“Heaven Tourism” is the genre of sub-Christian literature in which people recall their visits to Heaven, whether in the flesh or in visions. Until Alex Malarkey’s Open Letter to Lifeway (he was the boy who said he came back from Heaven but later repented and claimed it was all made up), Lifeway still peddled the … Read more
Sid Roth is one of the most radical figures in charismania and hosts the program, Sid Roth’s It’s Supernatural. There’s never been a supernatural claim Roth hasn’t promoted, and his show is a virtual parade of freaky false prophets, one after another, claiming the most bizarre, ridiculous, and unbiblical stories, all to the enthusiastic applause … Read more
SBC Today, of which we are not ordinarily fond of because they are on the other side of the soteriological aisle and because their nomenclature of “traditional” is hardly astute, published an article entitled, “Is This the Evangelical Deep State”? Drawing parallels to the “Deep State” – an assortment of entrenched bureaucrats without ties to … Read more
In December of 2014, we launched #the15 when Ed Stetzer said that we were “just the same 15 angry Calvinists mad at everything.” By the time it was over, thousands of Arminians and Calvinists were tweeting with the hashtag #the15 in wide-sweeping support for discernment. With that social media wave, Alex Malarkey joined #the15 and … Read more
Well, the financial solicitation letter newsletter for Worldview Weekend has made its way out to their supporters, and to a few people who are not supporters, which is why we have it. It has all the doom and gloom, Elijah-complex sensationalism that one would expect from any ministry selling survival supplies. You may not know … Read more
Dear Reformed African American Network, I saw your open letter of rebuke to Lifeway. To introduce myself, you can consider me the proto-critic of Lifeway. Do you remember #the15? That was me. Do you remember Alex Malarkey’s open letter to Lifeway that was the biggest news story in the world for two days in 2015? … Read more
DEFINITION The Evangelical Intelligentsia are those who purport to be smarter or more distinguished academically than most local church leaders. Typically, the Evangelical Intelligentsia consists of those not in exclusive ministry to local churches, serving instead academic institutions or parachurch ministries. HISTORY Peter Berger coined that phrase in The Emerging Evangelical Intelligentsia Research Project done for … Read more
I started this journey nearly five years ago. Who was I? I was a nobody. No one knew who I was. There were no “anti-JD” protest blogs. There were no “anti-JD” twitter or social media accounts. There were no angry feminists, survivor blogs, antinomians or spiritual ne’er-do-wells ranting and raving about me. Heck, there was … Read more
Or who is killing the SBC? It’s Dave Miller. No, not that Dave Miller because he’s awesome. This Dave Miller. The Company Man™. That’s who is killing the SBC. Well, not really The Company Man™ per se. To us at Pulpit & Pen, Miller is just an archetype. He’s an exemplar. He’s the quintessence, the embodiment, the epitome … Read more
Christians should strive to avoid what the Bible calls “filthy lucre” (1 Timothy 3:3, 1 Peter 5:2). Filthy lucre, as the King James calls it (or shameful gain as the ESV has it) amounts to financial increase, money or payment that has come through less-than-godly means. The nationwide Powerball lottery could reach as high as … Read more
This post should not be confused with the Top Ten SBC Stories of 2015. That post covered the top ten stories, in my subjective opinion, that were conveniently overlooked by the Baptist Press and the amen corner of the blogosphere. This post recalls the top ten posts at Pulpit & Pen in 2015, by views. … Read more
SBC Voices posted an article from William Thornton, with his picks for the Top 10 SBC News Stories of 2015. Such a list is subjective, obviously, but it was interesting to see a blog colloquially known in the Pulpit Bunker as SBC Echoes – the preeminent SBC peanut gallery – suggest their pics for “top stories” in … Read more
“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’ (Amos 4:1 ESV) As most readers of P&P know, there are many, many troubling things regarding Beth Moore. You can find all of … Read more
To repress these very sharp arguments of the laity by force alone, and not to resolve them by giving reasons, is to expose the church and Lifeway the pope to the ridicule of their enemies and to make Christians unhappy. – #90, Martin Luther 95 Theses Martin Luther was incensed that Johan Tetzel, commissioned by … Read more
If you have followed Pulpit & Pen for any amount of time, you’ve heard or seen me use the phrase, “Evangelical Intelligentsia.” The first time I used that term was on Twitter in response to Manhattan Declaration director and ecumenist, Eric Teetsel, in response to his defense of Ed Stetzer’s peddling of heresy and his subsequent … Read more
