REVOICE RESPONSE: ALBERT MOHLER AND THE MISSING LINK

By Rev Thomas Littleton

6/22/2018

The highly controversial Revoice conference is about a month away. We broke the story over six weeks ago, exposing Revoice and its stated goal of “Promoting LGBT+ Flourishing in historic Christian tradition.” Today the machinery of The Gospel Coalition and the Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission is in full swing attempting to “cover” the story in a way any trained media savvy believer would find disturbing. What IS NOW being said by TGC and ERLC is coordinated and calculated. What is NOT being said is intentional and dishonest.

First, little, if anything, was said in the weeks after our initial exposure of the conference on May 10. The first major outlet promoting Revoice was Living Out, the ministry of TGC editor and ERLC writer and speaker, Sam Allberry. His ministry is a collective of Same Sex Attracted gay priests from the UK / Church of England. Sam Allberry’s endorsement of Revoice was a massive red flag that signaled a broadening of the message of “SSA/ Gay Christianity” to the radical “LGBT+, Sexual Minority, Queer Christian” language of Revoice.

You can get full details of the disturbing connections in the original articles below:

Revoice Concerns

Revoice DNA

How Revoice concerns include the new SBC President, J D Greear

Efforts to ignore the Revoice story have failed, despite a media circus of the ERLC/TGC-driven takedown of Conservative Resurgence hero, Paige Patterson. Outlets within network began to “report” on the Conference. The article below provides links to all such responses from within TGC/ERLC network. What none of these responders do, including Albert Mohler, is ADMIT that the reason REVOICE was and remains controversial is that it is in CLOSE PROXIMITY to the heart of their own camp!  Do not miss that fact, of which they are attempting feverishly to keep you ignorant in the “comprehensive article” published by Colin Smothers.

PROBLEMATIC RESPONSES TO REVOICE

Denny Burk works at Boyce College and is a ERLC/TGC speaker on issues related to sexuality and LGBT as head of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Collin Smothers, who compiles the articles and provides the critique above, also works for CBMW. Both are disciples of Dr. Albert Mohler of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Burk’s article was among the first responses posted on May 30^th –almost 3 weeks after the story broke. It recommends a “wait and see” attitude regarding the Revoice Conference despite its radical language of “Queer Christianity” and “LGBT+ Christian.” In the Burk piece, he has the screen shot of a workshop titled “Redeeming Queer Culture an Adventure” which he inserted 24 hours BEFORE it appeared on the official Revoice website.  During a Twitter exchange, Burk was asked about the timing – how he had the new workshop screen shot in advance – after which he blocked the author of the question. In the days following, in Twitter streams among Revoice leaders and Burk, Denny messaged to one of the Revoice leaders that they should talk but not in the open Twitter stream. However, this issue should not have back room communications given its goal of changing the conversation (and teaching) of the Church and all conservative denominations impacted by it. Denny Burk echoes what Dr. Mohler has said on the topic of homosexuality in years past, as if sexual orientation, is the topic of Revoice. However, the language of Revoice – LGBT+ (sexual minorities) Christians / Queer Christianity – is radical, unheard of in the Church and represents uncharted waters for the Church.

Burk then turns attention toward speakers from past ERLC/TGC blogs and conferences, such as Rosaria Butterfield and Sam Allberry, but PASSES OVER the fact that Allberry was PROMOTING Revoice in early May.  Burk also points to Kevin DeYoung (who we will consider next) and references the work of CBMW in the Nashville Statement, which fails to denounce Gay Christianity and does not defend ministries that help people wanting out of the LGBT lifestyle. The Nashville Statement does, however, provide a safe MARKER for those who signed it as a “bold stand for Biblical MARRIAGE, sexuality and gender” when needed.

LOOK TO THE SOURCE – MARK YARHOUSE, THE MISSING LINK

Denny Burk NEVER mentions the ideological source of the Sexuality and Gender rhetoric and terminology for TGC and ERLC, which is Dr. Mark Yarhouse and his Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity. He does not mention that, way back in 2010, Dr. Yarhouse was commissioned by D.A. Carson to write a White Paper on the Sexual Identity for TGC and their Christ on Campus Initiative. Nor does Burk ever mention that virtually all of TGC /ERLC/ SBTS camp subscribe to Yarhouse’s promotion of Sexual Orientation which then led to establishing the concept of Sexual Identity. Given Yarhouse’s collaboration with the American Psychological Association and working with both Christian and Gay Psychologists, he then asserted the best path forward is merging a person’s “Sexual Identity” with their “Faith Identity” to establish a “Gay Christian Identity” along with its assorted self-identifiers like “Sexual Minorites,” “Same Sex-Attracted” and now “LGBT+” and “Queer Christianity.” Sam Allberry and Living Out are also subscribers to the Yarhouse-crafted Sexuality and Gender standards for The Gospel Coalition, and BOTH organizations promote Revoice.

Kevin DeYoung is a favorite of The Gospel Coalition and a recent convert from the Reformed Church in America to the Presbyterian Church of America. Since joining the PCA, he has become a go to representative of TGC.  One June 1, just days after the Burk article, DeYoung published his Revoice piece.  DeYoung focused much of his article on the issue of terms and labels and chose to do a five-point highlight of the term “Sexual Minorities.” He does a 360° around it as being the most problematic for Revoice. Two issues are glaring here.  DeYoung ignores ugly terms like “Queer Christian” and “LGBT+ Christian” and chooses to highlight “Sexual Minority.” WHY?  He, in fact, has actually used the FAVORITE term of Dr. Yarhouse in the White Paper.  How is it possible that DeYoung, being fully in step with and a member of TGC leadership, chose to focus on the less alarming terms and then failed to point out that the term he DOES find problematic is from The Gospel Coalition’s own 2010 standard?

GETTING COZY WITH THE CORE OF REVOICE MESSENGERS

Michael Lee Anderson was part of the Revoice Pre-Conference hosted by Spiritual Friendship and he is a contributor and partner with Mere Orthodoxy, so its article linked by CBMW and Collin Smothers IRONICALLY brings THOSE RESPONDING even closer INSIDE the network of Revoice. Does this networking provide “objective critique” of Revoice?  Mere Orthodoxy leadership is also very close to TGC editor and ERLC head messenger, Joe Carter, and provided a parody article of The Evangelical Deep State thereby giving cover to the Catholic Priest SJW, Father Robert Sirico, boss of Carter at Acton Institute. Acton’s man, Anthony Bradley, has been a vocal defender of Revoice. Linking to a Mere Orthodoxy article does not in the least help the effort of CBMW or Smothers to appear credible.

Richard Phillips’ article links to DeYoung’s problematic article, so the circular motion may by now be causing vertigo.

Tim Challies, who is a member of The Gospel Coalition, is promoting DeYoung and Burk’s articles on Revoice. This is all now clearly in-network, circular in-house, looking like DAMAGE CONTROL rather than honest assessment of Revoice.

On May 31, Owen Strachan of the Center for Public Theology at Midwestern Seminary provided perhaps the beefiest response to Revoice at that time from an inhouse source. Albert Mohler tweeted it out with the short offering of “Interesting Article.”

On June 11, the author of this article obtained an interview with Dr. Albert Mohler at the SBC annual meetings in Dallas Texas. You can listen to it here. The interview is at @minute 9 in this expanded discussion with Brannon Howse on the response of Dr. Mohler to Revoice.

NATE COLLINS OF DR. MOHLERS SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IS THE FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF REVOICE  AND A SPEAKER.

Many eyes and ears have been focused on Dr. Albert Mohler of SBTS expecting a response to Revoice for the primary reason that a long-time student, New Testament and online Instructor / Garrett Fellow, grading papers and counseling students, is both the FOUNDER and PRESIDENT of Revoice and a Keynote speaker. Nate Collins is his name.

Nate who was, according to his bio, at SBTS for over 14 years also spent time traveling to the Evangelical Theological Society to present his many academic papers on the topics which feed into and have developed Revoice. Collins also cites Mark Yarhouse in his academic works and his book “All but Invisible.”

YET IN NONE OF HIS INTERVIEWS AND ARTICLES HAS DR. MOHLER EVER SPOKEN TO THE FACT THAT NATHAN COLLINS IS AN SBTS GRADUATE AND SCHOLAR!

Not even once!  Neither Dr. Mohler nor any of the articles linked above or the Smothers article go anywhere near this disturbing fact. Collins is also the son of Boyce College, former associate Dean Chip Collins. As a father and son team they worked together in a ministry called Aligned Grace for parents of “SSA/ Gay/ Homosexual but Christian” celibates. It is not possible that Collins, with this background at SBTS (14 years on campus) plus being the son of faculty in a high-profile ministry to parents of gays, is unknown to Dr. Mohler as a self-identified homosexual. Why did not even one of the other writers cited above mention this fact?  Why did they not make mention of Dr. Mark Yarhouse’s influence on TGC/ ERLC and Revoice?  Can it be that the REAL controversy is the close ties which the Revoice Conference has to SBTS, Mohler, ERLC, Moore TGC, PCA, Covenant Seminary, Tim Keller, and D.A. Carson?  The more this herd of writers ignore the obvious, the more obvious it becomes!

ERLC put out an article by Andrew Walker on June 22.  It is an emotional little piece about the confusion of and concern for teens over LGBT issues and speaks somewhat to problems with the terminology of Revoice but never mentions ERLC’s connections with an ERLC Fellow, Karen Swallow Prior, endorsing it and an ERLC contractor, Branden Polk, speaking at it.  No mention of ERLC involvement is a vintage case of EXTREME SELF DELUSION.  Neither Nate Collins nor Yarhouse are mentioned nor is Revoice mentor and ERLC contributor, Scott Sauls, whose involvement also brings with it the influence of Tim Keller of TGC and Sauls was also a speaker at Sam Allberry’s June 21 Living Out Conference while Allberry promotes Revoice.

THE SILENCED VOICE AT DALLAS SBC 2018: REFUSAL TO ENDORSE HETEROSEXUALITY AS NORMAL

All of these discussions of Revoice appear to be missing the reality that the issues of LGBT in the church could have been addressed in a truly Biblical framework at the 2018 Dallas SBC Convention. A resolution about how the church ministers to the LGBT community and aids those who want an exit strategy through the Gospel and the Church was ignored and along with it the hopes for restoration to a real Biblical sexuality i.e. heterosexuality and male /female gender norms. Therefore, “once LGBT always LGBT” is the SBC stance.  The resolution never made it to the floor in Dallas and hopes of preventing the loss of religious freedoms and preserving a truly Biblical pastoral approach for ministry to those wanting out of LGBT remains very much at risk.

1. MOHLER, SAY WHAT YOU MEAN – CONDEMN OR CONDONE LGBT+ “CHRISTIANITY”

So, late in the game – six weeks later – on June 23, Dr. Albert Mohler finally penned a piece on Revoice for his Briefing radio broadcast, for the first time since the disturbing facts surfaced on May 10.  See section 3 “Such Were Some of You.”  In the broadcast, Mohler never goes any where near the source of the Revoice language and the author of TGC/ERLC gold standard on sexuality – Dr. Mark Yarhouse. Nor do ANY of these writers /researches/ apologist/ preachers in Mohler’s circles. We should all find the avoidance of Yarhouse disturbing, especially by Dr. Mohler after this writer asked him about Yarhouse and Mohler admitted to knowledge of him. Mohler then expressed concern that Yarhouse’s assertion, “for some who experience Gender Dysphoria, gender re-assignment is a viable option,” is problematic. Mohler asserted, “that could NEVER be seen as a Christian Worldview” in the interview. Then why follow ANY of the Yarhouse APA-based sexuality and gender standards?  If he has it wrong on Gender Reassignment why not stick with the Word of God as the Gold Standard on sexuality and gender, marriage and conversion?

Again, Mohler was also asked by this writer about Revoice Founder Nate Collins extended stay and work at SBTS and his ties to the ERLC. There was no comment then and Mohler never mentions them in this June 22 broadcast. AGAIN, these issues are part of the controversial nature of Revoice and the VERY REASON they are now collectively talking/ writing about it. YET they never mention ANY of it. NEVER. WHY?

WHAT IS SAID IS EVEN LESS COMFORTING

In the June 22 Briefing: “Such Were Some of You Language Matters and Always Matters,” by Dr. Mohler, he does make some interesting observations that fall far short of providing clarity.

• Mohler admits that the “Revoice” name indicates that its organizers want to “change the voice” of Evangelicalism on matters of LGBT.
• Mohler points out that so much conversation has taken place about a conference that has not yet been held, but never points out the source of the controversy, which is the SBTS/ ERLC/ and PCA/ Covenant ties to it.
• Mohler says it is important to take the organizers at their word and he quotes the revamped longer and extended version of their mission, however, does not, nor do any of the writers above, bring out the original mission statement prior to the controversy which is: “Revoice is Promoting LGBT+ Flourishing in historic Christian tradition.” This earlier vision statement came with the broader explanation that the Church needed to welcome the LGBT+ community and had a great deal to learn from it. This error on Dr. Mohler’s part may come from being 6 weeks late into the conversation. Like Denny Burk, Mohler may be operating off the altered version of Revoice. Given they are changing the language, must we really take them at their word? Which one? The earlier version or the post controversy revamp?
• Mohler attempts to say that the organizers adhere to a “Historic Christian Sexual Ethic” by professing “Celibacy” or a “Mixed Orientation Marriage” but this supposed “ethic “is from the Yarhouse camp of thought, NOT a Biblical one.
• Mohler’s response approximates THE word for word defense which Nate Collins gave this writer when asked about his conclusions on Biblical Gender, based on the focus of his research papers. Collin’s answer was not directed at all to the question and he refused to talk further during efforts to reach out to him for answers.  Dr. Mohler says, as did Collins, that “the Bible restricts sexual activity to marriage between a man and a woman.”  Mohler also echoes the assertion of Revoice organizers that the Bible honors those with an extended commitment to Celibacy and that these two constitute a Biblical Sexual ethic. AGAIN, this comes from Dr. Yarhouse and similar psychologists who also work with the APA and gay psychologists. The Bible does not propose Celibacy as an answer to homosexual desires. The Biblical framework of celibacy is to provide undistracted attention to the kingdom of God by those who value their calling above the right to marry, and choose rather to be wholly dedicated to minding the things of God’s kingdom. Jesus and Paul both confirm this context for celibacy. The Catholic Church has made celibacy and ordination to the priesthood to be a haven for homosexual desires. It is NOT SO in the Bible. It seldom ends well.

“Mixed Orientation Marriage” is the other solution asserted by Yarhouse as a Biblical option or ethic for those who identify as Homosexual and Christian, like some in Revoice. Historically, such marriages do not END WELL either. This concept is not of Biblical origin but is part of the framework provided by the APA compliant White Paper of TGC.  What is LOST here is the failure of everyone involved to embrace the normal nature of Heterosexual love and relationships, while they embrace an ever stranger narrative normalizing suppressed same sex lustfulness as both normal and admirable. Heterosexuality is under the bus and so is the Gospel’s ability to restore souls to GOD’S design. What is wrong with holding forth Biblical hope or total deliverance and transformation and restoration? Why trash the Gospel to embrace APA/Yarhouse?

• Mohler again asserted the faithfulness of the Revoice organizers to Biblical sexual ethic and asked, then why the controversy. He admits to the source of the controversy being the pervasive language yet ignored the fact that most of that language came from the Yarhouse/TGC White Paper and APA studies and that Mark Yarhouse endorses and promotes Revoice. Again, Mohler appears to be in avoidance mode.
• Mohler’s conclusion for those Christians who would think biblically about this language is that “we must think clearly and compassionately.” He does not say how much of the radical language that he confirmed as intended to “change the voice of evangelicalism” on LGBT issues must be accepted as redeemable or useful.
• On the topic of LGBT+, Gay Christian and the history of the use of terms like Sexual Minority, Mohler entered what one former homosexual minister called a “word salad” of confusing language of his own. He then bails out of the points and the confusion he has made by dropping back to the less offensive term of Sexual Minority (which carries with it the tone of Cultural Marxist victimhood and activist status but never mentions that fact). Mohler then defers back to Kevin DeYoung inhouse research that, again, avoids Yarhouse input.
• Mohler then admits that the inclusion of “Queer Theory” and “Queer Culture” have brought us into “a new conversation.” Mohler only offers a clarification of the questions these terms raise and the importance of how we engage them. He offers no clarity toward answers.

THIS IS WHERE IT GETS REALLY WEIRD

• Once Dr. Mohler quoted the reference to “the treasures Queer Theory and Culture will bring into the New Jerusalem” he then asserted that we “must look from the end of the Biblical story back to the story of creation and we have to understand that at least some of the speakers at the conference are arguing that in the garden, that is before the fall, there was some form of same sex sexual attraction, something that bears some kind of meaningful connection with what it now claimed to be LGBT identity.”

WHAT is He saying?  Why even go here?  What other Same-Sex person existed in the Garden for Adam or Eve to be attracted to? We teeter HERE on the ugly verge of “Queer Theology” which asserts that God Himself is some kind dual sexuality being. Why give voice to such heretical discussion in the name of giving clarity?  This just got so CREEPY, that those Christians who think Biblically, per Dr. Mohler, likely all want to leave the room. Does he then resolve this bizarre idea he just introduced?

Mohler quotes from Gregory Coles’ (worship leaders for Revoice) Book, “Single Gay Christian,” which is heartily endorsed by D.A. Carson, and then tosses in the statement “That is an astounding question.”

“One of the individuals involved in the conference and a book published just last year asked the question: ‘Is it too dangerous, too unorthodox, to believe that I am uniquely designed to reflect the glory of God? That my orientation, before the fall, was meant to be a gift in appreciating the beauty of my own sex as I celebrated the friendship of the opposite sex?’ That’s an astounding question.”

Is it really, Dr. Mohler?  Coles’ academic specialty is Minority Rhetoric and racial, feminist and gender theory. Either you just got played by Coles or you are using Coles’ quote to PLAY US!

• The lingering discussion points of “biblical theology, sanctification, holiness, and the Gospel” do little to relieve the intellectual corner in which Dr. Mohler appears to have painted himself. You cannot apologize for being wrong about sexual orientation for all Christians in 2014 and dump conversion (therapy) overboard and then try and speak about sanctification to the LGBTs. Real people are being harmed in this adventure and foray into confused thinking out loud. Who got us here if it was NOT the endless muddled conversations of TGC/ERLC?
• Mohler then appears lost in the maze of road blocks and dead-end trails from the Biblical and Gospel truth on Salvation, sanctification, redemption and transformation against the ever expanding and radical boundary pushing language of the sexual minority activists he appears to have played a part in training.

I am reminded of Jesus warnings to all of us about divided loyalties. Matthew 6:24: ″No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Dr. Mohler, Moore, Keller, Carson:

You cannot serve the Lord and the goals of those whose money you are taking.

You cannot serve the Gospel and the American Psychological Association sexual ethic.

You cannot serve the Word of God and Mark Yarhouse’s marriage of identities and faith.

You cannot serve our seminaries and the distorted cultural perversions of normal.

You cannot serve the Church and flood our landscape with half truths and compelling questions while giving no real answers.

Choose today who you will serve. And hey preacher, “LEAVE OUR KIDS ALONE.” THEY ARE NOT JUST ANOTHER BRICK IN YOUR WALLS!

Simply put, “This is the bed (of sexual conversation) these leaders, like Dr. Mohler, have made and NOW we must watch them wallow and stir restlessly IN IT” while attempting to bring clarity to it. It is painful and costly to watch, yet Christians just want Biblical CLARITY, which we are still not getting from these leaders. Yet there is plenty of discussion and, as Mohler and his disciples point OUT, Revoice has not even happened yet!

LIVING LIKE A REFUGEE IN THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCH: Why SBC Leaders Turned to Lying and Abuse Over Revoice in Dallas SBC 2018

By Rev Thomas Littleton                                                                                         6/17/2018

By now word has spread that a member of the press was kicked out of the SBC annual meetings in Dallas last week. I am that person and make no mistake about the cause. I came to the SBC convention to follow up and seek to interview the SBC leaders whose institutions have disturbing ties to the upcoming Revoice conference in St Louis. At the same time leaders in the Presbyterian Church of America were doing the same in their annual General Assembly in Atlanta. I went to Dallas at my own expense and out of deep concern that the last two remaining conservative denominations have clearly been infiltrated and are on the verge of accepting EXTREME and Radically pro-LGBT+ language into the heart of their congregations. No denomination has ever returned from this abyss and all who fall into it remain in steep decline. This compromise always leaves the Gospel and those who need it harmed. A new younger President was elected who subscribes to a primary source (a Regent University Psychologist Mark Yarhouse) of the radical language. J.D. Greear.  His campaign press coverage promised that the make-over of the SBC has only begun as change agents a plenty strutted through the halls of the Dallas SBC 2018 meetings.

I was struck while attending the Southern Baptist Convention 2018 by one exhibit which was offered in the Exposition hall. I spent a great deal of time there because in the vast Texas sized Dallas facility dead center of the Expo was the only place my cell signal was not (dead). The world of virtual reality is changing everything in the marketing game. I saw several booths with convention goers looking like puppies with bags stuck on their heads while living in the virtual world for moment in time. In a three-day long event a press guy or gal (I was working with World View Weekend / WVW radio to cover the SBC meetings) has to find humor and comic relief where they can.

Yet one virtual experience in the program at the convention was far too sad a reflection on our virtual Baptist, virtual missions experience to laugh off. This trek was to provide the virtual experience of a REFUGEE.  I have been in ministry for 40 years now – mostly in evangelism and missions both long term and short. I see first-hand the long-term benefit of taking believers’ missions trips and there is no substitute for placing your feet on the ground and getting face to face with the beloved of God who are in need. Medical missions have been a long-term commitment of our family. But to offer a third world or missions experience or in this case the politically charged and Soros funded “Refugee” issue driven in the SBC by “Rented Evangelicals” and World Relief, I fear, is not only manipulative but is sad window on the world of modern Christian state of unreality. This malady seems to have infected many of the Leadership of the SBC as well and especially in the current leadership of the ERLC and some neo Calvinist seminaries.

MY PERSONAL REFUGEE EXPERIENCE; WHY DOES ERLC NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW THE TRUTH?

The players involved -ERLC’s Russell Moore – ERLC Staffer Brent Leatherwood – Myself – and after the press statements below – the Executive Committee/ Roger Oldham, and an ERLC underling. History and context is provided below.

I would like to acknowledge Dr. Albert Mohler of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, that HE was the one and only key leader from the circles involved in Revoice who did grant an interview and comment on it. His answers can be heard at Worldviewradio.com. Russell Moore’s response, other than to deny knowledge of Revoice after at least two people discussed it with him, appears to be lost somewhere in the now empty halls of the Dallas Convention Center.

First, here is the ERLC version in a Christian Post article from June 14^th 2018 for which I was never contacted or interviewed. This article does not have the facts or even the timeline.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/pastor-says-he-was-thrown-out-of-sbc-meeting-for-questioning-erlc-ties-to-revoice-conference-224987/

WHAT IS FALSE IN IT?

*The SBC Executive Committee did not remove me from the SBC convention meetings as the ERLC’s younger press spokesperson claims. This claim is also amazingly echoed, though not confirming my name, by Roger Oldham of the SBC Executive Committee. I have history with Oldham when expressing concerns that then CEO,  Frank Page, of the Executive Committee had joined two radical gay activist organization leaders, Fred Davies of ARCUS Foundation (massive LGBTQ funder) and Harry Knox of the infamous Human Rights Campaign (the nation’s largest LGBTQ equality advocate), on the Obama Faith Based Partnership Board. The White House led group worked to “Find Common Ground for the Common Good” and obtain government grant funding in cooperative partnerships. After months of engaging these concerns, I was then passed down the line by Frank Page to Oldham who made no effort to encourage a course correction from the trajectory Page had helped place the SBC on with Obamas FBP program.

Dallas Issue :The SBC did not speak to me or ask me to “Move along.” I had spoken to Oldham in the presence of Radio journalist, Janet Mefferd, about an hour before and IRONICALLY thanked him for his work with the press and their excellent hospitality which I compared to “Sunday Afternoon after service in a Southern Baptist Church.” This REALLY happened! In Spite of my appreciation and even the opportunity at that point to correct me for any loitering I was allegedly doing in an allegedly restricted area, nothing was said. -I had used the same location where I had found scarce cell service all week yet Oldham said nothing of such an issue just an hour prior. He now claims in the CP article the same completely FALSE, baseless and dishonest version of events which came from Russell Moore’s ERLC in the article. Start asking yourself why and I will try and help you understand it.

NOTE-RUSSELL MOORE’S HISTORY OF FALSE CLAIMS

A 2008 article recounts problems with false accusations and claims of assault made by the current ERLC head Russell Moore when he was finishing his doctorate in 2000 and working for the Baptist Press as a reporter at Baptist events.  https://baptistnews.com/article/daniel-vestal-counters-bp-column-that-said-cbf-not-truly-christian/#.WyWh7qdKjIW

“In 2000, many general assembly attendees accused BP writer Russell Moore of inaccuracies and blatant fabrications in several stories — most notably a report where he claimed that a former missionary attending the meeting physically assaulted him. Moore is now a dean at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.” There are other such reports from this 2000 era work by Moore as a Baptist Press reporter.

TAKE NOTE

So ERLC’s Dr. Russell Moore has a long credibility problem and is known to make false claims about issues, like an assault on his person by an “unnamed Foreign Missionary”.

*Fact: the actual events at the SBC Dallas convention are verified by two conversations with the Dallas Police Department that two uniformed Dallas Police Officers (again I have their names and the multiple call history of the conversations with the Dallas PD and what was reported on the events to the Sgt. assigned to handle the call. I have his direct telephone number. FACT: Dallas Police were lied to and used by a false report from an SBC organization to remove me – NOT the Executive Committee. It is shameful and foolish for the ERLC and the Executive Committee to crawl out on a limb together and not only obligate themselves to maintain and defend their false story but to even imply the Dallas Police Department and its officers present are lying. The other side of reality is, once admitted, that someone in an SBC entity that, in this likelihood, the ERLC has lied to and misled their own security team members on a day when the Vice President of the United States had been in the building at the Dallas Convention Center. Criminal fines and jail time accompany making a false reporting to police.  It may be clear why the need was felt to so drastically alter their version of events and someone in fact really does deserve to be dismissed for misleading the Dallas PD. I do not know how after many years of service Roger Oldham would be so foolish as to expect Me to allow him to confirm the ERLC saying I am lying. This issue will not go away. Why? Because THE TRUTH matters.

FUTHERMORE

*I was NOT in a “restricted area”. I was in the Expo Hall near the Lifeway retail sales area.

*I was not loitering. The only place I had cell service on my old unit was in the center of the of the Expo building. I was there repeatedly all week long doing interviews and making news reports. That was my job for the week at the SBC meeting.

*The two officers of the Dallas PD told me that I had been “reported as having threatened someone,” Again this is in DIRECT contrast to Oldham and the ERLC/ Moore’s press statements in which they say I am making a FALSE claim. The Officers’ names and that of the Dallas PD officer assigned to the complaint was made by Worldview Weekend boss Brannon Howse and by myself within 30 minutes and then an hour after the events took place.

TIMELINE

The simple FACTS: What happened when I was REMOVED from the building on June 13^th 2018 by Two Uniformed Dallas Police Officers on the complaint they received that I threatened someone.

* The exhibitors had started taking down their booths, yet many people were still in and out some were even getting last minute purchases and info from exhibitors. No one that I saw was being restricted from entering the Expo area for any reason. I went in and out several times during this period.

*While on the phone to an editor of mine I saw ERLC employee Brent Leatherwood (seventh down this list of ERLC Staff https://erlc.com/about/staff ) standing in the ERLC booth and glaring at me.

SIDE NOTE about the PREVIOUS DAY : The day before (Tuesday June 12 ) this same staffer, Brent Leatherwood,  had bodily stepped between me and his boss Russell Moore, ERLC Executive Director,  and grabbed my arms saying repeatedly “we are fine, we are fine, we don’t need anything, ” By this time, Moore and I made eye contact and he spoke acknowledging my presence. I asked for comments on the “LGBT+ Christian” Revoice Conference and told him I had broken the story on it a month ago.  Moore said he “had heard about it but did not know much.”  When Moore did not wish to comment in the press about Revoice. I expressed my concern to him as a Southern Baptist and a minister, pointing out the Revoice/ERLC ties, with Karen Swallow Prior, his Research Fellow at ERLC being on the Revoice website promoting the conference and Revoice speaker Branden  Polk, whose Arrowhead Advising LLC is an ERLC consultant/ contractor. I also talked to Moore about the concerns I had over the use of terms like “Queer Christian” and “Queer Theory” and I mentioned the source from which I had heard about Revoice being ERLCs partner Sam Allberry / Living Out ministry which was  promoting Revoice in early May 2018. I spoke with Moore about the Human Rights Campaign activist who I knew from confronting their intentions in my own state which Moore had invited TO his 2014 ERLC conference . I mentioned the HRC staffers by name and what they had done in Alabama to further their pro LGBTQ cause.  Moore, now informed about the basis of the concerns assured me he “would look into Revoice. ” However,  when asked about Revoice the next day by an SBC Messenger, Moore denied knowing about Revoice.

*Back to Wednesday June 13^th in the Expo area – a public access area. About two minutes after seeing Brent Leatherwood glaring at me[,] -two uniformed Dallas Police Department officers, whose names I have, came into my view slightly to the right of the ERLC booth from which Leatherwood had been glaring at me .

Of NOTE

Leatherwood is the former Tennessee GOP employee, a die hard “Never Trumper, ” like his ERLC Boss. The conservative and Christian voters, leaders and journalists in Nashville and across Tennessee have written MANY articles about the work of Leatherwood in the TN Republican Party. Strong criticism including that he and his group of operatives were using Republican funds to defeat conservative candidates in TN primaries and other activities outlined in Breitbart considered treasonous by many in TN. It is not hard to find but those left with a favorable impression of his time there are much more difficult to locate. Here is just one example :  https://rockytoppolitics.com/2016/12/02/yeah-hire-someone-who-helped-bankrupted-the-party-and-tried-to-screw-trump-that-makes-sense/

The headline reads-

“Brent Leatherwood for State GOP Chairman? Seriously? “One quote says to Leatherwood in his article, “Is it just us, or would any normal, rational, thinking individual who has a fiduciary and political responsibility to spend the state GOP’s money wisely have a big freakin’ problem with the sleazy, disingenuous, inside dealing (nepotism) that you and your staff have engaged in and used our money to do it.”

The writer then concludes, “You will undoubtedly be looking for work if someone besides you gets elected to the chairmanship, but there is not a snowball’s chance in h*** you could get any credible position in the Trump administration.”

*   After Leatherwood lost a bid for Chairmanship of the State Republican Party, he was then hired by Russell Moore into the ERLC as Director of Strategic Partnerships. Once the Dallas Police came up to me, Leatherwood was now out of view. However, he came back to the scene soon as you will see. The two officers approached me as I was still on the phone and said I had to leave the building. I asked if they meant the EXPO building because of the exhibitor breakdown. I showed my press credentials and explained my lack of cell service elsewhere in the building. The Dallas PD officer told me someone had filed a complaint against me. I asked who it was .He would not say who but said they had the right to ask me to leave the building. I asked what the allegations were and he answered “that you threatened someone. Why would you do something like that?” I said, “Why indeed, since I am a Christian, a minister and a Southern Baptist and a member of the press? I threatened no one.” I said I was waiting for the next meetings at 4/4:30 to begin, which were the ERLC annual reports where Russell Moore was speaking. I had stayed an extra day in order to cover that event and report on it. I was then informed by the Officers that this would be a problem because I was being asked to leave the entire building and would not be allowed back during the SBC event.

*As the Dallas Police Officers escorted me from the building, ERLC employee Leatherwood, who had minutes before been glaring at me across the Expo floor, and disappeared when the Dallas PD approached me, was standing just outside the door of the Expo in the large lobby area that wraps around the over 1 million square foot convention center. Leatherwood was on his phone with his earpiece in and talking. Once he saw us exiting the door he ended his conversation, hung up the telephone and joined the escorting officer to my right.

*Leatherwood began taking very provocative actions including again, glaring across the chest of the taller officer to my right and mockingly looking me in the eyes. He leaned his head forward toward me almost in the path of the officer. He took long exaggerated lurching steps in slower motion as if enacting some strutted victory lap around what had been set in motion with my removal less than two hours before the ERLC meeting/ report was to begin in the main hall.

*I asked the officer between Leatherwood and myself if Leatherwood was the person who claimed I had threatened someone and if he claimed I threatened him. The officer replied, “We are not going there.” I asked if Leatherwood claimed I threatened HIM because, in fact, Leatherwood “had laid his hands on me to restrain me and prevent me from talking to his boss. (This would be considered a Class C Assault  by Texas Law https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/penal-code/penal-sect-22-01.html)  Russell Moore’s employee Leatherwood attempted to prevent the conversation but Moore did indeed talk about the Revoice Conference “promoting LGBT+  Flourishing in historic Christian tradition”. WE DID discuss that his ERLC Fellow was a contributor endorsing Revoice and a favorite ERLC consultant was speaking at Revoice. We had a conversation about it. I mentioned this to the officer and that it was in spite of Leatherwood[‘]s effort to physically prevent it. “Is that what this is about?” I asked. Nothing was confirmed or denied at this point. After about 20 steps in tandem with the officers and me and the continued provocative actions of Leatherwood, he then broke off and headed to the main hall where Russell Moore and his constant companions of the ERLC staff were located.

* The officers then escorted me to the Press room down stairs to retrieve my belongings. The attitude of the officers toward me changed at the point Leatherwood had sought to escalate the situation. They calmly walked me to the press room and stood by as I explain[ed] to the press room full of reporters that a fellow member of the press and fellow Baptist and minister was being removed from the building after being falsely accused of threatening someone. No one would say who was supposed to have threatened but the ERLC staffer was ever present who had also attempted prevent me talking about Revoice. LGBT+ /Queer Christianity with his ERLC boss Russell Moore. The press room wanted more information and received it. None yet have written on it but the story is still playing out. The officers then escorted me back upstairs to the exit of my choice through the Omni hotel bridge and I went on to my neighboring hotel from which I called my offices at Worldview Weekend. Brannon Howse then began the process of filing the report to the Dallas Police Department to provide documentation given the likelihood that the ERLC would soon be issuing false statements to cover themselves after their staffer lied to the Dallas Police Department. That insightful concern has proven prophetic in the Christian Post article which absurdly even includes the respected SBC Executive Committee.

A series of interviews began immediately as word had already spread in the SBC meetings in the Convention Centers main hall. It has continued for four days straight.

J D Hall of Pulpit and Pen and Janet Mefferd helped World View Weekend and Worldview Radio break the story.

http://www.worldviewweekend.com/tv/video/wvw-reporter-tom-littleton-removed-police-sbc-convention-asking-tough-questions

http://pulpitandpen.org/2018/06/13/erlc-allegedly-has-dallas-pd-toss-pastor-from-sbc-meeting-after-he-questions-revoice/

https://afr.net/podcasts/janet-mefferd-live/2018/june/janet-interviews-tom-littleton-on-being-removed-from-the-sbc-convention-and-other-news-from-the-sbc-convention/

https://livestream.com/wvwtv/events/7903843

I am aware this version is in sharp contrast to the version told by the ERLC and Executive Committee in Christian Post. I can see why the altered version includes a narrative that takes away the dangers posed by assault changes and lying to an officer providing security for your own event. But this version above will not be altered because it is the truth and I celebrate the fine job the Dallas Police did in treating me fairly and simply doing their job based on the false information they received from somewhere in the BOWELS  of the SBC/ ERLC machine. I am horrified that my own denomination is covering up some of their entities’ and officers’ involvement with Revoice Queer Christianity and LGBT+ Christianity and would brutalize someone with three generations of SBC heritage and 40 years of ministry and untold amounts of dollars placed in the offering plate and helping aid the ministries and cooperative programs and church buildings and Seminaries and salaries of the SBC. I know am not the first and, given the present trajectory exhibited during the SBC 2018 convention, I will not be the LAST one abused. Russell Moore, Roger Oldham, I forgive and pray for you but I cannot repent for you for the deception you are perpetrating on the flock of God under your care. That part you will have to do. I will not be sending Dallas Police for you but I do think we will see your accountability come home to roost. Meanwhile, do Southern Baptist really want these tactics turned on them by the people they support? And in the words of Mike Huckabee “How long with Southern Baptist keep paying Russell Moore to insult them?”

 

As to simulated refugee experiences …. WHY PLAY “MAKE BELIEVE” WHEN SO MANY REFUGEES IN THEIR OWN CHURHCES ARE BEING IGNORED?

Isaiah 6:11 “Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,”

If Revoice has its say in the SBC because leadership cannot speak and denounce it, God’s words to Isaiah will prove prophetic for the Southern Baptist Convention.

O Lord have mercy, spare us we pray.

 

CPCHURCH & MINISTRIES

WILL THE NEXT SBC PRESIDENT CONDEMN OR CONDONE THE REVOICE CONFERENCE AND “LGBT+ CHRISTIANITY”?

 

Rev Thomas Littleton
6/8/2018

 

Just days before the 2018 Southern Baptist Convention annual meetings begin in Dallas Texas, controversy over the SBC’s newfound liberal theological view of homosexuality continues to rage. When news of the Revoice Conference first broke, conservative Christians were understandably shocked to find deep ties to the Southern Baptist Convention, with radical gay liberation terminology such as “LGBT+ Christian, Queer Christian, Sexual Minority Christian” and “celebrating the treasures of Queer Theory, Queer Literature, and Queer Culture” obtruding into the Church.

 

The Revoice Conference, which will be held in St Louis on July 26-28, has recently made the news and caught the attention of believers around the nation. Conservative Media has also picked up on the Revoice “LGBT+ Queer Christian” controversy along with the “Social Justice” mantra of some in SBC leadership. Many have detected the threat these distortions present to the Gospel and the Church, yet few Evangelical leaders have stepped up to condemn the SBC’s liberal theology or to answer for their connections to it.

 

Read more on Revoice here:

https://thirtypiecesofsilver.org/2018/05/14/trusted-sbc-and-pca-seminaries-producing-sexual-minority-activists/

And here

https://thirtypiecesofsilver.org/2018/05/29/make-the-gospel-great-again-reject-the-false-gospel-of-lgbt-christianity/

 

Who in Leadership Will Take a Biblical Stand In This Crisis Threatening To Normalize “Queer Christianity” in the Church?

 

Dr. Albert Mohler—whose Southern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate and faculty member, Nate Collins, is the founder and president of Revoice—has been silent, except to tweet out:

 

 “Albert Mohler‏ Verified account
@albertmohler May 31
An important article by @ostrachan”

 

. . . an article by Owen Strachan that offers nothing but ambiguity on the controversial language and the theme of Revoice—“Promoting Flourishing of LGBT+ in Historic Christian Tradition.”

Dr. Russell Moore—whose ERLC Fellows and Associates actively promote Revoice, and whose hired consulting contractor, Arrowhead Advising founder, Branden Polk, is a Speaker at Revoice.  Polk reveals on the company’s social media that they are huge fans of a RuPaul Drag Race / Drag Queen judge. A favorite spokesperson for Moore and the ERLC is Sam Allbery, the same-sex attracted Anglican priest who founded Living Out since his introduction to the “conversation” at Dr. Moore’s 2014 ERLC Conference on Homosexuality and the Future of Marriage. Living Out was the first mainstream SBC affiliate to promote Revoice on social media:

 

Living Out Retweeted
Revoice‏ @revoiceus May 23

“Have you checked out our website recently? (http://www.revoice.us) Even more workshops and speakers have just been added–and more still to come! We’re so grateful for our stellar team of speakers & presenters who are giving their time to be part of #Revoice18! We can’t wait!”

 

Amidst the controversy, Dr. Moore has remained speechless. In the cynical words of Pixar Monsters Inc’s “Roz the Snail,” Moore’s “stunned silence is very reassuring.”

It should noted that the primary source of the new language in the circles in which Dr. Mohler and Dr. Moore travel (The Gospel Coalition) is a White Paper drafted in 2010 by Regent University Psychology Professor, Mark Yarhouse, whose work includes an ongoing partnership with the gay affirming American Psychological Association, doing research with “gay and Christian psychologists to find common ground” for counseling gay persons who experience conflict between their sexual identity and their faith identity. The goal being to reconcile the two and to discourage repentance for homosexuality on the basis of Dr. Yarhouse’s presumption of sexual orientation. The work of Mark Yarhouse has provided the framework for discussion of a “Christian Sexual Ethic” centered around the now familiar language of “gay celibate Christianity.” “Sexual Minority” is the favored term since it provides both activist and victim status for LGBT+ persons in the Church.

So who will provide Biblical leadership to the Church on the issue of “LGBT+ Christianity”?

 

Let us consider the two candidates for election as SBC President in 2018 — J. D. Greear and Ken Hemphill.

1. D. Greear on Homosexuality

 

1. D. Greear has made numerous statements on homosexuality and was a presenter at the 2014 ERLC Conference on Homosexuality and the Future of Marriage with Dr. Moore. In his sermon, “Preaching Like Jesus to the LGBT Community and It’s Supporters,” Greear used the same LGBT+ affirming language of Allberry and other ERLC spokespersons; however, Greear also preaches that homosexuality is a sin.  Greear has not said that homosexuality is acceptable behavior, yet he affirms and promotes Mark Yarhouse and his Institute on the Study of Sexual Identity (ISSI) views on LGBT orientation and gender as well as the notion of celibacy as a reconciling biblical ethic.

 

Greear Promotes Yarhouse, Creator of the Template for “LGBT+ Christianity”

 

In 2012, Greear spoke at “The Nines Conference” which is an online stream held annually that includes such LGBT luminaries as Nadia Bolz Webber, the self -proclaimed “tattooed cussing lesbian priestess” of The House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver CO.

The title of 2012 Nines Conference was “Approaching Homosexuality With Grace.

APPROACHING HOMOSEXUALITY WITH GRACE
Created by The Nines Conference@

 

“In this 11 minute session from Leadership Network’s 2012 The Nines Conference, J.D. Greear, Senior Pastor at The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina, delivers a thoughtful and gracious message about the way the church should approach the issue of homosexuality.

 

“In this 11 minute session from Leadership Network’s 2012 The Nines Conference, J.D. Greear, Senior Pastor at The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina, delivers a thoughtful and gracious message about the way the church should approach the issue of homosexuality. We often get sidetracked from the real issue in a number of different ways, but constantly returning to the cross of Christ will fix our perspective on this issue.

 

“Truth without grace is fundamentalism. Grace without truth is just sentimentality. There is a way to speak the truth with grace so that we can disagree with people and let them know we love them. Think about how this dynamic affects the way we approach homosexuality.

 

“Have you seen your church fall into the trap of emphasizing truth without grace or grace without truth? How can your church embrace both of these so that you offer to the gay community the kind of love that Jesus commands?

 

“J.D. said that the test of our faithfulness to Jesus comes at our courage over these kinds of issues. What does he mean by that? Do you agree? How do you stand for truth on this issue of homosexuality?

 

“Do you have opportunity to extend friendship to gay people? How can you enter that relationship in a way that shows Christ’s love and doesn’t make that person feel like they are your project to fix?

 

“Don’t pander to gay people and try to tell them what you think they want to hear, and don’t be judgmental and try to make them hurt. Every one of us is in great need of God’s grace, so our emphasis should always be the gospel.  Speak the truth in love.

 

“J.D. mentioned several resources that have helped him learn and think about our culture’s reaction to homosexuality and the Bible’s response.

The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy and Kathy Keller
Politics According to the Bible by Wayne Grudem
Mark Yarhouse has written several books on this issue. All of them can be found at the website for his Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity.”

 

On Greear’s Blog, he and his staffers continue their endorsements of Yarhouse’s resources for people struggling with Same Sex desires and for youth and parents of youth with Same-Sex Attraction. One example is point 8 in Greear’s 10 Theses About Christianity and Homosexuality:

 

“8. Avoid pat answers or simplistic statements.

 

“A lot of harm has been done by Christian leaders who speak from ignorance, saying things like, “All homosexuals have been abused.” This sort of thing brings shame on our testimony. Again, Mark Yarhouse has a lot of helpful resources here. We should also recognize that sexual struggles are not limited to men—women struggle with homosexuality and pornography.”

 

Guest Blogger, Brad Hambrick who is Pastor of Counseling at Greear’s Summit Church, offers resources and endorsements of Dr. Yarhouse:

 

“Another audience would be parents of a child who has come out as gay. Homosexuality and the Christian: A Guide for Parents, Pastors, and Friends by Mark Yarhouse is an excellent resource for parents.”

 

Greear’s Pastor of Counseling also endorses Dr. Yarhouse on his bradhambrick.com site:

 

Book Recommendations:

Marital Sex
A Celebration of Sex by Doug Rosenau
Intimate Issues by Linda Dillow and Lorraine Pintus
Sexuality
Do Ask, Do Tell, Let’s Talk by Brad Hambrick
Understanding Sexual Identity by Mark Yarhouse
Homosexuality and the Christian: A Guide for Parents, Pastors, and Friends by Mark Yarhouse

 

A Look at Ken Hemphill On Homosexuality

Baptist Press photo Kenneth Hemphill

 

Dr. Ken Hemphill has certainly not provided the depth of searchable material that Dr. J. D. Greear has on the topic of homosexuality. He does not appear to have been invited to speak at any of Russell Moore’s conferences on homosexuality and marriage nor has he provided any endorsements that we can locate for Dr. Mark Yarhouse’s materials for those desiring help with homosexuality or for parents and youth with same sex attraction in the church. What Dr Hemphill did provide is his response in 2001 when revisions to the Baptist Faith and Message brought national media attention to the Seminaries involved in the unthinkable requirement that Baptists (including those teaching at our seminaries) “must sign a statement affirming the Baptist Faith and Message” and that “all Baptists must oppose all forms of sexual immorality including homosexuality.”

The 2000 Orlando SBC convention changes also included affirmation that the office of pastor is limited to men.” Given the fast track toward “more women in ministry that the #MeToo movements recent run through the SBC camp, that point seems all the more relevant. The Paige Patterson “#Metoo pile on/blood-letting” led into the secular press by people from within the SBC stands in sharp contrast to Dr. Hemphill’s simple and straightforward responses to the secular media in 2001.

 

“Southwestern President Ken Hemphill said limiting employment to faculty who are willing to sign the convention’s Baptist Faith and Message statement as revised in June 2000 will ultimately benefit the seminary and Southern Baptists, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

 

“It’s important that an institution run its business day to day by its bylaws,” Hemphill said. “Our accreditation agency requires that, our integrity requires that.”

As revised at the 2002 annual convention in Orlando, Fla., the statement declares, among other things, that Baptists “must oppose all forms of sexual immorality, including homosexuality,” and that the “office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”

In 1998, the statement was revised to add the phrase “A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits itself to the headship of Christ.” Quotes from 2001 Ken Hemphill.

Conclusion

 

In just a few days the SBC will elect one of these men to lead the Convention at a critical time in Baptist life and the life of our nation. Those of us over 40 who recall many other struggles within and from without the SBC mostly agree that this is a pivotal time and in many ways, an Esther calling moment “for such a time as this.” For Biblically Conservative men and women in the Church, and in particular the SBC, the time has arrived to take a stand for the Savior whose politics are not partisan and whose Word on Homosexuality, Marriage and Gender roles, in the home and in the Church, is neither fluid, nor negotiable, nor optional for those who bear his Holy Name.

2 Timothy 2:19-21

19 Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor.
21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.

 

New King James Version (NKJV)

“If I profess, with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christianity. Where the battle rages the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle-field besides is mere flight and disgrace to him if he flinches at that one point.” (Luther)