Erastian Church Compromise in the EFCA | Ep 20

Sadly, name calling is nothing new when it comes to church debates. While adding an “-ism” to the end of an adjective may seem like an intellectual way to create a legitimate pejorative, it has to be biblical to stick. Historically, there’s a group of government loving Christian pietists who love to be crushed by the state. They follow a doctrine called Erastianism.
If you’ve been called a Christian Nationalist and it confuses you welcome to the club. Why wouldn’t a Christian love the nation they are in. And why wouldn’t a Christian want the nation they love to embrace and adopt Christian moral systems and a Christian worldview? That just seems…. Christian, ….right?
Not according to some people who think your biblical morality is wrong. The term woke is not precise enough term for these accusers because that word is beginning to carry a lot of baggage. So, what do these accusers seem to have in common? Well, it turns out many of them are Erastianists. This doctrine was considered and rejected by the authors of the Westminster Confession. It's nothing new.
Erastianism is a doctrine that the state is superior to the church in ecclesiastical matters. It is named after Thomas Erastus, a Swiss physician and theologian who opposed excommunication as unscriptural, advocating in its stead punishment by civil authorities. Erastus never held the doctrine of Erastianism, which is a distortion of his position that assumed cooperation between Church and State.
So if someone says you’re standing in the ditch of Christian Nationalism, remember there’s a ditch on the other side of the road for all the Erastianists!
Today’s podcast discusses how Pastor David Whitney of Cornerstone Free Church in Bowie MD was attacked by some Erastianists. These Erastianists were part of the Evangelical Free Church. This is the same denomination as Cornerstone, Mt Laurel, NJ belongs to. Pastor Seth Brickley is our guest host joining us from Eureka Baptist in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin.
Fun facts discussed today – $8 Billion was given out to churches by the Federal Government in the form of PPP loans that were forgiven as long as you jumped thru their hoops.
Fun question – Why would a civil government give money to a church?
Watch the full episode on the following channels.
⁠https://rumble.com/user/TDHP⁠

⁠https://tinyurl.com/TDHPonYOUTUBE⁠

⁠https://tinyurl.com/TDHPonSPOTIFY⁠

Questions?
Email ⁠⁠PODCAST@CORNERSTONESJ.ORG⁠⁠