WHATCHU TALKIN BOUT WILLIS?

I grew up when Diff'rent Strokes was a popular television show. That's no big deal unless your last name is Willis. To this day I still hear those famous words popularized by Arnold: "Whatchu talkin bout Willis?" Usually they are uttered by someone looking at me as though I may have never heard it before. Yeah, right! Well this blog is what I (Willis) am talkin bout...my thoughts, observations & opinions. Enjoy...



Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Banned but not gone...


I frequent the Christian Church Today forums and often it's the same discussion repeated with a few new participants. Other times it is very interesting and I learn some really good stuff. Several months ago a heated discussion erupted about George Faull whom I respect a great deal. During that time a poster (Phinehas?) wrote something that generated quite a stir. The thread was "locked" and he was ultimately banned. I was quick enough, however, to copy his post before it was deleted. Here it is unedited...
George Faull's recent article (http://www.summit1.edu/gun21/gun05.htm) may contain things that are true but how he said it was not very Christ-like.Some people on this web site have said he needed a "less inflammatory tone." I wouldn't put it that way. However, they way he wrote the article was unlike the way Jesus spoke when he rebuked people. Some have even presented a "fresh, rewritten presentation of most of what George said, minus some kerosene, plus some verifying references" on this very forum. They said the same thing only in a "kinder gentler" way. However, I think George's article was not Christ-like because he never called anyone "blind guides" "Hypocrites" "snakes" "white washed tombs" or a "fox."So I present to you a "fresh, rewritten presentation of most of what George said," plus some wording used by our Lord Jesus himself in Matthew 23.To be Christ-like George Faull should have said....Woe to you Christian church preachers, You move Lord’s Supper which is commanded by Christ aside in our churches to a side room while you put things that are not commanded by God front and center and make time for them.Woe to you Christian church preachers, you hypocrites, you skip the Lord’s Supper “out of respect for our denominational friends who attend our special Easter service” while offending all the believers by skipping it. You are not recognizing the Body of Christ which is the church and treating with as an unholy thing the new covenant in His blood.Woe to you mega-church preachers. Your teachings are but the traditions of men. You cancel Sunday services on Christmas day so we can celebrate Jesus Birthday with family. Which is commanded… to remember Jesus death, burial and resurrection in communion or to remember his birth with a Christmas tee? You set aside the commands of God (Hebrews 10:25) to keep the traditions of men. And you do many things like that.Woe to you Convention leaders, you pseudo-denominationalists. Everything they do is done for men to see: They want to gain permanence among the evangelicals; they love the place of honor at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the most important seats in the N.A.C.C; they love to be mentioned in the Christian Standard and to have men call them ‘Pastor.’ But you are not to be called ‘Pastor,’ for you have only one Chief shepherd and you are all sheep. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘Senior Minister’ for you have only one who is senior, the Christ."Woe to you, Pastors and senior ministers, you hypocrites! You shut the Restoration movement in men’s faces. You left the restoration movement for willow creek, and you will not let them restore the church to New Testament Christianity who are trying to.Woe to you, Bible College professors and Pastors, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to get a single person to come to the NACC, and when he does, you make him twice as much a son of denominationalism as you are by having in all “faith only” false teachers.Woe to you, blind guides! You say, "If a woman preaches or teaches at a Bible college or convention, it means nothing; but if a woman preaches at a church building that is forbidden." You blind fools! What does it mean when it says, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man?” Is that only in a church building? No, where two are three are gathered there I am in the midst of them.You also say, ‘The commands for women not to teach were only for the church at Corinth and their particular cultural situation. It doesn’t apply now.” You blind men! Paul said “As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says.”Therefore, “If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored.”Woe to you, teachers in Bible colleges and Pastors, you hypocrites! You diligently study all the latest fads, gimmicks and guest ministry ideas. But you have neglected the more important matters of the new covenant— justice, mercy and faithfulness to the word of God on baptism and the Lord's Supper. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a “not visitor friendly” gnat but swallow a “40 days of purpose” Calvinistic camel.Woe to you, teachers in Bible Colleges and Professors, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the Bible College with fancy buildings named after great men of the past, but inside they are full of professors teaching that which the men the buildings were named after would have taught against. Blind Professors! First clean the teaching inside of Bible College, and then the graduating preachers teaching also will be clean.Woe to you, teachers of the law and Professors, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, your buildings and publications look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and false doctrine. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and liberalism.Woe to you, NACC directors and Pastors, you hypocrites! You hold conventions to honor the restoration movement history and visit the old churches of the restoration movement founders. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in starting the Disciples of Christ denomination.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who rejected the restoration of New Testament Christianity. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?Therefore I am sending you Preachers and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will mock and alienate; others you will label as legalists, diploma mills and "out of touch old fogies" in your magazines and on your blogs. Some you’ll pursue their back ground and try to discredit their education. And so upon you will come all the guilt of the righteous reputations you have ruined, from the life of righteous Walter Scott to the reputation of righteous Ed Bousman of Lynchburg, Ohio, whom you will no longer allow to preach at chapel at Cincinnati Christian University. I tell you the truth; all this will come upon this generation.O Christians, Oh Christians, you who reject true preachers and mock those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your mega-church is left to you desolate.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fact: Ed Bousman has never been banned from speaking in chapel at Cincinnati Christian University. I don't know how such rumors get started.

I personally listen to Mr. Bousman's radio broadcast many Sundays, and I remember fondly his message at our chapel during an alumni event on our campus a few years ago. I'm also glad that David Faust, President of CCU, was recently invited to a celebration for Mr. Bousman, and invitation he was glad to accept.

David H. Willis said...

Just to clarify...
Fact: "Banned" is in reference to the author of the post being booted from CCToday.

Also, thanks for the info. Mr. Bousman and I have the same "home church" and same the hometown. I've always appreciated his conviction and unique delivery. I hope he'll be back at CCU in the near future. I think he'd be well received. Thanks for stopping by my blog. It's open to the public 24/7.

PS. Please write some more books. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Yes, with "banned" I was referring to the sense of the line "righteous Ed Bousman of Lynchburg, Ohio, whom you will no longer allow to preach at chapel at Cincinnati Christian University." But the point is the same: no one at CCU has ever said that Mr. Bousman isn't allowed to speak in chapel. There are a limited number of chapel slots, and the fact that someone or other isn't invited for awhile is a function of the limited supply, not of a conscious decision to exclude some.

Again, I don't know how these rumors get started. I just wish that people didn't take them seriously.

David H. Willis said...

Great! I'll be looking forward to Ed hopefully speaking some time in the future at CCU.

Anonymous said...

Looks like brother Bousman finished the race without ever getting that CCU invite.