Joyce Meyer, Augustinian?
I read this headline, “Joyce Meyers, Augustinian” from Christopher Wells at the Living Church and I thought it was a joke. Unfortunately, it isn’t. I’ve met Christopher Wells before. He’s a smart guy. But he seems to be among those many moderate orthodox leaders in the Anglican world who believe the best way to heal Christian disunity is by accentuating the positives of various heterodox teachers in an effort to find “common ground”; the kind of thinking that led many to embrace Bishop Shannon Johnston as a brother in Christ and a devotee of the Nicene creed despite his gospel-denying teachings on human sexuality. So Joyce Meyers, Word of Faith,Prosperity Gospel teacher, is now, according to Mr Wells, “Joyce Meyers, Augustinian”. It is not as if information about Joyce Meyer’s is lacking. Mr Wells was able to research and identify some problematic aspects of her personal life in the article, but he passes over completely the gospel denying aspects of her ministry. The closest he comes to suggesting that some of her teachings might not be kosher is this section from his penultimate paragraph:
I understand that there are many in the orthodox world Anglican world who fear more than anything else being associated with those mean-spirited zealots (probably Calvinists) who draw firm un-reconciling lines rather than gathering in conversational ovals but this tack of finding common ground, accentuating the positives of heretics, plays right into their hands. Heretics mix truth with falsehood. That’s how they lead people away from Christ.
They come in sheep’s clothing but mouth the words of the Shepherd. They come dressed as angels of light but deal in doctrines from the Pit. Accentuating the positive only contributes to their ploy and makes it that much more likely that people will buy into their lies. Why would a good Anglican journal help in this process?
“Is this the fullness of Christian truth? Probably not. I’d like to see more about the continuity — apostolicity — of the Church down the ages; a deeper wrestling with the people of God in Scripture, ordered around God’s faithfulness to Israel; more about the Church’s worship.”She’s almost there. It’s not that she actively denies biblical truth - she just doesn’t give us the “fullness of it”. This is a woman who believes we have the power to speak things into existence, that faith is an actual ‘power’ like the force in Star Wars; that positive words are like magical incantations that force God’s hand; that God wants you to be healthy and wealthy and if you are not healthy and wealthy you just don’t have enough faith power. This is a woman who claims that she no longer commits sin; that Jesus did not finish his work of atonement on the cross, but instead while being tortured in Hell; that if you believe that Jesus completed his atoning work on the cross you cannot be saved; that Jesus ceased to be the Son of God when he became sin for us. This is not Augustinianism. This is not an “almost there” Christianity that just needs a little Apostolic Succession mixed in. This is a false gospel altogether.
I understand that there are many in the orthodox world Anglican world who fear more than anything else being associated with those mean-spirited zealots (probably Calvinists) who draw firm un-reconciling lines rather than gathering in conversational ovals but this tack of finding common ground, accentuating the positives of heretics, plays right into their hands. Heretics mix truth with falsehood. That’s how they lead people away from Christ.
They come in sheep’s clothing but mouth the words of the Shepherd. They come dressed as angels of light but deal in doctrines from the Pit. Accentuating the positive only contributes to their ploy and makes it that much more likely that people will buy into their lies. Why would a good Anglican journal help in this process?
No comments:
Post a Comment