THIS STATEMENT COMES FROM THE WEBSITE
- "Church the way it used to be Mt. Zion is more than a friendly church that emphasizes the Gospel, Missions, Discipleship, and strong families. Mt. Zion is a fundamental Baptist church adhering to the old-fashioned doctrines that most would believe, if they took the Bible seriously. "
WHAT DO THEY MEAN WHEN THEY SAY THEY ARE A FUNDAMENTAL BAPTIST CHURCH?
WHAT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE LEADERSHIP OF THE CHURCH IN THE MATTERS OF HAVING FELLOWSHIP WITH OTHER CHURCHES, OTHER MINISTERS, OTHER PASTORS AND EVANGELISTS, OTHER MISSION AGENTS, OTHER SEMINARIES AND COLLEGES?
AFTER YEARS OF TRAINING BY FUNDAMENTALISTS, I DEVELOPED A MINDSET OR CONVICTIONS THAT I UNCONSCIOUSLY OR CONSCIOUSLY ASCRIBED TO THEM NEAR-BIBLICAL AUTHORITY.
THOSE IDEAS THAT I HAVE ASCRIBED TO BIBLICAL AUTHORITY THAT MOST LIKELY ARE CONVICTIONS THAT I HAVE COME TO THAT ARE NOT BIBLICAL.
Are you serious? You have some personal convictions that may not be really biblical? Oh I am sure all of us have those private convictions that we believe are really true. And if someone has any other conviction, it’s just heresy. If anyone would not hold my views, I would have to break fellowship with them, that is, I could not recognize their ministry as being biblically correct. I could not preach in their church, nor could they preach in our church.
EXAMPLES: Oh brother, do I have to: While these examples are true, in my spirit, I think I believed they were really not biblical, but they were so fundamental in my training that I believed I had to follow them. If Lester Roloff didn’t say it, it wasn’t biblical. If Jack Hyles did not believe it, don’t do it. If John R. Rice wrote a pamphlet against something, you couldn’t do it or teach it was right to do. These idea were good, I would say, but they might have been personal in nature rather than biblically sound.
I must say that after a few years under Expository Preaching/Teaching, my idea of Biblical Separation changed a little. Most of the following points were pre 1982.
- If a preacher doesn’t preach out of the KJV they could not preach in our pulpit. Yep.
- You were first a Baptist in your belief then Biblical. In other words you used Baptistic words rather than biblical words. For example: Pastor rather than Elder. Eldership was not a Baptist word, but it is a biblical word. How often I have heard some say to me. “But Charles, it’s not baptistic”.
- YOU HAD TO BE AN INDEPENDENT FUNDAMENTAL MISSIONARY WBF BAPTIST CHURCH. OH AND PRE- EVERYTHING: PRERAPTURE, PRETRIBULATION AND PREMILLENIAL . \
- The preacher had to wear a black suit, white shirt, and a tie while he was preaching, yep and his wife had to wear a blue dress too. This is really a scriptural conviction and biblical.
- Sunday School had to start at 10 and the morning service at 11 and evening service at 7 and Wednesday at 7. Yep, very biblical.
- We did not have fellowship with any church that was not a Baptist Church. Usually it had to be a WBF church, because sometimes we would fellowship with some other outside the WBF sometimes they didn’t like our beliefs.
- I would not speak in a Methodist Church (building). Nor the New Life Fellowship Church, they were those folks that spoke in tongues. That was a BIG no no.
- Once as a youth pastor, I took a group of kids to a Brethren Church youth rally, and I was almost fired over that event.
- Soul Winning was a must. “Are you a Soul Winner?” was a popular question that was asked me. (I have never been really a “Jack Hyles style” soul winner,)
- You could never have any other person preach or teach in the church that was not a real like- faith Baptist. “Like-faith” means they believe just like you do.
- And of course, those really good convictions, preaching had to be bold, loud, confronting, and you had to preach on your pet sins. Movies, dancing, cussing, hair style, music, what else…..
- And I guess when you preached, you had to always preach a “Gospel” message.” You had to give an invitation, altar call, and sing five verses of Just As I Am. Yep.
- And when you preached, you were allowed to chase rabbits, get off text, and use a lot of illustrations, and then give an invitation asking people to respond to your message. Even if your message had nothing to say about what you were asking them to respond to. You didn’t have to use the text you would read at the start of your message to preach. And what you were about to say didn’t have to be what the text was teaching.
- When you preached you could get salvation out of every text in the Bible. You could spiritualize every verse in the Bible, the Old Testament and the New Testament. For example: The Streets of the Old Testament: Street of Salvation, the Street of Service, and the Street of Soul Winning. I thought that was a real good sermon. Three points all starting with s.
- The pastor and staff, they all had to sit on the platform. That was a good one.
- The church library had to be all books by Baptists. No Calvinist writers.
- When you preached, you should not say you studied, you could say, “This message came from the Lord last night. Or on the way to the church this morning…)
- The only person that you should listen to for truth, is the pastor of your church. Bill Gothard IBYC is all heresy. So why did I listen to Oliver B. Greene and Lester Roloff?
- There was to be visitation every week, and you needed to be there, on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
- I still believe this: As a pastor, you should always wear a coat and tie when you are on duty.
- If you sing in the choir or sing a special, you should look your best. You know what I mean here.
- The pastor is the boss. I liked that one. If he said it, it’s true and do it. Always ask him if you can do it. I like that one too. Brother….
Upon, or in view of, further study of scripture, I have adjusted some of my preconceived scriptural convictions stated above.
Part 4 coming up, so is JOHN 3:16 coming later.
