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Faux Conservative David French Pushes Wild Christian Nationalist Conspiracy Theories

David French, a self-proclaimed “conservative” Christian commentator has proven himself to be quite the opposite of conservative, especially over the past 6 years. David could be called a conservative in the same sense that Francis Collins is called a “Christian Scientist”, Stephen Colbert is called a “Christian Witness”, and Arius of Alexandria is called a “Church Father”. All of these labels are false advertising, of course, but many are duped by French’s “conservative” label and position in Big-Eva.

New York Times Columnist David Brooks, recently described French as one of the “Dissenters trying to save Evangelicalism from itself”, a title that begs the question, “What will French save us from?” Leftist publications like the New York Times and The Atlantic regard French as a conservative, which means that everyone to his right must be a theological fundamentalist or politically alt-right, as of course leftist publications have an excellent track record of keeping accurate weights and measures.

Alongside his friends in leftist media, French pushed the leftist Never-Trump narrative of the Trump-Russia Collusion scandal throughout Trump’s presidency. The collusion narrative that has been maintained by leftists over the past six years remains one of the greatest conspiracy theories of the last decade, a conspiracy theory on par with QAnon. Despite the fact that Trump has been out of office for more than a year, he continues to live rent-free in French’s head. In a recent post on the “French Press”, French alleges that Trump-supporting “Christian Nationalists” on the far-right are infiltrating churches to create a “potentially insurrectionary subculture”. French believes that right-wing revolutionaries are conspiring in churches, with offerings such as:

“The Seeds of Political Violence Are Being Sown in Church.

The new insurrection is being organized, in a sanctuary near you.”

Christians with a very basic understanding of scripture reject the notion that political idolatry is acceptable, despite the fact that some “pastors” cross the line and fall into political idolatry on a regular basis. However, French’s accusation of a widespread right-wing church-organized insurrection is so ludicrous and lacking in hard evidence that it qualifies as a bona-fide conspiracy theory, equivalent to the likes of the Trump-Russia Collusion and QAnon conspiracies.

French has bought into two conspiracy theories in the past six years, qualifying him as a tin-foil hat-wearing nut job. French is busy tilting at windmills to protect Evangelicalism from itself. Where is The Gospel Coalition’s conspiracy theory interventionist Joe Carter when you need him? French’s friends in Big-Eva don’t have the ability to punch left. They can only punch right. The double standard is real.


Editor’s Note. This is a guest post by Paul Brown
Sources: Opinion | Can These Evangelicals Save Their Movement? – The New York Times (nytimes.com) , The Seeds of Political Violence Are Being Sown in Church (thedispatch.com)

Categories
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Why is the ERLC Criticizing MacArthur For Refusing to Contend For Baal?

In response to the circulation of a heavily edited John MacArthur sermon clip from January 2021, the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and many Big-Eva leaders recently attacked Pastor MacArthur for “opposing religious freedom”. In the article, “3 Reasons John Macarthur is Wrong About Religious Liberty”, Casey McCall of the ERLC invokes the 1778 account of the Baptist pastor David Barrow, who was nearly drowned by Anglicans. McCall proceeds to caricaturize Macarthur as a sectarian proponent of forced conversions:

McCall and many others in Big Eva who make this argument are deliberately ignoring what MacArthur intends when he says that he opposes religious freedom. MacArthur, a Baptist who was a decades-long friend and ministry partner of Presbyterian Pastor R.C. Sproul, is not a sectarian looking to persecute Presbyterians by abducting them and forcefully baptizing them in a fashion similar to the aforementioned treatment of Pastor David Burrow. If you watch the unedited sermon, immediately after attacking the idea of religious freedom, MacArthur proceeds to criticize those who hold a postmillennial view of eschatology and believe that they will take over the world. MacArthur is not a proponent of theonomy who wants to establish an official state religion or forcefully convert people. Rather, MacArthur simply opposes the idea that Christians should advocate for freedom of religion on behalf of false religions. Scripture is chock-full of instances where God commanded the faithful to tear down idols, oppose idols, and oppose false religions. There is not a single scriptural example of God telling anyone to advocate for those preaching false religion or their ideology. 2020 Clarity: Reflecting on God’s Goodness in the Last Year – YouTube

The ERLC wants you to believe that John MacArthur is a zealot, while hiding the fact that they materially support false religions through their position on “religious freedom”. For more than a decade, the ERLC has advocated on behalf of Islamic organizations that receive resistance from local communities seeking to block the construction of mosques. Instead of preaching the truth and trusting the sovereignty of God to bless faithful ministry, as Pastor MacArthur has done for 53 years, many Southern Baptists have bought into the false currency of “cultural capital”. Derived from a false teaching of St. Francis of Assisi (Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words), cultural capital theory teaches that Christians must earn worldly brownie points by being extra nice to pagans, and advocating for the rights of those who follow pagan gods and desire to enshrine sin into law.

In this pragmatic man-centered theory, when worldly people who worship false gods and have darkened hearts see a Christian with a large accumulation of cultural capital brownie points, their hearts instantly melt like a marshmallow over an open fire, and they become instant converts because they believe that Christians are such nice good people. If they don’t become converts, it is expected that the pagans will at least reciprocate the treatment and advocate for Christian rights. Apparently, the cultural capital folks forgot how Christians are treated in Muslim countries. Unfortunately, many who focus on earning cultural capital rather than preaching the Gospel have twisted themselves and their faith into a gnarly pretzel, and they have no fruit to show for having jettisoned the truth of the Gospel.

In Judges 6:25-31, the Lord commanded Gideon to tear down the altar to Baal that belonged to his father Joash. The pagans in the community who utilized the altar for their idolatry were understandably outraged at this action, because it showed great disrespect to their pagan deity. When the pagans called on Joash to bring out his son so that he could be executed for the offense, Joash rebuked them saying, “Let Baal contend for himself” (vs 31). God didn’t reason with the pagans, and he didn’t give Gideon a post-demolition apology speech. Gideon didn’t help the pagans find a new church home. The Lord is a jealous God, who wants all of the glory for himself.

If your church belongs to the SBC, a portion of your giving goes to the Cooperative Program. A portion of the money that goes to the Cooperative Program is allotted to the ERLC, and the ERLC uses a portion of that money to advocate for “Religious Freedom” in the form of creating legal briefs to support the construction of mosques, and lobbying governments for the advance of “Islamic rights”. Islam is tantamount to Baal worship.

The ERLC contends for Baal.


Editor’s Note. This article was written by Paul Brown.