Mark Driscoll, the Reformed theological wunderkind and Mars-Hill Church pastor extraordinaire “sees things”…and directly from Jesus!
If you are not familiar with Driscoll he is conservative and Reformed theologically but contemporary in his delivery. He wears jeans and sweatshirts behind the pulpit (and the occasional Mickey Mouse t-shirt as you can see in the video). Once a self-identified member of the Emerging Church movement, Driscoll left the movement because of “growing theological differences”[1] with some of the movement’s leaders. Currently he is more identified with Reformed pastors looking to keep the church relevant in today’s culture such as John Piper, Tim Keller, and D.A. Carson.[2]
Driscoll’s new revelation from the pulpit will do little silence his critics from inside of Christendom and only increase the skepticism and cynicism of the mind control and scare tactics of fundamentalist evangelical preachers from those of us on the outside. In a recent sermon Driscoll says that he “sees things”. Pedophilia from decades past, wife beatings, sexual escapades, rapes, baby dedications to Satan; Driscoll has seen it all. Like he has “a TV right here, and (he’s) seeing it,” Driscoll’s visions appear to him as if God has implanted a virtual Law and Order: SVU before his very eyes.
In one instance Driscoll informs a congregant of sexual abuse they suffered as an infant. The victim of course had no recollection of this. When Driscoll encourages the victim to confront the perpetrator—the victim’s grandfather—the grandfather says, “Yeah, I did it, but how did you know. You were only like one or two years old.” Why Pastor Mark told me, says the victim.
In another instance Driscoll has a premonition of a woman being beaten by her husband. When Driscoll confronts the husband in the wife’s presence he tell the perpetrator that his wife didn’t rat him out, it was Jesus!Not only are Driscoll’s visions predominantly sexual in nature but he goes even further by implying that he not only knows the deeds of the perpetrators but their thoughts as well. For example, in recounting the sexual affair one purported counselee Driscoll says:
Satan has a foothold in your life because you never told your husband about that really tall blond guy that you met at the bar, and then you went back to the hotel, and you laid on your back, and you undressed yourself and he laid on top of you and you had sex with him snuggled up with him for a while. And deep down in your heart—even though you had just met him—you desired because, secretly, he is the fantasy body type. I said, “You remember that place. It was that cheap hotel with that certain color bed spread. You had sex with the light on because you weren’t ashamed because you wanted him to see you and you wanted to see him...”
Whoa! This is not your grandmother’s sermon!
Only behind the confines of a pulpit in front of his unsuspecting flock could Driscoll get away with such shenanigans. In any other venue, Driscoll’s claims would be about as credible as Sylvia Brown on the Montel Williams Show. There is no shortage of criticism of Driscoll from his own conservative, evangelical community. One site accuses him embracing “New Calvinism, which itself appears to be a postmodern form of Calvinism embracing both Reformation theology and the spurious spirituality of Counter Reformation Roman Catholicism”[6] Please, say it isn’t so. Well known apologist Frank Turek skewers Driscoll in an open letter for, among other things comparing cessationists (like him) to the deism of the likes of Thomas Jefferson. Those are fighting words.
I doubt Mark Driscoll could prove any of his claims, and I doubt he would even try. I’m sure the privacy of the “victims” or some other disclaimer would serve as cover for his rouse. What I find most interesting is not that people think Driscoll is nothing more than a charlatan, because they don’t. In fact most of Driscoll’s critics are not the skeptics. From what I can tell, the skeptics don’t care. Driscoll’s critics are his own fellow Christians who object to his antics on theological grounds. Yet don’t his critics see the ridiculousness of their own ways?
Driscoll can know the sins of one’s past? Ridiculous! That God is up there somewhere keeping tabs? Totally believable. Driscoll hears Jesus telling him things? What a heretic! That Paul heard Jesus on the road to Damascus? Of course! Driscoll has visions of crimes being committed like Superman? Nah! That Jesus will come back flying in the sky like Superman to kick ass? That’s going to happen!
I’ve always found it interesting that many believer believe in the supernatural when it is either in the very distant past or it is promised in the far off future. But when confronted with the supernatural in the present the events are either explained away as theological aberrations or exposed as blatant frauds (al la Benny Hinn).
[1] Mark Driscoll. “Why I left the Emerging Church” Criswell Theological Review. N.S. Spring 2006, p. 87-93. http://bobfranquiz.typepad.com/bobfranquizcom/files/32_apastoralperspectiveontheemergentchurchdriscoll.PDF
[2] Mark Driscoll." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 16 August, 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Driscoll
[5] John MacArthur. “The Rape of Solomon’s Song, Part 1”. http://defendingcontending.com/2009/04/17/john-macarthur-on-mark-driscoll-part-2/
Wasn't it Margaret Thatcher who said "Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, then you're not".
ReplyDeleteThat's what I think of listening to this video. Perhaps he really does have this ability. But when you repeatedly say "I see things" over and over for 5 minutes followed by story after story, each one more over the top than the last, then it's your method of supporting your claim that creates skepticism and not necessarily what it is you are claiming.