By Rev Thomas Littleton                                                                                       6/14/2019

CRITICAL RACE THEORY/ INTERSECTIONALITY  AND ANTI REVOICE RESOLUTIONS TURNED INTO SUPPORT OF THE VERY ISSUES THEY CONDEMNED

The author of the original Critical Race Theory/ Intersectionality  resolution condemning CRT  has come forward and exposed that the Committee who reviews the submissions actually altered his resolution to affirm it .

Capstone Report/ Alan Atchison broke this story the day following the SBC Convention .

SBC 2019: Resolutions Committee ‘severely altered’ resolution against identity politics

Alan links to the site of the CRT resolution author .

https://sovereignway.blogspot.com/2019/06/sbc19-resolution-9-on-critical-race.html?m=1

“Why should my voice be included? Simply put, I am the one who authored the resolution. My name is Stephen Feinstein, a graduate of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, a pastor of Sovereign Way Christian Church in Hesperia, CA, and a Chaplain (MAJ) in the United States Army Reserves. Like many, I am alarmed at the proliferation of toxic, divisive, and satanic rhetoric designed to divide humanity and facilitate constant opposition in our society. Even worse, it has seeped into Bible colleges and some seminaries. I have had parents come to me for advice when their child came home from a conservative Bible college complaining about white privilege. I was present at the Shepherds Conference when my favorite evangelical leaders appeared to be divided on how to handle this issue.”

These links will help provide background

What is Critical Race Theory?

“CRT recognizes that racism is engrained in the fabric and system of the American society. The individual racist need not exist to note that institutional racism is pervasive in the dominant culture. This is the analytical lens that CRT uses in examining existing power structures. CRT identifies that these power structures are based on white privilege and white supremacy, which perpetuates the marginalization of people of color”

“Intersectionality within CRT points to the multidimensionality of oppressions and recognizes that race alone cannot account for disempowerment. “Intersectionality means the examination of race, sex, class, national origin, and sexual orientation, and how their combination plays out in various settings.” This is an important tenet in pointing out that CRT is critical of the many oppressions facing people of color and does not allow for a one–dimensional approach of the complexities of our world.”

ORIGINS OF CRT/INTERSECTIONALITY

Critical Race Theory

THE AUTHOR OF THE RESOLUTIONS ORIGINAL RESOLVES ON CRT AND INTERSECTIONALITY 

“RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Birmingham, Alabama, June 11-12, 2019, decry every philosophy or theology, including critical race theory and intersectionality, as antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, since they divide the people of Christ by defining fundamental identity as something other than our identity in Jesus Christ; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we deny any philosophy or theology that defines individuals primarily by non-transcendental social constructs rather than by the transcendental reality of all humans existing as the Imago Dei; and be it further

RESOLVED, That while we denounce critical race theory and intersectionality, we do not deny that ethnic, gender, cultural, and racial distinctions do in fact exist and are a gift from God that will give Him absolute glory when the entire gamut of human diversity worships Him in perfect unity founded upon our unity in Jesus Christ; and be it further

RESOLVED, That Southern Baptist Churches will seek to paint this eschatological picture in a proleptic manner in our churches in the present by focusing on our unity in Christ and our common humanity as the Imago Dei rather than dividing over the secondary matters than make us different; and be it further

RESOLVED, That Southern Baptists Churches and institutions will take a prophetic stand against all forms of biblically-defined injustice, but we will do so in a manner consistent with the biblical worldview rather than unbiblical worldviews; and be it further

RESOLVED, That Southern Baptist institutions need to make progress in rooting out the intentional promulgation of critical race theory and intersectionality in both our churches and institutions; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we earnestly pray, both for those who advocate ideologies meant to divide believers along intersectional lines and those who are thereby deceived, that they may see their error through the light of the Gospel, repent of these anti-Gospel beliefs, and come to know the peace and love of Christ through redeemed fellowship in the Kingdom of God, which is established from every nation, tribe, people, and language.”

COMPARE WITH THE ALTERED RESOLUTION’S RESOLVES 

“RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Birmingham, Alabama, June 11–12, 2019, affirm Scripture as the first, last, and sufficient authority with regard to how the Church seeks to redress social ills, and we reject any conduct, creeds, and religious opinions which contradict Scripture; and be it further

RESOLVED, That critical race theory and intersectionality should only be employed as analytical tools subordinate to Scripture—not as transcendent ideological frameworks; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the gospel of Jesus Christ alone grants the power to change people and society because “he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6); and be it further

RESOLVED, That Southern Baptists will carefully analyze how the information gleaned from these tools are employed to address social dynamics; and be it further

RESOLVED, That Southern Baptist churches and institutions repudiate the misuse of insights gained from critical race theory, intersectionality, and any unbiblical ideologies that can emerge from their use when absolutized as a worldview; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we deny any philosophy or theology that fundamentally defines individuals using categories identified as sinful in Scripture rather than the transcendent reality shared by every image bearer and divinely affirmed distinctions; and be it further

RESOLVED, That while we denounce the misuse of critical race theory and intersectionality, we do not deny that ethnic, gender, and cultural distinctions exist and are a gift from God that will give Him absolute glory when all humanity gathers around His throne in worship because of the redemption accomplished by our resurrected Lord; and be it finally

RESOLVED, That Southern Baptist churches seek to exhibit this eschatological promise in our churches in the present by focusing on unity in Christ amid image bearers and rightly celebrate our differences as determined by God in the new creation.”

Many in the SBC do not understand CRT -its origins or the role it plays in left wing political  social change .

RESOLUTIONS  COMMITTEE DOING THE BIDDING OF THE GOSPEL COALITION AND OTHER OUTSIDE FORCES PRESSING IN ON THE SBC 

Yes this is how they roll now- They also took a condemnation of Revoice by Oklahoma Pastor Steve Kern – rejected it but wrote their own using the presumption of Orientation and the words of Sam Allberry to keep SSA. – Costy Obedience – and pastoral Hospitality narratives alive . This is all leading up to the eventual LGBT Inclusion Auditing of our churches which 9MARKS/ Jonathan Leeman , Garret Kell and Mark Dever have already begun . Pay attention folks- the REsolutions Committee is doing the bidding of TGC and others.

REVOICE CONFERENCE  PROMOTING LGBT+ FLOURISHING IN HISTORIC CHRISTIAN TRADITION WAS TO BE CONDEMNED .

Pastor Steve Kerns Resolution and a petition supporting it were posted on his church website.

http://olivetbaptistokc.com/resolution-and-petition-2/

Pastor Kern’s Resolution

http://olivetbaptistokc.com/resolution-and-petition-2/

“A Resolution to be presented to the 2019 SBC, submitted by Dr. Steve Kern, Pastor of Olivet Baptist Church, 1201 NW 10th, Oklahoma City, OK 73106

Whereas the SBC Baptist Faith and Message states our belief that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible, immutable word of God, and is the final authority on all doctrine, including the doctrine of sin. P. 18, 1988.

Whereas the Bible in several passages in the Old and New Testament declares the sexual acts and practices of those living in LGBTQ+ lifestyles as sins against God, and are against His natural order and divine intent of sexual conduct.[1] Jesus Himself stated, “…Have you not read, that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, and said, ‘For this cause, a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?’”[2]

Whereas the objective of the REVOICE [3] LGBTQ+ Christian movement is the queering of the church by convincing church leaders that sexual orientation and sexual minorities are viable identities for Christians. With the belief that orientation and desires for one’s own sex rarely changes, thus does not require repentance or a conversion experience from such orientations to be in right standing with God. Thus, rather than being called to repentance and forgiveness of sin, the orientation should be affirmed and accepted into churches as true born-again believers with the new terminology of sexual minorities. We are reminded in God’s word, “But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, ‘that in the last time there shall be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts (orientations and desires).’ These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.” Jude 15-19 (NASV)

Whereas the Bible teaches that God’s grace brings about transformation [4] out of any sinful lifestyle by stating, “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASV) and “…knowing this that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died (in Christ) is freed from sin.” Romans 6:6-7 (NASV)

Whereas there are many historical examples from the time of Jesus Christ all the way down to the present day that give confirmation to the fact that transformation does take place in even the seemingly most hopeless sinners who repent of their sins, put their faith in Jesus Christ, and become born again believers transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit into the likeness of Christ. God’s word tells us how this takes place, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” Romans 12:2 (NASV)

Be it Resolved that we Southern Baptist Churches of the SBC are committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ that requires repentance of all sin described in Scripture and is evidenced by a changed life. Thus, we are committed to resisting the “REVOICE” objectives, as well as any other movements, attempting to cause Southern Baptists to compromise the truth and authority of God’s word to embrace “sexual minorities” as legitimate or any form of “LGBTQ+ Christianity”. We are also committed to believe that God’s grace, mercy, and love is available to all who believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and are willing to confess their sins, repent of their sins, and receive forgiveness of their sins, as they choose to receive Jesus Christ into

their lives as their Savior and Lord. Southern Baptist churches are open and welcoming to all those who are seeking a new life that can only be gained through repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ to be cleansed of all sin defined in scripture. God’s word says, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 (NASV)”

SBC RESOLUTION’S COMMITTEE REJECTED THE REVOICE CONDEMNATION AND DRAFTED A RESOLUTION AFFIRMING THE CONCEPT OF FIXED  HOMOSEXUAL SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND THE LANGUAGE OF “SAME SEX ATTRACTION “

http://www.sbcannualmeeting.net/sbc19/resolutions

THE COMMITTEES RESOLVES

“RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Birmingham, Alabama, June 11–12, 2019, recommend that Christians refrain from describing themselves or embracing a self-identity in ways that suggest affirmation of sinful desires or unbiblical social constructs (Matthew 5:27–30; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 5:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:3–5); and be it further

RESOLVED, That we call on all Christians who struggle against same-sex attraction to forsake any self-conception or personal identity that is contrary to God’s good and holy purposes in creation and redemption; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we commend the faithful witness of Christians who experience same-sex attraction, who remain chaste out of faithfulness to Christ, and whose costly obedience Jesus promises to reward (Matthew 16:24–26; 19:29); and be it further

RESOLVED, That we affirm that God’s grace provides both pardon and power so that a follower of Jesus Christ can mortify sinful desires and walk in a manner worthy of the gospel (1 Corinthians 10:13; and be it finally

RESOLVED, That we call on Southern Baptist churches to call sinners to repentance while ministering, encouraging, fostering hospitality, and extending Christlike love toward those brothers and sisters who experience same-sex attraction.”

Pastor Steve Kern

Pastor Kern and his team from Oklahoma made an effort to amend the language of the RC version from “Same Sex Attraction ” to a Biblically based and Gospel focused lens of addressing homosexual issues in the SBC .Their effort sought to amend the word “Attraction ” with the Biblical concept of “Temptation ” . The RC rejected the amendment because it felt the word attraction represented how those who struggle with SSA experience it “. The Biblical language did not reflect the feelings .

WHY NOT CONDEMN REVOICE ?

It is likely the Resolution condemning Revoice Conference was the only threat of further exposure of the Revoice movement that made it past the Baptist Meida Blockade of the story in Baptist press outlets and other mainstream media related to the SBC connections to Revoice .

The  2019 event happened the week before the SBC convention and included Mark Yarhouse in both a leadership role on Revoice council and as  a keynote speaker . Yarhouse is the Christian psychologist whose ideologies and interfaith work with the American Psychological Association support homosexual orientation and the narratives of TGC/ ERLC/ 9MARKS and a host of other organizations that are influencing the SBC on “LGBT+ ” issues . Yarhouse has spoken at many of these organizations events and is a regular feature at SBC seminaries including speaking in the Chapel services . The Resolutions Committee document might as well have been by Sam Allberry or Mark Yarhouse  in spite of the reality that this si the same 3rd base  narrative that has brought on the effort to steal home base for “LGBT+ Christianity” while Baptist and Evangelical are not looking

ERLC also has very close ties to Revoice as one of its fellows endorses  the event and a consultant for Russell Moore /ERLC is a leader in the Revoice Council and a speaker on Intersectionality of Race , Gender  and LGBT+ issues .

THE BIG GORILLA :SBTS TIES TO REVOICE 

Revoice Founder is Nate Collins who spent almost 15 years being trained at Albert Mohler’s Southern Baptist Theological Seminary . Collins was teaching New Testament at SBTS when he began the Revoice LGBT+ Flourishing movement. Albert Mohler has never acknowledged his training of Revoice movement founder Nate Collins and it is clear the Resolutions Committee was not going to allow a condemnation of it to bring attention to any of the above SBC ties to Revoice and “LGBT+ Christianity ”

Southern Baptist need to clean out of seminaries – our committees and our Convention and “Contend for the Faith once delivered  to the Saints”

Jude (NKJV)

Contend for the Faith

³ Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴ For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord ^[b]God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Old and New Apostates

⁵ But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶ And the angels who did not keep their ^[c]proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; ⁷ as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the ^[d]vengeance of eternal fire.

⁸ Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of ^[e]dignitaries. ⁹ Yet Michael the archangel, in ^[f]contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰ But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

Apostates Depraved and Doomed

¹² These are ^[g]spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried ^[h]about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; ¹³ raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

¹⁴ Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, ¹⁵ to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Apostates Predicted

¹⁶ These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. ¹⁷ But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: ¹⁸ how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. ¹⁹ These are ^[i]sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

Maintain Your Life with God

²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

²² And on some have compassion, ^[j]making a distinction; ²³ but others save ^[k]with fear, pulling them out of the ^[l]fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

Glory to God

WILL THE REAL SAM ALLBERRY PLEASE STAND UP?
by Rev Thomas Littleton

In recent months leading up to Revoice 2019 (which took place this past week) the Southern Baptist media machine was in full swing to KEEP Revoice 2019 out of the news. The efforts of some in the PCA to address and condemn the “LGBT+ Flourishing” conference from 2018 have made recent denominational headlines and been the topic of multiple blogs . But the SBC regulars like Denny Burk and Albert Mohler have had nothing to say about this years event and its SBC ties even though TGC and SBC thought leader on LGBT sexuality and gender  Mark  Yarhouse was a keynote speaker at Revoice 2019.

A series of articles by anti -social justice /Dallas Statement leader Tom Buck served to focus attentions on part of the LGBT+ problem in the SBC by turning the spotlight on Sam Allberry and his UK based ministry  “Living Out”. At issue were some 6 year old articles posted on the Living Out website. Much of the deeper controversy on Allberrys ministry were left out of the discussion. Hardly a peep was being spoken about the current and ongoing controversy of Revoice 2019 and its considerable ties to the ERLC/ TGC/ and Albert Mohler’s SBTS or that SBC/TGC favorite Mark Yarhouse spoke at Revoice 2019.

(From the Revoice social media Mark Yarhouse speaking at Revoice 2019 )

The Buck / Allberry skirmish launched a TGC interview between Allberry and 9MARKS editor Jonathan Leeman. Tensions calmed after a contrite Allberry agreed to “audit the Living Out website” . However no mention was made of the Living Out  “LGBTQ+Inclusion Audit ” for churches  or that Leeman’s ( and Mark Dever) own 9MARKS churches began to implement the Living Out training and audit in the Fall of 2018. All was nicely smoothed over and even Tom Buck tweeted out his deep appreciation of his brother Allberry and expressing thankfulness for his ministry. The sad reality in the SBC is that a major pro LGBTQ+ movement is thriving in our midst and those in leadership  are either playing DODGEBALL or SOFTBALL with it. This reality may set in far too late to stop the movement.

So let us take a look at who introduced  Sam Allberry to the people of the SBC and how he became a TGC editor .

(This article is a portion of a chapter in the forthcoming book “Social Injustice” available  http://www.gatekeepersonline.com/socialinjusticebook . You may preorder the book now. Type is the code Thomas for a free audiobook )

WILL THE REAL SAM ALLBERRY PLEASE STAND UP :THE ALLBERRY LIVING OUT ORIGINS AND INTRODUCTION 
The ERLC conference on The Gospel Homosexuality and the Future of Marriage introduced a host of new speakers to the SBC in 2014 all claiming to be
‘same-sex attracted (SSA), but celibate’ Christians. (some professed to be in mixed orientation marriages- homosexual married to a heterosexual––yes dizzying by design). Though not advocating FOR gay marriage or approval of active gays in the church, these
speakers represented a chorus who would begin with the SSA language, and in time,
advocate openly for singles adoption and foster care supported by the church. By 2018,
the SSA talking points would include open attacks on the nuclear family as an “idol” and
brazenly deny that heterosexuality is normal or should be the object of a believer in their future identity.

The “idolatry of family” language comes straight from the halls of Drew University Theological School and feminist theologian, Janet Fishburn. The attack on
the Christian family is driven by political goals seeking the eventual outcome of
weakening and destroying the incubator of Christian conservatism in American culture,
which hinders the advance of progressive causes like the feminist agenda.
Among the herd of SSA speakers introduced at the 2014 ERLC conference was
the soon to be rising star, Sam Allberry––a self-proclaimed SSA gay priest from the
Church of England. The British Parliament had redefined marriage in the UK by a 2013
decision. The Queen had signed gay marriage into law and 2014 witnessed its
implementation. The Church of England, being a state Church where the Bishops have
seats in the House of Lords and the Queen is the head of the Church, required
compliance to and embracement of the law of the land.
The Church of England has very small weekly attendance. By 2017, the number
of actual weekly attendees was below 725,000 out of a population of 67 million.
Numbers continue to decline rapidly, and fears are increasing among church leaders
that forcing gay marriage on the church may cause an even more rapid decline. The
response was to call for a report or study, and the task was assigned to Sir Joseph
Pilling a retired agent of the British Department of Health. The end goal of the effort was
to address the issue of the acceptance of gay marriage in the Church of England. From
the Pilling Report came a recommendation two year facilitated “conversation” (in other
words, a controlled dialogue or dialectic) on the issues of homosexuality and marriage.
This “dialogue” was to be carried on by selected leaders and controlled by the church
and conducted in various locations around the UK. Part of what arose as representing
the “historic, conservative” view of marriage and sexuality was a ministry called Living
Out, which was founded by an assortment of same-sex attracted, gay, Church of
England priests. One of those priests was Sam Allberry.
Operating from the position of fixed sexual orientation, and resourcing the same
psychological community researchers and leaders like Mark Yarhouse and Stanton
Jones, Living Out conducts conferences across the UK using various approaches and
nuanced language. For example, though the front page of the website states halfway
down that they prefer to use the label ‘same-sex attracted’ instead of the phrase ‘gay
Christian,’ the opening paragraph on the site states, “We are a group of Christians who
experience same-sex attraction bringing out into the open the questions and dilemmas
that gay Christians can often face.”
Living Out leaders, including Allberry, have enjoyed massive promotion and
acceptance as the go-to source for issues related to LGBT+ in the Church of England.
This is despite the often self-contradicting and nuanced language which often confuses
readers and listeners. Allberry’s book, “Is God Anti-Gay?” became a hit among
evangelicals leaders on both sides of the Atlantic. Living Out––though left on center by
promoting fixed homosexual orientation, and not historically biblical at all––became the
new “conservative/biblical response to homosexuality and marriage” in the Pilling
Report conversations. To date, the members of Living Out remain publicly opposed to
gay marriage, yet push for narratives of inclusion and ordination in the name of celibacy
or “mixed orientation marriage” adherents by LGBT+ members of the church and clergy.
Allberry and others from Living Out were invited to speak in the 2014 ERLC
conference in the US and soon became very popular with The Gospel Coalition (TGC)
as writers and speakers in TGC conferences. Allberry became an editor on LGBT
related issues for TGC, and writes and speaks for ERLC and Russell Moore––the
advocate for change in the US conversation on LGBT-related topics. Allberry also went
to work for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries as a speaker and writer. These
positions placed Allberry and Living Out at the very heart of the LGBT and marriage
issues, providing “answers” which is actually driven by a politically motivated order of
Parliament in the UK for a State-owned Church of England. This reality, and how it
relates to the church in the US, where the two are separated in order to protect religious
freedoms guaranteed in the US Constitution, has thus far failed to become part of the
serious questions that have arisen as a result of the Living Out advocacy for SSA
Couples living together, singles adoption, and church “hospitality” toward the LGBT+
community, taking several years to come to the full attention of more conservative
evangelicals.

By 2019, though, it has come under scrutiny and objections have finally
been raised. Allberry had also been joined on the TGC/ERLC conference circuit by
others like Rosaria Butterfield, who is billed as a pastor’s wife and homeschool mom,
and is also a former lesbian and liberal academic whose specialty is in critical theory
and queer theory and literature informed by Freud, Marx, and Darwin. At present, over a dozen people with a variety of backgrounds and “testimonies” have been employed by
TGC and ERLC to further the SSA—celibate—LGBT narrative in the biblically
conservative US denominations churches, seminaries, and parachurch movements.
The great common uniting factor is the embrace of fixed sexual orientation and the
ever-present influence of Mark Yarhouse, and American Psychological Association
(APA) compliant “Christian psychology.”
A Turning Point for Allberry and Living Out
Allberry, and to a lesser degree, Living Out and others in the SSA narrative, have
enjoyed unfettered access and unquestioned influence in the US churches. The various
Reformed movements and parachurch organizations like TGC and ‘Together For the
Gospel’ (T4G) have shown an insatiable appetite for the SSA talking points and every
nuanced variation and application of them. This changed in spring of 2018.
Allberry, Living Out, and Yarhouse Get Too Close to the Fire
The TGC and ERLC conference on racial relations and the Martin Luther King, Jr
legacy in Memphis TN was the beginning of the end for unquestioned allegiance to
those two organization by many. The accusations of “white privilege” and that “southern
Christians worship Jim Crow as Jesus,” along with efforts to validate the poor theology
of MLK, sent shockwaves through the evangelical community and gave rise to concerns
leading to loud objections and statements of descent like the “Dallas Statement.” Within
days of this controversy came public the knowledge that Sam Allberry and Living Out
were promoting TGC co-founder, Tim Keller, speaking in London on LGBT identity, and
“for their US audience” they promoted the radical “Revoice Conference.” Revoice, to be
held in St Louis, MO in July, was/is openly “promoting LGBT+ thriving in historic
Christian tradition.” Many of the younger TGC LGBT protégé writers and multiple ERLC/
TGC/ PCA members were either promoting and/or speaking at the Revoice event. This
included Living Out partner Wesley Hill, and fellow Keller-progressive PCA leader, Scott
Sauls.
The promotion by Living Out and Allberry of Revoice became even more
disturbing as Revoice rolled out its full line of workshops and speakers. These included
gay Catholic activists and multiple gay campus ministry leaders clearly under the
influence of TGC–Carson–Christ of Campus Initiative–Yarhouse white paper from 2010.
Mark Yarhouse, who openly embraced Revoice 2019 when he became a speaker for
the second year’s event, was behind the scenes promoting and defending the inaugural
event on social media along with Allberry and Living Out. Revoice workshops and
speakers aggressively advocate for LGBT+ Christianity and Queer Christianity while
promoting the “treasures of Queer Literature, Queer Culture, and Queer Theory in the
church and in the New Jerusalem.” These realities, along with Revoice advocacy for the
church to “embrace the LGBT+ community at large” led to an awakening from a six year
SSA conversational stupor to the realization that on the back of nuanced language and
SSA–celibacy, LGBT+ Queer Christianity is now inside the camp of conservative
evangelical Christianity in America, and the players listed in this writing have had key
roles in bringing this reality to pass.
A lessor known fact is that Revoice founder, Nate Collins, is a disciple of TGC,
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS), and Southern Baptist leader, Albert
Mohler. Collins spent nearly 15 years as a student, student leader, and later, teacher of
the New Testament at SBTS. ERLC’s Russell Moore is also an Albert Mohler disciple,
having spent over 20 years at SBTS before ascending the ERLC position and seeking
to alter Southern Baptist views on welcoming LGBT. It’s also important to note that
several ERLC council members and contributors openly endorsed Revoice.
Mohler disciples like Denny Burk and Owen Strachan of Council for Biblical
Manhood and Womanhood wrote articles of semi-support through a “wait and see”
attitude toward the event. In actuality, these same circles of men had presented and
discussed these “Revoice”-advocated ideas when presenting academic papers at the
annual Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) events since at least 2013. Mohler made
several attempts at giving the radical event the benefit of the doubt, but never
mentioned the name of his disciple, SBTS Nate Collins, who was still teaching New
Testament at Mohler’s seminary when the Revoice event was founded. Mohler
remained silent about Collins in his multiple public statements and writings until an
August 2nd, 2018 article just after the Revoice July event. In this final critical article,
Collins is named nine times, but his SBTS ties are NEVER mentioned by Mohler.
Revoice is now established as a 501(c)(3), and remains as a movement with ties that go
deep within both the SBC and PCA denominations and their flagship seminaries, SBTS
and CTS.

Revoice 2019 is being given deep cover by the mainstream press with
virtually no coverage of the event at all, in spite of its ever-deepening radical narratives.
Sam Allberry and Living Out, in June meetings with TGC’s Tim Keller, had
introduced a Church LGBT+ Inclusion Audit including the word “Biblical” to assert that
churches needed to be put to the test with a ten point set of statements to be marked by
congregations as “true, false, (or) not sure.” The audit was praised in the June meetings
with Keller by his wife Cathy, who endorsed it and insisted she was making copies and
taking them back to use at Redeemer, the Keller’s NYC based congregation. Living Out
did not go public with the audit in featured media outside the conference until August,
after the Revoice conference was done and controversies were hopefully dying down
related to it.

The audit began to be implemented in the UK almost immediately, and by
September 2018, were being welcomed into three 9MARKS churches in the US. One of
these churches was the high profile Southern Baptist congregation of TGC leader and
9MARKS founder, SBC pastor Mark Dever. The audit at this point called for Christians
in compliant churches to be willing to “share their children with [clearly implied] LGBT
people.” It also called for policing pulpits, private conversations and even thoughts of
congregants for discussions and attitudes deemed inappropriate, and for the hiring of
LGBT staff.
Brannon Howse of Worldview Weekend, along with this writer, began to expose
the Living Out / Allberry “Church LGBT Inclusion Audit.” Others in Christian media
followed, exposing the controversial and arrogant ‘putting churches to the test’ audit.
The most controversial “sharing children” statement in number nine of the audit was
changed to read “share family time,” and Mark Dever’s Capitol Hill Baptist SBC church
was removed from the Living Out website. 9MARKS pastor and ERLC Council member
and ‘Dever-protégé,’ Garrett Kell, and his SBC church Del Ray Baptist, continued to be
listed as the host of the LGBT inclusion training and audit implementation. Allberry continued speaking on the topic of sharing children in the fall of 2018, as part of the
ERLC “Cross Shaped Family Conference,” and echoed the controversial talking points
of Revoice by decrying the “idolatry of the nuclear family” by the church. This language
is taken directly from the feminist theologian Janet Fishburn, of Drew University Divinity
School, and her 1991 book by the same title. Little had actually changed except a slight
shuffle on the Living Out website.

The labeling of traditional and Christian biblical views as an idol is a cultural Marxist approach to destroying the foundations of society and taking over the primary institution where values, convictions, and character are shaped.
In the case of the feminist theologian, Fishburn, the political motivations are glaringly
displayed, as well as her advocating for replacing the nuclear family with the
communitarian vision of the church as family, as long as that church is not stuck in
Christian principles from the Victorian era, and resistant to progressive political
movements advocating for the causes of “race, feminist and gay rights.” Sound familiar?
ERLC’s Russell Moore, in his book which provided the theme for the ERLC 2018 Family
Conference, shares the family “replacement” ideology and echoes much of the Fishburn
message and progressive political talking points.
Allberry appeared to be getting some much needed scrutiny in the SBC from
Texas pastor Tom Buck in the spring of 2019. Buck wrote several articles on
controversial topics related to LGBT and SSA-but-celibate “couples” on the Living Out
website. There were several problems with the Buck approach, however. For one, the
articles mentioned in the criticisms had been posted on the Living Out website, as
confirmed by Allberry, for over six years. Why were leaders in the SBC only becoming
concerned about them now? Buck, who is part of the anti-social justice Dallas
Statement, also did not delve into the core of the SSA issues related to their origins in
the APA and Yarhouse. In fact, at least one of the articles from the Living Out website
cited Mark Yarhouse (who will be a keynote speaker at Revoice 2019) and his research
with Stanton Jones of Wheaton as a primary source. The issue of “orientation” was left
to continue to dislodge the Christian community from the LGBT “conversation” from
being anchored soundly in and confined to biblical context. Mohler, Keller, Moore and
TGC remain successful in keeping the view that LGBT+ orientation is fixed and is a
viable Christian view.
The controversial Living Out articles in question in the Tom Buck writings were
taken down. Buck had a nice conversation with a “humble” Allberry, and in a social
media post, declared him a valued brother in Christ. The importance of this compromise
was Buck’s role in The Dallas Statement, one of the most public efforts thus far
opposing the Social Justice movement.
In the midst of the Allberry “controversy,” and while Revoice 2019 was coming
public with its event details with virtually zero mention, TGC and 9MARKS Jonathan
Leeman interviewed Sam Allberry at Midwestern Seminary during the TGC 2019 mini
conference. Both men are editors––Leeman for 9MARKS, and Allberry for TGC. Both
work with ERLC and Russell Moore, and both are very skilled wordsmiths. In this
interview, Allberry shifts from the use of the term “orientation,” saying “it is no longer
working for us now.” He and Leeman then retreat to the biblical term “temptation” when
framing the conversation on SSA and homosexuality among professing Christians.
The effort to further explain the articles on the Living Out website and the Tom
Buck criticism is used to advance what is to be taken as a spontaneous conversation
where Allberry shows contrition, agrees to “audit the Living Out website” and offers up
humility while explaining his positions. Even as this effort to rehabilitate their image is
taking place, Allberry is able to find himself in even more controversial comments after
asserting once again that his homosexual desire is not in itself sinful, and that replacing
it with heterosexual desire and “lust” is not his goal, nor that of the gospel. Allberry is
asserting that the SSA desires in the hearts of himself and others (which even identify
them and their faith) do not  hinder their pursuit of holiness. This assertion and
the attack on heterosexuality as normal are totally in the face of Jesus’ own warnings
against “looking to lust,” Matthew 5:28, and in James’ clear warning that the desire of
the heart is the seedbed for sin and death, James 1:12-15. The irony is that Leeman
and Allberry, for the moment, abandon the APA/Yarhouse “homosexual orientation”
framework, and use the biblical term ‘temptation,’ while in the very same discussion fail
to recognize or acknowledge the truth about temptation and the desire (in this case SSA
desire) which James addresses.

It should be noted also that both Revoice and Living Out Allberry are presently attempting to give historic context and validation to their LGBT+ Christianity narrative by tagging onto the legacy of John Stott. Stott is a favorite of TGC when promoting their social justice narrative, and is one of Tim Keller’s mentors.
Some have even dubbed Keller the ‘new Stott.’ Much of the SSA language, again, as
noted, was launched in the 2010 Lausanne South Africa meetings, where Keller was the
featured speaker.
It should also be noted that at the SBC annual meetings in Dallas, Texas, and
several other such Leeman and Allberry conversations, that we also find Leeman and
his boss, TGC leader Mark Dever, discussing Leeman’s new book advocating “third
way” politics. In the interview, these Baptist leaders are attempting to nuance language
over Christian opposition to abortion relating to Christian voting habits. Jonathan
Leeman is a graduate of the London School of Economics, which was founded by a
Fabian socialist, and is an epicenter of global progressivism. Dever revealed this fact in
the SBC interview, while Leeman’s 9MARKS bio makes no mention of it. Leeman does
mention that he served in DC as an editor for a global economics magazine, but refuses
to name the publication when asked multiple times. These public discussions are given
the appearance of men thinking through complex topics in public view. They are meant
to appear spontaneous and contemplative, when in fact, far more background should be
considered before taking any such conversations about Christians’ political convictions,
voting habits, or views on LGBT+ at face value. We must ask, “who are these people,
and what goals are they actually pursuing?”
The Unseen Layer Behind the LGBT+ Christian Conversation: Money – Money –
Money – Money – M – O – N – E – Y
In 2014, a secular political activist organization or “LGBT equality”–the Human
Rights Campaign (HRC)–launched the faith focused, “Project One America,” (POA). The
“project” focused on three southern states: Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama. Though
part of a larger broad “faith” focus, POA mainly directed their attention on evangelical
denominations that do not affirm homosexuality and equality. Funding came for this
project from an unannounced source, but totaled over 8.5 million dollars. In April, 2014,
HRC brought this project to Birmingham and the state of Alabama. In this same effort,
HRC organized and opened their politically focused operations with the Alabama State
HRC chapter. Southern Baptist, PCA, and other conservative churches of note were
targeted for infiltration, being “put to the test” for inclusion. HRC then went from these
faith efforts with guaranteed meetings with ERLC and conservative Christian leadership,
to the fall of that year being welcomed into the ERLC/Russell Moore conference spoken
about previously. By 2017, HRC boasted that this Project One America budget for 2018
alone was over $26 million for one year. How much of that funding went into
cooperating entities and individual efforts by hands inside evangelicalism is not known.

RUSSELL MOORE AND ALBERT MOHLER CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE OF THEIR OWN RACIAL AND #METOO HYPOCRISY.

By Rev Thomas Littleton                                                                                     5/31/2019

The ERLC of Russell Moore has been a constant source of tireless activism to redefine what it means to be Southern Baptist and Christian . Along with Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) of Albert  Mohler and their broader joint efforts as part of The Gospel Coalition these men and their entities have firebombed the SBC with a relentless napalm of victims/narratives to engender  inner conflict with it’s racial history, treatment of gays and women and it’s multitude of asserted gospel witness lapses in voting pro family and supporting President Donald Trump. However the constant role playing dressup to dress down and conflict Baptist souls  has left these two men and others in their loop in a good ole fashion Southern quandray. How do they satisfy the need for addressing abuse and promoting women’s empowerment while embracing and promoting racial division in the name of MLK’s legacy as further revelations of his abuses unfold?

Can Moore address the needs of abused women in the SBC while promoting the legacy of an FBI alleged abuser? Can Mohler “Rid the SBC and SBTS of the Stain of Racism” and defend them against his protege’ Russell Moore’s egalitarian movement  while the needs of racial minorities and gender minorities collide? Whose justice now prevails?

UPDATE ON SBTS/ ALBERT MOHLER /RUSSELL MOORE RACIAL HYPOCRISY

LIKE THE WILEY TACTICS OF TWO CIRCUS PERFORMERS

At the moment the focus of  Moore is to provide an answer to the sexual abuse and cover up scandals exposed by the Houston Chronicle. His answer appears to be more Beth Moore in the SBC.

https://erlc.com/upcoming-events/2019-erlc-national-conference

“The American church is facing an abuse crisis. Is your church doing all it can to be safe for survivors and safe from abuse? Churches should be a refuge for those who have experienced abuse. But, too often, survivors haven’t found the protection they deserve and the care they need from the church. Are you ready to join us in changing that?”

• 

  Russell Moore

• 

  Beth Moore

Meanwhile while Mohler appears to play the conservative mourning the assault on the SBCs historic views on women in ministry.

The 2018 embrace of the MLK legacy by these SBC leaders was problematic on many fronts. Laced with critical race theory and accusation, it was certainly not driven by a spirit of Christian unity but instead by division and talk of reparations which continue more than a year later .

Those problems include :

MLK was not a conservative minister theologically. He doubted the Divinity of Jesus, the virgin birth, substitutionary atonement, and the second coming. Social action was equated as the Gospel . In 2014 this history was actually pointed out by The Gospel Coalition in an article by Joe Carter . But by 2018 it was completely ignored in the TGC/ERLC conference held in Memphis  accusing white Christianity of institutionalized racism. For Moore/Mohler or TGC to claim adherence to and to represent leadership of orthodox Biblical Theology while marketing such contradiction is laughable but for the seriousness of the damage it inflicts.

One of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference cofounder with King was Bayard Rustin a homosexual Marxist who helped organize some of the key events of the Civil Rights Movement. Rustin was quietly folded out of leadership in the SCLC and became an advocate of gay rights . In the 1990 Rustin declared (in more raw street language) that Gay is the New Black . MLK biographies like the Oprah produced film “Selma” feature a Rustin character but do not name him in efforts to honor his role without raising controversy.

Close friend and co-founder of the SCLC with MLK Ralph Abernathy in 1989 published his biography “When the Walls Came Tumbling Down ” . In it Abernathy  revealed King’s marital infidelity, stating that King had sexual relations with two women on the night of April 3, 1968 after his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech earlier that day. Talk of the details of MLK’s infidelity have continued through the years as the contents of now leaked FBI reports are discuss in detail by biographer David Garrow.

Now the conflicts over SBC /TGC /ERLC – MLK/50 movement have grown .

https://www.ajc.com/news/breaking-news/biographer-garrow-pens-explosive-report-martin-luther-king/fqPKW1dndGA5g4oAkzRoIJ/

AJC reports that

“Martin Luther King Jr. allegedly had sexual relations with at least 40 women, from prostitutes to people within his inner circle, according to explosive new research published Thursday by David J. Garrow, one of the civil rights leader’s foremost biographers.”

“The most shocking allegation, culled from decades-old FBI files, details a 1964 incident in which King reportedly “looked on, laughed and offered advice” to a fellow preacher who was raping a woman in a hotel room.”

“Garrow recounts other allegations from formerly sealed FBI documents – including that King fathered a love child and participated in an orgy with a female gospel legend — in an eight-page essay he wrote for Standpoint, a British cultural and political magazine.”

CAN MOHLER AND MOORE SPEAK TO HIDDEN ABUSE OF WOMEN IN THE SBC FROM THE PLATFORM OF MLK/50?

https://www.wnd.com/2019/05/will-a-feminist-mob-now-sledgehammer-mlks-statue/

Writer Laura Hollis addresses the conflict between the cause of #MeToo movement and the MLK legacy.

“So, what happens now?”

“According to Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Garrow, FBI surveillance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the late 1950s and early 1960s (the records of which were just released) produced evidence that Dr. King had dozens of extramarital affairs, participated in sex orgies, hired prostitutes, used the most vulgar language to describe his conduct with women and even laughingly looked on while an associate allegedly raped a woman in a hotel room.”

“Will the civil rights icon be subject to the same standard that is now being applied to other towering historical figures?

“In this era of #MeToo and “Trust Women,” what would the reaction be if a group of feminist activists were to arrange a protest around the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C., take sledgehammers and other blunt instruments to the statue of the man there, deface it with spray-painted sayings and hire a crane to knock it over? What would the public reaction be if local police and the National Park Service personnel were ordered to “stand down” and allow that to happen? Would pundits, gender and race scholars and Hollywood tweeters jump to the protesters’ defense? Would we hear calls for all streets and schools and parks named for Dr. King to be renamed?”

“I don’t think so. (And I would hope not.) But the deafening silence since the sordid revelations – unverified though some of them are – says plenty about the public discomfort when our heroes are revealed to be deeply flawed individuals. What does it do to their legacy? What standards are we holding public figures to now?”

ERLC CONFERENCE TO ADDRESS ABUSE WILL FEATURE SPEAKER ENDORSED BY BILL CLINTON .

The ERLC ” Caring Well Conference” will not only feature Russell and Beth Moore but also includes the co-founder of the International Justice Mission  Gary Haugen. His controversial work and most recent book are endorsed by none other than famed abuser of women ,former President Bill Clinton .

https://www.thelocusteffect.com/

“Throughout my life I’ve seen firsthand that while talent, ambition, and hard work are distributed equally among all people around the world, many face challenges each day simply surviving. The Locust Effect is a compelling reminder that if we are to create a 21st Century of shared prosperity, we cannot turn a blind eye to the violence that threatens our common humanity.”

BILL CLINTON

Former U.S. President

It seems that Moore and Mohler are either blind to such contradictions and the hypocrisy betrayed by them or they expect Christians to be ignorant enough not to notice.

ERLC /RUSSELL MOORE APPEAR TO ASSUME MORE BETH MOORE WILL SOLVE ABUSE PROBLEMS IN THE SBC 

Beth Moore is struggling to find her way in the egalitarian vs complementarian SBC stand off . She retracted a tweet espousing an egalitarian view as being more part of the historic SBC view of women in ministry citing the former SBTS head Roy Honeycutt who Albert Mohler replaced as part of the “Conservative Resurgence” in the Southern Baptist.

Beth Moore seems lost in the Twitter fray and unaware that she and her work with Russell Moore and the ERLC are caught in the ” SBC Minutia” and hair splitting over the creation of a Hindu new age “Manusha” icon of Beth for “Natyashastra Theatrics and Dramaturgy” in the SBC. Beth Moore going full on egalitarian as she tweets beyond her SBC handlers controls is proving very problematic for her and for Moore and Mohler.

The twitter apology

POINTING TO CANADIAN LEGISLATION AND IGNORING THE EQUALITY ACT, MOHLER PROVES THE HIGH COST TO OTHERS FOR HIS OWN COMPROMISE .

Rev Thomas Littleton                                                                                                   5/23/2019

Albert Mohler is the head of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a “champion” of the conservative Christian movement for over twenty five years. People regularly listen to his broadcast “The Briefing ” to hear Al’s take on current issues from a reformed theological perspective . While a growing number of people are disenchanted with Mohler’s involvement in and unwillingness to reject the “social justice” movement infiltration,they still look to Mohler for wisdom. Mohler followers felt uncomfortable as they watched him seething on stage at a recent Shepherds Conference when pressed for answers about the “social gospel ” compromise. Listeners on May 21st 2019 had the opportunity to hear Albert Mohler reach a new low in assumption, presumption and admission of his own failure in leadership. In commenting on Christians in the medical field Albert Mohler made one of the most stupid and contradictory statements of his public life.

https://albertmohler.com/2019/05/21/briefing-5-21-19/

PART I

How Long Can Christians Genuinely Hold to Christian Convictions and Stay in the Medical Field?

Mohler is attempting to give some perspective on coming challenges that will be facing Christians in the future .”As we’re watching the society around us, one thing has become increasingly clear, and that is that as we look at the collision between Christian conviction and the larger culture, one of the touchpoints is going to be the professions….We are talking here about profession, such as law, and medicine, architecture and engineering. We’re looking at that inevitable collision between the moral revolution and religious liberty, and we’re looking at the fact that there are some very hard days ahead.”

“But here’s where the explosion is about to happen. When you have a moral revolution taking place, in our society, as we have just over the last two decades in particular, when you have basic issues such as sexuality and gender and marriage and human social organization thrown into the mix, with a new morality. Well in order to fit in the society, the professions begin to conform to the larger societal norms. To say, the matter bluntly, what we’re looking at is the fact that law and medicine as professions are under enormous cultural pressure, by the new powers that be, morally speaking in the culture, to completely abdicate to the LGBTQ revolution and not only to as practices, but it’s logic. You see this in medicine with doctors being told this is the new morality of medicine, this is the new understanding of medical ethics.”

PAUSE FOR DOCUMENTATION 

(Albert Mohler publically abdicating to the LGBTQ revlotuions logic in 2014 : https://albertmohler.com/2014/11/13/sexual-orientation-and-the-gospel-of-jesus-christ/ “The concept of sexual orientation is not only helpful, it is in some sense essential. Even those who argue against its existence have to describe and affirm something tantamount to it. “)

MOHLER WARNINGS FOR MEDICAL ETHICS RESUMED

“And this raises a huge question, not only in medicine but in other professions inevitably. How long can Christians genuinely holding to Christian conviction continue in some of these professions? I want to point to two very ominous headline articles in the recent media, just over the last several days, the first comes from Canada. National Review ran the article by Wesley J. Smith, the headline: “Canadian Court: Doctors Must Euthanize, Abort, or Refer.” As Wesley J. Smith writes, “The culture of death brooks no dissent. In Canada, doctors have been ordered to bend the knee. Here’s the story: The Canadian Charter (Constitution) guarantees ‘freedom of conscience and religion.’”

Mohler continues to quote Wesley Smith ““After the Supreme Court created a right to euthanasia, Ontario passed a law requiring doctors to kill legally eligible patients who want to die or provide an ‘effective referral’ if they have moral objections — i.e., procure a doctor known by the dissenter to be willing to euthanize patients.”…”What you’re looking at there, is the absolute category called unconditional denial of conscience rights to physicians in Ontario. You’re also notice something else that is central to this moral revolution.”

Mohler cast doubt on the validity of Christians to remain in healthcare in the future  with out violating their conscience because of a top down Canadian court decision that he sees as providing some sort of “handwriting on the wall” for all Christians in the medical field.

SO WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL WITH AL’S POINT ?

The problem with Mohler’s statement and the fact that he even goes here in his conclusions is loaded with irony, duplicity, and hypocrisy. For those who follow Mohler when he makes off the wall statements – it becomes obvious that the problem with his cultural commentary is more often in what he does not say than in the reasonable “thinking in public” he wishes to appear to be doing .

Mohler’s willingness to express abandon of critical professions like medicine is based on a “clash of conscience” with , in this case a Canadian Court decision which he asserts that he sees as shaping the narrative coming to the US . It is interesting that in the line up of Resolutions for the Southern Baptist Convention meetings in June is a call for whistleblowers in the SBC to be protected from those who would threaten their futures and incomes and are denied “freedom of conscience ” by the culture in the SBC of which Mohler is a major influence. If Mohler is worried about the conscience of doctors, lawyers and architects – why is he willing to force silence and compliance among his own theological circles? Mohler is said to have threatened those in his employ if they dare to go against the “company line ” at SBTS. The prevailing culture in the SBC is governed by an unwritten code often referred to as “the 11th commandment “. Albert Mohler is part of the SBC’s  powerstrictures who do the force the same violations he is pointing fingers at in this broadcast. See the SBC Whistleblowers Resolution below

https://englishmanif.blogspot.com/2019/04/robert-oscar-lopez-resolution-on.html?m=1&fbclid=IwAR1qYhr1kBqIXuyvWuKnQ8X8H9ikE2jjkgg4opEqXe5jBJxoygKmFDxNJkA

(Resolution excerpt /conclusions

“RESOLVED, That the Southern Baptist Convention affirms that there are only ten commandments in Exodus 20:3-17, and none instructing Southern Baptists to refrain from criticizing Baptist leaders, even publicly if necessary; and be it further”

“RESOLVED, That the Southern Baptist Convention denounces “gentleman’s agreements” designed to force silence on people whose livelihoods depend on the Convention due to their service to the Convention; and be it further”

“RESOLVED, That the Southern Baptist Convention denounces “non-disclosure agreements” and calls all Southern Baptist leaders who have imposed them on former employees to repent of them; and be it further”

“RESOLVED, That the Southern Baptist Convention denounces retaliatory actions by Southern Baptist leaders, such as contacting critics’ employees or charges in order to threaten critics’ jobs or standing within their community; and be it finally”

“RESOLVED, That the Southern Baptist Convention calls all Southern Baptists to proclaim and avail themselves of their freedom of conscience, since our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ told us in John 8:32, “the Truth will set you free.”)”

LGBTQ+ AND MOHLER DOUBLESPEAK 

What about Mohler’s basis that the new sexual revolution and the LGBTQ+ movement provide a threat to Christians in medicine ?

Is he just now figuring this out?

Or is it Albert Mohler who has provided much of the stand down orders that have led Christians in medicine to this “crisis point?

In 2013 Mohler disciple Russell Moore ascended the presidency of the ERLC when he left SBTS after 20 years under Mohler’s influence . Moores “opening act” was to declare “the culture wars  over and lost” and that Christians need to “just love our gay and lesbian neighbors “. From day one Moore working as the SBCs chief Ethics and Lobbyist has been under this Mohler influence and issuing  “stand down” order to fellow Baptist in response to the aggressive LGBTQ+ agenda. In fact the circles connected to SBTS/ Mohler drive the “victim narratives ” and parade sexual minority activist through their conferences while ignoring deadly realities like the “Equality Act ” year after year.. This is what happens when leaders like Mohler/ Moore and a host of others act as if there is no LGBTQ+ agenda . It is simply some nice gay folk who want to be your neighbor.

Also ,as noted above ,in 2014 Mohler “confessed , apologized for being wrong, and embraced the fanciful idea of “sexual orientation ” and set the church on an extra-biblical narrative altogether . This ideology is straight out of the Atheistic camp and the American Psychological Association and provides footing for LGBTQ+ validation on the presumption of a “fixed and unchanging reality of sexual orientation ” . With this shift Mohler also laid the foundation stones for building the case of “LGBTQ+ Christianity. By 2017 Mohler disciple Nate Collins ,an SBTS teacher of New Testament, was founding the “Revoice ” movement and planning the Revoice conference promoting just such a category of “Christian sexual minorities” .

SBC PASTORS RESISTING REVOICE MOVEMENT 

There is also a Resolution to condemn the Revoice movement in the SBC and deny the false assertions of “LGBTQ+ Christianity ”

http://olivetbaptistokc.com/resolution-and-petition-2/

Excerpts

“Be it Resolved that we Southern Baptist Churches of the SBC are committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ that requires repentance of all sin described in Scripture and is evidenced by a changed life. Thus, we are committed to resisting the “REVOICE” objectives, as well as any other movements, attempting to cause Southern Baptists to compromise the truth and authority of God’s word to embrace “sexual minorities” as legitimate or any form of “LGBTQ+ Christianity”. We are also committed to believe that God’s grace, mercy, and love is available to all who believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and are willing to confess their sins, repent of their sins, and receive forgiveness of their sins, as they choose to receive Jesus Christ into their lives as their Savior and Lord. Southern Baptist churches are open and welcoming to all those who are seeking a new life that can only be gained through repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ to be cleansed of all sin defined in scripture. God’s word says, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 (NASV)”

ALBERT MOHLER’S HEALTHCARE CRISIS 

Mohler established The Commonweal Project at SBTS in partnership with the Kern Family Foundation/ Oikonomia Network / and Acton Institute to promote “Common Good” / Communitarianism through Kern’s “Faith and Work” focused programs combining the values of faith in the workplace. In reality this program is more akin to “Purpose Driven” training for pastors to recruit volunteerism.

Kern Family Foundation is funding similar programs on many Evangelical Campuses around the nation and in multiple denominations. Interestingly at the same time Kern is also funding a growing focus in healthcare and an effort to “transform medical education”. This began in 2017 at The Medical College of Wisconsin and is now in a total of seven schools and growing rapidly .

https://www.medednext.org/MedEdNext/About.htm

“MedEdNext is creating a national movement to transform medical education.

We are a broad community of educators developing innovative ways to prepare physicians for what is next in health care.

MedEdNext is changing what it means to be a physician by redefining medical education from pre-med through practice.

We are helping physicians develop the characteristics that are critical to partnering with patients, their families, and communities with compassion and integrity.

Our goal is better care, better value, better health, and better physician wellness.”

LGBTQ+ IS EVER PRESENT IN THE MIX WITH THE INSTITUTIONS INVOLVED

Medical College of Wisconsin has a major on campus initiative  for LGBTQ+ equality

https://www.mcw.edu/education/academic-and-student-services/office-of-student-inclusion-and-academic-enrichment/mcw-student-diversity-campus-organizations-and-community-outreach/lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender-people-in-medicine-lgbtpm/out-and-ally-lists

SOME OF KERN’S OTHER LGBTQ+ FOCUSED PARTNERS 

The Kern Family Foundation leadership appears drawn not only to transforming education but also to institutes  and organizations that favor LGBTQ+ inclusive policies and programs . Other examples being Teach for America in K-12 programs funding by KFF. https://www.teachforamerica.org/life-in-the-corps/your-tfa-network/lgbtq-community-initiative

And the KFF partnership for the evangelical Seminaries with Acton Institute headed by a long time radical LGBTQ+ activist turned Catholic Priest .    https://www.renewamerica.com/columns/engel/120413

Kern Funds PBS which just recently was exposed injecting a gay marriage episode in the popular children’s program Arthur . https://www.pbs.org/about/blogs/news/pbs-receives-grants-to-develop-content-and-resources-to-support-parents-and-families/                       “ARLINGTON, VA, April 16, 2015– The PBS Foundation has received $2.4 million in grant money from the W.K. Kellogg Foundationand The Kern Family Foundation to further the educational mission of PBS KIDS. The funds will support the development of new digital tools and resources that will be leveraged locally by PBS member stations to provide children with a strong foundation for success, encourage family engagement and aid parents and caregivers as they strive to build children of character in communities across the country.”

“Established in 1998, The Kern Family Foundation invests in the future through the support of programs that emphasize character formation in the rising generations of Americans. The $900,000 grant will fund the creation of a catalog organized by the specific attributes that support social and emotional development and key character-building traits like honesty, compassion and responsibility. Parents will have access to a virtual treasure trove of digital and video content with the ability to call hundreds of resources, including games and offline activities, up on-demand and turn any moment into a character-building learning experience, reinforcing important life skills.”

“The catalog will be integrated with other PBS KIDS apps and digital content to help parents maximize their child’s experience with PBS KIDS and see what their kids are watching, playing and learning on pbskids.org.”

““PBS KIDS serves as a trusted partner for millions of Americans, supporting children at their most critical time of growth,” said Lesli Rotenberg, General Manager, Children’s Media, PBS. “Through the generous support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and The Kern Family Foundation, and in partnership with our local PBS stations, we now have an opportunity to inspire even more children to reach their full potential.”

MOHLER PARTNER KERN’S MEDICAL EDUCATION TRANSFORMATION 

MedEdNext is new to the landscape in medical education/ Faith and Work style focus but is growing rapidly with the backing of Kern Family Foundation .

Kern is helping organize the National Transformation Network.

https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/blog/2018/06/21/vanderbilt-hosts-national-transformation-network-to-discuss-triple-aim-of-medical-education/

Kern funding and organization is central to the effort.

“Vanderbilt University School of Medicine was chosen to join the National Transformation Network (NTN) of the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education.
The NTN is a collaborative of seven medical schools that seeks to transform medical education by focusing on its “Triple Aim” — character, caring and competence. These elements of physician development are considered critical for delivering compassionate, evidence-based care to patients, families and communities.
Supported by a generous grant from the Kern Family Foundation, each partner school will receive $2.1 million over six years to carry out projects at the level of the individual schools, the network itself, and the larger national medical education community.”

THE TRANSFORMATION GOALS IN MEDICAL EDUCATION

It’s endgame is clearly stated .

““This collaborative has pushed us to consider the most important attributes of deeply caring physicians, as well as the environment that allows those attributes to thrive. Our ultimate goal is to nurture a generation of physicians committed to the ideal of human flourishing.”

A “CONFUSED “MOHLER AND KERN FAMILY FOUNDATION 

Mohler and SBTS are working with  KFF / Oikonomia Network and  Acton Institute curriculum to “transform culture” and prepare a generation of pastors to engage their “Faith and Work “/ ‘Purpose Driven” ideals- taking them back to their congregations  for recruitment. Yet in the narrative on “Christians in medicine ” and healthcare as a whole Mohler looks to be waving the white flag of surrender and succumbing to instead of transforming the sphere in question. Is Mohler confused or is he simply creating a sense of crisis to provide the  answer in the form of a new compromised view of transformed ‘opportunity” to engage ?

Mohler would be going against the VERY ideology his SBTS is being funded and trained to promote. Something more must be going on than meets the eye. Mohler cannot be advocating surrender unless he is returning the Kern cash $$$.

WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE AT STREET LEVEL-A PLACE WHERE ALBERT MOHLER DOES NOT HAVE TO LIVE.

( This writer lives in Alabama and works in multiple ministries in the healthcare arena and with medical missions. These local insights are offered from and informed by that life /ministry experience and years of efforts to warn of these coming crisis .)

In 2015 a Central Alabama study effort involving the major medical university, 5 central Alabama County Health Departments and a host of LGBTQ+ activist organizations both local and national -addressed LGBTQ+ equality issues in healthcare/ housing/ employment and a broad range of other topics of presumed need. Most of the focus points are those areas which receive grants and taxpayer funding . The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham (CFGB) funded the study which was intended to unify strategy and policy for LGBTQ+ equality and protections . It is important to note that CFGB also funds may churches and parachurch organizations AND one of the larger Faith Based Partnership healthcare clinics in partnership with Jefferson County – located in the former County hospital Cooper Green. ( Also of note in 2012 – medical ministry work this writer and several associates were involved in was in the gravitational pull of this very FBP clinic concept  /County  partnership. Upon discovering many problems and corrupting influences like the LGBTQ+ healthcare activism and the larger HHS/ FBP goals protest and warnings were made to those directing Christians into such collaborations but were not heeded )

THE DETAILS OF LGBTQ+ HEALTHCARE “PROTECTIONS “AND AGENDA DRIVEN MEDICAL CARE

“LGBTQ Issues for Central Alabama Service Organizations”
“Many area organizations, including school systems, courts, social services organizations and places of worship are generally supportive of LGBTQ individuals, but have not taken vigorous public action to address the needs of the population. For example, schools will establish Gay-Straight Alliances when requested, but rely on students to provide programming. Medical and mental health settings do not openly avoid serving LGBTQ clientele, but are not sure how or whether to communicate that their settings are LGBTQ-friendly.”

Click to access Living-LGBTQ-in-Central-Alabama.pdf

“The needs assessment was guided by a stakeholder council that included representatives from Birmingham AIDS Outreach (BAO), Birmingham Alliance of Gay, Straight and Lesbian Youth, AIDS Alabama, United Way of Central Alabama, Parents Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), Magic City Acceptance Project (MCAP), the Magic City Acceptance Center, the Alabama chapter of the Human Rights Campaign, Safe Schools Coalition, The Jefferson County Department of Health (JCDH), One Roof (services for the homeless), Covenant Community Church, ALGBTICAL (the Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues in Counseling of Alabama), Living in Limbo (area artists organization), The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, and four units of the University of Alabama at Birmingham – UAB Psychiatry, UAB Department of Sociology, Student Health Services, and the 1917 Clinic. ”

FAITH BASED PARTNERSHIPS IN HEALTHCARE : A DISASTER IN THE MAKING FOR CHRISTIAN MINISTRY 

Faith Based /Community Based “partnerships ” (FBP) in healthcare and “community based clinics are a major part of the “whats coming ” in healthcare that the Kern Family Foundation is talking about. The focus on “volunteerism” and wedding of “faith and  work ” in the medical education seems to be willing to ignore these realities . FBP  play a major role in healthcare reforms of the Obama era and the push toward socialized medicine and single payer system. However Faith Based Clinics have proven very problematic because of the very partnerships they are based upon promoting . Multiple factors combine to hinder and prohibit ministry goals and quality of care almost always suffers as a result of politically driven policy making like that reflected in the “Living LGBTQ in Central Alabama activist engagement sited above.

PROMOTING FAITH BASED HEALTHCARE AS MINISTRY UNDER FBP IS FRAUDULENT . WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS ?

First -FBP restrict ministry because they prevent “explicit religious activity” such as prayer, bible study, distribution of religious materials and or proselytizing in conjunction with the grant funded services provided. These restrictions to religious activities were in place but not always enforced until a 2015 “clarification ” in the form of an executive order from President Obama.They remain in force and in fact are part of securing the government  funding from being in conflict with the non -establishment clause of religion. Promoting and fundraising FBP clinics as a ministry when ministry is forbidden ins fact fraud . Yet it is being done everywhere -everyday.

Secondly oversight has been problematic and financial fraud has been rampant. The largest FBP healthcare clinic in Birmingham Alabama was part of a $14 million dollar fraud over a just 6 or 7 year period .The clinic was housed in a downtown church building and promoted by regional  collaborative ministries like the now definked “Mission Birmingham ” .

/prosecution /and conviction https://www.al.com/news/2016/05/questions_linger_as_14_million.html

Thirdly FBP also have third party partners like local and national foundations with very different values from the Christian ministries that engage with them and receive their funding. These “values” most often include promoting “family planning” of organizations like Planned Parenthood. Also – as with the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham- ministries are partnering with the very organization which paid for the the LGBTQ+ policy study . Again , one the largest FBP /Christian organization Cahaba Valley Health Care paid for the relocation of it’s offices and medical /dental clinics/ eye clinics into the ground floor of the Jefferson County hospital with a  grant from CFGB. They now partner with County Health Department which has helped draft and adopted the pro-active LGBTQ+ policy the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham paid to produced. Examples of funding partners below reflect the broad spectrum of involvement.

Click to access JCPA-Info-Brouchure.pdf

https://www.cahabavalleyhealthcare.org/funding-partners

Such partnerships are taking place  around the city and the nation as this clear conflict of mission and conscience is placing well meaning  Christian medical providers in harms way with no warnings from those evangelical leaders promoting FBP/ Community Transformation / volunteerism / and working for the “common good and human flourishing “.

MOHLER IS HELPING CREATE THE CRISIS 

HHS also has major integration of pro LGBTQ+ policy in Healthcare carried over from the Obama era so the “dangers ” to Christians in the practice of medicine that Albert Mohler is warning about in his article are already well in place since the Obama administration.Neither Mohler nor Moore warned against these realities then nor are they now in relation to the programs they are promoting with Kern and Acton.

The dangers remain. This is especially true for the medical ministries involved in  FBP and volunteerism which is at the VERY HEART of both the Kern funded programs at Mohler’s  Seminary SBTS and in the overhaul of medical education by Kern’s “MeEdNext” involving seven medical schools and growing. Such emphasis is in fact feeding the very problem. It is well advanced and developing before our eyes in the healthcare crisis in general.The “crisis ” Albert Mohler is seeing as coming down the road is, in fact, already here and HE (and other complicit or ill informed evangelical leaders )helped to create it by rushing into funding and focus on overhauling education. The Faith and Work focus on seminary campuses like SBTS is training pastors to “train” ( indoctrinate) their congregants (like the medical professionals) toward service for the “common good” in these very kind of programs that only further the problem.

Fourthly Community Based Healthcare also includes School Based Health Centers which sometimes include faith based partners.

https://www.hrsa.gov/our-stories/school-health-centers/index.html

These School Based Clinics aggressively promote “Comprehensive Sexuality Education” (see SIECUS) , a Planned Parenthood goal which is a key goal of both abortion and LGBTQ+ advocates. CSE eventually will reach into Pre K 3 and 4 through 12 students in all public schools. Faith Based partners in these school based clinics will be working in tandem with PP and other similar partners as  they promote  sexual liberation , experimentation, ideology that encourages  questioning of gender and sexual orientation.  The train keeps on rolling as disaster awaits not far down the the line.

Fifthly these FBP are designed as part of socialized medicine to provide a template which will conclude the take over provision of healthcare for lower levels of working poor and indigent care as seen in the partnership. At risk in these models are two very vital things:

A) Quality of care will and does  suffer – as one size fits all programs with limited budgets and overcrowded facilities and underpaid staff (or overworked volunteers)  try to function in the politically driven  state of unreality these utopian dream programs promise and cannot deliver .

B) Private Practice in healthcare has quickly become an endangered species . This is never a good idea. Patient choice will become a thing of the past and meaningful income and work opportunities for the next generation of medical professions will be greatly diminished .

THE CHURCH EXPLOITED 

Last of all the ultimate goal of Faith Based Partnerships for future provision of health and social services and welfare is two fold :

The goals are to gain the resources of the faith communities (yes the upfront public funding is merely the primer for the long range goal of churches and corporations becoming the primary funding source for these programs) . And to gain oversight and control of for the purposes of  ” ensuring the goods and services are provided in a non-discriminatory manner” . In short FBP are one more tool for government controlled “Wealth Redistribution ” . The resources of the church and the eternal good they have been given  by church members and entrusted by God to ensure (and that Christian believers are far more capable of undertaking)  will be captured and used  for these highly politicized goals. The Church and Christian healthcare providers are being set up.The only thing left to play out at this point is the trainwreck and the picking up of the pieces by the real Christians in the worse possible circumstances.

All of this total package is of course unsustainable for a host of reasons and the results will be that the best healthcare in the world will be impacted for years to come and the landscape will be littered with the victims of failed politically driven healthcare policy like pro-LGBTQ+ through the partnerships of bureaucracy  and often well intended faith based providers.

BIRMINGHAM ALABAMA FBP MODEL

(Again -this writer is from Birmingham Alabama and my spouse is in healthcare. We both work in ministry to medical students and to the medical community and have worked in indigent care and medical missions at home and abroad. We have cared for the poorest of the poor.This writer’s own involvement has been ongoing  since the early 1980’s and has been witness over decades to third world hospitals and socialized medicine in Latin America and in Eastern Europe. Christians play THE most vital role in caring for the sick and for the poor in whatever setting they are found working. Most often they are filling the void between corruption and graft, failed  government based care and poverty and do a wonderful job of answering the call to combine care for the temporal needs of the body and the eternal souls of the patient . This is the case when faith based ministries and providers AVOID the entanglements and allure of easy money and bad policy represented by FBP and the kind of programs SBTS  /the SBC / Mohler and others are advocating .)

In a little more than four years during the Obama administration and the reforms and funding of Bush era Faith Based Partnership programs ,Birmingham Alabama saw the rise of about a dozen faith based medical clinics . Below is a look at one of the larger ones which is focused on the hispanic community and also in full partnership with the local Jefferson County Health Department as mentioned because it is located on the ground floor of the Counties failed indigent hospital.

( This link shows the free and faith based clinics statewide )

https://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/free_community_clinics_in_alab.html

CAHABA VALLEY HEALTH CARE

https://www.cahabavalleyhealthcare.org/copy-of-who-we-are

“The CVHC mission is to provide dental and vision services for people in financial need in Jefferson and Shelby Counties, while maintaining our clients’ dignity, respecting their cultural diversity, and strengthening the community.”

​”CVHC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. We were founded in April 2000 and organized our first vision screening in August 2001. In November 2003, CVHC began conducting dental screenings in conjunction with vision screenings. CVHC has since added specialty clinics for fillings and extractions. In March of 2016, CVHC moved to Cooper Green Health Services where we have begun to help even more people. Since moving to Cooper Green, CVHC’s patient load has grown from hundreds to thousands.”

​”CVHC works with agencies in central Alabama such as Christ Health Center, Alabama Regional Medical Services, Hope Health Clinic, and The Foundry. With these resources we are able to assist our patients in finding care that they need.”

Again -The LGBTQ+ policy development for Central Alabama discussed above was paid for by the CVHC partner The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham which funded CVHC move into fellow partner in both -the Jefferson County Health Department facility at “Cooper Green “.

Jefferson County is also providing grants to the Faith Based Cahaba Valley Health Care

https://www.wbrc.com/story/32721487/cooper-green-health-services-stepping-up-dental-care/

PROBLEMATICE PARTNERS AND MONEY -RICK WARREN HAS LED THE WAY 

Rick Warren is a West coast Southern Baptist who wrote the popular “Purpose Driven ” book series . A look at his  Saddleback Church website ministries and outreach pages adn volunteer directive provides insight into how the FBP are envisioned for all churches. Randy Pope of the PCA is a very close second to Warren for the implementation of these problematic programs. None are more problematic than the FBP in Healthcare

“Faith Based Healthcare /Global PEACE”

Rick Warren issues call for greater collaboration, partnering in missions

(God Reports is a publication which supports the Saddleback model and includes a long time PEACE Plan /FBP staffer)

Mike Constantz
P.E.A.C.E. Initiatives Team
Saddleback Church”

Warren’s work in Rwanda is lauded by God Reports

“He described one area of western Rwanda with only one medical doctor available to serve 10 million people. Saddleback teams trained 2,800 health care workers to fill the health care gap. Each health care worker will operate within their local church – which allows the church to resume its role in physical and spiritual care. ”

“Warren recalled a conference he attended with Bill and Melinda Gates that sought solutions for some of the world’s most intractable problems. When Warren described his vision for health care, Melinda Gates responded, “I get it, the church could be a distribution point for health care.”

“The influential church leader honored the attendees at the Evangelical Missiological Society conference. “I honor what you do because we are always one generation away from extinction,” he said. “It’s important to judge a church not on its seating capacity, but on its sending capacity.”

MOHLER AND FAITH AND WORK PROGRAM IS JUST MORE “PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE” AS IT TRAINS PASTORS TO IMPLANT THE GOALS IN THE HEARTS AND MINDS OD CONGREGANTS 

Faith Based Partnerships as a whole are part of the unsustainable vision of “common good – faith and  work” in healthcare and welfare and social services in general. The church has historically been effective in caring for the poor and the sick because Christians  are motivated by the Love of God- the eternal good and the power of the Gospel to provide greater purpose than patching up broken bones from family abuse of offering antibiotics for  STDs and limited “family planning ” through contraception and abortion services. The church/ Christian ministry in FBP is hindered from the ministry of the Gospel and providing real change and deeper healing of the soul and is relegated to playing a circular role in some “great society ” vision with tainted money and corrupt partners in programs that have  a proven track record of failure and fostering further corruption. This model has simply never worked because socialism has never worked.

The true church/ Christian is inspired by a higher calling – as is the average Christian in health care. That higher calling is not part of the plan of FBP. It is actually hindered if not excluded by the Faith Based Partnerships model , political movements behind it and problematic partners . Christians need to trust God and do His work without yoking themselves to unbelievers or their schemes.

2nd Corinthians 6:

¹⁴ Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? ¹⁵ And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?

WHO IS AT THE TABLE REPRESENTING CHRISTIANS IN HEALTH CARE? ALBERT MOHLER PROTEGE- RUSSELL MOORE AND THE ERLC.

Russell Moore celebrated an action by HHS  in his twitter that seemed to counter the concerns of Mohler just days after the  May 21st comments on “The Briefing ” by Mohler about Christians leaving healthcare.

Russell Moore Retweeted HHS OCR

https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2019/05/24/hhs-proposes-to-revise-aca-section-1557-rule.html#.XOf28umeIds.twitter

So what is really going on here? If Mohler’s SBTS is working with the Kern Family Foundation to promote “faith in the workplace” for the “common good and human flourishing “and KFF is also establishing a sweeping effort to “transform medical education ” with the same ideology-how is Mohler advocating that Christians have may to leave the profession altogether? It appears that this may be a ploy to introduce both the crisis and themselves and the transformation effort as an answer to that crisis. If human flourishing and common good are the standard -then Christians in medicine can redefine their concept of calling around these more progressive ideologies .Time will tell where this is going but with Moore’s ERLC involvement in it looks to be a handy pitch for Christian support toward MORE progressive HRC reforms .

Otherwise Mohler is contradicting both himself and Moore and the foundation that is funding his left leaning , social justice “Vocational Theology” program. Mohler is certainly not haphazardly venturing into the conversation about Christians in health care and not at all likely to be advocating that Christians may soon have to leave the profession altogether. No this is political in nature and vintage Mohler/ SBTS/ ERLC pitch for something. Such posturing always has an end in mind.

EQUALITY ACT PRE-COMPLIANCE

The NAE and CCCU signed onto The Equality Act well in advance . Is Albert Mohler just softening up Christian opposition among healthcare providers and then setting up ERLC to spike the ball with some grand reform? Is altering the expectation of Christians in healthcare really seen as this simple? It does appear that expectation of organizations in Christian education like the CCCU  and in broader evangelical leadership like the NAE fully expect the church to offer little more than simple minded  bleating like sheep as they are corralled for the communitarian vision by those higher up the evangelical food chain.  None of this is sustainable for a multitude of reasons . Nor is it honest

https://www.christianpost.com/news/nae-and-cccu-boards-back-sogi-compromise-for-religious-freedom-exemptions.html

“As Christian higher educators, we are increasingly persuaded that the most viable political strategy is for comprehensive religious freedom protections to be combined with explicit support for basic human rights for members of the LGBT community,” wrote Houghton College President Shirley Mullen, who serves on both the CCCU and NAE board, in a position paper provided to NAE board members.” One Christian commentator remarked “Two major evangelical organizations have decided to endorse legislation that would force Americans to embrace — and live out — certain beliefs about human sexuality. I will do everything I can to oppose NAE and CCCU in this,”

NO SAFE SPACES FROM LGBTQ+ LEGITIMIZATION 

Mohler discusses the Drag Queen Story Hour at local libraries in the third segment . He points out that “even the local Library are no longer a safe space for Christians parents and children “. It is possible to assert also that on his watch under his  leadership the Christian seminaries have become  no longer a SAFE PLACE  for our future pastors and missionaries to be trained  and our churches,youth groups and children’s ministries are losing their place as a refuge from the seediness of the sexualized world as well.

CONCLUSION 

( photo from Paul’s Passing Thoughts blog  “Swami Albert Mohler”  )

While Albert Mohler is predicting and crisis for Christians in healthcare – Mohler and Russell Moore signed onto the advance of two of the LGBTQ+ agenda’s key goals in 2014 when they endorsed (Mohler even apologized for being wrong about) sexual orientation as a reality and abandoned any type of “Ex- gay” or “Conversion Therapies “. Focusing on these issues is an effort by the LGBQ+ lobby based on unproven theory to prevent the people, especially youth from obtaining help in leaving the homosexual lifestyle because such efforts will become outlawed as harmful and discriminatory . This is happening while access for Planned Parenthood and others to recruit youth into experimentation and “questioning ” their sexuality and gender are encouraged and facilitated. Saddest of all they are even aided by faith based program partnerships who fall into the trap of following the ideals promoted by Mohler SBTS and other seminaries.

Mohler admitted in 2005 that the very shift he made over “sexual orientation” in 2014 has taken the entire discussion of LGBTQ+ issues outside a biblical framework and the “authority  of Scripture” for the church and in fact for Christians in medical care because the assertions of “orientation” secure the idea that homosexuality is unchangeable. It is not hard for HHS and private funders to advance their own goals in health care with partners like our own seminaries and leaders like Albert Mohler and Russell Moore.

Watch for the pitch coming for more overhauls and reforms in Healthcare . Be careful to notice the promotion of “opportunity” and even some “safeguards” for Christian ministries and volunteers providing healthcare but remember the noose is never tightened before the neck of the condemned is full inside it.

Actually Christian Medical professionals most often see their careers as a calling and are really not interested in whether or not a compromised seminary leader thinks they can continue to obey that calling or not.

By Rev Thomas Littleton                                                                                                5/20/2019

The SBC and conservative  backlash over Social Justice insanity in the seminaries continues its grassroots groundswell. In recent weeks Danny Akin/ Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary scrubbed the name and multiple links for Kern Family Foundation (KFF) funding from the SEBTS/ Intersect Project pages on the seminaries website.

WHY IS KERN, THE LEAD EVANGELICAL VOCATION /SOCIAL JUSTICE FUNDER, GOING INTO HIDING AT SEBTS?

Some who are tracking the money have remained hopeful that the saturation of these initiatives has not reached some institutions with more trusted leadership like SBTS and Dr Albert Mohler . However the SBTS website remains intact and The extensive relationship and partnership going back to at least 2014 is displayed in plain site .

Work, economics initiative at Southern Seminary receives grant

Rev Thomas Littleton                                                                                                5/16/ 2019

Since the revelations that “Social Justice ” mantras were echoing down the corridors of learning in many conservative seminaries, everywhere their sound is heard the Kern Family Foundation funding is present. Kern looks to have gone into hiding after a New York Times interview with SEBTS professor Walter Strickland, part of  SEBTS /Kern and partnership, revealed that these echoes included the voice of James Cone and his radical “black empowerment ” rhetoric of Black Liberation Theology and “institutionalized racism”. Yes this is all happening on the campus of a Southern Baptist Seminary .

WHY IS KERN, THE LEAD EVANGELICAL VOCATION /SOCIAL JUSTICE FUNDER, GOING INTO HIDING AT SEBTS?

WHAT IS KERN TEACHING IN CONSERVATIVE SEMINARIES?

According to reports in multiple books and articles the present partnership with Kern Family Foundation (KFF) and some 25-30 (or more) seminaries also includes curriculum and speakers ,as well as imbedded “fellows” from Acton Institute which is a Catholic run communitarian think tank.

Here are some examples of their curriculum outlines

“The Economic Wisdom ”

“The Oikonomia Network and the Economic Wisdom Project
We are theological educators committed to the Oikonomia Network vision of integrating faith, work, and economics into a cohesive understanding of Christian discipleship and mission. We are actively participating in ON ventures with our colleagues, students, and ecclesial publics. The Economic Wisdom Project is important – for our churches and
educational organizations, local communities, nation, and the world. We are stewards of fresh and focused thinking that builds on the work of many past and present leaders. We believe these are incisive insights for our moment in history, as we experience profound economic and social changes unparalleled in the past five centuries. This is not the final word on economics and work, nor is it a comprehensive or constructive work of theology. The Economic Wisdom Project is the beginning of a new conversation that we pray will lead to biblically sound and contextually relevant praxis in the 21st century. As a new community of theological educators, we welcome insights that will enhance our mission of integration as we prepare leaders who will equip congregants for robust 24/7 Christian living.”

THE “FLOURISHING GOSPEL “BUZZWORDS ABOUND BUT WHAT DO THEY MEAN?

These ideas sound good – that Christians should see value and purpose in their work. Few would disagree that Christians should do all things wholeheartedly, including work, as unto the Lord. But keep in mind this movement in our seminaries represents a well organized effort toward “Centralized Planning” to promote “the common good ” and “human flourishing ” as pastors are fed these principles in the name of economics and then taught how to apply and teach them to their congregations.

Watch carefully some of the specific elements of what pastors are being taught and the resources provided. Oikonomia Network (ON) is Kern’s oversight and implementation arm on the campuses where KFF funds are invested. Oikonomia means “stewardship”. O.N. offices are located on the TEDS campus where The Gospel Coalition offices are and the two organizations work very closely together with the same goal of influencing young ministers and seminary students.The topic of study for O.N. is Faith And Works programing and training.

It is an Ivy league /liberal Christianity ideal envisioned  for and  across ecumenical and interfaith lines

https://faith.yale.edu/

“Why connect theology and economics?
Because our lives should manifest the
Gospel, making it tangible and visible.
In addition to personal holiness, we
need to reach beyond ourselves and
have an impact on the world around us.
Christians are called to live out God’s
creation purposes and be signposts
of the glorious future to come. That
includes activities like religious works,
charity, and volunteering, but these
take up only a small fraction of our
lives; discipleship must be a whole-life
endeavor. If we want to follow God’s
call and live into our true identity as
his stewards, we have to integrate our
faith with the spheres of life in which
we invest most of our time: work and
the economy.”

KFF ROLE IN Economic Wisdom Project

“The Kern Family Foundation (KFF) is
committed to helping pastors and churches
realize the vision of God’s kingdom. We
rejoice in the many ways this is already
taking place through worship, fellowship,
discipleship, service, and evangelism. Yet
the church is often silent when it comes to
an area that often determines how people
steward their God-given talents and resources
as they care for themselves, their families,
and their neighbors both near and distant.
By neglecting to equip people with an
understanding of how faith relates to work
and the broader economic environment
in which they exercise stewardship, the
church is missing an opportunity to help
people more fully serve God and others in
ways congruent with biblical foundations
of human flourishing. Two ways the KFF is
helping pastors reconnect their ministry with
this critical area of life are the Oikonomia
Network (www.oikonomianetwork.org)
and the Kern Pastors Network (www.
kernpastorsnetwork.org).
The Economic Wisdom Project (EWP) was
created in 2012 as the KFF greatly increased
its investments in helping pastors connect
faith to work and economics. Although a
large body of theological reflection already
existed on the topic of work, we discovered
little prior development on the topic of
economics. The purpose of this document
is to create a focal point for reflection that
we hope will foster a deeper understanding
of our mission. ”

“STEWARDSHIP AND FLOURISHING
1. We have a stewardship responsibility to flourish in our own
lives, to help our neighbors flourish as fellow stewards, and to
pass on a flourishing economy to future generations.
2. Economies flourish when people have integrity and trust each other.
3. In general, people flourish when they take responsibility for
their own economic success by doing work that serves others
and makes the world better.”

“VALUE CREATION
4. Real economic success is about how much value you create, not
how much money you make.
5. A productive economy comes from the value-creating work of
free and virtuous people.
6. Economies generally flourish when policies and practices
reward value creation.”

“PRODUCTIVITY AND OPPORTUNITY
7. Households, businesses, communities, and nations should
support themselves by producing more than they consume.
8. A productive economy lifts people out of poverty and generally
helps people flourish.
9. The most effective way to turn around poverty, economic distress,
and injustice is by expanding opportunity for people to develop and
deploy their God-given productive potential in communities of
exchange, especially through entrepreneurship”

“RESPONSIBLE ACTION
10. Programs aimed at economic problems need a fully rounded
understanding of how people flourish.
11. Economic thinking must account for long-term effects and
unintended consequences.
12. In general, economies flourish when goodwill is universal and global,
but control is local, and personal knowledge guides decisions.”

WHAT IS HUMAN FLOURISHING, IS IT THE GOSPEL AND WHERE DID THE PHRASE COME FROM?

Human Flourishing is understood to be that which will make for the best outcome for all for the “common good”.It’s origins are found in Greek Philosophy and do NOT find their roots in the Gospel of Christ nor as presented by Yale or by Oikonomia because their cultural applications do not have the eternal souls but rather human “welfare and happiness” as the measure for success. Thriving and Flourishing are popular words in many circles but have only temporal and very limited ,unsustainable  impact in light of eternity.  Common good and Flourishing as outcome goals and measures is where social justice replaces the Good News that God was in Christ reconciling the World to Himself . Common good reduces everything to the lowest common denominator . The Good News reduces everyone to their eternal need for Redemption and Christ who provides it.

“Eudaimonia (Greek: εὐδαιμονία [eu̯dai̯moníaː]), sometimes anglicized as eudaemonia or eudemonia /juːdɪˈmoʊniə/, is a Greek word commonly translated as happiness or welfare; however, “human flourishing or prosperity“^{[1][better source needed]} and “blessedness”^[2] have been proposed as a more accurate translations.”

“Etymologically, it consists of the words “eu” (“good”) and “daimōn” (“spirit”). It is a central concept in Aristotelian ethics and political philosophy, along with the terms “aretē“, most often translated as “virtue” or “excellence”, and “phronesis“, often translated as “practical or ethical wisdom”.^[3] In Aristotle‘s works, eudaimonia (based on older Greek tradition) was used as the term for the highest human good, and so it is the aim of practical philosophy, including ethics and political philosophy, to consider (and also experience) what it really is, and how it can be achieved.”

WHAT JESUS IN LUKE CHAPTER FOUR HAS TO SAY

Jesus fast for 40 days and afterwards is brought in this weakened state into the unthinkable situation for most people of being  tempted face to face by the Devil himself. Jesus is tempted to meet his human need (turn these stones into bread) . He refuses and quotes that “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”.

Yet human flourishing tells us human hunger for bread alone is a central goal of flourishing and common good. In the same chapter of Luke Jesus warns that many in need were left with those needs unmet even by God’s servants the prophets. “²⁵ But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; ²⁶ but to none of them was Elijah sent except to^[l]Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.²⁷ And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

Why is Jesus making this statement if His goal and teaching is to assure the human flourishing of all mankind in the context of meeting their temporal need?

ON CHRISTIAN COMPASSION

Christians are some of the most compassionate people on earth. True Christians by nature help those around them in need. Historically Christians have been at the forefront of building hospitals, providing disaster relief, ministering to families in crisis, providing quality education, counseling , opportunity for recovery and building new lives. Christian business owners the world over quietly go about their own private efforts one soul at a time to provide aid and employment to those in need around them.

KFF / Oikonomia / Acton are promoting their way as the Gospel way while it appears it’s inspiration is not found in scripture and minimises emphasis on the greater eternal needs of men in favor of the “common good”. Marvin Olasky’s book “The Tragedy of American Compassion” which was used as the basis for launching the Faith Based Partnerships allowing Churches and ministries to access grants( tax dollars and corporate/ foundation funding) is part of the KKF/ Oikonomia Network /Acton curriculum .This ideology calls the church and ministries to become the third leg of the stool with Government “oversight” and obligation as well as corporate involvement to “partner together” in providing for the poor and becoming agents of the government in delivering social services “building community” or “Community Development”.

The corruption and waste brought on by such policy applied in the church under the Obama administration has done nothing to aid the church in proclaiming the Gospel but instead obligated it to government regulations which include excluding “explicitly religious activity ” in it’s funded compassion programs and forced the adoption of and shaping  of ministry priorities to fit those funded by the federal programs.

Also the resources of Tim Keller, Redeemer Church, and John Stott, along with other political commentators provide a window into the progressive political compromise embedded in these Faith and Work ideologies which have a much stronger motivation toward “social justice ” motivation than Gospel calling.Faith and Work seeks to harness the energies of the younger generation into community service and tends to vilify prosperity and individualism as it promotes the collective vision of Common Good. Interestingly many who cast shadows on the values of individualism and the American Dream are themselves celebrity preachers, authors and speakers who are themselves living that DREAM.

CENTRALIZED PLANNING IS WORST WHEN IT IS APPLIED TO THE GOSPEL

In short,true Christians live out compassion every day and do so out of a calling to follow the two great commandments  to love God and to love our fellow man as ourselves. Compassion, if heralded,  is not true compassion but Jesus encouraged that it be done without fanfare and with the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Jesus did not call the apostles in the New Testament or seminaries today to distract preachers of the Word into teaching politically correct ideologically left leaning economics wrapped in clever afterthoughts from Catholic social policy and then to utilize the church facilities to train the people of God to serve in these efforts to “build community” for the common good and human flourishing.

To insist that this is the heart of the Gospel or that Jesus urged such planning and implementation as central to the great commission is simply not an honest approach to the Word of God. It is also very likely that such idealism translated from concept to implementation without the work of the Holy Spirit guiding it and providing the actual wisdom found in the Heart of God and infused by redemption into the heart of man will end in a very poor outcome and loss of the greater calling of those under it’s influence. Mercy ministry is inspired only by those who know mercy -God’s mercy and is sustained only by other worldly inspiration. Otherwise the novelty wears thin very quickly and the inspiration of progressive social policy fades in light of reality among the deeper human need of a lost world filled with lost souls in need a Savior.

Jesus nor Paul nor any of the Apostles called for organizing Christian compassion or for partnering with pagan powers to end or “cure” poverty. Christ called His people out of the world and then sent them as ambassadors into it on the behalf of a Kingdom- His Kingdom that is NOT of this world. The church is not sending it’s young men and women  who are called of God into seminaries to learn how to community organize or build community or to learn critical theory or Black Liberation Theology -but how to proclaim the everlasting Gospel and follow the Lamb wherever He goes in the Great Commission.

MORE ON HIS TEMPTATION

Jesus is offered the world if He will simply bow the knee to the god of this world and yet Jesus refuses. “^5 [d]Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. ⁶ And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. ⁷ Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

⁸ And Jesus answered and said to him, ^[e]“Get behind Me, Satan! ^[f]For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.”

Jesus clearly cast the two opposites against each other .He is not seeking the world nor its goods nor the good of it (flourishing ) He is seeking the good and the Worship of the Living God and to make His worship possible for human kind ” in Spirit and in Truth ”     (as he revealed to the woman at the well in John 4).

The advocates of Human Flourishing are seeking to help the church gain the world – to focus “Globally ” in a time when the human landscape appears to be resembling far more the kingdom of antichrist than Christ Kingdom. The advocacy of KFF / Oikonomia / Acton to promote value and economics and common good are totally missing from Jesus presentation of His purpose and Divine nature and power to achieve them .

“¹⁶ So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. ¹⁷ And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

²⁰ Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹ And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” ²² So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

Those who heard Jesus read from Isaiah 61 and declare Himself the promised Messiah that day in Nazareth were mindful of their need and of human concerns just like the common good focus and flourishing ideas of today. They missed their own Saviour by savoring earthly concerns and ultimately were blind to the eternal because of temporal expectations and desires.Jesus was ushering in a salvation that encompassed eternity and the power to break the chains of sin and death while those who watched Him wanted an earthly king and freedom from Roman oppression . Little differs in these errors which are thriving today.

THE ULTIMATE TEMPTATION IS TO TEMPT GOD

“⁹ Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written:

¹¹ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up,

¹² And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not^[g]tempt the Lord your God.’ ”

The subtle effort to prove God is true by some forced intervention into human crisis is missing the point of the Gospel entirely . The Truth is not human centered  but God centered. The need that is met by the Gospel is an eternal one and is brought about by the satisfaction of God’s heart not man’s need. It is not God being forced to intervene but man being confronted by the certainty of death and the reality of God who holds life and death and the power of it. Jesus is telling us NOT to tempt God by “putting Him to the test” to prove Himself to man.

The flourishing gospel is false because God is not supreme in it . It suggest that Christians can prove God in them merely by meeting human need and usher in God’s presence and kingdom by doing so.

WHAT IS MISSING IN THIS MESSAGE?

The  main ingredient missing is FAITH. It is the primary forgotten element without which it is impossible to please God and by it the fathers obtained a good report and overcame the world and the trials in it.There is no faith in the “flourishing gospel”. Works- human efforts are highlighted and are actually THE most common obstacle to faith. Works and the self righteousness that often arise from them are likely the greatest barrier to saving faith for many .

THE GRACE ECONOMY

God’s economy is driven by GRACE alone – not human effort and not the ideology of leftist Catholic social justice or Greek Philosophy. It is not the product of human wisdom of think tanks with political and economic gain as inspiration . Jesus Kingdom is not of this world- not of this origin nor of its systems nor to its ends . Jesus came to save sinners not produce a basis for twisting His words to capture human energies of  believers for a collectivist / communitarian vision. The church which is in the world and not of it – is not here for the goals of seeing progressive socio – economic development realized.

This flourishing gospel is false because it is simply missing the real elements that would help the hurting around us in the world. It is missing God as its center- missing Faith – the only action needed to find God’s provision and it is missing eternity -which if it could feed every hungry belly on the globe but leave them hopeless and Saviorless -it has done far more harm than good .It has  reduced the Gospel of Christ to soup kitchens and indoctrinated pastors indoctrinating congregants into finding meaning from meeting human need while neglecting the awful realities of eternity in the hands of the Living God- even while flourishing their way to the judgement seat.

MORE FROM THE KERN/OIKONOMIA/ ACTON PARTNERS.

Think about these studies and you are likely to understand why your pastor may not even know how to preach the Gospel if he has been under these influences in the seminary in recent years.

“God created human beings to be good stewards of this
world. We carry out that stewardship when we do
work that helps God’s world flourish. In the beginning,
God put Adam and Eve in the garden “to work it and keep
it” (Genesis 2:15) and appointed them as stewards over
creation (Genesis 1:28). The Fall has infected our work
with toil and frustration, but our “to-do list” remains the
same: do work that serves others, and cultivate blessings
out of the raw materials God provides. This restores God’s
creation purposes in the world, and provides a foretaste
of future glory. As God redeems us, he empowers us to
reorient the world toward him. God is a worker (John 5:17)
and we were made in his image, so we were made for work.
Through the Holy Spirit, God has equipped us for work
and called us to it; work takes up most of life because it
serves God’s purposes. Work is also essential to character
and spiritual formation. How we work shapes us, steadily
leading us either toward or away from God. The economic
institutions that define the cultural meaning of our work
provide the essential background for that journey.”

COMPARE TO THE WORDS OF JESUS

John 6:^{28 “}Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”

²⁹ Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

He goes on in this chapter again to rebuke those who are seeking mere earthly fulfillment and the meeting of human need after seekers from the feeding of the 5000 are demanding more bread for hungry bellies . Jesus has greater things to serve in a meal at His table of Communion and the real passover. Jesus is offering Himself as the Living and TRUE BREAD .Again the earthly minded men in this crowd are missing the real Gospel even at the mouth of the Lord Himself . So much for Human need driving the Gospel .

MORE KERN AND MORE EVIDENCE OF THE TIM KELLER /GOSPEL COALITION INFLUENCE IN THESE PROGRAMS

“Recommended Resources:
• Stewardship Study Bible
• Darrell Cosden, A Theology of Work
• Tom Nelson, Work Matters
• Timothy Keller with Katherine Leary Alsdorf,
Every Good Endeavor
• Charlie Self, Flourishing Churches and Communities
• Gene Edward Veith, God at Work
• Michael Wittmer, Heaven is a Place on Earth”

WHAT COMMON GOOD MEANS

“4. Real economic success
is about how much value
you create, not how
much money you make.
5. A productive economy
comes from the valuecreating work of free and
virtuous people.
6. Economies generally
flourish when policies
and practices reward
value creation.”

Productivity and Opportunity

“7. Households, businesses,
communities, and nations
should support themselves
by producing more than
they consume.
8. A productive economy
lifts people out of
poverty and generally
helps people flourish.
9. The most effective way
to turn around poverty,
economic distress, and
injustice is by expanding
opportunity for people to
develop and deploy their
God-given productive
potential in communities
of exchange, especially
through entrepreneurship”

PASTOR TAKE THIS BACK TO YOUR CHURCH AND HELP US SELL IT

“SO WHAT does THIS have TO DO
WITH PASTORS?
What do pastors have to do with the
economy? In Ephesians 4, Paul calls
upon the church to be a place where people
learn to “put on the new self, created after
the likeness of God in true righteousness
and holiness” (4:24) in contrast to a world
where people “have become callous and
have given themselves up to sensuality,
greedy to practice every kind of impurity”
(4:19). When he lists some of the key
ingredients for living into the likeness of God,
he emphasizes that “doing honest work” is
how we support our households and provide
for human needs more broadly (4:28). And
why did God give us the apostles, prophets,
evangelists, shepherds, and teachers? Paul’s
answer begins: “To equip his people for works
of service” (4:12). ”

“If we explore the reasons why work is
central to the pastoral task of helping
people live into “the likeness of God,”
we discover that the way pastors describe
economic systems is a critical part of
that task. This can be explained in four
steps. Work is central to the pastoral
task because in the Bible, “the likeness of
God” refers primarily to how we behave
as responsible agents who can order the
raw materials God gives us in creation.
We were given stewardship over the world
with a mission to make it flourish for God’s
glory (stewardship and flourishing).”

WORST OF ALL WRAPPING CENTRALIZED PLANNING IN A “CHRISTIAN ” THEOLOGY

Centralized Planning in economics -“History tells us that central planning is the true harbinger of chaos.”

KFF /Oikonomia / Acton would tell us they are simply advocating for free market economy promoted by the pastors of Christian Churches including philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and Christians seeing purpose in their work while . Yet they are partnering to promote and have your pastor promote their centralized planned vision – of how these things should be accomplished . The elements of Collectivism / Shared Resources / Justice all reek of the same old Socialist ideologies that have left much of the world emerging from communist /socialist economics in THE very poverty these programs are informing us how to end.

MORE KERN

“Every major element of Christian
theology has profound application
to work and the economy. In the Trinity,
three persons work together. They do so by
choice, out of loving goodwill, rather than
out of coercion or utilitarian necessity. Yet
the persons do not lose their individual
identity or integrity; their acts of free
cooperation make each distinct personality
stand out more, not less.
In a similar way, we who are made in
the image of this triune God cooperate
through our work. We are made to act
together out of loving goodwill. We do
so freely; this is what distinguishes the
economic sphere of life from the political
sphere, which is based on the power of the
sword. The harmony we create through
the cooperation of our work produces
the social unity of civilization. Yet in this
weaving together of the social fabric, no
individual loses his identity or integrity.
Precisely because the cooperation is free,
it expresses the dignity of the human
person as God’s creature, rather than a
mere subordination of the individual to
the collective. ”

“The world is going through an
unprecedented economic realignment,
and pastors must prepare for the care
needs this transition will create. Economic
insecurity and uncertainty are here to stay.
The need for comfort and compassion, as well
as for wise counsel, is only going to grow.
In 1970, the vast majority of the world’s
population was living in primitive, traditionbased economies. Since then, virtually the
entire world has joined the modern economy.
The immediate impact has been enormously
beneficial to millions around the world, but
the transition is creating disruptive challenges
for advanced economies like ours.
Pastors need to know that the economic crisis
is primarily a crisis of moral character. During
the second half of the 20th century, America
came to trust in its dominant world position
for its security. We neglected the real source of
economic flourishing: sound moral character,
put into action by both individuals and society
at large. In general, when people manifest love,
joy, honesty, diligence, self-control, and other
virtues in work and business, and when the
economy as a whole is understood as a moral
system that exists to nurture such work, both
individuals and the nation will flourish. ”

“Connecting theology and economics for pastoral
ministry that produces human flourishing.
http://www.oikonomianetwork.org
http://www.kernpastorsnetwork.org”

THE FLOURISHING GOSPEL IS CERTAINLY FLOURISHING AT YOUR SEMINARIES

More resources and organizations helping promote Faith Adn Work

https://www.academia.edu/4844844/Calling_in_the_Theology_of_Work

Campus Crusade / aka CRU

Click to access A_Theology_of_Work.pdf

Western Seminary

Click to access Theology%20of%20Work.pdf

Tim Keller/ Redeemer City Church

Home

Baylor

Click to access 247525.pdf

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

The Commonweal Project

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Intersect Project -Discussed in the article linked after the first paragraph of this writing.

And so on and so on and so …..on You get the idea. There is a Central Plan and it is wrapped in a theology but not founded in the teaching of Christ unless you believe Jesus was more social justice warrior and simply dishonest about His real mission and the Divine and supernatural way by which He was called to fulfill it.

IS THERE A PLAN ?IS IT CENTRALIZED ? IS IT ORGANIZED AND INTRODUCED INTO OUR SEMINAIRES BY A CONTROLLING SOURCE?

“Theory of Central Planning

Rev Thomas Littleton                                                                                                  5/14/2019

Many Biblical conservatives are awakening and disturbed to find the indoctrination going on in their own seminaries . As revealed in 2017 – a massive effort to introduce the social justice /victim narratives of far left  “Christianity” began in late 2007-2009 and scaled up in 2013 to include some 23 conservative evangelical seminaries .Kern Family Foundation/ (its) Oikonomia Network partners with Acton Institute ,a Catholic libertarian think tank , to provide funding and overhaul /oversee curriculum changes. The partnership seeks to  implement their desired program focus (Faith and Work) on the seminary  campuses . This effort is generally found in the Cultural Engagement departments of the institutions . Currently Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is said to be undergoing the same transformation in it’s post Paige Patterson era under new leadership from at least three former SBTS/ Dr. Albert Mohler employees . These “below the surface” operations were described by this author as having the appearance of an “Evangelical Deep State “. The phrase has caught on in the Evangelical world as concerns continue to escalate and suspicions are confirmed .

http://sbctoday.wpengine.com/is-this-the-evangelical-deep-state/

http://sbctoday.wpengine.com/is-this-the-evangelical-deep-state-part-two/

PERHAPS BLACK LIBERATION IS A “BRIDGE TOO FAR”

Some of those suspicions WERE confirmed  by whistleblowers from the seminaires and in a recent New York Times article interviewing Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary professor and “Intersect Project ” member Walter Strickland . Eyebrows raised when he acknowledged teaching Black Liberation Theology and James Cone at SEBTS and in churches/meetings on his speaking schedule.

“Radical thinkers have found their way into the citadels of white evangelicalism. Reading the black liberation theologian James Cone helped Mr. Strickland, the theology professor, see how white theologians often ignore the structural sources of earthly suffering. In 1969, the Rev. Dr. Cone admonished “new blacks, redeemed in Christ” to “say to whites that authentic love is not ‘help,’ not giving Christmas baskets but working for political, social and economic justice, which always means a redistribution of power.”

Strickland admits to being stealthy in his approach by not mentioning James Cone by name .

“Courses in African-American theology have been on the books at moderate evangelical seminaries since the 1970s. But it is significant that Mr. Strickland has brought a thinker like Dr. Cone into the heart of the conservative Southern Baptist Convention. Mr. Strickland spent years studying in majority-white evangelical schools, where he mastered the idiom of the Christian right. When he speaks to conservative white congregations, he is careful: “While Cone’s ideas are in play, I don’t mention him by name, because I don’t want to put unnecessary stumbling blocks in their way.” Scripture’s authority comes first. “If I’m able to demonstrate that this black man in front of them has read the Bible, I gain credit with them.”

New York Times /Walter Strickland interview was published on April 20th 2019

STRICKLAND IS PART OF SEBTS DIVERSITY DEPARTMENT AND IS STAFFER AT INTERSECT PROJECT .

“Intersect is a project and resource hub of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary‘s Center for Faith and Culture. They have assembled a team dedicated to helping you connect faith with the rest of your life.

“You get insights from Southeastern’s faculty, alumni, students and other leading Christian thinkers, including Bruce Ashford, Ken Keathley, Walter Strickland, Benjamin Quinn, David W. Jones and more.”

RECENT  CHANGES IN THE INTERSECT PROJECT FROM THE 2015 ORIGINAL BELOW

https://web.archive.org/web/20181215094305/http://intersectproject.org/about/

NOTICE THAT KERN FAMILY FOUNDATION IS VERY PROUD OF ITS INVESTMENT IN THE INTERSECT PROJECT AT SEBTS

About Intersect Project “Reconnect Your Faith with the Rest of Your Life”

“Why Intersect?”

Rev Thomas Littleton                                                                                          5/10/2019

Revoice 2019 event is coming up in June and the Christian press is very quietly ignoring it. The inaugural event in 2018 drew a great deal of attention even though most of the people who either chose to or were forced to comment on it were offering it extreme grace and advocated a “wait and see” attitude leading up to the event. The overall and likely coordinated approach for the second years event is to maintain radio and media silence as the movement continues a very radical scaling up of it’s LGBT+ Christianity at the same time seeks more mainstream legitimacy .

The 2019 Revoice Conference brings it’s primary braintrust and inspiration  forward as Mark Yarhouse is a keynote speaker . Yarhouse is pictured below speaking at Danny Akin’s Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary .

He is a Regent  University professor and a regular speaker at many conservative Christian colleges and seminaries including chapel service . Some Schools have hosted Yarhouse multiple times per year and The Gospel Coalition commissioned him to create the 2010 white paper which became the basis for the Christ on Campus Initiative and TGCs own LGBT policy standard. Yarhouse works with the American Psychological Association and asserts through work and his own independent research that homosexual orientation is real/fixed and unchanged by Christian faith. His approach to counseling Christians who experience Same Sex Desires is to merge their “sexual identities” with their faith identities resulting in “gay” or “LGBT + Christianity”. Yarhouse views on Gender are equally APA compliant and yet remain accepted and endorsed by Christian institutions and The Gospel Coalition. Revoice is a reflection of his influence among the of mainstream evangelical leadership .But Revoice now shows it has even greater inroads into the church as Intervarsity Press and Leadership Network are sponsoring the 2019 event .

Mark Yarhouse, Psy.D.

Rosemarie S. Hughes Endowed Chair of Christian Thought in Mental Health Practice

Co-Director, Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity

Professor

EVANGELICAL INFLUENCERS PAYING FOR REVOICE

According to the Revoice 2019 website two major evangelical organizations are sponsoring Revoice .

https://revoice.us/

These sponsorships reflect the point that has made the “LGBT+ Flourishing in historic Christian tradition” advocates of Revoice controversial from their origins. Though introducing radically fringe terms like “Queer Christian ” and the embrace of “Queer Theory ” into Conservative Christian circles like the Southern Baptist and PCA, Revoice has retained support from orthodox leaders.

WHO IS INTERVARSITY PRESS?

Intervarsity  Press sponsorship of Revoice 2019 means an appearance of legitimacy for the message of Revoice.

https://www.ivpress.com/about/our-history

BEGINNING YEARS

“InterVarsity Press began right before World War II as a small service branch of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) campus ministry, which had its U.S. beginnings in the 1939-1940 academic year. At first we simply imported books from our sister movement in Great Britain for use by college students and IVCF chapters in the United States. Our first home-grown publication was a Bible study guide, Discovering the Gospel of Mark, written by an IVCF staff member and published in the 1943-1944 academic year. In 1947 a formal publishing program was established and IVP made arrangements for distribution of its books to be handled by Fleming H. Revell (which did so until 1960). In 1951 Joe Bayly resigned as a regional director for IVCF to become the head of IVP. (The next year he also became editor of HIS Magazine, a publication for college students.) In 1952 IVP sold 178,000 books and booklets.”

MOVE TO CHICAGO

“In 1960 our editorial offices moved from Havertown, Pennsylvania, to Chicago where the IVCF offices were then located. At the same time Elizabeth Leake was named to manage IVP. The 1960-61 total list of books in print included 48 books and 20 booklets. By 1965, when James Nyquist became IVP director, this list had grown to 86 books and 22 booklets. The next year brought the landmark publication of How to Give Away Your Faith by Paul Little. It remains one of our top titles to this day. In 1966 we also moved our offices from Chicago to Downers Grove, approximately 30 miles west.”

GROWTH IN OUR PUBLISHING PROGRAM

“In 1968 Jim Nyquist became IVP’s full-time director and Jim Sire became IVP’s first full-time editor. Four other full-time employees filled out the staff. Shortly afterward, we began publishing Francis Schaeffer’s works—which put IVP on the map as a publisher of note. The IVP Book Club (1965) and the bookstore Rack program (1971) gave us a solid sales base and continue to be important parts of our publishing program.”

In 1984 Linda Doll moved from the editorship of HIS Magazine to the directorship of IVP. The next year LifeGuide Bible Studies were launched; they have now sold over 15 million copies. When Linda Doll decided to go back to editing in 1990, Ken DeRuiter became executive director of IVP.””

“In that same year, the award-winning Dictionary of Christianity in America was released. While over the years we had published many reference books created in Great Britain, this was the first of many major reference books originating in the United States. In 1994 we published our first Bible, The NIV Quiet Time Bible.”

RECENT YEARS

“We had built our own warehouse/distribution center in nearby Westmont during 1979. In January 1995, after 29 years in Downers Grove, IVP moved to new offices constructed adjacent to the distribution center. Then in 1997, after Ken DeRuiter’s retirement, Bob Fryling joined IVP as director. Heart. Soul. Mind. Strength. by IVP editors Andy Le Peau and Linda Doll was written in 2006 as an anecdotal history of InterVarsity Press, summarizing leading authors and books that shaped evangelicalism in the 20th century. In 2016, after years of leadership as sales and marketing director, Jeff Crosby was named IVP publisher.”

“In 2017 we became North America’s distributor for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK), the United Kingdom’s leading Christian publisher. Read more about this expanded partnership, or read the press release.”

TODAY

“Today InterVarsity Press has a staff of nearly one hundred, working together to publish more than one hundred titles every year. Our catalog lists more than one thousand books, Bible studies, and booklets. Many of our books are recognized as enduring classics, staying in print for years. Sales have grown steadily over the decades, with our distribution center now shipping more than 2.3 million books each year. Our books are distributed around the world and translated into dozens of languages.”

“We count it an honor and privilege to participate in the work of Christian publishing, and we pray that our efforts will continue to equip, edify, and challenge people in every generation—heart, soul, mind and strength.”

Is Intervarsity Press equipping and edifying the church through promoting Revoice?

MAJOR EVANGELICAL INFLUENCER LEADERSHIP NETWORK REVOICE CONFERENCE SPONSORSHIP ANNOUNCED

Revoice‏ @revoiceus 15h15 hours ago

More

We’re excited to announce Leadership Network (@leadnet) as one of our #Revoice19 conference sponsors! Find them at Revoice next month, and pick up a copy of “Leading a Church in a Time of Sexual Questioning,” a fantastic new resource by @Bruce_B_Miller.

 

WHO IS LEADERSHIP NETWORK

 

Few organizations among  behind the scenes influencers among Evangelical movements in the last 35 years have impacted the church as much as Bob Buford and Leadership Network . Here is some history of Leadership Network and it’s influence from several sources.

https://leadnet.org/

IDEAS TO IMPLEMENTATION TO IMPACT

“Leadership Network is the premier leadership collaborative for pastors and churches.  Over 200,000 church leaders around the world engage in Leadership Network to acquire innovative knowledge and drive local impact.  By inspiring and equipping leaders, we seek to help the Church flourish and communities thrive.”

http://leadnet.org/our-founder/

“In 1984, at age 45, Buford, Fred Smith, Jr. and Gayle Carpenter started Leadership Network as a way of trying to help the newly emerging wave of pastors who were breaking worship attendance barriers of 1,000 and sometimes 2,000 or more. During his business years, Buford had spent countless hours talking with and seeking guidance from Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, and he now tapped into Drucker’s guidance for how best to frame Leadership Network. He later remarked that Leadership Network would not be the same—in fact, might not exist at all—were it not for Peter Drucker. (Buford later developed that 23-year mentoring relationship into a book, Drucker and Me.)”

“Leadership Network started in 1984 with a budget of $5,000, and held its first forum with 55 churches that had attendance of 800 and higher. By 2017 the organization was annually serving more than 400 larger churches through in-person events which included more than 1,500 leaders. Online conferences reached upwards of 25,000, and Leadership Network Advance subscriptions exceeded 50,000.”

“Bob continued to serve God through Leadership Network as a board member, influencer, encourager to countless pastors and a dear personal friend to me” says Dave Travis, CEO of Leadership Network from 2011 to 2017.”

“Bob Buford was a mega-force behind the megachurch movement,” said Robert Lewis, former chair of the Leadership Network board and himself a large-church pastor. “Bob’s unique life influenced thousands and transformed American Christianity by inspiring God-glorifying innovation and real-world results.”

 

BUFORD’S BOOK “DRUCKER AND ME ” ENDORSED BY A WHOSE WHO OF LEADERSHIP NETWORK  DISCIPLES

 

Southern Baptist Rick Warren

“I personally witnessed this fascinating backstory between two of my best friends, Peter Drucker and Bob Buford. Now everyone can benefit from the amazing conversations Bob had with one of the brightest minds of all time.”
—DR. RICK WARREN
Founding Pastor of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose Driven Life

“Being mentored by Peter Drucker was one of God’s great gifts to my ministry. I remain indebted to Bob Buford for making that happen.”
—BILL HYBELS, Founding Pastor of Willow Creek Community Church

“A mentor is a person who multiplies his or her impact by investing in the lives and work of others. Peter Drucker was such a mentor to Bob Buford and then Bob became a mentor to countless others. This is the heartwarming story of how two men changed each others’ lives and then leveraged that transformation to meet ‘human needs and alleviate suffering’ through a chain reaction that is still changing our world.”
—RICHARD STEARNS
President of World Vision US and Author of The Hole in Our Gospel and Unfinished

MORE EVANGELICALS UNDER THE BUFORD, LEADERSHIP NETWORK INFLUENCE

Buford died in April 2018 . His death was reported by Southern Baptist Ed Stetzer of NAMB/ Lifeway Research / Christianity Today/ TGC and current Billy Graham Chair of Evangelism at Wheaton College .

https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2014/april/catalyst-that-fostered-movement.html

CHRISTIAN MEDIA A MEANS TO TRANSFORM THE CHURCH

Christianity Today became the outlet for Leadership Networks influence and promoting it’s trendy ideas

Here is some of Ed Sterzer’s praise of the impact of Bob  Buford , his mentor Peter Drucker and Leadership Network on the American Church

“Buford helped take a new approach to ministry, a reinvention of American Protestantism, and fused it with leadership savvy, the principles he learned from Peter Drucker. Of course, Drucker was interested in the megachurch himself. He once told Forbes magazine, “pastoral megachurches are surely the most important social phenomenon in American society in the last thirty years.”

“Together, Buford and Drucker made a huge impact on the direction of the church. Simply put, your church probably sings like a Calvary Chapel, but is led like a Saddleback. Those two men are part of the reason why.”

“Catalyzing Change Agents” THE BOAST BY ED STETZER

“About 30 years ago, Buford pioneered Leadership Network and began to influence the influencers. He invested his time to train the trainers. He sought to create learning communities that might foster mutual learning among high capacity leaders. He did this early on with men like Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, and Robert Lewis.”

“Buford sought to find effective leaders who would teach others and then catalyze their skills. The end result was that leaders were pushed to a great capacity of leadership. Gifted pastors became effective leaders, resulting in stronger ministries. Their influence spread and, as a result, Buford’s impact was multiplied.”

“More Than Meetings”

“Buford did not just convene meetings. He funded the impact he desired. He did so selectively, however, only choosing investments that would create exponential returns. For example, he and Colorado billionaire Phil Anschutz financed the Burning Bush Fund. They took their catalyzing passion and combined it with strategic investment. Leaders like Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, Larry Osborne, Greg Surratt, Neil Cole and others involved their churches and ministries.”

“I was brought in as a facilitator on the second wave of the project. Seeing the names of those who were invited in the first wave, I was struck by how many were almost unknowns at the time, but had since become national influencers.”

“Those were the “islands of strength” that Buford sought. He would find one and use his influence to build bridges to other “islands” so they could learn from one another. He made them better and helped them spread their story.”

“The end result is that churches are better led and more influential, all because of a person that, by design, stayed off stage and out of the limelight.”

STETZER CONTINUES HIS PRAISE OF BUFORD

“In late 2013, I was speaking at a celebration of sorts for Leadership Network and the Halftime organization. I presented a chart that pointed to the growth in some sectors of the church. Later, I had that chart framed for Bob. Why? Because as a missiologist, I see his influence in that growth trend.”

“There is a famous quote that has often been attributed to President Harry Truman, and others, that says, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” That epitomized Bob Buford’s approach. He chose to catalyze his learning from Drucker and his fortune from cable, without much concern over the credit.”

“You may not have known Bob, but he probably influenced you and your church. More importantly though, he’s chosen to be a catalyst for Kingdom impact—and I’m thankful for his passion and investment to that end.”

LEADERSHIP NETWORKS RADICAL LGBT “THE NINES” CONFERENCES

Leadership Networks sponsorship of Revoice should come as no surprise given its past edgy work with its own “The Nines Conference” at which many evangelical leaders including current Southern Baptist President J D Greear has also appeared as a speaker .

 

https://www.rightnowmedia.org/Training/Post/Preview/61804

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.

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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.

Greear at The Nines Conference “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.”

GREEAR OFFERS RESOURCES INCLUDING MARK YARHOUSE WHO IS PART OF REVOICE 2019

Will the Next SBC President Condemn or Condone The Revoice Conference and “LGBT+ Christianity “

“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.”

SBC PRESIDENT GREEAR ENDORSING LEADERSHIP NETWORKS” THE NINES ” ON HIS WEBSITE

When Lutheran Pastor and author, Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber was invited to an evangelical online conference called The Nines, she noticed that one of the topics for discussion was the ‘issue’ of homosexuality.

The pastor decided that instead of talking about LGBT people, that people attending the conference would benefit from hearing directly from LGBT Christians. The result is a remarkable video with LGBT people talking about why they are Christians, why they do not appreciate being considered an ‘issue,” and why they are ‘the Church.’

In an email to the Huffington Post, Pastor Bolz-Weber explained:

Way too often, in the church, GLBTQ folks end up being the objects and not the subjects of discussions about their lives. So when I was asked to produce a 5-minute video for The Nines, an evangelical on-line leadership conference, I wanted to make sure that amongst the countless voices discussing the “issue of homosexuality” (which, let’s face it, is pretty much a term only used by those who have issues with GLBTQ people) that there would be actual queer Christian voices present.

 

BUFORD MENTORED HUNDREDS OF THE MOST CELEBRATED EVANGELICALS

To fully grasp the reach of Leadership Network and Bob Buford into the evangelical church  would require in depth  studies into the Church Growth Movement, The Multi Site Church ,The Emergent Church, Church Planting movement, Christianity Today’s history ( Buford saved the publication from extinction and opened a dozen or more sister publications on “leadership “) and a study of  many of the organization like World Vision , Intervarsity , ACTS 29 , The Gospel Coalition and even denominations like the SBC and PCA. The influence is everywhere in our seminaries and institutions -and today it is the ” gold standard ” for many on how leadership and church growth should be done . This is all in spite of the cold hard reality that to the work of Leadership Network “doctrine does NOT matter”. Given the endorsement/ sponsorship  of Revoice Conference,  this mantra remains unchanged .

BOB BUFORD IS GONE BUT HIS INFLUENCE REMAINS

 

Through the years several researchers have exposed the many dangers and damaging trends that Buford’s Leadership Network and Half Time brands have promoted into the mainstream of Christianity .From the Faith Based Partnership compromise -to the church growth cult and CEO models of modern church leadership and now the sponsorship of Revoice 2019 -Leadership Network and Bob Buford have left a lasting mark on the Body of Christ . In the view of those who do not believe in “promoting LGBT+ flourishing” in the Body  of Christ as Revoice does – it is fair to say that once again Jesus is being wounded in the house of His Friends and His Bride is being seduced into spiritual harlotry and the idolatry of the modern LGBT sexual /gender revolution. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God with such a legacy to testify against you. Many of Buford’s evangelical disciples should fear their future appointment in eternity.

 

Rev Thomas Littleton                                                                                                 4/27/2019

Earlier in the Spring of 2019 The LGBT activist organization Revoice announced its new conference speakers and rolled out its statement of faith. The statement sites and links the organization founded by John Stott .

” As an evangelical organization that cooperates with Christians from a variety of churches, denominations, and traditions, Revoice gladly adopts the following statement of faith from Langham Partnership, an interdenominational coalition of Christians from around the globe.”

Home 2

 

https://revoice.us/about/our-beliefs/statement-of-faith/

In today’s activist charged climate and “social justice “push of issues like Racism and LGBT in the church, it has become very common to link the new language and movements to other trusted historic names ,ministries ,legacies and  people for legitimization. Although for some John Stott would be considered an anchor for gaining trust and access to evangelicals with the REVISIONIST message-in reality  Stott and his problematic stance on homosexuality fails to provide the kind of cover this effort appears to be seeking .

SAM ALLBERRY IS LINKED AS WELL TO A FRESH EFFORT TO BRING THE STOTT LEGACY TO BEAR ON CURRENT LGBT

The book linked below and endorsed by Allberry  is a republication with “revised- updated – expanded” materials on SSA/ homosexuality and the evangelical church.

Same Sex Relationships

Classic wisdom from John Stott

“What does the Bible say about same-sex relationships? How should Christians think about this divisive and heartfelt issue? And what of those who are caught in the crossfire: the brothers and sisters who experience same-sex attraction, but are committed to being faithful to the teaching of scripture and resisting it?”

“In this revised, updated and extended edition of the classic chapter from Issues Facing Christians Today, the late John Stott lays out the biblical position on same-sex relationships with care, wisdom and compassion.”

“In addition to Dr Stott’s timeless Biblical wisdom, there are forewords by Dr John Sentamu, (the Archbishop of York) and Dr Mark Labberton (President of Fuller Theological Seminary), a helpful preface by the editor, Sean Doherty, testimonies from same-sex attracted Christians and questions for reflection and discussion.”

WHY NOW?

The repubication and it’s timing  appear to be an effort to add validation and historic context to the modern day / Allberry/ Revoice / Gospel Coalition  / LGBT+ Christianity collective . Yet Stott in fact looks to be cause for even further concern as to how long these troubling views have been seeking way into the mainstream of Christian thinking.

https://www.thegoodbook.com/same-sex-relationships

John Stott promotes the work of disgraced and  perverted “sexologist ” Alfred Kinsey who died while under Federal Indictment for his research materials and how some were obtained. In Stotts 1990 book “Issues Facing Christians Today” in the chapter ” on homosexual partnerships” . The chapter is reproduced in the 1998 book “Same-Sex Partnerships? A Christian contribution to contemporary debate”.

Kinsey’s star faded quickly. By his death in 1956 Kinsey’s research was under serious scrutiny and he died under FBI investigation. Those FBI reports can be seen at the link below.

https://vault.fbi.gov/Alfred%20Kinsey

By 2004 not even the New York Times was comfortable whitewashing Kinsey’s legacy and published an article entitled-

Alfred Kinsey: Liberator or Pervert?

Yet John Stott quotes from Kinsey and his research in this piece first written in 1990

“First, ‘we are all human beings. That is to say, there is no such phenomenon as “a homosexual”. There are only people, human persons, made in the image and likeness of God, yet fallen, with all the glory and the tragedy which that paradox implies, including sexual potential and sexual problems.’ (p336)

‘Secondly, we are all sexual beings. Our sexuality, according to both Scripture and experience, is basic to our humanness… Moreover, not only are we all sexual beings, but we all have a particular sexual orientation. The American zoologist Alfred Kinsey’s famous investigation into human sexuality led him to place every human being somewhere ona spectrum from 0 (an exclusively heterosexual bias, attracted only to the opposite sex) to 6 (an exclusively homosexual bias, attracted only to the same sex, whether homosexual males or “lesbians”, as homosexual females are usually called). In between these poles Dr Kinsey plotted varying degrees of bisexuality, referring to people whose sexual orientation is either dual or indeterminate or fluctuating.’ His researches led him to conclude that 4% of men (at least of white American men) are exclusively homosexual throughout their lives, that 10% are for up to three years, and that as many as 37% have some kind of homosexual experience between adolescence and old age. The percentage of homosexual women he found to be lower, although it rises to 4 between the ages of 20 and 35. The numbers are high enough to warrant Dr D. J. West’s comment that ‘homosexuality is an extremely common condition.’ (p336

“We have grown accustomed to distinguish between a homosexual orientation or “inversion” (for which people are not responsible) and homosexual physical practices (for which they are). The importance of this distinction goes beyond the attribution of responsibility to the attribution of guilt. We may not blame people for what they are, though we may for what they do. And in every discussion about homosexuality we must be rigorous in differentiating between this “being” and “doing”, that is between a person’s identity and activity, sexual preference and sexual practice, constitution and conduct.”  (p337-38)

‘Thirdly, we are all sinners, indeed (among other things) sexual sinners.’

‘Fourth, in addition to being human, sexual and sinful creatures, I take it that we are all Christians. At least the readers I have in mind in this chapter are not people who reject the lordship of Jesus Christ…’ (p337)

Perhaps among the most puzzling of Stotts comments is that he ask the question below and then refers the answer to it and other questions to the work of Donald J West who researched pedophilia .

‘Whether homosexual partnerships – lifelong and loving – are a Christian option… In particular, can the Bible be shown to sanction homosexual partnerships, or at least not to condemn them?’ (p338)

Donald West is quoted as having asserted that ” child sexual abuse was sometimes ‘beneficial’, referred to child abusers as ‘lovers’, and referred to a child being abused by an adult as a ‘relationship”.

Dr. Donald West

“‘Admittedly, pedophiliac relationships do sometimes seem beneficial. A child may learn much from a consistent and caring adult lover and come to cherish him as a friend long after the period of erotic attachment has passed.” [p.255, Adult Sexual Interest in Children: Implications for Social Control, by D.J. West (Institute of Criminology, Cambridge, England), from Adult Sexual Interest in Children, edited by Mark Cook and Kevin Howells, Academic Press, 1981]

More of Stott statements  referred to Donald West for answers

‘Others argue that homosexual behaviour is “natural” (a) because in many primitive societies it is fairly acceptable, (b) because in some advanced civilizations (ancient Greece, for example) it was even idealized, and (c) because it is quite widespread in animals. Dr DJ West, who reports this, goes on to quote Dr FA Beach, an expert on animal sexuality, who because of animal homosexual behaviour says that to describe human homosexual behaviour as “unnatural” is to “depart from strict accuracy”.’ (p348)

“‘No known method of treatment or punishment,’ writes D J West, ‘offers hope of making any substantial reduction in the vast army of adults practising homosexuality’; it would be ‘more realistic to find room for them in society’. He pleads for ‘tolerance’, though not for ‘encouragement’, of homosexual behaviour. Other psychologists go further and declare that homosexuality is no longer to be regarded as a pathological condition; it is therefore to be accepted not cured. In 1973 the trustees of the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the category of mental illness.”

Source –   http://www.therealjohnstott.com/?page_id=225

MORE ON LAUSANNE MOVEMENT /JOHN STOTT /THE SAME SEX ATTRACTED LANGUAGE OF ALLBERRY AND REVOICE

Capetown South Africa 2010 meetings for Lausanne  brought much of the new language and the assertions of fixed homosexual orientation into the mainstream evangelical community

Homosexuality and the Church: Why the Church Must Speak Into the Lives of Those Impacted by Homosexuality

Lausanne presents the 2% of the world population as an unreached people group and sets out to instruct the church on reaching  homosexuals . (The problem with  this approach vs the Gospel approach to reaching sinners should be glaring to any Biblically anchored Christian. A specific sin does not qualify as an identity individually or as a “people group”)

1. The number of people who identify as gay or lesbian, and the proportion of people who have same-sex sexual experiences, are difficult for researchers to estimate reliably for a variety of reasons. Nonetheless, studies in several countries by credible research institutes and universities have consistently shown that less than 3% and perhaps less than 2% of males are homosexually active in a given year. Female homosexuality is estimated to be approximately half or less than the male rates and appears to characterize less than 2% of the female population. Exceptions can be found in particular groups and countries. Reference: Hughes, John R. (2006). A general review of recent reports on homosexuality and lesbianism. Sexuality and Disability, 24, 195-205. The figure of 155 million people is an estimate derived by calculating 2% of the world’s population.”

LAUSANNE’S POSITION ON HOMOSEXUALS AND THE CHURCH IN 2010

“The church is often reactive with social and cultural issues.  Instead, the church must assume its true place in the process.  The church can lead out, rather than react, by speaking to the issues first.  The church must speak to the person impacted by same sex attraction first, before the world gets its chance.  Perhaps, when that starts happening, the stories we hear will be stories of the church being part of the solution, instead of more and more stories where the church is described as the source of the problem.”

LAUSANNE 2010 WHITEPAPERS ON SAME SEX ATTRACTION /HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE CHURCH.

Some other papers and materials on SSA and Homosexuality for  Lausanne 2010 can be found here;

https://www.lausanne.org/?sfid=27242&s=Mike+Goeke+,homosexuality

Equipping the Church to Respond with Truth and Grace

https://www.lausanne.org/lgc-transfer/full-session-sexuality-creation-brokenness-truth-and-grace-multiplex

JOHN STOTTS CONCLUSIONS ON HOMOSEXUALITY AND CHRISTIAN FAITH

“‘The great majority of homosexual people are not responsible for their condition (though they are of course, for their conduct). Since they are not deliberate perverts, they deserve our understanding and compassion, not our rejection… At the heart of the homosexual condition is a deep loneliness, the natural human hunger for mutual love, a search for identity, and a longing for completeness. If homosexual people cannot find these things in the local ‘church family’, we have no business to go on using that expression. The alternative is not between the warm physical relationship of homosexual intercourse and the pain of isolation in the cold. There is a third option, namely a Christian environment of love, understanding, acceptance and support.’ (p360)”

ALLBERRY AND THE LONELY HEARTS CLUB REVOICE BAND.

We are watching and hearing more every day of these LGBT+ “Christian” narratives in the echo chambers of TGC/ the Southern Baptist ERLC ,and by leaders like Tim Keller of the PCA . This movement and its revoicing- rethinking – reimagining – and forcing “conversations ” on -in-around-and about the church on LGBT+ issues is not distinct from the same forced movement in the global culture. Rather it is part of it . The focus on the church and LGBT+ is often coming from the same funding into the think tanks lobbying public policy makers  and advocating for change in the church. Those like John Stott and the leaders like Tim Keller and his Gospel Coalition who have been driving the narratives since 2010 have only increased them to forced pressure for social change and “sexual  justice” for LGBT (a.k.a. sexual minorities in the church ) who are asserted over and over to have incurred some harm from the church and its past and current “attitudes ” toward LGBT persons . We are told the church has a “compassion problem ” and that WE are “hurting LGBT people”.

NO EX-GAYS ARE ALLOWED TO EXIST IN THE WORLD OF STOTT /ALLBERRY /TGC

Not once do these talking points vist the harm that homosexuality does to people and families and worst of all the TGC/Allberry / Revoice narrative does not even allow for the true life testimonies of thousands of people who have come to faith and been fully delivered from homosexuality like Dennis Jernigan, Stephen Black of Robert Lopez.

Since 2013 these narratives have escalated as TGC commissioned fellow Church of England and gay priest Sam Allberry to be it’s editor on all things LGBT and SSA. By 2018 Allberry and  Keller were introducing a “Biblical Church Inclusion Audit” for LGBT+

https://www.livingout.org/resources/the-living-out-church-audit

Tim Keller’s LGBTQI+ Inclusion Audit for Your Church: Do You Measure Up?

The audit requires for Churches  to comply as they are reviewed by Allberry’s ministry. “Living Out is delighted to bring you this day of training in partnership with the Evangelical Alliance. We ask that all who attend assent to the Evangelical Alliance Basis of Faith and its biblical and pastoral position with respect to homosexuality, summarised in these affirmations.”

Those Evangelical Alliance affirmations include #10

“10. We encourage evangelical congregations to welcome and accept sexually active lesbians and gay men. However, they should do so in the expectation that they, like all of us who are living outside God’s purposes, will come in due course to see the need to be transformed ..”

FOOLISH MEANS OF EVANGELISM -“INCLUSION ” OF SINFUL IDENTITY

This means church membership is to be extended as a means of evangelism -which in fact shows extreme ignorance on the part of the EA leaders on new birth and how a person is converted and made a part of the Body of Christ.

https://www.eauk.org/resources/what-we-offer/reports/biblical-and-pastoral-responses-to-homosexuality?utm_source=old_eauk

EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE CLOSE BONDS WITH JOHN STOTT

https://www.eauk.org/church/stories/john-stott-memorial-service.cfm

Stott died in 2012 . Tim Keller was asked to do his Stateside memorial service after the funeral at ST Pauls in London. Evangelical Alliance staff were in attendance and acknowledge Stotts contribution to Christianity

“Staff from the Evangelical Alliance, including General Director Steve Clifford, were among 2,000 people who joined Rev Stott’s closest friends and colleagues, as well as the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and the Bishop of London, at the memorial service.”

“Born in 1921 in London, John Stott was a member of All Souls Church, Langham Place, all his life. Among his most celebrated writings were Basic Christianity and The Radical Disciple. He served as one of the Queen’s Chaplains and was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list in 2005 – the same year he was named in Time magazine’s top 100 most influential people.”

“Paying tribute, Geoff Tunnicliffe, secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance, said: “Although many of the 600 million evangelical Christians may never have heard of John Stott, almost without exception they will have been unconsciously influenced through what they or their pastors have read from his pen. The whole of the leadership of the WEA acknowledges with great thankfulness to God the legacy that John Stott has left behind to encourage and guide us.”

TGC SOCIAL JUSTICE AND JOHN STOTT- PART OF THE MUCH LARGER PROBLEM

In 2013 TGC and Trevin Wax were using the John Stott legacy in early efforts to promote the TGC social Justice narrative

When John Stott Confronted Billy Graham

Most Christians who follow any mainstream news in the church today know of the problem the “social gospel” which is manifested in its new clothing of “Social Justice ” is causing in the seminaries and churches. These concerns led to the Dallas Statement condemning Social Justice as a Gospel cause. Generally this problem is understood by  a growing number of concerned believers to be originating from The Gospel Coalition and it’s affiliates . In fact John Stott was decades ahead of the curve on this crippling agenda being embraced by the church.

John Stott changes his mind

In 1966 Stott affirmed

““The commission of the Church, therefore, is not to reform society, but to preach the Gospel… the primary task of the members of Christ’s Church is to be Gospel heralds, not social reformers.”

“It is the offer of forgiveness to sinful men and women on the ground of the Name of the crucified and risen Christ. There is no other message but the offer of forgiveness, and no other ground but the name of Christ. This is the good news we are commissioned to herald. It is the Gospel according to the Scriptures. This Gospel will never change.” Stott’s message was clear: “According to this commission, which is still addressed to us today, our primary duty is to be neither reformers of society nor healers of the sick, but rather preachers of the Gospel.”

“the cumulative emphasis seems clear… the mission of the church, according to the specification of the risen Lord is exclusively a preaching, converting and teaching mission.”

But by 1974 and the launch of Lausanne – Stott had changed his tune

“Christ sends us into the world to serve. For he came to serve. Not just to seek and to save, not just to preach, but more generally to serve… Now he tells us that as the Father sent him into the world, so he sends us. Our mission, like his, is to be one of service” (Stott’s emphasis).  He argued that it was in a servant role “that we find the right synthesis of evangelism and social action.”  In an attempt to reconcile the concept of ‘mission as service’ with the Great Commission, Stott said: “I venture to say that we give it [that is, the Great Commission] too prominent a place in our Christian thinking.”

““we express penitence both for our neglect of our Christian social responsibility and for our naive polarization in having sometimes regarded evangelism and social concern as mutually exclusive… we affirm that evangelism and socio-political involvement are both part of our Christian duty.”

““It is our duty to be involved in socio-political action; that is, both in social action (caring for society’s casualties) and in political action (concerned for the structures of society itself).”

As Stotts resolve weakened or his influences broadened- he was willing to surrender the Great Commission to the “social gospel” . His views on Homosexuality certainly position it to be heralded as one of the great causes for social justice . Now we see those who are pushing for just such LGBT+ “justice” in the church are clinging to the Stott legacy . It is a popular yet troubling legacy indeed.

CHRISTIAN FAMILY:THE FINAL FRONTIER AND THE LAST LINE OF DEFENSE

By late  2018 Allberry and the entire heard of LGBT activist inside the evangelical circles in the US were fully attacking the nuclear family as an idol and advocating for SSA adoption and foster care.These same narratives are echoed by Revoice and by most in TGC who come from the SSA camp including Rosaria Butterfield .

Where will it end?

Answer?

It will not !

These are highly organized and coordinated efforts for social change in the church in order to bring about the long range goals of acceptance and affirmation of homosexuality in the church. This effort goes up the ladder to the highest levels of- to some of the  most trusted men in Christian leadership.

“Just say no” to this insane in house activism -and choose the timeless Word of God instead.

Colossians 2  “¹⁸ Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has ^[l]not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

²⁰ Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— ²¹ “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” ²² which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? ²³ These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.