I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Weekend. I hope my Christian friends were able to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection and enjoy time with loved ones, and I hope my Jewish friends were able to commemorate the end of Passover with family and friends.
Billions of Bible-believing Christians marked Good Friday and Easter Sunday faithfully, and then there are the heretics. That’s what we’re going to look at today — those “Christians” whose theology has strayed off the path of truth. It can be fun to mock these people, but it’s also difficult not to let these things make you sad.
Let’s start with the once-respectable Christianity Today. I’ve chronicled how the magazine has drifted to the left in recent decades, but editor-in-chief Russell Moore has allowed the magazine to lurch further outside of the mainstream of small-o orthodox thought.
Last Monday, Christianity Today published an article on its website entitled, “Was Jesus Crucified with Nails?” It should have been the shortest article in history with the body text simply reading, “Yes,” but the sub-headline gives away the game: “Why one evangelical Bible scholar thinks the answer might be no.”
Here’s a snippet:
Telling the story of Christ’s death, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John simply say that Roman soldiers crucified him. They don’t say how. Each of the Gospels include specific detail about the soldiers’ method of dividing Jesus’ clothes—a lottery—but none describe the way the soldiers put him on the cross. There are no nails mentioned in any of the four accounts.
Jeffrey P. Arroyo García, an evangelical Bible scholar who teaches at Gordon College, thinks maybe there weren’t any nails.
“The word used there, stauroo, just means ‘to hang on a cross,’” García told Christianity Today. “But it doesn’t give the method of how they hang, right? Maybe the reticence is telling.”
Instead, García claims that the Romans may have used ropes. No, seriously.
“‘I don’t stand and say this, definitively, is how it happened,’ García told CT,” according to the article. “‘I basically find it interesting. It could be there were nails, or it could be that there weren’t nails.’”
García can’t say definitively because that’s not how it happened. Sure, there isn’t specific language in the gospels saying that Jesus’ executioners nailed Him to the cross, but the post-resurrection narrative tells us the truth.
Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
John 20:24-29 (ESV)
García explains this clear expression of biblical truth away by saying that the Apostle John wrote his gospel later. If the truth is inconvenient, just brush it away; that’s the progressive Christian way.
In case you’re wondering how the Christianity Today ‘scholar’ deals with the mention of Jesus’ hands being nailed in the Gospel of John- he brushes it away by suggesting the book was written later and fabricated the account after the fact. pic.twitter.com/lPI6NMkCiV
— Protestia (@Protestia) April 20, 2025
“García told CT he is not going to forbid anyone from imagining nails in Jesus’ hands and feet,” the article says. How magnanimous. But I bet if anybody stands up for the truth above this ridiculous denial of it, Christianity Today’s publisher, Timothy Dalrymple, will mount his high horse to decry it, and I’m sure Moore will equate asserting the truth of scripture with some sort of dangerous right-wing “Christian nationalism.”
The problem with all of this is that the truth is plain; therefore, scripture can speak for itself. We don’t need people like García to play fast and loose with biblical truth, and we don’t need progressive outlets like Christianity Today to promote those views.
Related: Christianity Today CEO Denies Left-Wing Funding and Bias From Atop His High Horse
Let’s visit Allendale United Methodist Church in the Tampa Bay area. Several of the church’s staff members list their pronouns in their bios (including the “she/they” youth director). How can these pronoun people expect others to take them seriously?
The bio for Senior Pastor Rev. Andy Oliver (“he/him/his” for those who are keeping score) says, “Grounded in Wesleyan and liberation theology, Rev. Andy’s ministry weaves together creative liturgy, prophetic preaching, and hands-on community engagement. He is a passionate advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, immigrants, racial justice, reproductive freedom, climate action, and all people at the margins.” So it’s not a stretch to say that he’s an open-borders guy.
On Easter Sunday, Oliver led a prayer for illegal aliens whom the Trump administration deported to El Salvador. The prayer included a candle wrapped in barbed wire. You can’t make this stuff up.
SEE IT: Rev. Andy Oliver (he/him/his), a pastor in St Petersburg, Florida, lights a candle wrapped in barbed wire in honor of alleged wife-beater and suspected MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia—during his Easter church service
— Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) April 21, 2025
Related: Progressive Christianity Watch: Winnie the Pooh Edition
Let’s back up a little bit to Palm Sunday and check out The Church of the Village, a United Methodist congregation in New York City. A woman pastor (shocker) preached about Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.
The clip I saw doesn’t identify the speaker, but based on the church’s website, she must be Rev. Alexis Lillie. According to her bio, Lillie is “passionate about viewing the subversive life of Jesus as a blueprint for the systems-inverting work of justice today.” She’s a graduate of the far-left Union Theological Seminary and ordained in the liberal Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and it wouldn’t shock you to discover that Christianity Today has published some of her writing.
The speaker claims that the Triumphal Entry was a “protest,” and she says that people were “taking off their clothes.” (They weren’t stripping naked; they shed their outer cloaks.) Naturally, in the eyes of this woke preacher, the Triumphal Entry was “drag.”
She continues:
Drag is an art form that comes at power from the underside. With satire and irony and farce and productions that are larger than life as a way to say something meaningful, necessary, and yeah, often kinda controversial. As RuPaul says in the quote that I used for our blurb for this morning, “Drag is a parody of our society. A sarcastic spoof on culture that allows us to laugh at ourselves, but in a way that is inclusive.”
This resistance of oppressive power, whether in ancient times or in our time today, is drag. And it is serious business, and it is wild and boisterous and fabulous. So, friends, as we move into our continued experiencing of what this Sunday might be and mean for us, I leave you to reflect within your spirits on this idea of where are you joining Jesus in moments of drag?
Sigh.
“Where are you joining Jesus in moments of drag?”
‘Ru Paul’ quoting impastor of ‘The Church of the Village’ (UMC) explains that Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem was actually a type of drag show. pic.twitter.com/dlZx24CJ7o
— Protestia (@Protestia) April 19, 2025
I’ll leave you with the opening of this church service that compares Palm Sunday to a drag show.
Imagine beginning your service this way. 🫣🫣🫣🫣
The Church of the Village, a United Methodist congregation, kicks off their Sunday message “Palm Sunday Was A Drag Show’ with….uh…..whatever this is. pic.twitter.com/omlPsa5lA2
— Protestia (@Protestia) April 19, 2025
What on earth? Anyway, here’s hoping that these people will remain a small minority among Christians for a long time to come.
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