PCC & Me: Radio Days, WPCS Rejoice Radio
Last time we looked at some fun times on PCC Tennis courts. Today we look back on a more serious issue for PCC. In the Spring semester (88) an appreciation dinner was hosted by Dr. Horton and several college administrators. The appreciation dinner was to recognize various contributors to the production of the annual college calendar. I received an invitation for my wife and I because my Salesmanship class sold advertising space for the calendar. I was told to invite two of my students from the class. I chose the top two in advertising revenue to attend.
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| 1988 WPCS Moves into New Studios |
At dinner my wife and I were seated next to Dr. Horton. Among other topics the conversation turned to my earlier career in on-air radio. He then pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, wrote something down and put it back in his pocket. Later in the week I received a note from the office responsible for assigning summer responsibilities to faculty and staff for the summer while students were away. I had already received my assignment, which was to work in the ABeka Book distribution center (DC). The note I then received said that I was reassigned to be a representative for WPCS radio. Frankly, I was pleased to be representing the radio station because I had heard working DC wasn't much fun.
My responsibilty was to act as a station listeners liaison retuming phone calls and visit folks in their homes who were financial supporters of WPCS to thank them, answer questions and encourage continued support of WPCS. Later I will describe how one of those visits led to the creation of a new outreach ministry for the college and the Campus Church: The Home of Grace.
This was the summer of 1988. Early into liaison responsibility some calls to the station from folks asking why the station discontinued airing John MacArthur's Grace to You program. The decision to pull MacArthur's program was made soon after the publication of his original edition of The Gospel According to Jesus. The Bible department reviewed the book and found it to be advocating a false interpretation of the gospel commonly known as Lordship Salvation (LS). I took or returned each those calls to, in layman terms, explain why the station dropped Grace to You because of MacArthur's advocacy for Lordship Salvation. Earlier today I searched the WPCS Programming Schedule. Nowhere does MacArthur's Grace to You appear. I'm pleased to report that a recent search of the Campus Store Book section revealed zero results when searching "John MacArthur."
Years later, October 1997, a guest chapel speaker advocated LS in one of his messages to the student body. The following Sunday evening (Nov. 2, 1997) Dr. Joel Mullenix brought a sermon titled, "What is the Gospel?" in which he identified the chapel message as a false interpretation of the gospel, and from his Bible (step by step) explained why it was wrong. In one chapter of my book, In Defense of the Gospel; Biblical Answers to Lordship Salvation I draw heavily from Dr. Mullenix's What is the Gospel?
In 2010 I published the revised & expanded version of my original edition (2006). I wrote these books to expose LS so that believers could first easily recognize LS. and then be equipped to refute and resist the pernicious spread of Lordship's works based, non saving message. Following are examples from the book.
Summary of Lordship Salvation From a Single Page of MacArthur's Book
I need to explain something about the time line of this recollection from PCC. I refer to the November 1997 sermon by Dr. Mullenix. I departed PCC in June 1992 to make preparations for missionary service in South Africa. We arrived in South Africa September 1996. Soon after my missionary coworker, Kevin Brosnan, discovered while he was away on furlough, and just before my arrival, two American missionaries (Doug van Meter, Steven Miller) used that time to introduce and infect the Bible College with Lordship Salvation. Pastor Brosnan asked me to write a position paper for the college rejecting Lordship Salvation, which I did. It was at this time someone notified me of Dr. Mullenix's sermon, "What is the Gospel?" I wrote Dr. Mullenix requesting an audio copy of his sermon, which he gladly sent. I played that sermon to our Bible College students and transcribed extended excerpts into the college position paper. Those excerpts remain in the revised & expanded edition of my book, In Defense of the Gospel.
How interesting to hear about Dr. Mullenix's 1997 message. In 1999 he brought it up in chapel. I want to say it was during announcements, but I don't recall exactly. What I remember is him looking very grave and saying "there is a great poison" sneaking into our churches, and "that is the poison of Lordship salvation." I didn't know who John MacArthur was back then, so this just seemed to come out of nowhere. Now, 25 years later, I have my answer.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the follow up on Dr. Mullenix's continuation of exposing and refuting the works based, non-saving theology of Lordship Salvation and MacArthur's advocacy of it. LS is a very great poison that made deep inroads into many of our churches. As I noted above since the release of his first edition (1988). MacArthur's LS books and Grace to You were removed from Campus Book Store and the radio station programming. Not so at BJU! Around 2002, after many years of rejecting Lordship Salvation, having removed LS books from the BJ Bookstore, MacArthur's book could be found in many shelf spaces. (I was there on campus and stunned to see these books there now. Even Walter Chantry's Pro-LS book, Today's Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic reappeared in the book store. Many years earlier BJU Bible faculty Dr. Stuart Custer wrote a critical review of Chantry's because it was strong advocacy of LS. Thanks again for sharing your experience.
DeleteLM
It has been decades since I listened to WPCS. I tuned in online and was surprised to hear a lot of CCM.
ReplyDeleteFrom LM, Same here. Many do not appreciate the CCM on WPCS and in the Campus Church. Many those songs would have and/or were forbidden not long ago.
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