Marc Driscoll, Church Stripping, And The REAL Problem.

The Viral Mark Driscoll Stage Incident

Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to Fight For Truth. In this video, we're going to talk about a recent men's conference where Mark Driscoll was forced to leave the stage. This clip has now gone pretty viral, and there are all sorts of responses to it on Christian YouTube.

And while many of them are very helpful, I think most of us are not dealing with the real problem here. So let's get into it. Mark Driscoll was the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Washington state, and one of the most popular pastors in the US in his heyday.

He became well-known for his passionate, sometimes angry sermons in which he pulled no punches. But at the height of his popularity, he stepped down from leading that church after his own leadership team called him out for what they saw as a pattern of domineering behavior.

Since then, he has moved to Arizona and planted a new church. Next we have John Lindell, the pastor of James River Church, who's also the ringleader of the Stronger Men's Conference, which Mark was invited to speak at here.

Early in the conference that day, there was a performance from one Alex Malaga, who was a professing Christian and a professional sword swallower. Here's a clip.

Okay, so this guy is a male stripper called Alex Magala. He starts the conference by taking his shirt off, licking a sword, and then swallowing it, and then climbing a stripping pole.

And to add a bit more context, after the whole kerfuffle took place, Alex said that his acts should not be, quote, likened to inappropriate entertainment, end quote. Yet a brief look at Alex's Instagram shows that his act also involves women dressing in incredibly immodest ways, though this particular woman was not involved in the men's conference performance.

Mark Driscoll's Rebuke of the Performance

So, frankly, there are some fair things to be concerned about with this act, and in light of that, here's what Mark Driscoll said on stage.

We're going to talk about how to be an Elijah, and how to deal with what they have at Jezebel. But let me do this. I've been up since one o 'clock in the morning. The reason I'm hoarse is I have been praying for you, and my heart is very burdened for you.

And I want to be very careful with this, and it's not what I want to say, but the Jezebel spirit has already been here. The Jezebel spirit opened our event. This is a rebuke and a correction of no one.

This is an observation. Before the word of God was opened, there was a platform. It was a high place. On it was a pole, an ashtray. The same thing that's used in the strip club for women who have the Jezebel spirit to seduce men.

In front of that was a man who ripped his shirt off like a woman does in front of a pole at a strip club. That man then ascended. See, our God is not arrogant. He doesn't ascend. Our God is humble. He descends.

So Mark essentially says that Alex's performance is symbolically similar to satanic idol worship that took place in Middle Eastern sex cults. For example, he says that the pole the man performed on symbolically represented an Asherah pole.

And as he was on stage saying this, the leader of the conference, again, Pastor John Lindell, he wasn't going to take this lying down. No, he confronts Mark directly in front of everyone. Watch this.

And then he swallowed a sword and Jesus cried, Okay, Pastor John, I'll receive that. Thank you.

He should have said it to me first. He didn't. Matthew 18, if your brother offends you,. I talked to Mark for a half hour. There was not one word of that. He could say it to me.

Why Matthew 18 Does Not Govern Public False Teaching

So there you have it. This is what the whole evangelical world has been talking about for the past few days. And largely, I think there's been a lot of controversy, a lot of passion about this whole thing.

But there's been very little clear thinking. So in this video, let's take everything piece by piece and think about it biblically and hopefully with some common sense. First, was Alex Malaga's performance an example of a strip show in church?

This is something that a lot of people have been saying online, and frankly, I just can't fully agree. Alex was not being a male stripper here. He was a sword swallower and a daredevil of sorts who began his act with taking his shirt off.

Is it cringey and gimmicky? Yeah. Is it flashy, immodest, and unbecoming of a Christian men's conference? Yeah, probably so. And is it a great example of the unhealthy entertainment obsession that the modern evangelical church has?

Absolutely, 100%. In recent decades, entertainment has been often used as a replacement for the simple power of the Gospel message spoken about in Romans 1 -16. But let's be clear. This was not a man doing a literal erotic strip show in a men's conference.

That's a slight exaggeration. In the past, this conference has had boxing matches, monster trucks, etc. It's their gimmick. This is what they do. But now that we've covered the act itself, let's move into the reaction from Mark Driscoll.

Mark gets up there and basically says that this performance was symbolically related to ancient sex cult rituals. But this, too, is an exaggeration. The guy was doing a circus act with his shirt off, and there's no symbolic Satanism, intentional or unintentional, in what we saw.

And this brings us to the third point. John Lindell's reaction to Mark. Was it right for John to remove Mark from the stage? In my opinion, yes. However, I think he did it for the wrong reason. John should have removed Mark from the stage, because Mark is not a good source of biblical teaching.

More on that in a moment. And while he was at it, John should have removed himself both from the stage and from pastoral leadership, because he himself is completely unqualified to be a pastor. More on that in a moment as well.

But after all this happened, John also says that this was unbiblical and dishonest of Mark Driscoll. Because Matthew 18 says that if your brother sins against you, you want to confront him alone, not publicly and on a stage at a conference.

And yes, Matthew 18 does say this about personal sins, brother against brother. But it's not fundamentally about situations involving public false teaching or examples of improper public ministry. In these cases, it's often the case that a public rebuke is appropriate.

For example, Paul corrected Peter publicly in Galatians 2 because Peter was being publicly unclear about ethnic relations and the gospel. So no, Mark was not 100 wrong in principle to do what he did because of Matthew 18 or something.

As usual, this is yet another example of a trendy megachurch pastor, in this case John Lindell, misunderstanding the text of scripture because he's more focused on putting on a circus than rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2 .15. But with that said, according to John Lindell, he and Mark spoke for 30 minutes before Mark even went on stage. And if that's true, this is very telling. Because to pretend like everything is okay while talking to your friend backstage to their face, only to go on stage and publicly criticize his conference that he invited you to, is not something a good friend should do.

And then of course, to further complicate matters, apparently Mark apologized for the whole thing afterwards, and then of course promptly reversed his apology in private communication with John over the phone.

The Real Problem: Untrustworthy Leadership on Both Sides

So that's my perspective on the nitty-gritty of this crazy situation that continues to unfold. But the problem is that most of us are getting lost in the weeds here. Because as you can tell, it's a very complex situation.

The real issue in this situation is that everyone involved is wrong, to varying degrees. Mark is not a triumphant hero, and John Lindell is not an innocent victim. In fact, my real point here is that I don't recommend the teaching or leadership of either of these men to you at all.

Mark Driscoll has been called out by the elders of his original church time and time again. In response, he left the church and set up a new one that has no elders. This is not a good thing to do. He has also endorsed unbiblical teachers like Stephen Furtick, Brian Houston, and he's apologized for criticizing false teacher Joel Osteen.

And as you're about to see, the fact that Mark considers John Lindell a good partner in ministry is also a huge problem. It's a big red flag. John himself endorses all sorts of hyper-charismatic false teachers, and one of them is Bethel pastor Bill Johnson.

In a sermon given at John's church, Bill actually said that he requires the young people under his church leadership to speak false prophecies. He commands them to do so. This is not an exaggeration. He actually said that.

You can catch our review of that sermon in the description. And the problem with this is that if John is a pastor, and if Bill is a pastor, then it is their responsibility to protect their church, their flock, from false prophets, from wolves in sheep's clothing, as Jesus calls them in Matthew 7 .15.

But instead, John brings them Bill Johnson, who not only encourages them to listen to false prophets, but to actually be false prophets. And of course, in typical trendy church fashion, John has his wife as a lead pastor of their congregation.

Male and Female Church Leadership

Yet Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2 .12 that he forbids women to take up leadership positions in the church. And the Bible clearly teaches that headship over the church has been given to men, according to God's design, Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3.

And this was nearly universal in the church up until about five minutes ago. Having female pastors, then, demonstrates not only that your church is unbiblically structured, but also that you don't have the courage to stand up to modern feminism, which seeks to remove the hierarchy that God created the world with.

So, in summary, the real problem with this whole Mark Driscoll thing is that there is not a single person involved here who offers consistent, trustworthy biblical leadership. That's what we need to take away.

So if your biggest worry about this is which of these men you're supposed to side with on social media, you're missing the point entirely. Instead, focus on finding a good, solid, biblical, reformed church and receive your teaching there.

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And until next time, fight for truth. Thank you, and God bless.