Perverted Baptists Podcast

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This is the transcript from the podcast episode - "Perverted Baptists."

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Stacey Shiflett Podcast.

I appreciate you tuning in today. I say that every single episode and I mean it with all my heart. There are a lot of different things you can listen to, a lot of different podcasts and programs out there that are interesting, all kinds of information that you've got access to. I don't take it lightly that you would tune in to our podcast today, and we'll take a few moments to share some things that are on my heart and just see if we can make a difference.

We had a wonderful service last night with a visiting preacher friend of mine from up in Chicago. I haven't known him very long, just a few years, but he preached a tremendous message last night on being constrained by the love of Christ. If you get a chance to go back and listen to that, I'm telling you, it's a dynamite message. We had a lady saved last night, and God did a great work in our hearts. We had a great time of fellowship at the house after the service — Brother Courtney Lewis from Cornerstone Baptist Church up in Chicago. We had a great, great service last night.

We got to do something last night I've never done before. We were joking about it after the service. Our new book came in, The Battle for Our Little Ones, and a bunch of people in our church obviously wanted one. So we set up a table in the back after the service last night, and my wife and I signed books together. One of my men came up to me and said, "This is the first time you've ever done a book signing." I said, "Well, I've written about 30 books. I guess it was time for me to do it." We laughed and had a good time, and I just enjoyed seeing all the moms and dads gathered around our table, getting the book and eager to learn how to be a better parent and how to raise godly kids. We've been really tickled with the response so far.

If you haven't had a chance to get it, I encourage you to go get it. It's on our website, surewordpublications.com. It's also on Amazon, in Kindle and paperback, about 280 pages of common sense things parents can do to help raise godly kids. I dealt in the book with the battle — there's a constant battle that parents are going to face to raise kids.

I want to talk today about the elephant in the room. I'm sure a lot of people watching or listening to my podcast today expect me to say something about the news that broke yesterday, and I'm absolutely heartbroken, sick to my stomach, over what happened. A very well known, well loved, very gifted man, Pastor Kenny Baldwin from Virginia, is facing serious felony charges for texting, to say the least, highly inappropriate pictures of himself to a minor — a boy up in Pennsylvania.

The progression that has to take place in a person's mind and heart to get to that place is something I pray to God I never experience, and that none of us do. I cannot imagine convincing yourself at some point that this is okay. But the thing that bothers me as much as what he's done is the way people are responding to it. Now, I'm not going to do a podcast on how wrong it is to text lewd pictures of yourself to little boys — we're in such a mess right now in this country. We look at what's going on in the world, what's going on in politics, and I shake my head and think, "These people are out of their mind." Then I go read the comment section on my Facebook page and I realize that Independent Baptist church members are some of the stupidest, absolute imbeciles. Excuse me for being blunt, but I'm talking about idiotic, braindead morons sitting in our Independent Baptist churches who get more upset over a pastor sharing a link than they do over the fact that this man has been texting pictures of himself to a kid for over a year, all while preaching at youth conferences all over the country. Their only response is, "We need to pray for him, pray for his family." Is that the best you can do?

I'm just going to say it because nobody else is saying it. If your first response to a pastor grooming — let me slow down a minute. The boy met him at his church. The pastor had the man in to preach to their church. He exchanged phone numbers. This is all in the article, and that's all I know — all I know is what's in that news article, I don't know anything else. I knew something was wrong because he went completely dark, hadn't preached in his own pulpit, canceled all of his meetings, hadn't been on social media. I knew something was wrong. I told my wife, "We'll just find out when it comes out." But something was wrong. And of course I never dreamed it would be this. Honestly, I didn't dream it'd be this. I'd texted several people and said, "I'm afraid for what we're going to find out, because something's wrong." People were asking me, "Where's Kenny Baldwin?" I said, "I don't know. We don't talk. I don't run in those circles. I don't know where he's at or what he's doing." I know his dad got up in the pulpit a week or so ago and said, "We need to pray for our pastor. He's having mental battles, physical battles, and spiritual battles, and I think it might be COVID related." Well, that didn't age well.

I hope and pray there's somebody in that church with the leadership to stand up and do the right thing, or that church will not survive this. I posted an article on my Facebook page two days ago. I sat here and typed that thing out myself, and some guy got on there and said that was AI, and I just blocked him and deleted it. I don't need AI to write my Facebook posts for me. They don't write my messages. They don't write what I preach. They don't write what I put up. AI doesn't write my Facebook posts. I wrote that — it was on my heart. For somebody to get on my Facebook page and accuse me of using AI to write something is just ridiculous. I blocked him and deleted it. But I wrote that from my heart. I sat right here at this desk and wrote, "We are all sick and tired of it." I put that up on Tuesday. Then yesterday I got the phone call and read the article, and I'm just thinking, "Here we go again. God have mercy."

This makes me sick to my stomach. There are people getting on my Facebook page under that comment accusing me of gloating. Maybe some people are gloating — I'm not gloating. Lord have mercy, who's gloating over the fact that a preacher is preaching in another state, a young man comes up to him after the service, strikes up a conversation, probably has him sign his Bible, probably says, "I really enjoyed the message," exchanges phone numbers — and then my mind begins to go back to what kind of conversations were taking place in those text messages to even get to the point where you can start sending lewd photos of yourself to this boy, and to do it multiple times a week for a year.

My mind is racing. How many other boys are out there getting this kind of stuff on their phone? Has anything been done to hurt anybody in that church? How does a man who is a secret homosexual groom a boy, send him these pictures, and that's the only person, the only one? My mind begins to race, because I was a victim when I was 17. I was a victim of a physical sexual crime. People don't understand why I get so worked up. My question is, how can you not get worked up?

Your only response is Galatians 6:1. Are you out of your mind? I've read the comments under my Facebook post. They're the dumbest, most idiotic responses. I don't understand it. One person said that most on here have a "told you so" response. No, they don't. I read most of the comments — nobody said "I told you so." Instead, someone wrote, "Could we all pray for the innocent involved rather than saying I told you so?" Nobody said I told you so — I haven't said it. Then somebody says, "Finally, a comment with a sense of reason, since Shiflett felt the need to post the news, so now I'm the problem." Seriously, you're going to turn your guns on me? But this is what happens.

A very well known evangelist commented, "Finally, a scriptural response." So I responded with Matthew 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

"Oh, I agree a thousand percent, I just think the whole Lord should cause us to weep and not gloat." Who's gloating? You see the gaslighting? You see how they twist it? I'm the bad guy for sharing a news article that everybody and their mama already knows about, but I'm a bad guy because I didn't say, "Pray for him, let's restore him." How do you want to restore him? Go for it. He's done. You ought to be in prison for the rest of his life. You're going to restore a sodomite pedophile? I don't have the words, brethren.

Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

Can we just stop? Can we stop with this insanity, this perverted thinking that is enabling and perpetuating this garbage in our churches? The leadership at Crossroads Baptist Church — and that's not my church, and I've got absolutely zero control over what they do — somebody needs to get up in the pulpit, if they haven't done it already, and say, "We need to vote him out of the church. We need to clean this church up. We need to get rid of this mess." What he did was wrong. Stop saying, "We love Pastor Baldwin, and we're so thankful for all the many years of faithful service, he was a good man, he did a lot for me and my family." Stop. There's a boy in Pennsylvania, at least one that we know of, who is ruined and scarred for life because of that. I don't even want to think about what that boy's parents and his pastor are having to deal with today. I don't even want to think about it. My heart breaks to think about what that boy and his family are facing.

"We need to pray for Brother Baldwin, we need to pray for his family." Well, obviously we need to pray for his family. I feel sorry for his wife, I feel sorry for his children, and I feel sorry for the people up there in that church. That's a given — anybody with any Christlike compassion at all knows that's a given. But this "we need to pray for him and he needs to be restored" — and then they attack me. You don't attack him, you attack me. And I'm not saying you ought to attack him — you don't attack him, you attack me. "Well, he ought to be restored."

The sooner we stop talking like this, and the sooner we realize we've got a problem — the problem's not just in the pulpit, the problem's in the pews. The problem is dumb sheep, blind, dumb sheep Baptist church members who will turn a blind eye to anything. You act like it makes you spiritual to say stuff like that. Jesus never once said anything about restoring a person who offends little ones. He said it would be better for you if a millstone were tied about your neck. That's what Jesus said.

And let me mention this while I'm on it: sending selfies of yourself to kids and grooming kids — that's not a "fault." If a man be overtaken in a fault, that's not a fault. That's some messed up, perverted, wicked, ungodly behavior. The word "fault" in that verse literally means to fall. This wasn't a fall. He didn't stumble and fall. You don't stumble and fall into grooming and abusing children. You don't fall into that. You walk into it with your eyes wide open. You don't accidentally do that. The word fault literally means a lapse or deviation from truth and uprightness — it means a sin or a misdeed. I'm just saying, this super spiritual gaslighting, this virtue signaling — I'm reading these comments and I just roll my eyes, and I'm leaving them up there because I want people to see this is what we're dealing with.

We're not just dealing with a lack of integrity and a lack of character in the pulpit. We're not just dealing with men who are living double lives, men who'll get on their Facebook page and post a devotional, get up in their pulpit and preach, while they're doing this junk. We're dealing with people in the pews who haven't got enough discernment — enough spiritual discernment — to even know how to respond when something like this happens. I know everybody doesn't have the same personality, and everybody doesn't have the same life story. My life story brought me to this place. I'm obviously more sensitive and more passionate about this subject than a lot of people, because I've been there. I lived it.

I was on staff at a church in North Atlanta where my pastor groomed me before I even got married. He groomed me and propositioned me in a motel room one night. I've been on the other end of this thing. I know what it feels like when somebody you look up to — you find out they're a pervert, and you don't even know who you can tell. Will anybody even believe this? When I hear these stories, my heart goes out to the victims, their families, and the possibility that there may be more victims. If there aren't more victims, I will be so thankful, but I will also be shocked if that boy in York, Pennsylvania is the only person Kenny Baldwin has done anything inappropriate with. I pray to God it's the only one. But did it ever occur to you that getting the word out that somebody is a groomer and a pervert might help protect somebody else? Might give somebody else an opening to say, "You know what, I've been getting text messages like that too, preacher"?

Why would you share something like that? Why would you tell everybody what he did? Why did God, in His word, tell us what David did? Why did God tell us that David sent a letter by the hand of Joab to have Uriah murdered? Why did God tell us that David walked out on the balcony of his house, looked at a woman bathing, brought her up to his house, and committed adultery with her, and had a baby out of wedlock? Why did God tell us that? I'm tired of people acting like it's not biblical, or spiritual, or ethical, or that it's a slide on my character or my call of God to preach, by sharing a news article warning people that here's a man people look up to and respect, and he's after your kids. You're going to turn your guns on me? You're going to turn your guns on people who are just letting people know this is what I'm talking about — this cockeyed, weird, perverted thinking in our churches is as big a problem as the perverts in the pulpit. It's unbelievable.

They're so emboldened by the stupidity in the pews that at some point they will try to get back into the ministry again, and they will be allowed to. My phone blows up every single week with men who have done the most egregious, heinous acts. They still get to go to Bible college. They still get a diploma. They still get ordained. They still get to preach. They're still in the ministry. They ought to be in jail.

I just addressed the elephant in the room. We don't just have a problem in the pulpits, we've got a problem in the pews. I put a video out several years ago — I said it from my pulpit, put a snippet out, and I may put it back up. Listen, I understand if we don't all see eye to eye on what Bible version we ought to be using, I get it. If you want to have an argument about Bible versions, we'll talk about it — I use the King James, that's all I use. But I can see arguing about a Bible version, I can see arguing about music, I can see us having an argument about dress standards, what's appropriate and what's not, what's modest and not modest. You want to have that conversation, I'll have it with you. What I cannot understand, what makes no sense to me, is how good people are arguing about pedophiles. How in God's name did we get to a place where we're falling out with one another over how this ought to be handled?

If your first response to the news that a man has been grooming kids and that he is a deviant, a pervert, is Galatians 6:1, you've got skeletons in your closet. There's something bad wrong with you. There's something seriously wrong. Your elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor. I'm serious, you've got a few tacos short of a combination platter. If your first response is "spiritual, restore such a one," what about the boy? Can we restore the boy and his family first? Can we see about the church he's in, and the pastor who woke up this morning realizing he's got a boy in his church who was getting text messages multiple times a week from a preacher he brought into the church? Could you imagine that, pastor? Can we talk about them? Can we talk about what's going on with the possible other victims that I pray to God don't exist?

I hope and pray they don't exist, but I've been in this a long time, and rarely is there only one victim. Rarely has this only happened once, to one person. These guys get so emboldened it's almost like they're invincible. They can do whatever they want and get away with it — I'm not saying they get a pass, but your first response is, "I don't know why you had to post that." So now I'm the problem. The news is about a pervert, a pedophile, a groomer, and you're coming after me? You want to pray for him, but you're coming after me. It's exhausting. I've had this conversation over and over and over again.

People get on my Facebook page and say the dumbest things, and I guess they think it makes them spiritual. I can grieve for Brother Baldwin's wife and his children and his church, and the nightmare they're going through — my heart breaks for them. But I'm seeing the comments, "Well, he loved Jesus, he loves people" — you're crazy. Maybe we need some of these hyper merciful people to balance out people like me who want to take a millstone, tie it around somebody's neck, and throw them in the lake. Maybe we need you to balance it out, I don't know. But we've got to stop responding to sin this way. There's something going on in people's minds that doesn't compute, it doesn't make sense.

I am so sick and tired of people who will call me a judge, attack me, attack my motives, accuse me of gloating when I'm not, but they won't say one word about that. It's just all mercy and grace and love and forgiveness and restoration toward him. I'm the problem? No, you're the problem. If you think that way and act that way, that's your line of thinking, you need a reality check. I will always be the voice for the victims. I'll always be the voice for those who have been abused and taken advantage of. And the ones doing these crimes can rot in prison for all I care. If that makes me un-Christlike, then so be it. I'm tired of being put on the defense for warning parents, warning young people, warning church members about wolves — wolves among the lambs. We've got wolves among the lambs.

I put that on Facebook Tuesday, and then this news came out yesterday about Kenny Baldwin. "Oh, you're just trying to sell a book." Okay, well, I'm not buying what you're selling either. We need some pastors to get a backbone the size of a saw, get some grit, throw some gunpowder in your oatmeal, stop tiptoeing through the tulips about this mess. Get up in the pulpit and call it what it is, and deal with it — deal with it hard. This restoration mentality, if that's your first default action, there's something desperately wrong with you. Restoring people back to ministry and to leadership who need to be in prison for the rest of their life.

I woke up early this morning and thought, "You know what, I'm not waiting till tomorrow to do my podcast." I've got a construction project to work on tomorrow here at the church — we're getting ready for a family conference. So I just went ahead and cleared the air. I hope something I said was a blessing, but if it wasn't, honestly, I don't care. None of my podcasts are monetized. I'm not making any money off this stuff. Whether it gets ten thousand views or five, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me. These are just an opportunity for me to share my thoughts, my insights.

When Cameron Giovanelli was accused publicly of the worst impropriety, there were Independent Baptist pastors texting other pastors, raising money for his lawyers. A pastor got up — maybe it was in the foyer, I don't know, maybe it was the pulpit — and told his people, "Stacey Shiflett got smitten with Bell's palsy because he rose up against God's anointed," talking about Cameron Giovanelli. You can't make this stuff up. I got Bell's palsy — thirty to forty thousand Americans a year get Bell's palsy, but God gave me Bell's palsy eight years later, smote me with Bell's palsy, because I stood with a victim and called out a pastor who was calling girls out of their classroom, bringing them into his office, and doing only God knows what. God smoked me with Bell's palsy because I rose up against God, touched God's anointed. You're out of your ever-loving mind. This is pastors telling their church members this. This is the stuff I deal with.

I'm not stopping. I'm not going to back down. I refuse to be silenced. I refuse to be intimidated. You can take your virtue signaling and gaslighting and all your super spiritual mumbo jumbo and shove it in your ear for all I care. I'm not falling for that. I'm absolutely immune to it. We need to pray for the victims and their families. Pray for Brother Baldwin's family, pray for his church, pray for his kids, his wife — I cannot imagine what they're dealing with. But I'm not interested in having a conversation about Galatians 6:1 right now. You're welcome to volunteer to go restore him. Have at it, good luck. A man who'll do what he did has got a seared conscience, as far as I'm concerned — something desperately, desperately wrong.

We've got to stop thinking the way we've been thinking, and start thinking the way God thinks. God is a God of justice and a God of judgment. He is a God of mercy, a God of forbearance, He's longsuffering. He's also a God of anger and wrath and judgment and justice. If you can't balance it out, then just don't say anything at all — we'll all be better off.

Well, thanks for tuning in. I wish I'd had a more uplifting, encouraging, optimistic, refreshing topic to deal with today, but it is what it is. We'll do a podcast probably next week, we'll see. We're starting revival Sunday with Brother Chris Simpson, going all the way through next Friday night. We've been here twelve years, so we've got our anniversary Sunday on Sunday. I'll be preaching Sunday morning, Lord willing, at ten o'clock. God laid a message on my heart yesterday. I'm the only person I know who has a guest preacher in to preach all day on Sunday, and I cancel all the Sunday school classes and move them into the sanctuary so I can still preach. I am burning, I'm on fire right now, my heart's on fire. So if you get a chance to tune in, you're going to want to hear that message Sunday morning at our church, ten o'clock. Pray for our revival next week.

If you haven't had a chance, go look at the book, The Battle for Our Little Ones — it's on Amazon and SureWord Publications. I appreciate you. Thank you so much — if you're still tuning in, still listening thirty-two minutes in, I tip my hat, I appreciate you, thank God for you. We love you. Pray for God's people, pray for revival in this country, let's pray for an awakening in the pulpits and in the pews — it needs to happen in both places. And I'll be the first to admit, I need God. I need Him more than I've ever needed Him before. I need His mercy, I need His grace, I need a wall of prayer around me and my family.

Well, it was kind of random and sporadic, but I hope it was a blessing. We'll talk to you next time.

God bless you.