SO VERY LITTLE IS LEFT OF THE FRAMEWORK AND ORGANIZATION THAT SUPPORTED CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIANS FOR YEARS. FEELING PRETTY ALONE? HERE IS HOW AND WHY.
Rev Thomas Littleton 8/19/2020
On August 13th Robert Lopez article on the demise of many conservative Christian institutions appeared in American Thinker. Here is that article again.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/08/et_tu_falwell_the_lefts_playbook_at_liberty_u.html
In it Lopez provided a list of organizations long considered part of the foundation stones of the Christian conservative movement. On the 14th this writer dug into the details of just one of those organizations on a steady drift into uselessness since 2012 /2013. Focus on The Family, under the leadership of Jim Daly, disappointing drift is chronicled here:
https://thirtypiecesofsilver.org/2020/08/14/the-taking-down-of-conservative-christian-institutions/
NOW LETS LOOK AT SOME OF THE OTHERS AND LATER SOME NOT ON THE LOPEZ LIST.
THE COLSON CENTER
Chuck Colson was viewed by many conservative Christians as a very influential conservative. Having been a DC insider who went to prison for Watergate and “found faith” while in prison, Colson’s center was once viewed by conservative believers as a gathering place for the most inspired and inspiring public figures who “shared their worldview”. While some viewed Colson’s ecumenism and some drift on key issues as a problem, still Colson Center remained at the center of conservative Christian political engagement for decades.
Today Colson Center is a full on partner of the funding organization pushing the “Faith And Works” social justice driven socialist economics for the church. This is being done in the name Hayek economics and “Common Ground for the Common Good”. This effort has flooded our own seminaries since 2013. ANYWHERE you find buzz phrases like “Human Flourishing ” you can rest assured the influence spoken about above is being promoted in place of a repentance and transformation based Gospel.
- Consortium of Christian Study Centers
- Colson Center for Christian Worldview
- Made to Flourish
- Ron Blue Institute
- Sevensided Consulting
- Theology of Work Project (also a global partner)
The best we can say for the Colson Center is that it gets around. Colson Center is involved virtually everywhere in conservative circles. This is also the worst thing that can be said of it. Christian Apologetics and Worldview are now the Go-To tool for discipleship and the Colson Center still remains firmly at the top of the heap promoting the new “junk ” justice economics driving Social Justice in our own midst.
Colson Center also recently hired one of the leaders of the radical and controversial Revoice “LGBT+ Thriving ” movement to be a Colson Center Fellows mentor but soon scrubbed it’s website to cover this fact. Colson Center is a key partner in the IACE Christian education alliance at SWBTS building an infiltration tool to fully saturate the Christian education market from pre K to doctorate level.
https://thirtypiecesofsilver.org/2020/08/06/laying-siege-to-christian-education/
Colson Center has reportedly taken ( but not yet confirmed in writing ) millions from the same funding source as the “Social Justice ” driven curriculum causing full on infiltration elsewhere.
SOUTHERN BAPTIST ERLC
The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is the SBC policy and advocacy arm. ERLC presence with offices in DC gives it access to Capitol Hill and even to the White House.
https://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/explainer-a-history-of-the-erlc/
Longtime head Richard Land had his compromises on things like “Creation Care” aka global warming for politically and biblical sounding term for use by Christians. Land also signed on to be involved in the Council for Foreign Policy and run with some of the Aspen Institute events with fellow Baptist turned full time globalist Rick Warren. But Land did still come through on the homosexual agenda and gay marriage with a no nonsense opposition and was far from aligning with the Obama White House. But in March 2013 everything changed at the ERLC when Land was put out to pasture by charges or “plagiarism” and “insensitive ” comments on race during the Trayvon Martin news cycle.
OUT WITH THE OLD LAND -IN WITH THE MOHLER UNDERSTUDY
Russell Moore is now head of the ERLC .He was “elected” in March 2013. He is a Democrat with political ambitions who formerly worked as a staffer for a Democratic Congressman from Mississippi. Moore announced himself to the world with the waving of a flag of surrender to the “culture wars’ which he declared lost in an Oct 2013 Wall Street Journal article.
Evangelical Leader Preaches Pullback From Politics, Culture Wars
Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention says it is time for evangelicals to tone down the rhetoric.
Moore not only declared the “Culture War” was over and lost but that “Christians were the losers” and now had to ” back off the hateful rhetoric and just love our gay and lesbian neighbors”. For Moore no other battle seemed to epitomize the need for a nice new “WINSOME ” ( his favorite word) tone the massively funded and rising radical LGBTQ agenda in the second Obama administration. Unknown to most Baptist and conservative Christians the new ERLC head was VERY much at home in the Obama White House and was priming Christians to be “winsome” and go along if not outright supportive of the Obama admins anti-family and anti- religious liberty agenda. By 2014 Moore was even having private, closed door, backroom meetings with the Human Rights Campaign and other radical gay activist leaders. Baptist have never been told about these meetings or about what was agreed upon by the Baptist head ethics leader.
Moore has been a change agent from day one and has grown more brazen as the years wear on. He was/ is also a rabid never -Trumper/ Trump- hater to the point the SBC leadership in the Executive Committee called him in and a put him a short leash on his rhetoric after churches began withholding funds from the SBC missions giving called the “Cooperative Program”. The leftist politics of their ethics and public policy head have been making Biblical conservative Baptist mad for years.. Moore and the ERLC are being investigated yet again by the SBC Executive Committee on the same issues. It appears to matter only if it is impacting the cash flow as its impact on the political engagement of young Baptist does not appear to be of concern.
BEWARE WHEN YOUR CONSERVATIVE CHAMPION IS A BABY FACED LIBERAL TRAINED IN THEOLOGY
By the time Christians and Baptist in particular wised up to Moore, it was too late and much of the intentional damage to the SBC public stance had been done. Moore is so popular with the younger Seminary students and recent graduates in many SBC pulpits mainly because he gave voice to their own post modern disdain for their parents conservative convictions manifest in their political engagement. Moore may not have launched the rebellion by the “young, restless , and (neo) reformed” but he certainly helped foster and articulate it.
What Baptist still cannot accept is that Russell Moore is the protege of his spiritual father Albert Mohler under whose hand Moore was educated, served as his “research assistant” and was employed by Mohler’s SBTS (Seminary ) for over 20 years. In many uninformed minds the conservative Mohler, who “saved” the denominations flagship seminary from liberals almost 30 years ago, could never have provided the SBC with its most strategically placed ally of the far left. BUT INDEED HE DID.
“R. Albert Mohler Jr. presents the 2016 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year award to Russell D. Moore.”
If we measure Russell Moore by the values held by those who pay his salary and by his job description -he is truly one USELESS Baptist BUT he is a well placed agent of change.
ONE THE TOPIC OF USELESS BAPTIST
While not on the Robert Lopez list it is still worth noting that Baptist have been expected to yield their political convictions to the rhetoric of another Baptist pro-LGBTQ activist, Muslim dialog, and even Black Lives Matter ally .Baptist leader Ed Stetzer whose footprints loom large in the Baptist and conservative world is an example of the utter lack of substance many of the key leaders bring to Christian faith in the public square. If Stetzer were measured and labeled among the “essential vitamins” needed daily for conservative Baptist health, his collective work would have the nutritional value of 10 pounds of cotton candy. He has certainly helped rot the TEETH of Baptist conservatism and engagement.
Stetzer has worked for the Baptist NAMB missions organization, Lifeway Research, and now sits atop the chair at Wheaton of Baptist most renowned evangelist Billy Graham. Yes Ed Stetzer, the golden boy of Barna and product of the “New Paradigm Church growth movement” Leadership Network would likely give Russell Moore a run for the title of most meaningless Baptist in the denominations employ. Besides this, like Moore, Stetzer always manages to locate himself on the left side of Conservative Christians values and convictions. Also like Moore, Stetzer seems proud of his failure to represent those he is supposed to speak for. Stetzer has been effective at broadening his misrepresentation to include the name of Billy Graham in whose center Stetzer is housing and hosting things like “Neighborly Faith” which is a movement to drive Christians toward liking the idea of having more Muslims neighbors a lot so they will support more immigration reform which means more $$$ for Baptist ministries like NAMB who partner with the government to resettle “refugees”.Stetzer recently proudly marched with the Black Lives Matter protest in Chicago. ( More to come on this Baptist racial justification effort soon.)
FAITH AND WORK BAPTIST SUPPORT 2020 RACIAL PROTEST
NOTE: Several SBC leaders and pastors used the Faith and Work racial justice center out of TGC’s Thabitis Anyabwile’s church to support BLM and further stage Baptist show of support for the radical movement. ( More to come on this Baptist complicity with BLM soon.)
“The march was organized by Faith + Works DC, a Christian advocacy group out of Anacostia River Church pastored by Thabiti Anyabwile, and McLean Bible Church pastored by David Platt. Chronicled online with the hashtag #FaithThatWorks, the march started from the South East quadrant of the city; neighborhoods known for being largely nonwhite and underserved. The start and endpoints (Wards 7 and 8 to the White House) reflected just how geographically close two places can be while being worlds apart in resources, influence, and even physical safety. ”
“Pastors Anyabwile and Platt blessed and prayed over the protestors starting in Ward 8 before crossing the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge.”
“Many Christians have been struck by the recent tragedies and the examples of systemic racism, but without a clear direction of response. We can relate to this feeling—wanting to show our support for black Americans, but not wanting to be associated with the rioting and violence taking place at many of the protests. The Sunday march provided us an opportunity for a way forward. ”
ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM
God forbid that you ever find yourself in need of some pro-bono Christian legal representation and fall dependent upon ADF. Both Dr Lopez, who wrote the American Thinker article, as well as this author here at Thirty Pieces of Silver have lived through the mishap of legal representation of Alliance Defending Freedom. Long stories for another place and time but suffice to say both ADF cases took the defendants into the heat of battle and abandoned them there.
ADF NEW LEADERSHIP
ADF was founded in he early 90s by many of the popular evangelical conservatives in response to the America Civil Liberties Union role in contributing to the erosion of values in America. In 2017 Michael Farris took over ADF. Farris founded the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and Patrick Henry College, both in Purcellville in Loudoun County in northern Virginia.
CROSSLESS CONTAMINATION
Patrick Henry College has employed Joe Carter for many years. Carter is also a long time editor for Acton Institute who partners with the funding behind the Oikonomia Network which is promoting the social justice driven Faith and Work economics flooding conservative evangelical seminaries since 2009 and reaching melt down contamination by 2013. Carter was also chosen to be the ERLC new chief message man when Russell Moore. Carter also joined The Gospel Coalition as an editor for its radical justice /neo reformed message. The Gospel and it’s central source of power, the CROSS of Christ, takes a back seat to the politicized justice agenda.
The coordination of all these organizations messaging through the libertarian ( if not outright liberal left ) Acton Institute, along with its bonds with the Vatican and global justice movements provide more than sufficient reason for conservatives to wonder who is really running the Christian conservative movement these days. Why do the same people from the same tight circle of organizations keep showing up in all of these conservative ?
Farris work at PHC and HSLDA is respected by many home school families and conservative Christians yet allowing the influence of Carter to remain at PHC has given rise to even more problems. PHC has hosted & Campaign co founder Justin Giboney in an interview with visiting mentor Marvin Olasky. In the interview Giboney pitched the & Campaign’s “Biblical Values & Social Justice ” work with high praise from Olasky. Also no line was drawn in the sand for PHS students when the endorsement of & Campaigns agenda turned to the Paul Singer funded “Fairness for All ” legislation endorsed by & Campaign. Giboney is a Democratic Party strategist and co-founder of & Campaign with Obama Foundations Michael Wear. Many of the TGC leaders are involved in & Campaign and TGC co-founder Tim Keller just recently surfaced as an & Campaign Elder.
https://thirtypiecesofsilver.org/2020/07/25/tim-keller-joins-leftist-campaign/
All the & Campaign really does is provide a platform of voices from the left calling young conservatives to move to the mushy middle in support of the lefts political agenda.Why did Farris open the door for these TGC influences at Patrick Henry College?
PHC draws heavily from the home school market yet has allowed it’s students to be offered the option of careers in the seedy intelligence community. ADF now looks to be sitting in the same kind of slow and steady boil of other compromising conservative Christian organizations if Farris has brought some of his PHC standards with him. ADF is known for taking high profile cases to defend Christian rights and liberties but many of those whose battles don’t make the headlines seem to be forgotten and left to take their costly stands alone.
The influence of TGC and other left leaning evangelical infiltrators is an ever present leaven among groups like Colson, The ERLC and ADF. Everyone seems to be drawing waters (and funding) from the same polluted springs.
More to come soon.
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