“He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.” John 10:12-13 In the … Read more
Of all the tweets I’ve seen from the #sbc15 hashtag lamenting the “Mickey Mouse court” mentality and foregone conclusions of the convention experience, most of those comments from rank-and-file Southern Baptists ring true. This one seems to summarize them the best. I couldn’t make the Convention, after sitting for five hours on the Tarmac in Fargo and … Read more
If you haven’t heard of the Lifeway scandal, regarding #the15 by now, I recommend reading this article. The debacle revolves around the Southern Baptist entity, Lifeway Bookstores, who serves as the publishing branch of the convention. Lifeway, as a representative of the SBC has been called out for peddling heretical materials by unsound teachers, as well as Heaven tourism books, for profit, and not responding to criticism for their actions. One particular heretical book Lifeway peddled for years for monetary gain is “The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven.” The book, though officially co-authored by Alex Malarkey and his Father, was actually a work completely by Alex’s father, that Alex himself never supported. Alex recanted his story publicly, his mother publicly wrote about it, and world class apologist, and former Lifeway trustee, Justin Peters, even informed Lifeway about Alex’s recantation years before the book was finally pulled from the shelves after a massive outcry by #the15, and Alex’s recantation made viral through the Pulpit and Pen website.
If you ask the average Evangelical church-goer today what the difference is between Protestantism and Catholicism, you’re likely to get a variety of answers. Some will tell you that Catholics believe in a works salvation, but many won’t really understand what that means. Others may tell you that Catholics worship Mary and Protestants don’t. But the overwhelming majority are likely to have no idea what the difference is, and this is rather disturbing. While many of these people will be able to articulate the Gospel, Catholicism is quickly becoming seen as “just another denomination,” with some strange twists. They are no longer being seen as the counterfeit Church, the ancient enemy of the Gospel that the reformers fought so hard and gave their lives to expose and separate from. The muddying of these waters is not unaccounted for, however, and it comes as no surprise, since today we have so many Evangelicals afraid to speak out against Rome, and fornicating with her in many ways.
MAY 29, 2015 BY PAULSIMEON2014 Catholic Group Exposes Communist Influence in the Vatican An organization called the American Life League (ALL) has uncovered dramatic evidence of links between the highest levels of the Roman Catholic Church and an international communist group known as the World Social Forum. The evidence suggests overt Marxist influence on the climate … Read more
PREFACE I’m a Baptist of Baptists. I wasn’t baby-dedicated at my church on the 8th day, but it was done within a few weeks. I grew up in a Southern Baptist church in a family that faithfully gave. As a carefree middle-class youth, I never knew how much was given but it made an impression … Read more
The Gospel. The original word is “εὐαγγέλιον,” or “euaggelion,” in Greek, and literally means “good tidings,” or “good news.” The Oxford dictionary defines the word as “The teaching or revelation of Christ,” and Thayer has it as “the proclamation of the grace of God manifest and pledged in Christ.” Simply put, the Gospel is, according … Read more
Some people just can’t let bygones be bygones. A few Days ago, Joni Hannigan of the Christian Examiner blog wrote a flimsy piece claiming that Calvinist bloggers bullied Willy Rice into disinviting Carson from the 2015 SBC Pastor’s Conference. It was tacky enough that she barely sourced anything in her article, and those she did … Read more
“Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?” John 4:29 M. Knight Shyamalan’s film Unbreakable tells the story of a security guard named David Dunn who possesses, unbeknownst to him, superhuman powers. Through the intercession of an interested party, Dunn learns of his powers which include near … Read more
On April 30th, Perry Noble, pastor of SBC megachurch NewSpring Church, published a personal reflection in which he expressed his disappointment that Ben Carson will no longer be speaking at the upcoming Southern Baptist Convention Pastors Conference. In the course of his reflection, Noble decried the existence of “theological police” who display “pharisaical arrogance”. This … Read more
Last week, we gave our concerns with having Seventh Day Adventist, Dr. Ben Carson, speak at the 2015 Pastor’s Conference. We echoed the rightful concerns first articulated at Baptist Twenty-One. Thankfully, wiser heads prevailed and the Southern Baptist Convention dropped Dr. Carson from the event. This came as welcome news to most, as many shared the same concerns. However, … Read more
If you’ve been following Southern Baptist news, you know about the uproar that was cast by the SBC inviting Seventh Day Adventist, Dr. Ben Carson, to speak at the 2015 Pastor’s Conference. Aside from the serious theological differences that sets Southern Baptists apart from Seventh Day Adventists, it was also widely seen as an endorsement of a political candidate. In the wake of this massive outcry, a follow-up opinion was written at SBC Voices blog by Dave Matthews, basically stating that he disagreed with decision to invite Carson, but since it’s already done, for the sake of avoiding bad press, we should just shut up about it, accept it, and have lunch together.
Not too long ago, I reported on the SBC leaders who were chosen by president Ronnie Floyd to lead this year’s Committee on Committees. Here I want to give a run-down on what I perceive to be part of a bigger problem within the SBC. The leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention is designed in … Read more
Ronnie Floyd, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, has named the 2015 Committee on Committees. This is the committee that is responsible for actually nominating the two people of their respective states to serve as members of the Committee of Nominations, who, in turn, nominate trustees to serve on boards of the various entities of the SBC. It’s … Read more
Once in a while, I’ll have a conversation with a pastor, usually a Southern Baptist pastor, who has read some of my articles, and find it puzzling that I would be calling out such leaders as Russell Moore or Ronnie Floyd. What I often notice however, is that while most of the time this pastor … Read more
