CRN.Info and Analysis

Much has been said here about the misuse of logic, vitriol, over the top hyperbole, and downright misinformation of the ODM’s.  Quite frankly it has been well deserved and accurate.

Many times a post or comment has been written that makes comparisons between ODM’s and clanging cymbals, pharisees, legalists, and blockers of doors.  Again well deserved and accurate.

A little while back Joe Martino wrote a post about “Fruit”and said that this is the litmus test for whether or not he’s going to believe what you are saying.  He essentially said that all the bible verses in the world aren’t going to convince him if you don’t have the evidence of “fruit” in your life.  Predictabley the ODM’s swooped in and accused Joe of denying the Bible.  Which, quite honestly, only reinforced the point Joe was making.

So as a new contributor here I wanted to deal with a question that I have been rolling around in my mind for months.

Do the watch-doggies have Joy?

I mean this as a serious question. My first encounter with an ODM, and what eventually led me to .info, was when Ken Silva commented on a friends blog.  The furthest thing from my mind was”That guy has the joy of the Lord”. This was further reinforced when I was introduced to Ingrid, Team Pyro, Dwayna, and a whole slew of commenter’s.  Where is the Joy?

side note: Before the ol’ “You do it too” is thrown out I would encourage anyone to visit the personal blogs of the contributors of this site. We have it. I promise you!

Again this is a serious question. When the world visits your blogs is the Joy you have in the Lord evident? Furthermore; I would ask that in your passion to defend the Lord have you considered what your representation of the Lord looks like to the world? 

Joyful?  Maybe! But I certainly don’t see it.

By now, many of you have received emails about how dangerous the upcoming film “The Golden Compass” will be. Based on the novel “Northern Lights”, by Philip Pullman (a devout atheist), the ODMs and other Christians are starting the usual “picket the theatre” or “I’m better then you because I won’t take my kids to this movie” talk.

I’m just not sure that inciting hysteria is necessarily the best response. Andre Serrano, the artist who did “P-ss Christ”, at one point openly acknowledged that Christians saved his career because they made such a big stink about his work. He was literally a starving artist until Christians protested his work.

Perhaps ignoring something so it goes away might be the more Christian response.

Dwayna begins her latest post with a question

What do the fallen Hollywood stars have in common with the “Jesus People”?

The answer: pretty much nothing. Although she would love to make that connection. She reads in In Touch Magazine about the “spiritual jewelry” of Hollywood celebrities such as Angelina Jolie and Meredith Kahn. It goes over everything from Dia De Los Muertos charms to Buddhist rings. She then makes an illogical link to the punk style jewelry sold at the Christian music festival, Cornerstone. For the life of me, I cannot get her logic.

Although, her tech tags are always amusing. This falls into the category of Abominations, Youth Ministry, Apologetics, Christian Authenticity, and Synergism. Yikes!

…what is wrong with this blog post. Evidently, according to Dwayna, these women are “re-imagining” God, even though that word or any variant of it is not even used in the post. I just don’t get it…

I guess a group of people getting together and discussing theology qualifies as an abomination nowadays. Who knew?

Sometimes the ODM sites remind me of those late night infomercials you see that try to convince you buy a product that solves a problem that you didn’t even know you had.  In this piece, Dwayna tells us about the “growing” problem of American “Hebrew” Cults.  I have to admit, that this is the first I have ever heard of such a thing.  I have heard of small groups of Messianic Jews that sort of resemble what she seems to be talking about, but even then, her piece seems off the mark.

Is this type of fringe movement really a huge danger to the Church?  It seems that it is so far out of the mainstream that even Christians with a basic knowledge would realize it was out in left field.  Is the average Christian, in the mind of the ODM, really that stupid?  I would say that the answer appears to be, “yes”.

The thing with “ministries” dedicated to exposing dangers to the church is that they need a certain amount of heresy to expose in order to continue their “calling”.  It’s sort of like the fad ”diet” industry.  If it was really accomplishing its stated goal, it would go out of business.  Thus, we get articles like the one linked above - warning us about a relatively small fringe movement as if it were a huge problem.

The interesting thing about the article to me, is that for all it’s Scripture citations and hyperbole, it doesn’t give one concrete example of a church where this group is actually causing problems.  We get one anecdotal story about her relatives, but that seems like a pretty weak piece of evidence to claim this is a “growing” problem.  It seems everything else is based on hearsay.

It seems to me that your “ministry” consists of warning others that the sky is falling, then at some times you might have to go to great lengths to prove that point - even it means making mountains out of molehills.

Those of you who know me, or are familiar with the Restoration Movement know that we are pretty adamant about eschewing systematic (read: man-made) theologies. I’m neither Calvinist, nor Arminian (nor the other paleo-’s, semi-’s, -ists, -ians, and other labels tossed about often by the folks who claim these systematic theologies.

Our (and by “our” I mean Slice 2.0’s) looney Dwayna has once again provided an object lesson on why this is so. In specific, she proves a point I made early this year on my own blog, about how election is an awful doctrine when it comes to orthopraxy, and that our concept of time and God’s are so vastly different, that our trying to explain may well be lethal to the unreached and unsaved. (Interestingly, Calvinist Frank Turk agreed that acting on the doctrine of election was impractical: “If anyone is trying to use this doctrine, for example, to determine how to do evangelism, or how to implement the ordinances/sacraments of the church, that person is tring to set drywall screws with a coffee cup”. Jim Bublitz, of OldTruth, on the other hand, demonstrated where the systems break down.)
In her article from CR?N today, she talks about “Total Depravity and the Doctrine of Election”. In this article, she makes some truly scary comments:

He will use me, or He will get another Christian to witness to the person—I am privileged to be used by God, but God does not need me in the work of salvation.

Furthermore, no one will end up in hell because of a lack of witnessing on my part. It would be arrogant of me to think that I had that much to do with anyone’s salvation!

This is the kind of thinking that gets people killed - forever.

Dwayna laughs at women’s conference

In this article, Dwayna attempts to attack feminism in the emergent church.  Unfortunately all she did was post the advertisement and laugh at it (literally).  She did highlight the fact that the women were going to be staying in a “modern day castle.”  I am sure the problem there is that Christians in Vietnam are unable to stay in a castle, and so they shouldn’t either.  The only really substantial thing that she could find wrong with the event, you ask?  The fact that is was held at the Stronghold Conference Center.  Are all the ladies at CRN running out of material these days?

Saddleback hasn’t held to its word!

Well, kinda something like that.  According to the “editor” at CRN, Saddleback has failed to accomplish two of the goals set forth in the 20/20 Vision Plan.  Gasp!  They even called them to make sure this was true.  Saddleback has yet to start a believer’s mid-week service, nor have they developed 250 gifted teachers of the word!  Unfortunately, what CRN failed to mention is that they have met most of their goals and have 13 YEARS to complete these two.  Can we say nit-picking?

Love… or Charity

In risk of becoming equally nit-picking (and attempting satire), I will not emphasize this last headline.  But they decided to post I Corinthians 13:1-8 as their daily scripture.  The love chapter right?  This might show that CRN actually does show love in all they do.  Well their translation of the bible uses charity in place of love.  So, the verses read:

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.        

 Maybe that’s where they are getting mixed up.  They don’t realize that without LOVE we are nothing.

… and that was all written before lunch today people!

If it wasn’t already apparent to discerning and non-discerning readers, alike, there is very little research actually conducted at the “Christian Research Network”.  In fact, about a third of what gets passed off as research is little more than glorified gossip, at best.

As one peruses this pothole in the information superhighway, he or she may be struck by the “balance” of three types of postings:

1. Reporting the Obvious: Articles documenting things that really don’t require all that much ‘discernment’ - Mormonism is a cult, the press hates Christians, the health & wealth gospel is a sham
2. Spiritual Encouragement: Always a good thing, though there’s a number of better places to go.
3. Gossip/Slander disguised as ‘Discernment’: Articles which either mock other Christians over tertiary doctrine or differences in taste/style, decry brothers as ‘heretics’ and ‘apostates’ based on opinions and isogesis, or - most often - which completely distort quotes from brothers in Christ and then slander them as if this were the sum total of their ministry.

Were the metatopic of CRN “Physical Science” instead of Christianity, this balance and “depth” of research would be something like this:

1. The Obvious: Water is wet, the sky is blue, things tend to break when dropped from great heights
2. Encouraging Words: Recycling tends to save natural resources; Don’t litter; Flowers are very pretty during the springtime
3. Near or Utter Falsehood: Cold fusion really works - you just don’t understand it correctly; Galileo was wrong about heliocentricity because he couldn’t see supernovae 6 billion light years away; There are tall people who live on the moon (oh, wait, that was actually taught by LDS founder, Joseph Smith!)

As it pertains to Category #3 and “Research”: At CRN, it has become fairly obvious that Dwayna has no connection to reality when it comes to research; that Chris (”the only cure for AIDS is death“) Perjak is all about sound and fury - lots of long seemingly-unrelated Biblical text with ‘unusual’ literalistic interpretations followed by general broad-brush invective; and that Ken Silva has never met a logical fallacy he didn’t embrace.

To wit - we ALL have our faults.  Among mine, blog-wise, is a chief overuse of sarcasm, verbosity, and beating dead horses.  However, I would never deem to teach people how not to be sarcastic, how to write concise articles, or how to allow a subject to just drop and to leave it alone.  An old boss of mine called this type of behavior “leading with your glass chin”.  Perhaps this is a lesson that could have been taken into account before choosing “research” as part of the title of your “ministry” (as tenuous a proposition as it is that CRN/Slice can actually be referred to as such).

When average Joes (all of us - not just Joe) like the writers here can so easily eviscerate what passes for “research” at CRN, one really must wonder what defines “research” over there.  In the immortal words of Inigo Montoya, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”  While even the best minds sometimes get pwned, it seems to be becoming a common occurance to directly disprove Slice claims with written or photographic evidence.

And so it was yesterday, when commenter ‘Matt’ provided photographic evidence (left) of Ken’s rush to slander Mark Driscoll over the name (”Red Hot Bash” New Years’ Eve celebration) as if it were some sexual slang or innuendo for church-sponsored sleaze.  Unfortunately for Ken, there’s an entire Flickr photoset to dispute his smear.  I wonder if there will be an apology made to Driscoll and Mars Hill (cue chirping crickets).

Perhaps it’s just time for CRN/Slice 2.0 to end the charade and update their URL to christiangossipnetwork.org - at least then there would be truth in advertising.

I’ll first admit I’m unfamiliar with CRM Leadership. But a reading of their belief statement shows they are Trinitarian, hold to the inerrancy of Scripture, the Deity of Christ (and his Virgin Birth). They believe man is sinful and apart from faith in Christ will suffer an eternity separated from God. The primary purpose of the church, according to CRM, is to worship God, build up believers, and share the Gospel… so… they fit nicely with all the major tenants of the historic orthodox faith, right?

Not according to Dwayna Litz and CRN who tie them to Satanism – through one amazing leap of non sequitur logic.

Given CRM’s thoroughly biblical orthodox belief statement what does Dwayna and CRN draw on to make the connection? A CRM Leadership video showing their primary ministry using the theme of “One Thing.” The use of the phrase “one thing” as a repeating tag line, and probably worse, the song “One Love” by U2 as a background accompaniment are the offending acts.

According to Dwayna: “The Satanists have a favorite saying at Venice Beach. Guess what it is? ‘One Love’ (just like the song depicts in the Christian, emergent video).” And that’s the totality of her argument… and even that statement is undocumented. So, since the Satanists of Venice Beach use the phrase, it’s… I can’t even type it the logic is so incredulous. What power Dwayna gives these Satanists – the very power to affect a word’s ontological meaning.

Someone at CRN added a bit of commentary… too bad it lacks cogent logic as well. As usual, the commentator lifts a couple lines out of context and blasts them saying Satanists and Buddhists would love their inclusiveness. They choose to exclude the phrases “…with one purpose, the heath and effectiveness of the church” and “…no one should live in despair, not when Jesus Christ has come.” Yeah, that should sit pretty well with Satanists and Buddhists – healthy effective churches spreading the hope of Jesus Christ.

Anyway, the CRN commentator then makes an outlandish and unsubstantiated statement – the word “Hell” will never be mentioned. I wonder how they know this? Doesn’t matter that CRM clearly defines that those apart from Christ face an eternity separated from God.

I wonder why they ignore those phrases; I wonder why they pick and choose sound bites to create a false impression – most likely because it would not fit the argument.

Their motto could be, “If a quote does not fit, then the quote we will clip!”

Issue: Music as a neutral element that can be used for worship

Slice/CRN take: Dwayna, from “Music is not Amoral”

Consider these points from Dan Lucarini, former Contemporary Christian Worship leader:

“…I do not trust the argument that all music is or can be good, because of the biblical record. The first musical reference in the entire Bible is not in Psalms or Chronicles, as many believe. It is not in the stories of David or the song of Moses. The first mention of music is found very early in Genesis 4:21, where we are introduced to Jubal, the father of all musicians: ‘He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute.’ Our modern band and orchestra instruments can probably be traced to the handiwork of Jubal and his descendants.Furthermore, the first musician named in the Bible was a direct descendant of Cain, whom God had judged so severely, because he used his own personal [p]references in worship! Ponder that for a moment.

God told Cain that his personal style of worship was unacceptable, because it violated the specific rules given by God. Cain was infuriated with this rejection and extremely jealous that God accepted  his brother, Abel’s, worship. Cain murdered Abel and was banished from the presence of the Lord and His family.Cain’s descendants continued to disobey God. They were so wicked that when they intermarried with the line of Seth, God decided to destroy them with the Flood. This was the heritage and environment of Jubal…I also recommend a diligent study of 1 Chronicles 15 and 16 where David organized the musical structure of temple worship. This will help us to understand how a fallible man can become acceptable to  God as a music minister before Him, trusted to choose the music and the instruments wisely.”

[Why I Left the Contemporary Christian Music Movement, Lucarini, pp. 93, 133; Evangelical Press] [emphasis hers]

My Take:

I suppose you can twist scripture to say a whole lot of things, but this not only takes the cake, but it then tries to eat it, too…  This is another attack on the Third Commandment, trying to make our preferences into “God’s preferences”.

So, let’s see:

1. Jubal is the first musician in the Bible, who was the ‘father of all those who play the harp and flute’.
2. Jubal was decended from Cain, who was rejected by God for “using his own personal [p]references in worship”. [This is certainly a huge stretch in Biblical interpretation, far beyond Rick Warren’s stretches in interpretation in the Purpose Driven Life that his detractors gnash about ad naseum.  The remainder of the exposition of Genesis 4 is also a bit of a stretch in interpretation, but hey, Dwayna and Lucarini are on their side, so they can be given a pass…]
3. “Our modern band and orchestra instruments can probably be traced to the handiwork of Jubal and his decendents.”  [I was kind of thinking that Jubal and his decendents were either a) wiped out in the flood; b) ancestors of Noah; c) ancestors of Noah’s wife or his son’s wives.  Since we don’t have Jubal’s geneology to know if all of us or a third of us or none of us are related to him, I will have to assume this is a lame attempt at unsupported hyperbole toward whatever instruments/music Dwayna/Lucarini don’t like…]
4. David is then used as the example for how to choose music and instruments.  [Wasn’t David’s key instrument the harp (1 Sam 16:18)?  Isn’t one of his Psalms (#5) written for flute accompanyment?  Didn’t he know that *shudder* Jubal was the ‘father of all those who play the harp and flute’?  What was he thinking?!?!?]

I think Dwayna and Dan just need a good therapist, and need to leave the church alone until they grow up a bit and realize that just because something isn’t their preference doesn’t make it displeasing to God.

God is the creator of everything, including music, and as such, it can - and should - be used to worship Him, in any musical style that is acceptable to the church community worshipping Him.  Even if it includes harps, flutes, drums, guitars or an organ…