For whatever reason, James White saw fit to RT the guy who made this nutso (that’s the official term) video about me the other day. I had seen it previously and chose to ignore it until White decided to go full-unhinged and send it to his Twitter feed because so long as it attacks me, White doesn’t care if he’s citing someone who thinks even White is anathema.
Background: I spoke to this fellow – Joshua something-or-other – for hours on the phone and on several occasions, and exchanged emails. To be perfectly clear, I don’t understand the controversy. While entitling his clip, “Pulpit and Pen Founder Says John MacArthur is Wrong!!!,” I don’t think it’s been a secret that some speakers at ShepCon have set uneasy with me. And yet, I’ve not attacked or polemicized Dr. MacArthur because I don’t believe in infinity degrees of separation; I believe in one degree by Biblical command, but might be open to more depending upon the sheer lunacy or radical heresy of the situation. For the record, I’ve explained this many times on the Polemics Report. What Joshua’s point is, I show a double standard because I haven’t attacked Dr. MacArthur for speaking with Mohler, but have polemicized Ronnie Floyd for speaking at IHOP. At face value, considering the argument requires the equivalency between Albert Mohler (who I’ve always said I believe is a Christian brother) and IHOP (which is an insane asylum for charismatics), the comparison should be rejected wholesale and out of the chute.
The only thing I really wish to clarify is that in Joshua’s video, he plays a clip saying that I would speak positively of him to Justin Peters. Then, he played a clip where I called him a “theological weirdo” on the Polemics Report. What’s not seen in the video is the gradual devolving of niceties between us as I grew to better understand his insanity, both in phone conversations and in email. By the time it was over, I specifically told him I couldn’t endorse him as a Christian. While it appears I “lied” by telling him one thing but saying another, he played an earlier clip, and not a later one, when I said I couldn’t even call him a believer. By the time I called him a “theological weirdo” on my program, more than a month (or so) had passed, and I continued to see his insanity in email form, as he demanded I anathematize everyone from Justin Peters to Phil Johnson to John MacArthur based on 6-Degrees-From-Kevin-Bacon, which I have always rejected.
https://www.facebook.com/pulpitandpen/videos/1712324202164677/
So…he’s not the only one with recorded audio.
I think you’ll find me incredibly gracious and reasonable. You’ll also see his narrative fall apart entirely.
For the record, I was the one in the conversation telling someone not to anathematize someone for being 6 degrees away from error. Let that fester in your brain for a while. As far as James White’s stubbornness is concerned, it’s a day that ends in “Y.”
[Contributed by JD Hall]
