WHY I AM NOT A SOUTHERN BAPTIST

The following are excerpts from a lengthy article written by David Cloud.

(1) THE DENOMINATIONAL SYSTEM ITSELF IS UNSCRIPTURAL. 

The Lord’s apostles planted autonomous congregations and they did not build denominational structures yoking the congregations together. The New Testament gives detailed instructions for the government and discipline of the assembly, but there are no instructions for the establishment of intra- or extra-church institutions. Denominational structures are man-made entities that have no biblical authority... 

(2) THE SBC IS ECUMENICAL. 

Until 2004 the Southern Baptist Convention was one of the chief members of the World Baptist Alliance, an organization almost as radically liberal as the National Council of Churches in America and the World Council of Churches... Regardless of its disassociation with the World Baptist Alliance, the SBC has many other ecumenical associations. It has a relationship, for example, with the American Bible Society and the United Bible Societies....The SBC has also conducted formal dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church, and Roman Catholic priests have spoken in many SBC pulpits. The Baptist convention of South Carolina warmly welcomed Pope John Paul II to America in 1987. This has never been repented of or publicly repudiated in spite of the “conservative renaissance.” ...The Southern Baptist Convention has strongly supported the radically ecumenical Promise Keepers movement, which has had a Roman Catholic on its board of directors and which has featured Roman Catholic priests as key speakers at some of its events. (For documentation see the section on Promise Keepers in the Apostasy Database at the Way of Life web site.) Much of the support for Promise Keepers has come from SBC congregations across the country. 

...The Word of God warns that those who associate with heresy can lose their rewards and become partakers of the evil deeds of those who are committed to false teaching (2 John 7-11).

(3) THE SBC HAS REFUSED TO DISCIPLINE BILLY GRAHAM. 

Dr. Graham is a member of the late W.A. Criswell’s First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, and he has never been disciplined for his disobedience to the Word of God and for doing more than any other man in this generation to break down the wall between truth and error and to muddy the waters of the gospel by his association with and recognition of men who preach abominable false gospels. Dr. Graham has sent multiplied thousands of converts back to Roman Catholic and modernistic Protestant churches to be devoured by wolves in sheep’s clothing. We have carefully documented this in our book Evangelicals and Rome. Here are three examples of Graham’s practice:

1984 - Vancouver, British Columbia crusade vice-chairman David Cline stated: “If Catholics step forward there will be no attempt to convert them and their names will be given to the Catholic church nearest their homes” (Vancouver Sun, Oct. 5, 1984).

1987 - A priest and a nun were among the supervisors of the counselors for the Denver crusade; from one service alone 500 cards of individuals were referred to St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church (Wilson Ewin, Evangelism: The Trojan Horse of the 1990’s).

1989 - 2,100 Catholics that came forward during Graham’s London crusade were referred to Catholic churches (John Ashbrook, New Neutralism II: Exposing the Gray of Compromise, 1992). 

Graham has fellowshipped closely with Rome since the 1950s, and we have given extensive documentation of this in the book Evangelicals and Rome, available from Way of Life Literature.

If turning seekers over to Roman Catholic and modernistic churches is not cause for discipline, nothing is. Not only has Dr. Graham not been rebuked and disciplined by the Southern Baptist Convention, he has been greatly honored. 

(4) SBC CHURCHES ARE NOT GOVERNED SCRIPTURALLY. 

Though there are some exceptions, they commonly have a deacon board that has authority equal to and even above that of the pastor(s). The Bible gives no authority to deacons. Nowhere does the Bible speak of “deacons who rule well,” because deacons are not rulers. Their qualifications are not ruling qualifications, but are the qualifications of servants to the pastors and congregations. Whereas pastors (also called elders and bishops) must be apt to teach and able to defend the flock from false teachers (1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:4-13), deacons have no such requirement (1 Timothy 3:8-13). The common polity used among SBC congregations ignores these biblical truths, and allows men who are not qualified to be pastors to have authority equal to that of a pastor. This unscriptural church polity creates tremendous potential for abuse. In many SBC churches, the pastor is little more than a hired preacher, who is in danger of being fired at any time if he displeases the deacons or established families in the congregation. In fact, many SBC congregations are ruled, in practice, by strong-willed women who are the wives of SBC deacons. 

(5) WORLDLINESS IS RAMPANT IN SBC CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS. 

Though there are godly Southern Baptist people, the homes of the average church members are too often filled with rock music (secular and “Christian”), immodest dress, R-rated videos, and many other marks of a gross love of the world. Southern Baptist coeds have volunteered to pose for Playboy magazine (Mercer University, 1985). Many SBC schools are known as wild party schools, and the student fornicators and drunkards are not disciplined. Worldly dances are held on the campuses of many SBC-connected schools. Hundreds of SBC congregations host “Christian” rock concerts. More than 35 years ago, Evangelist John R. Rice warned, “The lewdness of the modern dance is now excused and the worldly viewpoint accepted in most Southern Baptist colleges” (“Dancing in Southern Baptist Colleges,” Sword of the Lord, Sept. 5, 1969). The worldliness in the Southern Baptist Convention has dramatically increased since then and the conservative renaissance has done nothing to stem this tide. 

In 1986 Southern Baptist-supported Baylor University in Texas began allowing campus dances. Speaking with the Ft. Worth Telegram-Star, university President Robert Sloan described the move as exciting and said, “It’s done at other universities and we’ve wanted it for a long time.” Baylor sororities, fraternities, and other organizations had held off-campus dances for many years. 

The First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, had a “Hard-Core-a-Thone concert that kicked off a new youth ministry.” A picture in the Dallas Morning News showed “young people slam-dancing the night away” (The Fundamentalist Digest, September-October 2002). 

Grace Point Church (formerly known as Castle Hills Church Northwest, founded by Castle Hills First Baptist Church, San Antonio, Texas area] held a “Dad and Daughter Valentine Dance” on Feb. 8, 2002. A news report indicated the occasion featured “the chicken dance, Macarena and twist” (San Antonio Express News, Feb. 2, 2002, p. 12C; Feb. 14, 2002, p. B6; cited from The Fundamentalist Digest, Sept.-Oct. 2002). 

the complete article is available at 

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