Where Do We Go From Here?

I’ve seen so many posts lately about the decision of the powers-that-be inside the Southern Baptist Convention. Once again, it seems as if the dirty little secrets are being swept beneath the rug. I hope they got a Ruggable because that’s going to be one filthy rug if they keep sweeping this kind of thing beneath it.

My husband and I talked about this and the state of the church in general at lunch today. Our birthday celebration for him turned into a serious conversation about things we shouldn’t have to talk about let alone spend as much time on. Insert my heavy sigh here.

GOD ISN’T SURPRISED

While things may seem bad to us now, all of us who’ve read The Book know what’s inside and we know that the persecution of the church, that’s you and me, not the building which houses us, is going to escalate from here. If this saddens us, we can just imagine how broken-hearted God is. Of course, He knew this was coming. None of it was or is a surprise to Him.

I know you feel helpless. We do, too, but we aren’t. We have the power of Almighty God at our knees and within our folded hands as we pour out our hearts before Him. Kneel before Him and ask Him to heal the church, to change the hearts of those within and without who would bring dishonor to His holy name with such ungodly, unrighteous behavior. Ask Him to bring them, and us, under conviction of our sin and our need to repent.

For Hubby and me, we have no idea what the future holds for any of the churches within the SBC. We know of at least one large church which voted as a congregation to leave the SBC. Are others to follow suit? Who knows? I do know we’re stronger together than we are if we are divided.

Where Do We Go From Here? @DDuPreeWilliams #faith #repent #forgiveness Share on X

TRUST, HOPE, PRAY

God knows the end of all this.

There is hope, always hope in the name of Jesus Christ.

Keep trusting, keep hoping, and by all means, keep praying.

Blessings, y’all.

UPDATE:  Last night, the pastor of the church we’ve been attending, an SBC church (we plan to move our membership there) gave a talk as he does on Wednesday nights. He told us some things that are going on and things in place to deal with all the fallout from this. Number one, the headlines present all this as a “gotcha” moment, when in fact, it was the SBC that launched the investigation after several people came forward and were finally heard. Thank God for that! The investigation was done to Biblical standards as in Matthew 18:13, and Deuteronomy 19:15. Some churches have been disciplined in the past, but most haven’t as this wasn’t common knowledge. Believe it or not, it wasn’t just “out there”. There were some huge surprises as to the identities of some of those who were perpetrators. The list of hundreds is going to be released, I think publicly, in the future. But those names which are NOT in the database will be added and sent to churches who want to learn if the pastor they’re considering calling is on that list. . A huge decision was to bypass all the legal teams in place to protect those pastors who are on the list.  Finally, they are saying God’s Word surpasses man’s threats. The guidelines every single church in the SBC will have to follow from this point forward should have been in place decades ago. It’s too late for many, but a blessing for the future. If churches decline to cooperate or put all this in place, they can and will be removed as an SBC church. This is my understanding. I pray I didn’t misspeak here.

 

This seemed a fitting hymn for this weighty subject. This was my Granny’s favorite. I can still hear her singing it. How many faces do you recognize? I see a handful I can name. Be blessed, y’all!