The Heart of Christ: Self-Righteous Karen Vs Only Fans Girl, Whose Side Are We On?
I’m thankful that our Tweeter-in-Chief on the Protestia X account makes a point to include “Things We Like” on a regular basis. You know, it includes stuff like baptism services, small churches who never closed during Covid, old guys singing a hymn on their front porch, and stuff like that. It makes us feel warm and fuzzy, which is a change from the way we usually feel from our posts about the ELCA somehow getting even gayer or a mega church pastor who drove a Cyber Truck into the sanctuary.
As the originator of Protestia who had the bright idea to make a website dedicated to all the ridiculous, heretical things Christians and sub-Christians do in the name of Jesus, I’ve a pretty calloused disposition to the asinine. When you chronicle this garbage day-in and day-out for a decade or longer, little can surprise you because – to appropriate a quote from Solomon – there is no new heresy under the sun.
From zip line pulpit entrances to stripper poles as sermon props, we’ve seen it all at Protestia, and made fun of all of it. It’s rare that we see something that legitimately angers us, merely because our anger button has been pressed so many times it doesn’t work as well as it used to. In fact, my disinterest in the ridiculous has led me to write as much at Insight to Incite about deeper cultural issues than here at Protestia’s Museum of Stupid Stuff Evangelicals Do.
But, wow. I saw something last week I’ve been meaning to get to. It made my blood boil, and after thinking about it for a week, I’ve decided it should make my blood boil.
Let me fill you in on the kerfuffle.
An Only Fans (it’s an app and site in which you can pay pseudo-celebrities for exclusive content, which can range from physics lectures to photographs, but is mostly p0rn) girl named Nala Ray, reportedly came to Christ.
It’s here we should immediately be cautious. Not skeptical, per se, but cautious. When the primary skill set and trade-good that women have to offer is their flesh, it’s not uncommon for them to find a new skill set when their flesh fades.
Or, for example, when they figure it’s time to stop sewing wild oats and find a husband – and discover that quality men don’t typically want a used woman that many other men have already known (in a Biblical sense) – they’ll get ‘ho-saved,’ which is similar to being ‘jail-saved,’ which wears off pretty quickly.
Personally, I blame the concept of ‘Born Again Virginity’ from the True Love Waits culture or some similar silly notion, that salvific redemption can bequeath you with second-hand chastity. Of course, the washing of regeneration that comes in Christ, doesn’t make your flesh un-do the past. Some people get saved and still have devil tattoos on their forehead, and some women get saved and still have a triple-digit body count that isn’t going away. You get the point.
I’m quite thankful for Protestia’s treatment of Nala Ray, which has been both kind and cautionary. They thanked God when she professed faith, and there was much reason to. Saying that Jesus is just okay with you, or popping into the Jordan River for a quick baptism while on a Holy Land tour, is not the same as being able to confess that what God calls sin is indeed sin, and to turn away from the “former lusts that once consumed you” (1 Peter 1:14).
Without a confession of sin, there’s no evidence the Holy Spirit is legitimately at work, because Jesus said the Holy Spirit’s job is “convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment” (John 16:8). Ergo, being able to publicly acknowledge that you agree with God that what you once enjoyed is sin, that you understand your righteousness must come from Christ, and that there is a God to whom you are accountable, is a partial evidence of salvation (there are some other things).
However, we’ve all seen porn stars or Hollywood celebrities or “influencers” of various kinds announce they’re on Team Jesus but go on to show utter disregard for Jesus’ teachings (a decade ago, they usually had Carl Lentz in tow). And this is the reason for Protestia’s caution regarding Nayla Ray.
After all, how many of us were happy to see Ye profess Christ with what appeared to be sincere enthusiasm? I was happy, and not just because I saw what the rest of you saw on social media, but because I knew the very solid brothers in Wyoming (where he had relocated) who were attempting to disciple him. And now, Kanye has remarried, re-divorced, and walks around the streets in trash bags and reportedly is starting a p0rn company.
The danger with this, is that new converts are usually not equipped to be leading others to Christ. Even the Apostle Paul studied for three years (there is a dispute about whether that was with Christ, in the Word and in prayer, or with the disciples) before beginning his ministry. So, when someone like Russell Brand comes along, we are ecstatic for him, but also wish he would shut up for a while until he gets grounded in discipleship.
And that’s what Protestia was getting at with this tweet:
The Whatever podcast, further filling you in, largely exists to make fun of women who need to be made fun of. I’ll grant it that their mission is not altogether unneeded. Mockery, after all, is often a profound avenue for enlightenment. And on the Whatever podcast, Nala Ray demonstrated that she does not have a firm grasp on essential Christian doctrines.
But then…well…it got really inappropriate really quickly.
If you don’t want to watch that, good for you. But let me tell you what you would see.
You would see a bitter, angry woman – in the name of Jesus – insult, berate, and humiliate a little one (Matthew 18:6) who has either recently came to Christ, or is in the process of coming to Christ. The context of Matthew 18 is not didactically about children, but those who embrace Jesus with childlike faith, and someone comes along like an older disciple, and shews them away, causing them to stumble.
Imagine the scene. Here are the disciples who’ve been following Jesus around for quite a while. They are proud of their proximity to Christ. And getting too close to Jesus for their own comfort, they discourage children from coming up to him. Jesus rebukes them strongly, and warns them that they would be better off hanging a weight around their neck and jumping off a boat.
Keep in mind, at this point in Jesus’ ministry, the disciples are portrayed as brain-dead morons who had yet to figure out in fullness who Jesus was. They understood precisely zero parables. Everything Jesus said had to be explained to them, but they wouldn’t be able to understand any of it until after Pentecost, except a small confession from Peter at one point that Jesus was the Son of God. In other words, whatever they thought they knew about Christ, was nothing compared to the knowledge they would one day have, so they certainly had no business discouraging anyone from coming to learn at his feet.
Folks, I’ve looked demonically possessed people in the face. I’ve studied the Occult and listened to everything I could from Anton Lavey and Carol Lansing (his replacement in the Church of Satan). My study of the Occult and of sub-Christian cults is what brought to you ministries like Pulpit & Pen and Protestia. I read the Screwtape Letters annually, just for the reminder that Satan is very real and his schemery among men is evident all around us. I have seen the worst and most demonic things the Prince of this World has to offer to us.
That said, I’ve not seen anything more demonic than the way Rachel Wilson treated Nala Ray in a very, very long time. And by that, I don’t imply that Wilson is possessed. I’m asserting she was doing the work of demons.
Those with whom the Holy Spirit is dealing and dwelling, are for us a sacred Ark of the Covenant and we must not dare lay a finger upon it. God Almighty is there, in his Third Person, drawing the new believer to himself. To treat someone like Nala Ray, the way Rachel Wilson treated her, is profane in every sense of the word. It is to make vulgar, something that is set-apart and special.
I was careful at Pulpit & Pen to publish explanations and descriptions for every ancient heresy I could, for the sake of modern readers; Aryanism, Sabellianism, Monarchianism, Socinianism, Gnosticism, Anti-Trinitarianism, Modalism, and the like. We made up terms to describe new iterations of old heresies, like Osteenism, Keynonism, Rauschenbuschism, Theoerosism (that term really caught on) and compared new divergent teachings like hyper-charismaticism with ancient Montanism.
The point is, correcting people’s theology is something we have always specialized in. However, even though that’s true, I can’t understand where Rachel Wilson is coming from.
What I mean by that is, every ounce of energy Protestia and Pulpit & Pen have put into correcting theology was for the sake of reproof, correction, and training in godliness (2 Timothy 3:16). It was not done in order to project a palpable self-righteousness to berate or attack lost people or new converts. And what Wilson did to Ray in that podcast was not correction, it was viciously attacking. There is a difference.
I’m not the slightest bit worried about an angry soccer mom with a permanent scowl deterring Nala Ray from coming to faith. Grace, after all, is irresistible, and the Hound of Heaven always gets his gal. But may God forbid one of his precious, little children be mistreated that way for entertainment (which is what the Whatever podcast is about).
When Jesus encountered the promiscuous woman in Samaria (John 4), perhaps the most famous evangelism encounter in the Bible, she tried to discuss doctrine with him. He refused to get into a doctrinal skirmish over what mountain they were obligated to worship upon. He stuck to her need for repentance and to accept the Living Water he was offering.
The moment we forget that salvation is as simple as trusting in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, confessing our sin, and acknowledging that he is Lord, is the moment we learned way too much polemics.
While there are serious concerns about a new believer not understanding Trinitarian language or being unable to wrap their head around doctrinal issues that confound even the wise, catechesis comes down the road for the newly converted. Unless they are a child raised in a household of faith, catechesis always comes after conversion. My jaw dropped to the floor to hear Wilson berate Nala Ray over her lack of understanding of Communion, of all things.
Lutherans believe in consubstantiation, and non-Reformed Baptists believe in pure Memorialism, for example. Even if you remove Papists and their view of transubstantiation from the equation (and the transubstantiation mishmash of Rachel Wilson’s Orthodoxy), if you put three Protestants in a room to discuss Communion they’ll come out with five different opinions. Are we rationally expecting a redeemed or redeeming former Only Fans influencer to understand to the satisfaction of a bitter church wife?
If I was forced to choose as company (and I am not) a former Only Fans girl and Bitter Blue Betty, I’m choosing the Only Fans girl because I believe that’s what Jesus would do.
Polemics is not a stick to beat lost people, and it’s not a rod to beat new converts. It is a staff, the hook of which is to grab lost lambs and pull them out of the mud.
For additional thoughts, check out my Substack, Insight to Incite.
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“Polemics is not a stick to beat lost people, and it’s not a rod to beat new converts…”
But JD…that’s exactly what you’ve been doing for the better part of the last decade or so. That’s the entire reason Pulpit & Pen and Protestia were created in the first place. You spewed your vitriol and ran your mouth until it finally caught up with you, and now you’re nothing but a convicted felon writing op-eds for the site you yourself founded.
Hope your pal Morrill will pay you enough for this trash to help pay your court fines.
I’ve been neither convicted nor a felon (as a matter of fact), but thanks.
We have always rejoiced at new conversions, and have reserved our “vitriol” for false prophets, not those who follow them and least of all, for new believers.
JD, while you’re here, I want to clarify that what I posted under your previous article was not meant with any animosity. I don’t believe that what happened is permanently disqualifying. But I was a bit concerned about whether or not you have recovered enough to jump back into the fray. I’ve had a couple of breakdowns and burnouts myself, and I know it can take a good while to recover. Sometimes you never fully recover, but just get used to it. Just posting anonymously can be stressful at times. I could not do what you guys do. And you’re much appreciated. Though I’ve disagreed with Protestia from time to time, I do appreciate all of you guys. I wouldn’t visit and comment here if I didn’t. But that was what was on my mind when I posted what I posted. Sounds like you’re doing well these days. But I too am a bit cautious. I believe I could probably speak for most when I say we just don’t want to see you run yourself ragged and have another breakdown. Be sure to get your rest. And remember His yoke is easy and His burden is light. The Lord uses us all in ways we will never know. Each doing our little bit. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
Very good article here, btw.
From what I watched of the video, it appeared that Rachel Wilson was claiming that one must take communion in order to be saved. I was brought up to believe that it isn’t required for salvation. Nor is baptism required.
The apologists at Got Questions state … “For example, if partaking of the Lord’s Table is necessary in order to receive grace, then grace is not really free and must be earned by deeds we perform, in contradiction of Titus 3:5. And, if the bread is actually the body of Christ, then the Lord is being sacrificed again and again, in contradiction of Romans 6:9–10. These matters are significant enough to have divided the church through the years and actually became an issue of contention during the Protestant Reformation.”
So the Orthodox Church gave us the Bible huh? Let’s see maybe this unredeemed hag means the NT because there was no Ortho Church prior to Christ coming to earth. And let’s see…. the Ortho Church split from the Roman Catholic Church if my history is correct. IF my history is not correct then they retained the RCC misinterpretation regarding “eucharist” and I’m like…really really really sure that neither Paul nor any other NT writer were “Orthodox” believers. So, I pick the OF girl all day long. Her faith is new, simple, and genuine because she trusts in Christ. Her understanding will hopefully continue to grow but she already has a real understanding of communion which that annoying ignoramus does not have and likely never will.
I didn’t see that part of the video, just skipped through it. But there’s a series of interesting documentaries I’d recommend, which talk about the history of the NT, called “Bridge To Babylon- Rome, Ecumenism & The Bible”, “A Lamp In The Dark – The Untold History Of The Bible”, and “Tares Among the Wheat- Sequel to A Lamp in the Dark”. It is focused mostly on Textus Receptus, and argues at times for the KJV only, which I don’t necessarily agree with, but it is still very informative.
One thing they note is that most of the Greek manuscripts that we have were found mostly in the east, because in the west the RCC imposed the Latin Vulgate, and the Jesuits went around persecuting Christians who used the Greek, and destroying Bibles that were not based on the vulgate.
If I recall, I believe the Byzantines probably did more than most to preserve the original Greek manuscripts, than any other group. But we do have those eastern churches that stayed with the original Greek to thank for preserving the manuscripts. They didn’t give us the Bible. But they do deserve some honor and credit for defying the RCC and preserving the original manuscripts.
Not that I’m taking her side. I agree with you. As far as I can tell, from what little I watched, the former OF girl is actually more in line with scripture than Wilson. In any event, if you haven’t seen those documentaries, I’d highly recommend them.
Thanks very much I will try to look into those. From all I have researched I think it is fair to say the “Protestant” church was the only church that was there from the beginning. There was no RCC, EO, Presbyterian or any other. So any group saying “we brought you the Bible” is lying. RCC’s being the worst at it. As to who collated, curated, conserved, well that’s all good but irrelevant to the question. The Bible predated and existed before any so called church, because primarily the Word has always existed right?
Anyway, I am watching a series called Driving from Acts to Revelation on Amazon Prime which I have found interesting. Somehow we got from a handful of Jews to thousands of Gentiles and Jews being “the Church” to a bunch of denominations claiming to have been there from the start. I would say that as in anything man made, it started well but soon the wheels began to fall off and error started creeping in. And that is where we are today. Many groups with the core truths and a lot of man made error or misinterpretations mixed in. Again, Catholics being the worst.
Yep, I agree. And it’s important, I believe, that people understand the difference between the man-made institution of church vs. the true universal church, the Bride of Christ. Because we’re Christians. Not Churchians. We don’t serve the church. We serve the Lord. If memory serves, they also talk about the RCC, and how it is basically a holdover of the Roman empire from the time of Constantine, the concept of the “Holy Roman Emperor”, and so on. And much of the reason paganism was mixed in by the RCC was because that’s what the Romans did. They sort of adopted the religion of conquered peoples and mixed it in with their own. I can’t remember all of it, and may not be correctly remembering. There was one other group very early on, predating the Byzantines, that was severely persecuted, but I can’t remember the name. They risked life and limb to hide those manuscripts. I couldn’t believe the persecution they went through. It truly has been a miraculous work of the Lord that the manuscripts have survived. And they’re still finding copies, partial copies, and fragments to this day, that were hidden in all sorts of places. I’ll check out that series, Acts to Revelation. Sounds like it would be interesting.
There go my excellent, super-great language skills again. We do serve one another (i.e., the church), but we do so as a matter of first serving the Lord. (1 John 5:1-5 always comes to mind)
A while back here, under an article about Ukraine, I mentioned that we, as protestants, have more in common with the eastern churches in eastern Ukraine, than we do with western Ukraine, which is more European, Catholic and Anglican. Which is true. We do. And we should be standing with our brothers and sisters in eastern Ukraine, not the wicked porneia-pushing, baby-murdering, atheistic and secular european west. But that wasn’t meant to be a full-blown endorsement of the Eastern Orthodox church, which I know very little about. I just hope what she said didn’t somehow come from me, and hope everybody understands that I’m a nobody, layman and sheep, who posts his opinion, often with bad English that can be difficult to follow, who’s just as fallible and imperfect as everyone else.
Go away, Jordan, back into private life. You’re disqualified. You’re not above reproach. You’re only playing by the same playbook you criticized so many others for: wait a year and now you’re back doing what you’ve always done. Your writing does not glorify God, doesn’t edify the church, and doesn’t convict sinners. You’re petty, irreverent, profane, and mean-spirited.
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