Liberalism

Drawing the Lines

/ Tim A. / Leave a comment

More and more of those who profess to be followers of Jesus, and are Baptists, are leaving the Baptists distinctives in order to draw more people.  When we get away from those Baptists teachings which make us Baptists we are no longer Baptists.

If you do not want to be Baptists then go join, or become a part of a church that you can believe with them, but don’t join a Baptist Church and try to get it away from our distinctiveness.  If you don’t love us please leave us.  We will love you anyway.

The following is a quote from a former editor of the former State Baptist Paper, Word and Way,  R.K Maiden, and was posted on a group list I am part of:

“Open communion churches in the south are as scarce as hen’s teeth, and alien immersion churches are almost as scarce. Southern Baptist churches have, so far, consistently and firmly declined to enter into any kind of compromising, entangling, interdenominational alliance. But what of the future? Will the New Testament hold its grip on Southern Baptists through the next fifty or one hundred years? The rising tide of ecclesiastical liberalism will eventually reach the borders of the South and slowly overflow it. . . Fifty or a hundred years hence may show marked changes among Southern Baptists. Unless there is a strong backfire against it, ecclesiastical liberalism will eat into the South. R.K. Maiden, 1926 (R.K. Maiden was editor of “The Word and Way” Missouri Baptist newspaper from 1896 to 1929 and was a leader among Missouri Southern Baptists. In the above quote Maiden hit the nail right on the head. There have been marked doctrinal changes among Southern Baptists in the eighty-two years since he wrote these words. If we are going to see doctrinal renewal come to Southern Baptists we must stand against ecclesiastical liberalism and preach and teach Baptist distinctives to our congregations. The quote is from pages 50-51 of Maiden’s 1926 book “The Rising Tide of Ecclesiastical Apostasy”.)

Posted on the Landmark Southern Baptist Group List, by Ben Stratton

We do not need to be eccleiastically identical with other denominations to get along with them.  The best thing Baptists can do for the world and others is maintain our identity with the Bible as the Word of God, stand on our doctrines and teachings.  If we fail to do that then, we are not worth having around.  Think on these matters for a while before you begin throwing them out the door.

-by Tim A. Blankenship

The Judgment that Stands

/ Tim A. / 2 Comments

The Judgment That Will Stand

“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” Matthew 7:24-29 (KJV).

The foundation is one of obedience. Is it required that a follower of Jesus be obedient? Should a child be obedient to their parents? Obedience is as a child to a parent or master who has our best interest at His heart. So my answer to those questions is YES!! Perseverance is the mark of obedient faith – it stands in the times of storms and trouble. It has a foundation which is built upon the Rock. This rock will never fall, nor will the foundation that is built upon this Rock.

There was a time when the Southern Baptist Convention was leaning very strongly toward liberalism; denying the truth of the authoritative Word of God, opening it up to what is called “Higher criticism”, and interpreting Scripture in light of our culture rather than for what it says. I was attending Boyce Bible School’s satellite branch in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1980. There was a discussion going on about the controversy among some of us students following a class. Some were questioning where to stand on this controversy. I answered this way. I said something like this, “Considering Jesus’s words in the Sermon on the Mount to be a wise builder and build on the rock. You stand on the Rock” Someone asked, “Well which way is the Rock”, to which I said, “The one which is standing on the truths of God’s Word”. The best I can remember that was the end of the discussion. I know it was for me.

Jesus Christ Himself is the Rock, and we must trust Him to be our Rock of security, strength, and power. He is our authority. The people who heard this Sermon on the Mount realized His authority. “He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes”. He is the authority, and anyone who detracts from Him is a liar and a deceiver. His judgment and the judgment of His Word will stand forever.