In September 2024, prominent Reformed preacher Steven J. Lawson was removed from Trinity Bible Church of Dallas and from roles within several different ministries after it was revealed that he had an inappropriate extramarital relationship with a woman in her 20s.
While the exact nature of the relationship was never fully explicated, the scandal was enough to “rock the Reformed world,” says BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey, who covered the incident when it first happened.
For a while, Lawson stayed out of the public eye, but he’s recently re-entered with a new book. “Mercy in the Wilderness: How I Fell & What I Found,” which dropped quietly in September, recounts the hidden sin and adulterous relationship that collapsed his ministry in 2024 and frames the aftermath as a story of repentance and God’s mercy rather than a detailed account of what happened.
Several prominent pastors and elders have criticized the book, arguing that Lawson has no business profiting from a book made possible by the sin that disqualified him from pastorship.
“I agree with some of these critics. It's just too soon,” says Allie, noting that she wants Lawson “to be focused on the things of the Lord, the things of the local church, and the things of [his] marriage.”
But it’s also some of the contents in the book that bother her.
While Allie gives Lawson credit for seeming “genuinely repentant” for the sinful relationship, she criticizes the part of the book where he apologizes for “[emphasizing] God's holiness much more than his mercy” in his past sermons.
In the book, Lawson judges himself for being a “prophet of doom” instead of “a pastor of grace,” but Allie never thought he did anything but preach “straightforward” about biblical truth.
“There is something about this that strikes me as odd. Like, who are you speaking to? Like, who are you trying to garner the sympathies of?” she asks.
Speculating that Lawson is perhaps triggered by the idea of harsh preaching because he “didn't like that harshness” when it was his own sin being exposed, Allie says, “I don't know if the audit on his past sermons is coming from a genuine place or if it's even correct.”
She also believes he tempered his admission of pride by “listing his credentials.”
“To me it comes across like, ‘Look, I was also producing so much; I was doing so much and giving so much to the world,”’ says Allie, calling Lawson’s list of accomplishments “a little gratuitous.”
She also disliked Lawson comparing his downfall to that of King David’s with Bathsheba.
“That seems to me like something that you allow someone else to do and maybe not something that you do yourself because it does seem to elevate you to this special chosen appointed position like David that might not actually be applicable to you,” she says.
But Allie’s biggest issue with Lawson’s book is that he “doesn’t address those that he has hurt.”
“Now, he does talk about his wife, and he does admit the problems that he had in their marriage and take responsibility there, but other than that, he doesn't really have a specific address to those that he harmed,” she says.
“If you're going to come out of silence after letting down a lot of people, those people seem to be like the primary audience that you're talking to, right? Like, not just not the people who need to be reminded that they, like David, can commit adultery and then be used by God.”
To hear more of Allie’s critical breakdown of Lawson’s book, watch the episode above.
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[H/T Blaze Media]
