Cultural Seduction and the Demise of the Southern Baptist Convention

Feminism, Marxism, Black Liberation Theology, LGBT rights. Cultural seduction has taken over the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), unquestionably–at least by any rationally thinking Bible-believing Christian. The SBC for many years was revered for its conservative stance on both social and theological issues, but those days seem to be over.

In a recent wave of New Calvinism (not to be confused with Reformed theology) that has swooped the convention, largely through the conduit of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) headed by Russell Moore, a push toward progressive ideology is currently displacing the conservative base.

The push for LGBT inclusiveness began when Russell Moore, JD Greear, and other SBC leaders were noted at NPR for their “softening tone” on homosexuality. The alarm has been sounded on these progressives for years–and despite the loud ringing bells, the cognitive dissonance of those who keep putting these kinds of people in office in the SBC is mind-boggling.

Look, discernment is the issue at stake here, and sadly, most of our pastors and shepherds have an austere deficiency in it. When our pastors lack deficiency to that degree, JD Greear and Russell Moore are who you end up with–and that’s how the SBC is changing.

The former Democratic staffer, Russell Moore is not a theologian by any means. He may have a seminary degree, he may have taught alongside Al Mohler at SBTS, but he is not a theologian. He is a political operative who has dedicated his life and career to changing the dynamics of a denomination that once stood on the authority of the Scripture and the power of the gospel to change the hearts and minds of lost people to a political voting bloc that seeks to radically change the culture in ways that true conservatives would detest.

Whether it’s calling Jesus an “illegal immigrant” in his push for open borders and immigration amnesty, his advocacy of environmentalist “creation care,” his ecumenical worship with adherents of other religions like at the Becket Fund’s “multi-faith” gathering, his ethical compromise to attend gay wedding celebrations but not the wedding itself, calling conservatives who believe in national sovereignty idolaters, Moore certainly has more in common with Nancy Pelosi than he does Bible-believing Christians.

Now we have JD Greear, the president of the SBC preaching an LGBT inclusive gospel wanting us to believe that men sodomizing other men is morally equivalent to boasting and calls on Christians to stand up for the rights of LGBT people, because “they are no different than us.” Now he’s joining hands with Black Liberation Theologians, like Jarvis Williams, Jemar Tisby, and Thabiti Ayabwile–along with several reparations activists, including a woman–to preach to the church about what it means for conservative Christians to be reconciled with people who support the expansion of abortion and promote “white guilt” reparations theology.

But the problem isn’t really these men. The problem is the hearts and minds of the people. This is what Southern Baptists want and this is where the Convention is–is on the verge of apostasy. The gospel is rarely preached and the primary calling of the church–to call people to repentance and faith in Christ–has been abandoned. Instead, in an effort to attract more people to a dying institution with a microscopic remnant, the culture has seduced the Church and inflicted its poisonous change in her.

Christ called the church to preach the gospel to the ends of the Earth and make disciples–teaching them to obey the commandments. He did not call us to change the world, He called us out of the world and into His kingdom.

The SBC’s lampstand is being removed.