08 August 2020

High Place Hermeneutics – The Spirit of Balaam-Hananiah


At 4:44, Jordan Hall engages in a classic syncretistic move of bait and switch. Juxtaposing the holy covenantal inheritance due to Esau and the inheritance gained and earned by American patriots who through work and war built the nation Hall has sold his soul to – he engages in a basic hermeneutical and theological fallacy and yet one well known to students of the Scripture and those who continue to watch American Evangelicalism with a wary eye.


In speaking of the glory of America, its imperialistic power and its wars and combining this narrative with the language of holy inheritance and covenant birthright, the would be discernment-ministry leader demonstrates that he's a sower of chaos-doctrine and confusion – in other words the very opposite of what he purports to be.
The would-be Biblical stalwart all but proclaims himself to be a false prophet. Long a promoter of libertarian lies, Bircher-like narratives and Right-wing evils, this false teacher who confuses the 'we' of the Church with the 'we' of America is actually labouring with all his soul and might to cast down and destroy Biblical ethics. It is Hall who has an attitude of entitlement as it was this very mindset that drove his (and my) ancestors to behave as they did in the world. I can't fix the evils of history but at the same time I can also say – perish the thought that I would glory in them or confuse them with righteousness.
He strengthens the hands of those that would do evil, those that would steal, kill and brutalise the weak – and he does this in the name of defending a supposedly godly heritage and in the name of opposing the riotous groups of cultural revolutionaries that are labouring to tear apart the status quo of American society. And in doing so he not only spews forth his heresy but also lies about history and the state of the world.
Do not misunderstand my criticism of Hall. He has many critics and my comments here are not meant in any way to validate his enemies who more often than not attack him on grounds as equally as unbiblical as his own. But at this juncture, we're not talking about them – we're talking about him and the heresy he promotes. And it is a heresy, not just an error. This deviation re-defines the nature of Christ's Kingdom and by implication the gospel. And it certainly produces an overall ethical framework that is in diametrical opposition to the New Testament. Hall glories in what should be a source of shame. The inheritance he venerates is a legacy of ashes – built on avarice, blood and theft. We needn't reserve a special hatred for the American Empire but neither should we venerate it or be deceived by it and its values – as Hall has clearly been.
This is heresy that confuses and conflates the inheritance of America's unholy, blood shedding, murderously attained and stolen pseudo-glory with the incorruptible Glory of the Holy Kingdom.
If this is discernment then there's little hope right now. The wolves are guarding the sheep. Balaam has set up shop in the house of God – among the conservatives and those that would otherwise stand for the Scriptures. Jeroboam's spirit lives on as the Dan and Bethel shrines of false Jehovah worship – Jehovah worshipped on man's terms and to serve man's interests – has become reckoned the 'Biblical' position.
He cannot understand that his comparison is sacrilegious, that to draw an analogy between the Covenant inheritance of Abraham and the cultural inheritance of the West is to secularise (or de-sacralise) the Abrahamic and to sacralise or sanctify the West. Black is white and white is black. The theological and ethical implications of this doctrinal sleight-of-hand cannot be overstated.
By implication he suggests that to not actively oppose the protestors is to sin and there is more than a little hint of violence in his tone and in his urging. I would like to think that he wouldn't want to see individual Americans out with their guns, on their own initiative taking up arms against the state – as I'm sure he touts the Lesser Magistrate doctrine – but whether as gun-toting individuals or through the form of an empowered military and police response, it's clear Hall wants to see some skulls cracked and some bloodshed.
Like Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah, Hall also preaches a false and corrupted syncretistic gospel of no repentance. God has blessed America -  peace, peace – we're fine. America is good, blessed. We've been on God's side. Those that would call us to account are the evil ones that deserve to be struck in the face.
Well, maybe in some cases the voices opposing American power are also evil and God has certainly used the evil empires to call God's people to account. But America is not God's nation. It's just another Beast – and yet one with an especially sacrilegious history – and if Providence chooses to bring about its demise by means of self-destruction I would hardly call that surprising.
But Hall urges the compromised Christo-Americanism to go on and perpetuate its false narratives, its theft masquerading as prosperity, its violence and murder as security and self-defense.
Like the false prophet who declared God's blessings on the Dan-Bethel-Baal syncretism that was Samaria – he pronounces Jehovah's blessings on the compromised syncretistic entity that is Christo-Americanism.
Peace, peace – there's nothing to repent of. Hall is one of those who twists the false prophet's message of anti-repentance and worldliness affirmation (peace, peace) into a mantra of pacifism that he can as a sword-lover then condemn – as if the false prophets were promoting pacifism. Do these people even read their Bibles?
And so somehow (it follows) because the false prophets supposedly taught pacifism, this affirms the likes of Hall to promote a pro-war and pro-gun culture message – which contains no small hint and suggestion of violence toward their opponents. This was something bubbling beneath the surface in his message.
Defiant like the false prophet Hananiah – he likewise will not hear the call to repentance. One is immediately reminded of Jeremiah 23. The hireling false prophets scatter the flock. What could be more destructive than to scramble and confuse the very definition and nature of the flock?
The adultery of the false prophets wasn't in reference to philandering but to idolatry. They were covenantally unfaithful and as we've seen with many an Evangelical leader spiritual adultery often leads to the other form as well. The false prophets turned the Bride into a whore – an image repeated over and over again throughout the Scriptures.
The false teachers are profane – they are polluted, they have lost their holiness and teach likewise. The world is sanctified and they are given over to it.
These false prophets turn the people of God into Sodom and Gomorrah. Strengthening the hands of evildoers, causing God's people to err they bring about a functional apostasy which was the case in the Northern Kingdom. Israel did not formally renounce Jehovah but functionally they had turned their back on Him. Rejecting his doctrine and ethics and conflating and combining his teachings, rites and covenants with the nation's – their claim to being part of Jehovah's covenant was an empty shell as evidenced by the way in which the prophets speak of the wayward kingdom and the lack of regard they exhibit toward its leaders.
Israel wasn't pagan. It was apostate.
And I'm not talking about America which was and remains pagan. America really has no standing in this discussion. I'm only interested in America insofar as the false teachers have wed it, its ideals and its history to the Church. No, the apostasy I reference is with regard to the Christo-American entity that many American Confessionalists and evangelicals wrongly believe to be the Church of Jesus Christ.
And this is the Dan-Bethel theology of Jordan Hall. I do not doubt there were prophets, reformists and others in the Northern Kingdom who truly and sincerely thought they were serving God and were labouring to reform the covenant nation to a better status even while they were flooding it with doctrinal toxins.
They're in for a dose of bitterness as God's judgment falls upon them. Hall is among those who in New Testament times reminds one of the Zealots. They were so convinced God was on their side even as they perished in flames – not as those persecuted but as those punished, resisting Providence, falling under the curse of Romans 13.
The High Places were not merely pagan places of worship as some mistakenly teach. As the Assyrians made clear when attempting to denounce Hezekiah before the walls of Jerusalem – many if not most of the High Places were actually devoted to Jehovah. And yet they represented disobedience to worship at the altar God had commanded. They wanted to worship on their terms and in a manner that fit their cultural proclivities and expectations.
Also, the high places represented syncretism, the mixing and conflating of Jehovah worship with the worship of the Canaanites. The Canaanites apparently had a very sensual, tactile and flesh-pleasing way of worshipping and as it was wildly popular, it was difficult to suppress. In some places the Baal element became more apparent. Obviously in the Northern Kingdom under Jezebel it became overt and her policy was ultimately to make it exclusive.
But in most cases it was a mixed up jumble of ideas and allegiances. While no doubt literal fornication took place at some of the high places the fornication imagery in the Scriptures is once again usually in reference to idolatry. And so God's people fornicated themselves in their corrupt worship and divided loyalties. In our culture such high place worship takes on a different hue but it's still about entertainment, mammon, sensuality and decadence and we have hosts of 'conservative' and 'Biblical' teachers which promote it and justify it in various forms.
Hall would be among those that denounce many of these teachers and yet he utterly fails to understand that he too has crossed the line. He's part of the same coin – but merely its flip side. In principle he's the same but for cultural and political reasons his manifestation of the same tendencies comes out differently. In his Bircher-Libertarian milieu he embraces a different understanding of aesthetics, money, culture and power and yet these are just as far removed from the Bible as those he opposes. Driven primarily by the culture, the different camps of false teaching are coalescing into a binary false dilemma. You're either with the worldly acculturated Evangelicals or the hard-right wing Bircher-Libertarian types. The Biblically informed person must reject them both and understand just how wrong (and yet similar) both camps are.
We do well to take Jeremiah 23.16 to heart and refuse to listen to these people. They are deceivers being deceived. They have drunk the wine of strong delusion and while they hold a Bible in hand and effectively proclaim 'Thus says the Lord' in reality they are merely speaking the words of fallen men, words pouring forth from their own corrupted hearts.
If they were real prophets they would have caused God's people to hear His Words and turned them from their evil way.
I think one of my biggest mistakes from past years was to assume that false teachers and prophets are deliberate in what they do and have willingly embraced a policy of deception. I don't think that's the case.
Balaam comes to mind. He obviously knew that he was corrupted and yet at the same time could not entirely reject the ideas he knew to be true. He could still speak truth and yet he was a model for false prophets. He was corrupt, strengthened the evil hand of Balak and connived to set up stumbling blocks for God's people to sin – because in the end his service to Balak and to mammon was more important. And make no mistake the Dominion theology espoused by Hall (even while he probably attempts to deny it) is about power and therefore it's also about money. This is why his Pulpit and Pen website is first and foremost about building an audience. Clickbait was and is his methodology. He doesn't care about the truth. He cares about numbers, influence and advertising revenue.
In the larger culture many will speak of those who are to be respected for their sincerity. They may be wrong but are granted a degree of validity by their sincere intention.
I understand what is meant by this and can in some instances agree with it. But not in this case. We cannot respect those who promote false teaching and when their false teaching promotes evil – their sincerity does not save them but makes them all the more dangerous.
We do not hate them. We are to love our enemies. And yet, for the honour of Christ, for the purity of the Church, for the cause of truth and for the Kingdom – we must oppose them. Not with the sword, that's the weapon they would wield especially if given the chance. No, we oppose them with the sword of the Spirit, with prayer and with the Word.
And yet we also know that false teachers will wax bold in these last days. The apostle promised it – indeed they were some of his final words.
The false teachers will sometimes even speak truth and in some cases will (if given the chance) persecute the faithful and think they're doing God service as they do it. A high-quality counterfeit will look very much like the real thing and fool most. Prayerfully and diligently studying the Bible will protect you from falling into their traps and seductions – indeed the pull toward security and respectability is a powerful one and many fall prey to it.
But alas, though we live in an age of Bibles by the score and tools beyond count – very few people (it would seem) are willing to give the time required let alone focus in the face of the distractions and pseudo-obligations of our age and culture.
The powerful imagery in Revelation of the lamb speaking like a dragon is one I often return to. The false prophets strengthen the hand of the beasts they serve. They justify and laud the murderous and thieving policies of these Beasts and teach Christ's people to glory in mammon and bloodshed.
Syncretism comes in many forms and often it's obvious enough but it's at its most dangerous when it masquerades as orthodoxy.
But this message sells. It tickles the ears of our cultural moment and while Hall may present himself as a member of the remnant-faithful he's actually a reactionary activist championing a confused set of views which nevertheless resonate with a large, growing and dangerous movement.
If this is discernment, if this is the wisdom of Scriptures applied to the culture and the cultural moment. If this is what passes for leadership of the Church then I can only say, God help us. This way of thinking is (in the end) just as destructive as theological liberalism and just as worldly as mainstream Evangelicalism.
For my part, I will continue to expose these people even if no one will listen. I've grown tired of politeness and attempting to be diplomatic in how such people are approached. The stakes are too high. These people are deceiving, blessing evil. They're doing it in Christ's name and they need to be called out and opposed. People need to wake up and act and turn away from these types of teachers. Their influence is growing.