Spiritual McCarthyism
From Wikipedia:
“McCarthyism” is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence. It also means “the practice of making unfair allegations or using unfair investigative techniques, especially in order to restrict dissent or political criticism.”
The term is also now used more generally to describe reckless, unsubstantiated accusations, as well as demagogic attacks on the character or patriotism of political adversaries.”
During the “Red Scare” of the early Fifties Sen. Joe McCarthy used his political power to create an atmosphere of hate and suspicion in this country with insidious accusations that thousands of citizens were communists.
Careers and reputations were lost, blacklists created, and good people destroyed.
It remains one of the most shameful times in American history.
McCarthy’s reign of terror end after an exchange on national television…
“The most famous incident in the hearings was an exchange between McCarthy and the army’s chief legal representative, Joseph Nye welch. On June 9, the 30th day of the hearings, Welch challenged Roy Cohn to provide U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr. with McCarthy’s list of 130 Communists or subversives in defense plants “before the sun goes down”. McCarthy stepped in and said that if Welch was so concerned about persons aiding the Communist Party, he should check on a man in his Boston law office named Fred Fisher, who had once belonged to the National Lawyers Guild, a progressive lawyers association. In an impassioned defense of Fisher, Welch responded, “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness …” When McCarthy resumed his attack, Welch interrupted him: “Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”Â
The Calvary Chapel split has revealed that McCarthyism is alive and well in the church.
The split has been fueled by unsubstantiated accusations of theological treason put forth by some Calvary Chapel Association council members and spread like manure on a field by the online “discernment” ministries.
Bearing false witness has become an acceptable means to achieve theological “purity”.
One of the ‘proofs” being spread about that allegedly shows Brian Brodersen’s theological “treason” is a video of a young woman “teaching” at a missions conference.
I will not call her name here as she has already suffered enough at the hands of the careless.
She is offering her testimony to a “mixed” group of men and women.
She is not acting in the office of a pastor,nor, according to my sources, does she seek such.
Despite this, and despite Brodersen’s clear explanation of his position on women in ministry, the video is being used to discredit them both.
While the demagogues war over the spoils of another man’s work, missionaries are becoming collateral damage in the tyrants lust for power.
Will they be forced to choose between the two factions even at the cost of losing part of their support?
Will they be subjected to the kind of attacks that this faithful young woman has had to endure?
To those who are propagating false accusations, half truths, and guilt by association, I ask…have you no sense of decency?
Is it not enough that you have widely slandered one man, confused thousands, and split a movement?
Will you continue to support missionaries who feel no need to choose between you and those you attack or will they become “collateral damage” in  your political feud?
It’s way past time that decency and truly Christian ethics became part of the CC “distinctives” that some are trying so hard to protect…or watch old time McCarthyism replaced with McFochtism with the same results…
Well put and an appropriate example.
When I think of McCarthy (and other tyrants), I’m reminded of the Founding Fathers who in their wisdom instituted the Moses-model of governance, where ONE MAN controls everything and everyone else can suck on it (before being pummeled with “touch not the Lord’s anointed!”).
Oh wait! That’s right…..they instituted checks and balances, and even within the church, they wanted BOARDS!!!
Funny (not really) how we luuuuuvvv to quote the founders when its time to blame others about problems, but then want a church to operate in a fashion that would be foreign to them, then ignore the fruit of such a “model.”
The founders clearly believed in accountability which we luuuuuv to remind the evil “homos” and Dems about, but refuse to take our medicine when it comes to the blatant sins (unfortunately reporting by the world now on a weekly basis) that is the fruit of our “model”.
I don’t know if using the term McFochtism is helpful to the cause. It certainly gives me a laugh until I start to cry. I pray for these men because they have been caught in their own echo chamber for so long that it seems almost impossible for them to hear anything but their own voices. More cult-like than church in my estimation.
This is a great analogy Michael. We recently encountered a situation where 2 people in our small congregation (about 100), left the church. People will leave the church and while it will always bother me, this time it was different. One of the persons that left is sort a self appointed leader and the other seems to be the follower. When they left, I received a scathing text message from both telling me they were leaving. Not only did they tell me that they were leaving, they gave me a tongue lashing like only my mom and my wife can give đ
These two went on to slander my wife and I by contacting several folks in the church sharing all the horrible things we have done. These folks in turn, came and spoke with us and shared all that was being said. Some even told these two to stop as they were in sin and their allegations are unfounded.
It hit me this morning that one of the saddest things about this incident is the fact that these two in their own mind feel that they have credibility with those they are gossiping to and in reality, they don’t. How does someone slander and lie to others without knowing or realizing that the people they are speaking to may not be loyal to their cause?
I believe that Focht believes that he has a huge following and in reality he doesn’t. There are a handful of prideful men like Randall, McClure and others who will soon learn that they don’t have the firepower and following that they think they have. It’s very sad to not discern exactly who your friends are because this will come back and bite the CCA Council in the butt.
the phenomena of McCarthyism could have been a lesson to the nation… there was then an insidious move of communism throughout the western world – it seemed to appeal to intellectuals and a certain strata of common folk –
perhaps we need to meditate on not being overcome of evil, but overcoming evil with good? [not, necessarily the same as “nice”]
we need teachers who strengthen us to stand in the Faith, not instruction to bite and devour in the name of righteousness-so-called, eh?
somewhere along this walk i finally picked up on the fact that all i want from a spiritual leader is more of Christ… i don’t mind occasional cute anecdotes, but skip telling me how to live my life so i can be like you… just show me the Christ – feed me, don’t dump on me…
errr something like that… đ
I don’t do nice very well…especially when power brokers are playing with peoples lives and hearts.
Covered, I do believe Focht had a huge following at one time but folks are fickle as they should be. Its kind of like all the polls telling us Hillary would win the election. Maybe a year ago she would have won but times and people changed.
This is the entire problem with the Moses model. If the church government is built around the personality of the senior pastor its eventually doomed for failure. And I am just talking about the local church here and not a movement. If we are talking about CCA in general with these regional bishops its taking the Moses model to new heights altogether.
I can only laugh
Is Jesus laughing?
It hit me this morning that one of the saddest things about this incident is the fact that these two in their own mind feel that they have credibility with those they are gossiping to and in reality, they donât.
———————————————————
covered, It is the “buckshot” method. Get as many projectiles flying hoping a couple will stick with people who don’t know you, don’t know your church, but are eager to believe the worst.
I’ve been there….Hang in there, brother.
CC Philly stick packs them into their 5,000 seat sanctuary 3 times every Sunday morning and another one Sunday evening. I detect some professional jealousy going on here.
Ms. ODM,
Thank you for exemplifying what I meant.
When you can’t answer the allegations, you make something up out of whole cloth to accuse others with.
You ODM’s need to clean up what you do…before it gets cleaned up for you when you answer to God.
I have never, ever, understood the whole accusation of jealousy in the church…a church that size would be as close to descending into hell for me as I could get…besides, I have a bigger platform to ruin my health on.
She might have aimed that one at me, Michael.
Well as Ms ODM likes attendance figures, she must love Joel Osteen. He fills his 20,000 seat arena twice each Sunday.
I remember when they opened up that auditorium and seeing a lady use binoculars from the back seats to see the stage and get a look at Joe. I was in awe. Wow, what a few years of perspective can bring.
Steve,
If so, it’s still a damned lie.
Yes, CC Philly still draws a big crowd. That doesn’t mean anything in regards to the superiority of the church or pastor. Joel Osteen draws the biggest crowd. I don’t think anyone here would want to be Joel Osteen.
Joe Focht is a gifted speaker, thus he is able to draw a crowd. It’s the way the world works. God uses that gifting to reach many with His Word and Gospel. God uses others for His work in just as important ways. Sometimes the “numbers” aren’t as big, but that doesn’t make them any less important or faithful.
What is a lie?
I see MLD beat me to the Joel Osteen comparison. đ
I was commenting back to Steve Wright.
I didn’t bring up numbers –
#6 did – “I do believe Focht had a huge following at one time but folks are fickle”
I was merely correcting his misstatement.
aah the jealousy accusation! Now that’s a new one!
It’s the great default when you can’t come up with any else derogatory to say.
It ranks right up there with “bitter”.
Why else would someone make a false accusation against a fellow pastor – implying he no longer has an audience, except pride has entered in? OK – he’s not jealous, he’s just a liar. Do you prefer that pstrmike? Why do you use ‘pastor’ as some sort of title??? Pride again – I have the gift of pride-smelling.
Is Steve a pastor? Or is Ms. ODM making a false accusation đ
ODM,
takes one to know one……
Thank you Steve for your #9
Ms. ODM, huge is a relative word. I didn’t use numbers, you did. And I defer to Kevin that ccphilly probably does still draw in a crowd. I’m going with a hunch now but I belief Joe’s national popularity may be dwindling but only time will tell. And no, I am not a pastor. I’m just a member of a local congregation. However, I am a member of the pastoral search committee. Not much authority at all but I guess you can say I’m part of a team that is the first line of defense in allowing a rogue pastor to take hold of our small congregation. Please pray for us since we are still searching for a good pastor.
I still don’t know much about the CC thing. But I have been on receiving end of spiritual McCarthyism. Southern Baptists started fighting in the early 80s over supposed liberalism in the seminaries and in the churches. I did not see it at my seminary and I started there in 1978. It was all political but it was couched in “spiritual” terms. I was labelled and as a liberal and therefore, the enemy. I was literally blackballed from teaching or holding positions in our state convention. I did not much care about the national convention. After a time, people got to know me and found out that I was not the liberal everyone was making me out to be. One year I have a fundamentalist bigwig come to me and apologize for talking bad about me. I had, apparently, been talked about in the back rooms of power! Little ole me. After that, some of them began to “rehab” my reputation.
It is a tool of fear used to control people who do not think. You can persuade masses of people if you can convince them that their opponent will destroy, the church, the denomination, or Christianity itself while ignoring the real destructors like adulterers, sexual abusers, thieves, and those who pervert the Gospel for personal gain. It’s a sad thing but if I am reading the NT correctly, this is the kind of thing that has been happening since the church began. It was particularly true at Corinth. They became the first known church to “fire” their pastor. It is addressed in first Clement.
I would hope this is the sort of thing people would want to avoid. But it is too tempting to smear with lies and half truths just so you can win.
“It is a tool of fear used to control people who do not think.”
That is the holy truth, right there.
In my estimate, using spirituality as a cloak to cover power plays is one more form of spiritual rape. While robbing the victims of a sense of worth, employing the holiness card to conceal mere politics makes God out to be a senseless abuser.
A great discussion here would be “making choices which keep one from being abused in this manner”. We’ve discussed this at length in year’s past, but there’s a whole new group of folks at the PP.
Well said linnea!
ODM
Is that Odor Detecting Ministry? Seems like that is what she claimed.
I do notice things get personal when ODM pronounces her conclusions.
I think it’s important to realize that a great voice doesn’t make a worship leader nor does playing great guitar. At the same time a great speaking voice/presentation doesn’t make a Pastor.
I suspect some of the totally off the map pastors and worship leaders example the spirit of God more so than so many who are in the public eye.
Just a thought…
Erunner, I agree with your thought. I’ll add another thought too that being a good Bible teacher or even excellent Bible teacher does not make one a pastor.
Linnea,
I’ve been writing about that a lot in my book…but you’re right, we need to do so on the blog again.
We do have a lot of new folks and some great veterans …it’s a good time to do this.
dusty…thank you!
Michael…so glad you’re addressing this in your book, and potentially again on the blog đ
With linnea in this all the way. Thanks Michae!
Btw can’t wait for the book!