Dressed like Marty McFly, I couldn’t help but wonder if he drove up to Kansas City in a DeLorean. But there he is. I’m blogging this in real time. Ronnie Floyd is looking 80s stylish, and even with his fluffy preacher-esque haircut, will not be called Ronnie Armani this night. No, he’s dressed to fit … 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
The Baptist “Press” reports Ronnie Floyd’s admonition to Southern Baptist pastors that a good vision can bring in the money. The President of the SBC (nominated by Albert Mohler and JD Greear for two consecutive terms), who happens to have a fire engine baptistry in his church that shoots confetti over the children’s church audience … Read more
**Editors Note: Below is a letter to JD Hall, founding editor of the Pulpit and Pen blog. It has been reposted here with permission from the sender, with minor formatting edits and links added. The SBC has become a melting pot of politics, religion and charity, and if you aren’t on board with this agenda, you … Read more
Idle Words (Hushed in Private) For the last couple years, I’ve been in ongoing conversation with a number of individuals who have offered complaint after complaint regarding certain aspects of or certain individuals in American evangelicalism. Daily, if not hourly, they would give updates on people like Russell Moore, Ed Stetzer, Ronnie Floyd or others. … Read more
“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 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
