There shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them …
—II Pet. 2:1
3066 Every Denomination Today
Beginning with rationalism in Germany and with Deism in England, Modernism now permeates every major denominations. Though there are Bible-believing, God-fearing people in every church, the control of many major denominations is in the hand of the liberals. So-called Christian leaders boldly and blatantly deny the Virgin Birth of Christ, the Inspiration of the Scriptures, and Atoning of Christ, the Literal Resurrection of Christ, and of course they ridicule the Second Coming of Christ.
3067 The Issues
The Modernist-Fundamentalist controversy was based on:
1. virgin birth
2. deity
3. substitutionary atonement
4. bodily resurrection
5. second coming of Christ
6. inerrant authority of Scripture
3068 Those Doubting Churchmen
A survey taken of 521 clergy and laymen attending the National Council of Churches’ General Assembly in Miami Beach showed a movement away from traditional belief, as follows:
Little more than half believed Jesus to be divine.
Only one-fourth thought biblical miracles literally happened.
One-third declared the devil “definitely does not exist.”
Only sixty-two percent looked forward with “complete certainty” to a life after death.
3069 Another Survey Of Seminarians
One of the first exposes of the beliefs of our future ministers was made by Redbook magazine in August of 1961. The publishers hired one of the top pollsters in the nation to survey a full representation of our seminaries which are supposedly preparing men for Christian service in the Protestant churches. Here are some of the results:
Of the ministers in training, 56 percent rejected the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ. 71 percent rejected that there was life after death. 54 percent rejected the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. And 98 percent rejected that there would be a personal return of Jesus Christ to this earth.
—Hal Lindsay
3070 Resurrection—”That Nonsense”
An Arlington, Virginia, minister said, “We have closed our minds to such trivial considerations as the question of the resurrection of Christ. If you fundamentalists wish to believe that nonsense, we have no objections, but we have more important things to preach than the presence or absence of an empty tomb 20 centuries old.”
3071 To Celebrate Eve’s Disobedience
“Eve’s eating of the apple in the garden of Eden was the first free act of the human race. We ought to recognize that act. We ought to celebrate Eve. She began the process of freedom.” So stated the Reverend Patricia Budd Kepler, director of ministerial studies at Harvard Divinity School.
Speaking to the Western New York Presbytery, Reverend Kepler said that the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise into reality was God’s way of giving birth to people. The minister went on to say that this made sin possible “because sin comes with freedom and choice.”
—Pastor’s Manual
3072 Monument To Mother Eve
Meanwhile in the little town of Fountain Inn, S.C., on the lawn of the home of the late Robert Quillen, newspaper editor, is a monument to the first woman, the first wife, the first mother of the world—Eve. The Monument to Eve was erected by Robert Quillen in 1926. This is the first and only monument in the world erected to the memory of Mother Eve.
3073 “Nothing Is Sure”
“There is nothing I can absolutely affirm,” said the young seminarian as he reflected about his religious convictions. In another month the 25-year-old, dark-haired student will be awarded a bachelor of divinity degree by New York’s Union Theological Seminary.
—Christian Victory
3074 “I Could Preach With Reservations”
What would prompt a Princeton Theological Seminary graduate who once drew crowds of 40,000 as an evangelist to wash his hands of the Christian ministry?
Toronto-born Dr. Charles Templeton was so busy criss-crossing ocean and continent in his new capacity as television producer that he hardly could find time to explain.
“If you’re going to preach effectively,” said the 42-year-old Templeton as he left for Rome and Cairo to secure personality interviews for TV, “you have to have conviction. My convictions as to some aspects of Christian doctrine have become diluted with doubt. I don’t say I’m right and all others are wrong. But feeling as I do, I could not go on in the ministry. So I left.”
“The decision to change my vocation was a slow and painful one,” said Templeton. “I could continue to preach, with mental reservation, or accept the alternative and leave the ministry. It became clear to me that I had no other choice.”
—Christianity Today
3075 He Still Had Bible’s Lids
An English minister who was not content with the fragments of the Scripture left by the destructive critics, wrote to a brother minister to inquire whether anything was left to him, and received as an answer that he believed no one had as yet attacked the covers of the Holy Book, and had them still on hand. He closed his letter with the words, “I am still holding on by the lids.”
—Current Anecdotes
3076 Nothing Left But The Covers
A certain clergyman was called by a church to become its pastor. Having been strongly influenced by critical scholars who downgrade portions of the Scripture as myths, he himself doubted the authenticity of the whole Bible.
About two years after his coming, the pastor visited one of his members who was very sick. When he learned that the man had a terminal illness, he suggested, “Perhaps you would like me to read and pray for you?” “Yes,” replied the man as he took his Bible and handed it to the minister. When he opened it, he was somewhat shocked at what he saw. Many of the pages were torn away, some of the chapters were missing, and a number of verses were actually cut! It was a terribly mangled volume.
Reluctantly the pastor asked, “Haven’t you got a better Bible than this?” The dying man replied, “When you came to our church, I believed the entire Book. But as soon as you told us that certain sections were not true, I removed them. When you said that some stories were probably fiction and referred to them as fables, I tore them out. I think if I had another year under your teaching, I would have nothing but two covers left.”
—P. R. Van Gorder
3077 Criswell’s Firm Stand
We can praise the Lord that Dr. W. A. Criswell, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas and past president of the Southern Baptist Convention has written a book, Why I Preach That The Bible Is Literally True. However, teachers from Southern Baptist colleges and universities voted to rebuke the Sunday School Board for publishing and promoting Dr. Criswell’s book.
They said that the publishing of Dr. Criswell’s book might leave the impression that Dr. Criswell’s stand was the official position of the Baptist Sunday School Board. A few years back there were a few liberals, who had crept into our Christian schools, and few were in the pulpits, but now they have grown in strength to the place where they can openly take their stand against those who stand for the Word of God.
—Selected
3078 Liberal Seminarians’ Evangelism
Dr. John C. Whitecomb, Jr., director of postgraduate studies at Grace Theological Seminary, Indiana, once showed his theology class (in which the author was a student) a magazine photo. It was an “evangelistic” campaign being conducted by a group of liberal seminary students. The news photo showed them standing at a shopping center, with hands pointing straight up. That was all they did. Their meaning: “We don’t know what it all means … but we are in contact with whoever is up there … ”
3079 Edinburgh Conference’s Fatal Flaw
One of the most appealing slogans to come out of an ecumenical gathering in this country is this one which appeared in 1947: “Partners in Obedience.”
The phrase is compelling, but it is important to strip away the wrappings and examine what is inside.
In the case of the above slogan, one must go back to the truly significant World Missionary Conference which met in Edinburgh in 1910. At the helm of that meeting was John R. Mott, a dedicated, evangelical, Methodist layman with a passion to evangelize the world.
One aspect of the Edinburgh conference was a fatal spiritual flaw. In order to secure the participation of every individual and get on with the missionary task, a decision was made to exclude discussion of “questions of doctrine or church policy with regard to which the churches or societies taking part in the conference differ among themselves.”
As a matter of fact, most of the participants at the Edinburgh conference were conservative, evangelical Christians. But by that ill-advised decision, liberalism became pervasive in the direction of the movement.
It is significant that the ecumenical movement grew out of a desire to cooperate in carrying out the great commission.
—Bible Expositor
See also: Ecumenicity ; World Church.