Prominent Southern Baptist theologian Albert Mohler is rebuking the United Methodist Church over its division on LGBT issues, arguing the increasingly progressive denomination is creating “two religions.”
On the Wednesday episode of his daily podcast, “The Briefing,” he called out Hope United Methodist Church in Bloomington, Illinois, for allowing Isaac Simmons — a gay man who often preaches in drag — to serve in a ministerial position.
“This is open revolt,” said Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. “And, of course, you’re going to see a division between those who are appalled by it, deeply troubled by it, deeply concerned by it and opposed to it on the one hand, and those who celebrate it and say that it’s arrived far too late on the other hand.”
Mohler broadened his condemnation to the UMC denomination as a whole, arguing that, by allowing the Illinois church to approve Simmons as a pastor, the church has “embraced doctrinal annihilation,” adding that the growing schism among Protestants on issues of sexuality is — rather than establishing two differing interpretations — creating “two different religions.”
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“Those two different religions,” he said, “cannot simply continue to exist in one church or in one denomination. Once conservatives are out of the picture in the United Methodist Church, this is only the start of where things will go in the future.”
As for Simmons, he recently preached a message on Mark 15, which recounts Jesus’ appearance before Pilate and His crucifixion.
Simmons, though, used the passage as a jumping off point to encourage those who watched the virtual sermon to understand Jesus’ death “through a lens of queerness, through a lens of drag, even.” He said “people will tremble sensing the mystery of queer holiness.”
“There is holiness in queerness,” Simmons said. “There is holiness in ally’s hip. There is holiness in femininity, masculinity, and fluidity. … Your identity is not a sin. Your identity is not punishable. Your identity deserves to be celebrated and loved and cared for.”
As Faithwire reported earlier this week, UMC churches are becoming increasingly divided over issues pertaining to sexuality.
Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church in Cobb County, Georgia, broke away from the UMC over what the Rev. Dr. Jody Ray, who leads the congregation, described as “progressive theology that is, in fact, no theology at all.”
The UMC, which holds to a theology of itinerant ministry, informed Mt. Bethel that Ray had been reassigned to a position on racial reconciliation in the denomination’s North Georgia Conference. The pastor, though, denied the position, telling Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson such a role “is not what God is calling me to do.”
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“I want you to remember this day,” he told his family during his Sunday sermon two weeks ago. “Your daddy didn’t bow the knee or kiss the ring of progressive theology, that is, in fact, no theology at all.”
“Be careful of secular theologies and thoughts that often come described as biblical truth,” the pastor told churchgoers. “Know and understand the Scripture in such a way that you can determine through the Holy Spirit what is right.”