Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) trustees were under immense outside pressure during yesterday’s meeting to oust long-term president and bulwark of the Conservative Resurgence, Paige Patterson. Patterson, an old war-horse of conservative evangelicalism, has survived many scandals over his tenure. From protecting rapist, Darrell Gilyard to enrolling Muslims in the seminary as an evangelism strategy, Patterson’s giant footprint in Southern Baptist life has generally protected him  from closer scrutiny. He could not survive, however, the current trajectory of the Southern Baptist Convention’s political correctness and fixation on social justice. Largely influenced by the same Baptists who have recently been promoting victimology and Cultural Marxism through Critical Race Theory, like Thom Rainer, Ed Stetzer, and Russell Moore, along with some national exposure thanks to the Washington Post and homosexual journalist, Jonathan Merritt, SWBTS trustees yesterday decided to dismiss Patterson with a “golden parachute,” a robust retirement package, permanent on-campus housing and an honorary, life-long title.

I predicted as much several weeks ago to some Southern Baptist insiders…

Southern Baptists don’t really fire their scoundrels. They give them retirement packages. As a part of the corruption of Southern Baptist Culture, some of the more notorious villains  – even when caught in grievous errors – are let go with honorary titles, housing, and six-figure retirement budgets. From Bob Reccord – who resigned from NAMB after pilfering millions of dollars and was given a 500 thousand dollar severance package – to Ergun Caner, who was allowed to resign from Brewton Parker College after sexting, divorce and racism scandals without full disclosure regarding the reason for his dismissal, we regularly see SBC leaders given sweet back-door, red-carpeted exits.

The issue with Paige Patterson’s dismissal really isn’t one of deservedness. There are an infinite number of reasons why Patterson is unfit as SWBTS seminary president, many of them theological. Promoting the historically untenable and ridiculous idea of an Anabaptist origin of the Southern Baptist Convention, allowing a Muslim to enroll in the seminary secretly and deceptively against SWBTS bylaws, installing a stained glass window of Rick Warren in the SWBTS chapel, letting Eastern Orthodox idolaters preach on campus as though they were Christians, questionable personnel decisions and – as stated above – the most egregious support of a sexual predator, are all reasons why Patterson should have left the SBC seminary years ago. Patterson’s commitment to Scriptural Inerrancy and his role as one of the commanding generals of the Conservative Resurgence that swept the moderate-progressives from the denomination in the late eighties and early nineties, all protected him from the consequences of his problematic leadership. The issue is that it wasn’t any of these things that led to his rightful termination. The issue is that Patterson – one of the last remaining SBC entity leaders not brought to power by the overwhelming influence of Albert Mohler at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) – was largely dismissed because of external influence from the media caught up in the #MeToo Movement and by New Calvinists hell-bent on Social Justice both inside and outside the Southern Baptist Convention.

Waking up to see the news from SWBTS of Patterson’s departure and realizing the victory of New Calvinism and the spirits of the age against the old warhorse is like waking up to read in the  headlines that China has invaded Russia. Picking a side is near impossible. I am, at best, indifferent. However, for what it’s worth, Southern Baptists need to understand exactly what is happening and grasp the meta-narrative.

THE BACKGROUND

Paige Patterson has made several faux-pas relevant to the #MeToo Movement, a social media phenomenon that has led to no shortage of public apologies, resignations and firings among public figures in entertainment, news media, and religion. Most famously with Harvey Weinstein; women coming forward to complain of past mistreatment have taken out the careers of news professionals like Matt Lauer, politicians like Al Franken, and religious leaders like Bill Hybels. The #MeToo victims range from true and authenticly abused and mistreated women who were out-right raped or intimidated into forced sexual behavior, to those who were the subjects of unwanted sexual advance or crude humor, to porn stars who had voluntary sex like Stormy Daniels. In other words, the #MeToo Movement has attracted authentic victims of rape, women subject to uncomfortable or inappropriate comments, and women who exhibited voluntary promiscuous behavior who simply went on later to regret it.

In Patterson’s case, an 18-year-old clip surfaced of him saying that abuse was not necessarily cause for divorce and that he was “glad” a woman was beaten because it led to the salvation of her husband, who felt remorse. This comment was made at an event held by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, a council on which many of his critics serve and some of them were in the room for the comment. There was little to no outrage (although, to be fair, the Survivor Blog community have been discussing it for quite some time) until a homosexual journalist, Jonathan Merritt, brought it back to light in the mainstream Christian press after it again made waves in the blogsophere. Likewise, a video surfaced in which Patterson was telling a whimsical story as a sermon illustration, when he said that an underaged but physically developed young woman was “nice,” which brought outrage. Patterson issued a public apology, but this was not enough for men like Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer, who still wanted blood in an attempt to settle old denominational scores.

It was at this point that Pulpit & Pen was told by those closely associated with the SWBTS trustee board that Patterson was still likely to “squeak through” yesterday’s trustee meeting. However, that changed when the Washington Post ran a story on the very day of the trustee meeting about Patterson allegedly telling a rape victim to forgive her perpetrator and not contact the police while he was president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS). Although like many #MeToo accounts, the story has heretofore been presented without corroborating evidence, it quickly became the straw that broke Patterson’s back. Like with Judge Roy Moore, the last minute (and probably coordinated to coincide with the trustee meeting) expose’ was devastating.

SWBTS TRUSTEES MISSING THE OPPORTUNITY

If SWBTS Trustees were hoping to escape criticism toward them or the institution, they failed miserably. The could have signaled their own virtue, making a hardline statement about the treatment of women and strongly criticizing Patterson. They did not. Instead, the SWBTS trustees issued a vague statement that they were moving “in the direction of new leadership” due to challenges related to “enrollment, financial, leadership and institutional identity (source link, WaPo). Furthermore, the trustees signed a statement claiming that Patterson had acted in accordance to all laws regarding the reporting of sexual abuse, a move meant to protect them and ward off any potential litigioius behavior toward the institution.

This move will pacify no one. The WaPo cited who is arguably the most liberal figure in Southern Baptist life, Karen Swallow Prior – who is a feminist, animal rights activist, and doesn’t believe abortion is murder, the very kind of woman who the Conservative Resurgence was designed to expunge from the denomination – who couldn’t find any opportunity to commend the trustees. Instead, Prior just waved the bloody scalp and along with many others of the left-leaning Southern Baptist leaders who are particularly invested in victimology.

The concern for men like Ed Stetzer – who was utterly silent toward Patterson’s long history of missteps while he was a Southern Baptist employee at Lifeway “Chrsitian” Resources – is not one of the rightness or wrongness of Patterson’s actions, but is a matter purely born out of public relations. Regarding Patterson’s upcoming slate at the Southern Baptist Convention meeting, Stetzer said, “If Paige Patterson preaches at the SBC, he will, because of his past work, get a standing ovation. Every news story will point to that moment … and say that Southern Baptists don’t take abuse seriously. … It’s a message to women that we must not send.”

Nothing will satisfy men like Stetzer who do not innately have a conscious of their own, but are purely driven by the shifting winds of public opinion. Whether or not what the SWBTS trustees did was morally correct, it will not satisfy the critics that will not be satiated until every Southern Baptist entity is run by someone on the board of the socially-progressive Gospel Coalition or until Russsell Moore is made the Venerable Lord and Master of the SBC, setting up a throne for the ERLC somewhere in Jerusalem.

THE BIG PICTURE

Southern Baptists should have been policing themselves years ago. Patterson’s ongoing support for culprits like Gilyard and Ergun Caner typify the corruption in America’s largest Protestant denomination. The man isn’t innocent of chicanery. The men who called for Patterson’s resignation in such self-righteous and sanctimonious fashion, all sat silently for years while Patterson continued in his behavior. Only emboldened by the courage on loan to them by the Hollywood #MeToo Movement did these men (and a few women) set their sites on the elder theologian and demand his resignation.

It’s at this point we can wonder if maybe a cultural movement like #MeToo or #BlackLivesMatter or Cultural Marxism, Critical Race Theory, or Identity Politics can be used as a force for good. After all, didn’t Patterson need to go? If so, why does it matter that it really wasn’t Southern Baptists who took out Patterson, but a shifting wind of cultural standards? Can these movements be co-opted or borrowed from culture to bring about good?

The question should be what exactly – or who exactly – is driving the Southern Baptist Convention. It has become increasingly clear in recent days that men like Thom Rainer and Ed Stetzer (even though he’s no longer an SBC employee) have more control over Southern Baptist sentiment than three or four entity heads put together. It’s also become increasingly clear that Russell Moore’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and its hordes of leftist “Research Fellows,” who seem as numerous and plentiful as the scorpions released from Apollyon’s abyss, are the defacto heads of the SBC. Even Albert Mohler sits quietly while Russell Moore takes the SBC increasingly left. And in some cases, Mohler is moving along in tandem with Moore, taking cues and marching in coordination.

Before you celebrate the removal of Patterson from SWBTS, ask yourself who exactly made it happen, and then ask yourself why. Politics are at play, and the motives of his accusers are not nearly as innocent as you may think.

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You might have, at some point, had the kind little old lady on the bus next to you take out her purse and show you a photo album of her children. It’s tedious, but a socially polite formality, to grin in admiration at her children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. It’s not uncommon to be shown the family album when you visit a friend’s house for the first time. It’s not even uncommon for couples in the midst of an international adoption to show pictures of their prospective children, raising funds to bring them home to their new family.

Showing photos of your private jets, however, is probably only something that mega-rich televangelists do. And it’s weird.

On This Week with Jesse, Jesse Duplantis shows a series of portrait frames on his wall displaying not his children or grandchildren, but his private jets. The last one is a spaceship, which he says he is “believing in God for.” You can watch the video below, with commentary beneath it.

Duplantis showed three planes, including one purchased in 1994, 2004, and 2006. He then showed the Starship Enterprise, which is what he wants eventually. Currently, however, Duplantis will settle for his Falcon 7x. According to Duplantis, Jesus told him that if he wanted to “come up to where he is,” he needs to purchase a Falcon 7x jet.

That’s right. If Duplantis wants to go to where Jesus is, he needs a Falcon 7x.

The Dassault Falcon 7x is a 5,955-mile range large-cabin jet. Its price is about 35 million dollars. There are about 260 Falcon 7x jets on the market. Duplantis says he needs it to “preach the Gospel to every creature” and says that if Jesus was alive today he wouldn’t be traveling on a donkey.

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Southern Baptist megachurch, First Baptist Church in Orlando, Florida, is hosting Hillsong musicians and Hillsong pastor, Brian Houston. Pulpit & Pen has written about FBC Orlando before. Pastored by David Uth, the congregation hosted an ecumenical prayer event to embrace the LGBTQ community. At that homosexual affirmation event, the preacher (Larry G. Mills, in this instance) equated homosexuals with Jesus. The LGBTQ also had “hands laid” upon them at the event, affirming them in their sin. We also reported a Seventh Day Adventist cult member preaching at the church. Pastor David Uth insinuated that Christians who are unsupportive of homosexuality should be struck dead. We reported in detail on FBC Orlando in the four-part Goats in the Pulpit Series. Now, FBC Orlando has announced that it’s hosting the Word-Faith prosperity church music band, Hillsong, and its pastor, Brian Houston.

Houston is very affirming of homosexuality (at least tacitly), teaches Word-Faith theology and the Prosperity Gospel, and is heavily scandalized. We have repeatedly issued warnings about Hillsong music and the Arian Snare.

We wrote earlier at Pulpit & Pen:

Houston, we have a problem!

Brian Houston, that is. Arguably one of the most influential figures of today’s professing church, Houston, is currently the senior pastor of the worldwide multi-site megachurch known as Hillsong. The church, founded by Houston’s paedophile father, Frank Houston, dominates the contemporary worship music scene, with their songs being played in churches of every denomination around the entire world.

Popular songs like Oceans and Forever Reign with lyrics like “Spirit lead me, where my trust is without borders,” and “nothing compares to your embrace” fill the IMAG screens of Baptist churches, Methodist churches, Pentecostal churches, Catholic churches–churches of every kind during Sunday morning worship. From raging electric guitars, drums, and professional soloists to small choirs with nothing more than a keyboard and a few singers, the music is emotionally captivating, bringing many to tears and arms lifted high, as they sing out praises to God.

We continued, with a citation from Albert Mohler:

Hillsong Church does not exist to preach the Word of God, and to draw people to Christ, bringing glory to His holy name–it exists to draw people to their music, making them money, and giving them power, and giving glory to their man-centered, man-built pseudo-spiritual empire. Brian Houston clearly preaches a false gospel. Southern Baptist leader, Albert Mohler, stated,

[Hillsong is] a prosperity movement for the millennials, in which the polyester and middle-class associations of Oral Roberts have given way to ripped jeans and sophisticated rock music…What has made Hillsong distinctive is a minimization of the actual content of the Gospel, and a far more diffuse presentation of spirituality.

And more:

Hillsong, through it’s attractive music, that has a form of godliness but denies His power (2 Tim 3:5), creeps it’s way into solid churches, deceptively turning people on to their ideology, drawing people to their “vision”–Brian Houston’s “vision.” A wide-ranging variety of music, some that may seem very solid theologically on the surface (even Satan masquerades as an angel of light, 2 Cor 11:14), and some that’s blatantly shallow and even unbiblical, is the effective method of takeover. It’s deceptive, and it’s evil (Mark 13:22).

The substance and theology of the music is irrelevant to Hillsong. It’s the attractive nature of the music, not the theology, that draws people to it. Hillsong’s music program funds the entire church and every time your church sings one of their praises, you are lining Brian Houston’s pockets, and carrying out his “vision.” See Also: Hillsong: A Breeding Ground of False Converts – And Your Church Pays For It.

As we began to say years ago, the SBC is going downhill at breakneck speed…

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False teaching has entered the Church like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, masquerading as “Social Justice”, but bearing sharp teeth of division concealed behind puckered up lips. The wolf is intent to tear the Church apart, ripping and pulling wherever it can. It finds especially vulnerable issues wherever worldly culture has Christians thinking wrongly.

Those sensitive places will open up deadly wounds and sharp divides in the Church unless someone kicks the teeth out of the wolf. That’s what pastors need to do. Call us shepherds. This article is one pastor’s attempt to neutralize a wolf that has been wreaking havoc in the evangelical Church recently.

Let’s pull the mask off the wolf and see if we can recognize who’s under there.

Who is it that always seeks to steal, kill, and destroy? We know that to be the devil. But what worldly philosophy did Satan use to kill upwards of one hundred million people in the last century? That would be called Marxism.

Marxism is, at the root, an attempt to divide the world between oppressed and oppressor (supposing to make things better for the oppressed), which, ironically, achieves its divisive end when those in power become the most oppressive force the world has ever seen.

By God’s grace, America defeated Marxism last century. But Marxism never truly went away. It just stopped trying to overthrow our government from the outside. Now Marxism works its way into American culture to accomplish its ends more slowly. Call that “Cultural Marxism.”

Cultural Marxism “is a revolutionary leftist idea that traditional culture is the source of oppression in the modern world. Cultural Marxism is often linked to an insistence upon political correctness, multiculturalism, and perpetual attacks on the foundations of culture: the nuclear family, marriage, patriotism, traditional morality, law, and order, etc.” (Source).

To understand Cultural Marxism, one must consider it’s progenitor—Marxism.

The Marxist worldview is built upon two presuppositions, both of them wrong.

First, Marxists assume that human beings are essentially morally neutral, born “tabula rosa” (blank slate). As Immanuel Kant theorized, bad behavior in humans is culturally conditioned, not innate to the human condition. Marx and his followers picked up on that. Therefore, they reasoned, if we could only transform society, then people would behave well and ultimately thrive, prosper, and be happy under the improved conditions.

Second, Marxists assume that society as we know it (that is, Western capitalistic society) is fundamentally a class struggle between the rich oppressors and the poor oppressed. The Bourgeoisie own most of the wealth and means of production. They are the oppressors. The Proletariat lack those privileges. They are the oppressed. From these presuppositions (optimistic anthropology and victimology) rings forth the cry for Revolution.

Cultural Marxism keeps the presuppositions but lays the Marxist solution of Communist Revolution to the side.

It still aims for more-evenly distributed economic outcomes. But it doesn’t seek to overthrow society in one fell swoop to make that happen. It is content to work along the edges, moving the boundary between rich and poor a little at a time. But the dichotomy between rich and poor remains. Never mind that wealth is an unbroken spectrum. To the Cultural Marxist, wherever the line between them is to be drawn, there is still a division between rich and poor, which is still characterized as a division between oppressor and oppressed.

But the insidious genius of the Cultural Marxists is that they have taken their oppressor/oppressed presupposition outside of the confines of wealth and the means of production and recruited “allies” from across the spectrum of society. Wherever there are differences among people, the Cultural Marxists swoop in with their oppressor/oppressed construct and force that construct upon the differences, casting everything within this narrative of victimization.

So, Cultural Marxism is not limited to financial concerns. It is just as concerned, and probably more concerned, with issues of race, gender, sexuality, and government. The second presupposition of Marxism—the classification of people as either oppressed or oppressor—is now being applied more broadly by Cultural Marxists.

The oppression that is keeping good people from utopia is no longer just the unfairness of capitalism

Whereby those who have wealth and the means of production are able to produce more and more wealth, while the have-nots are forced to work their tails off without the prospect of enjoying very much benefit from their hard work. Now, under Cultural Marxism, oppression is the unfairness of being black in a white world, female in a patriarchal world, an LGBTQ+ minority in a heterosexual world, an “undocumented” immigrant in a xenophobic world. Cultural Marxism marshals allies from a broad spectrum of society, wherever differences, especially minority status, could be called into question and the oppressor/oppressed construct forced upon the difference.

So widespread is the use of the victimization construct that individuals actually begin to categorize the ways (that’s plural) they are victims, ranking them and weighing them against the victimization of others!

This concept is called “intersectionality.”  The question becomes how the interplay of multiple layers of oppression affect a person. So, white, male, heterosexual, wealthy, American citizens get zero oppression points. Their oppressor ranking is necessarily very high. Conversely, a black, female, gay, poor, immigrant gets off-the-charts oppression points. Her oppression status is a multiplier—victim to the fifth power. She would be an uber-victim, deserving of uber-rights and uber-reparations.

Now, if proponents of intersectionality were rational and sincere, they would realize that there are literally as many ways to divide humanity as there are people on the planet (they would arrive at the individualism upon which Western civilization is based!). The relative privileges of any individual born into this world involves too many factors to calculate. For example, what if our white male above is devastatingly ugly. How will that affect his ability to get jobs, or get married? What if our black female is born with an incredibly high IQ of 190? How will that affect her ability to get jobs, or get married?

What if one or the other of them is extremely tall or short? What if one has Bipolar Disorder? What if the other is predisposed to pancreatic cancer? What if one is lactose intolerant? What if one has an abusive father? What if one has a loving father and a loving mother, who spend time with them in the home and who raise them to love the Lord Jesus Christ with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love their neighbor as themselves? How will those factors affect the outcomes of their lives? What we are given, and what we are not, is—in fact—determined by God, who is both just and free.

The problem that our culture and our churches are encountering nowadays in the areas of race, gender, sexuality, wealth, and government are not as the Cultural Marxists presuppose.

There is not widespread implicit bias. There are not micro-aggressions constantly being perpetrated by the dominant race, dominant gender, dominant sexuality, dominant financial class, and dominant American citizen.

There are not even two identifiable groupings by race, sexuality, wealth, or nationality. Gender is a God-ordained binary, but the others are not. All of these other classifications involve spectrums, not binaries. For example, contra the assertions of Critical Race Theory, there is no such thing as “black” and “white” people. If there were, then Barak Obama would be as much “white” as he is “black”, since his mom was one and his dad was the other.

But to maintain the binary, Critical Race Theory makes the ridiculous assertion that anyone having even one drop of blood with African descent makes a person “black”. And, of course, the Cultural Marxists go on to assert that “whites” are oppressing “blacks”. Such thinking is not biblical. It is Marxist. The problem is not “implicit bias” whereby two groups always exist and the dominant always oppresses the sub-dominant. In truth, the problem is called “Cultural Marxism”, and it has an ugly offspring called “intersectionality.”

It has been sad to watch how successful Cultural Marxism has been in American culture. Sadder still is the reality that it is working its way into the Church. Amazingly, even some of our best teachers don’t seem to recognize it. But listen to their conferences, read their books, hear their sermons, and the sad reality will soon be seen. Well-dressed in sheep’s clothing, a wolf called Marxism has entered our building. Let’s unmask this wolf and clear the Church of it the way Jesus cleared the Temple.

READ MORE AT BIBLE THUMPING WINGNUT

[Editor’s Note: This post was written by Jeff Kliewer, as posted at Bible Thumping Wingnut]

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Connect316 is a group of Southern Baptist pastors and leaders that essentially exists to oppose Calvinism in the denomination, holding to what they have termed “Traditionalism.” A historic misnomer, the doctrinal position held by Connect316 is a rather new and novel mediated position between Calvinism and Arminianism, subordinating God’s sovereignty to man’s Free Will while holding to the Calvinistic doctrine of Eternal Security. A pivotal leader in Connect316, Rick Patrick, has recently had to resign due to what he acknowledges was an inappropriate and insensitive comment.

Patrick, an ally of staunch anti-Calvinist, Paige Patterson, attempted to make a point regarding the lack of evidence presented against him in the Washington Post (an article written by a journalist heavily associated with New Calvinists, Russell Moore and Tim Keller). His point, however salient, was overshadowed by the crassness of its content.

Sarah Smith is an investigative reporter with the Star Telegram in Ft. Worth, Texas. Once she tweeted the comment made by Rick Patrick, the outrage was swift and severe.

Patrick’s point was a simple one; anyone can claim anything about anyone else, and without evidence, there is no good way to determine the truth or veracity of their claims. The #MeToo Movement is built upon the presupposition that people self-identifying as “victims” must be trusted by nothing but the virtue of their victimhood. With the #MeToo Movement beginning to lose steam because of many unsubstantiated claims and the torching of several fine gentlemen with dubious accusations (which is unfortunate for those many real victims out there), it would behoove all of us to make sure that accusations are substantiated before judgments are made.

That would have been a good way for Patrick to make his point. But instead, Patrick made a comment (left) about a donkey being gang-raped by some of Patterson’s chiefest critics. The hyperbole and obvious argument ad absurdum was meant by Patrick to demonstrate that it is indeed radical to take someone’s word as Gospel, especially without evidence other than their years-old, previously heretofore unshared personal testimony.

Snowflake culture was in full display afterward, with deep guffaws being heard all throughout social media. The social faux pas of Patrick should have been clear. First, you are not allowed to question the testimony of a self-professed victim in the #MeToo Movement. That should have been very clear. Second, a man is definitely not allowed to question the testimony of a professed victim in the #MeToo Movement. Third, pastors should probably not be throwing around the term “gang-raped” for the sake of making a rhetorical point. Fourth, by calling out so many names specifically, like Burleson, Cole, Moore, Stetzer, and Merritt, it just increased the number of people who would be incensed at Patrick’s phraseology. And fifth, considering that Merritt is pretty gay to begin with, it’s probably not cool to insinuate he may be a beastophile on top of that (no matter how tongue-in-cheek it is meant).

And so, predictably, Rick Patrick apologized and resigned from Connect316, an organization he helped to build. He said in his resignation letter:

I am far from a perfect man. Tuesday afternoon, I learned that a man I greatly admire was fired from his position as a Seminary President. The timing of the charges against him that broke in a Washington Post story took place right in the middle of a board meeting to discuss his future. This seemed very convenient to me at the time, and to a number of people, as if this were a planned “hit job.” Now, I don’t know what to think.

On a private Facebook group, we were discussing how anyone could make any kind of accusation about someone, even from years ago, and they would be assumed to be guilty until proven innocent. I sinned by posting a comment about the worst thing I could think of that a person could do, and then sarcastically imagined five of the people I felt were responsible for the “hit job” doing that thing. I am truly sorry for typing those words. I have reached out by telephone to two of the people and by email to the other three while I attempt to reach them by phone as well. The two I have spoken with have both been gracious.

I posted my comment when I was extremely upset at the news of my ministry hero’s firing. I will not repeat the comment, for it was honestly reprehensible and completely unworthy of Christ.

Then, Connect316 issued a statement that the board accepted Patrick’s resignation. In their statement, they seemed to forget the whole, “Grace to the Humbled, Law to the Proud” sort of thing:

Connect 316 does not condone, endorse, or approve of Rick Patrick’s remarks. We find them reprehensible and unbecoming of Christian comportment.

We have accepted the resignation of Rick Patrick from Connect 316 and have called upon him to apologize to each individual he insulted and ask for their forgiveness.

Although Rick Patrick was not speaking on behalf of Connect 316 when he made those deplorable remarks, we understand how terribly hurtful they were and would like to extend our apologies to each individual who was maligned.

Dr. Patrick’s comments do not reflect the character, heart, and purposes of C316.

Rick Patrick

The Bible is pretty clear about this type of thing. Ephesians 4:29 reads, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

However, in the weird, upside-down universe we live in, I find myself with compassion for Patrick. His language is worth a loving rebuke. Like, somebody should have said, “Could you have made that point without talking about gang-raping a donkey?” However, let’s not pretend that Patrick’s public fashion show of sackcloth and baptism of ashes has anything to do with genuine concern for filthy talk. It’s very simple; Patrick made what should have been an obvious point to anyone, but was extremely politically incorrect. Because his comment was crass, it gave the Snowflake Mob a reason to take off his head. All they needed was a reason to play the victim, and he gave it to them.

What’s interesting and of what we should take note is the quickness with which the Connect316 board responded, and the gracelessness they gave to Patrick in their statement. The firing of Paige Patterson has forever changed the status quo of how Southern Baptists respond to culture and media. With the giant fallen, the minions are scattering. “Traditionalists” are scared silly over Patterson’s demise, and they don’t know what to do with themselves; all they know is they’re scared. And frankly, they should be.

The Social Justice mob is entirely 100% united behind the goal of radically transforming the Southern Baptist Convention and wider evangelicalism. And frankly, they’re going to.

[Contributed by JD Hall]

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My name is Lori Pierce. Five years ago, my family and I began attending Global Vision Bible Church (GVBC) in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. We had heard its pastor, Greg Locke, preach online and we really liked his expository preaching style. We had been attending another local church but felt we needed to experience deeper exposition of God’s word. GVBC was a bare bones church; there was nothing fancy and the children’s program was very basic. We found Greg to be genuine and down to earth. His wife, Melissa, was very quiet but also very sweet. We hit it off with the Lockes because both our families have adopted children. Greg seemed to love his church family and did things such as ride his bike and pray at every member’s house at New Year’s (technically GVBC does not have official “members” who can vote on church affairs). He also rode his bike across America to help raise awareness about sex trafficking. We loved Greg’s dedication and humbleness. GVBC really did a lot for the community, especially considering the small size of the congregation, such as giving away turkeys to the poor at Thanksgiving. 

A couple of years after we started attending GVBC, Greg decided to start posting videos on Facebook. He posted a lot of encouraging messages with some of his conservative political views mixed in. We really liked them at first, but then there came a point where Greg’s video messages were more focused on politics than the Bible. All of the sudden, Greg just started going on rants without doing substantial background research into his subject matter. Thus, a lot of the claims he made while ranting were false. One example is a video accusing our local school system of indoctrinating our children into Islam. Our children go to the local public school and Greg’s accusation was simply not true. We had a child in the class in question at that time and indeed the curriculum covered Islam but it also covered other world religions. We did not feel our children were being indoctrinated into Islam at all.

Due to Greg’s Facebook videos, the church and the Facebook ministry grew. Attendance started to swell rapidly, and Greg started adding services. We had visitors from all over. As the church grew, so did Greg’s head. He was traveling all of the time to speak at various places. He was inserting himself more and more into the political arena. A year ago my husband and I started growing weary of that and determined that the church was no longer the same. GVBC seemed to be all about Greg Locke and it became very cliquish. Then came the focus on Planned Parenthood (PP). Don’t get me wrong, I am just as much against abortion as any Bible-believing Christian. I have an adopted child for goodness sake. The issue we had with Greg was that he was spending more energy on goading PP then fighting against abortion. Greg was using church funds to go deliver the hate mail that he had received to the PP headquarters in DC instead of going and praying with people at abortion clinics, such as another local pastor does. We felt like Greg just wanted attention on himself. Nevertheless my husband and I did stand up for him after he began receiving a lot of hateful Facebook messages. Even though he seemed to be getting cocky, we still believed Greg was genuine. 

The church continued to change for the worst. All of the elders left. Greg started adding all kinds of staff and nothing was announced. One of the things we loved when we first started attending was the transparency and how leadership devoted one night to go over the past year’s financials. This was no longer the case. It seemed like Greg’s right hand man, Executive Pastor Jarrod Almond, didn’t want anyone to know what was going on with church finances. Greg and Jarrod were asked by an elder (all of the elders subsequently left) to start a financial committee to oversee the finances. Jarrod was totally against doing so, which is preposterous considering almost every church has one. It began to seem like money was being spent on staff cars, homes, and other things that no one was supposed to know about. Two golf carts were purchased and we still have no idea what they were for. GVBC does not sit on a lot of acreage. Jarrod ran off many people as he was controlling and just downright hateful. With all the money coming in from the internet ministry, local attenders became less important and anyone with questions was expendable. Jarrod and Greg seemed to keep everyone in the dark. One of the Locke children happened to be in my car one day playing with one of my kids and he announced his dad told them they were rich. What kid would make that up?

The prayer group became problematic as well. The ladies who ran it seemed to run the church as well.  People started coming forward and saying that they were asked to leave because some of the prayer ladies didn’t like their ideas. On one January day, Greg Locke and some of his children happened to be at the skating rink at the same time as my family and I. I asked him about certain ladies that had come forward with horror stories from the prayer group. Greg provided me all kinds of excuses, such as the women who had been run off were actually trying to take over the prayer ministry and had been causing problems. I had never in my life been to a church where the prayer ladies were so rude and unwelcoming. The fact that Greg allowed this spoke volumes to me.

Although we were weary of what was happening we still loved our church. We invited our neighbors and friends to attend. They did and they loved Greg’s preaching. However, there was a shift in his preaching. This past fall, Greg seemed to get very vitriolic. The humble Greg Locke was nowhere to be found. He then started preaching about a tree he would go sit by and how God was changing him. My husband and I were baffled as what he was saying seemed to make no sense. Our neighbors even sensed how rude Greg came across as he began to tell people to leave if they couldn’t handle Greg Locke 2.0. In November, Greg made the announcement at church that he and Melissa were divorcing. We were not there but heard about it later.  People began to criticize Greg for breaking from his wife. I defended him because I believed his stories that he was being abandoned and not seeking a divorce. I lost friends because of my defense of Greg and the church. When Pulpit & Pen broke the news of Greg’s infidelity, I defended my pastor and was banned from its Facebook page. I thought Pulpit & Pen were horrible for going after Greg and GVBC. I tried to reach out to Melissa via the cell phone number I had for her but I received no reply. Little did I know, that Greg had taken her church-issued phone. Something in the back of my head told me something wasn’t right. I conveyed my concerns to my husband and he thought we should step away from reading about GVBC in social media and blogs. We prayed for God to reveal anything we needed to know.

Shortly thereafter, my friend texted me the Pulpit & Pen article that came out with Greg’s nasty text messages to his wife. I was so heart broken. My husband looked at them and said, “We are done.”  These text messages conveyed how horrible Greg talked and still talks to Melissa. The fact that he called her fat and put down her hair cut shows how controlling and vicious he is. My husband and I were appalled. Greg never apologized for how he talked to Melissa or said it was wrong. He made excuses. Melissa is one of the most Biblical women I have ever known. She stood by his side for over twenty years, hardly living a luxurious life. Greg texted us a few weeks after we stopped attending GVBC asking where we were and if he could do anything for us. We replied that we were having a hard time with what was going on and we would like to sit down and talk with him. He agreed but never gave us a time and date when we could get together. We haven’t heard from him since. We now know he was just wanting to verify if we had left the church or not. I thought if they were divorcing, Greg would take time off and go somewhere with his children and get counseling and do everything he could for them. We were appalled at what we saw. He started dating his secretary, Tai Cowan, and telling people he was “moving on with his life.” Someone had sent out a picture of Greg and Tai together at a basketball game. I sent it to Greg and asked about it and he said he was just going to watch the game and was moving on with his life. I took that to mean he was just getting out. I had no idea it meant he was dating Tai! The odd thing is I told my husband a couple of years ago that I felt the church secretary (who was also Melissa’s best friend) was infatuated with Greg. It was apparent by the way she acted around him and looked at him. Greg’s children had started to talk about things that were going on with their dad and his secretary and it didn’t match the story Greg was telling.

Greg Locke is not the man we thought he was. He thinks of the church and the ministry as his, not God’s. His wife and kids are not his first priority. He even stated from the pulpit that he didn’t help with homework because he already had to do homework when he was their age. I recently got wind that his children didn’t have money on their accounts at school to eat lunch. I had heard so many rumors that I wanted to verify it for myself. I called the school and asked about a certain Locke child and the school verified that he had no money on his account. I asked if he did indeed eat in the cafeteria or if he brought his lunch. They knew him and said he did eat in the cafeteria. They said they let kids with no credit in their account go into the negative to a certain point but then stopped granting it. I put money on the Locke child’s account because I have children and it broke my heart that his own daddy wasn’t giving him lunch money. With everything these kids have gone through, eating should not be a concern. This is just an example of how Greg puts his wants and his needs above everyone else’s. He constantly posts pictures of himself at the gym or in his car. If you ask him about anything, he will whine about how much hurt he and his family have gone through. He caused his own hurt. He never fought for his marriage. He lies straight from the pulpit saying Melissa filed but what he doesn’t tell you is that she stopped her divorce proceedings and begged to reconcile. He filed his own divorce suit but you will not hear him admit that. Melisa stood by his side for so many years and he left her with next to nothing. It’s like he doesn’t want her to succeed or get ahead in life.  I wish all of his online followers knew what a fraud he was. There are people giving their hard earned money to a fraudulent “church.” So many families, believers, and non-believers have been hurt by all of this. The people still there and still supporting him will have to answer to God. Greg Locke needs to repent and step down. Ezekiel 34:1-31 comes to my mind. Greg doesn’t realize that he is not respected in our town, especially by Godly pastors. It is embarrassing to even tell people where we went to church. When we are visiting other churches, they ask where we went to church before.  When we tell them, people shake their heads in disgust.

I know that I will probably get bombarded with hate mail due to this expose but it needed to come out. I want other people to be aware of false pastors. I mean, what if any of these people needed Christian counseling for their relationships? They certainly could not get it from Greg Locke. What would he tell them? Divorce your wife/husband and take up with the secretary/spouse’s best friend?  Please reconsider your support of Greg Locke and GVBC. I supported him for years. I don’t anymore.

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“The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, But the righteous are bold as a lion.” Proverbs 28:1

I am tired of Al Mohler.

For years, I listened to his various podcasts: every month, every week, every day.  Every month or so, I listened to his literary podcast, Thinking in Public, in which he discussed culturally relevant books with their authors.  All the discussions were interesting. Every week, I listened to his sermon podcast, Powerline.  All the sermons were sound.  Every day, I listened to his news podcast, The Briefing, in which he gave a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.  All his analyses were astute. Each of Mohler’s podcasts provided a consistent critique of theological liberalism and unbiblical ideas.  I learned from them and I agreed with them.  Then, one day, I just stopped listening.

I got tired of Al Mohler criticizing the Anglicans about being gay-affirming.  I got tired of him criticizing the Methodists for having female pastors.  I got tired of him criticizing the world for its naturalistic bent.  It’s not that I didn’t agree with Mohler’s condemnations.  I did.  It’s that he polemicized every theological problem under the sun, so long as it wasn’t shaded by the big tent of the Southern Baptist Convention.  It is under that big tent that Mohler earns his lucrative living.  In the wake of his denomination’s conservative resurgence, every Bible-believing Southern Baptist already rejects apostate mainline denominations and godless liberals.  I grew weary of being the crowd to which Albert Mohler was preaching as he decried the biblical offenses of what is left of Protestant liberalism.  What about the problems in his own house?  LifeWay, Ergun Caner, a Muslim enrollee at Southwestern Baptist, the MLK50 Conference, Russell Moore’s progressivism, the emergence of Karen Swallow Prior. Mohler, the president of the SBC’s flagship seminary, has remained silent time after time.  He’ll address a Hillsong or an Andy Stanley, but when baptist luminary David Uth invites a Seventh Day Adventist to preach at First Baptist Orlando, Mohler is busy critiquing liberal Presbyterians or the secular media.  A couple of years ago Ronnie Floyd, a sitting President of the Southern Baptist Convention who was nominated for the office by Al Mohler, went and spoke at an International House of Prayer Conference. IHOP is considered a cult by many.  Mohler’s many podcasts and blogs were silent on that issue and many others.  Mohler, perhaps more than no other, knows Southern Baptist problems.  Yet, when does he choose to speak of them?

When it’s safe.

Paige Patterson was fired as President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary this week.  Mohler took the opportunity, to write a Jeremiad entitled “The Wrath of God Poured Out – The Humiliation of the Southern Baptist Convention.”  When the coast was clear and the beachhead was safe, Albert Mohler spoke out against the actions, the nearly two decades old actions, of Paige Patterson.  For twenty-five years Mohler has harvested the field that Paige Patterson and Paul Pressler planted during the Conservative Resurgence.  Arguably, Albert Mohler wouldn’t have a job in the Southern Baptist Convention if not for Patterson’s fight against the liberals.  When Patterson was finally sacrificed upon the altar of public relations, the latest idol in the SBC’s temple, Mohler finally took the opportunity to criticize something related to the SBC…after the trustees had already fired Patterson.  Make no mistake, Patterson was fired…but he was “Baptist Fired.”  Like Joe Aguillard at Louisiana College, Patterson was granted the lifelong honorific title “President Emeritus.”  To boot, Patterson and his wife were given the title “Theologians in Residence” and a house in which to live on the SWBTS campus.  To the adulation of the Southern Baptist Twittersphere, Mohler addressed the problems at SWBTS, without so much as having the fortitude to mention Patterson, his long-time rival in soteriological theology, and SWBTS by name.  Mohler’s timing, to say the least, is suspect.

I agree with this article but it should be noted that not only the toleration but indeed promotion and celebration of false teachers in the SBC also incurs God’s wrath. Lifeway’s selling of known heresy and exploitation of Alex Malarkey does as well. https://t.co/IsTh60P56d

— Justin Peters (@JustinPetersMin) May 24, 2018

In Mohler’s younger days, the seminary he now heads was known for its liberalism.  Mohler, then a student, was too.  The winds of conservatism, in the personage of Paige Patterson, Adrian Rogers, and the architects of the SBC Conservative resurgence blew.  All of the sudden, it was safe to be a conservative at SBTS.  All of the sudden, Al Mohler was conservative.  A few years ago, my county’s associational Missionary David Frankin, himself an SBTS alumnus from the old days, told me that Al Mohler was liberal and he would never invite him to our county to speak.  I, the faithful consumer of all his podcasts, Mohler scoffed at David.  Today, I’m left remembering David’s words and wondering if Al Mohler would have been president of SBTS whether Patterson had rid the convention of its liberals or not.

*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use

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Abortion has been illegal in Ireland since 1861.  In 1983, there was a growing concern among Ireland’s population, which was heavily influenced by the pro-life ethic of the Roman Catholic Church, that their country would follow the pattern of the more secular nations around it and legalize the practice of killing babies in womb.  Pro-lifers fought to maintain the protection of the unborn. On September 7th, 1983, the “Eighth Amendment of the Constitution Act” was enacted, giving the mother and the unborn equal rights and protection under Irish law.  Yesterday, May 25, Irish voters, in a referendum, had the opportunity to perpetuate or repeal the Eight Amendment. Sadly, in a landslide vote, Irish voters decided to repeal the amendment.

Today, throughout Ireland, “celebrations” are being held as the voters who said, “Yes” to the lawful murder of the unborn, are reveling in that fact that women will no longer have to obtain illegal abortions in countries outside Ireland or make use of the black market to have access to the abortion pill.  According to the revelers, women finally have comprehensive reproductive care in Ireland.  This developmental is indicative of the waning influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland.

This is indeed a grievous day for God’s image-bearers in Ireland.  The voters of Ireland, currently celebrating evil, face a grim judgement in the future. They will have to stand before the righteous and just God to answer for their murderous ways.  Their Roman Catholic ancestors, as protective of the unborn as they were, will also stand before God. They face a similar grim judgement, not for condoning the murder of the unborn but for preaching a false gospel of works.  Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can save both groups from the wrath that is it come.  Christians observing the events of today should keep eternal matters in perspective as they consider this sad temporal polticial development.

Below is a “live” link to the wicked celebrations taking place in honor of the legalization of the killing of the unborn in Ireland.

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I really like Michelle Lesley and her work at michellelesley.com.  I cite her often.  Michelle is the type of (female) author the SBC needs but, unfortunately, as LifeWay sales indicate, not the type of author the SBC wants.  As a minister’s wife and long-time Baptist, Michelle is well aware of the desperate need of reform in the SBC. Yesterday, she published an article entitled “It’s time for Reformation in the SBC – 3 Issues We Need to Set Right.” In it, Michelle assesses the mindset of those Southern Baptists who have chosen to walk away from the Convention:

“for some individual Southern Baptists and Southern Baptist churches, the biblical error and other problems pervading the SBC have become too much to bear, and they have deemed it time to walk away from what they see as a system damaged beyond repair, seeking refuge in ARBCA, Bible, Independent, or non-denominational churches and networks instead.”

Michelle herself is not ready to walk away.  She holds out hope for reform in her denomination.  The three issues that need to be set right, according to Michelle, are:

1. The Authority and Sufficiency of Scripture
2. False Doctrine and False Teachers (with emphasis on the problems of LifeWay, Beth Moore, Sarah Young, and Priscilla Shirer)
3. Disfellowshipping Errant Churches

I agree with Michelle’s identification of the problems.  For example, there are a number of errant churches that have abandoned Baptist church polity as defined in the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.  Article VI of that document states:

“A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation.”

A number of the SBC’s largest churches have abandoned the concept of the local church and implemented a “multi-site” model where satellite campuses in other towns are controlled by a mother church.  This number not only includes nominally affiliated SBC churches like NewSpring and Elevation but the churches of several recent SBC Presidents. Bellevue Baptist Church, Cross Church, and the First Baptist Church of Woodstock have all adopted the multi-site model.  These megachurches, led by megapastors, effectively become their own denominations. All the while, their leadership, maintains control of the Southern Baptist Convention. To state the matter plainly, the top leadership of the SBC (Steve Gaines, Ronnie Floyd, Johnny Hunt et al) is composed of pastors whose churches are considered “errant” by a plain reading of the Baptist Faith and Message.  Lesley condemns none of these pastors in her article. Rather she condemns Elevation and NewSpring, churches which are barely involved with denominational affairs. The SBC is not being corrupted by churches (NewSpring and Elevation) which have almost nothing to do with denominational leadership. While these churches are embarrassments to the denomination, their leaders are not among those steering the SBC ship.

The odds on favorite to be the captain of the sinking ship that is the Southern Baptist Convention is JD Greear, the pastor of The Summit Church.  Greear is to be nominated for the Presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention this June.  His opponent is long-time Southern Baptist statesman Ken Hemphill. A prominent SBC blogger recently told me that he thinks, “Hemphill will get beaten worse than Mondale in ‘84.”  I agree with his assessment. The conservative resurgence is over and the SBC’s next “anointed” leader is Greear, an advocate of the liberal-minded racial reconciliation movement.  The Summit Church is an errant church, having nine different locations, with an errant leader.  Michelle Lesley views the activities of LifeWay (see reformation issue #2) as a major problem SBC life.  Greear is a featured author at LifeWay’s website.  He is not someone Southern Baptists can expect to rebuke Lifeway (along with Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer) and push for the expulsion of errant churches.  He is a LifeWay pusher at an errant church and quite friendly with Beth Moore:

Thank you, Beth! Hoping that we are entering a new era where we in the complementarian world take all the Word of God seriously–not just the parts about distinction of roles but also re: the tearing down of all hierarchy & his gracious distribution of gifts to all his children!

— J.D. Greear (@jdgreear) May 5, 2018

One would expect Lesley to provide a withering critique of Greear in her call for Reformation.  However, she provides quite the opposite.  Lesley has used her media platform to back Greear:

I suspect that Lesley backs Greear because he is Calvinistic.   His sociological beliefs are a positive.  However, they are overshadowed by his status as one more LifeWay author from an SBC mult-site megachurch.  If Lesley truly wants reformation, she needs to back the right horse.  Frankly speaking, Elevation and NewSpring aren’t the problem. Churches like The Summit are.  Megachurches thrive off of low discernment people who consume the products of the very authors (Moore, Shirer, Young et all) that Michelle Lesley condemns.  Michelle Lesley has proclaimed herself to be a member of #TeamJD.  She needs to decide if she wants reform or more of the same from the SBC power complex.

*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use

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At Pulpit & Pen we are often condemned as “pharisees.”  Such is the result of being polemical of and discerning about today’s money-and-popularity-driven evangelical industrial complex. This type of condemnation is such a frequent occurrence that we published an article, The Pharisee Card,  with which to page slap the frequent detractors who send us emails accusing us of being pharisaical.   The term “pharisee” has come to be abused, used as an epithet for anyone who would speak against unholiness and doctrinal error.  Michelle Lesley is a popular Christian blogger and a discerning critic of (what passes for) female-oriented Christian literature.  She is outspokenly polemical of popular authors such as Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, Lysa Terkeurst, Jen Hatmaker, Anne Voskamp, Sarah Young, and Joyce Meyer.  I imagine she also frequently falls victim to being incorrectly labeled a pharisee.  That’s why I was glad to see a video she released today in which she provides an astute, biblically-grounded analysis of the proper use of the term “pharisee.”

*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use

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My name is Karen. I live in Montana. My husband and I are members of a Baptist church that adheres to the 1689 London Baptist Confession. I have broken free of Beth Moore.

The Apostle Paul told the Colossian church,

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” (Colossians 2:8 NIV)

This is the first verse I memorized as a new Christian many years ago, but I don’t think I fully grasped its meaning at the time. Through naivety and not reading the Bible for myself, I followed some very unbiblical teaching over the years. Much of that bad teaching was from Beth Moore. I read many of her studies. Thankfully, my days of Beth Moore Bible studies are over, but, wow, what a process it has been. I was recently asked to give an account of my days as a Beth Moore acolyte. This caused me to go back and look for any Beth Moore literature I still had on hand. Thinking I had thrown away all of my Beth Moore books, I dug into a few cupboards in my basement and found three old Bible study workbooks and her book entitled “Jesus the One & Only.” I recall getting it as a gift from a friend in 2004 on the 2nd anniversary of my mother’s death. My friend’s sentiment is the only reason I kept the book. I hadn’t read it since she gave it to me but since I had thrown my other Beth Moore materials out, I decided to peruse it once again.

In the first words of the first sentence of the introduction Moore uses the phrase, “My romance with Jesus Christ…” She actually repeats the phrase on the same page! Reading back over these words instantly befuddled me. I know they are absurd but I wonder what those words mean to her. Why does she use that language? Upon reading that phrase, I knew there was no need to go any further in the book. I’ve done enough of her Bible studies to know that Beth’s usage of emotional words is her way to grab attention and draw women into her videos, books and Bible studies. She is a very charismatic personality but mostly to a fault. I will admit when I first watched the video that accompanied the study I took years ago, I was instantly taken in. I thought to myself, “Oh, isn’t she cute and bubbly, dramatic and so deep.” What a package right? However, as I continued to watch her videos with all of her big stories of God speaking to her and how she and the Lord would discuss all these life situations I would think,”Gosh, He doesn’t need to talk to me like that but I wish He would just say something!” Women actually believe God speaks directly to Beth Moore. She gets very detailed about her conversations with God but then, sometimes, has to remind her audience that she doesn’t mean she really hears His voice but that she senses it or He drops it into her heart and so, by her example, many of us women have learned that exact bizarre talk. After consuming Beth Moore products, I felt like everything had to be an “experience” with God and if it wasn’t then certainly something must be wrong. I went on and on to the next Beth Moore Bible study, hoping that maybe I would finally find what I kept missing.

Out of the five Beth Moore Bible study workbooks I found in my basement only the Daniel study was completed. In the others, Living Beyond Yourself, A Woman’s Heart, Stepping Up, and Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed (which Beth did with Priscilla Shirer and Kay Arthur), the questions were redundant and I simply got tired of filling in all the blanks. I liked the Daniel study, perhaps because of my interest in historical biblical details. The Daniel study included many but more often Beth likes to insert herself into the Bible text she is teaching. Her audience ends doing the same. Looking back, I understand why doing so is wrong and dangerous, especially to the new Christian. After I had taken a few of Beth’s studies, I got frustrated because I wasn’t experiencing all of that Jesus stuff that Beth always talks about. The main claim of the Lord speaking to her, usually in full, specific sentences, became annoying to me. So I quit
Women’s studies altogether. I continued attending church started helping with the youth group. The funny thing is a neighbor of ours was the women’s Bible study coordinator at our church and she hounded me for years to get back into a ladies group, get involved in all the activities! Every time I would cringe as Beth Moore studies were a central theme in the group. Several years later through some legislative work at our state capital I met a group of Christian ladies that I really connected with; they invited me to their women’s gathering at their church back home. I remember thinking, “Why not give this women’s Bible study thing another try?? The short of this long story is after several Bible studies (one written by the leader of the study group and others including authors Joyce Meyer and Lysa TerKeurst) and then a showing of the movie War Room, I was beginning to wonder, “What am I doing here?”

Something just wasn’t right but I kept thinking, “I really like these ladies, what is wrong with me?” and returning for a repeat the following week. All the while I kept attending I was asking the Lord for discernment, help to understand what the problem was. I prayed to be able to decipher truth from error. Then, it happened. At some point in one of our group discussions the leader asked “Who says women can’t be preachers?” Under my breath I said, “The Bible does.” That single question is the very thing that catapulted me out of that church and its women’s study group and into a year of in-depth research of women Bible teachers and those who like to call themselves “pastors”. I had always believed that it was okay for women to teach women but even
though I hadn’t thoroughly studied 1 Timothy 2:11-12, I was never comfortable with a woman giving a sermon in church. Honestly, I just thought I wasn’t quite “with it”. Because I was most familiar with her, the first woman I began researching was Beth Moore. I had never used the internet to do anything like this before but the information I found totally engulfed me and led me to dig into the teaching of countless women who make a living out of instructing and preaching.

One of the first resources I found was an audio from Chris Rosebrough of Pirate Christian Radio. I hadn’t heard of him and didn’t even know there was this type of resource on the internet. The audio was from the Life Today program with James and Betty Robison. Beth Moore is regularly featured on their program in the “Wednesdays with Beth” segment. In the audio Rosebrough provided, Beth went into great detail teaching on Hebrews 10:35-36, which says:

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” (NIV)

I was familiar with the Robisons’ show and was very interested as to what Mr. Rosebrough had to say by way of critique. He was absolutely spot on with his analysis. Beth Moore took the text of Hebrews and twisted it. She positioned herself into the text while leading the audience to do the very same thing. In taking those verses out of context Beth negated the fact, as Rosebrough explained it, that the entire chapter of Hebrews 10 is a comparison of the Mosaic animal sacrificial system to the once and for all sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He taught that verses 35 and 36 highlight the amazing truth that our confidence to draw near to God is because of Christ’s sacrifice and His blood shed on the cross for our sins. Beth used those verses to teach a worldly notion of self-confidence. At one point, she even said to the audience “I demand, in Jesus name, my confidence back”. All the while she is butchering the very Word of God to an oblivious audience. There sat a pastor, James Robison, who basically congratulated her on such a wonderful teaching. He then puts his own spin on those verses.

I don’t know who Beth’s pastor is (Editor’s note: It is her son-in-law), but I ask, “Where is he? Where is her husband?” (Editor’s note: He works for Beth Moore at Living Proof Ministries). Beth is funny. Beth is captivating. Beth is very dangerous in her teaching. Beth has become the inspiration of a group of women who teach and preach aberrant human ideas and opinions while adding a little Bible here and there. Millions of people, both men and women, buy her products. It is my belief that Beth Moore does more harm than good in her teaching. Her blatant misuse of Hebrews 10:35-36 isn’t just a red flag, it totally disqualifies her from teaching the Bible.
Beth needs to stop peddling herself as an expert on God’s Word. Unfortunately, many people are blindly following her. I cannot diminish her responsibility to correctly teach the Word, nor will I make light of the holiness and righteousness of God. He demands right teaching of His Word. Each of us is accountable in our walk with Christ. We have no excuse! The truth must be upheld and heretics exposed. Thanks to sound teachers like Chris Rosebrough, Justin Peters, John MacArthur, Phil Johnson, Jordan Hall, Seth Dunn and the great websites of Michelle Lesley, Elizabeth Prata, and of course Pulpit and Pen, God has helped me gain wisdom and discernment, which He graciously allows me to share with other women.

If you are a fan of Beth Moore I encourage you to pray for discernment, do your homework, compare her instruction to the Bible and rid yourself of this heresy headache.

“They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.” Titus 1:11 ESV

[Edited by: Seth Dunn]

*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.

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The tyranny of deterioration
It worries me that it’s all just a waste of time
Taking one step forward, two steps back…

-Dustin Kensrue/Thrice, “The Long Defeat”

Good art is hard to find. For the sanctified Christian living in a fallen world, it’s a near impossibility. To stumble upon a piece of music that is able to convey the hard realities of the depraved human condition is a precious stone indeed. Dustin Kensrue, lead singer of the band Thrice, has reliably produced biblically tinged music recordings for over a decade since embracing Reformed doctrine, theology and worldview.

Tragically, a deep snare had been laid, as brother Dustin would ultimately find himself in the midst of one of the swiftest descents in recent religious history. As the music director and worship leader of Mars Hill Church, Kensrue found himself in a most tenuous position, leading a final and fatal charge against a primary figurehead of what would come to be known as the “Young, Restless and Reformed” movement. It was Kensrue’s bold and slightly veiled case for Driscoll’s resignation that drove the final nail through the heart of a pastor who was himself undone by his own blind ambition and thorny disposition.

I find myself in a strange place of hope and desperation for all parties involved. Not only did Driscoll fail to decipher the sandy foundation he had bound himself, but to this day Kensrue will be plagued by the damage done to the fragile faith of a Reformed neophyte. No matter how progressive our sanctified state, we can all relate.

The Way is Truly Narrow

Is it unusual to acquire a special respect and affinity for the composer who reflects a personal conviction shared by the listener? Upon discovery of a songwriter who exhibits deep theological truths in the midst of usually hostile territory, shall we not say an extra prayer that the narrow path be freshly and savingly known?

Kensrue, and his band Thrice, may have conceived the best album to hit the mainstream in years with the release of their ninth album, the absolutely stellar, To Be Everywhere is to Be Nowhere. Kensrue poetically takes on the morally bankrupt ways of the political establishment while evoking deep Christian sentiments and imagery throughout the 11 track musical juggernaut.

Unfortunately, a brief reflection and meditation on Kensrue’s latest tweets seem to reveal a deeply sensitive and most conflicted soul who is struggling to recover his newfound liberation in a truly redemptive sense. https://twitter.com/dustinkensrue?lang=en

Certainly, Kensrue has done more for his fellow man and is much more deserving of redemption than a wretch like me. And yet, I found myself deeply disappointed by the tone and direction of his Twitter page. In the end, maybe the path of least resistance was just too tempting for Kensrue to forsake.

Nobody ever said demonstrating a proper level of discernment was going to be easy. There are snares on either side. This is the reason why the bible is filled with so many warnings against being led astray and falling into temptation.

Don’t get me wrong, calls for love and consideration for the civil rights of the low and truly oppressed is very noble, and we Christians must be living representatives of hope and acceptance in Christ. But how helpful are men and women who sow confusion and division?

To whom shall we go in our pursuit of true repentance, deliverance, and restoration? Is it really helpful for Kensrue to retweet and promote political and theological lightning rods like Kamala Harris and Peter Enns? Is this truly where he wants to go for inspiration?

Many will grow frustrated with the imperfect disciple, but may we never lose sight of the True and Living Christ! Let’s pray for Mr. Dustin Kensrue and his family. God is patient and full of mercy. His ways are not our own.

[Contributed by A. Castellitto]

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Sexual Immorality Exposing the Secret Epidemic. For the Purpose of Glorifying God, Mortifying the Flesh and Striving For Holiness. Pornography the Silent Sexual Sin!

[Contributed by Justin Pierce]

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What Jesus said about White privilege isn’t what you hear from professors, politicians, and many pastors today. Jesus doesn’t command White people to check their privilege, he commands them to count their blessings. And that’s the problem, isn’t it? We’ve buried our heads so deeply in the sand to bow to the golden calf of our time that we do not recognize that what the world calls privilege, the word of God calls blessing.

My White neighbour is richer than I am, like most White people. He doesn’t live paycheck to paycheck like I do, like most Black people. He was born into a better environment than I was, like most White people. I’ve experienced more barriers to success than he has, like most Black people. My White neighbour is more privileged than I am, and professors, politicians, and even pastors want me to envy him.

White privilege is a popular concept today because White people are encouraged to congratulate themselves for pitying their Black neighbours. White privilege is a popular concept today because the culture encourages Black people to embrace self-pity, bitterness, covetousness, and envy—and it turns Black people green for White people.

My neighbour and I share the same rights, but not the same privileges, and that’s okay. Our rights come from the government, our privileges come from God. My White neighbour is more privileged than I am because God gave him more unearned advantages than he gave me. My neighbour is more privileged than I am because he’s more blessed than I am.

If White people today were more privileged than Black people because of racial injustice, that would be an entirely different story. But my government is not secretly plotting my demise. I do not believe Justin Trudeau—and Donald Trump for Black Americans—is clever enough to pull that off, anyway. I do not believe in conspiracy theories. My White neighbours’ blessings come from God, not the government.

White privilege is a Marxist concept developed by feminist writer Peggy McIntosh in her 1988 article, Male Privilege and White Privilege. It’s a silly oversimplification at best and racist at worst. White people who believe in White privilege affirm much of the same things White racists do, except they feel guilty about it. White privilege essentially suggests that Black people are inferior to White people. It suggests that if only Black people were granted special provisions by the government, then maybe we might be standing on equal footing with White people. It’s the soft bigotry of low expectations, and they congratulate themselves for it. And perhaps that is why many of them use racial slurs like “coon” and “Uncle Tom” against me.

I read Peggy McIntosh’s article for the third time earlier this week, and I was reminded of a quote from economist Henry Hanzlitt:

“The whole gospel of Karl Marx can be summed up in a single sentence: Hate the man who is better off than you are. Never under any circumstances admit that his success may be due to his own efforts, to the productive contribution he has made to the whole community. Always attribute his success to the exploitation, the cheating, the more or less open robbery of others. Never under any circumstances admit that your own failure may be owing to your own weakness, or that the failure of anyone else may be due to his own defects.”

I’ll go further: the gospel of Karl Marx tempts you to hate the God who makes someone better off than you are. And that is the danger of White privilege. It encourages self-pity, bitterness, covetousness, envy, and worse—hopelessness in God.

That finally brings me to what Jesus said about White privilege. Remember what Jesus said in the Parable of the Talents? The parable teaches that a master entrusted his property to three of his slaves before leaving for a journey. Jesus said “to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.” When the master returned, the slaves with five talents and two talents had doubled their money into ten talents and four talents, respectively. However, the slave with one talent wasn’t profitable. He wasn’t a good steward and he blamed it on his master’s character, not his own. So the master rewarded the slaves who doubled their talents and punished him.

That parable is primarily about something much more important than privilege. Nevertheless, there are some important lessons about privilege to learn from the parable. God gives some people five talents, and others two and one. If my White neighbour, like most White people, is more privileged than I am—if my White neighbour has five talents, and I have just two. That’s okay. I am not called to match my neighbour’s privileges. I am called to make the most of what God has given me. Especially when God gives some people less privileges than I have. If my neighbour has five talents, and I have two, others have just one. And God, the giver of all good gifts, calls us all to make the most of what he gives us.

I may not have my neighbour’s material blessings, but in Christ, I have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Actually, I am much more privileged than my White neighbour.

[Contributed by Samuel Sey]

Editor’s note: This post originally appeared at Slow To Write, and was reposted here with permission.

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On May 23, 2018, the Board of Trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) met over the recent public controversy of Paige Patterson’s past statements connected to domestic violence and the outward appearance of a teenage girl.

One would surmise that the Board of Trustees of SWBTS would perform their due diligence through a systematic evidentiary hearing and an evaluation of information readily available to them thereby ensuring that the right decision is made.

After more than twelve hours, the Board of Trustees had made their decision: Paige Patterson was named president emeritus, would continue to receive compensation, and he and his wife Dorothy would continue to live on campus in Fort Worth, Texas as “theologians in residence at the Baptist Heritage Center.”

On May 30th, the Board of Trustees fired Paige Patterson because “new evidence” was uncovered regarding an allegation that in 2003 he wrongly dealt with an alleged rape by concealing it.

However, it’s apparent that there’s more to this than meets the eye.

Sharayah Colter, once a student at SWBTS and “most recently as wife to” Paige Patterson’s “chief of staff, Scott Colter” has written an amazing and eye-opening article for SBC Issues (see linked article below).

Sharayah Colter’s “facts” should leave you with the same feeling it left me; something is afoot within the Southern Baptist Convention and the South Western Baptist Theological Seminary.

The untold truth: Facts surrounding Paige Patterson and his removal from SWBTS By Sharayah Colter

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William Lane Craig is the world’s foremost Christian Philospher and Apologist.  He is best known for giving defenses of classical theism and foundational Christian doctrines such as the Resurrection of Christ and the Trinirarian nature of God.  Craig is not known to make waves among the Evangelical Intellegensia and the church at large.  In fact, he goes out of his way not to do so.  Craig prefers to focus his work on defending those doctrines, what he calls “mere Christianity,” which can be agreed upon by Protestants, Roman Catholics, and the Eastern Orthodox alike.  Because of his lack of dogmatism, Craig often finds himself at odds with many conservative Christians, especially those in the reformed community.  Craig’s condemnation of Roman Catholic heresy has been tacit at best while his promotion of Molinism and acceptance of Old-Earth Progressive Creationism are percieved as compromising and even liberal. Neverthess, Craig is seen as something as an arch conservative among the secular academic community.  Craig’s own dissertation supervisor, the liberal-minded theistic philosopher of religion John Hick, “counts Craig in his memoir as among the top three students of his teaching career, even while describing Craig’s ‘extreme theological conservatism’ as in at least one respect ‘horrific’ and generally indicative of ‘a startling lack of connection with the modern world.”   While the bulk of Craig’s work concerns the study of obscure subjects such as Divine Aseity and Time Theory, his most popular activity is debating the merits of Christianity in secular academic settings.  One of Criag’s major ministry concerns is strengthening the Christian witness in the University in order to influence greater society.  As such, Craig’s finger is on the pulse of the academic environment.  That is why Christians everywhere should take note of a recent episode of Craig’s Reasonable Faith podcast entitled “The Dangers of Critical Theory.”  In this episode, Craig explains the nature of Critical Theory and identifies it as antithetical to a biblical worldview.  He also warns that Critical Theory has made inroads in Christian universities and is including young people.  That a man so concerned with not being disagreeable in the Christian community has raised such warning should cause all Christians to take a hard look into the ways Critical Theory may be influencing the activies and academic institutions of their denominations.  If the church is to retain its salt and light witness to a lost and dying world, it must reject, not accept, popular unbiblical ideas like Critical Theory.

*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.

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Fred Butler of GTY joins BTWN to discuss his “LGBT Christians” article, Preston Sprinkle and the question, “Should men and women be friends?”

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Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet the words of knowledge. –Proverbs 14:7

On July 26, 2018, the Revoice Conference convenes at Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri. The loud and clear call of this conference is ‘the Church must change to accommodate the inclusion of the “gay Christian.” On the surface, the intended outcome resides in the conference’s stated purpose:

“Supporting, encouraging, and empowering gay, lesbian, same-sex attracted, and other LGBT Christians so they can flourish while observing the historic, Christian doctrine of marriage and sexuality.”

While in reality, the underlying goal is to repurpose the Church by adapting it for a use exponentially differently than has been orthodox Christianity for 2,000 years.

First of all, some pertinent background information will widen the scope of what’s lurking behind it. Secondly, a closer look at one of the scheduled presenters will shed some light on “who” will be speaking at the conference. And finally, the calamitous connection with Russell Moore.

The Man behind “Revoice” – Dr.Nate Collins

Dr. Nate Collins is the founder of Revoice. He “has served as an instructor of New Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary” (where he received his Ph.D.). In September 2017, Collins author the book All But Invisible: Exploring Identity Questions at the Intersection of Faith, Gender, and Sexuality.: (source)

On his blog, allbutinvisible, he addresses the meaning of the phrase “Gay Christian:”

First, the way the word “gay” is most commonly used today is to refer to an orientation identity, and not to a specific pattern of behavior that Christians would think of as sinful. In other words, when most people hear the word “gay”, they don’t think of actual behavior, but instead a pattern of desire. I would say that these desires are inevitably experienced at some point as fallen desires, but that the sanctifying work of Christ can redeem some of them (the nonsexual ones). By analogy, nonstraight orientations are like a disability… in other words, the phrase “gay Christian” is more like the phrase “blind Christian” than “prideful Christian.”

After thirteen years of marriage and three children, Collins’ still self-identifies as “Same-Sex Attracted” (SSA).

Revoice Presenter – Branden Polk

Branden Polk, per his Twitter account, describes himself as a “Reader, writer, musician, lover of Jesus, poet, philosopher, and friend” (do note the order of importance). Additionally, Polk is the CEO and Founder of Arrowhead Advising. Arrowhead Advising Servus include both coaching and counseling to individuals and businesses with strategic means in “making a difference in the world.”

Allow me to introduce you to one of his good friends, Todrick Hall. Todrick Hall is a singer, dancer, director, and…wait for it…DRAG QUEEN. Hall is an activist for LGBTQ rights and inclusivism. Branden Polk has strong emotions and highly regards his friend, Todrick, from the moment he met him, and is a regular visitor to Hall’s “shows.”

Todrick Hall isn’t just your “ordinary” drag queen, he is connected…to RuPaul and his show “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Hall has appeared on RuPaul’s show as early 2009 and as recent as May 10, 2018.

None of this should surprise anyone that Revoice has included Branden Polk as a presenter at the conference in July. What should surprise us is the relationship Branden Polk has with the President of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), Russell Moore.

The calamitous connection to Russell Moore

Arrowhead Advising LLC has performed contractual work for the ERLC strategically advising Russel Moore on both the 2017 Christ Centered Parenting Conference and the April 2018 MLK/50 Conference.

Russell Moore continues to be advised by Arrowhead Advising LLC on the ERLC’s Prison Reform Bill promotion.

It would be highly suspicious for Moore to claim that he’s unfamiliar with the facts and that he’s not working hand in hand with sex perverts knowing the background of Revoice and the friendship of Branden Polk and Todrick Hall. Why do Southern Baptists continue to send money to this progressive entity who partners with people like this who have an obvious agenda?

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Beth Moore, who is best known as Lifeway’s Cash Cow of Bashan, the extremely popular women’s teacher whose increasingly wild-eyed prophetic visions have gained prominence in a wide berth of evangelicalism well outside the SBC (especially in charismatic circles, as she coalesces with other egalitarian prophetesses like Anne Voskamp, Joyce Meyer, and Christine Caine), may very well be promoted as the next president of the SBC after the upcoming term of JD Greear.

Beth Moore – Lifeway’s Cashcow of Bashan

Greear, who is seen as the favorite for the 2018 SBC election, holds to a modified Complementarian position that is, for all intents and purposes, Egalitarian. Also a Continuationist and a #woke Social Justice Warrior, the megachurch satellite campus pastor is well departed from Southern Baptist historic orthodoxy on a number of points. This will unlikely stop the young, popular and charismatic mega-pastor for winning the June election handily, as the SBC reels in shock from the firing of perhaps the oldest and most prominent standard-bearer of SBC conservativism, Paige Patterson, in a cultural bleed-over of the #metoo movement into the denomination in what is an increasingly speculative and questionable decision of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Executive Board. Greear has presented himself as a fully “woke” and politically savvy public relations specialist, who along with certain other leaders in the SBC (like Russell Moore, Albert Mohler, Danny Akin, Matt Chandler and other New Calvinists), are intent on rebranding the denomination in the name of saving it. One such overture to “saving the denomination” in recent days has been talk of electing a female president, which has received no shortage of support in social media. The name for such a female leader of the country’s largest Protestant denomination that has risen to the top of discussion is none other than the recently woke prophetess, Beth Moore.

Following on the heels of a conference that should have been seen as spitting in the face of the #MeToo Movement, MLK50 – a conference venerating a man who literally trafficked in female prostitutes – many SBC leaders began to vocalize the need for leadership chosen not by the content of their character, but the color of their skin. In true Marxist Intersectionality fashion, these same leaders started to include women in the long list of underrepresented minorities who had to be placed at the top tiers of leadership if the SBC was to survive the impending tide of cultural opinion. JD Greear, on May 25, posted a video in which he called on the SBC to place women at the highest levels of leadership. He stated:

Our failure to listen to and honor women and racial minorities and our failure to include them in proportionate measures at top leadership roles have hindered our ability to see sin and injustice and call it out.

The politically correct virtue signaling of Greear did not go unnoticed. Soon, names began to surface of women who could take the top leadership spot in the SBC. In the last several days, one name, in particular, seemed to echo throughout social media. That name is Beth Moore.

Dwight Marxissic

Dwight McKissic – or Marxissic, as he is known among the discernment community – is the African American race-baiting pastor who supported Hillary Clinton and leftist-progressives, and who most notably designed a resolution at the 2017 SBC meeting to condemn the so-called “alt-right,” simultaneously orchestrating mainstream media outrage at SBC messengers who originally balked at the politically motivated propaganda. SBC leaders, eager to avoid any negative media attention, scrambled to pass an amended form of the resolution, pleading with messengers to consider how it would look in the press. Currently, Marxissic is planning a resolution with Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President, Danny Akin, which will yet again focus on racial reconciliation. Akin, who founded an Affirmative Action department at SEBTS called “The Department of Kingdom Diversity” and hosted a “Malcolm X Read-In” for seminary students this year, has joined Marxissic to denounce “White racism” and demand social justice, which eerily seems like something out of the 1970s United Methodist playbook or that of any of the mainstream liberal denominations that have experienced severe, anti-Gospel mission drift in the latter 20th Century. It was McKissic himself who similarly floated the idea of nominating Moore as president of the SBC.

McKissic wrote:

If I thought Beth Moore would accept the nomination or be agreeable to being nominated, because of her qualifications and the current context the SBC finds herself in…I would nominate her for SBC President.

Of course, the SBC has never considered a female president of the SBC because it has always fallen to the role of pastor, and eldership is limited to male leaders. The position also requires a good deal of preaching, which has always been seen by the denomination as a job for men, in light of the prohibition against women teaching in the church. With the promotion of so many female preachers by SBC’s retailer, Lifeway, one could have guessed it would only have been a matter of time before the Convention as a whole would see little problem with that gross and profane departure from orthodoxy.

McKissic went on to explain his reasoning:

The SBC is a parachurch organization—not a church. Therefore, there is absolutely not one Bible verse, or SBC constitutional bylaws prohibitions, nor any BF&M 2000 prohibitions against a woman serving as SBC President. Tradition, sexism, fear and other non-biblical factors would probably prevent any woman, including Deborah, Mary the Mother of Jesus, Lydia, Junia or Priscilla, or Lottie Moon from being elected President of the SBC; but, I repeat…there is not one Bible verse or SBC constitutional prohibition.

Therefore, I could vote for a qualified woman with a clear conscience for President of the SBC. The I Timothy 2:12 passage is reference to local church leadership, not parachurch leadership. The statement on gender roles in the BF&M 2000 does not prohibit female leadership in the SBC Convention or entity life. To impose I Timothy 2:12 as a prohibition on a female SBC President would be tantamount to imposing Genesis 9:25-27, as a prohibition for a Black, Asian, or Hispanic SBC President. Neither Scripture is addressing prohibitions in parachurch offices. Historically, though, they have been used or misused to draw such erroneous conclusions.

The problem with Marxissic’s theory, other than his use of Deborah – an Old Testament political judge who served as God’s judgment upon a leadership-weak nation – and New Testament Saints (who were NOT appointed to spiritual ecclesiastical authority, even by the Lord Himself), thus demonstrating massive hermeneutical failure and tragic inability to reason, is that the issue of Complementarianism vs Egalitarianism is one of ecclesiastical authority and not one only of eldership within the local church.

There is another problem with Marxissic’s theory; the SBC, although not a local church, is ecclesiastical. How do we know this? The SBC – officially, legally, and on-the-record – calls itself an ecclesiastical authority.

For example, just this year the SBC’s North American Mission Board (NAMB) argued in court that a lawsuit against it should not proceed because of a “ministerial exemption” due to the “ecclesiastical abstention doctrine” (source link). In other words, the SBC entity claimed to be ecclesiastical. Regarding the lawsuit of Will McRaney, NAMB attorneys argued according to the Baptist Message:

On the matter of the “ecclesiastical abstention doctrine” (which prevents a court from interfering in decidedly church issues such as theology), [the judge] affirmed the U.S. Supreme Court position that churches have the “power to decide for themselves, free from state interference, matters of church government as well as those of faith and doctrine.” However, regarding NAMB’s claim that “adjudicating McRaney’s defamation claim would require the Court to decide matters of internal church governance,” he said he “disagrees.”

Furthermore, all local SBC churches needing proof of tax exemption as a religious institution fall under the “umbrella 501(c)3” of the Southern Baptist Convention, meaning that the only recognition many churches have with the federal government as a house of worship is their legal identity with the SBC, which is recognized as a “church.” Baptist autonomy aside (and the attitude of Greear and McKissic seem to be “to hell with Baptist polity” anyway), like it or not, the SBC is ecclesiastical.

On top of these inconvenient truths, the fact is the presidency of the SBC is, in nature, pastoral. These are men who – like all SBC entity heads – make doctrinal decisions (like IMB President, David Platt, approving tongue-speakers to serve as missionaries or former SBC President, Ronnie Floyd, deciding to partner in prayer with IHOP). The office itself is one of the highest authority, and one prohibited to women. Welcome to complementarianism.

Many of the SBC blogger-class seconded the notion of McKissic that the office should not be limited to men, and that Beth Moore would be a suitable candidate for the position, including bloggers at SBC Voices, Dave Miller, Brent Hobbs, and AlanCross.

See also: Revoice Conference: Connecting the Dots from Russell Moore to Drag Queens, RuPaul

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Recently, JD Greear posted a video on FB seemingly in an attempt to provide the SBC with some leadership and direction. Regrettably, the kind of leadership and direction JD offered, well, it isn’t real leadership and as for the direction, I couldn’t disagree more. That is not to say that I don’t respect JD Greear. I do. I treat him as a brother. However, his video is public, and as a result, it is more than reasonable to provide a public response to it (not that my voice will be heard by very many anyways – but I do have a voice and I will use it to glorify God).

Greear made several points to which I will briefly respond. The first issue I have with Greear’s comments is his interesting view that God has brought a day of reckoning to the SBC. This is pious talk for “someone or a number of someones that have been exposed for behaving badly.” My objection is simply this: spare me the pious framing. It rings hollow. The behavior that JD is talking about has been going on for a very long time and men like JD have known about it for a long time. The good ole boys protect the good ole boys until they can’t protect them any longer. Then a sacrificial lamb is offered up and we get to listen to this pious framing. It is hard to stomach. Want my respect? Then just tell the truth openly, honestly, make no excuses, and admit that there is an accountability problem top to bottom in the SBC. And that’s just one of the problems.

Greear says there are things about the SBC culture that grieves the Holy Spirit. What does he mean? Does he mean that the SBC needs a culture of accountability and transparency among leadership? A culture that lives up to the principle of Sola Scriptura? A culture that is impervious to the good ole boy back-slapping and protecting that has gone on for so long? Nope! He says the SBC needs a new complementarianism. The SBC needs to recognize the gift God gives to women and it should seek to empower them. This, despite the fact that Scripture has reserved authority and leadership for men. But this is a wink in the direction of the #MeToo nonsense that has made its way into the SBC. It is a wink in the direction of Beth Moore. And maybe it’s some sort of penance for some heinous evil performed against women by men in power positions within the SBC. Sorry JD, but the solution to the SBC’s problems is not a new complementarianism. It is a return to living under the authority of Scripture. Nothing else will do

Greear’s second issue is to see people of color in the highest levels of leadership. This a wink at the racial reconciliation movement. Despite the fact that there is nothing in Scripture that supports this kind of mindset, these men continue to adopt pagan thinking around the subject of diversity. It is sad to see. We need fearless leaders in these positions, not white men, or brown men, or black men. We need men like John MacArthur, Voddie Baucham, Steve Lawson, Conrad Mbewe, Paul Washer. We don’t need melanin to be a criterion by which men are appointed to these positions. They are far too important to be reduced to something as arbitrary as skin tone. This is nothing more than political posturing. It is what led to the conditions that have created the impetus for this video to begin with, and JD for whatever reason, does not see that or if he does, he is choosing to ignore it.

The third item Greear mentions is very likely the powder keg that is about to explode in the SBC. Greear says that we need to help the vulnerable, to stand up for the abused. Finally, Greear gets to transparency in leadership. Well, I wonder what this cryptic message is really about, that we must stand up for the vulnerable? What is JD referencing? Personally, I think it is always a bad idea to talk about transparency in a cryptic way. Maybe I am the only one that feels the irony here but I sure do feel it.

Next, Greear decides to go after those of a divisive spirit. Now, you can almost guarantee when someone starts talking like this, their goal is to marginalize anyone that disagrees with them and to shut them down. Greear even says that it does not matter if these folks are actually right in their understanding of an issue. All that matters is that they are being divisive. Riddle me this: why is it that it is always “them” that are being divisive and never “me?” In other words, the ones who are divisive are the ones that disagree with us, with my side, with my team, with our view. And it doesn’t even matter if my side is wrong. It is those guys, even though they are right, that are dividing us and therefore, we should mark them. For example: recently, this good ole boys club thought it was prudent to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. as a noble Christian man and an example to be admired. Many of us think this is detrimental to the gospel and to the integrity of the Christian church. But since it is a secondary issue so to speak, it does not matter if we are right. What is worse is that we are speaking out about it and creating division. Therefore, we should be marked and dealt with presumably. This is not how the church is supposed to operate folks. This is a man seeking to keep things exactly the way they are all the while saying that things need to change. Washington has done this to American society for years and years now. And it seems that the SBC is taking the very same approach. Shut down those people who disagree with Greear and his friends. No debate. No synod. No conference. No Discussion. Mark them and shut them up now. Greear even quotes Paul at Romans 16:7 saying, “Mark them with a divisive spirit and keep away from them.” First, its Romans 16:17, not Romans 16:7. Second, here is what Paul actually said: Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. Greear goes on to say, “whether you are being divisive on an issue even if your right still makes you divisive.” Now, compare that statement with statement Paul made. Did Paul say that division in and of itself is wrong? Nope. Paul said, “Keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned.” The presumed next president of the SBC is misquoting Scripture in an attempt to manipulate and intimidate anyone who might disagree with him on an issue. Is this the kind of character the SBC needs leading it in the future? It is the same old, same old, folks.

In 1 Corinthians 5:11, Paul tells the church at Corinth to separate from anyone who claims to be a brother but who is walking in immorality. That is a mandate for division. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have fit that category perfectly and the SBC just celebrated him as an exemplary Christian leader. John told his audience that if someone comes bringing something other than the doctrine of Christ, have nothing to do with that person. That is a command for division. Paul told the Thessalonian believers to keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life (2 Thess. 3:6). A few verses later he said to note anyone who does not obey the instructions of his letter and have nothing to do with them (2 Thess. 3:14). Jesus Himself instructed the church to remove men from among them who were obstinate in their sin. This sin would include false teachings. Finally, Greear, without realizing it, is advocating division while attempting to condemn it. If it is true that all division are wrong even if the people creating it are right on the issue in question, and it is also true that marking someone out in the way Greear is marking them out is divisive, then Greear is actually engaging in the very practice he is condemning, while he is condemning it. Even if Greear is right, he is wrong according to his own standard.

I realize that this response to Greear is direct, and some would say overly harsh. Under the circumstances and in the current environment, I think it is reasonable. If the SBC is going to be a denomination that honors Christ, it will have to begin by returning to living under the authority of Scripture. Unless the SBC does that nothing else that it does matters much. It will continue to bleed good people until all that is left are the progressives. In other words, the only hope the SBC has of avoiding the fate of every other liberal Protestant denomination is to be willing to shrink to whatever size is necessary in order to have a membership that is predominantly submitting their lives to the authority of Scripture, from the members all the way up to the leaders, to include the seminaries. Refuse to do that and the SBC will not recover. The SBC is like a person on life support today. The time for her to begin to respond and show that there is enough activity in her spiritual brain to justify holding out hope is quickly coming to a close. If Greear’s video is any indication, there is little reason to hold out hope that a recovery is in her future.

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