August 1998 Personal Letter

Dear Friends,

Sometimes a fellow just doesn’t know what to write. I started out last November to point out to college administrators of my own denomination that they had inadvertently selected a bad textbook. They agreed with me completely and even gave me reasons for the book’s errors. They indicated they would look carefully at the book and get back to me in good time. But six months passed, and then they pronounced the book flawless and refused to get rid of it.

Now one of them is sending out a mean-spirited letter about me to those of you who write to Criswell College. Having no real defense for this awful textbook, they undertake to attack the messenger.

I am not uncomfortable at the university level. I spent ten years in institutions of higher learning, and I taught at three universities. I have known administrators and faculty members both good and bad my whole life. And I am used to being taken seriously. I’m familiar with only three people at Criswell College. One of them, Dr. Paul Wolfe, the head of the Department of New Testament Studies, was my student at Dallas Baptist University. He is an ardent believer in Replacement Theology, my son Aaron determined in a three-hour interview. The second one is sending out the letter about me, and the third one, the president of the college, told me face-to-face that the author’s theology was called unacceptable by a learned Bible society.

Let me say that the whole atmosphere of hostility makes me sad and very troubled. I thought I would be thanked for my effort. I am only criticizing a textbook, not a college or its administrators. This is not a personal matter. The book is patently wrong, and there is no way anyone can answer for its many errors without slipping into language that suggests a less than honest approach. “Spin control” has no place in Christian discourse. If Criswell College was formed to teach the Bible, then the present administrators have forgotten what they came for.

I want to thank those of you who wrote to Criswell in regard to the textbook A Survey of the New Testament, third edition, by Robert H. Gundry. I know that you received letters from Dr. Lamar Cooper, the Executive Vice President of the college. He was the administrator Aaron and I dealt with, along with President Wells, when we first reported the errors in the book last November. At that time, Dr. Cooper seemed to agree with us. He listened while Dr. Wells told me that author Gundry had been expelled from the Evangelical Theological Society because of his unacceptable theology. The issue was one especially precious to Baptists, biblical inerrancy. Gundry’s book gives ample evidence of his distrust of scriptural veracity and even the deity of our Lord. A thesis of his is that the Messiah made a mistake in coming to the Jews and corrected it by turning to the Gentiles. Dr. Cooper himself deplored how Zondervan Publishing Company has deteriorated over the years, as an explanation of how such a book could come about. He assured me at that time that he would look carefully at the text and get back to me promptly.

But Dr. Cooper’s reply to our readers’ letters characterizes me as some kind of radical, running off half-cocked on a “crusade.” He does not mention that Dr. Thomas S. McCall, a Baptist theologian of unquestioned knowledge and skill — ordained by W.A. Criswell himself — was also on our “A Textbook Case” television program. We came with two witnesses, as Scripture requires, and we presented our case. Dr. McCall, a Gentile Christian, certified that the book was anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, full of Replacement Theology, etc., etc.

A wise Christian told me recently that when Christians form big organizations, they often behave like big organizations, not like Christians. They become defensive and tricky. When told that cigarettes were bad for people, the tobacco companies called the accusations a “controversy.” When I say that wrong-headed Bible is bad for students, the school calls it a “crusade.” But I know that Gundry’s awful textbook has been out since 1970 in three different editions, and thousands of pastors and laymen have been misguided by it. (In an upcoming letter, we will show how Gundry’s theology doesn’t even agree from edition to edition of his own book.)

Why does a college use a textbook by an author it knows is badly qualified and in which the theology is so questionable? (Aaron’s classroom teacher was disheartened and didn’t want to use it, but was compelled to do so. He referred Aaron to Dr. Wolfe.) Well, I think it bears mentioning that the publisher, Stanley Gundry of Zondervan, is the brother of the author. Why does the college fight so hard to keep such a book? Cooper’s letter cites that Zondervan “first published it while Pat Zondervan, a champion for truth, was still CEO of the publishing company.” But Cooper does not go on to say that the company has since been sold and taken over by individuals he told me personally are doctrinally far less careful.

I have consulted more than one theologian on the author’s positions. It turns out that Gundry debated with Dr. Thomas Ice on a radio program three months ago, and he defended the post-tribulation Rapture position. That thinking, which would take the Church through the Tribulation period, runs counter to normal Baptist theology, to say nothing of Scripture itself. The entire idea of the imminence of the Rapture is simply done away with. It is hard to think of a more damaging teaching in the field of prophecy.

As to Cooper’s statement that “the text makes no claims that could be labeled ‘replacement theology’,” I will again cite Gundry’s third edition, page 161: “Matthew writes his gospel for the Church as the new chosen nation, which, at least for the time being, has replaced the old chosen nation of Israel.” If that’s not Replacement Theology, then words don’t have meanings. Replacement Theology is usually found at liberal seminaries and the sort of denominations that dislike Israel and the Jews, not in a conservative, evangelical school. (My book Broken Branches explains this odious doctrine and how truly unbiblical it is.)

The anti-Semitism in the Gundry book is revealed in constant references to the Jewish people in gospel times as being faithless and treacherous, and the Gentile people as being noble and eager for faith. You almost have to read this offensive book to get the tenor of it, but I’ve had a lifetime of these subtle references to Jewish inferiority and I have a very good ear for it. (More importantly, young students may not have as much sensitivity to these issues and are easily led astray.) Dr. McCall’s letter to Dr. Wells, which will be appearing in our upcoming newsletter, will amplify this point.

As to the book being anti-Israel, one has only to consider the fact that first-century Israel is called Palestine throughout, almost without exception. The word Israel does not even appear in the index! In Gundry’s mind, there was no such country. And yet, in the first century, no one in the world used the word Palestine for the whole country of Israel. The Bible certainly doesn’t, not even once, not cover-to-cover, Old Testament or New. Dr. Cooper’s letter to me of May 1st says that his “personal conviction” about the matter is that we should not “surrender” the “use of the name Palestine.” Theologians use the term “surrender” to denote their holding fast to an important biblical doctrine, as in “I will not surrender the deity of Christ,” or “I will not surrender the imminence of the Rapture.” But nobody should refuse to “surrender” what is patently unbiblical and wrong. Any Bible reader is certainly aware of the scriptural inaccuracy and the political implications of saying Palestine when one means Israel.

Author Gundry’s constant references to Jesus’ “Palestinian disciples” seem engineered to play into today’s politics. Hanan Ashrawi of the Palestinian Authority once declared, “Jesus was a Palestinian prophet born in Bethlehem in my country.” The Palestinians should publish Gundry’s book in Gaza. It would support their cause of making our Lord an Arab.

I know there are false teachers in the world, and I’m not naive about the difference between simple doctrinal disagreement and biblical error. False teaching is a grave biblical sin. Using the writing of an author like this on young people is like serving poisoned food in a school cafeteria.

Some big organizations listen to reason. In July, both CNN and Time magazine retracted a story after pressure from a number of sources. It seems they had their facts wrong. I can tell you that neither organization is very given to apologies. I have written to both on many occasions; they consider themselves next to perfect. But with expert testimony on the facts staring them in the face, they were able, with dignity, to back down. They even fired some high-ranking people. It is possible that on the subjects of Israel, anti-Semitism, Replacement Theology and the like, that my books, my 58 tours of Israel and my twenty years of television programs on these subjects might eventually persuade this college that my complaint is valid.

I really am sorry to have to trouble you, our audience, with this textbook matter; but after all, a generation of young people has been raised on wrong doctrine, and it is time that something is done. But it’s discouraging work. We reported in our July newsletter that Southeast College of Lakeland, Florida, had informed a viewer of ours that they would discontinue its use of the book. I’m sorry to tell you that they sent a recent letter defending it with no better defense than that of Criswell College. We will run the letter of the chairman of their Bible Department in our upcoming newsletter.

Listed below are the page numbers of Aaron’s 49 complaints about the book. They are grouped into six subject areas (inspiring Dr. Cooper to write that Aaron had “only 6” complaints). Know that I could find 490 more and Dr. McCall 4,900, I imagine.

• Replacement Theology: pages 117, 151, 161, 206, 258, 262, 265, 268, 279, 282, 295
• “Palestinian”: pages 23, 78, 79, 147, 163
• Christianity and Roman Empire in harmony: 227, 238, 239, 240, 243, 247, 248, 298, 303
• Hellenism: pages 215, 216, 240, 259, 285, 304
• Anti-Semitism: pages 219, 286, 297, 329
• Contradiction of Jesus’ speech and action: pages 137, 186–7

Here are the addresses of the colleges in Dallas where the book is in use. Many of you have informed us of other seminaries and colleges using this book; please know that eventually we will publish the entire list. The address of Zondervan, the publisher, is also included below.

• Criswell College, 4010 Gaston Avenue, Dallas, TX 75246-1537, 800-899-0012
• Dallas Baptist University, 3000 Mountain Creek Pkwy, Dallas, TX 75211-9299, 214-333-7100
• Zondervan Publishing House, 5300 Patterson Ave. S.E., Grand Rapids, MI 49530, 800-727-1309

This fall we’ll be celebrating Israel’s 50th Golden Anniversary! Both our tours will be hundreds of dollars cheaper than in the past, since you will be able to leave from your own city, or one very near you! So come join us September 11–26 for our Grand Tour, which includes the main biblical sites in Israel as well as the luxurious resort city of Eilat on the Red Sea, and the world-renowned city of Petra in Jordan. Our Deluxe Israel Tour is September 15–26 and will cover the Land from the Galilee in the north to the Dead Sea in the south. The Biblical Feast of Trumpets will be celebrated while we are in Israel, and we are hoping the Rapture will occur during this time so that those of us who are in the Land will have only a domestic flight home! This will be the last time we offer the Petra/Eilat extension until next fall. So please phone the office right away at 214-696-9760 to make your reservation, and ask about our gateway city plan. Our Deluxe Christmas tour will be December 12–22, and we are offering a Caribbean cruise February 5-8 instead of the Petra/Eilat extension.

Our newest television series, based on love stories in the Bible, was taped on location in Israel recently and will present a re-enactment of these biblical relationships from where they actually happened. We are hoping that you will be able to share in the production of this outstanding series by helping with the initial taping expense of the programs. This series will be a teaching tool to treasure. Truly you’ll want to share it with friends and relatives.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

Your messenger,