an oxgoad, eh?

My upbringing was in the holiness movement. The church I attended (no one was a member) was the Church of God in Drayton Valley. They are a part of what is called “the Church of God Reformation Movement.” They claim not to be a denomination and have a unique polity in a sense. They are today thoroughly evangelical and in many ways (in my view) somewhat indistinguishable from the broader evangelical movement as a whole.

Last February a group including representatives from the CoG and nine other holiness groups published a document called The Holiness Manifesto. Christianity Today reprinted it in March along with an interview of one of the spokesmen under the title “Holiness Without the Legalism“.

You can read all this for yourself if you like. It all sounds like bafflegab to me, i.e., a whole lot of verbiage sounding substantive but saying practically nothing.

The reason I comment on this subject is that the ‘anti-legalism’ rhetoric is very familiar to those of us who are independent Baptists. Evangelicals have been regularly taking shots at Fundamentalists in general with the charge of ‘legalism’. Today, the faux-fundies (aka, Young Fundamentalists, New Fundamentalists, Historic Fundamentalists) raise the same charge against the Fundamentalist Movement.

The title of the article, “Holiness Without the Legalism” is what caught my eye this morning. (I admit I am way behind the times in keeping up with CT! That could be a good thing.) When an evangelical or a faux-fundie uses the term “legalism”, they usually mean pastoral imposition of moral standards of some kind. We should admit that real spiritual life and holiness from the heart are impossible to achieve merely by imposing external standards. No one became holy because their dress was acceptable to the fundamentalist community. No one became holy by having the proper haircut. Etc.

But the fear of legalism mutes all hints at helping people get any kind of handle on how to live. What does a holy heart look like in today’s world? If you read the Holiness Manifesto, you come away with this: be nice. The closest they come to specifics is this:

live lives that are devout, pure, and reconciled

and this

care for the earth

What is the believer to do? What exactly is the Holiness Manifesto calling people to? (And what would the founders of the Holiness movement say? I think of Daniel S. Warner, the founder of the Church of God. He was a forthright advocate of holy living and separation from the world. Alas, we live in a different world today.)

A cursory study of the words used in the New Testament regarding holiness leads one to these conclusions: Holiness means devotion to God and living lives of moral purity. In a practical sense it means that you should be involved in the regular faithful committed worship of God. You should be involved in everything a Bible preaching church does to worship God. And you should turn away from every expression of evil we find in the world today. Everything connected with sexual immorality should be eschewed: that would include suggestive television, movies, music and the like. By music, we mean the sound, not just the words. Everything connected with violence, might makes right, power and exploitation of others should be eschewed: that would include much popular entertainment, including those already mentioned, many video games, gambling, drinking (as an exploitation of the weakness of many), and so on. Everything connected with addiction should be eschewed (all things are lawful but I will not be brought under the power of any).

And all this eschewing should come from the heart, because I want to please God, not my preacher or anyone else.

If that’s legalism, then I’m all for Holines By Legalism.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

https://oxgoadblog.ca/26/

In the crush of activities for this weekend, including getting the kids off on their journey, see below, I have been neglecting my reading. Last week I started the last chapter of Pickering’s book, The Tragedy of Compromise. The chapter is entitled “Gray Hairs Are Here and There”. In some ways, this seems to be the best chapter of the whole book. Dr. Pickering outlines the appeal of the new evangelicalism to the fundamentalist and then lists little compromises that add up to the slide of fundamentalist institutions and churches into an evangelical mindset.

Quite frankly, I think this is the problem in the many debates at sites like Sharper Iron and others. Most of the participants are not fundamentalists, though they claim to be.

Pickering quotes Dr. David Beale, one of my professors at Bob Jones University, as saying of faux-Fundamentalists:

“Unlike present-day Fundamentalists, they refuse to regard the militant defense of the faith and the full doctrine and practice of holiness as intrinsically fundamental.” [from In Pursuit of Purity, p. 261ff., quoted in Pickering, p. 159.]

One cry of faux-fundies is that there is no adequate definition of what a fundamentalist is. Dr. Beale’s statement here should be sufficient. There are two distinguishing marks:

• Militant defense of the faith
• Full doctrine and practice of holiness

When it comes down to it, is there anything else that would distinguish a true fundamentalist position from that of an evangelical? If one could take a snapshot of churches in the 50s, as the seismic shift in the fundie/evangelical world was happening, what would mark the difference between the two philosophies? The difference would not have been doctrinal. Both groups held to the same doctrines. The difference was philosophical: will I wage war for the gospel, or not? Will I wage war for holiness, or not?

Today, the churches are confronted with different issues, but essentially the battle is the same. The faux-fundies want to tone down the militancy and want us to learn to play nice with our conservative evangelical friends. They want to tone down the battle for holiness to the extent that there is little left to fight for. The only thing militant about the faux-fundies is that they will fight you if you disagree with their religious pacifism.

I intend to write more on this in the future. My goal is not to “save fundamentalism”, but to define and perpetrate in my life the biblical philosophy of earnestly contending for the faith. May God help us to be in dead earnest about the battle with the world, the flesh and the devil.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

This morning my wife took two of our kids to the ferry for stage one of their week long trek to BJU. This is God’s will. It is not my will. I could keep them with me for another forty years or so.

Here is a picture of the four who were with us this summer. The picture is set in the park across the street from the house in which I grew up in Alberta. The street is the street I drove away on in 1980. My dad told me later that he knew then that I was never coming back home again. I’m not quite there yet with any of ours, but that day is coming as well.

The two we sent off today are the two uppermost on the teeter totter. This playground implement was one of the goalposts when we played football in the park. It was also second base. We had to keep the two seats on the left down when we played, none of us relished running full tilt into the raised teeter totter.

My daughter will be a junior this year. She is growing into a fine Christian lady. The picture to the left is taken on the way home from family camp this year, waiting in line at the ferry. My son took this in the mirror of my truck, with my daughter holding her favorite ‘man’, Bob the dog.

My son will be a freshman. He will be a ‘preacher boy’, having his heart stirred for the ministry for some time now. He has been preaching little messages in our services after he gives the announcements for the last two years. They will join my oldest who is already down in Greenville, preparing to start an MA in Bible. The youngest two will stay with us here at home, for a while.

The gift of fatherhood is a precious thing, granted us by the Father of all. We gratefully received, and we are willing to give back, especially in giving back to the service of the King of kings.

I suppose I’ll not get much work done today.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

ESV Malachi 3:18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

In studying this verse, I came across this paragraph by E. Ray Clendenon in his excellent commentary on Malachi from the New American Commentary series [Broadman & Holman]:

Jesus’ parable [of the wheat and the tares] suggests why God may say ‘you will again see the distinction.’ When a garden is first planted, it is easy to see the difference between it and the surrounding countryside. The difficulty only arises after the onset of weeds. Likewise at the beginning of Israel’s history the difference between God’s people and the nations, especially Egypt, was clearly visible (1 Kgs 8:53). Beginning with the fourth plague, God would ‘make a distinction between my people and your people’ (Exod 8:23), as was the case in all the remaining plagues (Exod 9:4, 11, 26; 10:6, 23). Finally, the tenth plague against the firstborn would cause unimaginable anguish, ‘but among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal. Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ Afterwards the Sabbath would be a ‘sign’ of Israel’s distinction (Exod 31:13, 17), as would the laws of the clean and unclean (Lev 10:10; 11:47; 20:25). But in spite of the object lesson at Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal teaching Israel the consequences of obedience or disobedience (Deut 27:12-13; Josh 8:30-35), Israel soon lost their visible distinctiveness and became like all the nations (Deut 17:14; Ezek 20:32). Where God’s repeated discipline had failed to restore his people, his coming to purify the priesthood (Mal 3:1-4) and destroy the wicked on that final day will succeed (3:5; 4:1, 3). The situation of the prosperity of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous will no longer exist after the day of the Lord brings judgment and vindication. [pp. 448-449]

The verb ‘see the distinction’ is the normal word for ‘to see’ in the OT. Sight, or seeing, is the ability to distinguish differences visually. It is interesting that Clendenon picks up on distinctiveness as a theme for God’s people through the Old Testament. God has always desired his people to be visibly distinct from the world. Part of that distinction is in a clearly distinct mode of worship and a distinct lifestyle.

Today it seems that the church generally seeks to erase distinctions more than emphasize them or at least accentuate them. In Malachi, clarity comes in “the day” when God “makes up his jewels [precious treasure]” out of those who fear Him. This is a reference to the Day of the Lord and the judgement of the world.

Is it possible for God’s people to regain distinctiveness apart from the judgement of ‘the day’?

Today, one of our deacons and I spent the day putting some of the finishing touches on a sound booth we built in our auditorium some month’s ago. The work involved cutting three boards to top off the half wall we built, sanding and installing them, and cutting four more boards of trim to match the other trim in the church. Not very much physical material, but because of the angles we built into the booth, very finicky in the finishing. We spent the morning talking through and cutting the angles of the booth toppers.

My deacon knows more about construction than me, but having had a stroke almost two years ago, he sometimes forgets things. If I don’t understand what he is telling me to do, I make him talk me through it until I get it. He usually is right, but this is the finishing job, and my saw cuts exactly what I tell it to… so I want to be right when I pull the trigger.

After a successful morning, we set out to buy a few needed materials and the trim. The trim in our church is simple 3/4 by 1 1/2 strips of wood, sanded and stained. We purchased some rough red cedar strips for the job, sanded them down, and then went to work cutting angles again. The trim was a little less finicky than the topper, but still, with measuring, cutting, sanding, and then staining, the afternoon was occupied.

The end result is quite pleasing to us. The sound booth looks like part of the building now, like it’s always been there.

As I think about a day of satisying physical labour, I thought of the man that I was working with. I can’t remember how long he has been a Christian, but I was in his kitchen when he surrendered to the Lord and began a long road of growth from a former drug addict to a deacon in our church. I know the Lord isn’t finished with him yet, but he ‘looks like he’s always been here.’ This is the real joy of the ministry.

3 John 1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

We decided to be politically correct and save the salmon. I’ll pick some up at the grocery store later!

Actually, we had a great day on the water. The brother who took me is an older man who became a Christian later in life but is a sincere believer now. He and his wife are real encouragments to us. We spent the day mostly on the water, stopping for lunch at a remote, private little beach. He has a portable stove which we quickly set up to perk a pot of coffee [perked coffee in a camp pot is absolutely the best coffee in the world].

The fish are safe (from us), but the day was good. We saw all kinds of activity on the water, a cruise ship heading in (which we passed under the bow when we came in to dock), numerous whale watchers heading in and out, our navy doing exercises with a couple of boats and some helicopters, a crew of citizens heading out diving, seals sunning themselves on the rocks, and NO SALMON.

I did have a soft ice cream cone on the way home as a consolation prize. We have the best soft ice cream I have tasted anywhere in a special store right here in Victoria. If you come visit, I’ll treat you to some.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

And others are like today: Sunshine, Strait of Juan de Fuca, maybe up close and personal with a salmon or two…

Heading out for a few hours on the water with one of our men. One on one discipleship, you know.

It’s a tough job but…

Any other cliches I can think of?

I’ll let you know how it works out when I get back.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

The Daily News: Emily Shearhouse and her music

This article is about my lovely and talented niece who lives ‘back East’. Aside from being related to me, she is quite a wonderful person.

Hmmm… I see, however, that the Daily News has misspelled her last name… typical media types!!

For an actual article rather than the slide show, here is the link.

A number of years ago (in the dawn of time, before there was a blog, boys and girls), I was talking to my brother-in-law about writing. I asked him if he ever would like to write a book. He replied, “I would have to have something to say.” His answer kind of floored me. I had never known him to be at a loss for words!

But writing is not the same as speaking. One does have to have something to say in order to make it fresh and interesting. (And one does have to be ruthless in the writing process in order to make it readable!)

My greatest fear about getting involved in the “front end” of blogging is having nothing to say. My earlier attempt was rather sporadic. I think some of the earlier posts remain on this site, but I deleted a good many of them. They really were just a spewing of opinion, not much substance.

Here is how I think I will succeed this time, if I make it past the practice round of blogging:

1. Always be reading: reading brings fresh ideas for commentary, and blogs are essentially commentary.
2. Read and write in your area of expertise: There are subjects about which I am interested and have an opinion, but about which I don’t know ‘nuthin’. Don’t bother exposing the ignorance, the rest of the world will ignore it too.
3. Write something daily: This is for the practice of the craft. It doesn’t necessarily mean publish something daily, but write, write, write. Preachers are writers, they write usually three or four sermons a week. Blogging or longer and more formal writing are a different genre, but the principles are the same. If you would be a writer, always be writing.
4. Be motivated by one big idea: the blog itself should be centered around a major concept about which the blogger is passionately interested (to use a word I hate). The defining philosophy of a man’s life and work should be the center of your blogging world. For me that would be the promotion and defense of Christian fundamentalism. (… although I suppose some of my fundie brethren would just as soon I didn’t bother!)

Well, I guess that is enough for now. I have a number of ideas from Pickerings book that I want to write about in the future. I also have a number of ideas from Murray’s bio of D M Lloyd-Jones, so these are areas where I will be writing and commenting in the future. I am sure there will be more, because I’ll always be reading.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

Show documents atheist’s month in Christian home | LJWorld.com

An article describing a ‘reality’ TV show I had heard about somewhere else. We don’t get this channel up here, so I doubt I will see it, at least initially. The premise is certainly interesting. But….

But the ‘atheist’ is a lapsed evangelical. A university educated (Ph D!!) clinical psychologist who gave up her career to be a stay at home mom. This isn’t usually the image I have of an atheist, although I suppose there are lots of people like this. (Well, perhaps not all Ph Ds!!)

I suspect that the so-called atheist had less of a shock than the ‘fundamentalists’ she lived with. She is a former evangelical, after all. She has walked away from it, so what she saw again would be no surprise to her.

It will be interesting to read reactions from peopel who have access to this programming, although I don’t know I would recommend watching it.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3