Just recently, Charisma News published an article authored by a woman named Chelsen Vicari, who has also written a book entitled, "Distorted". The article in question was titled "How The New Christian Left Is Twisting The Gospel". Admittedly, this was a well-written - albeit largely naive - attempt to attack "hip" evangelical congregations by making the unfounded argument that we have abandoned traditional teaching in favor of cherry picking Scriptures that "jive" with the culture. The article featured a photo of a young tattooed couple in causal clothing (as if being young and tattooed is something to be ashamed of) and then proceeded to break down liberal Christians into three convenient categories. In doing so, Little Miss Chelsen entirely missed the mark - several times over.
You see, Little Miss Chelsen used to a progressive. By progressive, I mean that she used to stand for the raw, unadulterated teachings of Christ, championed equality for all people, and placed grace at the forefront of all things. She "loved her neighbor as herself". She was a free thinker. All good things. We each have a personal journey, each to walk out in his or her own fashion. But along the way, Little Miss Chelsen suffered some type of a relapse. Before long, social justice wasn't good enough. Feminists became evil. And capitalism was a-okay - not to be questioned. She then decided that "liberal Christianity" was all about "issues" and nothing else. She decided to stop dancing and opted for a march instead. And then someone gave her an outlet to write about this. And, boy oh boy, here comes Charisma. They posted her article, which contains the following quote:
Popular liberal evangelical writers and preachers tell young evangelicals that if they accept abortion and same-sex marriage, then the media, academia and Hollywood will finally accept Christians. Out of fear of being falsely dubbed "intolerant" or "uncompassionate," many young Christians are buying into theological falsehoods. Instead of standing up as a voice for the innocent unborn or marriage as God intended, millennials are forgoing the authority of Scripture and embracing a couch potato, cafeteria-style Christianity all in the name of tolerance.
A bit shallow. Totally untrue. In Little Miss Chelsen's eyes, we're all blind, incapable of thinking for ourselves, and are all nazis. This is where Little Miss Chelsen screwed up, by allowing her mind to become warped by the extreme right and then sitting down at a keyboard to share her thoughts before she even had a moment to ponder them, to seriously consider what she was saying. She's so out of the loop, she no longer understands what it is to be "progressive" anymore. She also assumes that all progressives are liberal.
And Charisma News is eating it up. Last week, they posted an article about Rachel Held Evans' departure from the Evangelical church. They made it seem like Rachel had abandoned Christ altogether, and that every follower of hers was going to do the same. But this is what they do. Charisma News likes to instill fear by telling lies. And now, they are using Little Miss Chelsen as a way to promote that sickening agenda. This is what the extreme right excels at. They see progressive Christians who celebrate freedom, and they are mad because they see that we have discovered truth. They then set out to attack that freedom by any means necessary - even if they have to flat-out lie to do it.
It's time that true Christ followers took a stand. Let Charisma News and Little Miss Chelsen know that you are tired of their kind. That you are fed up with the abuse. That you will no longer allow them to speak for all believers. In the meantime, pray that Little Miss Chelsen comes back to her senses. Pray that she finds a group that will help to undo much of the brainwashing that has apparently gone on over the past few years. Pray that she finds freedom.
And most of all, pray for an end to Charisma News.
