Gospel Coalition Council Member Finds a Way to Sneak Reparations From SBC

So, there's a lot of reasons why you should never give the social justice cult, the woke church cult, an inch.

Don't ever give them even one inch. Because if you give them an inch, they will resent you for it until you stand up to them.

You cannot do it. They will take a mile. They will take many, many miles. In fact, they will grow to hate you more and more and more and more.

This is why charity has to be connected to the truth. Charity can't be like bending the truth or being flexible with the truth.

It has to come with sort of a firm conviction in what the truth is. That's why charity is only helpful when it's done according to God's standards because of what

God told you to do. It has to be charity so that you can get the reward from Christ. And I know that that seems weird to people.

Some people say it's not charity if you're looking for a reward. That's not the biblical perspective. It's not the biblical perspective at all.

When you serve someone in your community, you're doing it. You should be doing it because you're doing it for Christ.

You're doing it for the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. You'll get your reward from him. That's why you do it in secret.

That's why you don't do it blasting a trumpet before you. Because when you start to do that and you start to blast the trumpet about how much you're giving to people, the people you're giving to tend to start resenting you for it.

And what you're about to watch is a textbook example of this. People have been trying to placate the woke church cult in Gospel Coalition, in the

SBC, in the ERLC, and it's never, ever, ever going to be enough. And they will hate you for it.

And this, I mean hate in the technical sense, like John Onwuchekwa demonstrates his hate for his brothers and sisters in the

SBC in this article and in these actions. There's no question about that. You haven't become my enemy because you told the truth,

John. You've become an enemy of the church you used to be a part of because you've demonstrated that everything that you did for them, there were strings attached to it.

There were strings attached to it. And when they didn't go with you the whole way, you resented them for it.

Even their charity, you resented them for it. And so everything that we do has to be under the

Lordship of Christ and according to God's standard. Otherwise, it will lead to more strife. I hope you enjoy this video.

Hey there, Smooth AD Robles here. If you are a regular watcher of my channel, you might realize right off the bat that this video looks very different than any other video

I've ever done. And, you know, because I like to be smooth, I like to be candid with you, I want to make sure

I fill you in on why that is. Because what I'm doing to be perfectly candid is I'm experimenting with different formats, different styles, different things.

It's always going to be the same content, of course. But I want to see what works best, what looks the best, what's interesting, what you find most appealing as an audience.

So please like, comment, subscribe, let me know what you think. I want to know. I want to know how you feel about this new format.

Maybe it stinks. I don't know. I don't know. It's very hard to judge yourself sometimes. So, of course, I appreciate comments and suggestions and things like that.

Oh, one thing I will say is I've noticed that some people don't like the music in the background. They find it distracting.

And I understand. I get you. I'm trying to figure out what to do with that. I quite enjoy the music, and I think a lot of you do as well.

But, you know, I'm open to suggestions. But let's get to the topic today, because today's topic is quite hilarious, in my opinion.

Very hilarious. I saw this article on Christianity Today, and the headline interested me instantly because it certainly seems to be a textbook example of gaslighting, if you know what

I mean. The title is, Atlanta Church Splits with SBC for Downplaying Racial Issues.

Which is very bizarre, because many people comment about the SBC talking too much about race, and they've done conferences about race, and they produce content about race, and they seem to draw attention to every single issue that has to do with race in existence, and going overboard, and even defining race in weird ways, and teaching about race, and stuff like that.

And so it's very weird to see a denomination, or a church rather, splitting with the

SBC because they downplay racial issues. That certainly seems like gaslighting to me. And if there is a lesson here, and I think that there is, the lesson is that you just can't appease people.

You know what I mean? Some people are just committed, their careers are committed to stoking the racial fires.

And so if you don't do exactly what they say at all times, there's just no way to appease people.

And so I would suggest not even trying. It's way more fun to just work for the

Lord, and focus on the things that the Lord has you to focus on, and tell the truth, and all of those things.

Don't try to appease DMX over here. That's right, baby. He does look like DMX, at least in my opinion.

This is a Christian channel, so some of y 'all might not know who DMX is. But DMX, did you know he's a preacher now?

I heard that, baby. Somebody told me that he's a preacher now. He was a gangster rapper, you know what

I'm saying? Some of his content is, well, it's not even... My ears are too sensitive for it these days, baby.

But yeah, I heard that he came to Christ. He always kind of had a little bit of a Christian thing going on. He would do prayer raps and stuff like that.

Right next to the songs about Jinn Hoes and all that kind of stuff. But everyone's kind of a mix of sinner and saint kind of thing.

Anyway, so let's get into it. He really does look like DMX. I know that some people don't like to say that a black person looks like somebody else because they're afraid of getting called a racist or something like that, because it leaves you open to the accusation, well,

I guess we all look the same to you, that kind of thing. But the reality is some black people look like other black people.

That's true. There's nothing wrong with that. This guy looks like DMX. At least in that picture he does. I don't know what he really looks like.

All right, Pastor John Anwuchekwa, Anwuchekwa. Pastor John Anwuchekwa's decision comes a year after Cornerstone Church received...

I can't even do this, baby. It's hard to stay in character when you read this headline. It comes a year after Cornerstone Church received a $175 ,000 grant from the denomination to renovate its buildings.

This can't be real. This can't be real. They give him almost $200 ,000.

I mean, obviously they're not racist. They're giving a black man who looks exactly like DMX almost $200 ,000 to renovate their church, but he still left the denomination for not loving properly.

I mean, you can't make this stuff up, baby. This can't be real. There's got to be some nuances in this article.

Let's read it. Let's see if it's real. This is... Manaya... Look who wrote this.

Manaya Mawara. Hmm. Interesting. For years,

John Anwuchekwa was a rising star in the Southern Baptist Convention.

Now hold on a second. How can someone that looks exactly like DMX be a rising star in the

Southern Baptist Convention if the Southern Baptist Convention is racist? I don't get that.

I mean, please, baby. You mean to tell me that you're a rising star, they give you $200 ,000 to renovate your church, and yet they still are too racist for you.

You see, this kind of shows me that you really don't care. You really don't care about racism. It's not really about that.

It's about something else. And we'll get to that in a minute, I think. It goes on.

It says he attended a Southern Baptist seminary, spoke at the convention's National Pastors Conference, was befriended by SBC leaders, started a new

SBC church in the west end of Atlanta, and helped recruit other black pastors to do likewise.

Anwuchekwa was part of the family destined for great things. Then he wasn't.

Last week, concerned about support for President Donald Trump among Southern Baptists and a lack of urgency when dealing with racial inequality, the pastor and his congregants decided it was time to leave.

The SBC liked me, he wrote, announcing his decision to leave, but I feel like they failed people like me.

Now this is very interesting because according to this article, why he feels that way is because, well, because of Donald Trump.

And so I guess John Anwuchekwa is practicing some church discipline, but of what church,

I'm not sure. You see, this is very interesting because I've heard for many years that, you know, you can't discipline someone, you can't break fellowship with someone over who they support politically.

Now I don't believe that, of course, because there's always a line to cross, but Donald Trump, that's where you draw the line?

That's a very interesting thing, Nacy. It certainly seems to me that the accusation here is that there is latent racism in the

Southern Baptist Convention, despite the fact that he rubbed shoulders with the leadership, despite the fact that they gave him 200K, despite the fact that he was a rising star in the

SBC. You see, nothing is enough. Nothing is enough for these people except for one thing.

Do everything I say, as soon as I say it, in the exact way that I say it. And that is a very, very unfortunate position to hold, baby, because the reality is it's extremely self -centered, it's selfish, it's insisting on your own way, and we all know that love does not insist on its own way, baby.

But hey, let's see, maybe he'll give back the $200 ,000 that he took a year ago for his building.

We'll see. He says this, in recent years, evangelical groups have invested heavily to start congregations among communities of color, hoping to reach new people at a time when the

United States is becoming more ethnically diverse. More than half of new congregants started by SBC's North American Mission Board are diverse, according to an agency spokesman.

But the nation's current political climate and national divides on the matter of race may make it difficult for pastors like Unwuchekwa to ever feel truly at home, yet financial ties to the denomination make it complicated to leave.

Now this is a very interesting thing, because if you don't feel at home, in a place where you're 100 % welcome, because let's just be honest, if you're a rising star, if you're hobnobbing with the leadership, if you're being given cash, then of course,

I mean, how are they treating you differently? And that kind of thing. So if all this stuff is happening, I remember reading an article one time where it said that you could still feel alone, even in a church that's diverse and full of black people, as a black man.

And to me, what that signifies, and you know, this is a little bit serious, I know I'm joking as Smooth A .D.,

but this is a serious issue, baby, because if you still feel alone, if you still feel like you're not welcome in a place where you're so clearly welcome by every objectable, you know, object, object, objectable?

Objective reason, by any objective standard, you are welcome, and you still feel alone. May I suggest something?

The problem is with you. You see, that's very interesting, like, oftentimes, what does the

Bible say about the heart? You see, the heart is desperately wicked. Who can understand it?

Don't lean on your own understanding, you have to do other things, baby, you have to look at the objective, you know, the standards here.

If you're given cash, if you're friends with all the leadership, if you're a rising star, people want to promote you, people want to give you cash, people want to plant churches in your denominations and stuff like that, and you still feel like they are not enough for you, baby.

That problem is with you, you gotta look inside, you gotta look inside your own heart. That's my suggestion for people like this who just cannot be appeased, and my suggestion for people who are attempting to appease someone like this is that there's actually really only one thing that can help old

DMX over here, and that is to tell them it's time to repent, it's time to look inside, and if there's always a problem, no matter how much people appease you, if there's always a problem, the problem is probably you.

That is a suggestion that I think anyone can take, it's not just for DMX over here, it's for anybody, it doesn't matter your skin color, this is a very common problem, you see, if you find yourself constantly the victim of various relationships, and no matter who you're with, it's always, you're the victim, you're the victim again and again and again, might

I suggest that the problem might be you? Anyway, let's continue, let's continue to read, maybe he explains himself a little bit more.

He says this, Anwu Chekwa, who grew up in Houston, the son of a Nigerian immigrant, hey, we're both

Nigerian! John! Anwu Chekwa, hey listen buddy, I'm Nigerian too.

Welcome buddy, welcome, I'm so glad that you're here. Alright, the

SBC tried to make him feel welcome, but from the beginning he had concerns. We got on the bus with skepticism nine years ago, he says.

See, this is another issue too, you kind of went in expecting that this wasn't going to work out.

And you see, the thing is, that's probably not a good place to be, because I would imagine that, you know, people say you find what you're looking for, and so if you're looking for reasons to leave, you're going to find them, baby, that's how it is, baby, that's how the heart is, which is why we can't trust ourselves.

We can't trust ourselves in situations like this, when we go into the SBC and we're saying, well, I'm very skeptical of USBC, but I'm going to go here.

And then you find yourself constantly feeling alone and constantly feeling like you don't fit in, even by any objective standard.

Why do I keep saying objectable? I don't know, maybe this standing up stuff is getting to my head. When you find yourself, by any objective standard, being welcome, but you don't feel welcome, maybe the problem's with you, you gotta look inside, baby, that's part of the

Christian faith, you gotta look to yourself. You gotta look to yourself, baby. Anyway, in 2015, with help from other churches, including an

SBC congregation, and $18 ,000 of his own money, Anwu Chekwa co -founded

Cornerstone Church. No, he didn't co -found, he founded it. Founded Cornerstone Church, a church plant in a predominantly

African -American community on the west end of Atlanta. The church is in a part of Atlanta that has made national news recently involving the police shooting death of Rayshard Brooks.

From the beginning, the congregation hoped to meet the spiritual needs of the community, but also the physical, emotional, and mental needs.

These are good goals, I would assume. The church was started with three families who had a burden for the community and now runs around 350 members before COVID -19 hit, he said.

When Cornerstone needed a new building, the SBC helped the church get a loan. Last year, when the church wanted to renovate the building, it got a $175 ,000 grant from NAMB to assist with that.

The grant was distributed through Blueprint Church, another local congregation that partnered with Cornerstone as a sending church.

Blueprint's pastor, Dottie Lewis, serves as one of the vice presidents of the North American Mission Board. While things went well at Cornerstone Church, Anwu Chekwa had concerns about what was happening in the broader denomination.

When he brought up concerns about race or social justice, he said they were downplayed. What color is the sky in John Anwu Chekwa's world?

I don't really understand. He's got his lived experience. I want to affirm him.

You know what I'm saying? The roadblock for me, he says, was that the urgency that I had seen for issues, others in the group didn't seem to have the same urgency.

Anwu Chekwa also pointed to SBC leaders who had close ties to Trump, as well as controversy over a resolution to denounce the alt -right at the

SBC 2017 annual meeting. At first, SBC committee in charge of resolutions decided not to put the resolution to vote, and a revised version of the resolution was later approved.

You see, the interesting thing, again, it certainly seems like every effort was made to appease him, but it all comes down to Trump, you see.

If you don't hate Trump, if you don't denounce Trump as the worst thing since, I don't know,

Nebuchadnezzar, then you're too close to Trump. You're not doing enough.

You see what I'm saying? This is a very political thing. Almost this entire article is basically saying that he left the

SBC because of politics. Not politics in the SBC, but politics in the country at large.

That is very interesting. Now, I'm not saying it's not a problem, or it's not appropriate to leave a denomination over politics.

It certainly can be. But what is the exact accusation here? I haven't really seen much.

It just certainly seems to be that kind of thing. Well, Donald Trump is the devil. I don't believe that.

Why would he? I'm not so sure. On Wachekwa was also concern when critics of the

SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and its leader, Russell Moore, tried to defund the group. So he's mad that people are against Russell Moore.

But Russell Moore is part of the SBC, so this man just wants total agreement. Like, if you don't believe everything, and if everyone in the nomination doesn't believe everything that he says, well, he's gone.

I mean, can you think of a more arrogant position that everyone must believe exactly what

I say, exactly how I say it, at exactly the same urgency level that I have, or we're out?

It's a very interesting position. It's just like, it certainly seems, at least the way this article is written.

I mean, of course, this is the mainstream media. You can't really believe everything that they say. But if these are the reasons that he left, it's just very bizarre that he thinks,

I mean, he really does think he's the standard. And that's not nice, baby. Why would you do that?

I mean, even when people agree with you, it doesn't seem to be enough for you because you're not in charge of everything?

I don't know. I don't know what's the situation here, Anwu Chekwa, but let's continue. All right.

More recently, Anwu Chekwa, who is also a council member of the Gospel Coalition, interesting, an evangelical group with Calvinist leanings, found himself having to defend his congregation's ties to the

SBC. And eventually, he felt those ties began to interfere with Cornerstone's ministry.

It's kind of like saying the phrase, quote, the straw that broke the camel's back, he said.

One piece of straw isn't heavy. It's one added piece of straw that's the problem. This is very interesting.

I didn't know he was in the Gospel Coalition, John Anwu Chekwa. Mark DeMas, president of Mosiacs, a network of multiethnic churches, said that the

United States has become more ethnically diverse, so must congregations. Why? If it's because the

United States has become ethnically diverse, why do the congregations have to become ethnically diverse?

People like to say that, and it kind of has a ring of truth to it. But where does he get that from the

Bible? I don't really understand that. That's going to lead challenges when people from different backgrounds are part of the same congregation.

Still, he said, churches have no choice but to become more diverse. It's interesting because it certainly seems to me that Anwu Chekwa's church is specifically intended to serve the black community.

That doesn't seem very diverse to me, but what do I know? I'm just a smooth commentator.

Let's kind of skip down to some of the spicy stuff. This is the spicy stuff because, you know, if I gave somebody $200 ,000 and then they decided to leave my organization,

I'd probably be a little bit ticked off, and I'd want them to pay the money back, and that certainly seems like what has happened here.

So here's what, let's see, what is this guy? Ezel. Ezel Kibbet Ezuel, the president of NAM, expressed disappointment that Anwu Chekwa and Cornerstone were leaving the denomination.

Ezel said he loved them and would pray for them in the future. He said there's been a long history of the ministries working together for a time and then going their separate ways.

That conversation led to Ezel bringing up the topic of money. The SBC has been very generous in their investment in Cornerstone and you,

Ezel, told their pastor. We wouldn't invest in a church if we thought the commitment to the SBC was not there, he said.

That makes a lot of sense. I mean, I'm not saying that he has to pay the money back, but it certainly seems to make sense that he would, considering his departure.

Anwu Chekwa initially told Ezel that he was open to repaying part of the grant. He said that, however, without first talking to church members and getting their approval.

The pastor also began to feel his integrity was being questioned if the church didn't return the funds. I certainly would say so.

If I ever felt like anyone would feel betrayed or undermined by me speaking my mind and following my conscience, I would never have taken a dime, he said.

Well, that might be true, Anwu Chekwa, but you did, in fact, take quite a few dimes.

I'm not a math wizard, but that's a lot of dimes, baby. The pastor said he was also taken aback when

Ezel suggested that he had moral obligation to repay the grant. Anwu Chekwa said the denomination itself, which was founded by slaveholders, has a moral obligation of its own, especially when it comes to race.

Interesting. So it certainly seems like John Anwu Chekwa is saying, y 'all owe me.

That is a very interesting position that I don't really understand at all because Ezel didn't do anything to your ancestors or to you except for shower you with praise, gifts, money, platforms, friendship, support, and all that kind of stuff.

But it doesn't seem to be enough for you, Anwu Chekwa, does it? Because, you see, the denomination was founded by white people, and I guess white people owe

John Anwu Chekwa money, reparations. So this is a way to get reparations.

So what you do is you pretend you're in the SBC for a few years, you take money from them because you're in it, and then you skedaddle.

This is kind of an interesting tactic. It's very shrewd, how to get reparations without anyone agreeing to it.

Very interesting. You make them invest in your community, and then you be out. Let's continue. He says,

Anwu Chekwa says, I think there is a different conversation surrounding moral obligations that needs to be had by the

SBC, Anwu Chekwa said. In the end, he said the church could not in good faith remain part of the

SBC. Quote, have I become the enemy because I'm telling you the truth, he said. I thought the mark of a good friendship was to tell the truth.

The question is, what is the truth here? He took $200K, he left the denomination, and now he's saying they somehow owe him.

Where's the truth in this, baby? Because if you're going to talk about the truth, you're going to need to bring something more than your opinion.

I mean, I understand that you believe it's true, but after all, we can't just go with what you believe.

We need to see some scripture here, and I've got a number of scriptures that say that the SBC doesn't owe you a dime.

Neither do you owe them a dime, I don't think, because if they gave you a grant, unless there were strings attached to that grant,

I mean, that was their decision, and you took it, and if you feel like you can maintain your integrity by not giving it back, knowing full well that you went into the

SBC with doubts, you had doubts the entire time, and you took the money anyway, if you feel okay with that, that's on you, baby, because you don't have a moral obligation to pay it back unless it was in the contract when they gave you the grant.

If there was no contract and there were no strings attached, you don't have to give the money back, but my goodness, I don't know how you would sleep at night.

In any case, that's the video. This can't be real. This is crazy. This is crazy, but there is a lesson here that you should not even attempt to appease social justice warriors.

You should not even attempt to appease anyone when they demand things of you that are not true, that are not biblical, that are not good and righteous and all those kinds of things, because as we know when we're raising our children, that if you appease them in many ways, they are just going to continue to ask for more and more and more.

You give them an inch, they take a mile. That's how it works. And so whether you look like DMX like this fellow or not, you can be white, black, yellow, purple, green, whatever color you of the rainbow, don't try to appease people with nonsense.

When they're asking for nonsense, tell them that it's nonsense and that the answer is no. That's what we need to do. We need to practice how to say no these days.

Anyway, I hope you had a good Wednesday and I hope you enjoyed this video. God bless.