A Pastor’s Anonymous Slander, Black Sanctification Debate, and God's Long Nose

The Josh Buice scandal, a central figure in the Puritan Separatist movement, a fascinating idiom in Biblical Hebrew, and much more.

Anthony Langer
May 17, 2025

It’s Saturday, May 17, 2025.

Today’s edition covers the Josh Buice scandal, a central figure in the Puritan Separatist movement, a fascinating idiom in Biblical Hebrew, and much more.

“Good sense makes one’s nose long…” or, “Good sense makes one slow to anger…” (Proverbs 19:11a) — See The Bible, Briefly section below to make this make sense!

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Of Christian Concern

WELL-KNOWN PASTOR JOSH BUICE EXPOSED FOR ANONYMOUS SLANDER AGAINST OTHER CHRISTIAN LEADERS

Well-known Georgia pastor and G3 Ministries founder Josh Buice used multiple “anonymous social media accounts,” “anonymous email addresses,” and “Substack platforms” to “slander numerous Christian leaders,” the board of G3 Ministries said in a statement on Monday.

These actions occurred over a period of three years, during which Buice was asked about his involvement on multiple occasions and always denied it. Recently, after new “clear and comprehensive evidence” was revealed, his church elders confronted him and, “[o]nly after further evidence was presented and much pleading with him,” he confessed.

“Since then,” the G3 statement says, “Josh has acknowledged his sin, expressed sorrow, and asked for forgiveness. His desire is to personally ask forgiveness of every person he has slandered or lied to.”

Buice is “disqualified from serving as an elder” in his church, Pray's Mill Baptist Church (PMBC), and resigned as President of G3. Initially, the board reported that “we do not believe at this time that his sin is necessarily permanently disqualifying” and “his content will remain accessible” on their website and app, but on Tuesday, they updated that decision.

“Due to the public and egregious nature of the sin, we believe Josh Buice has stained the mission and character of G3 Ministries (G3). After further consideration and godly counsel, we have made the decision to remove all of Josh Buice’s content from every platform.”

The targets of Buice’s slander included “faithful pastors (some of whom have spoken at G3 conferences), several PMBC elders, and others,” the original statement reveals. In one case, he used an anonymous email address and a pseudonym, “Tom Smith,” to allege to The Roys Report that pastors Voddie Baucham and Tom Ascol (the leader of Founders Ministries) may have misused funds that Baucham received for medical expenses in a GoFundMe campaign. For context, The Roys Report is a Christian investigative publication with a seedy reputation among some evangelicals, as evidenced by Protestia labeling it a “scandal blog” and journalist Megan Basham referring to its writers as “yellow journalists.”

Josh Buice issued a public apology for his “past critique of Voddie Baucham and Founders Ministries,” calling his words “unsubstantiated and sinful remarks.” He notes that he “met privately with Voddie Baucham and personally asked for his forgiveness, as I plan to do with others in the days to come.” He adds, “I also humbly ask your forgiveness, recognizing that my actions have caused confusion and division.” Nevertheless, some online are using The Roys Report’s revelation to level insinuations against Baucham and Ascol, highlighting the potential for Buice’s actions to have an ongoing impact.

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Also Noteworthy

Three-Self Church’s website logo (https://www.ccctspm.org)

→ Three-Self Church, the only legal Christian church in China, has been ordered to publish more regular Chinese Communist Party propaganda, including Christian books and websites, reports Bitter Winter.

→ The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services will review the labeling of the abortion pill Mifepristone after a study found that 11% of women who take it “experience adverse effects,” Sec. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., told Sen. Josh Hawley in a recent hearing. For context, 100% of preborn children whose mothers take Mifepristone “experience adverse effects”—namely, death.

→ A Christian band called 3 Heath Brothers stirred up controversy for its performance at a public North Carolina elementary school, where critics allege band members proselytized through religious music and the distribution of devotionals. The superintendent claims the band “hoodwinked” the faculty, pitching the show as an anti-bullying event with no Christian content, but then including Christian content in the event. The band denies proselytizing or holding “any kind of worship service.”

→ President Donald Trump’s administration announced there will be no additional funding to UNFPA, the United Nations’ “sexual and reproductive health agency,” which promotes abortion globally. LifeNews reports, “The [defunding] is a result of the pro-life executive order Trump signed in January…”

→ Former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, who refused to approve same-sex marriages in 2015 and has been fighting legal battles over it ever since, will finally take her case to the Supreme Court.

→ United Kingdom church attendance increased 13 percent between 2020 and 2025, according to a new survey of 305 church leaders and 977 individuals, conducted by the United Kingdom Evangelical Alliance. This news comes in the wake of The Times’ report that Bible sales in Britain went up 87 percent between 2019 and 2024.

→ The new pope, Leo XIV, affirmed traditional marriage and the dignity of the unborn in a meeting on Friday, speaking on the matters for the first time since he assumed the office.

Content Catch-Up

Recent, notable content of Christian interest.*

→ Black Sanctification Debate: The much-anticipated debate between the excommunicated self-proclaimed racist podcaster Corey Mahler and the Reformed Baptist pastor Dr. James White took place on Thursday. The Bibledingers’ YouTube debate, now viewed nearly 60,000 times, was about whether God can sanctify black people as well as white people. (Debate)

→ Recent Faith News Brief content you may have missed:

→ Wes Huff on FLAGRANT: In another evidence of significant cultural interest in meaningful understanding of Christianity and the Bible, biblical manuscript scholar and apologist Wes Huff appeared as the guest on the massively popular Flagrant podcast, where he discussed church history and defended the faith. (Video)

*Not necessarily an endorsement

Church History Tidbit

The Father of Congregationalism

Robert Browne (1550s–1633), born in Rutland, England, was a pivotal figure in the Puritan Separatist movement. After graduating from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in 1572, he rejected the Church of England's authority, advocating for congregational autonomy.

In 1580, he founded the first Congregationalist church in Norwich, emphasizing independent church governance. His radical views led to multiple imprisonments, but he was often released due to his kinsman William Cecil’s influence. In 1581, Browne fled to the Netherlands, where he published key works like A Treatise of Reformation without Tarying for Anie (1582), outlining congregational principles.

Internal disputes dissolved his Middelburg congregation, and by 1585, he returned to England, reconciling with the Church of England. Ordained in 1591, he served as rector of Achurch until 1631. Despite his later conformity, Browne’s early separatism earned him the title “Father of Congregationalism” and influenced the Pilgrims. His life ended in Northampton Gaol in 1633 after a dispute, leaving a legacy of religious independence.

This history tidbit was written with Grok.

The Bible, Briefly

God’s Long Nose

This is not God. But it is a long nose.

“The Lord passed before [Moses] and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness…’” (Exodus 34:6)

The original Hebrew for the phrase translated “slow to anger” is אֶ֥רֶךְ אַפַּ֖יִם (erek apayim). A literal translation would be “long of nose.”

Wait, what?

Why “long of nose”? In ancient Hebrew, the word for “nose” is often used as an idiom for anger. For example, when we read of someone’s anger being kindled, it is frequently the literal phrase “hot in the nose.”

While this seems strange to the modern English speaker at first glance, perhaps it’s not that foreign after all. Heat in the face is sometimes a physiological response to anger, and it’s a well-known fact that flaring nostrils is a nonverbal sign of anger. Given that, it’s not hard to understand how a “hot nose” and “anger” could have become associated.

“That is why,” Christa Gomez of Christian Learning writes, “when a person is patient, they refer to him as ‘long of nose.’ It will take a long time before his nose will get hot.”

For that reason, God says of Himself that He is long of nose, and calls us to be as well. As Proverbs 19:11 says, “Good sense makes one’s nose long.” That is, “Good sense makes one slow to anger.”

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