99 thoughts on “The Importance Of Being Earnest”

    1. Well now that I’ve actually watched it…. He sounds like he really wants to help people, bless his heart(and I mean that in the completely non-sarcastic sense). I hope reality doesn’t burn him too badly. 🙁

  2. The first sentence sounds like he is at a Fundies Anonymous meeting. “My name is Brady and I’m a Baptist” “Hi Brady”

    1. I thought it sounded like those Mormon commercials. “My name is Brady and I am a Mormon.”

  3. Just curious…what would happen if we quit attacking each other? If we let the crazies do their thing…and each “camp” did their thing…and we all strove together for the faith of the gospel as different members of the same body? Then we wouldn’t mock Brady the Baptist or David Platt, we would all be moving toward the same goal, no matter how effectively or ineffectively we think the other is moving.

    1. Sam, I would LOVE to see the body of Christ working together to reach the lost with the Gospel, to disciple new believers, and to help the needy. But the people among whom most of us grew up have no desire to join with us. Many of them think we’re not even part of the body of Christ. Because we believe in reformed theology, or listen to contemporary music, or wear pants (if we’re women), or go to movie theaters, or call ourselves evangelical, or read any translation of the Bible besides the KJV, our very salvation is called into question by them.

      I don’t mind anyone who prefers hymns only in church or who doesn’t like tattoos, etc., but when man-made rules eclipse the message of Christ, there is a problem. And there is no way we can join with people whose primary identification is their separation from all of us.

      1. Amen, PW. That was perfectly said!! My sister (& her immediate family) who is still in the IFB cult have called me & the rest of my family “weaker Christians.” We like CCM, we go to movies, the women wear pants, etc. They have no desire to work with us which is so sad & heartbreaking.

      2. Sam, pastor’s Wife got to the root of it when she said, “And there is no way we can join with people whose primary identification is their separation from all of us.”

      3. True, PW, my husband has a fundy friend who repeatedly asks us every time we tak to him when “We’re going to come back to Jesus” because we’re at a PCA church.

        1. Hi fellow almost non-Christian who worships God in the “wasteland” of the PCA!! 🙂

        2. @alm517. Hello from your friend Presbygirl who worships God in the “wasteland” of the PCA. 🙂

        5. Can I play too? I had an Independent Baptist pastor My pastor) warn me to be cautious of anger counseling I was getting from a Presbyterian friend who had been trained in Peacemaking. He was worried that the Calvinism he knew must be there might taint me.

          I still attend a Baptist church, and my PCA friend is still some of the best Christian fellowship I have.

        6. AP Sullivan is my hubby in case you guys didn’t know… @ Uncle Wilver, we’re been learning the same thing. The friends we’ve made in the PCA are the best friends we’ve ever had. If you think the Christian fellowship is so great with just one, imagine what it’d be like if you went to church with us 😀

        7. @alm517 …Well very nice to meet you too. And no, I didn’t know A.P. Is your husband but I do now? Is this the very same A.P. That accompanied Don to SOTL?

        8. Yep, that’s my wingman. We’ve seen a lot of fundy through the years. We even caused some of it. 🙄 But he’s a good friend to have along on something like that. 😉

      4. “And there is no way we can join with people whose primary identification is their separation from all of us.”
        Well said!

      5. PW, I hope you don’t mind if I write that down as one of my favorite quotes of all time.

      6. Hey Pastor’s Wife,

        I am sorry that you feel that way, but if you watched my video on Salvation, then you would know that it does not matter what you look like or act like that takes you to Heaven. Following the Bible should not be looked upon as hateful.God Bless!

        2. Brady, welcome to SFL, first off.

          Let me tell you something about PW. She has more knowledge about the true meaning of salvation in the cuticle of her little pinky nail, than a college full of IFB preacher boys. She’s an EXTREMELY wise lady who I am blessed to know.

          What you’re saying in your videos is nothing that we haven’t preached in our time in IFB. I was JUST like you when I was 20. I said the same things. I really did. And, I still believe that the only way to Heaven is through the shed blood of Christ. When God looks at me, I believe that He sees the blood of the Lamb. I firmly believe that. And, I believe so does PW.

          I have also learned that God doesn’t want us to be copies of someone else. He made us all unique so that we could minister to people in OUR own way… not the made-up way of a collective group of geriatric preachers.

          Discover who you are, Brady. Who you REALLY are. Not who someone wants you to be. Find that person, and you’ll find the REAL beauty of God’s creation.

        3. I would like to know where in PW’s post she mentioned that following the Bible is hateful.

    2. What would happen?…great question.

      I would say that without survivors warning others of the dangers of legalism and authoritarian church leadership abuse found in some Christ-less “churches,” more people could become ensnared in this trap which will blind them to the true and liberating gospel of Jesus Christ.

      Satan must love the fact that some people think ‘not going to movies’ or ‘drinking wine’ is what Christianity is all about. Sadly the focus of this movement tends to be on the self and what the self does or does not do – and not on Christ. Its all a trap that leads to hell, and someone (Darrell and co.) needs to speak out about it.

    3. As well as what Pastor’s Wife has but really well, people in some of these Churches get badly badly hurt not just though blatant abuse but through years of being told that the way to God is fear, self-loathing and a set of ten thousand rules about modesty and clean-livin’. People leave with horrendous scars, it would be a disservice to the to them to overlook their pain and not call the Churches who caused it up on it. It can’t be just about reaching the lost if we trample over those lost in the Church itself (I know you weren’t suggesting we trample or anything 🙂 )

    4. Sam, you sound much like many of the IFB’s I still talk with about this topic. I think I can say that I used to think the same way you are regarding this subject… that is until I tried that.

      I found out we DON’T have the same goals in mind and we are NOT heading in the same direction as the entire cult movement is. I used to feel that perhaps I was just misunderstanding them but now I clearly see their agenda behind everything they do and it’s not always Biblically based!

      I’ve found that what the IFB SAYS and REALLY MEANS can be very different things indeed. What’s being posted on this site and many of the comments and observations made are TOO ACCURATE to deny and have given much to consider regarding my current stance on the IFB life I once led.

      I guess I’m just saying that placating them or attempting to “work” alongside them would be like forcing a Jew to work with the SS Einsatzgruppen…it wouldn’t turn out well. 😉

  5. OMG he looks like a Nazi, one of the Hitler Youth! Turn off the sound, play some Hitler in the background, and you have a perfect outward example of Nazism. HEIL!

        1. And you know, Jean, this poor kid would probably choose to be Rolf, the Hitler youth guy, over the bi guy from Cabaret…

        2. I would hope he’s not that brainwashed. On the other hand, Joel Gray did creepy really, really well, and that might influence him. He does remind me of the Hitler Youth kid singing “Tomorrow belongs to Me” in Cabaret, though–absolutely certain, and arrogant, and wrong.

      1. Oh, HAHAHAHA…I LOVE it! Rolf. Perfect. If only Captain Von Trapp could come along and talk some sense into its head… its oddly talking head.

  7. He kicked it up a notch with the salvation vid…I mean an opening song and everything. 🙂 He does seem sincere and he doesn’t seem quite a brash as others, he’ll make a pretty good ex-fundy one day.

  10. Is he sitting on the toilet? I’m being serious…small, white room, he’s obviously sitting down, and there looks to be little knick-knacks behind him as well, at what would be tank level.
    😆 Too many parallels to draw there, far too many. 😆

    1. That was my first thought, “Is he sitting on the porcelain throne?” You can’t make this stuff up.

  11. Brady is “not going to be presenting [his] theology, but only what the Bible says.”

    A hard-core five-point Calvinist would say the same thing. So would a hard-core devotee of Luther, or Wesley, or Kenneth Copeland, or — for that matter — Arius. We often don’t realize the extent to which our understanding of “what the Bible says” is colored by our ecclesiastical loyalty, whatever it may be. It all depends on what we’ve been taught.

    1. As G.K. Chesterton put it: “You cannot put a book in the witness-box and ask it what it really means. The Fundamentalist controversy itself destroys Fundamentalism. The Bible by itself cannot be a basis of agreement when it is a cause of disagreement.”

    2. There are 1.7 billion Christians in the world, and he is the only one who has it all figured out?

      1. You know what?
        Of those 1.7 billion Christians, about .7 billion are each the only one who has it all figured out. At least, in their own minds they are.

    3. I read another blog where they say “theology matters.”
      What you believe does color what you see in the Bible. And what you listen to.

      I didn’t watch the video. Too many bad associations. I am sure he is sincere, but that doesn’t make him right. 😥

  12. Just started watching his salvation video and it reminds me of Max Headroom with the way it’s chopped and edited.

  13. Oh, cool! We have someone to help us understand the Bible! I’ve just been hoping for someone to come along in a cardboard box who’s voice has yet to change to educate me! I mean, look at him, he’s got the Baptist haircut and the Baptist uniform and we’ve NEVER seen this combination before, so he MUST know SO much more than any of us!

    So, okay kids, let’s all throw away all of our own study books, notes, and whatnots that we’ve wasted YEARS on, because HE’S going to inform us of not HIS view of the Bible, but “what the Bible says” (as well as his Rice, Hyles, Hudson, and Spurgeon books that he’s bummed off his pastor who he loves because he taught him how to do his hair like Jack Schaap).

    1. I’ve just been hoping for someone to come along in a cardboard box who’s voice has yet to change to educate me!

      Well that’s certainly what I’ve been waiting for!

        2. Actually, he sat in a hollowed out tree above the roots and below the rest of it so henceforth he sat IN a tree.

          DON’T GET TECHNICAL WITH ME, BUDDY-R0!

          😉 :mrgreen: 😛

    2. “his pastor who he loves because he taught him how to do his hair like Jack Schaap).”
      Coffee nearly shout out of my NOSE on that one! HILARIOUS. :mrgreen:

  15. I love his intro on the salvation video. He doesn’t have to tell us he’s Baptist. That’s MORE than obvious.

    Ten bucks says that’s him singing in the intro music.

  16. What a role model for all those Baptist Youth. Maybe if I would of had a mentor like that, I would be a good Baptist!

    I laughed when Julie asked if he was in a bathroom, the theme song is “He is still on the throne”! Hope he has some preparation H : )

    Wonder how much gel he uses to keep that good Baptist haircut? He also needs to ask for some new ties.

    I did notice in one of the videos that he has a nice Bible. I heard onion paper crinkle as he turned a page. Prob a Schofield.

    On a serious note, how sad he just rebutted what he has heard. There are some youth leaders who would love to have a kid like that in their youth group. I would ask him, instead of repeating Bible verses, what does that mean to you?

  17. It reminds me of a Fundy sermon I heard about how it’s AMERICA’s fault that no one responds to IFB soul-winning. They expect the entire country to change to adapt to their method of delivery…rather than getting to know individuals and meeting them where they are.

    That being said, I really don’t understand how he expects to reach oeople with his message. He is so outdated and Stepford-like that he’ll be hard pressed to find an audience that buys what he has to say. He just doesn’t ring true. No matter how sincere he may be. There is no substitute for getting to know people where they are…it’s what Jesus did.

  19. I have a feeling that this will not be the last we see of this guy…plenty of material to come and one day and arrest for scamming some teen girls online or something

  20. I thought he promised “exciting”? (I know that’s been commented on to death.) That really was embarrassing to watch, though. “Everybody is wrong! Come to my YouTube channel where you can be set straight!” The arrogance is mind-numbing.

  21. Do the IBF Youth have a book called My Fight?

    Or would it be called πάλη μου ? That we they have Greek to translate.

    1. IFB Youth don’t need Greek. Unless they’re from BJU. Then they might use some Greek. He doesn’t strike me as BJU material. We don’t have to wear ties anymore.

      1. I would miss ties. I was there in the late ’80s as a town student and often wore really wide hideous ties from the ’60s. I couldn’t wear those tacky skinny ’80s ties.

        1. Um, yeah, if I remember correctly, you stole the ties that mom made for dad to wear during the Bicentennial – not just 1970’s style ties, but one was a huge red bow tie with white stars. Oh, man, that was some awesome neckwear, even for 1976.

  22. If you haven’t watched this video with YouTube’s “Transcribe Audio” feature turned on, I highly recommend that you do so. Let’s just say, some of the transcriptions don’t quite match up. The unintentional humor factor is pretty good.

  24. Oh that poor brainwashed kid. Reminds me of all the “preacher boys” I’ve known before. What is he, 14? Even has a few zits. Yet though he’s still wet behind the ears he thinks he knows everything. So sad. Is he in for a rude awakening. 😥

  25. I can’t be too hard on him, I think we were all there once; I know I was. What does get me though is that such “certainty” brings about arrogance. Whereas God’s grace should bring humility. I see this lack of grace in most of the “angry” preachers out there.

    1. Good point. And you are so right about humility.

      “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who…made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And … humbled himself.”

      Believers must have truth AND love, conviction AND compassion, faith AND humility.

  27. People, one cannot lump all IFB together. The key word is INDEPENDENT. You will rarely find two who agree. You have extremists like Oklahoma Baptist College, and you have normal Christians like Lancaster Baptist in California. This is why it’s pointless to rage against the “movement,” because it’s too fractured. This is why we should just concentrate on living out our own ministry before God and man, and letting God clean up the problems in his church. He is so much more effective at it than we could ever be with our blogs. Just an encouraging word for you all.

    1. I’m not sure which is funnier, the part where you tried to use ‘independent’ to defend yourself or the part where you said that Lancaster Baptist isn’t insane.

    4. so I wonder where Sam is from? Obviously it is some where where never is heard a discouraging word and the skys are not cloudy all day.

      I can’t help but think of singing this mashup.

      “I come to the garden alone where the deer and the antelope play,
      Where seldom is heard, the voice I hear fallin on my ear,
      Discloses a discouraging word,

      Andy walks with me
      Andy talks with me,
      Andy tells me the sky is not cloudy all day.”

      Don’t know about anyone else but I’m encouraged. Amen?!

    5. You might be a lot more crazy hard core fundy than you realize if you think Lancaster Baptist is a normal church….

  29. I held on till the very end hoping he would break out in “chocolate rain”. never happened. dangit

  31. I just checked out his YouTube page and Bradey has had over 830 views. I’m sure he is praying-zing Je-he-sus!

  32. This kid is a punk! Guarantee. Iv seen it time and time again. These kids are bread to be ” know it alls” but then they go home and act totally different!

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