Baptistfire.com has a firm grasp on its place as the National Enquirer of the internet. Many of the articles have the same appeal as the old carnival hawkers of my youth (“Come see the Man Eating Chicken!”). They intentionally imply what they carefully avoid saying. I have been wise to this tactic ever since I wasted hard-earned money to watch a man chow down on a bucket full of chicken when expecting to see the opposite.

Case in point–this is from an article on their website entitled, “Crept in Unawares.”

“As far as we can tell, Founders Ministries does not advocate a return to slavery. Which makes it a rather odd name for the organization.”

I am glad they cleared that up! People are always calling our offices and asking if we are advocating a return to slavery. I have read similar types of subtle mischaracterizations, but often they have come from people on drugs. Let me hasten to add, however, that as far as I can tell, the people behind baptistfire.com are not currently smoking marijuana.

The writer(s) of the articles on this site are obviously Fundamentalist(s) and they (he/she) are (is) may be (a) coward(s) because they (he/she) refuse(s) to sign their (his/her) name(s). Whew! The cloak of anonymity leaves me pronominally challenged when responding to their (his/her) writings. In addition, I wonder whether I ought to engage them at all. It is sort of like sizing up a tar baby. You may be pretty confident that you can win the fight but after it is over, you will look at your ruined clothes and wonder if it was really worth it.

But over the years I have received numerous questions and comments about the screeds that appear on their site and recently I have been made aware that their misinformation has been used to run off pastors from churches. Do not misunderstand, I firmly believe that there are occasions when pastors should be removed from a church (see my article on this in the Founders Journal), but the cases that I am aware of where deacons and others have employed the lies, distortions and half-truths of baptistfire.com are examples of worldly men using worldly means to accomplish worldly goals.

So, because of the spiritual damage that they are doing I am calling attention to their (his/her) sad abuse of truth. Violation of the 9th Commandment permeates their (his/her) website. Good Fundamentalists still believe in the 10 Commandments–or at least 9 of them, including (presumably) the 9th. Yet, baptistfire.com violates the 9th commandment by twisting truth, distorting truth, and misrepresenting those with whom they (he/she) disagree(s).

I learned long ago in ministry to put no stock in anonymous letters. If a man (woman/group) does (do) not have enough integrity before God to sign what he (she/they) write, then I will not give any credence to the charges he (she/they) make. If the person (people) behind Baptistfire.com have integrity, let him (her/them) quit hiding behind anonymity. Let him (her/them) sign his (her/their) name(s) to the articles on his (her/their) site.

Come out into the light–where Jesus calls us to live. Be willing to put away the cloak of darkness and discuss our differences like children of light. Perhaps we both (or all) might learn something that will help us better follow our Lord.