In case you’ve forgotten about the scandal that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is desperately trying to sweep under the rug involving the newly-elected SBC president, Ed Litton’s serial plagiarism of former president, JD Greear, let me remind you:
Over two months after he was elected as the new Southern Baptist Convention president, Ed Litton, pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Alabama has faced increasing pressure to resign his post as he has been exposed as having plagiarized several other pastors, including JD Greear and Tim Keller. It has been documented that, for at least the last seven years, Ed Litton has been plagiarizing large parts of his immediate predecessor, JD Greear’s sermons including the points, illustrations, jokes, and even his Greear’s mistakes.
After it was first demonstrated that Litton had plagiarized JD Greear’s sermon on Romans 1–including Greear’s line that the Bible merely “whispers” about homosexuality–both Greear and Litton released a statement defending against the accusations and contending that Litton had permission to “borrow” points and illustrations from that sermon. However, both failed to acknowledge the extent of the plagiarism and anyone reading their statements of defense would be led to believe that it was merely a one-time oversight.
You can see our (short) mini-documentary detailing the scandal below:
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It is now undeniable–Ed Litton is clearly disqualified from leading the Southern Baptist Convention and, most likely, from the pastorate altogether. But this doesn’t bother Southern Baptist ethics leader, Josh Wester, apparently. Yesterday, Wester announced he’s leaving his post at the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission to join the ranks of serial plagiarist pastors at Ed Litton’s Redemption Church.
Josh Wester, if you may recall, opposed the resolution calling for the complete abolition of abortion in the United States giving an impassioned speech on the floor of the convention against it while, instead, expending his energy and resources arguing in favor of “hair discrimination legislation.”
It’s already clear that Wester’s priorities are not in biblical fidelity and honoring God by bringing the truth of God’s word to bear on the conscience of unbelievers–instead, he’s just another weak man who only cares about what the world thinks and seeks to do everything he can to bridge the gap between the world and the Church. It should come as no surprise that serial plagiarism is of no concern to an “ethicist” with these priorities so long as the serial plagiarist has the same agenda of pleasing the world.
