Reformed Perfidy

The National Enquirer

Mitty Muckraker

Rob Bell’s book Love Wins has ignited an unprecedented firestorm in the Christian blogosphere. But as I followed the leads, I uncovered a deeper, more sinister story. As it turns out, the whole controversy was carefully orchestrated by Calvinian blogger Matthew Schultz, who hatched the plot to bring down Arminianism.

Schultz had his minions at the Gospel Coalition gin up interest in Bell’s forthcoming book by floating the insidious suggestion that Bell was a universalist. Schultz then brought this to the attention of his contact at the NYT to further puff the story. This, in turn, set Twitter a-twitter.

But the Bell kerfuffle was just a trap which Schultz cleverly set to ensnare the grand muftis of modern Arminianism: Ben Witherington, Peter Lumpkins, Scot McKnight, and Roger Olson. He knew they’d take the bait, rushing to the defense of Bell.

Schultz, who used to attend Redeemer Church in Manhattan, then directed Tim Keller to tap Martin Bashir–who not so coincidentally, also attends Redeemer Church–to ambush Bell in his now notorious interview, which quickly went viral on YouTube. And, of course, the interview was also plugged by Schultz’s minions at the Gospel Coalition.

By discrediting Bell, he simultaneously brought discredit on Bell’s unsuspecting, high-profile Arminian supporters.

So Schultz was the puppet-master, pulling strings from behind-the-scenes, to implement his nefarious scheme.