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HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced Thursday to death by a court in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam in the country’s largest financial fraud case ever, state media Vietnam Net said. The 67-year-old chair of the real estate company Van Thinh Phat was formally charged with fraud amounting to $12.5 billion — nearly 3% of the country’s 2022 GDP. Lan illegally controlled Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank between 2012 and 2022 and allowed 2,500 loans that resulted in losses of $27 billion to the bank, reported state media VnExpress. The court asked...

In 2014, Russell Moore, then president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) advised Southern Baptists to attend a “gay wedding” reception as a gesture of affection towards a homosexual friend or relative. Moore was criticized for this stance, and rightly so, yet this stance was quickly adopted by the progressive stream of Southern Baptists and Evangelicals and has become the norm within movements such as Revoice. Yet, Moore’s advice is inextricably entangled with a fundamental flaw—it tacitly endorses what Scripture explicitly identifies as an ungodly union. The Bible’s portrayal of marriage as a sacred covenant...

A Texas megachurch has been slammed for its extravagant Christmas service, which featured nearly 1,000 performers, several camels and flying angels. Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas has gone viral on social media for its yearly The Gift of Christmas show - a Vegas-style spectacle that retells the story of the birth of Jesus. Footage of the event on Sunday shows real sheep walking across the stage before flying angels appear over the crowd, followed by hundreds of performers and three live camels entering the scene. A TikTok video posted by Lawson Martin - titled 'They say everything is bigger in...

On March 27, 2023, a mass shooting occurred at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, which resulted in multiple fatalities. The attack was carried out by a transgender leftist who had written a “manifesto” which has currently been withheld due to public records requests made by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department as well as the activism of Southern Baptist Convention ERLC head, Brent Leatherwood. Brent Leatherwood, head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), is calling on TN lawmakers to back a proposal by Governor Bill Lee for an extreme risk protective...

Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and arguably one of the most influential theologians in the Southern Baptist Convention has been repeatedly criticized for his failure to lead in a timely manner by conservative Christians. As a matter of fact, most of the time Mohler ends up landing on the right side of theological issues, from Ed Litton’s plagiarism to homosexuality in the Church—but his voice is always too little too late. The term coined to describe his leadership is “leading from behind.” If you’ve been following the Andy Stanley saga on social media and the blogosphere,...

A Tennessee church has announced they have voted to disaffiliate from the Southern Baptist Convention after nearly 70 years of partnership, warming the cockles of our hearts with this wonderfully thrilling news. Monte Vista Baptist Church, a 150-member congregation in Maryville, TN, issued a press release announcing the unanimous vote of the community “in response to the convention’s recent decisions that only men are qualified by Scripture to serve as pastor of a local congregation and the subsequent exclusion of some churches where women were serving in a pastoral position.” They explain: “Monte Vista has ordained women to serve as...

At the 2023 Annual Southern Baptist Convention, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission gave their report which was an emotional affair laced with embellished contributions to legislative achievements whilst omitting the one policy they are on record for supporting: gun control in Tennessee. At the end of the report, Brent Leatherwood was asked a single question and the questioner made it count. Brent Leatherwood was asked if he believed whether a woman who murders her child outside of the womb should be prosecuted for murder. Brent Leatherwood gives a longwinded answer, claiming to champion Southern Baptist values. He goes on...

In recent months, following the Covenant School Shooting, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission head Brent Leatherwood has been outspoken in support of gun control legislation, throwing the lobbying power of the Southern Baptist Convention behind the gun control proposals of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee. Leatherwood, whose three children attend Covenant School, supports the governor’s bid to bring red-flag gun control laws to Tennessee, which would result in the removal of guns from the possession of citizens without due process. But actions have consequences, and this move could be used in the future to nullify the second...

North Carolina megachurch Elevation—known for its popular music and charismatic pastor—is withdrawing its affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention effective immediately, according to a letter sent to the SBC’s Executive Committee and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. “We would like to thank the Southern Baptists for the privilege of partnering with you, especially through the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina for nearly two decades,” says the letter, which was published by the official SBC publication Baptist Press. It goes on to thank the Conference for “the privilege of having been affiliated with the SBC all these years”...

The more than 10,000-member Elevation Church in North Carolina, led by celebrity preacher Steven Furtick, has withdrawn its affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention after more than 20 years of cooperation with the nation's largest Protestant denomination.While Elevation Church did not appear to make the decision public, a copy of a letter published online dated June 26 shows that the church informed the SBC Executive Committee that its withdrawal from the denomination was "effective immediately.""This letter is to inform you that Elevation Church is withdrawing its affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention effective immediately. You will find that our Statement...

Southern Baptist Convention Ejects Rick Warren's Saddleback Church. CREDIT: Twitter Wednesday, the membership of America’s largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), voted to defenestrate Rick Warren’s Saddleback megachurch. Saddleback, whose 23,000+ weekly churchgoers make it the second-largest congregation in the SBC, along with a much smaller church in Kentucky, was “disfellowshipped” for violating the 2000 edition of the Baptist Faith & Message by ordaining three women pastors. According to that document, “the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” At that moment, the SBC may not only have held firm against the Luciferian...

Ahead of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in New Orleans this week, Saddleback Church founder Rick Warren stressed that he agrees with all of the denomination’s beliefs — except for its stance on women pastors. “The SBC Constitution was changed in 2015 after 170yrs of Baptist cooperation. Now churches must be ‘CLOSELY’ identified with our confession. NOT ‘completely’ Our BF&M2000 is 4,032 words. We disagree with only 1 word: men. We're 99.9999999999% in agreement! Is that CLOSE ENOUGH?” Warren tweeted on Sunday."I'm not making this stuff up," he added on Monday. "This is the history of the SBC: After...

Earlier this week, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) cut ties with Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church. The influential Southern California-based congregation had been part of the SBC since its founding, but the denomination dismissed Saddleback over a decision that founding pastor Warren made shortly before he retired.In 2021, Warren ordained three women as pastors, which caused the SBC to consider disciplining the church or kicking it out of the denomination. One of those women, Stacie Wood, the wife of lead pastor Andy Wood, is a “teaching pastor.” On Tuesday, the SBC Executive Committee deemed Saddleback to be “not in friendly cooperation...

The Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday ousted its second-largest congregation — Saddleback Church, the renowned California megachurch founded by pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren — for having a woman pastor.

FLOWER MOUND, Texas (BP) – The Village Church announced Sunday (Aug. 28) that lead pastor Matt Chandler will take a leave of absence from teaching and preaching following his admission to “inappropriate messaging” with a woman on Instagram. Chandler admitted the messaging was “unguarded and unwise” though the messages were neither “romantic nor sexual” in nature, but the “frequency and familiarity” was not wise for someone in his position. Chandler said the church’s elders determined his “inability to see this for what it was revealed something not right and unhealthy,” adding that The Village “cannot be a place that does...

If you’re Southern Baptist, you should know that the federal government is looking into your organization.As relayed by Fox News, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has announced it’s under investigation by the Department of Justice. And though the Convention is being a bit vague, the revealed reason is particularly disconcerting.Apparently, the DOJ’s probe is related to how the largest Protestant denomination in America has managed allegations of sexual abuse. From the SBC Executive Committee’s statement posted online:[The Committee] recently became aware that the Department of Justice has initiated an investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention, and that the investigation will...

Baptist Press reported yesterday that the Justice Department has informed the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention that it has initiated an investigation that will involve multiple SBC entities. This comes after an independent investigation (full text of report) of sexual abuse allegations against clergy and Executive Committee members commissioned by SBC. A Release by the SBC Executive Committee (quoted in full in the Baptist Press report) says in part: Individually and collectively each SBC entity is resolved to fully and completely cooperate with the investigation. While we continue to grieve and lament past mistakes related to sexual abuse,...

Prominent Southern Baptist theologians have published a statement clarifying the meaning of the word "pastor" amid controversy within the United States' largest Protestant denomination stemming from Rick Warren's Saddleback Church ordaining female pastors last year. The document "A Statement Concerning the Baptist Faith & Message and the Word' Pastor'" was released last week by two Southern Baptist seminary presidents and the former head of the denomination's public policy arm. The signatories are Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Chuck Kelley, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; and Richard Land, who served as the president of the...

In a video released Sunday, June 12, former Southern Baptist Convention President Jack Graham endorsed current presidential candidate Tom Ascol — a move shocking to some convention insiders and a potential game-changer in this week’s contest for leadership. Ascol and Graham hold divergent theological views, with Ascol being a staunch Calvinist and Graham being a more traditional conservative evangelical. And by endorsing Ascol, who is a Florida pastor, Graham bypassed another candidate, Bart Barber, whose church is located 37 miles away from Graham’s. Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church of Farmersville, Texas, is considered the institutionalist candidate in this year’s...

Top administrative leaders for the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in America, said Tuesday that they will release a secret list of hundreds of pastors and other church-affiliated personnel accused of sexual abuse. An attorney for the SBC’s Executive Committee announced the decision during a virtual meeting called in response to a scathing investigative report detailing how the committee mishandled allegations of sex abuse and stonewalled numerous survivors. The committee anticipates releasing the list Thursday. During the meeting, top leaders and several committee members vowed to work toward changing the culture of the denomination and to listen more...