Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Feedback on the Midwest Christian Outreach Article Critiquing Doug Phillips


Following Patriarchy with MIdwest Christian Outreach




Following the Patriarchy Debate
with Midwest Christian Outreach


22Jul07; updated 5Nov07


EXPOSING THE TRAPPINGS OF DOUG PHILLIPS' CULTIC PATRIARCHY!




An evaluation of a few of the problematic teachings of Vision Forum and the intolerant ideology called "Biblical Patriarchy."



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MCOI ONLINE BLOG TOPIC:

"DOUG PHILLIPS --NEW PAGANISM?"

Link to it
HERE! Make sure to read the replies and comments following the original post.
Please also note more commentary following the blog article and feedback at the bottom of this webpage!




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MCOI Follow Up Discussions of

"Who Will Be First In The Kingdom?"


Visit "The Crux"
(The official blog of the Midwest Christian Outreach.)



* Examining the Premises of the Patriarchal Promises

* Letter From a Patriarch - Pastor Brian Abshire

* Answering Vision Forum

* What Gives You the Right to Declare a Teaching False?


Read Doug's polemic blog entry

"How to Respond to a Tale-Bearer: Dr. Brian Abshire Models an Apologetic of Sound Reasoning and Christian Charity
for Family Reformers."

(Oh, doesn't that just sound like a classic, Gothard phrase?)


06Mar09 Addendum:

Vision Forum -- a group that teaches that women should not/cannot vote according to the Word of God -- boasts on its website that the President and Founder's wife, Beall Phillips, voted on election day, 2008.

The Vision Forum Ministries article that taught that women should not vote, “Biblical Patriarchy and the Doctrine of Federal Representation” by Brian Abshire, has miraculously disappeared from http://www.visionforumministries.com/.
In case you don't recall all the hubub about this article, link HERE.


Vision Forum also altered the "Tenets of Biblical Patriarchy" sometime after December 2007 and prior to December 2008, changing the concept of the church as "a family of families" into a statement that now reflects that the church is "a family of families and singles."

The original "Tenets" that reflects "a family of families" appears HERE on the Internet Archive.



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FEEDBACK
ON "WHO WILL BE FIRST IN THE KINGDOM?"


Dear MCOI,

We appreciated your good article on Doug Phillips and the Vision Forum crew. He used to run the National Center for Home Education under HSLDA, the homeschool legal 'insurance' group.

This patriarchy run amok stuff is everywhere in homeschooling unfortunately and the so-called Christian Reconstructionists are driving the bus with many homeschoolers in it unknowingly. Many people have swallowed Gothard and then taken it another step. Some of the prominent names in the homeschool movement are involved -- Jonathan Lindvall (in Calif.) espouses betrothal taking courtship yet further. Many of the people have either gone through Gothard training, used his curriculum or are fellow travelers. Another one is the guy who edits Credenda Agenda, a journal of reformed theology. Cannon Press, and New Saint Andrews College all of which are run by hard nosed Calvinist Douglas Wilson. He has published a number of books on the family all of which are of the "keep the women at home and don't let them do anything" persuasion. Unhappily we have seen Gothardites split churches and now his spiritual descendents are doing the same.

There is also a strong anti-church movement among homeschoolers that want no church organized youth activities and the fathers to decide everything for the family, effectively neutralizing pastors. The Pearl Family is an example of this tribalistic approach. They wrote a book To Train Up a Child. There are other couples traveling around homeschooling circles promulgating the same sort of teaching. Don't forget the 'never any birth control', submit even to committing sin at your husband's request (because God will blame him not the wife they say) and other allied teachings.

Keep up the good fight for sound exegesis and application.

P. M.

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Dear Don and Joy,

My good friend Cindy Kunsman sent a hard copy of your fine article on Phillips and "patriarchy." Kudos to you for your concepts, courage, clarity and convictions. This movement is a fine example of overreaction and the cure's being nearly harmful as the disease. I pray that the article gets wide distribution.


In Him,

P. Andrew Sandlin
www.christianculture.com



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Dear MCOI
Just want to express my gratitude for your recent article, "Who Will Be First in the Kingdom". Pages 6 and 7 contain the best explanation of true biblical submission that I have ever read in my 35 years of being a born-again Christian. This sentence just blew me away, "It also means that those who follow do so because they are ABLE TO OBSERVE and TRUST those who lead." Man, does the church need to hear that. I'm sick to death of hearing the "blind submission" doctrine. I've seen SO MUCH damage done because folks didn't consider the consequences of the decisions made by those "over them in the Lord". The article is such a call to transparency in all of us. Praise the Lord for your courage.

Thanks so much,

B.Y.

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Dear MCOI
I'm leading a study of love between a man and a woman with a post-highschool group utilizing Prov. 31:10-31, Ruth, Song of Solomon and Eph.. 5. Thanks for the material on pages 6&7 of your article in the Spring issue of the MCOI Journal, which I have incorporated.

P.G.



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MORE LINKS TO GOOD FEEDBACK AND COMMENTARY


* From E. Steven Burnett

* From Cheryl Schatz of McGreggor Ministries


** Link to the previously noted "Doug Phillips - New Paganism" @ the Midwest Christian Outreach Blog. Link to it HERE! Make sure to read the replies and comments following the original post.



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