October 14, 2011

What is Happening Among Believers in the Local Church?

There is much focus of attention on the high profile personalities in the current craze to forge alliances between a certain segment of men in Fundamental circles and non-separatist Evangelicals. We are, furthermore, seeing cooperative ministry efforts being formed between once fundamental Baptist, biblically separatist schools and full blown New Evangelical schools.1 This is the newly defined separation in academic contexts2. It is not a separation that can be drawn from the Bible. It is in fact a definition that brushes aside the scriptural principles for an application that shrouds oneself with a veil of divine authority for the sake of “community3 with non-separatist, compromised believers.

I thought we might like to consider what is happening in the hearts and minds of believers at the local church level. Just regular, faithful folks who are becoming aware of the mood of compromise that is making serous inroads into Baptist separatist churches, school and fellowships. Today, with his permission I am sharing a portion of an e-mail a gentleman from the Midwest sent to me just a few weeks ago.

Dear Lou, My wife and I recently made the decision to resign our membership from a church that we have attended for the last 17 years. This church was founded over seventy years ago by a former Presbyterian pastor who “came out” of the denomination. Our church for years preached and practiced both personal and ecclesiastical separation. In recent years, however, we began to see indications of compromise in the separatist stance it once took. Two examples of this would be the introduction of Sovereign Grace (SG) music and the attendance of the Together for the Gospel (T4G) conferences by the pastors and elders. For the past two years I have been heavily researching these ministries and select others similar to them. I see red flags everywhere! The compromise that is prevalent in their teachings and associations is disheartening. What is even more disheartening is that I am the only one of a handful of people at my former church that has ever heard of SG or T4G. So since we are not being warned of the dangers of compromise that exist in these groups, people are blind to the dangers or assume that because of the church’s separatist heritage and their trust in the leadership that there must be nothing wrong with them. More needs to be done to publicize and reveal what these para-church organizations are and the danger they pose to authentic New Testament Christianity. Thank you for your efforts in this regard. In Christ,
There are many others like the family this letter represents. They see the shift of once IFB separatist churches, men and schools breaking toward non-separatist evangelicals.


LM

FOOTNOTES:
1) Calvary Baptist Seminary (Lansdale) to Host Dr. Haddon Robinson

2) Is There a Second Definition for “Separation” in Academic Contexts?

3) Kevin Bauder: Are We Forced to Tolerate Evils Within the Community?

4 comments:

  1. Lou,

    Thank you for sharing this and also the man who was willing to share what is happening in his area.

    As a concerned believer,sounding the alarm about compromise in my area has not produced much difference.

    It is nice to know that I'm not alone as a believer, this is why this blog is important. It is an encouragement to read of others that will stand for the Gospel, and for separation, and for the Bible.

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  2. DG:

    Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your confidence in what I am offering believers for their consideration from this blog.

    Sadly, that story above is being played out in number of our churches today. Thankfully, families like that one are doing what they can in their local assemblies to raise a concern and provide the biblical answers to compromise of the timeless principles.

    Kind regards,


    LM

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  3. Thanks Lou,
    Standing for the truth has never been a popular position. Seeing how close we can get to the edge without actually going over is truly the accident just waiting to happen. Believers ought to be clinging to the Rock of our salvation rather than running as close as we can to edge to be like the world. The ground will give way and great will be the fall.

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  4. Brian:

    You wrote, "Standing for the truth has never been a popular position."

    And what one funds is that if you take a stand for truth you become very unpopular with the folks who are moving in the direction of compromising truth for the sake of "community."


    LM

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