Chris Anderson's The Scandal of Schism: An Overview by Dr. David Beale
Introduction: Basic Facts to Know Before Reading this Book
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| Dr. David Beale |
New Evangelicalism is the religious mood or attitude that repudiates Fundamentalism’s doctrine of separation from false teachers and advocates theological dialogue with Modernism and greater social involvement. Harold J. Ockenga coined the term New Evangelical in 1948 when he described the movement as a “new breed.”
By the late 1940s and early 1950s, Fundamentalists began to see the broad umbrella of Evangelicalism emerging distinctly into a New Evangelical movement. Evangelicalism committed to regaining respectability in the eyes of the religious world, even if that meant joining liberals in ecumenical campaigns. By the late 1950s Billy Graham had clearly emerged as the evangelist of New Evangelical. Fundamentalism was now growing and changing in emphasis. They were compelled to practice purity by separating not only from liberal churches and schools, but also from disobedient brethren who preferred to identify with false teachers under broad umbrellas. Many Fundamentalists came to the conviction that with the enemy in the camp, they must separate from evangelical ministries. To separate from the broad Evangelical movement was to renounce “Early Fundamentalism” and embrace “Separatist Fundamentalism.” Fundamentalism had fully changed! But separation is not “secondary.” Sin is sin! Practicing disobedience is sin, whatever or whoever commits it.
At the 1938 General Association of Regular Baptist Churches meeting at Waterloo, Iowa, the GARBC abolished dual membership and set forth biblical separation. From that time on, separation from all Northern Baptist Convention churches would be the official practice in the GARBC. That was Separatist Fundamentalism.
By 1967, The New Testament Association of Baptist Churches (NTA) and the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship (FBF) had become completely Separatist Fundamentalists. See: “Shift from Early Fundamentalism to Separatist Fundamentalism,” in David Beale, Baptist History in England and America: Personalities, Positions, and Practices (Maitland, FL: Xulon Press, 2018), 434-47.
The explicit teaching of passages such as Matthew 18:15–18; 1 Corinthians 5:1–13; and 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14–15 compelled separatist Fundamentalists to withdraw from New Evangelical ministries. Neo-Liberalism and Neo-Orthodoxy, with conservative sounding rhetoric, lured New Evangelicals directly into cooperation with unbelief. By the mid-1960s, the “Broad” Evangelical movement had almost completely gained control of the Bible colleges and seminaries.
Separatist Fundamentalism: The Standard of Charles H. Spurgeon
On October 28, 1887, Charles H. Spurgeon registered the official withdrawal of the Metropolitan Tabernacle from the Baptist Union, which was filled with unbelief. Some Union churches, belief in doctrine, refused to separate from Union churches. They remained and identified themselves under the same umbrella as unbelief. Today, there are SBC churches who are belief in doctrine, but under the same umbrella with unbelief. Their identity is unbelief. Chris Anderson would urge any godly Christian to join anything in the Southern Baptist Convention. He says there is nothing to worry about it.
On the Lord’s-Day morning of October 7, 1888, at Metropolitan Tabernacle pulpit, Charles H. Spurgeon preached his Sermon No. 2047, titled “No Compromise.” Spurgeon, clearly seeking to remain his calling and conscience, explained to his large congregation the biblical meaning of separation—in view of the Judgment Seat of Christ: “When I go back to my Master, if I have faithfully told out His message of free grace and dying love, I shall be clear. I have often prayed that I might be able to ... say: ‘I am clear, I am clear!’ that I might not stultify [invalidate] my testimony, I have cut myself clear of those who err from the faith, and even from those who associate with them. What more can I do to be honest with you?” Spurgeon pleads to his flock: “Clear me in that day of all complicity with the novel inventions [schemes] of deluded men. As for my Lord, I pray of Him grace to be faithful to the end, both to His truth, and to your souls. Amen.” Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit (1889; repr., London: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1970), 34:564 (34:553–64). “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds” (2 John 1:10-11). Spurgeon was a biblical, Separatist Fundamentalist.
Unlike Spurgeon in his day, Chris Anderson teaches to separate (breakaway) from biblical Fundamentalism and go into Broad Evangelicalism. Note Anderson’s title: The Scandal of Schism: A Journey from Sinful Division to Biblical Fidelity. His title would mean that Spurgeon’s separation (schism) was a journey on sinful division (scandal). Anderson has written a shallow book with serious mistakes to pull Christians away from biblical Fundamentalism and into Broad Evangelicalism.
In March 1891, Spurgeon wrote these words to a friend regarding the Downgrade Controversy, “Good-by, you will never see me again; this fight is killing me.” During April 1891, the “fatal illness commenced,” (C. H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography 1856–1878, vol. 3 (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1899, 152). Soon, at the Pastor’s College Conference, Spurgeon delivered his “final manifesto,” a powerful message titled “The Greatest Fight in the World.” His text was 1 Timothy 6:12, “Fight the good fight of faith,” published in The Sword and the Trowel 27 (August 1891). The sermon also appeared the following year as Charles H. Spurgeon, The Greatest Fight in the World (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1892). Fundamentalists fight because they love their people and biblical truth.
The 1985 SBC Dallas Convention Center in Texas
The next few days, June 11-13, 1985, marked the largest annual SBC Convention in Baptist history, which occurred at the Dallas Convention Center in Texas. They drew over 45,000 messengers. Nearby, Brothers and Nobles placed boxes of S.B.C. House on the Sand on their sidewalk tables. Chris Anderson claims that those who remained in their SBC churches were “maligned” by S.B.C. House on the Sand, with Beale “an example.” Anderson adds, “Our SBC brothers fighting error from within should have been prayed for and encouraged.” My prayers and encouragement were for Bible believing Fundamentalist churches. Anderson said that the “call for conservatives to leave the SBC would have precluded the successful conservative resurgence which began in 1979 and purged SBC seminaries of liberalism.” (pages 72-73 and footnote 70). Anderson is totally wrong. The SBC has never seen a “successful conservative resurgence.” Even Judge Pressler in his book, A Hill on Which to Die, placed a chapter on “How the Liberals Fought the Battle.” Moreover, New Calvinism (Reformed Theology) has been as poisonous as the liberals.
The Fall of the Conservative Resurgence
Dr. J. Gerald Harris, over more than forty years, has served as SBC pastors in North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Georgia. He has served as editor of The Christian Index, and he has served as president of the Georgia Baptist Convention. Dr. Harris has recently authored the book, The Rise and Fall of the Conservative Resurgence (2021). On page 64, Harris writes, “When Southern Baptists became secure in their glorious victory in the Conservative Resurgence, the god of this world began to explore ways to once again cripple the greatest evangelistic and missionary force in the world. Remember, the devil never contends for anything that is without value; and I am sure he has crafted a myriad of conspiracies for the dismemberment and destruction of the Southern Baptist Convention.”
One of the conspiracies is that the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis rejected a proposed ban on churches with female pastors. It was reported that there are about 1,800 women pastors working in the denomination. See Associated Press, 12:24 PM EDT, Wed. June 12, 2024. A perennial joke that SBC pastors tell at meetings is: “If the Convention splits, I'm going with the Annuity Board!”
John Piper: A Neo-Calvinist Spokesman
Chris Anderson, in pages 29, 47, 68, 85, 101, 164, and 192, tells his readers that John Piper’s books are among the best for God’s people to read. Let us look at Piper’s book, The Legacy of Sovereign Joy: God's Triumphant Grace in the Lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin (Crossway, 2000), 40-74. Piper thinks he has found, “The Liberating Power of Holy Pleasure in the Life and Thought of St. Augustine.” Piper insists that “Signs and wonders” and all the spiritual gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 are valid for today and should be “earnestly desired.” He says, “Prophecy and tongues will continue until Jesus comes.” He declares, Christians must be “seeking this greater fullness of God’s power today,” even “extraordinary signs and wonders.” In Piper’s article, Signs and Wonders: Then and Now, he writes as the Third Wave. See:
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/signs-and-wonders-then-and-now
To millions of Christians, John Piper has insisted that they could find sovereign joy and God’s triumphant grace in the life of Augustine (354-430). Let us look at a few of Augustine’s doctrines and practices:
*He wanted the apocrypha to be in the Bible. See: City of God, Book 18, Chapter 42 and On Christian Doctrine 2:8.12-13.
*He confused justification with sanctification, “being made righteous.” Source: Alister McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification (Cambridge University Press, 2005), 23-34.
*He taught that an Old Testament circumcisional regeneration transferred its efficacy into a New Testament baptismal regeneration. See: City of God, 6.26–27; Enchiridion: On Faith, Hope, and Love 43; cf. 93; Sermon 294; and On Forgiveness of Sins, and Baptism 1.27.
*He taught baptismal regeneration (John 3:5) and damnation of all unbaptized children. See: Epistle 98—To Boniface; Treatise against Two Letters of the Pelagians 3:3:5; Sermon 98 section 2; On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins and On the Baptism of Infants 1:24, 34, 39.
*He taught that conversion is a lifetime process, with no possibility of assurance of salvation. See: On Rebuke and Grace 5. 10, 17, 18,22; and On the Gift of Perseverance 5.1.
*He taught signs and wonders – dreams, miracles, relics, and prayers to martyrs. See: City of God, book 22, chapter 8.
Chris Anderson attempts, Timothy Keller's book, How to Attain Humility
Donald Arthur (D. A.) Carson (b. 1946) and Timothy J. Keller (1950–2023) were founders of The Gospel Coalition. Carson is Emeritus Professor of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago. Keller was senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Manhattan, New York, NY. At a Gospel Coalition Conference in 2017, Timothy Keller stated that he had now added two new positions to his ministry: The ordination of women and the ordination of the LGBT. Seven years later, Chris Anderson. on page 59, attempts, with Timothy Keller’s book, how to attain humility See The Christian Post, Wednesday, April 12, 2017, Michael Gryboski, church editor.
Free Masonry and the SBC: Overview of the Issue
At the June 1992 Southern Baptist annual conference, an unsuccessful attempt was made by a minority of representatives to root Freemasonry out of the Convention. The Home Mission Board was assigned the task of preparing a report, but the chairman of the Board, Ron Phillips, displayed his prejudice when he stated that he did not agree with the conclusion that Masonry is incompatible with Christianity and that he knew many “dedicated Christian men” who are Masons (Christian News, March 15, 1993).
It quickly became obvious that the Southern Baptist Convention was more concerned about retaining members and with maintaining harmony than with dealing with false gospels. The editor of an official state paper, The Indiana Baptist for March 16, 1993, reported “fearing the loss of three million members.” The SBC Home Mission Board reported that it would be to each individual Southern Baptists whether to join the secret society. The report documented Freemasonry’s anti-Christian doctrine that many Grand Lodges do not declare Jesus as the unique Son of God; the offensive rituals and “bloody oaths”; “implications that salvation may be obtained by one’s good works”; the heresy of universalism; pagan religions are studied in higher degrees. Despite all this, the study recommended leaving the decision to the individual member.
At the June 1993 convention in Houston, Texas, the Southern Baptist representatives decided to accept the Mission Board report’s recommendation and leave the matter of Masonic membership to the consciences of individuals.
The Southern Baptist Convention has long been tied in closely with Freemasonry despite its clear pagan beliefs and false gospel. The Scottish Rite Journal in February 1993 stated that “Masons believe in the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man...” In the 1990s, 14 percent of SBC pastors and 18 percent of deacons were Masons (Calvary Contender, June 1, 1993). We don’t know the statistics today, but Freemasonry remains well entrenched. In 1992, an attempt to root Freemasonry out of the Convention failed decidedly. The chairman of the Home Mission Board, Ron Phillips, stated that he did not agree with the conclusion that Masonry is incompatible with Christianity and that
he knew many “dedicated Christian men” who are Masons (Christian News, March 15, 1993). It quickly became obvious that the Southern Baptist Convention was more concerned with retaining members and maintaining harmony than in dealing with false gospels and spiritual compromise. Southern Baptist physician Dr. James Holly, who led the attempt to root out Freemasonry, said, “Southern Baptists have become the first Christian denomination that essentially blesses the Masonic Lodge” (Christian News, Dec. 20, 1993).
The author of the Home Mission Board report, Gary Leazer, joined the Masons a couple of years later. See Gary H. Leazer, Fundamentalism & Freemasonry: The Southern Baptist Investigation of the Fraternal Order (New York: A & B Publishers Group, 2000).
James L. Holly, The Southern Baptist Convention and Freemasonry, 3 vols. Beaumont, TX: Mission and Ministry to Men, 1994. See- https://pulpitandpen.org/series/freemasonry/
Singing Popular LGBTQ Anthems
Church by the Glades, in Coral Springs, Florida, is a Southern Baptist Convention church and in their directory. The Dissenter, April 15, 2024, “SBC Megachurch Starts New Sermon Series on ‘Family’ by Worshiping to Popular LGBTQ Anthem by Sister Sledge.”
David Hughes, the president and CEO of Church by the Glades in Coral Springs, Florida, has successfully turned the organization into a highly profitable carnival act. Rather than providing spiritual sustenance through the gospel, Hughes is preoccupied with putting on a spectacle. Week after week, we have reported that this church, which remains in fellowship with the Southern Baptist Convention and the powers that be, blasphemes God with its worldly performances and secular music. This past weekend, Church by the Glades opens a new sermon series on ‘Family’ by worshiping to a popular anthem that is used to open the vast majority of ‘pride’ festivals around the nation. According to one article in Rhino, the band Sister Sledge openly embraced the fact that their song had become such a popular LGBTQ anthem. ‘When Joni Sledge died in 2017, the website TheOutFront.com opened their obit of the singer by saying, ‘Every gay man who’s ever been on a dance floor or attended a Pride Parade knows the words to ‘We Are Family’. In fact, it’s practically required for getting one’s official Gay Card.
Conclusion:
Chris Anderson has written a shallow book with serious mistakes to pull Christians away from biblical Fundamentalism and into Broad Evangelicalism.
Some preach the gospel and say that identification is non-essential. They say, “Associations are non-essential.” That is a path that God forbids. Indifference is dangerous! “Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares” (Jude 3-4a). We are defined by those with whom we are affiliated. “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers.... After my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also, of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:28-31).
We must never entangle the message of the gospel with man-made organizations and institutions that harbor false gospels. This seriously applies to our personal condition when we stand before Christ. Identification within Broad Evangelicalism lends constant credibility to false teachers who preach another gospel. “For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds” (2 John 1:10-11). Our view of Christ or His gospel will determine our associations: “Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward” (2 John 8).
It is better to be divided in truth, than united in unbelief!
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