The Wartburg Watch » Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

Mark Dever / 9 Marks Edict – You Cannot Resign w/o “Permission”

deb — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:31:11 +0000

"Just as freedom to worship is protected by the First Amendment, so also is the liberty to recede from one’s religious allegiance." Guinn, 775 P.2d at 776 Statue of Liberty It is hard to fathom in the land of the free and the home of the brave that CHURCHES ARE IGNORING THE LAW OF THE LAND in order to impose their will on members (and in some cases, regular attendees). Bobby Jamieson, Assistant Editor at 9 Marks, just posted an article entitled: "Pastors, Don't Let your People Resign Into Thin Air". Jamieson begins with these words: "Does your church let people resign into thin air? A church member simply submits a letter or has a conversation with a pastor, and then poof!—they’re gone. And your church couldn’t say whether the person has joined another evangelical church or dropped off the face of the earth. My brothers, this should not be. . . An encouraging number of evangelical churches seem to be regaining meaningful practices of church membership and discipline. But I’m concerned that even some of these churches, however unintentionally, are leaving their back doors wide open." Doesn't it sound like he's talking about sheep or some other kind of Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Thu, Feb 02 2012.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Arminianism, Authoritarian leadership, Calvinism/Calvinista, Church contracts, Church discipline, Covenants/Contracts, Mark Dever, New Reformed Theology, Nine Marks, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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Fired Mars Hill Elder Breaks His Silence

deb — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:44:41 +0000

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." Edmund Burke FreeFoto.com Dee and I began blogging on March 19, 2009, after several years of giving lip service to it. A week before we launched The Wartburg Watch, Dee called me saying, "We've have got to start blogging NOW because if we don't I fear we'll get swallowed by a giant fish!" For the literalists among us, that's figurative language. With some degree of trepidation, we hammered out our thoughts and went online with our first post — Who Hijacked My Church? If you take time to read it, you will see that we have come a long way in our almost three years of blogging. However, history has shown that our research prior to launching this website was on target. At the end of that first post, we highlighted two issues that plague Christendom: (1) The rise of a new brand of Calvinism and (2) The expansion of church discipline. In our assessment of Mars Hill, we find it interesting that these are significant characteristics of Mark Driscoll's church. Since Dee and I missed the Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Mon, Jan 30 2012.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Acts 29, Authoritarian leadership, Calvinism/Calvinista, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, New Reformed Theology, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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Mark Driscoll’s Mars Hill-A Tutorial on Spiritual Abuse

deb — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:18:22 +0000

God will not hold us responsible to understand the mysteries of election, predestination, and the divine sovereignty. The best and safest way to deal with these truths is to raise our eyes to God and in deepest reverence say, " O Lord, Thou knowest." Those things belong to the deep and mysterious Profound of God's omniscience. Prying into them may make theologians, but it will never make saints. -AW Tozier Massive Solar Flare 1/ 2012 NASA-Goddard As many of you are now aware, Matthew Paul Turner has posted two explosive articles: (1) MARK DRISCOLL’S CHURCH DISCIPLINE CONTRACT: LOOKING FOR TRUE REPENTANCE AT MARS HILL CHURCH? SIGN ON THE DOTTED LINE here (2) MARK DRISCOLL’S ‘GOSPEL SHAME’: THE TRUTH ABOUT DISCIPLINE, EXCOMMUNICATION, AND CULT-LIKE CONTROL AT MARS HILL here. We want to commend both Turner and Andrew (who is the subject of these posts) for their courage in allowing this story to be presented to a watching world. This saga has carefully exposed the underbelly of what appears to be abusive leadership at Mars Hill Church and sounds a clarion call to those in the pew. It is time to stop the excuses and start dealing with the bizarre "goings Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Wed, Jan 25 2012.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Acts 29, Calvinism/Calvinista, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, New Reformed Theology, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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“Why I Hate Religion” Goes Viral

deb — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:16:59 +0000

"Here's probably the reason I hate religion the most violently. Religion tells you this. Religion tells you it's all about what you do!" Mark Driscoll Cathedral in Europe Have you seen the YouTube sensation "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus" that has had over 16 million hits? Take a look… Jefferson Bethke, who posted this video on January 10th, came to my attention earlier today as I watched CBS This Morning. I found the remarks of this 22-year-old interesting as he attempted to speak for his generation. Here is what Bethke said before a national audience: "I think my generation has been inundated or inoculated with the hypocrisy of religion, and so I think that's the good and the promising future is my generation just wants authenticity. We want to know that whatever they say they believe. And I think there will be a resurgence of grace following, Jesus loving, Bible believing people who will maybe transform and change this country for the good because we believe and we have that power and that grace with us." If you Google Jesus>Religion or Why I Hate Religion or Jefferson Bethke, all kinds of articles show up. Fortunately, I did just Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Mon, Jan 23 2012.

Categories: Acts 29, Calvinism/Calvinista, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, New Reformed Theology, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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Brierley Versus Driscoll

deb — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:58:39 +0000

"When you've got guys in dresses, you know, preaching to grandmas and young men won't show up as a nation, you've gotta ask yourself, you know, have we picked a course that really fits the past but isn't gonna work for the future?" Mark Driscoll Justin Brierley So Mark Driscoll truly believes he has established a course of action that will advance Christendom? Poppycock! (which means unbelievable) Yep, "Unbelievable?" is also the British radio program hosted by Justin Brierley on Premier Christian Radio. Before we take a look at some of the most controversial exchanges between Justin Brierley and Mark Driscoll, I believe it is important to point out that not everything Driscoll states is correct. Here is a case in point. During the interview, Driscoll tells Brierley that Seattle is "the most educated city in America." Wrong! Here's the most recent ranking in Men's Health. Most educated cities in America, along with their grades. 1. Madison, WI A+ 2. Plano, TX A+ 3. Raleigh, NC A 4. Burlington, VT A 5. Seattle, WA A- By the way, Dee and I are very proud of where our city placed in this ranking – Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Thu, Jan 19 2012.

Categories: Acts 29, Authoritarian leadership, Calvinism/Calvinista, Culture and the faith, Gender Gospel, Gender Roles, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, New Reformed Theology, Role of women in the church, Women and the church, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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Driscoll Bitter Toward the Brits?

deb — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:32:59 +0000

“Let’s just say this . . . right now, name for me the one young, good Bible teacher that's known across Great Britain. You don’t have one – that is a problem. There's a bunch of cowards who aren’t telling the truth. You don't have one. You don't have one young guy who can preach the Bible that anybody's listening to on the whole earth." Mark Driscoll Big Ben (Taken by Deb) Oh what a difference a year can make! It was around this time last year that a chap who goes by "theurbanpastor" shared some fantastic news on his blog. This was his jubilant anouncement: "‘We’ve got him’ were the words that brought to fruition ‘Red Dawn’; the covert operation to apprehend Saddam Hussein in 2003. I have no idea whether Stephen Fletcher, omnicompetent administrator of the London Men’s Convention, shouted something similar when he recently received the confirmatory e-mail from Mark Driscoll. But he’d have been forgiven for whooping in celebration! It’s now official, Mark Driscoll is coming to London. And he’s playing live in the Royal Albert Hall for the benefit of the 2011 London Men’s Convention. This is very good news. And I hope that it’ll Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Wed, Jan 18 2012.

Categories: Acts 29, Calvinism/Calvinista, Gender Gospel, Gender Roles, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, New Reformed Theology, Role of women in the church, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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Is the Sun Setting on YRR – aka New Calvinism?

deb — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:58:15 +0000

"Our chief concerns have to do with immaturity, instability, and inconsistency in the YRR movement." John MacArthur Beaufort (NC) Sunset (Taken by Deb) The Young, Restless, and Reformed Movement (YRR) gained much notoriety five years ago when Collin Hansen coined his catchy description of a new trend in Christendom. The emergent church movement, so prevalent decades before, waned while the YRR movement, also known as "New Calvinism" advanced at rapid speed. We believe advances in technology are largely responsible for YRR growth. Websites, conferences, blogs, podcasts, Facebook, and Twitter have been highly utilized by the New Calvinists to promote their brand. So many young, serious-minded Christians have fallen in lock step behind those leading the movement, and until recently there seemed to be no stopping the popularity of YRR leaders. Remember the 2009 TIME ranking of Top Ten ideas changing the world? (link) "The New Calvinism" came in at number three. A mere two years later, there appear to be problems afoot within the movement. Perhaps C.J. Mahaney's stepping down as president of Sovereign Grace Ministries in early July triggered a panoply of voices. The internet, which popularized New Calvinism, appears to be a driving force for the movement's Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Thu, Dec 22 2011.

Categories: Calvinism/Calvinista, John MacArthur, Kevin DeYoung, New Reformed Theology, SGM, Sovereign Grace Ministries, Submission, 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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Tomczak Sets the Record Straight

deb — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 04:55:58 +0000

"But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." Genesis 50:20 (NKJV) Larry Tomczak The departure of Larry Tomczak from PDI (renamed Sovereign Grace Ministries) has always been somewhat of a mystery until now… For those not familiar with him, Larry Tomczak took a young C.J. Mahaney under his wing back during the Jesus Movement (1970s) and together they founded a Bible study in the Washington, D.C. area called "Take and Give". They attracted a large following which numbered into the thousands and eventually started a church in Gaithersburg, Maryland that is now called Covenant Life Church. Mahaney became the pastor of the church. They also established an outreach ministry called People of Destiny, which focused on church planting, and Tomczak led this effort. He also served as pastor of Fairfax Covenant Church before relocating to Atlanta. (SGMers, if I don't have the history correct, please let me know.) Next year Tomczak will be marking his 40th year of full-time ministry. This milestone must be extremely important to him because he has finally decided to "tell the story of Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Fri, Dec 02 2011.

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

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WHO ARE THE “BAND OF BLOGGERS”?

deb — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:15:05 +0000

Categories: Band of Bloggers, C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

The Band of Bloggers and internet idolatry.

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