Martin Wickens

The independent Baptist world, and Christian circles more broadly, has been devastated by the revelation of the sin of former pastor, Kenny Baldwin.

I heard Kenny preach, but did not know him personally. However, many people I know considered him a friend and mentor. I know some who made a profession of faith or committed to serve during a service where he preached.

Kenny has sinned grievously, he has committed felony behavior, and is to be rightly denounced. Not from a place of pride, but from a place of broken heartedness and humility. Brokenhearted for the shame that will be brought on the name of Christ and for the victims. Humility because pride comes before destruction.

None of us will likely ever know the exact path that Kenny took to his iniquity, but I do know this, he changed his orbit.

Shoemaker-Levy 9

For millennia a comet orbited the sun. We don’t know how large or long it’s orbit around the sun was. Perhaps at the dawn of creation God simply flicked a rock into space. Maybe it resulted from the collision of other celestial bodies. Unseen and unknown, around and around the sun it flew. It’s entire trajectory decided entirely by it’s relation to the sun.

On March 18th, 1993, astronomers Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker and David Levy discovered 20 massive fragments collapsing into Jupitar. The comet that had spawned these fragments was named after them, Shoemaker-Levy 9.

At some point, the comet’s orbit changed. No longer governed primarily by its relationship to the sun, it was captured by Jupiter’s gravity. That change in orbit ultimately led to its destruction.

The comet, Shoemaker–Levy 9 (SL9), no longer orbited the Sun but had been captured into orbit around Jupiter. During one close approach, it passed inside what scientists call the Roche limit, the distance at which a planet’s tidal forces become stronger than the gravity holding an orbiting object together.

SL9 could no longer hold together, it’s integrity failed, and it broke apart into what came to be described as a “string of pearls”.

A little over a year later they crashed catastrophically into Jupitar producing massive fireballs and sending plumes of hot gas 1200-1900 miles above Jupitar’s cloud tops. Their impact released energy equivalent to hundreds of millions of nuclear bombs.

It all started when it changed it’s orbit.

Don’t Change Your Orbit

Kenny, and all who have trespassed as he did, at some point changed their orbit. Instead of the trajectory of their lives orbiting and being controlled by the Son, something else took God’s place.

Something else became the center of their lives. Perhaps slowly, perhaps quickly, but the result was the same.

Eventually the pressure of sin became greater than the integrity of their character. What had been hidden could no longer remain concealed. The public collapse simply revealed an inward collapse that had already taken place.

Much could be said about avoiding sin, but let me say this one thing, DON’T CHANGE YOUR ORBIT!

Keep Jesus at the center of every part of your life!

What Next?

• Check your orbit. What, or rather who, does your life revolve around?

• If you know you have drifted, get back to the son. If you are in a battle, seek help.

• If someone comes to you for help, then help them. If criminal conduct has occurred than take that part to the authorities. Do your part to help them back to Christ.
• If you have been let down by a man, then remember you have been let down by a man, not God. Keep your eyes on Jesus, draw closer to him. Don’t abandon your faith because of a man’s failure.
• Pray. Pray for the victims, pray for yourself, pray for Kenny’s family, pray for his church, and pray for those who have been wounded and crushed. Pray.

Keep your eyes on Jesus. Don’t change your orbit.