Earlier this week, Pulpit & Pen reported on an upcoming conference in which Alistair Begg will ‘share the stage’ with Beth Moore. Begg is certainly not the first Calvinist and/or more-serious Christian leader to preach alongside the wildly egalitarian Social Justice Warrior and newly-charismatic prophetess. John Piper was perhaps the first respectable leader to preach with Moore, but we were nonetheless disappointed in Begg’s decision.
Certainly, there is an absolute implicit approval of one with whom you engage in ministry partnership, to (especially) include sharing a pulpit. God forbid that any respectable Christian leader preach alongside Beth Moore.
And so, Pulpit & Pen readers – many of whom love and support Begg – reached out to Begg to question him.
The reader asked him:
I’m concerned that Alistair is attending the national preach conference with Tony Evans, and Beth Moore, I don’t understand why he would associate his good name with them..whether or not he was aware of it I’m sure he is now and should do the right thing and not only not go, but expose them and the organization or institution that invited them..they to need to be confronted. With the climate of false teachers all over the place today, you would think one would be much more alert as to who they are identified with..I hope Allister does the right thing…
Begg’s ministry responded, astonishingly stating that Begg agrees with the concern about Evans and Moore expressed by the reader.
Thank you for taking the time to write Truth For Life and for sharing your concerns. Alistair was invited to speak at the Baylor National Preaching Conference, but he was not invited to do so with the knowledge of any other speaker at the event. He will not be sharing the platform with any other speaker, but will use the opportunity to faithfully teach God’s Word. While he shares your concern he does not share your conclusion. You may be assured that he will approach this opportunity with the same courage in which Paul exhorted Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1-5.
Thank you, again, for your thoughts and please pray that God will provide courage, clarity, conviction, and compassion in the proclamation of His Word.
God bless, Jennifer
Begg’s ministry claimed that he accepted the invitation without knowing who else would be partnering with him. First, that’s ill-advised and (probably) wrong. It’s certainly undiscerning and in today’s climate of apostasy, is foolish. It’s also irresponsible not to know such things.
Technically, Begg will be sharing the platform at the conference. They’ll both be on the same platform at the same conference, speaking to the same people from the same pulpit. They may just not co-preach, but seriously…when do two people preach a sermon at the same time on the same stage anyway? This is just word games.
Paul’s words to Timothy, as referenced to the concerned Begg-supporter and P&P-reader, are as follows:
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, iwho is to judge the living and the dead, and by jhis appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; kreprove, rebuke, and lexhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 mFor the time is coming when people will not endure nsound1 teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and owill turn away from listening to the truth and pwander off into myths. 5 As for you, qalways be sober-minded, rendure suffering, do the work of san evangelist, tfulfill your ministry.
The use of the text is ironic.
Begg should use the opportunity in the presence of Moore and Evans to rebuke them. He should be reproving the crowd with Scripture so as to warn them not to attend conferences to hear women and Open Theists preach.
Likewise, perhaps no time better exemplifies, “people accumulating for themselves teachers to suit their own passions” as a conference that has both someone the caliber of Alistair Begg and the calamity of Beth Moore.
This Scripture should be forwarded back to Begg’s office and they should be asked to read it back to themselves…slowly.
The idea from some is that Begg is just taking the opportunity to preach because, after all, people need to hear the Gospel. But this is a conference for Christians. Shouldn’t they already know? While this argument may make sense when given an opportunity to preach in hostile territory and among unbelievers, the argument does not carry water when it’s applied to ministry endeavors among professing Christians.
We long for the day when Christian leaders promote holiness.
