A friend recently called my attention to a blog post by Pastor Brian Fuller, “A Familiar Fundamentalist Dog Whistle.”¹ In the post, he assails certain fundamentalists whom he has judged to be in sin because of their efforts to direct people’s attention to certain highly disputed theological and practical issues.

Having read his piece several times, I am compelled to make what I believe is a necessary response to his post. I am going to limit my response to him in this post to the one point that I believe most needs to be made prior to my possibly addressing in the future other issues with his post.

Unhelpful and Unedifying Use of Inflammatory Rhetoric

Choosing to title his piece, “A Familiar Fundamentalist Dog Whistle,” and speaking of believers as using their “dog whistles” to “screech” plainly shows that Pastor Fuller was not properly mindful of how his words would come across to the very people to whom he apparently thinks that he has made a substantive and gracious (?) appeal.

Immediately upon encountering this title, it was clear to me that this post was not the edifying offering of an obedient servant of the Lord who had given much careful thought to vital divine instruction about how to engage in such ministry:

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

2 Timothy 2:24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

I urge Pastor Fuller to give serious attention to his unhelpful and unedifying use of such inflammatory rhetoric in his post and to take whatever public steps are needed to make right this unrighteous public conduct by a minister of Christ.

¹A Familiar Fundamentalist Dog Whistle (scriptureandplainreason.com)

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

1. God saves us by turning us from darkness to light, and from the power of the devil to Himself:

Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

2. He does so by delivering us from the power of darkness and translating us into His Son’s kingdom:

Col. 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

3. Even after He has saved us, we wrestle against the demonic rulers of the darkness of this world and their spiritual wickedness:

Eph. 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

4. To do God’s will as believers, we must not have anything to do with the powers of darkness and their evil works:

Rom. 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Eph. 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

5. In order for us to obey these directives to cast off the works of darkness and not to have any fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, we must take heed to testimonies from former occultists because they are able to provide us with valid, first-hand information about the evil works of darkness that Scripture does not specify for us.

We err greatly if we reject their testimonies by arguing that any valid information about the evil things of the occult must come explicitly and directly by name from Scripture itself.

We must take heed to the testimonies of former occultists!

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.