Author: Staff Writer

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Heresies

Tavner Smith Defends Satanic Lil Nas X and His Shoes, Wants to ‘Punch Church’

In a self-righteous rant about love that is sure to intimidate no one, Tavner Smith said he wants to punch the Church in the face.

The disgraced preacher from Chattanooga who was caught cheating on his wife with one of Venue Church’s worship leaders wants to lecture others on love.  Why?  Because “Pastor” Tavner Smith is a wolf.  He thinks it’s unloving to preach against sin.  In fact, he’s a perfect example of someone who loves the world.

In a recently posted rant on stage to whoever would listen of his dwindling congregation, Smith took issue with Christians who would dare to hold to God’s Word by not being down with Lil Nas X’s Satanic tennis shoes and homosexuality.

“I would like to punch the Church in the face.  The whole Global Church.  I saw so many articles about how awful it is that he made these shoes- yeah, like the shoes were Satan himself and were gonna come attack us.  Did y’all read that?”

Notice the not so- subtle disdain in his voice for God-fearing Christians.  Evidently, he doesn’t have a problem with a sneaker glorifying Lucifer and mocking the Almighty.  What kind of pastor talks like this?

His rationale soon became clear as the “chili slingin” pastor explained,

“They asked him, ‘why would you make Satan shoes’” Ready for this?…‘Because of what the church did to me.  Because when I told them I was young-I was gay- he said they hated me.  They preached against me, treated me and said awful things about me’ and then he says this, ‘And now I hope they feel the hate that they hated with.’ We should be ashamed of ourselves.”  

No Tavner, the Bride of Christ should not be ashamed of “ourself” for taking a Scriptural stance on the sin of homosexuality.  True love is preaching repentance from sin.  What’s hateful is to assuage the conscience of sinners and rob them of hearing the Gospel.  

Smith then goes on to parrot Tim Keller stating “the Bible says this form of living isn’t your best life” (referring to sodomy).  This is a dangerous narrative and a lie. Scripture is clear on homosexuality being an abomination to God (Leviticus 18:22). Here is what the Gospel is all about: preaching repentance from sin (ALL SIN, even homosexuality) and placing one’s faith in Christ for the forgiveness of our sin unto salvation.  It is about the gift of His righteousness that is not one’s own.  Being set free from God’s judgment and being placed in the family of God having been reconciled to the Father.  

The hateful responses from Tavner Smith and Lil Nas X come as no surprise. Clearly Smith is angered by believers who take a hard line against the acceptance of sin. He even scolded those who hold these beliefs and said they’re not welcome at his church.  Christ warns true believers in 1 John 15:18-19, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”  Believers can expect this reality.  But take comfort, as Matthew 5:11 says, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.”   May the Almighty grant His Bride strength to stand firm and boldness to rightly obey and declare His Word- not to be moved when the world hates them. And as for you Tavner, why don’t you just stick to chili dogs.

(Hat Tip / Video: Venue Is No Church . This article was written by Brad Schoolfield for Protestia.

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News

Things We Like: The ‘Berean Babes’ YouTube Channel

Several weeks ago we stumbled upon an interesting YouTube Channel and after vetting it, we wanted to commend it to you.

Berean Babes is the brainchild of Violet Chikuni, a believer for over a decade that lives 20 minutes outside of DC. Born in Malawi in East Africa, she spent her formative years as a Seventh Day Adventist, going to church every Saturday and attending Sabbath School, all the while observing strict rules and regulations (ie, no cooking, washing, cleaning the house on Saturday) while criticizing those who worshipped on Sunday as partaking in the mark of the beast.

She immigrated to the USA in her twenties and continued attending an SDA Church, marrying her husband Lewis in a Seventh Day ceremony. After a time her husband became convinced that many of the doctrines of the church were incompatible with Christianity, particularly with their view of the Investigative Judgment and Jesus as Michael the Archangel, and stopped attending.

Her husband started attending a different church and one week after missing her church on Saturday, she tagged along to his the next day, where she heard the gospel and the doctrines of grace. One day turned to two, then three, and soon she was exclusively attending there. Around 2013 she came to know the Lord and was baptized, understanding that what she believed about the SDA was false. It was through VHS tapes of J.D. Greear that her church studied in small groups that her theology began to be set right, and really helped her develop a robust faith. See more of her testimony HERE

Early on she became a self-professed ‘fan girl’ of Beth Moore and  Priscilla Shirer, but over time came to see that what they were preaching and teaching did not accord with scripture. Her very first video was on Beth Moore after she preached on Mother’s day, admonishing her for preaching to men and explaining her errors.

Hence the channel was born.

With most videos ranging from 5-20 minutes, and frequently using our own website as a source, Chikuni provides sound off-the-cuff commentary on what’s happening in the evangelical world today, talking about CRT, Wokeness, Andy Stanley, John MacArthur, Lecrae, Tim Keller, David Platt, and teaching on the Trinity, Black Liberation Theology, Deconstruction, and Modesty. She explains:

“Most people I knew had no idea that our favorite conference speakers, the Likes of Russel Moore, Matt Chandler, were compromising ont the Gospel because they had adopted Wokenes theology. When I was having these conversations with my circles I sounded like a crazy one. Most regular folks have no idea what’s happening.  

All this made me realize that I could use my channel and talk about these things and let people know what was going on hence my segment BE IN THE KNOW. I have had good feedback from folks letting me know that they are grateful to be able to hear and know what’s going on in the evangelical world.

We asked her why she chose the name Berean Babes, and she told us:

The Name is from Acts 17. Paul commended the Bereans for being noble because they searched the scriptures. 
So I used ‘Babes’ instead of ‘Ladies or ‘Women’ to keep it ‘BB’. Plus ‘Babes’ sounds cool.”

Here are a couple of examples of her videos and content. If you like what you see, please support her by subscribing and give her channel a ‘like’ and hit that notification bell. You can also follow her on Twitter @bereansbabes.

She’s doing the Lord’s work, and we love to see it.

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News

Charismatic Prophetess Says We Can ShapeShift in Heaven, from Ant-sized, to 100,000ft tall+ Fly Around

When Kat Kerr, our favorite pink-haired charismatic meme-bot and “Dr. Michael Brown-approved prophetess” isn’t weaving an unbiblical tale of witchcraft and false theology by claiming that she has a picture of thousands of lioned-faced angels frog-marching chained demons across the sky in order to go to heaven for judgment, or that Miscarried Babies are Reincarnated For the Next Pregnancy, or even that there’s a place called ‘Jello-land’ in heaven that contains chocolate waterfalls and candy houses, she’s explaining that people can shapeshift in heaven, changing their size at whim.

Speaking to chief enabler Steve Shultz on episode 69 of Wednesdays with Kat and Steve, Shultz asks whether or not we can change our dimensions in heaven:

Well, I will just say this, you know, Jesus himself can be as high or small as you want to. The Father- we’re made in their image and we operate like they do, this is why he made us. So eventually, in heaven, you can be as tall as you want. You can be as short as you want. (Shultz: “Awesome!”) You’re not just stuck in something, it’s always going to be you, you’ll just be tall or short or whatever. (Ed. Note. We assume if you can shrink 10000 times your size, you can grow 100,000 your size.)

I remember a little girl asked me one time a question, she said, “I’m going to ask God a question. When I get to heaven, can I have a conversation with an ant? Can I be as small as ant?” And before she could even finish it, the Father said “Tell her I said ‘yes.'” She can be the size of an ant if she wants to, and she can have conversations with him all the time if she wants to, and then she can go right back to being herself. So he answered that, for that little girl. And I do know, yeah, people can be tall for a while, they can be short, but it’s still going to be you.

Kerr explains that you can also grow wings and there is a place in heaven called “Fly-by” where people learn to fly.

People can do all kinds of things in heaven. They do fly– I haven’t really openly said that anybody can fly in heaven- you have a place where you learn though, you do get to learn. You go by this place called “Fly-by” near the Amusement Park and you learn how to fly.

Because you know, he wouldn’t just throw you out there and say “go for it”. There’s no telling what, you wouldn’t get hurt. But and people say, can I have wings? It’s another question. Can I have wings? Well, he might let you have some for a while, but you wouldn’t know what to do with the wings, either. Some things you (don’t) automatically know, and I think that there are those who are on the earth that actually train you how to do that.

And then you can fly around the amusement park or whatever. So and I do know, I guess if you really want to have wings, I don’t know why he wouldn’t let you have them probably for a while. Or maybe that would be a fun experience. But how are you going to put your clothes on with wings? How are you going to sit down with wings? How would you walk through a door? If you turn around you’d knock people over.

Wings are not little tiny baby wings, people!They’re like 8-10 feet. If you’re five and a half feet, you’re gonna have like eight foot wings.

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News

More Details on the Pastor Hillsong Promoted After He Was Caught in Adulterous Sex Scandal

Hillsong is a mess in part because they don’t view most sex scandals as particularly bothersome- a perspective shared by many within the pentecostal and charismatic movement who have historically demonstrated high levels of tolerance for sinful and scummy behavior. They’re bad, sure, but it’s nothing a bit of time off can’t cure. That is unless they no longer remain useful, which in that case, like Brian Houston, they get cast aside.

For the vast majority of evangelicalism, there is no such thing as ‘disqualified from the ministry’ on account of ‘no longer being biblically qualified and able to meet the strict standards the Lord has on elders and pastors’. Far from it. Rather there is an easily taken pathway to a life temporarily lost.

The ‘Evangelical Ministry Restoration and Reintegration Process’ is the system whereby disgraced pastors who get kicked out of their churches, usually for sexual sins and committing adultery, become reintegrated into Christendom and restored to their former glory, through a 10 step process seen here.

Case in point. In early January of 2021, Pastor Reed Bogard, who helped found Hillsong NYC and Hillsong LA and was up until this point the senior pastor at Hillsong Dallas, released a short, curt, prerecorded message during the January 3 service announcing that he and his “pastrix” wife Jess were resigning. Three months later, Hillsong shut down the campus and disbanded the church, never once mentioning that weeks before he resigned, Bogard was accused of rape by a staffer (we are withholding her name) that he had an adulterous affair with years earlier in 2013.

10 years ago, Reed Bogard engaged in an extra-marital affair (ie, clergy sexual abuse) when he was a pastor at Hillsong NYC. This is not surprising, as internal documents later revealed that he was out of control, spending like a drunken pirate, drinking heavily, smoking tons of weed, and bullying the staff, having developed a reputation as an aggressive person.

The affair only lasted about 4 months, at which time Bogard would incessantly ask for sex, even taking her to his apartment in the infamous “Hillsong Party Building” where most of the senior leaders of the New York church lived, which would have exposed her. Following this, the woman confessed to a board member in late 2014 that she’d engaged in an affair with Bogard. Hillsong higher-ups investigated the claims and concluded it to have been ‘consensual’ despite the power dynamics at work. Christian Post reports:

Ben Houston, Brian Houston’s son, who was leading Hillsong LA and serving as Bogard’s boss when the former junior staffer first revealed her sexual relationship with him to Hillsong senior leaders, told investigators that he had spoken with his father and members of the church’s global board about the relationship. Investigators reported that Bogard was “stood down publicly from the platform in Los Angeles for a period of either eight or twelve months,” noting that “stories differ.”

Houston told the investigators that “the nature and extent of such discipline were handed down by top leadership in Australia,” the report reads.

“Thereafter, Mr. Bogard was returned to full Pastoral duties, and was eventually awarded a promotion to Lead Pastor in the newly created Church location in Dallas, Texas,” the report adds.

“The board came up with a plan that Mr. Bogard would not be permitted to serve in leadership in any capacity for twelve months, he would not be on platform for 12 months and he would undergo counseling,” investigators said.

Despite the sexual encounter being established and known, it was never made public or told to the congregation. It was not disqualifying, but rather was a mere blip. It was hidden from everyone, and Bogard was promoted from church-planting pastor at Hillsong NYC to Senior Pastor at Hillsong Dallas in 2019, where he remained until he stepped down in 2021.

Senior leadership at Hillsong knew and did not care, and that is why it is an inevitability that more stories will come to light about similar behavior. They spent a decade covering them up, which means more will only come into the light.

Hillsong’s many scandals are far from over.

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News

A Gallery Of The Faithful Gathering For Church. Album 35

The thirty-fifth album in our series showing our brothers and sisters in Christ gathering for church service as faithful believers.

As thousands of churches remained closed for the ‘pandemic’ and others just opening- but with mask mandates and vaccine passports- these are the churches that are open and gathering on the Lord’s day.

While going to church does not make one a believer, refusing to faithfully attend a local church should seriously call that faith into question. This is a glimpse of what the global church is up to, and will feature images in chronological order, week to week, of the men and women being obedient to the scriptures. As always, click to enlarge.

For previous albums Album #1, Album #2, Album #3 Album #4 Album #5 Album #6 Album #7 Album #8 Album #9 Album #10 Album #11 Album #12 Album #13 Album #14 Album #15 Album #16 Album #17 Album #18 Album #19 Album #20 Album #21 Album #22 Album #23 Album #24 Album #25 Album #26 Album #27 Album #28 Album #29 Album #30 Album #31 Album #32 Album #33 Album #34

For our multi-volume series showing the progression of the Church worldwide experiencing the lockdown and pandemic, from March 2020- July 2021, click here.

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News

Transcript from Hillsong’s March 18 Event, Announcing Houston’s Indiscretions:

Editor’s Note. Though Brian Houston has since resigned and is no longer a pastor at Hillsong after it was revealed that he’d had a couple of indiscretions ove the last decade, we wanted to memorialize the event by putting up the full transcript of that tumultuous and consequential meeting, for posterity’s sake. From Crickey, who posted it, with it further saved to the Wayback Machine, if it ever goes behind a paywall or disappears.

Pastor Phil Dooley, Hillsong’s interim global pastor:

“At the start of this year, there was an announcement made by Pastor Brian that he would be stepping aside for 12 months, for the reason of his own personal health and emotional well-being and because of the court case that he is going to be dealing with at the end of the year. And Lucinda and I were asked to step into this interim role. And the reason why he took that step is absolutely the truth. That is why he took that step.

Prior to that, there are two incidents involving Pastor Brian that, as a board, we have had to deal with. And those incidents, firstly, involved something that happened approximately 10 years ago. [There are] two complaints against Pastor Brian and these allegations were treated very seriously. And I believe real significant steps were taken to investigate and resolve them.

The first incident involved Pastor Brian text-messaging with a female member of staff, which ended in an inappropriate text message along the lines of “If I was with you, I’d like to give you a kiss and a cuddle, or a hug”, words of that nature. That particular staff member was obviously upset by that and felt awkward and I think responded to that. [She] went to George Aghajanian and decided that she would like to leave staff because of that. And so she did. Brian was very apologetic for that. And I think, Pastor Brian, it was dealt with by George Aghajanian and Nabi Saleh.

I personally was not aware of that, as was the majority of the global board, until the end of last year, 2021. That was the first incident. 

Along with that, this particular staff member came back because she couldn’t get work. Came back a few months later and said: “I’m really struggling to get a job. I feel it’s unfair that I had to leave my job the way I did, and I would like some compensation for that.” 

And so it was decided that she would be paid a couple of months’ salary for what…

To continue reading, click here

Editor’s note. This transcript was written by David Hardaker and published at Crickey. Titled changed by Protestia.

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News

Grace Community Church Releases Response to Recent Scandal, UPDATE: Not a Response from GCC

UPDATE: The statement below was sent by an individual close to the situation in response to personal emails asking questions. The statement was and is not a form or canned response from Grace Community Church (as stated in the first sentence of the emailer’s statement). The official image below was not released by GCC and is instead a screengrab from the PowerPoint slides John Harris used in his first video discussing the case. We reached out to Phil Johnson of GCC/GTY and confirmed that yes, the church will be issuing no official response.

While John MacArthur and Grace Community Church have not released a public statement regarding the recent scandal that ax-grinders and faith-bad journalists have been lobbying against them- one that started off as questioning the proprietary of the church discipline against a member 20 years ago and has since devolved into wild claims that anyone who doesn’t see the situation their way is guilty of harboring and defending child abuse,- the church has sent out a form email to anyone requesting more information about their position.

The response explains that their church is not likely to issue a public statement about it, citing the pledge of privacy and confidentiality of pastoral counseling sessions, while taking shots at muckraking journalists like Julie Roys and others who have been the main drivers of this non-story.

Grace Community Church Response

Thanks for your email. The elders of GCC are not likely to issue a public statement on the David Gray
case. Here’s why:

Objective viewers who examine the facts on record without prejudice should be able to see that this
case is complex, and there’s more to the story of this couple’s marital strife and their interaction with
counselors than the evidence contained in public court records. The main exculpatory facts in this case
pertain to things that were said in the privacy of confidential pastoral counseling—in sessions Mrs. Gray
herself requested when she was saying she wanted to seek reconciliation with her husband.

In other words, recently-published stories about the case are missing vital details. In almost every
counseling or discipline case, statements are made and issues arise that cannot and should not be
made public. Counselors promise confidentiality. Having made that promise, the elders of Grace Church
intend to honor it, even if it is to their own hurt (Psalm 15:4). They are not going to breach the bounds
of propriety or fuel the tabloid appeal of this story by feeding details from private counseling sessions
into the press or social media.

It is also the elders’ position that noisy, angry, sideline critics who have already judged the matter do
not need to be answered (Proverbs 26:4; see also Proverbs 17:4). The chief gossip-mongers who are
fueling this story have already violated every biblical principle that governs how matters like this should
be dealt with. A case such as this cannot fairly be re-litigated twenty years after the fact–especially on
social media or other online forums. Given the way all the recent narratives have been slanted and the
timelines deliberately compacted, it is clear that those most aggressively pushing this story are not
genuinely interested in truth anyway.

Those who personally know and trust the leadership at Grace Community Church do stand with John
MacArthur and the elders. Our encouragement for people on all sides is to pray for everyone involved
in this case. Pray also that the Word of the Lord will continue to spread. And pray that Christ will be
glorified (2 Thessalonians 3:1).

As one can imagine, Roys is torqued to no end by the response because her concept of what church discipline is and does is vastly underdeveloped (Julie, if you’re reading this, you need to become a member of a church. Staying out in the wilderness isn’t good for you, and a good church will help you understand this):

We’re sure she’ll have a response about it soon enough.

For a robust response that carefully goes over the timeline and does some deep discussion confirming and referencing our articles here and here, check out the video below:

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News

Gay ‘Christian Leader’ Credits Tim Keller For Entrenching his Queer Identity

Tim Keller recently made a bunch of his acolytes and spiritual children upset by releasing an article where he reflected on the failure of the PCA to pass Overtures 23 and 37, which were passed at their general conference and basically said that any PCA pastor identifying himself as a gay/ queer Christian was disqualified from the ministry. This was ultimately overruled by 2/3 of the presbyteries,- cowards all- resulting in the status quo remaining. In his article Keller was not particularly honest, basically claiming that the PCA and its leaders never once said anything suggesting that Side B Christianity was acceptable, despite the specter of Revoice looking over them.

Popularized by Justin Lee of the Gay Christian Network, ‘Side A’ and ‘Side B’* refer to two opposing perspectives and a way to categorize different beliefs among ‘Gay Christians’.

Side A. God makes people gay. God blesses same-sex marriages in the same ways He blesses opposite-sex marriages. Holding these beliefs typically requires some theological maneuvering around the six “clobber passages” that people claim refers to same-sex sexual activity, but most Side A gay Christians believe that the Bible is not binding or prescriptive for a modern context.

Side B. Same-sex attraction is not what God intended and is a result of the Fall. But people do not choose who they are attracted to and there is no formula for changing one’s attractions. There is no context for same-sex sexual or romantic activity that God blesses, so they are sins. (ED.N They also don’t believe SSA attraction is a sin, only if it is acted upon) God calls all Christians to vocational singleness or marriage with someone of the opposite sex. Side B gay Christians may identify as “gay” in a limited way, finding it helpful to identify with those of a shared heritage and similar life experiences.

Not only did this cause the great compromiser Nate Collins to go off on Keller, but Grant Hartley also shared his thoughts. Hartley is a former Campus Crusade leader and Revoice presenter who ultimately converted to Roman Catholicism. Hartley claims to be part of the ‘Side B’ club, and to his meager credit, has always maintained that, officially, homosexual sexual acts are sins. Yet damning with faint praise aside, every word out of his mouth is what you’d expect from a flaming sodomite hell-bent on waging war against God’s designs and intention for sex, having given himself utterly and completely over to the trappings of queer culture and an LGBTQ identity.

On Twitter then, he offers Keller profuse credit for shaping his belief system, explaining that it was because of his ideology that he came to believe as he did and became comfortable in his queer identity.

Of course, this was like by Revoice and Sara Collins, Nate’s wife.

Knowing the positions and tolerances and eye-winking and looking the other way that Keller and the PCA has had over the years, and their impact in being the intellectual basis for growing the side B movement we’d feel burned too.

Editor’s Note. We at Protestia are neither Side A or Side B, but rather what many distastefully call “Side X”, which believes that homosexuality is sinful, not only in the acts, but in the thoughts and attractions. Unlike most Side B, we believe that Christ actually can redeem one’s sexuality and that through prayer and accountability, homosexuality will wane and heterosexuality will flourish. ie “Such were some of you. “There is no such thing as a homosexual community or queer identity, and any Christian identifying themselves as a “Gay Christian” needs to stop doing that right away, as we don’t attach sinful modifiers to Jesus to express our faith.

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News

John MacArthur Rebukes Church Hosting Ligonier National Conference

Recently, news broke that Ligonier Ministries scheduled their 2022 National Conference at First Baptist Orlando, which concludes this weekend. This was alarming due to the recently exposed heretical teachings espoused by First Baptist. Danny de Armas, the senior associate pastor, infamously offered a full-blown ecumenical statement devoid of any Gospel truth and antithetical to the teachings of Scripture by highlighting how many illegal immigrants, pro-choice demoncrats, and LGBTQ folk were ‘serving’ in his church.

“We have transgender, LGBTQ, straight, single, married, divorced and cohabitating people. These same people attend listen, serve, grow and give…We have pro-life and pro-choice…And in the midst of all of this, we have one of the most beautiful worship experiences you can possibly imagine.”
.

Unfortunately, the above is only one of the more recent examples of heresy spewed at the church. In the aftermath of the shooting at a gay Orlando nightclub back in 2016, First Baptist Orlando held a memorial service for the 59 victims. What proceeded from this was one of the most jaw-dropping blasphemous statements someone could ever think of. Guest speaker and pastor of Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church, Dr. Larry Mills said to those in attendance something which could only be described as straight from the pit of hell:

“…We believe in the Word and what others would have against us – what others would show as a stumbling stone- we’ve elevated to be the head of the corner. And right now no matter what the presence and people of mine may think, that LBGTQ area is the head cornerstone. And we are here to lift up and magnify and allow them to know: that regardless of people’s opinion, regardless of where we are, love triumphs over evil.”

This is in stark contrast to Ephesians 2:20-22, which places Christ as the cornerstone. Larry Mills blasphemed Christ by claiming that workers of an abominable sin are the chief cornerstone. This isn’t just error, it’s flat-out satanic.

This snapshot of First Baptist Orlando raises a lot of concerns in regards to Ligonier deciding to host their conference at their building. Amongst other prominent men of the faith, Pastor John MacArthur originally was scheduled to be a speaker at the event as well. Thankfully, not only did MacArthur withdraw, but he took time at ShepCon 2022 to rebuke First Baptist Orlando two weeks before it took place by quoting Scripture saying, “…By their fruits you shall what? Know them” and drawing a line in the sand between a church adhering to the culture versus standing for the truth.

“Pragmatism basically says, you do what works. In other words, what the culture wants, you give them. And once you decide that you’re going to give the culture what it wants eventually it will take you to the bottom of that culture. And then you’ll have a church, a Southern Baptist church, a first southern Baptist church saying we welcome homosexuals, transgender people, and immoral people…once you decide you’re going to make an alliance with the world with the ill-conceived notion that somehow this is going to make the Gospel more effective, the culture will take you to the bottom.”

Clearly Pastor MacArthur took issue with the messages spewing forth from FBO and echoed a sentiment that many Christians share.

A fair question to ask then, is why didn’t Ligonier take a stand against FBO as well? While MacArthur withdrew, for whatever reasons those were, many prominent speakers remain such as Steven Lawson, Sinclair Ferguson, Robert Godfrey, Stephen Nichols, Burk Parsons, Derek Thomas, and Michael Reeves, amongst others. These men are wonderful brothers in the faith, many having decades long faithful ministries that have benefited an untold amount of believers.

But the fact remains, it is concerning for a faithful ministry to associate itself with a false church that blasphemes Christ and is heretical on its view of Christ and sin. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 states, “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” Romans 16:17 says, “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.”

Would it be okay to hold a national conference at a Roman Catholic Church? It’s certainly possible that the speakers could be unaware of the heresy espoused by First Baptist Orlando, but the core issue is this: there’s the appearance of association by holding their 2022 National Conference in that building whether FBO pastors and staff are present or not.

Editor’s note. This article was written by Brad Schoolfield as a guest post for Protestia. h/t Doctrinal Watchdog for the vid.

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‘Lindale’ Becomes 42nd Texas City To be Deemed a ‘Sanctuary City’ for the Unborn

On the same day that the city of Pollock, Indiana became the state’s first ‘Sanctuary City for the Unborn’, the town of Lindale became Texas’s 42nd, with the City Council voting unanimously to pass an ordinance banning abortion within city limits.

The day before, the panhandle town of Shallowater became the state’s 41st, going one step further and outlawing abortion-inducing drugs, declaring them to be “contraband”. 

Lindale, which has a population of a little over 6000 people, previously tried to pass several restrictions, but this one finally made it through. Pastor Tom Buck, who was instrumental in working to get it through and who spoke during the meeting, shared the good news on social media.

With Texas having some of the strictest abortion laws in the country, more and more cities and towns are following suit. Abilene, with a population of over 125,000 is voting on their own ordinance next month.

In 2021 a supermajority of voters in the city of Lubbock, Texas made history after overwhelming voting to ban abortion within city limits, making it the most populous city in the world to become a sanctuary city for the unborn.

By a margin of 62 percent to 38 percent, voters in the city of 265,000 cast their ballot in a May 2nd referendum, approving an ordinance that says, “It shall be unlawful for any person to procure or perform an abortion of any type and at any stage of pregnancy in the City of Lubbock, Texas,” and that “It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly aid or abet an abortion that occurs in the City of Lubbock, Texas.” Lubbock is the 11th biggest city in Texas and the 83rd in the United States.

When the town’s city council refused to pass the ordinance, seven citizens went around and gathered enough signatures for a referendum to put it on the ballot, which they eventually won in a city-wide vote. In total 21,400 people voted for it and 12860 people voted against it, demonstrating the power of passionate people in small numbers to enact real change in their city.