The Wartburg Watch » C.J. Mahaney

AoR Report Released: Just How Unhealthy Is SGM ?

deb — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:57:16 +0000

"Because we met with such a small percentage of members (less than 1⁄2 of 1%), our observations may not accurately reflect the entire association of churches. Nevertheless, we offer these observations as part of our report." Ambassadors of Reconciliation Report, page 13 Gavel – Wikipedia At long last the Ambassadors of Reconciliation (AoR) Report has been made available through the Sovereign Grace Ministries blog. When this group was hired by SGM's Board of Directors last summer, we had never heard of them so we took a closer look. Historically, SGM has had close ties with Peacemaker Ministries, so it came as no surprise that there are some definite connections between AoR and Peacemaker Ministries. A few years ago we were involved in conversations with Barbara Dorris of SNAP and Jeff Anderson, the attorney who has defended abuse victims of the Roman Catholic clergy and is currently involved in the Sandusky affair. Both of them admonished us to NEVER take our eyes off the victims. We have made this our prime directive here at TWW, and we believe those who follow our blog can testify that we are extremely loyal to those who have been hurt. As we reviewed Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Wed, Apr 18 2012.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Ambassadors of Reconciliation, C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, SGM, Sovereign Grace Ministries, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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Mahaney’s Mind-Blowing Machination

deb — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:55:29 +0000

"Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering." Matthew 5:23-24 Spinning Top THE SPIN CONTINUES… Please read the ADDENDUM at the bottom of the post. Since last summer, the Calvinista spinmeisters, or if you prefer, spin doctors, have been busy rehabilitating C.J. Mahaney's image in the aftermath of SGM Wikileaks. Why? Because they are "Together for the Gospel" and had to ensure that the loyal flock, which has been faithful to attend previous T4G conferences, would not scatter. Booking the KFC Yum! Center was a daring undertaking, and if anything prevented the T$G crowd (OOPS! Why is the dollar sign atop the "4" and not some other number? ) from materializing, there would be $OOO much at $TAKE! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise – IT$ all about the GO$PEL!!! Last August I wrote a post about the 2012 T4G conference explaining how lucrative these mega-gatherings can be. Sure it costs quite a bit to rent the facility, but there's a lot of dough left over… Not Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Thu, Apr 12 2012.

Categories: Al Mohler, Ambassadors of Reconciliation, Authoritarian leadership, C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, Charismatic, Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever, New Reformed Theology, SGM, Sovereign Grace Ministries, Theological arrogance, Together for the Gospel, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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John Piper Almost Stepped Down: “Interpretation” Saved the Day!

dee — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 21:04:11 +0000

All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation.-Walter Benjamin The Buffalo Soldiers Infantry-Wikicommons Yesterday, at our usual post church lunch and palaver, one of my friends, who has been a long time fan of Precepts, expressed her concern over the material she is going to study for Genesis. It appears Kay Arthur is pushing a literal 6-day, 6000-year creation as the only viable, literal interpretation of Genesis. We will be discussing this further in the near future. Literalism is the long-standing bugaboo of the Christian community and not for the faint of heart. Many believe that the Scripture is clear enough for a simple plowboy. They view the ones who see nuances and allegory as heretics. However, fool that I am, I have decided to wade into the shark-infested waters of the literal interpretation of the Bible. Bottom line up front: For all of the yammering about the plain reading of Scripture, there is a heckuvalot of “interpreting” goin’ on, even amongst the Calvinistas. Folks, there is a reason we have so many denominations and so many views. And Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Mon, Mar 26 2012.

Categories: C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, Disasters, John Piper, New Reformed Theology, Sovereign Grace Ministries, Theological arrogance, Theology

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Former Mars Hill Pastor, Paul Petry, Starts Joyful Exiles – Startling Revelation

dee — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:18:19 +0000

"What do you do with someone who is rebellious, hard-hearted, stiff necked and stupid? You break their nose." Mark Driscoll in his "private" message to his congregation moments before firing Paul Petry and Bent Myer Viking Lander on Mars-NASA (quite a wilderness) Late yesterday afternoon, my inbox started filling up with messages about a new blog Joyful Exiles. Although I was in a bit of a hurry, I visited it and almost choked on my ever-present Diet Coke. I quickly called my fellow glam blogger, and we both agreed we needed to address this topic immediately! As many of our readers are aware, Mark Driscoll rather crudely and coldly fired two pastors a few years ago. "Why crudely?" you ask. Here is the link to a video in which he threatened to punch some guys in the nose. It cannot be embedded because some "coward" asked that embedding be disabled; furthermore, no comments are allowed. Bent Myer, who posted his story at TWW was one of those two pastors. His post generated the most visitors ever at TWW. Yesterday, the other pastor, Paul Petry, along with his wife Jonna, posted a new blog, Joyful Exiles. Along with Jonna's accounts of Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Tue, Mar 20 2012.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Acts 29, C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church

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Dear SGM Interim Board . . .

deb — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 03:18:04 +0000

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8 (NASB) Dee and I first learned about Sovereign Grace Ministries in the fall of 2008, and we are grateful to the SGM Survivors and Refugees who have spoken out against the hyper-authoritarian leadership and spiritual abuse they have experienced. From the hundreds of blog posts and thousands of comments we have read about SGM, we have heard a common refrain that characterizes this "family of churches". It is C.J. Mahaney's mantra – "Constant change is here to stay." What a contrast from Malachi 3:6 — "For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed." (NASB) Changes in SGM have accelerated in recent weeks, and they may be just the tip of the iceberg. As we explained in a previous post, C.J. Mahaney has been reinstated at President of Sovereign Grace Ministries. You can read about it here in Christianity Today (January 25, 2012). Mahaney has made it clear that his reinstatement is temporary and that he will be replaced in the near future. Just last Sunday Dave Harvey stepped down from the Interim Board as well as from leadership at Covenant Fellowship Church, where Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Fri, Mar 09 2012.

Categories: C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, New Reformed Theology, SGM, Sovereign Grace Ministries, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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Mark Driscoll, Al Mohler, and CJ Mahaney Are Smart and You Are So Dumb!

dee — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:46:05 +0000

“One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organizations do not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team. The first requisite is life, always.” AW Tozier Al Mohler-Public Domain by Timmy Brister Today, we are going to attempt to tie the problem with membership covenants to authoritarian or inflated views of the role of pastors. We also believe that such a view of leadership is connected with the current controversy at Mars Hill. Once again, we stress that written and signed membership covenants were not developed to encourage the faith of the member but to protect a given church entity from lawsuits. They have been devised and drawn up by attorneys. We have had several TWW commenters fussing at us about unfair lawsuits against churches and church leaders. Well, we have news for everyone. There are often highly suspect and abusive tactics used against members, and even, in some cases, non-members who attend a church. Why is this? TWW believes that certain theological models have been developed that stress a highly centralized, Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Thu, Mar 01 2012.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Acts 29, Al Mohler, Authoritarian leadership, C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, Mark Driscoll

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How Carolyn Mahaney Helped Her Daughters Work Through Their Sin

deb — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:59:54 +0000

"My mom spent many a late night helping us to work through our sin, only to wake up early the next morning to start that process all over again." Carolyn Mahaney's Daughter Mother and Baby by Anna Cervova As previously described in Christian Celebrity: An Oxymoron, Covenant Life Church (CLC) hosted a two-hour extravaganza honoring the life and ministry of C.J. Mahaney. It took place in September 2004, prior to Mahaney handing over the reigns of CLC to Joshua Harris. Both C.J. and his wife Carolyn were honored that evening. Their three grown daughters shared these words to honor Carolyn Mahaney. As the mother of two grown daughters, I cringed when I heard these words coming from the mouth of Carolyn's daughter: "Her mothering was always fueled by a strong Biblical conviction and love for us that compelled her to use all of her energy and creativity. She would spend hours planning activities and special things for us. There was family olympics, mystery night, birthday meals, afternoon out, shopping trips, the list really is endless. However, the hours that my mom invested into creativity were no match for the hours invested in discipling and caring for our souls. My mom Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Mon, Feb 20 2012.

Categories: C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, Carolyn Mahaney, Child Discipline, New Reformed Theology, SGM, Sovereign Grace Ministries, Uncategorized

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Christian Celebrity – An Oxymoron

deb — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 04:51:34 +0000

"It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:26-28, Mark10:43-45 (NASB) Julius Caesar – from the bust in the British Museum (Public Domain. Courtesy of Wikipedia) Where are the servant leaders Jesus described in Matthew 20:26-28? Mark includes an identical description in his Gospel, which leads me to conclude that servant leadership is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to God. Where are today's servant leaders? Pastoral authority is on the rise in Christendom, while servant leadership appears to be on the decline, based on my observation. As pastors elevate themselves and their colleagues, the flock is being trampled on and injured spiritually, emotionally, and sometimes even physically. Jesus instructed Peter "Feed my sheep". Tragically, God's flock is often being neglected by those who have been charged to protect them. The rise of Neo-Calvinism over the last decade seems to be a huge contributing factor to the scourge of Christian celebrity we are currently experiencing. To illustrate this Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Mon, Feb 13 2012.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Al Mohler, Authoritarian leadership, C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, John Piper, Joshua Harris, Mark Dever, New Reformed Theology, SGM, Sovereign Grace Ministries, Together for the Gospel, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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Young, Restless, and Reformed (YRR) – RIP?

deb — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 04:56:41 +0000

“I’ve been pondering a post on this thing that’s been called Young, Restless, and Reformed. What’s good? What’s bad? What needs to be celebrated? What needs to addressed? For starters, it may be time to retire the name.” Kevin DeYoung (DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed) Jonathan Edwards (Wikipedia) I will never forget that day back in 2006 when the September issue of Christianity Today arrived in the mail. Dee called and said: “You really need to read the article on the front cover called: "Young, Restless, Reformed: Calvinism is making a comeback – and shaking up the church”. (link) As I write this post, I'm looking at that CT issue featuring a guy in a yellow t-shirt with a picture of Edwards on the front along with the words: JONATHAN EDWARDS IS MY HOMEBOY. Much has transpired in the YRR crowd since Colin Hansen wrote that article. Before we get into that, here is a little background information. In early September 2003, a friend and I went Binkley Chapel on the campus of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary to hear John MacArthur address the students. He had come to our area for two reasons – to speak at Southeastern as well Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Wed, Dec 21 2011.

Categories: Acts 29, Al Mohler, Authoritarian leadership, C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, John Piper, Mark Dever, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, New Reformed Theology, Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Sovereign Grace Ministries, Together for the Gospel, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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Rewriting History: SGM/SBC Style

deb — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:56:07 +0000

"Those who tell the stories also hold the power." Plato The Colosseum (taken by Deb) Five months ago many were surprised by the reconciliation of C.J. Mahaney and Larry Tomczak. LARRY WHO? We would imagine that this was a typical reaction of newcomers in Sovereign Grace Ministries. Kris over at SGM Survivors recently explained: (link) "Prior to early 2008, there was NOTHING anywhere online (except for the comments to that one now-defunct blog post where the subject of SGM had come up) that connected SGM to Larry T. All of SGM’s carefully sanitized history made it sound like PDI sort of popped up in the early 2000s as a fully-formed “family of churches” that had been founded by CJ alone." (Comment 109) Sidney, who sometimes comments on the SGM Survivors blog, chimed in with this startling remark: "I just checked with one of my “peeps” who’s still at CLC. They told me that at some family meeting this summer, the question was asked about Larry being “removed” from history. Josh said that he was, that was wrong and that he would be put back in history and they won’t be doing that anymore. Good move, CLC pastors, for having Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Mon, Dec 05 2011.

Categories: C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, Larry Tomczak, New Reformed Theology, SBC pastors, SGM, Southern Baptist Convention, Sovereign Grace Ministries

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