Anybody that Stands Behind This Pulpit to Preach, I Trust!

Posted on by March 5, 2025avatar

Mafia is a process, not a thing. Mafia is a form of clan-cooperation to which its individual members pledge lifelong loyalty….
Friendship, connections, family ties, trust, loyalty, this was the glue that held us together.

 –Joseph Bonanno

The recent SBC abuse report shows that churches often prioritize tribal unity and safety over “divisive” truth.

For years in my Southern Baptist context, the lore was always about a leader in the denomination—who fancied himself a sort of party boss or even bishop—who would send to those who crossed him a bouquet of flowers, with nothing but a card with his name. The flowers were interpreted to signify something along the lines of “You’re dead to me” or “I know what you did” or some such thing.

The first step to achieving any sort of justice for anybody is to first break the power of the fear of exile. And that’s hard to do. But eventually, people will start to tell the difference between “conviction” and mafia threats, between “resurgence” and power politics, between preaching and demagoguery, between politeness and complicity.

Almost 30 years ago, I heard several good sermons from multiple people referencing Elton Trueblood’s warning of a “cut-flower” church—in which a bouquet in a vase can seem lovely and alive, but when severed from the root, it has only the appearance of life. That’s true. And it doesn’t just apply to people who lose their faith to liberalism, but to those who lose their way from Christ by any means. In whatever context, mafias—whether real or metaphorical—only work if all that matters is belonging and safety.

-Russell Moore, “When Churches Become Mafias,” Christianity Today, May 26,2022

 

Update 3-5-2025

Judge Kaplan sentenced Matthew Queen to 1 year probation of which 6 months Queen will be confined to his home, and he was fined $2,100.

2025-03-05 Sentencing of Matthew Queen by Todd Wilhelm

 

In the video below Ed Snowden speaks of the value of skepticism. He is speaking of skepticism of government. I believe it applies equally well to pastors and denominational leaders.

 

 

Below is a clip of Dr. Teddy Sorrells introducing Dr. Matthew Queen prior to Queen standing behind the pulpit to preach. Dr. Sorrells briefly (and vaguely) mentioned some family problems Dr. Queen was enduring over the past few years, failing to mention these problems were self-induced, caused by lying to the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice, a Grand Jury, and then the Christian world at large by declaring the following:

“I fully cooperated with this investigation and have pleaded not guilty to the charge against me. As a Christian, a (former) seminary professor, and now a pastor, my integrity is everything to me and I will cling to that integrity and seek to be vindicated by God and man,”
Matthew Queen, May 22, 2024

 

 

The Sunday after the trusted Dr. Matthew Queen was allowed to speak at Dr. Teddy Sorrell’s church, Sorrell called on the trusted Dr. Ed Upton to stand behind the pulpit and preach. Dr. Upton quickly removed any doubt from my mind that he should be trusted when he stated, “Dr. Queen is one of the great men of God that I have ever known.”

Seriously?

One of the great men of God, and oh, by the way, a felon! Either God doesn’t have a very large pool from which to draw, or Dr. Upton’s “men of God” he has known are largely selected from this pool:

 

Besides endorsing Matthew Queen from the pulpit, there are a few other things that cause me to wonder about the man’s trustworthiness. He served as the Assistant to the President of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.  That President was Ronnie Floyd, a man who appears to me to not have been overly concerned about survivors of abuse.

 

 

 

Also of interest to me is the fact that Dr. Matt Henslee, another man that wrote a letter to Judge Kaplan in support of Matthew Queen, is also a member of the Church Ambassador Network of Texas. It’s concerning to see all these SBC leaders from Texas supporting Dr. Queen.

 

 

Judging by his short spiel before his most recent sermon, Dr. Sorrells must have received some pushback from the rock-throwing peasants in the pews regarding his choice of bringing in a soon-to-be-sentenced felon to preach to them. But not to worry people, Dr. Sorrells said that: 

“Anybody that stands behind this pulpit to preach I trust.”

This statement implies that his fellow church members should therefore blindly trust the choices he makes. (I would again point you to the words of Ed Snowden on healthy skepticism.) I know I am not alone when I say that anyone who lies to the FBI in an official investigation and creates a phony record of conversation to bolster his lies should not be trusted, nor should he be a pastor. Queen’s former church, Friendly Avenue Baptist Church had the good sense to remove him from the pulpit. (Technically Queen resigned, but it was either that or be fired.) That Dr. Sorrells trusts Queen tells me that he is a poor judge of character and obtaining a Ph.D. from SWBTS doesn’t mean you have a lick of common sense.

 

 

Comments

Anybody that Stands Behind This Pulpit to Preach, I Trust! — 42 Comments

  3. Anybody that Stands Behind This Pulpit to Preach, I Trust!

    Well, if that is how they are measuring their leaders, I guess they can be trusted to not handle The Bible correctly.

    They will pervert even that to their own ends since it is obvious their judgement has been perverted.

    I mean really, if this is an example of the results of the ruler they are using, how can anyone trust anything that comes out of their mouths?

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  6. “Anybody that stands behind this pulpit to preach I trust.”

    I think it’s safe to say that pewsitters are gradually coming to their senses about this thanks to the blogosphere; Christian watchblogs such as TWW have shed tremendous light on the state-of-the-church. Don’t trust a man by his title; trust him only after he proves to be trustworthy. And this takes time with careful observation … do they truly walk the talk? … who are they really?

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  9. Max:
    “Anybody that stands behind this pulpit to preach I trust.”

    …do they truly walk the talk? … who are they really?

    For decades, the “walk” of the SBC leaders has been on the backs of trusting pew sitters.
    Their “talk” of the SBC leaders has been saturated with secrecy, lies, suppression, and whitewashing.

    Matt Queen has been part of and party to all that “walk” and “talk”……. Dr. Teddy Sorrell just made it blatantly obvious that he is, too!

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  13. Max: With a large population of evangelical Christians, Texas is fertile ground for bad-boy leaders. The “trust” factor plays into their schemes.

    The vast majority of them (Texas fundagelicals) are far-right in their political leanings too.
    It plays a large role in who and what they are.
    They don’t want a democracy, they want a dictatorship.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  14. Re Texas: look at the history. A bunch of Anglo illegal aliens, willing to join or claim to have joined a church they mostly abhorred in order to stay in the territory, determined to run out the brown folks, the red folks, and bring in enslaved black folks. Convinced from the get go they were God’s anointed to whom the territory naturally belonged. Long convinced women were not quite as human and special as males. My Texas born family would never let me at their pot luck again, but I will say this: imagine the Alamo not as the bastion of American freedom, but what it really was. Let me put it gently: suppose a hundred or so illegals today took over the chapel at Taos determined to fight to death rather than be deported by ICE.

    Texans have always seen themselves as superior to other folks in the USA, and of course superior to those in Texas before them and those they brought in as slaves. And to be blunt, Texas white men have long held everything they do is ordained by God and to oppose them is to oppose God.

    What could possibly go wrong there?

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  16. Over half a century ago, I was advised to never trust a preacher who wore a gold choker chain, had slick dyed black hair, or sported a prominent tattoo. During my long journey through the American church, I’ve experienced all of that and more. Actually, I’ve trusted the guys with tattoos more than the choker chain and dyed hair characters. “Hurry, Hurry, Hurry, Step Right Up To The Greatest Show On Earth!”

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  18. For maybe fifteen-twenty years, I never heard John Macarthur referenced without the prefix “The great biblical scholar, Doctor..”. The more I learned about Macarthur, the more I realized nothing about that prefix was true. His bachelors and masters degrees were questionable, he didn’t actually earn a doctorate, various ex-elders and staff have come out and said he doesn’t write his sermons or books, and his church has faced endless scandals which he often completely lied about to his members and the public.

    I watched friends who attended Grace struggle with some of these scandals and the lengths the elders went to keep them quiet. Hohn Cho, the rising star of GCC, quit over one of them. There are more that haven’t been made public. Probably a lot more.

    There’s an old joke that goes: “Yeah, he’s a great guy! You can just ask him!”

    I have to admit, after years of evangelicalism, I find it hard to trust anyone behind a pulpit now. I’ve seen how many pastors go to Christian college and seminary to become “trusted” by enough gullible people so they can get money and fame. It was so bad at Liberty that people from other departments openly made jokes about them.

    Those pastors make friends with others who want money and fame, so they can trust each other not to rat the other one out. I’m pretty sure that’s the kind of trust happening at the pulpit above.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  19. Matthew Queen was sentenced today to 1 year probation of which 6 months he will be confined to his home, and a $2,100 fine. Although I had hoped for a prison sentence, the home confinement is realistically the best we could hope for. Read the sentencing document here:

    Note – I have embedded the document to this article. It’s just a little down from the top of the story.

    https://www.scribd.com/document/835820612/2025-03-05-Sentencing-of-Matthew-Queen

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  20. ishy,

    Witnessed Macarthur justify the attack on Iraq some years back with theology that was a mile wide and inch deep and completely flavoured with US nationalism and exceptionalism. “We need to support the President”
    He was also dismissive of other church leaders throughout the world, who like others, pointed out the lack of evidence to attack Iraq and the immorality of such an attack on innocent men, women and children. It could be argued that what Macarthur knows best is his market.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  22. Ian Docker: It could be argued that what Macarthur knows best is his market.

    I’m not even sure that’s true, because, like I said, he doesn’t write his own stuff. I think he’s a persuasive speaker, but I think others do his thinking for him. It may be that there was financial or other gain involved with that, but I’m sure someone curated that message for him.

    I mean, this is the guy who rewrote the 1960s to put himself in the civil rights movement, and he definitely didn’t get the facts right. That seems to be an example of thinking for himself.

    I will say that his followers don’t need deep theology. They will believe anything he says without question, and when they members start to question, the elders go after them hard and fast. Unfortunately, I’ve seen this personally in situations that caused (and still cause) extreme harm.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  25. ishy,

    Goodness, sounds like you’re describing a Reagan, Biden (and GWB jr) scenario with all these people ‘a team’ propping him up.
    If so, no doubt they are on wages and commissions to keep the enterprise rolling on.
    Anyway, have found Macarthur’s theology and mannerisms at best dubious, and many of his cult like followers needing an introduction to the gospels where Jesus’s lived out and spoke of divine love & grace, forgiveness, material contentment, humility & having a servant spirit, righteousness,
    Kingdom citizenship, and who and through true hope is found.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  26. Nancy2(aka Kevlar): scribd removed it, but it’s on BNG

    Thanks, you’re the second person that has told me it has been removed, but the document link still works for me and the document is there. I checked to make sure I didn’t make it private, and I didn’t so I am unsure what the problem is. Anyway, thanks for the link to the BNG article.

    I think I will attempt to embed the document at the end of this post.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  30. Todd Wilhelm: Nancy2(aka Kevlar): I wonder….. would Queen have gotten off even easier if the trial had been held in Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky……..

    My guess is yes, he would have probably not been confined to his house for 6 months.

    i.e. The CHRISTIAN states of Texas, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
    TOUCH NOT MINE ANOINTED!

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  32. Ian Docker,

    Interesting tidbit–the last time I talked with someone who went to Grace, they said that the sermons had been in the Torah for SIX years. So, I think you are exactly right–Jesus is nowhere to be found.

    My experience in dudebro New Calvinist land was very similar. They avoid the gospels, unless it’s to cherry pick a verse that makes God sound mean and heartless. If you ask them directly about anything that makes Jesus seem loving, they will claim that’s only for the elect like them or change subjects.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  34. ishy: My experience in dudebro New Calvinist land was very similar. They avoid the gospels

    Indeed! The NeoCals talk a lot about “God”, while barely mentioning Jesus, and nary a word about the Holy Spirit. They camp out in the epistles of Paul, but dodge the Gospels. When I get the chance, I tell them that if they read Paul first, they might read Jesus wrong … but if they read Jesus first, the writings of Paul come into perspective.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  35. ishy: If you ask them directly about anything that makes Jesus seem loving, they will claim that’s only for the elect like them

    Which, of course, is heresy. False teaching/theology always contains a wrong view of God, man, sin and salvation. NeoCal’s position on “grace” distorts all those things; their theology is Bonhoeffer’s “cheap grace” in motion.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  37. Max,

    If I recall, Hybels regarded his seeker service approach essentially as undertaking ‘mission’ in the context of contemporary ministry and presentation methods. While Macarthur propogates himself as a teacher/theologian of the word who is in ministry to instruct believers.
    If I recall again, it was the feed back and poor statistics on conversions and making of disciples that led Hybels to question his approach.
    I don’t think how Macarthur sees himself, nor his adherance to calvinism blended with his personality will lead him to do likewise.
    Having said that, I often like to be wrong.
    Back to Hybels, I thought he lost the plot somewhat when he became preoccupied with all this ‘leadership’ development stuff and the models he shared the platform with.
    Wasn’t this also the era when clergy were encouraged not to be pastors, but rather ‘Ranchers’ if they wished to be successful?

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  38. Max: Indeed! The NeoCals talk a lot about “God”

    Where I was the term in use was always “The LORD”, sometimes actually spoken with caps lock and multiple O’s. I ran into some whose every other word out of their mouth was “The LORD, The LORD, The LORD”. (Sounds a lot like “vain repetition among the Heathens”.)

    Decades later, I found out the word “Ba’al” can also mean “Lord”. And ever since I have found this trope very amusing (see Elijah at Mount Carmel).

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  39. Ian Docker: Back to Hybels, I thought he lost the plot somewhat when he became preoccupied with all this ‘leadership’ development stuff and the models he shared the platform with.

    Hybels may have also been preoccupied with other things … he was removed from ministry following allegations of sexual misconduct spanning decades. Since then, the Willow Creek model of doing church (one mile wide and one inch deep) has fallen out of favor.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  42. Max:
    “Anybody that Stands Behind This Pulpit to Preach, I Trust!”

    Robert Morris, Bill Hybels, Carl Lentz, Mike Bickle, Ravi Zacharias, Bill Gothard, Johnny Hunt, etc. etc.

    Mark Driscoll, Ted Haggard, Doug Wilson, Polish-the-Shaft Schaap, Doug Phillips ESQUIRE, Steve Furtick, Ed Young, Mike Bickle, James MacArthur, Kenneth Copeland, Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell Jr, Jim Bakker, Robert Jeffress, Paul Crouch, …

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

Leave a comment - Click here for our commenting rules

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *