Early Warning Radar

By Elizabeth Prata

Early Warning Radar is, “An early-warning radar is any radar system used primarily for the long-range detection of its targets, i.e., allowing defenses to be alerted as early as possible before the intruder reaches its target, giving the air defenses the maximum time in which to operate.” (Wikipedia).

This is military talk. But we in the Christian life are in a war, and Paul and Peter used military talk in their letters. We read of battles, fiery darts, victories, armor, ‘fellow soldiers‘. The metaphor is apt.

In the Old Testament God said he stationed Prophets as watchmen on the wall. They were to alert the populace if they saw a raid coming, and blood would be on their hands if they failed to watch and/or raise the alarm. (Ezekiel 3:17, Isaiah 62:6, Ezekiel 33:6). In the New Testament we are not Israel but the Church. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. The Lord sent His Spirit to endow some in the church with watchman-like abilities who operate similarly to the Old Testament watchmen in their task. It’s called discernment. The folks in the Church who possess this spiritual gift are the Church’s Early Warning Radar.

These people can detect the long-range approach of its targets (false doctrine false teachers) , i.e., allowing defenses to be alerted as early as possible before the (satanic) intruder reaches its target, giving the ground defenses (pastors) the maximum time in which to operate (refute, defend, excommunicate).

The long range watchers have an ability to ‘see’ a false teacher, spot a false doctrine, know when ‘something is off’. Many people say “I felt something was off with her but I couldn’t put my finger on it.’ Well, discerning watchmen know exactly who, how, and what was “off” and warn about it specifically. The can see a false trend begin to coalesce, they can reject what they see is a not a legitimate movement but is in fact a fad, they can warn of incursions.

Remember the “Asbury Revival”? In February 2023 a seemingly spontaneous ‘revival’ broke out at Kentucky’s Asbury University sparked by students remaining in the Auditorium after a regularly scheduled chapel service, praying singing, pouring out like fervent, excitable college kids do. More joined from local campuses, then more from other states, until it was a religious free-for-all. Your long range warning people early in February said it wasn’t genuine. They knew.

They were dismissed. Their warnings rejected.

And that is the trouble with those in the church who refuse to heed their local, identified discernment people. They are often ignored. Wisdom abounds in the discernment folks and in the learned elders who have trained up in discernment as part of their job. Here is a specific example of an early warning from a long range watcher with discernment.

On August 9, 2023, Owen Strachan (Provost & Research Professor of Theology, @GBTSeminary) posted the following mini-warning about a particular stance that well-known author Nancy Pearcy made in her new book:

Aimee Byrd is also well-known, but sadly she is known for turning egalitarian, then liberal, then fringe. So it is not a good comparison. Below is the tweet that Nancy made which Dr Strachan warned about:

In typical fashion, there was immediate pushback against this warning.

I’ve seen this often. A warning is given about a trend, false doctrine, or person. Hordes clamor against it, usually saying either the warning is not specific enough, or it is too early to say so and to just hush up and have some grace. ‘ You don’t know their heart’ is a common rejoinder.

Then the trend, false doctrine, or person settles into the Christian zeitgeist, and more warnings are given. When it becomes obvious to many that indeed, the person, doctrine, or trends was a harm to the faith, the rejoinders change. ‘It’s too late to do anything about it/her/him’. ‘Just chew the meat and spit out the bones’. ‘Who are you to say anything against them, they’ve helped many despite their misguided interpretations.’ And so on.

A failure in a walk begins somewhere. Some people can spor that beginning and warn. Pearcy’s subtle shift of a previously commonly defined word is an early warning, and matches a trend of later failures. But the early warning was dismissed (at least by the women named ‘going godward).

Here is another example, this time, of a mourning AFTER a fall. Early warning signs were ignored:

Somewhere, a pastor started heeding a cloaked liberal feminist calling herself a Christian named Aimee Byrd. Her advice was that even married men and women can have close relationships apart from spouses. Somewhere someone might have been concerned of this change in a pastor’s stance, or seen him carrying her book around, and said, ‘excuse me, sir but that book has too many liberal ideas… it’s dangerous.’ An early warning might have been given. If it was not heeded, the result was that this pastor had let the guardrails down, and then his sin got the better of him, and he fell into adultery.

However, the pendulum swing in the other direction in the aftermath of an obvious fall, after the bomb has hit, is that people either blame the messenger (as Beth Moore did to Tom Buck in her reply), or they say, ‘it’s too late, move on’.

The points here today are this:

TAKE WARNINGS SERIOUSLY. Ideas are not just ideas nor are they harmless. Ideas have consequences.

1. Train yourself in discernment. Even if you don’t possess the actual spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 12:10), you can and must train up in it. (Hebrews 5:14).
2. As your discernment grows you will be able to spot solid, credible men of the faith (after your own pastor or elders). Once you identify them, learn from them, listen to them, take heed from them.
3. Heed their warnings. Not blindly, but discerningly. Consult the Bible, consult good commentaries, consult appropriate resources. Be a Berean (Acts 17:11).

In this specific case with Nancy Pearcy, you could go to the website The Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood to seek information on the two big words Dr Strachan used, ‘complementarianism’ and ‘egalitarianism’. And look up the word “ezer” in a good Bible word dictionary or lexicon (like Biblehub.com) and read how the word is used in context.

Or this review of Aimee Byrd’s decent into egalitarianism

Be discerning, wisely heed warnings, and keep your life & doctrine pure!