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June 8, 2021 4:00 am
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That's 855-402-2229 or Janet Mefford.com, our confidence is in Christ alone. I met every week or an entire semester with a Mormon missionary named Charles. Now Charles had visited one of my religion classes and invited any Christian in the class to come meet with him to learn more about Mormonism and so of course I jumped at the chance. I figure that would be a great opportunity to turn the tables and show him the false gospel of Mormon theology, while also sharing with him the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now it went well for a while but our meeting sadly ended with Charles refusing to accept that salvation is through Jesus Christ alone.
He just wouldn't receive the truth and I still pray even today that somewhere some other Christian finally got to Charles again with the truth, the gospel and that the Lord finally saved him, but that experience really came back to me as I was reading the book written by my next guest, Michael Wilder. Micah is a former Mormon missionary himself in his written incredible story of how he left Mormonism and came to true faith in Jesus Christ, his book is called passport to heaven, the true story of a zealous Mormon missionary who discovers the Jesus he never knew and Mica just wonderful to have you with us. How are you doing I'm doing great driving me on what you that you were very zealous Mormon were EU came from a very zealous home you are ready to go on the mission field. I knew it seem like you are all in just from the very beginning and had all the surroundings that kind of made you the perfect Mormon yeah every every my life deeply rooted and invested Mormonism. My mother with a professor at BYU.
My dad was the high priest, the Mormon church and it was my life. Yet how far back in your family did Mormonism go how deeply rooted were you interested only in my parents were actually converts to a woman it, and so they were both raised in nominal Christian home, my mother was raised home by father, and of Southern Baptist home and when they were in their early 20s and graduate Ball State University in monkey Indiana woman. Be sure you knock on their door and introduce them to the Mormon gospel and they were enamored by both the missionaries and but look at brought joined the church were baptized and raise the children while that something so when you were growing up and you were very involved in the church. What was it like to live out your life is a Mormon because for a lot of Christians.
They just have no frame of reference as to what it's like to grow up in Mormonism. But what was your experience like just theologically but also just socially and what was it like to be in that world.
Yeah so so Mormonism is very much more than just church you attend on Sunday morning. It is very much a cultural identity. I got you grew up in the Midwest. I moved to Utah for my high school years in Utah of course is very saturated with a Mormon population. I lived in an area that was about 98% latter-day St., and so all of my friends, my community by my peers by religious leaders.
Everything was saturated in this Mormon community with the state of Utah and every part of my life was rooted and grounded in my religious identity. Much like Saul of Tarsus and so I was doing was, not only for myself but also to establish my righteousness with God through the tenets Mormonism right and so everybody knows that's the Mormon communities that you're talking about very family oriented, very friendly Mormons are some of the nicest people anybody will ever meet. There's a strong culture as you say, of community and so forth. But what did you believe specifically about God and about salvation, how you were saved just for people who don't know much about Mormon theology what what were you steeped in as far as where you thought you were going and what you believed about God and who he was so God could be in Mormonism was actually not only God. We were taught that God actually once been a man who himself could progress to become God and not only that, but that we as people living on this earth had the potential ourselves to progress to become gods ourselves until the prospect of eternal progression is through obedience and so my right standing with God was to be contingent upon my faithfulness to the laws and the ordinances of Mormonism and so I wanted to have God log and I wanted his favor, and forgiveness that I wanted to know that I was right in his eyes and and I believe that the only way to have better insurance was for you myself become righteous right and and by my old marriage to establish worthiness before God and so it really propelled me to to being a very jealous young man who was desperate for a relationship with God but ignorant to the true way to have a relationship with God, which of course is only true Jesus Christ and his righteousness, and so I was a very devout Mormon bad because I wanted the very thing that I believe that you get to learn from God, which was his love, so man that is a hard row to hoe, but when you're talking about eternal progression that really stuns a lot of people when they finally learned that about Mormon theology. The idea that you believe it some point, you can become a God the way that God was once man and became a God.
Did you ever doubt that it was there ever any moment where you said wow this just this is insane like how can I become a God.
How is that even possible. Did you ever think that way at any point. Not really in fact is I grew up and got more deeply mature in my spiritual theology. Mormonism I actually like the idea because it needed to be a way to relate with God, so I figure we'll God was once like me living on a planet somewhere dealt with the same thing that I'm dealing with. Therefore you know he can be with compassion and meant to believe that I myself could progress one day becoming like God was actually something that was exciting to me. But of course now is the biblical Christian through the word of God. I realize just how blasphemous that idea is because it is completely removing God from his nature as revealed through his word) how interesting what you just said that that gave you a point of relating to God.
It said that's interesting. But of course in Christian theology, God became man in Jesus Christ and so you know he was like we are but without sin. It is interesting how that's twisted in Mormonism. Now you ended up going on your two-year mission, which a lot of young Mormon men do to go out and convert people to Mormonism you ended up going to Florida and that was where things kinda changed around for you. Quite a bad what tell us a little bit about your experience going on the mission field yet so big Mormon. The very unity. I think it's important for Christians to have a frame of reference of what it's like for these young men and women to go out and when we see them out on the street really be able to see them through the lens of love and compassion I was leaving my family for two years might bite my communication with them. For this to your variance with limited weekly emails and phone calls twice a year. You kindly hear God pick up the phone and call my mom and my dad on Mother's Day on Christmas. We had a very regimented schedule. We had to wake up at 6:30 AM every day, 355 days a year for two years. You two or three hours of study and then go out for 10 to 12 hours a day proselytizing, come home, do more studying and then go to bed at night at 10:30 PM and do that all over again. We were out all day every day we were knocking on doors, talking to strangers communicating with people doing everything that we could to convert them to the Mormon church. We weren't allowed to read the newspaper or magazine Internet outside of our emails, and is a very demented kind of military like experience that brought a lot of a lot of missionaries baked goods, depression and and homesickness. They really struggle, even within their own faith and that I mentioned that because we sometimes see this Mormon missionaries like the bullet proof will approve guy rolled out and they're just so intimidating and I know everything about doctrine and we forget that there really was. I mean I was 19 missionaries now or even 18 years old and and so many of them are very uncertain about their own faith about their own experience with God and they truly need love and compassion from the Christian body has totally true wine where you went Orlando. There a lot of Christians in Orlando so that was kind of a culture shift for you yeah yeah where you got that right. To the right of the Bible Belt, which is not a bad thing.
I don't want to give away the best part of the story because were to be coming up on a break here in a second, but one of the things that you talk about when you're discussing this turning point is the impact that a pastor there in Florida had on you and how his willingness to share the true gospel of Jesus Christ with you ended up changing your life when you had actually gone there to change other people's lives were to get more into the story of Michael Wilder when we come back talking about his book passport to heaven.
Stay with us will be right. This is Janet Mefford on a 100� day in Ethiopia Africa. Hundreds gathered for Sunday worship outdoors and some want an hour to be there afterward 30-year-old caveman frantically copied Scriptures from an old Bible to a piece of paper.
Then his face turned sad. Is he close the Bible and handed it back to its owner, one of only a few in that church of hundreds to have a Bible you see came and loves the Lord leads his family and his faithful at Sunday worship, but he's never read a single verse in his own Bible because Bibles are very difficult to obtain, where he lives with our way through the ministry of Bible league international you can send God's word to a new believer in Africa five dollars since one Bible $50 since 10 call 800 yes word 800 YESWO RD 800 yes word where there's a banner to click@janetmefford.com.
Thank you. Hi this is Janet effort here in need of a new healthcare program that you miss the open enrollment deadline in December.
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How different Mormonism is from Christianity and we are talking with Michael Wilder about his book passport to heaven. The true story of a zealous Mormon missionary who discovers the Jesus he never knew we were discussing Michael before we went to the break. The fact that you went on your mission to Orlando Florida and their you encountered a Baptist pastor and his church. Tell us what happens when you finally met up with this pastor, I deliberately confronted about believing that I could reason with him and show him that Mormonism was in fact the truth of the only true way to eternal life with God, and I think that's a testament to how jealous I was and how strong my testimony was that Mormonism and so we ended up engaging with this man in a personal meeting with him to Michigan. I have the opportunity to sit down with them and share our beliefs with him and one thing I want to emphasize before continue about this pastor was that his is method of engaging with this was very different than what I'm accustomed to and what I mean is that he was very loving. He was very compassionate is very kind and gentle and and respect all. And honestly, those were attributes that that I was very unfamiliar with most of my engagements with with people and even Christians that you mention you to Florida. There's a lot of Christians I engaged a lot of Christians on my Mormon mission and a very common response, but I would get from them after knocking on their door would be something like will you you guys are Nicole could you're going to hell. Now get off my doorstep and never come back in the night, slam the door in her face.
I remember walking up those boards and bear treatment of us just drove me deeper into my religious convictions and Mormonism just made me say to myself, it got a Christian is.
I don't want anything to do with that which I know it's a bit of a sidetrack, but I do want to emphasize the pastor. Benson was his name. His approach to us was very � very Christ centered like a got show instrumental in important when we engage with nonbelievers. This process of sharing our belief system with him and him and I think it's safe to say that moments believe and works based righteousness that we believe that there were certain works and we had to do certain laws and commandments that we had to follow in order to establish a right standing with God. And that's what we believe the gospel could be talking to share this with the pastor guys, I appreciate your deal. I can see that you're very dedicated to what you believe but I have to tell you that the messengers you shared with me is not the gospel as revealed in the word of God that what you continued in any opened up the word of God, he went straight to Scripture and you profess the goodness and grace of God revealed in Christ, and he shared the simple beautiful life changing gospel of Jesus Christ with me is a 19-year-old Mormon missionary in a way that I had never before heard it my entire life. I was challenged by this was convicted by the simple but Jesus Christ alone had paid in full measure. The penalty that I God that he had completed the work that was necessary to reconcile me to God through his death, burial and resurrection, and not by faith in his work. I can be given the guarantee of my right standing with God that I could know that I had the assurance of the forgiveness of my students through the shed blood of Christ, not based on anything that I was doing, but based on what God had done for me in sending Jesus to be the appreciation for my sins. And of course this message right by grace you have been saved through faith that is not your own doing, it is the gift of God so contradictory that goal to the things that I had been taught my entire life and and I didn't really even know how to respond to that but I was frustrated I was actually angry because of this pastor's message because the word of God was convicting me and it was challenging me to see God's love in a way that I had never before seen is amazing. I just want to yell preach at you. Micah is hostile because it's just so wonderful to hear. You can never get tired of hearing it as many years as I've been a Christian. I just smile and rejoice every time I hear what you just said about the Lord Jesus and how he saved us, not because of our righteousness, but because he was righteous and merciful to sinners, so you ended up reading the Bible for yourself the New Testament.
I guess it was during your mission time as a Mormon missionary. What happened when you did that a lot.
Pastor said to me was go home and read the Bible like a child and so I took a challenge initially very arrogantly believing that reading the Bible was only going to prove Mormonism to be true and try read the Bible for the rest of my Mormon mission I had about 20 monks were meaning of this to your mission, commitment, and in that timeframe. I read the New Testament in its entirety, 12, from beginning to end and it was through the reading of the word of God that the will of God begin to wash me began to remove my blindness and interest shall be the immeasurable riches of God's grace in kindness towards you in Christ Jesus, and to convict me of of of my destitute nature and I miss in which I was dead and my trespasses and that the only hope of redemption was not me proving my worthiness to God but me receiving the God had proved his love for me and shown his love for me while I was still sooner than Christ Jesus guide from week one through a very tumultuous and painful and and and challenging cross recognizing the sufficiency of Jesus removing my own fraud my own works. My own righteousness from the equation, turning and facing Jesus and trusting what you did for me was all sufficient to cleanse me of sin so wonderful, but then of course you had a bit of a reckoning because you had to go back and deal with the LDS leaders in this was a bit awkward. What happened I mean how did your Mormon leaders react when you came back and you are no longer a believing Mormon, but you are giving a testimony as a newly born again Christian transformation in my experience actually happened while I was still a Mormon missionary eventually led me to professing testimony in front of my missionary peers and leaders of my newfound faith in Christ and that ultimately led me to getting kicked off my mission. Three weeks early and going back to Utah and facing know the repercussions of faith in Christ and one of the things that I recognize that, my life may have just about to turn 21 when I was facing the cost of losing my family, my friends, my culture in my community I work my reputation. Even my education career path scholarship to BYU read everything that I've ever known and loved was because of my identity and I remember having to come to that crossroads where I recognize that she had Jesus to have everything that if I knew Jesus and knew what you done for me that that was all sufficient to give me everything that I would ever need, and that if I trusted in Christ doesn't matter what I lose or what I give up what I walk away from because what I had in Christ alone was enough and that, and I took that hope back to my family doctor my my friends and I shared with them what I had come to know and I shared with them that same challenge that Baptist pastor had given me. Now simply to approach the word of God to go to the source and it's a trusted face value and to allow God through his word to transform their hearts and lives in the I planted that seed and each one of the members of my family and God begin to work individually in their lives and bring those to fruition so cool and rainy timing to see your family come to Christ � your great missionary.
It's just you were in the wrong religion to begin with. You came to know the Lord but you started bearing a lot of fruit.
It seems like a powerful word of God turn Boyd so profound about what I shut down Baptist pastor that of all the things he could've simply said God, living units active in the chart for the money to produce for the night and I see how so many Christians take for granted God's word and we take for granted that the school and the weapon that it is in in in preaching the gospel, lost, and it's amazing that God save my brother, my sister might be what you cut your lawn my high priest ahead and open their eyes to the glorious gospel of grace and it's all a testament to how good God is to truly under praise the Lord he is he is indeed. I know you're in ministry. Now people can check it out Adams Road. Ministry.com but when you say Micah. After seeing out writing everything that you put out your book about your testimony in your story which people can read about an passport to heaven and saying what you said here on the program.
When you say Jesus is enough. That's not just an empty phrase to you. I mean, when you're faced with this idea that you have to go home to such a tightknit community where everything is centered around Mormonism. You have to be in trouble with your church leaders and you got a face all of your friends in your community looking maybe to some like a trader. It takes on a new meaning. Doesn't it to say that Jesus is enough and and how his Jesus remained enough for you since then. I remember reading John 635 Mormon missionary in Jesus.
I am the bread of life comes to me shall not hunger whoever believes in me shall never thirst when I read that I wasn't a Christian yet but I was being drawn into relationship with God, and I remember crying out to God in my heart I want that I want that bread I want to be satisfied.
How can I be satisfied in and that will like you to realize is that everything had been looking for in my entire life was the summation about was Christ and him alone and and to realize that, like Paul said everything I once counted again in my life I now count as loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus the hope that we have is Christian in July. Testimony has intrigued trade, it doesn't. There's nothing in the world that is by me or make me right with God outside of Jesus Christ alone matter what I lose or give up even if it's my own life. I know that it worth it because there is greater value in the gospel in Christ Jesus alone and I just praise God that he's open my eyes that is continuing to preach the gospel the loss that there is no person or situation that is beyond the reaches of his incredible grace.
Now that's so true and and what a wonderful testimony you have.
Mike is so encouraging to all of us and you can read more about Micah story in his book is called passport to heaven. Michael Wilder with us.
Mike is so good to have you here.
God bless you and I just pray that you continue to have a really fruitful ministry. Thanks for being here you that God bless you listening to Janet today. This archived broadcast of Janet my for today is brought to you by pre-born for $140 you can provide ultrasounds to five women in crisis pregnancies. Call now 855402, baby. That's 855-402-2229 or Janet met her.com Janet Mefford today. Here's your host Joe Mefford why it is getting pretty crazy out there.
We were talking on yesterday show about the developments in the Southern Baptist convention in the email that was leaked written by Russell Moore in February 2020. Then comes out with this letter to JD Greer, the president of the Southern Baptist convention. This is just getting knots. Mike Stone is one of the men on the conservative side of the aisle who is seeking to become the next president of the Southern Baptist convention and it really seems when you look at these tactics of both the leaked email and the leaked letter from Russell Moore, the former head of the RLC that it is a political move, and that they want to get him out of any contention to become president of the Southern Baptist convention. They want Al Mohler Al Mohler is the Russell Moore body at Russell Moore. Many people have argued over the years could never have taken that helmet the RLC without Al Mohler and they want Mohler to take over the convention and the conservatives are fighting tooth and nail, having seen what CRT critical race theory has wrought in the seminaries in the duplicity that they've seen with Dr. Mohler over the years that a lot of these men and women want Mike Stone or Randy Adams is another conservative who's running so I don't know why these tactics are being used, but I do know that Mike Stone can really respond effectively when he is attacked the way he's been attacked in this letter and the just of its 14 pages. I know most of you will have no interest or time to actually go through and read this, but essentially it is Russell Moore putting down all his concerns about that the crisis of sexual abuse as it relates to the SBC executive committee, which was where Mike Stone served and he makes all of these allegations. I just want to let Mike Stone speak in his own words from a video he released responding to all of these allegations and he said, first, that as a victim of childhood sexual abuse himself. He found the latest attack from Russell Moore to be absolutely slanderous and it is this inflammatory.
He said, as it is inaccurate. Here it is lesson account one. The letter itself is in credible.
That is, it is without credibility. Think about it for just a moment.
Here's a man who's the highest positioned ethicist in the Southern Baptist convention.
At least he was until just a few days ago and if you take his letter at face value than he has known about cover-up intimidation, bullying, stonewalling barriers pressure. All of these sorts of things against victims of sex abuse. He's known about lies and backroom deals and corruption and he's not.
He's known about it not for days or weeks or months.
He's literally known about it. Supposedly four years while he has not breathed a word, meanwhile, is publishing a book called the courage to stand. Russell hasn't stood behind these accusations. He doesn't even have the professional decency to issue this as a press release through credible news sources. No, instead, Southern Baptist become privy to this supposedly private correspondence when either Russell or JD Greer or someone to whom they leaked it, share it with an anonymous blogger over on Twitter that is not the way the professionals deal with their information, and quite frankly even more importantly, that's not how the people of God deal with it is scandalous.
It's unscriptural.
It's on godly outrages that is and it doesn't follow Matthew 18, either doesn't. You have all kinds of anonymous accusations in the more missives and one does wonder how a guy who wrote a book called the courage to stand didn't have the courage to stand in February 2020 if all of these nefarious things were going on. Why did he do anything about it. Why hasn't he name names.
Paul called out Peter. So what's the issue now. Mike Stone gives a history of his involvement on the issue of sexual abuse within the SBC as is cut to the very first act that I did as chairman of the SBC executive committee. This was back in the summer of 2018, I was elected June 2018 and Dallas in the very first thing that I did was I worked with the paid staff to put together a motion to accept the request from the RLC that we give them what ultimately was $250,000 is not common practice for the chairman of the overall committee to make recommendations and motions within the subcommittee, but I requested the privilege to do that because of my own personal story not known to anybody else in the world at that time, except me and the man who abused me. I wanted the privilege of initiating this action on the part of the executive committee and not to give you too much detail.
More information that you won't but after that was unanimously passed by the subcommittee and I knew it was going to be approved by the full plan every body I let that committee room went to a nearby bathroom where I vomited. Not because I'm weak or not because I was upset but just the emotion years, literally decades of emotion came bubbling forth as I was so grateful to be a part of addressing this horrific and heinous injustice committed against the most vulnerable members of our Southern Baptist churches and then to think that somebody with that passion and that personal past is later going to get together in a back room with the subcommittee and conspire to cover up for pedophiles and the molestations they commit against our most vulnerable children. It's outlandish. While it is and then he addresses what Moore said about the bylaws workgroup, which in the letter, Moore says there was a disastrous move by the bylaws workgroup to exonerate quote unquote quickly and by fiat churches with credible allegations of negligence and mistreatment of sexual abuse survivors is kinda weird considering Mike Stone's own personal story. Listen to what he says Three that is provably blatantly false. That committee did not exonerate anyone or any church, because that's not a power that we have and we explicitly stated. So even puts the word exonerated in quotation marks. It is absolutely false to think for just a moment.
I think at that time there were 10 or 11 members of the bylaws workgroup president JD Greer was actually assigned to that workgroup because as the president is a member of the EC and that was assigned to be a member of that particular subcommittee that was just sort of a coincidence is worth noting that the role of our deliberations. He did not attend any of our meetings was not engaged in any of the discussions as the bottles workgroup painfully and tearfully passionately trying to work through this effort together, but the president's absence.
Notwithstanding the bottles workgroup is not just some stoic nameless institution.
It was a room filled with Southern Baptist laypeople, businesspeople and attorney who while he worked for the Justice Department helped to establish the child's sexual predation unit, the national president of the WMU was part of that group, and the idea that that group got together and conspire to cover up pedophilia.
It would be laughable if it were not so serious, it would be laughable but is not laughable now say this lightly is just a boldfaced lie.
Good grief while. Then he goes into a little of his own history. This is cut for when my story as a victim of sexual abuse first became known that would've been in the early part of 2019.
I was inundated by contacts from my own church family saying basically pastor.
We finally understand why you have such an adamant zero-tolerance policy for the protection of our children. Pastor a larger church in a very small rural community and most of the people in our community do not understand the type strict and stringent requirements that we have for a church member to work with any of our minors from the from the bed babies in the nursery all the way through the seniors in high school we've actually lost families not because they believe in sexual abuse, but because they don't understand why our policies have to be so tight right well when you read through the entire 14 pages of this letter from Russell Moore to JD Greer which was dated May 31, it becomes obvious who is the target here and it's Mike Stone. He mentions Mike Stone. He mentions a couple of other names but is mainly Mike Stone and I think also because Mike Stone was involved and headed up this task force that was looking into the RLC. I think I get the impression at least that Dr. Morris none too happy about that none too happy and I don't believe it has a thing to do with the fact that he just wants to serve Southern Baptists with gospel integrity. I he hasn't shown gospel integrity through basically his entire career at the air, RLC, and there have been many many times where he has been less than truthful himself so I'm glad Mike Stone is fighting back or to play more of this video for you from Pastor Mike Stone when we return here listening to Janet effort today after taking the morning-after pill. This mom immediately felt sick and nauseated as she tried to end her pregnancy while searching for medical care.
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Let's just call him Russell scorched earth more. It's crazy isn't it. It's like burning your house down before you move to go to college or something like that what you're leaving the southern Baptist convention. Russell Moore why are you burning the house down on your way out. Why did she stay.
If you have the courage to stand the name of your book. Why in the world didn't you stand and try to fix all the corruption in the southern Baptist convention at the hands of conservatives. I just amazing to me how this guy talks about courage and then he's emailed skulking off into a corner and whining about something and having his buddies or maybe he did it himself leaking all of his slams to try to affect the votes at the Southern Baptist convention's annual meeting next week. This is going to be crazy. Like I said earlier Mike Stone is one of the conservative candidates along with Randy Adams on the other side you have Al Mohler who is Russell Moore's body and you have Ed Litton whose woke so I'm sure they're trying to split the vote and trying to make sure that Mohler gets in. I can't think of anything worse for the Southern Baptist convention for myriad reasons, but I do want to get back to Mike Stone's response to Russell Moore's lead to letter to JD Greer, the president of the SBC. I recognize this is getting a little bit into the weeds. For those of you who were not Southern Baptists, but it does matter because Russell Moore has done so much damage he has contributed so much to the woke of vacation as it were, of evangelicalism. He's done nothing but slam conservative evangelical since the getting into the RLC and I attracted almost the entire time. Actually the entire time I criticized him in 2014 and I criticized him ever since and it's been a litany of things that he's done that have been insulting and demeaning to conservatives and then he tries to take up certain mantels as if he was always on the right side of this question he he's just a political operative and you know he he never does anything wrong. He never owns up to anything that he's ever done to cause division. He is the quintessential divisive man and now he's not going quietly into that good night. Oh, now he's put out this letter Mike Stone response though, by pointing out that at no point despite all of these accusations against him that he says are false in this most recent letter. At no time has Russell Moore ever personally contacted him how biblical is that this got five nobody who knows me believes that I would ever be a part of trying to cover up sexual abuse or silence. It's victims that again is an out rages lie again.
I don't use that lightly.
Toward anyone but nobody who knows me would believe those accusations and when I talk about people who know me, let me be clear that does not include Rushmore.
He has never though claiming the high moral ground in this issue. He has never not one time in a private phone call, email or text message visit letter he has never not one single time contacted me privately and personally to confront me about a sand that he thought I was committing to caution me about an error that he thought that I was making or to warn me about a misstep that he thought I was about to leave the Southern Baptist convention executive committee and to know rather he chooses these guerrilla tactics to use some of his own terminology. Well, why would he confront you personally.
When he could just wait until he left the E RLC and go scorched earth and affect the outcome of the presidential election at the Southern Baptist convention next week. That's how political operatives do it.
In fact, some people were making the observation on Twitter that Russell Moore for all of his love for the liberals in the media and all of the arm linking he's done with sites like the Atlantic in the Washington Post over the course of his ERC headship is just using those same secular tactics to try to destroy his enemies on the right and the Southern Baptist convention and then they turn around and talk about how political and horrible the conservatives are you guys are such hypocrites. It's incredible to me. Here's a hypocritical mom and I'm just gonna do a very quick aside because in the course of this letter. He's talking about all all the people who are leaving the Southern Baptist convention because about the horrors of these terrible conservatives. He says in here. I cannot tell you how many pastors and leaders have told me that they either keep or wish they could keep the word Baptist out of the name of their churches because they feel ashamed skews me, JD Greer, the recipient of this letter doesn't have the name Baptist in his church name, and in fact admitted at the time that his name was submitted to become president of the SBC. There were lots of people in his church, you came forward and said were Southern Baptist Church hypocrites and by the way the war went off to a church. Now that is not a Southern Baptist Church. I guess he's one of the very very wonderful upstanding people who is leaving on principle or or he's being shown the door because we've had enough of that. What is really going on here. This is Mike's down again cut six part of the problem we have here is we have we have a generation of leaders who raise in a participation trophy error that think that if you disagree with them about anything that you're attacking them and that their enduring sum, trauma or psychological terror.
Once again, this this is not the future of the Southern Baptist convention a while and while I'm on this point. The outlandish nature, the ungodly un-biblical nature of Russell's slander against me on this point is only rivaled by the out rages nature of pastors overgrown SBC Twitter pastors who hear one side of the story and immediately call for me to be removed from any office and banned permanently from any service in the Southern Baptist convention, while simultaneously saying we need an investigation to find out what actually happened. That is as biblically and logically inconsistent as any inconsistency I've ever seen. So what is the bottom line here on Russell Moore and what he just dead again Mike Stone cut seven. I think that Southern Baptist can actually see this for what it is. This letter was not released in a timely manner or in an appropriate form. It was leaked to twitter mall days after Russell's employment ended with the Southern Baptist convention, not after his benefits and that's another story. But days after his actual employment ended, and more importantly more constructively mere days before a watershed historic meeting of the Southern Baptist convention. There is no question in any object or person's mind that is what this is about within that letter Russell intimates that he had hoped to be at the annual meeting to offer a motion to call for 1/3 party independent inquiry of all this but but this man supposedly with the courage to stand could hang around Southern Baptist employment for 2 1/2 more weeks to use the presidency of the E RLC to make that motion that is unbelievable, and rightly so, because it's just not the truth that's a really good point.
Did you catch the part where he said he did this not after his benefits, and so he's taking Southern Baptist benefits. He's fine with the Southern Baptist convention pain for his benefits as he slams it and tries to. In outset, the room on fire as he heads over to the liberals in Christianity today Final Cut what is the future of the SBC again. Pastor Mike Stone cut eight Southern Baptists are facing a watershed moment where we are at a fork in the road and in the next several days, Southern Baptist have a choice to make and it's not a choice between believing Mike Stoner believing Russell Moore.
It's a choice about the future of the Southern Baptist convention. Do you want to continue to embrace this top-down hierarchical approach were big-name powerbrokers of the SBC elite rule with an iron fist and seek to utterly destroy anybody that would simply disagree with them about a matter that's not the Southern Baptist convention that I see.
I do not see a Southern Baptist convention filled with racist white nationalism.
Those who would seek to cover up child sexual abuse. Those are not the Southern Baptist leaders that I've ever known, and that is not the Southern Baptist convention that I see on a daily basis as a local church pastor.
I don't know how he was so measured. Boy what self-control I was very impressed by how he conducted himself in the way that he spoke on that video, I can't say that I could've kept it together.
The way he to maybe it took several takes I don't know but I thought that that was a very measured response, but some bombshells of statements I would say about Russell Moore in the letter. By the way, Ronnie, Floyd, another big SBC elite mentioned in this letter said in a statement. I have received a copy of the letter from former E RLC Pres. Russell Moore to our current SBC president JD Greer. Some of the matters referenced occurred prior to my coming here in this role for those matters of which I was present I do not have the same recollection of these occurrences as stated, I do take seriously allegations in this letter, which may raise concern for Southern Baptists.
He doesn't have the same recollection.
That's funny, so neither Mike Stone nor Ronnie Floyd have the same recollection as Russell Moore was telling the truth and probably the best argument against Russell Moore. At this juncture is the fact that he's touting David French, well actually David French is touting Russell Moore he's out there defending Russell Moore is warning should bring a reckoning when you have to take David French and and throw him out there in the public sphere in order to defend you it in my mind. You very lost the argument that guys wrong and everything he's wrong and everything is going who celebrates the blessings of liberty pertaining to drag queen story hour. I really don't care about anything. David French says we gotta leave it there.
Pray for the Southern Baptist convention, no matter what kind of Christian you are. They need our prayers. Thank you for being with us on Janet effort