Blog on the Lillypad
Sunday, October 24, 2004
An Independent Fundamental Baptist Pastor defends his "brother."
Christian Farris is the son of Everrett Farris, senior pastor of Crosspointe Baptist Church in Pinellas Park, Florida. Christian and his brother Jonathan are on church staff as well, in associate pastor roles. Nice work if you can get it, and another evidence of some of the problems endemic in Independent Baptist churches. Theirs is the church that brought Dave Hyles, a rampant sexual player who was kicked out of Miller Road Baptist church for having affairs with over a dozen women, onto their church staff. They then shipped him off to another church (Berean Baptist, pastored by Tom Neal) when he was caught in adultery. The matter was kept secret until Dave Hyles was again caught in adultery in Tom Neal's church and kicked out.
Chris has a difficult time dealing with me on the Fundamentalist Forum because I protest loud and long that their pastorate is fallen and has demonstrated such incompetence with Scripture and such disobedience to it that they are disqualified from church office. I keep asking him and his brother Jonathan if they have repented of their sin in bringing this monster onto church staff, and this infuriates them.
So far, they have accused me of being ugly, being a liar, and who knows what else. The typical fundamentalist rants against any who oppose them are homosexuality and other gross sins. But I must admit, once you've taken part in shipping around a gross adulterer from church to church, knowing he has engaged in such sin multiple times---as a pastor, it's kind of hard to make charges against others stick.
Anyway, Chris Farris' latest demonstration of IFBx theology has been the public reconciliation between him and Guy Beaumont, aka BAPTIST on the Hyles-Anderson forum of the FFF. Here are some brief samples of Guy Beaumont's posts. Remember, Guy also claims to be a pastor:
Guy can get even more venomous than this, but I will let my readers go do their own research.
Last night, Chris posted a long remonstrance with the forum, apologizing for his attitude toward the other "men of God" (IFB preachers) and especially Guy. Here is Chris's assessment of the wrongness of rebuking pastors like Guy Beaumont: "Regardless of whether or not we agree with everything a pastor does or doesn’t do most certainly doesn’t give us right to tear him down or his ministry. It’s wickedness, I don’t care how much you try to justify it."
His remarks are a reflection of the culture of the Independent Baptist Church-X movement, in which any man who lays claim to being a pastor is accepted as having a right to that office and thus *is* a man of God, no matter how much he demonstrates otherwise. Furthermore, in IFBx thinking, the title of being a "man of God" brings with it all kinds of entitlements and puts a man above accountability.
I am willing to accept that there was mere squabble-level stuff going on between Chris and Guy, but the fact is, a man who rails against others as Guy Beaumont does is not fit to hold church office according to Paul's standards of pastoral conduct as recorded in I Timothy. And there is even an injunction against having any fellowship with him at all in I Corinthians chapter 5.
Chris also relies upon a classic IFBx piece of theology when he writes, "Those of us who have ripped him and torn him down, did we ever stop to think that behind that key board is a man who is doing his best to please his God by pastoring a church there in Pennsylvania?"
Ah yes, the great last resort of the weeping righteous. "I was doing my best to please God." In a religion based on good works, it is the final claim and plea for some sort of standing. In the religion of the flesh, Grace is due to the man who "does his best," because if works are the basis for righteousness, then even if we fail, trying should at least get us some points.
Let a man lie, let him rail, let him berate, let him scorn, let him defend the indefensible. But at the very end, if he whimpers and says, "But I was trying my best to please God," then in his mind, he should have some standing of acceptance, however low, because he put forth genuine effort. He worked to be righteous, at least on some level.
Such reasoning will get you far among the papists and the deists. But the truth is, BAPTIST has been told repeatedly that his method is entirely unbiblical, his thinking reveals an alienation from God, and his actions oppose the teaching of the Scripture.
There is no room for grace in a heart that works its best to please God. God is offended by the people who do their best to please Him. Isaiah likened our best efforts at righteousness to men adorned with menstrual rags in the presence of God. It is grossly offensive to God for us to adorn ourselves with our works. It is grossly offensive to Him if we dare to make our plea, "I tried my best" and hope for anythng other than condemnation. Heaven is for those who have no works to claim. Christ came to bless those who are poor in Spirit, those who approach God only as beggars. Blessed are the people who beg from God, for THEY get the kingdom of God, not those who plead the merit of having done their best.
When God came in the flesh He expressly said He had not come to minister to those who have any standing of righteousness. He came to save the lost. He came to give His righteousness to people who have no claim to righteousness.
Chris Farris and Guy Beaumont clearly ARE men who have tried their best to please God, and they have come to the same end as any person who tries his or her best to please God----self justification, wrath, manipulation, denial of wrongdoing, and all along a constant defiance against the commands of Christ.
All the trolls, all the mockery, all the cowardice, they are all the marks of people who try their best to please God. That system always leads one way and one way only---the exaltation of the flesh.
Yes, I can see Guy Beaumont tries his best to please God (as does Chris Farris), and so he must resort to every trick of the flesh to keep his engine of human effort going. But the Bible teaches that we are completely dependent on the righteousness of Christ, and this Christian life is lived by faith in the Son of God and not confidence in our efforts.
Away with tears, away with self pity, away with mawkish claims of brotherhood based on human effort and sham church offices. The only true brotherhood is based on fellowship in Christ, standing in Christ, knowing Christ, and Christ living in us, His people. Until that is the claim and the basis that either Chris Farris or Guy Beaumont pleads for fellowship and forgiveness, then they do not have fellowship with Christians. We can pity them; we can keep explaining the truth to them, but until they repent of sin and rely on grace, they are practicing a religion outside of Biblical Christianity. And they will keep demonstrating where they have their confidence by their actions and their words.
Christian Farris is the son of Everrett Farris, senior pastor of Crosspointe Baptist Church in Pinellas Park, Florida. Christian and his brother Jonathan are on church staff as well, in associate pastor roles. Nice work if you can get it, and another evidence of some of the problems endemic in Independent Baptist churches. Theirs is the church that brought Dave Hyles, a rampant sexual player who was kicked out of Miller Road Baptist church for having affairs with over a dozen women, onto their church staff. They then shipped him off to another church (Berean Baptist, pastored by Tom Neal) when he was caught in adultery. The matter was kept secret until Dave Hyles was again caught in adultery in Tom Neal's church and kicked out.
Chris has a difficult time dealing with me on the Fundamentalist Forum because I protest loud and long that their pastorate is fallen and has demonstrated such incompetence with Scripture and such disobedience to it that they are disqualified from church office. I keep asking him and his brother Jonathan if they have repented of their sin in bringing this monster onto church staff, and this infuriates them.
So far, they have accused me of being ugly, being a liar, and who knows what else. The typical fundamentalist rants against any who oppose them are homosexuality and other gross sins. But I must admit, once you've taken part in shipping around a gross adulterer from church to church, knowing he has engaged in such sin multiple times---as a pastor, it's kind of hard to make charges against others stick.
Anyway, Chris Farris' latest demonstration of IFBx theology has been the public reconciliation between him and Guy Beaumont, aka BAPTIST on the Hyles-Anderson forum of the FFF. Here are some brief samples of Guy Beaumont's posts. Remember, Guy also claims to be a pastor:
Thank you for playing my game. You can go back to being morons as usual.LOL!!!
JUST AS I FIGURED Oct-22-04 3:04pm
You really are short on brains. That's the point, whacko!!
Re: For Jerri Massi//if I'm not mistaken... Oct-22-04 3:21pm
You have showed her to be ignorant still. I like watching her make herself look dumb. She's a real pro at it.
NAO Oct-20-04 10:26pm
Guy can get even more venomous than this, but I will let my readers go do their own research.
Last night, Chris posted a long remonstrance with the forum, apologizing for his attitude toward the other "men of God" (IFB preachers) and especially Guy. Here is Chris's assessment of the wrongness of rebuking pastors like Guy Beaumont: "Regardless of whether or not we agree with everything a pastor does or doesn’t do most certainly doesn’t give us right to tear him down or his ministry. It’s wickedness, I don’t care how much you try to justify it."
His remarks are a reflection of the culture of the Independent Baptist Church-X movement, in which any man who lays claim to being a pastor is accepted as having a right to that office and thus *is* a man of God, no matter how much he demonstrates otherwise. Furthermore, in IFBx thinking, the title of being a "man of God" brings with it all kinds of entitlements and puts a man above accountability.
I am willing to accept that there was mere squabble-level stuff going on between Chris and Guy, but the fact is, a man who rails against others as Guy Beaumont does is not fit to hold church office according to Paul's standards of pastoral conduct as recorded in I Timothy. And there is even an injunction against having any fellowship with him at all in I Corinthians chapter 5.
Chris also relies upon a classic IFBx piece of theology when he writes, "Those of us who have ripped him and torn him down, did we ever stop to think that behind that key board is a man who is doing his best to please his God by pastoring a church there in Pennsylvania?"
Ah yes, the great last resort of the weeping righteous. "I was doing my best to please God." In a religion based on good works, it is the final claim and plea for some sort of standing. In the religion of the flesh, Grace is due to the man who "does his best," because if works are the basis for righteousness, then even if we fail, trying should at least get us some points.
Let a man lie, let him rail, let him berate, let him scorn, let him defend the indefensible. But at the very end, if he whimpers and says, "But I was trying my best to please God," then in his mind, he should have some standing of acceptance, however low, because he put forth genuine effort. He worked to be righteous, at least on some level.
Such reasoning will get you far among the papists and the deists. But the truth is, BAPTIST has been told repeatedly that his method is entirely unbiblical, his thinking reveals an alienation from God, and his actions oppose the teaching of the Scripture.
There is no room for grace in a heart that works its best to please God. God is offended by the people who do their best to please Him. Isaiah likened our best efforts at righteousness to men adorned with menstrual rags in the presence of God. It is grossly offensive to God for us to adorn ourselves with our works. It is grossly offensive to Him if we dare to make our plea, "I tried my best" and hope for anythng other than condemnation. Heaven is for those who have no works to claim. Christ came to bless those who are poor in Spirit, those who approach God only as beggars. Blessed are the people who beg from God, for THEY get the kingdom of God, not those who plead the merit of having done their best.
When God came in the flesh He expressly said He had not come to minister to those who have any standing of righteousness. He came to save the lost. He came to give His righteousness to people who have no claim to righteousness.
Chris Farris and Guy Beaumont clearly ARE men who have tried their best to please God, and they have come to the same end as any person who tries his or her best to please God----self justification, wrath, manipulation, denial of wrongdoing, and all along a constant defiance against the commands of Christ.
All the trolls, all the mockery, all the cowardice, they are all the marks of people who try their best to please God. That system always leads one way and one way only---the exaltation of the flesh.
Yes, I can see Guy Beaumont tries his best to please God (as does Chris Farris), and so he must resort to every trick of the flesh to keep his engine of human effort going. But the Bible teaches that we are completely dependent on the righteousness of Christ, and this Christian life is lived by faith in the Son of God and not confidence in our efforts.
Away with tears, away with self pity, away with mawkish claims of brotherhood based on human effort and sham church offices. The only true brotherhood is based on fellowship in Christ, standing in Christ, knowing Christ, and Christ living in us, His people. Until that is the claim and the basis that either Chris Farris or Guy Beaumont pleads for fellowship and forgiveness, then they do not have fellowship with Christians. We can pity them; we can keep explaining the truth to them, but until they repent of sin and rely on grace, they are practicing a religion outside of Biblical Christianity. And they will keep demonstrating where they have their confidence by their actions and their words.
