"Matt Ols[o]n would do well to eject, but it may cost him his school"

ADL: Gun Control Critics’ Nazi Analogies Are ‘Ignorant,’ ‘Shock Value’

The Anti-Defamation League has called on pundits to stop comparing [discussion on degrees of separation] to laws passed in Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler, saying the references are “historically inaccurate and offensive” to Holocaust survivors.

William Dudding makes some excellent points:

Northland has not officially made any kind of official statements on a change in direction, but the president is acting in a way that goes against the very written philosophy of ministry the college has historically held to. That’s a fair expectation.

AND

To be honest with their constituents, Northland should officially make some statements or changes to their official documented positions on whatever they have been changing in practice for honesty’s sake. The Fundy’s who are up in arms about this do have a point. If they’re going to recruit at Christian Rock Concerts, then it shouldn’t be done off the grid.

Here:

They get the Sovereignty of God in salvation wrong,
They get the Lordship of Christ in Salvation wrong,
They get the Bible wrong with their KJV Onlyism.

AND

(Not to mention their ecclesiology which still operates in most churches as single pastor rule)

AND

Furthermore, if monotone, unemotional music and girls culottes are what make someone distinctly a Fundamentalist, then who needs them?

Matthew

William’s working with a faulty definition of Fundamentalism, but he’s still got several strong points there.

Faulty definition: it’s never a good idea/quite fair to define something by its worst representatives, however numerous they may be. (It’s one thing to say “A whole lot of singers have major lifestyle problems,” and another thing to say “A singer is a person who does vocal performances in front crowds and spends the rest of his/her time carousing, abusing drugs and generally engaging in gradual self destruction.”)

That said, it’s debatable whether a school can find enough fundamentalists of the sort to keep it going if it flouts certain traditions.

To illustrate the definition point, I would not personally encourage my kids to attend a Bible college that is not culturally astute enough to see the need to be counter-cultural in the area of worship music. But I’m not for “separating from” everybody who shares a platform with someone who doesn’t separate from someone who might have joined hands with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association at some point… or for “separating from” everybody who doesn’t see the cultural drift as I do (though I have to say that I find that whole thing face-palmingly obvious).

And KJVO? There are definitely enough non-KJVO fundamentalists to keep a few schools staffed, and populated with students and donors. How many schools, I’m not sure.

But WD’s post gets one thing very right: to survive (much less thrive) Northland is going to have to figure out what it’s brand is, firmly commit to that and sell it to constituents and new prospects.

To say this:

They get the Sovereignty of God in salvation wrong,
They get the Lordship of Christ in Salvation wrong,
They get the Bible wrong with their KJV Onlyism.

represents fundamentalism is to say Harold Camping represents Calvinists …

Just for the record, because so many get this wrong. It’s Olson with an “o” and no “e” anywhere.

[TylerR]

To say this:

They get the Sovereignty of God in salvation wrong,
They get the Lordship of Christ in Salvation wrong,
They get the Bible wrong with their KJV Onlyism.

represents fundamentalism is to say Harold Camping represents Calvinists …

These 3 observations may not represent fundamentalism as some (like here at SI) define it, but it certainly does represent the loudest wing of fundamentalism.

In all fairness, I think that there is legitimate debate on the first two points, since both contain a paradox that is not really resolvable within our finite system of logic. Still, the “loud” wing doesn’t hesitate to call heretics those with a more “Calvinistic” bent on the first two points.

I used to be a KJVO, IFB. I honestly wonder how large group they speak for? It seems to me to be a loud, narrow group of folks. I am still an independent, fundamental Baptist - certainly not KJVO or anti-Calvinistic though! I know where the author was coming from, but I’ve since learned there is more to fundamentalism than “KJV is good, skirts are bad and Calvinism is evil!” I used to think that … !

So let’s say that NIU’s board lived in a complete bubble, had no idea what was going on, and fired Dr. Olson today as a result. Would that ‘save’ Northland? Would it resolve the concerns of the ‘anti-NIU’ crowd?

That might be an interesting conversation. My gut feeling is that NIU is now irreparably outside our ‘orbit’ in the eyes of the crowd, and that would be a shame.

William Dudding said:

Northland’s Dilemma: If Matt Olsen is truly trying to lead Northland out of Fundamentalism and into mainstream Evangelicalism then he has a dilemma because he has several untenable options:

• He either has to be his own self-styled fundamentalist in his own mind with little regard to what his peers think of him and his philosophy.
• Or he must try to change Fundamentalism so he doesn’t have to say that he’s leaving it.
• Or he has to send out a press release that he’s no longer going to be leading the college as a Fundamentalist Institution and lose his entire constituency.
• Or, he has to do it quietly and slowly until he has built a new constituency for the school to survive.

The problem with all three options is that they’re impossible to do if you want to be totally honest with yourself, others or if you want the institution to survive.

• The word on the street is that Wisconsin Baptists are split over Northland. Some applaud … others appalled (I know this is simplistic)
• Fall will tell when students vote with their feet. Will enrollment swell or decline?
• There may just be a constituency that appreciates these changes.
• Of course it is not Matt Olson’s school. It was founded by the Patz family and Arlene Sailer. A Patz chairs the board. There are 2 Patz’s on the board and Mrs Sailer still is on the board.

I have had conversations in recent months with former faculty and current faculty, administrators, camp leaders of NBBC/NIU and they are concerned about the school and some are heart broken. These conversants with me are pro-Lordship, Calvinistic Baptists, who hate KJV Onlyism, none of whom are cultural extremists. I just read today a recent email by a very pro-Northland insider who is directly related to the founders and he made it very clear that the main leaders today want to take the school in a different direction (including the acceptance of the Baptist General Conference and the Billy Graham Association). Personally, I seriously doubt NIU would go that far. Nevertheless, He lamented the fact that Northland had been too separated in the past under the previous administration and that now it was going the direction that the founders originally wanted. The author of the email had nothing but disdain for “BJU fundamentalism” and decried its influence upon Northland over the last several decades. This man who is related to the founder and well-connected to the leaders is elated over the new direction of Northland. By contrast, I think it is important to remember that Matt served for many years on the BJU board, the GFA board, and the FBFI board, and founded/pastored an Independent Fundamental Baptist Church in Colorado for over 20 years. Les is still a member of the FBFI cooperative board. Les built the school to over 800 students as a beloved speaker in those general circles. Les and Matt were never in the KJVO, non-Lordship, anti-Calvinistic circles of fundamentalism.

Here is what another pro-Northland pastor said yesterday:

“I pastor in the general vicinity of NIU. I am greatly disheartened by the moves that Northland has been making and it’s not because I’m in the Lou Martouneac camp or even remotely close. In fact, my church uses the ESV, I believe that music is a cultural rather than biblical issue, I hold to the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation, and believe that repentance and faith are inseparable.

Northland frustrates me because I had hoped that they were moving to a place where someone like me could have a strong partner.Unfortunately, they have entirely skipped that place for generic Evangelicalism. You recognize that associating with someone like Big Daddy Weave is undignified, but it is far more than that. I don’t think that because of the genre of music; I think that because the half bit theology of broad evangelicalism.

Northland’s throwing out of the baby with the bath water has put guys like me in a really difficult place. We want to reform fundamentalism while holding to the historical principles that give it value. However, now we face even more suspicion from the institutions and people we were hoping to gradually play a role in reforming.

The actions of NIU have pushed other institutions, particularly MBBC, even farther to the right. They have ostracized a huge moderate influence forcing lines to be drawn.

Of course, Northland’s influence only goes so far, and they certainly haven’t destroyed all hope of reforming fundamentalism, that would be an extraordinary overstatement. They have, however, made the task a lot harder for people who were hoping to see a more balanced fundamentalism coming out of the excesses of the past 60 years. I wish they were helping instead of hurting.”

Since I have personally supported, financially supported, and ministry supported the school and camp for 30 years, I think I can honestly say that I deeply appreciated the school and the camp. Even at this point I have not given up on them, but I have pulled back. I personally like Les and Matt. On a personal level I would consider them friends. Les originally recommended me to Troy 29 years ago. I hope that the current leaders will rethink their alleged new direction and hold with conviction to their stated, written positions on doctrine and philosophy. I have no problem with appropriate change, but I honestly think they are changing their direction from what they have been over the last three decades. I really hope I am wrong about this, because I have appreciated the wonderful influence the school and camp have had over the decades. We don’t need another Cedarville or Cornerstone; there are plenty of schools like that in evangelicalism.

We don’t need another Cedarville or Cornerstone; there are plenty of schools like that in evangelicalism.

Another reality- if they lose they uniqueness, and become, say, another school along the lines of Cedarville or Cornerstone, or (IMHO, a better comparison of what they are attempting to do in their own minds) The Masters College or Bethlehem College, why would students want to come all the way up there? It is very, very isolated, while others have advantages of being located in larger metropolitan areas. Matt Olson (if I were southern, I would insert “bless his heart” here) is virtually unknown to the new target constituency, while others have the pull of nationally known figures like John MacArthur or John Piper. I would think most students came to Northland in spite of the location, not because of it.

I have no love for NIU. He has adopted a position closer to The Gospel Coalition from what I have read. Although I like Carson, too many loose screws are close to TGC leadership for me to take it seriously.

Some want Olson to slowly bleed out by holding on to a history of failure.

Fundamentalism failed. It failed when they fought the liberals. It failed against the NE. It is failing against conservative evangelicals. It is a history of failure. Bauder might want a fundamentalism worth saving, but it is a pipe dream. Olson has thrown his lot into something he thinks will last. When the uniting issue is division, you have already lost. Fundamentalism is like those Japanese soldiers in the pacific islands who were living off the land years after the war was over.

Olson has thrown his lot into something he thinks will last.

I understand your sentiment, James. But the question I have is at that point, why would “they” want what Olson was selling when there are other established options? To use a tech analogy, it seems like NIU under Olson is like Microsoft looking at the success of Apple with iOS and Google with Android devices, and trying to compete with them by throwing Windows 8 into the ring. No one wants it, and those who have it are quite discontent and looking for other options.

http://indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2013/03/dr-matt-olson-i-apolog…

Matt Olson is following many of Northland’s alumni into historic fundamentalism. That’s right, into historic fundamentalism. Today’s modern “fundamentalism” is a mere shell of what thriving, healthy fundamentalism looked like in the early 1900s. Then, men and women from many denominations banded together around the fundamentals of the faith. Denominational distinctives, though important in each denomination, were not barriers to fellowship and unity. This is the direction Matt Olson is going. Northland is removing the unbiblical “separation” barriers that it had erected between itself and other Bible-believing denominations such as the Baptist General Conference, Conservative Baptist Convention, Evangelical Free Church of America, etc.

This movement out of the fringe and back into historic, fundamentalist Christianity is a breath of fresh air. I know, because as the grandson of the founder of Northland, I took this step in the early 80s. Sure, Northland’s leadership at the time called me names, such as “new evangelical.” But I knew that I was actually walking down the path of historic fundamentalism. More importantly, I knew I was obeying God and no longer calling “unclean” what God had called “clean.” It wasn’t that hard of a step because the Patz family was never in the camp that Harold Patz led Northland into. BJU style fundamentalism was not our history as a family! And separating from Billy Graham was unheard of.

So things are changing now, but for the good. Northland is returning to the Patz family roots. Harold Patz has watched his children and their spouses live devout lives for Christ in the denominations mentioned above. And Harold Patz, Les Ollila, and Matt Olson have seen the light. When your own kids are serving Christ faithfully in denominations once renounced, it creates dissonance. Thankfully, God has used this dissonance to wake up the leadership at Northland. Now, perhaps, Northland can become the school that God intended it to be. One that is in line with the founder and his family. One that reflects the glory of God and the unity of the saints. May God be praised.

Blessings,

Don Sailer