<a href="http://federal-vision.blogspot.com/2007/10/fact-check.html">http://federal-vision.blogspot.com/2007/10/fact-check.html</a><br><br><br><h2 class="date-header">Monday, October 1, 2007</h2>
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<a href="http://federal-vision.blogspot.com/2007/10/fact-check.html">Fact Check</a>
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<p>The <span style="font-style: italic;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/magazine/30Christian-t.html?_r=2&ref=magazine&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">New York Times Magazine</a></span>
recently reported,<br></p><blockquote>Evan
Wilson, 52, has been estranged from his older brother's church and
college ever since a theological quarrel in the late 1980s that he dubs
"the Great Unpleasantness." . . .</blockquote><br>And Douglas Wilson writes on his <a target="_blank" href="http://dougwils.com/index.asp?Action=Anchor&CategoryID=1&BlogID=4552">blog</a>,<br><br><blockquote>And
just so you know, out of respect for my parents, I am not going to
answer any particular questions about Evan in this setting. To the
extent that something has been made obvious to the world (as happened
with the <span style="font-style: italic;">NYT</span> article ) I am
willing to acknowledge it and say what is generally up. But I am going
to do whatever I can to keep the details from being hauled out on the
public stage. Whether that resolution will be successful remains to be
seen. Suffice it to say for now that I believe it is really sick that
the first notice that my father's extremely fruitful ministry got in
the <span style="font-style: italic;">NYT</span> was notice of a conflict between his sons.</blockquote><br>And Wilson enlarged upon this subject at <a target="_blank" href="http://greenbaggins.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/sarcasm/#comments">
Green Baggins</a> (after misrepresenting Kevin Johnson and taking him to task for that misrepresentation), writing,<br><br><blockquote>I
would characterize our relationship as personally cordial and
doctrinally and positionally strained. No hypocrisy there. When you are
dealing with such complicated issues in the future, and assuming it to
be your business, I would urge you to get the facts first.</blockquote><br>Here are the facts, which are all well known <span style="font-style: italic;">and public</span>
in the Moscow–Pullman region. Douglas Wilson has had a family feud with
his brother Evan for about 20 years, or roughly since Wilson embraced
"Reformed" theology. At that time, Evan served with his brother as a
pastor of Faith Evangelical Fellowship(?), which eventually changed its
name to Community Evangelical Fellowship and then Christ Church. 20
years ago or so, Faith Evangelical Fellowship was an Arminian- and
Baptist-oriented church, until Douglas went "Reformed," which was when
he delivered an ultimatum to his brother Evan: <span style="font-style: italic;">"Embrace 'Reformed' theology or face a trial for heresy."</span> Evan saw the writing on the wall and left the church to plant <a target="_blank" href="http://allsoulschristian.org/">
another church</a> across town, with less than half the congregation following him, feeling more than a little disdain for Douglas.<br><br>Evan
describes this event as "the Great Unpleasantness"; he talks freely
about it; and to this day the core membership of his congregation
thinks very little of Doug and his imperial ambitions. Evan, on the
other hand, does not have a bitter bone in his body and speaks with
affection for his brother, though he freely admits that<br><ol><li>Douglas has functionally excommunicated him from the faith;</li><li>Douglas openly treats him as an unbeliever (they only speak when Doug needs something from Evan); and
</li><li>Douglas is drunk with power, arrogant, deceitful, and mentally disturbed.</li></ol>He affirms these things without a trace of animosity.<br><br>I
have spoken with Evan on more than one occasion and many of my friends
attend his church. Evan is an honest and godly man who is a theological
independent, just like his brother, and he attributes their mutual
independence to their father who calls himself "the Bishop of Moscow."
All three men are sophists (which I attribute to their father);
however, Evan lacks his brother's guile. Evan matches his brother's
rhetorical skill word for word and slam for slam, but he can't write
worth a lick (to be fair, Doug has been self-publishing since the late
'80s, whereas Evan's first real consistent effort began when he opened
his <a target="_blank" href="http://evantine.blogspot.com/">blog</a>).<br><br>Evan has a lovely wife who, when she speaks about the Great Unpleasantness, has said to more than one person, <span style="font-style: italic;">
"No one believes that Doug is capable of doing it, until he does it to them."</span>
Leslie speaks from experience. She has watched Doug blame Evan for
scandal upon scandal that took place at Christ Church — from the NSA
drug ring to the Christ Church casino — Douglas found a way to pin it
on his brother. Indeed, Doug's contempt for his brother goes much
further. He regularly ridicules Evan in private conversations; he often
exhorts members of his congregation not to speak with Evan; he
prohibits officers' children from visiting Evan's home; and Christ
Church has issued at least two letters warning the congregation to
avoid Evan. In other words, Doug has made a deliberate effort to treat
his brother as a leper and he has intentional done this in public.<br><br>This
is not gossip. These facts are all public knowledge, well known
throughout Moscow and Pullman, and Doug Wilson knows it. Even worse,
his <a target="_blank" href="http://rootsbytheriver.blogspot.com/">father</a>
pled with him on several occasions not to let his animosity for Evan go
public with church censures et al., but Doug ignored his father's pleas.<br><br>So if Douglas Wilson doesn't like reading this in public as he alleged when he wrote, <i>"But I am going to do whatever I can to keep the details from being hauled out on the public stage,"
</i>
then he should not have spent the last 20 years creating the public
record. In fact, if the man had any decency at all, he would repent
publicly for the horrible way he has treated his brother (and many
others).<br><br>Regardless, when Doug Wilson writes <i>"And just so you
know, out of respect for my parents, I am not going to answer any
particular questions about Evan in this setting,"</i> he is using mom and dad as human shields. He had the opportunity to respect his parents long before the <i>NYT</i> got wind of the family rift, but he refused. And when Doug Wilson writes,
<i>"I would characterize our relationship as personally cordial and doctrinally and positionally strained,"</i> he is . . . well . . . he is lying through his teeth.
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Posted by
<span class="fn">Mark T.</span>
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at
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