Letter to the Editor: Heartbroken in Leaving Her Southern Baptist Church Over Deception Issues

To Lighthouse Trails:

Last December during our Church Council, they (pastor and his wife) announced that we would be studying The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, and the Sunday School teachers would  be teaching it.  As one of the teachers, I said “No, I will not teach it.  I don’t believe in it.”  One of the women on the Council said, “But we love it.”  I told them I didn’t love it, and I would not teach it.  She is the woman who teaches most of the Women’s Bible studies and had them read  [Don Miller’s] Blue like Jazz.  I read a couple of pages and refused to participate.  Same thing with a Beth Moore study.  She was behind this one also and had talked about “lifeboats” and had a group of the church leaders in her home to meet the man who wrote the book about that concept.

I gave my Sunday School the option of continuing their Bible study or going to the presentation of The Purpose Driven.  I explained my objections to it.  They chose to follow her, and I told them I would return to continue the class when that was over.

When I returned to the class, we began a study of prophecy in the Bible, starting with Genesis.  The Pastor required that I submit my syllabus to his wife for approval.

At that time, I had to leave on a trip for a family matter.  Before we returned from that trip, I checked the local newsletter online and saw the announcement that the pastor had cancelled Prayer Meetings and instituted Cottage meetings to teach Richard Foster’s book on Contemplative Prayer.  I was heartsick.  This was just an ongoing issue with the church.  I got home on Tuesday, and by Saturday I was in the hospital with a bleeding ulcer and getting a blood transfusion.  I felt strongly, and so did my husband, God was telling us to leave our little Southern Baptist church.

When I was discharged, I sent a letter of resignation to the pastor and others who needed to know and resigned all my responsibilities.  I was chairperson for several committees as well as a teacher and worship leader.

We started attending a little Baptist church down the road, and then I found out that the progressives have invaded and pretty much taken over our seminaries and colleges.  The pastor of our new church is an awesome young man and well rooted in the Christian faith.  I have listened carefully and questioned him, and I am impressed.

I am 70 years old and I have been a Christian for about 66 of those years. I was heart broken over my church.  I was disturbed and sad and felt lonely even though my husband was with me on this.  I questioned whether or not I needed to stay and keep fighting this or just leave.  I had given it my best shot and nobody listened.  Several of my class members came to see me while I convalesced but nothing was changing at church.  I definitely felt God telling me to leave and not look back.

You have been there for me also as I struggled with the apostasy in the church.  God bless you and thank you for myself and my husband.