Updated April 22, 2005 (first published August 27, 2004) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

On Sunday morning August 15, 2004, I attended the early service at Thomas Road Baptist Church. (The church has 8:30 and 11:00 a.m. services.) This church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention as well as the Baptist Bible Fellowship International (BBFI). Dr. Jerry Falwell, senior pastor at Thomas Road, preaches at the annual conferences for both groups.

When I was saved in 1973, Thomas Road was an old-fashioned independent Baptist church, but that was before Dr. Falwell determined to “bring America back to God” through political action and founded the misnamed Moral Majority. Falwell has abandoned biblical separation, which is what distinguished independent Baptists from Southern Baptists historically; he has become increasingly ecumenical and has softened his message to conform to his new position. He failed to heed the clear warning of God’s word that “evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Cor. 15:33).

THE MUSIC

The six-member contemporary praise and worship singing team at Thomas Road is led by Charles Billingsley and is backed by a music group composed of a drum kit, bass guitar, two electric guitars, electronic keyboard, organ, three brass instruments and a saxophone. It reminded me of the music at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in California, which I visited last year. The main difference is that Thomas Road does not have the swirling lights in the background and the worship leader doesn’t have shoulder-length hair.

The sound and feel at Thomas Road was very nightclubish, with the thumping drums and bass guitar and the singers crooning into their microphones. In fact, Billingsley has traveled to Las Vegas to study entertainer Wayne Newton at the Stardust Hotel. Billingsley said he wanted to learn how to “make an audience come alive” because he loves “it when the crowd is rocking” (The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Virginia, June 27, 2004). He told The News & Advance that he also studies Elton John and Christina Aguilera “alongside his Bible” and he “admires” Sting and Phil Collins.

Elton John provides musical inspiration for the Thomas Road Praise Team

Though the music rocked, the crowd at Thomas Road doesn’t rock very well. I have observed that while many Baptist churches are adopting the charismatic praise music, they really don’t know what to do with it. It is designed to create powerful emotional experiences and to help the “worshipers” become physically involved, and rock music is a perfect medium for such a thing.

Graham Kendrick, one of the prominent names in contemporary worship music, said that through contemporary praise the old way of preaching and singing “began to give way to an expectation that ... God would visit us, and we’d experience his presence in a tangible sort of way.” (For more about this see our video presentation “Warnings about Contemporary Praise Music,” available from Way of Life Literature.) The charismatics use the music to help them open up, let go, and let loose; but Baptists and most non-charismatic evangelical Protestants typically only stand there and watch the show while some sing along to the repetitive lyrics. Friends, if you are going to use sensual contemporary dance music, then you might as well break loose and boogie-woogie because there is nothing godly and spiritual about it!

Southern gospel star Karen Peck also performed at Thomas Road on August 15. She was scheduled to give a concert on Sunday night and she sang two numbers on Sunday morning. She definitely rocks, which is too bad.

Upcoming concerts at Thomas Road Baptist Church include Phil Keaggy, Babbie Mason, LordSong, and Luke Garrett.

Phil Keaggy is considered one of the foremost contemporary Christian guitarist/songwriters. Though the Catholic-raised Keaggy made a commitment to Christ of some sort in an Assemblies of God church in 1970, he has not rejected Roman Catholicism and he is very ecumenical. Keaggy joined Catholic John Michael Talbot on his album Cave of the Heart. Note the following statement by Keaggy from a 1995 interview:

"… the Gospel is preached in many Catholic churches, and the truth is known there. … Over the years, I've been a part of many nondenominational churches and denominational churches, but I have even a higher regard and respect for my Catholic upbringing, because I believe it planted the seeds of faith in me. And I read books that give me a greater understanding of the Catholic faith today. I'm not a practicing Catholic, but I believe that I'm a true believer who responds to the truth that is there. Because it's ancient tradition; it goes way back. I think Martin Luther had some great ideas, and showed us that we're saved by grace through faith, but he was a Catholic when he posted all that up! … I have great fellowship with my Catholic brethren today. I have some dear friends across the country that I've made. That's a whole other subject; but I think when the Lord looks at his Bride, he doesn't see the walls that we use to divide ourselves from each other. He sees one body, and that body is comprised of his children, those who he bought and paid for with his blood … I love the liturgy; I think liturgy with the Spirit is one of the most powerful ways of communicating the life of God to us" (Phil Keaggy, cited by Tom Loredo, "Phil Keaggy in His Own Words," Way Back Home, December 1995).

While it is true that Catholicism can plant general seeds of faith in God that can sometimes be watered by the Gospel, to imply that Catholic churches preach the Gospel is completely untrue. It is true that Martin Luther was a Catholic when he first made his protest against Rome, but he did not learn salvation by grace alone from Roman Catholicism. He learned it from the Bible IN SPITE OF Rome, and Rome quickly condemned him. Rome's Council of Trent, which was responding to Luther, boldly cursed anyone who says that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone by the blood of Christ alone without works or sacraments, and Trent has never been rescinded. The main Jesuit church in Rome features a marble statue of Mary casting Luther out of heaven and an angel tearing up Luther's Bible. Any Catholic church that preaches the true Gospel of grace that salvation has nothing whatsoever to do with works or sacraments (and I don't know of any) is preaching contrary to what the Roman Catholic Church teaches in its official proclamations, including Vatican II and the New Catholic Catechism. The Catholic Church plainly states that salvation is by grace PLUS works and sacraments.

In an interview with Religious Broadcasting, Keaggy further emphasized his ecumenical philosophy:

"I think also the unity that is so necessary in the body of Christ is important. I admire Charles Colson. He got a lot of flack for writing the book, The Body, and being associated with Catholics. I was raised Catholic and my mother's influence was powerful in my life. I came to the Lord when she passed away. She sowed the seeds in my life for me to become a believer. There are divisive voices out there. People who thrive on disunity are the ones [to whom] you've got to say, 'I'm not going to contend with this, I'm not going to argue, I'm just going to go about my business'" (Saran E. Smitha and Christine Pryor, "Integrity Times Two: Michael Card and Phil Keaggy," National Religious Broadcasters, July-August 1995).

The Christian life would be much simpler if one could follow Keaggy's advice and not get involved in contentions about doctrine and Christian living, but faithfulness to the Word of God does not allow it. Keaggy says he is not going to "contend," but God requires that His people "earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints" (Jude 3) and reprove the unfruitful works of darkness (Ephesians 5:11). Obedience to such commands does not allow me to follow Keaggy's advice.

Keaggy's unscriptural ecumenical philosophy and anti-fundamentalist attitude is perfectly at home at Thomas Road Baptist Church today.

JERRY FALWELL’S CLOSE ASSOCIATION WITH ROME

Jerry Falwell is comfortable with those who are close to Rome because they reflect his own ecumenism. In Christianity Today, Feb. 21, 1986, Jerry Falwell stated that Catholics made up the largest constituency (30%) in the Moral Majority. In his autobiography Strength for the Journey, Falwell referred to the “Catholic brothers and sisters in the Moral Majority” (p. 371). Jerry Falwell told a meeting of the Religious Newswriters Association that “if we ever opened a Moral Majority meeting with prayer, we would disintegrate” (The Flaming Torch, Jan.-Feb, 1983, p. 14). In an interview with the National Catholic Register published in the May 9, 1982, issue, Falwell said that Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II are “the greatest men in my lifetime.” He did not give any warning about the pope’s false gospel that is cursed of God. While admitting that there are differences between Roman Catholics and “conservative Protestants,” Falwell made the amazing statement that Roman Catholics accept “the new birth experience.” Catholic doctrine identifies the new birth with baptism. Dinesh D’Souza, in his 1984 biography about Falwell, quoted Falwell as saying, “I know many Catholic priests who are born again and who preach the same message I do.” Falwell endorsed Chuck Colson’s 1992 book, The Body, which urges evangelicals to join forces with Catholics and charismatics and which looks upon the Catholic Church as a part of the body of Christ. Colson’s wife is a Roman Catholic.

THE COMPROMISED MESSAGE

Jerry Falwell brought the message on Sunday morning August 15. You won’t find much wrong with his preaching as far as it goes. He is New Evangelical, and the danger of New Evangelicalism is not so much the error that it teaches but the truth that it neglects. You won’t hear Jerry Falwell preaching plainly on biblical separation, for example. You won’t hear him warn plainly about worldliness as applied to dress or music or entertainment. You won’t hear him say that the Pope preaches a cursed gospel or that the Charismatic movement is of the devil. When he warns of error, it is in vague generalities. The exception is when he deals with social issues such as abortion, but even many unregenerate people agree that abortion is wrong and it is a fairly non-divisive subject among professing Christians except for the most liberal.

UPCOMING WOMEN’S CONFERENCE

In September Thomas Road Baptist Church and Liberty University are hosting the Extraordinary Women Conference. The speakers include Ruth Graham, Lysa TerKeurst, Lisa Whelchel, Natalie Grant, Twila Paris, Delilah, and Stormie Omartian.

In a 1961 interview with the Lutheran Standard of the liberal American Lutheran Church, Billy Graham testified that all of his children except the youngest were baptized as infants. Graham then made the following amazing statement:

“... I do believe that something happens at the baptism of an infant, particularly if the parents are Christians and teach their children Christian Truths from childhood. We cannot fully understand the miracles of God, but I believe that a miracle can happen in these children so that they are regenerated, that is, made Christian, through infant baptism. If you want to call that baptismal regeneration, that’s all right with me” (Graham, interview with Wilfred Bockelman, associate editor of the Lutheran Standard, American Lutheran Church, Lutheran Standard, October 10, 1961).

Twila Paris is a popular contemporary Christian musician and has an ecumenical philosophy. Her uncle, Loren Cunningham, founded the charismatic-oriented, radically ecumenical Youth With A Mission (YWAM). Her father, Oren Paris, runs the Youth With A Mission near his Arkansas home. Twila has been associated with YWAM since 1976. In an interview with a YWAM leader in New Orleans in 1987 at the North American Congress on the Holy Spirit & World Evangelization, I was told that a large number of the short-term workers with YWAM are Roman Catholics. Youth With A Mission was perfectly at home at New Orleans ’87, with its Catholic masses and Catholic priests as speakers, with its slaying in the spirit and phony “tongues.” In 1984, YWAM adopted a policy allowing staff to work with Catholics when it was possible and desirable. Since then, YWAM installed a Catholic, Rob Clarke, as director of its discipleship training school in Dublin. Al Akimoff, YWAM’s director for Slavic Ministries, says YWAM’s missionaries are not aiming to lure Catholics out of their churches. Rob Clarke, YWAM’s Roman Catholic national director in Ireland, says, “We are trying to get away from the idea of simply ‘converting’ Catholics—that is turning them into Protestants—and towards a framework of ministry within the Catholic Church” (Fundamentalist Digest, May-June 1993). In January 1997 Youth With a Mission leader Bruce Clewett (national director of YWAM in Austria) participated in a historic ecumenical worship service at the Catholic City Cathedral of St. Stephen’s in Vienna (Charisma, May 1997).

Twila Paris is perfectly at home in the ecumenical Youth With A Mission and Thomas Road Baptist Church is perfectly at home with Twila Paris.

FALWELL TO TEAM UP AGAIN WITH RICK WARREN

A second “Super Conference” has been scheduled for September, featuring Jerry Falwell, Rick Warren, Ed Young, Elmer Towns, Jim Cymbala, and others. It will be held at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Warren, senior pastor of Saddleback Community Church in southern California, holds the unscriptural “judge not” New Evangelical philosophy and uses “Christian” rock to draw big crowds. In his book The Purpose Driven Life, Warren says, “God warns us over and over not to criticize, compare, or judge each other.” In fact, while God’s Word warns against judging hypocritically or judging by our fallible human traditions it plainly instructs us to judge everything by God’s Word, especially doctrine and church practice. Acts 17:11 and 1 Thess. 5:21 are examples of this. Warren uncritically quotes Catholic heretics such as John of the Cross and Henri Nouwen with no warning to his readers. Jim Cymbala, pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, is a charismatic and is radically ecumenical. The Brooklyn Tabernacle’s statement of faith says, “We believe the baptism of the Holy Spirit is for all believers as a definite endowment of power for service and is subsequent to, and separate from, conversion.” They also say that all the gifts of the Spirit are for today. Falwell is affiliated with both the Southern Baptist Convention and the Baptist Bible Fellowship.

CONCLUSION

It is very sad for me to see the contemporary direction of many independent Baptist churches. When the Lord saved me and I began to study the Bible diligently to know what kind of church to join, I knew that it would not be a contemporary church and I knew that it would not be worldly cool. I like the newest thing when it comes to technology, but I want my religion to be very old fashioned. The newest part of the Christian Faith is 2,000 years old. If your Christianity rocks and is cool, it is only because it has departed from the Bible!