Leading Anti-Catholic Phillip Johnson Sez Today's Evangelicalism Is "Much Worse" Than Pre-Luther Catholicism

Wow! That's sayin' somethin', when you know what these guys think of the Catholic Church. Check out this scathing denunciation (complete with a hilarious "hairdo" photo): The worst of times: Evangelicalism in critical condition. If you can overlook the garden-variety distortions and old wives' tales about Tetzel and indulgences, the article is a pretty good critique. Here are some highlights:

Modern evangelicals are experts in writing doggerel and banal platitudes and have even made silly, superficial songs the centerpieces of all their liturgy.

We've also got a thousand church-growth "experts" who insist pragmatism is the only workable philosophy for the church today, . . .

. . . we have so many Fad-Driven® Churches and so few where Christ is honored and His Word obeyed. That's why the gospel is not only in eclipse but actually under attack on several fronts within evangelicalism.

Evangelical Protestants have done a pretty good job in the last 60 years, at policing the nonsense within their own ranks, and in a way, this is a sign that theirs is a healthy, thriving movement. We Catholics could learn a lot from that. I was an internal "reformer" as a Protestant; I wrote about stuff like the hyper-faith movement, as far back as 1982. I criticized several aspects of my large Assembly of God congregation (in 1986), and was virtually excommunicated and denounced from the pulpit, as a supposed rabble-rouser (even though this same pastor was fond of spouting the proverb "keep your pastors honest" -- i.e., correct them when that is necessary).

Good for Phillip. If both anti-Catholic and ecumenical Calvinists would also police their own numerous errors, too, the Christian world could immensely benefit. We see some signs of that happening. Let's pray that these encouraging trends will continue. But I'm happy to give credit where it is due . . .