Tag: david platt

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David Platt Says Political Convictions like ‘Anti-Abortion’ are Idolatry

Two years ago, David Platt gave an earnestly couched ultimatum to church members who were upset and contemplating breaking fellowship with other congregants who were promoting, working for, or voting for the pro-baby-killing Democratic party: maybe you should leave.

Platt stressed the importance of the church’s unity, saying that peoples’ eternity is dependent on seeing unity in the church, which is why “We exalt Jesus by not letting tension and division from politics creep into the church.” He unironically says that the church must “take evil seriously and avoid it. I see temptations in an election to treat evil lightly, to minimize, overlook, cover-over or even engage in it,” and then explains to members:

Do not divide the church over political positions, convictions, or calculations that are not clear and direct in God’s word… We will not tell people to vote for this candidate or that party…I fear calling you to do something that I can not show you clearly and directly in God’s word he has called you to do…

I have full confidence calling you to oppose abortion and to defend the lives of children in the womb because God makes his work in the womb clear in Psalm 139. You cannot follow Jesus as a member of this church and advocate for abortion. 

I have full confidence to call you to promote a biblical understanding of sexuality and marriage because God makes his definitions of male and female and marriage clear in Genesis 1 and 2 and throughout the rest of the bible. You cannot follow Jesus as a member of this church and disregard God’s word in these ways.

…So then how do you vote? For this candidate? For that candidate? For third candidate? For no candidate? And I don’t have a verse that answers that question for you. Different, genuine followers of Jesus will therefore come to different conclusions on the answer to that question. And assuming you are applying God’s word as prayerfully and as wisely and as faithfully as you know how to your political decision, then we will not break fellowship in Christ over that decision.

Now as soon as I saw that, I realize some people think we should break fellowship in Christ over the vote. Some people think, ‘I cannot be in the same church with someone who votes for Biden.’ Other people think, ‘I cannot be in the same church with someone who votes for Trump.’

And if you think either of these things, and I say this as thoughtfully and compassionately as I know how, Mclean Bible Church may not be the right church for you. Because we are not going to divide over the vote here. And if you think we should, if you think I or other pastors in this church should promote a political candidate or party, and you think this is worth dividing the church over, then I’m sincerely sad about that, because I treasure our fellowship together in Jesus, but at the same time I’m truly happy for you to be in another church as long as that church is preaching the gospel.

Platt offered that people in his church are allowed and encouraged to have strong political views and share them, explaining:

Individually we will all steward our vote and our voice according to our convictions, as men and women who are accountable to God and his word. And some of us will even campaign or work for political parties, or candidates according to our convictions, which is right and good. But let us be clear about the banner that brings us together as a church.

That was two years ago. In a recent conversation with Carey Nieuwhof, Platt reiterates his insistence that we do not engage in the idolatry of personal and political conviction, which he describes as “elevating those things above Jesus and that which is most clear and direct in his word.” He references the aforementioned sermon:

So as an example, there was one Sunday in late 2020, when I said we as a church are not going to divide over who you vote for in this election. If you think we should divide over that, then this is probably not the best church for you and we would encourage you to be in a bible-believing. In gospel, preaching church, that shares that conviction.

..So here’s what’s behind that. I’ve got three buckets in my mind. The first bucket being the gospel- that which is clear and direct in God’s word that all Christians, followers of Jesus hold on to. Then I’ve got a second bucket in my mind that brings us together in local churches. And I realized there’s different Christians who have different convictions about baptism than I do, or church leadership or church government than I do.

…And then third bucket issues would be issues where we agree to disagree, even in the church. And so, we said, we’re putting how you vote in an election, in a presidential election in the third bucket. And if you think it should be in the second nugget- and I actually thought that, I genuinely thought that was not a controversial statement to say that this is way down.

And there were people who passionately disagreed about that third bucket in our church, and they stayed in our church. There were some who said, ‘okay, I’m going to be somewhere else.’ But I just, I don’t think it’s wise, biblical for us to elevate how you vote in a presidential election to the level of the substitutionary, atonement of Jesus.

…So that would be an example of where I think we have idolized some of those convictions.

Platt’s position, of course, is terminal because he sees evil as a political issue, rather than a moral one. He states, “You cannot follow Jesus as a member of this church and advocate for abortion.” Yet, apparently you can promote, campaign for, vote for, and ostensibly run for office for the party that does all it can to advocate for, protect, expand, entrench, and promote it.

He says you can’t follow Jesus as a member of his church and advocate for abortion. Still, you can do all you can as a member of his church to see the party that wants to paint the town red with the slurry of chopped-up baby viscera emerge victorious and win the House, Senate, and Presidency, and then enact a rule of terror for the unborn that will be unmatched in the history of the country.

Mclean Bible Church won’t say anything about it or condemn it as long as the Democrat-promoter is “personally pro-life.

In fact, you could promote a party that openly calls for the enslavement of black people and reinstates the notion of persons of color as the property of white folk, and the elders of Platt’s church would support that, letting you wallow in the tension.

After all, that’s just a political, tertiary church issue, and black folk should not desire to leave the church simply because their pastor or woship leader or kid’s leader three rows back and one seat left plans to vote for the party that wants to see them back in chains. Right?

By calling it ‘Idolatry’ he’s saying that if you as a fellow member don’t want to fellowship with that man or woman seeking to achieve this foul and polluted end – the one voting for the party of scrambled baby skulls or lynching black folk, then you’re part of the problem, the meddler and troubler seeking to cause disunity, and you can feel free to leave.

h/t The Dissenter

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McLean Bible Church hid financial dealings with SBC from its Treasurer

McLean Bible Church hid its financial dealings with the Southern Baptist Convention from its Treasurer, according to a bombshell filing in the court case against the church. The new affidavit filed in the case by a former elder and treasurer said he was told to authorize financial contributions to the Southern Baptist Convention and its associated entities of over $500,000 and was not provided documents of how much money the SBC was providing back to the church through the SBC’s North American Mission Board (NAMB).

Financial dealings with the SBC began in 2017, according to the affidavit signed under penalty of perjury by former elder Craig Proulx. He estimated that McLean Bible Church wrote checks to the Southern Baptist Convention of about $500,000 between 2017 and 2020, when Proulx retired and moved out of state.

According to the affidavit, “Starting in the year of 2017, I began receiving requests to sign Church checks made payable to ‘the Southern Baptist Convention’ or similarly-named entities.”

Proulx continued, “Such checks were relatively large in amount, such as five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00), or even fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00). The memo lines and the backup information for such checks were…to continue reading, click here:

Editor’s Note. This article was written and published at the Capstone Report

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David Platt’s Church Sued by Members for Violating Church’s Constitution, Making Controversial Financial Purchases

(Christian Headlines) Members of David Platt’s McLean Bible Church have filed a lawsuit against the church, claiming that leadership violated the church’s constitution and used church dollars for controversial financial purchases.

Six people are part of the lawsuit, including both members and former members. The group has also reportedly filed other complaints against the church in recent years.

A statement from church leadership released to The Christian Post said that the church was aware of the lawsuit.

“We are aware of yet another recent lawsuit filed by this same small group, which again seeks to ‘make changes to the church and its leadership,'” the statement from church leaders reads. “And just as before, we will respond to the suit as a unified church committed to our future direction.”

Church officials also said that prior complaints had been dismissed.

“[W]e are grieved that our brothers and sisters are still choosing to file lawsuits rather than meet with us, our prayer is that we are soon nearing a day where this kind of thing is behind us for good,” the statement said.

The complaint says that elders inappropriately transferred at least $375,000 to the Southern Baptist Convention and other SBC entities even though the Church’s constitution says the Church cannot join any denomination.

Previously, Platt served as…

This article was written by Amanda Casanova and published at Christian Headlines

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Court Dismisses Lawsuit Against David Platt’s Church by Former and Current Members

A Virginia county judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought against David Platt and McLean Bible Church by current and former members who accused the church leadership of violating church bylaws during an elder election last year. Because the suit was dismissed with prejudice, it cannot be refiled, but the plaintiffs do plan on appealing.

In late June 2021, a vote was taken to admit three men into eldership. In a stunning outcome, the elder candidates failed to receive the 75% majority that the church bylaw demands, which was the first time in the church’s history. Members who declined to support these candidates say they did so out of a concern that the church was becoming liberal and on the downgrade by teaching critical race theory and social justice.

Platt claimed there was a conspiracy and suggested that it was a theological coup, commenting in a sermon that “a small group of people, inside and outside this church, coordinated a divisive effort to use disinformation to persuade others to vote these men down as part of a broader effort to take control of this church.”

The church had a follow-up election several weeks later. Instead of having a secret ballot as they had the last 60 years, the leadership of McLean said members had to sign their names to the ballot, in apparent violation of their bylaws. Amidst allegations that the church declined to allow some members to vote in a vote that saw these elders approved, the concerned members filed suit.

After months of back-and-forth in the courts, the church held a special election mere days ago, and the congregation approved the six elders on the docket. In this case, the church allowed all active members to vote by secret ballot, with the dissidents saying no members who joined after June 2021 should be allowed to vote. Church leadership disagreed, and with the current congregation in tow, they won.

With the vote passing, MacLean pastor Wade Burnett says that he hopes this will put everything behind them, as “We want to move forward in unity.”







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Fearing Discovery, Depositions David Platt Appears Ready to Settle Lawsuit

(Capstone Report) After repeated losses in Virginia court, David Platt and McLean Bible Church surrender in lawsuit against the church’s violation of its longtime voting process.

What does David Platt and McLean Bible Church not want to come out during discovery?

McLean Bible Church has set May 18, 2022, to vote on a settlement resolution that grants most if not all the requests made by dissident conservative members of the church in a lawsuit filed against David Platt, MBC elders and the church. The settlement resolution vote was scheduled after repeated losses in court brought David Platt and McLean Bible Church within weeks of depositions and discovery.

Plaintiffs were ready to depose (a legal process where potential witnesses are interviewed under oath) current and past church leaders and were ready to issue subpoenas for evidence in the discovery process. Without question the desire to avoid discovery and depositions spurred MBC toward this settlement offer.

The lawsuit was prompted last year… to continue reading, click here

Editor’s note. This article was written and published at the Capstone Report

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David Platt Seizes Absolute Power at McLean Bible Church

(Capstone Report) A recently surfaced document from David Platt reveals the calculated process of how he and his wingmen toppled McLean Bible Church’s 60-year leadership structure and ultimately seized power. The document requests the elders defer practically all authority to Platt and his directors. The elder board would be left to “provide oversight for fiduciary prudence… doctrinal purity… veto outrageous ministry.”

Having determined to undermine the elder board, Platt elevated three woke yes-men as the elders on July 18, 2021, even after the congregation rejected them at the June 30th, 2021, congregational meeting, for not meeting the biblical qualifications according to 1 Timothy, Titus, 1 Peter, and Acts.

Given the constitutional requirement that there be elders who are the “final authority”, Platt, as the authoritarian dictator that he is, simply found biblically illiterate fanboys to add to the existing cadre of weak-kneed “elders.” The July 18, 2021, McLean Bible Church “business meeting” was merely a symbolic ceremony for Platt’s installed figureheads.

But the genius behind Platt’s installation of the current elder board is that the board actually believes…

To continue reading, click here

Editor’s Note. This article was written and published at the Capstone Report

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David Platt Joining Arch Heretic Todd White for New Conference

Either David Platt’s speaking fees are ridiculously low, or he just really likes to partner with questionable characters within the Christian world. Perhaps it’s a little of both? How else can you explain his perchance to travel the country and speak at seemingly every Christianish conference that throws an invite his way?

We wrote about his last two ones here and here, and now we have the worst one yet, with Platt speaking at 2022 Send Conference.

The Send Lead Pastor Summit, billed in conjunction with decidedly charismatic Azuza Now, was conceived in 2011 when, according to their promo material, “The Lord spoke to the leaders of The Call through a group of YWAM (Youth With A Mission) missionaries that a shift was coming that would give birth to a new sending movement, as a beginning fulfillment to their years of prayer and fasting.” They further note that:

We believe the only way to see nation-wide impact is through uncommon collaboration. That’s why Circuit Riders, Lou Engle Ministries, Youth With A Mission, Lifestyle Christianity, Christ For All Nations, Jesus Image, Dunamis Movement, Crazy Love, and many others are uniting together to form THE SEND.

  • We have YWAM and its subsidiary Circuit Riders, who focus on reaching high schools and universities with an emphasis on intense, fully immersed missionary work. They accept missionaries and volunteers from all denominations, including Roman Catholic, and are all charismatic.
  • Lou Engle is the founder of the “Azusa Now: The Call. Engle emerged from the Kansas City Prophets and Latter Rain movement, and was a senior leader of IHOP (International House of Prayer).  Engle’s Azusa Now signs and wonders revival was inspired by dreams, visions and extra-biblical prophecies, and he also welcomes Roman Catholics into the mission.
  • Christ For All Nations is the massive organization formerly led by Reinhard Bonnke and now By Daniel Kolenda, who has claimed to have personally led more than 22 million people to Christ, as well as as having performed tons of miracles, including healing cancer, blindness, deafness, paralysis, regrowing limbs, and the like.
  • Lifestyle Christianity, led by Todd White, prolific faith healer and prosperity gospel teacher who is currently taking three months off to recover from a bad heart condition, even though he teaches that bad hearts and sickness come from the devil himself, and that God always desires and will heal sickness if you have faith.
  • Jesus Image, led by Michael and Jessica Koulianos, frequently collaborators with Benny Hinn and are run-of-the-mill hyper charismatic/ you must receive the second bapstim in the spirit sort of ministry. They do, interestingly, have a bizarre statement of faith about God and the Trinity that raises a few eyebrows.
  • Crazy Love, led by Francis Chan, who has fully embraced every false teacher who can think of, and who was last seen healing an entire village without the Holy Spirit, butchering church history, and speaking at a Roman Catholic conference.

The fact that Platt feels completely comfortable in such an environment, speaking alongside them with nary a rebuke or word of caution to be found, ought to lead the reader to surmise that any biblical discernment he claims to hold to be seriously, seriously wanting, and he’s not to be viewed or regarded as a trustworthy leader or teacher.

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Judge Rules in Favor of Church Members Suing David Platt and His Church for Secret Ballot Voting Rights

Several months ago, several conservative members of the 13,000-member multisite McLean Bible Church, where Pastor David Platt holds sway, filed a request with a Fairfax County in order to get an injunction that would force the pastor and the church to conduct their Elder Election via long-standing secret ballot, opposed to the open ballot they were trying to implement.

This unusual move was prompted by the fact that for the entire history of McLean Bible Church, elections like this were conducted by secret ballot. The plaintiffs believe the church is going ‘woke’ and have been fighting back by not confirming leadership appointments being foisted upon them by the church. In order to stop this, MBC leadership is allegedly purging members and staff who don’t vote the way they want to, removing their vote so they are unable to impact results, as well as insisting on changing the church bylaws to have open ballots.

The move to have an open ballot has made dissident members and staff all the more concerned it is an intimidation tactic that will lead to further negative consequences and repercussions. You can also read more about that below:

Platt and his leadership team changed the rules making it no longer secret how one votes.” and David Platt, McLean Bible Church facing legal challenge over ‘arbitrary’ actions.

Platt and McLean are framing the open ballots as a necessary measure in order to stave off a hostile takeover of the church from disillusioned members and former members spreading misinformation and falsehoods in an effort to hurt the church, and likewise filed their own motion to have the case dismissed, arguing this is a church dispute and outside the realm of the government’s purview.

Now, in a new press release from Fairchild & Yoder, the lawyers for the plaintiffs suing the church, we read that the plaintiffs have secured an initial victory in what has so far proved to be an increasingly ugly scandal.

Judge Rules in Favor of Plaintiffs in Case Against McLean Bible Church Alleging Denial of Member Voting Rights FAIRFAX, Virginia.

Today, the Fairfax Circuit Court gave an opening-round victory to Plaintiffs suing McLean Bible Church for alleged illegal denial of voting rights to church members. Steve Gaskins and four other plaintiffs, all current or former members of McLean Bible Church (MBC) filed suit in July alleging that Pastor David Platt and the Board of Elders of McLean Bible Church were illegally removing members from the church membership rolls in an effort to predetermine the outcome of Elder elections at MBC.

Defendants include the church, Platt, and the other six members of the Board of Elders, the governing body of MBC. Plaintiffs noted that the MBC Constitution grants voting privileges at church business meetings to all active members over 16 years old.

Plaintiffs also allege that, after losing a June vote on their chosen candidates for Elder, Defendants ended a decades-long practice of secret ballots for Elder elections, forcing members to place their names on their ballots in order to vote, in an effort to intimidate members who worked on church staff into voting for candidates leadership supported. Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that the First Amendment bars courts from considering church disputes.

Judge Thomas P. Mann today denied the motion to dismiss. Judge Mann ruled that Plaintiffs have pleaded facts sufficient to state a case that Defendants denied voting rights to members in violation of the MBC Constitution.

The Court held that accordingly Plaintiffs had pleaded a valid case for breach of contract, and that disputes for violations of church constitutions can be adjudicated under “neutral principles of law” without reference to religious or doctrinal issues protected by the First Amendment. The matter now proceeds to Defendants’ demurrer hearing on December 17 in Fairfax Circuit Court.

Plaintiffs have also submitted discovery requests to Defendants pursuant to the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia. Rick Boyer, lead attorney for the Plaintiffs, reacted to the court’s ruling. “We are pleased that the Court is allowing this case to move forward. Defendants have repeatedly violated MBC’s constitution, and trampled on the rights of their membership to have an honest vote to choose their leaders. We are pleased that the Court saw through the transparent efforts of Defendants to use Christianized language to cloak their most unchristian efforts to prevent a free and fair vote under the MBC Constitution.”

Plaintiff Steve Gaskins said, “We as members of McLean Bible Church are grateful for the Court’s ruling today. The fight to restore free and fair elections for all members of MBC will move forward. Today is a victory for truth and transparency.” Plaintiff Roland Smith said, “We thank God for today’s victory. Today’s ruling is a critical first step in restoring the rule of law and ensuring that critical voting rights protected by our church constitution will be preserved for all McLean Bible Church members.”

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David Platt Going to ANOTHER Bad Conference

It was only a week ago that we recounted how David Platt was attending a conference with a bunch of very theologically and morally bad speakers, and that, to don ourselves in our prophetic garb and recall our words of wisdom ‘ with his trajectory, we see many more of these and other conferences like it in his future.“

We were not wrong.

Reformation Charlotte has revealed that Platt will also be attending the new Passion conference, taking place in early 2022.

Naturally, he’s joining Christine Caine, the prosperity-gospel preaching, ‘little-god theology” believing lady who routinely prophecies ‘thus sayeth the lord’ with messages from God directly and who fully promotes egalitarianism and Social Justice warrioring by founding a network designed to encourage women to become pastors and church leaders.

Also there will be Jackie Hill Perry, the resident gaytheist fresh from saying that all white people are Racists, that White People Only Care about Black Folk in the Womb , and who was recently told by the Lord “God told me ‘Don’t Even Worry About Being Straight’. She continues to serve as one of the worst authorities on the theology of same-sex, giving in interview after interview the sort of advice that denies the power of the gospel while relegating sodomy as the one sin Christ cannot sanctify.

Reformation Charlotte explains that “Loui Giglio himself will be there as he is the founder and host of the conference. Giglio is a proponent of a popular heresy among charismatic false teachers known as little-god theology–the belief that we as humans carry within us the potential to become God, or divine, like God. This is not only a heresy found among charismatics, however, but it is also the underlying teaching of Mormonism–that our future as believers are to partake in the divinity of God and become gods ourselves.”

Another one to watch for is Jennie Allen. She’s a “Bible teacher, author, and the founder and visionary of IF:Gathering,” an annual conference for women, along with hosting the Made for This podcast. Naturally, she frequently hosts bad bible teachers and has some troubling theology, documented by Michelle Lesley here.

Lest you think Platt is the odd man out from that serving of scallywags, the past President of the International Missions Board has drifted in other ways, from saying that he is part of the problem in promulgating racial injustice on account of his white skin, or telling congregants who “can’t live” with the fact that their church family may be members of the Democratic party, who may vote for them, campaign for them, fundraise for them, and even run for office under their banner, that they should leave the church. Oh, and his co-pastor was caught explaining how it’s difficult for him not to ‘torch all white people’.

The drift and compromise is tragic, and it’s only going to get worse.

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David Platt is Going to a Very Bad Conference

David Platt’s theology continues to shift from the good kind of radical to the bad, with the Mclean Bible Church pastor joining a bunch of Revoice teamsters and allies at the Theology in the Raw conference, whose theme is ‘Exiles in Babylon’

“To be a Christian is to be an exile. The Bible has a name for the country we’ve been exiled to: Babylon. As exiles living in Babylon, we need to think biblically, Christianly, indeed exilically—not partisanly—through cultural and political issues.

Some of the speakers at the event are Preston Sprinkle, Jackie Hill Perry, Thabiti Anyabwile, Chris Dates, and Greg Coles.

Readers of Protestia will recognize many of those names present, with a friendly reminder that we last saw Preston Sprinkle organizing the latest Revoice conference, which featured a devout Roman Catholic ‘who praised an X-rated gay BDSM film, and Chris Date, a self-styled apologist who openly, actively and vigorously rejects hell and the possibility of eternal damnation.

Jackie you can read more about here, Thabiti here, and Greg Coles? He’s also a Revoice acolyte who had to have theological reconstructive surgery after his queer LGBTQ positions were curb-stomped by the PCA at their recent General Conference. As far as the others, we don’t know much about them. Some may be fine, with the exception of having to have their discernment radars rejiggered.

Lest you think Platt is the odd man out from that serving of scallywags, the past President of the International Missions Board has drifted in other ways, from saying that he is part of the problem in promulgating racial injustice on account of his white skin, or telling congregants who “can’t live” with the fact that their church family may be members of the Democratic party, who may vote for them, campaign for them, fundraise for them, and even run for office under their banner, that they should leave the church. Oh, and his co-pastor was caught explaining how it’s difficult for him not to ‘torch all white people’.

Unfortunately, with his trajectory, we see many more of these and other conferences like it in his future.