In the Halcyon days of Pulpit & Pen, new articles came out every day. There were multiple writers contributing back then and if nothing was getting published JD Hall would inform us quickly that “the website was growing cobwebs”. Unfortunately, the site has had cobwebs for a few years now; it’s just me writing. Between my family of eight, my job, my podcast, and coaching youth sports there isn’t much time for blogging. Thankfully, Dustin and David over at Protestia and Jeff over DISNTR are keeping the legacy of polemics and discernment blogging alive with timely posts. I’m still over here at P&P trying to post once a week. As regular readers already know, I’m a little behind. I fell ill last month and was thus unable to keep up my meager blogging schedule. Here’s a little bit of commentary on what I’ve wanted to cover lately but have been unable to cover.
Elevation Church left the Southern Baptist Convention. Its exit came shortly after the SBC doubled down on its complementarian theology and took action to begin disfellowshipping churches with females serving as pastors “of any kind“. Elevation didn’t say it left because the SBC was willing to kick out even megachurches with female pastors, but that is clearly the reason for its exit. Elevation’s departure was no big loss to the SBC. It gave a minuscule percentage of its annual revenue to the Convention and, frankly, Steven Furtick was an embarrassment to the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (his Alma mater) and the SBC as a whole. His brand of charismatic prosperity preaching does not reflect Baptist culture or theology. The real story here is that the SBC never kicked Elevation out for being so abjectly awful. The SBC didn’t leave Steven Furtick, Steven Furtick left the SBC. No doubt many SBC churches will still gleefully sing Elevation Music. Elevation’s exit demonstrates the sad state of the SBC. That house of heresy would have been disfellowshiped long ago by a healthy convention.
Greg Locke of Global Vision Bible disqualified himself from pastoral ministry years ago when he divorced his wife and married his secretary. Nevertheless, he kept on preaching at his church. Now, Locke has really jumped the theological shark. For some time, Locke has been involved in “deliverance ministry”. Some of you may not know what that is. Deliverance ministry is a product of charismatic culture and its practitioners are clear charlatans. Deliverance ministers claim demons of various negative states (e.g. addiction, debt, sickness) possess or oppress people. These demons must be cast out through deliverance ministry. Locke has gone so far down the path of charismatic charlatanry that he now cozied up to Benny Hinn. Locke even repudiated the book he wrote years ago, Blinded by Benny, in which he condemned the false theology of Hinn. One is left to wonder if Greg Locke has ever truly believed what he’s preached. Whether it be the biblical gospel, a viral video rant against liberalism, or a deliverance ministry prayer, if it’s spoken out of Locke’s mouth, it’s probably a disingenuous stunt for attention and donations. There’s a lesson there, too. Make sure pastors practice what they preach. There are plenty of people who will say what you want to hear for money. They don’t have to really believe it themselves to make money from a message.
Christian broadcaster Janet Mefferd called Julie Roys a “grifter” in a recent Twitter thread questioning Roys’ journalistic credentials. It’s one of those occasions where someone seems mean for calling someone else out but, at the same time, weren’t we all thinking the same thing? Roys has made an enterprise out of writing bad things (some true) about popular ministers and then tweeting at people to agree with her. She comes off like a middle school girl trying to get everyone to dislike whomever she dislikes. Julie Roys’ website is a sad, atheological tabloid. Good for Mefferd for taking Roys to task. Roys isn’t “restoring the church” in any sense. I’m not sure Roys has ever actually been a member of a decent church.
JD Greear was named Pulpit & Pen’s Worst Christian of the Year for 2019. He’s making a push for the 2023 title. As mentioned above, the SBC is taking steps to remove churches with “female pastors.” Despite his supposed theological agreement with complementarianism, Greear is opposed to the SBC’s ongoing effort to remove churches that employ females in pastoral roles. He published a blog explaining his position. Greear’s reasoning was as nonsensical as it was deceptive and condescending. For some reason, men like him rise to positions of power and influence in the SBC.
*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.
