Thomas Twitchell Blog: "Tim Guthrie Winning Truth? Surely You Jest"

If you've followed the Ergun Caner story this year, you no doubt have heard about the SBC pastors like Tim Guthrie, Tim Rogers, and Peter Lumpkins whose staunch defense of Ergun Caner rivals the Democratic spinsters who defended Clinton after the Lewinski affair.

Guthrie is the worst: he is incoherent at times, contradicts himself in the same articles, and lashes out in vitriol and anger at Caner's critics.

Thomas Twitchell has written an excellent blog comparing the Caner defenders to those of Clinton, and points out the latest Guthrie lunacy in his latest attempt to defend Caner by falsely accusing James White of "bearing false witness", otherwise known as "misspeaking" to Guthrie and other Caner defenders..

Click below to read Twitchell's article, it is a great one:

Thomas Twitchell Blog: "Tim Guthrie Winning Truth? Surely You Jest"

SBC Prez Who Might Even Listen to Lowly Bloggers?

Last week the Wartburg Watch reported that a certain man who is a former SBC church member but has been shunned in recent years may have a meeting scheduled very soon with the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Bryant Wright.

If this is true, and I understand that it is, even one more reason why I like Wright - some other reasons I gave here.

Here is the link to the Wartburg Watch article, which as of this writing has 24 comments:

Perhaps There is an SBC Prez Who Cares What the Little Guy Thinks

Wouldn't that be something if our new SBC president was willing to meet with someone of little stature - at least as far as the SBC power brokers are concerned - who shares the concerns expressed on this blog and other critical SBC blogs?

What if you had a meeting with Bryant Wright, and wanted to express some of your larger concerns about our convention? What would the top 3 things you would like Wright to address?

My top 3 would be: 1. addressing every concern that Christa Brown has been callling for in regards to tracking sexual deviants and creating a means by which victims can be heard and helped and not shunned; 2. A call for complete financial openness and transparency within the SBC and SBC churches so we all know where our money is going; 3. A system by which misbehaving Baptist pastors are held accountable and disciplined by a board of their peers, like most other professions have. The interim LBTS president called for this years ago.

Go to the Wartburg Watch article above and comment, or feel free to comment here!

Caner Whopper: My Madrassa Was in Beirut...By That Did He Mean "Beirut Restaurant" in Toledo?

As more of Caner's deceptions become known, the defenders of Caner appear more and more ridiculous. And more is yet to come, maybe the worst yet, BUT we shall see.

One of the more recent Caner defenders to go public is Mac Brunson, pastor of FBC Jax, as his defense was posted on Stormin' Norman Geisler's site last week. Brunson is Caner's close friend, and co-author. At least Brunson doesn't blame Muslims and Calvinists, and Brunson does mention Caner's "sorrow" and "grief".

Below is another Caner video; some new footage not seen until James White put it on his blog last week. It is Caner at Harbor Light Assembly of God, Freemont, California, on September 22, 2006. It contains the standard Caner yarns and tall tales mixed with racial stereotypes: came to America as he was getting ready for college, learned English from TV, he never drove a taxi or worked at 7/11, came as a "missionary", prayed on a rug in the high school bathrooms - you know, those typical "misstatements".

But Caner tells a new one: his "madrassa, his training center" was in Beirut.

That is interesting. He led FBC Jax to believe he was "raised in Europe" and trained there in Islamic Youth Jihad when he came to America...but now the training center has moved to Beirut.

Memo to Norm Geisler: this whopper is an easy one to explain away on your website, as you see there is a restaurant in Toledo, Ohio - where Caner moved after he came to America - called the "Beirut Restaurant". It has been serving fine Middle Eastern cuisine since its establishment in the 70s. So perhaps his "Islamic Youth Jihad" in Toledo one time met at the Beirut Restaurant for a meal on the 39th day of Ramadan, thus it is not a lie to say that his training center was "in Beirut." He did not say "Beirut, Lebanon" - thus it's obvious he meant "in the Beirut Restaurant". I know that sounds like a stretch, but hey, I'm just trying to help Stormin' Norman out. I'm sure he can use a little assistance now and then. At least I'm helping out more than Craig D, who is content on bashing James White over and over again as a means of defending Caner. Maybe he and others should instead do some real research to help Geisler out.

One more eye-popping claim by Caner in the vid. It seems he took the liberty of throwing his deceased father under the bus, saying that his father came to America with multiple wives, and that he lied to authorities saying they were his sisters! Imagine that, saying that your dad committed the crime of polygamy, when nowhere in any divorce papers was this mentioned. If his dad WAS a polygamist and lied about it, why on earth would he want to tell that story to the public? I know, it was all for Jesus, right?

Taking a step back, I have some larger questions in all of this, as this is growing into the Great Evangelical Cover-up.

- How did Caner's embellishments get started and why did it go on for so long? Why were these fibs not nipped in the bud by those in authority over him at the time?

- Who was his pastor when he started spreading these tales after 9/11 who might have been able to counsel him and discipline him about lying?

- Where did Caner work, and who was his boss at the time, that might have had opportunity to speak to Jerry Vines before and after Caner's FBC Jax sermon in November 2001?

- Why was the due diligence on Caner not done by the heavies in the SBC to confirm his testimony?

- Who knew or suspected that Caner was fibbing after 9/11, and who did they tell?

- Or did NO ONE have any idea that he was lying about his past? Are we to believe that NO ONE that knew Caner pre 9/11 knew that he was fibbing on the preaching circuit?

- Did he preach at his home church after 9/11, and did he embellish his story with those there that knew him pre 9/11? If not, why not?

I will ponder those questions in coming posts, so stay tuned.

And now, here is the latest episode of "Caner Gone Wild":

Rick Scott at FBC Jax - Brunson Appropriately Preaches on Lying

Rick Scott, Republican candidate for Florida Governor was present at First Baptist Jacksonville today to get the customary mention from the platform and applause, afforded to any political candidate who shows up.

Funny thing is, Scott had to listen to an excellent sermon on lying by pastor Mac Brunson.

This was like Bill Clinton showing up to hear a sermon on adultery.

How appropriate Scott had to listen to a sermon on lying. Scott has been successfully blasting his fellow-Republican Bill McCullum with misleading attack ads, and has taken a double-digit lead in the race. If Scott wins this primary against McCullum it will all but ensure a Democratic win for the Florida governorship, as there is no way Scott will get elected governor in a general election given his troubled past.

You see, Rick Scott was the hotshot back in the late 80s and early 90s who built the nation's largest hospital chain and then saw it all come tumbling down when his company, Columbia/HCA, was found to be defrauding Medicare. Scott was forced to resign, but walked away with millions in cash, and hundreds of millions in stock.

It is really unfathomable, that a millionaire who made his dough when the company he was leading defrauded taxpayers of billions of OUR OWN money, is using that money to blast a guy like Bill McCullum in false attack ads. How fitting though that he had to listen to a hard-hitting sermon on lying, as his company did lie and mislead Medicare to boost their profits.

Are we Republicans and conservatives in Florida really that gullible to give this guy a shot at the governorship? I'm no fan of Bill McCullum, but the fact that this guy has a double-digit lead over McCullum is troubling, and shows that money can buy just about anything in politics. McCullum does have a decent record of public service, and here comes a guy with hundreds of millions and a history of leading a company that defrauded our government and he is headed toward buying a victory in the primary.

Interestingly, news reports are saying that at least one person present for the FBC Jax service today approached Scott and asked him to stop his attack ads against Bill McCullum.

Some Helpful Articles by Les Puryear About "Calvinist" vs. "Reformed" Pastors

Les Puryear has posted a series of articles on the issue of Calvinism in the Southern Baptist Convention. I found them very interesting and helpful.

In his articles, Les distinguishes between a pastor being "Calvinist" and being "Reformed". Big difference, says Les. The discussions are interesting, a bit over my head at times, but helpful.

Over at the SBC Today Bunch Podcast, Les was a guest on their latest episode and they discussed his articles. Les said that he plans on putting his posts into a booklet form for free distribution to small churches. His goal is to provide a resource to smaller churches in the SBC who need to ask the right questions as they search out a new pastor. According to Les and others, many churches have been split when a pastor is hired and the church finds out after-the-fact that he is "Reformed" and tries to convert the church.

Perhaps some WD readers who are interested in this topic will take a look at Puryear's posts and see if you agree with him. I know many of us have disagreed with Les on many issues (like the tithing issue and the email issue over the two SEBT professors earlier this year), but maybe his views on this might be helpful. And I commend him for wanting to help smaller churches avoid becoming victim to a Reformed pastor who sneaks in and then decides to convert it to a Reformed church.

This I think is the first article, dated June 23, 2010 addressing the topic:

Can One Be "Reformed" and "Southern Baptist" at the Same Time?

which then led to a series of posts distinguising between "Calvinist" and "Reformed" from that time frame through July.