Galli Report Extra: 10.27.20
A clarification.
In the last edition, I linked to a piece by Napp Nazworth that laid out the recent history of events at The Christian Post in the Trump era. I praised the effort overall, though I took issue with one matter, his assessment that Christianity Today had said CP was “part of a cult”. And then I said this: “In retrospect, I can see how CT could have made things clearer (I was managing editor at the time so have to take some responsibility).
It might be taken that I was apologizing for this particular story—sorry, not quite. In fact, I can see something that could have been clearer in nearly every story I wrote or edited at CT—such is the nature of on-demand journalism.
I have reread that CT piece even more closely now, and while never saying “CP was part of a cult” nonetheless CT detailed many of the connections between Jang (clearly a cult leader) and San Francisco-based Olivet University (no connection to Illinois-based Olivet Nazarene University), the World Evangelical Alliance, and The Christian Post. The title and sub-title of the August 2012 article is a good summary:
The Second Coming Christ Controversy: David Jang has become an increasingly influential figure in Asian and now American evangelicalism. He and his followers have founded media outlets and a Christian college and are key influencers in the World Evangelical Alliance. But many say he leads a group that has encouraged the belief that he’s the ‘Second Coming Christ.’ Is there any truth to the allegations?
Author Ted Olsen’s work, as usual, was superb (as was that of his co-author Ken Smith). Any assumption that I questioned their reporting or writing is unfounded. And though the subtitle ends with a question mark, the careful reader will see that the authors were driving home a point throughout. Just to give more context, here are some excerpts of the more important passages:
At times, Jang’s associates have denied to Christianity Today and other inquirers that there is such a thing as a community led by Jang, or that he exercises any control of various organizations beyond providing inspiration. Transcripts of the WGA chats from 2009 clearly demonstrate otherwise. (CT took steps to verify the authenticity of both the WGA chats and the Borah Lin sermons.) There is little discussion in the chats. In many cases, Jang largely lays out plans varying from wide-reaching reorganizations to indicating what story should be the lead at The Christian Post. In other cases, he chastises workers for not meeting targets…
Throughout the chats, Olivet University (OU) features prominently.… In 2009, Jang and WGA members discussed Olivet’s financial troubles and the requirement that all students be members of the EAPC. (The conversation is significant in part because Jang does encourage discussion and debate.) “Today’s topic is whether we will receive outside students to OU,” Jang said (via his translator). “Of course we shouldn't, but when we look at money, we have to receive. … The problem is that when we open up the university, we must designate professors. Then they will make daring remarks. It will not be like now. … When people and professors from the world come in, their meeting will decide all policies. This is very dangerous.” …
Not everyone in Jang’s community seems to agree that the group has nothing to hide. In one email provided to CT, Johnathan Davis, the chief content officer of IBTimes, declined to participate in a Christian industry association being organized by leaders of other Jang-affiliated publications like The Christian Post, because, he said, “My commission is inherently covert.” In another email string from mid-August 2012, Will Anderson, the publisher and CEO of The Christian Post, requested that Edmond delete from the Singapore site any articles by a writer suspected of being a source for CT’s August article….
Another email announced that “PD [Pastor David] just announced that the use of Facebook and other networking sites is now forbidden for obvious security reasons... Facebook makes it easy for organizations that persecute us to link us all up together including the ministries we work for.” That email itself contained the final instruction, “CLEAR THIS MESSAGE AFTER READING.” (The command to abandon Facebook seems itself to have been abandoned, since many members and organizations in the community are currently active on the social networking site….
In a different email thread discussing whether to include The Christian Post’s history as part of its employee handbook, one senior leader wrote, “I don’t think we should include the history in the handbook. The issue is that PD [Pastor David] doesn't want the history in written, audio or video form to fall into a non-members' hands. Once you make a n copy of something it is set in stone and he still wants some things to remain vague.”
For those who want to follow up this story to see what exactly CT said and didn’t say, read here, here, and here. My apologies to any who were confused by my initial comments.
Grace and peace,
Mark Galli
Markgalli.com