Daily Discernment

By Ginger Taylor

The Evangelical “Church” in the US has fallen into gross sin, now spilling over under the weight of the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements.

In that discussion there has been some focus on victims of this mistreatment, condeming many in the secular world for not speaking up when they were mistreated, and condeming many in the Christian world for speaking up when they were mistreated.

Like so many crisis points, we arrive at them as a society because long ago we stopped obeying God in his commands on how we are to behave toward one another.  Because of previous experience in the church when I was a younger woman, I became convicted years ago that I am responsible to obey God to the best of my ability in these matters.

12 years ago, after experiencing Church abuse yet again, knees knocking, I attempted to walk through a Matthew 18 process, all the way to filing a complaint against a head pastor of a large church who was in sin.  The result was that my formal complaint was ignored, that the slander and abuse against my husband and I continued, and to this day we have broken relationships with friends and family because of unaddressed sin in that church leadership.

This blog was started for me to process that experience.

After spending three years trying to reconcile, I finally acted in obedience 1 Timothy 5:19-20, “Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear,” and made the entire record public.

I find myself under that obligation again.

God has given us a command that, if it were being followed by those who profess to love Him, (and thus should be obeying him), then the decades long sex, financial and power abuse scandals that continue to roll across our country destroying lives would have been stoped at the chute and torn out by the root.  There would be no second, third, fourth of 40th victims.

I work in advocacy on medical corruption, and after doing so for 14 years now.  Last year I was convicted that, when Secretary Tom Price, a professing Christian and a man of such repute and trust in the church that he spoke from the pulpit at his church, Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, took over the goverment position responsible for this corruption, that I had to attempt to correct him via Matthew 18, before I could move forward against him in advocacy.

So I contacted Art Wilder at Johnson Ferry Baptist to begin that process.  His response was poor.  After an initial hope that he was going to address the situation appropriately, he fell into false teaching on God’s direction for addressing sin and conflict, and became disrespectful and dismissive.  He took the position that because I lived in another city and state (Brunswick, Maine, not Marietta, Georgia), and because was a member of a different church body and denomination (Presby not Baptist), that the Matthew 18 process did not apply.  He also stated they would not hear my complaint should I try to bring one against Price, that they had already determined that Price was innocent of the charges that I had not yet made to them nor had they investigated, and that I was obligated should sue him in secular courts instead.  After confronting him on these multiple false teching in a phone call (during which he became disrespectful and dismissive), attempting to meet with him in person when I was in Atlanta, and writing to him personally, I filed a formal complaint with Pastor Bryant Wright.  Pastor Scott Odom responded with a pacifying email confirming reciept of the complaint, and later stated that they would not be discussing the matter with me further.

When a justice system shuts down, crime begins to flourish.

When an immune system shuts down, disease begins to run rampant.

Thus it is reasonable to assume that a church that will put on paper that they do not address accusations of serious sin from those who are not members of their own local body, may be in the grip of other systematic sin and corruption.  Or if it is not, it likely will be soon.

Below is my record of all communication on these matters:

Subject:Re: In obedience to 1 Cor 6 and Matt 18:15
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2017 11:41:30 -0400
From: Ginger Taylor
To: Art Wilder @ Johnson Ferry Baptist Church
CC: Danny Patterson, Shelley Hendrix , Mike Baumgardner, Brenda Solomon, Mary Holland

Dear Pastor Wilder,

Thank you for taking the time to call me today. As requested, I am sending you a short bio with references, so that you can have a more clear picture of who I am.

By way of introduction, I am a 48 year old married mother of two sons, living in Brunswick, Maine. I am also the mother of a vaccine injured child. I am a Christian, attending Second Parish Presbyterian Church in Portland, lead by Pastor Danny Patterson. I grew up at McLean Bible Church, Pastored by Lon Solomon and Michael Baumgardener (now of Marietta, Ga). I hold a BS in Psychology from Liberty University and an MS in Clinical Counseling from Johns Hopkins University. I am the director of the Maine Coalition for Vaccine choice, a co-founder of The Canary Party, and a board member of HealthChoice.org. I was elected to the Maine Delegation to the 2012 GOP Convention. I was published this year in the Johns Hopkins journal, Narratives in Bioethics, I am also a Co-author and contributing editor of the book, Vaccine Epidemic. I work closely with Mary Holland, JD, Director of the Graduate Lawyering Program at NYU Law school, and member of the Supreme Court Bar, who was involved in the landmark SCOTUS case of Bruesewitz v. Wyeth, which closed the courthouse doors to vaccine injury families in cases where vaccines are defectively designed.

The aforementioned, and my accountability partner in this, Shelley Hendrix of Baton Rouge, LA, are copied here so that you can easily confirm my standing and my good faith intentions.

I have worked and written for 12 years on the subject of vaccine safety, and parental choice. Because families have had their 7th amendment rights to sue in cases of vaccine injury and death, the vaccine program has become rife with fraud and corruption. Two years ago, I wrote a bill that was introduced into the Maine State Legislature to work toward correcting the problems resulting from bad federal law at the state level. The bill, in part, required physicians and medical professionals to be educated on, and held accountable to, vaccine safety information and guidelines provided to them by the federal government and product manufacturers. The bill was passed and implemented in a highly amended form, but more surprisingly, the information that came out of the hearings uncovered a shocking amount of ignorance by physicians and medical organizations on the basics of vaccine risks and federal policy that was put in place to replace their liability.

After more than two years of efforts to close these dangerous gaps that are resulting in harm to children, and failure to diagnose or treat them for their vaccine adverse reactions, working within both the legislature and the current Governor’s administration, we have exhausted our options, and now are left with turning to the legislative branch to address the matter. Because the state problems are also the result of a long standing corruption in these matters across several federal agencies, any such suit would be directed both at the state and federal departments of Health and Human Services. And all of the problems that I am trying to correct are under the purview of Dr. Tom Price, member of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church.

Because my sisters in Christ who also have vaccine injured children and I desperately want God to shed light on this injustice, bring truth, stop the vaccine injury epidemic and give healing to our children and our community, we have committed ourselves to obedience and submission as we pursue an end to this darkness we have been suffering in. I have learned that my “opponent at the law” is a firm believer in Christ, so trusted by his church that he speaks from the pulpit. 1 Corinthians 6 instructs me that bringing him before the civil courts is a poor choice, and Matthew 18:15 is a command to me to go to a brother who has wronged me and teach him his fault, so that he may be brought back in union with God. So I am attempting to meet with Dr. Price in obedience.

While Dr. Price did not design this broken program, when he took on the role of Secretary of Health and Human Services, he became the steward of this now dangerous program, and the unethical and criminal activity that currently stands, which includes failure to disclose known risks to consumers, failures to disclose financial conflicts of interests to consumers, research fraud, embezzlement, lying to Congress and a litany of malfeasance going back decades. He is now accountable for this sin, that he has been informed of in part, but not completely.

So I am contacting you in an effort to show him the destructive error that he has adopted. I hope that you can facilitate a meeting where Dr. Price can be “shown his fault” so that he can have an opportunity make right what his predecessors have done, relieve himself of the current roster of

children who are being harmed on his watch because of the fraudulent program he has inherited, and bring relief to our family, and the tens of thousands of families like us.

Let me know what I need to do to facilitate things further.

Sincerely,

Ginger Taylor, MS
Maine Coalition for Vaccine Choice
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From: Ginger Taylor
Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2017 1:37 PM
To: Art Wilder
Cc: Shelley Hendrix
Subject: Fwd: Re: In obedience to 1 Cor 6 and Matt 18:15

Good Afternoon Pastor Wilder,

I am writing to follow up on our conversation last week. I understand from my pastor, Danny Patterson, that you have not yet contacted him, so I wanted to make sure to send a reminder of my request.

I understand that this may seem unusual, or perhaps even a nuisance to you, but I urge you to please take this matter seriously and with close obedience to God’s biblical instruction. God has prescribed for us a method of handling conflicts, and I realized this week after speaking with Shelley, whom you met on Sunday, that it is to all of our shame that this is used so little that it does seem weird to us. If we were obedient to Him, this would not seem strange at all. Sadly, our refusal to simply work out conflicts in the church may be a core reason why a country with such a firm foundation, and such a large church, has become so corrupt and broken.

I hope to hear from you soon,

Ginger Taylor

 

On 8/23/2017 1:28 PM, Art Wilder wrote:

Hi Ginger,

I’ve read your email and am considering the best way to take action on it, I’ll let you know more when I know more.

Thanks, Art

 

From: Ginger Taylor
Sent: Monday, August 28, 2017 2:10 PM
To: Art Wilder
Subject: Re: In obedience to 1 Cor 6 and Matt 18:15

Good afternoon Pastor Wilder,

I wanted you to be aware that this is our last week in DC. We will be driving back to Maine on Sept 4th and the window will close for me to be able to speak to Dr. Price in person.

As we are not a family of means, it is unlikely that I will be able to come back down in the coming weeks to speak to him.

Thank you for your consideration on this effort.

Ginger Taylor, MS
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On 8/30/2017 9:57 AM, Art Wilder wrote:

Hi Ginger,

I’ve not forgotten you and your request – I’m busy “crossing t’s and dotting I’s” with my leadership – I’ll get back to you when our process permits –

Thanks, Art

 

From: Ginger Taylor
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2017 9:58 AM
To: Art Wilder
Subject: Re: In obedience to 1 Cor 6 and Matt 18:15

Thank you, Art.

Ginger Taylor, MS
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Subject: RE: In obedience to 1 Cor 6 and Matt 18:15
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2017 18:28:31 +0000
From: Art Wilder
To: Ginger Taylor
CC: Art Wilder

Hi Ginger,

I’ve taken some time to carefully consider how we should respond to your request for our church to mediate/arbitrate the dispute you have with HHS and its Secretary, Tom Price. I’ve asked for counsel from others in our spiritual leadership and have responded to you in the attached letter. I pray the Lord will continue to guide you as you seek to make positive changes with regards to childhood vaccinations and parental rights.

Your brother in Christ, Art Wilder

 

August 31, 2017

Dear Ginger,

Thank you for sending me a summary of the dispute you and others are having with government entities over policies that you believe have led to the injury of your children. As a parent, I can only imagine how difficult it must be to see your child suffering, especially if you believe that changes in government policies could better protect other children and their families. I applaud your efforts to instigate action that could change medical practices that might protect other children in the future.

In your email you noted that you have reached out to the Administrative Branch (Governor’s Office) and the Legislative Branch of your state. In this exercise you said you’ve had limited success, but have also discovered what appears to be long-standing government corruption. Further, you believe this alleged corruption hinders the proper administration of state and federal policy with regards to administering vaccines, and the parent’s rights to make decisions on behalf of their under-age children. If these issues of government corruption can be proven to be true, it seems that they need to be revealed to the public and to the justice department for possible legal/criminal charges. I can understand your desire to find a way to investigate these issues properly and to create positive changes at both the state and federal levels.

I hope that I have captured the essence of your disputes and your attempts to address them through the Administrative and Legislative Branches of your state with a view toward also impacting Federal policies. With such limited success, it seems that you now feel obligated to bring these issues to the Judicial Branches of government, possibly both federal and state. In this light you have asked me to consider how our church might help you avoid a legal lawsuit in the public square by offering to mediate/arbitrate a dispute that you perceive to be between Christians, that is yourself (and your non-profit organization) and HHS Secretary, Tom Price, who attends our church as a prospect. The Scriptures that you are looking to for guidance here are Matthew 18:15-20 and 1 Corinthians 6:1-8. Both of these address disputes between Christian individuals in the same local church. These passages are very helpful in guiding church members and leaders in the exercise of Church Discipline. Again, I hope I’ve accurately described your posture and strategy to address these most important issues.

Having considered these two passages, along with Romans 13:1-7, I do not believe that the venue of Church Discipline is the biblically proper way to resolve these issues. I encourage you to follow your conscience should you consider pursuing legal action with the Judicial Branches ofgovernment. Let me explain some of the reasons for these conclusions.

1. We know Secretary Price is a good person and a strong believer. We pray for him frequently and are glad he has the opportunity to provide godly leadership for our country. But since Secretary Price is not a member of our church, we do not have the biblical mandate or the authority to exercise Church Discipline with him.

2. Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 6 are passages intended to address sin and resolve disputes between members in the same local church, not between individuals in unassociated churches and living in separate cities and states. This is another reason why we don’t believe these Scriptures call for our church to instigate discipline in this case.

3. The disputes you have described are actually between a class of individuals and other corporate entities, both in the government and the medical community. Even though Tom Price as the HHS Secretary might be listed in the legal complaint of your lawsuit, your dispute is with the larger governmental entities and not specifically with Secretary Price. As such, Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 6 again do not apply. But let me direct you to Romans 13:1-7 which does apply and will give you guidance on how to address those government entities, and those who have been called by the Lord to serve in them.

4. Because of the nature of your disputes, you might consider bringing them to the Judicial Branch of government, but not the local church for several reasons.

First, these matters require the discovery, testimony and expertise of experts and agencies in order to determine their proper resolution. The local church is not equipped to mediate or arbitrate such complex matters, nor is it called to do so between corporate entities.

Secondly, the allegations of corruption would need to be investigated and addressed by the Judicial Branches of government. The church is not equipped or called to address misdemeanor or criminal charges of this nature.

Lastly, as the HHS Secretary, Tom Price gives leadership to the Federal Agency with which you have a dispute. Yet, the nature of your dispute does not allege any engagement by Mr. Price’s in personally sinful behavior. Therefore again, the passages concerning Church Discipline don’t apply to your dispute. Let me encourage you to try to connect with Secretary Price through his office before taking any formal legal action.

Ginger, I recognize this is not what you are hoping to hear from me. It seems you are looking for a way to encourage Secretary Price to personally engage with you and this very important issue. I can understand that. You would like the church to provide this encouragement to Mr. Price via Church Discipline, but I’m afraid there’s no biblical support for this strategy. My counsel is for you to give prayerful consideration to your next steps before engaging any legal mechanisms to bring this to his attention. Let the Spirit of Christ guide you here. Indeed if there is corruption among government workers, you are obligated to take those issues to the court.

I hope this biblical response has been helpful. I also encourage you to follow the Lord’s leadership in your next steps, should they include further attempts to contact Secretary Price’s office, taking legal action, or possibly both.

Your brother in Christ,

Art Wilder

Associate Pastor, Pastoral Care

Attachment: Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 6:1-8; and Romans 13:1-7

Matthew 18:15–20 – 15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. 17 “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. 19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

1 Corinthians 6:1–8 -1 Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? 2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? 4 So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church? 5 I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren, 6 but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? 7 Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren.

Romans 13:1–7 – 1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. 7 Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.

On September 28th, I called Mr. Wilder to discuss the anti-biblical teachings he offered in his letter, in obedience to Matthew 18:15. I pointed out that he had instructed me to disobey the instructions and wisdom given to me by God in 1 Cor 6 and Matthew 18, and asked him to provide scriptural support for his interpretations of these passages. He neither offered me biblical support his views, nor repented of his false teaching.

I offered him a written break down in the problems in his letter that I had written as I was processing his response, but he did not accept the offer.

Subject: In obedience to Matthew 18:16
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2017 13:01:23 -0500
From: Ginger Taylor
To: Art Wilder

Mr. Wilder,

I am in Atlanta for an event tomorrow, and I am hoping that you can make yourself available to speak with me before I leave on Sunday night. I can make myself available anytime before 7:30 on Sunday night.

—

Ginger Taylor, MS
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Subject: Re: In obedience to Matthew 18:16
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2017 20:14:00 +0000
From: Art Wilder

To: Ginger Taylor

Ginger, I’m sorry I won’t be available. My sister is in town from Florida through Sunday. I hope you enjoy your event.

Thanks, Art

Sent from my iPhone

 

From: Ginger Taylor
Sent: Monday, December 4, 2017 7:26 PM
To: Art Wilder
Cc: Shelley Hendrix
Subject: Re: “Do not add to his words…”

Dear Mr. Wilder,

It is unfortunate that we were not able to connect when I was in Atlanta. I believe that it is best to discuss these things in person, but as that is not possible, I am following up on our conversation on September 28th in writing.

As was mentioned to you when we spoke on the phone, it is much appreciated that you have taken so much time and effort to sort through this matter so carefully, but there have been a few misunderstandings.

I had not asked that Dr. Price be brought under church discipline, as that would not have been appropriate at that stage, but merely asked that you recommend to him that he meet with me.

Additionally, a potential lack of clarity on my part may have led you to conclude that my letter to you included a request for advisement on interpreting and carrying out the scripture that I had cited in Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 6. As we discussed on the phone, it did not.

However, as was mentioned, I am always open to hearing from anyone on how to refine my understanding of scripture, and to obeying God’s instructions to remain teachable, thus read your letter carefully, giving it a great deal of consideration.

In our conversation on the 28th, I asked you to answer a few questions on the letter, specifically citing from scripture where the narrowing of the plan language used came from, sharing with you that you interpretations of the scripture in question was anti-biblical. It was my concern that you were adding to scripture things that God had not said. You offered me no biblical justification for the interpretations you offered, merely saying that it was what had been decided by leadership at Johnson Ferry.

Attached please find an inline response/discussion of your points in order for you to have a detailed understanding of my reasoning. To be clear, the primary question currently is:

Why do you believe that, “Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 6 are passages intended to address sin and resolve disputes between members in the same local church, not between individuals in unassociated churches and living in separate cities and states?”

While I believe you are in error in your interpretation of Matthew 18’s application to local church members only, I also believe just as strongly that this posture is antithetical to the spirit of the law. God has called us to pull Christians who are falling into sin back from danger. He has called The Church to be in unity. He has instructed The Church to process conflict, and the New Testament church leadership were constantly addressing conflicts between believers, even in letters written from other cities. Iron is supposed to sharpen iron. We are supposed to come together and reason. We are to feed and clothe and protect one another. This is the system that God set up both in the OT in Israel, and it the NT in the Church of Christ.

This is no small matter and God does not take these issues lightly.

God gives us severe cautions against false teachings. God has said plainly, and without qualification, “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.” But you have narrowed this to apply only certain “brothers,” without any mandate in scripture to so. You have added to scripture. Scripture cautions strongly against such action.

Proverbs 30:5-6

Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

Deuteronomy 4:2

You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.

Deuteronomy 12:32

“Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.

As you know, you have a risk of greater severity of wrath that because of the position that you hold, as God has warned, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.” James 3:1

I hope that this second encouragement to more closely examine your behavior in this will drive you to consider God’s, and only God’s position on these matters, so that you may reconsider your posture. Your final response to me on my questions asking you to give a biblical justification for your interpretation was to say that this was what your leadership had decided. But Johnson Ferry leadership does not stand next to you as you face God and are held accountable for how you represented Him, and His teaching, to His children.

In Christ,

Ginger Taylor, MS
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Subject: RE: “Do not add to his words…”
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2017 15:00:10 +0000
From: Art Wilder
To: Ginger Taylor
CC: Art Wilder

Hi Ginger,

Thank you for your concerns for me and my welfare. I will ask the Lord what He wants to say to me regarding the issues you have outlined.

From your clarifications, your primary concern has been to make contact with Dr. Price while he was the HHS Director, but not to invoke church discipline.

Therefore, church discipline is not an issue for us to discuss any further. Since he no longer holds this position, your desire to contact him is no longer an issue either. Therefore, I consider our need to discuss any these issues further to be at an end. From this point forward, I am certain that I can no longer provide you any help.

I pray that the Lord will continue to comfort and encourage you in regard to your vaccine-injured son and the cause to which you feel so passionately called.

Your brother in Christ,

Art Wilder

 

 

Subject: In obedience to Matthew 18:17 in bringing Art Wilder before the church
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2017 21:55:41 -0500
From: Ginger Taylor
To: Bryant Wright
CC: Shelley Hendrix, Olivia Mahon, Norman Crider

To the Senior Pastor and Elders of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church,

This email is to “bring before the church” your associate pastor, Art Wilder, for the sin of false teaching.

This summer I began the process of acting in obedience Matthew 18:15 and I Corinthians 6, in order to correct a “brother” who had sinned against me, and has been participating in very serious sin. Because this brother was a public official, and his office, after agreeing to schedule me for a meeting, failed to set a date, I contacted Johnson Ferry to see if I might be able to reach him via the church he attended.

After discussing the matter with Pastor Wilder, I received a response from him encouraging me NOT to obey Matt 18 and 1 Cor 6, because he believed that, “Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 6 are passages intended to address sin and resolve disputes between members in the same local church, not between individuals in unassociated churches and living in separate cities and states.” Further he suggested because the individual I was attempting to correct was a government official, that these passages should be ignored.

This is, of course, not a biblical teaching, as Christ has only one church, and these passages on dealing with conflict and sin have no conditions or qualifications on them such as location, local membership, or job description.

In obedience to Matthew 18:15, I called Mr. Wilder to ask him to offer me biblical support for his interpretations for these scriptures, and he offered me none. I corrected him and warned him of God’s serious consequences for false teaching, and he remained unrepentant.

I further cautioned him this week, in writing, and with a witness, Ms. Shelley Hendrix, in obedience to Matthew 18:16. Mr. Wilder again failed to either support his false teachings or repent of them. Additionally, he added some false statements to the record about what my intentions were in this process from the outset. He also, oddly and in contradiction to his previous email to me, suggested that because the individual I was attempting to correct was now no longer a government official, that these passages should be ignored.

Of serious concern is that Mr. Wilder, both on the phone and in writing, reported that this response, including the false teachings on these passages, was written in conjunction with senior pastoral staff at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church.

I have attached the written communications between myself and Mr. Wilder, for your review for the purposes of formal church discipline.

Further, I believe it is my duty before God to formally inform Johnson Ferry Baptist Church and the Southern Baptist Convention on medical interventions that you and your membership are likely purchasing for use on yourselves and your children, that are products of the sin of abortion. Many in the US have not been provided the appropriate Informed Consent that the vaccines that they are allowing to be administered to their family are grown on cell lines MRC-5 and WI-38 taken from aborted children, and that those vaccines still contain those children’s DNA and biological material when administered to believers.

U.S. approved vaccines from aborted cell lines

Disease	Vaccine Name	Manufacturer	Cell line
Adenovirus	Barr Labs., Inc	WI-38
Chickenpox	Varivax	Merck & Co.	MRC-5 & WI-38
Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, HIB	Pentacel	Sanofi Pasteur	MRC-5
Hepatitis A	Havrix	GlaxoSmithKline	MRC-5
Hepatitis A	Vaqta	Merck & Co.	MRC-5
Hepatitis A-B	Twinrix	GlaxoSmithKline	MRC-5
Measles, Mumps, Rubella	MMR II	Merck & Co.	WI-38
Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Chickenpox	ProQuad	Merck & Co.	MRC-5 & WI-38
Rabies	Imovax	Sanofi Pasteur	MRC-5
Shingles	Zostavax	Merck & Co.	MRC-5

Because I am not familiar with the formal process for an SBC church of bringing a pastor forward for church discipline, I am copying the Southern Baptist Convention so that they may offer input.

Please let me know if anything further is required of me so that sin and false teaching in the Body of Christ can be addressed as He has instructed.

Sincerely
Ginger Taylor

CC: Southern Baptist Convention

[Editors Note: I could not find a way to submit the complaint to the SBC, and it was not submitted]

 

Subject: RE: Art Wilder and Johnson Ferry
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2017 15:18:49 +0000
From: Scott Odom
To: Ginger@TeamTaylor.com

Dear Ginger,

We have received your communication on December 6, 2017 to Bryant Wright, Senior Pastor at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church. By way of introduction, my name is Scott Odom and I serve on the Executive Staff team at Johnson Ferry and I am also Art Wilder’s supervisor. I will respond to your e-mail on behalf of our Senior Pastor.

Thank you for your feedback in regards to the topic and discussion you have had with Art Wilder. I recognize this has been a conversation over many months during 2017. Please know we have received your concerns and your request.

May the Lord bless you in 2018 and may you have a Merry Christmas.

Scott Odom

Executive Pastor, Education & Programs
Johnson Ferry Baptist Church
http://www.johnsonferry.org

O:

 

Subject: Re: Art Wilder and Johnson Ferry
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2018 17:43:48 -0500
From: Ginger Taylor
To: Scott Odom

Scott,

Sorry for the delay in responding to you.
I look forward to hearing from you on this.

Thank you,

Ginger Taylor, MS
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Subject: Re: Art Wilder and Johnson Ferry
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2018 13:27:59 -0500
From: Ginger Taylor
To: Scott Odom

Mr. Odom,

Checking back in on this matter, and noting that I have not had a response from Johnson Ferry on the charge that you have a pastor that is teaching false doctrine, I am wondering if your email to me saying that you would be responding, was your response.

Am I to assume that your statement, “Thank you for your feedback in regards to the topic and discussion you have had with Art Wilder. I recognize this has been a conversation over many months during 2017. Please know we have received your concerns and your request,” was to serve as Johnson Ferry’s response to my complaint?

Please let me know your elders will not be processing my charge, and if it is the official response of the church.

Ginger Taylor, MS
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Subject: RE: Art Wilder and Johnson Ferry
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2018 21:43:59 +0000
From: Scott Odom
To: Ginger@TeamTaylor.com

Hello Ginger,

You are correct that the below was the response to your concerns and request. When we have requests such as this, the discussions are not something we report to the general public or the requester.

May God bless you greatly in 2018.

Scott Odom
Executive Pastor, Education & Programs
Johnson Ferry Baptist Church
http://www.johnsonferry.org

 

Subject: Re: Art Wilder and Johnson Ferry
Date: Sat, 5 May 2018 14:11:22 -0400
From: Ginger Taylor
To: Scott Odom, Art Wilder

Mr. Odom, Mr. Wilder, Mr. Wright, and associated staff,

I have patiently walked through the Matthew 18 process to bring biblical correction the very serious sins of fraud and false teaching at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church since the summer of 2017.

Mr. Wilder’s false teaching that Christians, even those entrusted as leaders to speak from the pulpit, need not be held to respond to, or be reconciled with brothers and sisters against whom they have committed an offense (for reasons you simply manufacture) is now an established pattern of sin at Johnson Ferry. These offenses that I have brought to your attention have not been addressed with me, in fact, you have stated that you will not be responding to the complaint I submitted to you in obedience to Matthew 18:17, thus the men in your leadership in question, remain in unrepentant sin.

Therefore, in obedience to 1 Timothy 5:19-20. I am making public the account and records of this attempt to address sin at Johnson Ferry, and your failure to follow God’s direction’s for reconciliation.

Let me be clear in my position and in Gods position.

Mr. Wilder, Mr. Wright, Mr. Odom, and staff involved in this disrespectful, dismissive and unbiblical process, I have ough against you.

God has directed you in Matthew 5:23-24: “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” That command is unqualified by time, distance, position, gender or any other limitation that you may be prone to add in order to excuse your disobedience in addressing your offenses.

Ginger Taylor, MS
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For the last week or so, God has been running a motif in my world.  People who love God and who are trying to do the right thing and help those in need being met with bullying, intimidation, harassment, slander and flat out persecution.  So I thought it a good time to post this:

Fear God Only

Romans 8:15
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”

Psalm 145:19
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them.

2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Psalm 118:6
The Lord is for me; I will not fear; what can man do to me?

Psalm 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread?

Job 4:6
Is not your fear of God your confidence and the integrity of your ways your hope?

Matthew 10:28
Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

1 John 4:18-19
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
We love, because He first loved us.

Exodus 1:17, 20
But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live. So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty.

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

Deuteronomy 6:13
You shall fear only the Lord your God;
And you shall worship and swear by his name.

Deuteronomy 10:20
You shall fear the Lord your God;
You shall serve Him and cling to Him and you shall swear by His name.

Isaiah 41:10
Do not fear for I am with you.
Do not anxiously look about, you for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Luke 4:8
It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.”

Philippians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:27-28
Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God.

ALL THESE ARE COMMANDMENTS

“…When we turn our hearts toward God, all our fears are consumed by one fear. We are called to Fear God Only. There is an important reason for this. What we fear is what we are subject to; our fears define our master. Where there is no fear, there is no control.

When we fear God and God only, we are not longer bound by all of the other fears that would hold us captive. The fear of death, the fear of failure, the fear of rejection, [the fear of loss], the fear of insignificance – all of the fears that know us by name and haunt us in the dark of the night become powerless when we know the fear of the Lord. And if this is not enough, we discover that perfect love casts out all fear. Not even God will hold us or control us by fear. When we fear Him we in essence begin to live a life where we are fearless.

The freedom to love and the freedom from fear make the Wonder Women an entirely different species within the whole of humanity.”
-Erwin McManus, The Barbarian Way

How then do we begin to fear God?

1. Enter His presence and worship Him!

Isaiah 6:1-8 – the loving servant Christ that serves in Philippians 2 is the same Majestic God that we see being worshipped on high in Isaiah. Let us not loose sight of the majesty and power of God shown to us in the Old Testament as we commune with Jesus who walked among us.

2. Obey Him!

John 14:21, 23-24, 26
He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.

If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.

He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

3. Repeat all day, every day and live the abundant life He died to give you!

Romans 8:15-17

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out …

Abba! Father!

The Spirit Himself testifies with out spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Rejoice!

The Spirit of God

That raised Christ from the dead,

Lives in you!

Exercise of the week:

Choose one or two verses on fear that speak the loudest to your heart.

What are you afraid of?

In your personal journal, write down your fears, leaving a large margin on the bound side of the page. When you are done, tear the page out and burn it, give your fears to God, leaving the margin in the book as a reminder that you used to be afraid of some stuff. Write your memory verse on the margin.

Take as long as you need to. Some do it in a day. It took me a week and a half.

Via New Demonstration:

“In a letter to his brother Charles in June 1766, the Arminian evangelist John Wesley, now in his sixties, confesses that he does not and never did love God, believe or have the direct witness of divine sonship or even of things invisible or eternal. Read for yourself.

“In one of my last [letters] I was saying that I do not feel the wrath of God abiding on me; nor can I believe it does. And yet (this is the mystery), I do not love God. I never did. Therefore I never believed, in the Christian sense of the word. Therefore I am only an honest heathen…

And yet, to be so employed of God! And so hedged in that I can neither get forward nor backward! Surely there was never such an instance before, from the beginning of the world! If I ever have had that faith, it would not be so strange. But I never had any other evidence of the eternal or invisible world than I have now; and that is none at all, unless such as faintly shines from reason’s glimmering ray. I have no direct witness (I do not say, that I am a child of God, but) of anything invisible or eternal.”

“And yet I dare not preach otherwise than I do, either concerning faith, or love, or justification, or perfection. And yet I find rather an increase than a decrease of zeal for the whole work of God and every part of it. I am borne along, I know not how, that I can’t stand still. I want all the world to come to what I do not know.”

– Quoted in Stephen Tomkins, John Wesley, A Biography [Oxford: Lion Publishing, 2003], p. 168; italics mine)

From http://arminianheresy.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_archive.html”

… so…  just a really good salesman selling a really good product who had a really good career.

(Disclaimer: This post may not be for everyone, but for students of 20th century history, psychology, sociology, marketing, media and politics, who are also believers in Christ, it think this documentary provides vital lessons. It should be watched through a filter of scripture, a few angles of which I have provided below.

Remember that “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever”.

If you don’t want to be bombarded with all the worldly ills of “The American Century”, then you may want to invest your time elsewhere.)

“We must shift America from a needs to a desires culture.  People must be trained to desire, to want new things even before the old have been entirely consumed.  We must shape a new mentality in America.  Man’s desires must over shadow his needs.”

– Paul Mazer of the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers in the 1930’s

In 2002 the BBC aired a documentary series on the influence of Sigmund Freud and his family (and one of his students who rebelled against him) on America, via mass marketing, over the last hundred years. I watched it this week and it is one of most fascinating sociological documentaries that I have ever seen. If you are someone who has ever bought anything or had a worldview, you need to watch this.

I am a therapist, and was one long before I ever went to school. I naturally started falling into that role somewhere in junior high, and figured along the way that I should either stop it or learn how to do it right so I didn’t screw with people’s heads or their spiritual lives.

So I got a BS in Psych, with a concentration in child development, and an MS in clinical counseling with a concentration in adolescent and family therapy. During my upbringing under a good youth pastor and my education by good, ethical professors at Johns Hopkins, I had the same basic principle drilled into me:

That my skills and abilities were not to be used selfishly, to get what I wanted, but in the service of others, to meet their needs.

It was the message of Christ who gave up all his rights and power in order to serve sinners, and it is the message of good ethics in psychology where a therapists uses his power over his client to serve him in helping him to become more healthy, aware and functional. In both cases, stern warnings were given that those in power over another person were to tread very lightly as using the power that had been entrusted to them for selfish gain was wholly immoral and in the case of Christ, proof of being lost and bound for hell. (Matthew 23, Matthew 25:31-46).

As a result, it has always been difficult for me to watch those in power, both in the church and those in the mental health arena, abuse their power to serve their ego or their wallet. Watching this phenomena from the bottom of the societal food chain in my youth, (the best perspective for discerning who is who, but the worst place to be if one of the “wolves” are in power) it became clear that if you sat quietly and watched those in power closely enough, you could see who was who by their fruit. (Unfortunately I kept forgetting this lesson; failing to sit quietly and pay attention, put me to task to relearn this lesson a few times in life).

Which bring us to the BBC series, “The Century of the Self”. Continue reading “The Century of the Self or How We Have Been Played”

During the Ligonier National Conference Q & A session, John MacArthur was asked, “What is the biggest threat to Christianity today?”

This was his answer.

Last week I got into a conversation with someone who had looked to the bible to find out what to do in a conflict with another believer who was upset with her and had accused her of sin.  She had read Matthew 5:21-26 which contains the command, that:

“…if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”

However she had also read that Paul and Barnabas had been in conflict (the details of which are vague and don’t seem to include charges of wrong doing but rather a disagreement over a staffing decision), and had parted ways, only to be reconciled later.  She decided that she would use that story as her guide and not practice the didactic teaching found in Matthew 5 by going to be reconciled to her former friend, instead hoping that things would just get better like they did for Paul and Barnabas. Years of estrangement has followed because this woman (seemingly sincerely)  believed that she didn’t have the obligation to go to her sister in Christ and ask the simple question, “What have I done wrong”, and listen to her correction.

The most upsetting thing about this story? This woman is not just a church member, was not just raised in the evangelical church for more than three decades, she is a lay leader in a position that oversees around two hundred people and has been so for around five years.

Sadly John MacArthur is right on.  Professing Christians don’t know the bible or how to interpret the bible. Continue reading “Biblical Ignorance: MacArthur on the Problem, Sproul on the Solution”

I got into two discussions on legalism this week with people in a liberal church. It seemed that their understanding of legalism/phariseeism extended to cover someone (like me) who insists that professing Christians be obedient to scripture and repent when they fail to do so, and (like me also) someone who harshly rebukes church leadership who are rebelling against God’s word.

I never got to finish either conversation to find out for sure.

However, I, being someone like me, feel the need to have a more thorough examination of the matter, so I wrote a more lengthy discussion of the Legalism/Liberalism/True Grace discussion that Keller et. al. were discussing in my last blog post….

Legalism, Liberalism and True Grace

Legalism – works with out faith

Legalism is the idea that The Law can save you (The Law being the OT and/or NT commands of God depending on if you claim to be a Jew or a Christian). That by conforming to every Letter of The Law you earn God’s favor and earn your way to heaven. In this practice Law usurps Grace.

This is wrong on many levels, the first of which is that no one can fulfill the law, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, so no one can earn God’s favor through a lifetime of focused obedience. Another is that, if this was actually possible, then there would have been no need for Jesus to come to earth and die for our sins. And of course the message of Jesus and the entire NT is that salvation is through faith in Christ. Continue reading “Legalism, Liberalism and True Grace”

This is an interesting conversation between Tim Keller, John Piper and D.A. Carson where Keller touches on something relevant to those who I have been getting to know who have come out from the dying evangelical church. He was discussing the different ways that people approach Christianity and noted the two false understandings and practices in the faith. He then contrasted them with the one true way. He said this:

Keller: “Do you see… that there are three ways to live, which is… there is moralism/pharaseeism, there is Gospel Christianity and there is hedonism/relativism…. I think the opposite of moralism is cheap grace.

I really appreciated reading Bonhoeffer’s “Cost of Discipleship” in the earliest days of my Christian life. Especially when you realize he was writing it in the context of the German Church which had capitulated to Hitler, and had essentially turned to Luther’s justification by Grace as a way of basically avoiding the importance of prophetic, moral seriousness.

So what Bonhoeffer had to say was this grace of God is free to you, but costly to God. And the law and the will of God is so important, the moral absolutes of God are so important, the God couldn’t just forgive us. Jesus had to die. To turn away His wrath against our sin. To pay the penalty. If you see that… I consider this a paradox.

On the one hand, I see that the law of God is so serious, that it cost Jesus His life. And when I see that the Bible says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery, sex is for just inside marriage”, I have to take that seriously. It cost Jesus His life that humans were violating that. You can never look at that with out fear and trembling.

But at the same time, I am told, that despite my imperfections, that there is no condemnation for me ever again, even if I screw up in the future. That is the paradox.

Because when you say its costly grace, you can’t be morally lax, and at the same time you can’t always be beating yourself up about your failures. And it is tough for a pastor have both those shoes drops.”

Piper: “So you must then think… Gospel centered…” Continue reading “East Coast Heresy v. West Coast Heresy”

Whom the Lord loves, He reproves. Persecution disciplined Richard Wurmbrand, and he found out who he really was.

I saw this video from Matt Chandler and it has summed up my anger with what poses as the “church leadership” more succinctly than anything that I have seen since we started on this journey to understand, recover from and shine the light on the corruption of the American evangelical church.

That these false shepherds have lost the gospel, both missing the spirit of it and the letter of it, and are teaching worldly lessons that cannot save, while allowing the lost to believe that they not only saved, but often qualified for church leadership.

The link to the entire talk, entitled “Shepherds and Unregenerate Sheep”, is here.

He goes on to talk about his bitterness toward the what I think you could call Churchanity following this experience.

He, like us, became itinerant, but God’s ultimate call for Matt Chandler has been to send him back into evangelicalism as a missionary to the dead church. “To reach the lost in the culturally Christian south”

The bitterness he describes is something that we wrestled with constantly for the first year after we left Bel Air, working always to ‘never let the sun go down on our anger’. We are still in jeopardy of falling into it when the evil spirit that we walked away from tries to punch a hole back into our world, but God has given us a wonderful tool bag to pull from on how not to allow righteous anger to turn to bitterness, and how to move quickly into humility.

I need to spend some time writing about that.

But… for today… if you are in danger of falling into bitterness because of the unrepentant sin of a pastor who is in the pulpit lying to his dying congregation, remember that you are just as unworthy of Christ’s love, attention and sacrifice. And then listen to this piece by Voddie Bachum.

After you remember where who you are in relationship to God and where you stand, then when you go back to deal with the problem of the dead church posing as the living church and loving your enemies, praying for those who persecute you, and finding the right balance of speaking the truth in love is not so difficult.

But don’t stop calling out the negligent homicide that is going on by men like the ones that Matt Chandler is describing.