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GEORGIA BAPTISTS PASS EMPTY SUPPORT FOR STATEMENT OF FAITH

[Distributed by Way of Life Literatureâs Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Copyright 2000. These articles cannot be stored on BBS or Internet sites or sold or placed by themselves or with other material in any electronic format for sale, but may be distributed for free by e-mail or by print. They must be left intact and nothing removed or changed, including these informational headers. This is a listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. Our goal in this particular aspect of our ministry is not devotional but is TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. If you desire to receive this type of material on a regular basis, e-mail us, give us your name, address, and the name of the church you are a member of, and request to be placed on the list. Please note that this is not a free service. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and each subscriber is expected to participate. To unsubscribe or to submit a change of address, send your name and the request to fbns@wayoflife.org. This is not an automated list. Changes in the database can require two to four days to activate. Some of these articles are from O Timothy magazine. O Timothy is a monthly magazine in its 18th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://www.wayoflife.org/. Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368. 866-295-4143 (toll free), 519-652-2619 (voice), fbns@wayoflife.org (e-mail)]

November 14, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - On November 14, the Georgia Baptist Convention (GBC) passed a resolution to ãexpress its official approval and appreciationä of the new Southern Baptist Faith and Message.

The action was merely symbolic, though, and means nothing in practice. William Ricketts, president of the GBC, said ãemployees will not be bound by the Faith and Messageä (ãGa. Baptists will be asked to affirm Faith and Message,ä Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nov. 11, 2000, p. B1). He further said, ãWe can disagree on the issues, but we have to work together.ä

This is the false ecumenical philosophy of unity in diversity which ignores the Bibleâs commands of separation from doctrinal error. Even the most conservative of Southern Baptist leaders repudiate separation. The Georgia Baptist Convention is an unholy alliance of believers and unbelievers, true teachers and false. I will give one example of the latter. Mercer University is the largest and most prominent Baptist educational institution in Georgia. The President of Mercer since 1979, R. Kirby Godsey, published a book entitled When We Talk about God ... Letâs Be Honest (Smyth & Helwys, 1996) which denies practically every doctrine of the Christian faith and claims that ãthe notion that God is the all powerful, the high and mighty principal of heaven and earth should be laid aside.ä That is blasphemous and wicked heresy of the highest degree, and yet every Southern Baptist pastor is yoked together denominationally with such heretics.

The action today by the Georgia Baptist Convention reminds us of the danger of denominational politics. It is not true to say that the liberal Baptists in the Georgia convention approve of and appreciate the Baptist Faith and Message. They do no such thing, yet this resolution gives the appearance of exactly that. In fact, it is difficult to believe that even the conservatives ãappreciateä the Baptist Faith and Message, when they are not willing to require that state denominational leaders, workers, and school professors and trustees submit to it. And how can they say that they ãappreciateä the Baptist Faith and Message when they yoke together with men who denounce its doctrines?

Separation from doctrinal error and false teachers is not an option or suggestion; it is a command. It is the wall of protection God has given to His people to shelter them from the leaven of error. Following are some of the key passages on doctrinal separation: Rom. 16:17-18; 2 Cor. 6:14-17; 1 Tim. 6:5; 2 Tim. 2:16-18; 3:5; Titus 3:10; 2 John 7-11; Rev. 18:4. False teachers are to be marked and avoided (Rom. 16:17), withdrawn from (1 Tim. 6:5), shunned (2 Tim. 2:16), turned away from (2 Tim. 3:5), rejected (Titus 3:10), not received nor bid Goodspeed (2 John 10).

ãA little leaven leaveneth the whole lumpä (Galatians 5:9).

ãCan two walk together, except they be agreed?ä (Amos 3:3).

ãBe ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?ä (2 Corinthians 6:14,15).