{"id":93552,"date":"2023-06-12T17:40:12","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T22:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=93552"},"modified":"2023-06-12T17:40:12","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T22:40:12","slug":"93552","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=93552","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Going woke is simply exchanging one religion for another.<\/a><\/p>\n

MEGACHURCH PASTOR RICK WARREN GOES SCORCHED EARTH IN EFFORT TO PUSH SOUTHERN BAPTISTS DOWN THE SLIPPERY WOKE SLOPE<\/a><\/p>\n

Southern Baptists are meeting in New Orleans for their annual convention this week. Megachurch Pastor Rick Warren, author of the bestselling book\u00a0The Purpose-Driven Life,\u00a0<\/em>is waging war with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), hoping to push the denomination to the left on the issue of female pastors.<\/p>\n

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Warren, now \u201cretired\u201d but still listed as the Founding Pastor on Saddleback Church\u2019s website, is pressuring the SBC to allow female pastors, contrary to clear biblical teaching that pastoral roles are reserved for men.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Warren has been all over Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube this past week, viciously attacking his opponents (while calling for love and reconciliation). He\u2019s become increasingly combative, calling his opponents \u201cangry fundamentalists,\u201d \u201cangry fighters,\u201d and \u201clegalist showmen.\u201d (I\u2019ll leave it up to readers to determine who\u2019s playing the role of \u201cshowman\u201d in this debate.)<\/p>\n

Warren also issued a veiled threat to leaders who oppose him. During a recent podcast with\u00a0Christianity Today<\/em>\u00a0Editor-in-Chief Russell Moore, he warned, \u201cWe [Saddleback churches] don\u2019t need the Southern Baptist Convention. They need the 6,000 purpose-driven churches that are in the Southern Baptist Convention in our fellowship, but we don\u2019t need the Convention. It would be for the benefit of others, not for us.\u201d In other words, if he doesn\u2019t get his way on liberalizing the doctrine of the SBC, he\u2019ll take his churches and go home.<\/p>\n

As background, in June of last year, the SBC Credentials Committee determined that Saddleback Church was \u201cnot in friendly cooperation with the Convention,\u201d essentially\u00a0disfellowshipping the church<\/a>\u00a0for having a female \u201cteaching pastor.\u201d Southern Baptist churches are officially self-governing, but blatant violations of the Baptist Faith and Practice (BF&P \u2014 the SBC\u2019s statement of faith) can be cause for removing a church from membership.<\/p>\n

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The committee ruled that the megachurch \u201chas a faith and practice that does not closely identify with the Convention\u2019s adopted statement of faith, as demonstrated by the church having a female teaching pastor functioning in the office of pastor.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Saddleback is expected to appeal the ruling at the convention this week, and Warren is expected to issue an emotional plea for the group to liberalize on the issue. While he claims that his goal is not to force other churches to allow female pastors, allowing Saddleback back into the SBC would open the floodgates to other churches following his lead.<\/p>\n

As an aside, Warren\u2019s views on egalitarianism are less troubling than some of the other statements he\u2019s made:<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/p>\n

A study released on Sunday by\u00a0American Reformer<\/a>\u00a0found that there are currently 1,844 female pastors in Southern Baptist churches \u2014 many more than previously estimated.<\/p>\n