enter Your Sheep Pens Through Youth Groups I showed you what Emerging Church pastor Dan Kimball has revealed in his book Emerging Worship: Creating Worship Gatherings for New Generations in regard to their standard methodology:

The staff at one church in rural Oklahoma…fully believed they needed to start making changes in the way they worshipped in order to be in line with the emerging culture and emerging generations… These staff members were afraid, however, to try anything too radical. After all, they served in a very conservative Baptist church…

they started by slowly adding a few things to their youth meetings. They corporately read ancient creeds and prayers. The lit candles and had times of silent prayer. They allowed the youth to paint during a worship time. They practiced lectio divina or “sacred reading,” the ancient practice of prayerful meditation on Scripture. Not all at once, but little by little they added these elements of worship to their existing meetings…

It was a huge step for them…the staff are planning to have monthly emerging worship gathering for youth (and adults of any age who want to come)… Eventually the church wants to turn the monthly worship gathering into a weekly one. (102, emphasis his)

And that really is a pretty clear picture of the old adage about the frog in the kettle. And the huge influence of Emerging icon Rob Bell lies in his vague and seemingly innocuous Nooma DVDs along with his mystic musings now having the support of more and more youth ministers. With this in mind then a reader of Apprising Ministries wrote me today to share an email they had sent to Mars Hill Bible Church asking a straightforward question and the non-reply they received back. Essentially we could phrase their question this way:

Where does your teaching pastor Rob Bell stand concerning the following question — Can someone who is unrepentant in their practicing of a homosexual lifestyle also become a Christian?

Now such a question would appear to be straightforward and could actually be answered with a simple yes, or, a no. For example, were I as a pastor to be asked that same question my answer would be: No, I’m afraid they could not. The Bible is very clear that the practice of homosexuality is a sin (see—Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10) and for someone to become a Christian they must repent of [i.e. forsake, turn away from] their sin (see—Mark 1:14-15; Acts 20:21).

But unfortunately an honest question to Rob Bell and MHBC on such a crucial issue of our time was met with a mere form letter from a “michelle.” The opening line of the letter is a hope that one will feel this non-response will be “helpful”; even in spite of the fact that it “might not answer all your questions or concerns.” Certainly we would expect that MHBC and Bell, like any large conglomeration, would receive mail at such a ”volume” that it does prove “difficult” to be precise “in each instance.”

Then the recipient of this form letter from michelle of “Mars Hill Communications” is told:

We care deeply how Scripture is interpreted and how to discern living the way of Jesus, and in encountering differing viewpoints it is our aim to agree or disagree in love, keeping central a shared desire to know God and serve Jesus Christ. Regarding your comments or questions, we’d like to direct you to our mission http://www.marshill.org/mission, Narrative Theology http://www.marshill.org/believe,

Directions http://www.marshill.org/believe/directions [shared values], and serving focus http://www.marshill.org/serving, available at marshill.org. You might also find our recent audio teachings http://www.marshill.org/teaching/podcast.php and archived series http://www.marshill.org/teaching/other.php as well as Rob Bell’s recommended reading list http://www.marshill.org/about/rob/recommendedReadingList.php to be beneficial.

Right; so this is offered in the hope that people will encourage Rob Bell, who is without a doubt one of the most popular people in the visible church, to make the time to at least do up a form letter which answers the question: Can someone who is unrepentant in their practicing of a homosexual lifestyle also become a Christian? After all, I’m constantly told how Jesus-centered and Biblical Bell’s teaching is; well Rob Bell, where do you stand; because Jesus answers the question—No.

http://apprising.org/2008/12/where-does-rob-bell-stand-regarding-the-practice-of-homosexuality/

By Ken Silva pastor-teacher on Dec 4, 2008 in AM Missives, Current Issues, Emergent Church

To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. (Isaiah 8:20, ESV)

A Ball Of Confusion; That’s What The Church Is Today

That state of the visible church in the evangelical community is really rather pitiful indeed; and, there’s just no easy way to say it. Years ago God tried to send a warning through Dr. John MacArthur concerning the coming of evangelicalism’s Emerging rebellion against Sola Scriptura. Although the people in the pew were not generally aware of this the seeds were actually sown years before today’s anti-Reformation Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism arrived inside its walls via the Trojan Horse of the Emerging Church. A spurious spirituality gleaned from the mystical myths of figures in the Counter Reformation (Hello; reality calling!) of apostate Roman Catholicism like Ignatius of Loyola and Teresa of Avila.

You see, in evangelical Bible colleges and seminaries neo-orthodox (at best) professors were using books like Self-Esteem: The New Reformation by Robert Schuller and Celebration of Discipline by  Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster to begin emptying the terminology of the historic orthodox Christian faith of its original Biblical usage all the while recasting it with the meaning of semi-pelagian (at best) human potential. Then this set of pastors was sent out; maybe even to your church, where they have bred the new breed pastors littlering the landscape today.

Meanwhile in the words of his sadly neglected book Reckless Faith MacArthur would actually be speaking prophetically to this time of tepid tolerance:

Neo-orthodoxy is the term used to identify an existentialist variety of Christianity. Because it denies the essential objective basis of truth—the absolute truth and authority of Scripture—neo-orthodoxy must be understood as pseudo-Christianity. Its heyday came in the middle of the twentieth century with the writings of Karl Barth, Emil Brunner, Paul Tillich, and Reinhold Niebaur. Those men echoed the language and the thinking of [Soren] Kierkegaard, speaking of the primacy of “personal authenticity,” while downplaying or denying the significance of objective truth. Barth, the father of neo-orthodoxy, explicitly acknowledged his debt to Kierkegaard.

Neo-orthodoxy’s attitude toward Scripture is a microcosm of the entire existentialist philosophy: the Bible itself is not objectively the Word of God, but it becomes the Word of God when it speaks to me individually. In neo-orthodoxy, that same subjectivism is imposed on all the doctrines of historic Christianity. Familiar terms are used, but are redefined or employed in such a way that is purposely vague—not to convey objective meaning, but to communicate a subjective symbolism. After all, any “truth” theological terms convey is unique to the person who exercises faith. What the Bible means becomes unimportant, What it means to me is the relevant issue. All of this resoundingly echoes Kierkegaard’s concept of “truth that is true for me.”

Thus while neo-orthodox theologians often sound as if they affirming traditional beliefs, their actual system differs radically from the historic understanding of the Christian faith. By denying the objectivity of truth, they relegate all theology to the realm of subjective relativism. It is a theology perfectly suited for the age in which we live. And that is precisely why it is so deadly…

[Contemplative Spirituality aka] Mysticism is perfectly suited for religious existentialism; indeed, it is the inevitable consequence. The mystic disdains rational understanding and seeks truth instead through the feelings, the imagination, personal visions, inner voices, private illumination, of other purely subjective means. Objective truth becomes practically superfluous.

Mysticial experiences are therefore self-authenticating; that is, they are not subject to any form of objective verification. They are unique to the person who experiences them. Since they do not arise from or depend upon any rational process, they are invulnerable to any refutation by rational means… Mysticism is therefore antithetical to discernment. It is an extreme form of reckless faith. Mysticism is the great melting pot into which neo-orthodoxy, the charismatic movement, anti-intellectual evangelicals, and even some segments of Roman Catholicism have been synthesized.

It has produced movements like the Third Wave (a neo-charismatic movement with excessive emphasis on signs, wonders and personal prophesies); Renovaré (an organization that blends teachings from monasticism, ancient [Roman] Catholic mysticism, Eastern Religion, and other mystical traditions); the spiritual warfare movement (which seeks to engage demonic powers in direct confrontation); and the modern prophesy movement (which encourages believers to seek private, extrabiblical revelation directly from God).

The influx of mysticism has also opened evangelicalism to New-Age concepts like subliminal thought-control, inner healing, communication with angels, channeling, dream analysis, positive confession, and a host of other therapies and practices coming directly from occult and Eastern religions. The face of evangelicalism has changed so dramatically in the past twenty years that what is called evangelicalism today is beginning to resemble what used to be called neo-orthodoxy. If anything, some segments of contemporary evangelicalism are even more subjective in their approach to truth than neo-orthodoxy ever was. (25, 26, 27, 28, 29)

But evangelical leaders simply slept on refusing to listen and so we arrive at this pathetic time in the history of the Christian Church. Well, it’s not like mankind hasn’t been here before — everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25). In any event, what MacArthur warned about above is right now so deep into the whoring heart of the visible church that we have the following as perfect illustration of subjectivism trumping Sola Scriptura. We begin with arguably the most visible pastor in the largest “Protestant” denomination in the United States Southern Baptist Pastor Rick Warren Corrects Martin Luther.

I Don’t Feel That You Have The Right To Tell Me What To Believe

Next, in Relevant magazine a while back Tony Jones, one of the more influential theologians in the Emergent Church then speaking of Emergent Village, was quoted as saying, “We haven’t yet found that there’s anything that justifies us breaking fellowship with somebody else who loves and is trying to follow Jesus.” He would later confirm this to me personally during a phone call. And now at the interspiritual website Beliefnet where Jones now blogs in Same Sex Marriage Blogalogue: How I Went from There to Here he removed all doubt as to his position, and that which he feels the Body of Christ itself should also take, regarding those who are unrepentant in their practice of the sin of homosexuality:

And yet, all the time I could feel myself drifting toward acceptance that gay persons are fully human persons and should be afforded all of the cultural and ecclesial benefits that I am.  (”Aha!” my critics will laugh derisively, “I knew he and his ilk were on a continuous leftward slide!”)

In any case, I now believe that GLBTQ can live lives in accord with biblical Christianity (at least as much as any of us can!) and that their monogamy can and should be sanctioned and blessed by church and state. (Online source, bold theirs)

Then in Ken Silva: It’s Time To Rethink The Issue Of Homosexuality I showed you how it was that Jones would arrive at his views stated above:

And neither am I going to deny the fact that- (pause) Where I’ve come to on my opinion on this issue [unrepentant practicing homosexuals becoming Christians] is affected, not purely by the philosophical and theological arguments, but also by attending to the movements of my own spirit.

And trying to pay attention to how I think—and listening to—gay people, gay Christians talk about how their-they’ve-how they’ve lived their lives in such a way so that—in their estimation—they’re in accord with Biblical Christianity. And so giving—I wanna give the philosophical its due; but for me, I’m also going to-I have to attend to the existential, for me, because I know that’s been a part of what I’ve come to… (Video below, 2:54-3:46)

Recently “married” sodomite “Christian” Gene Robinson, overseer of Episcopal Churches in New Hampshire where I happen to live, said of his ordination as a practicing homosexual:

I’m deeply pained over all the difficulty that this has caused. But I have to say I believe that this is where God is leading the whole Church; just as God lead us to the full inclusion of people of color, and of women and people in wheelchairs and any number of people who had previously been marginalized.

And finally, “Gay Affirming” Emerging Church pastor Jay Bakker has already told us:

“The more I follow grace, the more I’m drawn to him [God], the more I’m willing to stand up for people being persecuted,” says Jay today. “This sounds so churchy, but I felt like God spoke to my heart and said ‘[homosexuality] is not a sin.’ ” (Online source, emphasis mine)

But such is the sordid bed that spiritually spineless effete evangelical leaders have made for themselves that they may carry on their own adulterous lust affair with stupid so-called “spiritual disciplines” given to them by a corrupt Quaker mystic who also has said:

“The Immanuel Principle is ultimately cosmic,” according to Foster. “We are to reign with God and be with God forever and forever. In the past God worked first directly, then indirectly with his people. Since Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection, God works both directly and indirectly. Quakers in the gathered silence experience God both directly and indirectly.”

I noticed that the focus on the with-God life circumnavigates inconsistencies found in Scripture and differing opinions about theology. By looking at how God revealed himself to people throughout Biblical history negates all those arguments. “You bypass it all,” stated Foster. “You put your focus on how God has been with a person and what does that say to me, now? What are their strengths and weaknesses and how does that apply to me? It’s all about developing charact — character that goes on into the future where we will reign with God and be with God eternally. (Online source, emphasis mine)

So now they have no authority upon which to rest any judgments as to who is speaking for God and who is not because they were not willing to heed what the Lord had told them in Acts 17:11 — Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Here’s the sad news; if Scripture was good enough by which to judge the inpired Apostle Paul, then it has certainly been good enough to judge the fickle fools among you like Foster et all…

from:

http://apprising.org/2008/12/we-feel-homosexuality-is-not-a-sin/

Green Like Envy:

An Ex-pagan Looks at Blue Like Jazz

By Richard Nathan

with Linda Nathan

Donald Miller, who wrote Blue Like Jazz, gave Monday’s  benediction at the Democratic Convention

Index to articles by Richard and Linda Nathan

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“Donald Miller writes like a good improve solo—smooth, sweet, surprising, uplifting, and full of soul and fury and joy. When I finished the last page, I felt warmed, full of hope, and confident that this great book will echo with beauty in many, many lives just as it is doing in mine.” Brian McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christian

“These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they 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.”  2 Peter 2:17

phenomenon in evangelical circles, Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller has sold over 800,000 copies and made the New York Times bestseller list since its publication by Thomas Nelson Publishers in 2003,[1] and its popularity continues to grow. An icon in the burgeoning Emergent Church movement, it attracts countless youth in contemporary Christian culture. Seminarians nationwide are reading it avidly, and some Christian ministries and pastors are even using it to evangelize.[2]

Why? And what does that popularity reveal about evangelicalism today?

Pagan Envy

I first read Blue Like Jazz because Christians I knew were whispering about what a wonderful book it is. I had no idea what it was about, but I figured with a name like that it could be about anything. Now, after reading it, a better title has occurred to me: Green Like Envy. I chose this title because it refers to my overwhelming impression that Don Miller envies the non-Christian or pagan life but feels confined by Christian roots. Instead, he hangs around the outskirts of paganism, hoping that something will rub off on him that he thinks Christians don’t have and pagans do.

A big focus of Miller’s book is his attraction to Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where, although he doesn’t attend, he spends a lot of time. He reports getting involved with the few Christians on campus and mingling with the students. The book’s high point is his description of an annual festival he thinks is cool.

“Each year at Reed they have a festival called Ren Fayre. They shut down the campus so students can party. Security keeps the authorities away, and everybody gets pretty drunk and high, and some people get naked. Friday night is mostly about getting drunk, and Saturday night is about getting high. The school brings in White Bird, a medical unit that specializes in treating bad drug trips. The students create special lounges with black lights and television screens to enhance kids’ mushroom trips.” [Author’s note: Hallucinogenic mushrooms are also called “magic” mushrooms.][3]

“Saturday evening at Ren Fayre is alive and fun. The sun goes down over the campus, and shortly after dark they shoot fireworks over the tennis courts. Students lay out on a hill and laugh and point in blurry-eyed fascination. The highlight of the evening is a glow opera that packs the amphitheater with students and friends. The opera is designed to enhance mushroom trips.”[4]

Now why would a “Christian” call an immoral festival where people run around nude high on drugs “alive and fun”? Why does he think of this as hip and cool?

“Hip Love”

What is Miller’s idea of love? Is it the sacrificial love of 1 Corinthians 13? Of God’s sacrifice of His only Son? Is it the willingness to die to self? No, it’s none of these. Miller’s “hip love” is self-love. Here’s another situation he describes as cool.

“When my friend Paul and I lived in the woods, we lived with hippies. Well, sort of hippies. They certainly smoked a lot of pot. They drank beer a lot. And man did they love each other, sometimes too much perhaps, too physically, you know, but nevertheless they loved; they accepted and cherished everybody, even the ones who judged them because they were hippies. It was odd living with hippies at first, but I enjoyed it after a while.”

“We would sit around and talk about literature and each other, and I couldn’t tell the difference between the books they were talking about and their lives, they were just that cool. I liked them very much because they were interested in me. When I was with hippies, I did not feel judged, I felt loved. To them I was an endless well of stories and perspectives and grand literary views. It felt so wonderful to be in their presence, like I was special.”[5]

P. 208 continues the story:

“I have never experienced a group of people who loved each other more than my hippies in the woods. All of them are tucked so neatly into my memory now, and I recall our evenings at camp or in the meadow or in the caves in my mind like a favorite film. I pull them out when I need to be reminded about goodness, about purity and kindness.”

Purity and goodness? So Miller calls people indulging in sin as his best examples of goodness and purity. They aren’t Christians—God’s people despite their flaws—but pot-smoking, probably fornicating people.

It reminds me of my own experience as a kind of hippie.

I was raised in a Marxist-atheist family and lived as one of those pagans during the Sixties. I smoked pot, took LSD, and engaged in immoral sex and the occult. If I had read a book like Blue Like Jazz then, it would have confirmed my poor image of Christians as uptight neurotics and my belief in the superiority of my pagan life.

Reed College. I was also familiar with Reed College in Portland, Oregon—the focus of Miller’s adulation. It was already a leftist bastion in the Sixties when we had friends from there. When I read Miller extolling Reed College, it appalled me that anyone calling himself a Christian could think Reed is a wonderful example of intellectual and moral freedom.

We too lived with hippies for several years in a cooperative house in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury District during the Sixties—the very vortex of the era’s rebellion. During that time, thousands of hippies held enormous gatherings in Golden Gate Park, right across the street from us, and held protest marches under our windows. I found them to be like me—very self-centered, very selfish, very corrupt, and the total opposite of pure or loving. Either Miller’s hippies were really angels in disguise (pot-smoking angels?) or else worldly thinking has corrupted his perceptions.

But paganism isn’t just another interesting lifestyle among many alternatives; it leads to death. The Bible says there is a way that seems right but that leads to death. Paganism is that way.

That brings up a very urgent question:

Does Miller Know the Gospel?

Miller calls himself a Christian and uses the term Gospel, but what he describes doesn’t sound like the biblical Gospel. For instance, on p. 124 he describes his conversation with Jake, a pagan at a Ren Fayre festival. The Christians there had a booth where they confessed their sins to the pagans as an apology for the Church. Jake starts out:

“’You said earlier there was a central message of Christ. I don’t really want to become a Christian, you know, but what is that message?’

‘The message is that man sinned against God and God gave the world over to man, and that if somebody wanted to be rescued out of that, if somebody for instance finds it’s all very empty, that Christ will rescue them if they want; that if they ask forgiveness for being a part of that rebellion then God will forgive them.’

‘What’s the deal with the cross?’ Jake asked.

‘God says the wages of sin is death,’ I told him. ‘And Jesus died so none of us would have to. If we have faith in that then we are Christians.’”

Are we?

Actually, Miller’s “gospel” is a clear example of an old theological distortion known as Pelagianism. This ancient heresy basically says that original sin did not taint human nature and that we have the ability to choose to walk with God instead of being utterly depraved and lost sinners whom God needs to rescue (Romans 3). The most recent well-known advocate of this doctrine was Charles Finney.

Pelagianism—and Miller—leave out some very basic points: Wrath—judgment—propitiation—and the substitutionary atonement. Jesus didn’t die generically; He died very specifically, taking on Himself the righteous punishment due to sinners—death. (See Romans 1:18, 2:5, 5:9; Ephesians 2:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 5:9; and Hebrews 2:17.)

Romans 3:22–25 clearly portrays the real Gospel:

“There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”

And 1 John sets out a clear standard for determining true Christians:

“We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:3–6) [bold by author]

No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:9–10)

The Gospel of the “Hip Christian”

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! Galatians 1:8–9

Resurrecting the Beatniks. Blue Like Jazz reminds me very much of the style of the Beatnik era, especially books by Jack Kerouac who wrote in a stream of consciousness centered in himself. And though Donald Miller never says in his book that he’s a pot smoker, it’s amazing how many of his friends are pot smokers and how much his style and thinking strongly resemble those of many pot smokers. He does talk about smoking pot in his youth group though, and one section of his book extols those who take LSD. Being “hip” and “cool” are important to Miller, who frequently uses the terms as measuring rods.

The Hip Gospel never mentions the cross or God’s wrath on sinners and Christ’s atonement for sin. It distorts the Bible, if it refers to it at all, and it never talks about being born again or the desperate need for becoming a new creation.

There is no sorrow for a fallen world—only envy of it.

Miller also claims he never feels as good with Christians as with pagans.

“I never felt so alive as I did in the company of my liberal friends. It isn’t that the Christians I had been with had bad community; they didn’t, I just like the community of the hippies because it was more forgiving, more, I don’t know, healthy.”[6]

Healthy? Is he saying it’s healthier to go into the woods and smoke pot and have immoral sex than to belong to Jesus Christ? That we can find more love in the drug scene than in a church? And this represents wonderful freedom for Christians? This is walking as Jesus walks? The Bible calls this the world. And it warns about its terrible dangers:

“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. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:15–17)

Miller’s basic message is that pagans are better than Christians but that liberal Christians are much better than conservative Christians. And, finally, that liberals and even Unitarians are far more loving—and healthier—than conservative Christians.[7]

Jesus went among sinners and brought salvation; he didn’t smoke pot with them. Miller goes among sinners and has a grand old time with them. His book doesn’t reveal the love of Christ; it reveals a love of paganism that isn’t a saving love but a desire to emulate sin. It reveals pagan envy.

The Spirituality of the “Hip Christian”

“For me the beginning of sharing my faith with people began with throwing out Christianity and embracing Christian spirituality, a nonpolitical mysterious system that can be experienced but not explained. Christianity, unlike Christian spirituality, was not a term that excited me. And I could not in good conscience tell a friend about a faith that didn’t excite me. I couldn’t share something I wasn’t experiencing.”[8]

“I told him that I thought mystical power came through faith in Jesus.”[9]

A false dichotomy. Miller’s statements reveal his ignorance and confusion about just what it is to be a Christian in a historical, orthodox sense. Not only does he abandon reason and Scripture, he creates a false dichotomy. He presents the only choices as a hypocritical, commercial Christianity and a hip mystical spirituality. And in the process, he totally misses the true Gospel.

In fact, Miller basically says that truth can be compared to story and that Christianity makes sense because it’s like a story, i.e., like fiction. He not only compares his version of Christian “spirituality” to the elements of fiction, he introduces Pelagianism again. Once more we see Miller’s understanding of “truth” revolves around himself.

“The elements of story began to parallel my understanding of Christian spirituality. Christianity offered a decision, a climax. It also offered a good and bad resolution. In part, our decisions were instrumental to the way our story turned out.”[10]

But he doesn’t stop there.

“Now this was spooky because for thousands of years big-haired preachers have talked about the idea that we need to make a decision to follow or reject Christ. They would offer these ideas as a sort of magical solution to the dilemma of life. I had always hated hearing about it because it seemed so entirely unfashionable a thing to believe, but it did explain things. Maybe these unfashionable ideas were pointing at something mystical and true. And perhaps I was judging the idea not by its merit but by the fashionable or unfashionable delivery of the message.”

It’s hard to tell whether he’s talking about TV preachers with pompadours or is just putting down preachers in general, but in either case, he ridicules preaching. He’s basically saying that he decides something is truth not by Scripture but by the way he feels about it—if it’s “mystical”—i.e., feeling-oriented—it must be true.

This is the thinking of the Emergent Church, which elevates story into revelation and truth.[11] Miller is comparing the truth of the Bible with the elements of a story and determining truth by story.

“The last element of story is resolution. Christian spirituality offered a resolution, the resolution of forgiveness and a home in the afterlife. Again, it all sounded so very witless to me, but by this time I wanted desperately to believe it. I felt as though my soul were designed to live the story Christian spirituality was telling. I felt like my soul wanted to be forgiven. I wanted the resolution God was offering.[12]

That last comment is the closest I see him admitting to sin.

In his search for truth, Miller measures by himself: his reaction, his need, his decision, his entertainment, and whether it’s mystical and magical because he likes things that are mystical and magical. Nowhere does he talk about objective truth: the Bible, sin, God’s wrath and judgment upon sinners, or the reason that Christ had to die.

Unfortunately, Miller only mirrors what’s happening in the Church today: Experience is considered more important than truth. And since the modern view is that basically there is no truth that applies to everyone, then “freedom” becomes license (“anything goes”).

The Freedom of Real Christianity

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” John 8:31–32

False freedom. Miller is an insecure, self-centered man (as he freely admits in his book) who wants to be a literary success, and he is using a certain worldly technique where you let it all hang out. But he exhibits an incredible ignorance of true Christianity and conveys disappointment with a limited experience with the Christian community. He puts down evangelicals in a very ignorant way as though his warped and stereotyped view of them is all there is to the Church. There’s no awareness of the larger Body of Christ or what it means.

I sympathize with his disappointment in the kind of legalistic perfectionism that has been strong in evangelicalism because it tends to produce bondage and hypocrisy instead of true freedom. But what he offers is far from true freedom. He has turned from legalism to antinomianism. (The term means “against law.” It describes the state of rebellion against God’s laws and standards of life.) He is leading his readers from perfectionism to lawlessness—and the greatest tragedy of all is that he’s missed the Lord Jesus Christ and the Gospel, which brings true freedom from the bondage of sin and Satan.

A Spokesman for Romanticism (or Imaginative Paganism)

What Miller and many of today’s neo-evangelicals are moving towards is Romanticism.[13]

There’s a pendulum that swings in Church history between the imbalance of legalism and formalism and the opposite imbalance of rebelliousness and paganism. This has become especially apparent since the Renaissance. The Romantic Movement, which was very influential in Europe, England, and the United States in the 1700s and 1800s, focused on rebellion through poetry, art, imagination, magic, mysticism, and intuition. This movement spawned such men as Richard Wagner and Friedrich Nietzsche, who greatly influenced Adolph Hitler.

A Rebirth of Romanticism. Today we are experiencing a rebirth of Romanticism in the form of a flood of rebelliousness masquerading as a new wave of Christian freedom and spirituality. It is especially apparent in the Emergent Church Movement and through the writings of such authors as Brian McLaren. But Christian freedom is always deeply tied to Christian truth. And the freedom Miller offers is so disconnected from Christian truth that it cannot truly be Christian—or truly freedom—at all. Its basis is theological, biblical, and historical ignorance. His enormous appeal is to a shift in society and in the Church that is following the culture away from truth to self.

Bohemian/Beatnik Culture. Miller’s approach to writing personifies a shift that arose out of the Bohemian leftist culture that developed in San Francisco’s North Beach area in the late 1930s. The Bohemians were into wine, poetry, and leftist politics. The Beatniks, who followed them, got into jazz, pot, and other drugs. In the 1960s the movement flowered with the hippies and their focus upon Eastern religions and such psychedelic drugs as LSD and Mescaline. All of these lifestyles claimed to represent freedom and creativity as opposed to “square” American middleclass life.

I know something about these movements because I grew up in San Francisco during the 1940s and 1950s in a family that was part of the Bohemian/Beatnik culture. We managed jazz nightclubs and ran a bookstore in North Beach. And I can tell you from personal experience: Beatniks were not loving; they were not pure; they were not unselfish at all. And they definitely were not free. These movements were, in fact, the epitome of self-love and blind egotism.

Nor was the emphasis on love in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury District during the Sixties love for others; it was an extreme form of self-gratification—it was the culture of rebellion. And Miller is just aping it and being an apologist for it. Notice that one of his friends at Reed is called “the Beat poet.”[14] In some sense he’s extolling the “glories” of Neopaganism and trying to fit his narcissistic “Christianity” of mysticism and magic into it.

One Final Urgent Question: Why the Rush to Paganism?

Why are evangelicals rushing to read and praise this book when it attacks them and the very foundations of their faith?

What does it say about today’s evangelical movement, and today’s youth raised in evangelical homes and culture, that they love his message and are even using it to evangelize?

The overarching theme of Miller’s book is the glorification of rebellion by preaching false freedom. That’s exactly what the Haight-Ashbury preached; it’s exactly what drugs promise; and it’s exactly what the Emergent Church movement promotes today.

Miller’s inability to differentiate his subjective feelings from the truth of Scripture is all too common in the Emergent philosophy spreading among contemporary young people. His book is fuel for the fire among those Christianized youth who are struggling with some of the narrowness of legalistic upbringings and are seeking the freedom in Christ the Bible promises, but who end up in the devil’s snare of false freedom.

The answer to narrowness and legalism is not false freedom but real freedom in Christ. Miller’s “evangelistic” stance though is to trash conservative Christians and to extol pagans. And in fact his promotion of paganism is far more effective than his evangelism for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Read Blue Like Jazz only if you want an example of the sorrowful state of evangelical youth and Christian publishing today.

__________________________

Richard Nathan holds a Master of Arts in Religion in Church History and has been a Bible and church history teacher for over twenty years. He wrote his thesis on the debate over the inerrancy of Scripture in a historical analysis. Since 1992, Linda Nathan has been president of Logos Word Designs, Inc., a Christian writing and editing service at http://www.logosword.com. They have taught numerous seminars and classes to Christians. See Richard’s blog at www.gloriousriches.blogspot.com for ongoing discussion about such trends in Christianity as Romantic Christianity and the Emergent Church movement. Visit their Web site at http://fictionplumbline.com for articles evaluating Christian fiction from a biblical perspective.

]]> http://followinginhissteps.wordpress.com/2008/08/28/green-like-envy-a-look-at-blue-like-jazz-by-donald-miller/feed/ 0 thekingskid http://followinginhissteps.wordpress.com/2008/08/28/prepping-kids-for-sex-change-its-a-sick-sick-world/ http://followinginhissteps.wordpress.com/2008/08/28/prepping-kids-for-sex-change-its-a-sick-sick-world/#comments Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:03:30 +0000 thekingskid http://followinginhissteps.wordpress.com/?p=134 ]]> Prepping Kids for Sex Change

It’s a Sick, Sick World

He has been called “demonic,” “barbaric,” and has been compared to Nazi doctors. And when you read about his work, it is easy to see why Americans are so outraged. Dr. Norman Spack is a pediatric endocrinologist at Boston Children’s Hospital. Not long ago, he opened a clinic for what he terms “transgendered” children. Incredibly, he is giving kids as young as seven drugs that delay the onset of puberty—the first step in sex-change surgery when they are older.

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Spack injects children with hormone-blocking drugs to prevent them from developing secondary sexual characteristics, like breasts or facial hair. The idea is to give them a few more years to make up their minds if they want to be male—or female.

When these kids hit their teen years, they are given the option of taking cross-hormones for a few years—which will allow them to develop the characteristics of the opposite sex. Tragically, the treatment will condemn these teenagers to lifelong infertility.

Spack appears to think that that is a reasonable trade-off for teens who feel they are trapped in the body of the opposite sex: After all, the cross-hormone treatments will make it easier for them to “pass” as the opposite sex. For instance, men will not grow as tall as they normally would, nor will they develop beards or Adam’s apples.

In a fawning article about Spack, the Boston Globe referred to his treatment of gender-confused children as “modern medical care.” Medical care, my eye! This is medical mayhem. It is unconscionable.

Dr. Paul McHugh, a distinguished professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, agrees: He says that treating these children with hormones “does considerable harm, and it compounds their confusion. Trying to delay puberty or change someone’s gender,” he added, “is a rejection of the lawfulness of nature.”

Dr. McHugh knows what he is talking about. He and psychiatrist Jon Myer studied men who received sex-change operations at Johns Hopkins. His conclusion? “That Hopkins was fundamentally cooperating with a mental illness.” Better, McHugh thought, to concentrate on fixing their minds instead of taking the more drastic step of changing their sex.

Thanks to the research of Myer and others, this practice was stopped at Johns Hopkins. And it became possible to begin to make sense of the mental disorders that were driving the request for the surgeries.

So why are doctors like Spack altering young bodies instead of treating confused minds?

The answer is that many doctors have embraced the modern teaching that sexual identity, rather than being biologically determined, is a preference or a choice. According to this, people should be allowed to choose whatever sex they want to be.

But both science and the Bible teach otherwise: God created us male and female in His image. Shots and surgeries and politically correct teachings cannot alter this fundamental truth.

Tragically, some parents are now buying into this false teaching—and allowing their children to undergo destructive treatments.

You and I need to be spreading the word that legitimate treatment is available for people suffering from gender confusion—and it is a treatment that does not sacrifice the well-being of children to the political agendas of adults.

_______________________________________________________

From BreakPoint®, July 8, 2008, Copyright 2008, Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with the permission of Prison Fellowship Ministries. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or distributed without the express written permission of Prison Fellowship Ministries. “BreakPoint®” and “Prison Fellowship Ministries®” are registered trademarks of Prison Fellowship

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Posted: July 26, 2008
1:00 am Eastern

By Jonathan Falwell

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“Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do’” (Luke 12:34).

If you have been watching television recently, you may have seen a commercial for a movie titled, “Hamlet 2,” which includes the song, “Rock Me, Sexy Jesus.”

Here is an excerpt:

Rock me, rock me, rock me sexy Jesus
He died for our sins, you gotta believe us
Rock me, rock me, rock me sexy Jesus
all night long.

In the movie, written and directed by gay filmmaker Andrew Fleming, a high school teacher writes a sequel to Shakespeare’s drama, in which Jesus brings Hamlet back to life to perform in musicals.

I watched a video of the song and found it to be shocking. And why wouldn’t I? This is, after all, my Savior and Lord who is being smeared and slandered. But then, I’m a Christian – and my feelings don’t matter to the “mainstream.”

There’s more. Also this summer, a play titled “Jerry Springer – The Opera in Concert” has played in several cities. TFP.org reported that, in the play, an effeminate Jesus who wears a diaper states: “Actually, I am a bit gay.” Eve is reportedly depicted as having sexual dalliances with Jesus.

(Column continues below)

It goes on and on. Earlier this year, a short video titled “Modern Day Jesus” portrayed Jesus as the sex-starved roommate of Mary Magdalene. On “South Park,” Jesus was depicted as a member of “Imagination Land.” On A&E’s documentary “The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” filmmaker James Cameron claimed evidence shows that Jesus married and had a family. In April, director Paul Verhoeven cast aspersions on the virgin birth of Christ, writing that Jesus was “probably the son of Mary and a Roman soldier who raped her during the Jewish uprising in Galilee,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.

On the radio, we’ve gotten Kid Rock’s “Rock N Roll Jesus” and Hayes Carll’s “She Left Me for Jesus,” which further denigrate the name of Christ.

You could say, “Hey, Falwell, if you don’t like ‘Rock N Roll Jesus,’ don’t listen to it.” OK, that’s fine. The problem is – and this falls into my mainstreaming-of-blasphemy proposition – ESPN has been promoting the song between innings of baseball broadcasts. It doesn’t seem to matter that Christians might be offended by the song.

It’s this “Who cares?” attitude regarding depictions of Jesus that leads me to fear that our nation has lost any clear notion of who Jesus is. And as a result of this growing national ignorance, we are witnessing this mounting wave of antagonism and ridicule regarding our Savior.

Compounding the problem is our present age of “diversity,” which seems to want to protect every form of expression except those that advance the cause of Jesus Christ.

Further, at the same time Jesus is being increasingly mocked in the “mainstream,” His name is progressively more unwelcome in the public square. Just this week a federal court of appeals in Virginia upheld a lower court ruling sustaining the right of the Fredericksburg City Council to bar prayers mentioning Jesus’ name.

In our nation, the “mainstream” apparently wants the right to: 1) poke fun at and ridicule Jesus, no matter how offensive it is to Christians and 2) demolish our nation’s historic public veneration of Christ and His Ten Commandments. No wonder we are experiencing moral collapse.

The fact remains that even amid this growing hostility toward Jesus Christ, He reaches out in perfect love, wanting to embrace and save those who despise Him – just as He did with Paul (Saul), the great persecutor of Christians in his day.

I’ll close with a verse of encouragement from 1 Peter 4:16: “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.” Even as the world continues to despise Jesus and those who love Him, we can never forget that He calls us to be intrepid and honorable representatives of Him so that people will see Christ in us.

We must continue to proclaim that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16)!

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Frontpage Interview’s guests today are Karen Holgate and Steve Baldwin, the co-editors of the new book From Crayons to Condoms.Karen Holgate is a nationally known advocate for education reform. Her articles and policy reports have appeared in publications including the Congressional Quarterly, Investors Business Daily, the Washington Times, and Insight Magazine. She has appeared on CBS, NBC and Fox news shows.

Steve Baldwin is currently the Executive Director of the Council for National Policy and is formerly the chairman of the California Legislature’s Education Committee.

FP: Karen Holgate and Steve Baldwin, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

Holgate: Thank you.

Baldwin: Thanks for interviewing us.

FP: Give us a brief overview of what is taking place in public schools today. Why is this happening?

Holgate: We are seeing a dramatic shift in education from “effective” education, meaning concrete academics, to “affective” education, meaning the teaching of attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviors. One of the reasons for this “shift” is that activist legislators are mandating that teachers divert valuable classroom time from solid academics to the promotion of personal agendas.

Baldwin: Our schools have become laboratories for social engineering and are no longer places where knowledge is transmitted.

FP: What are some ways that valuable classroom time is wasted in our public schools? Tell us some of the more bizarre examples.

Baldwin: Whole language, death education, New Math, cooperative learning, inventive spelling and many other fads that have little to do with education.

Holgate: Under the guise of “tolerance” and reducing “hate crimes,” students are often indoctrinated with the idea that there is no difference between homosexuality and heterosexuality even though what is being taught may violate the personal or religious beliefs of many of the students and their families. Homosexual, bi-sexual, and transgendered panels are often brought in to discuss their lifestyles. However, heterosexuals are not usually a part of any discussion.

Certainly no student should ever be bullied, harassed, or ridiculed. However, classes are not needed for that; any student who harms or bullies another child for any reason should be disciplined. If we really want to address tolerance then we need to respect – and yes, tolerate — differences of opinion. Unfortunately, that is not being done in many classrooms across America. Far too often, students who voice any opinion different than that being taught are labeled “intolerant.”

FP: What are some examples of the explicit and graphic information about sex that is being taught in public schools?

Holgate: Before I answer that I want to explain that Steve and I had long discussions about whether to include some of the actual language and material that is used in classrooms. We finally decided that we would include some examples with both a disclaimer and a warning. Our decision was based on the fact that if the material is too explicit and crude for parents to see then it is that much worse for our children. Some of the examples include references to performing oral sex or using saran wrap as an alternative to an “oral dam.” Other examples show how core academics are infiltrated with sexual references. For instance, an American history class invited the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Speaker’s Bureau to address the class about Civil Rights. The same class included a handout that said that students don’t receive enough information about safe-sex including male-to-male sex in the teen population.

Baldwin: Current sex ed programs are based upon the bogus Kinsey theory that children are sexual creatures and thus should be taught early on how to be sexual. Perversity and pornography are rampant in sex ed today.

FP: Describe the required courses in “death education” that now actually encourage teen depression and suicide. Also tell us about the math classes in which students are instructed to write about how they “feel” about math rather than actually doing math.

Baldwin: Death ed is when children are exposed to games and literature that focus on morbid themes, the result being that some kids are pushed over the line. New Math is commonplace today and that is when teaching feelings trumps computational skills.

Holgate: It isn’t unusual for children – as young as elementary school age – to be asked to write their own epitaphs on their tombstones. One teacher asked students to write about being “done in by someone they loved.” In other words, have the child write about someone they loved murdering them. Psychologists who reviewed the material were concerned that teachers not trained in psychology could generate real conflict in a child’s life and not be aware of it. One told us that these types of exercises are not necessary for healthy children but could be disastrous for a troubled child.

The idea of integrated curricula drives much of today’s education. Death ed is just one area. Another is integrated math in which teachers are instructed to engage children’s emotions. One third grade math curriculum instructed teachers to use examples such as “Freddie Kruger, my death brother, maggots, monsters with big eyes,” etc. The parents of one of those students reported that their daughter was having nightmares and started coming into their room at night because she was so scared. They finally traced it to her math class.

FP: Can you talk a little bit about how schools too often promote “self-esteem” at the expense of other things and why this is harmful?

Holgate: Too often we hear that a student’s work is not corrected or a higher grade is given so that the child’s “self-esteem” is not damaged. For instance, creative or inventive spelling is discussed in the book. The idea is that correcting a student’s bad spelling will in some way harm the child. Yet the reality is that self-esteem cannot be awarded, it is earned through accomplishment.

Baldwin: Self esteem has now taken the place of real work in our schools so it’s really a fake self esteem that ends up doing more harm than good. Children are being praised for lousy work and even work they didn’t do.

FP: The liberal-Left was up in arms for a long time to shut down prayer in public schools, but now praying to Allah has become an everyday thing and the lib-Left says nothing about it. Tell us about this phenomenon and why the Left is silent.

Baldwin: The movement to eliminate religion from schools was essentially a movement to eliminate Christianity; other religions — especially Islam and new age — are being promoted in schools throughout the nation.

Holgate: We’ve all heard stories about teachers and students not being allowed to pray in schools or bring their Bibles to school. But unfortunately, when it comes to Islam there is a new standard. As the stories in From Crayons to Condoms show, Islam is not always being taught just as a comparative religion class but actually involves students in Islamic religious rituals. One teacher reported that while she was substitute teaching she was instructed to leave the classroom for an hour while another school employee came to the classroom to lead the students in their prayers to Allah. Certainly the ACLU would file a lawsuit if a public school led children in prayers to God.

FP: Can our schools be saved? How?

Holgate: I’m not sure the public school system as a whole can be saved. However, there is a lot that parents can do that will help protect their own children. For that reason, we included a chapter designed to give parents some practical steps they can take that can help. And for those who want to make a broader impact, we have also included information about ways to do that.

Baldwin: Vouchers might help since the current public education monopoly has no incentive to reform.

FP: Karen Holgate and Steve Baldwin, thank you for joining Frontpage Interview.

Holgate: Thank you. Steve and I would love to hear from your readers. We can be contacted at FromCrayonstoCondoms.com. If anyone wants to share their personal stories, we’d love to hear those too.

Baldwin: Thank you.