“Blasphemy” is irreverence for God and for the things he has declared holy. The scene from Daniel 5 is a perfect picture of blasphemy. Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar and king of great Babylon, is having a party. In an effort to exalt himself over all things, he has the implements taken from the Hebrew temple brought so he and his guests could drink libations to pagan gods from these vessels. A sobering moment came when the king saw “the handwriting on the wall.”

You know the story. Daniel, the aging prophet, was brought to read and interpret the mysterious words, “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin.” Before doing so he rebuked the king for his pride and dishonor before God. The message was that Babylon would fall to an army that, unbeknownst to the revelers, was already invading the city. Ancient historians record that the Persian army sneaked into the city while a great feast was underway. That night, Belshazzar died and Babylon fell. His specific blasphemy of that night only followed a life of obstinate pride and impiety on the part of the empire and its king. But when Babylon fell, the empire’s leaders were caught doing the things that typified their condemnable course.

No lesson in Scripture has seemed more pertinent to me over the past few weeks than does this final event in the history of Babylon. Just a year ago the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergfell v. Hodges—essentially overturning the voters’ verdicts in several states that marriage has a fixed and coherent meaning. This year’s big finale also overturned the ability of voters to speak on a crucial and foundational issue, this time the value of mothers and babies. Many have spoken eloquently on this particular case, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt; none speak for my heart so well as Justice Clarence Thomas in his dissent, (supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/15-274_p8k0.pdf).

The celebratory response to both decisions was startling and overt in its blasphemy. The most familiar example is a tweet from The Daily Show that praised this victory for industrialized and unregulated abortion by crudely encouraging men to impregnate women in Texas. Some of the other responses of private individuals were worse and more crude. One columnist spoke of being happy that the late Justice Antonin Scalia is dead, especially after the Whole Woman’s Health ruling. Clearly, we have gone beyond the “Safe, Legal and Rare” myth. The celebratory responses to Obergfell were just as mean and irreverent, if less bloodthirsty.

I guess I’m saying that if America falls tonight, this is what our nation will be caught doing, showing future generations the reason for our fall. Those who fear God use the word “sanctity” to describe marriage and life indicating our belief—certainty, really—that these things are God’s particular prerogatives. We disrespect his person when we scorn them.

I offer two thoughts about the whole matter of blasphemy and cultural wreckage. First, Daniel was not undone or aflutter about all this. He’d seen kings and their outrageous behaviors come and go; still, the unchanging Sovereign abides. You can see his confidence when the old man rebukes the king of Babylon as if he is a disobedient child. He refuses to sell his credibility for trinkets, he scorns the threats of kings, and he stands as empires rise and fall. That’s God at work, not Daniel. He’s still at work and will be as nations, even ours, wax and wane.

The second thing is an “in the meantime” encouragement. We’re still here, and we still have rights as full citizens of a free country. It’s not time to build a monastery or stockpile ammunition against that day. We should have the truth of God in our mouths and a voter registration card in our pockets. We should show up for Election Day for however many years or generations we are allowed to do so. In this way, when Belshazzar asks us to speak for our God, we should do so. We are frequently reminded after a Supreme Court legislative action that elections have consequences. Presidents elected without substantial turnout from our churches appoint the justices. Senators elected without substantial turnout from our churches approve those justices. And so it goes all the way down to the lesbian sheriff of my county to the Fort Worth ISD school board in neighboring Tarrant County. We act surprised when something terrible happens.

Like Daniel, let us take seriously the things of God—we must be known for that, to a greater degree than now. We’re not undone when others do otherwise, bringing catastrophe on the nation; but neither should we be tempted to join the party, handling irreverently the things of God.  

Editor’s Note: The following letter was written by Jason Duesing, provost at Midwestern Seminary; Thomas White, president of Cedarville University; and Malcolm Yarnell, professor of systematic theology at Southwestern Seminary.

We are compelled by conscience to respond publicly to a June 6 public editorial penned by a revered Southern Baptist newspaper editor (Gerald Harris, The Christian Index, link to editorial: http://bit.ly/1OsJwNs). Before reading our fourfold response, please allow us a preliminary word to our brother in Christ and to the general reader:

First, to our brother in Christ, please know that we write as those who share your concerns about the imperiled present and future state of our culture and society. As Southern Baptist churchmen like you and as leaders in higher education, we have a long-standing appreciation for your work and witness at The Christian Index.

Second, to the general reader, please know that we agree with the editor’s effort to inform readers of teachings within Islam that are not fully known in the public square. We appreciate the editor’s attempt to raise questions requiring further exploration. Moreover, we recognize, support, and will heartily defend the right of the editor to express these views.

However, while we appreciate the intended tone of the editorial, we do disagree with the tenor for the four following reasons:

First, we believe, as Americans, that our Constitution guarantees the “first freedom” among all human freedoms, the freedom of religion with all of its benefits. For Christian Americans to question whether Muslim Americans qualify for religious freedom is essentially a question about whether all Americans are under the protection of the first and fourteenth amendments. We believe that all Americans, including Muslims, are granted, as an inalienable human right, the freedom of conscience to worship God as they believe best.

Second, we believe, as Baptists, that questioning whether Muslims deserve religious liberty is foreign to the historic Baptist understanding of biblical faith and practice. From the Reformation to the present, Baptists have been leading advocates for the separation of church and state and the freedom of religion for all citizens. In a supplement to this letter (link: http://bit.ly/1Uy5MpE), we include quotes from the first continental Anabaptists and from the first English Baptists in order to demonstrate that religious liberty is foundational to our faith.

We note that Thomas Helwys (the English Baptist pastor to whom most scholars trace Baptist origins) specifically included “Turks” (i.e. Muslims) as possessing religious liberty from God. There are also quotes from leading American Baptists such as Roger Williams, Isaac Backus, and John Leland, each of whom was instrumental in shaping American Baptist life as well as American political thought.

Third, we believe, as Southern Baptists, that universal religious liberty is a non-negotiable aspect of our denomination’s theology. In that light, we have included a portion of the Baptist Faith and Message in the second appendix (see link: http://bit.ly/1Uy5MpE). We have also included one of our most recent denominational resolutions supporting religious liberty. The Southern Baptist Convention has adopted dozens of religious liberty resolutions since our inception in 1845, and this resolution, from 2011, specifically supports the freedom of Muslims to build mosques.

Fourth, we believe, as Evangelical Christians, that it is inappropriate to question whether Muslims should retain the right freely to practice their religion. We understand that granting such rights to some forms of Islam might one day lead to the threatening of Christians in our worship. However, we trust God will honor our faithfulness to proclaim and practice his Word for his glory and to the best of our ability. Moreover, we believe any attempt to inhibit religious liberty will only prove to be a hindrance to reaching these precious men and women, created in God’s image, with the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. As those who believe in the exclusivity of Christ for salvation and who know that one cannot be coerced to believe and be saved, we want religious freedom for all human beings, while there is still time before the day of final judgment.

We ask our brother and we ask all Baptists, as well as other people interested in human freedom, to join us in preserving the first freedom, freedom of religion, and in rejecting any restriction of its universal application. 

ST. LOUIS, Mo. Brandon Kiesling, instructor of evangelism at Southwestern Seminary, says Crossover, the Southern Baptist Convention’s yearly evangelism push prior to its annual meeting, is significant for three reasons. 

First, the lost are confronted with the gospel. 

Second, local churches are reinvigorated during the weeklong evangelism push. “Many of the churches we work with do not have the drive and/or personnel to visit thousands of homes in one week,” Kiesling says. “So, the Southern Baptist seminaries send an army of trained evangelists to come alongside the churches to give them the boost they need to reach their communities for Christ.”

Finally, Crossover provides seminary students the opportunity to sharpen their skills in evangelism. “Over the week,” Kiesling explains, “each student will get multiple opportunities to share his/her faith with the lost, and many of them will get opportunities to lead people to Christ. This experience is invaluable to students as they are preparing for gospel ministry.”

All three of these elements were reaffirmed during this year’s Crossover event in St. Louis, June 4-11. Seventy-five students and staff from Southwestern Seminary participated, working alongside Tower Grove Baptist Church to ultimately visit more than 5,000 homes in five days. By the grace of God and to the glory of his name, these collective efforts ultimately yielded 105 professions of faith. 

“I think SWBTS led the way among all of our seminaries in bringing the number of students they did but also in trying to re-establish that intentional evangelism is what Crossover is all about,” evangelism professor Matt Queen said.

Chris Coury, pastor of Tower Grove Baptist Church mapped out nearly 10,000 homes within the neighborhood surrounding their church. Teams of Southwestern students went door-to-door throughout the community of Shaw and knocked on doors with the express intent of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with members of the community. They passed out fliers to invite people to a block party at the end of the week, offered to replace smoke detectors in homes and prayed for the Spirit of God to lead them to people who were in need of hope. 

“Of course when we can help people paint fences and install smoke detectors we want to do that, but our main concern is to tell people about the gospel of Jesus Christ; that’s what our students did, and we saw 105 people receive the Lord because of it,” Queen said. 

Giving Hope to the Hopeless

SWBTS students began the week of Crossover on Monday, June 6. It was on this same day that master’s student Kim Whitten received a phone call that her brother and sister-in-law who were expecting their first child had lost their baby. Struggling as one who has hope, Whitten felt the Lord clearly telling her that he had called her to Crossover, even as she mourned the loss in her family. So, when a fellow Crossover team member fell ill the next morning, Whitten jumped in to help take her to the hospital for medical attention. 

“I didn’t want to be in a hospital that day,” recalled Whitten, “because I couldn’t be at the hospital with my brother and sister-in-law, and it was a place I just didn’t want to be. But I knew this is where God had me, so I thought, ‘The Lord says give joy in all circumstances, so I’m going to have joy even while this girl is throwing up on my shoes.’” 

After spending a full day at the hospital, Whitten initiated conversations with other people in the waiting room, always to be cut off due to external circumstances. As they were preparing to leave the hospital, a woman with a deep scowl on her face caught Whitten’s eye. She walked over, offered her a tissue, and asked one simple question, “Are you alright?”

Sindra, the woman Whitten approached, shared that she had lost her job, been kicked out of her home, and unable to feed herself for the past two days. “This is the worst day of my life,” she told Whitten. 

Following the Lord’s prompting, Whitten shared the gospel with Sindra immediately.

After walking through the Romans Road, Whitten told Sindra she could have a relationship with Jesus Christ if she would just talk to him. Sindra began her prayer in earnest by telling God she didn’t know how to begin. 

“But then she just said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’” Whitten said. “And the more she said ‘I’m sorry,’ the more broken she became. She was more broken over her sin than anyone I’ve ever seen.” 

Sindra ended her prayer by simply stating, “God if you’ll give me hope, I’ll give you my life.” 

Whitten saw a smile spread across Sindra’s face after she finished her prayer and a complete transformation in her countenance. Celebrating with her new sister in Christ, Whitten reminded her, “Today you walked in here with no hope and walked out with the God of the universe to give you not only life, but abundant life.”

Sindra’s story is just one of the many that Southwestern students experienced during the week of Crossover. Southwestern president Paige Patterson said, “The fact of the matter is that these kids change not only other lives but their own lives because they learn firsthand that you really can witness to people and see results, and they’ll spend the rest of their lives, many of them, witnessing. I’m extremely proud of them and grateful for them.” 

Ruling overturns lower court ruling

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ST. LOUIS Tennessee pastor Steve Gaines was elected by acclamation as Southern Baptist Convention president after fellow candidate J.D. Greear withdrew his candidacy June 15 in a display of unity.

Greear’s withdrawal followed a runoff vote the day before that didn’t produce a majority winner. His decision avoided a second runoff and left Gaines elected by acclamation as president of the SBC during the annual meeting in St. Louis.

Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., told the convention he prayed the night before and believed “we need to leave St. Louis united.” He made the motion for Gaines to be elected by acclamation.

Gaines said he, too, had decided internally Tuesday night to withdraw but agreed to serve as president after a conversation with Greear. “There’s no way God is not doing something in all of this.”

“I just wanted Jesus to be lifted high” and the convention to be united, Gaines said.

Gaines, Greear and New Orleans pastor David Crosby originally were nominated for convention president.

In the first ballot cast by 5,784 messengers, Crosby received 583 votes or 10.08 percent; Gaines received 2,551 votes, or 44.1 percent; and Greear received 2,601 votes, or 44.97 percent. None of the candidates received 50 percent or more of the votes, forcing a runoff.

Then in the runoff ballot, with 7,230 messengers registered, 4,824 ballots were cast. Gaines received 2,410 votes or 49.96 percent while Greear received 2,306 votes or 47.80 percent. However, 108 votes were considered illegal because the wrong ballot was used or an indistinguishable mark was made.

Roberts Rules of Order require that the 108 illegal votes be counted to determine a majority. To be declared a winner, Gaines or Greear needed to win 50 percent plus 1 of ballots cast, or 2,413 or more votes. Gaines was three votes shy of the majority.

Had the second runoff election taken place, it would have been the first time in SBC history that a second ballot for the same two candidates in the presidential election would have been necessary, said chief parliamentarian Barry McCarty.

The new SBC president succeeds Ronnie Floyd, pastor of Cross Church in Northwest Ark.

During the 11 years Gaines has pastored Memphis-area Bellevue Baptist Church, the congregation has averaged 481 baptisms per year, according to the SBC’s Annual Church Profile database. Previously, he pastored churches in Alabama, Tennessee and Texas.

Bellevue voted to give $1 million during its 2016-17 church year through the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists’ unified channel for funding state- and SBC-level missions and ministries. That will total approximately 4.6 percent of undesignated receipts, the church told Baptist Press.

Gaines was nominated by former SBC President Johnny Hunt, who emphasized Gaines’ commitment to evangelism.

“When baptisms are at a 15-year low, we need Steve to lead us in a great soul-winning resurgence,” Hunt said.

Among his denominational service, Gaines has been a member of the Committee on Nominations, a trustee of LifeWay Christian Resources, a member of the committee that proposed a revision of the Baptist Faith and Message in 2000, chairman of the Resolutions Committee, and president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference, Hunt noted.

In winning the election, Gaines is the fourth president from Bellevue Baptist Church, following Southern Baptist legends R.G. Lee, Ramsey Pollard and Adrian Rogers.

Greear, 43, was nominated by Jimmy Scroggins, pastor of First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, as a younger alternative to the two other candidates, saying his election would signal the next generation of leaders they “have a place at the SBC table.”

Former SBC President Fred Luter nominated fellow Louisiana pastor Crosby.

Doug Munton, pastor of First Baptist Church in O’Fallon, Ill., was elected first vice president, was and Malachi O’Brien, pastor of The Church at Pleasant Ridge in Harrisonville, Mo., was elected second vice president. John L. Yeats, executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, was re-elected to a 20th term as recording secretary, while Jim Wells, a church consultant and retired Missouri Baptist Convention staff member was re-elected to a 15th term as registration secretary.  

 —Contributing to this story were Todd Deaton of the Western Recorder, Brian Koonce of The Pathway, and David Roach of Baptist Press.