Author: Paul Brown

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Megan Basham Takes TGC Author Gavin Ortlund Behind The Woodshed For Advocating Climate Science

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

In recent years, evangelical leftists have frequently taken the term ‘Gospel’, emptied it of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ; and then stuffed it with leftist political agenda items that they label “Gospel issues”. In the summer of 2020, this playbook was run with the promotion of Social Justice and Critical Theory. The teachings of Biblical justice and Biblical impartiality were flipped on their head by leftist activists who claimed that the blood of Christ and the impartiality exemplified by the New Testament Church were insufficient to bring together believers of different skin colors. Instead, these woke activists claimed that white-skinned Christians needed to perform penance for the wrongs of generations past, in a cycle that left adherents beholden to a false Gospel of works that could never atone for anything.

This same playbook is currently being run in Evangelical Society by side-B homosexuality advocates who claim that advocating for abominable sexual identities is a Gospel issue; and egalitarians, who have taken up the cause of female church leadership under the guise of promoting “gender justice” as a Gospel issue.

So-Called “Climate Science” has been an issue in leftist political circles for a number of years, so it shouldn’t be surprising that leftist Evangelicals like Gavin Ortlund support climate change discussions as an “important issue”, setting up climate science as the next big “Gospel Issue” to distract the church from the true Gospel. Ortlund recently released a vlog in which he argues that Climate Change is an issue that should concern all Christians.

In the first five minutes, Gavin admits that he is not an expert on Climate Science, but thinks that it is important to “have a conversation” on the issue. In 2020, Ortlund published Finding The Right Hills To Die On, a book that purports to teach Christians how to prioritize the defense of doctrine, from essential doctrines to fourth-tier issues. The book was endorsed by many Big Eva leftists, including Russell Moore, Sam Allberry, Danny Akin, and JD Greear. One would think that if a pastor did not have what was considered expert knowledge about a controversial topic that would be considered extremely low on a scale of doctrinal importance, he should relegate that particular topic to fourth-tier importance and focus on the clear teaching of Gospel truth.

In recent months, however, Ortlund has taken heretical positions on many primary doctrinal truths, including the belief that LGBTQ identifying persons and universalists could maintain their sin identities and be saved, the belief that Sola Fide (Salvation by Faith alone) is not necessarily true, and the belief that examples from church history should be used to trump clear scriptural teaching on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Apparently, Ortlund ran out of first and second-order doctrinal issues to botch and decided that it was time to ignore his own advice and take up the leftist mantle of Climate Science.

Journalist Megan Basham of the Daily Wire has been recently picking apart leftist Big-Eva figures, like Ortlund, who failed to call out former NIH head Francis Collins. As a scientist who claimed to be Christian, Collins was hailed as a Big Eva standard bearer on how to live as a Christian in a secular leadership role. Collins was exposed by Basham as a fraud who advocated for an increase in experimentation on the body parts of murdered babies, the promotion of LGBTQ propaganda by the NIH, and the promotion of lies about the origins and nature of COVID-19. Basham caught wind of Ortlund’s political antics and took him out behind the twitter woodshed on account of his attempts to “baptize” his leftist climate change policy position in “Christianese”.

Basham is on point in regard to Climate Change policy decimating the free market. Pastors like Ortlund who use “Climate Science” as a rallying cry for increased regulation, ignore the fact that while many Christians in western countries would likely survive the destructive interference of climate science policy in free markets, such regulations would have devastating affects on poor believers in third world countries who already suffer the implications of leftist monetary and COVID lockdown policies. Ortlund’s only defense against Basham’s indictment was that his motives came from a non-partisan Christian position, and her motives came from a politically partisan position.

Basham informed Ortlund that her husband is a meteorologist, who understands that “climate science” is a highly debatable topic, and suggested that Ortlund should stick to his field of expertise. (Given Ortlund’s history of taking leftist anti-Biblical positions, it is actually debatable whether or not Ortlund has a field of expertise.)

Believers should take note of Megan’s tactics. Leftists often lead the argument with an accusation that conservative Christians are politically motivated. In reality, nothing can be completely detached from politics, because neutrality is a myth. Megan brushes off accusations of political partisanship by demonstrating that her opponents are political partisans themselves, focusing on the destructive implications of leftist ideology in the church. In reality, those who accuse conservative Christians of engaging in “culture war” are merely identifying themselves as enemy combatants who have adopted the standards of the world, rather than the teachings of scripture.

Editor’s Note. This article was written by Paul Brown for Protestia.

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TGC’s Gavin Ortlund Appeals to Church History Over the Sufficiency of Scripture

Members of the left-of-center Big Eva writer’s guild frequently engage in a form of argumentation that seeks to distract believers from the truth of the Gospel, as given by God through the scriptures. Those who believe that scripture has spoken clearly on issues of sexuality, Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, the historicity of Biblical narrative, Biblical inerrancy, and Biblical sufficiency, find themselves labeled “fundies”, “culture warriors”, and “political partisans” by Big Eva leftists. Instead of debating issues on the basis of the scripture, leftist partisans in the church often appeal to extra-Biblical sources, effectively using a denial of Biblical sufficiency as an end-around to minimize or deny that which is clearly addressed in the scriptures.

One such Big-Eva member and TGC writer Gavin Ortlund. Last seen in TGC Contributor Argues Pro-LGBTQ Xtians and Universalists Are Still In the Faith, Ortlund frequently challenges Biblical teaching with false teaching in the form of whataboutism that redirects questions about Biblical interpretation to questions about church history. Gavin recently tweeted an appeal to egalitarianism in church history and non-western Christian traditions, in an effort to prove that not everyone is as narrow-minded as the complementarian American fundies.

Seeking to jettison clear Biblical teaching on God’s design and roles for men and women, Big Eva leftists, like Ortlund, resort to an appeal to the example of people who wore the Christian label, but also deliberately ignored the clear teaching of scripture. Looking for an example in church history to prove that your opinion is Biblical is like looking for validation from random strangers on the internet. If you look long and hard enough in church history, you will find some sect or cult that will validate your teaching through their anti-Biblical traditions. Sure enough, Gavin found validation from several leftist friends. Dr. Michael Bird, famous for his important scholarly work on the erections of Jesus, affirmed Gavin’s presumptions. Apparently, according to Dr. Bird, American complementarianism as we know it originated in affluent white American churches after World War II.

Bird was joined in his affirmation of egalitarianism by David Bumgardner, an effeminate leftist political ideologue who is known for his support of President Joe Biden; and his affiliations with fake news site Baptist News Global and race-baiting pastor Dwight McKissic’s church. Bumgardner continues the whataboutism by appealing to the example of leftist Anglican Denomination, GAFCON’s ordination of female bishops.

Never mind the fact that the Apostle Paul clearly addressed the issue of Biblical Womanhood multiple times in the first-century church, teaching kept by the overwhelming majority of those who claimed to follow Christ for more than 2 millennia.

Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 1 Timothy 2:11-12

and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.  Titus 2:4-5

When pressed to define exactly what Biblical issues can be addressed with his anti-Biblical tradition-based method, Ortlund doubled down and argued that every issue and doctrine is fair game to be subjected to tradition-based examination, even Sola Fide (Justification by Faith Alone).

This isn’t Ortlund’s first rodeo with false doctrine. In February, Ortlund made the argument that Universalists and Pro-LGBTQ people can be Christians. When one’s standard is sinful man rather than the eternal word of God, there are no bounds to the potential for theological folly.

Editor’s Note. This article was written by Paul Brown for Protestia.

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TGC Author Claims That Deconstruction May Just Be Smashing Cultural Idols

The Gospel Coalition is like one of the SBC’s Lifeway bookstores. There are a few good resources, but there are so many bad resources and falsities that a discerning pastor should hesitate to send a young undiscerning believer there. Pin-pointing unconventional sources of idolatry seems to be a favorite past-time of TGC authors. While western society grappled with the deconstruction of the nuclear family, one rocket science of a TGC author decided to tweet about the problematic nature of the Christian family becoming an idol, and then followed the tweet up with an article that identified idolatry of the family as a pressing issue for evangelical Christians. It is undeniable that anything in life can become an idol. John Calvin aptly stated, “The Human Heart is an Idol Factory.” Pointing out idolatry of family in the context of the deconstructing state of modern western society, however, is equivalent to straining a gnat and swallowing a camel.

In keeping with the TGC tradition of offering shoot-from-the-hip-Twitter-hot-takes on important cultural issues, John Starke, TGC Author and Pastor of Apostles Church Uptown in New York City recently offered an atrocious theory on deconstruction and idolatry.

Apparently, according to John, the deconstructing apostates who claim to have lost their faith on the road to embracing sexual debauchery, secularism, leftist views on infanticide, and Marxism; were all just experiencing the sanctifying work of “removing the cultural idolatry” from their faith.

If one follows Starke’s statement to its logical conclusion, deconstructionists like Josh Harris are merely growing in their faith by casting off the “conservative idolatry” of fundamentalism (ie everything that constitutes orthodox teaching in the church.), by embracing all that the world has to offer. At best, Starke’s position on deconstruction takes Christianity, guts it of the Gospel and all its scriptural implications, creating a rotting corpse of a body of faith-the creation of a latitudinarian. At worst, Starke presents true Christianity as the complete opposite of how Christianity is presented in scripture, with evil being good and good being evil.

To his credit, Starke doesn’t hide that his position is leftist, claiming leftism as his “camp”, unlike some TGC authors who masquerade as conservatives. Starke doesn’t pretend to be a complementarian or conservative and regularly aligns himself with such leftist woke Big Eva types as Thabiti Anyabwile (Ron Burns), Beth Moore, and Kristen Du-Mez.

For those who would claim that Starke is far removed from his TGC days, TGC continues to platform Starke’s previous body of work, and even recommends that you follow him on Twitter, effectively inviting TGC’s audience to seriously consider his heretical view on deconstruction.

Editor’s Note. This article was written by Paul Brown for Protestia

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Tiny Tim Keller Tip Toes Through The Leftist Twitter Tulips

Pastor Tim Keller, a theologian whose scope of ministry has been compared to that of contemporaries John Piper and John MacArthur, has a habit of posting some pretty theologically twisted tweets. A month ago, Keller held nominal Catholic Stephen Colbert up as an “example of how to be a Christian in the Public Square.” Saying that a foul-mouthed late-night comedian who supports abortion and every other left-wing anti-Christian cause under the sun is a brilliant example of how to profess Christ is like saying that drinking the Kool-Aid with Jim Jones is a brilliant example of how to observe the Lord’s Supper.

Not to be outdone by his previous tomfoolery, weeks later Keller made a series of vague tweets in response to criticism of the now-exposed Francis Collins, the former head of the NIH who used his time at the helm of the nation’s largest public health research organization to advocate for LGBTQ rights, argue for increased experimentation on the bodies of dismembered pre-born children, and promote lies about the origins and nature of COVID-19, all in the name of what Collin’s would call the public interest. Keller compares public figures who compromise their faith in the service of their office, to Daniel, in an attempt to equate a sleazy compromised bureaucrat like Collins with a Biblical Prophet. (This is what compromised “Progressive Christian Nationalism” looks like.)

Days later, Keller made the argument that Christians should judge the validity of non-Christian beliefs on the basis of the lens of the holder’s non-Christian worldview, essentially arguing for the idea that scripture is an insufficient measure of truth. Apparently, pagan-thought is now considered a “useful analytical tool” by those in Big Eva.

Finally, Keller’s most recent venture into the Twittersphere involved giving out polemics advice. Tim wants you to Tip Toe Through the Twitter Tulips, being careful not to show deserved contempt or trample on absurd ideas, like his own. Given the way that Keller attempts to redeem the most indefensible tweets with constant equivocation, and appeals to winsomeness, don’t expect to see any serious Polemical works by Keller anytime soon.

Editors’ Note. This article is a guest post written by Paul Brown for Protestia

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Baptist News Global Publisher Says Supporting LGBTQ Kids ‘Transitioning’ is a ‘Pro-Life’ Issue

Some things in life can’t be taken at face value, Christian Science, Grape-Nuts, and Buffalo Chicken Wings being among them. In a similar vein, The Baptist News Global (BNG) shouldn’t be taken at face value either, being neither of those three things. An unobservant reader of religious news might be surprised to know that while BNG reports on many issues related to the Southern Baptist Convention, the independent organization is not affiliated with the SBC. Further examination of the BNG reveals that what passes as “news” from BNG is really just leftist propaganda with a thin candy-coating of religiosity, like an almond bark-coated turd. Thirdly, BNG is not global. While BNG speaks to global issues on occasion, their 3-member operating team and 18-member board of directors consist of 20 members in the United States and 1 member in Romania, meaning that the leftist rag is not representative of Global Christianity or Global Baptists by any stretch of the imagination.

Much of what BNG publishes would be rejected outright by the overwhelmingly conservative Christians of Africa and Southeast Asia who recognize a downgrade when they see one. Of course, a move to broaden the diversity of the organization to include such conservative Global voices would detract from BNG’s mission as a water-carrier for the political left.

Mark Wingfield, Executive Director and Publisher of BNG takes a hard-leftist line to all news. For Wingfield, problems in the church have their roots in the evils of conservatism, “Christian Nationalism”, anti-LGBT bigotry, efforts to influence government with Christian values, and many other so-called evils of conservative Christianity. In a recent series of articles, Wingfield took aim at Christians who refuse to bow to the demonic idea that gender is fluid and children or their guardians should be able to choose their gender and alter their bodies. A “Pastoral Letter to Transgender Children” that was previously published on BNG by Pastrix Ashley Robinson and referenced in Wingfield’s article serves as a window into the demented mind of those at BNG who believe that transgenderism is God-ordained:

While I can’t pretend to understand your trans experience, I do know something about being in a body that doesn’t always fit into a box. Many people, and even some churches, think there is something wrong with my round body with lots of soft edges. But here is something I know about us in my deepest inner knowing: We were created in the image and likeness of God, even when we don’t fit into a box or a given gender.

Robinson goes on to explain her false teaching on gender also extends to the nature of God, who she believes has multiple genders:

Speaking of gender, did you know that God has many genders? Sometimes we read stories in the Bible with God’s name as King or Father. We also read about God as Wisdom, who is a fabulous shero. When we were still getting to know God, we used the name YHWH, which is just like the breath within us. Seems like God is too big for one gender, right? I hope whenever you hear things that might make you think something is wrong with you, you will be able to wrap yourself in the wideness of God’s gender expression and great love for you.

Wingfield cites recent moves by the administration of Texas Governor Greg Abbott and his Attorney General Ken Paxton, as a sign of persecution of transgender children and their parents. Abbott instructed Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to “conduct a prompt and thorough investigation” of credible reports of children receiving “abusive gender-transitioning procedures”, after the state’s attorney general issued a statement deeming the procedures as abusive under state law. Wingfield decries these moves as harmful persecution against the LGBTQ community. Like his leftist counterparts in secular media, Wingfield fails to explain exactly what kind of “abusive gender-transitioning procedures” Texas conservatives are attempting to outlaw.

Children that are deemed “transgender” are given puberty blockers. These puberty blockers typically lead to cross-sex hormone treatments, which cause sterilization, and are frequently followed by sex-change surgeries that mutilate or remove genitalia and breasts. Studies by the American Psychiatric Association show that 98 percent of boys and 88 percent of girls who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria will grow out of the disorder by adulthood, if they are not subjected to abusive puberty blockers. Those who are subjected to puberty blockers are much more likely to receive permanent psychological damage.

Wingfield calls moves to ban gender transitioning procedures “extreme” and “really scary”, ignoring the fact that giving children hormones and chopping off their genitals is one thousand times more extreme and scarry than simply listening to God’s prescription for sexuality in the scriptures. Wingfield even goes so far as to claim that advocating for trans-ideology is part of being truly pro-life:

“Why should you care about transgender children and their families? Because doing so is a truly pro-life position.”

Following its promotion of Transgender propaganda, Baptist News Global published an opinion piece that attempted to flip the script on conservative Baptists, by accusing pastor and potential SBC Presidential candidate Voddie Baucham of being a threat to women, children, and daughters. Author Rick Pidcock argues that Baucham’s defense of Biblical manhood and womanhood is a threat to the liberation of women and children. In defending his argument, Pidcock draws heavily on Critical Theory and accuses Baucham of promoting violence through the promotion of Biblical values:

Voddie Baucham is indeed a peddler of violent male power. But beneath that thick, hardened shell of male power is a frightened child and someone who has lost touch with the divine feminine within himself. And that’s why he promotes the abuse of children, women and daughters.

When a news publication that claims to be Christian begins to peddle critical theory, advocates for the abuse of children through puberty blockers, and publishes pieces that call for Godly men to get in touch with “the divine feminine”, that publication abandons Biblical worldview and should be considered apostate. Getting your news from Baptist News Global is equivalent to getting your scripture from the mouth of the serpent.

Editor’s Note. This article was written by Paul Brown for Protestia. Sources referenced below.

Texas officials’ new attack on transgender care called a ‘political ploy’ at the expense of children – Baptist News Global

Please pay attention to the plight of transgender children and their families – Baptist News Global

A pastoral letter to transgender children – Baptist News Global

Plagiarism is the least thing to worry about with Voddie Baucham, who is a threat to children, women and daughters – Baptist News Global

Texas investigates parents for subjecting their kids to ‘gender transition’ procedures – LifeSite (lifesitenews.com)

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Patriarchy-Smashing Egalitarian Beth Allison Barr Submits to Angry White Biological Male

Sometimes real life is stranger than fiction. Egalitarian author and professor Beth Allison Barr prides herself in opposing patriarchy in society and the church. If you ever need to find Barr, she is probably either engaged in an epic Twitter war with Denny Burk or hobnobbing with gal pal and fellow patriarchy-smasher Kristen Du Mez.

Recently, Du Mez and Barr engaged in an epic Twitter conversation with transexual exvangelical author Chrissy Stroop, a white biological male who reviewed Du Mez’s Book Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted A Faith and Fractured A Nation. Stroop’s Boston Globe review praised the book as “A Book that America Needs Now”, a praise that landed on the cover of the paperback edition of the book. Twitter commenters pointed out that when such a false view of Christianity is presented and so-called “Christian” authors look for praise from trannies, God’s judgement on the nation is evident.

Stroop was quick to accept the apologies of Du Mez and Barr for harassment at the hands of conservatives, praising Du Mez’s book as deserving of an excellent review on the basis of its scholarship. Many atheist leftist exvangelicals like Stroop praise the work of leftist “Christian” authors because they share mutual enemies in conservative evangelical circles. Stroop went on to praise Du Mez, Barr, and Jamar Tisby as “scholars” who are subject to “conservative, patriarchal evangelical bullying”.

Praising any of these leftist revisionists as “scholars” is equivalent to calling the New York Times 1689 Project a work of history, despite the fact that the project has been debunked as blatantly false multiple times. Jesus and John Wayne, The Making of Biblical Womanhood, and The Color of Compromise are all revisionist works that are closer to fiction than actual serious Biblical or historical scholarship.

The interaction between Stroop, Du Mez, and Bar had the atmosphere of a touchy-feely therapy session, as Stroop fawned over the attention and empathy of the leftist authors, and Du Mez and Barr relished the fact that someone who writes for a leftist rag gave Du Mez a positive review. Things took an interesting turn when Beth Allison Barr made a statement about agreeing to disagree:

You can disagree with life choices made by other people; you can disagree with their theology; you can disagree with their political alignment; you can disagree with their endorsement of a book.

Triggered by the possibility that someone could disagree with a man’s decision to change his name and play dress-up as a girl, the tolerant patriarchy smashing tranny went off on Barr.

After receiving the criticism of Stroop, Barr apologized profusely for asserting the idea that people could possibly disagree. In what may now be one of the most ironic posts in the leftist “Christian” realm of the Twittersphere of 2022, a rabidly anti-patriarchy leftist woman who claims to be a Christian submitted to a white biological male tranny who pulled the tranny-trauma trump card. Beth Allison Barr lives for intersectionality, pushing ideology that aligns with Critical theory of every form. In her interaction with Stroop, Barr discovered that when it comes to the intersectional twitter Olympics, no one trumps a tranny. Those who live by intersectionality will die by intersectionality.

Editor’s Note. This is a guest post by Paul Brown, written for Protestia

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Big Eva Megachurch Pastor Slick Willy Rice Announces SBC Presidential Candidacy

Almost immediately following Ed Litton’s announcement that he would decline to serve a second year as President of the Southern Baptist Convention, Megachurch pastor Willy Rice announced his candidacy for SBC President. In his Pastor’s blog, Rice stated that the decision came “after prayer and consultation with several friends and Southern Baptist Leaders.” Amazingly, prayer and consultation for such an important decision did not take more than 24 hours, unless of course Willy Rice is the establishment candidate who was hand-chosen by the SBC elites long before Litton finalized his decision to resign.

A Slick Willy candidacy should give Southern Baptists great pause, as the pastor has a shaky track record on critical issues that the convention faces. At the 2021 convention, Rice, who claims to be a conservative, used his sermon to criticize those with doctrinal convictions about Critical Race Theory and Biblical Womanhood. In a statement that characterized egalitarians who constantly seek to subvert the scripture as Godly women who really have a heart to serve, Rice took a swipe at Pastor John Macarthur’s call for Beth Moore to “Go home”, equating Baptist Missionary Lottie Moon with wicked egalitarian motivational speaker Beth Moore:

And while we’re at it we should also remember that this convention did not build the largest missionary force in the history of Christendom by telling Lottie Moon to “go home.” Most of our sisters, our daughters and our mothers, only desire to obey the command of the risen Christ and to joyfully submit to His authority.

Rice has a knack for criticizing those who desire to follow the scriptures, frequently accusing his ideological opponents of disrupting the unity of the church and seeking power. During a twitter rant session in January 2021, Rice got up on his high horse and made veiled swipes at those in the SBC who “use doctrine as a bully club to harass, intimidate, and shame others.” Like many Big-Eva leaders, Rice is quick to give out veiled vague criticisms with a thin veneer of Biblical imagery, while refusing to identify the target of his criticism.

Perhaps the most concerning aspect of Rice’s Theology is the weaselly way that he approaches the issue of Critical Race Theory. In a June 24, 2021 Calvary Church Podcast titled “Critical Race Theory is a Thing”, Rice begins the discussion of CRT by saying that he opposes Critical Race Theory. As the conversation progresses, Rice reveals that he doesn’t believe that Resolution 9, the SBC resolution that declared CRT as a “useful analytical tool” was necessarily a bad thing. According to Rice, bad actors in the convention are trying to use a misunderstanding of CRT to stifle discussions about race. Rice then proposes that there isn’t a single person amongst SBC leadership or prominent pastors who is a proponent of CRT:

I don’t know anyone, anyone, any single one, black, white, or anyone, behind closed doors or anywhere who is advocating Critical Race Theory.

The remainder of the podcast focuses on listening to Black Voices and learning from those who claim to have experienced racism. Rice’s viewpoint is driven by standpoint epistemology, a key tenant of Critical Race Theory. Rice genuinely believes that Black Christians have special secret knowledge about systemic injustices and racism that white Christians do not have the ability to perceive (a CRT framework described by Pastor Voddie Baucham as ethnic Gnosticism). In a nutshell, Willy Rice uses weasel words to claim that he is against CRT, even while he defends its tenants.

The standpoint epistemology of Rice was apparent in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd. As was the practice with many pastors who were beholden to CRT, Rice held a “help me understand” listen and learn panel at his church. The panel included 5 black pastors and church leaders, in addition to 2 white men who had adopted black children. The members of the panel were selected on the basis of their skin color or the skin color of their children. Rice begins by urging the congregation to refrain from casting judgements on differing opinions about race and racism, and just focus on listening and learning. The discussion that proceeded could only be described as a defense of Critical Race Theory. Panel members reflected on “white privilege” in light of the Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin “incidents”, postulating that America has been systemically racist and unjust since its inception. The Gospel was cited in passing, but all of the members of the panel push the idea that the solution to the problem is listening, learning, and having conversations, because white Christians need to know about how black Christians experience racism.

What would a winsome Willy Rice SBC presidency look like? Willy seems to emphasize unity at the expense of truth. Whether it is the issue of egalitarianism in the church or the issue of Biblical Justice, slick Willy doesn’t want to be confined to a single position on an issue, because everyone has their story and life experiences. He wants to listen and learn from those voices that feel marginalized and oppressed. Truth is defined by scripture. Justice and partiality are defined by the word of God. Man and Woman and their design are clearly defined by the word of God. Prior to the surge of standpoint epistemology into Southern Baptist Churches, the SBC was known for its reliance on scripture as inerrant and sufficient. Southern Baptists don’t need another “lean in and listen” standpoint epistemology advocating candidate, but rather a candidate who has a laser focus on the standard of scripture. In the words of past SBC President Adrian Rogers, “It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error.”

Editor’s Notes and Reference:

This post was written by Paul Brown for Protestia.

Critical Race Theory is a Thing // Ricecast – YouTube

Minute 23-24, Minute 25, there is no one in the southern Baptist convention who is saying that we need CRT, Minute 27- COVID affected black communities worse, Minute 28, I don’t know any single one, black white, or whatever, behind closed doors who is advocating behind closed doors who is advocating for CRT, Minute 32-felt like resolution 19 shouldn’t have been brought up at all, Minute 33-we don’t want to go so far as to say that there is not such thing as systemic injustice in America, Minute 35- I can’t imagine anyone telling me they don’t want to hear about their experiences, Minute 35- we need our black brother’s and sisters opinion, Minute 40 embracing conversations, Minute 41- there are some people on the fringes who are angry and upset, Minute 45- Leaning in to hear is what we need

Help Me Understand: An Authentic Conversation on Race, Social Justice, and the Gospel – YouTube

19:37, lean in and hear this story, 26:36 Michael Brown situation cited by associate pastor, 27:07 White Privilege, 28:22 systems and structures that perpetuate, 29 Racism woven into fabric of America, 30 Structure has continued to perpetuate racism, 31:30 Systems and structures are designed, 31-Willy says that unconscious racism is real, 35:55 adopted black baby and asked people what is it like to grow up with black or brown skin, 57:14 History books are wrong and implicit bias privilege and systemic racism are real, Our nation was founded on racism and we stole labor

Willy Rice’s Sob Story: Ben Carson Sacrificed for the Sake of Unity (pulpitandpen.org)
Prominent Pastors Discuss Calvinism, Call for Unity – Lifeway ResearchPastor Willy Rice slams those who contribute to disunity in SBC | Church & Ministries News (christianpost.com)

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Bart Barber Opposes Conservative Baptist Network’s Message of Unity In the Gospel of Christ

Bart Barber, pastor of FBC Farmersville and Chairman of the 2022 Southern Baptist Convention Resolutions Committee really wants Russell Moore’s old gig in the ivory tower of the ERLC, and he is willing to do just about anything to align himself with the establishment liberals of the SBC to obtain the position. Since the election of Ed Litton as SBC President, Barber has been unapologetic in his defense of the plagiarizer-in-chief. Barber despises conservatives and consistently complains about conservatives who oppose critical theory, leftward drift in the SBC, and compromises on abortion

Barber recently found himself in hot water after bashing the Conservative Baptist Network’s Twitter messaging in response to the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission’s Racial Reconciliation Sunday.

The statement by the CBN, which began with a recitation of 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, and contained numerous passages of scripture, called for unity in the Gospel and the avoidance of partiality on the basis of skin color. Apparently, the CBN got under Barber’s skin, because Barber constantly pushes the partiality-laden Critical Race Theory drivel that has been common amongst Big Eva types in the SBC for the past three years. In addition to direct references to scriptural guidance on Biblical Unity in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the statement calls out Southern Baptists, such as Barber, who have resorted to worldly anti-Biblical strategies for racial reconciliation rather than relying on the all-sufficient scriptures which call for impartiality.

Numerous Twitter responses to Barber called for him to explain exactly how the statement by CBN was off message in any way. Barber refused to answer the question, dodging personal responsibility for his statements and accusing the CBN of being an agent of division in the SBC, because they don’t agree with social engineering in the church.

Bart understands that in order to earn Big Eva capital, he must constantly condemn the Conservatives in the convention. Eventually the race-baiters will show up to defend him, and hopefully the horrible Twitter trauma that he experiences will allow him to earn the reward of sitting in Russell Moore’s old chair as head of the ERLC. If all else fails, maybe Eddie Munster himself will invite Bart to join him at Christianity Today. In a stroke of irony, Bart Barber described his accusatory ways in a tweet, just days before the controversy.

Bart Barber loves himself some Bart Barber. Unfortunately, Bart is frequently Bart’s standard, rather than the eternal word of God.

Editor’s Note. This article is a guest post by Paul Brown for Protestia.

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Say What? United Methodists Condemn Efforts to Vaccinate Conservative Members For This Wild Reason

The last fifty years have not been kind to the United Methodists of the United States. The denomination’s U.S. membership peaked in 1970, and continued to steadily decline over the past 50 years as its leadership dove down the slippery slope of “modernism”. United Methodist Liberals, who followed the tenants of modernism, jettisoned the plain meaning of the Biblical text for carnal interpretations that began with the motive of reaching a compromise with the world on the meaning of scripture and the definition of sin. The majority of U.S. UMC church leaders now deny the basic tenants of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, the inerrancy of scripture, and the sufficiency of scripture.

They co-opt the term ‘gospel’, gutting it of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for the atonement of sin. The rotting corpse of a theology that today’s Methodists call “Gospel” is a shell of the person Jesus, who has been stripped of his deity, stuffed with every form of unscriptural leftist social justice propaganda, and propped up as a type of effeminate Mr. Rogers who wants you to “love your neighbor”, but could care less about whether or not you love God or keep his commandments.

“Open hearts, open minds, open doors” has led people to follow their desperately wicked hearts, opened the minds of parishioners to follow teachings that are clearly contrary to scripture, and opened the doors of church membership and leadership to those who are unrepentantly wicked, including sodomites and those who oppose the basic tenants of Christian faith. The result of this shift has been an enormous shipwreck of faith, as members fall into confusion and apostasy.

Even as the United Methodists prepare to split into two separate denominations (one full blown social-Marxist and the other social-Marxist lite, with a disagreement over the acceptance of sodomite clergy and sodomite mirage), United Methodists have a Gospel of hope that they would like to share with their congregations and the world. Has the UMC returned to its first love and resolved to spread the Gospel of Jesus that was taught by John Wesley? Guess again.

The United Methodist Church wants to share the hope that they have in the COVID Vaccine and invite you to ask jab into your arm. They don’t believe in security of the vaccinated, so you will probably have to ask jab into your arm an indefinite number of times, and work out your immunity with fear and trembling. Nevertheless, even as the rest of the world is moving away from vaccine mandates and COVID prevention protocols, the leadership of the UMC advocates for vaccine evangelism, creating a handbook to, “help congregations reach out to the unvaccinated” in their communities.

As UMC denominational delegates prepare to meet for the 2022 General Conference in Minneapolis, MN, a meeting that will determine the speed and course of the denominational split, the moderate Wesleyan Covenant Association announced plans to raise funds for international delegates from Africa, Eurasia, and the Philippines to travel and receive COVID Vaccination, a requirement in order to travel and attend the conference. The delegates at the conference include delegates from the United States (56% of total delegates), which are predominantly liberal, and delegates from Africa and Asia (38% of total delegates); who tend to be poor, more conservative, and adhere to Biblical sexuality. In a script that only makes sense in the clown world of 2022, the council of bishops of the UMC condemned the Wesleyan Covenant Association’s plans to help delegates from the third world as a plan that “bears all the marks of colonialism.”

“Offering vaccines to General Conference delegates or covering the cost of delegates to travel to places where they can be vaccinated is not an expression of vaccine equity. Rather, it appears as an attempt to benefit those who the donor wishes to fulfill a certain purpose.”

Ironically, the incoherent leftist quest for vaccine evangelism has collided with the incoherent leftist quest for “vaccine equity”; as if any of the double masking, social distancing, zoom meeting drivel made any sense in the first place. In a quest to delay and derail the denominational split, a splinter of the far left contingent has proposed that the General Conference should be delayed until 2024, to ensure the complete safety of the meeting and its attendees. COVID Forever!

If your grandparents still attend a leftist United Methodist Church, please inform them that the church rainbow mural isn’t a celebration of the Noahic Covenant, the butch lesbian or tranny at the front of the congregation isn’t a man or a pastor, and the Gospel that is preached isn’t good news or anything close to the Gospel of Jesus. Find a Bible-believing church, leave, and don’t turn back; lest you turn into a pillar of salt.

Editor’s Note. This article was written by Paul Brown for Protestia

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Southern Baptist Executive Committee Exchanges Scriptural Standards For Critical Theory On Sexual Abuse

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

In an act of spite at the time of his May 2021 resignation from the ERLC, Russell Moore accused Southern Baptists of systematically covering up sexual abuse scandals for many years. Conservatives in the convention rightly pointed out that if such accusations were true, Moore was the most culpable party, as he would have held direct knowledge of such claims for many years without doing anything about them.

Moore theatrics carried over into the June 2021 Southern Baptist Convention, as alleged sex abuse victims were deftly used as props by the leftists in the convention to create a spectacle and galvanize last-minute opposition to conservative SBC presidential candidate Mike Stone. Consequently, Serial plagiarist Ed Litton ascended to SBC presidency and a task force was appointed by Litton to investigate Moore’s allegation that the executive committee covered up allegations of abuse.

In October 2021, activist elements on the task force pressured the executive committee to relinquish its attorney-client privilege, opening the Executive Committee and its individual members up to the high potential for lawsuits. The law firm that represented the executive committee, as well as 17 executive committee members resigned in protest of the decision.

On February 22, 2022, the executive committee issued a statement of apology to a former Lifeway employee who was previously accused of being in a “morally inappropriate relationship”. The woman alleges that at the age of 26, as a Southern Seminary master of divinity student on a mission trip, she was coerced into having sex with a seminary professor. The relationship between the woman and her professor continued for 12 years, despite the woman moving from Louisville, Ky, to Chicago, to Nashville, over a 12-year period.  In addition to the apology, the executive committee also reached an undisclosed financial settlement with the woman.

Deuteronomy 22:23-27 illustrates how God commanded Israel to perform justice in regard to sexual abuse, differentiating between consensual adultery which required the death of both parties; and rape, which required the death of the man. While Christians today don’t advocate the death penalty for adultery, the moral principle in God’s law that determines guilt and innocence remains valid even today.

“If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. “But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die.  But you shall do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no offense punishable by death. For this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor,  because he met her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her.

The change in direction by the committee after the departure of 17 of its most conservative members illustrates the shift from Biblical justice to critical theory, a shift that should not surprise anyone, considering that a large portion of the SBC views critical race theory and critical gender theory as “useful analytical tools”.

In the new status quo, a victim can be anyone who claims that they were taken advantage of by an individual with power, privilege, or authority, mirroring the accusations of the #metoo movement. An individual who offers consent to commit adultery and then regrets their sin several years later is cast as the victim. An individual who has a long-term affair can end the relationship and cash in at the executive committee gravy train.

If you are a member of an SBC church, an increasingly large amount of your tithe will be placed into a sexual abuse settlement slush fund to be given to anyone who brings an allegation of sexual abuse, regardless of whether the accusation is credible or substantiated by 2 or more witnesses, as required by scripture.

 Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. -1 Timothy 5:19

It is true that real sexual abuse does occur. All Christians can agree that common sense safeguards should be put into place to protect victims from abuse (such as performing criminal background checks and prohibiting sex offenders from working with children). Christians have a standard that comes from scripture. That standard defines sin and abuse. When one person who partakes in a consensual adulterous relationship is considered a sinner, while the other is considered a victim, scripture is abused and real sexual-abuse claims are bastardized. God will not be mocked. The SBC will reap that which it has sown.

Editor’s Note. This article was written by Paul Brown as a guest post for Protestia.