"We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace". William E. Gladstone
"We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace". William E. Gladstone
It seems that one of the highlights of Resolved 2010 was Jonathan Rourke’s impersonation of C.J. Mahaney.
If you have attended any of the Together for the Gospel conferences, you likely know about the “band of bloggers”. But for those who are unfamiliar with them, we thought it might be helpful to share a little information obtained from the arena in which they (and we) operate – the World Wide Web.
As we pointed out in our previous post, Mark Dever posted an article last year on the T4G website that describes paedobaptism as a sinful act.
We have some questions for those headed to Louisville for T4G. Just how accurate is the conference name “Together for the Gospel”? Why would we even ask such a question? Here’s why…
At long last T4G 2010 is almost here! Looks like around 7,000 attendees will be heading to Louisville next week for what will certainly be dubbed as the “best ever Christian pastors’ conference…”
Are Christian conferences just an American phenomenon? Across the pond in jolly old England, Christian leaders can attend a conference that involves “teaching” and “worship”. This annual event held in Brighton is designed primarily for Christian leaders, but welcomes students and twenty-somethings. Incredibly, 5,000 delegates from 50 nations attend this annual conference.
Since Dee and I began our investigation of the “New Calvinists”, we have become increasingly concerned that this hot new theological movement may have a very serious downside, namely, hero worship. We are becoming extremely familiar with the leaders of this movement because their names and faces seem to be everywhere on the internet, among other places. You likely know them, too. Let’s begin with the Fab Four of “Together for the Gospel” aka T4G – Al Mohler, Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever, and C.J. Mahaney, not to be confused with those whom we call the Fab Five (the Fort Lauderdale Five of the 1970s Shepherding Movement who were Bob Mumford, Derek Prince, Charles Simpson, Don Basham, and Ern Baxter).
“That is why the church, the whole body of Christians showing Him to one another, is so important. It is so easy to think that the church has a lot of different objects – education, buildings, missions, holding services…the Church exists for no other purpose but to draw men to Christ. to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose”. C.S. Lewis
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We are moderating comments for a short time because we are drowning in spam. Don’t worry. We will post all non spam comments just give us a couple of hours. Sorry about this.
Joshua Harris, C.J. Mahaney’s successor at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, has risen almost as fast in reformed circles as his mentor. Josh has learned how to play the SGM game well as he follows in C.J.’s footsteps. The first endorsement in Mahaney’s masterpiece Living the Cross Centered Life is written by Josh.
My counterpart recently wrote a fascinating article on the contributions that Sovereign Grace Ministries, along with its fearless apostle, Mahaney, have made to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. This seminary is the flagship seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention. It is also home to one of C.J.’s best buddies, the very reformed president, Al Mohler. A number of past and present SGMers have commented that they couldn’t understand these donations. Their primary reasons for concern are:
As I mentioned in the post “How I Discovered Mahaney Mania”, I purchased C.J. Mahaney’s so-called masterpiece when it first came out in 2006. Had I read it back then, I probably would have concluded: well, at least the author focuses on the cross, which has been shunned by so many mainline churches. Then I would have put it away — out of sight, out of mind. However, that’s not what happened… Having acquired considerable knowledge about C.J. Mahaney, Sovereign Grace Ministries, and their connections to the “Reformed Big Dogs” over the past year and a half, I have a much different perspective on Mahaney’s book.
Deb’s Testimony
I began conducting internet research on Reformed Theology in the fall of 2008. I firmly believe I was driven by the Holy Spirit to discover everything I could about this movement which is rocking the very foundations of our churches and seminaries. It became a daily discipline for me, and I would often spend 7 to 8 hours a day conducting research on my computer when it would seem like only a few hours had passed. I’ll admit it – I was obsessed!
First there was the Rainbow Coalition, founded by Jesse Jackson in 1984. Then we had the Christian Coalition organized in 1991 by Pat Robertson. Now we have the Gospel Coalition established by Don Carson and Tim Keller in 2007. When the average person hears the word “coalition”, this will likely be their thought pattern…
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"The essence of legalism is trusting in religious activity rather than trusting in God. It is placing our confidence in a practice rather than in a Person – and, without fail, this will lead us to love the practice more than the Person."
http://www.city-data.com/forum/christianity/181223-what-legalism.html
Recently, I was driving through Atlanta and happened upon a Christian talk show. The host asked people to call in and explain their views on the differences between justification and sanctification. All of the callers did a pretty good job defining their thoughts in their own words. Then, a man called in and began what sounded like a lecture. He went on and on and on. The host finally interrupted him and explained that this was a forum for discussion, not for delivering a sermon. At that point the caller stated that he was reading Calvin's words and if Calvin said it, it was absolutely correct.