Fundamentalist Baptist

The Fundamentalist Baptist

 

What exactly is a "Fundamentalist Baptist"?  A Fundamentalist Baptist is, to begin with, a Baptist.  Baptists believe in the public "baptism", ("immersing" in water), of those who claim a personal faith in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation.  A Fundamentalist Baptist is an Independent Baptist.  Independent Baptists reject membership in religious denominations such as the Southern Baptist Convention, believing instead in "the autonomy of the local church".  A Fundamentalist Baptist is also a Fundamental Baptist, which means that he or she believes in the "fundamental truths" of Christianity which were explained in "The Fundamentals", (a series of booklets from the early nineteen hundreds).

 

A Fundamentalist Baptist however, has two additional characteristics beyond that of a Fundamental Baptist.  The first of these characteristics is "Biblical Separation" and the second of these is "Christian Militancy".

 

"Biblical Separation is the Bible's clear command that true Christians are to remain separate from all personal, social, and ecclesiastical relationships with those who call themselves Christians, but want to live a life of sin.  Fundamentalist Baptists therefore remain separate from apostate Protestantism as well remaining separate from The Great Whore of Roman Catholicism mentioned in Chapter 17 of the Book of Revelation.  The Bible says:

 

"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." (James 4:4)  

"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you," (2 Corinthians 6:17)

 

The doctrine of "Biblical Separation" is a doctrine which most Baptists and others shun today.  Biblical Separation is a doctrine ("teaching") strongly disliked by New-Evangelicals.  New Evangelicalism split away from Evangelical Fundamentalism around 1950, mostly over this issue of Biblical Separation.  New Evangelicals did not want to remain separated from apostates and wanted to "dialogue" with those who rejected historical evangelical truth.  The leading proponent for New Evangelicalism at time was Billy Graham.  During the last sixty years or so since that time, Fundamentalism has mostly died out across America, being replaced by New Evangelicalism.

 

One sub-class within New Evangelicalism is called "Pseudo-Fundamentalism".  Pseudo-Fundamentalists, such as the late Jerry Falwell, liked to call themselves "Fundamentalists", but were just New Evangelicals trying to pass themselves off as Fundamentalists.  These "wolves in sheep's clothing" Pseudo-Fundamentalists reject either Biblical Separation or Christian Militancy -- and usually both.  Because of their cooperation with The Great Roman Catholic Whore, Pseudo-Fundamentalist Baptists and other New Evangelical Baptists are also referred to as "Bapticatholics".  Bapticatholics are Baptists who work to support the Pope, and/or Roman Catholicism in some way.

 

The second characteristic of Fundamentalist Baptists which sets them apart from New Evangelicals is their Christian Militancy.  Such "Christian Militancy" does not at all mean violence or the shedding of blood.  In fact, Fundamentalist Baptists refuse to be violent in a world that so often loves to see violence and bloodshed.

 

In the world's love for violence, many people watch extremely violent movies such as "Kill Bill II"; or the anti-Semitic Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ"; or "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".  Some also pay lots of money to see violent boxing matches on "Pay-Per-View" television.

 

The rejection of violence by Fundamentalist Baptists is in stark contrast to those so-called "Fundamentalist  Muslims" who murdered so many Americans in the attack upon the World Trade Center back on September 11, 2001.  There of course is no such thing as "Fundamentalist Muslims", since the term "Fundamentalist" dates back to those pamphlets expressing historical Baptist Bible doctrines, and no Muslim believes such doctrines.

 

The news media tends to be rabidly liberal.  This is simply a well-known fact established by several studies.  Because of the liberal media's strong anti-Christian, (and especially anti-Fundamentalist) bias, sometime around 1980 many in the news media started to call radical Muslims by the term "Muslim Fundamentalists".  It was no secret at the time why they did this.  They called Muslims "Fundamentalists", in order to deliberately slander Fundamentalist Baptists and other Fundamentalist Christians who take Jesus and the Bible seriously.  They had hoped that use of this new term would cause people to think that murderous Muslims were somehow the same, (or in some sense related to), Fundamentalist Baptists.

 

These so-called "Fundamentalist" Muslims (i.e. Koran-believing Muslims) that many in the media were referring to were strongly in favor of both violence and murder.  In fact, all true followers of the religion of Islam believe that it is their solemn religious duty, (as directly commanded of them by the Koran), to murder Christians, Jews, and others by beheading or other methods. (Koran: "Strike off their heads till ye have made a great slaughter among them." - Sura 47:4).

 

Those Muslims who refuse to commit such mass-murder, as commanded of them by Mohammed in the Koran, are therefore deliberately disobedient to the Koran.  So-called "Radical Muslims" are therefore simply "Koran-believing Muslims", because if they believe the Koran, they will go out and murder non-Muslims as the Koran requires of them.

 

But it was and is a very serious slander for those in the news media to try to associate Fundamentalist Baptists with Koran-believing Muslims by calling such Muslims "Fundamentalist Muslims".  The reason it was and is a very serious slander is because Fundamentalist Baptists are nothing like those murdering (i.e. Koran-believing) Muslims.  Instead, Fundamentalist Baptists are very peaceful and loving people.  The Term "Christian Militancy" does not refer to violence or bloodshed at all.  The Bible forbids murderous behavior such as is commanded by the Koran.  The Bible says:

 

"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;"  (Matthew 5:44)

 

"Christian Militancy" refers to the idea shared by all true Fundamentalist Baptists that "Jesus and the Bible come first."  All other authority in the life of a true Fundamentalist Baptist Christian must therefore have a lower priority to the claims of Jesus and the Bible.

 

On a practical side, this means that if (God forbid!) a Fundamentalist Baptist pastor should attempt to force a member of his congregation to commit a sin against Jesus or the Bible, then Jesus and the Bible must always come first.  (Such a genuine Fundamentalist Baptist church member would of course obey Jesus and the Bible and so refuse to commit such a sin.)

 

Furthermore, the government cannot compel a Fundamentalist Baptist to commit any sin.  An example of such a sin would be for a government official to order a Fundamentalist Baptist to not spank his or her child.  Jesus and the Bible must come first to the Fundamentalist Baptist.  Also, a family member cannot make a Fundamentalist Baptist miss church on Sunday, go to Las Vegas, or force a parent to allow his or her child to dance, or to commit any other abominable sin.  Once again, Jesus and the Bible must always come first to a Fundamentalist Baptist.  All other authority in life must always come after Jesus and the Bible to a true Fundamentalist Baptist.

 

Nevertheless, New Evangelicals and other non-Fundamentalist Baptists often reject this teaching from the Bible.  As an example of this rejection of the Word of God by New Evangelicals, Dr. James Dobson often speaks of Christians needing to keep a "Focus on the Family".  Of course, by this Dr. Dobson means that the family must be the primary focus to Christians, instead of Jesus and the Bible coming first.  Jesus, however, disagrees quite strongly with this idea made popular by Dr. Dobson and other New Evangelicals.  Jesus said:

 

"He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me:  and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:37)

 

"If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26)

 

The fact is, Jesus and the Bible always come first to a Fundamentalist Baptist, and so the family therefore cannot come first.  Someone who places his or her family before Jesus and the Bible has committed a sin against God by treating something else as being "more important" than God and His Word, the Bible.  Jesus himself said that you are not worthy of Him if you commit this great sin of placing someone or something else before Him.

 

Of course, it is never wrong to love one's family.   It is, however, always wrong to love one's family, friends, pastor or anyone else more than Jesus Christ.  The "hate" spoken of here by Jesus is in comparison to love for Him.  In other words, Jesus meant that love for Jesus should be so much greater than love for one's family that it would naturally overshadow that love.  The Bible says:

 

"If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha." (1 Corinthians 16:22) 

 

This means that you are under the curse of God if you do not love God's Son Jesus Christ.  Also, do you love God the Father?

 

"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment." (Mark 12:30)

 

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15)

 

Clearly, loving God is the "first" and greatest commandment in the Bible.  If you do not have love for God the Father and for His Son Jesus, it is because you are "lost" in your sin.  "Jesus First" is not the cry of your heart, because your heart is filled with wicked sin and rebellion against God.  You are still traveling down the road leading to Hell. God loves you though, and sent His Son Jesus to die on a cross to pay for your sin:

 

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

 

Whatever it is that you love more than Jesus is your sin.  Give it up.  Trust Jesus and He will save you from your wicked sin.  Jesus is in Heaven now, sitting at the right hand of God The Father.  Jesus is ready to forgive your sins if you will trust Him.

 

If you refuse to trust Jesus right now, claiming rather that you will "do it later", the reason for your procrastination is that deep down you love darkness rather than light.  (You want to sow just a few more "wild oats" as you commit "just a little bit more sin", raising your fist against God and against God's Inerrant Word, The Bible.)  Therefore, if you refuse to trust Jesus, Hell will be the just reward for the sin you love so much:

 

"For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." (John 3:20)

 

"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life:  and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." (John 3:36)

 

If you trust Jesus, He will save you:

 

"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:37)

 

Trust Jesus.  Then, put "Jesus First" by finding a good Fundamentalist Baptist Church to attend.  (Don't be satisfied with one that just calls itself "Fundamentalist" but is actually just a Biblical Separation-rejecting and/or Christian Militancy-rejecting New Evangelical church).  Find the "real thing".