An Open Letter to Mark Dever (Post 1 of 2)

An open letter to Mark Dever exploring his scandalous history and his support for C.J. Mahaney. This also examines a classic question from the infamous McCarthy hearings as applied to Mark Dever. Plus is the reason why Mark Dever supports C.J. Mahaney allegedly due to the amount of money he has received or is he afraid that he could be blackmailed as well, just like Larry Tomczak? These are just my exceptionally blunt thoughts.

“Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts…perhaps the fear of a loss of power.”

John Steinbeck

“The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think a like than those who think differently.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.

Proverbs 13:20 NLT

 

Joseph Welch asks Joe McCarthy if he has any sense of deceny

Mark-

This is going to be a scathing letter, but in all honesty you deserve this dress down. As T4G goes on in Louisville this is me in my blunt style as only as I can be. Your behavior determines this letter so be it. There is a lot to say about your 9 Marks program. It’s cult like, bad theology, and bad policy. It has no place in the church Mark. None…zip, zilch.  Actually Mark you made it absolutely worthless when you decided to give C.J. Mahaney refuge at Capitol Hill Baptist. Actually Mark for all the talk about the 9 Marks when you let C.J. Mahaney hide behind your ass, you violated a good portion of 9 Marks. What 9 Marks were violated you ask? Glad to point them out. Membership, “The Gospel”, Leadership, Discipline, and Discipleship were all made worthless. In the end Mark you violated 5 of the 9 Marks. If you want to read how and in greater detail you can read this post here. But Mark I hope members of Capital Hill Baptist Church are going to need a lot of toilet paper, because in the end 9 Marks of a Healthy Church is all that its good for.

Next let’s move on to another winner that you picked. Remember that infamous T4G statement you made  in 2013 in support for C.J. Mahaney?  Let’s revisit some of it shall we?

A Christian leader, charged with any credible, serious, and direct wrongdoing, would usually be well advised to step down from public ministry. No such accusation of direct wrongdoing was ever made against C. J. Mahaney. Instead, he was charged with founding a ministry and for teaching doctrines and principles that are held to be true by vast millions of American evangelicals. For this reason, we, along with many others, refused to step away from C. J. in any way. We do not regret that decision. We are profoundly thankful for C. J. as friend, and we are equally thankful for the vast influence for good he has been among so many Gospel-minded people.

Our hope and prayer is that Christ’s healing and health will come to all parties involved in this matter and that justice and righteousness will prevail for all. May every true victim of any injustice be vindicated. May every doer of wrong be exposed. And may all of us speak no further than we can responsibly speak.

Those who minister in the name of the Lord Christ bear an inescapable duty to live and to minister in a way that is above reproach. Those who teach, reminds James, will face a stricter judgment. [James 3:1] May everything we do, everything we teach, and all that we are be measured against that standard.

Together for the Gospel,

Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, Albert Mohler

This statement that you were a part of Mark was a lie….a lie straight from the deepest pit of hell. There was direct, and credible activity of serious wrong doing of which C.J. Mahaney was a part of.  He should have stepped down permanently and never preach again due to his corruption. That statement that you helped put together Mark was BS and you knew it. Your pompous arrogance makes this statement to be utterly sick.  Even though this came out back in 2013 wrong doing is still coming out. Larry Caffery came out as another story, and I’d bet my 401K that there will be other stories that will come out of CLC and other current and former Sovereign Grace churches as well Mark. And given the fact that Mahaney headed a shepherding cult I have a difficult time believing he did not know about all this cover up and burying the problems. You can’t hide this stuff Mark as the truth always comes up in the end. That’s how it is…you don’t like with it. Deal with it!  But as I reflect on the entire T4G situation and your support I go back to another time in history that posed a very legitimate question. When Joe McCarthy conducted his witch hunts, Joseph Welch pushed back and asked the Senator from Wisconsin the following question.

Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?

I would like to take that sentence and turn it around and ask you a question Mark.

Have you no sense of decency Mark? At long last have you left no sense of decency?

That old statement from T4G was a disgrace Mark. It was a disgrace then and remains a disgrace today. It never should have been issued and the right and honorable thing to do would have been to retract it and say, “we were wrong…” But you can’t even do that Mark! You can’t even admit your error! Is there a reason why you are a pompous ass Mark? Do you work hard at it or is it natural? Why can’t you do the right and honorable thing and retract this publically and admit that you were wrong? Why Mark? After all there are parts of your movement that are all about being a man, yet your movement shows that men are in short supply. Having male genitals does not make one a man. Heck I can find animals on the Horn of Africa or the jungles of India that are male and have genitalia and that doesn’t make them a man. What makes a man is an ability to own a problem and work through it.  You can’t do that Mark, that shows exactly who you are. And Mark…it’s not as a man.

Your support for C.J. Mahaney has been scandalous, and a disgrace. It was been revolting, sickening, and has often made me want to lean out the window and vomit. All of these allegations for criminal activity, all of the allegations of covering up child sex abuse. C.J. Mahaney being shady with finances, and enforcing a system on others that he never followed himself. Its a disgrace that you embrace someone and have him as a chief business partner. Mark are you a pastor or a Boston mob boss with shady connections to the Boston underworld? In all this I am not saying you cannot be friends with Mahaney, that is not what I am saying. You can be friends and love him, but if you actually did love and care for him you would get him to leave the ministry and sideline himself. If you cared you would do the right thing out of his best interest. Instead your coddling, embracing and supporting this corrupt despot shows you to be the following: Mark you are nothing but a pompous ass!

Have you no sense of decency Mark? At long last have you left no sense of decency?

There is another point of contention that I have to wonder in regards to C.J. Mahaney. But before I get into it let me start to explain why I am asking this question. C.J. Mahaney has been known to be very generous with SGM’s money while people tithed, faced church discipline and were giving generously even while eating oatmeal for dinner. C.J. Mahaney both through himself and while using money from SGM ended up giving Al Mohler at least $200,000 dollars in the end. This has been documented by The Wartburg Watch. Then it was revealed that SGM bankrolled Wayne Grudem who finished translating the ESV. You can read about that here, as Wayne talked about it. Thabiti Anyawbile also allegedly received a gift from C.J. Mahaney as well which he admitted on Twitter. Do you see the pattern Mark Dever? We’re talking about “Gospel Centered Bribery.” Then there is you…we know that you accepted at least $10,000 from C.J. Mahaney. But I have to tell you Mark…I don’t think we even scratched the surface of how much money C.J. Mahaney gave you. Based upon the pattern of giving and the generous amounts given to Al Mohler and Wayne Grudem I have to ask…how much did you take in the end? How much money did Capitol Hill Baptist Church receive in the end? Was it $50,000? $150,000? $300,000? Was it more? Is that the reason why you are so fierce to defend C.J. Mahaney? I mean it is well within reason to ask these questions Mark. Or is it possible due to another reason.

Have you no sense of decency Mark? At long last have you left no sense of decency?

However there is another possibility to consider. Could this be another reason why you support C.J. Mahaney so strongly? We all know that C.J. Mahaney allegedly blackmailed his ministry partner Larry Tomczak and drove him from PDI. Since “Gospel Centered Blackmail” is the modus operandi is it possible that you have some skeleton in your closet? Was there some form of illegal activity that was covered up at Capitol Hill Baptist Church or 9 Marks? Is that something that C.J. Mahaney is aware of, and do you fear that you will be blackmailed in the same way that Larry Tomczak was allegedly blackmailed? These are questions that I am asking out loud, in trying to think of other reasons why you support C.J.? Is that why you embrace C.J. so much… to prevent yourself from possibly being blackmailed? What is your story Mark? Am I on to something when I think out loud? That is the only other reason I could think of in why you support Mahaney so much….you do it to cover your ass. I would like to be wrong but after all I have seen in religion well, anything is possible.

Have you no sense of decency Mark? At long last have you left no sense of decency?

Mark watching this all unfold with T4G is disgusting. Its perverse and sick. Now here is the question as you subscribe to Neo-Calvinist theology. Is your corruption foreordained by God? Is it willed by God? Is all the shenanigans, accepting money while people in Sovereign Grace were eating oatmeal, and the shady Tammany Hall  dealings all foreordained by God? In your warped view if you are going to subscribe to that theology then I would say yes, Mark. It is foreordained by God. Here is the deal you can’t have it both ways…I firmly look at you as an abomination to the church. These are strong words I know…the fact that all this corruption pours out and you embrace it makes me want to go over to the curb and vomit. Its sick, its perverse and Mark Dever….and what has been on display in Louisville has been hard to stomach. I don’t take any pleasure in writing this scathing letter but after what has happened these past 2 days of T4G and your support you have shown what a pompous ass you are Mark. There’s no way around it, none and you have eliminated any opportunities for me to give you the benefit of the doubt. You are disgrace to the modern church Mark Dever that’s what I have to say to you.

Have you no sense of decency Mark? At long last have you left no sense of decency?

These past few days as things have led up to T4G have been disgusting. I’ve seen corruption before but this takes the cake. I’ve studied corruption in history. At least with Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall their corruption was honest. I could accept that a lot more than what I am seeing displayed in Louisville this week. Mark there is no dialoging with you. You’ve made your bed and you sleep in it with pride. From my point of view I am going to call you at and hammer your ass. If people who read this have a problem with me being so blunt I think in this situation we have to realize that this corruption is here to stay. This corruption is here and embraced. They know they details of everything and still will not change their point of view. Mark is a scandalous politician who has prostituted his pulpit for money in the end. In the end “Gospel Centered Money’ is what drives you mark. You are key to this mess in many ways and you have been one of the main props in holding up C.J. Mahaney amidst all the allegations of criminal activity that follows him. Here’s another thought Mark…do you know what the “Singing Senators” were? They were a barbershop quarter that consisted of 4 Republican Senators. They were Trent Lott, Larry Craig, James Jeffords, and John Ashcroft. You can hear them singing “Elvira” here. Well in light of your strong support of C.J. Mahaney maybe you can form your own singing group. Perhaps it can be called the “Singing Calvinistas” It can be you, Al Mohler, Thabiti Anyabwile, and John Piper. Can I suggest a classic? In light of your embrace of C.J. Mahaney maybe you can all sing Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By your Man?” Just a suggestion Mark.

It gives me no pleasure to write this letter to you Mark.

With contempt,

David Bonner