Cults, Hypocrisy, and Jordan Hall

It's not always clear what is and isn't a cult, but thanks to the keen powers of discernment being exercised by the likes of Jordan Hall these days, those lines of demarcation are being illuminated more and more.

So now I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints isn't a cult! Thanks Jordan!

Address: 50 N West Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84150 (with a branch in my own community as well, at the corner of Elm and Lindsey!)
Year of origin: 1830
Head elder to whom to submit and under whose teaching to sit: Thomas S. Monson

Hooray for good discerning skills!

I can imagine how this conversation might have gone some time ago:

"Hey, early Christian in the year 84 AD! Tell me where your church meets and who your elders are!"
"Um, who are you?"
"CULT!!!!!!!!1111"

Speaking of which, Jordan's church has been around for ~30 years, and yet he likes to speak of individual visible local churches as though they were the institutions that Christ founded... ~2000 years ago. One can only guess at how Jordan thinks to resolve this -ahem- slight chronological discrepancy. It is doubtful that Jesus ever set foot in North America, still more doubtful that if He had, He spoke to a bunch of lily-white oilmen in the eastern Montana prairie, so as to found The Church Christ Founded® near Sidney, MT. So how does Jordan's church derive its authority to claim that it is The Church Christ Founded®?

One guesses it is because it was planted by someone else who had authority to plant churches (whatever that means; I'd like to see that notion derived from Scripture). But what about that planter? Was his church planted by someone who had authority to do so and how did he obtain the authority to plant churches? After all, Jordan is on record saying that Jesus gave the keys of binding and loosing to the church, by which Jordan means local churches and not the apostles or the invisible universal church.

So, presumably Jordan can trace the succession of church planters all the way back to Peter and the other apostles. I'd like to see that list. I guess it would be pretty long since his church was only founded ~30 years ago. That's around 1950 years, give or take, to account for! Yikes. And of course, one wonders what would set Jordan's own doctrine of apostolic succession apart from that of Rome or the Eastern Conciliarist churches. He'll say that they're antichrist and so they don't get to play, but who is he to make such an authoritative declaration?

This is what happens when you get addicted to authority rather than truth. Strangely, we've seen it in the Reformed camp, which should be the bulwark against Romanism, yet they have proven very susceptible to repeat one of Rome's main errors. Even more strangely, we've seen it from the likes of Jon Speed and of Jordan Hall, who pretty much hate each other. But all can unite and agree to hate abolitionists. We make all sorts of people uncomfortable. Like Jesus did.

But if one needed any further signal as to Jordan's instability, one need look little further than this post from April 2016, only five months ago, in which he said this:

 "The podcast and Polemics Report, which takes hardly no time from me at all, for now will continue, at least until I tire of that, too. Everything else stops. Now. And I sleep well, having fought the fight. I fought it imperfectly. But I fought it. I’m pretty much done, now."

And yet here we find him enmeshed in a very extensive way in frequent social media accusations against abolitionists. Not that they actually share much real information; approximately 40% of the words he uses are "cult" or "cultist". He doesn't say much else. But the point is that he posts very frequently. It's like he never left. Or changed his mind radically in a few months' time. He was pretty much done. Now he isn't. 

I pray his double-mindedness will cease, and soon.  

Abortion: The Evil of Our Age (Revised)

Improving on the talk I delivered with the same title some time ago, here is what I hope to be a definitive treatment of the topic.

Jon Speed vs Shane Dodson

Jon Speed in May 2013:

"There is nothing that can be done to make this a true church."

(Referring to the so-called "Door of Hope" church in Norman, OK, the church of which I myself am now a part.)

Shane Dodson now:

@paperhymn @DeanChris If his church preaches the gospel, administers the sacraments & carries out discipline, it is a true NT church.

— Shane (@PreachingChrist) September 2, 2016

And my church does indeed do those things. Awesome! Shane Dodson Seal of Approval achieved!

Also, the vast majority of American churches never preach the Gospel since preaching is not the action of standing in a building and speaking to the same believers over and over again.

Ephesians 4 and the abdication of Christian responsibility via the "fivefold ministry"

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors (shepherds) and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ...

So read verses 11-12 of Ephesians 4. Commonly Western Christians take this passage as a confirmation of the ecclesiological structures in the midst of which they have grown up and which enjoy a remarkable ubiquity across denominational lines. Almost everyone takes for granted, for example, that "pastor" or that which is its de facto equivalent (like priest, or elder) is an office instituted by the New Testament for local churches. To paraphrase my friend Matthew Martellus, by "office", we might mean a position whose character is largely invariant with respect to the individual who fills that position. In other words, an "office" functions the same way (more or less) regardless of who is filling said office and which is generally independent of the people who fill them, which is why they have rules and procedures of succession.

When one asks for scriptural support for the idea of ecclesiastical offices, usually the first passage cited in response is Ephesians 4:10-16. Smuggled along for the ride is the idea that these "offices", or at least one or two of them, were meant by God to remain in place unto perpetuity in most every instance of local church, from the writing of the New Testament until the Parousia. But is this the case? Let us examine the passage in detail.

Verses 1-6 - a call to and explanation of unity

1Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

The regenerate have been called to the new birth, to regeneration and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. By His movement and power, He has grafted people into the True Vine and made them partakers of His divine nature, adopting us as children and giving us union with Christ so that we are His Body. This is our calling - the high calling of Jesus. Paul urges us in v1 to walk in a manner worthy of this calling. Humility, gentleness, patience, and tolerance are essential for the loving creation and maintenance of unity within the different human beings that constitute the Body of Christ. We are to bear with each other in love and maintain true peace, reflecting between each other the peace that Jesus has instituted between us and God and within our own hearts. With that in mind, we move to the next:

Verses 7-10 - God gives immeasurable grace

7But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8Therefore it says, “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.” 9(Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)

Though we are united with Christ and with each other through Christ, we are to exercise the different gifts that God gave. This is why unity must be carefully preserved, as the differences between people can lead to conflict. We must take thoughts captive to obedience to Christ when tempted to divide from other believers. God gave gifts to His people through Christ's ascension and the subsequent giving of the Holy Spirit to comfort, guide, and indwell us. As a matter of fact, 1 Corinthians 12:11 informs us that it is the Holy Spirit Himself who distributes these gifts as He wills.

Note that the word used here is "gifts", not "office". The Greek of the New Testament does not use a word that can be translated directly in such a way as to match the English word "office". The NASB uses "office" four times in the New Testament . Twice it refers to the "office of priest", which phrase is covered by one Greek word. In Acts 1, Judas' "office" (that is, "episkope") was to be transferred to someone else to fulfill prophecy, and then interestingly, 1 Timothy 3, the translators insert "office of" where the same word ("episkope") appears, but don't stop with "office", going on to add "...of overseer", thus translating the same word with a significantly different expression at 1 Tim 3 than that which they used anywhere else in the New Testament. At any rate, if God had intended to communicate the idea that in Ephesians 4 He was instituting something like what Matthias ended up fulfilling, He could have used "episkope" or something. Instead, what we see in Ephesians 4 is δίδωμι ("gave"), δωρεά ("gift"), and δόμα (again, "gift"), not to mention "grace" that was given.

Verses 11-13 - the gifts God gave and why He gave them

11And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

God gives gifts for a purpose. What is that purpose for which He gave these gifts of people as apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors/teachers? Verse 12 - for the equipping of the saints. Equipping for what? For the work of service, and for the building up of the body of Christ. We might presume that is perpetual enough, but let's look further down the passage as we continue. Paul goes on to indicate that there is a set of end goals that we are to attain via these gifts, in verse 13 and following:
--unity of the faith
--knowledge of the Son of God
--maturity
--the full Christ-like stature

Those are good things because they make us like Jesus, of course, but there is more to the story.

Verses 14-16 - the desired result

14As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Once we have attained to unity, knowledge, maturity, and full stature as mentioned above, there will be tangible, visible results in every individual and group of individuals who have attained thereto. Namely:
--no longer children
--no longer tossed around by every wind of doctrine
--or by men's trickery or crafty scheming
--speaking the truth in love
--growing up in all aspects to Christ-likeness

And then, notice what happens at this point, which leads into my central contention - when this whole body in question, which we could say for short is an assembly of Christians in a particular area, has attained to these things, then each individual part exercises his or her gifts properly, in love, and causes the body to build itself up. But what was the point of the "fivefold ministry" as described earlier in the passage? Precisely that - to build up the body and equip it. Equip it for what? To build itself up in love. Thus we transition from a few people in a given body given by God to serve as examples and train less mature believers in that assembly... with the goal of turning them into fully-functioning believers who build each other up in love, every member exercising his/her gift(s) to build up everyone else.

Notice that this is what "we are to" do. That is a command - grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head - Christ. The whole body partakes of His life-giving sap and thus builds itself up by every part building up the other parts. Mutual love and benefit, rather than a top-down hierarchy.

"Until we all attain"

Let's go back and check another angle from the previous section. Notice that in v11-13 "He gave...for ...equipping (and) building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to" the aforementioned goals. Why does it say "until" rather than something else like "and continuing on past our attainment of" those things?

The word μέχρι is translated "until" here. At the linked page are listed all the occurrences of this word in the New Testament. Most NT occurrences** indicate that the action ceases after the event μέχρι (until) which the previous state of affairs obtained. μέχρι is used in the New Testament to indicate cessation. Let's check a few examples:

--Mark 13:30 - Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
Will the generation pass away after those things are all fulfilled? Yes.

--Acts 20:7 - On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.
Did Paul keep talking after midnight? No; he stopped at midnight.

--1 Timothy 6:14 - that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ...
This exhortation won't mean much in the New Jerusalem, the final resurrected state.

And Ephesians 4:13 says that God gave those gifts until we attain to the desired goals, and we ought to expect that the situation will change/cease after the scenario that precedes μέχρι has completed. So if you're equipped for the work of service and are mature and are building up people in the body, then that's the point of those gifts, the point for them is fulfilled, and something better has come - a mature believer. And when a whole assembly achieves this maturity, as we are all commanded to strive for, those gifts are fulfilled and are unnecessary, for that body is building itself up in love, in all aspects. Those gifts' utility has come to an end in this case, which is Paul's express hope for the believers in Ephesus.

Even though not every single usage of μέχρι does indeed connote a cessation, the context of the passage does not support a competing interpretation. Are we supposed to believe that the Apostle Paul meant to communicate that once we attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, that nothing changes? Why then did he entirely neglect to mention the utility and purpose of these gifts once maturity is attained? If he thought that the gifts bring us to a purpose and then that purpose is reached, and then the gifts' purpose morphs into something else, he does not seem to have told anyone what that second purpose is.

One may argue that nobody ever actually attains to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. In that case, what good are these gifts, since the purpose of God fails? And what good are the gifted people, since they themselves are not mature? How can they help anyone else? Such an argument proves too much.

Modern American Churches

Let's compare that to the more prevalent current situation in virtually all local assemblies. Almost nobody functions like this. Few people zealously reach for full maturity but rather are dependent on the pastor and leadership, who, let's be honest, have numerous vested interests in keeping the laity in a state of perpetual immaturity. The few Christians whom the rest of the people identify as having a zeal for God are pushed inexorably to seminary. If they know an evangelist (which "office" itself is suspiciously* very rare compared to how many self-proclaimed "pastors" there are out there), the rest of the church people generally content themselves with patting him on the back and affirming his "calling" but show no desire to join and help him; the best he is usually able to get is a small team of people who "hold the rope" for him in prayer. And even then, most of the time the "evangelist" just travels around and delivers lectures to gatherings of mostly church people in other localities rather than going out consistently and frequently to evangelise lost people.

The presence of "evangelist" in the list of gifts is, by the way, another good reason to doubt the reliability of the generally-accepted modern American interpretation of this passage. There are tens of thousands of pastors out there. If there are hundreds of evangelists, there aren't a lot of hundreds. Is that because pastors are more needed than evangelists? In a nation where less than 10% of the population is credibly born again, that seems unlikely. Even if they were, are 100 pastors needed for every one evangelist? Could it rather be that getting a job as a pastor appeals more to the wallet and ego of people who just sank 3+ years of their lives in seminary than taking on the role of constantly bringing the Gospel to the world of lost people who hate it? It is likely in my considered opinion that the spate of pastors in the modern American churches is present largely because of something other than "gifting"; if it were gifting from the Holy Spirit, I'd expect to see a lot more evangelists and a lot more pastors who strongly encourage and assist those evangelists. We see the opposite, however.

Church life is centered around a precious few, who lead, cast vision, set up the Sunday rigmarole, and approve all the inward-facing programs into which the passive congregants are funneled to give them the illusion of business in kingdom work. Most everyone sits and soaks during the main assembly times. Real fellowship and accountability are in most cases illusory. Very few grow in real ways because to grow you have to exercise. The leadership all too rarely leads by example; rather they lead by position and by saying lofty words up on stage on Sunday morning. Thus people don't fulfill the Great Commission; how can they teach others to obey all Christ commanded when they're not trying to do so themselves? Thus whole assemblies refuse to please God. Thus the main source of light in our culture is incredibly dim.

Ephesians 4:10-16 is often used to justify this situation, and few are in a position to challenge that interpretation because they have already abdicated their responsibility to accurately handle the word of truth, which would show them (if they had eyes to see) that the pastor in their life is telling them a self-serving falsehood.

Are You Equipped or Aren't You?

But in reality, according to what we've seen, if you're equipped for the work of service and the other elements of the mature person are descriptive of you, the gifts God gave to bring about that maturity in you have been fulfilled. Now, to maintain, you are to build up the other people around you as they build you up, growing them into maturity and maintaining and sharpening maturity. Further, one who is mature in the faith has a good understanding of how to carry out and has experience in carrying out the functions that apostles/prophets/evangelists/pastors/teachers do. They repeat the words of God. They counsel people to forsake sin and forgive each other. They speak prophetically into the culture and into sinful situations. They evangelise regularly. They teach and admonish others and themselves are taught and admonished.

The body thus builds itself up because they are mature and they speak the truth in love and they are equipped for service/worship, they are not tossed about, each part works properly, etc. When new believers come into fellowship, the body as a whole builds them up. Of course everyone needs sharpening, and the body is where that happens. As new believers are still children and immature, they need a more pastoral role so certain parts of the body take on that role vis-à-vis that immature person to make them mature, and then they gradually withdraw from that sort of oversight role as the person matures and functions as s/he is supposed to within the body.

None of this should be taken to mean that I necessarily think that the Spirit later withdraws His gifts once bestowed, but then again, while it is often taken for granted that these are permanent from conversion until death, is such a thing expressly taught in the New Testament? I can't think of a passage that says so, and there is some scriptural evidence that this might be the case. For example, consider Acts 19:11-12 - "God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out." Compare that occurrence relatively early in his ministry to his inability to heal later in life, related in 2 Timothy 4:20 - "Erastus remained at Corinth, but Trophimus I left sick at Miletus." Or consider the case of Acts 14:11-18 in which Paul, who spoke "in tongues more than all of you" (1 Corinthians 14:18) seems unable to understand the words of the people of Lystra for quite some time, unaware that they were affirming that Barnabas and Paul were gods of the Greek pantheon. Finally, let us ask ourselves why 1 Corinthians 14:1 exhorts us to earnestly desire especially the gift of prophecy, as if we did not have it before. Thus there is scriptural evidence to lead us to the conclusion that spiritual gifts may not be as fixed as we often think of them.

That being the case, what in the Scripture would make us believe that these gifts of, say, pastor and evangelist are perpetual, especially when we have evidence that they are in fact given for a purpose and that God intends for that purpose to be fulfilled and when we see in the American churches plenty of demonstration that the perpetual-pastor / fivefold ministry teaching has as a primary effect the neutralisation of the salt that the people of God are supposed to be?

However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!” But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit on them!”
--Numbers 11:26-29

*Being an evangelist doesn't sound as attractive to people as being a pastor, because it usually invokes the spectre of casting aside fear of man and regularly going out to engage lost people you don't know with the Gospel, which is a fearful thing and can lead to confrontation, debate, and sometimes persecution. Further, it is a well-paid gig less commonly than being a pastor is. Tons of people claim to be "called" to be a pastor, and I don't believe those "callings" are legitimate; they are not from God but are from another source. I think that if God were in the business of doing what everyone says He is, He would call a much higher evangelist:pastor ratio than is currently evidenced in American Christianity. Which leads to my suspicion that "the calling of pastor" is something that most people simply imagine is the case.

**This article originally read "every single one", but after publication I was made aware that the readout from Blue Letter Bible upon which I had relied for my analysis had not displayed all NT occurrences of "mechri". It appears that there are two or three that do indeed indicate continuing action after the "until" point is reached. For this reason, I have adjusted my argument.

Andrew Rappaport thinks abortion is no big deal

Andrew Rappaport Abortion has NEVER been the definition of the church.

http://strivingforeternity.org/.../ecclesia-the-church/

No one in history has abortion been a definition of the church so aha need to make this case. Since no where in Scripture is abortion ever an issue. Child sacrifice is always that the killing as part of the worship to a false deity and that is not abortion though aha twists it to make that argument

I am sharing because as you can see here AHA is attempting to redefine the church to justify the sin of protesting the church so that they can call these church false churches. I am calling aha to repent

Like · Reply · 4 hrs

Matt Ferro Andrew Rappaport What are the qualifications for a church to be a "Biblical" or "true" or "good" one that abolitionists should not call to repentance?

Like · Reply · 3 hrs

Andrew Rappaport Matt Ferro the gospel not a non-issue from a biblical perspective. AHA twists the Bibke to make abortion a major issue when that was never the issue in the Bible

Like · Reply · 2 hrs

Rhology \\Abortion has NEVER been the definition of the church.\\

Nobody is saying that. One reason is that I am not entirely sure what this statement is intended to communicate.

\\Since no where in Scripture is abortion ever an issue. Child sacrifice is always that the killing as part of the worship to a false deity and that is not abortion though aha twists it to make that argument \\

T. Russell Hunter corrected you on this before, and so did Jordan Hall, for crying out loud.
Psalm 106: 37They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters *****to the demons*****,

38And shed innocent blood,
The blood of their sons and their daughters,
Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
And the land was polluted with the blood.

39Thus they became unclean in their practices,
And played the harlot in their deeds.

40Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against His people
And He abhorred His inheritance.

Also, just b/c someone murders someone else in the name of or for the commendation of a false god doesn't mean it isn't murder. This point is not only weirdly obscure, it's also totally irrelevant.

\\AHA is attempting to redefine the church\\

I totally disagree. We are calling the church to be biblical and to hate the things God hates and love the things God loves.
He commands we love our neighbors as ourselves. Who is more in need of love than our preborn neighbors?

\\the sin of protesting the church\\

You keep saying this but never proving it. I keep challenging you to debate me on the topic and you make fun of me and mock me.
Further, you say "the" church. Which one? Do you mean "the sin of protesting churches"? It's OK to stand outside literally NO churches in the USA to call them to repentance?
Also, you disingenuously continue to use loaded words that we reject, like "protest", thus burning a strawman, which shows how weak your position is.

\\the gospel not a non-issue from a biblical perspective.\\

1) Abolitionists love and proclaim the Gospel all the time. Read our website.
2) So if a church believes the Gospel, everyone should just ignore any other sin that church may ever commit or be involved in.
3) Did you just say that child sacrifice is a non-issue from a biblical perspective?

\\when that was never the issue in the Bible\\

So... child sacrifice was never the issue in the Bible.
What about loving your neighbor as yourself?

Like · Reply · Commented on by Alan Maricle · Just now

The Supreme Court Does the Pro-Life Movement a Favor

*Editorial Note: Pulpit & Pen continues in unrepentant sin and enabling of the ongoing sin of Jordan Hall. While it is my understanding that P&P does not plan to take down the content I contributed, any role I can play in reducing their traffic until they repent, I will. Thus I migrate this article here. 

The well-heeled professionals who lead the pro-life movement know what’s coming. This is how the game works: the pro-life leaders shamelessly raise money to “fight abortion” from the pew-sitting hoi polloi, then they use some of that money, (after making sure their yearly conferences, posh mutual-back-patting sessions in fancy hotels, and beer-soaked after-parties are funded), to lobby self-absorbed God-hating politicians who will listen to whoever’s dollar bills yell loudest. Those politicians then (occasionally) pass laws designed to make sure that mothers who murder their children can be taken more easily to a nearby hospital if the hit man’s knife slips. The pro-life leaders trumpet their victory. Church people donate more money. The pro-aborts grow bolder and richer while abandoning their junky old “clinics” in favor of fully modern, glitzy compounds whose entrances are (by design) that much farther from the public right-of-way. They comply with all relevant legal regulations, and all in all are a much less intimidating and forbidding presence in the community–and to the murderous mothers who feel the need to rip their child’s face off.

Then months later, a federal court or even SCOTUS strikes down the law, which allows the pro-life leaders to kick off yet another round of pleas for donations, but maybe this time with the tagline “EMERGENCY!!! Supreme Court strikes down Texas law! Give today to turn back the tide!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”



Rinse and repeat.

A major plank of the hypocrisy of the pro-life movement is this: They say with their mouth that their goal is to abolish abortion entirely. They say they want to get there gradually. Sometimes they even show their hand to a surprising extent, saying things like “The devil got our country to this point by baby steps. We have to roll it back the same way”, (because as we all know, the Bible teaches that imitating the devil is a good and wise strategy.) But then their actions deliberately produce the precise opposite result – abolition gets further and further distant. Meanwhile, the consciences of the people of God are falsely assuaged (Jeremiah 8:5-12). The professionals have this under control. They just need another $100. Victory is just around the corner! Just need a couple more conservative SCOTUS judges!

Get real! Victory is not around the corner. We are not winning. Here’s a real and recent example – George W Bush had a relatively conservative SCOTUS and a fully Republican House and Senate. He allowed child sacrifice to expand in this nation. Trust not in
princesSupreme Court justices. Your voice is needed.
What is needed is state-wide consensus to abolish child sacrifice entirely, and then for the state government to ignore SCOTUS’ perversion of the Constitution when they strike down abolition.

Here’s the thing, though – the steel in the spine necessary to defy the federal beast won’t come in conjunction with regulation. It will only come when people repent and decide to do the right thing, period, come what may. The federal beast will strike back. They will cut funding. They will possibly send troops to impose the will of the wicked Washington DC elites against the will of the people. Will we back down at that point, or will we stand firm?

I can tell you this – nobody is going to risk that sort of confrontation when that which is in balance is some flimsy Swiss-cheese regulation that mandates that surgical abortuaries have hallways that are three feet wider than they currently are, and which say “you have to go to a place with wide hallways, and then it’s OK to murder your baby“. The spiritual power to look an evil government right in the eye and call them to repent and serve the true King, to trust in God, and then to say “But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:18), will not come from compromising legislation that tries to use the devil’s methods against him, as if were wiser than the accuser who has been in the business of deceiving wiser and much longer-lived people than we for ~7000 years.

SCOTUS has just given the pro-life movement another opportunity to realise how not only their approach, but also the presuppositions that fuel it, are entirely backward. They trust in politicians while feigning allegiance to Jesus. Here God brings good out of evil by handing them yet another chance to do the right thing and take up abolition. Will they take it? Or will they waste another year and another million dead babies handing out “Pro-Life Leader of the Year” awards to each other?

Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; take warning, O judges of the earth.Worship the LORD with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

–Psalm 2:10-12

The Day Steve Gaines Prayed For Me

*Editorial Note: Pulpit & Pen continues in unrepentant sin and enabling of the ongoing sin of Jordan Hall. While it is my understanding that P&P does not plan to take down the content I contributed, any role I can play in reducing their traffic until they repent, I will. Thus I migrate this article here.

In late October 2014, over 150 abolitionists gathered at the invitation of a local Baptist church in Memphis, TN to preach the Gospel, call the city to repent of child sacrifice, and build the kingdom of God. I was privileged to be among them. We reached out to the whole University of Memphis. We called the culture to repent of hypocrisy at the Martin Luther King Jr Civil Rights Museum and Monument. We marched in solidarity with our preborn brothers and sisters from there down Beale Street. I’ve forgotten by now more things than I remember we did.

I don’t know how many Gospel tracts we distributed that week. I don’t know how many people we talked to, how many times we engaged in open-air preaching. There is no telling how many babies were saved during the hours we were at the death pit, how many young souls were pricked unto repentance when we engaged students at area high schools. No telling whether the young woman whose boyfriend I rebuked and whom my friend Tim exhorted did indeed do the right thing and repent of their fornication. Whether the young Methodist college student I talked to has been living a sold-out life for the glory of God since that day. Whether the atheist whose worldview I shattered into absurdity ever examined the matter further.

That’s how it is when you spread the seed of the Word of God far and wide – most of the time you don’t get to see it sprout, grow, or bear fruit.

What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

–1 Corinthians 3:5-9

We were 150 or so. Most of us sacrificed, traveling significant distances to gather in Memphis as the body of Christ to bless the city with the Gospel of Jesus. Brother John who lives in Memphis contacted Bellevue Baptist Church (with plenty of notice ahead of time, mind you) to ask them for help in engaging the city in these outreach activities while we were there and for help in sidewalk counseling outside the Memphis abortuaries going forward.

I saw a lot of things that week, some I’d never seen before. Here’s what I did not see – one single member of Bellevue Baptist Church standing with us or even doing anything similar at any of the many well-populated public places where we ministered. That’s the same thing that the brethren who live in Memphis don’t see – Bellevue Baptist involved in any tangible way in the abolition of child sacrifice, bringing the Word of God into conflict with this tremendously huge evil.
On Sunday morning, November 2, 2014, we put on identical T-shirts and attended one of the morning services of Bellevue. Most of us stood when everyone else stood and sat when everyone else sat (though I sat and mourned the whole time). We were regaled with skillful rock music posing as “worship”. We were exhorted to give sacrificially so that the church building could renovate one of the entrance foyers, the posh one through which I had entered that morning. We listened as Steve Gaines told us that Tennessee Amendment 1 would be a good thing because it would “open the door for informed consent for women and girls considering abortion, inspection or regulation of abortion facilities, and hospitalization requirement for later term abortions” (source).
That is to say, altars to Molech have to be close to a hospital and have wide-enough hallways and be clean. Murderous hitmen have to have a certain diploma before they are allowed to murder children. Murderous mothers have to wait a few days before they rip apart their own flesh and blood. And the pro-life movement cheers and their heroes bolster their prestige.

After the “service”, we met members and engaged in great dialogue. We handed out the booklet, “Does God Hate Our Worship?” We exhorted them to read and consider our message and their responsibility seriously. We were generally told that the church was too occupied polishing the brass of their south foyer and didn’t have enough resources at that time to get involved in “politics”. Several individual members were interested in what we were saying. Then the police came and threatened to arrest us if we didn’t leave. And they did arrest one of our number for no reason.

Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?

–1 Corinthians 6:1-2

On the way out we sang praise to our God who sits on the throne.

Before the police arrived, however, a few brothers of mine and I approached Steve Gaines, who was flanked by no fewer than three members of his professional security personnel. Which is, you know, exactly how the Bible says the shepherd of a flock of God is supposed to act. We pled with him to engage his people to challenge the kingdom of darkness in his city with the Gospel. We asked him to lead his people to where the lost people are, where the babies are being taken to the slaughter, to worship God by practicing true religion of caring for the fatherless and establishing justice and righteousness (James 1:27, Amos 5:21-24, Isaiah 1:10-17). In essence we were pointing out that Bellevue was a big multi-million dollar complex that was already doing its own thing. That so far they hadn’t made time for all that “love your neighbor” business, that they’d been about the work of building Their Church.

Gaines said with his mouth, “I agree with all that you are saying and I pray that God blesses your work and your ministry.” Then he put his hand on my shoulder and prayed to the same effect. I had no idea at the time how effective a tactic this was at shutting down all conversation while simultaneously establishing patronizing dominance over the earnest interlocutor (me). It worked. He said “Amen” and turned away, already on to the next task of administering the job of CEO of Bellevue Baptist, LLC.

After we came and went, nothing has changed. Bellevue remains a polished tomb. Gaines has made even more of a name for himself. And God’s wrath grows against American churchianity.

Steve Gaines Tampers With God’s Word – Practices Cunning, Disgraceful, Underhanded Ways

*Editorial Note: Pulpit & Pen continues in unrepentant sin and enabling of the ongoing sin of Jordan Hall. While it is my understanding that P&P does not plan to take down the content I contributed, any role I can play in reducing their traffic until they repent, I will. Thus I migrate this article here.

For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

–2 Corinthians 2:17

We have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

–2 Corinthians 4:2

For at least two decades or so, evangelical churches that want to aim for “relevance” and that elusive hip factor to attract goats and infant lambs to their nice comfortable buildings (or “pretty much all evangelical churches” for short) in order to expose them to 30 minutes of feel-good motivational lectures and an opportunity to drop some Harriet Tubmans in the plate have done so by making the other 50 minutes of the “experience” or “service” all about pandering to that which they think might be enjoyable to lost people. And one of the most obvious ways to do that is to gin up the concert factor – get some skilled musicians and have them spend hours per week practicing (instead of sharing the Gospel or loving their neighbor) so you have a strong selling point for the next invitee or recipient of a cool stylised invitation postcard in the mail.

As noted many times by many observers of this evangelical trend, their music and catchiness are usually at best 3-5 years behind the times, sometimes more. Thus you have Coldplay music before the service begins, for example. More recently, though, we are seeing these same kinds of religious corporations dip into the treasures to be found in the deeper history of worldly music for inspiration and drawing power. It’s vintage, you know. Perry Noble and AC/DC’s Highway to Hell. Jonathan Brozozog’s Passion Church and Michael Jackson’s Thriller. That’s going back a few decades, to be sure, but new SBC President Steve Gaines and the Christ-honoring faithful sheep under his godly authority are really upping the ante by back-dating their own utter wastes of time even farther.

That’s right – you can keep your mediocre Michael Jackson and knock-off AC/DC. The Bellevue Baptist choir will see your eighties music and raise you the King of Rock n’ Roll, complete with two not-very-talented Elvis impersonators. You know, because Memphis. And just to rub it in, these fifty or more church members in good standing took a short-term mission trip to New York City to pull it off. Meanwhile, IMB is pulling missionaries off the foreign field because of lack of funding, and this author never got close to funding his own foreign-language street evangelism ministry.

Remember that Steve Gaines is the designated successor to Adrian Rogers, that stalwart of the SBC’s Conservative Resurgence who went on to show that at least a huge part of his motivations were to carve out his own kingdom in his own image. Rogers built a huge SBC megachurch. Rogers irrationally lashed out against monergism without knowledge. He built a church culture that thinks it’s cool to hang out in a huge shiny building with plantation-style pillars out front in the middle of a city where 50 babies are murdered per week and do nothing about it. And then that same culture thought it would be a good idea to call up Steve Gaines from the minor leagues to “pastor” their church… and when he demanded a parsonage with a swimming pool as a condition of employment, they acceded instead of rebuking him and finding a godly man to be pastor. SBC power brokering has a lineage, has chosen successors and favored sons. That’s just one more sign they’re not interested in your input, unless it’s the monetary kind.

The gauntlet has been thrown down. The best Ronnie Armani could do was emulate Marty McFly and perform the Floydian Dip on camera again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again. You poor evangelical pastor saps who want to attract big giver goats so that they can be guilted into funding Steve Gaines’
vakay“time of refreshing” and his spacious parsonage with a nice cool swimming pool…unless you can top covering Elvis on FoxNews, I’m afraid you’re always gonna be second best.

With Whom Have I Really Unity?

A **LOT** more important than mastering all the details and expressions of doctrinal minutiæ is obedience to the obvious commands of Scripture that are mostly neglected in modern American Reformedigelicalism - establishing righteousness, crying out against injustice, calling people to obedience, repentance, and faith in the Lord Jesus.

I hear "that's not my calling" ALL THE TIME, but what people mean is that they prefer to debate deep philosophical ideas from their couch on social media rather than actually put themselves at risk of reproach and injury from lost people by going to where the lost people are to call them out of darkness to light. So in essence they blame God for "calling" them to doing easy things rather than doing hard things for His kingdom. It's God's fault. Don't blame the individuals for simply disobeying!

For that reason I have a lot more in common with someone who professes Arminian soteriology AND OBEYS GOD than I have with a Calvinist who makes excuses and spends all his time reading books and attending conferences to hear yet more theology lectures as long as he can go to Chili's afterward to discuss theology even more.

Jordan Hall - Thoughts on Southern Baptists Building a Mosque

In the 30 May 2016 edition of the Polemics Report, JD Hall discusses some very interesting topics, including reading out an open letter circulated by Chinese Christians about the so-called Heavenly Man, "Brother Yun" and discussing the birth control pill.

It is uncanny how apparently Southern Baptists are now the go-to folks if you want to build an altar to sacrifice children to Molech or a house of worship of a false god.

Pulpit & Pen blog - Vineyard USA Biffs It On LGBTQXYZ and Communion

http://pulpitandpen.org/2016/05/24/major-charismatic-denomination-biffs-it-on-lgbtqxyz-and-communion/

United Methodists Step Back from Child Sacrifice… and That’s Not Good

*Editorial Note: Pulpit & Pen continues in unrepentant sin and enabling of the ongoing sin of Jordan Hall. While it is my understanding that P&P does not plan to take down the content I contributed, any role I can play in reducing their traffic until they repent, I will. Thus I migrate this article here. 


It’s instinctive for us to look favorably upon a situation where a markedly messed up and apostate group such as the United Methodist Church takes a step ostensibly in the direction of a better position than what they held before. But let’s check out some reasons why this is not necessarily a great reason to celebrate.

First, let’s note that 310 delegates voted against the resolution to stop supporting Roe v Wade. Let that sink in. I’m no mathematician, but it sure looks like 40% of the people that United Methodist churches across the USA selected to represent them at this official gathering think that it’s fantastic that 1.2 million+ tiny human beings are dismembered by edged weapons and poisoned by chemical weaponry per year.

Let’s be honest – this is not a complicated matter. Roe v Wade is judicial tyranny over the population and is a total perversion of the US Constitution. Even worse, it simply ignores biblical teaching vis-à-vis the image of God in human beings. It just isn’t unclear whether it is justifiable to poison a baby to death or rip her limbs from her body after sucking out her brain. This is evidence of a major divide within this supposed body of supposed Christians in which barely half their delegates have even a modicum of love for their preborn neighbors.

What is the appropriate response to when one has endorsed a position that has contributed to many, many deaths of many, many innocent victims?

Repentance. And we are all to bear fruit in keeping with our repentance. But what does this resolution actually accomplish? What are they going to do about this? To what actions of love and intervention are they going to call their people that would represent fruit? Is this just talk and hot air? What evidence could anyone produce that would show it is anything but?

What do you do with a church member who is pro-abortion and pro-tyranny? Church discipline. Not in the UMC, though. It’s just a matter of votes in this little suit-and-tie convention. Nothing to see here. Thousands and thousands of lost people, who don’t love their preborn neighbors and endorse their systematic legalised massacre, are church members in good standing. That’s a problem.

Delegates… voted… 425-268 to withdraw from the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, whose pro-choice stance extends to late-term and sex-selective abortions.

Note again how many delegates voted to stay in the RCRC, a wicked and horrible organisation if ever there were one. Note also the implicit bias in the article – that abortion in the case of late-term and sex-selective abortion is really really especially bad, whereas regular old abortion for the sake of convenience is not worth mentioning. I mean, sure it’s bad or something, but when babies are older, it’s much worse, right? It is terrible thinking, though of course this could just be the thoughts of the reporter slipping through.

Imagine a vote in a similar convention, split 400-250, to affirm the Trinity and the eternal divinity of Jesus Christ. Do we just vote, announce the results, then break for lunch?

This fake repentance will make United Methodist individuals and churches harder to agitate and evangelise. Any confrontation of the sin of their denomination will now be met with a response that is plausible in their mind – “we just denounced abortion! Leave me alone.” It’s easier to draw dividing lines when the distance between truth and falsehood is wider. The lines have been blurred in the minds of many at this point. That’s why repentance done right is a shattering of the soul made public, not a respectable vote after which everyone shakes hands and smiles.

“This is a necessary and good step towards affirming that the unborn are persons of sacred worth,” he said. “This also shows that the UMC is moving away from other liberal, declining, ‘mainline’ denominations to embrace a new faithful, global identity.”

See? This is not repentance at all. You don’t take “steps” toward loving your neighbor and repenting of positions that are completely and horribly wrong. You repent and leave behind what you loved before. Again, this isn’t complex. You take up your cross. Follow Jesus. Love God. Love your neighbor. Stop playing church; people are dying and going to Hell. Don’t be fooled by fake contrition. Their very souls depend on it.

Major Charismatic Denomination Biffs It On LGBTQXYZ and Communion

*Editorial Note: Pulpit & Pen continues in unrepentant sin and enabling of the ongoing sin of Jordan Hall. While it is my understanding that P&P does not plan to take down the content I contributed, any role I can play in reducing their traffic until they repent, I will. Thus I migrate this article here. 

If we can give some segments of the charismatic Christianoid world credit for anything, it’s their history of standing firm against the acceptance of the invasion of a militant homosexuality in our culture and the church. Dr. Michael Brown, a well-known figurehead of the charismatic movement, and popular author and writer at CharismaMag, has been very outspoken about this issue. Brown debated self-described “gay Christian” Matthew Vines, one of the leading false teachers of “gay Christian” theology, in which he stated:

When Moses wrote that it is an abomination for a man to have sex with another man, he didn’t add, “unless they’re committed to each other long term.”

Brown was a major leader in the Brownsville Revival, a counterfeit revival within the Assemblies of God. However, another major denomination, Vineyard USA, who broke away from the Calvary Chapel in the 80’s, has taken a very interesting position on sodomites in the Church. In a position paper, titled Pastoring LGBT Persons, put out by the denomination states the following regarding Communion:

Paul’s exhortation to the Vineyard today would be to discern the body, and to make sure to include everyone Christ includes. This means that drug addicts and alcoholics that haven’t kicked the habit, gays and lesbians that haven’t left the lifestyle, and divorced adulterers that are still with their mistresses are all welcome at the table if they sincerely desire to turn toward Jesus and place their lives under the faucet of God’s grace. What better place is there to go for someone trapped in sin and deceived by its sickness than the table of our Lord?

I don’t know about you, but I can think of a better place to go for someone like that – flat on one’s face in humble repentance at the foot of the cross.

This document, thus titled, was ostensibly intended to teach how to pastor people who choose to self-identify by their preferred sex partner(s) (rather than, say, as a follower of Jesus Christ). Already we have a problem – Vineyard USA is implicitly granting one of the premises of the gay agenda. Since the gay agenda has experienced such success in our culture as to make it common parlance, however, we shouldn’t make too much of this, though it represents a missed opportunity. There are bigger fish to fry, though.

Vineyard USA plays with fire as they explicitly endorse open communion, meaning that non-members can partake of the Lord’s Table whenever everyone has taken a break from
experiencing anointed worshiprolling around on the floor, making animal noises, and laughing uncontrollably. The Lord takes abuses of the Lord’s Table celebration pretty seriously, given His words in 1 Corinthians 11, but this position paper barely scratches the surface in giving proper warnings. Following a quote from John Wesley, the paper states:

The only fitness required is “…a sense of our utter sinfulness.” No other moral qualification is demanded before receiving communion.

This is errant Lord’s Table theology, but it points to something more fundamental and damnably dangerous. This is a paper about how to pastor LGBTQXYZ people, in a segment designed to teach how to handle communion with such folks. We must ask: How would the leadership of the church know that so-and-so is gay and living the gay lifestyle? The only way to know would be that the person has made it known, right? If the leadership were unaware, then this section (and indeed, the whole paper) is unnecessary and inapplicable. If they don’t know, then they just allow anyone to approach the Table (and let his blood be on his own head) and that’s that. But we are talking about whether known gay people can approach the Table.

Let’s grant hypothetically that God does not in fact bring down special wrath on those who take the Table and yet are in knowing and deliberate sin. When you know that someone is living in blatant rejection of the Word of God (for example, by living the gay lifestyle and identifying as such) but they want to come and take the Table anyway, that’s the problem – you are letting them pretend to be Christians, reconciled to God, in a very real and obvious way, when in fact they stand under His wrath and are not reconciled to God. You’re aiding and abetting their self-deception. Where is the call to repentance? Where is the sharing of the Gospel? How will they know they can be set free from this slavery, this captivity? The Lord’s Table is a spiritual reality that creates unity among the Body of Christ, and all Vineyard requires is a sense that one is a sinner? How about a hatred for sin that is an infallible product of the new birth?
Let me try to have some compassion here – I don’t want to pretend that it would necessarily be emotionally easy for a same-sex couple to break up. They have a twisted definition of love, yes, but their affections they have mistaken for love can doubtless be a strong emotional bond (though based on lies). The emotional angst produced in such a way would qualify as a trial and tribulation. What someone in a true biblical oversight role should do in this case would be to remind the person that such difficulties are meant to create perseverance and endurance: James 1:2-4, Romans 5:3-5. It’s meant to make them like Jesus and indeed serve as evidence of their salvation: Romans 6:11-18, 1 Peter 2:16, 2 Peter 1:10.

Also, while it may be emotionally trying to break up with one’s partner (whether a partner in same-sex or in heterosexual immorality), it’s not actually that hard. It’s unambiguous – move out. Call them to repent as you have done. If they won’t repent and are a temptation, stop seeing them. Block them on phone, Facebook, etc if necessary. This is a one-time event that is then perpetuated by staying away from that person.

But this paper gives no mention of how to actually shepherd these folks, but rather it jumps straight into a discussion of Lord’s Table theology without getting into the real nitty-gritty. Glaring and obvious matters which were definitely visible in this culture of death by 2014 are conspicuous by their absence. What does repentance look like? How can the person kill their sin consistently? How should they self-identify to other people, since calling oneself by one’s sinful propensities is inappropriate and unbiblical? Must they stop going to bars, being promiscuous, having gay sex, etc? What if they have been living together and they need to find other living quarters because they want to start actively hating their sin? What about transgender stuff? What about transvestism? What about same-sex couples that have adopted children?
That sort of content would be really helpful for the folks who call themselves LTBQXYZ. It’s a shame that a so-called “position paper” mostly serves to lead astray on such an important matter, when they expend so much energy on making sure they have big fancy sound systems and stages so their “anointed” heroes can attract thousands to hear gibberish they mutter into the microphones without an interpreter present.

The Pro-Life Governor Just Out-Pro-Lifed the Legislature

(SB1552) was a predictable, cute show that the two factions of the pro-choice anti-righteousness conglomerate — pro-abortion and pro-regulation (aka “pro-life”) — slapped together to distract everyone from the real problem and its real solution.

Read more...

There Just Isn't Any Debate

Quite the fracas over at the Reformed Pub (note that it's a private group) over the last day or so. It's hard to imagine how they have time to discuss real things between all the posts about beards, beers, and Battlestar Galactica, but they get around to it now and then. Unfortunately, when they do and when errbody doesn't bend pretty much immediately to the whims and preferences of the admins, they get booted. This is a pattern with the RPub leadership, of which they ought to be ashamed.

But imagine my relief when, upon reviewing the thread, not a single accusation or question isn't answered if only one will take a little time to review all the information and documentation at www.churchrepent.com/blanchard

And that goes for the thread on Francis Turretin's wall as well.

Either people are misinformed, uninformed, or hopelessly biased. There's not an actual debate happening out there somehow.

Yarbrough & Sons and First Baptist Church of Blanchard, OK Must Repent

Abolitionists exhort Darren Yarbrough, owner of Yarbrough & Sons Heat and Air, as well as First Baptist Church of Blanchard, OK, to repent.

Here is the explanation of the events leading up to this call to repentance.

Here is the explanation of the aftermath.

Soli Deo Gloria

Afraid of Islam

Here's a good indicator of one reason why American churches are so pitifully inept.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFB4PMxa0nE#t=57m31s

At the 57m31s mark of the latest episode of the Dividing Line, James White takes a call from someone who seems to be a pastor, asking in essence if it would be OK for him to expose his congregation to a scenario in which they would be reaching out to and coming into substantial contact with Muslims. He doesn't want to "open (his) congregation up too much to (Islam and the influence of the imam he just met)".

Are you kidding me? What are you afraid of? What power does Islam have? What truth does it possess that it didn't rip off the Bible? Who will bring these people the Gospel if not you?

And why don't you have confidence in your people? Why aren't you leading them to be strong in the faith and contend earnestly for it? How is it anything other than near-total failure on your part that you don't feel they are prepared to come into contact with lost people and talk to them about their religious beliefs? How do you think people grow in their ability to defend and explain the Bible if not through practice (Hebrews 5:13-14)? Do you think that if you don't do this, the people of this congregation won't be exposed to false religion and false worldviews in some other way that you can't hover over and sweep away with your cowardly hand-waving? What sort of example have you thus set for those who DO encounter the enemy's lies? Some will flee the battle. Others will scratch their heads and wonder why their pastor is so nervous about entertaining open and frank discussion about the defensibility and truth of the Christian faith.

And so what if exposure to a false religion is the provocation for some of "your people" to fall away? Wouldn't that mean they were never regenerate to begin with? Isn't it better that they leave your fellowship in open and visible rebellion to the King rather than stay in concealment as a false brother and a hidden reef at your love feasts (Jude 12) (that is, if you even do love feasts at your church) (hint: you should be)?

SO MUCH wrong with that call and that caller. God help him. He is walking in fear instead of walking in faith.

Mohler on Not Penalizing Moms Who Kill Their Kids

*Editorial Note: Pulpit & Pen continues in unrepentant sin and enabling of the ongoing sin of Jordan Hall. While it is my understanding that P&P does not plan to take down the content I contributed, any role I can play in reducing their traffic until they repent, I will. Thus I migrate this article here.  


President of Southern Seminary, Al Mohler, can usually be counted on to give measured, reasoned responses to world events and questions. Sadly, he is in grave error on the issue of abortion and abolition.

Take his commentary on the Trump abortion fiasco on the April 1, 2016 issue of The Briefing. Nothing he said therein would lead anyone to believe he is trying to joke around for the sake of April Fool’s Day. Unfortunately, Mohler is being very, very serious.

Al Mohler wants to make it clear that the pro-life movement has never, ever called for the criminalization of abortion when it comes to the mother.

“From Transcript: The big background of [the Trump] story is the fact that the pro-life movement has never, ever called for the criminalization of abortion when it comes to the woman. The pro-life movement actually emerged out of the early feminist movement, something that many people in modern America do not remember. The early feminists argued among other things that abortion was something that was inflicted upon women by men at their own convenience and women, argued the early feminists such as Susan B. Anthony, were the victims of abortion along with the unborn children who were aborted.”

Basing his rhetoric on solidarity with historical feminist pro-life figures such as Susan B Anthony, Mohler asserts that men inflict abortion on women for the man’s convenience. He then approvingly cites pro-life luminaries for backup. Let’s check on what they said.
First, Jeanne Mancini, President of the March for Life. Mohler cites her comments approvingly:

No pro-lifer would ever want to punish a woman who has chosen abortion. We invite a woman who has gone down this route to consider paths to healing, not punishment.

More on that in a moment, but let’s consider the source for a moment.

Jeanne holds an undergraduate degree in psychology from James Madison University and a Masters degree in the theology of marriage and family from the Pope John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family… Previously Jeanne worked with the Family Research Council (FRC), where she focused on issues related to the inherent dignity of the human person, including abortion, women’s health… Before working in public policy, Jeanne worked for the Catholic Church in a variety of positions involving educating on life issues, human sexuality, marriage, and family.

Judging by her Twitter feed, which is littered with papist RTs and oh-so-sad “We’ll miss you”s directed toward the recently-deceased Mother Angelica, Mancini is Roman Catholic. What, was Mohler unable to find a juicy enough quote from Russell Moore or Joe Carter, that he had to resort to quoting outspoken enemies of the Gospel?

At least Mohler lands on the right side of the Tiber in his quote of Peggy Nance of Concerned Women for America: “Trump doesn’t understand pro-life people or the life issue,” in that his initial comment that caused all this in the first place indicated he thought abortive women should be legally punished for murdering their offspring.

The position being forwarded here by Mohler and others is this: Women are brought to abortion by men. Abortion is inflicted on the woman, usually by a man. Trump’s statement misunderstands the pro-life position. Only the abortician and his staff should be held criminally responsible for killing the child. The guilty party is the person who brings about the death of the child, and the woman is not the one bringing about the death of the child.

Let’s step back, take a deep breath, and expose this inane insanity for what it is – insane inanity.

First, I suspect nobody has any reasonable doubt that Donald Trump has a profound understanding of much of anything, except possibly manipulation of the media specifically and people in general. So let me just get that out of the way – Trump’s initial statement, even before he later backpedaled, was nothing close to the right thing. Here’s the right thing.

Second, absolutely aborticians and their staff should be prosecuted in a court of law on the charge of first-degree murder.

Third, absolutely any man with any involvement in an abortive woman’s decision to murder her child bears a very real responsibility and guilt for that baby’s death, especially the father of the child or the father of the complicit woman.
But this position, which reduces women to passive agents, mere puppets in the hands of men who are able to ply and bend their women so easily into murdering their own offspring, must be opposed. It is ironic that the feminists and the pro-lifers (and the feminist pro-lifers) join with the pro-abort crazies in crying so loud for “women’s rights” that they actually end up implicitly affirming that which they deny out loud.

Women are in fact moral agents, just as men are. Women are capable of making choices, even of momentous import, just as men are. Women can understand things, especially such things as basic biology like “Babies grow inside mommy’s tummy” and “If someone jams a suction hose inside a pregnant woman, especially if they have a lot of experience doing so, they can suck out whatever is in that woman’s tummy. Like a baby. While very possibly sterilizing that woman or causing a fatal hæmorrhage.”

Women are capable of comprehending at least some of the consequences of their actions. They can understand the words comprising a message of repentance, like “Please don’t kill your baby. There is help for you free of charge. God hates the hands that shed innocent blood. Turn back now.” Mohler and the other pro-life elements with the loudest voices in America today would have us think that it’s the man in the woman’s life who is the main driver behind the sacrifice of the child, up to the man who actually wields the weapon to commit the murder.
Perhaps Mohler and these others ought to open their eyes and spend some time at their local abortion mill. I know some men who’d be thrilled to have Mohler join them on Saturdays at the one in Louisville. I’d be happy to arrange their acquaintance. When one goes to the murder mill, yes, one sees men accompanying women inside. One occasionally sees a man in a pretty apparent dominating position over the woman. One often sees mothers (who are not men) bringing their daughters to murder their grandbaby. One often sees women accompanied by “supportive” friends, usually female friends. One occasionally sees women in distraught emotional states. More often, one sees women in stony silence. Often, the women salute the sidewalk counselors with upraised middle fingers and shouted obscenities. One also is frequently told that the woman’s pastor said it was OK and that God forgave the murder ahead of time.
So yes, in many cases, women are brought by men to abortion mills. How does that absolve them of guilt? Those that are pressured to do so still bear responsibility not to murder a baby.

If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death; the girl, because she did not cry out in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. But if in the field the man finds the girl who is engaged, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lies with her shall die. But you shall do nothing to the girl; there is no sin in the girl worthy of death, for just as a man rises against his neighbor and murders him, so is this case. When he found her in the field, the engaged girl cried out, but there was no one to save her. –Deuteronomy 22:23-27

If the woman is being literally forced to go in, she should cry out! She should alert the sidewalk counselors, the death mill staff, the other murderous women and men inside the abortuary. She should struggle with all the vigor with which she would struggle if someone were seeking to stab her beloved three year old child! That she doesn’t do that shows that she has murdered her preborn child in her heart already.

That Mohler and other pro-lifers don’t speak the same way about preborn children that they do about born humans shows that they too are guilty of dehumanising the preborn child.

It is still murder even when someone pressures you to pull the trigger. Women are responsible moral agents, not robots and not silly putty. Are Mohler, the pro-lifers, and the pro-aborts ready to reap the whirlwind when they sow these powerful seeds that indicate that women are inferior to men?

The claim is that the guilty party is the person who brings about the death of the child. The mother is not the one actually bringing about the death. Oh really? She didn’t go to the mill? She had nothing to do with getting pregnant? She didn’t express every confidence that this baby is her flesh and blood and that she will love her neighbor as herself? She didn’t contribute anything to the payment of the fee? The abortician worked for free? She didn’t walk in under her own power? She didn’t compliantly lie down and expose her private parts to this man she’d met maybe one time before?

Please. In reality, the difference between the abortician and the mother (and participating father) is the difference between the hit man and the one who hires the hit man. There is no real moral difference. The culpability cannot rest solely on the “provider” of the service; it must also rest on the “provider” of the fetus.
Perhaps next Mohler will propose that only the Nazi who pulls the switch that releases the toxic gas should be punished, but not the citizen who turned them in or the official who ordered the death or the workers who knowingly and willingly constructed the camp in which the murder would happen.
Being this kind of “pro-life” is worse than being pro-abortion. At least those who are pro-abortion don’t claim to champion the rights of the unborn and don’t, in the process of making excuses for women, sow the seeds of male supremacy. Seriously, you should just be pro-abortion if this is how you’re going to talk.

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” –Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as cited in Revelation 3:15-16

But far better to be an abolitionist.