A Limited Message or a Limited Fellowship
[Note from Brother Cloud: The following is by the late Pastor David Nettleton and was published in the 1960s by the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (GARBC). The GARBC once practiced biblical separation and gave clear warnings against New Evangelical compromise, and they published many helpful materials such as the following. Sadly, this is no longer true, and many good churches and pastors have left the GARBC in recent decades because of its slide away from Scriptural separation.]
"Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." Acts 20:26-27
This message, like many, is born out of an experience. It may be some others are going through similar experiences. Therefore, let me recount the one which brought this message to light. Read More...
I'm With Fido
The following is published with permission of Pastor Buddy Smith of Malanda, Queensland
_________________________
Dear Brother ___________
Regarding the IBFI conference and website, there is no doubt in my mind that you know more about it than I, simply because of your personal acquaintance with Bro. Sexton. My observations from a distance are as follows:
I) I understand and agree that Bro. Sexton is not attempting to start a new denomination. He has no doubt invested an enormous amount of time, manpower, and effort into hosting this conference. I expect he hopes to accomplish many good things out of it.
II) I appreciate him using the best speakers he could find to promote his efforts to unify the diversity that exists among Baptists. From his statements I gather he seriously believes that all Independent Baptists can and should see each other as friends and work together.
New Evangelical Fundamentalists
This philosophy is finding its way into churches which claim to be fundamentalist. The preacher steers clear of many controversial things, and when he does deal with something that is unpopular he has an almost apologetic demeanor.
Charles Finney noted this tendency in his day: "Ministers generally avoid preaching what the people before them will understand as addressed to them. They will preach to them about other people, and the sins of others, instead of addressing them and saying, 'You are guilty of these sins.' They often preach ABOUT sinners instead of preaching TO them. They studiously avoid being personal, in the sense of making the impression on anyone that he is the man."
Read More...
Why Don't You Follow Matthew 18?
Enlarged March 8, 2010 (first published July 2, 2000) (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) -
From time to time I am asked if I follow the guidelines of Matthew 18 before I publish a report.
For example, when I published an open challenge to Clarence Sexton about the Friendship Conferences, I received the following:
“I am deeply upset at the private letter you posted on your website to Dr Sexton. Thanks for shooting your own and not calling Pastor Sexton personally to get all of the facts. I guess you don't read Matthew 18 all that often.”
The fact is that I did contact Pastor Sexton personally months before the publication of the article. As for Matthew 18, as we will see, it has nothing to do with the issue.
Shooting Their Own Wounded
Enlarged March 8, 2010 (first published June 30, 2000) (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) –
Through the years, I have frequently heard the accusation that preachers who give warnings about Christian leaders are guilty of “shooting their own wounded.”
Recently I received the following e-mail that charged me with doing this in regard to an open exhortation I published about Clarence Sexton’s Friendship Conferences.
“I am deeply upset at the private letter you posted on your website to Dr Sexton. Thanks for shooting your own and not calling Pastor Sexton personally to get all of the facts. I guess you don't read Matthew 18 all that often.”
The fact is that I sent that letter to Dr. Sexton via his own website months before I published it, and I received no reply. He says that he doesn’t use e-mail, and that is fine, but he could have dictated a reply to one of his co-workers or secretaries. As for Matthew 18, it has nothing to do with the issue. Dr. Sexton has not sinned against me personally and I am not a member of his church and could not therefore follow the procedure proscribed in Matthew 18. The issue of the Friendship Conference is not a private matter; it is a very public matter because Dr. Sexton has made it so via his public influence. Public stances should be critiqued publicly, or those concerned will not hear the challenge. What I had to say by way of warning was not just for Dr. Sexton. It is for all independent Baptists. I have nothing against Dr. Sexton personally and I have no animosity toward him. Why can’t men understand this very simple principle? I am convinced that it is because they don’t want to understand it. I have been an independent Baptist for 36 years, and one of the besetting sins of this movement in my estimation is the over exaltation of man. As a movement, it is more man-centered than Christ-centered, and that is idolatry. Read More...
THOSE FUNDAMENTALIST PHARISEES
Updated June 23, 2009 (first published August 2, 1996) (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) -
Christians who stand for the details of the Word of God and preach against that which they believe to be error, who exalt biblical morality and preach against immorality, and who have strong biblical convictions are often labeled “Pharisees.” Many of the Promise Keepers supporters who have written to me to rebuke me for reproving their movement, call me a Pharisee. Consider a couple of examples:
“Rev. Cloud says ‘Our sole authority is the Bible.’ No one who participated in the Council of Carthage in 387 which settled for all time the canon of the NT would agree with Rev. Cloud on this issue. ... Such arrogance! ... I take it then, that you’re the only one going to heaven. It’s going to be awfully lonely there. Such arrogance! ... Such arrogance! ... I wonder what makes Mr. Cloud so sure he’s right and everybody else is wrong? Look at the Pharisees, Mr. Cloud, and then look in the mirror!”
“You’re the best example I think I’ve ever seen of the Pharisee who sits at the front of the synagogue giving thanks for not being a sinner like everyone else.”
Henry Morris III of the Institute for Creation Research has also called fundamentalists Pharisees. Commenting on Matthew 23:13, Morris said:
IS GOD GIVING DREAMS AND VISIONS TODAY?
The SharperIron blog ran a post on January 7, 2009, entitled “Dreams and Visions: Confessions of a Soft Cessationist” by Steve Davis. SharperIron is a forum for “younger fundamentalists” who are, in my opinion, moving rapidly in the direction of New Evangelicalism (e.g., Davis is a graduate of The Evangelical Divinity School).
The post begins as follows:
“Recently, I had a conversation with a Muslim-background Christian. He shared the story of his childhood in a Muslim village in a North African country. There were no Christians, there were no Bibles, there was no testimony to the gospel, and there had been no missionaries. He had a dream in which Jesus spoke to him and told him that He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The dream did not lead to an immediate salvation response, but it led him to acquire a New Testament, and he began a journey that eventually led to his conversion and transformation. What would you say to this man? Read More...
FUNDAMENTALISM IS NOT ENOUGH
September 23, 2008 (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) -
I use often the term “fundamentalism” to describe my position, because I am a staunch defender of God’s Word, and I believe that has been the essence of biblical fundamentalism. At the same time, I understand that old-line evangelicalism and fundamentalism as movements were biblically deficient.
The following is an excerpt from my report “New Evangelicalism: Its History, Characteristics, and Fruit,” which can be found at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/fundamen1.htm. This was first written nearly 15 years ago.
I am a fundamentalist insofar as I believe in biblical dogmatism and militancy for the truth and separation from error, but I am more than a fundamentalist. The goal of my Christian life and ministry is not to be a good fundamentalist (or even to be a good Baptist). My goal is to be faithful to God’s Word in all particulars.
Following are two weaknesses that I have observed in fundamentalism as a movement:
(1) The first weakness is the transdenominational character that has often characterized fundamentalism. I do not accept the philosophy that limits the basis of fellowship to a narrow list of “cardinal” doctrines, such as the infallibility of Scripture and the deity of Christ. While the Bible does indicate that some doctrines are more important than others (e.g., Matthew 23:23), all teaching of the Bible is important and is to be taken seriously. Timothy was instructed not to allow any other doctrine than that which Paul had delivered to him (1 Tim. 1:3; 6:13, 20; 2 Tim. 2:2). Paul was concerned with the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). When the Bible instructs Christians to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3), it does not specify only some narrow aspect of the faith. “The faith once delivered to the saints” refers to the whole body of New Testament truth delivered by the apostles and prophets by divine inspiration. When God instructs preachers to “preach the Word” (2 Tim. 4:2), no particular part of the Word is identified. He is to preach all of the Word of God. Obedience to these commands does not allow me to overlook denominational differences such as the mode of baptism, the manner of the Lord’s Supper, eternal security, the woman’s role in the ministry, or the interpretation of prophecy. I can accept as true Christians those who differ with me on such things, because these are not issues of “damnable heresy” (2 Pet. 2:1), but I cannot have joint ministry with them, because I do not believe the Bible allows it.
(2) The second weakness is the “universal church” mentality of fundamentalism. It is common among a large number of fundamentalists to view “the church” as composed of all professing Christians in all denominations. To call all of the denominations the “church” or the “body of Christ” is a great confusion that naturally produces an ecumenical mentality and makes the purifying of the churches impossible. Harold J. Ockenga used the many divisions of evangelicalism and fundamentalism and the “shibboleth of having a pure church” as an excuse for the non-separatist mentality (Ockenga, “From Fundamentalism, Through New Evangelicalism, to Evangelicalism,” Evangelical Roots, edited by Kenneth Kantzer, p. 42). This is dangerous and unscriptural thinking. God’s Word does call for a pure church, but it is not a universal church that we are to purify; it is the New Testament assembly (1 Corinthians 5:6-8). To attempt to purify a universal church is something the New Testament never envisions or requires. God has given His people clear instruction about discipline of sin and heresy, and those instructions are in the context of the assembly (i.e., 1 Corinthians 5; Titus 3). Regardless of what one believes about the New Testament definition of the church, it is a fact that in any sort of practical sense biblical church truth can be applied properly only to the assembly. It is obvious, at least to me, that God intends for His people to be content with the assembly and not to busy themselves with parachurch and transdenominational institutions.
By the way, I also strongly reject the Baptist Bride position. See the article “Are You a Baptist Brider?” at the Church section of the End Times Apostasy Database at the Way of Life web site -- http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/areyou.htm.
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail 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. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
EMMANUEL BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
EMMANUEL BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
September 15, 2008 (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) -
Emmanuel Baptist Theological Seminary is located in Newington, Connecticut. We appreciate this school and its Dean, Dr. Thomas Strouse, and we want to let our readers know of its ministry.
EBTS offers the advanced seminary degrees of Master of Biblical Studies, Master of Divinity and Doctor of Theology for independent Baptist ministers, including pastors and missionaries. EBTS is under the aegis of Emmanuel Baptist Church, and uses exclusively the Masoretic Hebrew Text of the OT and the Received Greek Text of the NT, while emphasizing the KJV as the preserved Word of God in the English language. EBTS began in 2000 to fill the niche of training independent Baptists in the biblical languages, upholding the exposition of the KJV, emphasizing Baptist history and NT doctrine.
Courses for degrees may be taken in residence at Newington, CT, USA, or in module courses around the USA, or by distant education videos (limited number).
For more information, contact the Dean, Dr. Thomas M. Strouse, at either of the following:
drtms_ebts@juno.com
1-(860) 667-6208
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail 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. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
THOSE FUNDAMENTALIST PHARISEES
Republished July 14, 2008 (first published August 2, 1996) (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) -
Christians who stand for the details of the Word of God and preach against that which they believe to be error, who exalt biblical morality and preach against immorality, and who have strong biblical convictions are often labeled “Pharisees.” Many of the Promise Keepers supporters who have written to me to rebuke me for reproving their movement, call me a Pharisee. Consider a couple of examples:
“Rev. Cloud says ‘Our sole authority is the Bible.’ No one who participated in the Council of Carthage in 387 which settled for all time the canon of the NT would agree with Rev. Cloud on this issue. ... Such arrogance! ... I take it then, that you’re the only one going to heaven. It’s going to be awfully lonely there. Such arrogance! ... Such arrogance! ... I wonder what makes Mr. Cloud so sure he’s right and everybody else is wrong? Look at the Pharisees, Mr. Cloud, and then look in the mirror!”
“You’re the best example I think I’ve ever seen of the Pharisee who sits at the front of the synagogue giving thanks for not being a sinner like everyone else.”
To label a Bible-believing Christian who has zeal to obey God’s Word a Pharisee is a slander, because the error of Phariseeism was not their zeal to obey the Scripture. They had no such zeal. They were zealous, rather, to make up their own religious system and to rule over the people.
It is important to note that Jesus Christ did NOT rebuke the Pharisees for their zeal in obeying the details of the law. He said to them: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matt. 23:23).
Christ did not rebuke the Pharisees for paying attention to the less weighty things in the law. He rebuked them for focusing on the lesser matters to the neglect of the weightier ones.
The Bible-believing fundamentalists that I know do not neglect the weightier matters of the New Testament faith. They aim, rather, to follow Paul’s example and to give heed to “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). They preach the virgin birth, blood atonement, resurrection, and ascension of Christ and justification by grace and the Trinity and the personality of the Holy Spirit and the other “weightier” matters of the faith, but they also preach church discipline (1 Cor. 5) and the restrictions upon the woman’s ministry (1 Tim. 2:12; 1 Cor. 14:34) and due order among men and women, which even touches on their hair styles (1 Cor. 11:1-16) and other things that are less weighty than salvation by grace and the deity of Jesus Christ.
We can see what Phariseeism is by examining what Christ rebuked for:
(1) Phariseeism is supplanting the Word of God with man-made tradition and thereby making the Word of God of none effect. “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:7-9).
(2) Phariseeism is rejecting Jesus Christ. “Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils” (Matt. 12:22-24).
(3) Phariseeism is perverting the Gospel of the free grace of Christ into a work’s salvation. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matt. 23:15).
(4) Phariseeism is self-righteousness. “And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess” (Lk. 18:9-12).
(5) Phariseeism is gross hypocrisy. “In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Lk. 12:1).
The Pharisees were at the forefront of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and of the persecution of the early Christians.
It is a great error to label a Christ-loving, Bible-honoring, grace gospel-preaching, self-debasing, peace-loving Christian a Pharisee.
I can’t speak for all Bible-believing fundamentalists and fundamental Baptists, but I can speak for myself; and I have no confidence in my “righteousness.” I know that I have no righteousness apart from Jesus Christ. I look down upon no man, for I know that any spiritual victory I have enjoyed and any blessing in my life is only because of the grace of Christ. When I attempt to expose false teaching and sin, I am not looking down upon other men; I am simply striving to obey the Word of God.
The modern Pharisee would be more akin to the Roman Catholic priest with his sacramental gospel and his traditions exalted to the place of Scripture and his long history of persecuting the saints. The ecumenical crowd doesn’t call Catholic priests Pharisees, though. They don’t seem to be concerned about all of the souls who have been led astray by these contemporary Pharisees.
The only men they seem to be concerned about are those dreadful old fundamentalists with their strong Bible convictions and their refusal to smile at error. Oh, those dreadful old fundamentalist Pharisees!
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail 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. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
WHY DO FUNDAMENTAL SCHOOLS GO APOSTATE
February 7, 2008 (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) -
An excellent new book has been published by Don Jasmin entitled “Why Do Fundamental Schools Go Apostate?”
The book can be ordered from the author at Fundamental Baptist Ministries, P.O. Box 489, West Branch, MI 48661. 989-873-4778 (phone), www.fundamentalbaptistministries.com (web site).
Jasmin traces the spiritual downfall of two schools founded by D.L. Moody in the late 19th century, and applies the principles to things that are happening in evangelical and fundamentalist schools today.
In this reviewer’s estimation the author makes a bit too much of Moody’s “greatness,” but he also does not draw back from documenting the evangelist’s frightful compromise.
There is an excellent section on the danger of accreditation and the pursuit of “respectability.”
Jasmin also shows that Moody’s schools became the chief location for the translation of the liberal Revised Standard Version in the 1940s and that Hillary Clinton is a product of the schools.
THE REASONS JASMIN TRACES FOR THE DOWNFALL OF NORTHFIELD-MOUNT HERMON SCHOOLS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
1. Actions that occurred during Moody’s lifetime:
a. Moody sent his sons to the wrong educational institutions for training.
b. Moody never comprehended the vital spiritual issues that were raging in the world of his day such as evolution and the destructive higher criticism, and he never concerned himself with those issues.
c. Moody had a serious blind spot regarding the theological apostates and religious compromisers of his day, failing to understand the severe dangers of their compromise and unbelief.
d. Moody made little or no preparation before his death for the spiritual continuation of his organization’s ministries.
e. Only positive exposition, never clear warnings, was welcomed at the Northfield conferences and the schools.
2. Actions that occurred after Moody’s decease:
a. There was no strong pulpit presence at the schools after Moody’s decease; business administrators and educators, not preachers, were the schools’ central figures.
b. There was a loss of evangelistic soul-winning zeal among the faculty who remained after the founder’s death, as well as lack of evangelistic zeal on the part of new faculty and staff. The schools gradually slipped into a dead orthodoxy.
c. The long-time faculty members lost their spiritual discernment and did not resist the gradual downward trends that led to apostasy.
d. New faculty members were obtained from the wrong schools.
e. There was a dichotomy between the spiritual emphasis and the academic thrust, with the academic forces gaining the upper hand. Academics were upgraded, while spiritual concerns were downgraded. Student conduct standards were gradually lowered.
f. So-called academic respectability became a major goal via the accreditation route.
g. Athletics dominated the scene with intermural sports replacing intramural sports.
WHY DO FUNDAMENTAL SCHOOLS GO APOSTATE can be ordered from the author at Fundamental Baptist Ministries, P.O. Box 489, West Branch, MI 48661. 989-873-4778 (phone), www.fundamentalbaptistministries.com (web site).
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail 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. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]