Dr. Mohler Interview

Pastor Les Puryear has posted a recent interview he conducted with Dr. Albert Mohler, President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Here are the 7 questions he asked to Mohler:

1. The past two presidents of the SBC have had certain emphases that distinguished their presidencies. Dr. Welch emphasized evangelism and Dr. Page has been emphasizing unity and praying for revival. What will be the main emphasis of your presidency?

2. In recent years there has been a resurgence of Reformed Theology in the SBC, mainly among young pastors. As a Reformed theologian, what do you think your election as the president of the SBC, if you are elected, will say about the impact of Reformed theology in the SBC?

3. In the SBC, 83% of our churches have an average attendance of less than 200 in Sunday morning worship, therefore the SBC is overwhelmingly a convention of small churches. What is your view of the role of the small church in the SBC?

4. Although we're a convention of small churches, it seems that the majority of SBC board and agency nominations seem to go to representatives of much larger churches. What do you propose to do to get more small church representation on our boards and agencies?

5. You were a member of the BFM2K committee that fashioned our confession of faith. Recently some have called for the BFM2K to be amended to address the issues of "tongues" and "alien immersion." What's your position on amending the confession of faith to address these or any other issues of theology?

6. What is your position on SBC boards and agencies developing doctrinal policy which goes beyond the agreed upon confession of faith?

7. Is there anything that I haven't asked you that you would like to say to the people of the SBC and to small church leaders as well?

Dr. Albert Mohler for SBC President

The Southern Baptist Texan is reporting that Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas will nominate Dr. Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, for President at the 2008 Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis in June.

If elected, Mohler would become only the fourth active Seminary President to serve simultaneously as Convention President and Seminary President according to the article, joining Paige Patterson, W. W. Hamilton, and L. R. Scarborough.

It will be interesting to see how it unfolds given that Mohler is a confessed Calvinist. However, I believe with all the negativity (mostly undue) surrounding Calvinism in Southern Baptist life, I believe Dr. Mohler is one Calvinist among a few who is electable.

There are many who believe it will be difficult for him to win given his theology. However remember that Dr. Mark Dever, in Greensboro 06, was only narrowly defeated by Jackson for one of the Vice President positions. And Mohler is significantly more well known than Dever.

Nevertheless, I am confident that whoever is elected President whether it is Dr. Mohler or not will be very capable of providing the necessary leadership the SBC needs at this hour. This is my prayer, anyway.

Mohler interviews Page

On September 18, Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary interviewed Dr. Frank Page, Pastor of 1st Baptist Church, Taylors, South Carolina and President of the Southern Baptist Convention on his weekday radio program.

During the interview, Mohler asked Page the following question (basically word for word):

Pastoring in South Carolina, how do you deal with the culture and gospel issue?

In his answer, Page made the following remark, "South Carolina is the capital of cultural Christianity which has led many people straight to hell."

Dr. Page was addressing the real problem that exists in many parts of the South (as Mohler remarked) where most people view themselves as being saved by virtue of many reasons except for the biblical one, namely ongoing repentance of sins and faith in Jesus Christ.

Serving in South Carolina, I find this comment to be true indeed. In too many conversations, people tell me that they were saved 10, 15, 20, 25 years ago, and for 8, 13, 18, 22 years they have been living like they have no relationship with Jesus, like the presence of the Holy Spirit is not in them, they have forsaken the people of God, and they have an obvious love affair with the world.

And it is so hard for individuals like this to come to an understanding that they might very well not be saved because some pastor or church has convinced them falsely.

One of the ways I try to battle this cultural trend in my own preaching is repeatedly reminding the congregation that our assurance of salvation is that:

we repented of our sins last night,
we trust Jesus today,
we pray to him regularly,
the fruits of the Holy Spirit are evident in our own lives
we hate sin
we love Jesus, and so on.

My prayer is that we will not produce another generation of deceived men and women.

Dr. Mohler's Reflections on His Recent Health Crisis

Dr. Mohler writes about his recent health crisis in his latest commentary. I know a great many people were breathing a sigh of relief and thanking God for his recovery, including myself. While, I do not know Dr. Mohler personally, I have benefited spiritually from his leadership at The Southern Baptist Seminary, where I graduated in 2003. In addition to this I have greatly been helped through his writings, preaching and teaching at Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, KY, and his radio show. I pray God would continue to minister through this servant of the church.

Pray for Dr. Mohler

Hey guys, if you see this please pray for Dr. Mohler. This is the following from albertmohler.com:

Dr. Mohler's health has sustained a setback. Over the past 36 hours Dr. Mohler has suffered from unrelenting pain. This unusual degree of pain signaled concern for the attending physicians and prompted additional tests this afternoon. In the past hour these tests have revealed that Dr. Mohler is suffering from pulmonary emboli in both lungs. His condition is quite serious and he has been moved to the intensive care unit of Baptist East Hospital in Louisville, KY for immediate treatment.

Please make this a matter of urgent prayer. Thank you once again for your concern and support during these days.

Naomi says that emboli (clots) can form after surgery, and they are very serious.

(Update)

Dr. Mohler's health has improved significantly. You can check here for the most recent news.

The Pope and Islam

The Pope recently started a whirlwind of turmoil, when he was giving an academic address and quoted Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus. The Byzantine emperor said concerning the prophet Mohammed, "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

The Catholic Church response has been that Muslims have misunderstood the Pope. The Pope said the quote was not his view about the Islamic faith or Mohammed.

Dr. Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has an informative article about the Pope's comments, and the Roman Catholic's view of Islam. What is more surprising than the Pope's comments is the inclusivistic view Rome has of Islam. Here is a link to Dr. Mohler's article. Dr. Mohler also dedicated one entire episode of his daily radio show to the issue as well.