Former "Pulpit and Pen" Fundamentalist Blogger, Pastor, "Disqualified" From Ministry
Statement on the Disqualification of Pastor Jordan Hall, Fellowship Baptist Church of Sidney
Julie Roys on the Disqualification of Jordan Hall, formerly of "Pulpit and Pen."
A Montana pastor who was also the author of blogs containing hateful, vitriolic attacks on Christians who didn't see things the same way as he or his church has been disqualified from ministry for a confessed addiction to the prescription drug Xanax. Jordan Hall, former pastor of the Fellowship Baptist Church in Sidney, Montana, and the originator of a blog once known as "Pulpit and Pen" but which re-identified itself after some negative attention as "Protestia," was disqualified from the pastorate. There is a statement about the disqualification and his resignation on the church's website, linked above, and a couple of Christian news media reports.
Protestia, which I will not link here, self-describes as a "polemical new site" that dedicates itself to providing Christian news and "discernment" in "an age of widespread censorship." Then in the next sentence it self-justifies an unbiblical approach to criticizing all parts of the church and Christian faith with which its writers and owners disagree. The multiple statements of faith, confessions and specific interpretations to which it ascribes give a pretty clear indication that it is a domain made up of far right wing fundamentalists who hold an extremely legalistic perspective of Christian faith.
There is a small box on the front page mentioning Hall's pastoral disqualification as well as his absence from writing on the blog.
The Credibility Question
Pulpit and Pen was not exactly known for its credibility. While most people who were attacked ignored the accusations, realizing that its readership was not likely to include people in their own church or social group, those who did fight back always presented evidence that refuted and contradicted what was stated on the attack blog. Hall's credibility was undermined completely when he fabricated a piece for another one of his electronic publications, got sued, and lost. The subject of that blog piece didn't take kindly to being lied about, filed a lawsuit and won the settlement.
Hall was defended by supporters in his church and among his readers who predictably turned to the "persecution by the devil" rebuttal, in spite of the fact that Hall had admitted to fabrication of the information in the article for which he was sued. They defend the nature of the "discernment" blog's attacks, and the unverified information and accusations they make, by claiming that they are defending God against his liberal enemies. Lying is apparently not sinful among these fundamentalists, as long as it is used to attack perceived enemies.
Protestia's website has a "corrections" tab where they note that there are times when some of their contributors don't always get their facts straight when posting on social media, though there aren't any corrections there now, and also no mention of former pastor Hall's presence, articles on the site or of what has happened to cause his removal.
Pulpit and Pen, and subsequently Protestia, in spite of its obvious disdain and hate for Southern Baptists, has defended the recently formed Conservative Baptist Network, and has parroted many of the innuendos, misleading statements and outright falsehoods used to attack their enemies in the convention. CBN continued to press the point about past SBC President Ed Litton's confession that he borrowed sermon content from J. D. Greear, with permission but without proper attribution.
While Litton publicly acknowledged what he did, apologized and followed the biblical procedure for asking for forgiveness, CBN's sources continued to hammer him with plagiarism charges, without any corroboration. Pulpit and Pen/Protestia, along with at least one other discernment blog, continued to follow CBN's accusations with multiple posts claiming multiple incidents of plagiarism by Litton, none of which could be supported by evidence. The harrassment eventually caused Litton's church to pull all of its archived sermons from its website.
A Little Hypocrisy Goes a Long Way
One can only imagine how much space and time Protestia would have devoted to this issue had it been one of the targets of their vitriol who had been disqualified because of a Xanax addiction.
It appears that the blog is an equal opportunity critic. It is currently hammering away at Southern Baptists, at the Catholic church and Pope Francis, the United Church of Christ, and a Charismatic/Pentecostal "Prophetess". Conspicuously absent from all of its associated attacks is Paula White, the prosperity gospel "prophetess" and apostate heretic who is the former President 45's chosen "spiritual advisor." Such hypocrisy makes it impossible to take anything that is criticized or attacked on that blog seriously.
It's too bad this is on-line, and there's not a paper copy. Fortunately, I still get an unsolicited copy of The Sword of the Lord and it contains enough pages for me to have a steady supply of kitty litter box liners.
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