Evangelical "leader" Francis Beckwith Converted to Catholocism

The president of Evangelical Theological Society converts to Catholicism

It isn’t as much a mystery for me when a mystical intellectual “comes home” to the Catholic Faith (or “Great Tradition” as it is referred to by ecumenicists). Particularly when such a person achieves an ivory tower rock-star status for the move (http://www.insidethevatican.com/newsflash/2008/newsflash-jan07-08.htm shows that he was chosen the Vatican’s number one person of the year).
What is far more interesting to me is how such a person is elected to positions of Evangelical leadership in the first place. Although it is difficult to find, my hope is that there was quite a bit of controversy over his elevation to the position in the first place (although I fear, with our current fetish for relevance, nothing but adulation preceded his presidential coronation).
One doesn’t convert to a faith which places itself squarely above the authority of scripture if that person has a healthy evangelical (whatever that means today) belief in the Word of God. This man must have melted several points of view into his understanding of spiritual authority before his election as president, including philosophical authority, traditional authority, scholarly authority and personal emotional authority. Who failed to notice his abhorrence of the Sola Scriptura?
This “conversion” reveals a larger problem in the church universal, where relationships and relevance take precedence over accountability and truth, and men who are indeed our allies in the general views of God, politics and conservative beliefs may also be loath to yield to the authority of the scriptures alone. Paul warned that if men don’t obey his writings, that we are not to even associate with that man in 2 Thess. 3:14. Can you imagine? Not being allowed to even associate with a person who doesn’t obey scripture as the ultimate authority over them.
Now in my personal life, I associate with many men and women who do not obey the scriptures. But, since we must live in this world and this world is unredeemed, we must mingle with the disobedient as revealed in 1 Cor. 5:9-13. This group of verses does highlight the need for churches to judge (as out of date that notion is) and, therefore, to disallow men from leadership who have mitigated scriptural authority to a committee status. For Beckwith, he believes that there are authorities of tradition, such as the early writings of the church fathers, and the authority of intelligence (as he reads and studies the history and philosophies of Catholicism), that are equal to or overarching the authority of scripture.

“We wrote nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand it to the end.” What an elegant argument of hermeneutics. Paul says that I mean what I say, and what I say holds true until Christ returns. Have you ever considered that we have been overcomplicating many of the things the Bible clearly teaches just to justify our own carnal desires? Do I have to take every third letter in this verse, 2 Cor. 1:13, convert it to cuneiform, divide it by its sum, borrow two seer stones and reassemble the data under a black-light?
Dissatisfied with this paltry and divisive understanding of scripture, the church today seeks for deeper, more spiritual, more mystical understandings of the ‘emanations of penumbras’ of scriptural concepts under which to pitch their ecumenical tents. Seeking a limp wristed unity with enemies of the gospel in this intellectually stimulating yet vapid manner will only hasten our own destruction. Jesus, again in the simplest manner possible, stated that those who are not for Him are against Him. If they don’t gather, they scatter in Matt. 12:30.

It is important to understand that the enemies of the cross are supernaturally motivated to destroy every last vestige of foundational Christianity. Though they opine about peace, they are not interested in it. When you treaty with the enemy, they will turn and destroy you. Do you honestly believe that Satan wanted to give Jesus the earth during his temptation period? Do you think that if Jesus had worshipped Satan, that act would have remained a secret pact between beings of honor and Satan would have kept his word?

I have seen it in politics again and again, when a conservative compromises to sleep with the enemy. Reagan tried to compromise by raising taxes with a hollow promise of spending cuts by a treacherous enemy, and it lead to double spending and a recession. McCain co-sponsored bills with Ted Kennedy for unity, only to have Kennedy drooling so profusely behind Obama that he is leaving a veritable slug slime trail. Now the church, always trailing culture by about 30 years, are becoming post-structuralist neo-hippies, holding hands with Che Gueverra radicals and humming discordantly with John Lennon’s Imagine fans.

The problem with this concessionary outreach approach is that the missionary ends up acting just like the native, while the native becomes emboldened by his new proselyte and remains unrepentant. Tripping all over itself to seem relevant, the Church has seeded decay at the foundations of truth. Posturing intellectually, we have inflated our own worth above the scriptural “foolishness” or simplicity of the gospel. Changing the language of the gospel in this vain pursuit only dilutes the antidote to the poison of sin residing in every human heart. Beckwith believes that there is little difference between the original Catholic understanding of justification and the Evangelical meaning, believing that wording is the only separation. Semantics are not the core problem with opposite ideas, and it is idealistic naivety which concludes acrimonious doctrines are harmonious except only for language. The modern evangelical movement is in need of a lesson in this area, in that they are wrongly consumed with unity where there is rancor and enamored by treaties where there is hostility. Believing word meanings are the only subtle differences in warring camps is the natural result of such a wrongheaded focus.

“Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.” The Evangelical movement is about to melt into the palette of a million false religions if it doesn’t repent from its fetish for unanimity with a world that hates it and wishes its total annihilation. The words of Jesus above, from Luke 6:22, may also be examined from its reverse. If we are blessed when men persecute us, then what might we glean when men love us, incorporate us, compliment us and love our names as good? Obviously that is not a condemnation of truly good folks who are loved and admired. When good times and bubbly feelings are the goal, one should question the veracity of their foundational devotion to the great Stumbling Block. It might mean that this “beloved” one is in actuality compromising foundational truth in the name of peace.

Now Beckwith is by all accounts a Christian and a powerful apologist for both faith and conservative ideals. Bravo! I am sure I might enjoy his books and ideas and perhaps I will even embrace him as a brother. However, He will never be considered a leader by me since only the yielding to God’s Word can change the leopards’ spots.

My dad used to bore me with a story about a scorpion needing to cross a great expanse of water. Lamenting his situation and focusing on his goal, he approaches a frog with a proposal.
“I am in need of crossing the river, and you are capable of carrying me. Will you let me ride on your back?”
The frog is obviously skeptical. After all, scorpions have powerful stingers and are infamous for killing frogs. “I can’t carry you, for you will just sting me half way across!”
“Nonsense,” replies the scorpion. “If I sting you, you will die and I will drown, not being able to swim myself.” Convinced, the frog agrees to the terms.
Unexpectedly, half way across the expanse, the scorpion stings the frog, and he begins to die. As the water begins to fill his lungs, the frog chokes out “Why? As I die, you’ll surely die as well! Why?”
The scorpion responds “I just couldn’t help it. It’s in my nature.”

Remember that as you compromise to build alliances with those who reject scriptural authority, you embolden those who by their nature seek to sting God. By proxy, they will sting you, because of their nature. By all means love them, reach out to them, bleed for them, feed them, sacrifice for them, pray for them, and scratch the devils eyes out to recover their souls; but do not make them your leaders until their stingers are removed and their exoskeletons are softened by the living Word of God.