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(Old age reminds me of the optimist who fell off of the Empire State Building. As he was falling past the 95th floor, he was heard to say, “So far, so good!”)
The last time I heard Tom Wallace preach was in the 1970s. Recently I became aware that he is still at it. Though acclaimed as a “prince among us” by some and though a doer of many good things, he reminds me of the unscriptural program I witnessed at Highland Park Baptist Church as a Tennessee Temple student in the 1970s: big numbers-ism, big man-ism, boasting, quick prayerism, biblically shallow preaching, a mixed multitude church membership instead of a regenerate membership, lack of serious discipleship, a focus on externalism, neglect of church discipline, the church more an evangelistic preaching station than the spiritual body we see in Ephesians 4:11-16.
There were a great many biblical and spiritually valuable things in Tom Wallace’s life and ministry. He did a lot of good for the cause of Jesus Christ in this dark world. He stood unhesitatingly for the verbal inspiration of Scripture, the eternal Sonship, Deity, virgin birth, sinlessness, vicarious blood atonement, and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, salvation only through Christ, salvation by faith alone without works, the eternal security of the believer, the eternal judgment of the unbeliever, death as a journey to heaven or hell, the six-day creation, the global flood, the imminent return of Christ, the pre-tribulation rapture, the literal seven-year day of the Lord, the literal Millennial kingdom, the literal lake of fire, the literal new heaven and new earth. He was zealous to try to reach every soul with the gospel before it is too late. He stood against theological liberalism, Darwinian and theistic evolution, the social gospel, ecumenical evangelicalism, and New Evangelicalism. He stood for holy Christian living, godly homes, the father as the head of the home, the mother as the keeper of the home, effectual child discipline, separation from the world, biblical modesty, living by faith, and the power of prayer. Tom Wallace stood for all of this and more, and these are not small things.
Yet there were serious errors in his thinking and ministry that had a corrupting influence on the churches that were associated with him and that rendered them much weaker than they could have been. The Bible warns that “the little foxes spoil the vine” (Song 2:15), but these were big foxes.
According to the Wallace Ministries web site, Tom Wallace was born in 1930. He served on the staff of Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga (1953-1954), pastored Baptist Bible Church, Elkton, Maryland (1954-1971), Beth Haven Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky (1971-1986), and Franklin Road Baptist Church, Murfreesboro, Tennessee (1991-2000).
These churches were large concerns in their heyday but are mere shells of their former grandeur today, as are the majority of those type of churches. The aggressive evangelism and global church planting vision, which is a biblical and right thing and must not be given up, wasn’t done scripturally and carefully and wisely, with careful looking for evidence of the new birth and the pursuit of solid discipleship, and as a result did not produce solidly biblical churches that could thrive after the departure of a hyper-aggressive pastor.
Under Wallace’s leadership, the bus ministry at Beth Haven Baptist grew to 42 routes and the attendance reached a high of 5,450, but not much is left. There was some biblical reality, of course, but a very large percentage of what went on was wowzy-dowzy fireworks and shallow Christianity.
Tom Wallace is still practicing a quick prayerism program. The “Five Steps to Heaven” at his web site are (1) Recognize that God Loves You (John 3:16); (2) Understand that All Men are Sinners (Romans 3:23); (3) The Bible Says that Sin Must be Paid for (Romans 6:23); (4) Now, the Good News, Christ Paid for our sin Debt (Romans 5:8); (5) We Must Respond by Receiving Christ (Romans 10:13). There is not even the barest hint about repentance. There is not even a definition of what receiving Christ means. That super-shallow presentation is called the Romans Road but it isn’t. The real Romans Road can be found in Romans 1-3, and it is heavy and long and deep on the bad news before getting to the good news of justification by grace through faith in Christ. Those who practice quick prayerism actually try to lead someone in a sinner’s prayer after presenting the mis-named Romans Road. Some people do actually get saved by this program, but the percentage of empty professions far outweighs the regenerations. It inflates the membership with meaningless numbers and creates a mixed multitude congregation composed of regenerate and unregenerate people.
I joined a fundamental Baptist church in 1973 not long after I was saved, and I am very thankful for what I found there. I’ve been a fundamental Baptist preacher ever since, but I’m not part of the movement. I am not interested in fundamental Baptist; I am interested in Biblicism. I am absolutely nothing, but I am not interested in following some alleged prince; I want to follow Christ and I want to associate with men of God who have the same spirit. I am not committed to anyone’s tradition; I want to have the Bible alone as my sole authority for faith and practice. I am not interested in building independent Baptist churches; I want to build Biblicist churches that please the one Head Jesus Christ. I don’t want the acclaim of man. Though unworthy and falling far short of God’s perfect will, I want to hear, because of amazing grace, “Well, done, thou good and faithful servant” from my Lord and Saviour.
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