This one really should not have been confusing. Driscoll is not right. Neither is Lindell.

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"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. - Matthew 7:1-5 (ESV)

Apparently while I was on vacation the purpose driven apostate church imploded. The good news for me is that instead of having to write multiple devotionals on a fast-changing topic, it appears to have settled down a little now and thank goodness. I had a good brother reach out to me while I was away curious about my view about the Mark Driscoll incident. While I had not researched the incident yet, I did wonder why it appeared so many people were siding with someone as compromised as Mark Driscoll. For me, it is always telling when other wildly false teachers and outlets like Charisma News are rushing to your defense. It was like when Steven Strang asked John MacArthur for an interview because Johnny Mac had started feeding his sheep into the COVID woodchipper. Someone as learned as Mac should have known better but at the end of the day these are just sinful human beings who value their own value before others. At least MacArthur can rest in that his support from heretics was predestined.

Moving on, here are the essential facts of the Driscoll-Lindell hullabaloo. Apparently, John Lindell asked his good buddy Mark Driscoll to speak at his men's convention. The two go way back and Lindell was one of the only pastors willing to stand by Mark when he ran away from church discipline in the middle of the night up in Seattle. So, Mark owed him. Driscoll however has a new book out on typical Charismaniacal nonsense like Jezebel spirits and apparently used this conference to highlight his "spiritual bonafides" at the expense of his friend's church. It seems earlier in the conference, there was a "performance" by a man who took off his shirt and climbed a pole. This was likened by Driscoll as on par with Judas' betrayal of Christ and you would have thought the world exploded by the reaction. I knew something smelled rotten when everyone at Charisma and in the apostate church insisted on referring to this man as a "sword swallower" Their reference was to make Alex Magala sound as gay as humanly possible. Sword swallowing however, is a talent. It is a skill. Mr. Magala holds two world records, performed at the Olympics in 2014, and was a top performer in both America and Britain's Got Talent shows. This is not to promote him but to clear the air as the Driscoll camp has tried to demonize the man, while the Lindell camp has tried to venerate him and as usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

Lindell had said Magala had a family and kids and was born again for the past ten years, while being a member of Mosaic Church in Los Angeles. It turns out none of this was true. Magala recently clarified he has no kids, was not "saved" as he considers himself an Orthodox Christian by birth, and while he has been to Mosaic, it is only because friends of his go there. So why would John Lindell lie about so much with such brazen detail? Because that is what he does! In case you have not remembered John Lindell, he was prominent last year when he had Bill Johnson visiting his Missouri church and they claimed a mighty miracle had occurred. The claim was that a female member of the church miraculously grew back three previously amputated toes. Bill Johnson actually said:

"They saw the bone come, wrapped in flesh. And by morning, the toenails, everything had formed, she got three brand new toes," - Bill Johnson

John Lindell quickly asserted this story as being true. Everyone across the apostate church celebrated until someone asked the magical question - show me the toes. Now, the story of the amputations were common knowledge as they resulted from her husband shooting her multiple times in 2015. Therefore, this provided the best opportunity to stick it to the critics and heresy hunters by now showing the fully restored toes. Except they refused. Then they continued to refuse. A local Christian man then launched a website that is still up today with the URL - "showmethetoes.com." Lindell, Johnson, and the Charisma-Charismaniacal machine got behind the movement by try to portray those who simply wanted proof as being naysayers and of all things, Pharisees. You just can't make this up. So, John Lindell is a liar. That in and of itself is unsurprising as all hirelings are. As such, it is also not surprising that Lindell would have thought Magala was a good idea for a church conference. I think back to Hillsong NY "dressing" their youth pastor up as the "Naked Cowboy" for their Woman's Conference and then defending it. It is like when a local pastor painted the Easter Bunny on his head. The modern apostate church hireling is entirely carnal, so why are we surprised when they have carnal ideas or implement carnal strategies? Today's church has seen monster truck rallies in the sanctuary of God. They have sung "Highway to Hell" during worship. Sword-swallowing is a problem? Get in line.

Mark Driscoll, however, doesn't like waiting in line, so when he took to the stage to speak, he publicly rebuked the act, calling it demonic, while adding that he is now an expert on the demonic since you know, he wrote a book about it that no one was buying. Lindell furiously walked onto the stage and kicked Driscoll to the curb. He actually removed him from the stage, and this sent shockwaves throughout the apostate church landscape. The story was originally presented that Driscoll was just defending righteousness for criticizing Lindell's usage of a "gay porn, sword swallowing, act" to entertain the men at their annual "Stronger" conference. Driscoll painted in common Charismaniacal phraseology by claiming it was the dreaded "Jezebel Spirit" he was combatting in Magala. Except was now have more facts and we can see a few things more clearly that when the Twitter-sphere exploded. First of all, it appears Driscoll was doing this to gin up free press for his failing book on demons and the like that came out last year. We would not put this behind the man who once paid a company to buy up his book on marriage." Why would he do this you might ask? So that he could boost is sales numbers to get onto the NY Times Top Ten Best Seller List. This is important because then forevermore, Mark Driscoll can refer to himself as a NY Times Top Ten Best Selling Author. That is a very lucrative credential to possess. Oh, and the $200,000 he paid to that marketing company? Yeah, Mark stole that from the Mars Hill Church tithes. So, who better to lecture us being inappropriate than Mark Driscoll?

Secondly however, we now have a better picture of what Magala actually does. His act, utilizes a pole because he is the world's first "aerialist sword swallower." This means he is in the air, suspended on the pole, as he performs the sword swallowing. That does not make him a "pole dancer" as we have seen reported. It does not make the pole an "Asherah Pole" as we have also seen reported by Driscoll himself. Because Mark has always had the same understanding and perspective on sex as a rabid 15-year-old boy, it is not surprising that the mere concept of sword swallowing must have made Magala a "gay porn sword swallower" who should never be seen be real, virile men. I mean, we have to protect Christian men, right Mark? Thank goodness for the Stronger Men's Conference that has boasted such rock-solid Christian endeavors such as professional bull riders, a Motocross BMX competition, and professional boxing. Are we sensing the level of stupidity we are at here? Between context of the sexually confused adolescent Driscoll and the inveterate liar Lindell, it might be Alex Magala who sounds the sincerest:

"Pastor Mark Driscoll's remarks about my act failed to recognize the difference between a male strip tease and a stunt performance rooted in art and sport. Only an uninformed person would draw a comparison between my act and an inappropriate performance. I feel that this danger act is perfect for the Stronger Men's Conference. It provides inspiration to the audience and permission for them to reach new heights of what's possible in their lives." - Alex Magala

"After my performance at James River Church conference a 53 year old Pastor was judging a 21 year old me. Well, to put it in a perspective I wanted to offer Pastor @markdriscoll to move into a country on another side of the planet, like China, or Russia that he never been before, that he has almost zero knowledge of the language, zero friends, zero family, and $60 in his pocket. And see how he is gonna make it. Believe me I tried. I couldn't find any job. So I spent $35 (out of $60) on the sword and was performing on streets Hollywood blvd. The rest of money I spent on milk and oatmeal. In my first performance I got a tip of $4.50. And I would've continued, but the injuries from Sword Swallowing wouldn't allow me to perform often " I just ran out of oatmeal" - Alex Magala

It is sure seeming like a man we know has no moral compass in Driscoll was trying to promote his failing book by publicly shaming a man he knew nothing about, while spitting in his friend's face. I can't judge Alex Magala because the bible tells me not to. He says he was born a Christian and I sincerely hope he either has saving faith in Christ or gets a chance to hear the real gospel. It sure seems as if Lindell knew who and what they were booking as Magala is regarded as the most dangerous act in America's Got Talent and this Stronger Men's Conference loves to play to the false testosterone-based masculinity, which is why they probably booked the disgraced pastor in Driscoll, who used to love to preach about sex. What separates out Magala from the rest of the sword swallowing world, is the aerial nature, which requires the pole. Lindell must have known that, or his church does absolutely no vetting. A two second YouTube search reveals who Magala is and what his act entails.

Then the story took off. Lindell actually had the nerve to publicly call for Mark Driscoll's repentance. Lindell claims that Driscoll, after the conference kerfuffle, called Lindell's adult son and urged him to remove his parents and brother from the leadership at their church. Lindell called this attempt to tear down the church leadership and sow family discord "demonic." Lindell actually tried to reason directly with Driscoll and then sought help of another pastor before resorting to the public call for repentance so I must admit that for once, Matthew 18 was cited correctly! It is just hysterical that the pastor that we know lied about regrowing three toes on one of his congregants is now lecturing us about Mark Driscoll's integrity. This is why we chose the "judge not" scriptures as the key verses for today. This is why Jesus taught this. Not because we should not be judging but that we forfeit our right to while being hypocritical. John Lindell and Mark Driscoll have as much moral authority at this point as Bill Clinton would have to rebuke adulterers. This is a man who bragged about running over sheep with the "Mars Hill bus" for daring to disagree with him.

The problem is that both men in this story have multiple large wooden beams sticking through their eyes while lecturing each other in front of the apostate church. Real sheep have asked me what our position should be when two large heretics like this collide, and my answer is always to speak the truth and learn what we can so we can be better served and protected in the future. I have seen people reflexively side with Driscoll boldly declaring that "I Stand With Mark Driscoll!" Do you? Is that really the man you want to stand with or be found standing with? A thief who stole $200,000 in tithes to cheat the NY Times Best Seller List? A man who bullied and threatened his staff and elders to the point that he was about to be officially disciplined by a church he founded, until he snuck away in the dead of night to avoid such punishment? A man whose theology taught sex like a frustrated teenager and arrogant Calvinism? Mark Driscoll gleefully admitted to running over his own sheep and the tales of his abuse of people became legend. That is who you want to stand with?

Over what? The fact that a man equally compromised in John Lindell hired Alex Magala for his butt-slapping men's machismo conference? Magala seems like the maligned party here. When this story broke the initial "Christian" coverage painted him as a gay, male stripping sword swallower. Turns out he is married to a woman, claims to Christian by birth, and while he admits to not everything in his past being so "Christian"; is this what we have resorted to? I think it fairly obvious what happened. Magala was hired to perform his America's Got Talent routine. Because Driscoll hates homosexuals as much as sword swallowers, he was offended that the man removed his shirt and used a pole to perform. Seeing an opportunity to take the Jezebel angle to promote his failing book, he lashed out knowing the biblically illiterate followers of his would rally around him at the expense of death threats to Magala, Lindell and even the local Assemblies of God. Perhaps the most under-reported story here is Driscoll trying to get Lindell's own son to overthrow him at his church! Are you serious! If true, it would represent a new low for a man already crawling on his belly.

Lindell is hardly in the clear here though. Either he or his son did hire Magala and maybe that was not the wisest decision. Then again, is it any more inappropriate than having Christian men taught by motocross, monster trucks and boxing? No, it is not. The entire "Stronger Men's Conference" does not produce stronger men at all. It will inevitably produce weak mean who think their value is somehow tied to big bad trucks so please do not lose sight of the falseness of John Lindell before this event. He proudly admits to standing with the disgraced Driscoll when he slinked away at midnight from Seattle. He proudly took advantage of one of his own sheep with this toe growing nonsense and still perpetrates the lie to this day.

These are not admirable men. They are not honorable men. They are not pastors. Should Lindell have hired Magala? I probably would not have but I would not hold a silly conference designed to make men feel tougher about being a man. Should Lindell have invited Driscoll? Probably not again given Mark's history. I know why he did. Because Mark teaches the hyper-masculinized version of men that this conference embodies. Should Driscoll have taken his concerns to Lindell instead of publicly airing them like the petulant child he is? Probably, considering they claimed to be friends and that Lindell stood by Mark during and after his fall from grace. Of course, Matthew 18 does not apply to this portion as the hiring of Magala was not Lindell sinning against Driscoll. As for Magala he was hired to do a job and he did it as asked. It is so sad that the only one sounding reasonable and not bat-poop crazy is the sword-swallowing Orthodox Christian from birth. If you want to judge him for what he did in his past go right ahead but for the grace of God go I. Mark Driscoll was not "right." If in fact what Lindell claims he told his son is true, Lindell actually properly used Matthew 18! So, what does it mean when two major heretics like this collide? To partially borrow from Shakespeare, they are like walking shadows, poor players, strutting and fretting their hour upon the stage, they are tales told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Mark and avoid. Mark and avoid.

Reverend Anthony Wade - April 22, 2024

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.