The Independent Baptist:

"Plains Baptist Challenger"

February 2004

43rd Annual Mission Conference - By E. L. Bynum

Are They In or Out of The BBFI? - By E. L. Bynum

Reject Mel Gibson's Movie "The Passion of Christ" - By E. L. Bynum

Making Merchandise in The Church - By Gregory A. Albright

A Virtue Vault - By Norman H. Wells

We would like to issue you an invitation to come and be a part of our 43 rd Annual Bible & Missions Conference March 15-17.When we started this Conference in 1962, it was an Independent Baptist Conference. We are still Independent and Unaffiliated and definitely plan to continue that way. We welcome all missionaries and pastors of like mind to join us this year. We promise you there will be no boring business sessions or wasting of your time.

We urge all preachers to come prepared to preach. There will be some of the best preaching that you could hear anywhere from preachers across the nation. All preaching will be from the King James Bible. You will be blessed by the music which will be scriptural, God-honoring music that touches your heart and not your feet. There will be no contemporary music styles or any other unscriptural music. You will experience warm West Texas Christian hospitality and friendliness. You will be furnished two good meals a day. Postal regulations make it impossible for us to list the motels available and their rates. We can furnish that information if you will call the Church at (806) 744-4443, or email us at Reach Us. We have a wide range of motels in Lubbock. There are low-priced motels, medium-priced and high-priced motels. Just let us know what you prefer.

We firmly believe that true Independent Baptist pastors and churches are "come to the kingdom for such a time as this." (Esther 4:14) We have a golden opportunity in this wicked, apostate age to hold up the banner of truth which so many have dropped. We do not have to go along with those who are selling out the faith that was once delivered to the saints. We have the right Book (KJV), and we have the right message that the world needs to hear.

You will not hear any man made organizations being promoted. We will not be meeting to grind axes, or any other fleshly activity. We will be promoting the Bible way of supporting missions through the local church. Sound doctrine will be the norm, as each pastor or missionary preaches.

There are a lot of pastors and churches that are sitting on the fence today. Many are content to take both sides of many issues. This allows them the opportunity to please both sides on most any issue. Needless to say this has led to endless numbers of compromises, which has hurt the cause of truth in a serious way. The hill of truth is very important and the downhill slide of compromise is a slippery slope with hardly any stopping place.

Of course their defenders will deny that, but there is no doubt but that is true. People that have previously held high offices in the BBFI have admitted to me that this is so, and many pastors that have pulled out of the organizations have so stated. The words expressing this may have been different, but the meaning was clear.

This merging disaster is being led by the Baptist Bible Fellowship International (BBFI). It is evident that the design of bringing all fundamental Baptists together will lead to compromise. It is likely that the plan is to bring these various fellowships into an eventual merger. The Independent Baptist Fellowship International (IBFI), has already voted not to participate in this move.

Southwest Baptist Fellowship has already voted to pursue cooperation with the International Baptist Network. Rick Austin, president of the World Baptist Fellowship (WBF), has been involved with the plans for this new Network. It is not at all clear that the WBF will go along with this plan, as I feel sure that there will be considerable opposition. According to the Baptist Bible Tribune, December 2003, the "Southwide Baptist Fellowship, World Baptist Fellowship, and Baptist Bible Fellowship will meet together in Chattanooga in September 2004. So you can see that plans are moving right along to bring about the Network.

This whole thing was once called a proposed merger, but they have changed it to a less controversial thing called a Network. The whirlpool of merger mania is picking up speed and they will be trying to suck all Independent and Unaffiliated Baptists into the morass.

Many preachers and their churches are on the fence when it comes to the BBFI. When asked if they are in the BBFI, they say that they are not. When you check the facts, many of them are in and they have never come out. They are firmly sitting on the fence with one foot on the "in side," and the other foot on the "out side." I have always found that the fence is an awfully uncomfortable place to sit for any length of time. Some of the brethren have been sitting on the fence so long that they likely have saddle sores, or should I say fence sores.

When prospective members come to them, if that person is anti-fellowship, they are "out." If the person is looking for a BBFI church or other organized fellowship church, they are "in." A number of them who say they are "out" are listed in the BBFI directory of churches, and they may also be listed in the phone directory as being BBFI as well. If you take a look at the list of missionaries they support, you will find that they are supporting the missionaries sent out by the BBFI.

I speak now of Sam Davison and the Southwest Baptist Church of Oklahoma City. Let me say at the beginning that I have heard many good things about this pastor and his stand on the KJV, separation, and other vital doctrines. He is pastor of a large church and he succeeded in moving a BBFI College from California to Oklahoma. It seems to be flourishing and Sam Davison is the President of this school which has been renamed Heritage Baptist College.

We have been told over and over again that he and his church pulled out of the BBFI. While in the minds of many this may be true, but there are three facts that cast doubt on just how completely he has come "out." Sam Davison and Southwest Baptist Church are still listed in the internet directory of churches in the BBFI. I looked on the web page of Southwest Baptist Church and it featured the fact that he was a past president of the BBFI. I found no where that it was said that he and the church had left the Fellowship.

The third piece of revealing evidence is found in the November 2003 issue of the Baptist Bible Tribune, the official publication of the BBFI. They list the "Top 50 mission giving churchs [sic] for 2002-2003." The churches are listed in the order that reflects the amount they gave, with the top giving church listed as number one. The 9th largest amount was given by Southwest Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, Sam Davison, pastor. This is highly significant because BBFI has some large churches that are heavy givers to missions.

In the light of the above would you say that Southwest Baptist Church and Sam Davison are "in" or "out" or "on the fence" in regard to the BBFI? You make up your own mind. Regardless of his good and Godly stand on many issues, this to me is a problem.

The dangers of fellowship with the "in" or "out" or "on the fence" crowd. They support some of the missionaries that are sent out from independent unaffiliated churches. They send out some independent Baptist missionaries out of their churches and they send out some through the BBFI mission board. They send their independent missionaries sent from their churches to our independent unaffiliated churches and expect us to support them. While at the same time they are sending large amounts of money to the BBFI missions office.

Frankly I am sick of this arrangement and am resolved that we will not consider any of their missionaries for support in the future. When they break off their relationship with the BBFI and other organized fellowships, then we will reconsider. Until then, we will praise the Lord for all the good work that these men are doing. If they are sound otherwise in doctrine, we will consider them to be brethren, but we cannot join them on the fence with one foot "in" an unscriptural organization and the other foot "out."

They are in the BBFI with Jerry Falwell who is also in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The SBC contains a lot of speckled birds. One example is Rick Warren, pastor of the Saddleback Community Church which does not wear the name Baptist, but is a member of the SBC. Of course there are a number of churches in the BBFI that do not have Baptist in their church name. They all claim to be Baptist, but I guess they are ashamed for their community to know that they are Baptist. In reality they should not capitalize baptist, and some churches are honest enough not to do it.

Rick Warren wrote The Purpose-Driven Church and Purpose-Driven Life books. Not only Baptist, but heretical churches such as liberal Methodist churches and Church of Christ churches in our city and across the nation are using the Purpose-Driven Life book as a study book for many weeks and rave about it. These heretical churches do not even know the plan of salvation, but they are wild about Warren's book. That should tell us something about the amount of truth that is found in it.

According to The Sword of the Lord, January 16, 2004, Falwell featured Rick Warren in his SuperConference 2003, in Lynchburg, VA. I actually received an invitation to attend that Conference, but it ended in file-13. The Purpose Driven Church ideas of Rick Warren were featured in Falwell's Conference.

The truth of the matter is that the corrupt compromising ideas of Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Robert Schuller, and other assorted false teachers have permeated the conservative (sometimes miscalled fundamentalist) branch of the SBC, BBFI, and other assorted groups. Now this garbage is creeping in among some independent unaffiliated Baptist churches. Brethren it will be too late to lock the barn door after the horse has already been stolen.

Are you on the fence in regard to the SBC, BBFI and other unscriptural organizations? Are you on the fence when it comes to alien immersion or Baptist baptism? Are you on the fence when it comes to open, close, or closed communion? Are you on the fence when it comes to personal and ecclesiastical separation? These and many other issues must be faced today, and pastors and churches need to get on the right side or the wrong side and quit trying to sit on the fence. It is an uncomfortable and dangerous place to sit, and in the end it will most likely result in your being on the side of error.

I speak for no group, or anyone else; this is my opinion and I believe it to be right.

"Abstain from all appearance of evil"(1 Thessalonians 5:22). "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

This new movie is getting rave reviews from pastors and conservative talk show hosts, such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. The Pope has seen a preview, along with other Catholic and Protestant leaders. I am sorry to report that many prominent Baptist pastors have also been enthusiastic. Christians need to take a look at the evidence, before climbing on the bandwagon and supporting this film.

The above was the headline in The Washington Times. (Jan. 26-Feb. 1, 2004). Mel Gibson showed his film to 5,000 pastors gathered in the Calvary Assembly of God in Orlando, FL. These were evangelical and charismatic clergy who are part of an ecumenical organization founded by Bill Bright of Campus Crusade. Mr. Gibson also showed the film to Pope John Paul II, who, upon viewing the film in December at the Vatican, is reported to have said, "It is as it was." Of course Billy Graham has also endorsed this film, along with many others.

The film officially opens in 2,000 movie theaters nationwide on Feb. 25, Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday, along with Good Friday are a part of the unscriptural holy days of the Roman Catholic Church.

Mr. Gibson hopes that pastors nationwide will promote "The Passion" so their congregations will flood the theaters during the opening week. The Washington Times also said, "Church groups nationwide have put in large ticket orders to see the movie, despite the graphic violence surrounding the crucifixion."

The Washington Times contains this quote. "To atone for the sins of everybody, boggles the mind," said Mr. Gibson. He further said, "[Christ] could have done it by pricking His finger and shedding His blood. He didn't choose to that. He went all the way."

That is a falsehood of the first order, and is nothing but pure heresy. There could have been no atonement without both the dying and bleeding of Jesus Christ. All of the Jewish sacrifices of the Old Testament required both the death and blood of the animal. There is not one verse of Scripture in the whole Bible that hints at or teaches that Jesus could have made atonement by pricking His finger and bleeding. It was absolutely necessary for Jesus Christ to shed His blood in dying. How could we expect Gibson to know much about the Bible, after all he is a Roman Catholic?

We believe that there are good and sufficient reasons why a Bible believing Christian should avoid the movie, "The Passion of Christ." We gladly state some of these reasons so that our readers may evaluate them.

1. Gibson's movies are noted for their extreme violence. This is not the main reason we are warning people. I have never seen one of his movies and I have no intention of doing so. This no doubt was a great influence when he saw the movie script, for this gave him the excuse for making another violent movie. It certainly would take a lot of fake violence to portray the death of Jesus Christ. The record found in the Bible is enough and I think it would be foolish for anyone to try to correctly portray His death. We live in a world of violence and movies and television have magnified this above all limits. This has a very destructive influence on everyone and it has warped the minds of a lot of kids and young people. We are seeing this in the behavior of many today.

2. Mel Gibson is a devout Roman Catholic. He is devoted to the Latin Mass and goes to a Catholic Church that practices this. I have read that he had a Roman Catholic priest on the movie set, and that the Mass was celebrated every day. The Mass is pure idolatry of the worst kind, because it represents the crucifixion of Christ over and over again. They believe that the wafer (bread) literally becomes the body of Christ and that they are really eating His body. They believe that the wine turns into the literal blood of Christ. This happens when the priest does his thing.

3. This movie is a product of the Hollywood movie industry. The movie industry is at the very center of a cesspool of sin and corruption. For two generations they have been responsible for much of the moral and ethical decline in our nation. They not only produce violence, but they glorify fornication, adultery and sexual perversion on the silver screen. Bed hopping, wife swapping and all forms of immorality, profanity and evil flow forth from Hollywood. The awful moral damage to our nation is so huge that it can hardly be expressed, much less over estimated.

It is curious that there are so many environmental activists in Hollywood that are all steamed up to save the environment. They are concerned about owls, mice, trees, fish and many other things that they feel are being destroyed by people. At the same time they are in the pollution business, as they pollute the minds and morals of our nation and of the world. They have promoted alcohol and drugs which destroy masses of people and weaken the moral fiber of our nation. No thanks, I want nothing that Hollywood produces.

4. This movie encourages churches to take their Young People to the theaters. There was a time when pastors boldly took a stand and preached against the movie theaters.This pastor still does preach against the movies, and I intend to keep on doing it. The movies today are ten times worse today than they were when it was popular to preach against them. Now churches are encouraging their people to go see a movie and this sends a silent message that it is all right to go to the movies and support Hollywood. How art the mighty fallen, and by their falling have caused truth to fall in the church and in the street.

5. Beware when any movie, book, video, or seminar is embraced by most of the Religious world.Ecumenicalism is the avowed enemy of the truth of the Word of God. If the Catholics, Protestants, Baptists and most of the religious world are for it, true Bible believing Christians should avoid it like the plague. That ecumenical crowd never endorses the truth of God's Word. A good rule is to find out what all the religious crowd is promoting, and then you can nearly always take a strong stand against it. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" (Amos 3:3)

6. We are taughtto "Abstain from all appearance of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Christians cannot see "The Passion of Christ" and do that. In fact if we patronize the movies at all, we are disobeying the above Scripture. We are called to holiness and not worldliness. We are commanded, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. (2 Corinthians 6:17) You cannot do this and be identified with such movies and with Hollywood in general. You cannot run off to join the ecumenical rush to cooperate and still be in compliance with this Scripture.

7. We are taught to do things that will bring glory to God. "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). I am unable to see how a person that lives by this Scripture could possibly join in with an ecumenical crowd in an ungodly theater, to see a religious movie produced out of a Hollywood pollution factory.

It most likely will be widely accepted by the religious world. It will probably in the end make a lot of money for Mel Gibson. It is no doubt a very emotional and moving movie that will result in many people testifying in its favor. This does not mean that it will be a success in the eyes of God and in the light of the Bible. All is not gold that glitters, and not every thing that looks good is good.

No doubt Mel Gibson may well think that he had good motives in making this movie, but that does not mean that it is true.

Chapter 19 from the book "The Religion Racket." People usually prefer confining their religion within the four walls of a church building. They make a virtue vault out of their church. Religion can become an embarrassing thing to some when it gets outside of the church building. Somehow when we take religion outside of the church building, it makes us uncomfortable...even ashamed. So we normally keep it stored away in the church. It is good to know it is on deposit just in case we need it...as when we die or something.

A great number of people put on religion as they do their Sunday clothes and are quick to take it off when the church services are concluded.

The religion professed is generally in such sharp contrast with the life that is lived it seems they must be kept separate. For instance, brotherly love seems to be something entirely apart from today's fast paced, highly competitive, so called "rat race." Brotherly love? Its dog eat dog! The unselfishness talked about on Sunday morning is replaced by the "anything for a buck" philosophy on Monday morning. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is replaced by "Do others before they do you."

Truthfulness is a wonderful virtue...on Sunday mornings. The trouble with truthfulness is that no one believes it will work anywhere but in church. Skillful lying seems to be a necessary tool in most pursuits. Honesty is the best policy...on Sunday. Anything one can get by with is best for the rest of the week.

The Bible teaches that man is not to look on a woman to lust after her. Lusting after women is such a prominent part of life today that seemingly no one is going to allow religion to interfere. Purity, holiness, goodness, virtue, honesty, chastity...somehow these religious characteristics just cannot be fitted into our daily living.

The task of keeping religion confined within the four walls of a church building so it will not interfere with daily living is accomplished in many different ways. The easiest way, of course, is to find a religion that is not embarrassing. The less a church believes and teaches the less embarrassing it is in actual life. This is the type of church that doesn't make much difference one way or the other, and most folks find this convenient.

Another method used to keep religion confined to the church building is to give great emphasis to the differences in religion. This enables one to pretend to be ignoring his own religion so as not to offend someone of another religion. It can be said that religion should be kept in the church house so as not to be offensive to anyone. Even our government has made use of this method. In order not to offend anyone, all reference to religion or God must be eliminated and religion confined to the church. Using this method, it is even possible to eliminate praying from the public schools.

The word "fanatic" comes in for a lot of use. After all, one shouldn't go overboard on religion and become over zealous and enthusiastic. Everyone knows how foolish some people become over religion. This makes a good excuse for keeping one's religion stored away in church ...no one wants to be a fanatic.

Of course, one can stay away from religious friends during the week and only see them on Sunday. This is a great help in keeping religion locked up in the church house.

To keep one's religion at church and not bring it into the home is a little more difficult...particularly if there are children. After all, what can a parent tell a child who begins to wonder why what he heard at church isn't practiced at home? Some parents have found that it works fairly well if what is taught at church can be associated with make believe, fairy tales, nursery rhymes, etc. ...things that are only applicable to children. This relieves the parent from having to bring his religion home. It also enables the child to grow up without being inconvenienced too much by religion, and he can easily discard it about the same time he gives up fairy tales and nursery rhymes.

A husband and wife can usually reach a kind of standoff where neither of them expects much of the other concerning religion. It can cause all kinds of confusion if one of them decides to bring religion home from the church.

When the child starts to public school, he quickly discovers that religion is never mentioned. There is no particular reason given...it just isn't classified as important enough to be considered. The child at first has a little difficulty adjusting to the fact that what he learns at church might contradict what he learns and sees in school.

Folks find about the worst thing that can happen is to discover that someone who goes to the same church works at the same place. This does bring about embarrassment. Every time one of them is engaged in non religious activities it seems as though the other is looking and this kind of thing can lead to a complex! It almost forces both of them to bring their religion to work. Generally, though, they will reach an unspoken agreement that they will both leave their religion at church...even if they do get mildly embarrassed when they meet in a prayer meeting or some similar place.

Another convenient way of leaving religion inside the church is to develop the ability of listening...without hearing. What one doesn't know about religion can't affect life outside the church house. Some have achieved a high level of efficiency at this method. They can sit down in a church pew and put on an expression of intense interest while at the same time turning off their mind...or tuning in something non-religious. This is kind of a spiritual stupor. This allows them to be exposed to religion but eliminates carrying any out of the church. They've been to church in body but not in spirit. They never really know what their religion is, so it never causes them any inconvenience or embarrassment outside the church. Closely related to this is the ability to pass on everything said in church to someone else and never let it be personally applied. If one can feel the religious truth didn't apply to him he can easily leave it at church.

In our country people move around a great deal. This affords a real opportunity for people who like to keep their religion locked up in church. For instance, a couple will get married and move away from their hometown. They have found, however, that it is convenient to keep their official church membership at the old home church even though they do not live or attend there. This keeps their religion not only confined to a church building but also keeps it some distance away. This, they find, is an added advantage.

It seems some folks find it impossible to trust any one church with all their religion. They would rather spread it around in a lot of different churches. They accomplish this by not being identified with any one church but make it a practice to attend many different churches. In this way they are never associated with any one religion, and it is a comparatively easy thing not to let this kind of religion invade everyday living.

A little extreme, but used quite a bit, is the method where the individual continually finds something in church with which he disagrees, or he makes certain that he is always getting his feelings hurt. In this manner he keeps an excuse for not attending church. The difficulty is never rated high enough to cause him to sever his relationship with the church but is always enough to keep him from attending. This enables one to have religion at the church yet not be identified with it in everyday living.

The fact that religion is continually confined to the church house and never brought outside might be the reason it is so pale and weak. It is suffering from a lack of fresh air, sunshine, and exercise.

I received in the mail a magazine called, "OUTREACH," an ecumenical church resource magazine which contains many different ideas on how to attract more people to your church. Now that sounds very good, but they have no standards or scripture for the ideas that they advocate. This is basically a sales magazine offering direct mailings, banners, door hangers, invitations, signs, bulletin covers and much more. Most issues I just throw away because I have no need for the wares that they are selling. Not all of the things in this magazine that are for sale are bad, but most of the sales tools are not what I would use.

It seems in these last days that many have turned to marketing Jesus, and in doing so they leave very little room for the Holy Spirit of God to do His work. "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you." (2 Peter 2:1-3) You see, the last part of these verses is what seems to be the bottom line: "make merchandise of you."

The spring edition of this magazine promoted a Hollywood movie. Years ago it all started out with what I call "puppets and muppets" for young children. Next came the Christian videos and cartoons for kids. When Satan introduces something into the church, he starts small and works his way up so as to not shock the congregation. The concept of presenting a Hollywood movie took time, as this would never have happened twenty to thirty years ago, yet today it seems to be mainstream Christianity. The movie of course has a religious theme, and is entitled: "The Passion of The Christ." The ads claim this movie is: "Perhaps the best outreach opportunity in 2000 years." This statement goes directly against what the Bible says about preaching. I imagine many ministers think that this is a great opportunity to discuss the cross of Christ, but we are to do that through the preaching of God's word, not through movies or theatrical productions. Paul warned us that people would not endure sound doctrine: "And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (2 Timothy 4:4) Fables is defined as: "A feigned story or tale to instruct or amuse." This reminds me of all the theatrical productions and re-enactments that are in churches today. The pulpit is being pushed aside and the altar of God is becoming merely a stage for skits and plays.

You may ask: "Preacher, what about the movie?" It is going to receive an R rating because of the gore and violence. The producers are trying to evoke emotions and feelings instead of reaching people's hearts through the preaching of God's word. "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17) Please note this verse does not say by seeing, but by hearing!! If the world didn't believe it when they saw the real Christ, will a movie make a difference? I think not. Copied from the Van Born Baptist Church Bulletin "From the Pastor's Study" Gregory A. Albright is pastor of Van Born Baptist Church, Dearborn Heights, Mich.