The Crystal Cathedral, the largest glass building in the world, stands in Orange County, CA as a testament to the idolatry of money and self. The congregation of Robert Schuller, founder of the bankrupt Crystal Cathedral Minstries, once dwelt in this building until it was sold to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange for nearly 60 … Read more
Outside of Southern Baptist Seminaries, the editorial pages of The Washington Post & New York Times, and denominational political circles, Russell Moore isn’t that well-known. Moore is a the President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the denomination’s least useful entity and best kept open secret. Moore’s … Read more
Steven Furtick recently preached a “sermon” to encourage his members to be patient. Well, more correctly, Furtick delivered a motivational speech on why God is not promptly delivering the fulfillment of desires in compliance with the “harvest season on your schedule.” While patience is a laudable topic for pastoral teaching, when Furtick does it – … Read more
It’s never-ending. The apostasy, the lack of discernment, the gullibility. How can anyone who proclaims the name of Jesus Christ not recognize the dismal state of the professing church? Words cannot even begin to describe the how far away the church is from Christ in these days. The attractions, the concerts, the conferences. People joining … Read more
In a bombshell article published this morning at SBC Today, former church planting strategist and seminary professor, Dr. William McRaney accused NAMB President Kevin Ezell of taking “unbiblical and unethical” actions in his dealings with McRaney and McRaney’s state convention. In June of 2015, McRaney resigned as The Executive Missional Strategist of the Mid-Atlantic Baptist … Read more
Not content to make their livings simply preaching God’s word and providing spiritual guidance to the members of the congregations, many church pastors seek to further monetize their holy callings by participating in Christian travel offerings. The business model is simple; pastors provide a base (their own congregation) who can purchase tickets from travel service providers in … Read more
This week, a news outlet that faithfully reports on Baptist news (obviously not the Baptist Press) – the Town Talk – reported that Joe Aguillard has been locked out of his office, escorted from campus, fired from his position, and had his title of President Emeritus removed. Rondall Reynoso filled us in on the details, … Read more
After thinking long and hard about our actions over the past few years, we here at the Pulpit & Pen would like to apologize to our readership and the subjects of our many articles and podcasts. In reflecting on all the digital ink we’ve spilled in our zeal to expose unfruitful deeds of darkness and … Read more
“Pastor” Steven Furtick just plain doesn’t understand such central truths about the Christian faith, like what Jesus Christ was doing on the cross. Apparently, and to the surprise to every single person familiar with the Bible throughout human history, “God broke the law for love” when Jesus died on the cross. To be fair, though, what … Read more
Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death. – Leviticus 24:17 Imago Dei, or the image of God, is a biblical term applied uniquely to humans over all other creatures. No other creature can claim this honorable title. The Scriptures teach us that God’s image, tainted as it may be by our … Read more
A number of years ago, the Big Sky Baptist Association – my association – called for the resignation of its executive director, Fred Hewitt. Hewitt, since retired, had told numerous bald-faced lies relating to the North American Mission Board’s disrespect to local cooperating churches. Essentially, the North American Mission Board wanted to hire “church planters” for the … Read more
“I am the entertainer, the idol of my age; I make all kind of money, when I go on the stage.” Billy Joel, The Entertainer There is emerging and has emerged a new breed of pastor pushing a new brand of church. Though these emerging men call themselves pastors, they are anything but shepherds. Though … Read more
…and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. (Matthew 14:11 ESV) The crime of John the Baptist was opposing King Herod on account of his adultery. Herod’s response, prompted by his mistress’ daughter, was to cut off John’s head. The first century Christian political … Read more
I’m so tired. I’m tired of discernment. I’m tired of polemics. I’m tired of watching the other guys who produce material for Pulpit & Pen report on yet another obvious departure from orthodoxy. I’m tired of seeing the articles and news stories and screenshots and tweets and YouTube videos posted in the infamous Pulpit Bunker. The … Read more
In 2014, David Yonggi Cho, founder of South Korea’s Yoido Full Gospel Church, was officially sentenced to three years in prison (but never served) for embezzling $12 million in church funds. The international Superapostle, according to David Cartledge and endorsed by C. Peter Wagner[1], is now suspected of embezzling $67 million dollars. The Prosperity Gospel preacher, … Read more
