Fake 'heaven' book begets big questions

Ed Stetzer loves to talk.

Except when he doesn't.

A major player in the Southern Baptist Convention, the president of LifeWay Research (a division of LifeWay Christian Resources) is a smart, savvy networker who is a seemingly affable guy just out to spread "missiology" (investigating the mission of the Christian church) across the globe.

Stetzer, a really accomplished guy (he is one of those that has a legitimate Ph.D., but doesn't flaunt it) and, interestingly, has been given a coveted platform by Christianity Today, which apparently maintains his website. This is curious to me because, although it perhaps isn't well known, the CT crowd is decidedly center-left. Why would they mainstream a Southern Baptist operative?

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At any rate, Stetzer likes to network and rub elbows with movers and shakers within evangelicalism, including Rick Warren. This column has documented the issues with Warren and his globalist agenda.

Stetzer also falls into that trap that "leaders" (boy, does he love to talk about leadership!) in the evangelical world step into every week: attacking "critics." At the moment, a group calling themselves "The15" are skewering Stetzer and his boss, Thom Rainer, for a cover-up (my word) of sorts involving a bestselling book by Alex Malarkey, "The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven: A Remarkable Account of Miracles, Angels, and Life Beyond This World."

Problem is, it wasn't such a remarkable account. Or an account at all.

Malarkey and his mother allege that Alex's father actually produced the book, along with signing a book contract with the publisher, Tyndale.

The whole soggy mess has enmeshed Tyndale, the Malarkeys and LifeWay (along with other bookstore chains, including the now filed-for-bankruptcy Family Christian Stores) in a web of falsehood. In particular, "The15" have exposed an email paper trail of messages that suggest some involved knew that Alex Malarkey would no longer stand behind the book ... months before the story exploded and the book was taken out of print by Tyndale.

Problem is, both Stetzer and Rainer don't want to talk about any of this, such as why – IF they knew all this back in the spring of 2014 – they won't come clean. Why did LifeWay continue to enjoy revenue from a false book?

I've messaged Stetzer several times, but no dice. And, boy, knowing how much Ed loves to talk, it must be torture for him to see the messages and either hit "delete" or mentally change the subject.

It's doubtful Rainer would talk, either.

Which now leaves many of us wondering: Would the ultimate SBC Bigs, such as President Ronnie Floyd, have anything to contribute to the discussion? Floyd, a LifeWay trustee, recently met with other trustees as they discussed the Southern Baptist resource leader's financial future (the company owns some choice property in Nashville and is entertaining offers, which will lead to transitioning in terms of office and warehouse space).

Ironically, while the alleged cover-up involving Malarkey's book continues apace, LifeWay will be so flush with cash from the impending property sale that its war chest will allow the company to continue on its merry way for, you know, a long time.

And none of this touches on another aspect of the theological blunders LifeWay management makes in stocking books in its stores. Take a gander sometime, and if you know anything about the Southern Baptist culture, some of the titles will leave you unsettled.

Further, back when Ronnie Floyd's CrossChurch maintained a LifeWay store at its Rogers, Arkansas, location, certain titles there indicated that the influential church is moving toward a progressive environment: Rick Warren, Gary DeMar (anti-Israel and anti-Bible prophecy), Erwin McManus.

The thing is, the SBC elites have made the decision that the Church Growth Model is the horse they are riding into the foreseeable future. Problem is, the model has serious flaws, as others have documented (www.pulpitandpen.org, www.apprising.org).

Further problem is, the elites have a stranglehold on the infrastructure. What they want the rank-and-file to use for Sunday school, etc., is what goes.

That hasn't stopped "The 15" from holding their feet to the fire. Evidently, Stetzer became so annoyed by these efforts that he tweeted one day that the only real criticism was coming from "15 Calvinists." That volley backfired and inspired the many-more-than-a-mere-15 to adopt the handle. They continue to ask questions that Ed Stetzer, Thom Rainer and LifeWay trustees don't want to answer.

There is a growing distrust and frustration with SBC leadership, as this recent tweet from a "15" member shows: "Appears SBC elite tell us what we should speak about, as well as when to fight and when to stop. Don't question, just follow!"

Stetzer, Rainer & Friends (such as Warren) just want such people to go away. Would that it were that easy for them.

These questions go to the heart of what Southern Baptists believe and teach, and how they have done so for decades. But in an era in which Steven Furtick and Rick Warren and Andy Stanley are the go-to guys for how to do church, there is little chance anything will change.

Still, the people involved should not get away with being insular. They should answer serious questions, such as how much time passed from the "revelation" about Malarkey's book and its deletion from LifeWay's inventory?

More to the point for Ed Stetzer: What did the president know, and when did he know it?

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