This article, entitled Mark Driscoll invited to the London Men’s Convention, by Dr ES Williams, was published in English Churchman, Friday 22 & 29 April 2011

The London Men’s Convention, to be held on 7th May 2011, is an exhortation to be faithful to God at work, home, church and in mission. The blurb advertising the Convention says: ‘We are thrilled to welcome Mark Driscoll, the widely appreciated and passionate Senior Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle who has a particular heart for teaching the Bible to men.’ Men are promised that this year’s programme will be deeply encouraging, especially practical and, as always, utterly Biblical. We are told that Mark Driscoll ‘has a refreshingly plain-speaking approach that should really help us be faithful at home and faithful in mission’.

The annual Men’s Convention has become one of the set pieces of the Christian scene in London. Launched in 2002, the Convention packs the Royal Albert Hall with over four thousand Christian men who gather together to hear God’s Word and to worship their Lord. The Convention is organised by an interdenominational group of evangelical ministers and leaders made up of Richard Coekin (Chair) of Dundonald Church, Wimbledon; Trevor Archer of Chessington Evangelical Church; Tim Thornborough of The Good Book Company; Wes McNabb of Slade Evangelical Church; Richard Perkins of Christ Church Balham and Wanyeki Mahiaini of All Souls Church, Langham Place.

Why Mark Driscoll?

It is surprising that the organisers of the Convention believe that Mark Driscoll is the right man to teach men about faithfulness at home. Are they unaware of the highly controversial nature of Mark Driscoll’s ministry? Are they unaware that Driscoll’s crude language and explicit sexual messages have received great attention in the mass media? Are they unaware that he has been referred to as the cussing preacher? Three voices in the USA have raised serious concerns about the ministry of Driscoll that should cause alarm among all faithful believers. The purpose of this article is to rehearse these concerns.

Driscoll’s church planting network investigated by Missouri Baptists (2007)

In 2007, the Missouri Baptist Layman’s Association, concerned about a front page article in the Sunday edition of the St. Louis Dispatch titled ‘Beer and the Bible’, decided to investigate Driscoll’s church planting network called ‘Acts 29’. The outcome was a report that refers to Driscoll as a highly influential player among the right-wing of the Emerging Church. ‘Driscoll’s church hosted what they called a Red Hot New Year’s Bash, which included a champagne bar in the church and bonus points were offered for those whose attire was Red hot… According to Driscoll, his church has a film and theology event that shows an occasional unedited R-rated movie. Driscoll also writes that some of “his sermons on sex were R-rated, and notes that he gives warnings to parents and sometimes saw whole visiting youth groups walk out blushing halfway through the sermon”.’

The report expresses concern that some church leaders are eager to embrace the conservative wing of the Emerging Church, convinced that Driscoll has found the way of attracting young people into the church. ‘If Southern Baptists could just plant more theologically conservative and culturally liberal ‘Acts 29’ type emerging churches, where people can hang out in a bar and drink beer, learn to brew their own beer, dance in Red hot attire at special church events, smoke, cuss, tell off-colour jokes, watch R-rated movies, listen to R-rated sermons on sex, attend secular rock concerts hosted by our churches, play $5 hands of poker with our church buddies while we drink our beer, indulge in the arts of tattooing and body piercing, then maybe our young people would come back to church.’

But this is not the answer. ‘Have we forgotten the most fundamental of all biblical principles, that whichever nature we nurture becomes the dominant in our life – that when we feed the flesh, the flesh grows stronger?’ We are reminded that friendship with the world is hatred toward God. ‘The world is fascinated with preachers and deacons and church members that look, act and talk like the world.’

A memorandum to church leaders (2009)

When Mark Driscoll was invited to speak at the Gospel Coalition’s Conference in Chicago in 2009, Mrs Cathy Mickels, co-author of Spiritual Junk Food: The Dumbing Down of Christian Youth (2002), circulated a memorandum to church leaders that raised serious questions about his ministry. She expressed astonishment that evangelical pastors would highlight a pastor known for his crudeness and careless handling of Scripture.

In response to those who claim Driscoll is doctrinally sound, Mickels asks since when is it doctrinally sound to refer to Jesus as some ‘dude’ who tells ‘knock-knock jokes’? Without shame Driscoll recklessly undermines the words of Jesus, ‘You must be born again’, with the title of his new booklet called, PORN-AGAIN Christian (2009). Because of the crude nature of his language, Driscoll explains that he is speaking to fellow men and so ‘my tone may not be well suited for some women and, therefore, I would request that they not read this booklet…’ Mickels asks, ‘Who would tamper with the words of Christ and then use them as an introduction to a discussion on the perverted world of pornography?’ Again she asks why Driscoll, who warns young men about the dangers of pornography, admits to frequenting a barbershop described as ‘providing the finest selection of waiting area pornography in our city’. Mickels says that, ‘Instead of a pastor spiritually lifting up the Body of Christ to a higher standard, Mark Driscoll is dragging the Church through the gutter. Is it any wonder we are losing spiritual ground in this country?’

Mickels is concerned about the irreverent way Driscoll uses God’s Word. In the story of Adam and Eve, Driscoll throws out a suggestive, sensual idea about Eve that he thinks will amuse his male audience. In The Radical Reformission (2004) he says, ‘God creates a perfect woman who is beautiful, sinless, and naked – the same kind of woman every guy ever since has been looking for.’ Driscoll sets the stage for more mocking of Scripture by undermines the seriousness of the messages of Jeremiah, a prophet of God, by describing him as someone ‘who cries like a newly crowned beauty queen all the time’. Driscoll writes that Jesus ‘has a mom whom everyone thinks is a slut, a dad whom they think has the brilliance of a five-watt light bulb for believing the “virgin birth” line, and brothers who likely pummel him frequently, because even God would have to get at least one wedgie from his brothers if he were to be fully human.’ (p28, 29)

Mickels concludes: ‘Admittedly, Mark Driscoll states he is reformed in his thinking, and he can deliver a sound sermon if he wants to. But, that does not negate his reckless, irreverent treatment of God’s Word, and the crude language that proceeds out of his mouth. This only makes his ministry more dangerous… However, for some reason, today many in the Church are compromising and excusing ungodly behaviour coming from the pulpit. I submit that this ministry attacks the integrity of Scripture, the character of Christ, and feeds the sensual, worldly heart of man.’

Sexualising the church

The mind is the battleground, but in the case of Mark Driscoll, instead of protecting the mind against the crudity and vulgarity of the world, he intentionally uses it. Driscoll discovered that talking about sex could help him build his church. In Confessions of a Reformission Rev: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church (2006) he wrote, ‘I assumed the students and singles were all pretty horny, so I went out on a limb and preached through the Song of Solomon… Each week, I extolled the virtues of marriage, foreplay, oral sex, sacred stripping and sex outdoors, just as the book teaches, because all Scripture is indeed profitable. I was frank but not crass and did not back away from any of the tough issues regarding sex and pleasure. This helped us a lot because apparently a pastor using words like “penis” and “oral sex” is unusual; and before you could say “aluminum pole in the bedroom”, attendance began to climb steadily to more than two hundred people a week.’ (pp94, 96) Driscoll’s fame has been achieved largely through his explicit sexual messages from the pulpit, based on his interpretation of the Song of Solomon, which he handles as a sex manual for married couples.

Such is his fascination with sex that the Mars Hill blog provides hyperlinks to two explicit websites. Dr Judith Reisman, co-author of Kinsey, Sex and Fraud (1990), after reading Mark Driscoll’s recommendations and viewing his links for ChristianNymphos and a site to purchase sex toys, made this statement. ‘Well, this is, at best, tragic. I don’t know if it is worse to think that these are phony church sites put out by pornographers or that they are real church sites put out by pornified churches. Words cannot describe the ignorance, arrogance and flagrant homoeroticism of these sites.’

In a sermon preached in Edinburgh in 2007, entitled ‘Sex, a Study of the Good Bits from Song of Solomon’, Driscoll offered the congregation a choice of three sermons, and asked them to choose. He said: ‘I can talk about sexuality and cover the most exciting parts of the book of the Song of Solomon… So everyone gets to vote, and then I’ll teach on whatever it is you want. So those of you, who would like Jeremiah 29 and God’s plan for your city, raise your hand. Okay, both of you are really excited about that. [Laughter from audience.] Ten reasons on Jesus Christ being God? Okay, many of you. Alright, sex in the Song of Solomon? [Cheers and laughter from the audience] Alright. Alright. Okay. I brought along some PowerPoint slides to illustrate. I’m just kidding. Alright, well I should probably pray then before we get to work in what is my favorite part of the Bible. If you are single, I apologize in advance. This will be a very unpleasant sermon for you, because the Bible says to not merely listen to the Word but do what it says. And you can’t.’ The main point of the sermon was that the Song of Solomon is a sex manual that teaches about oral sex.

John MacArthur comments (2009)

Some people, however, were so offended by Driscoll’s sermon that they sent a CD copy to Rev John MacArthur in the USA. MacArthur responded in a series entitled ‘The Rape of Solomon’s Song’ (2009), in which he deals with Driscoll’s flawed interpretation of Scripture.

MacArthur says the audience is assured that ‘Solomon’s Song portrays obligatory acts wives must do if this is what satisfies their husbands, regardless of the wife’s own desire or conscience. I was recently given a recording of one of these messages, where the speaker said, “Ladies, let me assure you of this: if you think you’re being dirty, he’s pretty happy.” Such pronouncements are usually made amid raucous laughter, but evidently we are expected to take them seriously. When the laughter died away, that speaker added, “Jesus Christ commands you to do this.” That approach is not exegesis; it is exploitation. It is contrary to the literary style of the book itself. It is spiritually tantamount to an act of rape. It tears the beautiful poetic dress off Song of Solomon, strips that portion of Scripture of its dignity, and holds it up to be laughed at and leered at in a carnal way. Mark Driscoll has boldly led the parade down this carnal path. He is by far the best-known and most prolific popular proponent of handling the Song of Solomon that way. He has said repeatedly that this is his favourite passage of Scripture…’ (Part 1)

MacArthur says it is hard to think of a more appalling misuse of Scripture than turning the Song of Solomon into soft porn. ‘When a speaker deliberately arouses lusts that cannot possibly be righteously fulfilled in unmarried college students or when his personal illustrations fail to guard the privacy and honour of his own wife that is far worse than merely inappropriate. When done repeatedly and with the demeanour of an immature bad-boy, such a practice reflects a major character defect that is spiritually disqualifying… The fact that it is so controversial now is simply more proof that evangelicals have become too much like the world, and too comfortable with the evil characteristics of our culture.’ (Part 3)

MacArthur responds to the claim that the church should be patient with Driscoll for he will mature overtime. ‘These problems have been talked about in both public and private contexts for at least three or four years. At some point the plea that this is a maturity issue and Mark Driscoll just needs time to mature wears thin. In the meantime, the media is having a field day writing stories that suggest trashy talk is one of the hallmarks of the New Calvinism.’

Conclusion

Scripture warns of ungodly men who will creep into the Church and turn ‘the grace of our God into lasciviousness’ (Jude 4). The problem with Driscoll is that while he claims doctrinal orthodoxy, and can preach a sound sermon if he wants to, at the same time he engages in blatant sexual licentiousness—doctrine is divorced from conduct. Driscoll’s appalling mission is to sexualise the church. Like the rebellious priests of Israel who violated the Law of God, Driscoll puts ‘no difference between the holy and the profane’ (Ezekiel 22.26).

What is it about Driscoll’s ministry that the organisers of the Men’s Convention finds so appealing? Do they want to plant Acts 29 churches in the UK? The invitation to Driscoll surely is symptomatic of the deep compromise that has overtaken evangelicals in the UK. Undoubtedly Driscoll will be on his best behaviour when he appears on stage at the Royal Albert Hall. Nevertheless, having appeared with eminent evangelicals his reputation as a Bible teacher and church planter will be enhanced. Thousands of men will be exposed to his false teaching and many will be encouraged to read his books and view his website. The organisers of the Men’s Convention have a lot to answer for. God is not mocked.