The new pastor of Saddleback Church, Andy Wood, told the Associated Press earlier this week that he intends to expand the number of women serving in pastoral roles. He highlights his own wife’s role at Saddleback saying, “My wife has the spiritual gift of teaching and she is really good. People often tell me she’s better than me when it comes to preaching, and I’m really glad to hear that.” These remarks of course raise more questions about Saddleback’s status as an SBC-affiliated church. The SBC’s statement of faith says the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by scripture, and Saddleback’s practice obviously contradicts what our doctrinal…
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Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones vs. Expressive Individualism
In December 1970, BBC journalist Joan Bakewell interviewed Dr. Martyn-Lloyd Jones on national television. I love this entire interview. The good doctor bears faithful witness to Christ throughout. The clip below, however, is cued up to an excerpt near the end where Bakewell asks Lloyd-Jones about what we now call expressive individualism. Lloyd-Jones’ response is classic. Watch below. Then after you’ve watched the clip, rewind and watch the whole thing.
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How Do the Humble Boast? (part 2)
2 Corinthians 12:1-10 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Paul prays earnestly to the Lord that the trial should be removed from him. Three times, he pleads with the Lord, “Lord, take it away. Remove it. Make the pain stop.” Have you ever prayed like this? Have you ever had a deep and abiding trial or fear or grief and…
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Why the SBC Should Remove Saddleback
Over the weekend, a friend sent me a post from one of Saddleback Church’s social media accounts announcing that their new female teaching pastor would be delivering her first sermon on Sunday, October 9. Her sermon streamed live yesterday on YouTube, and I took some time to watch it myself last night. If you are interested in watching it, this link is cued up to her husband’s introduction to her message, and her message follows immediately after. I don’t know either of them personally, but if you take time to watch the message, you are going to see a husband and a wife that seem as sweet as they can…
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Chloe Cole Tells Her Story of Detransition
Transcript: Over the past decade there has been as high as a 4,000 percent increase in children being referred to so-called gender clinics across the United States. I was one of these children. My name is Chloe Cole, and I am an 18-year old former transgender child. I transitioned from the age of 12 up until 16 when i realized it all was a lie. My story is cautionary tale. Children and parents across the country have been caught off guard by gender ideology discussions about gender. Transgenderism and gender identity went from being a relatively benign social oddity to a doctrine that has invaded nearly every academic medical and…
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Albert Mohler on Evangelicals and Christian Nationalism
Astead Herndon of The New York Times recently interviewed Dr. Albert Mohler about politics, American evangelicalism, and Christian Nationalism. The interview is a part of “The Guardrails” episode of “The Run-Up” podcast. The New York Times has made a transcript available, which I have excerpted below. This is a fascinating interview on a number of levels. The interviewer is adversarial, but in a polite way and allows Mohler to make his points. Mohler does a better job than just about anyone I’ve heard at parrying charges of Christian Nationalism. It’s fascinating that so many media personalities do not seem to understand that there is no such thing as Christian Nationalism…
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Female Pastors and an Amendment to the SBC Constitution
As many of you know, the Southern Baptist Convention has been having an intramural debate over women serving as pastors. This has been sort of a surprise to many people because our doctrinal statement, the Baptist Faith & Message, is so clear on the matter: “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” Clear enough, right? How could there be any controversy? Well, we have a number of churches who are now saying that women can indeed serve as pastors. There are multiple justifications given for this. For Saddleback Church—which has ordained women associate…
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How Do the Humble Boast?
? 2 Corinthians 11:16-33 18 Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. The difference between a sinful boast and a godly boast is the object of your boasting. If you are boasting in yourself to make much of yourself, then it is sinful boasting and pride. If you are boasting in what God has done—even if its what God has done through you—and you’re doing so for the edification of God’s people, that’s not sinful. That’s ministry. That is the great commission. That is what God has called all of us to do. And that’s exactly what Paul is doing in 2 Corinthians 11. Paul is…
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Destroying the Healthy Bodies of Minor Children
Matt Walsh has posted a thread on Twitter that is currently going viral. It features videos from the transgender clinic at Vanderbilt in Nashville. You need to watch these videos to understand just how disturbing the treatment of gender-confused children really is. The videos reveal that the doctors are performing gender “affirmation” surgeries on children because it’s a “big money maker.” According to Vanderbilt, surgeries removing children’s healthy sexual organs are lucrative because they require a lot of “follow ups.” Which is another way of saying that cutting off healthy organs often results in life-altering, long-term, painful complications. That’s why “follow-ups” are required. But it’s a big “money maker” for…
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Public Opinion and the Christian Conscience
Last week, I predicted on social media that if the so-called “Respect for Marriage Act” ever makes it to the floor of the Senate for an up or down vote, there will be more than enough GOP support for the measure to pass. The fact is that a majority of Americans now support same-sex marriage, including a majority of those who identify as Republicans. The base of the Republican party is still largely against same-sex marriage, but everyone else is pretty much for it. That puts GOP senators in between a rock and a hard place. Should they vote to affirm gay marriage and offend their base? Or should they…
