Theology divided McLean Bible Church. It was not the theology most expected. In 2017, Calvinism was a lightning rod among Southern Baptists. However, a Trojan Horse loomed. Evangelical Elites spread Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality undetected via networks of elite influencers.
Yesterday, I wrote about a 2017 alarm sounded by Member X of McLean Bible Church over the proposed hiring of David Platt as teaching pastor. The focus of that essay was simply that SBC Voices and Dave Miller ignored the story when exposing the situation might have galvanized resistance to Platt’s nomination. Instead of reporting the truth, SBC Voices buried the story. The result: McLean Bible Church suffered. However, there are a few other things that we can learn from Member X and the fiasco of David Platt at McLean Bible Church.
Member X’s concerns about Platt focused on many different things; however, two very prominent concerns were theological. Namely, Member X worried that Platt’s Calvinism and approval of a private prayer language (charismatic beliefs) were in opposition to McLean Bible Church’s doctrinal statement and practices under longtime MBC Pastor Lon Solomon.
However, what was it that ultimately split McLean Bible Church?
It wasn’t Platt’s Calvinism.
It wasn’t Platt’s position on private prayer language.
What split McLean Bible Church was David Platt’s dictatorial behavior and pushing ungodly beliefs like Critical Race Theory (CRT) on the congregation. (Read a 17-page letter from elders and other ministry leaders at MBC rebuking Platt over these very issues.)
McLean Bible Church suffered at the hands of a bullying pastor who demanded ever greater aggrandizement. Platt wanted to reduce elder oversight of his powers—powers up to and including church discipline!
Bullying pastors have been a problem for generations.
What most were not expecting in 2017 was the central role Critical Race Theory would take among Evangelical Elites.
Big Eva decided to push Critical Race Theory and men like David Platt energetically spread these teachings to his church—top ministry leaders, former elders, and others in the church explained. In fact, Platt’s Woke Social Justice preaching reduced attendance at the once thriving megachurch.
But it took time.
Time for people to become alarmed at the teachings—because false teaching is usually slowly introduced and done with pietistic sounding language to dress it up in holiness.
The pivotal moment that changed everything was the Trojan Horse video released by Sovereign Nations of Michael O’Fallon’s conversation with James Lindsay & Peter Boghossian. This alerted evangelical churches to the dangers of racial identity politics and the Marxist games being played.
Platt and McLean Bible Church are one theatre in a struggle against racial division—division caused by Neo-Marxist inspired identity politics.
But, why identity politics?
Why divide our churches?
Leftists want to silence the church.
Why silence the church?
Because the church stands against the total Leftist domination of society. The church votes for conservative, pro-life candidates—and often wins election. This retrains the radical policies that globalists want to implement to undertake a Great Reset.
If the church is divided, fighting within itself, and among its racial members, then the church ceases to stand as a bulwark preserving life and liberty from Leftist assaults.
This is the Leftist goal—it is political.
Of course, there is a spiritual goal in dividing the church. Our Adversary wants the church divided not only so that more babies can be aborted, but also to hinder the preaching of the Gospel.
And that is something of eternal consequence. David Platt, either wittingly or unwittingly, has harmed the Gospel mission of the church with the adoption of CRT.
God used Member X to raise the alarm about David Platt. Alas, Member X was not heeded.