Did The Trumpet Misrepresent Dallas Seminary?

The following post from Mr. Jason R. Wiesepape, Research Assistant to the President of Dallas Theological Seminar, is either true or false. If Mr. Wiesepape is correct, then The Trumpet owes Mr. Wiesepape and Dallas Theological Seminary an apology for our lead article in the April-June 2010 edition, or it stands as we wrote it. In that Mr. Wiesepape has had over three months to reply to Sam Adams, we think that we have been more than fair in this matter, so we are going to leave the story as it appeared.

From: pastoradams@independencebaptist.com
Mr. Jason R. Wiesepape
Research Assistant to the President
Dallas Theological Seminary

Dear Mr. Wiesepape:

This letter is sent to set the record straight in response to your last two posts to me, pasted in below, regarding DTS's position on 501c3 tax exemption and incorporation for churches. In your post of March 25 you alleged that Mr. John McGough and I somehow conspired to "bait" you into a discussion of larger proportion than you now feel you should be called to account for, that Mr. McGough was insincere in his initial question posed to you, that John and I lack integrity and honesty, that your response was merely your personal opinion and not that of Dallas Theological Seminary, and that you did not really mean to say that you had discussed the issue with Dr's. Bailey and Swindoll.

You are back-peddling, Mr. Wiesepape. The record speaks for itself. Mr. McGough contacted you of his own accord to ask an honest question, and a very good question at that; it is a question many Christians have who have never been to seminary but who know their Bibles well enough to understand that the Lord Jesus is to be the exclusive head of His church; who know their Bibles well enough to understand that the Lord Jesus is most certainly not favorable to sharing authority over His church with "Caesar," and who plainly see that 501c3 tax exemption absolutely surrenders His churches to the state and to the IRS. It is you, Mr. Wiesepape, who is lacking integrity and honesty, along with principle and courage as well, as you have completely dodged that issue as it was very clearly presented to you. God may at times overlook sins of ignorance (Ac 17:30), but neither you, Dr. Bailey, nor Dr. Swindoll will be able to claim ignorance at the judgment seat of Christ on this issue. As to your honesty and integrity, John McGough contacted you to ask the seminary's position, not Jason Wiesepape's personal opinion. These are your words in response, emphasis and highlights added:

"Thank you for taking your time to present me with your understanding of how a Christian organization who obtains and operates under a tax-exempt status as granted to them under the IRC 501-C-3 is idolatrous. We receive several thousand requests each year for our opinions on various matters, and we have taken the time to read your e-mails and materials you have sent to me. However, we remain unchanged on our original position..."

"Thank you for contacting Dallas Theological Seminary and allowing us the opportunity to comment on this matter. I have discussed this matter with Dr. Bailey, the President of Dallas Theological Seminary, he has discussed the matter with Dr. Swindoll, and we feel resolute on our position on this matter..."

You either lied when you wrote those words or you are lying now. When a man who allegedly occupies the position of "Research Assistant to the President" of Dallas Theological Seminary displays not only such dishonesty but such shameful denial of the fundamental Biblical precept of Christ's Lordship over His church, it is little wonder why American Christianity is falling headlong into apostasy and America itself to destruction. You have denied Christ's authority over His church; you have thereby denied and betrayed His very name, and that for a few pieces of silver. May God have mercy on you.

As a courtesy I have attached herewith Dr. Greg Dixon's most recent The Trumpet newsletter in .pdf format, in which he has published our dialogue to his readership as the headline article. I suggest you continue studying the issue.

Honestly,

Pastor Sam Adams
Independence Baptist Church
Belleview, Florida

From: "Jason Wiesepape"
Date: Fri, March 26, 2010 8:34 am

Pastor Adams,

As I said earlier, you can proceed as you would like. If you are making posts about me, you could give me the courtesy of at least spelling my name correctly. Also, what you have from me is my opinion, not the "official" position of the seminary. However, to say that Dr. Bailey and Dr. Swindoll are okay with the fact that Dallas Seminary retains its 501-C-3 status is accurate (this is what I discussed with Dr. Bailey. And he has had prior discussions with Dr. Swindoll about it in the past years but not as a result of your inquiry). However, any response you have received from me has been my own. So to say that you have any type of official response from Dr. Bailey or Dr. Swindoll or that they have read any of your e-mails or materials would be completely inaccurate.

Doesn't the very fact that Dallas Seminary retains its 501-C-3 show that they are okay with it. If you went by that fact for your story you could add a whole bunch of people to your story. You could talk about how Billy Graham and Rick Warren all want us to be in bed with Cesar because their organizations retain a 501-C-3 status.

Your friend, John, contacted me in what I thought was good faith; that he wanted me to dialogue with you and him alone because you wanted some help in understanding how Dallas Seminary could rightfully maintain our 501-3-C status. I was more than happy to help, but when you gentlemen started forwarding and posting my responses, it quickly became clear that neither of you were as you had represented yourselves and meant our dialogue for bigger purposes all along. So to John's response, I am not questioning the intent of your questions, but the intent with which you contacted me.

Serving faithfully,

Jason
Jason R. Wiesepape
Research Assistant to the President
Dallas Theological Seminary