My Prayer For Focus on the Family
By Brannon S. Howse

I had no intention of writing another column on Focus on the Family or the Dobsons. I am hearing from readers, however, who have received e-mails from Focus on the Family that distort my original column.  So let me write this with as much love and respect as I can because I believe that Dr. and Mrs. Dobson, and many at Focus on the Family, are my brothers and sisters in the Lord.

There are several reasons why I have come to the sad realization that Focus on the Family just does not get it when it comes to the crisis facing the American church and thus our nation and its families. I think they don’t get it because they think culturally not doctrinally. I am, however, only going to highlight one recent example.

After I wrote a column about Mrs. Dobson's appearance on The Hour of Power with Robert Schuller, a reader of Christian Worldview Network sent Focus on the Family a letter stating their concern. The response by FOTF is posted at the end of this column.

The feedback I received from my last column took me completely by surprise. I expected to be thrown under the bus because I dared question one of Christendom’s most popular personalities. I am learning, though, that many discerning Christians are concerned by seeing the same things. In fact, this e-mail that I received reveals that there is at least one person that works at FOTF who is also concerned:

I actually work at FOTF and the things I'm seeing happening here are extremely disturbing and yet I don't have any influence, other than prayer, to change the situation. Thank you, thank you, thank you for calling attention to this issue!

Not everyone is thanking me; least of all the FOTF public relations department. In an e-mail to a CWN reader, a FOTF representative stated that Schuller could not possibly be part of the Emergent Church because Schuller has been involved in "ministry" since the 1950s and the Emergent Church is new. What does one have to do with the other? Schuller has promoted universalism for years, and that is one of the main doctrines of the Emergent church. In addition, Schuller co-hosted his recent Re-think conference with Emergent Church pastor Erwin McManus. It is becoming apparent that FOTF is not really aware of what is going on--or perhaps they don’t want to know what is going on.

The FOTF representative went on to defend Shirley Dobson's appearance on the Hour of Power and her praise of Robert Schuller's ministry. The FOTF representative said Shirley was just being "gracious.”  2 Corinthians 6:14-17 warms against partnering with the ungodly much less being “gracious” to their false teaching.

The representative also did not like what she perceived as "guilt by association.” What about “credibility by association” because that is exactly what Schuller receives when non-discerning evangelicals run to his side and appear on his program?

Would Mrs. Dobson go and promote the National Day of Prayer before one of America's largest homosexual churches? I don’t think she would because she would not want to give credibility to the homosexual agenda.  

The FOTF representative said that I accused the Dobsons of agreeing with the Emergent Church. That is not, however, what I said in my column about Dr. and Mrs. Dobson.

The FOTF representative went on to write that "the Doctor (speaking of James Dobson) has some serious personal concerns about the movement.  Unlike Mr. Howse, however, he doesn’t make it his business to go around voicing those concerns." 

Dr. Dobson should voice those concerns because he has chosen to be a Christian leader and that is what a leader does. The time for Christian leaders to go weak in the knees is not when a Trojan horse has entered the camp.

The Emergent church is made of people like Jim Wallis, Tony Campolo, Brian McLaren and many others that are extreme social liberals. Many within the Emergent church have no problem with the homosexual agenda or abortion. Numerous newspapers are reporting that "evangelical" college students are going to vote for Senator Obama because Emergent Church leaders have been traveling and speaking at colleges and universities the past two years. 

Dr. Dobson, however, at this crucial hour, seems to have lost his voice and the courage of his convictions to name names; which is the only way to root out the enemy in our camp. He had no problem speaking out against Bill Clinton and other liberals, so why does he have an aversion to speaking out against liberals inside the church?

If Dr. Dobson will not speak out against the Emergent Church and its liberal social worldview, why, pray tell, would he not expose their false gospel that is leading millions to hell?

Let's face it, America is melting down and we are losing, and may have even lost, the culture war. The war, however, over essential Christian doctrines rages on. I personally believe that if more time and focus had been put on using our radio programs, books and columns to disciple Christians in Biblical truth, we could have won the culture war, and the Trojan horse of the Emergent Church would not now be making its way into many of our nation's churches. As goes the Church, so goes the family, and as goes the family, so goes the nation. It is time we focus on the Church.

Sadly, many years have been spent reacting to the symptoms and not the real problem facing America, our churches and our families. The solution is, and always has been, found in solid Biblical worldview and doctrinal training. In other words, the focus should have been more on the Bible and less on the family.

Your worldview is the foundation of your values, and your values are the foundation of your conduct. If you equip people with a Biblical worldview, then their values will automatically be pro-life and marriage will be defined as one man and one woman, for a lifetime. In addition, parents that are trained in a Biblical worldview will be equipped to raise Godly children that reject the worldview of Secular and Cosmic Humanism.

We can not turn back the clock now, but we can learn that you save people, families and a nation from the false worldviews that are taking them captive. This is done by disciplining them in Biblical truth; not through secular psychology that has been Christianized.

We also must learn that people cannot be warned about false teachers if we remain silent and do not name names. Jesus commended the church of Ephesus for naming names in Revelation 2:2. Many of the Apostles named names as found I Timothy 1:18-20 and II Timothy 2:15-18.  Many of our Christian leaders, however, will not name names and as a result, the church in America has been over-run with universalism, pluralism and pagan spirituality, dressed up with Christian names by “Christian” authors.  

Praise God, the remnant is just fine. But the remnant has also figured out that many of today's "Christian leaders" are simply not leading.

I understand that many of our leaders are now senior saints and they are tired. I also know that Dr. Dobson has fought long and hard on issues when many were silent. Dr. Dobson was leading when few would and I know he loves God’s people and the foundational principles upon which our nation was founded. However, he still has a powerful voice, a large audience and tons of credibility. Dr. Dobson, I am begging you and praying that you finish the race strong on the most important issue of our day-the defense of sound Biblical doctrine which equips us for every good work. (I Timothy 3:17)

I know Dr. Dobson has repeated over and over that he is a Christian psychologist and not a pastor or theologian. However, now is the hour for Dr. Dobson to be remembered not as a Christian psychologist but a Christian statesmen.

Please join me in praying for Dr. Dobson and please join me in calling a spade a spade, naming names and taking on the false doctrine, worldview and teachers of our day--whether or not the popular personalities of Christendom join us.

My challenge to you is to join the remnant on the field and engage the enemy, run toward the roar of the spiritual battle. We must-- because souls are at risk.

Supporting documentation:

Here is the e-mail sent by FOTF to a CWN reader that e-mailed them about their dismay of Shirley Dobson appearing on The Hour of Power. Below this correspondence is how the CWN reader replied back to FOTF.

Dear Friend:

Greetings from Focus on the Family, and thank you for your recent e-mail.  We appreciate your coming to us directly with your concerns about Brannon S. Howse’s article, “Do the Dobsons and Focus on the Family Agree with the Emergent Church?” (Christian Worldview Network; posted April 29, 2008).  We’re pleased to have this opportunity to serve you by responding to your inquiry.

From our perspective, there are several problems with Mr. Howse’s message.  Working from a foundation of seriously flawed assumptions, he is inevitably led to make a number of glaringly false assertions about our ministry.  To begin with, he attaches far too much weight to Mrs. Shirley Dobson’s April 27th appearance on Dr. Robert Schuller’s ­_Hour of Power_ television program.  As the Chairman of the NDP Task Force, Mrs. Dobson is responsible to promote and publicize the Annual National Day of Prayer in every way she can.  She went to Dr. Schuller’s church for one reason and one reason only:  to remind Christians to pray for their country (significantly, Howse claims that he “doesn’t take issue” with this aspect of her message).  What’s more, her closing remarks about the “good work” being done at the Crystal Cathedral were purely an expression of the kindness and graciousness that are so characteristic of Mrs. Dobson’s overall manner and style of communication.  To claim that any of this amounts to an “endorsement” of Dr. Schuller’s theology is to strain truth to the breaking point.

Second, a similar argument can be advanced in defense of Rev. H. B. London’s participation in the Rethink Conference of January 2008.  Since coming to Focus on the Family over sixteen years ago, Rev. London’s calling and passion has been to minister to all those who minister and to avail himself of every opportunity to encourage the spiritual renewal and restoration of pastors.  His faithfulness to this calling has sometimes led him to take part in events where not every participant shares his theological perspective.  Generally speaking, he does not regard this as a problem; unlike Mr. Howse, he does not operate according to a standard of “guilt by association.”  You may be certain that the message he delivered at the Rethink Conference was thoroughly evangelical and Bible-based.  His only goal was to challenge pastors and Christian leaders to live a life of deeper and greater faith, while stressing the importance of building safeguards into their lives and marriages.       

Third, it comes to us as a great surprise that Mr. Howse should identify the name of Robert Schuller so closely with the agenda of the Emergent Church.  Schuller has been active in ministry since the mid-1950s.  By contrast, The Emergent Church is a fairly recent phenomenon -- hardly a decade old by all the most reliable estimates.  Where then is the necessary connection between the two?      

Fourth and last, Mr. Howe’s claim that Dr. Dobson “agrees with” and “supports” the Emergent Church is groundless.  In actuality, the Doctor has some serious personal concerns about the movement.  Unlike Mr. Howse, however, he doesn’t make it his business to go around voicing those concerns.  That’s largely because the so-called Emergent Church has yet to be clearly defined.  The ambiguity of the situation is aggravated by the fact that, despite the confusion surrounding its theological outlook, the Emergent Church has evidenced some laudable characteristics, including a zeal for outreach, a willingness to break down barriers, and a strong sense of community.  Naturally, this doesn’t alter Focus on the Family’s conviction that any movement or denominational effort in the Body of Christ has to be measured by its adherence to and reverence for the Scriptures and its fidelity to an historic, orthodox understanding of the Christian faith.  Deviance in that regard should always be cause for concern.

We hope this reply has clarified our perspective for you.  Thanks again for caring enough to contact us, and please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any further questions.  God bless you!

Kathryn Lisle
Focus on the Family

Dear Ms Lisle:

Thank you for your response.

Does promoting "the Annual National Day of Prayer in every way she can" outweigh concerns that such a well-known Evangelical's appearance on Schuller's TV program raise, including leading weaker brothers and sisters to stumble thinking that Mrs. Dobson's appearance gives credence to Schuller's apostate beliefs which are well-documented?

Mrs. Dobson's comments about the work at the Crystal Cathedral are inappropriate in the very least and outrageous when you consider the apostate teachings of Schuller.  Someone of Mrs. Dobson's experience, etc. should know better.  I don't appreciate your attempt to downplay this by saying that her remarks "were purely an expression of the kindness and graciousness that are so characteristic of Mrs. Dobson’s overall manner and style of communication."  Would Mrs. Dobson have said the same thing at a Planned Parenthood dinner?  Why doesn't Mrs. Dobson make a statement clarifying her remarks if they were misinterpreted?

I appreciate when you say that "In actuality, the Doctor has some serious personal concerns about the movement." referring to the Emergent Church.  However, you seem to downplay this in the next sentence when you say, "Unlike Mr. Howse, however, he doesn’t make it his business to go around voicing those concerns."  Why not?  Do we wait until people are totally deceived to warn them?  Would you wait until a car struck a child before warning him about playing in the street, or would you warn him when you first saw the danger?

I regret that your response has done nothing to alleviate any of my concerns.

Regards,

By Brannon Howse Email: Brannon@worldviewweekend.com Click here for bio and archived articles