A month after the SBC’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF) announced that Guidepost Solutions was chosen to develop a “Ministry Check” website to “establish and maintain a public database of “pastors, denominational workers, ministry employees, and volunteers who have at any time been credibly accused of sexual abuse and who have been or are associated with a cooperating Southern Baptist church or entity,” the task force announced that they’d no longer recommend Guidepost Solutions as the one for the job.
Previously, SBC president Bart Barber released an extended video detailing why Guidepost was the only entity capable of creating the database, but weeks later, that’s no longer the case.
Amid fierce pushback from SBC laypeople and some leaders against using Guidepost, especially after they tweeted out pro-LGBTQ content to celebrate Pride month, ARTIF now says they will “consider alternative pathways (dividing the work among smaller firms which share our values) to establish and maintain the Ministry Check website. The ARITF is presently sourcing and evaluating additional firms to assist with the Ministry Check process who meet our qualifications for the highest professional standards.”
This is good news. We explained in our Guidepost Sex Abuse List how sloppy, deceptive, poorly researched, and almost entirely without merit Guidepost’s efforts have been so far. In particular, we noted that despite the report containing more than 700 entries, over 300 of the entries are against individuals who are either not part of the SBC or whose denomination is unknown.
How ARTIF needs to completely repudiate their notions of what it means to be “credibly accused” and they might have some worth after all.
(Disntr) The Florida Baptist State Convention has expressed its strong opposition to the Southern Baptist Convention’s decision to engage Guidepost Solutions, a firm that has been tasked to investigate and evaluate the Executive Committee and establish an abuse reporting hotline. The Florida Baptists’ governing body, the State Board of Missions, unanimously passed a resolution stating that the retention of individuals or organizations that promote views contradictory to the Scriptures is an inappropriate use of Cooperative Program dollars.
The resolution demands that the Southern Baptist Convention terminates all engagements and negotiations with Guidepost Solutions and its subsidiary, Faith Based Solutions, and reassess its decision to use them. Florida Baptists reiterated their commitment to protecting their members from sexual abuse and cooperating with legal obligations in reporting and investigating sexual abuse. The State Board of Missions also established policies and procedures to prevent abuse, report incidents of abuse, and provide survivor care.
The Southern Baptist Convention established a Sexual Abuse Task Force at its 2021 Annual Meeting and engaged Guidepost Solutions to carry…to continue reading, click here.
In reflection on the spectacle of the Salem Witch Trials, secular-leftist historians often use the trials as a tool to mock the Puritans. Secularists blame the Salem Witch Trials on the Puritans’ fundamentalist beliefs, casting blame for the show trials on belief in the Bible as the standard for law. Contrary to the typical caricature of what took place in 17th century Massachusetts, the primary reason for the evil in Salem was not adherence to scriptural standards but rather the adoption of extrabiblical ideologies and anti-biblical standards for justice.
In the years leading up to the Salem Witch Trials, through his work Against Modern Sadducism, Joseph Glanvill popularized the idea that ghosts, witches, and evil spirits commonly used the power of Satan to seduce willing participants to torment innocent victims. Consequently, evil spiritual entities became the obsession of many in Salem. Puritan people who were once focused on the providence and power of the Sovereign God became fearfully fixated on the power and influence of Satan. In a community filled with family rivalries, envy, and interpersonal disputes, the environment was ripe for the spectacle that would ensue.
The Salem Witch Trials began with the unexplained hysterical fits of several pre-teen girls, whose conditions were blamed on unpopular scapegoats within the community who were portrayed as willing pawns of the devil. The trials relied heavily on spectral evidence, unprovable personal testimony in which an ‘afflicted’ individuals claimed that they saw a vision of the shape of the accused afflicting them through the power of the devil. Other evidence deemed admissible in court was the presence of birthmarks or moles on the bodies of the accused.
The logic of witch trials based on spectral evidence and physical anomalies was comparable to the logic portrayed in the witch trials of Monty Python. Once several members of the community were accused, tried, and executed on this unbiblical basis, new accusations and trials of individuals accused of witchcraft became a nearly monthly occurrence. The hysteria spread and pragmatic community members saw it as an opportunity to gain the upper hand over those they despised. Instead of settling personal or property disputes biblically, witch trial, accusations became the trump card of Salem. The end result was 200 accusations and 20 executions of alleged witches from February 1692 to May 1693. Another 100 were awaiting execution when Governor William Phips halted the trials and executions.
In the wake of the Salem Witch trials, influential Quaker author Thomas Maule criticized the unbiblical nature of spectral evidence in his 1695 work Truth Held Forth and Maintained. Maule famously stated, “For it were better that one hundred Witches should live, than that one person be put to death for a Witch, which is not a Witch.” Maule believed in the existence of witches, but he believed that God would one day punish the prosecutors of the Salem Witch Trials for their miscarriage of justice and failure to conduct trials on the basis of Biblical standards. For his criticisms, Maule would be arrested by the local Puritan government 3 times, fined 3 times, jailed for a year, and finally acquitted by a jury who defied the tyranny of local Puritan judges who demanded that the jury find him guilty.
The standard for guilt and innocence found in the law of God clearly shows that God intends for the burden of proof to be placed upon the accuser or prosecution in a case. Those who make a false accusation should also bear the punishment that would have been received by those whom they falsely accused.
“A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil[c] from your midst. And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you.” Deuteronomy 19:15-20
The burden of proof principle found in the law of the Old Testament was reiterated by the Apostles to the Church as a standard to determine whether an accusation should be considered or disregarded.
Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 1 Timothy 5:19
The general equity of these Biblical principles and the legal miscarriages of incidents like the Salem Witch Trial were at the forefront of the minds of the framers of the United States’ Bill of Rights when they crafted the 5th amendment. These protections were further extended in the 14th amendment to extend protections against miscarriages of justice to the state level and further establish a “Burden of Proof” standard for convictions.
There are many similarities between the Salem Witch Trials and the SBC Sex Abuse Controversy. The Salem Witch Trials began with the hysteria of pre-teen girls, and the SBC Sex Abuse Controversy began with the hysteria of Russell Moore, who responded to the valid criticism from the executive committee of the SBC like a pre-teen girl.
As a result of less-than-conservative stances by Moore while at the helm of the ERLC, many churches reduced their giving to the SBC. When surveys of churches revealed this reality, the executive committee called Moore to account. As a parting shot in opposition to the conservative-lead committee, Moore made the outlandish accusation that the SBC executive committee was harboring sex-abuse in the convention by maintaining an extensive list of sexual abusers that went unpunished. In reality, this list was little more than a compilation of publicly available information on sexual abuse in general, the equivalent of a curated google newsfeed that targeted the keywords “Church Sex Abuse”.
In the Salem Witch Trials, theologically adrift Puritans adopted extrabiblical standards for guilt and innocence that allowed for the admissibility of spectral evidence. In the SBC, theologically adrift egalitarians and spineless evangellyfish leaders at the helm of ARITF (Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force) have jettisoned the biblical standards for guilt and innocence, allowing for Guidepost Solutions, a secularist organization that promotes sexual deviancy, to create a standard of guilt for the upcoming convention Sex Abuse Database.
The standard of guilt implemented in the database would be “credible accusation”, meaning that anyone who is accused could be evaluated by an “approved” third party research firm and then deemed to be more likely guilty than not guilty on the basis of potentially anonymous accusations. There is no reason to believe that after hiring Guidepost Solutions to create the misleading sex abuse report and the sex abuse database, that ARITF would not place Guidepost Solutions at the top of a short list of approved firms who would determine the credibility of accusations. The “Credible accusation” standard of ARITF is the modern equivalent of the Spectral evidence used in the Salem Witch Trials.
The dissenters of the Salem Witch Trials stood against the tyranny of the theologically adrift Puritan-led government. Just as Thomas Maule stood against the tyranny of spectral evidence, a number of conservatives have sounded the alarm against the ARITF idea of guilt on the basis of “credible accusation”.
The question is whether the SBC will bow to the pressures of the #metoo and #churchtoo movements by adopting the spurious standard of “credible accusation”, or take a stand on Biblical truth. In the spirit of Thomas Maule, It would be better for 100 abusers to remain in the church than for 1 innocent servant of God to be falsely listed in a public registry of abusers and have his life destroyed and ministry ended on the basis of a “credible accusation” determined by an unaccountable firm of Pagan bureaucrats who make determinations on the basis of an anti-Christian pro-LGBTQ worldview.
God makes clear that not a single sinner can hide from his sight. Not a single sexual abuser in the SBC will be able to obscure his sin from the just judge. All will be held accountable. Does the SBC trust itself to the just judge, or will it whore itself out to pagan organizations like Guidepost for the world’s version of justice.
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:13
Many prominent Southern Baptist pastors and leaders are up in arms over the decision of the SBC’s Executive Committee to enter into deep partnerships with Guidepost Solutions to define, monitor, and adjudicate sexual abuse claims, paying them millions of dollars to do so. Much of their misgivings come from Guidepost being a secular organization with an affinity for supporting Pride events.
Former SBC Presidential candidates Mike Stone and Willy Rice both have expressed their deep discomfort with Guidepost, with Stone warning “its corporate support for the LGBTQ agenda….poses an existential threat to our cooperative efforts as a convention.” Rice likwise declared:
“This is a hard “No” for me; a line in the sand that I cannot cross. To employ an organization that affirms and celebrates a sexual worldview directly at odds with Scripture to serve as a type of enforcement arm, directly empowered to field and assess accusations against leaders within our movement, is a bridge too far.”
In response to criticism of the SBC’s use of Guidepost, president Bart Barber defended the embattled organization, claiming that the most leftist cause Guidepost contributes to is a police association, even as the evidence demonstrates otherwise.
One inconvenient truth is that Guidepost Solutions is a ‘Diamond’ sponsor of the liberal WWCDA (Women’s White Collar Defense Association) to the tune of $25,000 a year. This organization promotes “women in the practice of white collar defense” and gets a juicy donation on the regular.
This is not surprising given that Guidepost CEO Julie Myers Wood is a long-time member of WWCDA. The WWCDA highlights LGBTQ members for Pride month and members who have fought for abortion rights.
They also have galas and award programs which”supports the legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by recognizing a law student who best exemplifies Justice Ginsburg “commitment to social justice, her advocacy for women, and her tenacity and resilience in the face of obstacles.”
More disturbingly, however, is that according to Guidepost’s website, one of the organizations that “many of our team members are actively involved in” is Human Rights First. Capstone Report explains
Guidepost Solution’s website proudly declares that its members support charities including Human Rights First—a group that declares on its website that “The human rights of LGBT people should be a foreign policy priority of the U.S. government.”
According to the Human Rights First website, “Late last month, the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs that overturned Roe v. Wade and stripped hundreds of millions of people of their fundamental human right to abortion care went into effect. Reproductive surveillance and restricted access to reproductive healthcare disproportionately affect women of color, low-income women, LGBTQ+ women, and gender non-conforming pregnant people, among many others.”
Human Rights First is exceedingly radical, with this just a small foretaste of their priorities.
1 / 7
Lastly, if the non-leftist “police association” that Barber has in mind is the Cops and Kids All-Star Project listed on Guidepost’s website, well, even they are not immune from a touch of the gayness.
Barber says anyone who claims Guidepost is donating to any organization more leftist than a police association is “lying to you.” We hope for his sake he’s simply ignorant and misled rather than purposefully gaslighting Southern Baptist faithful.
Furthermore, the SBC’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (#ARITF) hired Guidepost Solutions to create a “Ministry Check” website that would serve as a database for “pastors, denominational workers, ministry employees, and volunteers who have at any time been *credibly accused* of sexual abuse and who have been or are associated with a cooperating Southern Baptist church or entity.”
The idea is that if a Southern Baptist church wants to bring on an employee or volunteer, they could run their name through the website to see if they get flagged. According to the Baptist Press, this website is estimated to cost between $1.5-2 million dollars to build and get running.
Of course, there is no way in God’s green earth this sort of website should cost even a tenth of that. When a Twitter user asked Southern Baptist President Bart Barber about the exorbitant sum, he intimated that a website built for less than that would likely get hacked.
Others have pointed out that the very existence of a Ministry Check database run by Guidepost is a highly questionable proposition. Megan Basham explains why:
There is also the fact that the first Guidepost sexual abuse list is a complete joke and isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on, given it’s populated with repeated, egregious errors and falsities. Given their lack of competancy, what reason do we have to believe they would behave otherwise with this task?
If history is any indication, neither the EC nor the ARITF will offer any more insight, accountability, or transparency into why this website costs so much money, further eroding Southern Baptist’s desire to give any more to such a corrupt and secretive entity.
In a meeting yesterday, the SBC Executive Committee (EC) revealed that over six million dollars of EC money has been spent on Guidepost Solutions and the Sexual Abuse Task Force, while describing the enormous expenditure as “unsustainable.”
Dwight Easler, filling in for Convention Finances and Stewardship chair Archie Mason, told members that the EC experienced a $6,704,285 loss in net assets last year. When questioned about the sustainability of losing half their assets in a single year, Mike Bianchi, interim CFO of the Executive Committee, shared:
With regard to the audit there were a few items that are referred to as an ’emphasism of a matter’. The audit was an unqualified opinion, which is good, that’s the highest, most favorable level you could have. But they did emphasize that the matters of the ongoing sexual abuse implementation issues, the DOJ investigation and then also deteriorating liability of the EC are concerns that they wanted to emphasize.
One of the members asked:
Mike, with your expertise, I looked at the audit report and they recommended I think something very similar to what Willie said yesterday. You know, liquidating assets, asking for more money from the convention.
You know, we just approved our new budget for new allocations, but just going forward, I mean, they literally said it’s ‘not sustainable’. So what is your expertise opinion, recommendation, on what we can do, financially going forward because we are in a very, very unstable position.
Bianchi:
Great question, thank you for that. They did use the word ‘unsustainable’. The challenge is that much is unknown. No one can put numbers on the things that they emphasized at this point. So ‘unsustainable’ is the notion that the EC lost or used six million dollars of liquidity this year, and that is not sustainable.
Management responded to their concerns and said, ‘yes we will look at various options for changing that trajectory including liquidating assets’ without specifying anything. But liquidating assets, changing certain financial arrangements, obtaining other financing, looking to the Convention as a whole to support and guarantee the funding in the future. So all of those things are on the table and being explored and it was discussed with the auditors.
One member identifies that there’s a red flag here and inquired: “Is there a way that we who are not on the finance committee can have better information, more information about how we’re doing financially? Because we we don’t get this information.” Bianchi responds:
For the future, at this point, we’re holding in place to preserve going into any kind of adjustment with any kind of CP in that regard. However, for the future, this trustee board will have to make difficult decisions to avoid going into a direction that cannot be sustained. Does that make sense? At this point the proposals that we brought to you as a committee is ‘hold your own.’
But decisions will have to be made that we do not know what those decisions will have to be, because we have no number on that yet.
The man clarified what he heard, that it is six million dollars and half the assets that has been lost, clearly astonished at the revelation. (Two days ago, the Baptist Press reported that Guidepost was spending $1.5-2M dollars on their database website). Willie McLaurin, the Interim President of the SBC Executive Committee, offered a final word of clarity.
“So one of the things that they asked management to do is they asked management to provide a management response. And so that response is here are some things that we are going to look at.
If I can put it where everybody can understand it: everything is on the table in terms of how we’re going to maintain and move us forward. And so, when I mean everything is on the table, that means everything is on the table. And so we’re monitoring that on a, not a weekly basis, but literally a daily basis. And so as we monitor all of those pieces, we’re working diligently.
Even this morning, Mike and I had a meeting about some options that we are exploring, and as we move forward, we feel really confident that we believe that God’s given us a plan to help make sure that we maintain as much vitality as we can.
And by the way, as we implement these potential plans, that’s simply implementing them with the unknown and the uncertains, our best understanding to date of where we’re at, and making what we believe to be the best decision that will benefit all the Southern Baptists.
Many Southern Baptists were aghast at the news that “everything was on the table”, wondering whether or not money would be taken from the International Missions Board or other entities to continue paying Guidepost, as the funds needed would likely continue to balloon. Rod D. Martin, a former EC member, was especially critical, writing:
According to a press release by the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF), Guidepost Solutions has been chosen to develop a “Ministry Check” website that will “establish and maintain a public database of “pastors, denominational workers, ministry employees, and volunteers who have at any time been credibly accused of sexual abuse and who have been or are associated with a cooperating Southern Baptist church or entity.”
The website would serve as “a critical tool” for SBC churches to use to help them “identify sexual offenders and prevent sexual abuse” by being able to ensure that anyone they hire has not been credibly accused of sexual abuse” before.
Laughably, when examining the criteria to help them determine whether or not Guidepost would make a good partner, the ARTIF determined they did NOT have “poor quality of work for institutions in abuse crisis” when nothing could be further from the truth.
In one of our investigations, we explained how the Guidepost Sex Abuse List was deceptive, poorly researched, and almost entirely without merit. In particular, we noted that despite the report containing more than 700 entries, over 300 of the entries are against individuals who are either not part of the SBC or whose denomination is unknown. In fact, the report itself clearly states that its data is incomplete, not proofed, and not properly researched:
The information is largely pulled from news articles complied from 2007 until 2022. It is incomplete. It has not been proofed. It has not been adequately researched. It is not Southern Baptist specific.
We also noted how 66 redacted record indicates that either some or all of these entries are either completely unrelated to sex abuse or could not be verified in some way.
Furthermore, whule the target date of the investigation related to sex abuse from 2000 to 2021, a number of cases on the list occurred prior to 2000, including one that occurred in 1974. One entry that fails to hit multiple parameters is the case of Anthony Akers, a deacon in the Cary Baptist Church in Preston, Langshire UK. Akers abuse took place in England in the 1970s, when the Baptist Union of Great Britain is not affiliated with the SBC.
According to the Baptist Press, ARITF Chairman Marshall Blalock “estimates the cost will be $1.5-2 million to build the site and get it off the ground. The ARITF was given $3 million by Send Relief to accomplish the work mandated by the messengers.”
Commenting on the news, one Southern Baptist congregant expressed his disgust at the decision, writing:
“Unreal. I’m among those who predicted the #ARITF would be a complete debacle. They’ve managed to justify my suspicions with every move. Every move. This is the deconstruction of the SBC via lining the pockets of a deeply pro-LGBTQ+ lawfirm, paid by your missions giving.”
Guidepost Solutions has released its “Independent Investigation of the Southern Baptist Convention”, a 288 page report that details the issue of sexual abuse in the convention. The report includes a sexual assault accusation against former SBC President Johnny Hunt, who partnered with Ravi Zacharias to open up massage parlors, as well as numerous other accusations of sexual abuse within the SBC. As one might expect, the Guidepost report sided with leftist Russell Moore, who pushed the convention to investigate claims of sexual abuse in a letter that claimed the problem was ongoing within the convention for many years, even as Moore did nothing to stop it while he was at the helm of the ERLC. The move by Moore has been exposed as a political hit job against conservatives within the convention.
While the accusations themselves will be the subject of much debate over the next three weeks, leading up to the denominational convention in Anaheim, the most disappointing part of the report is the unbiblical and destructive recommendations made by Guidepost:
Baptist Press As SBC Pravda
Baptist Press previously reported on former Vice President of Lifeway Jennifer Lyell’s admission of having a “morally inappropriate relationship” with a seminary professor that lasted 12 years. Following the report, the executive committee issued Lyell an apology for an alleged “misunderstanding” about the nature of the relationship. In the apology, Lyell’s relationship was portrayed as “non-consensual”, despite the age of the victim and the duration of the “abuse”. Baptist Press retracted the article and Lyell received a settlement in 2020 from the executive committee, and then a second settlement from the executive committee in 2022. Guidepost recommends that the convention should utilize Baptist Press to continue reporting on sexual abuse, while “balancing the public’s need for information against potential harm or discomfort”. Thus, the way that Baptist Press spun the Jennifer Lyell story will serve as a model for how it will manage stories that contain inconvenient facts in the future.
Sexual Abuse as Primary Focus of Credentials Committee
The credentials committee is responsible for investigating matters related to a church’s qualifications to be a part of the SBC. In recent times, churches and local associations have been removed for issues related to the acceptance of homosexuality and other cultural downgrades that violate the Baptist Faith and Message. Guidepost would like to remake the committee so that its primary focus is on sexual abuse, rather than doctrinal fidelity. This includes social engineering of the committee’s makeup to increase the representation of women and the social science practitioners.
Creation of a Sex-Abuse Bureaucracy
Guidepost’s recommendations include the creation of a new “administrative entity” to regulate and process sex-abuse allegations, because the best people to deal with sex abuse allegations apparently aren’t local law enforcement, or local leadership who understand the nature of the situation. Inevitably, such a bureaucracy will infringe on the autonomy of local churches. Guidepost doesn’t just want the SBC to establish a bureaucracy using the normal 2-year procedure that the SBC normally follows to create a new entity. Instead, the consultant agency recommends that the SBC create the bureaucracy at the upcoming June convention, in 3 weeks, using bylaw 25 to bypass the normal process that would be used to critically think about such an undertaking before rashly moving forward.
One Registry for Both Convicted and Accused
The Biblical standard for accusations against an elder requires 2 or 3 witnesses (1 Timothy 5:19). Guidepost would like the newly created sex-abuse bureaucracy to lump those convicted together with those who have been “credibly accused” in an offender blacklist.
“Credible” is defined as “not manifestly false or frivolous”, meaning that the burden of proof is on those who are accused to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the accusation is false. The list would also include those who “aided and abetted in the cover-up of such conduct”, which means that all of the conservative executive committee members who resigned in protest would also likely be a target of the blacklist.
and
The system would be publicly accessible, meaning that those individuals who are “credibly” accused, but not convicted, would receive the same treatment within the SBC as a convicted sex offender.
The #MeToo movement took the standards of determining guilt and innocence and turned them on their head. Now this movement is on the doorstep of the SBC in the form of the #Churchtoo movement. Proponents of the movement are rejoicing at the Guidepost report. They can’t wait to dance on the grave of the SBC.
Establishment of a Sex-Abuse Compensation Slush Fund
The executive committee used critical theory to redefine sexual abuse, making the case that grown women in consensual affairs could be considered sex-abuse victims. With that precedent set, Guidepost recommends that the SBC set up a “Survivor Compensation Fund Program” that will be funded by cooperative fund giving, the liquidation of SBC assets, and a special giving drive that would likely be similar to the Annie Armstrong or Lottie Moon Offerings. The fund would be administered by the newly created bureaucratic sex-abuse entity, whose master would determine the amount of compensation from the comfort of an ivory tower.
Guidepost understands that this move will be very costly. The cooperative fund will likely become a black hole for the cooperative giving of the convention. The consultant agency would also like local churches to add sex abuse prevention as a line item in their annual budgets.
Guidepost proposes that an “independent fund administrator” or “special master” be appointed to administer the fund, meaning that the final say on who receives money from the sex-abuse fund wouldn’t be in the hands of a jury, local church, or an elected SBC official, but rather an appointed bureaucrat.
Permit Outside Influences From Public Theologians and Consultants
Guidepost recommends that the Credentials Committee be given the authority and funding to retain a “panel of theologians” and Support Specialists, to support the decision-making processes of the committee, meaning that the committee that Guidepost would like to infuse with a significant number of sex-abuse survivors, social workers, and victim’s rights advocates could potentially be advised by the likes of Russell Moore.
The Credentials Committee would use advice from these so-called outside experts to determine the standards by which local churches are deemed either friendly or unfriendly.
While many of its local church recommendations are excellent, Guidepost’s recommended standards for cooperation would also require churches to fire anyone who is listed in the Offender Information System, which would include those who could not disprove an accusation, but were never charged with a crime. This would inevitably lead to a system where accusations are weaponized against innocent individuals in the church. If a pastor cannot disprove a false accusation, he will lose both his job and career, as part of the blacklist system.
Accept Anonymous Accusations
Guidepost recommends that the newly-created sex-abuse entity change the current policy of the credentialing committee to require that the committee accept anonymous submissions about sex abuse in a church, meaning that anyone, even pagan activists could manipulate the reporting system to devastate a church and pastor.
Anonymous accusations should never be permitted by the credentialing committee. If false accusations are proven to be false, the accuser should receive the punishment that he or she intended for someone who was innocent.
The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely,then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evilfrom your midst.
Deuteronomy 19:18-19
The way that the convention deals with the Guidepost report will be key over the next few months. The annual SBC Convention meeting in Anaheim is sure to be a turning point, either for better or worse, as the messengers will either choose to change course and elect leaders that will reform SBC institutions; or double down on the tomfoolery and continue onward with denominational downgrade in a manner that is irreversible. God is sovereign over the SBC. He will either reform the institution, or it will become just another dashed piece of pottery beside the potter’s wheel. He will not be mocked.
Editor’s Note. This article was written by Paul Brown for Protestia
