May 10, 2001 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - A growing number of independent Baptist churches are following the unwise lead of Jerry Falwell and are joining the Southern Baptist Convention. New Life Baptist Church of Lincolnton, North Carolina, made this move about two years ago. The pastor is Randy Parker, son of the staunch independent Baptist pastor Grady Parker.

Falwell joined the SBC in 1996. In 2000, his "Super Conference" featured three former SBC presidents. In addition to Falwell, prominent SBC-independent bridge builders are Tim Lee, Jerry Johnston, and David Ring.

John Marks, President of the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia said last year, "I want to see what we can do to involve many of the thoughtful independent Baptist pastors to take a look at us" (Proclaimer, 2000).

I am a "thoughtful" independent Baptist preacher, and I, for one, believe the Southern Baptist Convention is just as dangerous spiritually as it was 20 years ago. In the book "Has the Southern Baptist Convention Been Rescued from Modernism" we document our concerns. Some of the modernism has been ejected from the SBC at the national level, but little if anything has changed at the regional level. The conservatives claim that the national seminaries are free of liberalism, but even if that were true (and we do not believe it), the fact remains that the state SBC colleges remain hotbeds of apostasy and worldliness.

The SBC is a member of the Baptist World Alliance, providing a whopping 35% of the budget for this ecumenical organization. The BWA is an alliance of 191 Baptist denominations in more than 140 countries. It is aligned with the World Council of Churches and is filled with heretical confusion. Desmond Tutu spoke at the BWA meeting in 1998. Tutu is a rank modernist who doesn't believe Jesus Christ is virgin born and supports the ordination of homosexuals. Brutal communist dictator Fidel Castro spoke at the BWA meeting last year.

For the Southern Baptist Convention to be aligned with the Baptist World Alliance is irrefutable evidence of its deep and abiding compromise. Conservatives within the Southern Baptist Convention are New Evangelicals who denounce biblical separation.