D-3 PEOPLE FILES
- Paul Doyle - Wayne Drain - Jimmy Draper - Ron Dreher - Jen Dreiske - Mark Dreistadt - Ralph Drollinger - Rebekah Drumsta - Joseph D'Souza - Jurushah Duford - Iain M Duguid - Julia Duin - Ligon Duncan - Kristin Du Mez - Charles Dyer - Will Dyer -
paul doyle
Jan 23, 2023: New Republic: The Rise of Spirit Warriors on the Christian Right
Among reactionary Pentecostals, the battle, to be clear, is fought not in the individual conscience but on the public stage. The political headlines, according to this way of thinking, are a clue to the desires of God and the plots of His enemies. Paul Doyle, a Pentecostal pastor of the Cornerstone Church in Batavia, New York, which hosted the ReAwaken America tour in April 2022, took aim at “leftist agenda policies,” “woke churches,” and “vaccines and critical race theory” and framed the struggle as “a new battle of good and evil.” “Jesus bloodied himself for me,” he said, “and I am ready to bloody myself for him.”
Among reactionary Pentecostals, the battle, to be clear, is fought not in the individual conscience but on the public stage. The political headlines, according to this way of thinking, are a clue to the desires of God and the plots of His enemies. Paul Doyle, a Pentecostal pastor of the Cornerstone Church in Batavia, New York, which hosted the ReAwaken America tour in April 2022, took aim at “leftist agenda policies,” “woke churches,” and “vaccines and critical race theory” and framed the struggle as “a new battle of good and evil.” “Jesus bloodied himself for me,” he said, “and I am ready to bloody myself for him.”
wayne drain |
Wayne Drain is the Founding Pastor of Fellowship of Christians (Now known as City Hope Church - Russellville). Married to June, they have three children and four grandchildren. He is a worship leader and song writer with EMI\Integrity Music and co-author of the book He Still Speaks. With a call to “pastor a great church and prophesy to the nations," Wayne is a conference speaker and an adviser for churches and worship teams in the U.S. and Europe.
|
You are - The Hudson Taylors (Noel Richards, Brian Houston, Wayne Drain) Sep 20, 2016
|
March 6, 2023: Prophetic Presbytery | Pastor E. Wayne Drain
|
jimmy draper
April 18, 2023: Baptist Press: SBC leaders, former presidents react to death of Charles Stanley
“There are few places in the world where Charles Stanley cannot be heard and seen through In Touch ministries. He was truly the world’s pastor. It was my privilege to serve with him, preach for him and walk through some crucial times with him. He was a consistent proclaimer of God’s Word and touched millions of lives.”--Jimmy Draper, former SBC president
“There are few places in the world where Charles Stanley cannot be heard and seen through In Touch ministries. He was truly the world’s pastor. It was my privilege to serve with him, preach for him and walk through some crucial times with him. He was a consistent proclaimer of God’s Word and touched millions of lives.”--Jimmy Draper, former SBC president
ron dreher
Dr Aaron Edwards was recently dismissed from Cliff College – the Methodist Bible college where he worked as a lecturer – after pro-LGBT advocates attacked him over his views on sexuality. Here he explains why his sacking should be a concern for all Christians.
Rod Dreher’s excellent book, Live Not By Lies (Sentinel), interviews Christians who suffered under Soviet communism and who now see similar totalitarian patterns in Western progressivism. One woman, a Soviet-born émigré now teaching at a US university, said: “You have no idea what completely normal things you do today, or say today, will be used against you to destroy you. This is what people in the Soviet Union saw. We know how this works.” -Premier Christianity: I've just been dismissed by a Christian college for tweets on homosexuality – if I wasn’t safe, no one is 3/24/23
----------------------------
The New York Times bestselling author of The Benedict Option draws on the wisdom of Christian survivors of Soviet persecution to warn American Christians of approaching dangers.
For years, émigrés from the former Soviet bloc have been telling Rod Dreher they see telltale signs of "soft" totalitarianism cropping up in America--something more Brave New World than Nineteen Eighty-Four. Identity politics are beginning to encroach on every aspect of life. Civil liberties are increasingly seen as a threat to "safety". Progressives marginalize conservative, traditional Christians, and other dissenters. Technology and consumerism hasten the possibility of a corporate surveillance state. And the pandemic, having put millions out of work, leaves our country especially vulnerable to demagogic manipulation.
In Live Not By Lies, Dreher amplifies the alarm sounded by the brave men and women who fought totalitarianism. He explains how the totalitarianism facing us today is based less on overt violence and more on psychological manipulation. He tells the stories of modern-day dissidents--clergy, laity, martyrs, and confessors from the Soviet Union and the captive nations of Europe--who offer practical advice for how to identify and resist totalitarianism in our time. Following the model offered by a prophetic World War II-era pastor who prepared believers in his Eastern European to endure the coming of communism, Live Not By Lies teaches American Christians a method for resistance:
• SEE: Acknowledge the reality of the situation.
• JUDGE: Assess reality in the light of what we as Christians know to be true.
• ACT: Take action to protect truth.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn famously said that one of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming totalitarianism can't happen in their country. Many American Christians are making that mistake today, sleepwalking through the erosion of our freedoms. Live Not By Lies will wake them and equip them for the long resistance.
Rod Dreher’s excellent book, Live Not By Lies (Sentinel), interviews Christians who suffered under Soviet communism and who now see similar totalitarian patterns in Western progressivism. One woman, a Soviet-born émigré now teaching at a US university, said: “You have no idea what completely normal things you do today, or say today, will be used against you to destroy you. This is what people in the Soviet Union saw. We know how this works.” -Premier Christianity: I've just been dismissed by a Christian college for tweets on homosexuality – if I wasn’t safe, no one is 3/24/23
----------------------------
The New York Times bestselling author of The Benedict Option draws on the wisdom of Christian survivors of Soviet persecution to warn American Christians of approaching dangers.
For years, émigrés from the former Soviet bloc have been telling Rod Dreher they see telltale signs of "soft" totalitarianism cropping up in America--something more Brave New World than Nineteen Eighty-Four. Identity politics are beginning to encroach on every aspect of life. Civil liberties are increasingly seen as a threat to "safety". Progressives marginalize conservative, traditional Christians, and other dissenters. Technology and consumerism hasten the possibility of a corporate surveillance state. And the pandemic, having put millions out of work, leaves our country especially vulnerable to demagogic manipulation.
In Live Not By Lies, Dreher amplifies the alarm sounded by the brave men and women who fought totalitarianism. He explains how the totalitarianism facing us today is based less on overt violence and more on psychological manipulation. He tells the stories of modern-day dissidents--clergy, laity, martyrs, and confessors from the Soviet Union and the captive nations of Europe--who offer practical advice for how to identify and resist totalitarianism in our time. Following the model offered by a prophetic World War II-era pastor who prepared believers in his Eastern European to endure the coming of communism, Live Not By Lies teaches American Christians a method for resistance:
• SEE: Acknowledge the reality of the situation.
• JUDGE: Assess reality in the light of what we as Christians know to be true.
• ACT: Take action to protect truth.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn famously said that one of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming totalitarianism can't happen in their country. Many American Christians are making that mistake today, sleepwalking through the erosion of our freedoms. Live Not By Lies will wake them and equip them for the long resistance.
jen dreiske
Jen Dreiske is the Deputy Director at South Dakota Voices for Peace, a Sioux Falls based nonprofit focused on inclusion for immigrant, refugree and Muslim communitess. And this column is part of an ongoing series of perspectives, called "Speaking Truth to Power," written by voices from a cohort of community leaders and residents weighing in on social issues and current events in South Dakota. The goal is to elevate voices from a diverse group of individuals by challenging issues through different views to contribute to ongoing community conversations.
Jen Dreiske Files
Feb 19, 2023: Argus Leader: Dreiske: Religious freedom or religious fear?
As an active member of my Jewish Community as well as the Interfaith Community in Sioux Falls, I am greatly concerned about how the religious fear of one religious group is being imposed on the religious freedoms of our religiously diverse communities in South Dakota.
Religious freedom, according to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, says everyone in the United States has the right to practice his or her own religion, or no religion at all. Religion is a set of communal beliefs, practices and perspectives that affect and provide direction for the believer’s life. It is a lens in which we see and interact with the world around us. Freedom is the power to be who we are without hindrance. Fear is the belief that something is dangerous. --Jen Dreiske; Sioux Fall Argus Leader; 2/19/23
As an active member of my Jewish Community as well as the Interfaith Community in Sioux Falls, I am greatly concerned about how the religious fear of one religious group is being imposed on the religious freedoms of our religiously diverse communities in South Dakota.
Religious freedom, according to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, says everyone in the United States has the right to practice his or her own religion, or no religion at all. Religion is a set of communal beliefs, practices and perspectives that affect and provide direction for the believer’s life. It is a lens in which we see and interact with the world around us. Freedom is the power to be who we are without hindrance. Fear is the belief that something is dangerous. --Jen Dreiske; Sioux Fall Argus Leader; 2/19/23
mark dreistadt
Sept 22, 2023: AsiaOne: Who Controls the Wallet? Evangelical Couples Giving Shows Unity, But Reveals Disagreement As Well
You need to assess carefully how much you assume versus how much you actually know,” said Mark Dreistadt, President and CEO of Infinity Concepts. “And if your assumptions are wrong, what impact might that have on your ability to build solid, long-term relationships with the people who support your calling?”
You need to assess carefully how much you assume versus how much you actually know,” said Mark Dreistadt, President and CEO of Infinity Concepts. “And if your assumptions are wrong, what impact might that have on your ability to build solid, long-term relationships with the people who support your calling?”
May 16, 2023:
👉According to the "Faith and Wellness: Evangelical Insights on Healing and Physicians" report, released by Grey Matter Research and Infinity Concepts, 99% of evangelical Protestants agree that praying, reading the Bible, and having a strong Christian faith all contribute to positive mental health. "For evangelicals, it appears spiritual wellness is inextricably intertwined with both physical and mental wellness," said Mark Dreistadt, president and CEO of Infinity Concepts. He continued, "When we explore things such as whether they believe people can be healed through prayer or whether activities such as prayer and Bible reading have a positive impact on both mental and physical health, they almost universally agree. That's something we rarely see."
👉According to the "Faith and Wellness: Evangelical Insights on Healing and Physicians" report, released by Grey Matter Research and Infinity Concepts, 99% of evangelical Protestants agree that praying, reading the Bible, and having a strong Christian faith all contribute to positive mental health. "For evangelicals, it appears spiritual wellness is inextricably intertwined with both physical and mental wellness," said Mark Dreistadt, president and CEO of Infinity Concepts. He continued, "When we explore things such as whether they believe people can be healed through prayer or whether activities such as prayer and Bible reading have a positive impact on both mental and physical health, they almost universally agree. That's something we rarely see."
Ralph Drollinger
June 16, 2021: Salon: Kayleigh McEnany, Mike Pence, and the narcissistic apocalypse of the new evangelicals
Or Ralph Drollinger, who wrote that the coronavirus is the "consequential wrath of god," punishing America for its various moral depravations. Drollinger is a spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump.
Or Ralph Drollinger, who wrote that the coronavirus is the "consequential wrath of god," punishing America for its various moral depravations. Drollinger is a spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump.
Mar 27, 2020: Huffington Post: Amid COVID-19 Spread, Influential D.C. Pastor Says ‘God’s Wrath’ Caused By LGBTQ People
Ralph Drollinger, who leads a Bible study for Trump’s cabinet members, claims homosexuality, environmentalism and atheism are signs of God’s wrath.
Ralph Drollinger, who leads a Bible study for Trump’s cabinet members, claims homosexuality, environmentalism and atheism are signs of God’s wrath.
rebekah drumsta
June 7, 2023: Baptist News Global: How to connect the dots while watching Shiny Happy People
Of course, individuals watching the series may have deeply sensitive trauma they’re reminded of and still processing. Rebekah Drumsta, a survivor of abuse from the Institute of Basic Life Principles featured in the series, explained, “Shiny Happy People is collectively pacing so many of us through our painful childhoods which were riddled with spiritual abuse, physical and psychological abuse and religious trauma.”
Of course, individuals watching the series may have deeply sensitive trauma they’re reminded of and still processing. Rebekah Drumsta, a survivor of abuse from the Institute of Basic Life Principles featured in the series, explained, “Shiny Happy People is collectively pacing so many of us through our painful childhoods which were riddled with spiritual abuse, physical and psychological abuse and religious trauma.”
joseph d'souza
May 9, 2023:
Release International has received reports from India of Christians being attacked across 27 villages in Manipur, sometimes "in plain sight of state police and military, while mobs roamed the street". At least 60 people are reported dead, while around 50 churches have been set on fire and destroyed. The violence is concentrated on the Imphal Valley and Churachandpur, where tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. |
Bishop Joseph D'Souza, of the Good Shepherd Church in India, has asked people to pray for Manipur and the people of India. "The primary victims are the Christians. In this uncontrolled violence that took place in Manipur it was a systematic attack on the churches. I am told that in the plains almost all the churches are destroyed," he said. He continued, "'There is no question about tribal Christians being in the middle of the storm that has erupted in Manipur at this time." 5.9.23 |
April 17, 2023: Christian Post: George Verwer, evangelist and founder of OM International, dies at age 84
Archbishop Joseph D’Souza of the Anglican Good Shepherd Church of India gave his condolences in a piece published by The Christian Post on Saturday.
“George also always paid attention to where the winds of the spirit were blowing, and as a maturing church emerged in the Global South, he put his efforts into helping the church become sustainable,” wrote D’Souza.
Archbishop Joseph D’Souza of the Anglican Good Shepherd Church of India gave his condolences in a piece published by The Christian Post on Saturday.
“George also always paid attention to where the winds of the spirit were blowing, and as a maturing church emerged in the Global South, he put his efforts into helping the church become sustainable,” wrote D’Souza.
jerushah duford
Signers of the open letter calling out Christian nationalism include Jerushah Duford, a granddaughter of the evangelical preacher, the late Rev. Billy Graham. In an interview with NPR, Duford said she was "heartbroken" by the events of Jan. 6, a feeling she said she experienced throughout the Trump years as she watched many white evangelical leaders align themselves with him.
"It felt like this was a symptom of what has been happening for a long time," she said.
--Wyoming Public Media: Evangelical Leaders Condemn 'Radicalized Christian Nationalism' 1.24.21
"It felt like this was a symptom of what has been happening for a long time," she said.
--Wyoming Public Media: Evangelical Leaders Condemn 'Radicalized Christian Nationalism' 1.24.21
Iain M. Duguid
Iain M. Duguid is professor of Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the author of Ezekiel and the Leaders of Israel, Esther & Ruth, Daniel, Song of Songs in the Reformed Expository Commentary, as well as many other titles.
Iain M Duguid
The fundamental reality that Judah had always relied upon, the presence of God in their midst in the temple on Mount Zion, is revealed to be now nothing more than a hollow shell. The glory of God has departed from their midst, leaving the city ripe for destruction. What that means is that those who seem to themselves to be in the better situation—in the frying pan rather than in the fire, those confidently depending on God’s commitment to Zion—are actually next on the menu. God has abandoned them to their doom. To continue the culinary metaphor, their goose is cooked. --Iain M Duguid; NIV Application Commentary: Ezekiel; 1999
julia duin
Oct 21, 2022: Religion News: Best In Religion Journalism: Religion News Association Presents Its Annual Awards
Among the highlights:
• Julia Duin, a longtime religion journalist who has written for ReligionUnplugged.com and is Newsweek’s contributing editor for religion, won for Excellence in Religion Reporting at Online-only News Outlets and placed in two other categories. Duin was honored for stories she wrote for National Geographic, Politico and Newsweek.
Among the highlights:
• Julia Duin, a longtime religion journalist who has written for ReligionUnplugged.com and is Newsweek’s contributing editor for religion, won for Excellence in Religion Reporting at Online-only News Outlets and placed in two other categories. Duin was honored for stories she wrote for National Geographic, Politico and Newsweek.
Ligon Duncan
Ligon Duncan
“When people say things like, ‘Well, I know the Bible says that, but I like to think of God as…’ they are no less idolatrous in their thinking, and thus worshiping, than was Israel at the foot of Sinai on that fateful day of spiritual adultery with the calf. In contrast to all human creativity and initiative, the Bible is to be our rule for how we worship God, because the Bible is our rule for how we are to think about God and how we worship determines whom we worship.” --Ligon Duncan
kristin du mez |
How a bucolic Tennessee suburb became a hotbed of ‘Christian Nashville-ism’
Calvin University history professor Kristin Kobes Du Mez, who studies conservative evangelicals, said the power of the moms in places like Williamson County should not be underestimated. These affluent suburbs are filled with talented and well-connected conservative women who see political activity — especially when it comes to issues that affect their children — as an outgrowth of their faith. “Conservative Christian women have long mobilized to protect their children and to protect their families,” she said. “This goes back generations.” They are also often heavy consumers of Christian radio and publishing — which have become more political. When the same trusted sources that provide the Christian music they love and the Bible studies they read also tell evangelical women their families and their faith are under attack, they will take action, said Du Mez. Du Mez also said being in a wealthy, insulated community filled with like-minded neighbors means these Christian women are less likely to run into people who challenge those messages. Instead, their circles include those who share their fears and reinforce them. “This is not primarily economic anxiety,” she said. “This is status anxiety.”
(Bob Smietana/Religion News 11/8/23)
READ MORE>>>>>
Calvin University history professor Kristin Kobes Du Mez, who studies conservative evangelicals, said the power of the moms in places like Williamson County should not be underestimated. These affluent suburbs are filled with talented and well-connected conservative women who see political activity — especially when it comes to issues that affect their children — as an outgrowth of their faith. “Conservative Christian women have long mobilized to protect their children and to protect their families,” she said. “This goes back generations.” They are also often heavy consumers of Christian radio and publishing — which have become more political. When the same trusted sources that provide the Christian music they love and the Bible studies they read also tell evangelical women their families and their faith are under attack, they will take action, said Du Mez. Du Mez also said being in a wealthy, insulated community filled with like-minded neighbors means these Christian women are less likely to run into people who challenge those messages. Instead, their circles include those who share their fears and reinforce them. “This is not primarily economic anxiety,” she said. “This is status anxiety.”
(Bob Smietana/Religion News 11/8/23)
READ MORE>>>>>
Kristin Du Mez
"If you look at how many conservative evangelicals responded to abusive leaders, abusive pastors in their own churches and in their own organizations…. time and time again, you see evangelical communities ending up defending perpetrators of abuse — of sexual abuse, of abuse of power — and doing so in the name of protecting the witness of the church, (and) blaming women for leading men on or for seducing men. All sorts of excuses, really…. And that's exactly the rhetoric that we have heard and continue to hear around somebody like Donald Trump....I started noticing, more than 20 years ago, a growing embrace of a very kind of militant, rugged, even militaristic conception of what it meant to be a Christian man — a kind of warrior. And I traced that up to the present and heard so many echoes of that in evangelical support for Trump; he was their ultimate fighting champion, who would do what needed to be done to advance their aims…. You can see in the recent history of evangelicalism kind of an ebb and flow of perceptions of masculinity and what's wrong with masculinity." -Kristin Du Mez; The Bulwark; "Beg to Differ" 8-18.23
“How could conservatives with ‘family values’ support a man who contradicted every single principle they claimed to stand for?...............It was more the culmination of the evangelicalism adoption of a combative masculinity, an ideology that entrenches patriarchal authority and condones a ruthless display of power...........In reality, evangelicals did not cast their vote despite their beliefs, but because of them. John Wayne “did not live a moral life by the standards of traditional Christian virtue,” yet “for many evangelicals, he would come to symbolize a different set of virtues — a nostalgic yearning for a mythical ‘Christian America,’ a return to ‘traditional’ gender roles, and the reassertion of (white) patriarchal authority. Like Wayne, the heroes who best embodied militant Christian masculinity were those unencumbered by traditional Christian virtues.....For many evangelicals, these militant heroes would come to define not only Christian manhood but Christianity itself.”
--Kristin Kobes du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
--Kristin Kobes du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
March 14, 2023: Reformed Journal: Kristin Du Mez’s Calvinism and My Own
The Christian Reformed theobros are laying in ammunition for their assault on heretics such as I at this June’s meeting of Synod, but I don’t want to talk about that right now. Maybe in a future post.
We need a broader, and calmer, take—not on the substantive issues at hand in this controversy, but on the role that issues, particularly professed beliefs, play in religious life and organizations. For that I want to share the analysis, at once winsome and penetrating, that Kristin Kobes Du Mez recently posted on her Substack site, Du Mez Connections.
The Christian Reformed theobros are laying in ammunition for their assault on heretics such as I at this June’s meeting of Synod, but I don’t want to talk about that right now. Maybe in a future post.
We need a broader, and calmer, take—not on the substantive issues at hand in this controversy, but on the role that issues, particularly professed beliefs, play in religious life and organizations. For that I want to share the analysis, at once winsome and penetrating, that Kristin Kobes Du Mez recently posted on her Substack site, Du Mez Connections.
Kristin Du Mez
“This whole complementrian ideology is a historical construction...All the packaging that comes with it — what it means to be a man, what it means to be a woman — that’s a historical and cultural creation, even as it’s packaged and sold as timeless, inerrant and biblical.” -Kristin Du Mez; Religion News Service: Beth Moore apologizes for her role in elevating ‘complementarian’ theology that limits women leaders 4.7.21
charles Dyer
Charles H Dyer
"Several Hebrew abecedaries (alphabets scratched on pieces of broken pottery by Hebrew children learning to write) have been found by archeologists. Some of these alphabetical lists are in the normal order for the Hebrew letters but others are in the reverse pe-'ayin order. Evidently both arrangements of the alphabet were acceptable. Thus the writer of Lamentations was merely employing two forms of the Hebrew alphabet, both of which were used in his time."
-Charles H. Dyer, "Lamentations," in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament
-Charles H. Dyer, "Lamentations," in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament
will dyer
Will Dyer is the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia.
Aug 24, 2023:
While reading a blog on a church web site tonight I came across an article about the fear of the Lord written by Pastor Will Dyer, who wrote this
about the Fear of the Lord: "In the Hebrew consciousness, the word fear doesn’t mean to be afraid. Instead, to “fear the Lord” means to have a great wonder and awe. The book of Proverbs is not asking us to think of God as a cosmic tyrant. That couldn’t be any further from the truth! To fear the Lord means to have a love and reverence for the Creator of all things. A proper understanding of Proverbs 1:7 is a baseline for how to see God and each other! So, as we begin our journey through the Proverbs together, let’s begin by knowing and trusting in these short words of wisdom. " I cannot agree with that, though I used to. Fear of of the Lord means exactly what it says: Fear. We have reason we should fear. Yes He is "wonder and awe" but that kind of simple fear will not produce holiness. We need to understand that God is all powerful and we need to fear what He can do if we disobey. I lived most of my life as a "Christian" with just that "awe" but my life never really changed until I understood the fear is real and necessary. I believe it was part of the lesson that Job learned. Real fear of the Lord can scare the hell of of you. Consider it.
While reading a blog on a church web site tonight I came across an article about the fear of the Lord written by Pastor Will Dyer, who wrote this
about the Fear of the Lord: "In the Hebrew consciousness, the word fear doesn’t mean to be afraid. Instead, to “fear the Lord” means to have a great wonder and awe. The book of Proverbs is not asking us to think of God as a cosmic tyrant. That couldn’t be any further from the truth! To fear the Lord means to have a love and reverence for the Creator of all things. A proper understanding of Proverbs 1:7 is a baseline for how to see God and each other! So, as we begin our journey through the Proverbs together, let’s begin by knowing and trusting in these short words of wisdom. " I cannot agree with that, though I used to. Fear of of the Lord means exactly what it says: Fear. We have reason we should fear. Yes He is "wonder and awe" but that kind of simple fear will not produce holiness. We need to understand that God is all powerful and we need to fear what He can do if we disobey. I lived most of my life as a "Christian" with just that "awe" but my life never really changed until I understood the fear is real and necessary. I believe it was part of the lesson that Job learned. Real fear of the Lord can scare the hell of of you. Consider it.
Fear of of the Lord means exactly what it says: Fear. We have reason we should fear. Yes He is "wonder and awe" but that kind of simple fear will not produce holiness. We need to understand that God is all powerful and we need to fear what He can do if we disobey. I lived most of my life as a "Christian" with just that "awe" but my life never really changed until I understood the fear is real and necessary.
Dec 6, 2022: Atlantic Journal Constitution: Some Georgia pastors push back against spread of Christian nationalism
The way the Rev. Will Dyer sees it, if pastors aren’t speaking out against Christian nationalism, then they’re making a huge mistake.
Dyer, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Augusta, has addressed the ideology in his sermons and in private conversations with members, cautioning against the philosophy that some say calls for the blending of religion and government.
His stance cost him about 10 members from his congregation, which has an average Sunday attendance of 1,000.
“It’s something I had to do,” Dyer said of his decision to speak on the issue. “It’s a reality in all of our churches and pulpits.”
The way the Rev. Will Dyer sees it, if pastors aren’t speaking out against Christian nationalism, then they’re making a huge mistake.
Dyer, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Augusta, has addressed the ideology in his sermons and in private conversations with members, cautioning against the philosophy that some say calls for the blending of religion and government.
His stance cost him about 10 members from his congregation, which has an average Sunday attendance of 1,000.
“It’s something I had to do,” Dyer said of his decision to speak on the issue. “It’s a reality in all of our churches and pulpits.”