Day: November 5, 2007

Hatred For Baptists

/ Tim A. / Leave a comment

If all Baptists and their churches were like a certain F.P. from Topeka, Kansas, then I could understand why Baptists have been hated before.  Generally we Baptists are kind hearted, willing to fight for your right to believe what you want to believe; even if we believe you are wrong.

We have done that before.  We will do it today, and tomorrow when the need arises.  The Phelps character of Kansas is no Baptists, nor a Christian, unless he is sorely deceived.  He very much needs to fall on his knees, along with his deceived congregation and seek God’s forgiveness for using the name of God and His Son to defame, disgrace, and protest the burial ceremonies of our soldiers who have died in the war with Iraq.

I guess you could say he and the “church” he pastors has a right to do what they please; but the people they harm emotionally, or physically also have the right to sue and win a legal judgment against them.  The last family that has made the news due to the ill presence of F. P.  and his “church” sued and won an 11 million dollar judgment against them.  I am not in favor of law suits, but if one was ever deserved this group who falsely call themselves “Baptists” and “Christian” could stand a bit more humiliation, and humility, and realize that save for the grace of God they themselves could be the one’s lying in those graves.

I pray for the families they have harmed.  I also pray for the families of this group, and for the false teacher who is more interested in harming than helping the weak and the weary.

How can I so clearly declare that Fred Phelps and this group is not Baptists or Christian?  Because, if they were they would know that it is the kindness of God that leads to repentance.  God does not hate sinners; He loved us so much He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.  That is how I know he has not experienced that grace.  If he had he would be giving rather than stealing the souls away from God.

Arkansas Baptist Convention

/ Tim A. / 3 Comments

The following was posted by Ben Stratton of the Landmark Southern Baptist yahoo Group List.  Baptists pay attention:

(The Arkansas State Baptist Convention will meet in Van Buren, Arkansas this Tuesday, November 6, 2007 to decide whether to keep or delete the words “The Baptist Faith and Message shall not be interpreted as to permit open communion and / or alien immersion” from the ASBC articles of incorporation. Be sure to read and forward the below article and to pray for Arkansas Baptists on Tuesday.)

WHY WE SHOULD VOTE TO SUSTAIN ARTICLE III,
SECTION 1 OF THE ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION
by
Jimmy A. Millikin
former President of Williams Baptist College
At the 2007 annual meeting of the Arkansas Baptist Convention a study committee will recommend an amendment of Article III, Section 1 of the constitution and by-laws of the state convention called the Articles of Incorporation. The recommended amendment calls for the elimination of the phrase: “The Baptist Faith and Message shall not be interpreted as to permit open communion and/or alien immersion.” In other words, this proposed amendment wants to open the door to allow cooperating churches to accept any baptism regardless from what source it comes as long as it is immersion, and would technically open the Lord’s table to anyone and everyone, even to the unregenerate.
The question that needs answering is, Why change this article of doctrinal belief? The truth of the matter is that there has been very little debate over this issue. The Newsmagazine has been strangely silent about this important matter in Arkansas Baptist life. The only thing that I can remember reading is the reason given for the change. As I recollect three arguments have been advanced for the change. Perhaps the foremost one that has been presented by the Study Committee itself is that the article violates the autonomy of the local church. This argument has been used for years by those who object to using any kind of confession of faith as a basis of cooperation and fellowship among Southern Baptists. If this argument is followed then the entire second paragraph of Article III should be eliminated. To set forth a doctrinal requirement as a basic of cooperation and fellowship among churches does not violate the autonomy of a local church at all. No Convention or Association can tell a local church what it can believe or practice, but a Convention or an Association can define the doctrinal parameters of its body. A local church can decide whether it wants to abide by those guidelines or not. If this were not so, then we are not a convention of Baptist churches, but simply an ecumenical organization composed of all different kind of churches.
Another argument I have seen stated is that many churches in the Convention, especially many of the larger churches, are already violating the article. Sadly, that is true. But I would hope that anyone with a clear mind is able to see the wrong thinking of such an argument. Suppose some of these churches begin to accept other forms of baptism than immersion. Are we to conform our articles of faith to accommodate those who are violating them, or should those who are violating the article be held accountable and asked to cease? I believe the answer to this question is clear.
Another argument I hear is that the restricted view of baptism impedes evangelism and church growth. Can anyone honestly contend that the historic Arkansas Baptist view of alien immersion impedes our evangelistic mission? Let me put in another way, Does accepting alien immersion enable Baptists to make converts more rapidly? Again, I believe the answer to these questions is obvious. The article against alien immersion may indeed impede the proselyting of members from other denominations, but it does not impede winning the lost to Christ.
Now, to deal with this issue in a positive manner, I will advance only one argument for retaining the statement about alien immersion. That is not to say that there are not others, but it is, in my judgment, the most crucial one. One significance of baptism is that it is an identification act. It is an act of identification with Christ, and it is an act of identification with a people. Those who received baptism from other denominations have identified with those bodies from which they come. To require such to be baptized and their willingness to do so indicates that they have broken with their former denomination and now have publically committed themselves to being Baptists. On the other hand, people who desire to join a Baptist church but is unwilling to submit to baptism is a strong indication that they want to join a Baptist church without becoming a Baptist.
It is the ordinance of baptism that protects and preserves our distinctive as Baptists. Here is the question that every messenger to the Arkansas Baptist Convention must answer in his mind and conscience, Will eliminating the statement concerning alien immersion prosper and perpetuate Baptist churches? Or will opening the door to alien immersion eventually erode our Baptist distinctive to the point that many Baptist churches cease to be Baptist churches and become non-denominational churches? As a member of an Arkansas Baptist church for forty-eight of the fifty-seven years of my Christian life, I urge the messengers of the 2007 annual convention to vote to sustain the present reading of the Articles of Incorportation.

(Jimmy Millikin is the Dean of the Master’s and Associate Programs and Chairman and Professor of the Department of Theology at Mid-America Baptist Seminary in Memphis, TN.)

Let’s be in prayer for our fellow Baptists in Arkansas as they meet.  Pray first for the Holy Spirit to move in power and for God’s will to be done.  Let’s hold to our Baptist distinctives.

Captured By Sin

/ T. A. Blankenship / Leave a comment

Captured By Sin

The man of God must always we aware, alert, and ascribing worth to the Greater One, who is God. We often may not realize it but there are others who will be needing us to be the people of faith that we are. Our faith will be an inspiration to others. As the song says, “May those who come behind us find us faithful.” It will make a difference someday. It is as close as the next minute, hour, day, week, month and year.

“And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations; That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea. Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim, And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto Elparan, which is by the wilderness. And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezontamar. And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim; With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five. And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain. And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.” Genesis 14:1-12 (KJV)

Abraham was a watching man. After coming out of Egypt Abraham was a somewhat wiser man. He was still a man subject to sin, though. Rather than allowing a feud to brew; he had given Lot the choice of land. Lot chose what appeared to be the best land productively and beauteously.

We can see Lot’s casual backsliding progressively: 1) Lot saw the land; 2) Lot set his heart on the land and dwelled there; 3) Lot eventually moved into the city surrounded by perversity; 4) Lot’s family was corrupted (19:26, 33). Because of Lot’s identity with the flesh he suffered like the fleshly. He chose mammon over morality; godlessness over godliness; and bondage over freedom.

Abraham loved Lot greatly; afterall Lot was Abraham’s nephew. He must have been attentive about Lot and his condition – both physically and spiritually. He longed to hear any reports concerning his nephew

In these first twelve verses we can see that things were not as them may have seemed in “the plains of Jordan”. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah had rebelled against their ruling nation and king. Kings Bera of Sodom and, Birsha of Gomorrah and three other kings of surrounding cities had been subjects to the King named Chedorlaomer of Elam for a period of twelve years. In the next year they rebelled and would not pay their taxes and fees, etc.. After one year Chedorlaomer gathered three other kings and their armies, along with his, and went against the five kings. Lot was caught in the middle. Isn’t that what happens to those who want to ride along and just stay neutral – right down the middle? Lot was taken captive, just like the rest. Everything he possessed and his entire family were at the mercy of an angry and powerful king.

To Lot’s advantage he had an uncle who loved him, was praying for him, and was committed to his deliverance. There is someone who is being held captive by their sin – someone you know. They have just been riding on the coattails of the world, but now they cannot escape, and they desperately need your aid. You have been praying for them; you may have been watching them as they slipped deeper and deeper into sin, and farther and farther away from God. You tried many times to warn them, but to no avail. Now they are captive, cannot escape, and only you can come to their aid. Only you have the faith, the vision of God to free them. Do it.