[Please note: as with most all blog entries, these have not been professionally edited for content, grammar, and/or spelling errors.]

The American Captivity of the Church is a series of essays . . .

The American Captivity of the Church is a blog category for a series of essays about the American Evangelical Christendom’s capitulation and captivity to American ideology, politics, and culture in Christian faith (theology and beliefs) and Christian practice (theological praxis behavior and ethics).

The American Captivity of the Church references Martin Luther’s De captivitate Babylonica ecclesiae, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, written in 1520 wherein Luther accused of the Roman Catholic Church and papacy of keeping the church of Christ in captivity to a modern Babylon, a metaphor the false doctrines and practices against the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I’m only substituting Babylon/Rome captivity in the place of American captivity according to culture, politics, business theory and practice, and religious faith and practice.

The premise is simple and prominent in Evangelical Christian thought and practice: American Evangelical Christianity imposes secular thinking and practices over and above the Scriptures, with the result of making scripture, theology, and Christian practice subject to the errors of the same.

More correctly, the Scriptures are to be lifted above and over all worldly thought, theory, and practice, wherein they are examined and interpretated in the light of Scripture, Jesus Christ, and the Gospel, and then made subject to the same in faith and practice.

Essentially, this is evident in what Evangelical Christendom, churches, and believers do by either adding to or subtract from Jesus Christ and his Gospel when considering the person of Jesus Christ[i] in justification by faith in salvation. (Galatians 1:6-9)

J.I. Packer acknowledged and recognized this over 75 years ago in his Introductory essay to John Owen’s The Death of Death in The Death of Christ:

There is no doubt that Evangelicalism today is in a state of perplexity and unsettlement. In such matters as the practice of evangelism, the teaching of holiness, the building up of local church life, the pastor’s dealing with souls and the exercise of discipline, there is evidence of widespread dissatisfaction with things as they are and of equally widespread uncertainty as to the road ahead. This is a complex phenomenon, to which many factors have contributed; but, if we go to the root of the matter, we shall find that these perplexities are all ultimately due to our having lost our grip on the biblical gospel. Without realising it, we have during the past century bartered that gospel for a substitute product which, though it looks similar enough in points of detail, is as a whole a decidedly different thing. Hence our troubles; for the substitute product does not answer the ends for which the authentic gospel has in past days proved itself so mighty. The new gospel conspicuously fails to produce deep reverence, deep repentance, deep humility, a spirit of worship, a concern for the church. Why? We would suggest that the reason lies in its own character and content. It fails to make men God-centred in their thoughts and God-fearing in their hearts because this is not primarily what it is trying to do. One way of stating the difference between it and the old gospel is to say that it is too exclusively concerned to be “helpful” to man—to bring peace, comfort, happiness, satisfaction—and too little concerned to glorify God. The old gospel was “helpful,” too—more so, indeed, than is the new—but (so to speak) incidentally, for its first concern was always to give glory to God. It was always and essentially a proclamation of Divine sovereignty in mercy and judgment, a summons to bow down and worship the mighty Lord on whom man depends for all good, both in nature and in grace. Its centre of reference was unambiguously God. But in the new gospel the centre of reference is man. This is just to say that the old gospel was religious in a way that the new gospel is not. Whereas the chief aim of the old was to teach men to worship God, the concern of the new seems limited to making them feel better. The subject of the old gospel was God and His ways with men; the subject of the new is man and the help God gives him. There is a world of difference. The whole perspective and emphasis of gospel preaching has changed.

Against the detractors, both outside and within the holy faith of Christ and his Gospel, this does not abrogate the universal principal of God being truth and the author of truth. To paraphrase Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, and John Calvin: All truth is God’s truth. In other words. Human reason and secular sciences are gifts of the God and worth pursuing.

Additionally, some believers, teachers and believers, learned and unlearned, suggest that the Church must make everything “Christian” in order to be proper for Christian faith and practice. By example, these folk would advocate for “Christian” government, nationalism, and patriotism. Essentially, the wrongly interpret 2 Corinthians 10:5 where the subject is the knowledge of God and not whether you listen to Country or Classic Rock music.

The problem is confusing the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Man. This was tried in both pre-Reformation times (Roman Catholic Church ruling over government) and post-Reformation (Lutheranism and/or Calvinism[ii] doing the same).

The solution is the proper division and intersection of the two as suggested by Augustine in his City Of God. Or as Jesus said, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

This erroneous view, of those ignorant of both the Bible and the Gospel, can lead to a great many absurdities: Christianizing baseball, music, fiction writing, or cooking. What makes a ham sandwich Christian? Or not? Is there a Christian way to boil water versus and unbiblical way? Yes. Use holy water to boil a hot dog. If you have the blessing of your pastor, elders, or  wear a pope’s mitre, it will certainly made holy.

The learned believing Christians will understand that I’m being intentionally absurd and satirical.

On Methodology or Lack There Of & the Matter of Including Parody & Satire
Which, first, is observing where the Evangelical church co-opts American culture, comparing it to scripture, and then exposing the capitulation to those matters that oppose scripture, Christ, and his Gospel.

Essentially, this methodology is applying Paul’s Letter To The Galatians which, at its bare bones, condemns adding to Jesus anything for salvation and justification. As one of my professors once said, The Gospel is no Gospel when you put a plus sign next to Jesus to affirm salvation and justification. As Paul said in Galatians 1:6-9:

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

By example, suggesting one must hold a certain beliefs or works like daily prayer or bible reading, voting the right political party, holding the correct church polity, or abstaining from smoking Kentucky whiskey or Cuban cigars.

Second, the essays are also purposely mingled with the literary devices of parody and satire[iii] for humorous impact and legal protection.[iv]

The Freedom Forum[v] has affirmed that both parody and satire are protected by the First Amendment.[vi]

In view of all these notes, my first essay will be about the Evangelical church’s capitulation to modern practices of American business administration, marketing, and sales to promote evangelism, the church, and the Gospel as therapeutic and self-help religion.

By conclusion, as a post and essays, The American Captivity of the Evangelical Church, will first explore, identify, and rebuke those ideas and practices that diminish, pollute, or otherwise defeat the Christian faith by either adding to or subtracting from Jesus Christ and the Gospel in view of justification by faith in Orthodox and Catholic theology and practice. Second, those ideas and practices that abrogate, secular or spiritual, by theology, philosophy, or practices of the Scriptures or the rightly divided Orthodoxy of the Christian Faith[vii], once delivered unto the faithful.

Future Subjects and Topics:

• The Errors of Marketing in the Evangelical Church and Evangelism: A subjective helpful, therapeutic, and personal Jesus of the Gospel supplants the objective person of Jesus Christ and his Gospel and faith in him alone.
• The Abuse of Authority and Power by Church Leadership: How church leaders supplant the office of the under shepherd of Christ to acquire, then abuse, power and authority. Checking off the qualifications of the Pastoral Epistles don’t necessarily make for Christlike leadership.
• How Evangelical Pastors Add to the Gospel by Misinterpreting the Means of Sanctification
• American Gnosticism in Faith and Practice
• American Pietism and the Subject Gospel of the Personal Jesus
• Cult Characteristics in the Church: The Benign Dictatorship of Leadership in the Unexamined Exercise of Faith and Practice
• The Misunderstanding of the Doctrine of Law and Gospel and its Proper Exposition (by Luther).
• The False and Dangerous Faith of Christian Nationalism
• The Errors of Church Membership in Theology and Christian Living:
  How members are to keep the vow to be in subjection to the elders of the church. But what happens when the elders of the church willfully and consistently break their vows? Conclusion: we are no longer bound by our vows. Otherwise, we would be continuing in sin. Of course, this begs the question, why are we asked to take vows made by man unto God? We warned in Scripture of the hazards of potential sins by making then breaking our vows.
• How Holiness Has Been Misrepresented in Sanctification
• Chaos in the Pulpit and Preaching: How the Expository Error of Confusing Meaning with Application May Subvert the Gospel and Christian Living.

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Endnotes

[i] His incarnation, perfect life and obedience, substitutionary death and atonement, literal resurrections, and actual ascension to the right hand of God the Father in heaven.

[ii] John Calvin is accused of being a proponent of the yoke of Christianity with secular government. When, in fact, he was against this. By example, He opposed the Geneva fathers dictating when the Lord’s Supper should be partaken.

[iii] By example, like the old Wittenberg Door magazine or the Internet based Babylon Bee.

[iv]  Because a church is a private organization, it can set its own rules. The church leadership can legally regulate, limit, or restrict what members or visitors are allowed to say during services, events, or on church property without violating the Constitution. The essays written here are published outside of the church and declared as parody and/or satire, and so are protected by the First Amendment of Freedom Of Speech

[v] https://www.freedomforum.org/parody-satire-first-amendment/

[vi] Satire and parody are strongly protected by the First Amendment as forms of free speech and social commentary. This protection applies even if the content is offensive, crude, or mocks public figures. (Supreme Court case law: Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, 1988) Which will surely piss off a lot of people in the church.

[vii] By creed or confession, this would include, by example, but not limited to, the Apostle’s Creed, the Nicaean Creed, The Articles of Religion, or Westminster Confession of Faith