The Pillar and Ground of the Truth

 

The Baptist Faith and Message

 

 

   Whether or not you are a Baptist, you may have questions about the Baptist faith. You may have heard challenges to the historical claim that Baptists make. They claim to be the apostolic New Testament Church.

    Such challenges come from denominations of later origin than the Baptist faith. It may be a great surprise for some to learn that the Baptist Faith is much older than the Reformation or the Roman Catholic Church. Those who challenge our claim teach that salvation is found in their kind of church. Some teach it is in their denominational church (Catholicism, Churches of Christ, etc.) while others teach it is found in some mystical universal church (Protestantism). On the other hand, Baptist teach that it is found in Christ alone and that one must first be saved before they can even be accepted into Baptist Churches.

   You can’t deal with these challenges unless you understand the Biblical basis for the Baptist faith. This booklet introduces you to the Biblical foundations upon which the Baptist faith stands.

 

 

AN UNBROKEN HISTORY

 

       Baptists have an unbroken history from the time of Christ until the present. In fact, Jesus submitted to the ministry of a “Baptist” preacher whose name was John:

 

“In those days came John The Baptist…..Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.” – Mt. 3:1,13

 

    John’s divine mission was to “prepare a people made ready for the Lord” (Lk. 1:17).  Jesus built the first church in Jerusalem out of the material prepared for Him by “The Baptist.”  If you are baptized by a Catholic then you are a Catholic or if you are baptized by a Presbyterian you are a Presbyterian. Jesus and the first Church were baptized by a “Baptist.”  They were Baptists. They certainly could not be Catholics as they baptized only believers and only by immersion (Mt. 3:6-8; Rom. 6:4-5). There is not a single record of any infant being poured or sprinkled much less immersed by “The Baptist” or any other Christian in the New Testament.

    This Baptist church was given the Great Commission by Christ through its first ordained officers in Matthew 28:19-20. Jesus authorized them to go with the SAME gospel that He had preached (Jn. 3:16). Jesus authorized them to baptize with the SAME baptism He had submitted to and administered (Jn. 4:1-2; Lk. 7:29-30). Jesus authorized them to teach the SAME doctrine and practice that He observed and commanded. Christ promised to be with those making disciples in this threefold manner until the end of the age. This discipleship process always results in the SAME kind of disciples being reproduced. Hence, the Great Commission is the Genesis principle of reproduction after its own kind. This should be obvious because why should Jesus authorize anyone to make “disciples” according to another kind of gospel, baptism and faith and practice which he never commanded????

 

 

THE KIND OF CHURCH JESUS BUILT

 

    Prior to the first use of the word “church” (Greek Ekklesia) in the New Testament it had only one well established meaning. It meant a local visible body of people, assembled to carry out some sort of business. The Greek cities were famous in history for this kind of ekklesia.

          Jesus claimed to be the builder of His “church” (Mt. 16:18). Obviously, the builder should know what He built. Jesus used the term “church” (or the Greek term ekklesia) 23 times. After claiming He would build it in Matthew 16:18 he went on to use that same term 22 more times. In all 22 additional times He uses this word, there is no argument by anyone that each and every use is found in contexts that demand the historical and well known meaning of this term. In each case it refers to a geographical, local assembly of baptized believers carrying out the Great Commission.  It should be obvious that the kind he goes on to describe 22 more times is the same kind of institution He claims to build the first time He uses the word in Matthew 16:18. Why would he speak of building one kind and then go on to use the word consistently of another kind that he nowhere claims to be builder of??????  This is the absurd conclusion of Protestantism.  What he claimed to build in Matthew 16 is what he continues to talk about and claim as His churches the next 22 times He uses that term.     

       Jesus promised that His kind of church would never be destroyed – “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall never prevail against it” (Mt. 16:18b).  In Matthew 28:19-20 He provided the means to perpetuate His kind of churches until the end of the age.  His method of perpetuity involved the Genesis principle of reproduction after its own kind. In Genesis each kind possessed the “seed” of SAMENESS within themselves to reproduce after their own kind. So likewise, in the Great Commission the “seed” of SAMENESS  along with the promise of Christ’s presence guarantees age long reproduction after their own kind. Going with the SAME gospel. Baptizing with the SAME baptism. Teaching the SAME faith and order and thus reproducing the SAME kind of churches until the end of the age. This is the promise of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20. When one steps outside of this genesis principle of SAMENESS then what is produced is some other kind of  “church.” A kind that is not His and this is the root of the confusion of denomination that is predicted by Paul.

 

Acts 20:28-30  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

 

    Indeed, Paul by the power of the Holy Spirit predicted the great apostasy from this commission of SAMENESS that would result in the Roman Catholic Church when he said,

 

 

I Tim. 4:1-3 ¶ Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

 

 

      However, in spite of this predicted perversion of Apostolic Christianity the success of the continuing reproduction  of Baptistic New Testametn Churches is guaranteed by the promise of His abiding presence.  This promise did not guarantee that each and every one of His churches would endure to the end of the age. Indeed, not one of the original churches in the pages of the New Testament survives to this day (especially the Church at Rome). However, before the original apostolic Baptist churches died out or apostatized they reproduced churches of like faith and order to carry on the torch of truth to the next generation. For example, the church at Jerusalem reproduced the church at Antioch. The church of Antioch through its ordained missionaries reproduced churches in Asia Minor and other places.

 

 

 

 

THE FALSE CLAIM OF ROME

 

    The only denomination that seriously challenges the Baptist claim to be the apostolic church is the Roman Catholic Church. However, Rome’s claim fails in many respects. For example, Roman Catholic defenders say,

 

“Only the Catholic church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ” – Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth. Catholic Answers, p. 2

 

    However, this is an intentional lie and can be easily refuted by simply quoting prominent Catholic writings and other credible historians.

    For example, Cardinal Hosius, the president of the Council of Trent during a session that was convened for considering the Anabaptists, says in the year 1554 AD,

 

         “If the truth of religion were to be judged by the readiness and boldness of which a man of any sect has shown in suffering, then the opinion and persuasion of no sect can be truer and surer than that of the Anabaptists, since there have been none for these TWELVE HUNDRED YEARS past that have been more generally punished....”

 

    It does not take a genius to figure out that 1200 years prior to 1554 would trace the Anabaptists at least as far back to 354 A.D. Hosius was a contemporary of the Reformers and knew that the Anabaptists did not originate with the Reformation. Hosius was the president of this council and in a position to know about those whom he was condemning. He recognized Baptists had a history that rivaled the Catholic Church.

 

    Monsignor Philip Hughes is universally regarded as the foremost historian of the Catholic Church in the English-speaking world. He admits that the tenets of Baptists were continuously present during medieval times:

 

“The second (canon 23) condemns a whole series of anti-Christian notions, the undercurrent that never ceased to affect medieval life. Those who hold these ideas present the appearance of great zeal for true religion, says the council, but they reject the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, the baptism of infants, the priesthood, and marriage.” – Philip Hughes, The Church in Crisis. p. 200

 

   Hence, the most respected Catholic historians repudiate the idea that none but Catholics existed before the Reformation.  Other enemies of the Baptist faith are honest enough to admit to their great antiquity. For example

 

A.  Mosheim, the great Lutheran Historian says,

 

     “Before the rise of Luther and Calvin, there lay secreted in almost all the countries of Europe persons who adhered tenaciously to the principles of the modern Dutch Baptists”

 

B. The King of Holland appointed  Dr. J.J. Dermout and Dr. Ypiej of the Reformed Church to write a history of Christianity and they say of the Baptists:

 

“We have now seen that the Baptists, who were formerly called Anabaptists, and in later times Mennonites were the original Waldenses, and who have long in history received the honor of that origin. On this account the Baptists may be considered the only Christian community which has stood since the days of the apostles, and as a Christian society which has preserved pure the doctrines of the gospel through all ages...”

 

C. John Clark Ridpath, Methodist, author of the monumental work “Ridpath’s History of the World” says,

 

    “I should not readily admit that there was a Baptist church as far back as 100 AD, though without doubt there were Baptists then, as all Christians were then Baptists.”

 

D. Zwingli, Swiss Reformer, writing in 1525 says of the Anabaptists:

 

“The institution of the Anabaptists is no novelty, but for THIRTEEN HUNDRED YEARS has caused great trouble to the church.” 

 

E. Alexander Campbell, founder of the Disciples of Christ says of the Baptists;

 

“From the Apostolic Age to the present time, the sentiments of Baptists have had a continued chain of advocates, and public monuments of their existence in every century can be produced.”

 

F. Robert Barclay, a Quaker says,

 

    “There are also reasons for believing that on the continent of Europe small hidden Christian societies, who have held many of the opinions of the Anabaptists, have existed from the time of the Apostles”

 

G. Roland Bainton, a Mennonite, author of “The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century” says of the Anabaptists:

 

   “To call these people Anabaptists, that is re-baptizers, was to malign them, because they denied that baptism was repeated, inasmuch as infant baptism is no baptism at all.  They called themselves simply Baptists.” - p. 99

 

    All the prominent Protestants in the Reformation admitted that Baptists had a long and historic antiquity even as far back as 250 AD. Therefore the claim that no other denomination existed prior to the Reformation is simply a lie and Rome knows it to be a lie and yet continues to lie.  The Bibles says that the true church is the pillar and ground of “the truth” (2 Tim. 3:15) rather than the pillar and ground of lies.

   

 

WHY THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IS AN APOSTATE CHURCH

 

    The truth is that the Church at Rome originated as a Baptist Church. The book of Romans provides inspired proof that the church at Rome was a Baptist Church in its beginnings before it went into apostasy.

   The following reasons are given to show that Roman Catholicism is not the church of God but rather the Mother of all apostate churches:

 

1. Compare the book of Romans to the Church of Rome today: The book to the church at Rome clearly identifies what the apostolic church at Rome originally believed before it apostatized into the Roman Catholic movement. The Baptist church at Rome believed that:

 

a. The UNGODLY are justified before God without

    works –   Rom. 4:4-6

b. Baptism is by immersion only  – Rom. 6:5-6

c. The eternal security of the believer – Rom. 

    8:28-37

d. It believed that all persons and churches that

    attempted to offer their own good works to God

    in salvation were actually rejecting the

    righteousness of God found in Jesus Christ–

    Rom. 10:1-4

 

2. Jesus founded His church in Jerusalem (not Rome) during His earthly ministry:

 

 Luke 24:47-49  And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  

 

 

3. It’s Ecclesiastical structure is unbiblical and heathen: The New Testament knows of no such thing as a “Pope” or “Cardinals” as both are straight out of Babylonian heathenism. Neither does the New Testament know of “Bishops” as opposed to “Elders” or “Pastors.”  The Bible demands that all these terms simply describe various aspects or duties of one and the same office. In Acts 20 the very same persons are identified by all three of these terms:

 

“And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders (Greek “presbuteros” or “presbyters”) of the church….Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers (Greek “episcopos” or “bishops”), to feed (Greek “poieme” or “Pastor”) the church of God….” – Acts 20:17,28

 

   The New Testament speaks of no other abiding  ordained offices but two – “Bishop” and “deacon” (I Tim. 3:1-12). Nowhere does the New Testament refer to a “priest” or “cardinal” as a church officer. Moreover, the Bible clearly condemns those that use the term “father” as a SPIRITUAL TITLE. The term “father” may be applied a number of acceptable ways but not as an ECCLESIASTICAL TITLE.

    The idea that Peter is being addressed as the first Pope in Matthew 16:18-19 is absurdly ridiculous in light of the immediate context and other related contexts. For example in Matthew 16:13-19 Peter simply answers as a representative for the rest. Jesus makes a play on his name simply because it characterizes the kind of material Jesus builds His churches out of. The context is a building context. The builder is named “I will build”.  The foundation upon which to build is named “this rock” (petra). The kind of building is named “my church.” However, apart from the meaning of Peter’s name, the material out of which He will build is not named. When He said “Thou art Peter” he was referring to Peter’s name as the characterization of the type of building material which the church is built out of. The name “Peter” refers to a “stone” or “rock.” Indeed, Peter himself understood what Jesus intended and conveys it to his readers:

 

“Ye as also LIVELY STONES, are BUILT up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” – I Pet. 2:5

 

   Not only so, but just two or three verses later, Peter identifies Christ rather than himself as the one referred to when He said “upon THIS ROCK  (petra). He positively identifies PETRA to be Jesus Christ as the basis of saving faith:

 

“Unto you therefore which believe HE is precious…And a stone of stumbling and a ROCK (Gr. Petra) of offense…” – I Pet. 2:7,8

 

    Where did Peter get the analogy that church members are “living stones” and that Christ was “THE ROCK” upon which to base their faith if it wasn’t from Christ in Matthew 16:18?

      Indeed, this interpretation is confirmed by Catholics themselves in The Confession of the New Vatican Catechism. Sections 424 and 442 make this very clear:

 

          424 Moved by the grace on the Holy Spirit and drawn by the Father, we believe in Jesus and confess: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Mat 16:16) On the rock of this faith confessed by St. Peter, Christ built his Church. (Mat 16:18, St Leo the Great - Sermo 4,3; Sermo 51,1; Sermo 62,2; Sermo 83,3 )

 

          442 ... And in the synagogues immediately [Paul] proclaimed Jesus, saying, 'He is the Son of God.'" (Acts 9:12) From the beginning this acknowledgment of Christ's divine sonship will be the center of the apostolic faith, first professed by Peter as the Church's foundation. ( cf. 1Thess 1:10, Jn 20:31; Mt 16:18)^[1][1]

 

   Catholics make a big deal out of Christ giving to Peter the Keys of the kingdom as though that made him special above all the rest. However, just two chapters after he gave the keys to Peter, he plainly states that the keys are for the plural “you” or whole church (Mt. 18:17-18). Peter was simply a characterization or representation of the kind of membership that makes up the church. In this representative capacity he was given the keys as Matthew 18:17-18 proves.

   Moreover, in Peter’s epistle he presents himself as just another “elder” rather than a Pope:

 

“The Elders which are among you I exhort, who am also AN ELDER….” I Pet. 5:1

 

     Rome’s ecclesiastical offices are unscriptural. Rome’s claim for Peter is unscriptural simply because Rome is an unscriptural and apostate church.

 

 

4. It Preaches an Accursed Gospel: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, LET HIM BE ACCURSED” – Gal. 1:8

 

     Paul claimed to have received his gospel directly from Jesus Christ (Gal. 1:11-13). Jesus makes it very clear that eternal life and assurance of salvation is the present possession of all who believe the gospel:

 

“He that hath the Son HATH LIFE but he that hath not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth upon him.” – Jn. 3:36

 

“Verily, verily I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, HATH everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life.” – Jn. 5:24

 

    In direct contrast to these clear statements of Christ the church at Rome declares the very opposite.

 

“There can be no absolute assurance of heaven” – Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth. Catholic Answers, p. 25

 

   Rome denies that anyone can presently have the assurance of eternal life. Indeed, they deny that one can have such assurance ever in this life. Instead, Rome preaches a gospel that can never have assurance of salvation until after the fires of purgatory are satisfied. Rome says it is impossible to know that you presently possess eternal life while the Apostle John writes

 

“I write these things unto you that believe in the name of Christ that YE MIGHT KNOW that ye HAVE ETERNAL LIFE…” (I Jn. 5:13).

 

    The Apostle John tells his readers that anyone who denies that believers can have the present assurance of eternal life is calling God the Father a liar as well:

 

“He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; he that believeth NOT God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. And THIS IS THE RECORD, that God hath given to us ETERNAL LIFE and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life.” – I Jn. 5:10-12

 

     Rome blatantly calls Christ, John and the Father liars. Not only does Rome blatantly call Christ and John liars in regard to present assurance of salvation but they also contradict the clear statement of Christ concerning the security of the saved:

 

“ALL that the father giveth to me shall come to me and he that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out…And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that OF ALL which he hath given me I SHOULD LOSE NOTHING, but raise it up at the last day.” – Jn. 6:37,40

 

“And I give unto them ETERNAL life; and they SHALL NEVER PERISH, neither shall any man pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” – Jn. 10:28

 

   How does Rome get around such obvious clear texts?  Very simple, they take other texts out of context and pit them against these clear texts. In other words, they make God the author of confusion.

     However, Rome’s primary problem is that they do not understand the difference between justification and sanctification and confuse the two. They do not understand that justification is a legal declaration before God in heaven while sanctification is a practical progressive act of God in the believer on earth.

     Catholics believe that the Baptist doctrine of justification gives a license to sin with promise of heaven:

 

 “Some people promote an especially attractive idea: All true Christians, REGARDLESS OF HOW THEY LIVE, have absolute assurance of salvation, once they accept Jesus into their hearts as ‘their personal Lord and Savior.” – Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth. Catholic Answers, p. 24 – emphasis mine

 

   However, this is an atrocious distortion of the Baptist faith. It is true that in regard to justification, Baptists believe that one is justified before God by grace alone through faith alone in the person and work of Christ alone WITHOUT WORKS of any kind (Rom. 4:4-6). Catholics do not understand that God requires absolute flawless sinlessness in order to be justified in his presence. The doctrine of justification is the legal means provided by God to substitute the perfect life of Christ in the place of the imperfect life of the believer. This substitution can only be by faith because if anything of the believer’s life is added or joined with Christ’s sinless life it ceases to be sinless.

     The good news of the gospel is that the personal righteous life of Christ can be exchanged for the sinful life of the believer through faith alone. This is the doctrine of imputation that Paul expounds on in Romans 4-5.  This exchange of life before God makes the believer positionally PERFECT simply because there is no imperfection in the life of Christ. God no longer sees the life of the believer but only the life which has been imputed to the believer by faith. On the basis of this exchange, God DECLARES the believer righteous and in possession of eternal life. In order for God to condemn the believer God must first find fault with the life of Christ and/or find in the death of Christ an insufficiency for the payment of sin. Since neither can be possible, then the believer is absolutely secure in Christ and can know that they are saved and in possession of eternal life.

 

“Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword…Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us…” – Rom. 8:33,34,35,37

 

    However, the Bible also teaches that all of those who are genuinely justified before God are also regenerated by the Spirit of God and indwelt by Him. Hence, the fruit of justification by faith alone is progressive sanctification in the life of the justified. This act of God within the believer is the Biblical doctrine of progressive sanctification. The purpose of progressive sanctification is not to make them sinless in this life as that will never happen until glorification of the body (I Jn. 1:8-10). Neither is it the purpose of sanctification to merit heaven as a reward as the life of Christ has already obtained that in justification.

      The purpose of sanctification is to progressively conform the believer into the image of Christ. It is to make the justified sin less and useful for serving God until they are glorified. Their progress in sanctification determines their present peace of mind, growth, usefulness, witness, personal assurance and future rewards in heaven.  Christians will vary in the stage and growth of sanctification. However, justification before God is without variation as it stands upon the sinless life of Christ which has no variation. Justification gains heaven while sanctification gains personal growth, joy, usefulness and assurance and future rewards in heaven. To confuse these two aspects is to add the imperfect life of the believer to the perfect life of Christ which defiles the righteousness of Christ and makes the believer workers of iniquity. No, the standard for heaven can only be the perfect life of Christ (justification) while sanctification deals only with progessive spiritual growth.

     True children of God cannot get away with sin. The evidence of real justification by faith before God in heaven is either fruits of righteousness or chastening on earth (Psa. 89:28-36; I Cor. 3:11-15; Jn. 5:24). The person who is really justified is a person who has been born again by the Holy Spirit and is being conformed to the image of Christ. Holiness is the evidence of eternal security in Christ. However, it is possible that such holiness is not manifested in some as much as in others. The New Testament gives the Old Testament man named “Lot” as an example of such a believer that was saved but whose life showed very little  external evidence (2 Pet. 2:7-9). His heart was vexed with sin but his life was full of sins. However, his life was characteized by chastening. Professions that yield neither good works or chastisement are clearly said to be false professions of faith in the first place (I Jn. 2:19).

     Therefore, Baptists do not teach that children of God can live like the devil and get away with it. True believers never get away with sin.

     The bottom line is that Baptists can agree with the clear statements of Christ and the apostle John concerning present assurance of eternal life. However, Catholics must call them liars. Why? Because their understanding of justification requires them to deny the words of Christ.

     Who do believe? Christ or Rome? We believe Rome to be the liar and Christ to be telling the truth.

 

 

5. The Roman Catholic Church admits the lost

    world into its membership.

 

    Rome admits infants into its membership who are unable to repent or believe in the gospel. The fact that Rome has “confirmation” demonstrates such membership. There is not one precept or example in Scripture where any infant was ever baptized. No wonder the Roman Catholic Church is so large as this church welcomes the world into its membership. On the other hand the true churches of Christ are called a “little flock.” The church is for the saved to serve not for the world to enter and pollute.

 

 

6. The Catholic Church has been the

    Persecutor of the saints

 

    In reality the church at Rome led in one of the earliest apostate movements and formed an apostate denomination that controlled the arm of government. She has shed more blood in the name of religion than any church on earth. Rome has killed in the name of God. However, Jesus said that the true church would not be the persecutor but the persecuted:

 

“They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.” – Jn. 16:2

 

    The truth concerning the church at Rome is that shortly at the end of the first century doctrinal error began to creep in among many churches including the church at Rome. The so-called Ante-Nicene Church Fathers is the history of this apostasy. Pastors of large churches began to rule over pastors of small churches until five major churches ruled over apostate Christianity. Slowly among the apostate churches Rome finally established its predominance after the time of Constantine. Another error that crept in among these apostate churches was over baptism. Baptism became a means to literally wash away sins instead of a symbolic cleansing and public identification with the gospel of Christ. Another error was in the area of discipline. Apostates would leave the churches under times of persecution but would be received back after every persecution. Baptists would not accept these apostates back. However, the apostate churches took them back. Baptists refused to accept the baptism of those churches that embraced such heretics and therefore baptized anew those that came unto them from such churches. The erring churches named these purer apostolic churches “Anabaptists.”  This term was first used of Baptists about the year 250 AD. The term “Anabaptists” means “re-baptizers.” However as the Mennonite historian Rolland Bainton says,

 

   “To call these people Anabaptists, that is re-baptizers, was to malign them, because they denied that baptism was repeated, inasmuch as infant baptism is no baptism at all.  They called themselves simply Baptists.” – The Reformation, p. 99

 

     The church at Rome gained control of the government and began to persecute the apostolic Baptist churches. Rome persecuted Baptist Churches because Baptists refused to recognize them as true churches of Christ and rejected their ordinances.

 

 

HOW GOD SPEAKS TO US

 

“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” – Isa. 8:20

 

      On the other hand the Roman Catholic Church claims that God

 

 “guides the Church’s (Rome) teaching authority – the magisterium – so it always interprets the Bible and Tradition accurately. This is the gift of infallibility” – The Pillar of Fire, the Pillar of Truth. Catholic Answers, p. 9

 

    All cults make this same claim (J.W.’s, Mormon’s, etc.). If the claim was not serious it would be absurdly funny. Funny, because it does not take much research to show absolute errors made by the Catholic Church. In one council during 1200’s the infallible church at Rome ruled that the Bible was a dangerous book and forbid the reading of it to the common lay people. Now there is a real example of infallible interpretation by the magisterium!!!!

    It should be obvious from a casual reading of the New Testament that all churches in the New Testament times were affected by some error or another. Many of the epistles were written to correct such errors. For any church to claim infallibility is to openly declare itself to be some other kind of church than the kind Jesus built or the kind we find in the New Testament.

       The Holy Spirit not the church is the author of the Scriptures and He alone is the infallible guide to interpreting the scriptures. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth ONLY as long as it remains upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. That foundation refers to their inspired writings. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and Author of the scriptures. Hence, the Word of God as interpreted by the Holy Spirit is the final authority of truth not the church.  Paul told an erring church that if they considered themselves “spiritual” they would acknowledge his writings as the commandments of the Lord. Any church that places themselves the Word of God is proof positive that they are not the church of God.

     Indeed the Apostle John tells the believers that they do not need anyone to teach them other than the Holy Spirit (I Jn. 2:29). This does not mean that the Holy Spirit does not use the church or others to present and defend truth. However, it means that in the final analysis that no person or church can penetrate the heart and mind of a person and bring them to the knowledge of truth.  No church or counsel or Pope has that ability. The Holy Spirit alone is able to do that and He does it by using the Word of God. The Word of God is called “the sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:15).

    Rome accuses Baptists of saying things like “the Bible alone is all I need” (ibid. p. 11). However, Rome knows that this is not what Baptists claim. What Baptist claim is “the Bible alone is the FINAL AUTHORITY for truth and practice” and thus is the judge of all men and churches including Rome and its traditions and its councils and its magisterium. The Bible says that God has placed His Word higher than His own name. Rome presumptuously places itself higher than the Word of God and thus higher than God’s name or God Himself.

 

“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” – Isa. 8:20

 

 

 

TALKING WITH GOD AND HIS SAINTS

 

    The Bible clearly teaches that there is no other way to the Father but through Jesus Christ (Jn. 14:6) and that there is only ONE mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:5). Hence, Biblical prayer must be addressed to the Father through Jesus Christ by means of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18).  There are no precepts or examples in Scripture where any child of God prayed to any other child of God whether on earth or in heaven. Such nonsense comes straight out of paganism. The symbolism of golden vials of the prayers of the saints in Revelation 5:8 do not refer to heavenly saints praying for earthly saints any more than the prayers of the souls under the altar in Revelation 6:9 do. These are symbols of the prayers for vengeance upon the ungodly world that have been offered by the saints directly to God.

   Mary the mother of Jesus claimed the need of personal redemption from sin just as any other human born of two sinful parents:

 

“And my spirit hath rejoiced in God MY SAVIOR.” – Lk. 1:47

 

    No sinless person ever claims God as his or her “Savior.” Only sinners need a savior.  Jesus never claimed God as His “Savior” because he had no sin to be saved from. Sinless angels don’t claim God as their “Savior” nor do any sinless beings. The very claim of Mary that God is “my Savior” proves she was born a sinner and needed a Savior.

    Mary is not the mother of “God” but the mother of the human nature of Jesus Christ, the man. Deity does not have a mother simply because it is from everlasting to everlasting. To claim that Mary is the “mother of God” is blasphemy and idolatry.

    The New Testament teaches the universal priesthood of the believer and that each believer has direct access into the throne of God by Jesus Christ:

 

“Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” – Heb. 4:16

 

“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus…Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…” – Heb. 10:19,22

 

   In the Old Testament only priests could do these things. In the New Testament the veil in the temple has been torn open and all believers have direct access to God by Jesus Christ. This is why there is no mention of the office of Priest in the New Testament as all believers stand in that relationship to God.

 

 

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?

 

   This is the exact question asked by the Philippian Jailor to Paul and Barnabas in Acts16. Their united response was “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” – Acts 16:31

   What is of intense importance about this question and answer is the tense in the Greek text. Literally the Philippian jailor was asking “What must I KEEP ON DOING to be saved?” (present tense verb).   Paul and Barnabas literally answered “At the point of belief thou shalt be saved” (Aorist tense verb).  The Greek term translated “believe” is found in the Aorist tense which denotes point action rather than linear ongoing action. Before the Jailor was saved he was Catholic in his theology. He believed he had to KEEP ON DOING something to earn heaven. Once he was saved he became a Baptist. Those who believe the gospel are at that point of faith in the good news of Christ are once and forever justified before God without works (Rom. 4:4-6).

    That finished transaction refers to the righteous merits of Christ that is imputed to the sinner by faith alone giving the sinner the position of Christ before God – sinlessness. It can be received only by faith because it is complete and cannot be added to nor subtracted from without denying Christ altogether. This is the past tense of salvation that is complete at faith in the gospel.

    However, the Bible teaches progressive sanctification as well. This is the work of the Holy Spirit within the believer. When the sinner is justified by faith alone in Christ alone by grace alone, the Holy Spirit creates a new man within that sinner and begins to impart a life of holiness. This work is never finished until glorification. This is the present tense aspect of salvation while glorification is obviously the future tense aspect of salvation.

     Justification by faith gets the ticket to heaven while sanctification gets rewards in heaven. Glorification gets the believer into heaven.

 

 

A WARNING TO PROFESSORS

 

    There are two kinds of professors that the Bible sternly warns to beware. There is the one who professes to be saved but who is without the fruits of righteousness or God’s love manifested in chastisement. This kind of professor the Bible says is a false professor and was never really saved in the first place:

 

“They went out from us but they were not of us, for if they had been of us they would NO DOUBT HAVE CONTINUED WITH US, but they went out that it might be made manifest that they were not of us.” – I Jn. 2:19

 

    The second kind of professor is one who attempts to join the sinless life of Christ with their own imperfect works of righteousness in order to merit heaven. Jesus will tell these kind of professors on judgment day that He NEVER knew them

 

“Many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then I will profess unto them,  I NEVER knew you: depart from me ye workers of iniquity.” – Mt. 7:22-23

 

“For I bear them (Roman Catholics) record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness (seven sacraments), have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is THE END of the law for righteousness to every one that BELIEVETH.” – Rom. 10:1-4

 

   The righteousness of Roman Catholics is that which is gained through joining their own personal imperfect works with the perfect life of Christ. The righteousness of Baptists is the perfect life of Christ or God’s righteousness obtained through faith.  Which do you think is better? God’s righteousness or yours? The good news of the gospel is that God’s righteousness is offered as a free gift through Christ and that the sin debt is paid in full and it is finished. The Roman Catholic Church preaches the BAD NEWS of an insufficient Savior who needs YOUR HELP and your imperfect obedience in order to save you.  Baptist serve because they are saved and love Him for saving them. Catholics serve just like Mormon’s and Jehovah’s Witnesses IN ORDER TO GET SAVED. They serve out of fear of being lost while true Christians serve out of love because of being saved.  Which motive do you think is better?

 

 

THE TRAIL OF BLOOD

 

    Roman Catholics and Reformed Catholics (Protestants) murdered over 50,000,000 Baptists alone in the Dark Ages and the Reformation period. Even in America prior to the declaration of Independence, Baptists were publicly whipped and jailed for their faith. The Roman Catholic Church has for the great part of Christian history controlled the secular arm of government and used it to murder millions of those that opposed it. These facts are recorded not only in history books of others but by the Roman Catholics themselves.

     Rome has also controlled the writing of church history while at the same time become well known for burning the writings of those they persecuted unto death in attempt to silence their voice and destroy their history.

    Rome has falsely accused and falsely labeled Baptists through the centuries. They have falsely accused them in order to distort and ruin their testimony. For example, because Baptists rejected the Roman sacraments and refused to submit to her administration of them they were accused of not believing in marriage or baptism or the Lord’s Supper at all. The names of heretics were taken by Catholics and ascribed to whole Baptist movements (Montanists, Munsterites, Anabaptists, etc.) in order to discredit their message. Even the highest Catholic officials openly admit that no faith has suffered more than the Baptists for their belief’s:

 

         “If the truth of religion were to be judged by the readiness and boldness of which a man of any sect has shown in suffering, then the opinion and persuasion of no sect can be truer and surer than that of the Anabaptists, since there have been none for these TWELVE HUNDRED YEARS past that have been more generally punished....” – Roman Catholic Cardinal Hosius, President of the Council of Trent, 1554 A.D.

 

     However, much more condemning of the Catholic Church and her killing and persecuting of others is the words of Christ when he says,

 

“They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.” – Jn. 16:2

 

   Here is biblical evidence that the true churches of Christ are not persecutors but rather the persecuted. Those who persecute others Jesus says it is “because they have not known the Father, nor me.”

 

 

GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION

 

     Christ promised that His kind of churches, the kind we can read about in the New Testament would reproduce after the SAME faith and order until the end of the age (Mt. 16:18; 28:19-20; Eph. 3:21). Historical Baptist Churches are the only churches in the world that can trace themselves back to Christ with this mark of SAMENESS.  Their trail is a bloody one. Blood that was primarily shed by the Roman Catholic Church but then shed by the Reformers as well. Protestants are nothing but Reformed Catholics and way too late to be the church that Jesus built. The Protestant Reformer Henrich Bullinger after studying the Baptists thoroughly says this of them:

 

“The Anabaptists think themselves to be the only true church of Christ and acceptable to God; and teach that they who by baptism are received into their churches, ought not to have any communion with those evangelical, or other, whatsoever, for that our churches are not true churches any more than the churches of the Papists.”

 

All other evangelical immersing churches have either come from Protestants or have self-originated.

     Baptists are the only churches in the world that believe and preach that salvation has nothing to do with the church but is solely obtained by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Catholics and other cults teach that salvation is found in the church. Protestants teach that salvation is inseperable from the universal church.

       Baptist preach the same gospel that all the prophets of the Old Testament preached (Acts 10:43; 26:22-23; Heb. 4:2). Baptist preach the same gospel John the Baptist and Christ preached (Jn. 3:16; 3:36). Baptist preach the same gospel the apostles preached. Baptist preach the one and only way of salvation for all ages and all times (Jn. 14:6; Acts 4:12). They preach Christ and Him crucified.

 

 

YOUR DUTY AS A BAPTIST

 

   You need to realize and appreciate the great historical heritage of your forefathers and the cost they paid for standing true to the faith once delivered to the saints. Today there are those that take the name “Baptist” but have adopted the doctrines of Protestants and Catholics. True Baptists are those who identify with the doctrines of historical Baptists and those Baptist churches found in the New Testament.

 

Know your Baptist Faith. You cannot share what you do not know. Take the effort and learn your heritage and doctrine.  The Bible commands us to be ready to give an answer for the hope that lieth in us.

 

Live Your Baptist Faith. The Baptist faith is a LIVING faith that makes a difference in the life of the believer. Those who profess to have such a faith but are void of obedience to Christ have no assurance of salvation in the first place. Let your light shine that your good works may glorify your Father in heaven.

 

Spread Your Baptist Faith: The Great Commission has been given to Baptist churches alone. How is that possible you ask? This is a command to make disciples by a threefold process. Baptists are the only Christians on the face of God’s green earth that have been all three processes and thus qualified to make such disciples. For example, the lost cannot go with the gospel until they are first saved. You cannot share salvation if you do not possess it yourself. People cannot share what they have not experienced. All the saved regardless of denomination can share the gospel since they have experienced it and they should share it but that is only the beginning point of this commission. If you have not been scripturally baptized you cannot baptize others. That portion of God’s people who have been sprinkled, poured upon either as infants or adults are still without baptism and there can be no church were there is no scriptural baptism. Hence, the majority of professing Christians are unchurched simply because they are still without scriptural baptism. If you have not been taught how to observe the faith once delivered you cannot teach others. Baptists are the only believers that have experienced all three processes of the Great Commission and therefore they are the only ones qualified to make disciples after this threefold process (go…baptize…teach). Baptists are the only ones that have existed as a church from the time of Christ to the present. Therefore they alone must be the faith that Jesus promised to be with until the end of the age.

    This does not mean that one must be a Baptist to be saved. Quite the contrary as Baptists demand one must be first saved before they are accepted into the membership of a Baptist Church. The family of God is much larger than the saints found in Baptist Churches. However, that portion of God’s family existing outside of Baptists churches are not scripturally baptized and are not serving God “acceptably” as the ordinance of baptism is found only in New Testament Churches and that is the first step of “acceptable” service for God. 

 

If you have questions or comments contact Victory Baptist Church, 1314 West NW Street, Chehalis, WA 98592