The "Gaying" of the Evangelical Church: a Response to Kirsten Powers (Part 1 of 6)
Author: Andy Woods
Date Written: July 11, 2014
From the archive of thewordonpolitics.com
Date Written: July 11, 2014
From the archive of thewordonpolitics.com
Ever since I can remember, TV political commentator and columnist Kirsten Powers can always be relied upon to provide the knee-jerk liberal point of view to virtually any issue under discussion. That is why when Powers went public with her conversion to Christianity last year I remained hopeful that an alteration in her leftist worldview would soon follow. I hoped and prayed that she would not follow in the pattern of Jane Fonda, whose alleged born again-experience had little, if any, discernible impact on her far left perspective. However, my hopes soon began to fade the more I scrutinized Powers' new found spirituality. While I certainly desired that Powers was an authentic believer, doubts began to surface in my mind, however, when I read the account of her conversion. (Kirsten Powers, "Fox News Highly Reluctant Jesus Follower,” online: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/november/fox-news-highly-reluctant-jesus-follower-kirsten-powers.html, 22 October 2013, accessed 6 June 2014).
It seemed devoid of what the New Testament teaches regarding by what means a person is genuinely saved, which always involves personal faith or a trust response in Christ based upon a clear proclamation of the gospel predicated entirely upon God's Word (John 3:16; Acts 16:30-31; Rom. 10:17; 2 Tim. 3:15). In the place of this clear scriptural reality, Powers' testimony seemed littered with personal experiences and visions. She narrates:
"I woke up in what felt like a strange cross between a dream and reality. Jesus came to me and said, ‘Here I am...It felt so real. I didn’t know what to make of it...I tried to write off the experience as misfiring synapses, but I couldn’t shake it. When I returned to New York a few days later, I was lost. I suddenly felt God everywhere and it was terrifying. More important, it was unwelcome. It felt like an invasion. I started to fear I was going crazy (Ibid., 2.)"
In this same testimony, Powers describes the contribution of Pastor Timothy Keller to her new spiritual understanding (Ibid.). This too raised red flags for me since Keller's ministry has been criticized for being heavily swayed and influenced by both market-driven and mystical practices. ("Another Popular Christian Leader, Tim Keller, Takes Church into Contemplative," online: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=872, 28 June 2009, accessed 6 June 2014). However, because I prefer to give folks the benefit of the doubt and I certainly cannot see what is in her heart, let's go ahead and assume, for the sake of argument, that Powers is indeed a bonafide sister in the Lord. That being said, I still do not trust her perspective on spiritual matters. Why? Every new believer must go through a maturity or growth process. Despite the fact that the Christian is a new creature in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), all of us drag baggage from our old life into our new one. This baggage does not affect our position in Christ, but it does affect our practice. Old mental patterns and habits will continue to exert power over the new believer until we allow our thought life to be regularly transformed by God's truth (John 17:17; Rom. 12:2; Phil. 4:8). Paul went through this maturation process following his Damascus Road experience. He spent three years in Arabia being taught by the Lord after he was saved but before he entered the ministry that God had for him (Gal. 1:17-18). Moses similarly spent forty years on the backside of the desert, largely going through the same process (Acts 7:29-30) before being used by God as Israel's deliverer and Law giver. In other words, believers who have made little progress in their progressive sanctification, maturity, and growth, still think and sound a lot like unbelievers. It is because of this spiritual reality that Paul warned Timothy not to elevate a new convert into a place of spiritual leadership within the church (1 Tim. 3:6).
Almost every time I have had the recent opportunity either to hear Powers speak or read her work, she sounds more like an unbeliever than a believer. She is on record, sadly along with mega church pastor Andy Stanley (the son of evangelical luminary Charles Stanley), favoring laws forcing Christian-owned and operated businesses (such as bakeries, florists, caterers, and photographers) to provide their services for homosexual weddings on the grounds that Jesus ate with sinners and served all people, including those He disagreed with. (Kirsten Powers, "Jim Crow Laws for Gays and Lesbians," online: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/02/18/gays-lesbians-kansas-bill-religious-freedom-christians-column/5588643/, 19 February 2014, accessed 6 June 2014). Of course, accepting sinners is one thing, but legally coercing someone of biblical convictions to endorse sin is an entirely different matter. I fail to see how Jesus would endorse the latter.
It seemed devoid of what the New Testament teaches regarding by what means a person is genuinely saved, which always involves personal faith or a trust response in Christ based upon a clear proclamation of the gospel predicated entirely upon God's Word (John 3:16; Acts 16:30-31; Rom. 10:17; 2 Tim. 3:15). In the place of this clear scriptural reality, Powers' testimony seemed littered with personal experiences and visions. She narrates:
"I woke up in what felt like a strange cross between a dream and reality. Jesus came to me and said, ‘Here I am...It felt so real. I didn’t know what to make of it...I tried to write off the experience as misfiring synapses, but I couldn’t shake it. When I returned to New York a few days later, I was lost. I suddenly felt God everywhere and it was terrifying. More important, it was unwelcome. It felt like an invasion. I started to fear I was going crazy (Ibid., 2.)"
In this same testimony, Powers describes the contribution of Pastor Timothy Keller to her new spiritual understanding (Ibid.). This too raised red flags for me since Keller's ministry has been criticized for being heavily swayed and influenced by both market-driven and mystical practices. ("Another Popular Christian Leader, Tim Keller, Takes Church into Contemplative," online: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=872, 28 June 2009, accessed 6 June 2014). However, because I prefer to give folks the benefit of the doubt and I certainly cannot see what is in her heart, let's go ahead and assume, for the sake of argument, that Powers is indeed a bonafide sister in the Lord. That being said, I still do not trust her perspective on spiritual matters. Why? Every new believer must go through a maturity or growth process. Despite the fact that the Christian is a new creature in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), all of us drag baggage from our old life into our new one. This baggage does not affect our position in Christ, but it does affect our practice. Old mental patterns and habits will continue to exert power over the new believer until we allow our thought life to be regularly transformed by God's truth (John 17:17; Rom. 12:2; Phil. 4:8). Paul went through this maturation process following his Damascus Road experience. He spent three years in Arabia being taught by the Lord after he was saved but before he entered the ministry that God had for him (Gal. 1:17-18). Moses similarly spent forty years on the backside of the desert, largely going through the same process (Acts 7:29-30) before being used by God as Israel's deliverer and Law giver. In other words, believers who have made little progress in their progressive sanctification, maturity, and growth, still think and sound a lot like unbelievers. It is because of this spiritual reality that Paul warned Timothy not to elevate a new convert into a place of spiritual leadership within the church (1 Tim. 3:6).
Almost every time I have had the recent opportunity either to hear Powers speak or read her work, she sounds more like an unbeliever than a believer. She is on record, sadly along with mega church pastor Andy Stanley (the son of evangelical luminary Charles Stanley), favoring laws forcing Christian-owned and operated businesses (such as bakeries, florists, caterers, and photographers) to provide their services for homosexual weddings on the grounds that Jesus ate with sinners and served all people, including those He disagreed with. (Kirsten Powers, "Jim Crow Laws for Gays and Lesbians," online: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/02/18/gays-lesbians-kansas-bill-religious-freedom-christians-column/5588643/, 19 February 2014, accessed 6 June 2014). Of course, accepting sinners is one thing, but legally coercing someone of biblical convictions to endorse sin is an entirely different matter. I fail to see how Jesus would endorse the latter.
Photo credit (featured image): laverrue / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
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