The Continental Congress signed a Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, establishing the 13 British Colonies as an independent nation to be called the United States of America.
Before Congress adjourned that day, they also passed the following resolution:

Resolved, that Dr. Franklin, Mr. J Adams and Mr. Jefferson, be a committee to bring in a device for a seal for the United States of America.

The task was more difficult than anyone expected and it took more than six years to complete. The seal that was finally adopted by Congress has at the very center an eagle with an olive branch in one talon and thirteen arrows in the other, symbolizing the nation’s commitment to both peace and strength. The beak of the eagle clinches a scroll on which is written, “E Pluribus Unum”—a Latin phrase which means, “out of many, one.” You can see the seal on the one-dollar bill and some United States coins. It is used to ratify treaties and to seal other important documents for the U.S. government.
“Out of many, one” was an important concept for the success of the new nation because prior to that they had been independent colonies with separate laws and charters. But to form a new nation that would indeed be united, those early colonists had to embrace the idea that, though they each maintained a sense of independent identity from each other, they would stand united with each other as a new nation.
That concept, E Pluribus Unum, is seen also in the way that the New Testament describes local churches under the lordship of Jesus Christ. A church is made up of individual Christians, but those individuals are united in a common confession, a common cause, and a common commitment to live together following Jesus Christ as Lord.
The Apostle Paul regularly draws on the analogy of a human body to explain the nature of the relationships that exist among church members. He does this in Romans 12:4-5; Ephesians 2:11-16, 3:6, 4:15-16; Colossians 1:18, 24, and then more extensively in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.
Three vital dimensions of local church relationships are highlighted by understanding the church as the body of Christ. Every church of Christ is marked by unity, diversity, and interdependence. We see this in the way that a human body has been designed by God to function.
In Romans 12:4-5, Paul puts it like this: For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Many members comprise one body—out of many, one. The interconnectedness that individual church members have with each other underscores the depth of unity that spiritually does and practically should characterize every local church.
Every church of Christ is marked by unity, diversity, and interdependence.
Members of a true church are “members of one another” (a phrase that Paul also uses in Ephesians 4:25). That is, in Christ and through the providential direction of our lives to unite with a particular church, Christians become spiritually joined to each other. This unity is not to be taken lightly nor easily dismissed. Rather, believers are obligated to live in ways that are “worthy of the calling” to which we have been called, which includes being “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1, 3).
Such genuine unity does not, however, mean uniformity. Church members are still individuals, each with his or her own unique personalities, gifts, experiences, and stations in life. The analogy of a church as a body demonstrates this point by highlighting the diversity of members.
“The members do not all have the same function.” That is, they have different designs to carry out different responsibilities. Paul makes this point even more starkly in 1 Corinthians 12. “If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose” (vv. 15-18).
God gifts His people in just the ways that He sees fit and our giftedness is to be used in service to the whole body. When this happens, then “the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:16). This truth compelled Charles Spurgeon to say, “This is one of the things we want very much—that every member of the Church should recognize that he is ordained to service.”
The unity in diversity that characterizes every church of Jesus Christ inevitably results in lives of interdependence among church members. Christians need each other and this mutual dependence is by God’s design for our own growth in grace. Again, in Paul’s extended illustration to the Corinthians, he writes,

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it (1 Corinthians 12:21-27).

If a church is thinking rightly about what God has designed it to be it will both recognize and encourage this kind of interdependence. Weak members will not be despised nor strong members resented. The sense of belonging to something greater than our individual endeavors will be strong. Just as a broken arm traumatizes the whole body and a foot massage relaxes the whole person, so what happens to one church member affects the whole church.
God gifts His people in just the ways that He sees fit and our giftedness is to be used in service to the whole body.
The church is God’s idea. Jesus is the Head of every individual church that is worthy of the name. The call to follow Christ is a call to follow Him together. The Christian life is a team sport. You cannot successfully live it in isolation from other believers. The bonds of fellowship, encouragement, and discipleship that God has provided through the ministry of a local church are indispensable for vital spirituality.
Through committed membership in a local church a Christian’s weaknesses are strengthened, strengths are shared, eccentricities are exposed, sins are rebuked, gifts are utilized, and needs are met. It takes a church to grow a Christian.
So, praise God for His wisdom in creating the church. My counsel to every Christian is this: find a healthy church and build your life around it. By doing so you will not only be blessed, but will become a channel of blessing for others.

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The Southern Baptists Convention (SBC) needs a change of direction. Over our 177-year history the Lord has enabled the churches of the SBC to accomplish some amazing things for the kingdom of God. But over the last few years, the good work that our association of churches is doing has been somewhat disrupted and is in danger of being derailed by the subtle infiltration of secularism and godless ideologies into our ranks. I am convinced that the vast majority of Southern Baptists do not want to see their convention (the largest Protestant denomination in America supporting the largest Christian missionary force in the world and educating one-third of this nation’s seminary students) follow the path of our increasingly secular culture.
I have spoken and written about the rise and spread of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality in the evangelical world for many years (see here and here for more examples). I joined with John MacArthur, Voddie Baucham, and several other men to write the Dallas Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel to sound an alarm in 2018. In 2019, at the urging of Al Mohler and others, I tried to stop the SBC from adopting Resolution 9 “On Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality,” but was rebuffed by the Resolutions Committee and then the messengers. Later that year, in the face of a great deal of attempted intimidation and even threats to cancel the project, I helped produce By What Standard: God’s World…God’s Rules, a cinedoc that documents many of the ways that godless ideologies have infiltrated our ranks.
Two years later, at the 2021 annual meeting in Nashville, I joined 1300 other Southern Baptists in offering a resolution on “The Incompatibility of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality with the Baptist Faith and Message.” Despite that overwhelming and unprecedented support from Southern Baptists across the convention, the Resolutions Committee refused to allow the messengers even to debate it much less vote on it. In that same meeting I offered a motion, which I had been told by the official parliamentarian was in keeping with Roberts’ Rules of Order, to rescind the 2019 resolution “On Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality.” A lawyer was given the platform to declare that the motion could not be considered, and President J.D. Greear ruled me out of order.
By God’s grace, in that Nashville meeting, the convention overruled the Resolutions Committee and insisted on hearing and ultimately adopted the strongest prolife, anti-abortion resolution in the history of the SBC. But its adoption came only after various Southern Baptist ethicists spoke against it. Later, a group of Southern Baptist theologians and ethicists wrote a lengthy statement arguing against the resolution’s call for the abolition of abortion.
In 2020, when several professors were fired from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, I learned that two of them, Jim Scott Orrick and Russell Fuller, were denied severance payments (money which many claimed they were contractually owed) because they refused to sign the seminary’s NDA statement. After reading the statement I called the chairman of the seminary’s board of trustees and asked him why such an unrighteous, secular instrument was being used to punish two inerrantist professors who had served Southern Baptists with distinction for decades. He admitted that he had never read the document and said that its use was acceptable because “our lawyers tell us that it is legal.” So, I joined with others in raising money to cover the lost wages of those professors.
I am convinced that the vast majority of Southern Baptists do not want to see their convention follow the path of our increasingly secular culture.
I am an ordinary pastor of a regular-sized SBC church that I have pastored for 36 years. Like most other Southern Baptist pastors I know, I love shepherding the flock of God and am amazed that God has called me to this work. I have never aspired to serve as President of the SBC or in any other denominational office. But God, in His inscrutable providence and through my involvement with Founders Ministries, has put me in a position to engage various issues as I have described above. Though I have doubtlessly failed at many points along the way, I have tried to honor Christ and encourage His churches through these efforts.
Over the years I have been repeatedly encouraged by pastors across the SBC to “run” for the presidency. It has been easy to politely dismiss those requests until recently. Over the last couple of weeks men whom I love and trust have prevailed on me to do so. Donna, my precious wife of 42 years, said she was willing. My fellow elders at Grace Baptist Church – men whom I trust implicitly – said they think I should do this. After much prayer, reflection, and counsel, I agreed. If the Lord would be pleased for me to serve as the President of the SBC, then I will do my best to do so in ways that help us change the direction where it is needed so that we can better carry out our joint mission of making disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to observe all that King Jesus prescribes.
Throughout all our history the Lord has enabled Southern Baptists, in the language of our original charter issued in 1845, to stay united “for the purpose of eliciting, combining, and directing the energies of the Baptist denomination of Christians, for the propagation of the gospel, any law, usage, or custom to the contrary not withstanding [sic].” My hope and prayer is that, by His grace, we may continue this mission with zeal and faith as we serve our Lord together.
To my fellow Southern Baptists, I hope to see you in Anaheim. Let’s pray and work together to make our Lord Jesus Christ known throughout the world.

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Faith is not a one-time event for the Christian. It is not merely something that we did at some point in our past. Certainly, there was a time when we moved from unbelief to belief. But that moment of initial believing ushered us into a life of faith. A Christian is someone who, having initially trusted Jesus as Lord, goes on believing. We continue depending on Christ. This trust is not perfect. Sometimes it may grow dim and waver, and other times it can be strong and sure. But faith, for the Christian, is continuous. It is ongoing. It is a way of life.
The Apostle Paul calls this way of life a fight. He encouraged his young colleague in the ministry to “Fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12a). Faith is a fight for the Christian in that we must work hard, discipline ourselves, and sometimes struggle to keep on believing. The seeds of unbelief remain in our hearts and sometimes it seems as if they have so successfully sprouted that real faith is almost choked out. At such times I take comfort in that heart-broken father who asked Jesus to heal his son. With his demon-possessed boy writhing in the dirt at his feet and foaming at the mouth, this man looked at Jesus and, with tears in his eyes said, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24). He had faith (“I believe”). But he was lacking in assurance (“Help my unbelief”).
These words have been my prayer many, many times over the course of my life. When trials come, when it seems that God’s promises (what He has pledged Himself to do) are being contradicted by God’s providence (what He actually is doing), our faith can be severely tested. At such times the person who is trusting Christ needs to remember that the Christian life is a fight, and we are called to “fight the good fight of faith.”
One good way to equip yourself for this fight is through Scripture memory. What makes faith hard and unbelief easy is losing sight of things that are true. Storing up your mind with God’s own Word makes His truth more accessible to you than if you only had a general idea of it. Scripture that is committed to memory can be readily called to mind by the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer. The Psalmist testified to power of Scripture to work this way in his life when he wrote, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You” (Psalm 119:11).
What makes faith hard and unbelief easy is losing sight of things that are true.
Another good way to wage war against unbelief is by heeding the specific counsel of God’s Word. The Bible records the real life stories of people who faced all kinds of trials and challenges. God taught them important lessons through these experiences. And by recording their stories in the Bible, He also can teach us through them. Often the Bible gives us the counsel of men and women who have gone before us in the fight of faith. By both their example and words, we are encouraged to keep believing.
This is true of King David and his instructions in Psalm 37. He wrote this Psalm when he was an old man (v. 25). It reeks of the wisdom of long experience. David knew what it was to be “on top of the mountain.” At one time he could do no wrong in the eyes of his fellow countrymen. Songs were written about him. Foreign kings respected him. His enemies feared him. But by the time he wrote Psalm 37 he had lived long enough to experience the reversal of fortunes. He had sinned grievously against his God and his people. He had experienced the death of a baby and inconceivably wicked conduct by other children, including the murder of one son by another and the betrayal and execution of that murderous son.
David had seen wicked people prosper and good people suffer. And out of the wisdom of long experience with God he encourages us to “Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him” (v. 7). This is sound counsel for people who really know God. The Lord never hurries and is never late. Furthermore, what is sometimes easy for us to forget, He is always working for eternity. We often become anxious and wonder where God is or if He really cares. It is good to hear the God-inspired counsel of an experienced man like David, who also had those thoughts: Rest in Him. Wait patiently for Him.
What exactly does it mean to rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him? It means to give our burdens and concerns over to Him. To trust Him to do what is right and what is good for us. It means to remember heaven, to remind ourselves that we are in this fight of faith for the long haul. God’s sense of timing is not limited to our clocks and calendars. To rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him means to orient your heart with such determination toward Jesus Christ and His death on the cross that the bloody scene of Calvary begins to melt your fears and anxieties as you gaze on it and are enabled to say, “For me.”

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One of the greatest tragedies in 21st century Christianity is the degree to which identity politics has infiltrated our churches. Hardly a day goes by that I do not communicate with believers who lament the sorrows that have come on their churches due to the godless ideologies of critical theory or intersectionality gaining a foothold in their congregations. Where once there was mutual love and unity among brothers and sisters of various backgrounds, ethnicities, educational backgrounds, or income levels, now there is suspicion, frustration, and disunity within their ranks.
Such tribalism and rivalry cannot coexist with humble, sincere devotion to Jesus Christ as Lord. To have Christ is to embrace the ways of Christ which includes living with the people of Christ in a local church in the unity of the Spirit. Christians are able to do that because “in Christ” we are made into “one new man” (Ephesians 2:15). Seeing yourself as a hyphenated-Christian before you see yourself as a blood-bought sinner inevitably tears the fabric of this precious unity.
As the Apostle Paul puts it in Ephesians 4:4-6, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Any idea or teaching that leads to the balkanization of a church denies this fundamental truth and comes from the pit of hell. No Christian should fall prey to such error and no pastor should allow it entry into the church he serves.
I appreciate what Alistair Begg has written on this in a devotional thought on “The Key to Unity.” His wisdom and encouragement are welcome counsel to every follower of Christ who is trying to navigate the swirling currents of contemporary Christian thought.

The Key to Unity
“In him you also are begin built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:22
When someone comes to Christ by faith, the transformation of their identity is comprehensive. In the language Paul employs in Ephesians 2, the dead sinner is now alive in Christ; the child of wrath becomes a child of God. But the new identity is not merely individual. We are not each of us alone in Christ; we are in Him with all of God’s people. This is why Paul, in Ephesians 2, moves from our individual experience of grace to the corporate work that God’s grace accomplishes. Paul tells us, “You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (v.19). The “one new man” (v. 15) that Christ is making is gloriously crowded with fellow heirs of grace. This is not to say that our individual human identity becomes irrelevant. Our background and our makeup—our sex, ethnicity, and personal history—are not obliterated in Christ. We are who we are, made in God’s image, fashioned according to His purposes. But what unifies us in Christ—our union with Christ—transcends everything else.
We must beware the temptation to forget the reason for our unity. No one is immune from turning elements of their identity into barriers—barriers of status, of color, of class, of personality type, or personal preferences. As Christians, we must be prepared to acknowledge how easy it is to get this wrong. We must be prepared, if we find ourselves guilty of such wrong, to repent from and grieve over that which displeases God.
The key to Christian unity is the gospel. Paul recognized that only God can soften hard hearts, only God can open blind eyes, and ony God can bring disparate people together and form something truly, gloriously united. God is making “one new man” and He is making that new man in His church. In Christ, God is building a “holy temple” (Ephesians 2:21) that is “being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” Partiality based on race, class, or status has no place in the place where God dwells by His Spirit. One day you will experience the fullness of your union with Christ and His people for eternity; but that can, and should, begin now. You have the privilege of fostering that unity today in the way you use your time and in the way you think of, pray for, and speak to your brothers and sisters in your church.

We are building day by day,
As the moments glide away,
Our temple, which the world may not see;
Every victory won by grace
Will be sure to find its place
In our building for eternity.
—Fanny J. Crosby, “We are Building”
(Truth for Life, 365 Daily Devotions, February 12)

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Several years ago a fellow pastor who served with me at Grace Baptist Church told me how he came to study the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints as a new believer. Shortly after he was converted he became involved in his church’s evangelism efforts, eager to be a part of the work of making disciples.
Employing the methods that he had been taught, he noticed that a large percentage of the people who made professions of faith seemed to have no interest in the things of the Lord. Even most of those who agreed to be baptized drifted away from participation in church life after a few months.
When my friend asked his pastor about this phenomenon the answer that he received startled him. “Some Christians start backsliding as soon as they are converted.”
I was reminded of his story recently when I came across comments David Miller made years ago while preaching from Acts 2:42. That verse says, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (KJV).
In his sermon, David explained what the phrase, “continued steadfastly,” meant for those new converts:
I don’t have any background in the biblical languages, and I’m not a scholar, but I do have a homespun definition of what that phrase means. I believe it means they did not backslide right off. They didn’t join the church one Sunday morning during the heat of the revival service and have company come in that afternoon and not be able to make it out to the evening worship service. You’ve encountered the person who comes to church one Sunday and, the next Sunday, they had to go out of town in their new car ten miles to visit with Granny out in the country and she needed help with the noon meal and they couldn’t attend church out there. You know the ones. They stay visiting much longer than they intended and by the time they got home late that Sunday afternoon, about 2:30, they were so worn and weary, they couldn’t make it back to the worship service that evening. And the following Wednesday, they had so looked forward to the mid-week Bible study and prayer time, but the little ten-year-old boy came home with a high temperature of 98.7 and they didn’t think he ought to be out in the night air. Brother, unlike these people, the folks converted in Acts just didn’t backslide right off.
The Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689) dedicates a whole chapter to the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. It affirms the biblical truth that those whom God saves, He keeps, not merely out of hell and for heaven, but He keeps them in the way of faith. He keeps them repenting, believing, and following Christ.
As the first paragraph of that chapter states,
Those God has accepted in the Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, and given the precious faith of his elect can neither totally nor finally fall from a state of grace. They will certainly persevere in grace to the end and be eternally saved, because the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. Therefore, he still brings about and nourishes in them faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the Spirit that lead to immortality. Even though many storms and floods arise and beat against them, yet these things will never be able to move the elect from the foundation and rock to which they are anchored by faith. The felt sight of the light and love of God may be clouded and obscured from them for a time through their unbelief and the temptations of Satan. Yet God is still the same; they will certainly be kept by the power of God for salvation, where they will enjoy their purchased possession. For they are engraved on the palms of his hands, and their names have been written in the book of life from all eternity.
This does not mean that Christians cannot or will not fall into seasons of spiritual lethargy and even temporary apostasy. Rather, it is the nature of eternal salvation so to work in believers’ lives that they will not successfully remain in a pattern of blatant rebellion to the ways of the Lord Jesus who purchased them.
Again, as the confession puts it,
They may fall into grievous sins and continue in them for a time, due to the temptation of Satan and the world, the strength of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of means of their preservation. In so doing, they incur God’s displeasure and grieve his Holy Spirit; their graces and comforts become impaired; their hearts are hardened and their consciences wounded; they hurt and scandalize others and bring temporary judgments on themselves. Nevertheless, they will renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end.
Christians don’t back slide “right off.” Neither do they backslide forever. As Jesus said,
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one (John 10:27-30).
The grace that saves a person also sanctifies that person. The grace that regenerates also preserves. So, too, the faith that unites a person to Christ also perseveres in trusting and following Christ.

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My friend and fellow pastor, Josh Buice, announced yesterday that the church he serves, Pray’s Mill Baptist on the west side of Atlanta, has officially broken ties with the Southern Baptist Convention. Josh and his fellow elders are thoughtful, godly men and, as he thoroughly explains in his announcement, they did not come to this decision instantly or lightly. I am saddened that they felt compelled to take this step but understand and support them in it completely. What saddens me even more, are the reasons he cites that led them to this point.
In fact, what Josh describes as the concerns of their church is exactly what I have heard from countless other SBC churches and pastors over the last few years. They are concerns that I and many in the church I serve also share. I have written and spoken about these matters repeatedly since 2017—both privately and publicly. Sadly, as Josh explains, such efforts have been largely ignored if not repudiated all together. If SBC leaders want more churches to leave, they just need to keep doing what they have been doing the last few years.
The Southern Baptist Convention desperately needs a change of leadership. We need men in positions of leadership who have both conviction and courage. The former without the latter may sound good but is useless when the battle rages hot—and it is currently boiling over. The latter without the former results in mere useless bluster, or worse, in bullying tactics that are justified for the sake of “the cause.”
Currently the SBC has more “convictional” cowards (who sign all the documents but don’t have the courage of their convictions) than blustering bullies (who will slanderously condemn in the name of standing for truth), but in reality, it has too much of both. What we need are pastors who fear God, are full of the Holy Spirit, and free from the fear of men. Only such men will be able to lead their churches safely through the minefields of our modern culture. Other qualifications might be of some assistance (such as experience, formal education, and exceptional giftedness), but without the three previously mentioned qualities a man will be worthless in gospel ministry and should stay far away from the pastorate.
Godly, humble, bold pastors are what we need today. That is the need of every generation but it is glaringly obvious today. It is the greatest practical need of the SBC. Our convention of churches is in a mess and only God can lead us out of it. I believe that if He is pleased to do so it will be by bringing thousands of pastors to our knees, leading us to confess that the institutions and agencies that belong to our churches have drifted and strayed because we—the undershepherds of the flocks who own them—have let it happen. We have not led our churches to keep our denominational servants accountable to the churches that they purport to serve.
Godly, humble, bold pastors are what we need today. That is the need of every generation but it is glaringly obvious today.
The only way forward is the way of repentance and faith—repentance over our failure to do our duty as pastors, and faith in the crucified, risen, Savior who has promised to build His church in such a way that the very gates of hell will not prevail against it. Jesus was not talking about the SBC when He gave us that promise. The convention of churches known as Southern Baptists could stumble so as never to rise again. That would be a great loss and cause for genuine sorrow, but it would not threaten in the slightest the certainty of Christ’s promise.
So, these questions cannot be avoided—Will Southern Baptist pastors stand up and take the lead in calling our SBC institutions and agencies back to a humble, responsiveness to the churches that own them? Will pastors call for the repentance or removal of those who have led these institutions into the cultural capitulation that Josh touches on in his announcement? If so, then we can hope for better days ahead. God has worked reformation and revival in the past and as Isaiah 59:1 says, “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear.” If it pleases Him to do so, He will do it. If not, then His kingdom will continue unimpeded in spite of the SBC.
To my fellow Southern Baptist Pastors, I issue this challenge. Where we have been derelict in our duty, let us repent. Where we have feared men or lived for their applause, let us repent. Where we have failed to exercise properly the stewardship entrusted to us in leading our congregations to be responsible members of a larger convention of churches, let us repent.
Then let us bring forth the fruits of repentance by resolving now to call for integrity and righteousness in our leaders. The presidents of our institutions and agencies who even tolerate godless ideologies being imbibed by those who work with them must be called to repent and to destroy every stronghold, argument and lofty opinion that is raised against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). If they refuse to repent, they should be encouraged to exercise enough integrity to resign. If they refuse to resign, they should be relieved of their duties.
The convention of churches known as Southern Baptists could stumble so as never to rise again…it would not threaten in the slightest the certainty of Christ’s promise.
A call should go forth from the churches of the SBC calling on our current President, Ed Litton, to resign over his egregious, public sins and dishonesty that have been clearly documented and repeatedly discounted by him and his co-conspirators. If he refuses, then we should elect a new president at the 2022 annual meeting in Anaheim, June 12-15. I believe that man should be the kind of pastor I described above, a man who fears no one but God.
I know the challenges. I have heard multiple reasons why it is “unfeasible,” “problematic,” and even to some “impossible” to hope for real change at the Anaheim convention. They are not without warrant. But, brothers, we serve a God who raises the dead! Will He be pleased to rescue the SBC? I honestly do not know. But I do know this—He can do it! And if he chooses to do so it will be through the humble, determined, courageous leadership of Southern Baptist pastors.
Brothers, we must resolve now to show up in Anaheim and to bring our full allotment of messengers with us. If the very churches that own the institutions will not fight for them, then let us be neither surprised nor upset as we watch them fall completely into the hands of principalities and powers to do the devil’s wicked bidding for generations to come.

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In contrast to many of the ancient Near Eastern cultures, the Bible demonstrates a great respect for women. Among Jesus’ closest followers were Mary and Martha, and women were often the object of His kindness (Matt. 9:20ff; 15:22–28; John 8:1–11) and illustrative of His teaching (Luke 4:25–26; 15:8–10).
Once, in response to a Pharisee’s request for a sign, Jesus invoked the memory of a woman who lived one thousand years before His time. He used her example both to instruct and to warn those who had experienced the privileges of seeing His works and hearing His teaching.
After citing the sign of Jonah, Jesus said, “The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here” (Matt. 12:42).
The account to which Jesus refers is recorded in 1 Kings 10:1–13. When the queen of Sheba heard of the “fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord,” she traveled to Jerusalem to get a closer look at His renowned, God-given wisdom.
The king’s answers to her questions, the splendor of the Temple, and the impressive display of the royal retinue took her breath away. She said to Solomon, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom…. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard” (1 Kings 10:6–7).
Jesus uses the queen’s example to expose the utter folly of those who are unimpressed with the person and work of God incarnate. She responded with appropriate interest to the fame and reputation of King Solomon. Reports of his wisdom and accomplishments had reached the Arabian Peninsula where her kingdom was located. What she heard made her eager to know more.
So she made what must have been a several-week trip to Jerusalem to seek an audience with Solomon. Her sincere interest overcame any desires for convenience.
Furthermore, when she engaged the king she did not hold back any difficult questions from him. She was honest in her desire to learn from him and to receive what he had to offer.
In all these ways the queen of Sheba is an example to us. She investigates what she has been told in order to determine if it is true. Once she sees that it is, she rejoices in it. This is the kind of nobility that marked the Jews in Berea who eagerly received the word that Paul and Silas preached, “examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11). It is the attitude that every honest hearer of the Gospel should possess.
But the queen of the South is not only an example worth emulating, she also is an indictment on many who have spiritual privileges and opportunities that exceed what she possessed. In her we see a great response to very little opportunity whereas too often today we see very little response to great opportunities.
All she had heard about was Solomon. We have available the complete revelation of Jesus Christ, the One “greater than Solomon.” Solomon was wise. Jesus is wisdom personified (1 Cor. 1:30). Solomon could provide answers. Jesus is the Answer, or, as He put it, “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
She had only heard reports from a distance and had to go to great lengths to get firsthand knowledge, but God has brought His Word very near to us. We have Bibles, churches, and helpful ministries readily available. She had no invitation to come to Solomon and no assurance that he would accept her. We have many clear invitations to come to Christ and multiple promises that He will receive us (Matt. 11:28–30; John 6:37).
Those who have heard of Jesus Christ and have had access to His Word yet have ignored or dismissed Him will find the testimony of this queen to be part of the case against them on the day of judgment. All of their excuses will be exposed as flimsy and inadmissible in the light of her example.
“I didn’t like the church” or “it took thirty minutes to get there” ring rather hollow after hearing about her more than twelve-hundred mile journey to meet Solomon.
“The Bible just doesn’t excite me” or “it’s too hard to understand” will sound utterly foolish next to the queen’s testimony of being stunned by the incomplete revelation and imperfect works of Solomon. We have Jesus Christ clearly and fully revealed in the Scriptures. Shouldn’t we be more amazed by Him than anyone could ever be by a mere mortal king?
To remain unimpressed or apathetic in the face of such opportunity is inexcusable. One day, the queen of the south will make that clear.

This article originally appeared in the March 2008 issue of TableTalk Magazine.

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Several years ago Larry King, the well-known talk show host, was asked who he would like to interview if he had his pick from all of history. His answer was Jesus Christ. The questioner paused and said, “What is the one question you would like to ask Him?” Larry King answered, “I would ask Him if He indeed was virgin born, because the answer to that would define history for me.”
In one sense, Larry King was right. Because the birth of Jesus Christ is the key which unlocks human history. If Jesus is who the Bible says that He is, then His life and work does indeed define history.
Each December people throughout the world will begin to focus on Christmas. Images of Mary and Joseph with a little baby will appear on greeting cards, television ads and in newspapers. In the West, at least, thoughts will turn to that scene in Bethlehem’s stable more that at any other time in the year.
Very few people, however, will stop to consider just who it is who was born there 2000 years ago. Not many will seriously entertain Larry King’s question: “Was Jesus born of a virgin?”
Matthew and Luke give us a record of the birth of Jesus. Both describe the natural circumstances, supernatural cause, and the eternal significance of what took place. When Mary turned up pregnant before their wedding day, Joseph her promised husband, must have been crushed. Matthew says that, rather than being vindictive, he did not want “to make her a public example” but thought to “put her away secretly” (Matthew 1:19).
The birth of Jesus Christ is the key which unlocks human history.
Only after an angel appeared to him and assured him that the child within her had been miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit did he change his mind. On that same occasion the angel also told Joseph that the child would be a boy and that his name would be “Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Matthew explains all of this by adding, “So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us’” (1:23).
Jesus means “Savior” and he was given this name to signify his mission of saving his people from sin. Some people live as if they no longer believe in the reality of sin that separates all of us from God. Yet intuitively everyone knows that things are not the way that they are supposed to be. Consequently, people look for relief—for salvation—from all kinds of sources, including pleasure, relationships, wealth, and knowledge. But as the great philosopher and church father, Augustine, prayed, “O, Lord, our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”
The great American theologian of the twentieth century, J. Gresham Machen said, “From the beginning Christianity was the religion of the broken heart; it is based on the conviction that there is an awful gulf between man and God which none but God can bridge.” God has done exactly that through the coming of Jesus Christ.
In Christ, God has come to be “with us.” One of the most staggering truths that the Bible reveals to us is that the baby who was born to Mary is God in flesh. Because God is for us, He came to be with us. All that Jesus accomplished while he was on earth was in fulfillment of his mission to bring about salvation for his people.
This explains his life of humble obedience to the law of God. That is what the law requires of us. It also explains his death on the cross. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) and all of us deserve to be paid in that currency. Yet, Jesus, acting as our representative and substitute, lived and died to “save his people from their sin.” On the cross he endured the penalty pronounced against sin and secured a just pardon for everyone who trusts in Him.
This is the good news of Christmas. The virgin-born baby is the Savior of the world. This is great news for everyone who knows that he is a sinner and in need of a Savior. Jesus came into the world to rescue fallen men and women and He has successfully done so by His life, death, and resurrection.
All that Jesus accomplished comes to benefit people when they turn away from their lives of self-sufficiency and trust him as Lord and Savior.
This great news is summarized in one of the best-known statements in the Bible. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
The birth of Jesus Christ is a display of God’s great love for us. All that Jesus accomplished comes to benefit people when they turn away from their lives of self-sufficiency and trust him as Lord and Savior.
Faith is the key that links all that Jesus did two thousand years to people today. The Apostle Paul writes, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
Trust in the Savior who was born. God sent him into the world to rescue people like you and me.

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The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has a new scandal to add to its tragically growing list. Let’s call this one “bindergate,” because a black notebook binder with a red and white identification page is at the center of it. The following information is printed on that page:
2021 Resolutions Committee
James Merritt
June 2021
That binder evidently contains private emails that I exchanged with James Merritt (who chaired the Resolutions Committee that recommended resolutions to the 2021 SBC annual meeting that met in Nashville, June 15-16). I wrote those emails in response to Dr. Merritt reaching out to me with specific questions before the 2021 annual meeting. In an April 20 email he asked me two questions:
1) What are your specific concerns concerning Critical Race Theory and how the Southern Baptist Convention has handled this issue? 2) What specific things would you want our committee to hear from you?
I answered him as directly and helpfully as I could the very next day. We exchanged a couple of more brief emails before the annual meeting.
I had not given much thought to those email exchanges until a reporter for the Tennessean newspaper notified me a few weeks ago that he had obtained copies of them and intended to use them in a story he was writing on the SBC. Liam Adams asked to speak with me several times for the story. For a variety of reasons I never responded to his request (I was beyond cell service part of the time; I don’t trust mainstream media; and I find it somewhat distasteful that a reporter would make private emails public without at least asking permission to do so).
Let me quickly note that I am not concerned that Adams quoted my private correspondence. I long ago decided that I would operate as if every word I say in any context is being recorded and that anything I write anywhere will be made public. After all, a day is coming when I will give an account for all my words to a much higher court than that of mere human opinion. My Lord said, “On the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matthew 12:36).
So, I am not worried about my private words being made public in this way. I just think it is a slimy thing to do. Evidently it fits within the journalistic standards of the Tennessean, but I would like to think that Christians would have higher standards of ethics than that. Of course, while I might like to, I know better than to actually think that when it comes to certain SBC elitists. After all, this ain’t my first rodeo.
After Adams informed me in his third email to me (on November 18) that he intended to quote from my private emails to James Merritt, I contacted Dr. Merritt and asked him if he knew he had given my emails to Adams or if he knew how Adams had obtained them. Dr. Merritt called me the next day, while I was in Tennessee (which, as former ERLC ethicist, Philip Bethancourt reminded Southern Baptists is a “one-party consent” state when it comes to capturing audio secretly). He assured me that he had not given those emails to the reporter and that he had “no idea” how Adams obtained them. That conversation was the first time that I heard the word “binder” in connection with all of these shenanigans. Dr. Merritt said that Adams kept bringing up “some kind of binder” during an interview that he gave to Adams. Dr. Merritt assured me that he didn’t know what Adams’ meant by that.
In the story that Adams wrote for the Tennessean (which can be accessed here without a paywall) he states, “The documents, included in a binder that once belonged to James Merritt, the chair of the 2021 resolutions committee, include resolutions submitted on the subject of race and emails between top Southern Baptist leaders, including Greear.” I have since learned that a staff member from the ERLC is usually assigned to help the Resolutions Committee and that Executive Committee staff members would have access to their work room. Perhaps one of them could provide more information about this fiasco. I have also learned that it is not uncommon for each member of the SBC Resolutions Committee to have a binder with information related to their work at the annual meeting. That is understandable. What I do not yet understand is why the binder with James Merritt’s name on it and my private emails in it was given to the press.
In recent days we have heard a great deal about the need for transparency in the SBC. Calls for such have come from various sectors of the convention, including from the current SBC President. I generally agree with such calls. There was a time when Southern Baptist leaders tried to live by the old adage, “trust the Lord and tell the people.” Today that principle has morphed into “forget the Lord, just trust us, people.” But no association of churches can survive where the leaders call for trust from but eschew genuine accountability to the people they are supposed to lead. Much less can it survive when there is little or no fear of God demonstrated by leadership.
So, in the interest of transparency, and with full confidence in the power of the gospel to forgive any sin that may be involved and to strengthen any forgiveness that may need to be granted, I am asking for those who know how this binder made its way into the hands of the press to step forward and tell the truth. Southern Baptists have a right to know how something like this could happen. I have been informed that there are some whose salaries are paid by Southern Baptist churches who are in positions to know or at least to find out.
Perhaps the Lord would bless such a simple step of honesty and integrity to begin a deeply needed work of renewal among the people known as Southern Baptists.

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