Appearing on PBS News hour, Russell Moore, President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, explained that hesitancy over whether or not to take the vaccine yet, or even at all, is driven by conspiracy theorists on social media who are propagating disinformation.
In the brief interview, host John Yang asks Moore whether he himself is vaccinated- Moore confirms that he is- and is then questioned over whether or not the polling skepticism of white evangelicals to embrace the vaccine is the result of religious beliefs
“No. This doesn’t have anything to do with religious beliefs. It’s instead about the mistrust and distrust that’s evident in American society right now.
And plus I think some of it has to do with the fact that we’ve been isolated from one another in lots of ways for over the year, and much of the way that misinformation and disinformation gets combated is with people in conversation with one another.
And that’s why a lot of us are doing what we can to say a vaccination is not only something that’s acceptable for Christians, it’s something we ought to thank God that we have the technology for because it’s going to get us back to doing the things that we need to do quicker.”
"A vaccination is not only something that's acceptable for Christians. It's something we ought to thank God that we have the technology for because it's going to get us back to doing the things that we need to do quicker." —@drmoore
Pivoting to whether or not pastors should encourage congregants to get the vaccine, Moore explains some of them are, but that they ought to do more to help people understand what can be gained by getting an AstraZeneca or Moderna shot. Using it as a carrot to coax the evangelical turtle out of its shell, Moore suggests bytaking the vaccine pastors and congregants will be able to have all sorts of ministry opportunities they haven’t been able to have this past year.
“So, for instance, many evangelical churches have vacation Bible school every summer. To say “we will be able to gather together for vacation Bible school, to do mission trips, to do youth community outreach, and so forth.” And to minister to the elderly among us, who are often the most isolated in assisted living facilities and nursing homes and other places.
We want to get those grandmothers and grandfathers together with their grandchildren. And so I think talking about the positive aspects of vaccination is the way to go, rather than seeking to scold people.
Greg Locke, pastor of Global Vision Bible Church is well known for his massive social media following and politically incorrect social media rants about politics and religion.
Now, Locke has used part of his Easter sermon to berate congregation members who were wearing masks during the service, telling them, “Take those stupid masks off,” and describing anyone choosing to wear one as “crack-smoking crazy.”
[Law enforcement] will roll up in tanks. They will drop down from helicopters. And I promise you it won’t be a dozen police out there from Wilson County and from Mt. Juliet. It’s going to take the entire United States military to roll up into this parking lot and tell us, ‘Hey, we can’t worship Jesus, and that we got to shut our church down, and that we can’t preach, and we can’t pray, and we can’t…’ You have lost your mind if you think I’ve given in to that! You have lost your mind if you think I’m giving into that mess! We are staying open forever! Forever!
And unless you’re under a doctor’s orders — and a few of you are — take them stupid masks off when you come to Global Vision [Bible Church]. There, I said it on Easter. Take them stupid masks off.
…
[Speaking of wearing masks:] That’s crack smokin’ crazy is what that is.
h/t to that hive of scum and villainy known as the Friendly Atheist for the video and transcript.
Explaining that people who are more politically or culturally liberal are more comfortable with uncertainty or with trying new things and who have the excitement of discovery (such as himself) He contrasts this to old homely Cracker Barrel, where the conservatives who go there are “psychologically less comfortable with uncertainty” and rooted in a need for the familiar while “ejecting new ideas.”
PHIL VISCHER: I’ve read research that shows that conservatives, and not Christian conservatives, but just people who are generally conservative are psychologically less comfortable with uncertainty. People that are politically liberal or culturally liberal are also more comfortable with uncertainty or with trying new things.
For example, I don’t know if you saw the statistics, something like 80 percent of Whole Foods stores are in a district that’s represented by a Democrat in Congress. And it’s reverse for Cracker Barrel stores. Eighty percent of Cracker Barrel stores-
KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR: That explains my home, my town here!
VISCHER: Yes. Are in a district that’s represented by a Republican. And so I saw someone who then used that to say, and Cracker Barrel is about the comfort of familiarity. Whole Foods is about the excitement of discovery, of finding something new. A cheese from somewhere else. So that you can kind of use those two to, you know, just those two ideas as: if you are conservative, you like the comfort of certainty.
So I’m wondering how much, you know, because Christianity in America has become so closely aligned with conservative values, which came first: the conservatism or the rejection of new ideas or trying, or going to Whole Foods, basically? How long has Christianity been Cracker Barrel and not Whole Foods and which came first: the Cracker Barrel or the Christianity?
HT to @wokepreachertv for the video and transcript
Our favorite pink-haired, mainstream continuationist, spunky charismatic meme-bot and “Dr. Michael Brown-approved prophetess” continues to bring us all sorts of insights into the wonders of heaven is back with some new information about the celestial realm.
You’ll recall she has previously regaled us with a host of insider tidbits from one who routinely journeys up to the third heaven/ goes on an acid-tripping bender, including but not limited to the fact that:
Heaven has “flowercopters” to carry people into the air.
Heaven has cows that drive tractors.
In Heaven, kids take art classes taught by rabbits. Giant rabbits. Giant multi-colored rabbits. Who help the kids paint the eggs with “liquid light” so they can draw Minions on them. And inside the eggs are baby chicks or rabbits. Somehow.
The kids sit on mushrooms that rise up into the air.
There’s a city in Heaven made out of Jell-O where you can “eat the mailboxes.”
Now, she has apparently discovered a new neighborhood, where St Patrick lives. She tells chief-enabler Steve Shultz, who honestly must be her dealer:
… Patrick was a great winner of souls. And he is — I can tell you — he is in Heaven. I have seen his mansion. And because Jesus also has a sense of humor, He built Patrick’s mansion in a field of five-foot-tall shamrocks. [Laughs]
[SHULTZ: Wow! Really?!… You’ve seen that in Heaven?]
Yeah… I did. I saw him in Heaven, and so he’s got all these shamrocks that sing to him and they work with Jesus Christ because God has a sense of humor…
While there is a certain degree of satisfaction in pointing out that Kerr is verifiably insane, this is no laughing matter. Her streams are viewed by hundreds of thousands of people. This stream alone has almost 95k, and it was released less than a day ago.
The comments section is filled with captivated weak women and effeminate men, all led astray by her and this nonsense and slurping up this slurry purée of milk, mushed peas, and spiritual strychnine, rather than than the wholesome meat of the word.
Pray for those who are being deceived by this damnable duo.
h/t to the hive of scum and villainy known as the Friendly Atheist for the link and transcript
Pope Francis has called for the creation of a “new world order” in order to properly navigate and survive a post-pandemic world, according to his new book released today.
Titled God and the World to Come, the Pontiff sat down with Italian journalist Domenico Agasso and made his plea for the “great reset.” The book hits on all the progressive papal platitudes we’ve come to expect from the unusually feisty Francis, including ragging on fossil fuels, capitalism, and military buildup.
Instead of these things, he says we must create an inclusive future that promotes radical environmental and economic policies.
We can no longer blithely accept inequalities and disruptions to the environment.Thepath to humanity’s salvation passes through the creation of a new model of development, which unquestionably focuses on coexistence among peoples in harmony with Creation…There is also an awareness among young people, particularly within ecological movements. If we don’t roll up our sleeves and immediately take care of the Earth, with radical personal and political choices, with an economic ‘green’ turn by directing technological developments in this direction, sooner or later our common home will throw us out the window. We cannot waste any more time.
Then, echoing what Rham Emmanuel said during the 2018 financial crisis (“You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”) Francis explains:
The world will never be the same again. But it is precisely within this calamity that we must grasp those signs which may prove to be the cornerstones of reconstruction…Let us all keep in mind that there is something worse than this crisis: the drama of wasting it. We cannot emerge from a crisis the same as before: we either come out better or we come out worse…What is happening can awaken everyone. It is time to remove social injustice and marginalization. If we seize the current trial as an opportunity, we can prepare for tomorrow under the banner of human fraternity.
It is this utopia that we ought to pursue, and must not waste it by “closing in on ourselves.” This will how we obtain a new world order.
Instead, we can heal injustice by building a new world order based on solidarity, studying innovative methods to eradicate bullying, poverty and corruption, all working together, each for their own part, without delegating and passing the buck. Also by working to provide healthcare for all. In this way, by practicing and demonstrating social cohesion, we will be able to rise again.
Kat Kerr, who has put the fear of God in us anew after she claimed she had a cadre of 150 angels following her around that were ready to kill at a moment’s notice anyone foolish enough to try and do likewise, is back to her usually spunky and silly self.
Explaining that she’s traveled in time to the future with the help of the Lord, this “mainline, run-of-the-mill continuationist” says that every media organization’s knee will bow and every network anchor will confess that Donald Trump is President, all in a matter of mere weeks or months.
They will be forced- I’m talking about the news – will be forced to say these words: ‘Trump has legally won the election and he is the President of the United States for four more years.’
I was taken forward in time, I saw what happened…It may take a couple weeks. It could take a couple months. But the whole time, God is working out that plan until He can get everyone where He needs them…
…Even the news and the networks will…they [will] be forced to broadcast the crime and corruption that has been exposed will shock and stun people to see who they colluded with overseas to overthrow this government. Everyone’s gonna know who did it and what they did, and in the end, the only thing left that they can do is give the presidency to Donald Trump because he won on November 3, 2020.
"Prophetess" Kat Kerr was "taken forward in time" and shown the media being forced to announce that "Trump has legally won the election and he is the President of the United States for four more years." She says it'll happen within a couple of weeks … or maybe months. pic.twitter.com/DaiAdHgb19
Last week, Dr. Michael Brown wrote an op-ed for the Christian Post, explaining that in no way, shape, or form would someone like the firecracker that is Kat Kerr ever be considered a false prophet, despite what…a couple hundred false prophecies in the last decade? Including this one, which will certainly not come to pass?
We suspect that, as The Friendly Atheist pointed out (the source we used for this story – by the way, your transcript is wrong), Kerr will simply say that Satan disrupted the plan due to the other prophets apologizing and backing down, or Trump had a secret inauguration, or that Trump is spiritually ruling in heaven right now, somehow.
Illustration of angry red eyes on a black background
Well, that’s a side we haven’t seen before. Kat Kerr, our favorite pink-haired, mainstream continuationist, spunky charismatic meme-bot and “Dr. Michael Brown-approved prophetess” is getting a little bit scary, putting her own spin on the frequently cited “touch not the Lord’s anointed” by making open threats to anyone seeking to take her on.
Talking to chief enabler Steve Shultz of ElijahStreams, Kerr explained that no one had better mess with her or “take her down” for her support of Trump, (is anyone doing that?) because if anyone tries to lay a finger on her, she has 150-foot angels on standby, and they will literally kill that person first.
She warns:
I will just say this: I live in Florida. If you’re making noise to come and take me down, you’ll have to face these 150-foot angels who are with me… I always have to give a warning: You will not live in a decision like that… [The Father] told me He’s not gonna let anybody take my life. That’s not a challenge to you; that’s a warning.
Time to slowly back away….
As usual, HT to the give of scum and villainy known as the Friendly Atheist for the link and transcript.
In an act of cowardice and pure hypocrisy, the head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), Russell Moore, recounts how in 2018 he uninvited Ravi Zacharias from speaking at MLK 50 on account of concerns that the late apologist had acted inappropriately in 2017 with Lori Anne Thompson after allegations emerged.
Moore explains that he initially invited him to speak on the implications of racial injustice for Christian apologetics, but when allegations against Zacharias emerged, he rescinded his offer.
When the first reports of the allegations about correspondence between Zacharias and a woman in Canada surfaced, I was alarmed not just by the allegations but by Zacharias’ response to them. He told me that he was falsely accused, and that these allegations were false—in general terms.
But I said to him and to his team that I failed to see how, if that were so, he could not definitively state that he had not had any sexual conversations in this way with a woman not his wife, and that he had never, as reports suggested, pleaded with her not to tell her husband or that he would kill himself. We canceled Zacharias from speaking at the event.
He was angered by that and made that very clear. He then had mutual friends call to seek to get me to change my mind. I said no. They assured me that time would show that Ravi was innocent of these charges—and I said that certainly could be true, and that I hoped it would be, but that I would not share a stage with him with what seemed to me to be evasive responses to very serious allegations.
Unsurprisingly, Moore and the ERLC don’t see the irony that the conference they uninvited him from was in support and celebration of Martin Luther King Jr., a notorious sex pervert, sex trafficker, and serial sexual abuser.
But in typical Russell Moore style, the man who wrote the book Courage to Stand doesn’t care about any of that. Instead, he leverages the recent revelations to say, “Look how awesome we were, when we uninvited him in secret and didn’t tell anyone about it. Aren’t we brave and courageous?”
We are a little surprised he hasn’t broken his hand already, for how often and how hard he’s patting himself on the back over this one.
Russell Moore had the courage to uninvite him privately and not tell anyone about it, but not the courage to stand with the victim and tell the world about it publicly. This would have given it more scrutiny and attention, and stop Ravi’s sexual predations far sooner, as he was sexting women and soliciting right up to his death. Moore writes:
It’s a bit surreal to be angry at a dead man, but many of us are—as well as at those who empowered him. We have seen so often this pattern, with lives destroyed all along the way. But it’s not enough to be angry. We should ask why this continues to happen.
Moore and the ERLC did in fact empower and enable him. They could have used their clout to expose him and bring it all to the forefront while he was still alive. These things “continue to happen” because people in power like Moore do nothing to stop it when given the opportunity.
In many ways, he is like the Levite in Luke 10. He believed the Canadian woman on the side of the road was beaten, that there was credible evidence of the injuries, and he even had the opportunity to directly question the “thieves” about it. He noticed the blood on their knuckles and the extra weight of their coin purses. But he chose to leave her and her reputation for dead and resolve not to associate further with the thieves.
If they had any true leadership and intestinal fortitude, they could have made a statement back in 2018 which said:
Given the very serious allegations against Ravi, we have uninvited him from MLK 50. It is very clear to us that his recounting of events do not make sense and are not internally consistent.
Furthermore, when we questioned him about it, he ‘gave evasive responses to our questions’ and ‘could not definitively state that he had not had any sexual conversations in this way with a woman not his wife.’
For these reasons and others, such as the ‘suicide email,’ everything about the story indicates the allegations have weight and merit, and are worth pursuing. We call upon RZIM to do a full, independent investigation to respond to what are very serious charges, and until they do so, we encourage all Southern Baptist churches to refuse to work with or partner with him or his ministry.
But that would have been too much, and may have highlighted the record of the sexual deviancy of one Martin Luther King Jr., which they do not want to talk about. One cannot be seen taking a stand and going hard on Ravi and not King himself, especially at a conference honoring the latter.
Instead, we get multiple articles and Moore high-fiving himself for doing the bare minimum.
Actually, no. The bare minimum would have been reaching out to Lori Anne Thompson.
Moore did the bare minimum to protect himself and the reputation of his conference.
As the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) grapples with sex-abuse scandals and pledges to do more, the SBC Credentials Committee is in the process of botching a high-profile case right before our eyes, behaving in a scandalously uncaring way, outright lying, obfuscating, and making further victims of the people they are supposed to be investigating.
THE BACKROUND
In 1998, a 17-year-old teenager named Jules Woodson was sexually abused by 22-year-old Andy Savage, the former youth pastor of Woodlands Parkway Baptist Church, now known as StoneBridge Church. This occurred after building up a relationship with her and grooming her to be receptive to his sexual advances. (Longer story here)
After the incident, she reported it to the Associate Pastor Larry Cotton. He tried to gauge how ‘complicit’ she was in the abuse, suggesting she may have been a willing participant in it, but ultimately chose to tell Senior Pastor Steve Bradley, about it and that the church would handle it.
They never did.
No further action was taken by the Church. Bradley did not go to the police, seeking to handle it “in house” and did not report it, as was his legal and fiduciary duty. Because of this, Andy Savage remained on staff and still lead Youth group for months after that.
Seeing that nothing was being done and no further actions were being taken, Woodson told her story to her female discipleship group, at this point emotionally distraught and hurting badly. With the information now out, it resulted in Savage leaving, with rumors swirling that perhaps he kissed a girl, but that it wasn’t that big of a deal and many were upset that he was going.
Woodson explains, “The church, however, never came out with an official statement addressing what had happened and/or what was being done about it. Instead, they held a going-away reception for Andy at the church in which he was allowed to simply say that he had made a poor decision and that it was time for him to move on from our church.”
In fact, years later the pastors and the deacons at the church, including Steve Bradley, contacted Woodson’s parents and asked if they would be ok to bring Andy Savage back on staff – a request the parents patently refused.
Lest anyone doubt the veracity of the story, the associate Pastor Larry Cotton eventually moved on to a new church. After allegations of his involvement in mishandling the case, the church took the allegations seriously and put him on leave. He resigned from the pastorate shortly thereafter, releasing a statement, confirming that the events happened as described, and expressing regret at how it was handled and that he should have gone to the police.
Facing his own pressure, Savage was forced to address the sex crime from the pulpit at the new church he moved on to, Highpoint Church, where he minimized his actions, exaggerated his response, and kept on framing it as “an incident that happened 20-plus years ago.” Because of the statute of limitations, he cannot be charged. Facing sustained pressure, he later resigned from the church, eventually acknowledging that his actions in the non-consensual sexual encounter were an “abuse of power.”
THE UNCARING SHEPHERD
Now comes the time of reckoning for Senior Pastor Steve Bradley, still the pastor of Stonebridge Church decades later.
Woodson has reached out multiple times to Bradley, who has steadfastly refused to respond to her or even acknowledge her.
The only public statement Bradley has ever made is a comment in the Houston Chronicle, saying that the Church was “heartbroken 20 years ago when this happened and we remain heartbroken,” but was clear that it is “simply not accurate” to say “that I or anyone else on the staff at StoneBridge Church participated in a conspiracy to cover-up this sexual misconduct.”
So heartbroken that he has refused to talk to her or contact her in any way, shape, or form, despite her reaching out to him multiple times across multiple channels?
Again, he did not report it to the police, did not tell the congregation the nature of it, sought to keep him on, and sought to bring him back after he acts were exposed.
In 2019 she sent this letter to Bradley, which he has not responded to or acknowledged (please click the link to read in full), where she details the hurt she’s experienced that he’s never once contacted her or responded to her, despite the story going national. She says:
Your lack of compassion towards me as I have tried to seek closure and healing for the physical, emotional, and spiritual abuse I suffered as a member of your congregation has been reprehensible. This was my church and you, Larry, and Andy were my pastors and spiritual leaders…I trusted you all. You have no idea the despair, isolation, and self-devastation I’ve experienced because I was thrown under the bus, not just for Andy’s sake, but for your sake, and the reputation of the church.”
She asks him some questions that she has been struggling with for for a long time:
Why did you not immediately call the police when you learned of my abuse?
Were you/are you aware that in the state of Texas, clergy are mandated reporters of child sexual abuse?
Why did you not immediately pull Andy from his position on staff when I first reported my abuse?
Why did you allow Andy to resign instead of firing him?
Why were you not transparent and honest with the congregation that Andy had sexually abused a minor in the youth group?
Why did you, nor anyone on staff, ever reach out to me after I reported the abuse to offer support, help, or to ask me what I wanted and needed?
Why did you allow and/or think it was appropriate to throw Andy a going away party at the church?
And then she makes one final plea:
Though you have refused to respond to other people’s attempts to dialogue with you regarding the ways you have mishandled my abuse, my prayer is that by reaching out to you personally, you will finally choose to handle things differently. I have been deeply wounded by your words and actions from 20 years ago and continuing to this day. I sincerely request that you respond to my inquiries not only with honesty but with empathy as well.
Bradley never answered.
THE CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE
In 2019, the Southern Baptist Convention put on the Caring Well conference. This was done with the stated goal of responding to and hearing from sexual abuse survivors, along with announcing the formation of a new branch of the Credentials Committee (CC) dedicated to dealing with allegations of sexual abuse. JD Greear wept tears from the stage, his voice shaky, promising to do better.
They told survivors they wanted to hear their stories, and that they could trust the SBC would respond accordingly, with the ERLC’s Russell Moore saying, “We think this is going to be a hugely beneficial move in terms of empowering Southern Baptists to act with accountability and transparency on these matters.”
Despite Jules Woodson being arguably the most well-known face of abuse in the evangelical church and in the SBC, she was not invited to speak.
Instead, in keeping with the SBC’s 11th Commandment, all the women brought on stage did not report their abuser and did not name them. One wasn’t even a member of the SBC, but rather the OPC. In short, they didn’t invite anyone who reported their Baptist abuser.
After the announcement of the new committee, Woodson submitted her case, being one of the most visible SBC victims. After all, two pastors had to resign over what happened to her, with one of them acknowledging his complicity in the cover-up. For this reason, she was sure they would look into it. She got an email back saying that they had received her email, and inquired if she had further questions.
Upon hearing that the CC was investigating 16 Churches, Jules Woodson asked if Stonebridge and Steve Bradley were on that list. She received a response back from Christy Peters, telling her that the CC isn’t designed to “investigate” but rather “inquire,” and that the status of an ‘investigation’ was private, even to those reporting. It ended with Peters inviting her to submit any churches she feels she must. Which she had already done.
This revelation confirms that the Credentials Committee is a bureaucratic nightmare, with the one submitting not even being told if they plan to do anything with his/her information, or to what degree they have or will follow up. Furthermore, they are essentially toothless when it comes to what power they wield and what change they can bring about, due to the constraints of their purpose. In an article on the ERLC website: A guide to understanding the Credentials Committee proposal, this is made plain.
A year passes.
Nothing.
She does not hear from them and no one contacts her about it.
Woodson assumes that nothing came out of it, with no much time passing and no follow-up. It wouldn’t take a whole year to ascertain the truth here, would it, with so much ink being spilled about it?
THE DAMNABLE LETTER
On November 16, a year after her submission, 2020, Jules Woodson received the following letter from Mike Lawson, chair of the Credentials Committee.
Parts bolded by us.
Dear Ms. Woodson,
The Credentials Committee desires to reach out to you personally and inform you of our decision regarding Stonebridge Church. As we have not been able to connect via phone or Zoom, please receive this letter in the spirit from which it was drafted: to sincerely thank you and inform you. Thank you for your patience as we have worked and prayed our way through this process.
First, we wish to thank you. Thank you for being willing to share your story and for drawing attention to the need for churches to make an intentional effort to prevent abuse and to care well for victims of sexual abuse. Thank you for the effort it took to provide us with all the information regarding your abuse. It helped provide an understanding of what you experienced and continue to face as a result. We want you to know that we read and grieved over the information available to us including: your blog, articles, and your interview with the New York Times that we watched in its entirety. We prayed for you and all the victims, and, more recently, for you and your mother as you care for her in these difficult days. Thank you, for your boldness and courage in coming forward with your story.We believe that you and others like you are making a difference in how churches respond to reports of sexual abuse and helping them create intentional policies and practices that will help prevent such things in the future.
Your story has been a particular force in transformative change at Stonebridge Church. In recent years, they have taken significant and extensive steps to improve policies, practices, and procedures to better serve their people. These steps are set up to offer increased protections and improved responses to reports.
Our committee has considered the information available to us regarding StoneBridge Church’s relationship with the Southern Baptist Convention. Our committee’s assignment as outlined in SBC Bylaw 8[1], is to consider the current relationship between a church and the Convention. Neither our committee nor the Southern Baptist Convention has any authority over another Baptist body as stated in Article IV [2] of the SBC Constitution. This committee’s role is to determine if a church is in friendly cooperation with the Convention and make a recommendation to the Executive Committee when we determine a church is not currently in friendly cooperation with the Convention as described in Article III [3] of the SBC Constitution. At this time, we do not have any information that causes us to conclude that the church does not have a faith and practice which closely identifies with the Convention’s adopted statement of faith, and we have determined that StoneBridge Church be removed from inquiry.
While the nine of us on this committee have a very limited and specific task, we care about you and other survivors. We requested and have been granted access to trauma-informed counselors. If you think they might be of any help to you as you continue your healing journey, we will gladly connect you to them. We know that receiving this information may be difficult, and we are sorry for any pain it may cause.
Sincerely, The SBC Credentials Committee
We here at Protestia see a few things worthy of mention. The CC claimed to have “tried” to contact Jules Woodson via phone and Zoom, yet Jules has NO record of any such attempt. No one called her. No one questioned her further. No one called to get more details or information. Nothing.
Furthermore, the committee had her email address from when she submitted her grievance and corresponded with Christy Peters, and yet Woodson received no emails. That they would not speak to her about this at all is unconscionable.
The Committee further stated that they read her blog, yet she has no blog.
They affirm that Stonebridge has been “transformed” due to her story, and yet the Pastor has refused to talk to her or acknowledge it and the SBC’s most famous victim. All this while protesting they did not cover up the sexual abuse, despite that being both demonstrably and factually false. How is refusing to speak to or acknowledge victims evidence of “transformation”?
Why should anyone believe Stonebridge would handle new sex-abuse claims in a serious manner, rather than just cover them up, if to this day the Senior Pastor insisted that they did nothing wrong 20 years ago? He was legally obligated to report it to the police and he buried it instead.
Ultimately the Credential Committee is saying that one can be in “cooperation with the SBC” despite having a proven track record of permitting and covering up sexual abuse, so long as they affirm the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. At this point it seems clear that there is no sexual abuse case that could be reported to the Committee that would result in a church being declared not in friendly co-operation with the convention.
THE NEWEST INFORMATION
Jules Woodson shared this on Twitter last week., about her ongoing issues with the Credentials Committee.
I am so livid at the SBC Credentials Committee right now I could scream!!!
Yesterday, a fellow advocate and friend, @writer_dee, spoke with Mike Lawson and Stacey Bramlett via a Zoom meeting on my behalf. One of the purposes for the meeting was to address their massive failures regarding my submission…Specifically their lack of communication and failure to speak with me.
Stacey made a point to say that their decision is final…that it’s too late to go back and change anything. I find this to be extremely disturbing considering they really don’t seem to know what they are doing. Remember, they never once made an effort to speak with me regarding my submission even though they claimed to have done so!!!
What training and/or guidance do they have in evaluating abuse in the church and cover-up, and how it relates to a church being in good standing with the SBC, as well as communicating/listening to survivors?
They then proceeded to tell Dee Ann that the reason they had such difficulty in making a decision regarding Stonebridge was because they never received an actual submission from me, it came from someone else so their hands were tied, so to speak.
This is completely false as well. I personally sent a submission by mail and received an email a short time later that confirmed they received my submission. [Editor’s Note. See included picture.]
After the call Mike sends a short email to Dee Ann stating…’Thank you for your time. I spoke in error. It was in fact Jules who submitted to the Credentials Committee. My apologies.’
Is this a joke?!?! They had just spent all this time explaining to Dee Ann about how they were put in an ‘awkward position’ regarding Stonebridge yet their entire statement was based on erroneous information as it WAS me who presented the request.
They further admitted to basing their decision on the information they received after speaking with the church, yet they never once made an effort to speak with me!! Are you kidding??? They trust the church and pastor that covered up my abuse when I originally reported and who continues to deny wrongdoing or respond to my questions to this day???
Even after the Associate Pastor has admitted it was abuse – that it should have been reported to the police, and has since stepped down from any position of authority in his current church?
In summary, the SBC Credentials Committee is a total sham. They are NOT a safe resource for ANY survivor!!! They have lied on multiple occasions. They don’t know their head from their ass and certainly can’t keep their stories straight. They have ZERO training in how to do their jobs in any capacity and perhaps don’t even know what their job is. SBC YOU MUST DO BETTER!!!
This is a terrible injustice. The Credentials Committee has botched and mishandled this case for over a year now, and they are continuing to drop the ball. Not only dropping it, but punting it clear out of sight. We pray it’s out of incompetence and not out of maliciousness, but at the rate it’s going, we can’t be sure.
What we do know, is if this is how they are going to handle things they CANNOT be trusted with other victims and other churches and ought to be thoroughly and publicly repudiated.
We ask that you retweet this article and tag all these individuals, as well as anyone else you can think of, and keep on doing it until they listen.
When Kat Kerr, our favorite pink-haired charismatic meme-bot and prophetess isn’t making a fool of herself when she tries to control the weather, she’s been on a bend refusing to accept that Trump lost the election and that her prophecies were false, showing herself to be the ultimate “always Trumper.”
Two weeks ago she describes how God appeared in her bedroom, visibly upset and mad as a hornet, saying that Trump won in a landslide and that Biden stole the election. Promising divine retribution, the Lord of Lords apparently declared that nothing will stop Him from “putting My son Donald Trump back in that White House,” promising to kick Biden out of the White House in what might be generously described as a supernatural storming of Capitol Hill.
Despite that not happening, Kerr is unapologetic and defiant. Though other false prophets have apologized and repented, Kerr will not, Telling Steve Shultz of the Elijah List:
Nowhere in the bible does it say that prophets have to apologize for anything. You’ll never hear me apologize for what God has said to me. I will stand and I will still believe what God said would happen and will happen.
Kerr further states that Biden is “illegal” and “illegally placed” and that “if you knew God more, and if you know how he operated a little more than you do, you wouldn’t be concerned about any of this.”
She reiterates that “God has never changed what he said to me, and he still intends to put Trump in the White House…I can assure you Trump will be sitting in the White House as President.”
She takes a shot at the “other prophets who bailed” on the Trump prophecies and likens their prophecies to Isaiah saying “the virgin will conceive” and that though everyone thought he was wrong, it ultimately came to fruition and just took longer than people expected.
That was a correct prophecy, and I can tell you right now that you should never go back if you heard God, you should never say anything about that.
