Leaders speak with an authority accorded to them by their position. When Barack Obama gave the Ohio State University Commencement Address, he did so as President of the United States. With the authority of that office behind him, it will be few students that would question his direction to reject cynical voices. What are those voices saying? Continue reading …

The Jesus People USA (JPUSA) of Chicago is a Christian commune (or as they now prefer to say, “intentional community”) that was founded in 1972. For two decades it enjoyed a kind of “fair-haired child” status among evangelicals as a combination ’60s-nostalgia/alternative-lifestyle/urban/countercult ministry. It featured, among other things, traveling music and drama ministries, a thriving literature ministry, and a K-12 school for its children, all supported by various commune-operated businesses.

A 1983 independent documentary film titled “Uptown Christian Soldiers”¹ contained some of the earliest criticism of JPUSA (including ex-member testimony), but did little to tarnish its image in the evangelical community. In 1989 JPUSA became a congregation in the Evangelical Covenant Church denomination. Three years later, Christianity Today magazine devoted a six-page cover puff piece to the group.² JPUSA was hip and trendy when it wasn’t hip and trendy to be hip and trendy among American evangelicals.

But the tide would soon turn. Continue reading …

Some groups which could be classified as cults or abusive religious groups by Evangelicals strongly discourage thinking independently from the groups leadership. Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower Bible and Tract Society went so far in the 1980s as to run articles which boldly declared to “Avoid Independent Thinking.” Once the organization has made a decree the followers must simply hear and obey. When I teach on this I often find Evangelicals shaking their head with a sort of tsk, tsk reaction. But many Christians, it seems, are not in much better shape. Extra biblical official positions are handed down and lots of Evangelicals march in lock step. If someone dares question, they are viewed as an anti-Christ or at least back slidden in the faith.

We find this quite a bit in dealing with apologetics and false teachers. For example, in 1999 there was a great deal of hype and hoopla about Y2K. Michael Hyatt, Chuck Missler, James Dobson and many others were pronouncing the end of the world as we know. At midnight on December 31, 1999 all of the computers in the world would shut down, electricity production would cease, coffee makers would stop functioning and cars would no longer start. Back to horse and buggy days and Hyatt even suggested that his readers needed to decide how far would they be willing to go in protecting their food supplies. Kill the hungry hordes of invaders perhaps? Continue reading …