“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” – Matthew 10:16 Rick Warren is a harmless teddy bear. He truly doesn’t understand why people have a problem with him. He’s just not the sharpest guy, but God has really used him. … Read more
A blog we haven’t heard of from a person we haven’t heard of (Chris Bolt), was tweeted to Pulpit & Pen by ecumenist, Eric Teetsel (who we’ve written about here and here) and provided some “explanations” for some of the quotations and citations made in our first piece about Karen Swallow Prior. Currently with more … Read more
The concept of “social justice” is not new, it’s been around for ages. It’s the antithesis to personal responsibility. The New Oxford American Dictionary defines “social justice” as “The objective of creating a fair and equal society in which each individual matters, their rights are recognized and protected, and decisions are made in ways that are fair and honest.” On the surface this sounds like a noble cause, but in reality, it doesn’t work that way. In practice, social justice removes the notion of personal responsibility, and places the burden of individuals on the backs of society. A society devoid of personal responsibility will naturally result in laziness, crime, and a complete lack of motivation for advancement, and eventually total collapse of the society. The social justice system comes in the form of a wolf in sheep’s clothing, disguised as something good, yet it is opposed to the will of God, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Ecumenical movements within the Church and those who propagate them should be considered with caution. One prominent propagator of such movements is the Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention (ERLC). The ERLC has been known to make questionable dives into the waters of faith-based alliances with organizations that hold to completely different sets of doctrinal … Read more
Ecumenical movements within the Church and those who propagate them should be considered with caution. One prominent propagator of such movements is the Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention (ERLC). The ERLC has been known to make questionable dives into the waters of faith-based alliances with organizations that hold to completely different sets of doctrinal beliefs than do Bible-believing Southern Baptists. It has rightly been criticized by concerned Christians for doing so. Unfortunately, critics of the ERLC and similar organizations are often accused of slandering people of faith, causing division, rejecting diversity, or even spreading hate. Questions, not unlike the trap questions asked of Jesus by Jewish leaders during the first century, are thrown at the critics of ecumenism in attempts to discredit their concerned stances. Many times, these questions are nothing more than straw-men tactics that shown no real concern the specific issue at hand. When responding to such questions, critics of unhealthy ecumenism should strive to respond with sound logic and thoughtful biblical exegesis. Consider the following admonishments from the Apostle Paul in light of notable activities of the ERLC.
Released April 23, 2015, was “The Defense of Marriage and the Right of Religious Freedom: Reaffirming a Shared Witness,” an ecumenical document signed by Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist’s Ethics and Religious Liberties Committee. The document, which stated a secular defense of marriage, was also signed by several other Protestant and Evangelical leaders, as well as Mormon, Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic leaders across the United States. While the premise of the document appears noble, here in lies the same problem with ecumenism, in which Russell Moore is well known for: compromising the Gospel for the sake of unity.
The Baptist Press revealed yesterday that Pastor J.D. Greear of Summit Church, Raleigh-Durham, NC, has nominated current pope president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Ronnie Floyd, to a second term. This comes as no surprise, as Floyd is adored by the neo-evangelical leadership who have now mainstreamed the denomination. One of the problems with this neo-evangelicalism is that many of them are solid bible teachers, and are solid in their doctrinal beliefs, but outside of the pulpit is where they break down. They see no problem associating with, and promoting emergent leaders such as Rick Warren, and they tend to blindly support each other, as I reported before, without any accountability, in order to re-elect and maintain leadership positions within the SBC. This appears to be the same thing here.
“Hush, hush; Keep it down now. Voices carry.” – Aimee Man Clark Pinnock is a deceased biblical scholar, theologian, and apologist. For a time, he was a member of the faculty of a Southern Baptist seminary. During his career he was a proponent of open theism and was supportive of annihilationism. With regards to the eternal … Read more
In addition to Jordan’s excellent treatment of The Gospel Coalition’s bizarre and probably sinful decision to invite lost people to comment on justice and mercy, I’d like to pile on with some thoughts of my own. Though I am tempted to include a rant about the futility of conference upon conference upon conference upon conference … Read more
Ed Stetzer has faced some criticism lately. Criticism, of course, that began with some unkind words to a certain friend of Pulpit & Pen on Twitter and culminated in an open letter to Lifeway by one of the victims of the entity’s pursuit for filthy lucre, a young man named Alex Malarkey, which just happened … Read more
During my daily excursions through the Bible I came across Jeremiah Chapter 29 and I wanted to share some truths that I learned. We ALL know that Jeremiah 29:11-13 was spoken directly to us, in this present day and age, and so I was thinking “What specifically ARE the plans that God has for us? … Read more
Editors note: The following is posted by guest contributor Shane Peterson. The state of Christianity nowadays seems to be moving further and further away from the Bible and nearer to the world. Many churches are welcoming and promoting new age mysticism, or the “purpose-driven” model, or even starting to down-right accept sin. We have … Read more
Earlier, I posted an article dealing with the propensity of Southern Baptist leaders to stay quiet on controversy and why some feel the need to rebuke those that rebuke, but not those that sin [click here for link]. Keep in mind that to my knowledge (send me a link if I’m wrong), not a single … Read more
