On June 5, 2021, Jon Harris of Conversations that Matter wrote and posted this mini-article.
As a young man, Russell Moore learned close to everything he knew about politics from the Mississippi Democratic Party in which he served as president of the University of Southern Mississippi Young Democrats and as an aide to Democrat Congressman Gene Taylor.
Throughout the years, whether its his support for going to same-sex marriage receptions, opposing Trump and “Christian Nationalism,” or advancing the standpoint epistemology behind the MeToo movement, Moore has shown evangelicals his politics have not changed much.
In fact, the Open Societies Foundation (George Soros) bragged about the success of their “grantee” Russell Moore in 2015.
Not only has Moore helped change the definition of Pro-Life to include support for illegal migration, but he’s used the Southern Baptist Convention as a vehicle for egalitarian social reform and career advancement. Many Southern Baptists, who paid his salary, feel used.
Yet, perhaps the most offensive feature of Russell Moore’s activism is the way he corrupts the Gospel. To give one example:
Moore delivered a speech in 2018 featured by The Gospel Coalition, entitled “Black & White and Red All Over: Why Racial Justice Is a Gospel Issue.” In the speech, given to attendees at the MLK50 Conference, Moore declared that “the American evangelical church need[ed] to be more evangelized” itself. They failed “to be a gospel people” because of their silence in the face of systemic sin such as poor working conditions for sanitation workers, the shootings of African American young men, and present segregation in the church. Moore contrasted this attitude with the example of Martin Luther King Jr. who sacrificed popularity in the short term in order to “preach the gospel in the long run.” Presumably, the American Church would become a “gospel people” if they followed Russell Moore’s advice by crucifying their “worship styles” and “political alliances,” regardless of whether or not they adopted Martin Luther King Jr.’s heretical views or moral indiscretions.
Such teaching confuses the gospel by making the church’s ability to keep additional ethical demands, mostly derived from a New Left moral framework, necessary in order to maintain the reality of the gospel’s presence in the life of the church. Jesus argued against this kind of moralism in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican which he directed “to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt.” Ultimately, it was not the Pharisee who fasted and tithed, but the tax collector who cried out for God’s mercy whom Jesus considered “justified.” While Scripture teaches that genuine obedience is evidence of a heart transformed by the gospel, it is never a precondition or basis for Christ’s atoning work. Unfortunately, many leaders in evangelical institutions, like Moore, are following the template laid down by liberation theologians by conflating the demands of social justice with the gospel itself.
The false gospel Moore promoted is championed by most on the social justice side of what was formerly “evangelicalism.”
In the epistle to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul referred to those advancing “another gospel” which incorporated elements of the law. He ultimately characterized them as “false brethren” who desired to “boast.” Ultimately, they stood “accursed” before God. In common usage, the term translated as “false brethren” referred to “traitors within a city who allowed the enemy to sneak into the city and survey its defenses.” Paul used similar language in his epistle to the Philippians when he referred to the “false circumcision” and “enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction.” Those who actively fuse the demands of social justice with the gospel fall into this category.
Russell Moore’s longevity in the SBC and path of destruction serve as a warning to Christians to never again hire a political activist who subverts the Gospel and uses the church for their own career advancement. May God have mercy on Russell Moore and us if we ever tolerate men like him with God’s money ever again.
I responded with this:
Russell Moore’s warning not to make an idol of the family is another great example of taking righteousness and condemning it as sinful. There’s no tactic up Satan’s sleeve as effective as using a “trusted Christian leader” to make the case that taking a stand for the truth is a huge mistake. God help us if we ever tolerate these false teachings, or a false teacher like Russell Moore, ever again! https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/january-february/russell-moore-putting-family-first-puts-church-odds-jesus.html
Someone replied to my response, “I read this article and am having a hard time seeing the wrong. I honestly don’t know enough about Russel Moore to say much about him. Can you explain your thoughts on this article further? I do not want to be deceived by his explanation of the text if that is what it is.”
I responded with a “mini-article” of my own.
[S]ure. What I have to say won’t be well received by some, but I believe it is the truth.
First, it’s important to remember the cultural backdrop, the cultural and societial environment, in which Dr. Moore wrote this article. In our day, the family has been under attack as never before. Marriage has been redefined; society even says a same-sex couple can marry and be wonderful parents to children (however they may acquire them). Of course, same sex couples can and do act as loving parents to the children in their charge, meeting physical and numerous emotional needs to the best of their ability. But children need a parent of each sex, a mom *and* a dad. This is what nature teaches us, along with the definition of marriage God established: one man and one woman committed to each other for life. From their union come children that become, naturally, a part of that family. Nature teaches us this, but society has denied it all. Then there’s the rest of the LGBT agenda and the efforts of militant gays and leftists to capture our children’s minds and hearts. Then there’s abortion, which has eliminated the lives of tens of millions of children in the name of reproductive “rights.”
Never before has it been more urgent for Christians to uphold the family and bibilcal values related to the family. Recognizing this, many Christians have risen up to defend the family and family values. As the family goes, so goes the nation. The attacks on the family have been relentless, and they have taken their toll. Christians have been right to defend marriage and the family, and they have been right to make it a priority to do so.
Against this backdrop, Russell Moore writes a piece that essentially accuses Christians of making an idol of the family. Where did that come from? Even in the church, among believers, there is a need to uphold the family. I don’t see any evidence whatsoever that Christians have made an idol of the family, but rather that too few Christians have spoken up and worked to preserve and defend it.
This is the environment in which Russell Moore makes his case that the Kingdom of God must take precedence over the family. Yet the Bible clearly teaches that marriage as God defines it is a picture of the unity and diversity within the Godhead (so it reflects God’s character). Marriage also is a picture of Christ and the church, so marriage is about the gospel. It is difficult for me to see how being pro-family (or to see how Christians’ and churches’ involvement in the pro-family movement) ought to compel the president of the ERLC to warn believers they must be careful to avoid making an idol of the family.
Moore is right on one level, of course. We must love Christ above all things and all people, even family members. What, then, is the issue? People need to understand that Russell Moore is a lifelong Democrat. Jon Harris of Conversations that Matter has expressed well in the above post just how much Moore’s obvious commitment to the Democrat Party has come to the surface and been made evident in what Moore has said — and sometimes even more significantly, what he has *not* said.
Harris writes, “As a young man, Russell Moore learned close to everything he knew about politics from the Mississippi Democratic Party in which he served as president of the University of Southern Mississippi Young Democrats and as an aide to Democrat Congressman Gene Taylor.
“Throughout the years, whether its his support for going to same-sex marriage receptions, opposing Trump and ‘Christian Nationalism,’ or advancing the standpoint epistemology behind the MeToo movement, Moore has shown evangelicals his politics have not changed much.” Read the entire post Harris wrote. It’s very enlightening.
Keeping all of this in mind allows us to understand why Moore might write something like this: “The bottom line is that many think ‘family values’ immediately when they think ‘church.’ To some degree that is positive and unavoidable, but often this categorization wrongly makes the family the fundamental point of contradiction between the church and the world. The gospel, though, doesn’t distinguish between ‘pro-family’ and ‘anti-family’ people so much as crucified and uncrucified people. A church that focuses on the family is in line with the Bible, but a church that puts families first is not.”
But how, Dr. Moore, have churches and Christians put families before the gospel? What I see is that not enough churches are upholding the gospel *by* upholding marriage and the family.
The implications of Dr. Moore’s statements, to me and to many others, are quite clear. Apparently Dr. Moore sees the pro-family movement as overtly Republican, and Dr. Moore evidently sees it as political. Dr. Moore has consistently pushed back against conservative political activism, even when the cause has been right and biblical. JD Greear has taken the same approach Dr. Moore is taking here, and I called him out for it in this post. I apologize that probably not all the links work, and a video I posted in the article no longer is available; but the article speaks for itself and still conveys well my concerns. https://wordfoundations.com/2019/03/04/elusive-neutrality/
Thanks for asking and for giving me the opportunity to explain.
Update: I was able to post the audio portion of the video that had been deleted.
Copyright © 2021 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All Rights Reserved. Qualifier: Jon Harris’s work is his own.