Social media beefs are rarely headline worthy; however, there is a point where the laity are inundated with the pastor’s Twitter debates that are irrelevant to their daily lives. Todd Unzicker exceeded in this during his SBC sermon and Beth Moore did this when she preached. I think this is a possibility with the beef between G3 Ministries and Right Response Ministries, and it doesn’t need to be this way.
Nathaniel Jolly is a pastor in Alaska who set off the entire conversation around “loser theology” when he posted a video of John MacArthur out of context. While Jolly may believe in “loser theology” himself, he tried to attack Christian Nationalism, more specifically postmillennialism with the clip even though the broader context was generally more supportive of arguments Christian Nationalist make. He has since repeatedly slandered other pastors, having to apologize multiple times, leading to him deleting his Twitter account.
Nathaniel Jolly asked that I post this for him. Please pray for our brother. pic.twitter.com/WM0UT8EG6k
— Tom Buck (Five Point Buck) (@TomBuck) July 29, 2023
While this was initially seen as a positive development, it would turn out that he would just say the same thing on Facebook where a user can more effectively censor criticism for their posts. This post attacks Joel Webbon’s character and of course he limited the ability to respond.
“Seven Doctrines for Ruling the World”
Folks, regardless of what you think of the individual men in this conference, you need to understand that this type of mentality is a worldly one and, therefore, detrimental to your spirituality.
Let me ask you a few questions. We know the liberal left desires to “rule the world,” but is this the view Christians should have? Is it our job to scheme, twist, and garner political activistic type support in order to fashion the world in our image? Did Jesus take over Rome? He certainly could have. Did Paul advocate for political activism or rising up against Rome? No, but he could have. Did a single apostle focus on politics or figuring out how to “rule the world?” No, they focused on the Gospel. (I’m not saying we aren’t involved in all areas of life – don’t hear what I’m not saying)
Make no mistake, these men will use Christian language, and Scripture will be used, but even the devil used Scripture to tempt Jesus, so don’t be fooled by “Christianese” language. (No, I’m not saying these men are a devil, but I am suggesting many of their teachings are VERY worldly and not sound biblically)
The Simple truth is this: The Christian has a task to do, given by God, and it is not to “rule the world.” It is to spread the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, in Matthew 28:19-20, says, ““Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” This is the command from Jesus, so who will you listen to? A bunch of men or the Lord Jesus?
He does not say, go conquer the world, rule the world, take over the world, become political activists, etc.; He says, “Go make disciples…”
Furthermore, concerning the idea of ruling this world in any form or fashion: The Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians, says this about the “god” (little “g”) of this world. 2 Cor 4:3-4 “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
Satan has been given limited authority in this world for a short season – we don’t rule this world; Satan does. And beyond that, God is ultimately the ruler of all. Consider the Book of Job. God gave Satan some freedom, but he is nothing more than a dog on a chain, and God is still his master. God is in absolute control, which is why we can be at peace concerning the events of our day. We take courage because we don’t have to figure out a way to “rule the world” God already has it all figured out, and God is the ultimate ruler. We merely want to be faithful. Don’t become political activists; become Gospel activists, and let God do what only He can do.
If you want to become more worldly, follow these men, but if you desire to stay fixed on the task set before us, in Christ, namely the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ as that which is, above all, most important, then stick to the Bible.
I have no doubt many will call me “divisive” or say that I’m “attacking brothers,” but that simply isn’t the case. We all have blind spots and weak areas of doctrine, and my aim is to address faulty beliefs, not “attack” individuals. I pray these men come to see the error in some of their thinking, but in the meantime, I’d advise anyone to simply not travel down this same road as these men in this area of teaching.
Look to Christ, proclaim the Gospel, serve in your local church, and trust God in all His sovereignty to do all that He pleases. That is enough for the faithful Christian.
If you haven’t read my G3 article that addresses some of this more specifically, I humbly commend it to you: https://g3min.org/a-political-distraction/
The “Seven Doctrines For Ruling The World” is the subtitle for Right Response Ministries “Blueprints For Christendom 2.0” conference. While it’s not clear what the doctrines are, it’s likely that three of them are theonomy, postmillennialism, and patriarchy.
Jolly attacks the idea of Christians getting involved in politics with an ecclesiocentric approach to life in general. Truisms from the Bible fallaciously derived are used to combat perceived ideas of the Right Response Ministries conference. Jolly’s approach is part of the mindset that in order to partake in the Great Commission, you must be a pastor that is often shown in some Mid Eva circles. Even his closing sentences mention only ecclesiastical avenues for serving God, ignoring the family and citizen realms in which we are also capable of glorifying God. Anything else is seen as worldly.
Nonetheless he compares Christian Nationalism to the 7 Mountains Mandate that comes out of the New Apostolic Reformation camp. The problem with this comparison is that the 7 Mountains Mandate at least has a starting premise that is widely agreeable: that Christians should figure out where God calls them to be and accelerate in their field. Problems exist when you create silos where none need to be, However the NAR camp turns this into an eschatology which is where any similarities end. Postmillennials, despite some prominence in Christian Nationalism, are a considerably small camp.
*SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT*
— Joel Webbon (@rightresponsem) July 31, 2023
In honor of our brother Nathaniel Jolly, we’re hosting a special offer!
For the next 24 hours only, you can register for our conference at 20% off!
Registration at https://t.co/z5HEHA1mdk
Just use “jolly” for the promo code.
Be a jolly warrior! pic.twitter.com/dRw4yf1f1B
Joel Webbon responds in part with sadness and more controversially by using Jolly as a promo code for the aforementioned conference. Some see this as mockery of a brother, but this doesn’t even amount to a jest. This is reminiscent of turning the other cheek, choosing not to take offense where offense was intended. Moreover performative outrage towards this is far more likely a sin. Canon Press used the same response last year with Aimee Byrd to much applause from the same people including Owen Strachan.
Let's step back for some perspective:
— Fredman 🌞🏝️ (@Fred_Butler) August 1, 2023
The Right Response YT channel has 58K subscribers as of this writing.
The Mid-Eva "B-Team" bommerCons at G3:
G3 has 68K subscribers.
G3 affiliated ministries (affiliated meaning individuals speaking or who have long term, historic… https://t.co/G7dW21WDAW
Ultimately what I’ve thought the beef between G3 and Right Response was about was posturing and jockeying to be MacArthur’s successor. Joel Webbon built a platform independent of G3 and Grace To You Ministries and that likely upsets people like Nathaniel Jolly who are climbing the latter of approved channels.
Many of the Christian Nationalists have risen in prominence in part due to dissatisfaction with how churches handled Black Lives Matter and Branch Covidianism, correctly identifying that Christians need to be more involved in politics not less. G3 ministries has proven unable to equip Christians for this area, which isn’t a bad thing until they attack Christians who are.
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