Ronnie Floyd and Life Action Ministries - Mystics in Disguise

President of Southern Baptist Convention, Ronnie Floyd, has for some time been known to dabble with questionable theology. He endorses the First Fruits tithing heresy of Robert Morris, and also endorses the contemplative mystic, Mark Batterson and his new age book, the Circle Maker. But another troubling partnership between Floyd and New Age mysticism exists—between him and Life Action Ministries.

Life Action claims to be a ministry that holds "revival" conferences at different churches. According their schedule, it appears to be all Southern Baptist churches. From their website page, "Awaken your heart," they say:

As a ministry, our desire is to see the hearts of God's people awakened and revived! Incredibly, God wants us to experience revival even more than we desire it for ourselves. He has even given us a road map to follow. We pray that these resources will help you discover and travel the pathways that lead to God's heart.

Now, who wouldn't want to discover the "pathways" that lead to God's heart. First and foremost, besides the entire new age theme of their website, the plural word "pathways" insinuates that there is more than one way to God. Do you see the problem here? Is there another pathway to God apart from Jesus Christ? They also teach a method of contemplative prayer, involving being quiet, waiting, sitting still, and listening for that "still quiet voice" of God to give you a specific revelation. They also teach that forgiving someone entails no longer desiring righteous justice or discipline against that person. Another workbook on their website, entitled Draw a Circle, is strikingly similar to Mark Batterson's Circle Maker witchcraft heresy that Floyd endorses. Their promo video for this prayer teaching involves a young man, who has a piece of chalk that keeps "magically" appearing on his Bible. He ultimately ends up reading Hosea 10:12-13 and somehow he gets the idea from these verses that he should be drawing circles around himself, and praying. In this workbook, they say:

It’s a challenge OneCry is issuing to men, women, teens, and even children...It involves a simple piece of chalk. With this piece of chalk, we kneel to draw a circle around ourselves and then look to heaven expectantly, praying, “Lord God, send revival, and begin it right here in this circle!”

Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Radio Host of Revive Our Hearts women's outreach ministry of Life Action, also endorses these chalk circles. She is known for associating with other contemplative mystics, including Richard Foster and Dallas Willard.

Ronnie Floyd has worked extensively with this ministry in the past. At the 2013 Annual SBC Conference, he partnered with them at a lunch meeting to discuss the subject of "spiritual revival." He asked his audience on his blog before the meeting:

Tuesday at noon: Life Action Ministries has asked me to join three other spiritual leaders over a major lunch meeting to talk about the subject of Spiritual Revival. I look forward to this engaging luncheon as hundreds of Pastors will gather for discussion around this theme. Pray for a mighty visitation from God.

Notice, he didn't say he was joining three other "Christian" leaders, he said "spiritual" leaders. Life Action Ministries' theme appears to be this "spiritual" awakening, a new age, contemplative type of awakening, or a mystic type of relationship with God. They also endorse a type of theology, known as Keswick theology, in which they believe that there are two types of Christians, carnal and sanctified. They believe that the "carnal Christian" needs to be spiritually awakened, and work themselves into a sanctified state. This is remarkably similar to the new age though of awakening your "inner-self" to a higher state of consciousness, and becoming "one with God." LAM also stands on the notion that somehow Satan can takeover the hearts and minds of those who are saved.

The first and worst cause of error that prevails in our day is spiritual pride. This is the main door by which the devil comes into the hearts of those who are zealous for the advancement of Christ. It is the chief inlet of smoke from the bottomless pit to darken the mind and mislead the judgment, and the main handle by which Satan takes hold of Christians to hinder a work of God. Until this disease is cured, medicines are applied in vain to heal all other diseases.

Ronnie Floyd's way of thinking appears to be very similar to this group. He believes that churches are filled with lukewarm, complacent "Christians," who are more interested in being promoted in the workplace than evangelizing the lost. While this is very true that our churches are filled with these types of people, the truth of the matter is that these people filling the pews aren't Christians. Carnal Christianity is not Christianity, it's false conversion. Generally speaking, people who have been influenced by Keswick theology may have a testimony like, "I was saved when I was 15, but I surrendered my life to Christ when I was 23." They tend to believe that human free-will is ultimately and separately responsible for starting and stopping the sanctification process. In an interview with Randy Hekman of Life Action, Ronnie Floyd was asked:

You have put out a clarion call to Southern Baptist pastors and members around the nation for a Great Awakening. How are people responding to this call?

And he responded:

...there was real resolve and commitment and understanding that our greatest need is a mighty move of God in this country...We need to strategize and get after reaching the world. The reason we want revival to come to the church, and for the country to be awakened spiritually, is so we can complete the Great Commission...We need fresh power to do that. We need American Christianity to wake up from sleep and get with it to reach the world with the gospel...[we must be committed to] the revival of religion and the advancement of Christ’s kingdom on this earth.

There is no mention of purifying the church of false converts or bad theology, or exposing the evil within the church. As most new-agers, Floyd doesn't believe this exists. What the Bible would describe as a false convert, it appears Floyd would just rationalize them as "less sanctified," and that they would need to become "more sanctified" by making a decision to wake up spiritually.

OneCry, a branch of Life Action ministries regularly praises Floyd for his advancement of "Spiritual Awakening." On January 19, they tweeted:

Every Christian, Pastor, & leader in all denominations should read this bold manifesto from SBC Pres. @ronniefloyd http://t.co/Lrr77WD6mZ
— OneCry (@OneCry) January 19, 2015

I believe that the SBC's association with this group is spiritually dangerous, but it appears to be the direction that this once great denomination is now heading. This slide toward the New Age is nothing new. Ronnie Floyd has prophesied a "Great Awakening," but the Bible predicts a "Great Apostasy." Who are we supposed to stand behind? We should always be praying for the salvation of souls, but should we be praying for something unbiblical? Should we be praying for something to happen when what the Bible predicts will happen, and must happen for the return of Christ, is already happening? Shouldn't we be praying for purification of the Church, salvation for the lost, and Christ's return to be quickened? Instead, it seems that the SBC wants to delve deeper into contemplative prayer, witchcraft and ecumenism.

More Information

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• Will the SBC officially announce their Apostasy at the 2015 Annual Conference?
• Apprising Ministries - Nancy DeMoss turns listeners to Richard Foster
• Sola Sisters - Nancy DeMoss endorcing Chalk Circles? Mercy!
• The Velvet Covered Brick - Prayer Circles

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Evangelicals: Fornicating with the Harlot

There is no doubt that the word "evangelical" doesn't mean the same thing it used to mean. The word is used to describe almost anyone who says the name "Jesus" these days. Mormons are referred to as Evangelicals, as are Jehova's Witnesses, and other unBiblical sects like the New Apostolic Reformation. There is even a growing movement within the Roman Catholic church today calling themselves evangelicals. But I believe this to be a deceitful tactic of Rome to continue in their centuries long war against the Word of God, and the Protestant Reformation.

Evangelicals used to be a small minority. They were the ones who preached the Word of God from the Bible, and took that truth to all the nations, standing against the enemies of the Gospel. Now that the word "evangelical" encompasses a multitude of religious sects and cults, evangelicals can be considered the majority among the visible church. When I say "visible church," I'm not referring to born again believers, who proclaim their salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. I'm referring to anyone who claims to be Christian, including Roman Catholics. Sadly, the true Evangelical church are embracing many of these others as brothers in Christ. I'm beginning to believe that they are no longer doing this inadvertently, and that they know exactly what they are doing. I believe they are holding hands with the Beast of Revelation, and that they are helping to build the Harlot Church as described in Revelation 17.

Described in Revelation 17 is a great harlot, who makes war with the lamb (Rev 17:15). Lets break down this chapter and see if we can identify who this whore is.

• She sits on many waters—that is, many multitudes of peoples, nations and tongues. She has power and influence over these people (Rev 17:1,150.
• She fornicates with the kings and leaders of the nations of the world (Rev 17:2). This figuratively means that this woman "cheats" on the true God, and worships false Gods, not necessarily literal sexual fornication.
• She sits upon a scarlet-colored beast (Rev 17:3). This is representative of the blood of the saints (Rev 17:6). She sits on top of this, and prides herself over it.
• Full of names of blasphemy (Rev 17:3). She has given herself a multitude of blasphemous titles. Titles that should belong to God, or that she is not worthy of holding. (e.g. His Holiness, and Vicar of Christ)
• Has seven heads and ten horns (Rev 17:3). This represents the ten individual kingdoms (European nations) of the empire in which she controls from atop the seven hills she sits upon. Rome, since ancient times, has been known as the "City of Seven Hills."
• She is adorned in purple and scarlet, gilded with gold and precious stones and pearls (Rev 17:4). What religious entity can you think of that decks itself out with these priceless things?
• She holds in her hand a golden cup, full of abominations of uncleanness and of her whoredom (Rev 17:4). She carries with her, and proclaims daily, in the name of Christ, these abominations and blasphemous rituals.
• Written upon her forehead was a name written: "Secret, Babylon the Great, the Mother of the Whores, and the Abominations of the earth" (Rev 17:5). In other words, all of the other whores, false churches and religious cults, and blasphemous entities are spawned by this mother-whore, and ultimately, they all answer to her.

What can we conclude from this? All roads lead to Rome, right? Well, unfortunately, many of our so-called evangelicals are assimilating with this image. Rome has been the ancient enemy of the Gospel, since it's inception. It started with Pagan Rome, to what we have now, "Christian" Rome. But I argue that it's still Pagan Rome, only disguised as Christian. For Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light, right? (2 Cor 11:14). Rome has been working to discredit and counter the Protestant reformation for centuries. But many evangelicals either don't understand this and are deceived themselves, or they are actively working with the mother whore to deceive people. There are quite a few on both sides of this aisle, but they are both flirting with this whore. 

The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the world, and once the strongest and soundest to Biblical doctrine, has now become apostate. The sad state of the SBC is appalling to many, yet those who are in charge are lending a deaf ear. We have the president of the SBC, Dr. Ronnie Floyd, leading us into a New Age way of thinking about the future of the church, and promoting New Age materials on his blog while preaching false doctrine from his pulpit.  We have the president of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission as well as well known "pastor" of Saddleback Social Club, Rick Warren, watering down the Gospel and fellowshipping with Catholics at the Vatican. Russell Moore parading down the street with unbelievers, pretending they are brothers and sisters in Christ, giving them a false sense of hope, all for political and social gain. Russell Moore even thinks it's okay for Christians to celebrate homosexuality at the reception of a gay wedding, as long as we don't attend the gay wedding itself. Lifeway Bookstores, the publishing branch of the Southern Baptist Convention, is peddling more heresy now than almost any other bookstore, secular or Christian in nature, all for monetary gain.

Other so-called mega-church pastors, like Joel Osteen, are now the face of the Evangelical church. Joel Osteen has been preaching damnable heresies for years, never once calling his millions of fans to repentance, which is required for salvation. The 700-club with Pat Robertson and Cindy Jacobs promotes the false teachings and lies of the New Apostolic Reformation. Steven Furtick of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC has spent multi-millions upon millions of dollars to build state of the art social clubs all around the area, leading hundreds of thousands, if not millions, into apostasy. Heretic James Robison, (who hosts SBC's vision-from-God-receiving and ecumenical Beth Moore's weekly program), claims he was "so moved by the Gospel message of the pope, that he asked the translator for a high five."

What does this say to these people? It says, "don't worry, the sin you're caught up in is okay, God loves you anyways, you don't need to turn away from it.... we're brothers and sisters in Christ anyways." There is no clear biblical truth being taught in our churches anymore, as once was the stronghold of the Evangelical Church. We used to stand on this Biblical truth, and proclaim it without shame. When our leadership is too weak to call false religions to repentance, and decide to stand with them instead, they are by default working to build the harlot church. They are working to fill the golden cup of abominations. They are serving their idols and worshiping their gods. God tells us in Revelations 18:4-5 "Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities." If we are participating in these activities with false churches, we are partaking in their sins. 

We are called to stand apart from this sin, calling sinners to repentance, not indulge in it. Why don't these mainstream "evangelical" figures understand this? I think they do. I think they are knowingly, and purposely working against the Gospel. If you believe and fear the Word of God, you must be obedient to it. But they are not. They openly reject the commands of God, giving him the finger, and saying "I'll do this my way." Sadly, man's way leads to Hell (Prov. 14:12). Russell Moore must know this. Joel Osteen must know this. Beth Moore, James Robison, Cindy Jacobs, and all of these other false teachers out in Evangeland... they MUST know this, yet they continue to flip God off, never facing their criticism. They one one hand speak truth, perhaps occasionally preaching sound doctrine, and then on the other hand mix in error, teaching lies, and living in ungodly ways, which is the tactic of Satan to lead people astray. I hate to say it, but these are the people that are working in the spirit of Antichrist, fornicating with the mother of harlots, and building the one world religion of the Beast. They need to be tested

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." - 1 John 4:1-6

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Why 'Racial Justice' is NOT a Gospel Demand

The proponents of racial reconciliation within the Church, especially the Southern Baptist Church, continue to propagate this idea that we need to set aside our differences and reconcile our racial divide. Racial tensions in the US are mostly a fabrication of mainstream media anyways, and aren't nearly as bad as they would have you believe.  However, it is unfortunate that many of our conservative, Bible-believing leaders in the Evangelical church have bought into this notion of white-privelege, and are using it as a means to further this "racial reconcilation" idea.

It all began with the Nov. 24 grand jury decision that police officer, Darren Wilson, would not be indicted on criminal charges for shooting a black teenager, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri. And, in the footsteps of Rahm Emmanuel, and just like any neo-Marxist Democrat, "not letting a crisis go to waste," Russell Moore jumped right in to begin his new order of business. It wasn't long before the rest of the cohorts jumped on the bandwagon, and made this the topic of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission's 2015 Leadership Summit. Some of the more well known proponents of this cause, and speakers at the event are, Danny Akin, President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Pastor Tony Evans of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, pastor, author and hip-hop artist out of Washington, D.C., Trip Lee, and former SBC president, Pastor Fred Luter.

Who you won't find speaking at this event are critics of this unbiblical cause, such as Dr. Randy White, Pastor, J.D. Hall, Pastor Ken Fryer, or even Pastor Voddie Baucham, who sees this issue completely differently than the mainstream leaders of Evangelicalism. While I don't want to speak for any of these critics, I do want to point out that if you disagree with Russell Moore on this issue, chances are you will be repudiated for it. But is "racial reconcilation," as presented by Moore and his companions actually Biblical?

First off, I want to make it absolutely clear that from a Biblical worldview, racism is absolutely unacceptable. The Bible is absolutely clear that holding hate in our hearts towards our brother is no different than murder (Matthew 5:21-26). That being said, hate is a sin, and confronting sin IS a Gospel demand. But this isn't how Russell Moore and Co. are touting it. Moore's solution to racial tensions in the US begin in the church—by integrating them racially. Then we also have Rev. Dwight McKissic, a black Southern Baptist pastor in Arlington, Texas saying, "The church lacks the moral authority to address the world about race before we set our own house in order."  Pastor Tony Evans says we need to grieve and repent over racism in America. And Danny Akin is making it his personal conviction to see to it that a more diverse group of pastors are recruited and educated within his seminary. Translation, we need to hire more black pastors so we can look better to the black community. But do we really have a problem in the Church? All this does is sugar coat the issue, and doesn't get at the heart of it. It's absolutely no different than the social programs our governments have put in place for blacks, such as affirmative action. It gives blacks a priority advantage simply because of the color of their skin, and not because of ability or commitment. It also makes blacks dependent on a system that doesn't address the root cause of the problems—sin.

Recently I posted a tweet, in response to another article pushing reconciliation, posing the question, "Who are these 'racist' SBC churches that these people keep referring to? I've yet to see one." Almost immediately I got a response from another tweeter saying that in Mississippi, he was aware of quite a few of them. My question back to him was, are they actually Christians in these churches. Agreeably with me, he said "probably not." So I ask then, if they aren't Christians, how are they a church. The point I was making is that we don't have a racism problem within the church. If there are racists, sitting in the pews of a church building on Sunday mornings, and acting hateful or intolerant of other races, their problem is not with disunity, non-integration or any other Russell Moore concept. An unrepentant, self-serving, sin-rationalizing racist CANNOT be any more of a Christian than an unrepentant, self-serving, sin-rationalizing homosexual, drunkard, adulterer or anything else. Being a Christian requires repentance of sin (Luke 13:3-5).

Integrating blacks and whites together in our churches is not going to solve any problem (be it perceived or actual) of racial tension in our country. Making this a "Gospel Demand," as presented by Moore and Co. is a fallacious implication that the Bible requires us to do this—it does not. What the Bible requires us to do is to take the Gospel to those who are unbelievers. Man cannot solve the problem of sin, it's why Jesus came to die on the cross for us.  The Gospel, by it's very nature, is going to produce integration among those who believe. I am a member of a very well integrated Southern Baptist church in Charlotte, NC, and I really don't know anyone, personally, who is racist. Are we sinners, yes, and do we need a savior, yes. But there is nobody, who is a professed, true, baptized believer that's walking around in my church spouting any kind of racism.

So who are these "racist" churches that Russell Moore, Darryl Aaron, and Tony Lankford keep referring to?  Are they referring to their own churches? Show us these churches that you're referring to and I would wager that they aren't true Christian churches. In other words, I would bet that the Gospel isn't being presented regularly, and the Bible isn't being exposited, and Jesus Christ isn't the central focus of these "member's" daily lives. Church integration isn't a Gospel demand, the Gospel is a Gospel demand.

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Saddle Up! Rick Warren and the SBC's spiritually hazardous line-up.

By now, it's no doubt that Rick Warren has not let the criticism from fellow believers, advice from his colleagues, or even the Word of God stand in his way of promoting questionable practices, ideas and beliefs in his ministry at Saddleback Church. In the past, he has promoted (and currently still does promote) unbelievers like Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Swedenborg cult follower, Dr. Daniel Amen, a teacher of tantric sex (a mystical approach to a perverted form of sex), and Dr. Mark Hyman, a propagator of Buddhist meditation techniques. Despite the outpouring from the discerning evangelical community decrying Warren's associations as unbiblical, he pressed on with his docket as though he was deaf to all reasoning.It doesn't look like it will be any different in 2015. His calendar includes a laundry list of questionable teachers in which events and Bible studies will be based. Among the inventory of evil-doers is false teacher, Kenneth Boa, an advocate for the unbiblical practice of contemplative prayer, and new age practice of lectio divina, or divine reading. Boa says in his Introduction to Sacred Reading:

Most contemporary approaches to Bible study have more in common with the scholastics than with the monastics. ...they are more concerned with informational reading than with formational reading. ... But when evangelicals study Scripture, they typically look more for precepts and principles than for an encounter with God in the depths of their being. The practice of lectio divina can correct this lack of balance...

This "lectio divina" that he promotes is nothing more than Eastern Mysticism, that engages one in an altered state of mind, and the participants have a mystical experience of "finding God within themselves." This notion of God "within us" is a form of New Age thought known as panentheism. Panentheism, similar to pantheism, is an extremely heretical view of God that makes him out to be on the same spiritual level as man. But the Bible presents God as being present everywhere (omnipresent), but not in everything (Psalm 139:7-10), all knowing, and never learning (omniscient) (Job 28:24; Psalm 147:4-5), being all powerful (omnipotent) (Job 42:1-2), self-existent, as opposed to a created being like man (Exodus 3:14; Psalm 36:9), eternal, without beginning and without end (Psalm 90:2; Habakkuk 1:12), changless and unmoving (Psalm 33:11; James 1:17), perfect and pure (Deuteronomy 32:3-4), and infinite, immeasurable and everlasting (Job 5:9; 9:10).

I can't imagine why someone calling themselves a pastor, and a shepherd to God's people would allow such nonsense within the doors of their sanctuary. But it doesn't stop there. Sadly, Saddleback church, in the name of ecumenism, has now picked up the Catholic practice of the "Stations of the Cross." The "Stations of the Cross," or Via Dolorosa, is a catholic tradition of visually walking through the final hours of Jesus' life on the way to the cross. The ritual is a way of eliciting emotions from the faithful based on a visual representation and imagery that is either unverifiable in Scripture, or contradictory to it. This Catholic form of mysticism is thoroughly subjective and experiential. It claims, in contradiction to Scripture (Isaiah 1:18, Proverbs 4:7, 2 Peter 1:3, etc.) that God can't be known or understood through intellectual reasoning, and one needs to "experience" him through subjective ritualistic techniques. Though some of the more far-fetched of the traditional stations have been removed or cut-back, the idea is still the same.

As if this weren't enough to make you cringe, the women will be holding a 12 week Bible study onThe Message, which purports to be a paraphrased translation of the Bible in contemporary language. During an interview with Michael Cusick of Mars Hill Review, some of the startling statements made by Peterson were: "One of the Devil's finest pieces of work is getting people to spend three nights a week in Bible studies," "But most Christians know far more of the Bible than they’re living. They should be studying it less, not more. You just need enough to pay attention to God," and " I’m just not at all pleased with all the emphasis on Bible study as if it’s some kind of special thing that Christians do, and the more they do the better." I wish I could make this stuff up, but please see the source for yourself. Yet, Saddleback Church has invited this man's demonic influence right into the innocent hearts of his women's congregations.
the book of Psalms by none other than Eugene Peterson. Peterson is the author of the highly controversial book,

But of course there's more. There's the usual heretics, Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, etc. Where is the discernment at Saddleback? We already know who Rick Warren is, and what he stands for, but out of the multiple thousands upon thousands of members in this organization are there really no real men to stand up and say, "Hey, wait a minute, something isn't right here?" Why are more leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention not standing up and speaking out against these heresies? Is it because they are too busy peddling their own heresy for profit? Too busy cozying up with the pope of the largest demonic organization in the world? Too busy preaching false doctrines for monetary gain and promoting mysticism from the pulpit? Too busy pushing communist racial reconciliation agendas instead of focusing on sound doctrine and leading people to Christ? These mega-churches and mega-pastors are a mess... a huge mess, and our Southern Baptist leaders are no better. In fact, they're horrible. They are totally unaccountable, they hide from any criticism, and they team together to defend each other. I don't really care if this upsets anyone, because I am sick of it. It's time to clean house in the SBC. We need leaders who will stand up for sound biblical doctrine, preach the Word of God, and hold accountable the false teachers within the organization that won't. Let's take out the trash.

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Pastor Tony Evans Says Americans Need to Grieve and Repent Over Slavery and Jim Crow

Many are aware of the ongoing debate over "racial reconciliation" going on in the Southern Baptist Convention, but few are aware of what it really entails. In fact, the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission will be hosting The Gospel and Racial Reconciliation Summit in March of 2015. Most of the Southern Baptist's proponents of "Racial Reconciliation," such as Russell Moore and Ronnie Floyd are in favor of labeling race problems as a Gospel Mandate, and require us to accept the Marxist idea of "White Privelege." Take for example what Moore had to say in his August 14 post:

Moreover, we know that the the myth of a “post-racial” America is contradicted by a criminal justice system in which young African-American men are, by almost any measure, disproportionately more likely to be arrested, sentenced, or even killed when compared to white peers.

Moore wants us to believe that blacks are arrested, sentenced or even killed more often by our police and criminal justice system because white Americans are racist. Moreover, he wants us to believe that white Americans are privileged in American society over blacks, simply because of our skin color, despite African-American-only programs such as the United Negro College Fund, Affirmative Action, etc, black housing incentives, Equal Opportunity employment programs, etc. Perhaps the problem isn't that whites are more privileged than blacks, but the problem is sin, especially within the black community. I would argue that the number one reason for higher arrests and convictions among blacks is that they are far more likely to be born out of wedlock, and be raised with without a father figure. This, I would argue according to MY Bible, is the "Gospel Mandate." That we take the Gospel to those who need it, and live in a culture and lifestyle of unrepentant sin, and no understanding of the Grace of God, is the Gospel's mandate (Mark 16:15). It is NOT a Gospel mandate that whites bend over backward, and accept responsibility for the sin in the African American culture.

Furthermore, Dr. Ronnie Floyd, president of the SBC writes:

The time is now for us to rise up together and cry out against the racism that still exists in our nation and our churches, and the subsequent injustices....Pastors, churches, leaders, and laypeople of the Southern Baptist Convention, the time is now for us to repent personally and collectively of all racism and injustice...We need to repent of our racism and injustice and return to the first commandment of loving our Lord Jesus Christ.

Is racism a problem in his church? I, for one, am a member of a Southern Baptist church of about 18,000 members, and I don't know a single racist. Though we are a predominately white church, there are a number of black members, as well as pastors, leaders, and teachers. Yet, Floyd wants us to believe that the problems in the black community are due to racism running rampant in our churches. I'm not arguing that racism doesn't exist in America, but racists are not Christians, and if a "church" is corporately racist in any way, it's NOT a Christian church. Yet, the latest in this craze of racial reconciliation in the Southern Baptist Church comes from none other than Pastor Tony Evans, of Oak Cliff Bible Church in Dallas. During an interview with the Christian Post on January 14, Evans was asked:

CP: The suggestion has been made that society as a whole, American Christians as a whole, need to acknowledge and grieve over past corporate sins like slavery and Jim Crow before trying to move forward on reconciliation. What are you thoughts?

And his response was:

Evans: Absolutely, that's what the solemn assembly is all about. Solemn assembly is recognizing where we failed and repenting of it. Repentance means to turn the other way. So that means, where those failures are clearly seen, have we turned, are we doing the opposite to what we did when those failures or when our current failures [are] the continuation of those historical failures? You repent of those, that is you turn the other way. When you've done that, now you've begun to operate on God's standards. And when you repent and operate on God's standards, now you have restoration and reconciliation.

Here in lies the problem, though; While racism does exist to some small degree in America, it does not exist on the scales that the news media would have you believe, and that the leaders. What is it that Evans, and the others like Moore and Floyd want us to do? The SBC has already publicly repented of it's racist past. Americans have already repented of slavery and Jim Crow. But our SBC leaders want us as a whole in the church, and as a whole as white Americans, to accept that whites have it easy, repent of that, and stop holding black criminals responsible for their misdeeds and failures. This is diametrically opposed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which teaches us to take the message of personal responsibility of our sin to sinners, along with the word of grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. Only then can we see healing among our fellow Americans.

While there are exceptions, the vast majority of white Americans would whole-heartedly disavow slavery or any of these racist events in our history, ESPECIALLY Christians. But unfortunately, our Southern Baptist leaders have bought into the white privilege hype promoted by left leaning propagandists, and this is where our denomination is heading full speed. I would urge SBC members to speak out against this agenda in our churches. Bring it up to your pastors, and make them aware of what's going on. If there is any hope for the SBC in the future, we MUST stay Gospel focused...that is, the True Gospel, not the Social Gospel. The Gospel is about man's sin, and God's power to save us from it, not man's inequality and man's ability to save eachother from it.

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Related Video: Pastor Voddie Bauchum sees right through Black Liberation Theology:

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Will the SBC Officially Announce Their Apostasy at the 2015 Annual Meeting?

Every year, right before the SBC Annual Meeting, a two day Pastors' Conference is held with various Southern Baptist preachers speaking at the event.  This year, the 2015 conference will be held June 14th and 15th in Toledo Ohio, and will be immediately followed by the SBC Annual meeting on the 16th and 17th.   The purpose of the event is to teach and encourage other preachers and pastors. Dr. Willy Rice of Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, FL, and president of the 2015 Conference, writes on the website:

We have assembled a stellar lineup of leaders and speakers whom God is using and blessing. There will be passionate worship, great music, and inspiring stories. This will be the very time you need to refresh your soul and renew your walk with God and friendship with fellow leaders. I believe this is going to be a special convention and our Pastor’s Conference is going to set the stage for a true work of God.

We shall see.

The Great Awakening

As with every event in the SBC, the Pastors' Conference, historically speaking, isn't without it's problems.  It appears it will be no different this year.  The first problem of the 2015 conference is it's theme. It is officially being promoted as the Great Awakening. This appears to be a theme based on the convention's president, Dr. Ronnie Floyd's ebook, "PLEADING WITH SOUTHERN BAPTISTS To Humbly Come Together Before God in Clear Agreement,Visible Union, and in Extraordinary Prayer for the Next Great Awakening and for the World to Be Reached for Christ." Take a look at the logo from the Conference's website. The logo states that the theme will be "Clear Agreement," "Visible Union," and "Extraordinary Prayer."  Let's dissect what exactly this New Age, ecumenical and contemplative sounding language means. On page 1 of Floyd's book, he writes:

For the sake of our nation and the spiritually lost around the world, it is time to humble ourselves before God. For this, I plead with all Southern Baptist pastors, missionaries, laypersons, denominational leaders, churches, denominational entities, conventions, colleges and universities; from student to adult, regardless of age, vocation, or status.

As we come to God in humility and repentance, entering into this special season of extraordinary prayer, we plead with God for spiritual revival personally, revival in the church, and the next Great Awakening in the United States.

First of all, "The Great Awakening" is an idea that has been pushed by New Agers and the mystic religions for ages. Ashok Gangadean, professor of philosophy at Haverford College, founder of the Logos Institute, and co-convener of the World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality, and well known New Age proponent states:

Perhaps the single most powerful event facing humanity today is a great awakening on a planetary scale that has been millennia in the making. We humans are in the midst of a profound advance as a species to a higher form of global consciousness that has been emerging across cultures, religions and worldviews through the centuries. This awakening of global consciousness is nothing less than a shift, a maturation, from more egocentric patterns of life to a higher form of integral and dialogic patterns of life. [Emphasis mine]

So how does this relate the visible Church?  Well, the ideas are the same.  In effect, what Floyd is saying in his ebook, is that we need to tear down our denominational walls, doctrinal boundaries, and biblical divisions. Well known ecumenical Southern Baptist "pastor," and keynote speaker at the 2014 conference, Rick Warren prophesies "A great spirit awakening is on the horizon." Warren vaguely defines the "Great Awakening" as it relates to the Church.

In the last three years, I’ve told you this several times: I believe God is preparing the church for another reformation. The first reformation focused on what the church believed; this one will focus on what it does.

For too long we’ve separated the Word of God from the work of God. As the church, we’re called to be the body of Christ – the whole body.

It isn't exactly clear where how he received this revelation, but we can be sure that it didn't come from God.  His prophecy basically outlines five man centered steps to "renew" the Church, water down doctrinal and denominational lines (including those of Roman Catholicism) and join together and unite under this new form of Emergent Christianity. The Emerging Church can be summed up by a few characteristics, including: tearing down down doctrinal divisions, a greater emphasis on sensory worship using candles, icons, images, incenses, etc. to bring about a feeling of "experiencing God," and a reexamination of Scripture and the purpose of the Church in society.  A lot of what we see in these Emerging churches are the acceptance of mystic practices such as Yoga and contemplative prayer, and a deterioration of a clear presentation of the true Gospel as portrayed in Scripture.  There becomes less of an emphasis on God's truth, and a greater emphasis on man's feelings.  In a sense, it's idolatry disguised as Christianity.

Clear Agreement

The next idea in the 2015 conference's motto is "Clear Agreement."  But Floyd never really defines in his book exactly how he wants us to come to this "clear agreement."  He only states "Surely we can embrace with clear agreement that spiritual revival personally, spiritual revival in the church, and spiritual awakening in the nation are all needed so we can accelerate our pace in reaching the world for Christ." Does he mean for us to set aside Biblical doctrine, hold hands, and unite in the name of Jesus for a man centered means of a better world?  I don't know, but based on his history, he has already set aside Biblical doctrine for man-made theology.

President of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission, and prominent speaker at this event, Dr. Russell Moore has demonstrated this time and time again.  In December of 2013, Moore sent out a tweet praising the pope of Rome for being named Time Magazine's Person of the Year.  He has also openly praised Democratic, pro-life congressman Gene Taylor, calling him "the greatest public servant I've ever known."  Really?  Moore, along with Rick Warren, recently visited the Vatican, setting aside the Gospel, to hold hands with unbelieving Catholics in the name of uniting on the issue of marriage.  Being salt and light, by taking them the Gospel is one thing, but rejecting the Gospel in order to have fellowship, is completely different thing.  The Bible tells us that we are not to have fellowship with unbelievers (2nd Cor. 6:14), nor are we to have anything to do with the unfruitful works of darkness, rather expose them (Eph. 5:11).

So is this what Floyd, and the SBC want us to "clearly agree" on?  This leads us to the next point in the motto, "Visible Union."

Visible Union

So Floyd is pleading for the visible Church to "unite" in these ideas, visibly.  In other words, he wants the world to see what he thinks is the Church standing together regardless of important differences.  It seems that Floyd, and many others in the SBC are already doing this.  Take for example Lifeway Christian Stores. Recently, Lifeway's Research Committe President, Ed Stetzer was confronted about heretical books being peddled in the store.  Instead of addressing the issue, Stetzer, and his companions first chose to ignore their critics.  But when pressure started to build, they began to marginalize the critics by saying that there were only a few of the same "angry Calvinists," are always complaining.  After this comment sparked an uproar against Stetzer and Lifeway's Gospel compromising practices, they began attacking the critics, however, still not addressing the issue.  The point is that these types of pastors dominate the SBC, and they all think alike.  Ronnie Floyd, Russell Moore, Ed Stetzer, Rick Warren...they all are willing to compromise the Gospel in some way in order to avoid offending other religions, and stand united in the name of man centered ideologies.

The Bible warns us of these unholy alliances, and predicts that these unions will happen more and more in the end times.

1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. (1st Timothy 4:1-5)

Notice verse 3 above, and what Ronnie Floyd is asking the Church to publicly do on page 10 of his ebook.  He is asking the pastors to lead their churches in a "corporate fast."  I'm not aware of anywhere in Scripture that the church is called to fast corporately.  This is a practice of the Roman Catholic church, and is actually condemned in Scripture.  Fasting is something that should not be taken lightly by any means, and should never be done to draw attention under any circumstances. (Matthew 6:16)

Extraordinary Prayer

The last point in the motto is "Extraordinary Prayer."  He doesn't give a real description of what exactly he means by "Extraordinary Prayer," however, he does have this to say about it:

Challenge your church to pause at either sunset on Saturday evening or sunrise on Sunday morning, to pray for three minutes for the anointing of God to come on their pastor as he preaches God’s Word and the anointing of God’s power to come upon the worship services of their church. Prayerfully, these 180 seconds of focused prayer will soon begin a true 180-degree change in our churches. While God creates the change within our churches spiritually, He will also lead us to strategic change in our churches in order to rise up like never before to do whatever it takes to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Who's church gathers at sunset on Saturday evening?  I don't know many Protestant churches that do, but I know one well known apostate church that does.  Does Floyd want believers to unite with unbelieving Roman Catholics in prayer?  It appears that Floyd believes that by all of these churches, with their congregations, all at the same time, for exactly 3 minutes, petitioning God to do something, is going to make a difference.  Now, I am certainly a proponent of prayer, both private and corporate, but it appears Dr. Floyd has a misunderstanding of the purpose of prayer.  Prayer is not a petition for a man centered desire, but a means to have a relationship with God on His terms.  First and foremost, we must be praying for God's will to be done, and I've yet to see Floyd, or the SBC defend their agenda with Scripture.

Sure, there may be some positive aspects to this, but as a whole, it doesn't appear that they are appealing to the will of God for their purposes.  I agree with them that we should be praying for a revival in the Church, but it appears the revival that they want is un-scriptural. They want us to set aside good doctrine, and take a watered down message to the world.  Rather than addressing the issues of man's sinfulness and need for repentance and a Savior, they want to take the message of pro-life and traditional marriage, and stand in unity with unbelievers proclaiming these good works as a means to a better world.  There will, however, be a few excellent preachers at this conference. Namely, Clint Pressley and David Platt.  Both of them are great men of integrity, and excellent expositors of the Word of God.  Lets pray that the good, humble, believing pastors like these can have a positive impact on the SBC.   However, the Bible predicts that the visible Church in the end times will turn away from the truth, and start following doctrines of demons.  It looks like the SBC is falling away at a faster pace, and (God willing, unknowingly) helping to build the harlot church described in Revelation 17.

It also looks like God's plan is completely different than the plan put forth by the SBC 2015 conference.  God's plan never calls for a "Spiritual Awakening" in the end times, on the contrary, it says this will happen:

1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. [2nd Thes. 2:1-12]

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