BOB JONES UNIVERSITY’S PLUNGE INTO
NEW REFORMED CALVINISM
(Friday Church News Notes, November 29, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Since 2006, we have documented the move toward Reformed Calvinism on the part of many BJU graduates, but it wasn’t clear where the school itself stood. That picture has now come into clear focus, and it is worse than we suspected. In October, BJU president Steve Pettit participated in the “Greenville Conference on Reformed Theology” at Second Presbyterian Church. The other two speakers were Joel Beeke and Richard Phillips. Beeke is a professor at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary and Phillips serves on the board of The Gospel Coalition. On November 11-12, Andy Naselli was the guest speaker at BJU for the Stewart Custer Lecture Series. Naselli is a professor at John Piper’s Bethlehem College & Seminary and an elder of Bethlehem Baptist Church. Naselli is also on the staff of The Gospel Coalition. It is becoming more clear why Bob Jones University is building bridges to Keith Getty, who is a Reformed Calvinist and whose pastor, Alistair Beggs, is a prominent member of The Gospel Coalition. TGC represents the new Reformed Calvinism. Unlike old Reformed Calvinism, new Reformed Calvinism is ecumenical. The old Reformed men believed that Rome is the great whore of Revelation 17, drunken with the blood of the martyrs, but the new Reformed have ecumenical relationships with Rome, or at least are sympathetic to it. On the TGC web page “Should Christians Be Ecumenical,” we find the following: “Can evangelicals and Catholics truly be together? … Jesus’ prayer for unity in the Body obligates me to see the ecumenical task as important for Christianity” (by Trevin Wax, a Southern Baptist Wheaton College professor who associates with the Gettys). This is false. Jesus’ prayer in John 17 has nothing to do with ecumenism. In fact, Christ emphasized obedience to God’s Word and the importance of truth (Joh. 17:6, 8, 14, 17, 19), which are incompatible with ecumenism. Lou Martuneac makes the following observation, “What has BJU president Steve Pettit shown us by taking an active role in this conference, with these speakers? First, he has removed any lingering doubt of having led the University to embrace Reformed Theology. Second, The Gospel Coalition (TGC) includes men in its leadership who are some of the most egregious of ecumenical compromisers among the so-called ‘conservative’ evangelicals. ... To any objective observer surely enough has been seen to erase any lingering doubt that BJU has abandoned its foundational, separatist principles. ... The University has always been theologically broad. So--that’s not new. What is new is the association with compromised denominations that have never espoused fundamentalism” (“This Is Not Your Father’s Bob Jones University, A Continuation,” In Defense of the Gospel, Nov. 14, 2019).
MR. ROGERS, THE NICE CHRISTIAN
(Friday Church News Notes, November 29, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) -
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, starring Tom Hanks, depicts the life of Fred Rogers, a Presbyterian minister who was famous for the children’s television program Mr. Rogers. He was “Mr. Nice” personified. He was always positive. He never condemned or offended anyone. He never called anyone a sinner, never commanded anyone to repent or perish, never warned of destruction. He had his own code of personal morality, but he didn’t judge anyone else’s. His most famous line was “Won’t you be my neighbor?” In fact, he didn’t even mention God on his program. Even The Daily Beast, an ultra-liberal, leftist, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual rights, pro-socialist news site, praises Mr. Rogers for his “niceness” in the report “Finally, Something Nice: Tom Hanks Playing Mr. Rogers May Save Us All” (Nov. 18, 2019). But the reason why Mr. Rogers’ Christianity appealed even to some atheists is that it was false. The true Jesus is far more loving than Mr. Rogers’ Jesus and also far more holy and just and righteous. The true Jesus is love incarnate, but He is not Mr. Nice by man’s standards. The true Jesus doesn’t smile at sin or overlook sin. He suffered and died for sin to make the atonement required by God’s holy law for sinners to be saved. He doesn’t offer “universal” salvation or preach the Fatherhood of God. He says, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” and He repeated it for emphasis (John 3:3, 7). The true Jesus isn’t all-positive, all-accepting. He said, “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish,” and He repeated it for emphasis (Luke 13:3, 5). The true Jesus doesn’t preach heaven for all. He said, “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched” and He repeated it five times for emphasis (Mark 9:43, 44, 45, 46, 48). The true Jesus called men evil (Luke 11:13). The true Jesus called some men fools and blind, full of hypocrisy and iniquity, serpents, generation of vipers (Matthew 23:13-33). This generation is in love with a false christ. It is the Hillsong christ, the Joel Osteen smiley-face christ. But it is an idol that is not real and cannot save and will be an eternal disappointment.
KEITH GETTY CONDEMNS THE
“MODERN WORSHIP MOVEMENT”
(Friday Church News Notes, November 29, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) -
In a recent interview with The Christian Post, Keith Getty gave a strong warning about the “modern worship movement.” He called it “a movement for cultural relevance,” “a de-christianizing of God’s people,” and “utterly dangerous.” He said, “This idea that Christianity is cool or easy is not biblical. It’s a misnomer for our generation. ... An authentic generation doesn’t begin with catharsis; it has to begin with an authentic picture of the God of the Bible” (“Keith Getty: Modern worship mov’t is ‘utterly dangerous,’” The Christian Post, Nov. 9, 2019). We agree with this 100%, as far as it goes, but it is an ineffectual warning. It is ineffectual, for one thing, because it is spoken in generalities. Is Keith Getty talking about Bethel Church? Calvary Chapel? Casting Crowns? Steven Curtis Chapman? Christ for the Nations? Delirious? Kirk Franklin? Gateway Worship? Hillsong? Hosanna? Integrity? International House of Prayer? Maranatha? MercyMe? Newsboys? Michael W. Smith? Vineyard? Worship Central? The answer is, No one knows. In typical New Evangelical fashion, Getty’s strong-sounding warning is too vague to be effective. But then, to sound clear warnings would narrow a big tent ministry. Keith Getty’s warning is also ineffectual because of his radical ecumenism. He says this generation needs “an authentic picture of the God of the Bible,” but how does his friend Matt Maher give such a picture by believing in transubstantiation and praying to Mary the Queen of Heaven? How does Getty’s oft-quoted hero C.S. Lewis give such a picture by his rejection of Christ’s substitutionary atonement and eternal judgment? This list could be expanded greatly. Keith Getty’s warning is also ineffectual because of his eclectic, “use any music you please,” approach to music. He says, “Part of our campaign is to get our generation to know the great hymns of the faith.” That sounds commendable, but the Gettys have jazzed up the great hymns with a modern sound that doesn’t match the message of the words. Their concerts, even their Christmas concerts, such as Sing! An Irish Christmas, are out-and-out rock & roll fests with a pounding back beat and Irish dance music. It is sensual entertainment. It is highly emotional, but not holy. What do darkened auditoriums and floodlights and stage musicians and female worship leaders and big screen monitors and Christmas trees and Irish dancers and pounding drums have to do with the worship of a thrice holy God? I can’t imagine David putting on such a performance at the Tabernacle or Solomon at the First Temple or Nehemiah at the Second Temple or Paul at the church at Ephesus.
KANYE’S JESUS DIDN’T COME TO MAKE
BAD MEN GOOD
(Friday Church News Notes, November 29, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) -
Massively influential rapper Kanye West has professed a Christian conversion experience and is now preaching Jesus. West was a terrible blasphemer. He appeared as a thorn-crowned Jesus on the cover of Rolling Stone in 2006. His 2013 album was titled Yeezus, which is a play on West’s nickname Yeezy and the name Jesus. The cover art depicted West being crowned king by angels. In the song “I Am a God,” he raps, “I just talked to Jesus, and he said, ‘What up, Yeezus?” We would hope that this man has indeed been born again, but as a spiritual babe, at best, he has made a great error by keeping himself in the limelight and conducting church services. When he considered giving up hip hop because “that’s the devil’s music,” he was given the very bad advice by his pastor, Adam Tyson, that “you can rap about God.” At a recent concert with Kendrick Lamar, Kanye had a conversation with a man dressed up as Jesus. West said, “Jesus, I’m so sorry. I’ve been such a bad man.” The Jesus figure replies, “Kanye, don’t you know I didn’t come here to make bad men good. I came here to make dead men alive.” That is half-truth, and half-truths are extremely dangerous. While making bad men good is not the way of Christ’s salvation, making bad men good is most definitely the objective of salvation. The way of salvation is to receive the free gift of God’s grace without works, but the free salvation thus received produces good works. Ephesians 2:8-10 clarifies this common error in simple, clear, and precise language. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, CREATED IN CHRIST JESUS UNTO GOOD WORKS, WHICH GOD HATH BEFORE ORDAINED THAT WE SHOULD WALK IN THEM.” The present era is characterized by heaps of teachers who confuse the grace of God with moral license. It is a fulfillment of the prophecy of 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” The apostle Paul defined the true grace of God as follows: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; WHO GAVE HIMSELF FOR US, THAT HE MIGHT REDEEM US FROM ALL INIQUITY, AND PURIFY UNTO HIMSELF A PECULIAR PEOPLE, ZEALOUS OF GOOD WORKS” (Titus 2:11-15). Kanye would do well to heed Paul’s divinely-inspired teaching and reject every voice that speaks contrary to it.
________________________________________________________
EXCERPTS FROM OUR PREVIOUS POSTS:
BOB JONES UNIVERSITY: SEPARATION DETERIORATES UNDER PRESIDENT PETTIT DURING ENDLESS SEX ABUSE INVESTIGATION
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN CHURCH & SCHOOL
HAVE THE "PRIMACY" OVER JESUS CHRIST
CHRISTIAN HYPOCRISY: FUNDAMENTALISM IN NAME ONLY;
GRADUALLY ADOPTING THE WORLD'S WAYS THINKING THEY ARE
MORALLY NEUTRAL
LIBERAL BETTER THAN CONSERVATIVE NOW?
A GOOD MAN, BUT WHERE IS HIS DISCERNMENT?
STEPHEN D. PETTIT, BOB JONES UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT
& FORMER EVANGELISTIC TEAM HEAD www.pettitteam.org
EXCERPT FROM:
NO MENTION HERE OF JESUS CHRIST! WHY?
“I’m overwhelmed by the opportunity to serve as BJU’s president,” said Pettit. “For decades, I’ve
appreciated the ministry of BJU and the Jones family to me and my family. I truly desire to honor
BJU’s heritage and continue—by God’s grace—to fulfill its mission. I particularly want to emphasize
the primacy of the local church, encourage relational discipleship among our students, faculty and
staff, and continue the emphasis on academic excellence and living a godly life.”
ADAPTING MUSIC FROM PROBLEMATIC SOURCES
AND CALLING IT CHRISTIAN:
THE PETTIT TEAM HAS NO PROBLEM USING MUSIC FROM CONTEMPORARY "CHRISTIAN" MUSICIANS WHO ARE ECUMENICAL, CHARISMATIC, AND HAVE CATHOLIC CONTEMPLATIVE ASSOCIATIONS SUCH AS KEITH & KRISTYN GETTY, AND STUART TOWNEND. THEY ALSO USE MUSIC FROM SOVEREIGN GRACE MINISTRIES, A "REFORMED" CONTINUATIONIST DENOMINATION.
SEE:
SEE:
ANALYSIS OF A "TOWN HALL" INTERVIEW FROM DAVID CLOUD'S OF WAY OF LIFE:
SEE:
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
November 11, 2014 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org;)
he following report is by Don Jasmin, The Fundamentalist Journal, August-September 2014, djfbmhosea46@charter.net.
I thank the Lord for Dr. Jasmin’s spiritual discernment and his willingness to speak out for the truth’s sake. It appears to me that the vast majority of Bible-believing preachers today are perfectly content to watch the battle from the sidelines.
If this were our report, we go further in warning about Bob Jones University, including the error of fundamentalist interdenominationalism. (See the free eBook In Essentials Unity, available from www.wayoflife.org.)
AN ANALYSIS OF A “TOWN HALL” INTERVIEW MEETING WITH DR. STEPHEN PETTIT, THE NEW BJU PRESIDENT
By Don Jasmin
djfbmhosea46@charter.net
On July 7, 2014, Dr. Steve Pettit, the new President of Bob Jones University was interviewed live in a town-hall format by Marshall Franklin, a BJU “Executive Vice-President,” concerning his goals and plans for BJU, an interview which the F. D. editor watched and took extensive notes. The following article is a personal analysis of this interview.
THE POSITIVES
1. CONVERSATIONAL TONE: Dr. Pettit maintains an excellent “conversational” speech tone rapport with his audiences. He possesses the personal demeanor of a congenial likable gentleman, who also has a unique sense of humor in his public remarks.
2. GENUINE SPIRITUAL BURDEN FOR STUDENTS: The new BJU President obviously has a genuine burden for the spiritual life of BJU students. He desires to “make the chapel program the highlight of the day” for students, a noble goal. [During his seven years as a BJU student, the daily chapel program was truly the “highlight” of the now F.D. editor’s day! Yours truly could hardly wait to get to his seat for those daily chapel sessions!]
I thank the Lord for Dr. Jasmin’s spiritual discernment and his willingness to speak out for the truth’s sake. It appears to me that the vast majority of Bible-believing preachers today are perfectly content to watch the battle from the sidelines.
If this were our report, we go further in warning about Bob Jones University, including the error of fundamentalist interdenominationalism. (See the free eBook In Essentials Unity, available from www.wayoflife.org.)
________________
AN ANALYSIS OF A “TOWN HALL” INTERVIEW MEETING WITH DR. STEPHEN PETTIT, THE NEW BJU PRESIDENT
By Don Jasmin
djfbmhosea46@charter.net
On July 7, 2014, Dr. Steve Pettit, the new President of Bob Jones University was interviewed live in a town-hall format by Marshall Franklin, a BJU “Executive Vice-President,” concerning his goals and plans for BJU, an interview which the F. D. editor watched and took extensive notes. The following article is a personal analysis of this interview.
THE POSITIVES
1. CONVERSATIONAL TONE: Dr. Pettit maintains an excellent “conversational” speech tone rapport with his audiences. He possesses the personal demeanor of a congenial likable gentleman, who also has a unique sense of humor in his public remarks.
2. GENUINE SPIRITUAL BURDEN FOR STUDENTS: The new BJU President obviously has a genuine burden for the spiritual life of BJU students. He desires to “make the chapel program the highlight of the day” for students, a noble goal. [During his seven years as a BJU student, the daily chapel program was truly the “highlight” of the now F.D. editor’s day! Yours truly could hardly wait to get to his seat for those daily chapel sessions!]
3. EMPHASIZES PREACHING: Dr. Pettit states that there is “no virtue in bad preaching.” He desires the best quality in the BJU pulpit and sincerely believes that students “need the old Bob Jones Sr. type sermons,” perhaps as much as any trait in the daily chapel sessions.
4. DESIRE FOR REVIVAL: The BJU evangelist-president believes there is a great need to pray for revival.
THE NEGATIVES
1. ATHLETICS
The “BJU Bruins” athletic sign/symbol dominated the background for the town-hall program, located directly in the center of the backdrop. When questioned about inter-collegiate athletics, Dr. Pettit stated that it was “not a problem,” that it was a “wonderful thing” and that he was “for it.” He was glad that inter-collegiate sports has been “added” to the BJU program. It should and will received a lot of attention.
[Fundamentalist Journal Ed: For 85 years, BJU successfully operated an “intramural” [in house] sports program only. Inter-collegiate sports has proven to be the spiritual death for every Christian college that has ever utilized it!!]
2. ACADEMICS-ACCREDITATION
Dr. Pettit approves it. He noted that BJU has been accredited for 10 years by TRACS, a religious national accrediting association. He also stated that BJU is preparing to submit an application to the regional secular SACS, for which two years’ work will go into the process.
Fundamentalist Journal Ed: Several decades ago, Dr. Bob Jones III wrote a booklet entitled Taking the Higher Ground: The Accreditation Issues from the Bible Point of View. In that booklet he unapologetically declared: “The compromises implicit in an unholy accreditation alliance may not appear at first, but it is evident that no man can serve two masters (p.4)….Regional accreditation is a sellout to the gods of the secular educational world (p.6).” Question: Who has changed? BJU or the Bible? It’s not the Scripture!
3. BIBLE TEXT ISSUE
Dr. Pettit stated that he “understands” the Bible text “issue carefully,” since he has studied it for 35 years. Both BJU and he take the same stand “as what I was taught” at BJU. Dr. Pettit says he “holds [the] right position” on the Bible. According to Dr. Pettit, the “use or non-use of the KJV should be a non-issue” to Bible-believers.
Fundamentalist Journal Ed: BJU adheres to the apostate critical text composed by Bible-denying liberals! The KJV is not a “non- issue” for discerning obedient perceptive Bible-believing Christians, it is a vital issue that correctly places professing Christians into two contrasting theological camps: The traditional Received Text—the text received by Bible churches down through the centuries, based upon 98.5 % of extant manuscripts, versus the Critical Text, the text concocted and promoted by apostate liberals based upon 1.5% of the manuscripts.
An Important Omission
In his answers, Dr. Pettit stated that at BJU there are three Bible texts that are sold and used: the KJV-NKJV and NASV. However, Dr. Pettit made an important omission: He failed to state that BJU sells the English Standard Version [ESV], 91.5% of which is word-for-word nothing less than the old liberal Revised Standard Version [RSV]. He also failed to mention that as of 2013, there were 20 shelve rows of ESV for sale at the campus book store [F.D. editor’s count], a number that is “inching” close to the number of KJV shelve rows!
Dr. Pettit somewhat reluctantly noted that BJU has about 2850 students enrolled in the undergraduate and graduate divisions for 2014. This writer believes that this decreasing enrollment can be partly attributed to the fact that BJU has lost much of its former KJV Biblicist Fundamentalist constituency due to its defective Bible text stance.
4. THE MUSIC ISSUE
When queried about BJU’s stance on the vital music issue, Dr. Pettit simply claimed that BJU took a “centrist” stance on music, a middle “balanced” stand, on which he never elucidated or made any qualifying remarks.
Another Notable Omission
When given the opportunity to delineate BJU’s position on the essential music issue, Dr. Pettit simply claimed a “centrist” policy for BJU, never once clarifying what the term “centrist” might mean from a musical viewpoint. Here was a golden opportunity for the BJU president to state the university’s bold clear outspoken opposition to Contemporary Christian Music [CCM-religious rock!] and Dr. Pettit totally forfeited this choice to make a plain statement. CCM music is the music that is rapidly destroying the inner character of Bible-believing churches, yet the new BJU president did not make any statement of any kind about CCM’s destructive traits.
Dr. Pettit’s silence here actually speaks volumes, since one of his closest friends, Dr. Fred Coleman., the “Department Head” [Dean] of BJU’s music division, recently produced a hymnbook that contains 30 hymns by Charismatic heretics whose associations include ecumenical R.C. and New-Age connections! Sadly, that hymnal was published by Dr. Pettit’s own publishing company, Heart Publications!
5. CHANGES IN DRESS CODE
When asked about BJU’s changes in dress codes, Dr. Pettit readily admitted that BJU had made some changes, but claimed that those “changes in dress code” are “just like [the] changes in your local church,” and that BJU was “doing pretty good” in that regard.
This writer readily admits that most local churches have made changes—gradual changes—over several decades in clothing apparel codes, but that these changes for the most part are for the worse, not the better! Apparel standards have dropped, and these lowering
As he visits the BJU campus each year, this writer can readily note the gradually lowering apparel standards there.
6. BJU’S RELATIONSHIP TO GREENVILLE, S.C. LOCAL CHURCHES
Dr. Pettit rightly stated the importance of students knowing the importance of local churches to student’s lives, declaring that of the three most important influences on BJU student lives: (a) Bible classes (b) other classes and (c) local churches; that local churches played the most influential part in the students’ lives.
He said he strongly supports the former BJU President’s choice to permit dorm students to attend local churches on Sunday morning. He said that he recently met with 52 pastors from Greenville, SC area churches and that it was his desire to work with “like minded” churches, However, he never defined what he meant by that term.
The BJU President said that 17% of S.C. students at BJU come from just 10 Greenville, SC area churches, a fact in which he seemed greatly delighted. QUESTION: Are these 10 churches the same pro-BJU churches that have adopted the ESV and are now also utilizing pro-CCM/CCM music in their services and special music? [While he doesn’t possess exact statistics, there are about 10 Greenville area pro BJU churches that have done just that!]
A Conflicting Dilemma?
When Dr. Pettit was questioned about changes at Northland International University [NIU]. Dr. Pettit indicated that he had worked for nearly 30 years for the Northland Camp & Conference Center, 20 years as the evangelist and 9 years as the full-time camp director. He then declared that he would “not [say] one negative thing about a place I love,” but then said he was “uncomfortable with changes” taking place there. Ed: You can’t have it both ways!
7. NO STATEMENTS OF ANY KIND ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF EVANGELISM, THE GREAT COMMISSION AND THE DEFENSE OF THE FAITH.
Since BJU was built by Dr. Bob Jones Sr. on an intensely evangelistic soul-winning foundation and the corresponding militant defense of the faith, this writer was surprised that not even one time were either of these two dual Biblical emphases mentioned, suggested or even inferred by Dr. Pettit. Staunch BJU advocates might claim this was due to lack of time during the one-hour session, but this writer does not concur with that argument.
CONCLUSION
Old-line BJU grads who had hoped for a return to the Bob Jones Sr. type ministry at BJU will be gravely disappointed. In this writer’s view, Dr. Pettit is going to continue to pursue the same policies and practices that have been taking BJU down the wrong road for several decades. If you are looking for a Fundamentalist school to endorse and support, this writer suggests that you find a Baptist Bible institute or Baptist College that is owned and operated under a Baptist, N. T. local church auspices.
ADDENDUM
A local Greenville, SC newspaper contained a large picture and accompanying article of a high school senior, along with his family, with the article title that the young man “signs with BJU Bruins” to play “intercollegiate” basketball there while he majors in “Sports Management” at BJU.
Fundamentalist Journal Ed: The public newspaper pictures from BJU all feature intercollegiate athletics. Where are the newspaper pictures for young men who sign up as “preacher boys” at BJU?
4. DESIRE FOR REVIVAL: The BJU evangelist-president believes there is a great need to pray for revival.
THE NEGATIVES
1. ATHLETICS
The “BJU Bruins” athletic sign/symbol dominated the background for the town-hall program, located directly in the center of the backdrop. When questioned about inter-collegiate athletics, Dr. Pettit stated that it was “not a problem,” that it was a “wonderful thing” and that he was “for it.” He was glad that inter-collegiate sports has been “added” to the BJU program. It should and will received a lot of attention.
[Fundamentalist Journal Ed: For 85 years, BJU successfully operated an “intramural” [in house] sports program only. Inter-collegiate sports has proven to be the spiritual death for every Christian college that has ever utilized it!!]
2. ACADEMICS-ACCREDITATION
Dr. Pettit approves it. He noted that BJU has been accredited for 10 years by TRACS, a religious national accrediting association. He also stated that BJU is preparing to submit an application to the regional secular SACS, for which two years’ work will go into the process.
Fundamentalist Journal Ed: Several decades ago, Dr. Bob Jones III wrote a booklet entitled Taking the Higher Ground: The Accreditation Issues from the Bible Point of View. In that booklet he unapologetically declared: “The compromises implicit in an unholy accreditation alliance may not appear at first, but it is evident that no man can serve two masters (p.4)….Regional accreditation is a sellout to the gods of the secular educational world (p.6).” Question: Who has changed? BJU or the Bible? It’s not the Scripture!
3. BIBLE TEXT ISSUE
Dr. Pettit stated that he “understands” the Bible text “issue carefully,” since he has studied it for 35 years. Both BJU and he take the same stand “as what I was taught” at BJU. Dr. Pettit says he “holds [the] right position” on the Bible. According to Dr. Pettit, the “use or non-use of the KJV should be a non-issue” to Bible-believers.
Fundamentalist Journal Ed: BJU adheres to the apostate critical text composed by Bible-denying liberals! The KJV is not a “non- issue” for discerning obedient perceptive Bible-believing Christians, it is a vital issue that correctly places professing Christians into two contrasting theological camps: The traditional Received Text—the text received by Bible churches down through the centuries, based upon 98.5 % of extant manuscripts, versus the Critical Text, the text concocted and promoted by apostate liberals based upon 1.5% of the manuscripts.
An Important Omission
In his answers, Dr. Pettit stated that at BJU there are three Bible texts that are sold and used: the KJV-NKJV and NASV. However, Dr. Pettit made an important omission: He failed to state that BJU sells the English Standard Version [ESV], 91.5% of which is word-for-word nothing less than the old liberal Revised Standard Version [RSV]. He also failed to mention that as of 2013, there were 20 shelve rows of ESV for sale at the campus book store [F.D. editor’s count], a number that is “inching” close to the number of KJV shelve rows!
Dr. Pettit somewhat reluctantly noted that BJU has about 2850 students enrolled in the undergraduate and graduate divisions for 2014. This writer believes that this decreasing enrollment can be partly attributed to the fact that BJU has lost much of its former KJV Biblicist Fundamentalist constituency due to its defective Bible text stance.
4. THE MUSIC ISSUE
When queried about BJU’s stance on the vital music issue, Dr. Pettit simply claimed that BJU took a “centrist” stance on music, a middle “balanced” stand, on which he never elucidated or made any qualifying remarks.
Another Notable Omission
When given the opportunity to delineate BJU’s position on the essential music issue, Dr. Pettit simply claimed a “centrist” policy for BJU, never once clarifying what the term “centrist” might mean from a musical viewpoint. Here was a golden opportunity for the BJU president to state the university’s bold clear outspoken opposition to Contemporary Christian Music [CCM-religious rock!] and Dr. Pettit totally forfeited this choice to make a plain statement. CCM music is the music that is rapidly destroying the inner character of Bible-believing churches, yet the new BJU president did not make any statement of any kind about CCM’s destructive traits.
Dr. Pettit’s silence here actually speaks volumes, since one of his closest friends, Dr. Fred Coleman., the “Department Head” [Dean] of BJU’s music division, recently produced a hymnbook that contains 30 hymns by Charismatic heretics whose associations include ecumenical R.C. and New-Age connections! Sadly, that hymnal was published by Dr. Pettit’s own publishing company, Heart Publications!
5. CHANGES IN DRESS CODE
When asked about BJU’s changes in dress codes, Dr. Pettit readily admitted that BJU had made some changes, but claimed that those “changes in dress code” are “just like [the] changes in your local church,” and that BJU was “doing pretty good” in that regard.
This writer readily admits that most local churches have made changes—gradual changes—over several decades in clothing apparel codes, but that these changes for the most part are for the worse, not the better! Apparel standards have dropped, and these lowering
As he visits the BJU campus each year, this writer can readily note the gradually lowering apparel standards there.
6. BJU’S RELATIONSHIP TO GREENVILLE, S.C. LOCAL CHURCHES
Dr. Pettit rightly stated the importance of students knowing the importance of local churches to student’s lives, declaring that of the three most important influences on BJU student lives: (a) Bible classes (b) other classes and (c) local churches; that local churches played the most influential part in the students’ lives.
He said he strongly supports the former BJU President’s choice to permit dorm students to attend local churches on Sunday morning. He said that he recently met with 52 pastors from Greenville, SC area churches and that it was his desire to work with “like minded” churches, However, he never defined what he meant by that term.
The BJU President said that 17% of S.C. students at BJU come from just 10 Greenville, SC area churches, a fact in which he seemed greatly delighted. QUESTION: Are these 10 churches the same pro-BJU churches that have adopted the ESV and are now also utilizing pro-CCM/CCM music in their services and special music? [While he doesn’t possess exact statistics, there are about 10 Greenville area pro BJU churches that have done just that!]
A Conflicting Dilemma?
When Dr. Pettit was questioned about changes at Northland International University [NIU]. Dr. Pettit indicated that he had worked for nearly 30 years for the Northland Camp & Conference Center, 20 years as the evangelist and 9 years as the full-time camp director. He then declared that he would “not [say] one negative thing about a place I love,” but then said he was “uncomfortable with changes” taking place there. Ed: You can’t have it both ways!
7. NO STATEMENTS OF ANY KIND ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF EVANGELISM, THE GREAT COMMISSION AND THE DEFENSE OF THE FAITH.
Since BJU was built by Dr. Bob Jones Sr. on an intensely evangelistic soul-winning foundation and the corresponding militant defense of the faith, this writer was surprised that not even one time were either of these two dual Biblical emphases mentioned, suggested or even inferred by Dr. Pettit. Staunch BJU advocates might claim this was due to lack of time during the one-hour session, but this writer does not concur with that argument.
CONCLUSION
Old-line BJU grads who had hoped for a return to the Bob Jones Sr. type ministry at BJU will be gravely disappointed. In this writer’s view, Dr. Pettit is going to continue to pursue the same policies and practices that have been taking BJU down the wrong road for several decades. If you are looking for a Fundamentalist school to endorse and support, this writer suggests that you find a Baptist Bible institute or Baptist College that is owned and operated under a Baptist, N. T. local church auspices.
ADDENDUM
A local Greenville, SC newspaper contained a large picture and accompanying article of a high school senior, along with his family, with the article title that the young man “signs with BJU Bruins” to play “intercollegiate” basketball there while he majors in “Sports Management” at BJU.
Fundamentalist Journal Ed: The public newspaper pictures from BJU all feature intercollegiate athletics. Where are the newspaper pictures for young men who sign up as “preacher boys” at BJU?
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BJU MUSIC HEAD PROMOTES CONTEMPORARY WORSHIP MUSICIANS
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research
purposes:
(Friday Church News Notes, December 14, 2012, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - I recently learned that Hymns Modern and Ancient, published by Heart Publications, a ministry of Steve Pettit Evangelistic Association, contains 29 songs by Keith Getty. The compiler, Fred Coleman, heads up Bob Jones University’s Department of Church Music. He writes positively of the Oxford Movement, which was a subtle and very dangerous back-to-Rome movement within the Church of England in the late 19th century. This shows a frightful lack of spiritual discernment on Coleman’s part, but to recommend both the Oxford Movement and contemporary worship is consistent, because they represent the same spirit, as we have documented in the video presentation “The Foreign Spirit of Contemporary Worship Music,” which is available as a DVD or a free eVideo download from Way of Life.Earlier this year we reported that Majesty Music’s Rejoice Hymns, features about 10 songs by Getty/Townend, as well as ones by David Clydesdale, Scott Wesley Brown, Steve Amerson, Bob Kilpatrick, and Chris Christensen, all of whom are out-and-out Christian rockers and radical ecumenists who are using music to build the end-time, one-world church. The inclusion of a contemporary song or two in a hymnbook in itself is not evidence of compromise. We all make mistakes and we are all learners. Exceptions aren’t rules, but the commitment to building bridges to contemporary worship on the part of many prominent music people among fundamental Baptists is quickly becoming the rule.
When people are informed of how dangerous contemporary worship music is and how that even the most “conservative” contemporary “hymn writers” are using their music as an ecumenical bridge to connect “traditional” churches with “the broader church,” as Getty/Townend have admitted, and instead of repenting of using it, they become the defensive and justify their actions, THAT IS CLEAR EVIDENCE OF COMPROMISE. Justifying the use of contemporary worship is a loud warning that a ministry is heading in the wrong direction, yea, a most dangerous direction. If you justify it, you are justifying the end-time apostasy that ALL of the mainstream contemporary worship musicians represent. You are justifying the breakdown in biblical separatism.
If you justify it, you will use more and more of it, and you will give your family and church an appetite for it, and you will build bridges to that extremely dangerous world: bridges over which your church will eventually walk. Those who are justifying the use of contemporary worship music are playing with fire. (See The Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians, a free eBook available from Way of Life for documentation -- www.wayoflife.org/free_ebooks/.)
When people are informed of how dangerous contemporary worship music is and how that even the most “conservative” contemporary “hymn writers” are using their music as an ecumenical bridge to connect “traditional” churches with “the broader church,” as Getty/Townend have admitted, and instead of repenting of using it, they become the defensive and justify their actions, THAT IS CLEAR EVIDENCE OF COMPROMISE. Justifying the use of contemporary worship is a loud warning that a ministry is heading in the wrong direction, yea, a most dangerous direction. If you justify it, you are justifying the end-time apostasy that ALL of the mainstream contemporary worship musicians represent. You are justifying the breakdown in biblical separatism.
If you justify it, you will use more and more of it, and you will give your family and church an appetite for it, and you will build bridges to that extremely dangerous world: bridges over which your church will eventually walk. Those who are justifying the use of contemporary worship music are playing with fire. (See The Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians, a free eBook available from Way of Life for documentation -- www.wayoflife.org/free_ebooks/.)
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FROM:
"The philosophy of music is changing rapidly among fundamental Baptist and other fundamentalist churches. It is becoming popular to “adapt” contemporary praise songs by selecting ones with Scriptural lyrics and toning down the rhythm. This is being done by Majesty Music, Soundforth, Bob Jones University and its president Steve Pettit, and West Coast Baptist College, for example. They excuse the practice in various ways, such as likening the use of contemporary praise to the use of a Lutheran or Methodist hymn, but it is a different thing altogether. While I have never heard of a fundamental Baptist church becoming Lutheran or Methodist by singing old hymns, many are moving rapidly in the direction of the contemporary philosophy by using contemporary music."
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STEVE PETTIT'S NON-JUDGMENTALISM
ON DISPLAY
AT BOB JONES UNIVERSITY
OPPORTUNITY FOR STUDENTS, ETC.
TO LEARN:
"PRIDE, IDENTITY, UNITY"
WITH OPENLY GAY SINGERS
SEE:
EXCERPT:
“Anthems are an expression of identity and create a way for communities to show support for a cause, belief, a heritage, or even a sports team,” says Cantus tenor Aaron Humble. “If you have once sung a song in a group, that music forever after will conjure the emotions of that moment for you: pride, identity, unity.”
SANG ALSO AT MESSIAH CHRISTIAN COLLEGE,
GRANTHAM, PENNSYLVANIA IN 2011
HOMOSEXUALS PERFORM
AT "FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIAN"
BOB JONES UNIVERSITY
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
HOMOSEXUALS PERFORM AT BOB JONES UNIVERSITY (Friday Church News Notes, February 6, 2015,www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)
The following was sent to me by Pastor Steve Rogers of Grace Baptist Church, Oxford, Pennsylvania; http://www.gracebaptistpa.org/;
“The music drift continues in ‘fundamentalism’ as Bob Jones University, under new head Steve Pettit, hosted the men’s music group Cantus for their Artist Series, Jan. 27, 2015. I called the school because I have friends and family that attend BJU, but no one would talk to me and my call has not been returned. Cantus’ web site contains information about the performers. Tenor Zachary Colby says the person he most admires is Oprah Winfrey. Tenor Blake Morgan said that his idea of a great evening is ‘sunsets and craft beer’ and he is ‘a huge fan of vocal jazz.’ Tenor Aaron Humble is a homosexual who commutes from Minneapolis, where he works, to Seattle, where his ‘husband’ lives with their two cats. Tenor Shahzore Shah lives in Saint Paul with his ‘husband,” and his most admired living person is Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen Buddhist master.”
CONCLUDING NOTE FROM BRO. CLOUD: Someone wrote to Pastor Rogers with the following comment: “It is common knowledge that BJU has always had secular artist groups in as part of their Artist Series. This is hardly a ‘drift’ as it has been going on for decades. The University has a liberal arts philosophy that exposes the students to various classical expressions of art and culture. Whether you agree with it or not, it is nothing new and unsaved classical performers have always come to the campus for these events. ... I believe the leadership also uses it as an opportunity to give the gospel to these accomplished performers.” In response to that I would say that I truly doubt that BJU has had open homosexuals with “husbands” as performers before. Therefore, this probably does represent a further drift and a sad milestone for the school. And though the “art” thing might explain their action, it doesn’t justify it before God. Sharing the gospel (assuming they do that) does not justify bringing unbelievers and mockers of God’s holy laws on campus to entertain Bible students. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11).
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Our research supports the above by these links:
"I got married in December but shortly there after my husband had to move to Seattle for his job." "Lately, I’ve been pretty impressed with Pope Francis."
"Shahzore lives in Highland Park, Saint Paul with his husband, Daniel."
