Tag: preaching

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John MacArthur Unable to Continue Preaching Second Service After Falling Ill

Many people are praying for Pastor John MacArthur, 83, after the venerated elder was unable to preach the second service, having at one point to “catch his breath” before plowing ahead through the first, and then taking leave of the next one. An elder at Grace Community Church informed the second service congregants:

“Just so you know, Pastor John had a bug this week and preached our first hour but asked if he might be able to take a break for the second hour. So Mike Riccardi is going to be answering the call. It’s pretty pretty amazing we have guys with sermons in their Bibles wherever you go and so Mike’s going to be here.”

Tim Hurd at the Bible Thumping Wingnut initially reported the story, with one of his commenters adding more context.

I attended the first service. Pastor John had gone up to the pulpit to preach and soon as he got there he had taken a second “to catch his breath.” He said he wasn’t sure why all of a sudden he was out of breathe and had made a few coughs. I think it was about 45 seconds though to a minute that took maybe, but he did go on to preach.

In the earlier part of his sermon he did crack a joke saying that he wanted us to get into the Bible so that we would stop worrying about him since we were all looking at him and I’m sure he noticed all the concerned faces in the church but he did state that he was feeling great. He did sound back to normal during the rest of the sermon, but I’m praying for Pastor John. I prayed for him during the service.

I have learned so much from that man and I thank God that He allowed me to see Pastor John preach these past few weeks at Grace Community Church. Happy New Year’s to all and God bless.

John MacArthur has trended on Twitter several times over the last few months, mostly for his continued strong stance against homosexuality and advocating for personal purity and sound biblical teaching.

Continue to pray for MacArthur, for his continued and enduring health.

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News

Johnny Hunt Picks up a New Preaching Gig+ Modern Day Simony

(Pulpit & Pen) Benny Tate is the pastor of Rock Spring Church, a four-campus Congregational Methodist Church based in Milner, Georgia. In addition to pastoring that 8,000 member megachurch, he has also served as the President of the Congregational Methodist Denomination. He most recently made news for being a part of a group of four prominent pastors who declared disgraced former pastor Johnny Hunt to be “restored” and once again fit for Christian ministry.

In May of 2022, Hunt, a former Southern Baptist Convention President and the long-time pastor of the First Baptist Church of Woodstock, was suspended from his role as Pastor Emeritus of FBC Woodstock and forced to resign from his Vice President of Evangelism position at the North American Mission Board. Hunt’s alma mater, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, took measures to remove his name “from any association with programs, facilities, and other items” connected with the seminary.

Hunt’s downfall was a result of a Guidepost Solutions investigation into the SBC’s handling of sexual abuse. That investigation concluded that Hunt had engaged in extramarital sexual activity in July of 2010 (controversially deemed “sexual assault” in Guidepost’s report). This activity was not reported to his church at large. When his past actions finally caught up to him, Hunt’s reputation in Baptist life was ruined.

Nevertheless, Benny Tate has chosen to try and help Hunt rebuild it. Tate describes his motivations for doing so as pure, wanting to be a “good Samaritan” and come along side a man, Hunt, “who has done more to help preachers” than anybody. However, when the professional relationship between Tate and Hunt is examined more closely, it appears that Tate is engaging in little more than modern day simony.

The Men who “Restored” Johnny Hunt

Simony is the act of selling church offices and roles or sacred things. During the Middle Ages especially it was a widespread problem in the Catholic Church. Rather than granting church offices and privileges to the most spiritually gifted and qualified individual, corrupt church officials sold them to the highest bidder. Outrage over such corrupt practices help to ignite and sustain the Protestant Reformation.

Simony itself is named after Simon the Sorcerer, who was condemned in the eighth chapter of the books of Acts, for attempting to purchase Apostolic power from Peter and John. The Apostle Peter, disgusted with Simon’s attempt to buy God’s gifts, famously responded to Simon’s offer by saying, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.” Tate acts like his heart is right before God in the matter of Johnny Hunt’s restoration.

However, evidence has emerged that he stands to profit from it. In April 2023, Benny Tate is scheduled to preach with Johnny Hunt at the “Springtime Jubilee” conference in Myrtle Beach, North Carolina. This conference is one of three Springtime Jubilee conferences set to take place in the popular vacation destinations of Myrtle Beach and Branson, Missouri. The Jubilee Conferences are enterprise of “It’s a New Day Ministries, Inc”, a company based in Hunt’s hometown of Woodstock, Georgia and operated by Hunt’s family. Its corporate officers include Hunt’s wife, daughter, and son-in-law.

Hunt’s Jubilee conferences are nothing new; a Facebook page for the events indicates that seasonal Jubilee conferences were taking place as early as 2016. Each conference has featured a lineup of Christian entertainers, Christian celebrities, and mega preachers. Hunt and his preaching have been at the center of it all. This spring a freshly “restored” Hunt is preaching again, but was their ever a doubt his conferences would continue?

Conferences like the Springtime Jubilee take months to plan. Speakers must be booked and accommodations for conference guests must be reserved well in advance. Is anyone to believe that Johnny Hunt’s conference business was ever going to cease? Benny Tate saw fit to “restore” Johnny Hunt. Benny Tate is preaching with Johnny Hunt. It strains credulity to think that Benny Tate was scheduled to preach with Hunt only after Hunt was restored to ministry (by Tate himself and other friends of Hunt!)

Tate was clearly scheduled to preach with Hunt before Hunt’s so-called restoration was ever announced (by Tate himself and other friends of Hunt!). One thing Tate said about Hunt is certainly true; Hunt does a lot for his fellow preachers. He gets them thousands in speaking fees! This spring, Hunt’s family business will be paying Tate to preach with him at the Springtime Jubilee. For Tate’s bank account, it sure is a good thing that he first restored Hunt.

May their money perish with them.

This article was written by Seth Dunn and posted at Pulpit & Pen. Reposted with permission.

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News

Discerning Presbyterians Vindicated After Aimee Byrd Preaches Sermon, Gives Church Benediction

Former professing complementarian Aimee Byrd has not only preached another sermon at a Presbyterian church, but she also gave the closing benediction. This is something she would have been forbidden from doing in her former denomination, highlighting the downgrade she’s been plying and vindicating many who have been warning about her drift for years.

Once part of The Mortification of Spin, a podcast she co-hosted with Carl Trueman and Todd Pruitt, she was sent packing and expunged from the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals due to dissatisfaction with her polemical publications, particularly after her views of complementarian went from hard, to soft, to non-existent, which is merely another example of how ‘soft-complementarianism’ is just another word for “egalitarianism.”

For years the Orthodox Presbyterian Church’s version of Beth Moore rebuffed any notion or concerns that she was on a progressive trajectory- a claim she categorically denied and then became upset that it was even suggested in the first place, despite ample evidence to the contrary. In fact, we noted our concerns with her four years ago, after we removed her book from our recommended reading list, two years before she was relieved of her duties on the show.

Byrd used to be far more conservative in her beliefs, hiding behind her denomination until she left it last year. During her discourses and online skirmishes, she would frequently point out her membership creds in the OPC as proof positive she’s sound in her beliefs. Then five months ago, she preached a very strange sermon to a mixed crowd during the Sunday morning service – something her former denomination expressly prohibited.

Now, she has preached another sermon- this time at The Crossing church in Columbia, MO, which is associated with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. This denomination is nowhere as liberal as the heretical PCUSA is, but they have compromised on several points, particularly on their acceptance of the ordination of women, believing it to be a “non-essential matter” that is left to individual churches to decide. If the church is fine with it, they can ordain whoever they want.

To add fuel to the fire, she also gave the closing benediction, something further prohibited by her former denomination. Byrd clearly has no issue with women preaching and closing out the service, much to the vindication of discerning conservative stalwarts of the OPC, such as the Genevan Commons. The latter were blasted and excoriated for warning about Byrd’s theological drift years ago, with big names within their denomination taking them to task for their lack of kindness and charity in how they treated her. What some OPC leaders failed to realize is that those sounding the clarion call weren’t being cruel, but rather saw a threat and had to fling it out by the scruff of it’s neck, understanding the destruction a little leaven can bring. It looked mean at the time, but was in reality a mercy.

Time has proven them, and us right.

Bonus. Byrd giving the benediction.

“Now may the God of Zion bless you and keep you, and we pray that his face would shine upon you this week. Have a good day. “

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News

More Modalism? Pastor Mike Todd Says The Father is God 1.0, Jesus is God 2.0, and the Holy Ghost is God 3.0

Three weeks ago, a new video came to light featuring Transformation Church’s Lead Pastor Michael Todd preaching modalism, using vats of water, ice, and dry ice to show that in the same way these are all “expressions” of H₂O, just in a different form, so are the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost “expressions” of God.

Todd is known for crowd surfing during his church’s worship service and spending a lot of money. In the last two years, he’s given away $3,500,000 in houses, cash, and cars, spent $65,000 to buy 168 pairs of shoes, gave $600,000 away in “reparations” and purchased a real estate complex for over $20,000,000, and then another for $35,000,000. He also gave away a million dollars in a recent sermon series.

He’s also known for frequently appearing on Preachers n Sneakers Instagram account for wearing insanely expensive clothing and for giving the world perhaps the grossest illustration in church after he snorted and then hocked a loogie full of spit and snot into his hand and rubbed it in another man’s face.

In a newly unearthed video from his April 18, 2021 sermon Why Wouldn’t You Accept The Upgrade, Todd continues in his quest to explain the Trinity in the worse way possible, likening the Holy Spirit to an upgrade you might get for your phone- why wouldn’t you trade in the iPhone 6 for an iPhone 12- and comparing the godhead to software that you might need an upgrade for, where the Father is God version 1.0, Jesus is God 2.0, and the Holy Ghost is God 3.0

Why wouldn’t you accept the upgrade? Why? Why wouldn’t I have all of this power available to me all, of this help available to me? Because somebody said it was weird? Because somebody abused that the term before? Because you were never taught about it?

I have a burden to help you experience God 3.0. See, a lot of people don’t realize that there’s three versions of God, and when you talk about an operating system, it just makes sense to me in my mind. Most of us recognize God. Most of us have loaded up the operating system of God. We say ‘You know what? I recognize him’ But it is my goal at Transformation Church, we represent God to the lost and found, for one reason- that’s transformation in Christ.

What we want you to do is not just recognize that there is a big man upstairs, we want you to recognize there’s a God, but we want you to receive God 2.0, which is Jesus. So at the end of every service, in just a moment, I’m gonna give you an opportunity to receive Jesus. And once you receive Jesus, the sad truth is, this is where most people stop. They just worry about getting to heaven. And God said, ‘but I came, that you may have life and life to the full.’ And through this series, my prayer is that you would release God 3.0. You would release the Holy Spirit.

h/t to @KriskDubtru for the link

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News SBC

15 Sermons and Counting! Ed Litton Tag-Team Preaching With Wife More Extensive than Revealed

Videos continue to pour in documenting that embattled Southern Baptist President Ed Litton preached far more sermons with his wife than was initially thought, despite claiming that women do not preach from his pulpit.

At this point, we have saved and documented at least 15 sermons (courtesy of this guy) from both him and his wife, Kathy, but also another couple named Justin and Trish took to the pulpit to preach between 2012 and 2018. 

Said another way, 5-8% of the sermons preached from Redemption Church in some of those years were by a woman.

In an interview with Alabama.com, he justified his soft egalitarianism by explaining that he only preached sermons with his wife on marriage and family, and that the BFM2000 doesn’t always speak to them.

I’m a complementarian. I believe the roles that God gives us, I believe that the pastor, and this is right in line with the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the elder of the church has to be a male, the primary teaching pastor. But I also believe in the autonomy of the local church. The truth is, the Baptist Faith and Message doesn’t speak to my wife, with me, on a series on marriage, or a series talking about family…I don’t contain all the wisdom in the world. 

I believe the word of God does, but my wife is an apt teacher and she helps me communicate to our people. She also provides a voice that our people need to hear. So, I felt absolutely free, within my convictional status and the Baptist Faith and Message and the word of God, to invite my wife to come up. She is under my authority as her pastor. We did that together. I’m very proud of her. She did an outstanding job.

That’s straight trash, of course, but as we’ve discovered with Ed Litton, who frequently bends or blows past the truth to fit his agenda, it’s also a lie.

One of the sermon series he preached with his wife wasn’t about that at all, but rather a broader sermon series examining the Christian life, holiness, and overcoming worldliness. It is a similar title to the book and Bible Study by Craig Groeschel, WEIRD: Because Normal Isn’t Working published in 2012…Sermons in the 2013 Weird series were: Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working, co-preached; Lifestyles of the Weird, co-preached; Weird Pleasures, co-preached; Playing Weird with the Truth, preached by Ed Litton; Weird Sexuality, co-preached.”

In introducing the sermon series, Litton explained that “the ultimate purpose of this series is so that you and I will not only get comfortable with being weird but that we will embrace our weirdness and that we will encourage one another to be weird.”

During his questionnaire for the Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood’s Candidate forum, which he participated in order to win the presidency, he said that “The only ministry the Bible limits to God-called and qualified men is the office of pastor, which is rightly designated by the title of pastor and elder,” he also specifically said that women do not preach from his pulpit: a revelation that is patently untrue.

Ed Litton is an unrepentant liar, and anyone wanting to learn more can watch this mini-documentary to learn more.

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News SBC

Priscilla Shirer Attacks the Bible as ‘Hand-me-down Revelation’

From a recently unearthed 2019 clip, Lifeway darling Priscilla Shirer, daughter of Pastor Tony Evans, demonstrates with startling clarity why she is such an objectionably terrible preacher and bible teacher, framing scripture as just “hand-me-down-the-revelation” that is not sufficient.

In the clip below, apologist Chris Rosebrough details why her exegesis is so bad and why she’s just making stuff up on the fly, like some weird theological improv show where this time, the hecklers are the heroes.

In the clip, she is saying that having a preacher teach the scripture is insufficient and not personalized enough, that it gets stale, old, and is a mark of immaturity to not seek more. In contrast, it is a sign of growth and wisdom to want more than that, and so seek some “revelation” that is new, fresh, and personalized just for you.

Speaking within the context of receiving clothing hand-me-downs, Shirer creates the analogy by recounting how one year as a young girl she was not excited to get hand-me-downs, because the clothes “had not been specifically chosen for me.”

And I’ve been okay with hand-me-downs with secondhand clothes all of these years, but all of a sudden I want of my own stuff. I wanted something to come with my name on it that had specifically been chosen for me. There ought to come a time in your relationship with the Lord, when hand-me-down revelation just doesn’t do it for you anymore.

There ought to come a little bit of disconcerting, a little bit of maturity in your walk with God where you become a little bit unsettled to only be spoon-fed the Word of God from someone else to you.

Now, we thank God for our pastors and our teachers and our leaders that help us to rightly divide the word of truth *but* there ought to come a time in your life where you’ve decided, “You know what? I want fresh revelation with my name on it that has come straight from God’s Spirit for my life.

h/t to Doctrinal Watchdog for the reference and Chris Rosebrough for the clip.

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Breaking Featured News SBC

Breaking: SBC Presidential Candidate’s Wife Preaches at his Church

Ed Litton, Pastor of Redemption Church (Saraland, AL), and considered one of the more progressive candidates running for the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention, claims to have complementarian creds and that women do not preach at his church, despite it being revealed in a series of recently unearthed videos that his wife has on occasion preached tag-team sermons with him.

This, of course, is a sneaky and unbecoming practice, where the pastor will let a woman preach but stands on stage with them in order to give her his “authoritative covering.” It is nothing but semantic word games and is no different than Adam standing by and watching Eve take of the forbidden fruit.

This is what Ed Litton has done.

During his questionnaire for the Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood’s Candidate forum, though he said that “The only ministry the Bible limits to God-called and qualified men is the office of pastor, which is rightly designated by the title of pastor and elder,” he also specifically said that women do not preach from his pulpit: a revelation that is patently untrue.

4. Recently, there have been some publicized instances of women serving as the Sunday morning preacher in Southern Baptist churches. Do you think the Bible allows for women to serve in this role? Explain.

I think that our pulpits should be places that reflect our view of pastors. At Redemption church, we do not have women preach. However, we intentionally promote the significant ways that women can and do serve.

Let me say that I understand that some pastors have a different approach to who can speak when the church gathers for corporate worship, even if that’s not my approach, I respect their right and responsibility to lead their church as God has called them to do so.

Redemption Church absolutely allows women to preach. His wife has preached alongside him, and him being there doesn’t make it ok.

Watching one’s wife publicly go before the body and sin by preaching is a critical failure of headship and leadership, shows why Litton cannot be trusted, and is absolutely disqualifying from leading the convention.

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Church Evangelical Stuff Featured

Beth Moore Defends Preaching on Mother’s Day: ‘I’m a Mother and the Pastors are Not’

Ex-Southern Baptist Beth Moore, who has been busy going “to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it,” appeared on the Marty Duren podcast to have a conversation about her recent study on Galatians, along with the “current evangelical challenges.”

Chitchatting a bit about the study, and then about Trump and the Access Hollywood tapes and how they impacted her (more on that tomorrow), Moore shed light on the event that was the beginning of the end for her time in the SBC, explaining that she knew she was going to leave back in 2019, but that it took two years for her to make the final plunge.

It had to do with the brouhaha that erupted after Moore, while speaking to a friend nearly two years ago to the day, revealed that she too was preaching a sermon on Mother’s Day.

Moore explains what happened next:

It was like an atomic bomb dropped, and it was at the height, at the absolute height of the worst sexual abuse crisis in our entire SBC history. We’re right in the middle of it. And suddenly, the most important conversation – it was everywhere Marty. Everywhere you looked. Everyone was talking about it. I’m not just talking about hundreds of pastors.

Every now and then someone would tell me ‘it just a fringe thing.’

Bull.

There was nothing fringe about it. Every kind of article. I was called everything under the sun. And what killed me, and I got to tell you – I can feel a lump in my throat even saying this to you – this was my world and these were my people.

They knew I was not after their pulpit. They knew that there has never been anything in me, never at any time, at any time, that had any ambition to be a senior pastor at a church, I’ve never been any kind of pastor at a church. I loved what I was called to do, and yet it became – my own home, my denomination that knew me, I had served their women, their women, they knew it. Ninety-eight percent of everything I had ever done out and about had been with women, and it was like ‘this is insane.’

And it was over Mother’s Day.

Moore, getting flustered by the theological hot flashes we’ve grown accustomed to hearing from her, makes the argument that it’s completely appropriate to preach on Mother’s Day. She claims the exemption on this one day because she is, after all, a mother, whereas the pastor preaching is not and has never been, thus giving her the necessary qualifications on account that “there is not a man on the earth standing at a pulpit who has ever been a mother.”

I need to tell you Marty because this is going to probably tell you as much about me as anything else. I spoke again last year on Mother’s Day, and I’m speaking again in a few weeks on Mother’s Day because by golly, there is nothing inappropriate about coming before a congregation and speaking to Mother’s Day and speaking to mothers when I promise you there is not a man on the earth standing at a pulpit who has ever been a mother.

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Church Featured News SBC

SBC Executive Committee Officer Torched by SBC Prez, Others for Calling out ‘Woman Preacher’

SBC Executive Committee officer Rod. D. Martin has been doused with gasoline and set ablaze by the Twitterverse and various SBC two-bit personalities who are angered that he called out a Southern Baptist pastor for promoting his wife’s ministry as, “Solid. Biblical. Preaching,” along with pointing out the fact that she preached at a chapel service to a mixed audience – something she ought not to have done.

Consequently, the response has been swift, with near-universal condemnation of these accusations from defenders of Jacki King, including from the President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Adam Greenway, where both Kings are students.

In response to Martin’s criticism, King posted a series of responses, explaining that she did nothing wrong and that his grievances are misguided.

Since my picture and website are circulating through Twitter I thought I should introduce myself and give some context. Hi @RodDMartin I’m Jacki.

I grew up SBC, have been faithful to the SBC, & a huge cheerleader to all God is doing in the Kingdom through cooperation in our faith family. As a young adult I surrendered to ministry and after participating in several women’s events at churches that were marked by topical & surface level speaking, I decided to learn how to teach the Bible faithfully with all its depth and beauty.

I took… all of the classes my brothers in ministry took. Hermeneutics, homiletics, NT & OT, and I fell in love with Systematic Theology. Ever since I’ve championed women to dig deep into the Scriptures.

I study, make an outline, illustrate main points, I exegete passages, but most of all I have the privilege of sharing/preaching/teaching the “good news” of Jesus to women.

I’m not sure if you are wanting to parse ‘evangelion’ on here). I’m not a pastor, don’t want to be a pastor, don’t teach on Sunday& despite repeatedly having to defend myself, you continue to ascribe false, misrepresent me.

Our convention is not in threat bc of faithful women like me. What is concerning is that a brother would take a simple image &twist/distort it for some Twitter fodder. It’s truly grievous, hurtful & flat-out exhausting. I’m praying for u 

Despite the hoards of people giving him grief, Martin insists that his original condemnations are valid, explaining:

Categories
abortion Critical Race Theory Evangelical Stuff Featured Social Justice Wars

Jemar Tisby ‘Quick-as-a-Flash’ Scripture Twist Shows Woke Agenda

Jemar Tisby, founder of the Witness Black Christian Collective (previously called Reformed African American Network or RAAN) which is an allegedly Christian organization created to “fight injustice” all the while promoting an openly pro-choice, pro LGBT radical to the role of VP, delivered a gospel presentation at Wheaton College back in late 2019.

Tibsy, perhaps best known for writing the theologically compromised book The Color of Compromise, gives us a primer on how woke teachers influence by Critical Race Theory can quickly twist scripture and insert unbiblical ideas even into a two-minute gospel presentation, so the point that if you’re not paying attention, you’ll blink and you’ll miss it.

Earlier when I was defining the prophetic voice I mentioned a kind of prophecy called a ‘prophecy of deliverance.’ I talked about Genesis 3:15, the offspring of the woman crushing satan under his heel, and I said ‘test the spirits’ and the way to test a forthtelling spirit is to see if it came true, well brothers and sisters that prophecy of deliverance prophesied all the way back in Genesis 3:15 came true.

It came true when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took on flesh and became a person and entered into our experience so that he could identify with us and express solidarity with us!

Jesus Christ announced his public ministry by describing his role as a prophetic forthteller. He said that he was anointed by God the Father to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, the recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

That prophecy came true, and because it came true, you now who believe in Jesus enter into that prophetic role of forthtelling the truth, even the truth about racism and white supremacy.

And on the cross, Jesus Christ tells those who have been bent low because of oppression: you can stand up straight. And he tells those who have bought into the myth of whiteness and superiority that you, too, are in need of a savior. If you have repented and believed this morning, then despise not the prophetic voice of the black experience. Amen and amen.”

That’s all it takes. A quick flick of the wrist. A couple of words added in to change the meaning.

It doesn’t take much.