MAY 23RD 2018 ALBERT MOHLER DECLARED THE #METOO MOVEMENT IN THE CHURCH WAS THE “WRATH OF GOD POURED OUT-THE HUMILIATION OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION”. YET THE SBC ABUSE ADVOCATE/MEDIA STAR/ CONSULTANT/ AUTHOR / CONFERENCE SPEAKER AND HER HUSBAND HAVE BEEN A PART OF ALBERT MOHLER’S TEAM AT SBTS FOR OVER A DECADE.
Rev Thomas Littleton
January 14th 2023
This past week controversy arose over the MANY HATS that victims advocate Rachael Denhollander is currently WEARING in the ongoing SBC “Sex Abuse ” controversy, investigation and media circus. It seems that not only has Mrs. Denhollander been working for many Southern Baptist entities like The ERLC ( under Mohler protege’ Russell Moore at the time) but also for the Executive Committee, SBTS itself, various other entities like Lifeway (where one of the featured victims has worked as an executive) AND is now reported to be ACTUALLY running the SBC abuse HOTLINE.
See Capstone Report January 8th 2023 article :
DENHOLLANDER HAS CONFLICTS OF INTEREST IN RELATIONSHIP WITH SBC ABUSE HOTLINE
O Yes and she works with the independent investigative firm Guidepost Solutions directly and with the various “Task Forces” which the SBC have established to coordinate the investigation and “implement ” its new policies.
MOHLER AND ACTIVISM IN THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
Albert Mohler and his SBTS are deeply tied to the leading activist the SBC related to Racial issues, the use of Critical Race Theory , Intersectionality , The LGBTQ Thriving Revoice movment in the SBC and PCA. AND more recently it has come to light that Mohler has had a longstanding connection with the leading couple in sex abuse /#metoo/ #churchtoo JUSTICE advocacy.
SOME HISTORY OF SBTS KEY ACTIVIST :
1ST -Russell Moore who accused the SBC of rampant racism , sex abuse and the existence of a massive coverup of the above in the SBC,Accusations came via leaked letters leading to the current investigation and abuse crisis.Moore IS the most famed or infamous of Mohler’s proteges’ . Moore was educated, employed and in leadership at SBTS for more than 2 decades. Moore also helped launch the CRT filled MLK/50 event in April 2018 where he accused Southern Baptist of “worshipping Jim Crow”as Jesus.
2ND -Once CRT and Intersectionality were being mainstreamed as “useful tools with the Gospel” in the Southern Baptist it was Mohler who worked directly with his in house SBTS CRT activist on RACE to drive a program called “Removing of the Stain of Racism from the SBC”. Those SBTS trained and employed activist included Curtis Wood, Matt Hall & Jarvis Williams. These same resident SBTS activist were part of the 2017 SBTS racial history investigation and purge as well as the 2019 Resolutions Committee who altered a submitted resolution ( # 9) to condemn CRT and Intersectionality in the SBC into an affirmation of CRT and Intersectionality.
(The panel, which was hosted at the SBC Cooperative Program stage, featured R. Albert Mohler Jr., Kevin Jones, Matthew J. Hall, and Curtis Woods. The panel was moderated by Jarvis J. Williams, associate professor of New Testament interpretation at Southern Seminary.)
3RD – Nate Collins founder of Revoice LGBTQ Thriving in the SBC ( which ALSO DEEPLY IMPACTED THE PCA) was a student, a Garrett Fellow AND taught New Testament at SBTS. Collins resided at SBTS for a period of 14 1/2 years obtaining 2 degrees and asserting in his dissertation for SBTS that the use of “Virgin ” proves the existence of a “third gender identification ” in the New Testament. Collin’s SBTS academic studies and papers and his book “All But Invisible” centered around Feminine,Gender and Queer Theories and Feminist Theology. Revoice is a movement in intersectionality “at the intersection of faith and sexuality”. Collins also presented some of his SBTS sexuality papers at ETS.
4TH- Deeply concerning is the decade PLUS history of Jacob and Rachael Denhollander at Albert Mohler’s SBTS and the ongoing efforts of the “Sex Abuse / #churchtoo scandals to force investigations, lawsuits, the coalition of victims, settlements AND to enforce compliance of Diversity Equity and Inclusion in the nations largest Protestant Denomination the Southern Baptist Convention. As the reader can determine below the use of,Jacob Denhollanders SBTS academic career and academic focus look to have been used to furthered the cause of the #churchtoo in the SBC. Is this “a Gospel issue”? No-nuanced critical theory and Feminist Theology narrative is not the Gospel.
THE DENHOLLANDER REPUTATION
There is no denying Rachael Denhollander’s acclaim :
“Rachael Denhollander is an American lawyer and former gymnast. She was the first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nassar, the former Michigan state University and USA Gymnastics doctor, of sexual assault.[1] Denhollander is 2018 Glamour Woman of the Year and was included in Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2018.[2] She is the recipient of the 2021 Abraham Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Life.”
“Denhollander was the last to speak during both of Nassar’s sentencing hearings. In asking the judges to impose the maximum sentence on Nassar, Denhollander said, “How much is a little girl worth?”[She answered her own question: “These victims are worth everything … I plead with you to impose the maximum sentence under the plea agreement because everything is what these survivors are worth.”In Ingham County, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said Denhollander “built an army of survivors”[and called her “a five-star general.”[Aquilina also said Denhollander was “the bravest person I have ever had in my courtroom.”
THE ISSUE OF ABUSE IN THE CHURCH
QUESTIONS TO PONDER- Is the use of the “5 star general” who assembled an “Army of the Abused ” in the Nassar case- now heading the same KIND of effort among Southern Baptist? If so, as it appears, is this being done right out of its Flagship Seminary SBTS?Could this reality be just a matter of happenstance? Can Baptist assume that these associations JUST SO HAPPENED to develop and become weaponized against the church in the same way the Nassar case developed- by some of the same people- all within Albert Mohler’s SBTS circles?
VALID ABUSE AND COVERUPS
There is no doubt the church has had a history of both abuse and problems with how abuse is handled. Yet evidence is compelling that something more was going on -at least in the Southern Baptist sudden visitation of the issue in a highly publicised and ongoing controversy filled with accusations of coverup, corruption and collusion.
But COMPELLING and disturbing appearance EXIST of some high level COLLUDING of a different sort- at the flagship SBC seminary.
WE HAVE TO ASK -WAS “GOD’S WRATH BEING POURED OUT ON THE SBC” OR WAS THE #CHURCHTOO VISITATION A COORDINATED EFFORT FROM SBTS?
(Jacob Denhollander leaving SBTS Southern Baptist seminary
after 11 years. )
Jacob Denhollander tweeted out the SBC “Wrath of God ..”story on May 23rd as well:
@JJ_Denhollander “I am extremely grateful to see these words from the president of my school, albertmohler. There is much more work to do and many more hard conversations to be had @R_Denhollander and I hope to be helpful in anyway we can.”
FROM THE MOHLER “WRATH OF GOD ” ON THE SBC ARTICLE
“America’s largest evangelical denomination has been in the headlines day after day. The SBC is in the midst of its own horrifying #MeToo moment.”
“At one of our seminaries, controversy has centered on a president (now former president) whose sermon illustration from years ago included advice that a battered wife remain in the home and the marriage in hope of the conversion of her abusive husband. Other comments represented the objectification of a teenage girl. The issues only grew more urgent with the sense that the dated statements represented ongoing advice and counsel.”
“But the issues are far deeper and wider.”
MOHLER DISCUSSED HAVING BROUGHT IN THE DENHOLLANDERS TO HANDLE SBTS OWN SEX ABUSE CASE (S)
Statement from R. Albert Mohler Jr. on Sovereign Grace Churches
R. Albert Mohler, Jr. — February 15, 2019
“When this issue resurfaced a year ago, I was made painfully aware of my serious mistakes. I immediately urged that an independent investigation be conducted and agreed that CJ (Mahaney) needed to step down from public ministry until that took place. This resulted in a severing of all personal and ministry ties, and I have had no relationship with CJ or SGC since that time.”
“I was deeply affected by the documentation offered by Rachael Denhollander. I met with Jacob and Rachael soon after she released the documentation and I have deeply appreciated her counsel. That first conversation fundamentally changed my understanding of this issue.”
IN HIS OWN WORDS- MOHLER TURNED TO THE DENHOLLANDERS FOR HELP. & HE ENCOURAGES THE “PRESSURE” TO BE MAINTAINED !
“I should have sought advice and counsel of agencies and authorities and experts who were even then on the front lines of dealing with these kinds of allegations.”
“Some will question whether the force of public pressure explains the timing of my statement and its public nature. In all candor, this pressure is no doubt part of that explanation. That fact should serve to encourage survivors and their advocates to maintain such pressure.”
THE DENHOLLANDERS AND SBTS -SOME HISTORY :
According to Jacob the couple have been at SBTS for over a decade
Photo from Jacob Denhollander social media of his SBTS graduation
Jacob Denhollander @JJ_Denhollander
“After 11 years, two degrees, and a lot of life, my time @SBTS is over. Forever grateful to these professors for the way I have grown as a scholar and as a man. It’s a bittersweet day as I move on to finish my PhD elsewhere, but part of me will always be at Southern.”
CONSIDER THE DECADE PLUS OF THE DENHOLLANDERS PRESENCE AT SBTS AND JACOB DENHOLLANDER’S WORK THERE:
Jacobs published academic papers at SBTS date back to at least 2015 confirming that his work at SBTS has been focuses on abuse and reconciling things like “Feminist Theology ” and its hatred of the atonement with the Gospel. His other public academic studies appear to have been focused on Abuse as well. So since a least 2015 – WHILE the Nassar case was being prosecuted and Rachael Denhollander has played a major role developing that case and become known as “a five star general” – “assembling and army of victims” She and her husband have been at Albert Mohler’s SBTS seminary focusing on Sex Abuse from a theological framework.
As manager of the SBC Hotline for Guidepost Solutions and working directly with multiple other SBC entities in multiple capacities “The General ” not only looks to be wearing too many hats but positioned to assemble a new army for the assault on the Southern Baptist Convedntion.
Jacob Denhollander
Southern Baptist Theological seminary, Systematic Theology, Graduate Student
Address: Louisville, Kentucky, United State
REDEMPTION OR ABUSE? CONSIDERING ATONEMENT IN LIGHTOF FEMINIST CRITIQUES
The history of Feminist Theology is Anti- Gospel and Anti- Family and Anti- conventional Conservative Theology . It is certainly against the Baptist Faith and Message. Feminists theologians INSIST that theology has been developed not just by males, but by males within a patriarchal culture in a patriarchal church which is rife with systemic abuse of women by men who subordinate and exploit them.
Feminist Theology resist the use of male pronouns for God – Assaults the role of women in the home and the biblical call for women to submit to their husbands. Feminist theology calls the Nuclear Family and IDOL which must be taken down and replaced. Feminine Theology seeks to subvert and usurp the role of men in leadership which is specifically counter to the Apostle Paul’s inspired instructions for family and church life.
Feminist Theology seeks to deconstruct ALL Biblical concepts of family and church and leadership -promotes the demands for all churches to ordain women in senior leadership and EVEN goes so far as to attempt to feminize God.
THE PROBLEMS WITH THESE ASSERTIONS AND ASSUMPTIONS VS THE GOSPEL OF REPENTANCE AND FORGIVENESS ARE GLARING AND LEGION.
Yet at SBTS Jacob Denhollander appears to have been commissioned or allowed to dedicate his academic pursuits and papers, obtaining his degrees, to erasing or merging the polar opposites of feminist theology and the Gospel /Good News and the Great Commission which once was said to occupied Southern Baptist life and ministry.
Justice for Victims is the new gospel !
“The #MeToo moment has come to American evangelicals. This moment has come to some of my friends and brothers in Christ. This moment has come to me, and I am called to deal with it as a Christian, as a minister of the Gospel, as a seminary and college president, and as a public leader. I pray that I will lead rightly.” …”This is just a foretaste of the wrath of God poured out. This moment requires the very best of us. The Southern Baptist Convention is on trial and our public credibility is at stake. May God have mercy on us all.” Albert Mohler .
MOHLER PARTNER AT THE GOSPEL COALITION RECENTLY OFFERED HIGH PRAISE FOR THE DENHOLLANDER ATONEMENT NARRATIVE.
(NOTE THIS WAS SENT BY A READER WHO HAD NOTED THE KELLER -DENHOLLANDER TWITTER EXCHANGE ON JANUARY 1ST 2022 )
“A bit surprised that the Denhollander essay–which advocates for abuse victims but also affirms substitutionary atonement as a way to do so–has gotten so little discussion. (I hope that means everyone agrees with it!) I”m grateful for the Denholladers’ work and ministry.”
““The example of God at the cross inverts power dynamics at play in oppression and abuse.” – Jacob and Rachael Denhollander in ““Justice: The Foundation of a Christian Approach to Abuse”
JACOB DENHOLLANDER RESPONDED IN APPRECIATION
Replying to
“Thanks, Tim. I’m planning on expanding on these concepts in my dissertation. I’ll send you a copy when I am finished!”
KELLER
Replying to
“I would love to see this. Humbled and thankful.”
IN 2018 BOTH JACOB AND RACHAEL PRESENTED AN SBTS PAPER ON ABUSE JUSTICE AT THE 70TH ANNUAL EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY MEETINGS IN DENVER COLORADO
“JUSTICE: THE FOUNDATION OF A CHRISTIAN APPROACH TO ABUSE”
“In this paper, we seek to establish that evangelicals possess the theological truths needed to bring comfort, hope and truth to survivors of abuse, predicated on a proper understanding of justice as seen in the atonement and character of the Triune God. We examine the claim that penal, substitutionary understandings of the atonement are pictures of abuse and argue that, properly understood, these understandings of the atonement instead provide a basis for rejecting the power dynamics that underlay all forms of abuse.”
SBTS , Albert Mohler and the Denhollanders have played a significant role in the development of the ideology of “humiliation” , contrition and JUSTICE in the SBC abuse scandal and response. AGAIN -Jacob has been able to use his academic studies and papers to reconcile the anti gospel- anti forgiveness – pro prosecution and pro justice of FEMINIST THEOLOGY with the Southern Baptist once Biblical view of repentance , forgiveness, and RESTORATION. Does this mean these biblical ideals must take a back seat to JUSTICE?
MOHLER AND HIS DISCIPLES SHOW UP REPEATEDLY IN THE SBC ABUSE ISSUE.
Mohler disciple Russell Moore immediately commissioned Rachael Denhollander to help with his “Caring Well ” brand building in the ERLC/ SBC response to sex abuse.
Russell Moore and Denhollander at ERLC’s Caring well Conference -abuse “response “
Moore also echoed Mohler’s “Wrath of God “in 2022
This Is the Southern Baptist Apocalypse
“The abuse investigation has uncovered more evil than even I imagined.”
MOHLER HAD PREVIOUSLY FEATURED THE “GOSPEL DRIVEN TESTIMONY” OF DENHOLLANDER AT THE NASSAR SENTENCING IN THE BRIEFING .
“An amazing testimony to the gospel, to the reality of good and evil, and to Christian truth in a Michigan courtroom” THE BRIEFING -THURSDAY, JAN. 25, 2018
(Perhaps HERE Mohler is SKILLFULLY putting TO USE the reconciled NARRATIVE merging Feminist Theologies demand for JUSTICE and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law with a “Gospel Testimony” by Rachael Denhollander. The reader can determine that for themselves )
MOHLER IN THE BRIEFING IN HIGH PRAISE OF THE COUPLE WHO HAVE MADE THIER HOME IN HIS SBTS CIRCLES AS THE NASSAR CASE HAS UNFOLDED. ODD-HE NEVER MENTIONS THAT FACT.
TWO IMPORTANT EXCERPTS AND THE FULL MOHLER STATEMENT ON MRS. DENHOLLANDER’S “GOSPEL TESTIMONY IN THE COURTROOM:
“Rachael Denhollander. In her statement concerning the sentencing of Dr. Nassar, she not only spoke eloquently from the deep reservoirs of a Christian worldview, but she spoke directly to the doctor with the power of the Christian gospel.”
MOHLER ASSERTS THE DEEP CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW & GOSPEL REFLECTED – THEN
“Those are words very difficult to hear, very difficult to read, very difficult to say. They are difficult words we need to hear, and of course they are difficult words that have the ring and the authenticity of biblical truth. This is the kind of argument that can only emerge from Christian conviction and from the Christian biblical worldview. The references here to good and evil, to right and wrong, to a straight line of judgment, most importantly the references to sin and guilt, the necessity of repentance and the substitutionary atonement of Christ and the promise of salvation, all of this only makes sense, it is only coherent if everything revealed in the Scripture is true.”
“BIBLICAL WORLD VIEW- CHRISTIAN CONVICTION- & SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT “
Again the Jacob Denhollader 2015 paper reconciling Feminist Theology with the Gospel primary task is to deal with feminist theologies hatred for Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA).
Excerpt :Denhollander on Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA)
“Rita Nakashima Brock famously labelled any model of atonement in which Jesus is subjected to punishment to satisfy God as “cosmic child abuse” [1] – a sobering and disturbing claim that has embedded itself in contemporary discussions about the atonement and has been accepted by many theologians as necessitating a careful re-formulation, if not outright rejection of, traditional models of atonement.[2] Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA), with its emphasis on the wrath of God against sin and the justification of sinners through the substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross, is especially criticized as modeling abuse and making a virtue of suffering.”
” Most defenses of PSA against this characterization focus on the way feminists have misunderstood or caricaturized PSA, and seek to demonstrate that Christ’s substitutionary death, rightly understood, does not explicitly or implicitly encourage abuse. While useful, I intend to go beyond a mere defense of the atonement and demonstrate that far from condoning abuse, a properly Trinitarian articulation of PSA can be used to address the problem of abuse by radically confronting the sinful view of authority and power that always lies behind abuse.”
MOHLER EVEN GETS IN HER COMING BOOK TITLE
“She then asked the question,”
“how much is a little girl worth?”
FULL COMMENTS BY MOHLER IN PRAISE OF DENHOLLANDER “GOSPEL”.
HERE:
“The woman whose accusations broke the story and eventually broke the doctor was a young woman by the name now of Rachael Denhollander. In her statement concerning the sentencing of Dr. Nassar, she not only spoke eloquently from the deep reservoirs of a Christian worldview, but she spoke directly to the doctor with the power of the Christian gospel. The words of this young woman bear our close attention. The doctor as he was being sentenced was carrying a Bible visibly. That was considered by many of the victims to be manipulative with the doctor effectively using the Bible as a prop in order to engender sympathy during his sentencing hearing. But Mrs. Denhollander pointed to the Bible that Dr. Nassar had, and then she said bravely,”
“If you have read the Bible you carry, you know the definition of sacrificial love portrayed is of God himself loving so sacrificially that he gave up everything to pay a penalty for the sin he did not commit. By his grace, I, too, choose to love this way.”
“Later referencing the Bible again, she spoke of absolute truth and the objective reality of right and wrong. She said and I quote,”
“the Bible you carry says it is better for a stone to be thrown around your neck and you throw into a lake than for you to make even one child stumble. And you have damaged hundreds. The Bible,” she said conveys the message of, “final judgment where all of God’s wrath and eternal terror is poured out on men like you. Should,” she said, “you ever reach the point of truly facing what you have done, the guilt will be crushing. And that is what makes the gospel of Christ so sweet. Because it extends grace and hope and mercy where none should be found. And it will be there for you.”
“She said,”
“I pray you experience the soul crushing weight of guilt so you may someday experience true repentance and true forgiveness from God, which you need far more than forgiveness from me,” she said though she bravely continued, “though I extend that to you as well.”
“Speaking again of the reality of right and wrong of evil and good, she said,”
“Larry, I can call what you did evil and wicked because it was. And I know it was evil and wicked because the straight line exists. The straight line is not measured based on your perception or anyone else’s perception, and this means I can speak the truth about my abuse without minimization or mitigation. And I can call it evil because I know what goodness is. And this is why I pity you. Because when a person loses the ability to define good and evil, when they cannot define evil, they can no longer define and enjoy what is truly good. When a person can harm another human being, especially a child, without true guilt, they have lost the ability to truly love.”
“She continued by saying to the doctor,”
“Larry, you have shut yourself off from every truly beautiful and good thing in this world that could have and should have brought you joy and fulfillment, and I pity you for it. You could have had everything you pretended to be. Every woman who stood up here truly loved you as an innocent child, real genuine love for you, and it did not satisfy.”
“Then addressing the judge Mrs. Denhollander said,”
“I ask that you hand down a sentence that tells us that what was done to us matters, that we are known, we are worth everything, worth the greatest protection the law can offer, the greatest measure of justice available.”
She then asked the question,
“how much is a little girl worth?”
“Those are words very difficult to hear, very difficult to read, very difficult to say. They are difficult words we need to hear, and of course they are difficult words that have the ring and the authenticity of biblical truth. This is the kind of argument that can only emerge from Christian conviction and from the Christian biblical worldview. The references here to good and evil, to right and wrong, to a straight line of judgment, most importantly the references to sin and guilt, the necessity of repentance and the substitutionary atonement of Christ and the promise of salvation, all of this only makes sense, it is only coherent if everything revealed in the Scripture is true. And as we consider this story that is now so much a part of the American attention and conversation today, we need to be thankful as this judge was thankful for young women who were brave enough to accuse this doctor so esteemed and respected throughout the Olympic community of what he had done and to stay by their story and to make it stick consistently testifying in order to bring about not only a criminal conviction but the end to this kind of abuse that endangered so many others.”
“Then addressing the first of those young women to speak up Rachel Denhollander, the judge said,”
“You started the tidal wave. You made all of this happen. You made all of these voices matter. Your sister survivors and I thank you. You are the bravest person I have ever had in my courtroom.”
“But what so many in the world missed is that the moral clarity that was so evident in that courtroom yesterday cannot really emerge from a secular worldview. It can only emerge from a biblical worldview. And yesterday it wasn’t just the witness to good and evil that appeared. In the voice of Rachel Denhollander, there was a powerful witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Gospel that speaks so honestly about sin, and the Gospel that so honestly promises in Christ salvation from sin.”
ACCORDING TO THE WIFE OF THE FIRST INVESTIGATIVE SBC TASK FORCE LEADER ALBERT MOHLER MADE A SURPRISE VISIT TO THEIR NC CHURCH BEFORE THE FIRST TASK FORCE WAS FINALIZED .
“Distinguished visitor this morning at @biltmore. Unassuming, unannounced, thus uncelebrated, until he walked up to @BruceFrank1 in the lobby after service with kindness and encouragement. Honored to have@albertmohler worship with us this reformation day.” OCTOBER 31ST 2021
CONCLUSIONS :
Albert Mohler and SBTS ,along with other individuals and entities in the SBTS and Guidepost Solutions are the target of a lawsuit themselves in the pushback from the SBC #churchtoo abuse “investigation “.
ARE OTHERS SEEING THE PROBLEMS WITH HOW THE SBC HAVE HANDLED #CHURCHTOO MOVEMENT?
IT APPEARS SO –
MOBILE, Ala. (BP) – “A former Southern Baptist seminary professor and his wife have filed suit against the SBC and 10 other individuals and entities connected to the SBC, including Jennifer Lyell and Guidepost Solutions.”
“In a filing made in the Mobile, Ala., Circuit Court, David and Mary Sills allege “defamation, conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and wantonness concerning untrue claims of sexual abuse” initiated by Jennifer Lyell.”
Named in the Sills’ defamation suit are:
- The Southern Baptist Convention
- Ed Litton, former SBC president
- Bart Barber, current SBC president
- Willie McLaurin, interim SBC Executive Committee (EC) president/CEO
- Rolland Slade, former chair of the SBC EC
- Jennifer Lyell
- The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS)
- Albert Mohler, SBTS president
- Lifeway
- Eric Geiger, former Lifeway executive
- Guidepost Solutions, a third-party investigative firm secured in 2021 by the Sexual Abuse Task Force
“It also accuses the SBC, Lifeway, Jennifer Lyell, Eric Geiger, the EC, Ed Litton, Willie McLaurin, Rolland Slade, SBTS and Mohler of “making an example out of SBC member and employee David Sills who, without controversy, had admitted to an affair with Lyell and willingly accepted the SBC requirement that he depart from his position at the Seminary.”
“The suit claims these parties “saw an opportunity to improve the appearance and reputation of (the) SBC’s handling of abuse cases, long under fire, even though there had not been any legitimate and proper investigation into the allegations, nor was Dr. Sills adequately informed of the specific nature and extent of accusations made by Lyell.”
WHAT THE GOSPEL- THE CHURCH AND THE CHRISTIAN FAITH ARE NOT !!!
The Christian , nuclear family is NOT an IDOL as Feminist Theology, Russell Moore , Nate Collins Sam Allberry and other Baptist activist assert and does not need to be “replaced by an inclusive church as the family”
Church is the Body of Christ and the assembly of the first born – who have been forgiven- and have forgiven those who sin against them.It is not an assembly of victims seeking justice. Instead they are justified by the Blood of Christ – for all have sinned against the offended party which in the true Gospel is God.
The Gospel is the Good News that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself in His Son Jesus and that Good News does not need useful tools from the Frankfurt School or seminary students devoting time and study and entire careers to uniting critical theory narratives with Bible verses and theological concepts to form a new gospel. How is this known? Because such narratives are not the the Gospel at all.
Atonement is a sacred work within the HOLY realm of Triune God and impacts mankind only in that God has opened the doors for mankind to reap its bountiful mercy and taste of eternal life…knowing the forgiveness of sin by it. It has no need of nuance nor refining and adaptation for application in a modern society or among its activist “causes”.
Forgiveness is a non option for the Christian based on having been forgiven and on laying down ones own life for others as Jesus has laid down His life for all sinners. The Gospels and Forgiveness serve God’s JUSTICE – not ours and Vengeance belongs to Him alone. He will repay. The offer of forgiveness and the choice to show mercy are God’s and we are called to forgive as He forgives based on the Blood of Jesus.
There is no room for demands for Justice at the foot of the cross.
Some biblical food for thought :
Matthew 6:8-15
8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 9 In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
[For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Matthew 18
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. 23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down [e]at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you [f]all.’ 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
LUKE 6
Love Your Enemies
27 “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. 29 To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. 31 And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.
32 “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, [d]hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. 36 Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
Luke 23:34-36New King James Version
34 [a]Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
And they divided His garments and cast lots. 35 And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.”
36 The soldiers also mocked Him…..
James 2:13-15New King James Version
13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Abuse of any kind and all kinds cries out for justice like the blood of
Able from the ground after being murdered by his own brother . Abuse that is unlawful in mans courts and the prosecution and penalty for it are to be settled in mans courts NOT in the church lead by members with movements of problematic origin and grinding out other agendas in and against the church.
When the church embraces the role of dispensing JUSTICE over race or abuse or sexuality or identity or any number of social change causes – is has lost its vision and eternal purpose.
Mercy is the message of the Cross against the backdrop of mans rejection of and hatred toward God and God’s pending judgement on all who do wickedly and love a lie. Suspended in the convergence God’s TRUTH , of sin and wrath and God’s Divine Judgement and the desperate inability of man to save himself- God provided Himself a Lamb to take away the sins of the World. THIS dear friends is the Gospel-
The blow due to us- all of US -abused and abusers and activist and indifferent – fell on HIM.
Psalm 85:10New King James Version
10 Mercy and truth have met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed.
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