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Baptist News Global Publishes False Claim about Tom Ascol and Hyper Calvinism

(Pulpit & Pen) Yesterday, Mark Wingfield at Baptist News Global published an article entitled “Sills lawsuit misrepresents a piece of evidence, and that error got highlighted by Ascol and Basham”. The article is part of on-going coverage in the religious press of an allegedly sexually abusive relationship between Jenifer Lyell and former Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor David Sills. The handling of the Lyell-Sills affair by Southern Baptist leadership has been, to say the least, controversial and Wingfield’s article will no doubt add more fuel to the fire. One false detail of Wingfield’s reporting, however, must not go unnoticed. In his article Wingfield claims that Tom Ascol, Tom Buck, and Megan Basham share a common adherence to “an extreme version of Reformed theology, known as Hyper-Calvinism, that has been on the resurgence in the SBC over the past 30 years.”. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Hyper-Calvinism is not now, nor has it ever been, a popular position in the Southern Baptist Convention. Tom Ascol certainly does not hold to Hyper-Calvinism. To qualify as a “Hyper Calvinist” one must reject the great-commision duty to evangelize the lost. Josh Buice, writing at the G3 blog, has explained Hyper-Calvinism quite well:

When understood properly, hyper-Calvinism is a technical term for an extreme and unbiblical view that rejects any need for Christians to engage in missions and evangelism.  Simply put, hyper-Calvinists forbid the preaching of the gospel and the offer of salvation to the non-elect.  Such people believe that God has chosen people in Christ in eternity past and will bring about His results without the help of His people.  Hyper-Calvinism is heresy and must be rejected.

Josh Buice

One is more likely to find a Southern Baptist who believes the world is flat than to…. to continue reading, click here.


Editor’s Note. This article was written by Seth Dunn and published at Pulpit & Pen

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News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

A pastoral letter to transgender children – Baptist News Global

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

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