In case you missed it, this week, Andy Stanley has been at the center of a heated controversy for his statements regarding the faith of homosexuals. The pastor, who is widely considered by most orthodox, Bible-believing Christians to be a false teacher, has been met with both criticism, by actual Christians, and praise by homosexuals for his unorthodox views on biblical interpretation, theology, and the role of the church.

Stanley’s approach, which is centered around being “seeker-sensitive,” places a greater emphasis on attracting non-believers to church rather than adhering to traditional doctrine, resulting in a dilution of the message of Christianity to appeal to a wider audience. He is known for disregarding traditional teachings and the authority of the Bible, promoting his own personal beliefs as gospel. As a result, his comments on the faith of homosexuals have been met with backlash from those who believe that his views deviate from the true teachings of Christianity.

In a recently exposed sermon, Stanley says that homosexuals who “love Jesus” despite God repeatedly telling them “no” have more faith than most Christians and that we have a “lot to learn” from them, which is a clear indication of his apostasy.

Following the controversy, Stanley was criticized by many Evangelical leaders, including many Southern Baptist pastors and leaders, and rightly so. Here are some screenshots from Southern Baptist leaders criticizing Andy Stanley.

Here’s Jonathan Akin, a Southern Baptist pastor and the son of Southeastern Seminary president, Danny Akin. Here, he rightly criticizes Andy Stanley’s use of the term “clobber passages” to refer to passages in the Scriptures that identify sexual immorality as sin:

And here’s Denny Burk, a highly-esteemed professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary:

That’s just a few of them, I won’t go through them all. And to be clear, I’m not harping on them for criticizing Stanley. Stanley is a false teacher who deserves to be denounced and marked as such for avoidance by the Christian community. He should be shunned, never invited to speak at Evangelical events, his materials never promoted in orthodox Christian communities, churches, schools, or institutions, and he should be publicly scorned and mocked every time something like this comes out.

However, Andy Stanley is an easy target for Southern Baptist leaders because Andy Stanley is not Southern Baptist.

There seems to be an unwritten, yet unbreakable, rule within the Southern Baptist Convention and it’s often referred to as the “11th Commandment” by critics of the denominational leadership. The rule, it seems, forbids Southern Baptist leaders from speaking out against other prominent Southern Baptist leaders or churches. To do so will get you “canceled” by the controlling class because it is these prominent leaders who are the cash cows for the denomination.

One of those churches is First Baptist Church Orlando (FBCO).

For over a year now, Christians have been calling attention to the exact same pro-homosexual sentiments that are rampant within this major Southern Baptist megachurch in Florida. Early in 2022, we published a video of the church’s associate pastor, Danny de Armas, who was also the former chairman of the board of the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Missions Board (NAMB), preaching and bragging about all of the homosexuals who are serving in his church and making the worship experience at their church one of the greatest.

Here’s that video:

This video, which was originally published a year ago on Twitter, has not drawn the attention, ire, scorn, or criticism of not one single Southern Baptist leader within the ruling class. Of course, there are lesser-known and more conservative Southern Baptist pastors who are willing to speak out, but they, too, are ignored by these leaders. Not the SBC president, not a single seminary president or professor, and not a single SBC megachurch pastor, has even mentioned these comments made by FBC Orlando’s associate pastor despite the outcry from the rank-and-file conservative base.

They have all ignored it, completely.

Further, it has since been exposed that only does this church brag about the rampant sexual immorality within its ranks, but they baptize openly, practicing, married, man-to-man and woman-to-woman homosexuals and lesbians. This is not conjecture or hyperbole, The Dissenter in conjunction with Justin Peters Ministries has looked deep into the accusations at First Orlando and has found all of them to be true.

After The Dissenter reported on First Baptist Church Orlando’s capitulation to gay ideology, a week later, the lead pastor, David Uth, took the stage to double down and even stated that not only would they continue doing what they are doing, but they were partnering with NAMB to plant even more churches with the same unbiblical ecclesiology. Thanks to the research of Justin Peters and Casey Butner, the smoking gun of gay affirmation has now been found at the Florida megachurch, First Baptist Orlando.

You can read more about these findings at these two links:

• Smoking Gun: FBC Orlando’s Danny DeArmas Baptized Openly Gay, “Married” Man-to-Man Homosexual
• More Openly Gay, Practicing Homosexuals Discovered as Members in Good Standing at First Baptist Orlando

Here’s the question: why are Southern Baptist leaders so willing to speak out against Andy Stanley yet continue to partner and remain in fellowship with First Baptist Orlando? If unrepentant homosexuality is egregious enough for you to denounce Andy Stanley, why isn’t it egregious enough for you to denounce First Baptist Orlando? If there is a fear of man involved, I suggest you let that go.

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. —Matthew 10:28