Missions is on my mind.

A lot. 

Not just because I am a Pastor, although this surely does drive me to pray over and ponder missions more often than I might otherwise. But, primarily, missions stays on my mind because I am a Christian. To be a Christian is to desire to have the very heart of God for this world. And God’s heart is a missionary heart, if ever there was one. John 3:16 says so. 

But I need to go further. I am not just a Christian frequently thinking about missions. I am a Christian in America thinking about missions. Or, said another way, I am an American Christian seeking to live on mission with Christin this world, and seeking to lead Corydon Baptist Church to do likewise. And I think being an American Christian makes this missionary pondering particularly potent and filled with hopeful potential.  

Saying I am an American Christian seems to make many Christians nervous these days. Even among conservative evangelicals, with all the debates about Christian Nationalism, saying anything that might link governments or States or politics to missions is becoming increasingly taboo. And this bothers me. No. That’s not strong enough. It disturbs me.

I have had two interesting conversations in recent weeks. One with a young Christian college student wrestling with whether Christians should be involved much at all in politics. And another with a missionary who lived in China for two decades, seeking to train indigenous pastors and churches there to send out missionaries to the world. 

Let me begin with the missionary who lived in China. I really enjoyed hearing from this brother. His work with his missions agency has changed pretty dramatically now, as he was forced out of China, more or less. Many missionaries from the West have been forced out of China in recent years, as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues its crackdown on “foreign” influence, especially Christian influence. The CCP is also renewing its persecution of Christians and Churches within China, as well. Communism as a system of government has always hated Jesus and His Church and His Gospel. And we ought to take very careful note of it, dear American believers. 

This missionary relayed that, by and large, the Chinese Church has not been at all successful in sending missionaries to the world. He said that the vast majority of missionaries launched out of Chinese churches return in a year or less, with the devasting label “failure.” In an honor / shame culture, this often means that the missionary is not even welcomed back into his sending church. The “failed” missionary often lives out the rest of his or her life in depressed seclusion. Hearing this testimony, was alarming to me. Clearly, as the missionary said, big changes are needed in the discipleship culture of Chinese evangelical churches. One’s “national” culture, be it honor / shame or western individualism can never be permitted to hold such dominant sway over Christians. We have One King, and One Book. And His Kingdom Culture must come to trump all else in our hearts, lives, and churches. 

That said, I could sense a palpable awkwardness when I tried to broach the subject of how the CCP might bear some responsibility for the non-missions mindset of Chinese Churches. The missionary said the failure is more the Church’s fault than the government. He mentioned how monolithic and ethno-centric the Chinese Christians and their churches are. And while that’s no doubt true, I wondered how the Church in China got so monolithic and ethno-centric? Why can’t the Chinese believers excel at crossing cultures with the gospel? Why can they not freely engage the world with the message of Christ in public, bold, missional ways? Why might they think the Chinese way is the best way and that outside influences are to be shunned? All these things are intentionally baked into the Chinese cake by the CCP! This is exactly the mind-set that China saturates children with from Day Care to College, from cradle to grave. This is what the CCP monitors with its “social scoring system,” bolstered by surveillance videos of the citizens’ every waking moment. It's little wonder, `rank`ly, that the Chinese churches are not missionary-sending launch pads. Not only is it frowned upon by the CCP, but it’s built into the warp and woof of daily existence. This is a sad reality, when we consider that more Christians reside in China than anywhere else in the world. While I am not excusing any sin in any churches, whether in China or Indiana, I am saying we could not reasonably expect the Church of China to be a missionary force in this world. How could they?  

What Marxist or Communist Country has ever been a gospel missionary force in this world? Name one. In all of human history. What totalitarian dictatorship has exported the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations? Can we not see a connection? 

A Pastor friend of mind rightly reminded me recently that God did not need America to advance the gospel widely in the first 300-400 years of Church history. Amen. God does not need America. Jesus will build His Church, with or without us in the western world. 

But I think some conservative Christians in America are really missing some important points, or failing to make some critical connections between State and Missions. Two in particular.

First, God is a God of means. God most often does His work via normal human means. One of which is government, which He has ordained to be His servants (Rom 13:1-5). Now, the fact that Jesus has saved so many millions of Chinese people even in spite of the persecution and oppression of the CCP, is a testament to His sovereign grace and power! Truly, no one or nothing can stop our God! But again, we must examine human history, and ask, “What kinds of government has God typically used to evangelize the world and to carry out the Great Commission?”

Answer: Democratic-type governments and free-market-style economies. 

The Roman Empire was unique in its day. Indeed, much of our American system was modeled after it. How was the gospel so easily advanced throughout the Empire? And, how was it exported to other parts of the world out of the Roman Empire? Well, Roman citizens were afforded freedoms unknown up to that point in time. World-wide economic trade flourished in much of the Roman Empire. Roads and systems of mobility were developed. And, though persecution arose from time to time, by-and-large a measure of religious freedom existed (certainly true after Emperor Constantine). And God used those governmental and economic systems to ignite a gospel missions wildfire. And, praise God, Europe was never the same! And neither was the New World we now call the United States of America.  

While the Apostle Paul would have no doubt tried his best to evangelize as far and wide as possible, regardless of the governmental system he found himself in, we can easily imagine how his missionary zeal might have faired inside the walls of Communist China or under the Russian Czars. Whether we like it or not, the reality is these things matter. There is a connection between State and Missions. 

Second, God has blessed America. I am not impugning the patriotism of any missionaries or pastors or Christians in the US. But I just mean to call us all to ponder anew what God has done, and continues to do as it pertains to the Great Commission, through our Nation. It’s all of His grace and to His glory! But do we think our Gospel Light to the world will keep shining if the slow, steady encroach of Marxism and communism continue unabated in our educational and governmental institutions?

History says no. 

I, for one, want an America that continues to prosper, not for nice cars and picket fences. But for the sake of those all over the world who still have never heard His name. I know Jesus does not need America. But, I want Jesus to keep using our Nation to export His glory until it fills the earth as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2:14). I want my children and grandchildren to have the freedom to give and go to all the world. That’s why governments and politics matter. Only one Kingdom is ultimate and eternal. But this in no way means other kingdoms are inconsequential. 

Join me this year in fighting for America. On our knees. And in our homes. Workplaces. Schools. Businesses. Legislatures. Courtrooms. And Churches. Let’s be a part of bringing about, by God’s great grace, the Red Wave America truly needs – the blood of Jesus washing sinners clean as they repent and trust in Him, and then transforming those sinners into missionaries. 

So, preach Christ! Freely! Boldly! Privately! Publicly! Locally! Globally! Freely!

While you still can. 

For, unless God extends His mercy and revives our Nation, it appears to me our lampstand might be removed. Let’s not ignore the valuable connection between State and Missions. Let’s engage in both spheres as we have opportunity. And in America, for now, we are still the Land of Opportunity. When it comes to politics and religion, it’s not either/or. It’s both/and. Especially for us as blessed Americans.    

“To whom much is given, much shall be required” (Luke 12:48).

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints” (Col 1:3-4).

At a recent local pastors’ prayer gathering (which I have been blessed to be a part of for over ten years), a fellow pastor challenged us all from Colossians 1:3-4 to be thankful for our flocks.

Now, you might not think such a challenge would (or should) be needed in a group of conservative, Bible-loving pastors. But it was and it is. We pastors are mere flesh-and-blood. We fall into the same traps, sometimes, or just getting our daily “to do” lists done.

There’s always the next sermon. The next counseling session. The next visit. The next email to write. The next event to promote. The next planning meeting. The next phone call or text to make. The next conflict to resolve. The next worship gathering to plan.

And if pastors are not careful to guard our hearts, it can become no more than a routine job which robs us of our gratitude. And no gratitude = no joy. And often, no gratitude = no love.

Perish the thought! Nothing worse can hardly be conceived than a loveless, joyless, thankless pastor. Woe be to the flock under his care!

So, during this week of Thanksgiving, may I just pause, and thank and praise God for the dear Church family that I have the immense joy and privilege and duty to shepherd in the faith?

I thank God for Corydon Baptist Church. Every. Single. Member. And every single child of a member. I know them each by name (3 John 15). I pray for them regularly, and call to mind their sweet faces. Even the member who may be causing some grief at the moment, I am so thankful for; because I know but for the grace of God, I am also quite capable of causing others grief.

I thank God for the genuine sense of family among us at CBC. All churches talk about being a family. And no doubt many are, by God’s grace. But we seem to have been given a special grace at CBC, to actually live as family. Day by day. It thrills my heart as a pastor to see our members loving and living and serving Christ as true brothers and sisters, who stick by one another through thick and thin. Who ask forgiveness and grant it. Who overlook offenses in love. Who hold one another accountable to pursue holiness. Who pray, laugh, cry, and feast together. CBC is a family. Thank God.

I thank God for the love of the Word here at CBC. The attention given to the absolutely authoritative, sufficient Word of God is evident among us every Sunday. As you recite the Word. Listen to the Word. Sing the Word. Pray the Word. Read the Word. Train your children to sit under the Word. And then you meet together during the week to study and discuss the Word together. Many of you read the Word systematically together throughout the year. You counsel the Word to one another. You memorize the Word together. I thank God for a church full of true disciples who abide in the Word of Christ (John 8:31).

I thank God for a missionary heart at CBC. O dear flock, surely you see it too? Holy Spirit God has been and is giving us the very heart of Jesus for the lost world. A missionary heart! It is evident in your giving. In your praying. In your going. In your sending. And we’ve not yet begun to give, pray, go and send. The best is yet to come! CBC understands, by grace, that Jesus will have the prize for which He died – an inheritance of nations (Psalm 2). And we are eager and excited to play a part in the work of God to save a people for Himself from every tribe, tongue, people and nation. Haven’t we seen just how awesome it is to know and serve a God who can do abundantly, exceedingly above all we ask or think? We must thank and praise our God!

I thank God for a flock that stands firm for God’s truth in the face of a growing cultural storm. Throughout the COVID debacle, this church proved fearless. We feared the Lord, and put our trust in Him. And now, as so-called churches buy into worldly philosophies such as Critical Race Theory and Marxism, we stand uncompromisingly upon the truth that in Christ, there is no Jew or Greek. As our culture (and false churches) embrace the abomination of homosexuality and gender madness, our membership stands unapologetically on the truth of Holy Scripture. As our world (and many churches) are swept away by feminism and misogynism, CBC holds the line handed down to us by the saints of old. And we do so lovingly, truthfully, gracefully. We seek to pick no fights. We simply, humbly, believe the whole counsel of God as revealed to us in the Bible. We believe God knows best. Period. Thank God.

I thank God for a church full of the generations. Our elderly saints are so sweet. So faithful to Jesus and His Bride. So willing to serve in whatever ways they are able. So prayerful. We have a church full of godly grandparents! And we have a church full of young families. Fighting by the sanctifying grace of God for pure marriages. Gospel-centered homes. Raising godly offspring. Women so diligently pouring themselves in managing their households and nurturing their children. Men so faithfully working hard to protect and provide and teach and lead their households. Single men and women guarding their hearts and serving the Lord so well. Children learning to obey their parents in the Lord, and to love and respect their elders. Surely you join me in thanking God for blessing us generationally in Christ our Lord!

I thank God for a church that loves me and my family so well. Your love is unmerited. It is all of grace. I have seen you caring for my wife and children. I have seen young men honor and protect my daughters. I have a palpable sense of your weekly prayers for me and my family. God guards and delivers and blesses and uses us for His glory, through your faithful intercession. You have served us in some many ways. We could not ask for more. Michele, Keileigh, Ethan, Meaghan and I thank God for you all.

Most of all, I give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for qualifying us all to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Col 1:12-14).

O dear Corydon Baptist Church, give thanks to the Lord; for He is good, and His love endures forever!

“America’s founders were all deists!”

Earlier this year, I heard a preacher make this very proclamation from the pulpit. It struck me as odd, because I happen to know this particular preacher is not lazy in his preparation. So, I had to assume this preacher had either bought into some historical revisionism, or had simply been negligent to fact-check.

Since the brother did not cite any source for his universal declaration that ALL of our Nation’s founders were deists, I really have no way of knowing where he read or heard that claim. I know he didn’t just decide on his own that this is accurate historically. He had to hear it or read it somewhere. But again, no source cited. So, I am in the dark as to how an otherwise diligent man of God becomes so convinced of what is patently false, and then declares it to his flock during a sermon.

To be sure, it has become popular to make such assertions about America’s founding. I remember an anthropology professor at Vanderbilt University saying our Founders were not Christian. It was the first time I had ever encountered this liberal, historical revisionism. This professor claimed our Founding Fathers were pagan rebel bigots, drunks, profligates, and so on. He likened them all to the gunslinging cowboys of the wild, wild west. Since I had actually read several writings of our Founders, I gave his hair-brained accusations no credence.

But in today’s culture, precious few students (and apparently pastors) are reading original documents. It is always easier to just parrot what some so-called expert claims. Or some YouTube influencer.

And that’s what disappointed me so about hearing this come from an otherwise solid preacher. He should have known better. Just because today’s authors are re-writing history with their books and articles and blogs, does not mean the actual writings of our Nation’s Founders have somehow changed. The writings of James Madison, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, John Witherspoon, Roger Sherman and others are very much still available to us all. And if one were going to prove or disprove the claim that most or all of them were deists, it’s a simple matter of letting them speak for themselves.

“The Founding Fathers were at most deists – they believed God created the world, then left it alone to run” (Gordon Wood, American Heritage Magazine).

“The God of the founding fathers was a benevolent deity, not far removed from the God of eighteenth-century Deists or nineteenth-century Unitarians . . . They were not, in any traditional sense, Christian” (Mark A. Noll, Nathan O. Hatch, and George Marsden in The Search for Christian America).

These quotes demonstrate how easily anyone, even a well-meaning pastor, might fall into this trap. But there is real history, based upon original texts and the writings of the men-in-question, that put these claims to the test. One such work of disproving these historical revisionists is the book Did America Have a Christian Founding by Mark David Hall. I commend it to you.

Hall uses the writings of the founders themselves to show how ridiculous it is to say they were deists. Hall shows that even Thomas Jefferson’s writings demonstrate that one would be hard-pressed to squeeze him into a traditional deist camp. Jefferson was no orthodox Christian, for sure. But neither was he a classical deist. Even the most “pagan” member of the Constitutional Convention, Ben `rank`lin, said, “God governs in the affairs of men.”

Whatever that is, it is most definitely not Deism!

Mark David Hall uses the writings of the well-known Founders, such as Adams and Madison and `rank`lin, to disprove the deist argument. But he also highlights the writings of many of the unknown and unsung Founding Fathers, as well. So many of them were Congregational and Anglican and Presbyterian and Baptist pastors, laymen, deacons, and churchmen. Jedidiah Morse was a Congregational Minister and the “father of American geography.” His son, Samuel Morse invented the telegraph. The elder Morse wrote:

“All efforts to destroy the Foundation of our holy religion, ultimately tend to the subversion also of our political freedom and happiness. Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican form of government, and all the blessings which flow from them, must fall with them.”

Hall fills his book with such quotes. He cites various sources that demonstrate the majority of the earliest colonists and Americans were Reformed Calvinists. The book most often read, cited, and quoted in writing in the early decades of American history was the Bible. Even their school text books, such as the New England Primer, were chocked full of orthodox, reformed Bible doctrine. Children in the early days of our Nation learned the ABCs by memorizing, “A – In Adam’s Fall, we sinned all.”   

Indeed, the Founder’s belief in the Doctrine of Original Sin and Total Depravity compelled them to provide our Constitutional system of checks and balances, with three branches of government. One can hardly look anywhere in their writings without seeing the clear and evident influence of their Calvinistic, biblical faith. Whatever the majority of America’s Founders were, they were most certainly not Deists! They appeal repeatedly to God as Creator and Governor and Providential Ruler of all things. They write from the prevalent Puritan viewpoint of their times.

While our Founders were sinners, just like us, many if not most of them made direct appeals to faith in Jesus Christ alone as their only hope of salvation. Read their writings. These men were not Deists. Their robust Calvinistic Christianity influenced their view of everything, every aspect of life, including government and laws and wars and life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

This preacher is not down with current trends of America-hating. This preacher is not down with the 1619 Project, which is fake history. The United States of America, like all nations, is flawed. Governed by fallen sinners. But many of the very first Presidents, and Legislators, and Judges, all across this land, were robustly Christian and wrote from a biblical worldview. That’s actual history.

Don’t take my word for it. Read their writings for yourself. Or, get a copy of Mark David Hall’s excellent book where he will collate the original citations for you in a way that helps strongly debunk the myths now being promulgated in the halls of academia, in pre-school classrooms, and yes, even in pulpits.

I, for one, pray for God to send a revival of the very kind of Christianity captured in so many of our Founders’ writings. I pray for God to inflame our pulpits with the Doctrine of Whitefield and Edwards and Nettleton once again. I pray for God to give us government leaders that hold to the same worldview as Founders like John Witherspoon (Presbyterian Minister) and Roger Sherman (Puritan Congregationalist) and Roger Williams (Baptist). O God, awaken our Nation once again to the great Reformation truths held to by so many early Americans:

That mankind is dead in sin and therefore may only be saved by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. This we believe because our authority is Scripture alone.

God doesn’t need America. But America needs God. And I am praying for the Lord to keep mercifully employing this Nation to send the Gospel to the very ends of the earth. For His name’s sake. Amen.   

For further study and consideration:

https://providencefoundation.com/

https://wallbuilders.com/

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8-9). 

Will the true Pro-Life Republicans please step forward? 

Will the true Pro-Life Christians please stand up? 

The overturning of Roe has really exposed us, in conservative circles, hasn’t it? I have lost track of the evangelicals who are salivating over half-hearted, incremental measures in their States. In my own State of Indiana, lawmakers were too cowardly to simply abolish abortion. Instead, our GOP-controlled Legislature gave us an incremental bill which they touted as stopping 95% of all abortions. My guess is, if they had a voice, the 5% of babies still being dis-membered and carved up in wombs might not be happy.

Senator Lindsey Graham is now offering a national piece of legislation that proposes a ban on abortion after 15 weeks. Again, this is being widely lauded by conservatives and evangelicals. Read more here: https://washingtonstand.com/commentary/a-postroe-starting-point-for-republicans-on-abortion- 

Is this what “courage” now looks like in America? Is this what the pro-life movement fought for fifty years to achieve? Millions of babies still having their skulls collapsed as their brains are sucked out of their tiny heads? Being chemically poisoned and burnt to death? Being torn limb-from-limb? All in the name of “Protecting the Health of the Woman.” By which they clearly mean only women outside the womb. 

This is the language being used by so-called pro-life politicians and pastors now. God help us. 

I understand the GOP reflex to offer at least some alternative to the Democrats’ blood-thirsty attempt to legalize infanticide throughout pregnancy, and for some, even after birth. [True colors are showing.] But where are the lawmakers who will simply ask a few pointed questions to force our society to come to grips with the reality of abortion? Such as . . . 

Please complete these sentences: 

• It is OK to kill a baby when ______________________.
• It is OK to stab a baby in the skull when ___________________________.
• It is OK to dismember a baby tortuously until the baby dies when _________________________.
• It is OK to pour acid on a baby or chemically burn a baby to death when ___________________.

These kinds of questions cut to the quick. Would you fill in the blank with . . . 

“When a mother was raped.” Or,

“When the life of the mother is in danger.”

But would you want that logic applied to you? Should you be killed for the wrongs of others? Should you be punished for crimes you literally had nothing to do with? Talk about injustice! Should your life be considered somehow less valuable than others simply due to a medical diagnosis, or prognosis, or prediction? Medicine is a “practice” remember. I personally know a mother that just gave birth to a baby boy, and both mother and baby (and dad) are fine; even though she was told repeatedly by doctors that if she carried this baby to term she had a 90% chance of dying! They also said the baby would surely die too. But this Mom put her faith in the Sovereign Savior who is Lord of Life. This Mother did what mothers do – she sacrificed herself for even the potential life of her child. Could she have died? I suppose so. Could the baby have died? I suppose so. But either way, what this woman did was an example of true courage. What this husband and wife did was true pro-life. God be praised! And may their tribe increase. 

Evangelical pastors and believers need to stop pandering to incrementalism. Stop applauding half-measures. Accept nothing less than the abolition of abortion in our land. Hold politicians’ feet to this fire at the ballot box. God give us courageous leaders who stand in the gap for righteousness.   

Isn’t one aborted baby one too many? 

Wouldn’t we say that about rape? Or incest? Or childhood cancer deaths? Nobody wants to brag about half-measures when it comes to these atrocities. So why do we do so when it comes to abortion? 

And evangelical pastors and believers also need to stop equating pro-life with government socialism. [They do this primarily to justify voting for baby-killers.] Saying I am not pro-life because I believe God ordained the Church and individual generosity to help the poor or needy, and not government, is ludicrous. These kinds of arguments are based upon shoddy interpretation of biblical texts, or outright twisting or misuse of Scripture. We may well disagree on how to best apply biblical principles to government policies regarding poverty or immigration. But I dare anyone who takes the Word of God seriously to defy or disagree with:

“Thou shalt not murder.” 

Don Wilson McWhorter

June 16, 1946 – Sept 13, 2017

I’m kind of homesick for a country
Where I’ve never been before.
No sad goodbyes will there be spoken
For time won’t matter anymore 

I’m looking now across the river
Where my faith is gonna end in sight.
There’s just a few more days to labor
And then I’ll take my heavenly flight

Beulah Land, I’m longing for you
And, some day, on thee I’ll stand
Where my home shall be eternal
Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land.

I have never dreamed to write an additional stanza to any beloved hymn, much less this dandy written by Squire Parsons. But, shortly after the Lord called my hero home, I was compelled to write my own stanza to this sweet song. I found myself singing Beulah Land so often after Dad’s homegoing. And I still sing it when I call to my heart and mind so many sweet memories of Dad.

But I seemed to want something more than the two stanzas Brother Parsons so graciously gifted to the Church of Jesus Christ. So, with nothing but respect for Brother Parsons, I offer this additional stanza:

Sweet home of God, and all His chosen
Where Jesus’ face shall be our Light.
The Gospel calls us to that city
Where our sin no more we’ll fight!  

Beulah Land, I’m longing for you
And, some day, on thee I’ll stand
Where my home shall be eternal
Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land.

“Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28).

Labor Day in America! 

A Holiday where we celebrate the fruits of our labors . . . by not laboring. 

Genuis! 

But I have grave concerns over the condition of the good ole’ traditional American work ethic. How can there be so many jobs right now and so few laborers? Did the government COVID handouts really do this much damage to our national psyche? Is the soul of our Nation truly now to work as little as possible and look to the government to give us everything? Well, I hope not.     

The idea of hard work has permeated this great country since its founding. For hundreds of years, people have come to America because, “If you work hard, you can make it here. And, you can make it quite comfortably.” Well, I hope so, even as I watch that dream die before my eyes at the hands of Marxist policies now being embraced by more of my countrymen than I ever thought possible. But maybe, just maybe, even that wrong can be righted by good ole-fashioned blood, sweat and tears (and voters recovering their American roots and sanity).  

But there’s one arena where our ceaseless drive to work hard must cease. 

Some two thousand years ago, Jesus stood before a crowd of hard-working, Law-abiding Jews. These Jews had for hundreds of years been sold a bill of goods by their rabbis. They had been told that law-works, or outward conformity to God’s legal commands, could and would get and keep them in good stead with Almighty God. It was this very works-righteousness salvation that Jesus demolished in the Sermon on the Mount. Therein, He reminded those crowds that God looks not just at outward conformity, but also to inward propensity. 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks upon a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28). 

The remedy was to build your life upon the Rock who is Jesus, the Righteous Law-fulfiller (Matt 5:17). To hear and heed His word. This is the only hope of enduring the torrential flood of God’s judgment that awaits all unredeemed sinners (Matt 7:24-27). 

Salvation, forgiveness of sins, a right standing with a Holy God, is all of grace. It is by grace through faith in Jesus alone. 

“We also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16).

“For grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). 

When Jesus commanded all those who labored and were heavy laden to come to Him for rest, He was not referring to physical tiredness due to a long, hot day in the olive orchards. No! This is the invitation to trust in the work of Christ for salvation; and to cease striving after it by your own wit, will, wisdom and works. This is justification by faith in Jesus alone. 

The Greek has an active participle. So, more literally, it is “All those who are toiling / laboring.” This is further described by a perfect, passive participle – “having been wearied” or “being wearied under burden.” Do you see it? Trying to earn your way into God’s graces is the most soul-deep, wearisome, exhausting endeavor that anyone ever undertakes. Why?

Because it is the quintessential definition of impossible. 

Jesus echoes the Psalmist here: “Be still (or cease striving) and know that I am God” (Ps 46:10). 

The rest Jesus promises is spiritual. Soul-rest. The Greek verb can mean both “revive” and “quiet / give rest.” Indeed. Those who are tired of trying to earn God’s favor, who are trying to deceive themselves into thinking they’re not that bad, that they’re not sinners through-and-through, will by faith alone in Jesus alone be brought to life. Revived. To a life of everlasting rest. A quiet peace in the all-sufficient Person and work of Jesus Christ. 

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1).

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). 

“Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30).     

So, this Labor Day, why not stop laboring? Why not come to Jesus? 

And rest. 

Truly rest. 

It’s that time of year again. Kids standing on curbs at 6 AM, and yellow buses noisily grinding up and down our roads. Public and private schools seem to almost go year-round these days. Long gone are the days of a full three months of summer vacay. And, for all the required class-time, every indicator over the last decade or so reveals that students in the United States are performing poorly, and are not even learning the basics: Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. 

But public school students are excelling in woke-ness. The public schools, urged onward by the radically left-leaning NEA, continue to `rank` out social justice warriors who know how to Defund the Police and fill American cities with riots and violence, while simultaneously insisting that everyone respect their pronouns. Granted, this radicalization and politicization of education may more squarely be blamed on institutions of higher learning (colleges and universities), but make no mistake, the groundwork for Marxist revolution is being laid now as early as Kindergarten in our public (and some private) schools. 

For all the damage that the non-scientific, draconian COVID policies had upon our children’s education, the silver lining was the awakening of parents to what their kids were being taught and expected to do in public schools. Parents are yanking their children out of state-run schools in droves. The homeschool cooperatives are overflowing, often struggling to find facilities that can accommodate them. Parochial schools and other educational models such as cottage schools and classical schools are experiencing a revival. I personally receive this as good news. I have long thought that local churches in particular should do more to both encourage and accommodate education grounded in a biblical worldview. Because all education springs forth from a worldview. And the spiritual and educational harm now being done to children because of a Christ-hating, atheistic, demonic worldview that is dominating our public schools has gone on long enough. 

All education is religious. Every teacher has a religion. And a worldview. Every teacher is a disciple-maker. Jesus said, “A student is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40). The biblical worldview, which is absolutely and objectively true, tells us repeatedly that we cannot compartmentalize concepts such as educate, train, raise, nurture, instruct, correct and disciple. These terms are synonymous throughout the Holy Scripture. Christians are to “take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience” (2 Cor 10:5-6). 

The Washington Stand recently ran an article that is very worthy of our attention. Author Ben Johnson argues, “This would be an ideal time to get the federal government out of education altogether. Ronald Reagan won two landslide elections while campaigning to abolish the Department of Education. At that time education policy, like post-Roe abortion policy, would revert to the states.” If that is an idea that has not crossed your mind, then you should definitely brush up on the US Constitution! I recommend you read the full article here: https://washingtonstand.com/commentary/public-school-bureaucrats-want-to-choose-your-childs-religion

As a Pastor, I have for decades encouraged Christian parents to seek alternatives to the public schools. This has in no way diminished my love and appreciation for the public school teachers that are members of my flock. I thank God for them and pray regularly for their courageous care of students to shine the light of Christ into dark hearts and dark systems. Nor has my vocal support of home-schooling and doctrinally sound, private Christian schools ever compelled me to treat public school parents and students in my flock like second-class Christians. There is freedom of conscience in this matter, and gospel unity can and must prevail. In other words, if we disagree with each other regarding educational choices, we do so with Christ-like love and respect that enables us to keep proclaiming the gospel together for the glory of God and the salvation of our neighbors near and far. Educational choices do not rise to the level of Doctrines such as the Trinity, the Inerrancy of Scripture, the Person of Jesus as God-man, Salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, the Depravity of Man, and so on. 

That said, the education of the next generation of believers in Jesus Christ is important. It is so important that as a pastor, I am compelled by love for Jesus, for His Church, for families, and for our Nation, to gently but firmly ask every parent of a school-aged child to make an honest assessment. The assessment might need to answer several key questions:

• Who is really raising my child? If my child spends 40-50+ hours a week with someone other than me, who is really raising my child? 
• Are there ways to involve my child in extra-curricular activities, such as sports, without having to submit my child to public school classroom instruction? 
• Are there doctrinally sound alternatives to public schools in my area? Homeschool cooperatives? Private schools? Cottage schools? If not, should I approach my pastor about the possibility of our church’s involvement in such an undertaking?
• If I homeschool, can I partner with other families in my church to make sure my children are learning key subjects as proficiently as possible? For example, if I am weak in math, can I find a brother or sister in Christ who excels at math and will help teach my child? 
• How are my educational choices affecting my family’s ability to serve in and through our Church? Do we have time to visit widows, orphans and the sick? To clean the church building every now and then? To employ our spiritual gifts to edify the body? To build accountable relationships that are Word-driven? To practice hospitality to guests and neighbors? To meet practical needs of those around us? To evangelize intentionally?
• Is my child spiritually mature enough to actually withstand the onslaught against the biblical worldview within the public schools? Is my child spiritually equipped to actually be a missionary or evangelist in the school system? Am I seeing any evangelistic fruit from my child’s gospel witness to friends and peers and teammates? 
• If I do not have personal access to my child for most of every day of the week, how can I rebuke and correct sins? How can I counsel my child in the ways of the Lord, and in a way that meets his or her ongoing spiritual or emotional struggles in the real world? 
• Do I have a discipleship plan for my child? If not, should I ask a pastor to help me develop one? Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.
• If I must use public schools, am I willing to carve out extra time each week to disciple my children and to expose them to godly mentors in the local church?  

These questions strike at the heart of the matter. While politically I maintain that the US Constitution gives the authority for public education only to the States, and not to the Federal Government, the more important matter is the spiritual authority in the lives of our children. All education is spiritual. All education is discipleship. Who we entrust our children to in this life-forming endeavor is a matter to approach with the most reverent prayer and submission the Word of God. 

If anyone doubts the intrusion of Critical Theory into the worldview of the average Southern Baptist Christian, or church, not to mention the Convention at upper echelons as expressed in the annual resolutions proposed and passed at conventions, one need only: a) Observe how many SBC leaders are now linking the pro-life cause with socialism / Marxism / redistribution of wealth / government nanny-state; b) Review the many resolutions expressing some kind of public apology for sins of the past.

This post focuses on the latter.  

For the last twenty years or so, this has been especially focused on the Southern Baptist Convention’s supposedly racist roots, and participation in slavery. One can barely keep up with all the various resolutions apologizing for any and all forms of perceived or real racism, support of slavery in any form, and so on. It’s dizzying. B&H even published a book by Jarvis Williams (professor at SBTS well-known for pro-CRT rants) and Kevin Jones. The title says it all: Removing the Stain of Racism from the Southern Baptist Convention. The book was published in June 2017. And the title assumes by use of the word “stain” that either racism still exists (perhaps even systemically) or at bare minimum is still perceived and present in such a way that it affects the Convention as a whole in various ways. This is, to be blunt, classic Critical Theory rooted in Marxism.  

While there is no doubt that the SBC came into existence due to the Civil War (it did, after all, split the nation into two), and while there is no doubt some SBC leaders and church members were racist and some had slaves, this in no way means the entire Convention of churches was (or is) systemically racist and supportive of chattel slavery! Even in the 1860s, the vast majority of members of SBC churches did not own slaves. They couldn’t afford them or did not own plantations. The average SBC church member has always been blue-collar, quite `rank`ly. And, I dare say that mistreatment, including chattel slavery, of other people was never, and is not now, something the majority of SBC church members endorse. 

Again, this is not to say that prominent Christians of all denominations in America, did not endorse or support the institution of chattel (man-stealing) slavery. While I was in seminary, I actually did a research paper on the biblical arguments used by Christian pro-slavery authors and leaders. I found their arguments wanting, and often just outright repugnant. While voluntary economic servitude (sometimes called indentured servanthood) has always existed, and still exists all around the world, and did characterize the world of the Bible, the man-stealing type of chattel slavery is condemned by the Law as a capital crime. (Ex 21:16; Deut 24:7). But the fact that the actual kidnapping and man-stealing was so often done by fellow Africans, who conquered then sold other tribes of Africans to Europeans, is seemingly all but lost on SBC elites of today. Indeed, as I have detailed in past posts, many of my people (Irish) were captured and sold to Barbary (Northern African) pirates, who then took them to America and sold them into chattel slavery. (Yes, there were white slaves in the American colonies). 

History is replete with innumerable examples of people mistreating other people. Adam’s race is fallen! Every tribe, tongue and nation is fallen in Adam. Sin is endemic. Rampant. Run amuck. Woven into every strand of the human DNA. If we have to publicly apologize for every sin or wrong ever done by those in the past, whether they are our direct ancestors or not, we will never do anything other than apologize. Perpetual sorrow for those deemed oppressors (namely, CIS gendered, white Protestants) with no hope of forgiveness is a hallmark of Critical Theory. Nothing about this is remotely biblical or Christian! Of course we are sorry for past sins of all people, but must we insist upon specifically trying to name each and every sin ever committed? How is this conducive to Christian unity? Or gospel cooperation? We seem to be so busy in the SBC trying to apologize for our past that we are neglecting to evangelize the truly oppressed (by sinful depravity) in the present.    

This worldview of Critical Theory reared its ugly head yet again in the 2022 Resolution on On Religious Liberty, Forced Conversion, and the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report (https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/resolutions/on-religious-liberty-forced-conversion-and-the-federal-indian-boarding-school-initiative-investigative-report/). This resolution seemed to me to be completely unnecessary. Is there a single Southern Baptist today who delights in the mistreatment of Native Americans, either past or present? I mean, maybe there is a closet Indian-hater out there somewhere, just like there might be a closet African-hater, or male-hater, or female-hater, and so on. But I haven’t met him or her yet! If we white Americans are truly remorseful for the past mistreatment and displacement of the Native Americans, shouldn’t we just give them their land back? Reparations? This kind of virtue signaling in the SBC Resolutions mirrors our culture, which is growing ever-more Marxist. It is starting to truly drive some of us away from this Convention. If “love keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Cor 13:5), then some of us in the SBC are not feeling very loved anymore. 

If we Southern Baptists truly insist that we must continue to be publicly sorrowful for any and all past sins committed against various peoples, then may I suggest a few future Resolutions be aimed at:

• Apologies by those who voted for President Biden and other Democratic candidates for the violence against pro-life pregnancy centers now being endorsed by this party.
• Apologies for black people for the pandemic of black-on-black crime. 
• Apologies by Native Americans for their ancestors’ inter-tribal warfare, which was often brutal, long before white people stood on the shores of the New World.
• Apologies by the Native Americans for the often unprovoked raping, pillaging, burning and looting of white settlements in the 17th and 18th centuries of American history. 
• Apologies by Italian business owners who posted signs “Irish need not apply.”
• Apologies by Irish business owners who posted signs “Italians need not apply.” 

Well, by now you surely get the point. Where does this all end? This insanity needs to stop. If we in the SBC want to show genuine repentance and gospel cooperation, may I suggest we do two things:

1. Start pouring massive amounts of time and energy into freeing actual slaves all around the world right here and now, including sex slaves (often employed by the porn industry that millions of our church members imbibe on a weekly basis). 
2. Adopt the Dallas Statement on Social Justice, so we can get back to applying a biblical worldview to these matters, and stamp out godless Marxist ideology from our beloved Convention (https://statementonsocialjustice.com/).   

I won’t hold my breath waiting on these Resolutions to be written or approved by the SBC. I am deeply saddened to see what is happening to this Convention of churches. For anyone who thinks these things are not significant, I simply ask this: Which gospel are we cooperating together to send to the world? The gospel of CRT? Or the gospel of Jesus Christ? 

“For even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel to you contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him” (Gal 1:8).

In the previous post, I warned of the feminist view of the office and role of pastor that has infested the Southern Baptist Convention. As the Chairwoman of the Credentials Committee mentioned, some in the SBC think the “gifting” of pastor can be distinguished from the “office” of pastor, thus paving the way for ordination of women into the pastorate, or the allowance of women serving in some kind of pastoral functions or roles. This kind of obfuscation of the meaning of words is classic liberal, ignore-the-plain-meaning of the Bible strategy. 

The New Testament never bifurcates or makes any distinction at all between the office of pastor and the role of pastor and the gift of pastor. Everywhere the words pastor, elder, overseer, and shepherd are used, it is always assumed that the man filling the office of pastor is performing the function of pastor and fulfilling the role of pastor according to God’s gifting of him as a pastor. There is no such thing as a pastor in the New Testament who is gifted by God as a pastor and yet somehow cannot ever be biblically qualified to fill the office or serve in the role because of sex/gender. To say God gifts women to be pastors, while also clearly forbidding a woman to teach a man (1 Tim 2:11-15), is to accuse God of double-speak. God is not confused. We are! 

The pastor must be “the husband of one wife” (1 Tim 3:2). No formal qualifications for a female pastor, or even a pastor’s wife, are listed anywhere in the New Testament. When the Apostle Paul corrects the Corinthian Church’s abuse of spiritual gifts, he insists “the women should keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church” (1 Cor 14:34-35). 

In context, Paul is addressing authoritative speaking in the church assembly (prophecy and tongues, which was simply prophecy in a language unknown to the speaker). He doesn’t mean women literally cannot say “hello” to others in the church gathering. Paul assumes women pray in the church (1 Cor 11:1-13), and elsewhere he commands all believers to sing to one another (Col 3:16). So, in context the meaning is clear – in New Testament churches, women are not permitted to speak in authoritative ways in a mixed church assembly. So, then, how does one pastor a church without teaching and speaking in with God-invested authority? It’s impossible, of course! 

The real issue is not whether God’s Word is clear. It’s whether we are embarrassed by what God says. It’s whether we will simply submit to what God says. It’s whether we trust the Lord knows better than we do who should be a pastor, and what husbands should do and wives should do. What a man is and a woman is. What a man is created and called to do and what a woman is created and called to do. Because our culture and churches have been so saturated in feminism for so long, we’re sorely tempted to bend God’s Word to our own ways of thinking. It will make us more “winsome” if we put women with the gift of gab in the pulpit to preach. It will sound better if we say women are better leaders because of their natural compassion and propensity to listen. It will be equitable. Fair. I mean, we don’t want to go back to the Stone Age do we?   

Some seem embarrassed by male headship. I know even conservative Bible teachers who try to make a case that male headship is a result of the fall, and was not a part of God’s original creation design. Well, someone forgot to tell the Apostle Paul that! He makes his argument for male headship in the church via the office of pastor from the creation of Adam and Eve. And in 1 Corinthians 11:3 and Ephesians 5:22-33 he makes the case for male headship, and a woman’s submission to it, by pointing to the relationship of Jesus to His Father, as well as that of Jesus to His Church. 

You see, it’s not a matter of value or dignity or worth. Genesis 1:26-27 settled that long ago. God the Father and God the Son are equal in value, one in essence. But, the Son willingly, joyfully submits to the Father (John 5:19-30; Phil 2:5-11). And the Spirit is sent by them both and submits to them both in the exaltation of the Son (John 16). Men and women are created to image God. Created to mirror God in His Trinitarian Nature. Hierarchy and submission, headship and followership, are good; for they are part of God’s own nature (1 Cor 15:27-28). It is blatant, stubborn sinfulness that insists on subverting and over-turning God’s own nature and God’s own design for humanity, and it is especially heinous for professing Christians to do so in their homes and churches. 

Does sin warp male headship? Yes. Sin warps everything. But I find no evidence that God gave up on male headship after the Fall. Indeed, Paul appeals to the Law in 1 Corinthians 15, as he says women must keep silent in the churches. Apparently, Paul also thinks the Law models God’s good intent here in this matter, and still guides us in the Church in this matter. Male headship was the warp and woof of the structure God established for Israel under the Law (Old Covenant).

God chose Abraham to be the father of His covenantal people. God chose the twelve sons of Jacob as heads of the tribes of Israel. God chose kings, all men (and the one queen was a usurper that brought about swift judgment from God; see 2 Kgs 11). God called out Prophets who were nearly all men, and again, the few exceptions seem to indicate severe judgment upon the people (much like Deborah the Judge). Nations who send women to fight wars in the Old Testament are mocked. Men are heads in the homes (Num 30) and in the assembly (Deut 1:13) and in the Nation (Deut 17:14-15). This is most definitely what we conservative evangelicals today would call “Thick or Broad Complementarianism.” This view holds that God designed men to lead, in every facet of life. It should really be called Godly Patriarchy. This principle of male headship is why it is unwise for Southern Baptists to appoint women to chair committees that are exercising oversight of pastors and who are then put into the awkward position of having to be publicly rebuked by Dr. Albert Mohler. Subverting God’s design for male headship is not loving to women. Caving to the world’s demands never ends up actually honoring women as the Lord desires.    

Is that system or design of Male Headship or Christian Patriarchy subverted or replaced in the New Covenant? Hardly! If anything, it is redeemed in Christ and commended even further among the saints. Jesus chose Twelve Apostles, all men. And it wasn’t because He was constrained by His “misogynistic culture,” because Jesus frequently highlighted women and commended women and blessed women in ways that were radically counter-cultural. And through the Apostles, and the men through whom He breathed out the Scriptures, Jesus commands His people to order their homes under male headship, as well as their churches. 

It does not seem a stretch to me to think that given the obvious Divine design for male leadership in the entirety of the Bible, we ought to pursue such a design in the three primary spheres or realms of society: home, church, government. What does it say about our Nation that the most courageous political leaders are now seemingly all women? And this is true on both sides of the aisle! While I respect courageous, conservative, Bible-loving female politicians, I also lament the pitiful condition of manhood in America that may seem to necessitate these ladies standing in the gap.  

O God give us men who delight in being men. God give us women who delight in being women. God renew a Christ-like Patriarchy, marked by selfless love and protective grace, among us as Your people. Help us stand against this demonic tide of feminism invading our homes and churches and nation, that we might once again radiate Your image and Your light to a dark, dying, demonic world. 

It is not misogynistic to say only men may be pastors, anymore than it is so to say that only men may be husbands and dads.  It is biblical. It is godly. It is Christ-honoring and glorifying.

We Bible-loving believers who submit to the plain teaching of God are not the crazy ones. We are the ones holding to God’s design in creation, and celebrating His re-creation of us in Christ our Lord. 

Preach on, brothers. Lead on brothers. With Biblical courage and sacrificial love. With strong protection of women and consistent provision for women (1 Peter 3:7). Model Christ. He’s worth it. 

Follow on, sisters. With quiet submissive spirits that are precious in the eyes of your Lord (1 Peter 3:1-6). Work on in your homes, sweet sisters. With joy that encourages and enlivens the next generation of strong Christian women (Titus 2:3-4). Model Christ. He’s worth it. 

For more on this topic:  https://g3min.org/will-feminists-win-the-pulpit/?mc_cid=4d9110983d&mc_eid=8385e936b7 

During Her Confirmation Hearing, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Infamously (Or Famously, Depending Upon Your Political And Ethical Persuasions) Could Not Nor Would Not Answer The Question, “What is a woman?” Instead, she quipped, “I’m not a biologist.” 

Well, the Credentials Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention recently answered the question, “What is a Pastor?” by essentially saying, “We’re not theologians.” 

Before I proceed, let me lay some backdrop. For several years now, pastors, scholars and church members within the SBC have been debating the role of women in the Church. More specifically, they’ve been debating whether or not a woman can serve as a Pastor. This controversy was stirred to the boiling point a few years back when the world-famous Beth Moore began bragging publicly about preaching from SBC pulpits on Mother’s Day. Many other women were emboldened to “come out” and also brag about their own preaching in SBC churches. This revelation shocked many in more conservative SBC circles, whose naivety was obliterated swiftly. Add the election last year of SBC President Ed Litton, who was known to sometimes “co-preach” with his wife, and we should have all known we have a problem in the SBC. Courageous pastors like Tom Ascol, Tom Buck, Voddie Baucham, Jeff Noblitt and David Miller had been telling us Southern Baptists for at least a decade or more that this liberal, feminist agenda had indeed slithered under our SBC tent. And a growing number of SBC churches had been snake bitten! 

So, when world-famous Saddleback Church led by Pastor Rick Warren publicly ordained several women as pastors last year, it was considered a “bel weather” matter by those of us in the SBC who believe, as Christians have for nearly two millennia, that the Scripture is crystal clear on the office of pastor being reserved for only men. We also believe that the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 (BFM2000) is clear in its affirmation of this biblical principle. A motion was made at the 2021 Nashville Convention that Saddleback be investigated for potential disfellowship for being clearly out of line with the BFM2000. Such a motion is referred, then, to the Credentials Committee, which is tasked with looking into these matters and then making a recommendation to the messengers the following year. Messengers arrived in Anaheim a few weeks ago eagerly anticipating the Committee’s recommendation.

Imagine their shock when they heard the Credentials Committee Chairwoman (that in itself is indicative of a lack of biblical wisdom on the part of the SBC, but I will save that for a future post), recommend that yet another task force or committee be appointed to determine what the BFM means by the word “pastor.” She did this after doting on how gracious and kind Pastor Rick Warren was in his dealings with the committee, then trying to explain that some in the SBC think the gifts of pastor and the office of pastor are different, and others think that so long as the lead pastor is a man, other pastor roles may be filled by women. In other words, Rick Warren got to the committee! His graciousness and kindness won them over and softened them up so that whatever biblical convictions and courage they had melted away. But the issue at hand was simple – is Saddleback in conformance with the BFM’s statement on the office of pastor being reserved for only men or not? Did the Committee consult with any of the scholars who actually wrote the BFM2000 that was overwhelmingly adopted by the messengers that year? 

Well, apparently not! Because Dr. Albert Mohler, who did help write the BFM2000, had to hustle to a microphone to make a strong rebuke of the Credentials Committee’s cowardice. Dr. Mohler rightly pointed out that everyone who crafted the BFM was clear on what they meant by the word “pastor” and so were the messengers who endorsed the statement of faith. He then lamented that if the SBC has to appoint a committee to ascertain what every word of the BFM means, we are going down a dark road to nowhere. I wholeheartedly agree with Dr. Mohler, and would only add that if we do go down such a road, it’s very clear what’s next . . . 

And what does the BFM mean by the word “man” and “men” and “woman” and “women?”

Doctrinal compromise in the God-assigned roles of men and women in the home, church, and society, lies at the heart of every denomination that ever turned left into the limping lane of liberalism. And the limping lane of liberalism leads only to a loss of the biblical gospel, a lack of genuine New Testament churches, theological obscurity, and pragmatic pomposity. Don’t take my word for it.

Ask the UCC, the UMC, the PC-USA, or the Episcopalian denominations. They’ve already traveled this road, and are now ordaining anyone, regardless of sex, gender-identity, and lifestyle into the pastorate. Their so-called “churches” have become nothing more than pawns of the Democratic Party agenda rife with Marxism and social programs that demand forced redistribution of wealth and forced equality of outcomes. The gospel of a bloody Savior nailed to a tree for the very wickedness they now endorse and ordain long ago left their buildings. 

So, if the SBC gets this issue wrong, Ichabod. 

And, at least two prominent leaders in the SBC got to a microphone in Anaheim to seemingly speak for the side of Rick Warren and Saddleback Church. Dr. Adam Greenway, President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and once Dean at Southern Seminary under Dr. Mohler, offered an amendment which more or less seemed to endorse the idea put forward by the Credentials Committee. And Dr. Todd Benkert, PhD from Southern Seminary, argued for not disfellowshipping churches over this issue. After all, he claimed, many SBC churches do not agree to the BFM’s position on the Lord’s Supper. (For the record, I think his claim here is quite dubious.) Either way, it’s smoke and mirrors. It does appear obvious that key leaders in the SBC want us to not debate this issue, and certainly do not want us to hold SBC churches accountable in this matter. To which I respond, “Then why bother having a Statement of Faith?” Why have the BFM if it doesn’t at all define the acceptable parameters of our gospel cooperation? We might as well start planting churches with the Methodists, then. This desire for a “big tent SBC” (one of Dr. Greenway’s favorite expressions) is leading us into the doctrinal no-man’s land of sloppy pragmatism and lack of any genuine biblical accountability.

If this long, black, left-leaning train is not stopped soon, count me out. 

Pastor Tom Ascol stepped to a microphone and reminded Southern Baptists that not only is the BFM clear in this matter, but far more importantly, “We have a Book.” And that book is clear. Indeed.

“Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing – if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control” (1 Tim 2:11-15).

These words are clear, if words have any meaning at all. The Apostle Paul’s argument, please note, is not rooted in the culture of his day and time (which liberals try to assert). Rather, he roots this principle in creation (Genesis 1-3). In other words, this principle of male headship is foundational to human society. And this principle is maintained throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. 

Tune in to next week’s post, and we’ll take a longer look at the Doctrine of Headship, particularly as it pertains to the office, the task, the gifting and the role of Pastor.