About two weeks ago, my husband and I realized we gave Kirk a pass. We sanctioned everything he said or did because of his former years of good and faithful work for the
true Gospel. But over the past several years, Kirk has demonstrated a slow digression towards the false social gospel of "we can transform the world and make it better", rather than what he used to preach and teach, "let's share the Gospel of Jesus Christ which alone transform lives".
I can't believe I watched the
trailer of "Monumental" and missed the man-centered perspective that was so clearly portrayed within the first few minutes with Kirk sharing,
"Everybody's telling me the world's going to Hell." Then he includes the financial, moral and spiritual decline of our country, then continues with...
"And to top it off, I have friends in church who tell me, that 'The worst things get, the better it really is, because it means the end is near; and that Jesus is returning.... Really? Because I have kids in this world. I have friends who have children in this world, that I want a great future for them."
Throughout the movie, Kirk tries to inspire us all to be better Americans and do what we can to save our world and make it a better place for our kids. This kind of euphoric, self-actualized ideology is not new and will render the same fate as those who tried it before (Jer. 7:4-15, Ps 44:6-8). We can't save the world, but we
can and must share the Gospel.
So what did God use a couple of weeks ago to open my eyes to my sin?
I heard
Brannon Howse's radio program,
Worldview Weekend where he and another faithful brother in the Lord,
Justin Peters spoke of their disappointment with Kirk's digression from preaching the true Gospel since about 2012 to his most recent descent, which included Kirk's radio interview on the Busted Halo (a Roman Catholic) program with "father"
Dave Dwyer. As I carefully listened to Brannon and Justin, I was very upset with their assessment of Kirk and decided to listen to
Kirk's interview myself to prove Brannon and Justin were wrong and urge them to recant their disapproval of Kirk.
I not only listened to Kirk's entire interview on Busted Halo, but I also revisited "Monumental" and my review. I was deeply grieved by both. I discovered not only were Brannon and Justin correct, but they kindly spared Kirk by not sharing the entire interview because it was worse than they mentioned.
So I contacted Kirk through his website asking him to recant much of what he shared on Dave Dwyer's program and asked him why he's taken this path away from the true Gospel. I then emailed both Brannon and Justin asking them if they had contacted Kirk prior to publicly airing his digression, not that it was required since Kirk's public comments are open to public reproof. But that out of love for Christ and a brother, did they try to urge him not to stray.
Both brothers graciously and thoughtfully responded. And they both at one time, tried to contact Kirk hoping to keep him from sinfully mixing light with darkness as we're commanded in 2 Corinthians 6:14-16a. This passage is often used to speak about marriage, but that's not necessarily the context here. The context is referring to how animals used to be "yoked" together to work in one accord, so that if one animal moved in one direction, it affected the direction and work of the other. We, as God's holy and dearly beloved children are commanded to not "yoke" ourselves with unbelievers so that we are not swayed to move away from the Lord. So this includes marriage, but also any close partnership between believers and unbelievers. And Kirk has done this repeatedly.
Brannon tried to urge Kirk away from this sin in 2012 during the Glenn Beck mess. But it was to no avail. Justin tried calling Kirk prior to his recent interview on the Busted Halo program, but Kirk never returned the call.
Kirk called me later that same evening. Our conversation lasted a little more than an hour and because I still want to protect Kirk from any unnecessary and non-beneficial grief (2 Cor 7:8-9), I'm only going to share a snippet of our conversation. I still want God's best for my brother Kirk—his private and public repentance of pride, yoking with unbelievers for "God's work" and straying from preaching the true Gospel to promoting the happy-go-lucky-unoffensive-better-the-world false gospel.
Here's what I learned about Kirk's opinion of his interview and facts about his new Christmas movie:
- Kirk said he had no intention of sharing the Gospel with the unsaved priest who hosts the Busted Halo radio program. He said he didn't want to do or say anything offensive, but went on the program for the sole purpose of promoting "Saving Christmas", and that's not possible when you offend people with the Gospel.
- He stands by his comparison of his new life in Christ to, "trading in bachelorhood" where he was having a good time, "for something better" and like "going from eating a burger to eating a filet mignon," He said he used these analogies because they were easy to understand. He could've said it's like a dead person being raised to life. I'm pretty sure Dave Dwyer and and many others can understand that analogy. And definitely more accurate. Dead people aren't bachelors and dead people don't eat...anything. Kirk's analogy was that of the false social gospel (Joel Osteen's gospel), likening Christianity to just a better, upgraded you, rather than saying that becoming a Christian is an act of God alone, making you a new creation in Christ; something you never could be on your own.
- Kirk admitted he was wrong when he included "Son of God" as one of the good Christian movies all children should see and want to emulate. He said he never saw the movie, wasn't aware it was blasphemous and heretical, and mentioned it because it did well in the box office. In other interviews, Kirk carelessly commends other heretical and blasphemous movies (he's never seen nor knew anything about) like "Noah", "Heaven Is For Real", etc.
- He claims "Saving Christmas" will reveal how our cherished Christmas festivities like decorating Christmas trees, exchanging gifts, Santa Claus, etc. are all found in the Bible as good and encouraged practices. Kirk also told me that the Christmas trees represent the Cross of Christ. When I asked him for a chapter and verse for these claims, he said he preferred not to give it to me because he wanted me to see the movie.
- I went into this conversation hoping I gravely misunderstood his interview on the Busted Halo radio program. But my hope was doused when Kirk shared that he actually believes promoting a movie trumps sharing the Gospel with the lost, and that he's willing to work closely with anyone (believers and unbelievers) who will help him promote his work. When I tried to offer him an "out" and suggest perhaps he misspoke during the interview (and our conversation), that perhaps all that he said wasn't what he meant, he stood firm that he did not misspeak.
Though my family and I celebrate Christmas on December 25 and have a Christmas tree we decorate, we do not believe any of this is in the Bible as commandments or even slight suggestions for Christians to practice. We neither claim everyone needs to celebrate Christmas nor do we belittle those who don't because their conscience bears witness that they ought not (c.f. Romans 14).
I purposely waited to share this because I wanted to be quick to listen and slow to speak (James 1:18-19). I wanted to give Kirk a chance to repent, respond to my second email and give opportunity to others who said they'd try to help him. But as of the date of this article, and to my knowledge, no repentance, neither private nor public has been made.
If I hadn't publicly sinned and misled others; if Kirk didn't have a public ministry and hadn't publicly misled people into the false social gospel for the past couple of years, then I wouldn't be writing this public piece.
This is how it's done within the Body of Christ. What is private is handled privately unless a public address is warranted for the safety of others. And a public matter is kept public with grace, truth and love so that the world can see that we are not perfect, but we belong to a perfect Father and God who commands and empowers us to love one another His way—perfectly.
"For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.
"For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him"
~2 Cor 2:4, 6-8 (ESV)
Please join me in prayer for our brother Kirk and for those who are lovingly trying to deter him from compromising the Gospel, so that he can promote and encourage more "faith-based" movies in Hollywood.
Any judgmental or derogatory comments regarding Kirk, Brannon, Justin or Ray will be swiftly deleted.