In some disheartening news, Pastor Alistair Begg has doubled down on his insistence that Christians can attend LGBTQ weddings and even buy the couple a gift, according to the leadership of American Family Radio, resulting in Begg’ show being terminated from the lineup.
Begg, who pastors Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio, and whose program Truth for Life has aired on AFR for the last 12 years, sent representatives to speak on his behalf to AFR Vice President Ed Vitagliano and AFA Vice President Walker Wildmon. The results, they shared, were discouraging:
Taking over the timeslot previously occupied by Truth for Life to speak directly to Begg’s audience, AFR leadership said they contacted the pastor to give him “an opportunity to say ‘I messed up right there'” and to provide him with the opportunity to say ‘I said the wrong thing, and I’d like to recant,'” but that no apology or clarification was forthcoming:
The two individuals that we talked with, Walker and I with two individuals from Alistair Begg’s ministry, they made it clear that Alistair Begg believes that homosexuality is wrong, he hasn’t changed that his views on that. He does not believe that homosexual marriage is valid and that the practice of homosexual activity is, as the Bible says, an abomination.
So all four of us were in agreement with that. But what we could not get them to change, and they said that Alistair Begg is not going to change his mind, was on the issue of whether Christians should attend.
…And the goal of the call, and the goal of all Christians when approaching these issues, should be reconciliation, but reconciliation in truth. And so that was our goal with the call with Alistair Begg’s team and unfortunately we didn’t get there. But we did press the issue multiple times and we even asked point-blank ‘So are you guys stating that pastor Alistair Begg is standing by his original comment? He has no regrets? He didn’t misspeak? He doesn’t want to further clarify nothing?
And they said ‘yes, he’s standing by his original comment.'”
The hosts lamented Begg’s response.
So very disappointing. And you know I even told… the gentleman and lady that we were on the call with with Truth for Life, that pastor Alistair Begg has such a long, decades long track record of biblical fidelity and truthfully teaching the Word of God, that this is extremely disappointing. This isn’t something that we saw coming. This isn’t like- some of the others Evangelical leaders that have drifted, this is not one that was on the list that we could have seen this coming.
Update! Alistair Begg Doubles Down On Attending LGBTQ Wedding, Says He’s Not Budging.
While Begg sent staffers to speak in his stead, he has yet to personally address the matters publicly or justify holding such a dangerous and theologically decrepit view. Begg’s show still airs on 1800 radio stations, and he’s slated to be a speaker at the upcoming Shepherds Conference.
