Allen Parr is generally considered a well-educated and sound Biblical teacher. His theology is well within the affirmation of the essentials of our faith. However we must now raise some questions about his integrity, not so much about his own theology, but his continued affirmation of those who teach false doctrine as brothers in Christ, who must be welcomed to our fellowship, even if their teaching is false so that we can befriend and help them.
He may mean well but he misses the mark by omitting any indication that the false doctrine in question is seriously heretical and must be addressed. He uses his relationship with Marcus Rogers as an example of how a “real” Christian should build bridges with, apparently, everyone. He contrasts this with building barriers and makes a strong inference that only “Pharisees” build barriers.
There was an immediate response by many Youtube content creators, expressing immense concern that he was missing the mark of warning his followers of a false teacher. Marcus Rogers’ theology is heretical in several essential doctrines of the faith. He has always taught these heresies and has doubled down on them over time.
Parr himself has had discussions with Marcus about these doctrines and come to the conclusion that it’s ok to agree to disagree and still consider him a brother in Christ. Marcus’ teachings of modalism and salvation by works are serious enough to result in the loss of eternal life to all who follow his teaching. No one should “agree to disagree” as if we are talking about a nonessential doctrine.
As a teacher of the Word and self-proclaimed “online pastor”, he should be guarding his flock against false teaching, not inviting it into his ministry.
Below are some hot takes from some of the videos available. I have a link to a playlist at the end.
Bottom Line Dad: Bottom Line: It’s wrong to build bridges to everyone. It’s disappointing Allen doesn’t see that.
Dear Woke Christian: Why doesn’t Marcus Rogers reciprocate bridge building? Why should solid theology ever compromise with the false?
iThinkBiblically– Allen parr has effectively if not directly, denied salvation by faith alone as an essential doctrine
The Proverbial Life: Calling Marcus Rogers a brother is equivalent to calling a Jehovah’s Witness a brother. Allen Parr is a hireling
April Chapman; This is pragmatism of the worst kind and a poor example to baby Christians, to get on the level with an unrepentant deceiver and make no distinction between a believer and a wolf.
Montana Viking Allen Parr seems to not know how to categorize believers and non-believers. Allen Parr is allowing pride of his own judgment and effort to supersede the authority of Scripture; he knows better how to handle the situation than God does. Let’s hope he is inconsistent
Cre8tive Studios Why does Allen think it is up to him to fix the situation and that there is room for compromise. compromise with God’s Word is never good, and Allen’s misuse of Scripture to justify himself was very telling of his willingness to compromise
Hold the Line Rogers is a longtime heretic who holds the line on his heresy. Parr would have been fine if he had called out Rogers’ heresy and still offered to build a bridge.
Kdubtru– There is no standard in Scripture for building bridges to wolves. Parr presents a false dichotomy, building bridges is always good, building barriers is always bad. He played a victim card saying he’s already been roasted for his stance and said only Pharisees refuse to build bridges.
Christ Live TV Do you build a bridge to a criminal who wants to break into your home? Parr assumes he has unlimited time to build a bridge before calling out the heresy of Marcus Rogers. Does Parr care more for Marcus Rogers’ feelings than the eternity of the hundreds of thousands who follow him? Did he not already “build bridges” to Marcus in the past only the be accused of not even being a true believer?
Saiko Woods Allen Parr is not a faithful minister of the word. Allen Parr will become apostate if he does not repent. Allen Parr shamefully twisted scripture to justify himself.
Adding one more- Donnie From the channel Idiot with a Bible took time out of his trip to Uganda to make a response video. For 15 minutes he quotes Bible passages to refute Allen’s laughable claim that Jesus built bridges to Pharisees
All the above agreed that Parr did an embarrassingly poor job of using scripture to bolster his position. He used three passages:
- Acts 9- After Paul’s conversion, the believers doubted his sincerity (built barriers) But Barnabas took him to the apostles. (built a bridge) God ordained to convert Paul by miraculous means. Others were not out of line to be cautious until Paul was examined by the Apostles and they gave their approval. Paul at that point wasn’t a rebellious heretic. He was professing a true faith.
- Luke 7: 36-50 the immoral woman who brought the expensive jar of oil. She was repentant and seeking forgiveness.
- 1 Sam 16 Samuel goes to the house of Jesse to anoint the king. He sees Eliab first and thought he was the one, judging by appearance. Samuel was doing what God told him to do, it wasn’t as though God could have allowed him to mess up.
While in many ways this is a spiritual train wreck, there is one thing that brings glory to God in this situation. God is again using Marcus Rogers as a dividing line to separate good teaching from bad and expose some serious issues that need addressing. Someone, please build a bridge to Allen Parr and tell him that Marcus never said he wanted his bridge. If Allen insists, it will end up being a bridge to nowhere.