Mountebank Mahaney: 3 Oct 2011 a Verbatim Rehash--Word for Word--of 25 Sept 2011 at Dever's Church

Mahaney sermon at Capitol Hill Baptist, Washington, DC. Date: 25 Sept 2011.

http://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/audio/2011/09/when-someone-doubts-jude-22/

 

 

Mahaney gives the same sermon, verbatim, at Cornerstone Church, Knoxville, TN.  Date: 3 Oct 2011.  Almost word-for-word.

http://www.cornerstonechurchofknoxville.com/media/sermons/when-someone-doubts/

So much for the "4-month" stand-down and "season of reflection." Mahaney pulls down a cool $250K/annum, exclusive of royalties and honorariums.  Yet, we're confident he got an honorarium from the Knoxville Church.  Why not save $$ and simply do a "replay of 25 Sept 2011" over the speaker system.  No, this is about rehabbing Mahaney (the sermon was remarkably unremarkable for both utterances).

CJ Mahaney is our Man

http://www.benedictionblogson.com/2011/07/13/cj-mahaney-is-our-man-sovereign-grace-ministries-board-statement/

CJ Mahaney is our man – Sovereign Grace Ministries board statement

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Bene Diction

It took Jesus 30 years to prepare for ministry. He ministered publicly for 3 years. He was crucified and rose 3 days later.



It’s taken the board of Sovereign Grace Ministries six days to issue a statement of resolutions essentially declaring they will exonerate their founder CJ Mahoney, re-stating their board authority and declaring the writer of SGM wikileaks to have ‘publicly slandered…Mahaney’s reputation.’ The board further states there has been public defamation.

Background to the events of this group is here. I strongly recommend reading the key blogs which have followed SGM and provided a haven for former members.

1. That Brent Detwiler’s refusal to participate in mediation with C.J. Mahaney—unless Mahaney first agrees (a) to publish an extensive written response to each of Detwiler’s accusations and (b) to make a public confession prior to any mediation or impartial evaluation of his charges—is unjust and constitutes a denial of biblically grounded due process for a qualified minister of the gospel (Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Timothy 5:19-20, Proverbs 25:9).

2. That Brent Detwiler’s distribution of written accusations against C.J. Mahaney to all Sovereign Grace pastors constitutes ‘the public slander…of Mahaney’s reputation’.

3. That the board of Sovereign Grace Ministries has reviewed Brent Detwiler’s documents accusing C.J. Mahaney of sinful practices in the conduct of his ministry and finds no reason at this time to deem him unfit for ministry. However, the board will reevaluate Mahaney’s fitness after receiving formal evaluation of the accusations lodged against him (see below). The board acknowledges that sins have been committed but also recognizes and appreciates Mahaney’s eagerness to confess sins, pursue reconciliation with Detwiler, and pursue personal holiness and growth as a minister.

4. That C.J. Mahaney is a qualified minister of the gospel and this board approves his pastoral and teaching ministry in Sovereign Grace and the wider body of Christ.

5. That Sovereign Grace Ministries will engage a process of evaluation regarding CJ Mahaney’s fitness for ministry.

- a panel will examine Mahoney’s confessions to see if he is fit for ministry
- a second panel will work with the first, and set up a fair hearing
- the board will get comments from outside pastors
- the board will then make it’s determination

Oh. The board and CJ Mahoney have already decided, and this statement while hearbreaking for members and former members who had hoped for transparency and healing from leadership, is no surprise. SGM is structured on ‘Apostolic leadership’, birthed out of the discredited sheparding movement. It is hyper-authoritarian, complementarian (no women in leadership) and run by a small hand picked board raised and trained in SGM, and loyal to the founder. The double speak and contradictions will be evident to those who take the time to read past the pr.

Sovereign Grace Ministries has been around for about 30 years, under different names, but around. There are about 70 churches.This is not a denomination, it is a group of charismatic reform churches.
There are to my knowledge five types of church governance.

1. CENTRALIZED form of church government is where a central council has much authority over the running and ordinances of the local congregation. This is typical of denominational mainline churches where the pastor is appointed and regulated by the directions and rules of the central council. This kind is usually one with a long history and has established branches.

2. PRESBYTERIAN form of church government is where the local church is governed by a board of elders which has final authority over every aspect of the church, including the appointment and work of the pastor.

The pastor may or may not be a member of this board. This kind of church may be denominational or independent.

3. CONGREGATIONAL form is where the majority rules, the democracy style of government where the people vote to elect their pastor and the church board to administer the affairs of the church. It is usually an independent church.

4. PASTORAL form of government is where one is in authority, with the board or elders or deacons in the advisory and co-laboring capacity.

The pastor receives from and is directly accountable to God, and he runs the ministry according to his depth and knowledge in God. It is usually an independent church. The person may not be a pastor in his primary call, but it is considered as pastoral in that the pastoral function has a more dominant role and the vision is more localized, called to raise a church in a particular place and time.

5. APOSTOLIC form of government. Apostle means “one sent out”, one with an outward thrust and a pioneering or restoration cutting edge, the edge that causes revolutionary impact and can either be of a new movement or a work of extensive scale, or even both.

The leader is a commander with a mandate and an extended vision which is usually cross-cultural or global, but not always. He has to be one raised and equipped for the job and for the hour. He usually presides over a council of fellow ministers that has direct calling and anointing for the thrust, covering the 5-fold ministry in varying degrees. It is a patriarchal and theocratic government, where the Word of God reigns supreme, where the leadership is strong and the followership intelligent, where revelations from above chart the course and the leader is directly accountable first to God. Is he also accountable to the people? Yes, but not in the same way as he reports to his God. The spiritual authority of his leaders is derived very much from ministerial calling even though seniority is respected.

While every form of governance is subject to abuse, checks and balances are in place for most of them. SGM is a mish mash of self made, self chosen apostolic and sheparding rules and polity. The sheparding movement has been throughly discredited, and renounced by a couple of it’s founders. It continues in various forms in the US, with Sovereign Grace Ministries being one group who embraces the doctrines and structure.

The SGM board has spoken. CJ Mahaney has spoken. And spoken again. He plans to be on stage this fall getting a man hug from a co-founder he blackmailed years ago at his popular pastors conference in front of the fanboys. All will once again be well in this hyper-authoritarian, hyper-rerform environment and everyone will live happily ever after.

Or will it? One name is missing from the board statement.** A young minister mentored groomed and schooled personally by Mahaney isn’t quite following the rules. Josh Harris was put in place as senior pastor in the mother church, and is trying to listen to the concerns of members, former members, and obey God. He has come across as the voice of empathy as information became public and he may be the next leader thrown under the bus – or in SGM language – de-gifted. He is on the board and he did not sign the board resolutions. He is one pastor in a larger group of pastors who will have choices to make. I believe as the window of opportunity closes for members and leaders to foster and bring forward change and seek healthier forms of governance and accountability, and to move away from authoritarianism and celebrity worship, current members who are seeking truth will come to a fork in the road. Anger is rising as is frustration, conversation is flowing fast and opinions are being formed, changed or hardened. SGM members have a difficult environment to navigate.

If you look at the history of SGM and of the sheparding movement, you’ll see that the spin and the tracjectory is classic and predictable.

1. A small internal and loyal group decides on political and doctrinal checks and balances
2. A small group decides on the flow of information
3. A small group stifles questions and internal criticism
4. Outside criticism is dismissed by the leader/group
5. Walkaways are labelled, dismissed and shunned
6. Whistleblowers are accused of slander and sometimes taken to court
7. A circle of leaders who benefit financially and by reputation are enlisted to reinforce the leadership message
8. Members are told (using fear and coercion) not to read/listen or follow criticism or critics
9. Power remains centralized, the threat/perceived threat is nuetralized using inside loaded language and the well established language of control
10. The status quo and organizational equilibrium is maintained.

Members of SGM paying attention to the public kerfuffle will see power posturing, performance pre-occupation, unspoken rules, lack of balance in theology which can swing from extreme objectivism to extreme subjectivism, flashes of paranoia and quick anger, loaded language, misplaced loyalty, emotional manipulation, secrecy, (does anyone believe the SGM board will release ‘outside’ findings?) and fostered polorization. ( gleaned from The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse by David Johnson and Jeff VanVonderen)

Other resources for SGM members
A Study of Authoritarian Church Leadership and Individual Freedom of Church Members
Apologetics Index: the Power Abusers
Ron Enroth: Churches That Abuse
Covering and Authority
The Discipling Dilemma

There is nothing new under the sun.

Other groups and denominations have walked this road. Individuals have repented, and the pattern has been that in such toxic and dysfunctional systems, spiritual health is maintained or regained by those God has called to repentance by time away from the group or walking away. The board of Sovereign Grace Ministries may regret their premature statement, time will tell. I’m hearing these hand picked men say, “We stand with Mahaney. You are for us or against us.”

Jesus asks, “Chose this day who you will serve.”

The fork in the road may have come a bit more quickly for some SGM members than expected.
As much as the SGM board would like to be in control and need to be in control, they cannot unring a bell. The online coverage of SGM goes back years, former SGM members have put their stories out for those who have ears to hear. It will get louder and messier and sadder.

Blogs covering SGM
The Warburg Watch
SGM Refuge
SGM Survivors
The Phoenix Preacher
Are Women Human?

I’ll end with this sickening statement from Ligon Duncan, a long time ideological friend of CJ Mahaney, telling SGM members what to do.

…I would then encourage you to ignore the assaults of wounded people on attack websites and blogs, and that you discount the opinings of those who have no real knowledge of these matters or relation to SGM or authority to comment upon them, and that you refrain from assuming that you (or they) are in a position to render judgment on these things.

Update: ** That didn’t take long – Joshua Harris resigned from the Sovereign Grace Ministries Board. I would take the circumstances of his resignation as explained by the board with a grain of salt.

Name-droppers: Online Evangelical Culture of Self-Promotion

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2011/09/03/online-evangelical-culture-self-promotion/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+between2worlds+%28Between+Two+Worlds%29

Online Evangelical Culture & Self-Promotion

Dane Ortlund—recognizing the good of social media but troubled by all the mentions of “here’s where I’m at,” “here’s who I met,” “I’m humbled that so-and-so praised me in this way,” “here’s what I’ve written”—raises some good questions for all of us:

The amount of self-foregrounding that takes place on these media—by Christians—by pastors—is troubling. Promotion of our own books, letting everyone know where we’ve been and whom we’ve met, drawing attention to what others are saying of us—how easily we Corinthianize and employ the world’s mindset for ostensibly kingdom purposes.
What are we doing, brothers? I am asking myself no less than you.

What if we made up our minds to refuse to quietly electronically parade whatever accomplishments the Lord grants? What if we let the Lord decide who knows of us and what we’ve done? What if every post, tweet, and FB update was passed through the fine filter of Matthew 23:12?

What are we of? What’s driving us? Is this how true faith acts, faith in a God who one day ‘will disclose the purposes of the heart’ (1 Cor. 4:5)?

‘Get a life, Dane. Quit the alarmism. I’m just trying to spread the gospel by alerting others to resources. Is it really a problem if that includes some of my own stuff?’

Maybe. Maybe not. That’s between you and the Lord. There is certainly some gray in this conversation, it’s not all black and white; there’s room for wisdom here, not simplistic rules. And I have in mind individual ‘marketing’; corporate marketing is, I think, in another category. But as far as your own personal online presence, why not determine to honor the Lord by getting up each day, keeping your hand to the plow, and letting him sort out who knows about you and what you’ve done? When you’re unsure as to whether or not something is self-promoting, why not err on the side of blessed obscurity, to which God loves to draw near?

We are increasingly cultivating an online evangelical culture of self-projection. Trying our hardest, of course, not to look like we’re self-promoting. This is not where God’s power lies.

SGM-Mahaney: "Need for Crisis Intervention by Covenant Life Pastors" by Brent Detwiler

Brent Detwiler, the Plaintiff

http://www.brentdetwiler.com/brentdetwilercom/2011/8/29/the-need-for-crisis-intervention-by-the-covenant-life-pastor.html

 

Dr. Dever (left) and Defendant, C.J. Mahaney (right), under refuge with Dr. Dever at Capitol Hill Baptist, Washington, DC

Aug 29,  2011

The Need for Crisis Intervention by the Covenant Life Pastors


Monday, August 29, 2011 at 3:40PM

To the Pastors of Covenant Life Church,

C.J. Mahaney, Defendant

The Board of Sovereign Grace Ministries is in violation of their word. They have refused to follow through on their promise to secure a third party outside panel of individuals with no ties to Sovereign Grace Ministries in order to evaluate my charges, and those of others, against C.J. and Sovereign Grace Ministries including Dave Harvey, Bob Kauflin, and Gene Emerson but not limited to them. In support thereof, I cite the following.

Dr. Ligon Duncan of First Pres, Jackson, MS--Mahaney supporter and defender

“I’ve asked to take a leave of absence in order to give time to considering these charges, examine my heart, and receive the appropriate help from others…. In order for me to receive an objective evaluation in relation to these charges the board is securing the help of a third-party ministry that has no history of relationship with SGM.” (C.J. Mahaney, “Why I am Taking a Leave of Absence,” July 6)

“Because some of the charges move beyond C.J. to SGM, we also wanted to examine ourselves and our practices both past and current. To that end, we are in the process of securing help from an outside organization that can conduct a thorough and objective review of the charges being brought against C.J. and SGM. We are seeking to identify an organization that has no prior history with us and that has wide respect in Christian circles. (Dave Harvey, “A Note on C.J.’s Leave of Absence,” July 7)

“Given the numerous events, people, and perspectives involved, the work of an independent panel will be vital to fully examining these charges and arriving at an objective conclusion, especially on those charges with which the board does not agree…. Like C.J., we are committed to facilitate as thorough and objective a process as possible by an independent panel.” (Dave Harvey, “A Note on C.J.’s Leave of Absence,” July 7)

“I have welcomed the recommendation of the SGM board that we establish a panel of respected leaders outside SGM to study these charges and give us their evaluation of me and the ministry as a whole.” (C.J. Mahaney, Comments at CLC, July 11)



(Left to right).  C.J. Mahaney, Dr. Al Mohler, Dr. Duncan, and Dr. Dever, leaders of Together for the Gospel. Drs. Mohler and Duncan gave hearty affirmations of Mahaney



“He [C.J.] is taking a leave of absence so that an independent panel, a group of people outside of our church, outside of our family of churches, can look into these accusations and provide an objective evaluation of his character and leadership of Sovereign Grace Ministries. (Joshua Harris, CLC Members’ Meeting, July 10)

I come to you in keeping with the principles of Matthew 18:15-17 and 1 Timothy 5:19-21. The SGM Board is in need of your rebuke for not following through on their promise to secure an unbiased and impartial group of evaluators in order to procure a just process of evaluation whereby they, and C.J., are carefully examined. I hope the SGM Board will quickly change their minds, acknowledge their travesty to the public, and show the fruits of repentance by pursuing the course of action originally promised in response to your intervention at this critical point in the crisis.

Acting President of Sovereign Grace Ministries, David Harvey.  Detwiler cites Harvey, essentially, as a co-defendant with Mahaney

Furthermore, it is unacceptable for Dave Harvey to explain this reversal in the following terms. He frames previous commitments as “initial expectations” for an outside, third party, no history with SGM, panel of evaluators. Why the change? Because things didn’t work out with Ambassadors of Reconciliation as “originally envisioned” or “originally hope[d]” for.

“You may note that this is different [an in-house evaluation] from what we originally envisioned and requested from AOR. But after hearing their arguments we believe their counsel is sound and we plan on following it. I realize that this constitutes a change from our initial expectations.” (Dave Harvey, “The Consultation Report from Ambassadors of Reconciliation,” August 25)

“AOR has provided us with an ad hoc process by which we can form a review panel to adjudicate these allegations. We did originally hope that the Ambassadors of Reconciling staff would be able to comprise that review panel.” (Dave Harvey, Video – Answering Your Questions, SGM Blog, August 28)

The SGM Board promised to search for and find outside arbitrators that would evaluate charges against C.J. and Sovereign Grace Ministries. This was “vital to fully examining these charges and arriving at an objective conclusion.” What was “vital” is now trivial and a serious betrayal of trust. Furthermore, the SGM Board has dropped all reference to the outside evaluation of the ministry the promised. They do not disclose this fact or provide any explanation for this omission. My charges, and those of others, are directed at other employees of Sovereign Grace Ministries in addition to C.J. These too were supposed to be investigated by an outside arbitrator.

The SGM Board was under absolutely no obligation to follow the recommendations of Ambassadors of Reconciliation. They cannot hide behind the “counsel” or “ad hoc process” put forward by AOR. The Board of Directors can easily delegate their authority to outside arbitrators who are impartial and unbiased. This does not violate Scripture or their position of authority. In this respect, AORs’ proposal is unsound. They fail to take seriously the need for independence and objectivity. A five man panel comprised of one SGM Board member and four SGM pastors is no way to evaluate charges against C.J. and SGM. This part of their proposal should have been rejected. An “objective conclusion” cannot be reached in the manner they espouse.

If the President of the United States came under serious charges for his conduct, he does not have the luxury of appointing his Vice President and four Cabinet Secretaries to determine his guilt or innocence. An Independent Prosecutor will be appointed by Congress. That is the way of justice. If this kind of approach is negated by the Board, then the main purpose for this whole process has been circumvented.

High school graduate, Mahaney, and Dr. R.C. Sproul

If the SGM Board is genuinely interested in objectivity they will reverse course immediately. This is a moral issue, not simply a procedural issue. This is a major issue, not a minor one. If Sovereign Grace Ministries cannot be trusted to secure an unbiased panel of evaluators in keeping with their word, they cannot be trusted in anything. Please appeal to them to repent.

Sincerely,

Brent Detwiler

Washington Post Investigates Sovereign Grace Ministries

http://thewartburgwatch.com/2011/08/18/the-washington-post-investigates-sovereign-grace-ministries/

The Washington Post Investigates Sovereign Grace Ministries

Thu, Aug 18 2011

By dee

 

“Every time a newspaper dies, even a bad one, the country moves a little closer to authoritarianism." Richard Kluger

The London Eye

Michelle Boorstein

The Washington Post

202-334-4451 (direct line).

Once again, TWW must apologize to the people who have asked us to write about the aversion to clinical psychology in today's post-evangelical church. Lord willing, we will start the series tomorrow.
TWW has received communication from several sources alerting us that the Washington Post is investigating the happenings at SGM. If the number of hits at TWW are any indication, such a story would receive widespread interest..

Kris, over at SGM Survivor's posted the following comment yesterday LINK:

"I received a request yesterday from a reporter at the Washington Post. She is interested in talking with those who are willing to go on the record, under their real names, and speak about their experiences with Sovereign Grace Ministries. This reporter and I have exchanged several emails, and we’ve come up with the following arrangement: if you would be willing to be interviewed, please email me, and I will forward your message on to her."

TWW decided to check with the Washington Post to verify if, indeed, a reporter has been assigned to this story. Dee called the Post and was able to speak with Michelle Boorstein who is covering this developing situation.

Ms. Boorstein is particularly interested in how SGM handled the reported cases of sexual abuse. However, due to the serious nature of these claims, she needs to have people who are willing to go on record with their identities. Apparently, SGM is denying any wrongdoing.

So, this is the moment for courageous people to stand up for the truthfulness of their claims. Such a stance may be instrumental in preventing further tragedies of the kind that have been described on this blog and several others. Such stories of abuse are surfacing for other ministries. Lessons need to be learned and, unfortunately, many churches do not "do the right thing" until outsiders look in. Some might say that the media can be an instrument of God's reproof.

This blog is named in honor of the castle that concealed Martin Luther from the clutches of a murderous Pope. Luther freely used the newly invented Gutenberg Press to publish his dissent from the Roman Catholic Church. Was that a Matthew 18 solution? Yet it spawned a reformation that changed the face of the world. Maybe Matthew 18 doesn't always apply?

We know that it is very difficult to go on the record. It took us a full year before we were willing to divulge our identities on this blog. Many people, who have fled the SGM system, still bear the scars and pain of their experience. We want all of you to know that you are no longer "accountable" to heavy handed leaders. The worst they can do is hurt your feelings. And, for most of you, your feelings could not be hurt any more than they have been already.
Here is Boorstein's contact information. She gave us permission to post this.

Michelle Boorstein

The Washington Post

202-334-4451 (direct line).

Ms Boorstein is a professional and she knows how to handle these difficult stories. She is already aware of the basic elements of this story. The two of us encourage you to share your experiences. If you have questions, we are available by email and phone which can be found in our contact information.

Finally, the leaders at SGM have never shied away from putting their faces in the public eye. They have called to the world to "Look at us" by their books, interviews and conferences. Well, they got what they asked for. People looked. The only problem is this. The watching world may not like what it sees and no amount of fussing by frustrated leaders can change this. The system needs to change.

Wave-off by Senior SGM Pastor re: Mahaney-blogs as "Sinfully Suspicious"

http://www.sgmsurvivors.com/?p=2512&cp=2#comment-38549

“What Blogs?”

By Kris, on July 18th, 2011

While it can feel like all eyes have been on Covenant Life Church and the response of Josh Harris to the recent changes in leadership at Sovereign Grace Ministries, other SGM churches around the

country have been addressing these issues over the past week.

On July 10, Metro Life Church‘s Aron Osborne gave a message in which he talked about the announcement that C.J. Mahaney was stepping down from leadership. For several minutes he spoke both about how seriously the other leaders were taking C.J.’s sins, but then he also spoke at even greater length about how wonderful C.J. is and how important it is to be sensitive to C.J.’s feelings.

He then addressed the topic of “the blogs.” This is what he said:

We’ve been silent about the blogs.

And you know, I’m encouraged, if you are thinking right now, “what blogs?” Wow, that encourages me. However I’m not naïve. I am breathing. (heh heh). You know about the blogs. We’ve been silent about them for some understandable reasons. I think one of those reasons, and please hear me, this is a general statement, it is not addressing every potential blog response. I’m sure there are some very good ones and humble ones.  However, in general, I think Proverbs speaks about the blogosphere. Proverbs tells us not to answer a fool according to his folly. And friends, when people make emphatic sweeping statements conclusively on situations they’ve not been a part of I think that has the ring of folly. Amen? And it’s to answer a fool according to his folly. Therefore we’ve been silent. Listen, we already know we’re fools, there no need to expose it more. I mean that. I really mean that. Even where real offenses have occurred, listen, even where real offenses have occurred, I don’t think scripture says that loving thing to do is to broadcast that publicly in blog format to the world. It’s to go to a brother, to go to a sister, to show them their fault in person. And if they will not hear you to bring more. But it’s always to go, individually, in plurality. It’s harmful. It’s not part of the mandate to cover one another in love.

Again, I do trust you hear me, but I’m going to keep repeating it. Cover does not mean, hide it from those who need to know. Cover does not mean keep sin hidden, but cover means when gossip and slander and tearing down is taking place, God’s people must speak. And I’m so grateful that God, friends in our weak moments, when we are broken he does not rush in to break us. And when we are smoldering wicks he does not rush in to snuff us out. He rushes in to love and to care and to protect. So, my personal practice is not to read these blogs. Because I trust that CJ and others have offered to sit down with anyone who has questions or an offense, IN PERSON. In personsphere, not in the blogosphere. And my encouragement, and that’s all it is, I’m not mandating this to anyone and I wouldn’t even if I could, that’s not my desire. My encouragement would be this. Be careful about the blogs. Could I even go so far as to encourage you, don’t read the blogs? The poison therein that can tempt one to be sinfully suspicious, right out of the gate without having actually interacted. It can assume truth because it’s there.
Think of it. So many things are not intended for my eyes. So if I am reading what was not intended for my eyes, I’m participating in the sins of gossip and slander. Even if I am not typing back myself. It’s like being in a room and in the next room a conversation is taking place that is not for me and I decide to stand idly by and listen in. I don’t think that honors God. I don’t think that honors the people.

Here’s my concern with blogs. I think they forget that people are people. People have hearts. And they hurt! When you read things, and you are left to scratch your head. And honestly friends, by God’s mercy, it should be far more than that, as far as I know, the ones that I’m made aware of, I’ve only been on the receiving end of false accusations a couple of times but I can tell you, and you who have experienced it know, it just HURTS! You are scratching your head, and you are puzzled, wondering how did you arrive here? What have a done that’s created this? Why can’t you talk to me? Somewhere in a living room CJ and Carolyn have hearts! They have daughters and a son and they have grandchildren that have hearts! And they break. And where they are broken over real sin that needs to be confessed well let it break. God’s grace will be there. But where it breaks over gossip and slander, may we not be a part of that I pray. May we not participate in that arena. I’m not accusing anyone, please understand. It’s just we all have hearts.

Hmm. I’m confused. I agree with commenter “Leaver,” who wrote,

So if he doesn’t read them, how can he say that people are making “emphatic sweeping statements conclusively” that they have not been a part of? In fact it appears to me that he just made an emphatic sweeping statement about a situation that he has not been a part of himself. Slightly hypocritical from my perspective.

He then went on to say the bloggers are in the wrong because the Bible says we are to go to a person who has sinned against us in person and these bloggers are not doing that. How does he know that? Again, he has not read the blogs so there is another “emphatic sweeping statement” drawing a conclusion on something that he has not been a part of.

Prior to making sweeping judgments condemning websites he claimed not to read – even as he condemned these same websites for making judgments of matters they don’t know about – Mr. Osborne also had the following to say:

I want to say it again and again and again. Any manifestation of sin is serious and significant. And I and the board have no interest in covering up any of that. But not covering up real sin is not the same thing as being silent and not covering a brother when false accusations are made. They are different. And I think it’s important that those distinctions be made. No one is seeking to shield CJ from embracing all that the Lord has for him. There are over 600 pages of correspondence detailing a list of observations and offenses. What was intended as a private document has sadly become public. Sad, not because several points within that document are not true, because they are accurate and true, and in need of attention. I’d go so far as to say, I concur with a number of things that Brent has registered in his document. And as he gave those documents to others, someone put them out into the world of the blogs and they are now public for everyone.

Friends, just try to imagine with me for a moment, 600 pages of your life, of which you are not sure every point is accurate being given to the world. How are you doing with that this morning? That’s where our brother is this morning, and his family.

I think it’s interesting how at least some SGM pastors have been framing up the discussion of Brent Detwiler’s documents as though the 600 pages involved personal and private communications written on C.J.’s and Brent’s own time…when actually, these guys were on SGM’s payroll and they were communicating about matters relating to their official duties. It’s not like Brent published C.J.’s love letters or something. He released emails that were written on the company dime, so to speak, by men who were being paid from funds obtained through church members’ tithes and offerings.

In the real world, these communications SHOULD be the business of the people who are – bottom line – footing the bill. Yes, some of the stuff – like debates about how much vacation time C.J. had taken, can at first blush seem trivial. But if you look at the larger picture, it should matter that C.J. dithered and dickered and guilt-tripped long and hard to get SGM to pay for his son’s airfare…during roughly the same time frame that C.J. was apparently doing well enough financially that he could donate at least $100,000 to Al Mohler’s Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

If you think about it, it’s almost sort of funny that Mr. Osborne urges his congregation not to read “the blogs,” essentially calling us “fools” (after all, what else could he have meant by quoting the Proverb about not “answering a fool according to his folly” and then chuckling over how he doesn’t read here?) and insinuating that what is written here is inaccurate and false (“slander”). How many of us have said over the past three-and-some years that C.J did not strike us as “humble”? How many of us here have pondered the question of who really has the ability to hold C.J. accountable or say “no” to him?

And now when C.J.’s own emails reveal him to be prideful about silly things and truly accountable to no one, “the blogs” that have been asking the hard questions (while guys like Mr. Osborne were apparently silent) are the ”fools”?

I don’t think so.

SGM, Mahaney, Detwiler: New 11-page Document Publicly Emerges

The seventh document emerges from Brent Detwiler regarding Ligon Duncan and Al Mohler's friend, C.J. Mahaney.  We're beginning to review--again--the first six documents.  Church government is one serious problem, to wit: an episcopacy in the hands of serious autocrats. A second problem is a legalistic, if not immature, view of the Gospel.  A third problem is worship.  But, we digress.  Here's #7.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/60208395/Part-7-Is-C-J-Above-Reproach

More from Detwiler on the Mahaney-SGM-Eruptions

There appears to be little abatement in the Mahaney-SGM-eruptions.  The unedifying yet illuminating saga continues.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=695090287#!/notes/brent-detwiler/liar-liar-pants-on-fire/245919768768928

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

by Brent Detwiler on Sunday, July 17, 2011 at 12:13am

Here’s what the new Board of Directors posted on the SGM blog this past Wednesday.

“In light of the fact that C.J. has now been publicly accused with no opportunity to defend himself, the board of Sovereign Grace has made the following resolutions. That Brent Detwiler’s refusal to participate in mediation with C.J. Mahaney—unless Mahaney first agrees (a) to publish an extensive written response to each of Detwiler’saccusations and (b) to make a public confession prior to any mediation or impartial evaluation of his charges—is unjust and constitutes a denial of biblically grounded due process for a qualified minister of the gospel.”

A few comments. First, C.J. has been defending himself for years. That's been the problem. Second, my accusations are not new. Third, there is no need for further evaluation or outside evaluation. There is a need for leadership from the Board of Directors. We've been evaluating, confronting, and dealing with C.J. for over a decade. It is time for disciplinary action. But here's what's "unjust and constitutes a denial of biblically grounded due process."

Lie 1. I never asked C.J. to publish an extensive written response to each of my accusations. I asked him to provide a private and thorough response to me in writing. He promised to do so but then violated his word.

Lie 2. I asked C.J. to agree that a public confession of sin was necessary before we met; not that he had to made a confession before we met. I never refused to meet with him (or a mediator) until after a public confession of sin was complete.

Lie 3. The Board says say nothing about my eagerness to meet. That is plain in all my writings. I laid out two simple conditions. First, C.J. needed to provide me an open, honest and accountable response to the issues, questions, and illustrations I raised. Second, I needed to know C.J. took his sins seriously and was willing to confess them to the movement and its leaders. A private written response and a willingness to confess in public – that’s all I asked. No more.

All of these points are crystal clear in what I have written in “The Documents.” I am afraid Dave and Jeff’s pants are ablaze and the pants of the new board members are smoking.

NC Statutory Law on Communicating Threats

Apparently, some have communicated threats against Whistleblowers in the SGM networks. Unacceptable.  We will be check IL and MD state statutes as well as provisions under Title 18, the Federal Code, about these matter.  Communication of threats to Whistleblowers and their families transcends the ecclesiastical arena.  More later.

§ 14‑277.1. Communicating threats.

(a) A person is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor if without lawful authority:

(1) He willfully threatens to physically injure the person or that person's child, sibling, spouse, or dependent or willfully threatens to damage the property of another;

(2) The threat is communicated to the other person, orally, in writing, or by any other means;

(3) The threat is made in a manner and under circumstances which would cause a reasonable person to believe that the threat is likely to be carried out; and

(4) The person threatened believes that the threat will be carried out.

(b) A violation of this section is a Class 1 misdemeanor. (1973, c. 1286, s. 11; 1993, c. 539, s. 172; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c); 1999‑262, s. 2.)

AP Picks up SGM-Mahaney Story

http://www.kxnet.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=803885

Jul 11 2011 2:41AM
Associated Press

SOVEREIGN GRACE-LEADER Church group president on leave amid accusations

GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) The president of Sovereign Grace Ministries is taking a leave of absence to deal with charges made against him by former ministry leaders and pastors.

In a letter on the denomination's web site, C.J. Mahaney says the charges do not involve "immorality or financial impropriety." But he says former colleagues have faulted him for "expressions of pride, unentreatability, deceit, sinful judgment, and hypocrisy." Mahaney writes, "I have been grieved by my sin and its effects on others," and adds that he has confessed to some of those he hurt and has asked for their forgiveness.

Joshua Harris, pastor of Sovereign Grace's founding church in Maryland, told his congregation Sunday that the "entire denomination is being publicly spanked." Harris said he and other Sovereign Grace leaders share responsibility and will ask an outside panel to review the ministry's past and present practices.

Sound:

CUT ..285 (07/10/11)


00:14 "getting our attention" Joshua Harris Joshua Harris, pastor of Covenant Life Church, says the accusations against C.J. Mahaney and Sovereign Grace Ministries are God's discipline.

CUT ..284 (07/10/11)


00:09 "brought this trouble" Joshua Harris Joshua Harris, pastor of Covenant Life Church, says he and other Sovereign Grace Ministries leaders share responsibility.

CUT ..283 (07/10/11)


00:16 "accusations more carefully" Joshua Harris Joshua Harris, pastor of Covenant Life Church, says Sovereign Grace Ministries President C.J. Mahaney has been accused by former colleagues of hypocrisy, coercion, deceit and sinful judgment.

CUT ..282 (07/10/11)


00:18 "hypocrisy, coercion, deceit" Joshua Harris Joshua Harris, pastor of Covenant Life Church, says Sovereign Grace Ministries president C.J. Mahaney has taken a leave of absence to confront accusations.

A Screed against Mahaney

This is a screed and, we feel, poorly written, developed or argued.  However, in the interests of coverage, we post it.  In the comments section, one will find a level of anger and familiarity with the SGM-movement.  These appear to be insiders who felt the "heavy-hand" of Mahaney.

http://spiritualtyranny.com/cj-mahaney%E2%80%99s-metaphysical-magic-mayhem-2/

CJ Mahaney’s Metaphysical Magic Mayhem

Wednesday July 13, 2011

CJ Mahaney, El Primo Doctrinal Mover and Shaker of Sovereign Grace Ministries fame, recently released a letter stating that he is stepping away from being the Alpha Big Dog at the top of the “First Among Equals” governing egalitarian hierarchy. It is my current understanding that he wrote this letter to the leaders within his family of churches on July 2^nd. He subsequently made a blog post on

July 6^th for general consumption. There is one difference of consequence between the blog posts and the pastoral letter—blog version: first paragraph, CJ reserves the right to update his blog while he is on self-imposed doghouse vacation.

The gist of the letter/post is easy enough to understand: “People told me I’m a bad, bad sinner. (Whispering: ‘and they said the same thing about other leaders in SGM’) So I am going to put myself in time-out so I can morally navel gaze.”

If one is able to look past the coils of SGM speak slithering around the one-thousand-word document that threatens to squeeze your mind into a spiritual warm fuzzy, if you can remain conscious enough to spot the Harry Houdini level logical sleights of hand, it is rather obvious that CJ doesn’t really think he has done anything wrong. Well, maybe I should say he is willing to concede that he his is a sinner but doesn’t think what he has done is terminally disqualifying. He fully expects to return—appropriately chastened—to his rightful place after he has looked at his belly button for an undisclosed season.

Yeah, we can all see him working double time to say all the right things. Since he is the creator of the SGM sin, confession, and reconciliation mantra, it would be absurd to think he would say anything else. No matter how much he acknowledges some theoretical wrongdoing, he ultimately disagrees with the judgments brought against him. Notice this specific admission in the last part of the third paragraph:

“Even with the charges I disagree with it has been beneficial to examine my soul and ask for the observation of others. And I am resolved to take responsibility for my sin and every way my leadership has been deficient, and this would include making any appropriate confessions, public or private. Most importantly I want to please God during this season of examination and evaluation.”

And notice this in the 7th paragraph:

“I have resolved that I and the Sovereign Grace team can’t effectively lead us into the future without evaluating the past, addressing these deficiencies, improving our structure, and as much as possible pursuing reconciliation with former pastors.”

This means that no matter how much repenting he ultimately does, CJ by fiat, reserves the right to maintain his judgments about former ministries and ministers.

In the grand world of Indwelling Sin where one’s motives and rational understanding is shot through with disqualifying “sinful cravings,” it is a bit puzzling how he gets to even say “I disagree” with the charge of sin; nor do I understand how he can summarily decide the level of reconciliation. The doctrine says one is guilty never to be proved innocent because one is blind to the corrupting power of sin. This is the metaphysical assumption that SGM leaders use as a hammer when dealing with unruly deleterious problem children. All those silly ideas, all that rational confidence, all that personal assurance you think you have, no you don’t. You are a bad, bad sinner and need to shut up and just believe what they tell you is true. When we want your opinion, we will give it to you. We are old enough to be your father after all, so we should be sufficiently patronized for our lofty leadership authority. (BTW, Robin, do you feel patronized yet?)

That is what they would say to a lowly pew-sitter that was called to the carpet by their considered judgment. By definition, CJ’s self-awareness is flawed, and the proof is his self-assertion, which means he is disqualified to self-disagree. Well, that is if SGM were at all consistent with their sound doctrine and denounce the glaring display of doctrinal egoism within the letter. (MUCH more on this in a minute.)

The content of the letter is not surprising. CJ must pay lip service to the SGM yardstick that defines the “humble” approach to receiving criticisms, accusations, and addressing offense. He does not have a choice but to at least publicly entertain the notion that he could be wrong. Since someone dumped about 500 pages of documentation onto the internet, declaring in excruciating detail the content and conduct of Sovereign Grace Ministries’ governmental “deficiencies,” it is kind of hard to persist in a blazing display of “un-entreatability.” So it is no hair off his head to at least entertain the chance that he might have, potentially inside book-making odds within the existential consideration of all possible worlds, done something bad. Who can argue with the truth established from the ages:

“Oh woe is us! WE are all just sinners in need of God’s Grace? You all just never mind the implications of my sins. I will take care of this myself as I see fit. I have organized everyone who is anyone to make themselves available to make sure this all goes smooth. And I will be back soon to continue my—oops, God’s very important work.”

The bottom line is CJ Mahaney, in his letter of apology(?), is defying everyone to challenge his moral authority to act as he sees fit. His contempt blazes forth between the lines of this letter like the morning sun. He is daring someone to cast the first stone. And if the SGM Wikileaks has shown anything, no one within that organization has the stones (not the ones you throw) to resist his assertion of moral superiority. A curios dare, considering this is a quarry he dug.

It is fun to notice that when the pressure is on, to see how fast El Primo Doctrinal Mover and Shaker’s doctrinal consistency starts to unravel. He let the Schrodinger’s cat out of the quantum mechanics box with his admission to an unofficial sin hierarchy scale.

“These charges are serious and they have been very grieving to read. These charges are not related to any immorality or financial impropriety, but this doesn’t minimize their serious nature, which include various expressions of pride, unentreatability, deceit, sinful judgment, and hypocrisy.

It is an entertaining thought experiment to make all human action sinful and therefore universally disqualifying because it makes God look really big because it makes man look really small. And when Man makes God look really big, we get impressed with our spirituality. But the most important part of this metaphysical cavorting is that preachers get to create a moral and ethical paradox. They get to define the moral yardstick and keep it in a box that no one can peer into, and then when it serves their purpose, they LOOK at the cat to see if it is alive or dead. Oops, I mean look at who is committing a given ethical action and condemn or applaud depending on the day or the Verschränkung.

(That quantum mechanics joke was hilarious.)

But anyway, CJ has walked into his own quantum entanglement. Of course, the nature of the charge minimizes or expands the measure of moral failing. The whole premise of Levitical legal code—that is lex talionis—was to place a proportion on human action, ethical values, and subsequently, civil penalty for failure to live to those standards. It is absurd to suggest otherwise. But if you do suggest otherwise, why make the distinction at all? By definition, CJ is making a comparative statement.

CJ Mahaney’s contempt for people rolls off this two-page document in waves, centering on the Harry Houdini level logical sleights of hand. So, let us keep our eyes on the other hand so we can spot the illusion. Observe and you will see CJ Schrödinger’s thought experiment turned moral disaster.

First thought experiment: “I have been accused of pride and arrogance and hypocrisy, blah blah blah, so I will look in the metaphysical box and determine how bad I am. Gasp! I had no idea, but God has revealed that yes, this is very, very bad.”

Second thought experiment: “I have been accused of sexual immorality and money problems, so I will look in the metaphysical box and determine how bad I am. Oh wait, I didn’t do those things so I’m not that bad, so you just never mind.”

And here is the quantum entanglement. This gives CJ Mahaney the power to treat each ethical lap as a wholly unique metaphysical event that is nonexistent until it is observed. Until the moment of God-revealed awareness, it has no specific bearing on reality. (MUCH, MUCH more on this point in a minute.)

Let us take this out of the realm of thought experiments and place this firmly in reality. If the “offense” was adultery, homosexuality, pedophilia, bestiality, or embezzlement, would the SGM leadership act in the same way? Would they be circling the wagons and declaring El Primo Doctrinal Mover and Shaker the most humble man EVER? Would Larry Tomczak be “reconciling” with CJ if he’d molested his son? Or would Larry be using his “Apostolic Authority” to cover and defend his son and protect the flock. Oops … OK … well, maybe that is a bad example. But certainly, people who don’t cower away from extortion would be pressing every available force to boot CJ into the doghouse and chain him there.

And they certainly would not tolerate letting CJ Mahaney spin this as a self-declared parade of Altruistic Moral Narcissism.

The truth of the matter is if the charges were sex or money-related, everyone would be reacting differently. If CJ had been … uh … ponying up with a pony, his wife would be looking for a divorce attorney that can split up the funds earned from CJ’s speaking circuit. (Hey, he brought up sex, not me! I’m just saying, who knows how far down into debauchery “the greatest sinner he knows” goes?!) And if it were money-related, the police would be knocking on the door.

As for CJ’s self-flagellation over “various expressions of Pride” and “sinful judgment,” yeah, that is a big what-EV-r and beneath his Harry Houdini act. He has much, much better metaphysical and epistemological magic tricks. The bit over pride is SGM Subterfuge 101. They create the yardstick. Tell everyone how to live up to the yardstick. They emulate the standard they created and everyone marvels at their humility and character. SGM manufactured these two nouns—pride and judgment—into the highest spiritual sedition by taking on the adjective “sinful.” Well, maybe I should amend: they are secondary spiritual seditions to “immorality or financial impropriety.” But who is quibbling with the unofficial SGM sin hierarchy scale? It is all bad—very, very bad—even though “various expressions of Pride” is no real crime of any applicable measure and “sinful judgment” is a euphemism for a rational error. We cannot evaluate CJ’s rational error without context, content, and the ability to MEASURE the dynamic between CJ’s government power and the outcomes of that expression of force. El Primo Doctrinal Mover and Shaker sound’s pretty churchy when he starts confessing his frolicking congress with the evil twins—Pride and Judgment—but this is a full-on attempt to parse words and wreck moral clarity. Only a man with the highest contempt for human existence can lead with such a cavalier ethical manipulation. But you just never mind the coils and coils of SGM speak and render the only appropriate response in light of Pervasive Depravity eternity—all together now: “Ooooohhh . . . Ahhhhh . . . CJ is soooo humble.”

So no matter what the glossy brochure says about all sin being a great big fat evil before God, it is apparent that he thinks some sins are not as bad as others. It seems that the Reformed Theology Vicar Charles Joseph Pious I is creeping closer and closer to Catholic doctrine. First, we have the sin hierarchy: venial and mortal sins. Second, we have the cardinals and bishops refusing to confront the Pontifex Maximus.

What is next? Confession to a Priest of the Lord?

Since CJ took a trip into the wild side, living dangerously with that dastardly pair, Pride and Judgment, the priest should really stick it to CJ. Those mortal sins—oops, those leadership “deficiencies” are very, very bad. They are very, very grieving. When Mark Dever and David Powlison step into the confessional, what will be their penance? Rosary beads, 28 Hail Marys, and 31 Our Fathers? I figure they have to keep the appearance of Protestant Papacy to a minimum, so they will probably have to mandate the reading of Sin and Temptation on his knees 3.14159265 times. Or maybe they will limit penance to: “Now, my son, go crack a self-deprecating joke and sin no more.”

But jokes aside, describing a catastrophic failure of judgment as a “deficiency” is such a CJ-ism. Deficiency makes it sound like he forgot to put on a belt with his pants, or maybe forgot to comb his hair, or forgot the mustard for the perfect tasting hotdog. Deficiency is a polite euphemism designed to conceal effective description of his leadership outcomes. Or in SGM speak, it is designed to hide the nature of the fruit. In the real world, a persisting, manifestation of rational judgment over the course of time is called incompetence.

“One more thing. For the past five years or so I have become increasingly aware of certain deficiencies in my leadership that have contributed to deficiencies in Sovereign Grace Ministries’ structure and governance, the lack of a clear and consistent process of conflict resolution and pastoral evaluation, and the number of former Sovereign Grace pastors who are offended with me/SGM.”

I read this section and thought of Napoleon after Waterloo: “Yes, my dear Frenchmen, it seems that after five years I have come to understand that I have certain ”deficiencies” in my leadership.

I marvel that this gets ANY traction with rational, competent, successful men and women. Some of you members of the SGM juggernaut are captains of industry, successful by any measurable method. You are responsible for the decisions that may involve potentially destructive consequences for investment portfolios, or real-estate, or the livelihoods of hundreds of employees. Do you get five years to become “increasingly aware” to recognize that there ARE deficiencies of leadership? We haven’t even gotten to the specifics of the deficiencies or the intended corrections. By SGM math, it would take 15 years to get any given “deficiency” set aright.

What are the minutes of that corporate board of directors meeting?

“After five years I realize that there might be deficiencies in my leadership? Give me another five to figure out exactly what those are and another five to fix the problem.”
“Oh yes, you are very humble to admit that. It is such a privilege to serve with you in this very important endeavor.”

What a hoot!

Once again, free yourself from the quantum entanglement of CJ Schrodinger’s morality play and plant the events in the real world. A business leader would have about five MINUTES to identify the possibility of incompetence. And by close of business THAT DAY, he better have a full grasp of his rational errors. It would be a profound mercy if the “offended” share holders will let him take five MONTHS to correct the “deficiencies.”

What happened to Larry Tomczak is not a deficiency. It is a full-on moral atrocity. Calling it a leadership “deficiency” is a roaring, contemptuous trivialization. It doesn’t matter if Larry is selling out the event and reconciling the last fifteen-ish years (the aftermath) as a mere “offense.” The defining measure of ethics and morality is NOT subjective to the offended party.

And this is the point of the whole illusion—the profound mastery of moral relativism and the contemptuous parade of moral narcissism. So now we will turn our attention to CJ Houdini’s metaphysical and epistemological sleights of hand. If I wore a hat and was motivated toward the same Mystic Despotism ends, I would be doffing my cap in admiration.

In 1996 I made my criticisms of the SGM juggernaut public. (Well, maybe I should say that I made them MORE public. There was no Wiki back then because there was no real web.) One of the first, most scathing denunciations of my efforts to address the “deficiencies” of their leadership was that I was “hiding behind a veil of theological exactness.” Of all the mean things in that letter, this one crossed a line. Actually, I am just kidding about the crossing the line part. (But not the mean things part.) What these words revealed is that after reading my book, the writer did not understand where the lines were drawn. They were woefully misinformed about the lines of logic that run deep underneath the SGM leadership’s claim to authority. My 1996 effort to expose those lines of logic was designed to explain the source and substance of those ideas. Here I am almost fifteen years later taking up the same cause.

“Hiding behind a veil of Theological exactness” are great words that I will relentlessly plagiarize. But in context to me, they are horrifically misapplied. There is a universe of difference between being theologically precise and using the endless coils of Theological ideas to shield and justify real world outcomes. Or said another way, there is a big difference between being logically consistent and using the tools of logic to create a rational castle that shields men from critical review.

In 1996 I was being theologically precise; in addition to being historically precise, in addition to being philosophically precise, in addition to being logically precise.

In every area of human existence, rational competence and logical consistency are ESSENTIAL for man’s success. But somehow when we get to the world of Religion, and specifically Christian Theology, aspiring to the same standard is spiritual sedition. People tend to treat the ideas behind theology like some smorgasbord that they can pick and choose at their leisure accepting or rejecting doctrines to fit their emotional or spiritual feng shui. If this blog has shown anything, it is that this approach to the Arena of Ideas is a disaster.

I have said this—in many forms and variations—ardently and often, what I captured in the Gospel of John Immel Chapter 3 verses 1-3.

1) All people act logically from their assumptions. 2) It does not matter how inconsistent the ideas or insane the rationale, they will act until the logic is fulfilled. 3) Therefore, when you see masses of people taking the same actions, find the assumptions and you will find the cause.

Words mean things. The ideas those words convey create structures by which men seek to live. Those structures are integrated into cohesive philosophical statements. That underlying philosophy becomes the galvanizing system of thought that drives the moral superiority to take action. The action is in service to the assumptions underneath the ideas. It is this dynamic that everyone wants to evade.

Christians have decided that the only valid knowledge comes without work: Unless it is a superior revelation that comes from a supreme authority, man cannot know anything. So we go to men who claim to represent that supreme authority to spoonfeed us ideas. And herein is the problem. This places select men in the position to arbitrate the sum of human knowledge and excuses us from having to take up the cause of our own consciousness.

This is a disaster. We cannot take the pulse of the cause and effect of our ideas and subsequent actions because we have abandoned the very tool that makes judgment possible: our brain. So when challenged with ideas that do not conform to the spoonfed standard, we respond exactly like my “Veil of Theological Exactness” critic.

Here is what my critic was really saying: “John, you think you are really smart and are too big for your britches. You are just making something simple, complicated. So I have no responsibility to understand what you said.” In other words, he morally justified a rational punt because the ideas were beneath his super-spiritual simple-mindedness.

I would be a very rich man if paid money for every time I have heard some variation of this excuse. I hear it a lot because people pretend that simple-mindedness is morally superior, and moral superiority is a potent evasion because it absolves everyone of every thought they don’t want to address. It is much easier to evade the reality of their own making, and it lets them pretend they have transcended the evil, selfish, vain philosopher. Or said another way, it lets them dismiss me.

Here is the reality I am no longer willing to let people evade: it is THEIR rational bankruptcy that lets men like CJ Mahaney maraud his way through metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical disaster. As long as he can keep little Joseph in his pants and his hand out of the till every other “deficiency’ and “sinful judgment” and “hypocrisy” is trivial to some superior simple-mindedness. Since he hasn’t offended the threshold of your moral sensibilities, you marvel that people make it into a big fat dealeo, never once realizing the catastrophic function of his assertions.

Rational vacancy is not a superior moral state, and a man cannot use his faith to change reality until he can DEFINE reality. So here it is: The Mahaneys of the world exist because YOU let them. His current position and the existing failures within SGM have nothing to do with cultic behavior, or bad polity, or a lack of accountability, or a thousand and one other blogosphere criticisms.

Go look in the mirror. The problem is looking you in the face.

The problem is every time you whined about having to THINK to make sure you were fully consistent. The problem is every time you failed to earn your own mind and thoughts by strengthening your logical faculties. The problem is every time you told yourself that you knew everything you would need to know and had no responsibility to challenge the source, content, and outcomes of your ideas. The problem is every time you insisted that you had “authority” to think what you think, and therefore your ideas were unassailable. The problem is every time you resented a counterargument headwind and closed your mind in a fit of “unentreatablity.” The problem is every time you condemned men like me who offered you a depth of insight that was beyond your conceptual ability and dismissed the ideas out of hand because you didn’t happen to like the tone. The problem is every time you rationally punted with a wave of the “I just believe in Christ and him Crucified wand” as if that passage was a license to irrationality.

I will be my usual adorably blunt self and put my finger dead square on the real problem: The current SGM quandary exists because people are rational cowards.
Just so there is no misunderstanding, just so everyone can grasp my goal, just so there is no confusion about motive, it is my intention to wreck the thing that makes it possible for the CJ Mahaneys of the world to rise in power and thrive in despotism. I will grab hold of the raw nerve of the whole debacle and yank and hammer until people have so much psychic pain they cannot sleep or eat. Mystic

Despotism has reared its ugly head throughout history, and it only prevailed when good men refused to think. We are circling back round the assumptions that have always undergird Mystic Despotism and the issue is not confined to the theological bankrupt glory unfolding before our eyes in Sovereign Grace Ministries.

American Christianity is on a disastrous course. The only way to correct its direction is to remove the rich soil that gives men like CJ Mahaney the ability to grow and thrive. That rich soil is the hearts of Men and Women who accept their moral inferiority as the metaphysical starting place and live fearful and resigned to a theoretical inability. To uproot the choking infesting root system, it requires that YOU be conscious and THINK.

To that end, let us strip away all of the coils designed to suffocate us all into a spiritual warm fuzzy. Our goal requires that we remove all the extraneous words and spiritualized sentiments and look at exactly at what was said. This exercise will reduce CJ’s words down their foundational truths and doctrinal assertions. Once completed, we will have successfully pulled back the real veneer overlaying the extraordinary manipulation of theological exactness.

Contrast this:

• expressions of pride
• unentreatability
• deceit
• sinful judgment,
• hypocrisy

With this:

• … perceived a degree of my sin…
• But I want to perceive
• Although my experience of conviction
• . . . more for me to perceive …
• … gift of sight where
• … blinded by my sin …

And now we know exactly why CJ is lost. He’s trying to taste his way to conceptual awareness.

Perceptions are the physical apparatus of man’s sensory impute: taste, touch, sight, smell, and hearing. You perceive cold, hot, red, blue, hunger, loud, cinnamon, grape, and thousands of other sensory input.

Conceptions are the stuff of integrated logic and rational abstraction. Pride, “sinful” judgment, hypocrisy, unentreatablity, deceit are all abstractions based on a specific set of logical assumptions and filtered through metaphysical truths that impact epistemological conclusions.

Consider everything a man must understand to grasp the concept of deceit. Here is the definition:

–noun
1. the act or practice of deceiving; concealment or distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading; duplicity; fraud; cheating:
2. an act or device intended to deceive; trick; stratagem.
3. the quality of being deceitful; duplicity; falseness.

At a minimum, one must be fully capable to grasp the nature of TRUTH. And then one must be aware of what others understand of TRUTH. And then one must consciously seek to undermine that understanding. There is no need to dissect every level of this abstraction because the absurdity is self-evident to those with the rational development of a twelve-year-old.

CJ speaks of failing to understand abstractions as if he were describing the flavor of a grape. He hears what everyone else calls “grape” and is mystified that it doesn’t taste like “grape” to him. So he says, “OMG! I’m such a wretched old sinner. I need God to impute grace so I can perceive grape-ness.”

CJ’s letter is like a high school senior trying to rip out the pages of his textbooks with his teeth and rubbing them over his eyes to perceive Calculus and the “confessing” to his parents that he sucks at math. Rational parents would be keeping that kid from licking windows and fitting him for a helmet, not discussing his great humility for admitting that he had become aware of his academic “deficiencies.”

CJ is declaring himself to be the philosophical equivalent of an infant gumming an epistemological teething ring trying to make sense of the world through his mouth. Even the two-year-old manages to grasp the concept of “yucky” as mommy teaches that the world is not understood through a river of drool.
And CJ expects you to “swallow” these shenanigans? I tell you, he holds you in utter contempt.

You think I am just parsing words? That I just need to give him the benefit of the doubt and just understand what he is trying to say?

No, I am not: This is not mere semantics. And no, I don’t: We are decades past the benefit of the doubt. His letter is a bold manipulation of the doctrines of Pervasive Depravity and Irresistible Grace. Most people are familiar with the first doctrinal concept, but I suspect not so much for the second. To summarize, Irresistible Grace says that no matter how much of your depraved part sins, no matter how much you act like a heathen, acting unworthy of your calling, and walking apart from your election, those whom God calls cannot resist his Grace because God would not allow such a precious gift to be squandered. The fact that you can “perceive” any good is the seal of your authentic election. So now you can see how CJ is parsing the doctrines for the broadest personal benefit and within sentences defying the logical conclusions of his own appeal.

Furthermore, during the early 1990s, during the SGM “Doctrinal Refocus” (which was a euphemism for Reformed Theology Force-Feeding), the men at the top of the leadership food chain thumped the pulpit and then their chest for their effort to dig into the deep things of theology. They wrote endless articles and preached endless sermons denouncing the lack of theological precision and general rational vacancy within American Christianity. They were very pleased to tell EVERYONE that they were “not like other churches.” They patted themselves on the head for saying “We don’t want to be like the ‘gift rich’ but doctrinally-deficient Corinthian Church.” They wore their lofty self-educatedness like a badge of qualification. And then they beat everybody around the spiritual head with submission and authority to demand obedience to their self-educatedness.

CJ built a monument to his theological precision—ostensibly a seminary level library in his office. So now he can’t have it both ways. CJ cannot make an appeal to his qualification to lead by the virtue of the size of his library and his “greater measure” on the one hand and then pretend that he can use any old word to describe any old idea, because he is just a simple man preaching simple truths—kum-buy-yah, kum-buy-yah.

And—somehow—I become the big meaner when pointing out that CJ does not have any clothes? Or sense? Or rationality?

As one of my professors was very fond of saying, “Rubbish!”

I told you I was standing in the quarry he dug. I’m not even throwing rocks. I’m merely pointing out that the rocks he has thrown for years to intimidate the uninitiated are really ping pong balls that no one has had the courage to return.

But now we do have to turn our attention to the rocks. Now we have to focus on the bedrock of CJ Houdini’s all star Metaphysical Magic Mayhem that leaps off the page in the 3rd, 7th paragraph.

I believe I have by the grace of God perceived a degree of my sin, and I have been grieved by my sin and its effects on others. . . . . But I want to perceive and confess any and all sin I have committed. Although my experience of conviction has already started—and this is an evidence of God’s mercy—I’m sure there is more for me to perceive and acknowledge. . . . it has been beneficial to examine my soul and ask for the observation of others.
. . .
Please pray that God would give me the gift of sight where I have been blinded by my sin and others have been adversely affected by my sin. Pray that I will be convicted and experience godly sorrow resulting in reconciliation where necessary and adjustments to my heart and leadership.

Let us once again extract the important parts from the coils choking our minds.

“I believe I have by the grace of God perceived a degree of my sin…”
“Although my experience of conviction has already started—and this is an evidence of God’s mercy—I’m sure there is more for me to perceive and acknowledge. . . .”

Sounds churchy, doesn’t it? And because it sounds like something a humble preacher should say, the reality of the words sail right over our heads. But these words are the core of this whole letter. These sentences are profound epistemological declarations and the key to understanding how SGM leadership has gotten to this point in their history.

Epistemology is the science of determining HOW we know what we know so that we can define WHAT we know. Without understanding the answers to these two questions, man cannot live. It is that simple.

For almost the whole of human history, the conclusion to these two questions—the conclusion that crawled out of the primordial ooze of man’s superstitious mind and landed in the mouth of the local soothsayer, and was explained by every generation of mystic until it was codified by a man called Hammurabi and was eventually integrated into a full philosophical statement by a man called Plato, and was then fully syncretized into Christianity by a man named Augustine—was there is no HOW because Man cannot know anything unless the gods tell him. And WHAT he understands from the gods’ instruction is limited by the corruption of man’s nature.

The inevitable conclusion of this worldview is that select men are given a dispensation from the inability to “perceive” TRUTH from the gods. Those with the dispensation are then morally superior and therefore empowered to compel those “under” them to act in accord with the edicts. Once man accepts this premise, the only conversation left for humanity to have is how much force (that is authority) do those morally superior men have to compel compliance?

And now many, many generations later, CJ Mahaney is saying the exact same thing. CJ is summarizing the HOW and WHAT of his knowledge using the ancient assertions of mystic despotism. He is appealing to the most ancient of all worldviews and explaining his actions by tossing himself in to the mosh pit of the most destructive metaphysical and epistemological assumptions this world has ever seen. He is specifically telling us he is not responsible for his rational capacity. He is admitting to having abandoned every pretense of conscious responsibility. The HOW of his epistemology is that he doesn’t know ANYTHING.

WHAT God tells him may be perfect, but he is flawed and therefore needs supernatural help to “perceive” what his sinful nature corrupts blinds. Whatever repentance or change of mind CJ Mahaney is undergoing to “perceive his sins” has nothing to do with an objective standard of ethical behavior, or evidence presented that led to rational correction, or the logical capacity to evaluate the cause and effect of actions, or a mastery of abstractions to achieve conceptual understanding.

No. No. No.

CJ is telling us that he is blind, deaf, and dumb unless God gives him mercy. This lip service to Irresistible Grace is an overt effort to say that a correction of rational judgment is not really “rational” at all, but rather the imputation of divine revelation. The fact that he can see ANY ethical or moral failing is the PROOF of God’s specific involvement and therefore evidence of his authentic Christian calling. So his epistemology (the science of HOW and WHAT he KNOWS) is “God gave me the gift of sight.” And his ethics are summed up by saying “I don’t know how to act unless I get a specific gift from God that I can put in my mouth and chew on.”

Are you kidding?

Can you imagine the Reformed Theology groupies hue and cry if this were Todd Bentley or Kenneth Copeland saying they can’t get their moral act together unless God (turn up the reverb) gives them a “revelation” on how to act?

But beyond the silliness, notice how much power this gives a man. You confront him with an objective outcome and he can blithely say that he does not have a “conviction” or a “witness” or a “gift of sight” to see what you see. So he is free to measure the “objective” outcome by the whims of his epistemological teething ring. So for instance, unless he gets the same revelation of grape-ness that you have, he can persist in any action without any responsibility to outcome. And this is why this body of doctrine obsesses on authority. The only way to tell whose taste buds are authentic is the man with the most force to compel epistemological compliance. He gets to shove his teething ring in everyone else’s mouth to “perceive” what he “perceives” until the world is flooded with drool. So as long as HIS revelation of grape-ness is affirmed by his authority, how can he correct his actions? He cannot correct his actions because he “perceives” no need to correct his action. His authority is granted by the gods. And who are you to challenge his dispensation to understand TRUTH? So if he does not change his mind, it is PROOF of God’s imputation of Grace. And if he ever does “perceive” himself guilty of ANY ethical or moral failing is the PROOF of God’s specific involvement and therefore evidence of his authentic Christian calling.

And this is SGM leadership in all their metaphysical glory.

Each person-to-person interaction is a wholly unique event that is measured up against … nothing … but the ability to “perceive” as God grants grace. This is the metaphysical equivalent of a newborn baby who cannot distinguish between mommy being gone and mommy being under a blanket. The baby does not conceptualize the blanket, only that mommy’s face is present and mommy’s face is gone. Likewise, CJ does not conceptualize the broader pattern of his edicts and declarations. He can see no system dynamics between the metaphysical given of his own epistemological vacancy and the subsequent outcomes of his leadership deficiencies. By definition, he only sees what God specifically “gifts” him to see.

So he at once has no rational responsibility to ANY consistency or logic AND is excused for his prevailing failures because of his blinding sin. Alakazam! Poof! He is free to create a world of his own detached whim and his errors are mere “sinful judgments” and leadership “deficiencies.” And since we are ALL just sinners in need of Grace, who can fuss with that?

With such a metaphysical and epistemological worldview, is it any wonder that HIS moral and ethical judgment is all over the map? Is it a wonder that there is no rhyme or reason to SGM pastoral council? Is it any mystery why CJ suddenly must at least acknowledge “. . . the lack of a clear and consistent process of conflict resolution and pastoral evaluation . . .”?

I cracked my Schrodinger’s cat joke above because as a metaphor, it captures this very dynamic. In the quantum thought experiment, the cat is either alive or dead at the moment of observation. This experiment was used to explain how it was possible that quantum particles could exist in two simultaneous states—wave and particle—and yet when observed, they could become one or the other but not both. In any given moment, that cat was alive or dead within the box: the only way to know is to “perceive.” Hence, the similarity to quantum particles.
About half of you dear readers are sorely tempted to let your brain go tilt and give me the “You just think you are really smart and I just preach Christ and him Crucified,” speech. You want to read me the riot act for not arguing Scripture; tell me I’m too big for my britches and brush this off as me being too clever by half.

My britches fit just right, and this is not too clever by half!

I told you it was Harry Houdini level sleights of hand. This is masterful in its presentation and execution, but it relies on your unwillingness to watch both hands and remain conscious of the very foundational level ideas. Just as quantum mechanics is the foundation of our physical existence, metaphysics and epistemology are the foundations of our rational/spiritual existence. This brazen manipulating is how SGM has been so successful at romping through people’s lives. This is how SGM can hold Scriptures in two simultaneous states: absolute and bendable. They put the Bible in the Schrodinger box and do a thought experiment with every interaction. Is the Bible absolute or bendable? Who can tell until they “perceive”? And here is the scandal. They don’t let anyone else look in the box. We don’t all get to look at the cat and see if it is dead and check their quantum math. There is no math to check. There is no algebra. There is no objective standard. There is only their imputation of Grace to determine, in every discreet moment, what God is saying and doing. They emerge from the “observation” and declare the conclusion.

And this is EXACTLY what CJ did in this letter.

And this is EXACTLY what frees CJ to be utterly inconsistent with his evaluation of his own judgment. Notice in 2008, CJ wrote an article about Bill Belichick decrying his lack of humility in the face of adversity. How did CJ arrive at this conclusion? Simple, Bill left the field before time on the clock ran out. I addressed the full absurdity in this article. But now I want you to read how CJ justified his judgment. (Full article)

“. . . I am the worst sinner I know. For am I most familiar with the countless sins I have committed against God, . . . Though it doesn’t appear Bill Belichick is a humble man, I know I am not a humble man.

I am a proud man who is pursuing humility only by the grace of God. . . .
So today after examining my heart for any trace of self-righteousness, any hint of moral superiority in my soul, I have prayed that God would . . .

So how does a man go from being the worst sinner he knows to the egoistic assurance of “So today after examining my heart for any trace of self-righteousness, any hint of moral superiority in my soul, I have prayed that God would blah blah blah ….”?

ONE DAY! Not five years to arrive at the conclusion that he MIGHT have leadership deficiencies. Within ONE DAY he can fully and effectively declare himself free of self-righteous moral superiority and then subsequently manufacture a doctrine that eternally condemns a man for leaving a football field before the end of a game.

Really?

Here we are a few years later and he wants to pretend that he cannot successfully master his own rational appointment within half a decade?

Really?

You all are buying this?

Since CJ brought up reconciling with Larry T. we need to revisit what they said of the Apostle of Covering back when they booted him to the curb. I will summarize that letter as follows:

The [then] PDI Leadership team and the three men of the local Atlanta Church [where Larry was currently stationed] would not agree with “. . . Larry’s assessment of himself. . .” because “. . . for a man simply cannot trust his own assessment of himself or determine unilaterally when he returns to ministry once he has been disqualified.”

For those of you who still have the letters that deal with the “offense” of Larry Tomczak’s removal from his job. Notice how the doctrine of Pervasive Depravity is used to absolutely steal the power of volitional judgment from Larry T.

Who is acting unilaterally now? How did CJ get a dispensation from implications of Pervasive Depravity? Where are the “leadership team” letters decrying CJ’s ethical egoism with the same zeal as they went after Larry?

Hmm? Anyone?

In light of Pervasive Depravity eternity, how does CJ feel qualified to orchestrate the terms of his own exile? For someone who is supposed to be reviewing his ”deficiencies” and hypocrisy and all the self-flagellating rest, for a man who admits that he has no means to know anything but what God puts in him, he is profoundly self-appointed. In a 1,000-word document, the “Greatest Sinner he knows,” uses the word “I” almost 50 times. How can he be trusted to choose who will help him find the solutions? How can he “take responsibility”? By doctrinal definition, he does not have the ability to be responsible for his conduct. By self-admission, he is claiming to struggle with the most rudimentary level of human cognitive development. So if CJ picked the course of action, it should be immediately disqualified in his manmade efforts toward a solution to the “deficiencies.”

Of course, this begs the conclusion whether there should BE a solution to the “deficiencies.” Who is to say that God isn’t appointing CJ Mahaney to wander in the abyss of his epistemological “deficiencies”? Since authentic Bible doctrine and sound doctrine purity must be defended at all cost, it is worth considering.

Human lives are at the utter disposal of all pure, righteous Bible absolute TRUTH. So I’m just saying . . .. CJ admits that the nature of the grace and mercy granted him so far is partial, which means that God is choosing to withhold the full truth from his delicate, fragile, sin-filled psyche. So by definition He [God] is

Sovereignly appointing the circumstance. Indeed God has, to date, withheld the grace that makes this deficiency-ridden, sinful judgment, Pride-filled, hypocritical state of CJ’s leadership possible. God has refused to grant the “gift of sight” for five years. So why do we automatically presume that God does not want it to persist for another decade?

Why would God do that?

Who are you, oh man, to even ask such a question?

It is God’s sovereign choice to raise up vessels of Grace and destroy vessels of destruction. If He chooses to allow CJ Mahaney to trot off the deep end, how is that any of your concern?

You cannot rationally object to God’s sovereign action. Since you have subordinated your mind to authority, you have no choice but to go along for the ride into perdition. You can, at no point, revert to YOUR judgments because you are also in need of Grace to “perceive” the error of your ways. And what you do “perceive” must be validated through the authority. So suck it up and stay in your pew; shut your mouth and let God do as he sees fit because whatever bad thing CJ does, God intended it for your life.
. . .
. . .
. . .

Did that finally get real enough for some of you? Is any of this penetrating the stupor of your mind? Are any of you quaking in your boots at the logical conclusions? This Houdini level Metaphysical and Epistemological illusionist show is exactly what has empowered CJ Mahaney to romp through the lives of people unchecked, treat everyone else as a distant theological abstraction, all the while making pretense at seizing the highest moral and spiritual standard. Once he can make an unchallenged claim to moral authority, he gets to define for EVERYONE what grape-ness tastes like and you can stick it in your ear if you don’t happen to like the dog squeeze he force-feeds you in the name of biblical absolutes.

Do you “perceive” how this liberates a man to act with impunity?

This might be marginally understandable if it were accidental. We might be able to grant some space to a man struggling to master the elements of his existence and taking responsibility for his own consciousness. But that is not what has happened with CJ.

He is at once blaming his moral failing on God and confirming his Christian authenticity by the PROOF of the small measure of his repentance to date. So he affirms his authority by appealing to Pervasive Depravity and absolves his authority outcomes by the doctrine of Irresistible Grace. He is at no point disqualified.

This whole magic show is a despicable display of rational larceny. And it is rational larceny because it is obvious that he does not believe for a minute that he is ineligible in any applicable sense. He is now fully on record for cherry-picking his qualification and abandoning his rational culpability when it serves his purpose.

I told you from the outset that he holds us all in contempt. No matter what the glossy brochure says, no matter how often he smiles and self-deprecates and is his generally witty winsome self, this man fully believes he is morally superior by any and every measure. The morality play unfolding before our eyes is a further brilliant move, a well orchestrated final act in an endless campaign to make himself unassailable in the acquisition of moral superiority. The men around him are utterly cowed by his moral authority. They have demonstrated no capacity or even the slightest desire to check or balance his conducts, actions, or doctrines. They let him rewrite the meaning and outcomes with impunity. And as a governing body, they are universally “unentreatable” unless it serves their purpose.

So this only has one outcome.

At the moment the leadership team has had their confidence shaken so they too are saying all the right things, in all the right places for all the same reasons.

This will give local churches who have been chaffing under the pain of having to subordinate to the Big Dogs the moral clarity to defect from SGM central planning.They will suffer the usual criticism of those who dare leave the SGM fold. But then it will pass. The leadership will have sufficiently watched their bellybutton to affirm in their own mind they are still qualified to govern.

El Primo Doctrinal mover and Shaker will head into self-appointed exile and navel-gaze till his heart is content. The board will investigate. The men of correction will enter the stage on cue, offer their correction as if CJ is a five-year-old that needs swatted with a spoon. He will be told to respond “right away, all the way, and cheerfully.” He will cry great big alligator tears in public, an event that is hardly unique. A season will pass—season = until he gets tired of the dog house—and he will then unilaterally return, appropriately chastened, appropriately repentant, appropriately confessed.

For the first few board meetings, CJ will nod in all the right places as if the words he hears others say are new and fresh and important. He will defer and conciliate. Everyone will extol: “See, it works! The redemption is real! The process of restorations is a miracle of Grace!” They will write books and sing songs and dance their hold over charismatic two-step in the aisles. All the sins have been washed away. Repent of unforgiveness. Move past your emotional offense. You too must confess your faults and make your Pastors work a Joy.

Woe is us, we are all just sinners.

And then, one day, behind the scenes, the e-mail chain will start again, and to those who lived the nightmare the first time will “perceive.” The illusionist never left and now CJ is unassailable.

SGM, welcome to CJ Mahaney’s Metaphysical Magic Mayhem.