Douglas Cochran

Did the sheep or the wolves leave when they heard this,Galatians 5:11-12 NLT [11] Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised—as some say I do—why am I still being persecuted? If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be offended. [12] I just wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves. bible.com/bible/116/gal.…

@J17apologetics @isaiah489 Free will just allowed you to spew bitterness? Check your heart, because your post is hateful The sheep will leave now

In every instance these four words will always refute Calvinism. Calvinists believe Paul cited the old testament just to make a DIFFERENT point than the original authors he appealed to! If they had read the originals they never would have assumed Paul was asserting Calvinism

2012 was a very important year in the SBC. Dr. Frank Page appointed the Calvinism Advisory Committee and Dr. Eric Hankins released the Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation. The 2013 Report from the CAC called upon both churches and candidates for pastoral positions to be "fully candid" with each other. Unfortunately, no mechanism was established to continually notify Pastor Search Committees as they were being formed of this essential element, so very few are aware that hundreds of SBC churcheshave been split down the middle or otherwise damaged severely by deceptive candidates. Thirteen years later, few, if any, PSCs even know that the Committee was formed. Few PSCs study the various soteriological doctrines in order to select candidates whose beliefs are in agreement with the majority view of the church. After the Traditional Statement was published, more than 1500 Southern Baptist leaders co-signed it, but now, very few PSCs have ever read the document. Based on the hundreds, if not thousands of horrendous outcomes in the past 25 years, the typical pastor search process needs a total renovation.

@raildoc The level of concern was high, at least in 2012 when this study was done: research.lifeway.com/2012/06/19/sbc…

What's often missed in the declines of the SBC (and other denominations) is how it's largely a story of the Baby Boomer generation holding the numbers up--for now. Longform article coming on Monday, but here's one stat: "The SBC’s biggest challenge is actuarial. Among Southern Baptist adults, only 6% are under age 30, and only about one in five are under age 45. About 45% of Southern Baptist adults are Baby Boomers, more than double the Boomer share in the general adult population."

@RisingDisciples IOW Truth does not matter to the Calvinist. How many people were completely taken in by the title John MacArthur put on his series of conferences a few years ago?

Danny's post APPEARS to be a gracious call for ALL to come to Christ, but as a Calvinist, it's nothing more than a fishing expedition for "the elect," since most were created for eternal damnation by the god of Calvinism. Gotta conceal the REAL teaching of Calvinism.

The messengers to the 1995 convention prayed for forgiveness and then passed a resolution committing themselves "to eliminate racism in all its forms from Southern Baptist life and ministry." However, few if any measures were adopted by the leadership of the convention and the churches to implement necessary changes. Consequently, 70-80% of SBC churches are all white every Sunday. Sunday 11:00 to noon is still 31 years later, the most segregated hour of the week. What will it take to convince us to change the status quo?

"In the Spirit of Christ, Christians should oppose racism." -The Baptist Faith & Message (2000)

@JimBancroft2023 @ReformedCaio This great book by Dave Hunt should be required reading for all SBC Seminary students, every deacon, elder, and Bible teacher, and for all members of SBC Pastor Search Committees.

@raildoc @ReformedCaio youtube.com/playlist?list=…

So many theological issues and errors would be eradicated if folks affirmed that God’s one supreme and omnipotent will has two distinct functions; His decretive will (controlling influence over reality) and His preceptive will (controlling influence over all morality).

@JimBancroft2023 @ReformedCaio You barely scratched the surface of the many evil things he did to many innocent people. Jesus said, "A bad tree can not produce good fruit." God most certainly did not hide the facts about his plan of Salvation for 1553 years just to reveal them through such a "bad tree."

The greatest problem with theology is the way you're defining it is the words you guys invent in order to Define your man-made theology from a man who had women beaten from their homes for having too many pots and pans or the wrong hairdo. A man who supported the physical beating of people who didn't go to church on Sundays and has a theology named after him is not exactly a proud moment in christianity.

@DavidReilly007 @Svigel Please read the book Miracles by C.S. Lewis.

@Svigel Statistics 101: How do you distinguish between a rare event and a miracle?

Theology 101: If you think miracles ought to be proven scientifically, you understand neither science nor miracles.

@griffingulledge @JaredCBurt Tell us about Molly Marshall and Diana Garland, please.

@JaredCBurt I think by not including the end of his quote that you’re missing his point. He was saying that he wasn’t going to fire current faculty over that issue, but that he would not tolerate that position in future hiring decisions.

In 1993, Dr. Mohler assured a female pastor, “a large number of faculty currently teaching here articulate a position very positive towards women serving in *any* ministerial role…. I think there is no danger of that position not being represented here.”

I believe we are being distracted from the most important issue related to Dr. Al Mohler, who reintroduced Calvinism into the mainstream of SBC churches back in 1993. Since then, thousands of poorly trained Pastor Search Committees have been intentionally deceived by graduates from SBTS and other SBC seminaries. Dr. Mohler told Dr. Eric Hankins, it was just poor etiquette when I fact it is poor ethics. A senior pastor in NC recently alleged that when he attended SBTS between 2019-2023, he had multiple professors who instructed the students on how to give evasive answers to questions from pastor search committees and how to introduce Calvinist doctrines little by little in order to avoid opposition by church members. This claim should be fully investigated, and there should be multiple resolutions and motions introduced in June or the damage to churches, and faithful brothers and sisters will continue. The damage to churches includes fired pastors after short tenure, reduced budgets, and ministry to communities cut in half. In most cases, it takes ten or more years for a church to recover from the damage caused by a stealth Calvinist.

The hypocrisy and dishonesty in Al Mohler’s statement that Baptist have always held to a male pastors only position, is highlighted and contradicted in his own biography. Al Mohler was once an advocate for women’s ordination, preachers, and pastors. He even signed a document supporting women in ministry without limitations, and protested at an SBC annual gathering against the convention adopting a resolution forbidding women’s ordination. For Mohler to now assert that those of us who believe it’s a matter that should be left to the autonomy of the local church to decide are not Baptists, or we’re out of sync with Baptist history on the subject matter, is disproven by his own personal history. Hypocrisy and dishonesty on steroids, exhibited by Al Mohler here.

@Pete_Hutter @douglaswils Was John Calvin a good tree or a very bad tree?

@douglaswils What does the Talmud say? Did those rabbi become good trees?

"Is salvation a cooperative affair, or does God simply intervene to bless us by taking the initiative? Was Lazarus raised from the dead in a semi-Pelagian fashion, with Lazarus pushing and Jesus pulling, or not?" (The Romantic Rationalist, p. 68).

The SBC is experiencing a boom in Calvinism due to the great increase in seminary graduates who are adopting the doctrines as I have explained. The other contributing factor is that there was practically no appreciable percentage of Calvinist pastors for approximately 80 years, 1920-2000 so very few church members and very few pastor search committee members know what it is and how to detect a Calvinist who is trying to hide his true doctrines in order to get hired as a pastor. No Pastor Search Committees are sharing their failures with PSCs at other churches, so the problem continues to increase.

This is interesting, but seems to confirm my predictions. If there are more Calvinist pastors than churches, it would imply that Calvinism is not booming in America. So while Catholics, Pentecostals and Even Eastern Orthodox are growing, then the percentage of Christians who are Calvinists will decrease.

Yesterday James White had a Calvinist debate with a Mormon As I predicted, it sounds like it went pretty bad for James. He tried to explain how a God who ordains all sin and eternal damnation is not a Monster Calvinism makes the heresies of Mormonism look good

The percentage of Calvinist professors in SBC seminaries has been growing since Al Mohler was appointed president of SBTS in 1993. Whereas prior to that date, the percentage was less than 5%, now it ranges from 50-100% in all six SBC seminaries. Consequently, the number of graduates who believe Calvinist doctrines has increased exponentially. The percentage of Calvinist graduates far exceeds the percentage of churches that are looking for a Calvinist pastor. This imbalance has given rise to the problem of stealth Calvinism which has split thousands of SBC churches in the past 25 years.

@Calvinator8000 @rogerecoff Surveys. Pentecostals and Catholics are growing like crazy around the world; Calvinists are a minority

There is another consequence of the BF&M 2000 that should be addressed by the Convention this June. 99.99% of the Pastor Search Committees include a requirement for all pastoral candidates to agree with that statement because they believe that it will protect them from hiring someone who will teach doctrines that have never been promoted in their church. Stealth Calvinists present their agreement with the BF& M 2000 to the PSCs as a credential and guarantee that their beliefs align with what most Baptists believe. In other words, the BF&M 2000 is the shield they hide behind to deceive the members of the PSC and the church. Since 75-80% of Southern Baptists still believe in traditional soteriology, the ambiguous language in the BF&M provides the conduit through which Calvinist candidates travel into the pulpit. Only a few Calvinist candidates are "fully candid" with the PSCs as the 2013 Report from the Calvinism Advisory Committee advises. The remainder sneak past the largely theologically uneducated and unsuspecting committees, then months or years later start teaching doctrines that are foreign to the churches, resulting in thousands of damaged and split churches over the past 26 years. I do not understand why Dr. Rogers, who taught that Calvinism is a lie, allowed the Calvinists on the revision committee to include ambiguous language in the statement, which has turned into a backdoor entrance to the churches.

It’s probably time to rehash this for SBC twitter. When the BFM2000 was adopted the committee was clear on two things: 1. The BFM2000 would not be binding on local churches 2. The “pastor” clause referred specifically to the role of “senior pastor” 1/ twitter.com/_JayAdkins/sta…

@EWErickson @WilliamWolfe What does the fact that thousands of Southern Baptists adore William Wolfe say about the SBC in general and the status of special Presidential Intern while at SBTS teach us about Dr. Mohler and the Trustees of that institution?

Dear Christians, Please pay attention to this. It is important. @WilliamWolfe has dredged up a tweet from 2009 in an attempt to shame me. He holds himself out as a Christian and has declared me a fake Christian. I wrote a book with an entire chapter about this tweet, how it affected my family and friends, and how wrong it was. William uses it to attempt to police me and shame me. William behaves as if his heart is unregenerated, and he shows his lack of grace every day. He uses Christ as a cudgel, not as a salve. I wrote this and plenty of other tweets. My life is an open book. William, who has previously decried cancel culture, has summoned a seventeen-year-old tweet to hold over my head. He went to seminary, got the grades, but missed the point of God's redeeming love. He is graceless, does not love his neighbor, and is also a humorless bully. William does not like that I have repeatedly called out his behaviors, so often directed at sound Christian pastors who will not politicize the church. So now he enters my timeline regularly with old tweets of mine. Christ forgives. William shames (or tries to). The problem, however, for William is that I do not need the affirmation of anyone who applauds his efforts, and he needs the affirmation of many he continues to alienate with his behavior. He wants to be a Baptist Leader, but has no clout outside a Twitter following. He leads nothing but a website. On Good Friday, several million Americans will tune into my radio show to hear the Gospel. I spend every Good Friday ignoring politics and the headlines and focusing on the greatest story ever told. On Good Friday, William will scold someone else on Twitter, and few of his Twitter followers will even care. I'll let the God of all creation judge me on the Last Day. William will, on that day, be surprised he does not get to sit on the throne, the toilet maybe, but not the throne.

@EWErickson @WilliamWolfe What has Dr. Al Mohler said about his star student?

@MusingsOnChrist In Calvinist churches, the sole authority is whatever the ruthless boards of elders decide.

Sunday Theology Poll The sole authority for faith and practice among Baptists is the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Confessions are only guides in interpretation, having no authority over the conscience.

Among the things that the people in the pew need to know are the following: the percentage of Calvinist professors at the six SBC seminaries in 1993 and in 2025, and the number of graduates of each seminary who deceived Pastor Search Committees and months or years later began teaching Calvinist doctrines resulting in dismissal of faithful members who objected, damage to the churches, and firing of the deceitful pastors. The churches also need to know how many seminary graduates who hold to Traditional soteriology have deceived Pastor Search Committees at Reformed/Calvinist churches in order to be hired then later implemented their secret plan to transition the church into a non-Calvinist church.

“Three things are needed…. trustees willing to manage the managers, not merely observe them; renewed belief that the best decisions are made by full boards informed of dissenting views; and a clear-eyed commitment to telling the churches what they need to know.”

“In discouraging most management, the current SBC training leaves trustees without a full understanding of their legal duties—and at its worst, flatly contradicts those duties.” @jrwhitehead at @Christ_OverAll christoverall.com/article/concis…

Stealth Calvinism is very real and very harmful to Pastor Search Committees, churches, individuals, and the cause of Christ. It is very common for half the church members to leave with the Calvinist pastor or be dismissed. When that happens, the budget is cut in half. When the budget is cut in half, ministry is diminished. A chairman of a PSC in TN told me yesterday that it has taken one church in his area 15 years to recover from a split caused by a stealth Calvinist.

@CherylSchatz It’s kinda hilarious how most provisionists want to abandon/change labels for their own purposes but are outraged over stealth Calvinism which isn’t even real.

David Allen testifies about stealth Calvinism.

My research, which has included more than 130 personal conversations with members of PSCs, pastors, and DOM, indicates that thousands of SBC churches have been severely damaged or "split down the middle" by stealth Calvinists in the past 25-30 years. The cost to the individual members of those churches and the cause of Chris staggering. It has to be the #1 cause of church splits and fired pastors in the past two or three decades. If anyone had told me 18 months ago that this was happening, I would not have believed it. When will someone organize a group to oppose the immense degradation of the Convention and support the tens of thousands of faithful members who have had their churches stolen from them? In 2012, Dr. Frank Page appointed the Calvinism Advisory Committee, who published a very helpful report in 2013, but only a handful of PSCs know of and comply with the central recommendation of the Report. The Connect316 Group published some great resources before they disbanded in 2018, but no one until recently was distributing those resources to PSCs, so they continue to make the same mistakes and fall prey to the same deceptions. This is a real problem. Placing the title, "Shepherd," after a woman's name is not a real problem, but that is where all of the attention will be focused in June.

There are many Calvinist pastors who enter non-Calvinist churches intending to lead them toward Calvinism, sometimes doing so quietly so their intentions are not immediately recognized. In our first experience with a Calvinist pastor, Calvinism was introduced gradually. When that approach did not move fast enough for him, he began by persuading the deacons first before pushing the whole church in that direction. One deacon and his wife resisted Calvinism, and they were forced out of the church. After that, the pastor essentially gave the congregation three choices: accept Calvinism, leave the church, or be removed. From what I have personally seen with two Calvinist pastors in two non-Calvinist churches, their leadership began to resemble the theology they taught, in that they determined what the church must believe and treated those who disagreed as if they did not belong to Christ. Because situations like this have divided many congregations, some churches now ask pastoral candidates directly whether they are Calvinists before hiring them. Unfortunately, when someone hides their position in order to get the job, it can still lead to serious division later.

What is stealth Calvinism? John MacArthur explains how no one knew he was a Calvinist as he kept all the labels out of his sermons so he could take his congregation into Calvinism without their knowing what was happening.