Pulpit & Pen is yet another hardshell Babtist cessationist voice afflicted with a mighty strong demonic “religious spirit” . Pot, kettle, black.
Although they do call out Beth Moore as the Worst Christian of the Year (LOL, is that Scriptural to do that??!?) and I happen to agree with them that she’s not one whose teaching I’d sit under.
As a reminder, the execrable never-trumper babtist Russell Moore is a bird of a feather with P&P.
Thanks. I don’t know much about Pulpit & Pen or the ins and outs of Southern Baptist internal workings and relations, not being a Southern Baptist myself. I’m aware of the differences between the Cessationists and Continuationists (there has been a similar phenomenon in the Episcopal Church but not so much discussed, as there are regular Episcopal Churches and those that are known as Charismatic), but was under the impression that most Southern Baptists actually fall somewhere in the middle of these two extremes (as do most Epicopalians).
What little I know of Hardshell Baptists (also called Foot Washing Baptists and Primitive Baptists) is that they tend to live in small mountain communities in East Tennessee, Western North Carolina and the mountainous areas of Kentucky and Virginia and historically did not get along with the other Baptists and the Methodists who also lived in those areas. Being Cessationists, they really did not get along with the Pew Walking Methodists. Like the Cambellites, they forbid musical instruments in their churches, but unlike the Cambellites practice foot washing (and I know they divide up the congregation by sex for the foot washing).
While driving slowly past one of those Hardshell Baptist Churches in Western North Carolina one fine spring day back in the 1980s I could hear the preacher through the open windows railing against the charming little Episcopal Church that was almost next door to it, claiming they were Satan worshippers because they had an organ and stained glass windows. I was headed to that Episcopal Church and found it sad he was scaring his congregation over what I considered nothing.
One of my grandmothers was a Southern Baptist and I attended church with her when visiting her as a child. In high school, I played piano for the early service at the Southern Baptist church my friend and neighbor attended (then went on to attend the regular service at my Episcopal church with my family afterward) and sometimes helped out with their youth program.
Many of my classmates growing up were Southern Baptists, too. So I know how their services go, and what they believe, but not much beyond that. Some were always trying to “save” me, which was sometimes faintly amusing, sometimes very uncool when they used subterfuge. I wasn’t considered a proper Christian because I wasn’t “born again” and had been Baptized as a baby. I thought this all a great pity and decided to play ambassador to show them we were all Christians who should get along, never criticising them or their church or trying to convert them to my denomination, but just being myself. In time, it worked. They valued me as a pianist and youth group leader and saw me as a fellow Christian even though I had once been a dreaded Episcopalian and remained an Episcopalian. And they stopped trying to “save” me. Yay. And of course I still have a soft spot for Southern Baptists, and they count among my friends old and new.
In my town, the Catholics and Southern Baptists share a chartered bus to attend the March for Life in Washington every year. There’s something both share in common and make common cause, even if they disagree on theology and church governance. It seems to me this is very American: agree to disagree on points of theology but work together as fellow Christians toward a Godly society in our country.
I do see a problem with these pastors who go out on their own, founding these churches outside of any denomination and with no and oversight over their finances. By that I mean pastors like Greg Locke who left the Southern Baptist Conference to set up his very own church with money pouring in and no financial oversight whatsoever. I also wonder how much the Southern Baptists invested in this man’s education, only for him to abandon the church to rake in money while delivering political rants. Ditto Ken Peters and his made-from-scratch Patriot Church who is apparently looking to set up franchises sort of like a fast food chain:
*****
Peters describes his organization as a “turnkey operation” for pastors who are willing to get on-board the Trump train, and preach from the pulpit that the “Trump was ripped off of the last election.”
For a 10% cut of church earnings, Peters will bring pastors into the fold, promote their churches, help them with tax filings as well as ensuring they’re sticking to the narrative he wants to promote.
Today, in addition to Peters’ home church in Knoxville, Tennessee, there are two Patriot Church campuses in Washington state, in Spokane and Moses Lake, and one in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Peters said he was getting ready to bring two more Patriot Church locations into the fold next month, adding that a lot more pastors want to get on board.
“I’m getting emails every day from pastors who want to be a part of this movement, so a regiment is arising. The two things the left fears the most are the words patriot and church, so at least we hope to make them a little bit.”
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Ten percent for The Big Guy! There ya go!
As for Beth Moore, it seems to me she, too, got caught up in politics, only in the opposite direction of Locke and Peters. While it would have been fine and IMHO admirable of her to eschew the politicization of churches such as Locke and Peters are doing, she herself got all political and too fond of a feminist agenda if I understand rightly. That’s the danger. I think the church should be about Jesus, not about politics. Yes, one’s faith will and should affect one’s politics and choice of candidates. That’s as it should be. But putting politics front and center in a church is a form of idolatry at best, blasphemy at worst. At least that is how I see it.
I notice Moore and Locke both broke from the SBC and went off on their own, Locke to rake in money and gain fame. Peters started his church in a Motel 8 near Spokane, Washington, and was never affiliated with any denomination.
One of the things I find a bit off-putting about some of the independent mega-churches and the speaking circuits of their celebrity preachers is the emphasis on particular celebrity preachers and teachers. Maybe it’s a personal thing, but I prefer a church where the focus is on Scripture and worship and the centrality of Holy Communion. The emphasis on putting a show and the antics of the preacher is well, just not my cup of tea.
I recognize that different forms of worship appeal to different people and I don’t think God particularly cares whether you have guitars and tambourines or a staid pipe organ in your church — or no instruments at all — to accompany the singing of praise. I’m not some stickler in that sense at all. I do think He cares where the focus is. The Southern Baptist churches I happened to visit seemed to me to have the right focus. Some of the independent televangelist types I have seen, not so much.
Billy Graham was an exception even though one could certainly say he had celebrity status. He was the real deal and he always emphasized and pointed to Jesus, not himself. One was left contemplating Jesus, not Billy Graham or any political figure. That is as it should be.