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THE
MONGRELIZING OF |
Bible believers need fellowship to survive. The whole objective of the first Fundamentalists was to create a system by which Christians on the Narrow Way could identify one another and have Christian fellowship that was based on Bible truth. This worked at first, but as time went by, Fundamentalists found that they disagreed on certain doctrines which were not on the list of Funda- mentals. This soon made friction between various leaders, denominations, Christian colleges, and local churches. What seemed like a good idea became a basis for destroying Christian fellowship. We will particularly want to look at the ways Funda- mentalism was compromised by agents provocateur, and we will see how pastors became desperate and invented laws and standards to deal with the intrusions into Funda-mentalsim of the flesh and the devil. Finally, we will discuss the principles of finding fellowship based on Bible truth instead of human inventions. |
ORIGIN
OF
FUNDAMENTALISM
In 1883 a group of Christian Bible scholars met for the first time at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, near Niagara Falls and established the principles of Christian Fundamentalism. It was here that the Niagara Bible Conference gathered every year from 1883 through 1897 (with the exception of 1884). It met at the Queen's Royal Hotel and its pavilion. James Brooks, in his Truth magazine describes the meeting of 1892 as one
"more largely attended than ever before. Often every seat in the pavilion was occupied, and the porches were filled with eager hearers of the Word. The place also becomes more beautiful as the years go by, and it would be difficult to find a spot better suited to the quiet and prayerful study of the Sacred Scriptures. The building in which the Conference meets, overlooking Lake Ontario and the River Niagara, and surrounded by green trees, is secluded from the noise of the world; and so excellent were the arrangements for the accommodation of the guests, both in Queen's Royal Hotel and in the boarding houses of the village, that not a word of complaint was heard from any one." Some of the scholars who were present, known as the founding fathers of Fundamentalism, were W.E. Blackstone, Charles Erdman, James H. Brookes, William Moorehead, A.J. Gordon, A.C. Dixon, C.I. Scofield, and J. Hudson Taylor (who founded the China Inland Mission).
The messages generally centered on the doctrines of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, missions and prophecy. Premillennialism was defended and taught. Article XIV of the 1878 Niagara Bible Conference Creed states,
"We believe that the world will not be converted during the present dispensation, but is fast ripening for judgment, while there will be a fearful apostasy in the professing Christian body; and hence that the Lord Jesus will come in person to introduce the millennial age, when Israel shall be restored to their own land, and the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord; and that this personal and premillennial advent is the blessed hope set before us in the Gospel for which we should be constantly looking." Some of the contributions of the Niagara Conference were:
1. The conference helped to strengthen the distinctive character of Fundamentalism. It was this feature of the movement which made possible the organization, in 1919, of the World’s Christian Fundamentals Association. But, the weak point was in what followed, which was pride and snobbery toward other Christians who had not joined Fundamentalism. Often these groups were attacked for their errors, and the theological rebellion which followed in the 1950s brought Neo-Evangelicalism and accommodation to Liberalism by many Evangelicals.
2. The conference spawned new missionary activity and evangelism. The faith missions movement itself finds its roots in Niagara, where Arthur Tappan Pierson, editor of the Missionary Review of the World, and J. Hudson Taylor of the China Inland Mission urged their listeners to pledge support to foreign missions. The irony in this is that much of this surge in missions resulted in missions which did not teach the whole doctrine of the Word of God, only the Fundamentals.
3. Niagara contributed to the rise and spread of a large Bible conference movement. Receiving invitations from various parts of America to establish similar meetings, the Niagara also provided the impetus and leadership for numerous conferences. These conference centers are still with us, and they still adhere to the Fundamentals of the Faith while diminishing the non-fundamentals.
4. Niagara had a significant impact on the rise of the Bible institute and college movement. With evolutionary views and new theology engulfing an increasing number of theological seminaries, the Niagara spokesmen began promoting another type of institution, the Bible school, and virtually every Fundamentalist school that was organized prior to 1930 found advice, encouragement, or personnel from among those whose lives Niagara had influenced. These schools today are, with few exceptions, gone into the ditch as they claim to hold to "the Fundamentals." This proves Fundamentalism was largely good intentions which failed in the long haul.
5. The conference gave early expression to Fundamentalism’s emphasis on concentrated Bible study. One of this conference’s methods of Bible study, the Bible reading, was in many cases a clear application of the biblical theology method, that is, the unfolding of particular doctrines chronologically rather than systematically through the Bible. The program of a Niagara conference was often designed to expound one particular doctrine, Christology for example, with each speaker assigned a different section of Scripture through which he would trace the teaching. But, doctrines which fell outside the list of Fundamentals were neglected.
6. The conference precipitated a vast amount of Fundamentalist literature on prophecy, of which there had been little before the prolific writers of Niagara began producing it. From the pens of Brookes, Erdman, Kellogg, West, Blackstone, Pierson, Scofield, and others came a profusion of Christian literature, not only on prophecy but on every cardinal doctrine. Especially significant were writings on the Person and Work of Christ, The Holy Spirit, and missions. Teaching on the holy life were still found at places like Keswick, England, but the teaching of holiness had to be treated by men like Tozer and Schofield, while the doctrine of holiness was left to the Arminian churches where the fear of losing one's salvation motivated holiness teaching.
7. The Niagara meetings inspired scores of Christian businessmen to dedicate their lives to Christ and to become generous donors to Fundamentalist churches, schools, missions, and publication enterprises. It also tended to give board of directors power to these donor businessmen, may of whom poured cold water on the Fundamentals. The extreme of this big business participation was seen as the Ford Foundation and the Rockafeller Foundation made large donations to world missions with strings attached that the donations not be used to preach the Gospel. Many mission boards went to it, and the result was Christless slop hog social Gospel activities.
Resource:
David O. Beale, In Pursuit of Purity: American Fundamentalism Since 1850
Cornerstone Baptist Church, Ontario
THE BUILT-IN VIRUS IN FUNDAMENTALISM
The first virus in Fundamentalism, from day one, was that it marginalized everything not on the list of seven or nine Fundamentals. It is a spiritual deformity and sickness to marginalize many "nonessential" doctrines from the Word of God. Indeed, it borders on blasphemy to declare any Bible truth as "nonessential." I heard one Bible college president claim that his college had never left its "biblical imperatives." What is imperative? I will tell you:
Revelation 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Every word of the Bible is an "imperative." Nothing falls into second place. To put it another way, everything from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 is "Fundamental" truth. You will find NO formula in the Bible for prioritizing all the truths taught in the Word of God.
You will not find God giving a formula to Moses to determine which Laws God gave him which are Fundamental and which Laws are nonessential. The law about covering your excretion when outside the city is just a important to God as, "Thou shalt have no other God before thee." It is this prioritizing of Biblical truth and doctrines in the Word of God which has turned Fundamentalism into the ditch from day one. If your God has optional laws, and optional holiness, you are a Hindu, not a Christian.
A second virus crept into that first gathering of men in Niagara. They became very pleased with themselves. Pride is the result of making a list of fundamentals. This is because we soon believe we are the pure and righteous elite before God. We have our dear list of non-negotiables of which we can boast. And, we soon fall. The most advanced in this art of the terminal disease of self-exaltation are Independent Fundamental Baptists. They spend large portions of their conferences and pastors' rallies listing all the ways in which they are superior to other Christian groups. Meanwhile, their shining gurus, like Jack Hyles, Jack Schaap, and Dr. Bob Gray indulge in the "non-essentials" of adultery and pedophilia.
Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
What do we crave?
In the Baptist movement much time is spent bragging about how pure we are. Schools are then exalted as superior, and the inferior churches and schools are mocked, often with raw mean spirited contempt. Don't duck, sir..... I hit you between the eyes, and you know I am right.
Here are some suggestions as to what we should crave from the Bible, and they have NOTHING to do with Baptist Standards.
Philippians 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.1 Corinthians 9:24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.This is whole body Christianity. Paul did not just worry about how long his hair was, or if his robe was long enough. He kept after his whole life and humanity so that it was totally subject to Christ. And, Paul had the distinct disadvantage of not having the Bob Jones University rule book to guide him in personal conduct.
Philippians 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.What was left behind at Niagara as not Fundamental? What was less important than the absolute truth? The very act of exalting seven or nine truths from the Word of God is wicked. The whole book is inspired, and the whole book should be believed equally. It should be preached all the way through. I have a lot more patience with a preacher who tries to make every post in the tabernacle teach some spiritual lesson than with the jerk who tries to tell me about the nonessentials of the Bible.
One problem here is that Fundamental Baptists do not preach from the Old Testament much at all. They cross reference to the Old Testament, but they do not believe it is preaching territory. I had a friend who attended a Baptist college in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and in a class on homiletics he was told not to preach sermons based on Old Testament texts. This is wicked, and I believe it is a result of having two levels of truth..... the essential and the optional. This is not just a Fundamental Baptist fault. Many denominations have a good, better, and best Bible for preaching and teaching purposes. I have news for you, preacher. When you step through the gates of Heaven, and you walk up to the throne of God, you will not see SEARS written above the throne.
THE
CO-OPING OF FUNDAMENTALISM
By "co-op" I mean the principle of one entity drawing another entity into common cause or fellowship.
Billy Graham-
When Billy Graham went to Chicago for a crusade in 1962 he was responding to a group of Fundamental and Evangelical pastors who invited him. When Graham came to meet with the pastors, he bluntly told them they did not represent enough of the churches in Chicago. Graham never tolerated small crowds. So, Graham's people went courting Liberals and heretic churches of Chicago and brought them into the mix. The Fundamental pastors were insulted, and rightly so. Some of them stayed on with the crusade, and some backed out. The ones that stayed with the crusade inherited the compromises of Billy Graham, for which he was becoming famous. Billy Graham also did this trick in South America, Africa, the UK, and many other nations where he went preaching. The result was that those Fundamentalists who cooperated with Graham initially ended up spiritually compromised and ceased to be Fundamental as to fellowship.Thus, Billy Graham made many efforts, over the years of his crusades, to draw Fundamental Christian leaders into league with Liberal and Modernist Christianity.
Bob Jones University-
Bob Jones University, founded by a Presbyterian named Bob Jones Sr, has been famous for racism, legalism, sloppy treatment of vulgar art and music, and they have supplied thousands of Fundamental Baptist churches with pastors. This process, over many years, has dragged down these Fundamental Baptists to the level of depravity at Bob Jones University. Thousands of Baptist preachers have made the BJU campus rule book the standard for their local church under the color of "Baptist Standards." The process which destroyed Bob Jones University was when Dr. Bob Jones Sr. selected his first board of directors. Several Freemasons, including Senators Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms, were chosen. This brought Satanic false religion into Bob Jones from the get go. They have never cleansed themselves of such compromise. Have you been co-oped by Bob Jones University?
Liberty University-
This school has also suckered in thousands of Fundamental Baptists. Jerry Falwell, the school's founder, was touted as "Mr. Fundamentalist" in the school's Christian journal. The epitome of the degrading of Fundamentalism by Falwell and Liberty U. was the forming of DC Talk band at the school with their approval. The video at the right is a classic example of the blasphemies Liberty University can tolerate. DC Talk sings, "Jesus is Just All Right With Me." Jesus is not "just all right." Jesus is God. The word "just" implies that Jesus could be more cool, but he managed to get our approval. This is the virus of partial holiness which has infected Fundamentalism today. Liberty University also invites some of America's most degraded political leaders to speak in mass gatherings at the school.John MacArthur-
Back in the 1990s, Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church of the Valley, in Panorama City, California, approached the Independent Fundamental Churches of America, also known as Bible Churches, for membership in their organization. MacArthur, whose pastoral staff made jokes about "Funnymentalists," decided he needed to identify with Fundamentalists instead of Evangelicals. The IFCA then had a denomination wide war over whether or not to admit MacArthur into the IFCA. The New England IFCA split, with Pastor George Parsons leading the break away to retain loyalty to Fundamental doctrine. John MacArthur teaches Lordship Salvation, the eradication of the old nature, and he is aggressively Calvinist and Reformed in theology. His school, Masters University, is exclusionist as to anyone disagreeing with him on any of his doctrinal interpretations. This association of MacArthur with the IFCA caused many men in the organization to leave and go on their own. The IFCA has thus become a slop hog mess of uncertainty and timidity. The boldness of separation seen in the first Niagara Conference in the early 1900s is nowhere to be found in the IFCA. Did you ever see one of those worthless cur dogs that runs up, rolls on its back, and pees on itself? That is the IFCA. And, it is rapidly becoming Fundamental Baptists.World missions-
At the same time in history when the first Fundamentalists met and wrote down their seven or nine Fundamentals, world missions was growing rather suddenly. Men from the USA and the UK were going into Africa and other areas starting what would later be termed "faith missions." These were missions founded on the principle of faith giving rather than being supported by denominations.These missions realized that the natives could be lead to salvation without a Bible in their native language, but for them to mature and have a strong indigenous local church these new Christians needed to be able to read and study the Bible in their native language. So, all of these new missions sent missionaries with linguistic skills to their new fields where these people reduced the native languages to an alphabet and grammar. Once this was done, these missionaries translated the Bible into the native languages.
The standard at first was the Textus Receptus of the Greek, which was a Reformation Greek text and based on manuscripts from Antioch which exalted the deity of Christ. But, soon two Englishmen who were shills of the Roman Catholic Church, Westcott and Hort, delivered their new Greek text to the world. It was based on the Alexandrian Greek, the Roman Catholic Greek texts of Origin who was a flaming Gnostic heretic. This new Greek text attacked he deity of Christ.
Wycliffe Bible Translators are the key to understanding how the Catholic text co-oped Fundamental missionaries. Wycliffe Bible Translators were a special service mission which did nothing but translation of native languages. They were founded in 1942 by William Cameron Townsend, and he at once chose the Westcott and Hort mongrel Greek text as a basis for translating the Bible. This resulted in Bibles in hundreds of language of the world which were Gnostic and attacked the deity of Christ and other doctrines. Townsend used what is called "dynamic equivalence" which means a word that is close to the Greek meaning could be substituted for a literal translation in order to enhance comprehension.
A classic example was the use of "head strap" in place of "yoke" in this text:
Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.The South American tribal language being translated did not have a word for yoke. They did not plow with yokes and animals. They cultivated their fields by hand. They carried loads with a head strap, like the woman in the photo at the right. The Wycliffe translators used the word for "head strap" instead of "yoke." They were very proud of this choice, and they still brag about it.
The obvious stupidity in this example is that the believer is IN the yoke with Christ, while a head strap leaves the user alone. The real Bible meaning was thus destroyed. The whole concept of fellowship with Christ, and not being alone in service to him, is gone.
The effect of these mongrel Bible translations on Fundamental missions is that they now have to evangelize tribes with corrupted Bibles. Or, they have to produce a new translation. Doing a new translation then results in Wycliffe Translators and the British and Foreign Bible Society attacking these Fundamental missionaries in several ways. We knew a Missionary in Brazil who was driven out of the country by Wycliffe people who went to government officials and asked them to expel the Baptist missionary.
Today, all around the world, fundamental missionaries are being forced to use corrupted Bibles to preach the Gospel. The results are limping churches and only partially mature Christians.
Mongrel Bibles take over-
Fundamentalism was founded by men who used the King James Bible. As new revisions and translations in English have come on the scene, Fundamentalists have been suckered into accepting these new Bibles which are based on Roman Catholic Gnostic Greek texts. Publishing houses, especially in the early days of the NIV and NASB, offered pastors huge discounts if they would switch the pew Bibles from the KJV to the NIV or other versions. I heard of one pastor who was given a direct bribe from a publisher for his own personal use to convince him to switch pew Bibles.Pressure is also put on pastors from church members who have been seduced. These members spend over $100 for a new version of the Bible in Morocco leather, and they do not want to admit they were suckered by some huckster into spending the cash. I can promise you one thing..... The people who whine for you to leave the King James Bible behind are not the ones in your assembly who are living in Christian victory. So, why are you listening to them?
The final verdict is empirical..... Since the introduction of other English versions of the Bible, starting around 1930, there has been NO great revival in America or the world. The great revivals of the past were founded on the King James Bible. So, do you want spiritual pin heads in your assembly, or do you want mature Christians?
Have you been co-oped into leaving the King James Bible behind and playing new version roulette?
Doctor Sam Sutherland-
This former President of BIOLA University, showed up at a rally of the Independent Fundamental Churches of America which I attended in the 1970s. He had a load of the newly released New American Standard Bibles with him, one for each pastor present. Dr. Sutherland had taken a job as a PR man for the Lockman Foundation. At the time, I had not come to see the issue of the new versions versus the King James Bible, and I was enthralled with getting a Morocco leather bound Bible from Doctor Sutherland. I admired this man because he had forced BIOLA University to hold to a narrow biblical position during his tenure as President. I trusted him, as did the other men at the IFCA rally. This is the way with the co-oping of Funda- mentalists. You trust a man, he jumps ship and joins compromisers, and you are suckered into the Slough of Despond with him. Once I had studied the heritage of the King James Bible and other English versions as to the heritage of the Greek text, I had to get down my heirloom NASB Bible, given to me by Dr. Sutherland, and put the skull and crossbones on the fly leaf. These landmarks of separation do not feel good, for a person finds he is forced to turn his back on some old friends and what seemed like blessed moments. I had the same low feeling as I burned my class notes from BIOLA University.Do you have books or Bibles on your shelves which, if found by friends after you die, might make someone wonder if you were a sound Bible believer? Mark them now as "POISON." I see no reason to burn such books. They are evidence for the prosecution when doing battle with heretics and spiritual slobs. But mark them which cause divisions and offenses, or have a special shelf marked "HERESY".
Mixed heritage leaders-
A personal experience illustrates what I am talking about.I was accepted on faculty to teach at Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music in the early 1970s. I taught English, Christian Education, and I was Dean of Men. The school had the usual strict rules of conduct, and it was an era when all Christian schools were at war with many students over dress standards and hair. We had quite a struggle with these issues. I was told by our prefects (student leaders) that some wretched music was being played in the dorm. In faculty meetings there was much misery and discussion about how to get music under control. I got fed up with the whining with no action being called for by the school President. So, one day during classes, I took my master key, and I went through every dorm room and confiscated some very evil rock music, including an album of the blasphemous Jesus Christ Superstar in the room of the school President's son.
This caused an uproar. I was asked in a faculty meeting why I did such a thing, and I told them I was fed up with having to sit in their meetings and listen to them whine and do nothing about the problem. I solved it. So, I asked the faculty if they wanted me to return the rock music to the students. They panicked and said no. So, I told the men they could have their records back when they went home on holiday, and I ordered them to leave them at home. That was the end of the rock music. But, I was held in disdain by the President of the school for exposing his son as a rock music junky. Needless to say there was a price..... he ran me off the next year. That is how modern Fundamentalism works in Michigan.
I also fell into another monster unawares. When I came on faculty at the school, no one told me that I was not to teach or say anything about immersion baptism. Oh, we had a Baptist doctrine all right, but the President of the school had been raised a Methodist, and he was a sprinkler, the same as Lewis Sperry Chaffer who founded Dallas Seminary. One day in a English composition class, a kid asked a strange question. "Does the Bible teach immersion baptism?" Innocently, I opened the Bible to Romans 6 and showed the class that immersion is the best mode of baptism to show the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and the believer in Christ.
This sealed my fate. I was told my services were not needed the next year.
The whole of the Michigan IFCA used Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music as their anchor school for their young people. But, many pastors in Michigan were upset with the lack of a position on the mode of baptism at the school. The school President, John Miles, had co-oped the Michigan IFCA into accepting a non-position on baptism. No one had the moral decency to warn me about this when I went on faculty at the school. I am certain that God was not impressed with the co-oping of the IFCA into Methodist doctrine. In 1993 the school went broke, and they were taken in by Cornerstone College, a Baptist school in Grand Rapids, Michigan. God had the final word on the mode of baptism, and GRSBM went out of existence.
Are YOU, or some group of churches you belong to, being co-oped into compromise and sloppy agape Christianity? Beware of being enthralled when some famous Amos Evangelical targets you to let him or his school do you any service. You could be about to destroy everything you accomplished in a lifetime. God certainly destroyed John Miles' monument.
Para-Church stealth bombs-
Some of the most deadly co-op tricks are played by parachurch people like Vision Forum, Bill Gothard, the Patriarchy Movement, James Dobson, Mike Pearl, Jack Van Impe, and hundreds of other such entities. They deceive Fundamentalists because they claim to believe all the fundamentals on the list, and usually they do. The problem is that they teach some cultic doctrine as to things like marriage, child rearing, spiritual gifts, and so forth. A classic example of the sort of rubbish these para-Church agents provocateur bring you is that Jack Van Impe teaches that Christians get to take their pets to Heaven with them. The area in which these people are heretics is usually an area that appeals to Fundamentalists, either because it seems to fulfill a biblical objective, or because it adds another legal standard of Christians living.The quickest way to cause a Fundamentalist pastor to wander is to prove to him that he has missed a Baptist Standard. Thousands of Baptist pastors have wrecked their whole ministry by trying to invent a new Baptist standard and be the first kid on the block to do so at the next pastors' rally. The Pearls have lead many pastors into a cruel form of child rearing and discipline, and the result is that cruelty to children becomes a church doctrine. The Patriarchy Movement, and Vision Forum, teach that Christians are to have as many children as possible so we can take over the world with our children. This is in direct contradiction of the Bible where Jesus tells us HE will build HIS Church by preaching, not by copulation, and we will not take over the world. The method of church growth is not through the birth canal of woman but by preaching the Gospel. Let these people into your local church, and you will have vile sexual sin become rampant, just as it has in Vision Forum's leaders and with Bill Gothard.
If you are a Fundamentalist, I would strongly encourage you to sit still somewhere, and ask yourself, "What have I added to the teaching of the Word of God that simply is not there?" If you have done this, I can promise you it was done at the instigation of some parachurch creep who seduced you. Or, you may have been inspired by another pastor who was seduced. This stuff is contagious like cholera.
THE DESTRUCTION OF FUNDAMENTALISM BY CALVINISM
Seminaries- Dallas, Talbot, and Southern Baptist schools are heavily infected with Calvinism. Dallas Seminary was founded by Lewis Sperry Chaffer who was a Presbyterian. This is why any local church with a pastor from Dallas Seminary will hear very little on infant baptism being wicked, and they may also find that their pastor is not sure whether to sprinkle or immerse in baptism. This is especially true in the Independent Fundamental Churches of America. But, any graduate from Dallas Seminary will be a five point Calvinist.
Calvinism has heavily infected the Southern Baptist Convention, and they try to conceal this to many of their churches. This was one of the main reasons for the forming of the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement. The worst effect of the co-oping of the SBC by Calvinism was the introduction of formalism in worship and in Sunday services. SBC churches are generally dull and sluggish on any given Sunday morning. For you who have concluded that Independent Fundamental Baptist churches are a bit too unorganized in worship, this would explain what you are seeing. They do tend to over react at times as they seek to make sure they do not slip back into formalism.
The entrance of Calvinism into Fundamentalism comes from a desire for intellectualism. John Calvin was trained as a lawyer, not as a theologian. He took some Greek, but he was not a pastor or Bible teacher at heart. Thus, his system of explaining the ways of God in his works with man come from a cold legal heart, not the heart of a pastor.
This disease of the stony heart in Calvinism explains the morbid formalism left in the Reformation churches which is rooted historically in the Roman Catholic Church. To this day, Reformed denominations cling to boring dull religious rituals, and every Reformed denomination has its "confession" which defines them with far more weight than the Bible itself. I am speaking of the Westminster, Belgique, Heidelberg, Helvetic, London Baptist, and other such confessions. Calvinist Reformed theologians do not give a diddle what the Bible says. They ALL define themselves with these man made confessions ad nauseam. Here is a list online of all of these mongrel confessions of man which make the Word of God of none effect.
TWO REFORMED THEOLOGIANS
We look at two men, Cornelius Van Til and Leonard Verduin.
Cornelius Van Til was known as one of the top theologians of the Reformed Movement. He came to speak at Talbot Seminary while I was at BIOLA University next door. I had a friend in the seminary, and he said that when Van Til spoke to them in a chapel service, the only one who could keep up with Van Til, understand him, and take notes was Dr. Feinberg, the seminary president.
This impressed all the students. They imagined that the indication of great scholarship was to be able to speak to people in such high toned verbosity and elocution that they could not follow the man.
This is madness. The Apostle Paul himself said that he reduced his vast scholarly abilities greatly so that he could be understood. Van Til was full of himself, as are most Reformed men, and he took delight in confusing people. I bought a book by him later, and it was so involved with special undefined theological blather and bull that I could not decipher it. And, from my editorial here I trust you can see that I have a reasonable command of English.
The other men is Leonard Verduin. This man had a pastor's heart, while he was also easily on a par with Van Til as to scholarship. Verduin was very different though, in that, when he talked to you, he watched your eyes and face, and if he sensed he was the least bit over your head, he dropped to your level without you catching him, and when you left him you felt edified and taught. He also defined every thological term he used. He had a servants heart.
Verduin was also a premier Reformed theologian and was in demand in Reformed institutions to lecture. But, he hated the snob factor in the Reformed movement.
Verduin once went to Calvin College to listen to a guest theologian from Germany lecture. The man, during his speech, ranted and raged against American seminaries because they did not demand the level of educational excellence that he experienced in Germany. He boasted that he had to memorize Faust when he was in seminary.
During the coffee intermission, the German was waxing eloquent in a corner, and Verduin joined the group. The theologian was still in the process of trashing American seminaries. Verduin made a comment baiting the German, and when he paused, Verduin started quoting Faust in fluent German from memory. The German quickly excused himself and fled. Verduin read twelve languages and spoke nine fluently.
A REAL theologian who has a servant's heart gets no pleasure from leaving people confused when he speaks. Reformed man are all too often eager to confuse everyone they speak to. This trait was introduced into the Reformation by John Calvin himself.
It is also important to note that there are many Calvinists, including pastors and theologians, who are not born again. They have a form of godliness but deny to power thereof. Their church consistories (boards) very often have men on them who are NOT born again. Some are hopeless drunks and adulterers. I have seen this myself, so I know what I am talking about. Before you get into fellowship with a Reformed person, ask them to give you a confession of faith. I am deadly serious. If they blather and bluster and cannot give a clear Romans 10:9-10 confession of faith, THEY ARE NOT BORN AGAIN. They are well cultivated in religious elocution, but they are lost and on their way to Hell. Most unsaved Calvinists believe God is stuck with them because they were born to Calvinist parents, and they got the treatment of infant baptism, catechism, confirmation, and can spit out the five points fluently. The Dutch Reformed Calvinists are pretty sure God's name is Van Gaude. "If you're not Dutch, you're not much," is more a serious emotion by the Reformed Church of America than it is a joke.
This spirit in Calvinism appeals to Bible scholars who crave the power to explain God. And, this is not what we are called to do. In fact, God has made sure we can never explain him completely:
Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.Calvinists are not content to declare the words of God and leave it at that. They feel an intellectual lust to explain God, his motives, and his thoughts. Indeed, I suspect God is a bit surprised at what Calvinists claim he was thinking before the foundation of the world. But, if God ever forgets why he said something, he can always open Calvin's Institutes, and the snob from North France will have it all there for God to read in the most technical legal language.
The most notable example of Calvinism compromising Fundamentalism is the Reformed Baptist churches. They retain immersion as the mode of baptism, but they picked up John Calvin as their godfather. Their worship services consist of some perfunctory Bible reading, but when the men discuss a topic of theology as a worship moment, it is all about Calvin and his wretched explanations of things God does not want explained. Thus, they are obsessed with the London Baptist Confession of 1689 and Calvin's Institutes, and the Geneva Bible falls into third place as a priority.
Another classic co-oping of an alleged Fundamentalist is John MacArthur. Somewhere along the way, John started reading Reformed theologians, and he has steadily left the world of Fundamentalists and make the journey to Northern France. I call him a fundamentalist because he is a member of the Independent Fundamental Churches of America, the last I heard. There is more on MacArthur HERE.
Fundamentalists who become involved with Calvinists are not well rewarded by the Calvinists. I have been interrogated on several occasions by Calvinists who wanted to determine if I was doctrinally sound. I passed their test in all points of Calvinism until it came to the will of men. When I told them that "whosoever will may come" means literally what it says, their response was, "So, you are an Arminian." This name calling is their way of trying to put us on the defensive so that we will sit at their feet and suck up their moldy intellectualism. I also got into trouble for believing that Christ died for the sins of the whole world, as the Bible clearly teaches. Calvinists do not care if they offend their victims. They feel so superior to anyone else that they will burn their bridges as to Christian fellowship.
So, when you find a Fundamentalist who has taken up with Calvinists, you are dealing with a Christian who has rolled over and peed on himself to curry favor from the murderer, John Calvin. This is not the foundation for Christian fellowship, and it will lead onward to serious compromise.
As with many groups who negatively impact Fundamentalists, the Calvinist factor is not absolute. I have a very good friend in Christ who is a Calvinist. But, he does not needle me or agitate me about Calvinism. There are rare exceptions to the rule.
THE DISEASE OF "STANDARDS"
Baptists who took up with Fundamentalism soon found that seven or nine fundamentals did not keep the sheep on the straight and narrow way. Baptists who were zealous for the deity of Christ and original sin were seeing pants on the ladies and long hair on the men.
Thus, "Standards" were the cry of the Baptist movement starting around 1930 as John R Rice and Bob Jones Sr. came up with their list of laws for Christians. John R Rice came out with a series of pamphlets, most of which are about various "Standards" issues, like Bobbed hair, bossy wives, and slacker husbands. Thousands of Baptist preachers ran with the thing, and all over America Baptist women were bombarded about short hair and modesty.
Of course, the Bible speaks on this topic plainly in 1 Corinthians where Paul says it is a shame for a woman to have short hair. So, this teaching became just as urgent and pulpit-worthy as the deity of Christ.
The problem was, long hair on women was not one of the fundamentals of Fundamental Baptists. What did they do? Thousands of Baptist pastors and churches added women's hair standards to the seven of nine fundamentals. Women who had bobbed hair were put under church discipline, even excommunicated, for not letting their hair grow long.
Then, one by one other standards were brought up to the same importance as the seven fundamentals, and they too were added to the fundamentals. They were often spelled out in church documents and covenants, making them just as essential as salvation for a Baptist to be in good fellowship with his local church.
The standards at the right as to women and dress are not intrinsically evil. The problem is, pastors will lay these on the local church, police the woman, and behave as judge and jury as to the dress of women in the church. The faithful pastor will preach from the Bible, teaching the whole counsel of God, and the Holy Spirit will convict the saints of their need to change in their personal choices. This requires the pastor to trust the Holy Spirit to do what Christ said he will do. Standards preachers do not trust the Holy Ghost to to his work.
How extreme can it get? Jack Hyles is said to have had a barber shop in the basement of First Baptist of Hammond, and when a man walked the aisle to get saved, he was at once taken to the basement to get a hair cut.
Over the years, other standards that were added to the seven fundamentals were attendance rules, dress rules, smoking, use of alcohol, visiting the theater, mixed swimming, men's Sunday attire (suit and tie required), and eventually a pastor in Texas required every couple who wanted to have another baby to get his permission. Another pastor required women to bring the pattern for any dress they were sewing so he could decide if it was modest enough. All of these were given the same importance as belief in the Rapture of the Church or the Virgin Birth of Christ.
This process resulted in an obscene race by local churches and pastors to have higher standards than the next Baptist church. One pastor rose in a pastor's rally and said, "I thank God that pants have never touched my wife's legs." Imagine how some other pastor in that group felt who was saved later in life, along with his wife, and his wife had dressed very immodestly before she got saved. Frankly, I have to question whether or not preachers like that pride driven pest are even born again. The result of this damnable race to holiness was that Baptist church members became saturated in pride about their standards. They also learn to judge one another, and the Baptists next door, by the expanded list of fundamental standards.
This is at the heart of the present destruction of Fundamentalism. Baptists, Bible Churches, and every denomination remotely sound in doctrine, have all become loaded with a monstrous list of laws and legalistic rules which have made the Fundamental Doctrines of the faith into trivial rubbish to the average church member. Thousands of Baptists, and others, view themselves spiritually based on how many, and how perfectly, they keep the "Standards" rules.
Don't bother to send me mail disagreeing with this. I have seen everything I am talking about, and I have hundreds of emails from Baptists who were excommunicated for breaking some standard.
This situation is also why I am no longer a Fundamentalist. I do not want your pile of rubbish laws. I am a better law keeper than all of you. On the wall of my living room hangs a feces paddle, just like the one Moses required the Jews to attach to their weapon when they went walking about.
Deuteronomy 23:13 And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee:
There is a "Standard" you never thought of, right? So, by present perverted Baptist standards, if you do not have a feces paddle, you are not as spiritual as I am. Isn't that the most nasty kind of religion you ever heard of?
I want you to see what Jesus thought of those who invented busy laws to manage the lives of the Jews in his day:
Mark 7:7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.
12 And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;
13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.The Pharisees of modern Christianity are Fundamental Baptist preachers, and any others, who exalt standards to the level of the doctrines of the Word of God. You have made the doctrines of the Bible of "none effect" by exalting "Standards" to the same level, or higher, than all other Bible doctrines. A woman wears jeans to work in the garden, and, horror of horrors, the jeans have a fly in front. You have no idea how some preachers rage and hyperventilate over woman in pants with a fly in front. The whole logic that this is evil is because women do not have penises. Pray tell, is there any man among you idiots who will be confused by a fly on a woman's Levis?
But, the worst offense in this "Standards" based Fundamentalism is that the Holy Spirit has been pushed aside. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to convince men of sin and righteousness and judgment.
John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:Ninety percent of you Baptist preachers do not trust the Holy Spirit to get it right. The guy who just got saved is still smoking his pipe. You rush in, and you hammer him about tobacco. So, he puts away his pipe to please you, and when you leave the church and move on, the guy gets his pipe out again. He got holy for YOU, you idiot, not for the Holy Ghost.
The worst factor in modern Fundamentalism is that the Holy Spirit has been told to shut up and leave the sanctifying of the saints to the pastor. And, the filthy lives of the members is a sorry commentary on the lousy job you preacher boys do at getting holiness into the saints and sin out.
The bottom line is this..... If you preach Baptist standards preacher, the church will never be any more holy than you are.
I have experienced, a good number of times, seeing some saint take the teaching of the Word I preached and clean up his walk with the Lord beyond my own level of spirituality. If you cannot stand to see a brother in the pew become more righteous than you are, you are a spiritual bastard. The Holy Spirit cannot get your full attention in some area of Christian living, but he mercifully still uses you to minister. But, he can get the attention of someone else better than you. If you cannot rejoice in that, and if you cannot take that as a subtle rebuke of yourself, you are a bastard son (Hebrews 12:8).
I have also preached on one topic, and a member got under conviction of something entirely different. This has happened to me many times. I was preaching on stewardship with our finances (not about tithing or giving), and I gave a run down on what Americans spend on greeting cards, dog food, and pet medical treatment as compared with what is given to support Christian missions. I just wanted to illustrate how we need to set priorities in what God gives us financially. A brother in the church went home and shot his dog. When I was told this by another member Sunday evening, I was taken back. I had no intention for anyone to kill their dog. The point was, the Holy Spirit convicted that man of the place his dog had in his life. An altar call would have been a wretched interference into the work the Holy Spirit was doing with the brother. I thought about it later, and I remembered I had been troubled that the man spent more time playing with his dog then with his young son. The Holy Spirit was actually accomplishing two things at once, and I had nothing to do with it.
Fundamentalism is dead because it has been diluted into insipid swill by the garbage you have dumped into it. Would you consider changing the vocabulary and call yourself "a Bible believer?"
Could you start letting the Holy Spirit take the message and apply it rather than do a thirty minute altar call to try to get some good old boy to walk the aisle to give up his booze? So, you can get them sober..... can you KEEP them sober? Only God can do that.
I know I am writing, in this article, to some unsaved pastors. I believe the Baptist movement is loaded with unsaved men in the pulpits. I expect nothing from you other than to keep on nagging and nannying the saints about "Standards." But, you men who are saved..... will you sit still once and examine yourself? Are you blaspheming the Holy Spirit by making Pharisaical laws for the local church? Do you trust the Holy Spirit to do what Christ said he would do? Is your alleged Fundamentalism really a Slough of Despond of noxious rubbish rules mixed in with some Bible truth?
THE EXTERNAL PROBLEM
Outside of Fundamental Christianity we find that the unsaved media, politicians, and worldwide mindset have come to use the word "Fundamental" to tack onto any religious group which is extreme or violent. Homeland Security Director, Janet Napolitano, said that Fundamentalist Christians who carry a Bible and study prophecy are potential terrorists. This wicked woman was simply hoping that we would be intimidated and hide in our closets as she bullied us. She was wrong, and she soon understood how Fundamental Christians respond to bullying as they helped elect Donald Trump as US President. Trump has not proven to be truly born again, but is is highly unlikely he will be calling us terrorists.
But, there is an issue here. Fundamental Christians have a name not found in the King James Bible, and I for one will not die for the moniker Fundamentalist. You may cling to this specious tag if that rocks your cradle, but leave me out of the Inquisition. My challenge is to be willing to die for Christ, for my family, and for his Church.
For this reason, we would be very prudent to find another name for ourselves. When asked what I belong to I call myself a "Bible believer." This tells the questioner a lot more about me than "Fundamentalist." And, the questioner will go on to ask more questions, trying to corner me as to my denominational affiliation. I use this to head for Jesus Christ and the Bible as the only source of truth. Most unsaved people finally get my point and decide they like me for my refusal to claim any organized religion.
Philippians 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.How about, "I am in Christ?" Find a way to describe yourself to the lost from the Bible. You cannot go wrong.
But, there is a worse external enemy than the wicked world out there. The most deadly external forces which enter into Fundamental Christianity are those who walk through the front door on Sunday morning.
Mr. Smith was very prominent in the community where I pastored, and he was on many local service organizations. He was known as a very restrained and prudent man morally and socially. He was also a Freemason. He and his wife attended our church every third Sunday like clock work. The other two Sundays Mr. Smith was in the other two churches in the area. Freemasons are usually very religious. This is because they are told in Freemasonry that they are the most noble of the human race, and they are taught to implant themselves in every possible community organization in order to save the world from itself. Mr. Smith never caused a bit of trouble, and he was helpful at times. But, he was a man serving Satan, though he might not have known it. Eventually, the preaching got too close to his way of life, and he stopped coming.
Such people are what Jude called "spots in your feasts of charity." The Greek word for spots is spilas, and it means a ledge or reef of rock in the sea. These are rock formations which, when hit by ships, rip them open, and they sink. Here is the passage in Jude dealing with intruders from Satan and the evil world who intrude into the local church:
Jude 1:8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.Jude does not tell the Christians to run them off at once. These sort will often be very pleasant and even helpful, but your spirit, and your knowledge of their affiliations, will tell you that they are under direct influence of Satan. It is also common that they impress certain members in your assembly as very decent people. If you run them off you will often have the effect Jesus warned about in which you pull up the tares and uproot wheat who are friendly with them. Jesus warned about pulling up tares in a parable he gave the disciples in Matthew 13:24-30. Many pastors have destroyed their church fellowship by carelessly jerking up all the tares they find.
There are many other such high risk people who attach themselves to the local church. I had a tax rebel who attended a church I pastored. He paid no income tax, and he refused to register his car or buy a license plate for it. He had a bogus plate on his car, and he avoided the roads patrolled by police officers. He crept around well under the speed limit to avoid ever being stopped by a policeman. On the other hand, he did many very helpful things around the church, and he gave the Gospel to strangers, even with compassion. What a strange mixture. His wife played the organ, and both of them were very submissive to me as pastor. Running him off would have created confusion, but rebellion against Caesar was also very objectionable. I had to make comments regularly in conversation with him which restrained his zeal to promote tax rebellion. I felt that I was being tempted to co-op tax rebellion into my zeal for Christ.
In another church I pastored there was a man on the deacon board whom I was convinced was not born again, though he had come from a Dutch Reformed church background. He was on the board when I arrived. He is what some people refer to as a little green man. He seemed to be agreeable and submissive to me as pastor, but comments he made behind my back often went astray. The comments were not directly nasty, but the hearer was often lead to make conclusions which hurt my role as pastor, or they caused the hearer to think something was going wrong in the assembly. Removing him from the board would have resulted in a church fight because he had endeared himself to so many people. The worst of the problem was that I could not find in him an evil motive. The things he said seemed to be with a measure of innocence. The only explanation I could come up with is that he was not born again, and he may have been possessed of a devil.
In a church I pastored I had a lady who was a Tupperware distributor. She had the usual parties in ladies' homes, and later she delivered the Tupperware to them. Many of her parties were in the homes of ladies in our church. She then delivered the Tupperware on Sunday morning from the trunk of her car. Only one person in the church made mention of this being out of order to use the assembly on Sunday to do business. I had been an Amway distributor, and I hated the notion that the Lord's Church was a great group to market to. So, the Tupperware lady was very offensive to me, and to make matters worse, she dressed in a gaudy stylish manner and had the bearing of high society. All around, she was a real pain in the neck. I finally did ask her not to deliver Tupperware on Sunday at the church house. She took her whole family and went to another church. That was a case in which I felt I had to take the risk of offending the wheat as I pulled tares.
Bronco came from New Jersey. His name was not Bronco, but he put on a Western persona, and he claimed he was known as Bronco. He had been crippled by polio, and he walked with crutches, but he got around well. He told me he had been married back in New Jersey, and he had fled his wife out of frustration. He came to church services regularly, and he was a perfect gentleman, too perfect. He reminded me of a wanna be Western dude who had been reading too much Max Brand or Louis L'amour. He was particularly charming and courteous with the ladies in our assembly, and some of the ladies were impressed.
Bronco visited our home regularly during the week, and he was a gentleman. But, Bronco liked to scold my kids behind my back. That really put me off. He had not visited us for some time and he had missed Sunday a couple of times, and I dropped by his apartment to visit him. Inside the door was a pile of Hustler and Playboy magazines a foot high and all the way across the living room wall. I asked him if that was how he got his inspiration. He readily admitted that he should not have them.
The next Saturday was Yermo Days, the annual town holiday. I looked out my office window at the park that day, and there was Bronco, very drunk, and hustling the town whore. The next time Bronco came around to visit us, I met him outdoors, and I told him I had him figured out. I told him he was a sex pervert and a hustler. I told him his Western gentleman persona was 100% fake, and that he was a rebel from New Jersey who needed to go home to Mamma. I fully expected him to go into the pathetic handcapped-being-persecuted routine, but he simply got grumpy, accused me of not loving him, and shuffled off. He was soon missing in town, and I assumed he went on to the next small desert town where he could do his act for the next suckers. It is instructional to realize that his routine included attending a local Bible believeing church.
I hope my sharing some of my experiences will make a clear point. It does not matter how "Fundamental" you are. Your fundamentals, and your Baptist standards, will NOT carry the day in the end. You will only survive in Christian service and fellowship if you are watching for the unexpected. Satan knows what you have not prepared for, and he has a specialist somewhere whom he can send to you to play the game. They will be all for you, and they will talk the talk, but they are "spots in your feasts of charity." Let them hang around long enough, and they will wreck destruction and confusion in all directions.
Mark 14:38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
The sooner you believe you are weak, the sooner you will by like Jesus. God does not empower snobs and bullies who feel sure of themselves. These Fundamentalists who teach that God is desperate to make you a great success are Hell bound liars, and that includes you favorite famous Amos from Tennessee Temple, PCC, or Crown College.
1 Corinthians 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.Think about that the next time you hear some cheeky Funda- mental Baptist preacher bragging about his bus ministry or how many people walked the aisle for him. I promise you, that worthless varmint of a preacher has an unsaved but powerful man in his church praising that preacher and sending him and his wife to dinner on a regular basis. He has been co-oped by Satan's man. He has inhaled the incense. Would you be content to be known as a fool Fundamental Baptist if God used you that way? Indeed, that is the ONLY way God will use you.
Jack Hyles bragged that he won 300 people a week to Christ. I worked out all the time for the necessities of life, and I added in his travel schedule which he had also just bragged about, and it left him 40 minutes per soul won. That is not how soul winning works out. He was a bold faced liar, and he loved to be praised in public. He may very well be screaming for water in Hell right now. The worst way you can be co-oped is by a famous preacher who is himself a servant of Satan.
THE SOLUTION
Fundamentalism needs to die and be replaced by Whole Bible Christianity.
We need to consider the possibility that Fundamentalism was hatched by devils in the first place. Satan knew that it would destroy the authority of the whole Bible if he could inspire men to prioritize Christian truth. Reducing the Word of God to "essentials" and "nonessentials" is blasphemy any way you cut it. Satan also knew that if his deformity of truth were disguised as a purification of churches, people would accept it under the assumption they were becoming separated Christians. In all of Christian history, nothing could have been more powerful in degrading the Lord's Church.
Only the Reformation rivals Fundamentalism for being such a devilish invention at its inception. The idea of reforming a whore, rather than kill her, has doomed all Reformed denominations to a mongrel hybrid run through with Roman Catholic rubbish and unfinished business. Witness the love affair all Reformed groups have with the heretic Augustine. Witness their lust for monstrous stone piles for churches.
Fundamentalism too, in its inception, was not a finished work of separation from the compromises of the big denominations. They gleaned the urgent doctrines out of the Bible and put the rest back on the shelf. The idea that something you believe should be set aside for the sake of fellowship is doctrine of devils. Mature Christians, when they find they do not agree with one another, do not stop talking about anything they believe. Mature men of God can talk about their disagreements and keep their friendship. Have you even learned to do this?
I personally have had several friendships with Catholic priests who were troubled by the heresies of the Catholic Church. They did not get rid of every heresy, but I kept their friendship if perchance I could encourage them to take action one day and leave the Whore. Some of you may have done the same. If you can show human friendship to a sinner, or to a Catholic priest, why can you not keep your Bible believing pastor friends and disagree with them on hair and hemline laws?
Of course, and I speak about something I have seen personally, some of you preachers have NO friends who are sinners. You have those people you button hole when you meet them, and you have those "friends" whom you call on during Thursday night visitation. But, you have no sinner friends you fish with and go hunting with. Shame on you.
Mark 2:16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?
Would you tolerate Jesus if he came looking for fellowship with you, or would you accuse him of being the friend of sinners and imperfect preachers?
Matthew 11:19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
Fundamental Baptists and Charismatic preachers have a one track mind, AND pulpit. They seem to sound like a broken record, repeating over and over the same themes and pet doctrines, especially tithing. I am told that some Fundamental Bible colleges even discourage teaching the whole council of God, encouraging their students to stay in the New Testament and preach topical messages. Some schools even mock at expository preaching.
Stop preaching on topics you think are important. Preach through the Bible, all of it. If you have never done a book study, start getting one in progress. You need to stop cherry picking the truth and deliver it all up to the saints. Some of you are just too lazy to do a book study. It is hard work, and you have to do some deep plowing to get at the meaning of the text of Scripture. If they did not teach you to plow deep in Bible college, learn the skill now. If you need help, SEND MAIL. I will tutor you if you really want to learn.
And, stop prioritizing the truths of the Word of God:
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
There is NO truth in the Word of God which is less important than any other. It is 100% Fundamental including the "Holy Bible" on the cover.
THIS PREACHING WILL SHAKE YOU TO THE CORE.
FELLOWSHIP THE BIBLE WAY
The whole objective of the first Fundamentalists was to create a system by which Christians on the Narrow Way could identify one another and have Christian fellowship that was based on Bible truth. This worked at first, but as time went by, Fundamentalists found that they disagreed on certain doctrines which were not on the list of Fundamentals. This soon made friction between various leaders, denominations, Christian colleges, and local churches. What seemed like a good idea became a basis for destroying Christian fellowship. What is absolutely treacherous is to see the way some men come to virtually hate other men over a disagreement in prophecy interpretation. What kind of fools destroy their peace with the brethren over things that have not yet happened?
So, let us look at the Bible to see what Christian fellowship really is.
1. Nothing is left out of the Bible in order to have fellowship
Romans 14:3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.Every man must be fully persuaded in his own mind. That means that when you have fellowship with a brother in Christ, you have no business whining to him about his opinion on the Great Tribulation or any other issue in the Bible. If you disagree with him on Original sin of the Resurrection of Christ, you have an issue too large to overlook. The point is, if an issue comes up between you and someone you fellowship with, you are obligated, by authority of the above text, to let him be at peace in his persuasion. "God is able to make him stand."
This also means that you are not to drop any of your persuasions, no matter how small the issue may seem. Real friends let each other keep their zeal and convictions without meddling and nagging. Fundamental Baptists do not know how to do this. Most of them are blasted pests who feel compelled to nag other brethren. This is why so many Fundamental Baptist preachers have so few close friends. They hold so many other Christians in contempt for their zeal and convictions.
2. Reasonable men are the best friends for fellowship.
2 Thessalonians 3:1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:
2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.
3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.Reasoning with one another is part of fellowship. Having outlawed your tendency to nag other believers, I will now seem to contradict myself. There is a way to reason with a brother. The key is to ask questions on things where you disagree, AND THEN SHUT YOUR BLASTED MOUTH AND LISTEN. The average Fundamental preacher asks a question of another Christian, and it is soon clear that he is fishing for trouble, not knowledge. God is a reasonable God. Are you like God?
Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
God listened to Moses when Moses asked God to have mercy on the rebellious Hebrews. The Angel of the Lord reasoned with Abraham over the destruction of Sodom. If God will listen and respond to his children, could you possibly get your arrogant spirit under control and reason with another brother? What is wanted here is for you to hear the man out, and you then need to determine if he has some reasonable thoughts that you should consider. If you start hammering him with proof texts, you will lose you brother. And, most of you preachers don't care if you lose all your friends. Friends imply accountability, and Fundamentalists do not like to answer to other Christians. One man once said, "I am not sure we should be Independent Fundamental Baptists. Should we call ourselves Interdependent Fundamental Baptists?" If you are short of friends, examine your own heart to see if you are rebelling against being accountable to other believers.
Reasoning does not imply agreement. You can listen, disagree, and still have your friend. Only when the friend becomes unreasonable and wicked in some way should you separate from him. How can you tell when this is required:
Romans 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.Baptist Standards, as with hair and hemline laws, are NOT doctrine. There comes a time when the offense of some doctrine in the Word of God, or the teaching of some error, is so grievous that you need to mark that friend and avoid him. I have just recently had to drop two men from my Facebook friend list because they were becoming so vicious with me and other men about Calvinism. They were mocking us as illiterate of any understanding of the Word of God, while they failed to quote the Bible to prove their points. They quoted theologians instead. They were good friends in other ways, and one was a strong King James Bible defender. But, the offense was getting to be treacherous, and I now shun them.
3. What are we rejecting as we form standards of fellowship?
There is a story about the temple in Israel which is based partly in Bible evidence and partly in Jewish history. The men building the temple found a stone sent from the quarry which did not fit anywhere. The story goes that they rolled it down in the Kedron Valley as a rejected stone. This seems to be the context of the comment of Jesus:
Matthew 21:42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
The story ending says that when the men had nearly finished the temple, they asked the quarry people where the head stone of the corner was. Their corner stone went on last on a top corner in those days. The quarry men said they had sent it long ago. The builders searched high and low, and they finally found it in the Kedron Valley where they had rejected it.
Jesus was sent to be the cornerstone, the head of the corner. He was rejected by the Jews, but he will return and be the center of worship during the Messianic Kingdom.
The friend you reject may be destined by God to be a blessing to you. You can always find an excuse to reject anyone because we always disagree on something or other. Paul and Barnabas disagreed over whether to take John Mark along with them on their evangelism trip. This disagreement became so bitter that they separated from one another and went without one another's fellowship. It is ironic that later Paul changed his mind about Mark:
2 Timothy 4:9 Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me:
10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
11 Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.Paul showed several times that he did not like to be alone in the ministry. His urge to have godly companions should show us that we NEED friends in the work of the Lord. So, Paul decided Mark would be a blessing to him in the ministry. Be careful about shucking off friends who don't measure up to your personal standard of zeal and service. God may have sent them to you for his own reasons, and you may end up limping on one leg spiritually because you have no one to help you.
4. Christian fellowship is based on charity in spirit
Philippians 2:1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:Do you really believe your Christian friends are better than you are? Most of us tend to think we have the patent on the commodity of sound doctrine and methods of doing the Lord's work. We love to be consulted by other men. This is wicked, for we are told to esteem each other as better than ourselves. In verse 4 we are told to stop looking at ourselves in the mirror and look at our Christian friends to see what they need, or how we can be a blessing to them.
You will never be a real friend to anyone until you master this instruction from the Apostle Paul. Having good friends is all about BEING a good friend first. The sweetest blessing of the Christian life is knowing we were a blessing to another believer, that because of our actions or words our friend was encouraged or guided into Christian victory.
So, what is Fundamental?
Answer: It is Fundamental to the Christian life that we be like Christ with other Christians. It is also fundamental that we hold every word and thought found in the King James Bible just as "ESSENTIAL" as the rest.
Proverbs 18:24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
Who are you sticking to? If you don't care to go to this sort of trouble in the Christian way, you are fundamentally flawed. A man who avoids making friends in Christ is a moral, social, and emotional cripple.
Lastly, there is the other consideration..... are you being co-oped away from the Narrow Way by a friend? Do you have a friend who would be offended if you talked about anything you believed from the Bible? Are you setting aside something like that? If so, you have been co-oped into degrading the whole revelation of God for you.
One more thought: The word "FUNDAMENTAL" is not found in the Bible.
LINKS
HOW TO SET YOUR OWN BIBLICAL STANDARDS
You cannot live someone else's standardsEVEN THE NEW YORK TIMES KNOWS THE POWER OF THE WHOLE BIBLE
THIS IS WHAT THE WORLD ASSOCIATES WITH FUNDAMENTALISM
You need to understand that Mike Pearl answers to God for his teaching to beat little babies. The man is a beast, and his teachings about sex in marriage are perverted.
Do you really need to be associated with this?THE POPE HAS CALLED FOR A NEW INQUISITION
His call to uproot Fundamentalism is aimed at Muslims this time, but it will not be long before this Protestant hating Jesuit calls for Christian Fundamentalism to be attacked.
POPE SAYS CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALISTS ARE SICKMY ARTICLE ON THE NEAR KILLING OF A HISPANIC KID BY FUNDAMENTAL BAPTIST PREACHERS IN AUSTIN, TEXAS
FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIANS BEING TARGETED BY PROGRESSIVE LIBERALS
THERE ARE CHARISMATICS AND RECONSTRUCTIONISTS WHO ARE TALKING ABOUT THE DAY THEY WILL TAKE CHARGE AND KILL ANYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH THEM
Do you or your friends ever talk about what to do with people who disagree with the literal use of the Word of God. If so, you may have the "genocidal germ" this man speaks of.FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIANS ARE ACCUSED OF BEING A GREATER THREAT TO THE WORLD THAN ISLAMIC JIHADISTS Bill O'Reilly sets the record straight. This also makes it clear that Fundamental Christians are being set up for destruction by the Left.
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