In the midst of the Southern Baptist Convention’s newest scandal that involves the newly-elected president, Ed Litton, who has been exposed as a serial plagiarist of the former president, JD Greear, many outspoken Evangelical voices are coming to the defense of the indefensible all to advance their agenda. One of those voices is former Southern Baptist pastor, Dwight McKissic–who made headlines earlier this year for his departure of the Southern Baptist Convention not because it was too liberal, which it is, but because it wasn’t liberal enough for him.
McKissic is a strong supporter of both the current president and the former president despite the web of scandals they’ve been repeatedly tangled in. For McKissic, the fact that these two men prioritize social justice is enough for him to blindly support them at all costs.
In a recent post on Twitter, McKissic went as far as to twist the Scripture to defend Ed Litton’s plagiarism. McKissic quotes Philippians 1:18 where Paul admonishes us to rejoice wherever Christ is preached, even if for sordid reasons. Yet, this passage does not absolve the man who did the preaching for personal reasons of his guilt.
Yes, Christ may be preached–though in the case of Greear and Litton, there is much leaven–but we still weep for the man who preached for ungodly, selfish gain. In fact, just a few verses later in Philippians 2:3, Paul says to “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.” The fact that God uses evil for good–and in that, we rejoice–does not absolve the evildoer of his misdeeds.
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This argument falls flat on its face and Dwight McKissic, as is typical of serial Scripture twisters, uses the Scripture here to defend what God hates (Jeremiah 23:30) because he agrees with their extra-biblical agenda of social justice. This is not preaching Christ “in truth,” it is preaching Him in falsehood, and those who refuse to hold Litton accountable are simply enabling him.
Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter! –Isaiah 5:20