Desert Hills Bible Church | The EFCA, Mosaix 2019 and the Downgrade of the Church

The EFCA, Mosaix 2019 and the Downgrade of the Church

In an article last week, we posted an open letter to EFCA church leaders and pastors, warning them about some of the dangerous teachers that would be speaking at the Mosaix Conference. We also expressed our concerns about the EFCA sponsoring this conference as a Gold Sponsor and inviting EFCA leaders to the conference without warning them about the dangerous false teachers that would be present. The Mosaix Conference has come and gone, and I have spent some time researching the content of the conference in an attempt to see if the concerns we posted were justified or proven incorrect by the teaching at the conference. In this article, I want to look at some of the content of the conference and explain why the flags we raised last week were valid then and remain valid in the wake of the conference’s conclusion.

Before examining the conference’s content, we need to address the issue of false teachers. The Mosaix Conference invited people who are false teachers to be speakers and leaders of various sessions (for information on how and why we have identified certain speakers at the conference as false teachers, see the previous article on this subject which documents these concerns). It is unbiblical and therefore unacceptable for spiritual leaders within the church to partner with false teachers in sponsoring a conference for several reasons.

First, spiritual leaders are not to partner with deceivers but to expose their false teaching. Titus 1:9 makes clear that the function of an elder is “to refute those who contradict.” Far from partnering with such people, we should be exposing their false teaching. 2 John 10-11 goes further, saying, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching [the teaching of Christ, see v. 9], do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.” If merely giving false teachers a greeting links someone with them as partners in evil, how much worse is it to join with them in conferences? EFCA leaders can claim they reject the LGBTQ movement, feminism, religious syncretism, and cultural Marxism as unbiblical, but by partnering with people who promote these ideologies, according to 2 John 10-11 they have become participants in their evil deeds and complicit in promoting these movements.

Second, the New Testament frequently warns the church about false teachers and the danger they pose to the mission of the gospel (Phil 3:1-2; Col 2:8; 2 Pet 2:1-3; 1 John 2:18-22; 4:1, to name a few). Romans 16:17 says, “Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them” (emphasis added). Some might assert that by writing this kind of article I am the one causing dissensions, but Paul clearly does not condemn those who create necessary division by upholding biblical teaching. The ones who cause dissensions are those who corrupt the doctrine of Christ. They are the ones who teach things contrary to what the Apostles wrote in the New Testament. They are the ones who partner with such false teachers rather than obeying the biblical command to turn away from them.

Even if all the content at Mosaix was within biblical orthodoxy (it was not), the issue still remains that the EFCA sponsored and promoted a conference where they partnered with false teachers, and that should be a grave concern for everyone who takes the warnings of Jesus and the Apostles about false teachers seriously. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:33, “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals.’” If we think we can partner with false teachers and not be corrupted by them and their teaching, we are ignoring Paul’s warning not to be deceived to our own peril.

Now concerning the actual content of the conference, I have spent some time researching what was said at the conference. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any videos of the sessions, but Twitter users who attended the conference have put out numerous tweets with quotes from the conference or reflections on what they learned while attending. It’s important to recognize that these tweets are not written by critics of the material but by those who enthusiastically support it. These, then, are not criticisms or quotes taken out of context to make the conference reflect poorly, but these are statements being lauded by people who agree with them and have every reason to present them accurately. Let’s consider a few tweets from the conference (I have three pages worth of tweets I could share, but I’ll limit it to just a few for the sake of time).

Twitter user @mitchuh tweeted, “Wow. Never before experienced a message like what Michelle Higgins just brought. @markdeymaz just called it experiencing a prophet. #mosaix2019 Just wow.”

Who is Michelle Higgins? According to her bio on the Mosaix Conference website she “is actively engaged in the #BlackLivesMatter movement through participation in civil disobedience, leadership development, logistics, and administrative support in both sacred and secular places.” The BLM movement is part of the unbiblical, secular, social justice movement in our country. The organizer of the conference referred to Higgins as a prophet. In this single tweet, all of my concerns expressed in the previous post about the feminist movement invading the church are proven to be well-founded. Moreover, a prominent figure in an unbiblical ideology that subverts the teaching of Christ was given a platform and praised as a prophet.

Twitter user @efremsmith tweeted, “What an honor to share the platform with these powerful Women of God at the Mosaix Conference. Pastors, Michelle Higgins, Susie Gamez, and Noemi Saucedo-Chavez can preach!

It’s not entirely clear if this tweet is a statement to pastors or if it’s giving Higgins, Gamez, and Saucedo-Chavez the title pastors, but either way, women are once again being promoted as preachers of the Word of God to an audience that consists of men, a role designated only for men in the New Testament.

Conference founder and organizer and twitter user @markdeymaz tweeted, “… in juxtaposition to a white pastor’s recent comment telling another woman to go home. The question to ask: which one is the real prophet? My answer and money is on my dear sister @AfroRising!”

A faithful man of God who has exposited the Word of God for over 50 years is reduced to the color of his skin in a disparaging way because God made him “white” (this kind of fixation on race is a hallmark of the social justice movement). A faithful preacher of the Word is put next to a woman preacher to see which one is the real prophet. And the conclusion of Mark DeYmaz is that John MacArthur is not the real prophet. He’s evidently nothing more than a white false prophet. That’s a massive allegation against a man whose track record should speak for itself. On the other hand, according to DeYmaz, Beth Moore and perhaps another woman preacher (tagged in the tweet) are the real prophets. This entire tweet is loaded with deception. It points people to esteem questionable (at best) teachers, it calls out a faithful teacher of God’s Word as a false prophet, and it continues to push the idea that women should be in pastoral ministry, which they clearly should not according to Scripture.

Twitter user @tweetraychang tweeted, “Diversity strategies + Power inequality = No good news.” The gospel is, evidently at Mosaix, powerless to save people who lack power equality. In fact, if people lack power equality, there is no gospel, according to this tweet. This goes hand-in-hand with a tweet by Twitter user @OOkuwobi, “Evangelism in the 21st century isn’t explanation, it’s demonstration. @markdeymaz @mosaix2019.” To say that the biblical method of evangelism practiced by the apostles, namely preaching/explanation, is no longer what evangelism is today, and to assert that a 21st century person has a better method than the method commanded by Christ and followed by His apostles is nothing short of breathtaking arrogance. At Mosaix, evangelism is no longer about explaining the gospel. It’s about social justice. Replacing the gospel of Jesus Christ with a social justice platform pushed by a leftist and Marxist political agenda was a common theme throughout the conference, at least on Twitter.

Remember earlier how I quoted 1 Cor 15:33 and noted that bad company corrupts good morals? A key EFCA representative at the Mosaix Conference, Alex Mandes, whose twitter name is @AlexMandes, tweeted, “At Multiethnic Church Planting conference in Dallas. There a question came to mind. Why do we largely invest in a demographic that is becoming less and less, and grudgingly resource a demographic what [sic] will be more and more. [sic]” He then links an article showing how white populations are declining in the U.S., while Hispanic groups are rapidly increasing. And the question that comes to his mind is why are we spending so much on white people when soon they’ll be such a small percentage of the population, and we hesitate to spend on Hispanics who will make up such a large percentage of the population. Nothing about this question reflects biblical concerns. Where do we find the apostles in the NT using census data to figure out where to preach the gospel or where to invest their financial resources? This type of question comes from a mindset that has been influenced by social justice paradigms. Social justice ideology has taken root in the EFCA, and if we think our leaders will go to these conferences and avoid being influenced by these ideas, this tweet demonstrates that that is not the case.

What transpired at the Mosaix Conference last week furthers what we see happening in the evangelical church today, which is, to borrow a phrase from Charles Spurgeon, a downgrade. The gospel is being replaced by social justice, God’s roles for men and women are being rejected, God’s design for human sexuality is being corrupted, and God’s warnings for our protection against false teachers are being disregarded.

The EFCA leadership should recognize this downgrade is occurring not just in the church at large but within our own movement. I plead with them to repent of their involvement with this conference and renew their commitment to submit to the authority of Scripture in all that it teaches, not just in our movement’s pieces of paper, but in our practice.

  1. Desert Hills Bible Church | The EFCA, Mosaix 2019 and the Downgrade of the Church

    Doug McHone

    This is troubling. I am an elder of an EFCA church in Iowa. http://www.50263.org

    As you know, the EFCA allows a lot of latitude for churches to construct themselves. Modes of baptism, gender of elders, and many more things are decided on a church to church basis. This is both a strength and a weakness. I believe in the local church having autonomy under the ultimate headship of Jesus and his word. But if I were relocated to another region, I wouldn’t look first to an EFCA church.

    In our history, our church has held firm on biblical views and we have lost members due to it. One of the other elders did vote to allow women to serve as an elder but he did agree to abide by the decision of the majority. He did let me know a few months ago that he sees me as his primary competition in the church as well as in the realm of who we vote for politically. That matter came to an argument in the pastor’s office and we reached a sort of unity to continue, but there is some erosion there.

  2. Desert Hills Bible Church | The EFCA, Mosaix 2019 and the Downgrade of the Church

    Doug McHone

    shoot, I didn’t finish my thought.

    Anyway, I am sad to see a strong church presence leave the EFCA, as I do believe in the mission of the movement. I have challenged our pastor to be bold in the pulpit and to be bold in regathering the body, which has ALWAYS been comprised of the ready, willing and able. From the beginning of the church.

    I just prayed for Desert Hills Bible Church, that you would be a beacon to the glory of Jesus. Would you say a prayer for Waukee Community Church likewise?

    • Desert Hills Bible Church | The EFCA, Mosaix 2019 and the Downgrade of the Church

      Robb Brunansky (Author)

      Absolutely. I will pray for your church family this afternoon, Doug. Thanks for taking the time to read this article and comment. Many blessings.

  3. Desert Hills Bible Church | The EFCA, Mosaix 2019 and the Downgrade of the Church

    Brad Hendrix

    Pastor Robb, Amen!

    Thank you for proclaiming the sufficiency of Scripture as a biblically qualified elder of a local church. Social justice and feminism have crept into the church to undermine the clear teaching in Scripture that faith in Christ crucified and resurrected saves equally men and women, Jew and Greek but does not eradicate gender roles in the body of Christ and does not alleviate racial discrimination in an ungodly society.

    Galatians 3:28 NASBS
    [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

    We are one in salvation. Christ Jesus is our salvation. We proclaim Christ and him crucified. God will save whosoever He chooses. Feminism and social justice agendas seek to eclipse the wonderful satisfaction and sufficiency of Christ in us the hope of glory. The best is yet to come.

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