A brief look at how the plague of Online Discernment Ministries began...
by Richard Abanes

* * *

The word “apologist” comes from the Greek word apologia, translated as “defense” or “answer” in 1 Pet. 3:15: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

According to this passage, all of us should be apologists as we make our way through life. We are to fulfill the role of an apologist—i.e., one who defends the faith—whenever we are asked such questions as:

"Why are you a Christian?,”

“How can you believe in Jesus when we all know he never existed?,” or

“Where does it say in the Bible that Jesus was God?”

No Christian should avoid their responsibility to give a reasonable defense/answer for their faith— i.e., each Christian should be able to lovingly share WHY they believe WHAT they believe.

We are also supposed to be discerning when we hear others preach/teach. Scripture commands us to "test all things and hold fast to that which is good' (1 Thess. 5:21). Moreover, the Bible constantly reminds of of false teachers that will abound in the last days (2 Pet. 2:1-3 ) and that we are to reject false doctrines by studying scripture (2 Tim. 2:15).

For many years, both discernment and apologetics was ignored by far too many Christians. But several decades ago, starting with Walter Martin, apologetics (or the study, method, practice of defending the faith) began being lifted up as a niche ministry — i.e., a legitimate area of ministry organized by persons specifically called to, and trained in, defending the faith and giving answers to those who had questions about Christian doctrine, other religions, cults, and related matters.

Apologetics/Discernment Ministries Begin

The movement of apologetics/discernment started by Walter Martin included people and organizations committed not just to defending the faith (the positive side of apologetics), but also correcting error in other groups/people claiming to be Christian (the negative side). Walter Martin essentially opened up an entirely new field of ministry for professional apologists, as well as lay apologists.

These organizations, and the people connected to them, often served as checks and balances for each other. As professionals in the field of apologetics/discernment, they often worked together in an "iron sharpens iron" capacity with interaction taking place not only amongst themselves, but also between various scholars in the same field: e.g., John Warwick Montgomery, Norman Geisler, James Bjornstad.

Second, came the lay apologists. This happened after Walter Martin became so popular and widely known (thanks in part to The Bible Answer Man radio program), that lay Christians founded home-based apologetic/discernment ministries. Such ministries usually relied a great deal on professional organizations like CRI, Watchman Fellowship, Answers In Action, and several others. These lead organizations were tapped for information on various issues, critical critiques of religious movements/groups, books published by major publishing houses, and general answers on multiple subjects that were beyond the knowledge-base of lay apologists.

The lay apologists, in other words, would commonly seek the guidance and direction of the professional apologists—i.e., the individuals who: a) had gone to seminary; b) had been closely mentored by a professional apologist; or c) had ministered in a specific area for many years and could pull from a vast amount of experience in a certain field of study.

There was actually beneficial give-and-take between the lay apologists and the professional apologists. And it was all loosely affiliated under the unofficial head of the movement—Walter Martin (and his Christian Research Institute).

A Movement Fractured

Then, when Walter Martin died in 1989, the apologetics/discernment movement blew apart. Many persons wanted to fill the vacuum left by Martin as the new leader of the apologetic/discernment community. But in the end, rather than the movement coming together, there was a fracturing of the whole apologetic/discernment community with people giving their support to their favorite apologists (choosing sides, if you will)—and in the process of doing so, a number of conflicts arose that separated various ministries and apologists. I am reminded here of Paul's rebuke:

"For I have been informed about you, my brethren, by those of the house of Chloe, that there are strifes among you. Now this is what I mean: each of you says, I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos, or I am of Cephas, or I am of Christ. Has Christ been divided up?"
(1 Cor. 1:11-13).

Eventually, everyone went off to do their own thing, so to speak. Some professional apologists went on to do excellent work (e.g., Ron Rhodes and Paul Carden). Others faded into oblivion. At the same time, a number of lay apologists and discernment ministries also spun off from the movement and continued to offer valuable services to the Body of Christ.

Unfortunately, after Martin’s death, many people who had been listening to Martin on the radio, studying his materials, or going to his lectures, tried to fill the void he left as the movement's leader and keep up the work of apologetics by starting up their own ministries—but NOT under anyone’s guidance, care, training, or help. They just did their own thing as they saw fit, functioning as lone satellite entities under no authority. They were accountable to no one.

In the years following Martin's death, the Internet complicated and compounded this problem. Cyberspace allowed anyone and everyone who wanted to be another Martin-esk type apologist/discerner to take a shot at defending the faith! And they had a built in audience of tens of millions. They could say and do whatever they wanted to say and do. It was a temptation too powerful to resist. Some of these self-proclaimed apologists/discerners even began padding their credentials (e.g., one ODM claimed to have been mentored by Walter Martin, when in reality, this ODM had only listened to Martin's old teaching tapes).

Now, hundreds (perhaps thousands) of so-called "apologetic/discernment" websites/blogs run by rogue "apologists" litter cyberspace. And they are causing division within the Body of Christ.

The ODM Approach

Tragically, today's ODMs—who fancy themselves "contenders for the faith," "watchmen on the wall," Spirit-led "discerners," and a kind of remnant of true Christians—have rushed headlong with reckless abandon toward the extreme end of the “negative” side of apologetics (see above) instead of the “positive” side of apologetics (see above).

Rather than being most concerned with defending their own faith against attacks, they have become fixated on finding error in others and correcting it. Heresy and apostasy is spun out of all kinds of non-doctrinal comments innocently made by someone or weaved out of non-doctrine-related methods of preaching that the ODM simply doesn't like.

In other words, Walter Martin's approach to apologetics/discernment—which had always centered on pure doctrinal assessments that focused on essentials of the faith—was perverted into heresy-hunting. The goal for today's ODMs is no longer defending the faith. It something far more tantalizing—i.e. making sure to find error/heresy in a chosen target, using whatever means possible.

- Rooting out heresy, even where it doesn't exist, has become the prime directive.

- Finding doctrinal errors in others has become the excuse for attacking others who do things slightly different and/or who might preach/teach in a way that make some uncomfortable.

- Intense scrutiny of words, terms, and phrases mixed with a paranoid level of suspicion has become the modus operandi of choice.

The ODMs are nothing less than a modern, hi-tech version of the infamous Inquisition—minus the power to extract confessions and render punishments, thank God.

It must also be noted that the main defining characteristic of today's ODMs is that they are willing to use whatever tactics are necessary in order to make their charges of heresy/apostasy stick, even if it means having to post outright lies to convince their readers that someone is a false teacher. On the Internet they can get away with such behavior, of course, because cyberspace is like the Wild West with regard to truth and legal protection—it's unregulated, it's unchecked, and it's unprotected.

Here we see the reason why there exist no ODM-written books published by a legitimate, major, established, respected publishing house (e.g., Bethany House, Tyndale, Word, Harvest House). The outrageous statements, false accusations, flawed information, faulty research, and illogical reasoning/arguments commonly voiced by ODMs would never make it past the editors/attorneys of legitimate publishing houses, which are vigorously committed to making sure that their published works are free from libelous remarks and inaccurate material.

Documentation for apologetic books from major publishing houses are triple-checked for accuracy and questionable material, along with libelous assertions, are expunged. Such is not the case, however, for Vanity Press companies where anyone can pay the right amount of money to have their books printed. And this is precisely what ODMs do—they pay to have their books published because no legitimate publisher will have them.

After self-publishing, they market/sell their books using their own websites and the websites of fellow ODMers. They also quote each other's books as sources of authority, which serves to give all of their works an appearance of authority and balance. But that perception is a deception.

(NOTE: An excellent way to keep your bookshelves free of deceptive ODM material is to check whether a book is self-published through a Vanity Press or whether it is released from a legitimate publishing house associated with the Christian Bookseller Association. Self-published books on apologetics/discernment that you might find on the Internet for sale should be immediately suspect.)

Pathological Antagonists

In my opinion, ODMs have repeatedly shown themselves to be what psychologists call pathological antagonists. This psychological disorder, more commonly used to describe individuals attacking churches/leaders with whom they are personally involved, was discussed in a highly informative article by Frontline Fellowship titled “Pathological Antagonists.” It reads, in part, as follows:

“These are not normal people, average complainers, critics and typical dissidents who are generally unhappy about life itself … they are deadly and have a knack for gathering a following of ordinary folk with common complaints and disagreements in the church. They can easily create the illusion that there are hordes of people against the pastor. They are masters at using the tyrannical they in their comments: ‘They are very unhappy about …’ or the illusive people: ‘people are saying that ….’ These are verbal instruments in the arsenal that they use to destroy a minister.”

Dr. Greenfield describes pathological antagonists/clergy killers, as persons with “a very mean spirited disposition … they are destructive. The damage that they want to inflict is intentional and deliberate. They are not out simply to disagree … they want to inflict pain and damage persons. … clergy killers are determined. They are headstrong and will stop at nothing. They may pause for a time, change strategies, even go underground to reconnoitre, but they will come back with a vengeance to continue the intimidation, networking and breaking all rules of decency to accomplish their destructive objectives. For them, their plans have priority over all other programs of the church.

These persons are deceitful … masters of manipulation, camouflage, misrepresentation and accusing others of their own atrocious deeds … experts at twisting facts. … maybe mentally disordered, but they do not yield to patience or love, nor do they honour human decency. Apparently clergy killers carry around a lot of internal pain, confusion, anger, and even rage. Spiritual leaders … become available scapegoats for this pain and confusion, which is unidentified and untreated.”

“Clergy killers are masters of intimidation, using it to violate the rules of decency and caring that most Christians try to follow. Intimidation is a powerful weapon … therefore, ministers and their supporters are easily intimidated by these persuasive and charming religious assailants. Clergy killers are experts of disguise when they see it would be to their advantage. They are able to present themselves as pious, devout and spiritual church members, who are doing their destructive work ‘for the good of the church to advance God’s Kingdom.’ They can convince naïve church members that they are raising legitimate issues. These religious monsters often hide among their allies of opportunity … they openly intimidate any opposition by making it clear that they will fight dirty and use any tactic to accomplish their goals. Gentle and peace-at- any-price church members are quickly sidelined by such threats, leaving ministers and those who support them to cope with the problem the best way they can.”

“Clinically speaking, … they may possess distinct personality disorders … anti-social, borderline paranoid, narcissistic … others have learnt to throw tantrums to get their selfish ways. They’ve learnt how to distract, confuse, lie and seduce to do harm to the vulnerable.”

“Clergy killers wound or destroy either by direct attacks or by inciting others to inflict the wounds. Sometimes they induce victims to self-destruct, by harassing them to the point of frustration and anger. … it only takes one or two in the church to create havoc and bedlam. Because these people live in denial as to their true nature, they would not see themselves in this chapter, even if they were to read it. Clergy killers have surrounded and insulated themselves with a whole array of defense mechanisms and justifications for their actions. They firmly believe that what they are doing in harming and terminating a minister is the right thing to do. For them, it is the will of God. Nevertheless, they are sick and mean people.”

This perfectly describes the dangerous and destructive actions and attitudes of those enmeshed in today's cult of Online Discernment Ministries (ODMs).

Of course, not all websites/blogs committed to offering discernment/apologetics information is included in this category of Online Discernment Ministries (ODMs). I am exclusively applying that term to a very specific kind of apologetic or discernment organization/person that is active on the Internet—i.e., those whose writings are marked by false information, slander, a mean-spirited tone, juvenile name-calling, mockery, and sensational fear-mongering. These types of persons/organizations are more akin to witch-hunters than professional apologists or even lay/responsible apologists.

As I've said before in my previous two articles on ODMs, please, Don't Believe Everything You Read...On the Internet (also see my article, ODM Update).

Richard Abanes
PoP cULtUre MiX