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Dipping Now Into Application Of American Fundamentalism And British Evangelicalism
PART TWO
The Quality of Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism
What Justifies Separation?
The recent Alistair Begg story provides a teaching moment for comparison between American Fundamentalism and British Evangelicalism. It also gives pause for judging the credibility or quality of these movements. Were the participants believing and practicing scripture?
Many evangelicals consequently gave their take on attending a same-sex or transgender wedding ceremony. The circumstance gave rise to some right teaching on the scriptural and true nature of marriage. Some usually weaker men offered strong reasons for not attending the wedding, grandma or not. They exposed Begg with their words.
Begg justified his bad counsel with the context of British evangelicalism. British evangelicalism does “nuance.” Actually, American evangelicalism and fundamentalism also both do and have done nuance in the same spirit. However, something is happening or changing in American evangelicalism for these evangelical men to turn against Begg in the manner they are. Perhaps they foresee the demise of evangelicalism without their putting a stake in the ground on more of these issues. I don’t see the dust as having settled yet either on further strong stands on cultural issues.
Fundamentals of the Faith
Earliest fundamentalism, what some call paleo-fundamentalism, did not separate over cultural issues. It did separate over gospel-oriented ones, especially what became the five fundamentals of the faith:
(1) the literal inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible, (2) the virgin birth and full deity of Christ, (3) the physical Resurrection of Christ, (4) the atoning sacrifice of His death for the sins of the world, and (5) His second coming in bodily form to preside at the Last Judgment.
The fundamentals really are an arbitrary list of beliefs. Nothing in scripture says these are fundamental. Yet, fundamentalists believed they should not fellowship, that is, separate from institutions that deny one of the fundamentals.
On the other hand, evangelicals might believe the five fundamentals, but they would not separate over them. Fundamentalists separated over five more issues than evangelicals would. With greater degradation of doctrine and practice across the United States, a greater gap grew between evangelicalism and fundamentalism. Even though fundamentalism started with separation over just the fundamentals, the list of reasons for separation grew. Fundamentalists chose to grow that list and also began to separate over cultural issues. They didn’t separate over everything, but they separated over much more than five fundamentals.
New Separation
Not Biblical
Evangelicals who never practiced separation now will do that. They do not teach biblical separation. However, they now separate. You can see that with the cancellation of Alistair Begg from the 2024 Shepherds Conference in Southern California. This separation does not follow the various formulas of separation of the New Testament. Scripture explains why and how to separate (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1, ! Corinthians 5, 2 Thessalonians 3, 2 Timothy 2, Titus 3).
Scripture explains that a church can keep or preserve biblical doctrine and practice through separation. Without separation, false teaching and practice will profane or corrupt the true. True doctrine and practice goes by the wayside. The false teaching and practice destroys institutions. This is a strong reason why God says not to allow false doctrine into your house nor to bid it Godspeed (2 John). Those who will not separate are not standing with God.
No Mention of Doctrine of Separation
Right now conservative evangelicals will separate, but they will not mention the doctrine of separation. Begg preached at the Shepherd’s Conference in 2015 and 2023. He was slated again this year, 2024. Christian Headlines reports the following:
A spokesperson for Grace To You, the ministry led by Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, told Religion News Service that Begg has been dropped from this year’s Shepherds Conference, which is slated to take place in March.
“After Begg’s comments became public, he and MacArthur talked and decided the controversy would be “an unnecessary distraction,” the spokesman said.
“Pastor MacArthur’s counsel on that issue would be completely different from the counsel Alistair Begg said he gave an inquiring grandmother,” Phil Johnson, executive director of Grace to You, told Religion News Service in an email. “So both agreed that it was necessary for Pastor Begg to withdraw.”
This is not the biblical method of separation. Separation is right, but adherents should practice it according to scripture. Grace Community Church does not treat it as separation. It’s a “distraction.” That’s it. This continues to show a reticence for evangelicals to separate. It actually fits more with a model of what people today call, the cancel culture. Shepherd’s Conference cancelled Begg.
Separation and Cultural Issues
Same sex marriage rises to the level of a fundamental, worthy of separation. Furthermore, it’s not just participation in a same sex marriage, but attending the wedding and even encouraging someone else to go to one. As a kind of thought experiment, what about a cultural issue like nudity? Is it permissible for Christians to get naked in public? At what point is someone practicing nudity?
As another example of a cultural issue, for a long time, evangelical churches accept nudity to some degree. They would deny it They show little to no inclination to define the boundaries of nudity. They will not separate over it. It’s a non-essential. You can lay in public on the sand wearing something less than underwear without any repercussions. Evangelicals won’t cancel pastors of churches that allow for nudity.
The determining factor for an evangelical church on cultural issues is not scripture. Evangelicals now latch on to the definition of marriage and practice a crude, non-biblical form of separation over it. They cherry pick this one issue. Many others they give almost complete liberty to practice however people want.
Confusion Over Separation
In the last few years, John MacArthur did a Q and A with seminary students of his seminary. Someone asked about this very subject, trying to figure out when and when not to cooperate with someone else in ministry for God. MacArthur was very ambiguous in that he pointed to one qualification of true faith in Christ, yet also someone shouldn’t accept woman preachers. On the other hand, baby baptism is not a deal breaker. Someone, like R. C. Sproul, can sprinkle infants — no line drawn there.
God is not a God of confusion (1 Cor 14:33). No. Does scripture give the guidelines necessary for biblical separation? It does. American evangelicals and even fundamentalists offer confusion. Begg defers to British evangelicalism, which brings even greater confusion. He references John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who separated from each other.
Stott continued in the Church of England his whole life. The Church of England helps explain the difference between American and British evangelicalism. Stott saw leaving the Church of England as an institutional loss. Separation meant losing all of the infrastructure and resources to the large majority liberal faction. It is sheer, unscriptural pragmatism, also explained as compassion.
More to Come
Revivalism or Fake Revival, Jesus Revolution, and Asbury, pt. 3
Religious or Spiritual Ecstasy, Soft Continuationism
Again and again through the years, I wrote on religious ecstasy, a perversion of true spirituality experienced in Corinth (1 Corinthians 12:1-3) [see here, here, here, here, here, and here]. In 1 Corinthians 1, when Paul said that the Jews seek after signs (1 Cor 1:22), they were seeking for some experiential means of authenticating their spirituality. God settled the faith once and for all (Jude 1:3) with the completion of scripture. God chooses to use the oracles of God and that glorifies Him (1 Peter 4:11).
With true signs not available, except for something demonically manufactured to impersonate them, men use cheap, superficial counterfeits. Usually these are a form of what some termed, “soft continuationism.” What Paul confronted in Corinth was ecstatic experience. Ecstasy means: “an emotional or religious frenzy or trance-like state, originally one involving an experience of mystic self-transcendence” More than any other way, to give this mystical feeling that the Holy Spirit is working, what is religious ecstasy, comes through music.
Asbury “Revival”
A Description
Someone seeking to justify the recent Asbury, Kentucky experience as revival, challenged what I wrote in part one in the comment section, to which I wrote on March 2:
I watched the earliest posted meeting at Asbury and zoomed through a very long period of Charismatic style emotionalism, repetitious, rock rhythmed, sentimental, superficial, doctrinally ambiguous, led by women, ecstatic music before getting to the “sermon,” which was nothing like Edwards or Whitefield. Maybe the aesthetic and spirit of the so-called worship means nothing to you, but it clashed with the biblical nature of God. It more reminded me of a Corinthian style revival.
If Charles Finney were alive, he would likely be proud of it. Everyone appeared in the egalitarian, postmodern casual, sloppy, and disordered dress (ripped blue jeans, etc.), giving no indication of anyone in authority. The man I heard used a few verses from a modern version, but at best you would be unsure what salvation was. It sounded more like Jesus as therapist. His list of sins that you put into your makeshift cup to give to Jesus included racism and terrorism. No one would even know who Jesus was, why or what it meant to believe in Him.
In Contrast
I continued.
I heard no biblical exposition. This is an updated kind of revival for today’s generation, like one of those Bibles with a hippie cover, to show how relevant the Bible could become. All of what I saw and heard conformed to the spirit of the age, would not dare distinguish itself, probably could not do that and be acceptable to that crowd.
It seemed that people in the audience were stirred to a certain degree. They were affected. I saw some emotion. Is that indications of the Holy Spirit? I have seen the same spirit, aroused by music in Charismatic settings, giving the impression that something spiritual is going on, but it choreographed by the feelings led by the music.
Similar Comments at the Shepherd’s Conference on March 8-10
After I wrote that on March 2, in the Q and A at his Shepherd’s Conference (the conference was March 8-10), someone asked John MacArthur about the Asbury so-called “revival.” The host referenced Jonathan Edwards and his historic and biblical teaching on the marks of revival. If it is revival, Edwards would say it must bear certain marks, or else it is fraudulent, a kind of impersonation like I said above. He said one assesses a true work of God based upon the Word of God and not emotion or feelings.
John MacArthur and Scott Aniol
MacArthur commented then on the Asbury Revival:
For most of those kids, it was not about Christ, but about the chords. It was about singing the same words for twenty minutes in a row in some kind of mesmerizing pseudo-spiritual experience that had no relationship to sound doctrine, to the depth of the gospel. I would like to know if that same revival would have occurred without the music. Shut the music down and find out what God is really doing.
I’m glad to hear MacArthur say essentially the same thing I said. Scott Aniol also picked up on this with an excellent article, you all should read, written on March 13, entitled, “Christ or Chords? The Manipulated Emotionalism of Hillsong, Asbury, and Pentecostalized Evangelical Worship.” He picked up on the comment by MacArthur, “not about Christ, but about the chords.” This is such an important theme for today.
Strange Fire?
MacArthur in the past gave a pass to contemporary style worship, using it in his own conference again and again. If anyone, like myself, criticized it, the MacArthur allies came out of the woodwork to attack me vehemently. In his now renowned Strange Fire Conference, MacArthur said the following, actually in contradiction of much of his own historic practice:
The contemporary evangelical church has very little interest in theology and doctrine, so you’re going to have a tough sell. It’s about style. And style is the Trojan Horse that lets Charismatics in the church. Because once you let the music in, the movement follows. It all of a sudden becomes common.
We sound like the Charismatics, sing like they do, have the same emotional feelings that they have. It’s a small step from doing the same music to buying into the movement. So the tough thing is you’re going back to a church that is thinking like that. It’s hard to make sound doctrine the issue when style is much more the interest of the leaders of the church.
Later he said:
I don’t think it has to do with what the teachers are saying. I think it’s the music. It’s like getting drunk so you don’t have to think about the issues of life. If you shut down the music, turn on the lights, and have someone get up there and try to sell that with just words, it’s not going to work. You’ve got to have some way to manipulate their minds.
Consistency and Discernment
The people MacArthur used in the Shepherd’s Conference in the past use a Charismatic style of worship, led by women very often, and giving the same kind of trance-like ecstatic experience. I believe he’s changing on this, and Scott Aniol latches on to that in his article.
Independent and even unaffiliated Baptists regularly produce their ecstasy in a kind of soft continuationism. It is a huge lack of discernment and it is very often ignored completely as a matter of fellowship. In other words, they encourage false worship through these forms of strange fire. Let this be a serious warning to us all and for the glory of God.
John MacArthur: A Conservative Evangelical Preaches on Separation
A sermon popped up in the notifications on my phone late last week and it said, “Come Out from Their Midst and Be Ye Separate (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)” by John MacArthur. Apparently it was something preached earlier in March at his Shepherd’s Conference, but only posted three days before. I was very surprised to see the text and especially the title with the word “separate” in it.
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