The French May Confuse These Things

• Protestants who stand with Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
• Protestants who have a Jack Chick or a Chick Tracts attitude to Catholicism.
• Evangelical Protestants in Mega-Churches.

These things can overlap, but they are not the same.

Now, let's take Mega-Churches first.

If you are Anglican or Presbyterian, going to a mega-church doesn't make much sense any more than when you are a Catholic most places : there is usually a small and cosy parish for you.

But if you are into one of several different movements (Inerrantist Fundamentalism and Anti-Catholic Fundamentalism being only two of them!) there may be a Church that you can't find a small and cosy parish for.

If you are into the pastor Craig Groeschel you are into Life.Church.

It has 53 000 attendants per weekend.

If you go to their beliefs, you will find they are Baptist, but you will not find they are Anti-Catholic. Nor, of course Pro-Catholic. When it comes to believing the Bible, they certainly say it is truth without error:

The Bible was written by human authors, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is the supreme source of truth for Christian beliefs about living. Because it is inspired by God, it is truth without error.

But in context, this does not mean a clear stance in Genesis 5 or 11 being chronogenealogies and telling us how long ago Adam lived (along with other Biblical history up to Nebuchadnezzar ...). Nor a denial of it.

Probably it falls under this heading:

In addition to Essential Beliefs, we have liberty in Non-Essential Beliefs.

Charity - as in charitable works - is much more important to them than debates over creationism, as I can gather from glancing at what they are part of, namely Evangelical Covenant Church

Kent Hovind is by contrast at least mildly implied in Chick's Anti-Catholicism (from time to time he has promoted Alberto Rivera) and he is also, most prominently, Biblical Inerrantist. Does a Bible passage with its parallel suggest each Hittite chariot had ten charioteers? Kent (as well as Augustin Calmet) says it had ten charioteers. Does the Bible tell of "waters above the firmament"? Kent identifies them with a pre-Flood water canopy. Now, his Dinosaur Adventure Land is not a mega church, since it doesn't operate over weekends.

In Pensacola, both the Campus Church and the Olive Baptist Church gather more attendants than Kent Hovind' or Eric Hovind's church. 7000 vs 4000, but none mentioned for any Independent Baptist Church, which is where you might find them.

Now, let's get one step further.

CMI is dedicated to total Biblical inerrancy - but they nearly ignore the Anti-Catholic "battle ground". Not totally, I have had to refute them on some token loyalty statement to this or that reformer or claim about Galileo trial, but by and large, they don't do Anti-Catholicism. Indeed, in Draper-White context being taken up against them, they have defended Scholasticism as one of the contributaries to Modern Science.

So, I daily read some CMI. This is taken as disloyalty to Catholicism by people who don't get that they don't do "Catholic bashing". It is also taken as being victim to an ultra rich mega church, when they aren't one, they are a publication ministry (like the Gideons). This is annoying. However, glad I am not in Russia, where that stance would perhaps be impossible to even mildly dispute ...

Hans Georg Lundahl
Paris
III Lord's Day of Advent
15.XII.2019