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J. D. Greear

Beware of Gaslighters and Their Tactics

Russell Moore isn’t the only SBC leader who has attempted to gaslight Southern Baptists regarding national politics — not by a long shot. Sadly, there are many of them. Still, Moore has some strong completion in former SBC President and pastor J. D. Greear.

Soon after his election as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Greear “told NPR’s Morning Edition that the SBC needs ‘to decouple the identity of the church from particular political platforms over which there can be disagreement.’  He did not specify what those issues were.” The tactic of being non-specific, and even vague, often is used by gaslighters. Nevertheless, the message was and is quite clear. The very article that reported what Greear said carried the headline “Greear Calls for SBC to ‘Decouple’ From the Republican Party.”

J. D. Greear / jdgreear.com

This was Greear’s position despite the overtly godless and wicked policies advocated by the Democrats. Scroll down to near the end of this article to read examples of what I’m talking about. Against this backdrop, note carefully what Greear said (emphasis added): The SBC needs “to decouple the identity of the church from particular political platforms over which there can be disagreement.”

It is difficult for me to buy into, or even comprehend, the idea that Democrats have an agenda that Christians can support. While Democrats are purported to have the compassionate political party, they aren’t compassionate (also go here). Whether advocated by Republicans or Democrats, the truth is that compassion in the name of government redistribution of wealth isn’t compassionate, nor can it ever be.

Is there room among evangelicals to name the Democrat Party and to call Democrats out when they push overtly wicked policies, including infanticide, the killing of children already born, infants who’ve survived abortion? Apparently not in J. D. Greear’s book! On the same day that evangelical leader Dr. Michael Brown tweeted this:

J. D. Greear tweeted this:

When pressed to clarify because he hadn’t called Democrats out, Greear doubled down — again, without telling the truth about the Democrat Party.

Do not miss these takeaways! First, there is no such thing as being apolitical. In his contorted effort to be apolitical, Greear became an advocate for the Democrats. Scott Sauls, senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, has essentially done the same thing. Do you see the problems with his tweet? Second, this is gaslighting. The effect of Greear’s leadership (and Scott Sauls’s perspective) is to blame conservatives for becoming worldly and political when the priority is to be the gospel of Christ. Of course the church’s priority is the gospel! What Greear and others don’t seem to get is that in an effort to uphold the gospel, we also must uphold God’s law, which states unambiguously, “You shall not murder.” Have we forgotten that God’s righteous, moral law is a means by which the Lord brings us to faith in Christ? Apparently Greear has forgotten, or he never knew this to be the case. The newly-released film Enemies Within the Church, offers a great discussion of this aspect of the gospel. Information about the film is available here.

One qualifier is needed here. We said earlier and reiterate here,

[T]o be clear, refusing to support the Democrats because the party opposes biblical principles does not necessarily mean one has to support the Republicans. Yet it ought to mean—indeed, it must mean—refusing to vote for Democrats.

Next: James Merritt and Danny Akin

 

This page is part of a larger Word Foundations article.

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