Right on Cue, Mohler Launches His Campaign for SBC President
Immediately on the heels of the leak of Russell Moore’s letter torching conservative Southern Baptists (including conservative SBC presidential candidate Mike Stone), Al Mohler posted a “very personal word” (read: campaign article) on his website listing all the ways he will “help move Southern Baptists forward, together.”
The timing is a little more than suspicious.
If you were expecting him to address the SBC elephants in the room – namely the invasion of Critical Race Theory (CRT), lady preachers, or institutional corruption at the ERLC and NAMB – don’t hold your breath. Likewise, he completely ignores his role as the architect of the current downgrade plaguing the Convention.
Mohler writes:
Back in 2019, I had been approached by many Southern Baptists, who asked me to be willing to be nominated as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. After prayer and conversation over several months, I came to the conclusion that allowing my nomination would be the right thing to do. I have spent my life serving Southern Baptists, and I will never decline an opportunity to serve Southern Baptists.
Mohler lists the steps he would take if elected president, including “calling Southern Baptists back to our bedrock convictions,” stating that “There has been no real emphasis on our beliefs in almost a generation.” Could this be a result of leaders like Mohler placing his doctrinally deficient hirelings into positions of authority all over the convention? Or Mohler seeing to the firing of professors at SBTS who exposed the infiltration of CRT at the seminary?
Mohler writes that he will “call Southern Baptists to talk to each other about the issues of strain and stress.” News to Al: We’ve been talking about these issues for years. It’s why we know who you are. You’ve simply ignored the conversation as you’ve not-so-secretly supported people and positions antithetical to biblical Christianity.
In a veiled swipe at the Conservative Baptist Network, Mohler writes, “Baptists have a right to form whatever organizations they wish, but if Southern Baptists withdraw to talk only with an inner ring of those with whom they agree about disputed issues, there is no way to move forward. We must not be the U.S. Congress divided into caucuses. I will make sure that every Southern Baptist is represented at the table.” This laughably political statement ignores the fact that a conservative network wouldn’t be necessary except for men like Mohler who have secretly liberalized every major SBC institution.
Mohler claims he will help Southern Baptists “avoid embarrassment,” saying “we are better than this, and the work of the gospel is at stake.” No Al, the Gospel will go forward whether you feel embarrassed or not. Perhaps we should focus on being obedient and faithful to the Word by removing those who teach unbiblical philosophies and bend the knee to the culture around them?
He finishes his letter by stating he will “commit to leading the Southern Baptist Convention with joy,” quoting the “count it all joy” part of James 1:2 while leaving out the rest of the verse (“when you encounter various trials”), which makes sense. Mohler has repeatedly run from the trial of confronting CRT in his ranks, instead ignoring (tacitly supporting) woke voices like Russell “I know his heart” Moore, admitted lifelong racist Matthew Hall, abusive potty mouth Kevin Ezell, “ground zero of woke” SEBTS President Danny Akin, and professors like Jarvis Williams and “rolled by Kyle J. Howard” Michael Haykin.
In a typical Al Mohler fashion that would make Machiavelli proud, Mohler continues to support world-pleasing, doctrinal liberalism while convincing grandmas in the pews that he is the paradigm of traditional Christian conservatism. Of all the candidates for SBC president, he is the most profoundly dangerous.
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One of the reasons why churches and church denominations do not make an impact for Christ is that they are usually too focused on fulfilling 1 command.
That effort to get butts into the pew so the unsaved can hear a gospel message has led to the adaption of theories, strategies, and other techniques that are not of God and only seek to please the unsaved.
That is not the correct way to do evangelism. You have to do it in the way that pleases God and uses his strategies. When the disciples were out fishing one day, a figure told them to cast their net on the right side of the boat.
After a wasted night of little to no fish the disciples did not want to do it BUT they obeyed and their nets were full. The church needs to obey GOD and JESUS not the secular world to make an impact for Christ
One has to wonder what the purpose of the SBC’s denominational hierarchy is if the congregations and laity have to do the heavy lifting of defending conservatism instead of the SBC leaders.
Liberalism always seems to come from the top-down, the novel and liberal interpretations of scripture come from two-faced colleges and seminaries that change their act depending on if they’re trying to appeal to the conservative donors in the church or if they’re trying to appeal to the cultural zeitgeist. The downstream damage of this denominationalism is liberal pastors and parachurch influencers shaping the theology of somewhat-less-than-vigilant Christians who trust the [insert denomination] brand rather than searching the scripture like the noble Bereans.
Al Mohler is a wordman who leverages his mastery of the english language to hide and confuse rather than reveal and clarify. That was never seen more clearly than at the 2018 Shepherd’s conference when instead of giving a plain answer or legitimate reason as to why he didn’t sign the social justice statement, he went on a rambling tirade about how conservative he was and how everyone should already know what he thought about social justice. After that, whenever I hear him talk about having resolve, having conviction, or being a leader, I shudder knowing that there’s still a lot of people that consider him a stalwart conservative.