Tom Chantry has offered another insightful commentary on the Ergun Caner Scandal/Evangelical Cover-Up here. He concludes:
I suggest this. Pick one sermon – say the Prestonwood Baptist Church sermon from 2001. (Sorry that the link is to AOMin, but hey, I’m not the one taking down links to my sermons all over the web!) Listen to that sermon, and compare it to the established facts about Caner’s background. The conclusion is inescapable.
A kid from Ohio went around right after 9-11 telling churches that he was trained as a Jihadist/terrorist while he was growing up in Turkey.
Next, I happened to see a person who claims to be a “former Calvinist” linking to a piece by a Roman Catholic priest exhorting folks to pray for Christopher Hitchens. Of course, lots of folks have done the same thing, and, in fact, as soon as the news hit, we called for such prayer here on this blog, and altered the banner ad to include that exhortation as well. Yet, this alleged “former Calvinist” gives a glaring example of “convert syndrome memory loss” by saying that such an exhortation would have been considered “humanistic drivel” back when this person was a “Calvinist.” What is “drivel,” of course, is praying to saints or angels or Mary to grant Christopher Hitchens life and repentance. Christopher needs God’s grace—not a grace that tries to save, but powerful, saving grace. And that “former Calvinist” no longer claims to know a God capable of such powerful grace.
Programming note: I will need to move next Tuesday morning’s regularly scheduled Dividing Line to Monday afternoon, 4pm MST (4pm PDT, 7pm EDT). We will probably still be reviewing the Sungenis/Slick discussion, as I have a lot to say!