Not Knowing Our Heritage Means "Anything Goes"

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Reminders_of_Baptist_History NOT KNOWING OUR HERITAGE MEANS “ANYTHING GOES”
by: Gregg Nash

As we pattern ourselves after Protestant or Fundamentalist practices we doctrinally spiral out of control. We long for days of Union Revivals where churches would join forces in an area meeting, and after laying aside doctrinal differences for the sake of souls, would prosper because of the joint effort, not realizing that doctrine is not supposed to be disregarded or set aside for anything. Fundamentalism has a list of 5 tenants they got from a Presbyterian church in 1910. Baptist principles are clearly laid out in Hebrews 6:1-2.

Sometimes Bible-believing Baptists will "Amen" statements like, "The theme of the whole Bible is salvation!" which lets you know how much they have been influenced by Protestant mindsets. The theme of the Bible is not salvation; the theme of the Bible is a THRONE. Salvation will help you stand before that throne peacefully, but whether you are saved or lost, you are going to stand before Jesus Christ the King of kings. Over 2/3 of the Bible is about the pre-millennial, second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Before I get specific in my application, it needs to be said that we have made fun of theology and doctrine so much in an effort to associate ourselves with a Fundamentalism that fought against modernism, that we either minimize it ourselves, or some are ashamed to admit that they spent time studying. We must stop making fun of theology and doctrine. What the generation before us was mocking was the modernism and higher criticism that poisoned the Protestant Bible colleges of the early 1900's. I am not for modernism or the foolishness of higher criticism at all, but those of us who practice ecclesiastical separation don't hang around those apostates. Doctrine does matter, and your theology determines how you read your Bible and your lifestyle.

We have sown the wind in making fun of doctrine and now one of the whirlwinds we are sowing is in the area of the Baptist Distinctives of the local New Testament, autonomous Baptist Church. To review this, the church in the New Testament:

Is Local – a called out assembly – never an invisible, universal church

Is Made up of a saved membership (Acts 2:41-47)

Is Two Offices - Pastor and Deacon

Observes Two Ordinances - Baptism and the Lord's Supper (in that order)

Is Autonomous – never controlled or supported by outside entities, or persons, or another local church

To a Baptist, these principles should not be foreign. If a church does not observe these scriptural characteristics for a church, then it IS NOT A NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH.

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I want to thank God for soul-winning people. A soul-winning pastor and a deacon came by our country farmhouse on a Thursday night and led my wife to Christ. They then returned on the following Saturday morning to lead me to Christ. Those will be the greatest days of our life. We should always remember those days to keep us excited through the years of living for Him! We were blessed to have a pastor lead us in our Christian growth. After going to church and following the Lord in baptism, we were able to...{READ MORE}

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May I pen these words to all of the imperfect people? May I write these words to those of you to whom everything has not turned out as you had wished or hoped? May I intrude into the world of those of you who have not lived up to your own expectations? May I dedicate this article to those of you for whom things have not turned out as you dreamed and planned?...{READ MORE}

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Famed 19^th Century Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, firmly believed the following:

We believe that Baptists are the original Christians. We did not commence our existence at the Reformation, we were reformers before Luther or Calvin where born; we never came from the Church of Rome, for we were never in it, but we have an unbroken line up to the Apostles themselves.

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