According to Justin Peters Ministries (JPM) Board of Directors, the answer is yes. But before we get to the board’s post, a Cliff Notes version of what brought on the above accusations against Brannon Howse is in order so that our readers will have an understanding of what prompted them to say these things. (See related links.)
Many in the Christian community have heard about the controversy between Brannon Howse, host of Worldview Weekend (WVW), and Christian apologist James R. White regarding the interfaith dialogue Dr. White had with Islamic Yasir Qhadi, Dean of Academic Affairs at the Al-Maghrib Institute. The dialogue drew the ire of many evangelicals as their view was that “it was not proper to give an unconverted Muslim any type of platform during a special event hosted at a church.” Moreover, some evangelicals felt that Qhadi’s statements shouldn’t have gone unchallenged. Brannon Howse and other evangelical leaders immediately renounced Dr. White. In a piece over at Christian News Network [here], Heather Clark wrote:
Howse pointed to 2 John 1:9-11, which he said would admonish White not to “give [Qadhi] a greeting of spiritual solidarity, [or] say you’re kindred spirits, [or] say you’re seeking common ground.” He said that White should apologize and express regret for holding the event at a church. “We’re calling you to repent. Humble yourself,” Howse declared. “I believe [there is] damage you’re doing to Muslims, to non-believers, to Christians, to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Brannon Howse denounced those who disagreed with his view, including Phil Johnson, Justin Peters and Mike Abendroth even though, to the best of our knowledge, none of these men have endorsed or defended the interfaith dialogue between White and Qhadi. However, they chose not to publicly denounce James White for reasons we won’t go into. Because Justin Peters is the focus of this post, what we will say is that Brannon became upset with him for refusing to make a public statement on the White-Quati dialogue–Justin wouldn’t say publicly that it was inappropriate and demand that Dr. White repent–so Brannon went after him on social media. And this prompted JPM’s Board of Director’s statement.
At the time all this occurred, Justin Peters and Mike Abendroth were heavily involved with WVW. In fact, until recently they often spoke at WVW events and were frequent guests on Brannon’s radio broadcast. As well, both men hosted their own WVW radio and TV shows, but not anymore. At this writing Peters and Abendroth are no longer involved with WVW.
So with this background in mind, on August 18th the Board of Directors of Justin Peter’s Ministries felt it was necessary to release the following statement:
Justin’s Board Makes Statement
The Board of Directors for Justin Peters Ministries consists of Michael Miller and Jim Osman. Both of us are elders in our respective churches and work to oversee the ministry of Justin Peters.
We have watched as Brannon Howse has publicly and repeatedly misrepresented and lied about Justin’s position regarding the White-Quadi Dialogue. Justin has intentionally remained silent concerning his own view of the dialogue and has not mentioned Brannon on social media since Justin has no desire to speak ill of Brannon Howse or his ministry. The concerns that Justin has raised to Brannon regard the tone with which those on both sides of this issue have criticized the other. It seems that any critique of Brannon’s tone is regarded by him as a full-throated defense of ALL interfaith dialogues (IFD), a complete compromise of the gospel, and a demonically inspired capitulation to Islam. Brannon will countenance no dissent regarding what he has said or even how he has said it.
Both Mike Miller and Jim Osman read the letters that Justin sent to Brannon Howse and offered critiques and input – which was humbly received by Justin – before those letters were sent. There is much correspondence, texts and emails, which have been exchanged in recent months that is not public. The nature and content of those letters from Justin have been grossly misrepresented. We have seen all of the correspondence between Brannon and Justin. If Brannon continues to lie against, slander, and defame Justin’s character, we can release all of the correspondence to the public so that the record may be set straight and the truth fully known.
Many who have emailed this ministry to express their disappointment in Justin’s position regarding the White-Quadi Dialogue do not know how Justin feels about this issue. He has made no public statement regarding support or opposition until this last weekend during a session at the Judge Not Conference. Those who have expressed anger at Justin’s “compromise” and “cowardice” have done so based only on what they have heard from Brannon Howse.