We should first remember that Dr. Ward is not a scholar in the traditional sense of doing high level research probing for yet undeveloped or underdeveloped truth. His “false friends” idea was neither original nor did it contribute to the literature on the King James Bible. It was rather the tract of a propogandist looking for an endorsement and congratulations from his managers. Dr. Ward suspended belief in the inherent authority of Scripture, acquiesced, and finally fully swallowed the propaganda that party orthodoxy is always true even when it is proven to be false by traditional scholarly research. Part of this falls to the manipulation of professors who students naturally feel that their teachers are there to help them (a terribly flawed and harmful submission) and part of this falls to the failure of Dr. Ward to challenge the status quo (which should be the intention of every post-graduate student). Rather, he is an erudite zealot driven by a secular ideology which, since the end of the 19th century, has become party orthodoxy for most of evangelical and reformed institutions of higher learning. Party orthodoxy means that the ideology for which he is a prominent spokesperson must remain the standard for what is true no matter what sound research to the contrary might discover. No amount of pre-critical research, no matter how historically, ecclesiastically, exegetically or theologically grounded can be allowed to usurp the preeminent position of the critical contradictions prevarications, which over the past 150 years have been uttered countless times, i.e., “I hold in my hand the inerrant word of God,” and “stand for the reading of God’s holy word,” while questioning the authority of the text based on the textual apparatus, because the text can be “better rendered” based on recent findings. Party orthodoxy affirms theologically, that the Scripture is God’s word, what is denied to the Scripture textually, that the Scripture is God’s word, rejecting any passage that may refer to Scripture’s self-attesting authority making Scripture a wholly phenomenalistic, empirical document. No passage exists in the Scripture for providential preservation because party orthodoxy says no such authority to make this claim exists.
Dr. Ward is under no compulsion to reverse himself in Psalm 12:6-7 because he cannot apostatize from this secular ideology without being ostracized by the party and be at the risk of losing not only his standing in the party but losing his job. The academic and financial threat of following historically sound research and not party propaganda is real. In truth, challenging party orthodoxy will result in putting your course grades at risk. This assessment is from personal experience and is anecdotal and must always remain so. College professors, violating their own consciences and compromising their academic and scholarly credibility, remain silent because of the control party orthodoxy holds over institutions of higher learning. Dr. Ward’s allegiance is not to scholarly research and the publication of unvarnished Ph.D. level research. Rather, he has sworn allegiance to maintaining the party’s status quo bifurcation of what Scripture is, the very preserve, inspired words of God, and, what it tells us about God. After all, he might argue, Scripture doesn’t have to be the word of God to tell us true things about God. It doesn’t have to possess transcendent qualities like inspiration or infallibility, or purity, or immutability, to tell us about a pure, immutable God. For Mark Ward, a corrupt, anthropologically grounded Scripture is at the core of party orthodoxy and Dr. Ward is the next generation propogandist for advance this abomination to historic, orthodox, ecclesiastical, theological formulation.
Because party orthodoxy is beyond questioning, no retractions for past publications since proven to be factually incorrect will ever be made because all contrary findings are marginalized and demonized. The party, bolstered by the information dominance of publishers constantly repeating old and worn-out pejorative slogans slavishly echoed by pastors and individuals would rather be liked than challenge the critical status quo. Think about it, what interloculars say and write today sounds like they’re stuck in the 1970’s, see James White. Institutions of higher learning keep the party members in stale, lock step together. What we are now witnessing is an epoch of the total secularization of Christianity within evangelicalism, a true paradigm shift away from the authority of Scripture to the authority of self-appointed religious bureaucrats, (think Pharisees).
For Dr. Ward and those he represents, truth is what party orthodoxy says it is and party orthodoxy says there are no verses in the Bible that teach providential preservation, therefore, Psalm 12:6-7 does not teach providential preservation. Scholarly research and unbiased findings are not the preeminent goal of zealots of party orthodoxy such as Dr. Ward, because truth for the party is not found preeminently in the person of Jesus Christ, truth is what the party says it is.
So, what do we do. First, our focus must be on the source of the faith, not the various ways we interpret the Scripture. Ecclesiastical, soteriological and eschatological differences between those of us who believe the Bible is the pure word of God must be laid aside so that together our single apologetic and polemic might be upon the preservation of Scripture by God’s singular care and providence.
Secondly, within our sphere of influence whatever that may be, we press the exegetically sound, historic defense of the faith one delivered to the saints with whenever we can and wherever we can. That will require reading and writing and speaking and networking and encouraging one another in the work.
And thirdly, there is a generation of young people for which this is all a new idea, who are open to listening, and who have no allegiance to the status quo. The Bible, speaking for itself, makes more sense to young Christian minds than Dr. Ward ever will. Take time to listen and be prepared to give an answer of why we do what we do. Virgina Tech engineering students make better Bible defenders than seminary grads. Hard science guys that know the Lord don’t have time to put up with Ward’s and White’s feckless, pickwickian quibbling.
Blessings!
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