King James Bible
All posts tagged King James Bible
The following video is one of many that have been produced to encourage the reading and hearing of the Word of God. Whether you know the Lord Jesus or not these videos will be a benefit to your life.
‘Why do evangelical scholars fail in their efforts to respond to Bart Ehrman? Jeff Riddle offers a lecture on applied apologetics by focusing on Bart Ehrman’s contribution to the field of modern textual criticism…’
John William Burgon (1813-1888)
‘“Whatever may be urged in favor of Biblical Revision, it is at least undeniable that the undertaking involves a tremendous risk.
Our Authorized Version is the one religious link which at present binds together ninety millions of English-speaking men scattered over the earth’s surface. Is it reasonable that so unutterably precious, so sacred a bond should be endangered, for the sake of representing certain words more accurately, here and there translating a tense with greater precision, getting rid of a few archaisms?
It may be confidently assumed that no ‘Revision’ of our Authorized Version, however judiciously executed, will ever occupy the place in public esteem which is actually enjoyed by the work of the Translators of 1611, the noblest literary work in the Anglo-Saxon language. We shall in fact never have another ‘Authorized Version.’
John W. Burgon, The Revision Revised, 113′https://www.textandtranslation.org/john-burgon-on-the-risk-of-revising-the-authorized-version/
Dr. E. F. Hills was a defender of the Words of the Living God. This link is to his defense of the woman taken in adultery https://www.textandtranslation.org/ef-hills-woman-caught-in-adultery/. Be assured you can trust your Authorized Bible as the very preserved Words of the Living God.
‘What chapter or verse of the Bible says there will be 27 books of the New Testament? Of course, none. Where does it say what the 27 books will be? Again, of course, none. How then do we know what are the 27 books of the New Testament?
When we read the New Testament, we open about two-thirds of the way through the Bible to that title page that says “New Testament” on it. The churches that received scripture were not sent such a copy. The New Testament did not come to churches with a cover page, stating, “New Testament,” and behind it 27 books.
Churches acknowledged and copied inspired books. They treated them as though they were inspired. They passed them from church to church and read then in churches. Before copies wore out, they were copied again to preserve them for the future.
The scriptural doctrine of which I speak concerning canonicity proceeds from the Bible itself. Through the inward testimony of the Spirit, regenerate, immersed church members distinguish between words which man’s wisdom teaches and those of and from the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:13-25). God gave His inspired Words to the apostles or the inspired human authors according to the plan of the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit (John 14:26, 15:26, 17:8, 14; Gal 1:11-12). True believers led by the Spirit would know the things written were the words of God (1 Corinthians 14:37). The same Holy Spirit who had regenerated, indwelt, and filled them would testify to the words.
The testimony or witness of books of the New Testament arises from the promise of words. They knew Paul’s epistles were scripture like the Old Testament (2 Peter 3:16), but they were guided to inspired words. The epistles or books were an implication of received words. The Lord gave unto them “words” and they “received them” (John 17:8; cf. 12:48, Acts 2:41, 1 Thess 2:13).
Revelation 22:18-19 read:
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 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.
The Apostle John testifies to a completed book of Revelation. He speaks of “the words of the prophecy of this book.” He confirms a settled, completed, perfect text of words. One could only add or take away words from a book with a settled text. His instruction assumes the precision of the text and continued knowledge of it. No one could obey this command without standardized words.
God’s people will know what His Words are and receive them. That is how they knew and know the twenty-seven books. God intervenes through His Spirit in His churches to receive His Words and, therefore, His Books. History confirms this teaching. The nature of God’s Word is that when God says He will do something, He does it. His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. They believe what He says. They have.
Through the history of the Lord’s churches, they believed the biblical doctrine of canonicity or the preservation of the text and books of the New Testament. Errors were made in copies, what are most often called variants today. God did not promise to preserve copies. Believers do not receive copies. They receive “words.” They identify words. True churches assume a settled text. They have.
The Lord’s churches now call the text, the words and books, received and passed down from one generation to the next by the work of the Holy Spirit, the received, traditional, ecclesiastical, or standardized text. By “traditional,” they mean it like Paul used it in 2 Thessalonians 2:15, “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.” It is an ecclesiastical text, because churches received it. Some today call this a “confessional bibliology,” because it reflects the historical belief of churches and so written down in confessions.
Scripture is scientific. If God says it, it is true and it is knowledge. It is the pure mother’s milk without variableness or shadow of turning (1 Peter 2:2, James 1:17). Everything God says is true and is the standard for truth (John 17:17). God repudiates rejection of what He said for so-called science or for experience. We have a more sure word of prophecy (2 Peter 1:19-21).
The Lord’s churches received the text still received by His churches before the invention of the printing press. With the invention of the printing press in 1440, they printed that text in the 16th century. They continued to receive it for centuries. These people translated from it into other languages. They preached sermons from it in churches and wrote commentaries and other books from it or based upon it. We have all of this record.
No one should add to or take away from the settled text of the New Testament. This contradicts the teaching of the New Testament about itself. No one should assume and then believe God’s Words were lost and in need of restoration. This violates scripture. This hurts the faith.
Professing believers today do not know the New Testament by science. They do not know it by probability. God’s people do not know it by rules of textual criticism. They do not know it by intelligibility. The people of God know it by the testimony of the Holy Spirit through history or through the preceding centuries through the Lord’s churches. They should reject any other teaching or way. These are heretical ways that distort or veer from the already received and established scriptural bibliology.https://kentbrandenburg.com/2022/06/22/how-do-we-know-what-the-new-testament-is/
‘The Bible makes it very clear that God’s expectations of His people are far greater than anything He expects from the world around them. From Israel being a “peculiar people” (special and unique, not just “weird” in modern parlance) to the church being a “called out assembly” and that judgment must begin at the house of God, we, the people of God, are called to a much higher standard than anyone else. God doesn’t expect holiness from the lost world; He simply calls them to repent. The church on the other hand, is commanded to be holy, as without holiness, no man shall see God. Doctrinally, for us, that is of course Christ’s imputed holiness, but the practical command of 2 Corinthians 7:1 is still applicable: we are supposed to be “perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” That command exists for the already saved: it is to affect and direct our walk as Christians.
Perfecting holiness is much the same as “working out” your salvation: Philippians 2:12 is talking about the external practice of an interior reality, not a process of working for salvation. Obedience to God’s word requires us to perform in the body the good works to which we have been predestinated (Romans 8:29; Ephesians 2:10), which is the only way that a believer can be sure to bear fruit (Titus 3:14), but of course that fruit-bearing stems from the unity of believers in Christ (John 17). When it is not only normal but expected that disunity, discord, division, dissension, and dissimulation define our fellowship, it’s no wonder that God is not made manifest in this world. The “Ruckmanites” can point fingers at the “Baptist Briders” and the BJU crowd can point fingers at the “Hyles” crowd while the “Recovering Fundamentalists” can mock all of them (while banning, blocking, and booting people, hosting Israel trips and camp meetings just like all the other Fundamentalists), but in the end it is the devil that benefits from our refusal to work together to glorify God. Scoff all you want, and I have seen the scoffing, but the reality of the world in which we live is all the proof we need to understand that our direct disobedience to Christ’s command to His church is responsible for the condition of individual believers, the church, and the lost world around us.
When faced with the reality of our situation, the understandable human reaction is to jump ship. No one wants to be associated with a bunch of ungodly, disobedient people. Unfortunately, in both a doctrinal and practical sense, that’s both impossible (1 Corinthians 12:12-14) and forbidden (Acts 27:31). We are all part of Christ’s body and there is no escaping that. The minute one begins to identify himself as separate from other believers, no matter how disgusting they may be, is the moment that division has entered the body. Paul rebuked the Corinthians for identifying themselves with various preachers, including Christ Himself (1 Corinthians 1:12-13), not because those preachers were in disagreement with one another or because it is wrong to follow Christ (or Paul, for that matter: 1 Corinthians 4:16; 11:1; Ephesians 5:1; Philippians 3:17; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 2:14), but because it is sin to identify oneself apart from the rest of the body of Christ.
Division in Christ’s body is sin (1 Corinthians 1:10; 3:3). Yet at the same time, sin in the body is a reason for division (1 Corinthians 5-6). But the difference is that biblical division over sin is always intended to prompt repentance and reconciliation. Perhaps, then, we should look at Fundamentalism’s squeamishness regarding “repentance,” whether it is in the realm of “soul winning” (expecting a biblical change in behavior is counterproductive when one’s goal is to “pump up those rookie numbers”) or with regards to sin being dealt with in the church; after all, it’s much easier to send the pregnant teen off to Colorado or accuse her of being a seductress than actually call the cops on the CHILD MOLESTING pastor/youth pastor/deacon/church member. Of course we wouldn’t want “the ministry” to suffer from a biblical approach to dealing with criminal behavior in the church (Romans 13:1-5).
The cops only get called when nosy church members try confront the pastor over his voyeurism: he secretly recorded women getting undressed in his office. Thanks to a lax statute of limitations in Florida for voyeurism, Greg Neal was never prosecuted. Yet Neal is still invited to preach at various “Fundamental” meetings and conferences. And we haven’t even touched the sordid story of Cameron Giovanelli, who was hired by Neal after being accused of child sexual assault while pastoring in Maryland, prior to becoming the president of Golden State Baptist College, and after an embarrassingly short stint in jail was taken in by Harvest Baptist Church in Fort Dodge, Iowa where he played host to missionary Jordan Webb who is currently being prosecuted for sexual abuse, incest, and child endangerment. Harvest is paying for Webb’s attorney fees despite claiming that he is not employed by or sent out of the church.
It’s normal to want to wash our hands of the situation, falling back on the “we’re independent” excuse and hoping that no one associates us with this vile, putrid stain on the holiness of our Saviour. However, this has never been God’s way. In the New Testament, “legal sin” (adultery, heresy, etc.) in the church is to be dealt with according to the principles of Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5: expulsion and disfellowship until repentance and restoration is achieved. However, illegal or criminal behavior must be vigorously denounced and immediately reported to the civil authorities; it matters not how much we may love the offender: he must face the legal penalties for his crimes. Furthermore, 1 Timothy 5 is crystal clear on sin among church leadership:
19 Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.
20 Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.
21 I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.
Of course the context isn’t specifically about sexual impropriety, abuse, or criminal behavior: that’s covered under “blameless” in 1 Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:6-7. However, since we’ve come to the point in modern churchianity where a man can plead guilty to sex offense and assault against a minor and be almost immediately welcomed back into church ministry (quietly and under the radar, of course), we find ourself in a place where we must dig through the sordid details of ghastly accusations and try to determine what to do about such revolting situations. If a Christian is accused of criminal behavior, he is no longer blameless. Until he is cleared of suspicion, he has no biblical right to continue in any ministry position in any capacity whatsoever. This is doubly so for an elder (“pastor” for those that get squeamish about biblical terminology). In fact, in the Bible, there is to be no “sweeping things under the rug”: the man, when guilty, is to be PUBLICLY REBUKED (“before all”) and openly shamed about his sin. THAT is how God is to be glorified in the midst of a terrible situation: open rebuke and purification of the body by expelling the offending member.
But no, in today’s churches, the victims almost inevitably get shunned and excommunicated while the offenders get a slap on the wrist, if anything. At worst, unless the police get involved, the pervert pastor quietly resigns and moves across the country to get a job at a different church, where he will repeat the cycle of abuse. And we, through our silence, are complicit enablers of this behavior.
We should take a page out of the Old Testament though in a conceptual sense and (unfortunately) not a literal one: when God’s people were engaged in fornication and direct rebellion against God’s orders, Moses asked the people “Who is on the LORD’S side?” The subsequent “consecration” (Exodus 32:29) entailed slaughtering 3,000 people. There was no “restoration” for those actively engaged in blaspheming God through their idolatrous (Colossians 3:5), naked (Revelation 3:17) fornication (1 Corinthians 6:18). All that was left, and what was required by God, was to run a sword through their guts. That was “consecration” before God, for a people that were involved in grotesque sin. We’re not going to be able to take swords and start chopping off heads of child abusers, as much as it would probably help, but we can publicly shame, denounce, and rebuke those that commit such sins, those that cover up those sins, and those that enable them. Until it becomes uncomfortable for “good, godly men” to harbor and defend these vile criminals or commit the crimes themselves and get away with it, the name of our Saviour will continue to be besmirched by their heinous crimes.
For this very purpose we have recently implemented a process by which abuse can be reported for every listing on KJV Churches. Of course the hope is that it will never be necessary, but in the event that it is, we will research the case and if warranted, add a warning to the church’s listing. However, it’s telling that almost all of the responses to our announcement of this feature were about how to get that badge of shame removed from a listing, and no one was interested in looking for ways to help the victims. Clearly IFB churches have developed a culture of cover-ups and victim shaming to such a degree that they don’t even realize when they’re doing it.
I would hazard to say that there is nothing in New Testament Scripture that can guide us as a church (each local church or the body of Christ as a whole, take your pick based on your own idiosyncratic ecclesiological position) out of the unbelievable condition in which we find ourselves. The reason is that the Holy Spirit simply didn’t include specific instructions for dealing with child rapists in the pulpit in the New Testament church. Dealing with that kind of behavior seems to require looking back to the Old Testament and the “church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38) to see how God dealt with such depravity. Swords, serpents, and scathing sermons from God’s prophets were the LORD’s approach to sin in the nation, and it’s foolhardy to think that it can be dealt with in any other way (the “swords” and “serpents” being metaphorical in our situation). With few exceptions, the prophets were sent to preach to Israel and Judah, not typically to the Gentiles, and even then it was a simple message of general repentance, not a specific rebuke for direct disobedience against God’s commands.
In Conclusion
The condition of the church today should give every Christian ulcers. The idea that Christ’s bride, the “chaste virgin” for whom God’s own blood was shed (Acts 20:28), is being ravaged by the very people that are supposed to be caring for her, is cause for widespread sackcloth and ashes and indefinite periods of fasting and mourning. Yet, people who claim to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God go about their liturgical procedures nonchalantly, as if the very representation of Jesus Christ on this earth were not the absolute laughingstock of the entire world.
“Old Paths” types love to point to Jeremiah 5, especially verse 5, where Jeremiah says that he will go and seek the advice of the “great men.” Ironically they ignore the context: “but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.” God was looking for ONE man, any that sought truth and judgment. The end result is Ezekiel 22:30-31; “but I found none.” But the end of the Jeremiah passage is so applicable to our situation today:
30 ¶A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?
The prophets (preachers) and priests (pastors, since they assume the right to the tithe and all) preach lies and rule forcibly over the people, but it’s because that’s what the people want. The only thing left is the response of the few, or maybe even the one. We’ll talk about Revelation 3:14-22 next time, if you can stomach it.’https://www.kjvchurches.com/recovering-part-6-who-is-on-the-lords-side/
‘The old saying is that men never learn from history, with the addition that those that do learn from history are doomed to stand by and watch it repeat itself. Mark Twain said that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme. Regardless of your opinion on the repeatability of history, as we already saw in Part 2, the church itself follows a certain cycle that appears to be unbroken since the first century. It’s not very likely for that to change any time soon.
The Inverse-Square Law
Growing up I loved listening to Kent Hovind’s Creation Science seminars. I still remember distinctly his description of the inverse-square law and how it pertains to orbital mechanics, specifically as part of his theory on the Flood and the collapse of the theorized ice canopy that may have surrounded the Earth before the Flood. Simply put: the closer an object approaches to a mass, its gravitational velocity is affected inversely-squared proportionate to its distance; moving the moon 1/3 of the distance closer to the Earth would increase its gravitational pull 9 times (32). Hovind’s application was (is) a comet that struck the ice canopy and collapsed it onto the poles, the comet’s velocity being increased exponentially as it approached the Earth.
I can just imagine the reader scratching his head, wondering what in the world this has to do with anything. Never fear: I shall explain.
As a premillennialist/pre-trib dispensationalist, I believe in a precipitated decline of everything before a catastrophic apocalypse, preceded by a “rescue” of Christ’s church. It’s not “escapism” as such since the church has endured and will endure any amount of tribulation as a sign of her faithfulness, yet “The Tribulation” as an event is for Israel, not the body of Christ. After all, it’s called “the time of Jacob’s trouble,” not the church’s trouble. As we approach this “event horizon,” it would appear that the processes and cycles seen throughout church history are accelerating. Here I offer two examples as observed personally.
Peter Ruckman is widely held to be one of the staunchest proponents of the King James Bible, as well as pre-trib premillennialist moderate dispensationalism. His work sparked a movement that started Bible institutes on just about every inhabited continent, published hundreds of books, some of which have been translated into multiple languages, and sent hundreds if not thousands of pastors and missionaries into the ministry. He himself fleshed out the very cycle that we are discussing, as quoted in Part 2. So, why is it surprising to anyone that the “ruckmanite” movement has evolved into the machine that spits out identical clones, something that Dr. Ruckman himself denounced vehemently, and (I have it on good authority) the leadership at Ruckman’s former church (Bible Baptist Church of Pensacola, Florida) dislikes even the mention of the “cycle” that Dr. Ruckman himself warned of? While the Pensacola manifestation of this process hasn’t reached the point of creating a bronze-cast statue of the founder or a three-story mural of the deceased pastor and his wife complete with cases of their favorite soft drinks left as an offering, the reverence with which Ruckman’s positions, teachings, and even attitudes are held has created its own kind of “monument” in the Florida Panhandle and in the “ruckmanite” camp around the world, all within the span of a few decades, especially during Bro. Ruckman’s decline at the end of his life.
More recently and even more visibly, Steven Anderson made a name for himself using social media, railing on homosexuals and forging a patented brand of theology including aspects of antisemitism/anti-zionism, calvinistic replacement theology, post-trib “anti-dispensationalism” (clearly misunderstanding that premillennialism is itself a dispensational position), his “reprobate” theory, and other bizarre private interpretations of the scriptures, all with a view to generate friction and create notoriety for himself. With the help of a professional video producer, he created “documentaries” slyly promoting his strange doctrines, even going as far as titling the Arabic translation of his film Marching to Zion as The Lies of the Jews. However big his following at one time, he quickly splintered his movement into numerous factions thanks to a series of “excommunications” and executive decisions about churches established under his ministry. Many of his former allies have distanced themselves from him, especially after an attempt to hide some abuse by members of his own family. Others fled his authoritarian-style grasp and started churches espousing various false doctrines from modalism to teaching that salvation can be “lost” by ceasing to believe on Christ (as if it were the individual’s faith that saved him). This particular cycle-within-a-cycle had a very short lifespan, basically petering out within a decade of its inception.
While previous manifestations of this cycle have dragged on for decades or even centuries, more recently they appear to have a more rapid lifespan, exhausting themselves quickly. My pet theory is that it’s a spiritual “inverse-square law” leading up to the catching away of the church, where heresy becomes more common even among believers as the great falling away accelerates. After all, Christ did warn His followers about being deceived in the last days, and we are certainly getting close to the end, so it stands to reason that deception would be on the rise.
Just Another Brick in the Wall
When the younger fundamentalists started leaving churches and the “Recovering” moniker was adopted, I had some hope that this movement would be different, and that churches would start seeking a move of the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, my cynical side won that wager. There are undoubtedly many sincere believers that are truly seeking a recovery, whether from the frequent abuse in churches, or to figure out what is real as opposed to the religious fakery that is so rampant in churches today. Yet just as we see throughout church history, the sincere are promptly overshadowed by the ambitious, and the progression of the cycle can only be delayed, not prevented.
In this case, the “Family” that grew up around the various anonymous Twitter parody accounts and moved to a Facebook group started to feel a lot like the very “fundamentalism” that these participants had left. Getting kicked out of the group without notice or appeal has become a common occurrence, while the leadership have assumed a kind of control that is little different from any authoritarian religious movement out there. When Eric Skwarczynski, the founder and host of the Preacher Boys Podcast, announced that he no longer considers himself a Christian, the reaction from both sides of the “Recovering” discussion was about what you would expect. While some aspects of the response were measured and reasonable, others bore the distinct markings of the us-vs-them division so common among fundamentalist churches.
Eric’s defection would require its own series of articles to address, and that’s something we have no interest in doing. Suffice it to say that after detailing scores of instances of abuse, cover-ups, manipulation, and obfuscation in Baptist and evangelical churches, he decided that he had had enough and renounced his faith. We could talk about John 6:66 or apostasy in general, but the reality is that the behavior of professing Christians led this man to renounce his faith. He will give an account of himself to God at some point. What is truly at issue here is the system that he saw, the filth that he exposed, and the results of his experiences, both at the hands of “fundamentalists” and the “Recovering” crowd.
Of course there were responses; what else is a podcast good for? Instead of focusing on the church’s responsibility for Eric’s apostasy, The Church Split decided to argue moral standards, saying that an atheist or agnostic has no authority, lacking an objective moral standard. The point is valid, but irrelevant to the topic at hand. What is at issue here is the same issue that caused the “Recovering” group to head out in the first place: the body of Christ is in direct disobedience to its Head. As a result, the church has no objective moral standard now, since her behavior is diametrically opposed to the commands that Christ gave us to love one another.
There is absolutely a place to oppose false doctrine. It is certainly necessary to warn against apostasy. Objective morality is without question a fundamental issue. However, Eric’s departure was due to the failures of the church. Again we refer to John 17:
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Christ’s prayer to the Father indicates that our role in this world as Christ’s body is to give evidence of Christ’s authority as the Son of God. Simply put: if people don’t believe in God, it’s the church’s fault. You don’t have to like it, but those are Christ’s words on the matter. Eric’s apostasy is ultimately the church’s fault. But since it’s easier to call for someone else’s head than call for repentance within our own “camp,” we see the standard response: finger-pointing and the blame game. How is this different from the hated “fundamentalists”? How is it not hypocritical to point at Tony Hutson’s carryings on or John Hamblin’s vapidity, while in turn blasting a victim of the church’s REBELLION against her Saviour? No, Will and Brian aren’t attacking Eric’s dress standards or the length of his hair, or the music he listens to; yet the end result is the same: ignoring the root issue to point fingers at the fruit of the problem. Granted, their treatment of the situation is nowhere as “cringe” as the typical IFB pastor’s response to an internet sensation, but it still misses the root issue completely. Eric’s problem isn’t that he’s logically inconsistent: Eric’s problem is that the church is logically inconsistent. As he stated in an interview with Jimmy Hinton:
My faith has been hurt very deeply by, again, not by Hollywood or rock stars or all the people I was told were the threats. Like, for me, you know, I struggle to see people who claim to be transformed by the Holy Spirit, living in a way and acting in a way, covering for things in a way, that far exceeds what I see happening in places like Hollywood, or places like, you know, places like secular places that I was warned about. And so for me, you know, it’s affected my ability to believe in there being some radical, transformative “power” to this.
I totally understand Galatians 5:16-17. I get it, the “in Christ” of 2 Corinthians 5:17 is the saved person’s spirit added to the body of Christ. I know all the doctrines; that’s not where the issue is. The issue is the part about walking worthy of our Saviour. It’s the practice, not the doctrine. How can a person behave like a lost person, or even worse than a lost person, all the while claiming to have the Holy Spirit residing inside of him? How can churches ignore child rapists in their ministries, cover up for serial adulterers, and fellowship with peeping toms, all the while pointing fingers at Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein? Eric’s point is absolutely correct: the gospel calls for repentance, something that has been thrown out the window in IFB churches in exchange for bigger ministries, larger bus routes, and more “conversions.” We see the fruit of this cheap, flippant approach to God’s holiness: a church that is poor, wretched, miserable, blind, and naked.
Eric Skwarczynski grew up in IFB churches and left because of the hypocrisy. Unfortunately, that hypocrisy didn’t disappear once he stepped outside of the circles in which he grew up. While it may seem attractive to point fingers at the other group, everyone that claims the name of Christ is equally responsible for the way in which He is portrayed. The “Recovering Fundamentalists” aren’t the enemy, the “IFB” aren’t the enemy, and Eric or lost people aren’t the enemy. Do you want to know who the true enemy is? Let’s ask the apostle James:
James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
When you do the world’s work for them and distract from God’s glory, you become the enemy of God. When Eric is discouraged and walks away from the faith, it is the church’s fault, and instead of attacking him, we need to take some time to look inward and see where we went wrong. Our bickering, dissension, backbiting, and overall disobedience is doing the devil’s work for him.
All These Lives
I am still an independent Baptist. I believe the doctrinal positions espoused by the Baptists to be closest to the Bible in any organized group of churches in the world. I have no intention of changing my position or taking “Baptist” off of the name of any churches that the LORD sees fit to allow me to plant in my field of service. As such, it’s important to take stock of our situation as believers and make sure that we truly are following the scriptures as we claim to do. If our wake is littered with broken families, bitter wounded, and discouraged former believers like Eric, then we can only assume that we missed something somewhere; it’s certainly not the Bible’s fault.
Let’s look at an example from economics. “Capitalism” has become a dirty word in politics and the legacy news media, and is constantly blamed for everything that might possibly go wrong in any country with even a modicum of economic freedom. Of course, the real problems are caused not by capitalism which is simply the free exchange of goods and services, but instead are caused by corporatism which is the interference of the state (government) in commerce, preferring certain corporations over others. There are all sorts of issues that arise once the state begins to regulate business: regulatory capture, the use of regulations by established companies to prevent competition from entering the marketplace; lobbying, purchasing preferential treatment from politicians; and collusion, establishing virtual monopolies with government assistance, are among the many tactics used by entrenched corporations to use the power of the state against the consumer.
When these tactics are employed, immediately the socialists condemn “capitalism” as the culprit and insist that more government intervention is the solution, ignoring that it was government intervention that created the issues in the first place. Ultimately, it’s not actually “capitalism” that caused these problems, but it is always the scapegoat.
Let’s apply this truth to the church. The “church” is a called-out assembly of believers, assembling for the purpose of the One that called her out of the world. The “church” is never a construction, a 501(c)(3) corporation, a convention, or a “camp,” yet these are always what the world perceives as “the church.” Therefore, when those organizations that call themselves “churches” hurt others, lie, steal, manipulate, or misrepresent Christ, it is unfortunately Christ’s body that is blamed, even if that body wasn’t even involved.
It is not Christ that does these horrible things, yet He gets blamed for them. Much like Nathan told David:
2 Samuel 12:14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
There is a price to be paid when Christ is reproached by our sin and wickedness. When churches cover up and marginalize sexual abuse in the pulpits, when spiritual abuse is the norm in churches, and when those who hold the truth do so in unrighteousness, Christ is dishonored and there must be a reckoning.
Conclusion
The answer is not nor has it ever been to split or separate from the body of Christ, form a new denomination, start a new movement, or attempt to distance ourselves from the problem by claiming independence. Yes, we’re independent Baptists, but we’re still in the same body and we will still stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ alongside every other believer regardless of what name was on the church sign (or if they even had a church sign). We’re all in the same boat together, and Christ’s command that we be as one in Him is still valid, even if your brother uses the wrong Bible version.
Unfortunately, sin in the camp will eventually affect everyone, just like with Achan and Ai. The 36 dead at Ai had obeyed God’s commands perfectly; they hadn’t stolen anything from Jericho: Achan did, and he survived the battle just fine. His sin affected others, and the LORD withdrew His hand of blessing and protection from the entire nation. As with Daniel’s prayer, a collective repentance is required before we can expect God’s blessing on our churches.
Daniel 9:5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:
6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
Even though Daniel himself was a godly man, he recognized himself as being part of the problem. We will never see God’s blessings on us until we realize that WE are the problem and repent.’https://www.kjvchurches.com/recovering-part-5-more-of-the-same/
If you have read the “About” me for this blog you know I am an independent Baptist. I was saved (accepted the Lord Jesus Christ) when I was a very young lad through the ministry of an independent Baptist Church where I also followed the Lord in baptism and heard some good preaching from His Word. However, having now walked with the Lord these many, many years I have seen a lot of “things” within “Christianity” that did and do bother me. Today, I came across the following and thought I would share it with you. This is only the first Part so i will share the others later.
‘Over the last few years there has been a significant movement to rethink “fundamentalism,” a term often applied to churches that would qualify to be listed in our database here at KJV Churches. Largely driven by younger believers, mostly Millennials, this movement has questioned many of the positions and attitudes held by a number of prominent figures who purport to hold to “Old Time Religion” or the “Old Paths,” and without a doubt there are many valid questions and rebukes necessary in many sectors of “fundamental” Christianity.
In this series, we intend to deal with a number of the real issues that should be addressed with regard to the supposed “Old Time Religion” and “fundamentalism,” but at the same time it is our desire to inspect the attitudes displayed by the “Recovering Fundamentalist” movement. As with most things, there are ditches on both sides of the road, and while a strong argument can be made against the traditional model that frequently covers up sin, overlooks abuse, and welcomes “fallen” men while ignoring and blaming the victims, we must be careful not to allow a knee-jerk reaction that will result in the same rotten attitudes, ungodly spirit, and combative approach that is many times the fruit of the “fundamentalists.”
Meddling Millennials
The generational divide between the majority of the church leadership, made up of Generation X and Baby Boomers (of disrespectful “OK, Boomer” fame), and the up-and-coming Millennials, the generation to which this author belongs, has been the cause for a lot of conflict. We Millennials have a very different approach to certain things which makes us appear to be a threat to many people, especially those who appreciate their authoritative positions and perceive any question as a threat or assume that any disagreement is an attack. The older generations must understand that a person presenting a question is not necessarily seeking to supplant whoever is in authority. Often it is done in a spirit of reconciliation, hoping to correct a wrong, perceived or real, and to restore respect for whoever was in error. Simply put, most Millennials aren’t interested in sweeping things under the rug, regardless of the consequences.
My generation experienced the Internet as young people, so we remember the days before instant, worldwide communication was possible even though many of us met our spouses and best friends online. We’re the pre-Internet generation that has in a very real sense shaped the Internet as it exists today. Our unique experiences have created a group of people, from 25-40 years old, that believe that respect is earned and can be lost, authority does not automatically deserve respect, and that age does not automatically mean wisdom (Job 32:9) when it departs from the word of God. As a result, our generational perspective does not automatically follow that of our predecessors. We are more likely to investigate a man’s character and testimony, and not just assume that he was a great man because he was a “great soul winner”. We’ve seen too many “great men” go to prison to assume that large numbers of “conversions” or a big Bible College are the marks of spirituality.
Personally, I’ve long since stopped identifying with men or movements, since many that I respected as a child turned out to be problematic, to say the least, once I reached adulthood. It’s true that there are Biblical commands to respect those that have positions of authority, but all too often the warnings and responsibilities of those tasked with those positions have been ignored, while the man in question hides behind a “man of God” moniker and rejects all criticism as an attack on “the ministry.” I don’t even know how many times as a child that I heard my pastor preach grave warnings about speaking out against the pastor (him, of course), talking about she-bears, lightning strikes, and leprosy attacks, as if he himself were Elisha, Elijah, or Moses. Another shocking recollection is of the pastor (same man) claiming that the church funds were low because he had chosen not to receive his salary, and that God wasn’t blessing the church as a result.
It is the unfortunate reality of modern “Christianity” (“Churchianity” is much more accurate, since it’s more about the “church” than it is about Christ) that those in places of authority heartily accept the “benefits” that come with being the CEO of a government-recognized 501(c)(3) charity, yet ignore the stern warnings in the Scriptures about how to deal with God’s flock (Acts 20:28-29; 1 Peter 5:2-3; 2 Peter 2:3; Hebrews 13:7, 17, etc.). Too many pastors have assumed the right to skin God’s sheep at will, abusing Christ’s flock and manipulating the LORD’s heritage for their own benefit, be it physical (just look at the average BMI of Baptist pastors), monetary, or spiritual, seeking the preeminence that belongs exclusively to the LORD. Now, lest the reader assume that fingers are being pointed at Generation X or the “Boomers,” allow me to clarify: this danger exists in any generation, for any pastor, who ignores the scriptures and seeks his own benefit instead of that of the body of Christ.
Assuming anyone is still reading at this point, there may be some anger in that so far nothing has been said against those meddlesome “Recovering Fundamentalists.” Don’t worry, we’ll get there. But since the “Recovery” movement is a response to the real problems in so-called “Fundamentalism,” those issues should be addressed first, which will allow us to see how this new movement started and why, and we’ll be better prepared to address the issues that they themselves face and the problems they are causing for themselves and for the body of Christ. Don’t worry: there are plenty of problems to go around, and there is plenty of blame to be shared.
What’s the Big Deal?
Over the last few decades the focus of self-professed fundamentalist churches has shifted from the glory of God, edification of the body, and the evangelization of the lost to a pragmatic approach to maintaining the status quo of church attendance, bus ridership, and financial giving. Paris Reidhead’s warning against pragmatism in his famous sermon Ten Shekels and a Shirt (listen to it if you haven’t already) has been completely ignored by the body of Christ. While it may be easy for “conservative” churches (traditional music, KJV only, etc.) to point fingers at “megachurches” with their sports complexes, coffee shops, and polo-shirt-wearing “campus pastors,” we must take stock of our own attitudes and recognize that our own religious system focuses on itself and its own self-propagation more than the glory of God and the spiritual edification of the body.
The results of this sad state of “Christianity” is that young people have started to look behind the curtain and realize that the “Holy Spirit” that is talked about so frequently is really just emotionalism dressed up as spirituality in order to sell a religious program. Thus, it’s no wonder that the sales tactics of a sleazy used car salesman are employed to fill the pews, and that the same approach to maintaining the membership is used, despite the differing content. Don’t believe me? Consider this question:
“What if we take away the cool music and the cushioned chairs? What if the screens are gone and the stage is no longer decorated? What if the air conditioning is off and the comforts are removed? Would his Word still be enough for his people to come together?” – David Platt
The question is valid regardless of who said it; many “fundamentalists” revere serial adulterers and child molesters, so I don’t care what you think about Platt, nor does it matter what I think about him. Consider about the question and imagine how many of the “members” of your church would still faithfully attend if there were no comfortable seats, if there were no heating or air conditioning. How many of the young people would come if it wasn’t for the goodies or fun activities? If all your church did were to assemble, stand together for two or three hours, sing a few hymns a cappella, and listen to the word preached and Christ glorified for two hours, how many would be left at the end of a year? What would the tithing records look like? How many missionaries would you be able to support? How would you pay the mortgage?
You see, we Millennials were sold a bill of goods. We were told that Christ was all that mattered, but we saw that the reality was very different. Just so that we’re clear, that’s called hypocrisy and it’s one of the things that irritates the LORD the most. And, it’s not very appreciated by young people that believed you when we were young and then saw the results of your hypocrisy. So, it’s understandable when young people who would have served God wholeheartedly if they had an example to follow, instead leave church, develop a resentful attitude, or look for a place where they can truly serve God without the humanistic impediments that are so rampant in many “fundamental” churches.
Conclusion (don’t worry, there’s more to come)
So, we haven’t gotten around to bashing those pesky “Recovering Fundamentalists” yet. That’s ok, there’s plenty of blame and rebuke to go around. In a future post we will start to unpack the response, good and bad, of the Millennial generation to the problems we addressed in this post. Just keep in mind that the most important problem to deal with is OUR problem, just like Christ said:
Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye. (Luke 6:42)
Do you want to “see clearly” to deal with the issues that someone else has? Great! Start with yourself, just like I must start with myself. When you recognize and deal with the problems at home, you’ll both be more objective and more merciful with the errors of others (Galatians 5:1). But if you start in the flesh and only look at the mistakes of others, you’ll just create more strife, division, and contention (Proverbs 13:10).’https://www.kjvchurches.com/recovering-part-1-meet-the-millennials/
whatyareckon 