Alright…alright. It’s been a while since I’ve written or posted anything. It’s been a while largely due to a lot of things happening with me. I’ve been busy, busy, busy. Now, onto the reason I write to you my fellow internet citizens and explorers; Liberty University. Hillsong,New York. In my blog, I have openly identified as Christian so this post might be a little different from the ones I’ve written before.
Let me first say, Liberty University…Wow. Good, good. It’s great that you are accepting and liberal. But let me ask you, does the Liberty in Liberty university mean liberal (i.e. Free to do whatever you wish) or (Free in Christ). I have a ton of things to say to the leadership of this Christian Institution. First, when did it become the norm that the Church has to pander to society’s social conventions? Since when did we as Christ’s body have to be “accepting” of and “accepted” by the world? Last time I checked, we are not to conform to the world. Here’s a litmus test, if an unbeliever comes to your church gathering…whatever it is and does not feel convicted or out of place then something is amiss. Don’t you think so, my dear Jerry Falwell Jr. and Carl Lentz? If someone who does not know Jesus comes to your church and still feels comfortable with that fact then something is amiss.
Few days back, Senator Bernie Sanders, an open ‘non-religious Jew’…wait. Hold up. What? Non-religious Jew? How do those two words combine? Does Bernie understand what it means to be a Jew? But more on that in a minute. About a month ago, the internet was agog with news of Hillsong NYC having an openly gay couple leading worship. Umm…international mega-church Hillsong did what? Yes…apparently we accept the world so much that we’ve accepted people who are openly committing sin without remorse or desire to repent to offer worship to God. Strange fire anybody? I’ll get back to that further down the line. So Bernie was invited to Liberty University to campaign for the election coming up next year. Yes, you read that right. A christian university invited a senator who openly believes in things that go against God’s word to come talk to its students about those things that God does not support. As expected, the internet has reacted…a lot of people have applauded Liberty University and a lot have chastised them. One of the yaysayers are Victoria Lynn Perry and John Wesley Reid(Yes, that’s his real name)…and in the other corner is a prominent naysayer, Joshua Feuerstein. Now, I’d look at their points of view as objectively as possible.
To Victoria Lynn Perry and John Wesley Reid, I ask you this. John in particular, was very vocal in criticizing the afore-mentioned naysayer, Joshua Feuerstein. He says that part of the reason that Liberty University invited Bernie was to give their students a rounded world view. No problem there…It is good to be well-rounded but Why? Why bernie sanders? Wasn’t there Jeb Bush? Ben Carson? Hillary Clinton? It seems to me that there was some other reason why he was invited. I hope it wasn’t for the publicity that has ensued. John and Victoria claimed that this was an avenue to reach Bernie Sanders and to that I have no qualms…however, did you though? Did you reach him? Did you give him tracts? Did you speak to him personally, one-on-one about Jesus. Victoria said that Bernie saw the worship and that could have touched him. Hold-up..What? For a rounded world view you seem to misunderstand something. People who are not Christians can sit in an avenue where christian songs are being played or people are worshiping and be completely indifferent. How do you know the worship spurred his heart towards God? Was there a prayer team specifically praying that the worship would? Did Jerry Falwell Jr. speak with Bernie mono-a-mono about Jesus? Look, let’s not be impractical here. I think this is what that Joshua Feuerstein was trying to point out. You allowed someone who doesn’t believe in Jesus on your platform without the aim of reaching him directly with the Gospel…if you wanted to reach Him, you didn’t make that clear nor did you openly talk to Him about Jesus during the broadcast. Wasn’t the point of bringing him to Liberty University to exalt the name of Jesus? Don’t get over zealous with wanting to reach Him for Jesus without actually doing so or putting the glorification of Jesus First. I’d like to know how Bernie Sander’s speaking at your University glorified God. He basically used your school as a platform to broadcast things that God hates. Let me re-iterate. He used a Christian school as a platform to say “I accept this sin and that sin”. How does that sound John? Victoria? Care to be all oratorical with your response as you were with Joshua? Okay…I agree that was me letting off some steam…I apologize. Nevertheless I’d quote 2 Timothy 2:19 for ya. If you wanna know what it says, read your bible or Google it. Where do we draw the line huh? Where do we say “we love the people in the world, but we do not accept their actions and we are very vocal on our stance. We would not be lukewarm when it comes to our stand on sin.”? Where do we draw the line? Is it when we invite a ‘non-religious Jew’ to speak about things God dislikes on our platform? No! An emphatic no. Look, I’m all for accepting people but not their sins. If you’re a Christian, I should be able to tell that you are completely, whole-heartedly sold out to God. Someone who does not waver. If you’re not a christian, tell the world. If you are, shout it from the rooftops. There is no middle-ground. You might say “Whoa….dude. Take it easy…we wanted to reach him with the Gospel” but God knows your heart and those of the authorities at your school. Was that the aim of your school authorities? Really? Is a rounded world view better than the great commission? Will you choose hot or cold? This is no time to be lukewarm. Do you know the number of people who are battling with Homosexuality that you’ve finally swayed over to fully indulge in that sin. They might think..”Hmm if my Christian university allows Bernie Sanders, then that means they accept Homosexuality” and then completely become slaves to that sin. Rather than invite him over, Liberty University could have sent people to go preach to him. A rounded world view…hah. Is there no more internet or television? If the students want to be informed on Bernie’s standings, they could have searched themselves. I really wonder what the administrative body of Liberty University aimed to achieve with this. As a christian university, your purpose is Jesus First…profession second. Else, don’t call yourself a christian university. No really. You’re not a liberal university. You’re a Christian university…your guidebook shouldn’t be called “The Liberty way” but “The Jesus way”. Your principles are founded on Jesus and not on man-made doctrine.
To Joshua Feuerstein, Sir (Take note, John W. Reid…Sir not dude.). I do think John in his own way, has a point. You are more than correct with your correction of Liberty University’s leadership however, your delivery might be a little bit on the harsh side. I understand that you’re passionate about Jesus and his kingdom. However, I feel the need to remind you of one verse- A soft answer turneth away wrath. Sometimes, you are a little too aggressive with your responses. I don’t know you so I cannot be sure; maybe that’s how you are. In your videos, you adopt a tone of condemnation rather than correction and that I think is wrong for there is therefore no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. I admire the fact that you have been very open about your stance on certain modern social constructs and I can only pray that you remain grounded in God’s word and do not stray. On that note, I noticed that after Victoria Lynn and a host of others messaged you, you took your video about Liberty University down. Why? Why did you? It is your right to be vocal about what you believe in and if you believe that Liberty University was wrong by not making their motives clear for inviting Sanders over or if they did and those motives were not mainly Jesus-centered, then stick with it. Jesus said he who puts his hand to the plough and looks back…feel free to complete that. I sincerely hope you did not back track and conform to the mold of acceptance or indifference that the Christian community of recent years has adopted with regards to the societal norms of our time. Keep on speaking openly about Jesus and his word but do so please with a soft-tongue. There is no need to be forceful when speaking….your heart might be in the right place, your words might be correct but more often than not, you end up turning away people who should be reached with your harsh form of speaking. Really for you Joshua, that’s all I’d say.
Now onto Hillsong. Is it weird if I think that Hillsong is mainstream? For me, it seems that as time goes on, the church has become progressively acceptable to non-christian folk. Hillsong NYC especially boasts the attendance of celebrities like Justin Beiber and Kevin Durant. More power to them, but here’s my issue. Where do we draw the line on how much we interact with non-christians? This is to you Pastor Carl Lentz. Where? I heard that you baptised Justin Bieber. Wait what? Remember the scripture, Repent of your sins and be baptised? Is Justin Bieber a christian now? Does he go to bible study now? Is he being discipled by any of the Pastors? How’s his progress in his relationship with God? Has the party-life and all that hullabaloo that comes with being a celebrity stopped? Is there a change? Same goes for Kevin Durant. Why did you baptise him? These questions aren’t rhetorical. I sincerely hope you see this blog post and reply. I’m really curious. So please and thank you. Now onto a more serious matter. I heard you had an openly gay couple leading worship…to that I say. Wow….Oh my gosh. Wow. Really? You let a openly sinful couple lead worship. It’s like if I said I watch porn and I’m proud of it, you’d say “Hey…welcome to the family. Choir director not too shabby for you, no?”. Honestly, I’m not one who castigates churches and at this point I’m tired of writing about something that is clearly stated in the bible. So dear Sir, the bible is very clear on these type of sins. Why are we trying to be hip and cool to non-Christians. Hip and cool should not be what attracts unbelievers to church rather Jesus’ love should. How about we start spreading that Love instead? That unconditional love that does not seek to be politically correct and acceptable by the LGBTQ+ community but yearns to show compassion for every person, especially their soul. Let me end with this. Galatians 5:1.
Totally like me dawg,
Shayne.
Totally sounds like Shayne 
Hi Shayne,
I saw your post after you shared it on John Wesley Reid’s Facebook page. As a Liberty Alumni I just wanted to point out a few things within your post relating to the University. First of all, your statement of “When did it become the norm that the Church has to pander to society’s social conventions?” If this is aimed at Liberty and not Hillsong I think it is off base. Liberty University is not a church. Since the foundation of the school it has been just that…a school. To compare it to a church gives it a different purpose and meaning.
Second, in order to keep our tax-exemption status as a school we must offer ALL political parties the opportunity to speak at our school. I personally have heard from Ben Carson, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Donald Trump, John McCain, and many others while I attended the school. We have extended invites to many prominent Democratic leaders because we are required to do that but the majority of them decline while Bernie accepted. Did you watch the whole convocation speech? Within the question and answer time it was stated that Liberty believes in Pro-Life and how could someone who claims to look out for the vulnerable people of the world not stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves. When that question was asked the place erupted in applause. That shows where Liberty students stand on the issue even after hearing Sanders point of view. Students were given the opportunity to hear from someone on the other side yet still go to their Biblical Worldview classes after convocation and discuss why it is that they believe what they believe. They learned how to stick up for what they believe in and how to portray that to someone who thinks different with respect to the other person but not compromising in their views.
Lastly, the part at the end of your post on Liberty about the Liberty Way being called the Jesus way doesn’t make sense for many of the things within the Liberty Way. As someone who enforced the Liberty Way for several years on campus the rules were there for different reasons. Some of the rules are there because they are Biblical sins while others are there because there are 12,000 students on campus. Is it a sin to wear shorts to class? I think we both would agree that it is not but within our rules on campus you were not allowed to wear them to class. If that rule was to be stated within “The Jesus Way” then some may think it was a sin. Which would be wrong and very legalistic if I might add. Our principles are founded in Doctrine but some of the rules are not. It is for those different community rules that our code of conduct is called The Liberty Way and not the Jesus way.
I just felt the need to point those few things out from your post. Blessings.
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Dear Amanda, thank you very much for taking time out to write to me. Comments and responses are welcome. I see that a lot of the things I said in my post was misinterpreted. Yes….the rhetoric I had about the church pandering to social construct was directed towards Hillsong. Might I add however, that Liberty University is not just “a school”. It is a Christian school. That was the point I was making. I’m not American so I do not know about the educational policies but I’m sure that Oral Roberts University, another Christian school would not invite Bernie Sanders. About the convocation ceremony, my issue was why was He invited….I simply do not understand. Citing the fact that students were given the opportunity to hear from someone who believed differently is not reason enough. At least to me. Finally, with regard to the Liberty Way…The point I was making was that Jesus and his glory should be the first in every decision made. A lot of people who are shaky in their faith could have either watched or attended the programme. Though you may not believe it, a lot of people who are young in faith emulate older and much more mature Christians. Some of them might think that it’s okay to do some certain things because after all LibertyU did it. I’d leave it there. Once again, thank you for your response.
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Shayne,
I just wanted to leave a few remarks of clarification about Bernie Sanders speaking at Liberty University. There is unfortunately a lot of misinformation and assumptions on the web right now about the convocation on Monday, September 14th. Joshua Feuerstein amplified these assumptions with his video tirade. The following is a list of facts that I would like the public to know before jumping to conclusions about Liberty and the invitation for Sanders to speak at convocation. Some of these will hopefully provide some answer to some of the questions you raised in your post.
1. I am a senior, residential student at Liberty and attended the convocation.
2. The “Liberty” in Liberty University actually comes from 2 Corinthians 3:17 (KJV) “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” – which is a verse we have displayed in our Grand Lobby entrance as a reminder of our Freedom in Jesus Christ. The late Jerry Falwell founded the University with this verse in mind.
3. Convocation, in contrary with popular belief, is not always a religious service. It is a tri-weekly assembly of the student body that gives us the opportunity to listen to individuals who have made a significant impact in their field. I personally have witnessed speakers such as Donald Trump, Ben Carson (Spring 2012), Rand Paul, Sarah Palin, Kirk Cameron, Ben Watson (member of NFL Super-Bowl winning team), and Ted Cruz. We also do often have pastors, Christian authors, and other symbolic figures of the Christian faith speak. These speakers do tend to be inspirational to a Christian audience, but that is not the goal of every convocation.
4. Ben Carson will ALSO be speaking at Liberty convocation THIS semester. Here is the link for the Fall convocation speaker list: http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=2586
5. Bernie Sanders DID NOT speak to us about the issues of gay rights or abortion. He mentioned these only at the beginning of his speech because he was addressing the fact that he and his audience had some very different views. The applause at that point came from about 100 of his supporters who came to hear him (we reserved seating just for public wanting to attend). His ENTIRE speech was on socio-economics, not gay rights, not abortion. (This is why Feuerstein’s video was extremely misleading). Here is the link for the entire convocation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW4GnMB6ip8&index=1&list=PL586D627D998BACD6
Before anyone forms an opinion about this topic, it is only fair that they watch the whole video first.
6. You have a good point in questioning whether or not Liberty actually reached Sanders with the Gospel. Many people are making this claim in defense of the decision to have him speak. I would assert that this was NOT the primary reason for inviting him. Liberty leaders invited him to give students the opportunity to experience a civil discourse coming from a man with liberal/democratic political and economic opinions. With that said, the student body did display a strong witness for Jesus Christ to Sanders and his supporters. 10,000-12,000 students were singing “In Christ Alone” and I could see the looks of awe on the faces of a handful of middle-age women wearing “Bernie Sanders” t-shirts. Also, the respect and hospitality that the student body showed Sanders and his supporters speaks volumes about our Christian testimony. No secular university, conservative or liberal, would treat so graciously a speaker with such drastically different opinions. I might mention that Jesus didn’t draw any lines when it came to the sinners he spent time with or the devilish characters he chose to use for his kingdom’s work (a la the apostle Paul).
7. Your point “As a christian university, your purpose is Jesus First…profession second” is 100% correct. Liberty’s motto is “Training champions for Christ”. This means champions in every field. Liberty is a liberal arts school, not a Bible Institute. With that said, Liberty does not neglect Biblical instruction. Every student, regardless of major will take at least 6 classes that cover Theology, Biblical Worldview, and Scripture. I must disagree with your comment: “…your guidebook shouldn’t be called ‘The Liberty way’ but ‘The Jesus way’…”. The Liberty Way is the list of “house rules” that are enforced. It is not meant to be a moral definition – that would be the Bible.
8. During the last 10 minutes or so of the service, Sanders and our campus pastor conducted a Q&A session. This session directly challenged Sanders position on abortion. Check it out.
I appreciate reading your blog post. You have many good thoughts, points, and I believe your provide a fair analysis of these topics. I only regret that most of the information on the internet is misleading(especially Feuerstein’s video) to people who did not attend or did not watch the entire convocation. From my perspective as a residential student, the only negative result of Sanders speech has been the criticism Liberty is receiving from Christian individuals and communities who I believe are quick to make misinformed judgments. You should visit LU sometime; I think you would like it.
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Dude…have a cookie. This is by far the best comment I’ve seen in a while. Seriously, you aptly dissected my post and clarified things. You are right. I write from the point of view of someone more than 3000 miles away. Things probably occured differently…As to my Liberty way discourse, that was merely me trying to say that Jesus’ glory should be sought in all things. Honestly, I thought that Liberty University was strictly a christian school, apparently it isn’t. In any case, Erik, I sincerely thank you…I really do hope that somehow our paths cross in this life and if not, by God’s grace, in the next.
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Not to be rude but you have it all wrong and many people will agree with me. As a student at liberty who actually attended convocation where Bernie Sanders talked. The fact if it is Bernie wasn’t invited to rally support for his campaign. Bernie responded to a long open invitation to all democratic and republican candidates to come and speak to students. You say why not Ben Carson? Well actually maybe you should do some research because Ben Carson is coming to speak in I believe early November. So standing with my Christian belief I actually benefited from hearing from Bernie Sanders. I also believe that you should watch the convocation it is offered completely on http://www.liberty.edu for people to watch. Thanks for your time. Take this as you may but you really need to think before you chastise people for things.
Have a great God filled rest of your day,
John
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Dear John, I did not chastise anybody. I offered my opinion on the matter. Reading the previous comments (especially from Erik, bless that dude) have clarified a lot of things for me. I said why not Ben Carson because I assumed that Liberty University is a christian school and people it’ll invite to speak at its convocation would be christians in different fields and walks of life. Now to answer why I was a little bit iffed at Bernie Sanders coming to LibertyU, first as I have mentioned, I thought Liberty University was strictly a christian school. Secondly, it was because there is danger in having someone who is not fully grounded in God’s word to speak to students as some of these students might be new or struggling in their faith. I have been in a church gathering where someone (a nurse/doctor, in this case) was invited to speak and the person said “There is nothing wrong with masturbation, it is perfectly natural”. To be honest, for young and struggling Christians, that can be very misleading. I pray you’d understand my views and I pray that the glory of God would be your rear guard.
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Interesting comments re: Hillsong. I’ve been trying to find out for ages what they actually stand for. It appears, nothing at all. The seeker sensitive approach means that, in theory, all are welcome. Except for me and others who have written to me. Even though they say, Everyone is Welcome, plenty are banned….
http://www.smh.com.au/national/outspoken-hillsong-critic-arrested-for-trespass-at-sydney-conference-20150701-gi2sp1.html
I’m due in court in October… so much for the love 🙂
So if they are so totally accepting and affirming of everyone, where is the line drawn? Would pedophiles be affirmed? Are they also on a ‘faith journey’? The weekend after Hillsong conference this year, Bieber posed naked on his boat. While I’m not sure on what the contemporary church’s response is to tattoos, again, the tattooist who inks Hailey Baldwin and Kendall Jenner is at Hillsong because that’s where he feels comfortable with his tattoos.
I was brought up in church and understood that the rules came first, not the individual opinion. So I appreciate that you too are questioning how people are just accepted no matter what, and how does that actually define one person as a christian from another, if everyone is just accepted and there’s no stance on anything.
I will be blogging on the gay issue myself soon as I have been so angry that Hillsong is willing to welcome and accept LGBT people and their money, but are imposing a ban on them in leadership. Either they are welcome or they are sinners who must be treated as such. It can’t work both ways.
Thanks again for the post. And there are plenty of non-religious Jews. Judaism is cultural as much as it is spiritual. So Bernie is OK. There’s too much anti-semitism for him to be successful in my opinion in his bid. But then they said there’d never be a Catholic President and JFK proved them wrong.
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