Rick Warren has been at the center of the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) controversy over ordaining women to the pastorate. As you’re probably aware by now, the SBC is facing a turning point next week as Rick Warren, former pastor of Saddleback Church and his successor, Andy Wood, plan to appeal the denomination’s decision to disfellowship the church after ordaining several women as pastors. If you’re not aware, you can catch up by reading this article.
Leading up to the SBC’s annual meeting next week, where his appeal will be made to retract the decision to disfellowship, Warren has been leading a social media campaign aimed at changing the denomination’s stance on women preachers. And in doing so, he’s been brazenly twisting the Scriptures, as he’s been doing for two years since he first ordained three women to the pastorate before his retirement.
His latest post is no different, as he boasts about nearly two thousand Southern Baptist churches that have women serving as pastors.
Of course, he twists Acts 2:17-18, applying it where it does not belong. This passage is about the Holy Spirit’s work at Pentecost—it has nothing to do with women serving as pastors. The role of pastors is addressed elsewhere, such as in 1 Timothy 2:12, which supports male-only pastoral leadership. This passage cannot be used to justify a deviation from the biblical mandate for church leadership.
In recent days, Rick Warren has outright lied to justify his perversion of biblical ecclesiology, first twisting Charles Spurgeon’s words, pretending like Spurgeon would actually support his view of women pastors (he didn’t). Warren also told Russell Moore, former ERLC head-turned-feminist, that there are “hundreds of interpretations” of the Bible’s prohibition against women pastors. Not to mention, he published an open letter in a pro-homosexual, pro-abortion “baptist” publication to plead with Southern Baptists for women pastors.
As I previously wrote, rest assured, if Saddleback remains in fellowship, the floodgates to apostasy will be opened, thousands of churches will be empowered to ordain women to the pastorate, and once that happens, well, the United Methodist Church, the PCUSA, and the ELCA should all serve as prophetic examples of the fate of the SBC.
