[The following is from the Digging in the Walls section of O Timothy magazine, edited by David W. Cloud, Volume 12, Issue 2, 1995. This material cannot be stored on BBS or Internet sites without permission from the author. Any articles which are redistributed by e-mail or print must be left intact and nothing must be removed or changed, including these informational headers. All rights are reserved. O Timothy is a monthly magazine. Annual subscription is US$20 FOR THE UNITED STATES. Send to Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org. FOR CANADA the subscription is $20 Canadian. The Way of Life web site is located at http://www.wayoflife.org/]

INDEPENDENT BAPTIST CHURCH TAKES NEW EVANGELICAL STANCE

"Dr. Walt Handford's Southside Baptist Church in Greenville, SC, has long been on a toboggan slide to New Evangelicalism. This has been evident in the speakers, the associations, and the CCM (contemporary Christian music). The 11/94 Southsider mentions a new `seeker service' to be taught by Pastor Handford and Don Preston. Preston was recently licensed by Southside, and is `full-time with Campus Crusade for Christ.' Campus Crusade is headed by Bill Bright and is very ecumenical and pro-Catholic/charismatic" (Calvary Contender, Jan. 1, 1995).

O Timothy Editor: We are very saddened to see the direction taken by this Southwide Baptist Fellowship-associated church. The seriousness of the Bill Bright-Campus Crusade connection is documented in an article in this issue's "Digging In the Walls." In 1993 Southside Baptist Church of Greenville gave up the King James Bible in favor of the NIV. In support of this move, the speaker at Southside for the Sunday evening service, September 12, 1993, was Kenneth Barker, Chairman of the New International Version translation committee. He mocked the position supportive of the King James Bible, deceptively claiming, "...all of this debate, all of the hullabaloo is over less than 2% of the entire text of the New Testament." Dr. Donald Waite notes, "The truth of the matter is that there is a 7% difference between the Westcott and Hort Greek text and the Textus Receptus that underlies the King James Bible. This would be 9,970 Greek words (45.9 pages). This is a most serious matter" (Four Reasons for Defending the King James Bible, Bible for Today, 1993, p. 12).

There is no excuse for a supposed Fundamental Baptist church to have a New Evangelical compromiser like Barker in its pulpit.

Pastor Walt Handford's wife is Elizabeth Rice Handford, a daughter of John R. Rice. She is the editor of the The Joyful Woman magazine, which has shown a fearful lack of discernment toward ecclesiastical compromise in recent years. The May-June 1994, issue of The Joyful Woman featured James Dobson and his wife, Shirley, on the front cover. The July-August 1991, issue contained a full-page ad for Campus Crusade's Here's Life Publishers, including the offer of a book entitled Freeing Your Mind from Memories That Bind. The Jan.-Feb. 1992, issue of The Joyful Woman contained a full page ad for the radically ecumenical World Vision, as well as an advertisement for the New International Version. World Vision works closely with Roman Catholics. [See this issue's "Digging in the Walls" for documentation.]

Elisabeth Elliot was the featured speaker at the Joyful Woman Jubilee in October 1994. Elliot, who was the wife of martyred missionary Jim Elliot, is a fine lady, we are sure. She served for many years on a very difficult mission field. She has taken a commendable stand against the attempts of some to biblicize the feminist movement. In her book The Mark of a Man she rejects the attempts by the modern feminists to rewrite the Bible to suit their so-called "feminist theology." Regardless of the many good things which could be said about Mrs. Elliot, she is a committed ecumenist who should not be invited to speak to a group of Fundamental Baptist women. She regularly joins hands with such recognized anti-separatists as Billy Graham, Luis Palau, John Stott, James Dobson, and Haddon Robinson (editor of Christianity Today). All of these men are openly opposed to Fundamentalism and biblical separation.

Mrs. Elliot is slated to speak at the 1995 National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) Convention in February, together with Luis Palau and Billy Graham. There is not a more religiously confused hodge podge anywhere than the NRB. In 1994 the NRB awarded its Milestone Award to The Voice of Prophecy, a Seventh-day Adventist television program!

In July 1989, Mrs. Elliot spoke at the Roman Catholic Franciscan University.

To invite committed ecumenists to speak to Fundamental Baptists clouds the issues between truth and error. It would be no different from inviting Billy Graham to speak. Would Southside Baptist Church participate in a Graham crusade? If not, why not? The same reasons which forbid us to participate in ecumenical evangelism forbid us from inviting ecumenists to our pulpits. Those who participate in such things tend to become weakened in their convictions and confused as to the seriousness of ecclesiastical and doctrinal compromise. The walls of biblical separation are being broken down, and the next generation will reap the crop of this error.

Some slanderously label this "second degree" separation, but that is a misnomer. Think about it. God commands that His people mark those who cause divisions contrary to the doctrine which we have received (Rom. 16:17). Mrs. Elliot and other New Evangelicals REFUSE to obey the Word of God. They refuse to separate from heretics. They join hands with Romanists and Modernists. What is left for Bible-believing people to do but to refuse to have such in our churches? This is not "second degree" separation; it is biblical separation. It is also wisdom. To rub shoulders with rebellion is to learn rebellion. The carnality of the Corinthians was evident in their sympathetic, broadminded view of heresy (2 Cor. 11:1-4).

Further, Mrs. Elliot is a life-long Episcopalian. It is a strange thing for Baptists to invite an Episcopalian to speak at their conferences.

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