Does it baffle you the way that it does me that the milieu of our culture is one of seemingly endless insanity? The zeitgeist of today is much different than it was even ten years ago. A sin that was once considered one of the seven deadly sins (pride) is now not only acceptable but is imposed into every nearly every corner of society. So many products and companies pander to the vast minority while pushing agendas that are offputting (or at least should be) to the majority. Recently Anheuser-Busch, Target, Ford, and the Los Angeles Dodgers, among many many others, have told us that they do not respect the traditional family values that were once the very fabric and foundation of our world. I suppose it is heartening that these companies have faced backlash and, in some cases, lost billions of dollars. The voice of the conservative traditional family has spoken with their wallets.
Unfortunately, as pervasive as this new cancer is on us, it inevitably finds its way into places that we would have never imagined. The malignancy that is wokeism, without careful precaution, infiltrates even the most sacred arenas ... even the church. You may think that what I am about to say is a stretch and perhaps even a gross over-exaggeration, but please follow me with an open mind. If you are not convinced at the end of my argument, perhaps it might be wise to seek the counsel of a conservative methodist or presbyterian and ask them about the slippery slopes their denominations have found themselves sledding down.
For centuries ... no millennia, the Church has stood on the foundations of Scripture and on the shoulders of the early Church fathers and the Apostles. In the Word of God, we find the basis for complementarianism. God created man male and female. In His sovereignty and wisdom, God gave us specific gender roles and those extend to the responsibilities within His Church. To say that the office of Pastor is only for men does not disenfranchise the women who are called serve the Lord in their own capacities. To say that it does is dishonest and disingenuous.
Yet that is exactly what mega-church pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren is doing. His church, Saddleback Church, in Lake Forest, California, has begun to ordain female "pastors". As a result of this, the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has deemed Warren and Saddleback to no longer be "in friendly cooperation" with the Convention. Warren has appealed the removal of his church after initially accepting the removal at the 2022 SBC annual meeting in Anaheim, California. When Warren addressed the convention in 2022, essentially, he paraded his achievements and importance through boasting of his church size and financial giving to SBC causes in front of the masses assembled there. He wanted the churches of the SBC to consider what they would be losing if they lost him. In his appeal, he has tweeted daily and in one of his tweets he said, "I listen to pastors. 16,000 respond to my letter to them. They're tired of angry fighters & scared by the climate of fear & exclusion created by powerbrokers. Why can't we return to the original Baptist Vision of unity through a mission, not a confession. That would heal the SBC." The only problem with this is that the mission is dependent on doctrine. The SBC is a friendly cooperation of churches who are on mission together as defined by doctrinal statements such as the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 which was prayerfully considered and written to underline the beliefs of the Bible within the associated churches. These statements were founded upon Scripture, and it is Scripture that must unite us. A vision of unity is fine so long as we are unified in Christ and the Word of God. The Church cannot, must not, be unequally yoked or united with the paradigms of wrong thinking that our enemy is promulgating upon us in this day. How Warren is able to twist Scripture and patristics to his way of thinking is beyond me, but it doesn't surprise me.
Matt Walsh, of the Daily Wire, released a documentary entitled "What is a Woman?" It saddened me as I watched it to realize that something so simple that my boys aged 10 and 12 were able to answer correctly, stumped so many. Our culture fights about which restrooms to use. The 2% of the population that identifies as transgender, have so infiltrated the minds and hearts of the culture that their perversion is celebrated and often shoved down the throats of our children. I weep at what our enemy Satan is being able to do to the people of this world. To deny the roles of complementarianism that our good God, in his infinite wisdom, gave us in His Word, is a slippery slope indeed. Warren has capitulated to the pressure of a culture that sees no boundaries in gender and sex. He thinks himself a champion of women, yet he pushes them to the precipice of destruction in disobedience. The 2023 SBC Annual Meeting will be one of much consequence and, if he succeeds in his appeal, Warren will be leading the SBC to its eventual and swift demise. Again, if you don't believe me, look at other denominations and institutions that have followed this same shift away from God's design. It may seem a large stretch, but these issues were the exact ones that eventually led to the events that caused the great divide of the methodist and presbyterian denominations. I, for one, will be at the 2023 meeting in New Orleans personally to vote against his appeal.
