To Dr Stephen Burnhope, concerning his blog post “‘Sin’ For Normal People,” which a brother printed out for me because we do not trust screens.
From the Rev. Dr Thaddeus K. Pruitt, B.Th., M.Div., Th.D. (all three earned the same summer), D.D. (Hon.), Senior Pastor, Ebenezer Independent Fundamental Bible-Believing KJV-1611 Pre-Tribulational Pre-Millennial Baptist Tabernacle, Ebenezer Springs, Tennessee. Graduate of the Bible Baptist Institute of Higher Separation (unaccredited, praise God).
Dear Dr Burnhope,
I have read your article three times: once to understand it, once to pray over it, and once to underline every error in red. I ran out of red. I finished with a Sharpie borrowed from our youth pastor, whom we have since let go for unrelated reasons. He owned a guitar.
On ‘Normal People’
Your title is your first error. Scripture knows only the saved and the lost. Nowhere does the Bible ask us to be normal. It calls us “a peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9, King James Version, the only version I will cite, now or ever). I have been peculiar for forty-one years, and Mrs Pruitt will gladly testify to it.
You open by commending Peter Enns. I note only that Westminster Theological Seminary parted ways with him in 2008. Westminster is run by Presbyterians who sprinkle babies and do not believe in the Rapture. Consider how far a man must drift to be too liberal for them.
On Proof-Texting, Churchworld and Holiness
You call Romans the most “proof-texted” letter in the Bible, as though this were a complaint. Proof-texting is simply texting, with proof. My whole ministry consists of proof texts. I have one for everything, including my position on ceiling fans (Psalm 148:8: “stormy wind fulfilling his word”).
You speak of “Churchworld” as if it were a theme park. I know where theme parks lead: roller coasters, cotton candy and mixed bathing. We have no Churchworld. We have a sanctuary, a fellowship hall, and a sign by the road that reads “Visitors Welcome (KJV Only).”
You complain that worship songs mix biblical words “rather randomly.” Here, brother, you have stumbled onto the truth like a blind hog onto an acorn. Modern worship songs are random because men in skinny jeans write them, repeat one line eleven times, and set it to a backbeat, which everyone knows is the heartbeat of the Devil. We sing hymns written before 1900, in four-part harmony, at a tempo that cannot excite the flesh.
You also mention holiness and link to an earlier post. I did not read it. I did not need to. Holiness is hair above the collar, hemlines below the knee, and no beverage stronger than Welch's. A Methodist dentist invented that grape juice in 1869 so that the Lord's Supper need never again be served with wine. It is the one good thing a Methodist has ever done.
On Sign Theory, and Cats
Next you bring in “sign theory.” I looked it up. It comes from a Swiss gentleman named Ferdinand de Saussure, of Geneva. Geneva is the headquarters of the World Council of Churches, the ecumenical body that will one day hand the keys to the Antichrist. Geneva was also home to John Calvin, of whom I will say only that he baptized infants. I make no accusation. I simply set the facts side by side and let the Holy Ghost do the rest.
Our Lord addressed your theory directly: “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign” (Matthew 12:39). You are not merely seeking a sign, Doctor. You have a whole theory of them.
You tell us the word “cat” is arbitrary. I tell you the word “cat” appears nowhere in the Holy Bible, which tells you all you need to know about cats. (A deacon has pointed out that cats appear in Baruch 6:22 in the 1611 printing. Baruch belongs to the Apocrypha. The translators included the Apocrypha as a test, and the Church of England failed it.)
You say that what matters is “what's being signified,” not the word. No, sir. The Lord promised that “one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law” (Matthew 5:18). If He guards jots and tittles, He is certainly guarding a whole three-letter word. “Sin” is short enough for a toddler. In our church nursery, it is the first word the babies learn, ahead of “Mama.”
On the King James
You repeat “the old joke” that the King James is the version the Apostle Paul used. You call it a joke. We call it a doctrinal statement, and it stands on page two of our bylaws. Liberals claim Paul wrote in Greek. If Paul wrote in Greek, Doctor, why is every one of his epistles in English in my Bible? I await your answer.
You say the old language is “not more authentic, it's just more archaic.” Archaic is the liberal word for correct.
On Advertising Agencies
You want the church to hire “a new advertising agency.” I have read Revelation 13. A day is coming when no man may buy or sell without the mark of the beast. That mark will be a barcode, and an advertising agency will design it. You propose to hand the Gospel to the False Prophet's marketing department.
You compare Jesus to a cleaning product. I will overlook this, because we already have a cleaning product. It is called the Blood. Its jingle, “There Is Power in the Blood,” was written in 1899 and has needed no rebranding since.
On Sin as a Spectrum
You describe sin as “a spectrum of selfishness.” The Bible has no spectrum. “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). Pocketing a church pencil and believing in infant baptism will burn at the same temperature. The lake of fire has no dimmer switch.
On the Instruction Manual
You mock those who call the Bible “God's Instruction Manual” and ask where the instructions are. Brother, they sit at the bottom of every page of the Scofield Reference Bible, in smaller type, where instructions have always been kept. Have you never seen the bumper sticker? B.I.B.L.E.: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. “Leaving Earth” means the Rapture, which could happen before you finish this sentence.
You ask why Christians select some things the Bible says while ignoring others. We ignore nothing. We rightly divide the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15) and assign each verse to its proper dispensation. Shellfish? Dispensation of Law; not ours. Sell all you have and give to the poor? Kingdom gospel, for Israel. The Sermon on the Mount? Millennial Kingdom; it takes effect in a thousand years and should not be attempted before then. That leaves us Paul, and especially the verses about women keeping silence, which we keep very carefully.
You warn that people will not accept “because God says so.” Doctor, that is the reason. That is the whole reason. My theology rests on “because God says so,” my parenting on “because I said so,” and both have produced obedient, if nervous, results.
On ‘Structural Sin’
Then came your section on “structural sin” and “societal sin.” I know a Social Gospeler when I read one. The only structures in Scripture that sin are the Tower of Babel and, prophetically, the United Nations building in New York, which I take to be the same project with better plumbing.
You condemn “harmful ideologies associated with either capitalism or socialism.” Either? Brother, capitalism is in Matthew 25. The servant who buried his talent instead of putting it out to the exchangers was cast into outer darkness. That is the plainest endorsement of compound interest in all literature.
You list “war-mongering,” too. Armageddon is not war-mongering. It is prophecy. We are not mongering, sir. We are anticipating, and I have Clarence Larkin's chart of the ages framed above my desk to prove it.
On the Great Commandment
At last you quoted a Bible verse, Mark 12:30. I was relieved, until I saw that you had stripped out every “thou” and “thy.” The King James has nine of them across those two verses, counting “thyself.” Nine, Doctor: the same number as the fruit of the Spirit. I do not believe that is a coincidence, and neither, I suspect, do you.
You then define sin as a failure to love your neighbour. But who is my neighbour? A lawyer asked that (Luke 10:29), and a chapter later the Lord says, “Woe unto you, lawyers!” (Luke 11:52). The answer He gave involves a Samaritan running what sounds very like a social program, so I generally stop reading at verse 29.
Finally, you say we should begin with “the kind of world God wants.” Doctor, the world God wants is the one He is about to burn: “the elements shall melt with fervent heat” (2 Peter 3:10). We do not polish brass on a sinking ship. We do not begin with the world. We begin with the exit.
In Closing
You say the church must learn to speak to normal people. We solved that years ago with cartoon tracts. They are short, they have pictures, and the unbeliever dies in the third panel. I have enclosed several. The one about the seminary professor seems apt.
I shall be praying for you, Doctor. Mostly Psalm 109.
Yours in separation (primary, secondary and, where necessary, tertiary),
The Rev. Dr Thaddeus K. Pruitt
P.S. I see the blog links to a post titled “Are You ‘Conservative’ or ‘Liberal’?” I did not need to click on it.
P.P.S. Should the Rapture occur before this reaches you, disregard the above and consult the Tribulation survival binder in my garage. The key is under the mat. You will not be able to ask me, as I will be gone.
Published here with grateful thanks to my friend Jason Clark, who no doubt conspired in its creation (maybe with a little help from AI).