Travel, SBC, and PCA Update

On the Road Update and Encouragement for Lay Christians

Hey everyone wanted to do a little on-the-road update. I am on the Missouri border almost I guess heading into, Illinois stopping off for some food, but first I figured hey I'll Talk a little bit about what I've seen over the last few days give you a few observations and an update hopefully some encouragement.

And then we'll talk a little bit about what's happening in the Southern Baptist Convention and the Presbyterian Church in America, so Want to start off with some observations? I've been in Oklahoma the last two days.

And I want to thank everyone who's come out and supported me. And I just mean so much I got gotten a book or I love to meet people who are listeners on the podcast. It's just such a blessing and so I just want to start off with that.

Thank you so much it's encouraging to see all the layman and in a lot of the regular just ordinary people who have gone through the they have the scars to show for Fighting the good fight and really trying to preserve the faith and sometimes they're strained relationships over this, but they are remaining solid and I've never seen such a Difference between those who are in elite institutions and circles and then those who aren't in those institutions and The common people the layman a lot of them seem to just really get it.

What the people that don't seem to get it or if they do they're not doing much about it are those with significant platforms and those are the platforms in which their reputation could be called into question by the media and They're large enough that they don't want hit pieces against them.

They don't want people saying nasty things against them. They don't want to be noticed too much. Once you start getting into those realms. There's an attitude shift and it's massive. It's so different such a stark contrast between those in Influential positions like that and then those who are Generally layman in their church and in their community.

Get Involved in Local Political and Church Life

So I want to just encourage you if you're a layman Hey get involved. I just saw over the last two days some great political organizations that are also unapologetically unapologetically Christian which is simply amazing.

I think that's just a great thing to see so Wanted to say that Go ahead and get involved in your local community. It might be as a councilman. It might be I don't know on the school board, but think of something even if it's small that maybe you can do in your church to just exert some some positive influence take take inventory of the talents that God's given you and the gifts you have and The abilities you have and just see hey, where would this be best invested for the kingdom of God?

And I think if we we have people with steel spines and there are a few of them then. And I mean, I recognize people who go into politics generally Self-serving, you know, this is kind of the Stereotype and it's true to some extent prideful arrogant people that want to gain for themselves.

But look the people who don't want to go into politics because it's dirty are the very people we need there. So get involved even if it's on the local level. That's my encouragement and I'm encouraged by seeing people who are doing that in the state of Oklahoma now that being said that being said Don't think you can move to a place like Oklahoma, Oklahoma or any red state and then your blue state problems will disappear.

Social Justice Pressure Is Still Nationwide

That's another thing I've learned and I was a little surprised but I shouldn't be that there's a number of people in Oklahoma I met that have lost their jobs because they won't get the jab and You know, this is Something that's nationwide now, there's more organization in Oklahoma.

There's probably less barriers to you complaining about it somehow or getting a religious exemption or challenging it in court, but The pressure is still there. In fact, the pressure from the social justice movement is still here, even though if it's not quite as strong.

So the momentum is still I think in favor of the social justice crowd no matter really where you are. They're very emboldened by last year. They think they have the momentum and they know they do and Conservatives especially conservatives who are not organized are sitting ducks and and this is part of the problem and We can't let this continue though.

I wrote on Facebook today and all of my social media accounts I guess I put something to the effect of look at the social justice movement gets what it wants. I'm talking about secular social justice the Apostle Paul is going to be in their minds viewed as a slavery apologist a misogynist a transphobic person with Roman privilege I mean this you it's inescapable.

You cannot cancel all the people were canceling from American history because they might have tangentially had some kind of a connection to slavery or they might have had a connection to I don't know oppressing women in the minds of social justice warriors or something and Cancel them and then get away with we're gonna keep the Bible too.

It's not gonna happen and so this is important for Christians to To see this and I think a lot of lights were going off as I was presenting at some of these Organizations because my main point and this is maybe what sets me apart is I don't See this as a political movement at all.

My whole thing about the social justice movement is that it's a religion and it really does mimic Christianity in many ways. There's a lot of parallels there but it's it's a competitor to Christianity its its goal is to replace Christianity somehow and There's the naivety That some people have about this is truly striking to me and so it was good to meet some people that weren't naive on this that did see the subversive nature and Are awake and and so I would encourage you.

Hey, if you haven't gotten the book Christianity and social justice, that's my whole point in writing it. You can go to Christianity and socialjustice .com and I'm getting really good things. Really good reviews on it from the people.

I've talked to whoever read it. So want to just encourage you with that encourage you to get involved don't don't flee. I know we all feel isolated but look God is still on his throne. There are still people around you and we don't know what the outcome of history is gonna be.

We can see where the momentum is Going but we don't really gain much by trying to keep our heads down and buy time. And let the other guy get ravaged by the social justice mob, right? We don't gain anything because in the long run they'll come for us too and They will come if not for us for those we love and the things we care about.

So if you really love the people around you, you'll take a stand against it. If you love the Lord, you got to take a stand against it. We know where this trains going and we've seen it I've seen it. I've seen it when people I know the social justice movement even for Christians.

It's like the off-ramp from Christianity, you know, next thing, you know. They're they're going to a more lukewarm Church and then from that lukewarm Church they don't go to church at all and then they claim that you know, they worship God in their own way and then they start having problems with parts of the Bible and I've seen this progression and Many that are coming out to hear me speak are saying the same kinds of things.

They're seeing it with their kids or their grandkids. So look. Don't just don't give in don't you know, say no from the beginning lock the door. Don't let them get a foot in the door understand this get the The ammunition you need to understand it and to answer it as best you possibly can because look.

You're gonna be called nasty names there. Did you all who try to live godly in Christ Jesus are gonna be persecuted? There's just no getting around that fact and it's not like they're gonna call you names like, you know.

Oh, you're just a Christian right if only they would call us that they might but it might be things like you're a hater. I mean, that's what people in the early church were even called. It might be that you're a racist or you're Misogynist or you're a transphobic person or your you pick the term, but there's gonna be some kind of you know, Christian nationalist, right?

That's the big one now. They're gonna have some term of derision for you and it won't be with any kind of intent to understand you or your position. It will only be with the intended purpose to try to cancel you to disparage you to make themselves feel better because they're usually Miserable people and that's just the truth guys.

That's just the truth. So we need to pray for people who are caught up in this. It's a false religion and we need to offer the true hope of Christianity and one of the ways we can exemplify it is by Loving others loving the people around us and loving people involves telling them the truth.

SBC Update: Rod Martin’s Resignation and the Convention’s Direction

So That's my encouragement for you. I wanted to switch gears a little bit. Let's talk about What's happening in the Southern Baptist Convention? And let's also talk about what's happening in the Presbyterian Church in America.

I wrote down like four different notes here that I just wanted to remember. Let's start start with the SBC so there's news recently that Rod Martin who is a Executive or was an executive committee for the Southern Baptist Convention executive committee member he he's resigned so Rod Martin was one of the ones we had him on the show that talked about.

Hey, we can take this back in Anaheim. He believed Mike Stone would be the president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He was impressed with CBN and how they how well they did at the last convention and he was very positive about the Southern Baptist Convention and If you read the article, I think it's at the Christian Post.

It does not seem as positive anymore. And if you'd like me for me to have him on I I don't know if the demand for it is there because Rod Martin has gone on I think like just all kinds of podcasts. So I don't know if People, you know care if he's on this podcast or not, and you might have seen him on other shows talking about this.

But if you do leave a comment in the info section, I'll look at those and if there's enough demand for it I'll ask him if he wants to come on and talk to us about that. But um, it's. It certainly is significant for this reason I can't I don't remember the number but a number of Conservatives on the executive committee have resigned.

Rod Martin would have been one of the more optimistic ones to say Hey, we can we can do something here. We can take you know, the SBC can be recovered and for him to you know, basically decide to leave the executive committee is.

It's it's pretty big and and the words that that he used to describe his decision on why he made it certainly are not. The most encouraging in fact, I would dare say I don't think there's gonna be an Anaheim for conservatives I just don't see the path to victory the last vestige other than perhaps the convention itself meeting together that could have been used as an instrument to bring about change would have been the executive committee and The left has been so subversive and so sneaky, but they've they've essentially by this waving of attorney-client privilege Destroyed that possibility of using the of the executive committee making decisions that would point the convention in a more conservative direction.

So At this point it's kind of like when some people realize hey, do we even have elections anymore after last election? You know, that was kind of like one of our last recourses. I think the same thing's happening with the SBC.

It's like they're you know, what do you do? Who do you even call? I mean, it's it's um Dumpster fire doesn't even begin to express it in my mind. I remember thinking a couple years ago right now. Yeah, really only probably three years ago three four years ago.

Maybe five but I think it was more like three or four. I thought you know, what's being taught at the seminaries now. It's gonna make its way into the pulpits and it's gonna split churches and the SBC is gonna go downhill.

I didn't think it'd be happening this fast it's happening faster than I even thought and I knew it would happen. But I think one of the things about the SBC is because of the way it's structured. You can have a floor vote and that can change the fundamental character of the denomination.

And so it's not like the PCA where things move slow as molasses and there's so many different things that have to be done to to make a change and Once those changes are made though, generally, they're pretty binding.

But anyway That's what's happening in the SBC. It's very sad and I I would just encourage conservative churches. I know some people disagree with me on this, but I don't know that there's a way to recover this I I would get out.

I really would I would just get out and stop paying money to an organization. That is Lined up against the truth that you believe in in many respects the other thing was I want to talk about was the PCA now, I'm not as Well versed on the PCA, but I saw something someone had sent me That recently there was some there were some emails leaked from something called the National Partnership.

PCA Drift, the National Partnership, and Revoice

Which I guess was started by James Kessler. Who's a pastor. I think in Ohio. Now I had not heard of the National Partnership. So I started looking online and just what's the National Partnership and what I found Was very interesting.

So the National Partnership Apparently they portray themselves as just really an email thread in the PCA. That is supposed to inform people on procedural things and it's More just like how to how the PCA functions you you gotta get to know those kinds of things and you educate yourself By being part of these email threads and they're supposed to help you.

So not a political motive there, right well wrong apparently a huge political motive and some of these leaked emails show that there there was and is a huge political motive behind some of this and there's there's a lot of organizing during the General Assembly and there's approved candidates for certain positions and this organization the National Partnership is it's kind of.

It's not when I think the thing that sets it apart from other Entities and organizations is that it's it's sort of secretive in a way you have to be on the list to get the info and Apparently at General Convention meetings, they're getting their talking points together.

They're celebrating if they think they won something and they're pretty progressive. They're pushing in that very progressive direction so. That's interesting and I think you should be aware of it if you're part of the PCA that there's this at least attempt at somewhat of a shadow government going on there and.

And that's very concerning and it may explain some of the leftward drift they have a they exert a lot of influence on the committee of commissioners and In fact, I guess there's some talk about I I called a friend of mine in the PCA I'm like, I want to confirm this stuff, but Lincoln Duncan's brother I guess is more conservative than him and the National Partnership kind of took a stand against having him as part of the Standing Judicial Commission a few years.

Years ago and that created some waves and so they do influence things politically in a progressive direction now. One of the things that happened recently is that that Standing Judicial Commission? Decided and the best way I can explain this because it was a little complicated.

They decided to Let stand a decision by the Missouri Presbytery to exonerate the individual who basically started the revoice conferences and so it's sort of if you want it for lack of a better term the way it's being interpreted is an exoneration of revoice now the Standing Judicial Committee was doing this on procedural grounds that you know, the Missouri Presbytery didn't do anything wrong procedurally but a lot of conservatives were surprised by this because it's it's kind of like the situation if you had the Supreme Court decide, you know, we're gonna uphold a lower courts decision on something and It's a decision of great importance and normally we look at that and we say, okay the Supreme Court didn't want to enter the fray of political Controversy and so that's why they did this decision or they're they're upholding something that's wrong.

But there it's kind of like making a decision without making a decision. That's kind of I guess for lack of a better term what happened in this particular situation. So that's kind of a blow to conservatives and.

Why Conservatives Struggle to Match Progressive Organization

And so the there's a lot of other things I could say about it in fact I'm toying with the idea of maybe having another PCA update and trying to get someone who's conservative to talk about the PCA. But the momentum from what I'm gathering from a couple PCA pastors.

One of whom just went through in my opinion a terrible ordeal trying to get it ordained they they seem to think that there's a very significant progressive push and it takes longer in the PCA, but the same forces that work in the SBC are at work in the PCA and.

And why is this why you know our conservatives just do they just not realize how subversive the left is like why is it. That these things are allowed to continue and that I don't I know there are conservatives but the there's the ones that are there are few and far between and they tend in both denominations to not be quite as Aggressive certainly not as aggressive as their counterparts on the left.

Why is that? And that's something that I think you can chew on and maybe you have an answer for it. I have some ideas, but I do think there might be some ignorance. I think there might be some just willingness to grant all kinds of benefit of the doubt to people who are certainly going in a more progressive direction, but they're.

You know, they're nice and they're good brothers. They come across that way and there's just an unwillingness to be uncharitable in that way. They think it's uncharitable if you're I don't know you use the words of Jesus or Paul and you get indignant about these things.

So there's there's that I think going on there's also I Think the fact that because social justice is a religion and in many respects those on the progressive side tend to push hard. Because they're working for a real goal.

They're working for utopia here on earth. They may not even think that many might some of them might tell you that utopia is not even possible. But there some state of equity diversity inclusion. They're trying to bring it about through their efforts and they see barriers in their way and they want to remove these barriers so they have some Sometimes some very vague ways of articulating their goals, especially in conservative circles because they hide behind that but Actually, their goals are pretty concrete.

They want certain people eliminated. They want certain decisions made and so they fight for those things when the time comes and I don't conservatives you tend to not be quite as organized and they don't tend to fight for those things quite as hard.

They tend to be they conserve right so it's technically most of the time more of a defensive action. They're not having a utopian vision in their mind that they're trying to carry out. They just kind of want to keep things, you know, the status quo generally or if it's not the status quo they at least want to.

They're generally trying to preserve something that they think is valuable that they see is under attack. And so This may it may be just fundamental to the battles between traditionalists and progressives.

I don't know. What do you think? What do you think? I'd be curious to see your thoughts you put them in the info section of this video something I'll be mulling over a little bit. And maybe you know. Maybe there's some Bible verses that you can think of similar scenarios in Scripture where similar things happen.

And I'd be curious to see those as well, but I'm hungry. So I need to go get something to eat. Before I drive through probably much of the night on my way back I appreciate your prayers and your support for those who are giving giving prayers and support.

Thank you God bless and more coming probably not this week, but next week I'll put out some things one last thing to plug because I almost forgot to say it. Please go to last and studios website you can go to last and studios org or Really their YouTube channel as what I want to direct people to and just check out.

There's a new video posted there check it out. Comment on it see what you think and and then Christianity and social justice calm if you don't have the book Christianity and social justice you'll want to get that and leave a review there for Amazon.

It does help. God bless and have a good night. Bye now.